Everything here is my personal interpretation and opinion. I am not declaring anyone to be a groomer, I am just looking for signs that one might interpret as signs of grooming. Also: Feel free to criticize and correct me.
Eventually, I will take a look at Hijikata and Kazama as well.
If you do not want to read about this topic or about Harada’s potential involvement in it, do not read any further. Take care of yourself and be safe.
Note: I do not intend to attack you or your love for this fictional character. My intention is to educate others in this fandom (esp. minors and people that are close to their underage relatives) on the characteristics of grooming.
I am not saying people shouldn’t fantasize about (their) teachers (as a teenager I also had a crush on a teacher – who was a tiny bit like Hijikata, actually) but I am recommending anyone to watch out IRL for warning signs of grooming concerning yourselves and the minors that are close to you.
Yes, fiction is not reality. But it can inform and/or warp our perception of reality. Many of you are probably able to distinguish between the two and would not endorse this behavior IRL. And this game might have already taught you about this topic. (Toma’s route in “Amnesia: Memories” taught me to recognize the warning signs of abusive relationships and even though he was my favorite love interest there, I knew what he was doing was not okay.)
Still, I wanted to make this analysis. Because as a teenager, I only knew that that one teacher in our school shouldn’t be touching his students in the manner/frequency as he did. But no one, including me, felt the need/ was confident enough/... to report this behavior to our parents, other teachers, or the director. And there are so many other ways that teachers (or in general people in power) can be inappropriate.
I do like this movie. Firstly for the action scenes, secondly for giving Chizuru more agency. She repeatedly goes out of her way to ask for/take on tasks and for searching for her father and she also takes care of others, comforts or criticizes them. Furthermore, she is shown to have a fighting spirit.
At the same time, the movie often adheres to the game in that it lets Chizuru be undermined or saved by men that have considerably more agency than her. For the sake of romance and/or the trope of the “heroic love interest”.
(Note: I’m sorry if in this post I come off as harsh. But it is possible to love something and simultaneously criticize it and illustrate its (potential) flaws. And that’s what I intend to do here. Plus: This is only my opinion and if yours differ from mine, that is totally valid! ^-^)
Here’s why the first Hakuōki movie both excites and disappoints me:
Short version
(+) Oni powers! They enable Chizuru to become more active, defend herself and others.
(-) Chizuru draws her sword or is about to but then does not fight. She is either stopped or “saved” from fighting by men.
(-) Chizuru gets dragged around several times. This either makes the male characters seem like they do not respect Chizuru or makes Chizuru herself seem passive.
Long version below the cut.
Long Version
Chizuru is being chased by rōnin, hides herself and prepares to fight them. Then Furies appear and she is paralyzed with fear. Saito kills the Furies before they can do her any harm.
Chizuru has to show her sword skills. She not only shows determination but her stance and the way she holds/turns her blade amazes Okita. Then...
1) She raises her arms while she is nowhere near Saito.
2) She raises her sword waaaayyyy to far behind. It should be right above her head and pointing upwards, not behind it and pointing downwards. Thus, she is telegraphing her attack, providing Saito with an opportunity to attack or giving him an eternity to prepare his next action.
3) When she is more than close enough to attack Saito, her sword is still behind her head when it should have been down to hit him.
Her behavior is unlike someone who has had at least surface level Kenjutsu training in my opinion, therefore I am not convinced that this scene ensured the Shinsengumi that she can defend herself. She is supposed to be not good but still sufficiently capable in fighting..
Chizuru follows an instinct, then saves and defends Okita. When Kazama proposes her being an Oni, I am not a fan of how her face changes. And then Hijikata storms in and fights Kazama.
Chizuru volunteers to take on the task of delivering a message, fulfills her task and then helps the injured at the Ikedaya. The next day, she apologizes for going to the Ikedaya, seemingly almost on the verge of tears. But the Shinsengumi assure her that she helped saving people.
Chizuru sees that Sannan is feeling bad, approaches and tries to comfort him. The latter is clearly touched by that but grabs and drags her with him instead of just asking her to follow him etc.
Chizuru tries to convince Sannan to not take the Ochimizu and when that fails, uses all her might to stop him. Then she gets attacked by the man-turned-Fury.
Even if it might only be caused by a survival instinct, Chizuru uses her Oni powers to fend off Sannan. When Hijikata confronts her about what happened, though, she is unable to speak and is dragged away again.
Chizuru repeatedly asks to be allowed to search for her father and does do just that. But when she sees Kaoru for a second time, she is dragged away by him instead of just following him.
When Kazama appears in front of her at the Shinsengumi’s residence, Chizuru immediately draws her sword and reacts to his movements. But Kazama zooms towards her and knocks her out.
Regaining conscience, Chizuru immediately realizes what Kazama is about to do, rushes towards Hijikata and pushes him out of Kazama’s reach. She then draws her sword and is ready to fight him. The Oni’s aura causes her hands to shake, so Hijikata takes her sword from her and utters some words of encouragement. Chizuru is baffled but then regains her voice to defy Kazama. Once the Oni are gone, she drops down on her knees.
Kaoru intends to grab her but Chizuru swiftly reacts and is about to draw her sword... When the Shinsengumi show up. Immediately, her hand is miles away from the hilt, her body is relaxed and her eyes are only on her allied man/men.
Another time, Chizuru volunteers to take on a task but when Inōe is attacked and tells her to run, she forgets her task. Is it only because she is so shocked by the attack and someone being hurt? She has been with the Shinsengumi for a while and this also happens during the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. She has experienced the fighting, the fighters, the injured already. That’s the reason why she even asked to do something, to contribute. Why does she react somewhat similarly to the night she first saw the Furies?
Anyway... She decides to fight three men, all of which are at different distances from her. She starts facing the man that killed Inōe but when the man closest to her approaches her, she locks her eyes on him, changes her stance and awaits his attack - proper behavior for a Kenjutsu learner/practitioner in my opinion. From that, she can either evade his sword by moving and then attack or block it. But then...
Hijikata does not wait to see how she handles her opponent nor does he attack the man that is second closest to her and would pose a threat once Chizuru is occupied by fighting the first man. Instead, Hijikata kills the man that she would have been capable to fight - from the looks of it.
After having killed all her opponents, Hijikata comforts the distraught Chizuru.
After fighting with Kazama for a while, Hijikata has no energy left. So Chizuru intends to defend him and draws her sword. The moment she does that, Kazama grabs her. Now she can only watch while Hijikata is drinking the Ochimizu.
Suddenly surrounded by enemies, Chizuru draws her sword and awaits an attack. But her reflexes are bad enough that Hijikata has to block a bullet targeted at her. Similar to the nightly Oni attack, Hijikata protectively places his hand on her shoulder. Together, they run towards the enemy, seemingly about to fight them together. But as Chizuru was never shown to fight in this movie, I doubt that she did so much as move her sword in the direction of the opponents..
My (ups and) downs watching the second Hakuōki movie
A follow-up to my post about the first movie.
(Note: I’m sorry if in this post I come off as harsh. But it is possible to love something and simultaneously criticize it and illustrate its (potential) flaws. And that’s what I intend to do here. Plus: This is only my opinion and if yours differ from mine, that is totally valid! ^-^)
Yeah, I’m not a fan of this one... But to be fair to the movie and fans of it, here’s some things that I like:
(+) IBUKI THE FEMINIST – Hyperbolic way of praising Ibuki for saying: “Harada and Hijikata think they know what you want but the only person who is able to know that is you.” (*This is my translation of the German subs which I expect to be more accurate than the English sub/dub but that might be wrong, so feel free to correct me!)
(+) Sannan infiltrating Kodo
(+) HaraShira – Harada’s death scene & Shiranui bringing his spear to Aizu, fulfilling the former’s last wish
(+) Okita getting to fight one last time & him (talk-)fighting together with Saitō
What I dislike the most about this movie is the ways in which the narrative and/or characters both disrespect female protagonist Chizuru and undermine the romance between her and Hijikata - in my opinion.
Detailed analysis below the cut.
1) (The Narrative) Disrespecting Chizuru
- after Kondō’s surrender, Chizuru prepares to fight but Hijikata has already killed every enemy (I’m not saying she should fight but her being passive in general is my major problem with the movie’s handling of Chizuru.)
- Harada completely understands Hijikata’s reasoning for lying to her and leaving her alone in Edo but does not acknowledge the fact that Hijikata has hurt Chizuru and disrespected her choice/autonomy (but then agrees with Ibuki that Chizuru should do what makes her happy)
- While fleeing Edo, Chizuru falls off a (seemingly obvious) cliff and is saved/taken in by Kazama.
- There, when Kazama asks her what she would do about her evil-doing father, she answers that she would stop him. – Later, Kazama stops Kodo instead by killing him and Chizuru thanks her for that. Kazama says that makes her worthy of being the heir of the Yukimura clan. For what? Being not too proud to show gratitude?
- Chizuru is forcibly and passively confronted with her father – the reason she started her journey with the Shinsengumi in the first place – instead of actively seeking him out and confronting him.
- Heisuke saves her and Kazama kills Kodo.
- Chizuru takes a journey alone to give Hijikata the Makoto flag. But this is never shown, she misses the Shinsengumi and is taken to Ezo by Kazama.
- In Ezo, she runs towards the Shinsengumi and is hit by the impact of an explosion. Her Oni powers activate – I bet she will heal soon enough to get out of the danger zone. But Hijikata runs up to her, ultimately saving her, and she passes out.
- When Hijikata is shot off his horse, Chizuru falls off with him, sees him lying and bleeding, is attacked by a Fury, does nothing and is suddenly saved by Hijikata. (That attack wasn’t in EB.)
(The Narrative) Undermining the Romance
- several emotionally bonding/romantic scenes/CGs are left out (see above)
- Hijikata doesn’t eat her food – It starts out with Chizuru noticing that he hasn’t eaten and then telling him he should eat. He refuses. When she later brings him food with a note he should eat, we never see if he listens to her or not because he is overwhelmed by bloodlust.
- Hijikata doesn’t drink her blood. When Hijikata is overwhelmed by bloodlust and Chizuru notices it, she offers her help but he throws her out of the room. Separated by a wall, both suffer from that situation. Just painful to watch, not romantic at all.
- Kondō includes “becoming a rasetsu” in the things Hijikata did to fulfill his (Kondō’s) wish – even though in the first movie, it was ambiguously framed but hinted at that he did it to protect Chizuru. Hijikata does not disagree with this statement and both share an emotional farewell. Platonic, most likely, but as dramatic as a scene where two lovers have to part (and the music that plays during the scene would fit there too) (Kondō/Hijikata shippers, I get you.)
- After Kondō’s surrender, Hijikata doesn’t react to Chizuru’s encouraging words when she hugs his back.
- “dumped over DM”: Hijikata tries to say to Chizuru’s face that he wants her to stay in Edo but then lies to her to wait for him at a tea house. She waits for him for hours then finally receives a letter from him. He’s disrespecting her choice and autonomy just like in the game but him not having the guts to talk to her directly makes this worse – or at least bad in a different way.
- 1 hour into the movie, with 12 minutes left, we have our first and longest romantic scene between the two leads where they pour their hearts out. All in all, too much too late with too little build-up.
He reminded me too much of the Yandere in Amnesia: Memories.
Basic similarities:
- he’s MC’s childhood friend
- he always wanted to protect MC & made a promise in their childhood to do this
- he seems to be a gentle, caring person
- he usually is very calm
(Rather) Problematic Similarities:
- struggles with protecting MC and/or being unable to do so
- repeatedly lies to MC “for her sake”, believes that he knows best what MC wants and needs (Chapter 2: Lies that he has heard rumors about Kodo “because he couldn’t bear to see her distraught” and has a moment alone with her; Chapter 3: Lies about taking her back to the Shinsengumi compound, then takes her to a tea house instead. Then explains his reasoning: “Can’t I just enjoy the pleasure of having a moment with you to take a stroll and enjoy a fine snack?” )
- repeatedly hides the truth about his and MC’s relationship from her (up until Chapter 4/5)
- struggles heavily with MC not remembering him and their past (even goes so far as to punish her for it by keeping secrets and being mean, Chapter 3, teahouse scene)
- has secret mean and dangerous sides to him (mean: Chapter 3 teahouse scene; dangerous: Chapter 4 waterside fight)
- talks about struggles with self-control and deep down wishes to ignore her autonomy and keep her to himself, feeling “tortured” at the thought of MC in danger, blaming MC for making him worry (see screenshots below the cut)
- lacks empathy/compassion for Chizuru’s situation, her not remembering their childhood (After Chizuru asked him for the reason he would risk his life to protect her, he lies by omission and shames her for making him wait (romantically) and not remembering their childhood: “It’s not fair for you to constantly make me wait, like you do… Besides, one could say it is deserved, a little payback, if you will, for not remembering our childhood, right?” (Chapter 3: Teahouse Scene))
Screenshots below the cut.
(Above: The dangerous side of both characters that comes out when MC is in danger.)
(Below: Iba’s mean side as depicted in the teahouse scene in Chapter 3 of KW. He’s shaming her for “making him wait” and not remembering.)
(Below: Iba talking about struggling with self-control and having no regrets with hurting or killing others in order to protect MC in the waterside fight scene in Chapter 4.)
(Below: Iba talking about feeling “tortured” when thinking of MC getting hurt and blaming MC for “making him worry” in the waterside walk scene in Chapter 4.)
(Below: Iba talking about wanting to ignore MC’s autonomy to keep her save and by his side in Chapter 5. He comes off as threatening.)
(Below: Iba saying he wants nothing more than to never leave MC’s side in the Final Chapter.)
