I was recently asked about who is my favorite character of the series or at least this arc so far. While I needed more time to think carefully, I responded with "Mouten" as my favorite so far. It's no mystery that I mentioned dozens of times already, but I don't know if it's my final answer. After this chapter, I may make it finalized because it shows that Ousen may be most impressive, but Mouten is no stranger.
This chapter focuses more on psychological viewpoint from these characters, including a small bit from Ousen. It may not be action heavy, but it establishes the greatness of Qin and their crafty ploy to outmatch Zhao. The great point is how it makes some of these characters even more brilliant.
Makou Army is no joke when it comes to raw power. It's not hard to believe that he's with Ousen. Looking at these panels of his men just killing or more like stomping these Zhao guys like roaches is staggering. One panel has Makou casually kill a guy with a stab as he is having a conversation. His right hand man even feels like they are disappointment for a challenge. Damn, these guys are hardcore. To my surprise however, Makou, the guy who has that cocky look mind you, actually shows his gratitude to the Gaku Ka Unit. At least he knows who to thank to make this an easy win.
The flashback is so great and badass. If anything, it is this moment where I begin to rethink on my favorite character. It covers the moment when Makou and Mouten have a chat after discussing the plan. Makou has this smirky look that Mouten was going to have the worst job to make the plan flow to their favor. Maybe he has a permanent smirk. In a sense, he belittled Mouten like he will fall flat. It's all up to him to lead a grand performance to allow Makou Army invades.
Mouten never felt intimidated or pressured by his words. Instead, he let him and Ousen know that he got this in the bag. Not only he got this, but he will do it in his own method to make it work perfectly. He somehow knows Makou Army's wave attack, which is now happening. What solidifies his glorious comeback is when he recites back at him with leading the way for a grand performance by Makou Army. Glorious! He also intended to steal the show from them. Simply glorious!
I do feel a bit sorry for Kisui as his men continues to get pummeled. It got to the point that the narrator has to address that everyone begins to lose confidence and feels like they're against thousands of more men than theirs. The last thing they need is fear. I got to hand it to Kisui that he continues to fight on and put a front to give everyone's confidence again.
His encouraging speech reflects that they have more men against Qin Army, so rest assure, they will overpower them and win the battle. It worked for now, but the truth is Makou Army has killed enough men to lower the body count into nearly equal numbers. It's getting too severe that not only Qin has gotten into the equal ground, but Kisui continues to be pressured and has to lie in his speech just to break out their fear. It's like a Basketball coach telling his team is not over when they're in 4th quarter with two minutes left and their opponent has 30 points lead. By this point, you should rely on a miracle.
An interesting note is despite that Makou Army is doing the most damage, Kisui is more worried about Mouten and understandably so. If he can outwit Kisui Army with measly 5,000 men, then not only that's embarrassing but it means that Mouten is far above average tactician. Kisui starts to feel more pressured that he no longer can underestimate him yet can't feel any safer than now. Mouten has two paths to choose in order to reach to his target and that frightens Kisui. It's no coincidence that it all happened this way because this is what Ousen envisioned.
The presentation is pretty solid all around. The reactions are the show stealing point of the art. Mouten came out looking like a badass, even with his pretty boy design. The moment when he told Makou off with his own words was sheer greatness. Kisui's speech came off strong, despite being on a losing edge and a lie about number advantage. The portrayal of him feeling pressured does make me feel a bit sorry. Everything rest on him and one small slip will cost severely.
If you haven't noticed by now, this chapter is about Mouten and how great he is. It becomes apparent by the end. While Ousen gets the praise, it segues to him recalling Mouten's word. Receiving praise from Ousen is like receiving the key to the world; that said Mouten was praised by Ousen for understanding his envision. That is a platinum rare achievement that Mouten has unlocked. While it's a shame that he won't fight against Batei since he escaped, the thought of him against Kisui is even better. New achievement hunt is on!
This chapter will serve very well to Mouten's fan. It shows the brilliant and badass side of Mouten and continues to overpowering the enemy with a small number of men. It's easy to say the number game isn't everything but with Mouten, it made that simple phrase into a hard-hitting point.
