#|| character study ||

[koorinohebi]

[koorinohebi]

Overall, I'm still studying Takechi Hanpeita's character. There's so little that I can draw from, which is why he'll mostly be a mix of historical facts, fictions, and headcanons. Wiki sources aside, Ryoma Den's portrayal is pretty solid, but he is... too nice? Which is why I'm going through the Hitokiri film as well for some variety. From what I've seen of it so far (it's such a fucking old film gads.) he's a bit closer to what I expected him to be, based on sources. Altho I do think Hanpeita's not THAT bad over all, he's just so radical in his views. Which is pretty fun, I feel like playing him with a two-faced personality isnt too bad an idea. Kiomi vc: You are the biggest traitor in my life, Kei.

Eventually I'll test muse him here. Eventually. It might be by next week, who knows, maybe even today. Depends if the muse will be cooperative. But should I have him as a side blog? Or as a separate blog... Anyhu, while I'm taking a quick rest before work, kindly appreciate how good Ryouma's frame is.

Hardly any spoiler, I just saw this mini update on Twitter for Redline's Chapter 13. Hopefully it'll be translated soon~

Oryou vc: Ryouma has a good frame because he's not a hunched bastard.

Kiomi vc: You cant just *Smacks table repeatedly* bully Izo on my own blog like this, Oryou-san.

[koorinohebi]

Denied

I'm just reposting them together. Kiomi's been wanting to slap Takechi ever since she learned about him, so yeah.

Anyway, I'm dying at BOND LEVEL: DENIED.

And like, as a bonus:

[koorinohebi]

Ah, there he is. My Takechi.

So again, the social standing in Tosa was SO bad. SO BAD. That the upper class samurai, the Joushi treated the lower class samurai, the Kashi... like absolute trash. Even Takechi who was promoted to the status of Joushi, was still pretty much that just in name. To the eyes of the other upper class samurai, he's literally still just a Kashi who doesn't deserve to be heard. Of course, this rank did save him from getting the same torture as the members of the Kinnoto, who were all Kashi. They suffered really badly due to having been associated with the death of Yoshida Toyo-- but no one suffered more than Izo who was tortured much more severely compared to the rest.

[koorinohebi]

Okay, so this excerpt came from an interview with Nasu regarding his take and hypothesis on Ritsuka. Which is a pretty good read, tbh.

If there was ever a similarity between Ritsu and Kiomi, I think this is the closest that there is. Granted, the latter has a personality that's a bit more skewed than the former. She's not the type to be angry at evil for one, but she does have that "It'll work out somehow" attitude, no matter how dire the situation might be.

And while she can be self deprecating internally, has a lot of insecurities, etc. The most important part here is that she feels that it's her duty to survive. Sure, survivor's guilt was the primary factor for this, but time spent in Chaldea, getting to have servants and living with them gives her a constant reminder that if she dies, her servants wont last. And while there are other masters who'd probably be better than her (as she's mighty aware of what she can and cant do), she understands that her servants are comfortable fighting alongside her. And she would like them to continue fighting without being viewed as monsters after they show their true selves. She's not saying she's the best person to bring out their potential, no. However, Kiomi is the type to rally them and enable them despite the type of character they posses. After all, she hardly cares if one is a hero or a criminal, as she believes that each of them were products of their circumstances. Even if she isnt compatible with others, she does acknowledge them specially during the time when it counts the most.

Coz while I do play her as a person who seems to revel in things that one would perceive as evil (to the point where I joke about, if Chaldea was seriously entrusting the fate of humanity to someone who looks like she's 5 seconds into destroying it instead) at the core, she's a pretty good girl whose goodness wasnt allowed to truly shine through. She has her ideals of justice, warped by her awful experiences, and thus can be a little immoral/amoral in terms of executing solutions. If she grew up in the same environment as Fujimaru, I bet they'll have more similarities.

But she's also the type to appreciate people like Ritsuka, who she believes is quite brilliant because despite the things that they go through, they push on forward with everyone. Of course, she does worry about their mental state. The reason why Kiomi takes it upon herself to be the one to do the dirty work is because she doesnt want someone like Ritsuka falling prey to the cruelty of both life and the world.

"Of all things destroyed, destroying life changes a person."

Kiomi knows because she's killed someone before. You cant go back. And with Lostbelts, masters are forced to end human lives and civilizations. She always worries that each time leaves people like Ritsuka more broken than before. Even if we say things'll work out, just because it does doesnt mean it's the best outcome for everyone involved.

[koorinohebi]

Info on both Takechi and Tanaka are so obscure and scarce. I would really like more.

But while there is very little translated material...

Me:

Gives Takechi Amanojaku so she can justify the awful behavior he has as based on a couple historical accounts.

Also me:

Gives Tanaka internal struggles after accepting the fact that Takechi set him up that one time, which lead to him having to seppuku himself.

[koorinohebi]

Ah yes, I'm thinking about this asshole here. Ama-no-Sakagami/Amanojaku is such an interesting plot device for my version of Takechi. Seeing this guy from the event reminded me of why my portrayal of Zuizan is rather inherently vengeful. Like I've mentioned before, my sources for this portrayal is heavily HC'd based on a number of resources, including Ryoumaden. So, I actually liked the fact that in that series, you'll sometimes see Hanpeita having some kind of exchange with "himself". One that's often depicted in black, to show a more sinister side of himself.

The tag "Takechi Zuizan || Only Demons Get the the Work Done" is inspired by his talk with Ryouma mentioning something like this, and Takechi taking it upon himself to be the kind of demon needed in order to reach the goal that he had in mind.

Within the event, Takechi himself acknowledges that between Ryouma, Izou, and him, he was the one who had the weakest conviction. And I want to use this knowledge as well as Amanojaku to justify the behavior of this blog's Takechi. One that stems from the time when he was still alive, which eventually branches out to when he becomes a heroic spirit.

While Takechi doesn't lack the skill to make his goal a reality, sometimes it's his conviction that wavers. Hanpeita is an honorable man who abides by the rules and code of the Samurai. He's the type of person that won't ever lift a hand against his lord, yet at the same time act on behalf of his lord's name even without being told to do so. Which is why, he takes it upon himself and the Kinnoto to carry out Heaven's Punishment against those who did not support Sonnou Joui, and instead showed particular favor to the barbarians. But see, once you kill someone, you can't go back. And while Takechi wasn't exactly the one who carried them out, he was the one who planned who the targets were going to be. I can imagine that it was during this time that-- particularly during Yoshida Toyo's assassination that the Amanojaku could have spotted him, and chose him as a temporary vessel. This evil spirit would be the shadow hanging over the Kinnoto's leader, coercing him into the decisions that led to one murder after the next.

But of course, we do know that Takechi was implicated in the Yoshida murder, to which he was arrested for; and eventually being told to carry out Seppuku after Izo had confessed to the killings. I can imagine that from his initial rage of getting betrayed, Takechi makes a pact with Amanojaku, that if it could grant him his wish one day, he will carry out anything that it wishes for-- to which it agrees. So even after death, part of the evil spirit resides within Takechi's soul, and thus corrupting his saint graph in the process during summoning.

Well, this is the idea at least. The introduction of Amanojaku just gives shape to the "demonic/sadistic" side tendencies that manifests every once in a while.