Peacemaker Kurogane

Brothers Tatsu and Tetsu

Peacemaker Kurogane is a historical (and semi-fictional) anime series produced by Gonzo based on Nanae Chrono's original manga. The story happens in 19th century Japan just before the Meiji Restoration where the seeds of the revolution are being planted. The focus is on Shinsengumi, a pro-Shogunate special police force stationed in Mibu near Kyoto. Main character is a 15-year old boy Tetsunosuke Ichimura, who joins the Shinsengumi while trying to become strong enough to avenge the deaths of his parents who died under mysterious circumstances.

So, you could say that it's an arch-typical shounen concept: a boy wanting to become the very best at something, this time set in a popular historical setting with samurai, the bushido code and much love and loyalty between the brothers in arms. And that's pretty much all there is to the series - but if you like (historical) shounen anime (like we do) there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There is a long list of characters, most of them based on real historical Shinsengumi figures albeit of course quite a lot romanticized.

Suzu and Tetsu

The hero of the story, Tetsu, is a cheery young man who has some idealistic ideas about being part of the Shinsengumi and to protect him Commander Hjikata makes him his page and refuses to give him his own swords or uniform (Shinsengumi had these fantastic and very visible turquoise and white uniforms). Tetsu's older brother Tatsunosuke has also joins Shinsengumi as a scribe and seems to spending most of his time running after Tetsu who seems to be spending most of his time avoiding his page duties. Tetsu makes friends with another page, Suzu, but since the boys are forbidden to reveal their masters' names they find out too late that their loyalties lie on the opposite sides of the fence as Suzu's master is the leader of the rebellious Choshu clan. Another notable Shinsengumi is the incredibly pretty Captain Souji Okita who takes Tetsu under his wing (well, who doesn't - he's the unofficial mascot at the headquarters) who also has a very... shall we say, warm, relationship with Commander Hijikata.

Commander Hijikata and the flirty Okita who likes to dress like a girl

What bothers me about this series is that it really can't decide if it's serious drama or comedy. Sometimes it gets very serious with political plotting and assassinations - for example the last six episodes are dedicated to the Ikedaya Affair which was a bloody incident between the Shinsengumi and the anti-Shogunate Choshu clan. And then sometimes it's just pure slapstick - for example there's an entire episode dedicated to Tetsu running away from Hijikata because Okita has given him a collection of embarrassingly bad haikus Hijikata wrote and desperately wants back. When it's serious it can be very good and touching, but when it's funny it's somewhere between mildly amusing and just pure dada. Fortunately by the end there is some refreshing character development with Tetsu who has to decide between the Shinsengumi and his father's legacy (who had the nickname "Peacemaker"). And I have to say the ending is truly one of the most disturbing endings I've seen in a while disguised as a happy ending.

Peacemaker Kurogane is certainly an entertaining series - not a masterpiece, but we watched all 24 episodes in about a week without any forcing. Animation is Gonzo at their finest - great combination of fine traditional animation enhanced with digital animation that enhances the experience without drawing too much attention. And although soundtrack wasn't anything too special, the opening and closing songs were one of the catchiest we'd heard in a long time - we couldn't help singing along with "Yeah come on"s and "Hey Jimmy"s. Good easy fun.

Posted by kolibri at 13 November 21:46, 2006

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