Chapter 124 Nucleus Posting
Sopping wet creature is pushed too far: the origin story chapter.
Editor's Notes First Page: 幼き日の少年... [osanaki hi no shounen...] "As a young boy..." Second Page: 後に剣聖と呼ばれる男ー... [nochi ni kensei to yobareru otoko-...] "The man who would one day be called the Sword Master..." Last Page: 覚悟を焚べてー... [kakugo o kubete-...] "Stoking the fires with resolve..."
Soga Akemura: Siscon?
It's confirmed: Akemura is OP as hell because he originally wanted to protect Chiaki. That's really sweet! But once again, we have another character going down the "wrong path" due their obsession over something/someone to the exclusion of everything else. Sojo, Soya, Kyora, Hiruhiko... and now Akemura.
A TL note. The term for "obsession" used was 執心 [shuushin], which is used in Buddhism to express the idea of being unable to let go of earthly desires due to excessive infatuation, obsession, devotion, etc. I personally translated it as "devotion" because he's not Soya levels of crazy about his sibling. Just disconcertingly attached with a genuinely loving bond.
At any rate, now we know for sure where Akemura's descent began. I'm very interested in seeing the next steps!
I also wanna yap a little about the symbolism of the second page:
The flowers in the background are the same ones that appear with Magatsumi when it's unleashed: lilies and irises.
In general, Irises mean "good news", "hope", or simply "a message"; the more specific meaning is "happiness will definitely come". In hanakotoba, irises mean "good news", "kind heart", and "elegance". My guess is that they were chosen because Akemura started as a fundamentally kind boy that couldn't even bring himself to fight back against his older cousins.
The message association comes from their namesake: Iris (Ἶρις in Ancient Greek for "rainbow" and "the halo of the Moon"), the messenger of the gods (usually Hera) who traversed rainbows to deliver messages to mortals.
Lilies, on the other hand, have varied meanings based on their colour. In a general sense they mean "purity", "innocence", and "dignity". Without knowing what colour they're intended to be I don't want to guess on the more specific meaning. They suit Akemura as he appears to us in this arc though. He's nothing if not innocent and pure compared to the older men around him. Even Chiaki.
Lastly, the butterfly is the same swallowtail we saw when Kyora used Magatsumi during the Rakuzaichi arc. In Japanese media, butterflies are often used to represent spiritual mediums and the souls of the dead traveling between the mortal realm and Yomi. They traverse the boundaries between life and death and can also act as messengers from beyond the veil.
I find the doubling up on "messenger" themes interesting considering that Chiaki is supposed to be the reincarnation of Izanami, since she resides within Yomi and cannot interact with the world of the living directly. Akemura acting as his sister's messenger by taking up the sword for her is an interesting concept that someone smarter than me can ponder, I suppose.
There's also the obvious symbolism of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly to apply to Akemura- he went from a naive kid to someone who could commit genocide in cold blood. I don't see any point in commenting on that though since it's beyond obvious.
A last note before moving on: how Chiaki and Akemura refer to her in Japanese.
Chiaki refers to herself as お姉ちゃん [onee-chan], the formal way to say "big sister", though -chan does make it cuter. But Akemura calls her 姉さん [nee-san], the more casual and familiar version of address. Given the strict and formal environment they seem to live in, Akemura being less polite hints that he's not quite on the same page as Chiaki in terms of what's expected of them.
As we'll see with Giyuu next, there's quite the variety of pronoun usage going on within the Soga clan that tells us some information that doesn't necessarily translate easily in English.
Soga Giyuu
We're not even trying with the names any more, are we? 義勇 [giyuu] means "heroism" or "loyalty and courage"- straight from a regular dictionary. It's used in terms with connotations of self-sacrifice for the greater good good like 義勇兵 [giyuuhei - volunteer soldier] and 義勇金 [giyuukin - relief fund/charity donation]. For fellow anime and manga fans, 義勇 is probably best known as the name of Giyuu Tomioka from Kimetsu no Yaiba/Demon Slayer. At any rate, 義勇 is the name of a noble warrior. The Soga clan seems to have a thing for high-minded names being given to their men with great potential.
Hiroto being the former chief was definitely a surprise- the dude looked like he was in his early 20's at the oldest. And now his younger brother is the next head? Somehow the Soga clan has been successfully running things with a "might makes right" hierarchy for about a thousand years I guess. Good job?
Giyuu isn't like his older brother, though. Where Hiroto was casual enough to use the personal pronoun 俺 [ore], Giyuu uses the more formal 私 [watashi]. He also has a firm goal in mind that wasn't brought over precisely:
EN: "I will restore the Soga clan." JP: 私が曽我を在るべき姿に戻す "I will restore the Soga to [our] rightful state."
He's not just going to remind the Mikaboshi and everyone else who's in charge, he's going to right some wrongs that went unaddressed under Hiroto (and perhaps previous heads before him). The way he talks and even the way he chooses to smoke reeks of him being a much more traditional person than his older brother. Hiroto smoked cigarettes like an average modern guy, while Giyuu is using a kiseru, which were traditionally associated with aristocracy and higher social classes.
So of course Akemura slicing the kiseru in half followed by this scene says it all:
Akemura's not okay with this old-fashioned way of thinking and acting. And Giyuu wasn't exactly jazzed with Hiroto's more modern attitude- look where it got him, after all. Where it got all of them.
I don't know where to put this gracefully so I'll just put it here. Giyuu is so damn formal that he uses sonkeigo (Honorific) language to refer to his older brother (兄上 [aniue]), showing a lot of respect. Other older brothers in Kagurabachi get the usual treatment
Hakuri -> Soya: 兄さん [nii-san], normal address in 99% of situations
Soya -> himself (talking to Hakuri): 兄ちゃん [nii-chan], cutesy and affectionate (the childish tone of his speech adds to the major ick factor of his personality)
Natsuki -> Ibuki (narration): 兄貴 [aniki], manly way to refer to an older brother/someone who's like an older brother
Natsuki -> Ibuki (finding him dead): 兄ちゃん [nii-chan] (reveals inner softness and how hard losing his older bro was on him)
Giyuu -> Hiroto: 兄上 [aniue], extremely formal and respectful; somewhat distant as well in some circumstances
So yeah. While I have no doubt that Giyuu and Hiroto had a positive relationship, Giyuu's not the same guy at all and he's on a mission to tighten things up. Off Chiaki goes no matter what her mom and Akemura have to say about it.
Chiaki, Kunishige, and Shiba
I'll say this up front: I didn't expect Urita to be such a swell guy. I hope we catch up with him in the present and hear what he has to say about Kunishige! More importantly though, I wasn't expecting Hasumi to give in and help Shiba at the cost of his own career. Damn.
God damn, poor Shiba looks so dead inside.
Hasumi says he's starting to "act like you guys", in Japanese (お前達, omae-tachi), so we can infer that Mashiro's death is weighing heavily on him. He was the one who introduced Mashiro to Shiba in the hopes that our favourite trickster teleporter would be brought in line and all. So this is his way of taking responsibility for how everything shook out as much as it is about his disagreement with the government's plan of action.
Thus Shiba absconds with 36kg (about 79 freedom units) of Datenseki so Kunishige can make the enchanted blades anyway. I think we can assume he's using his sorcery to lighten the weight enough to carry it in one hand.
As for Kunishige and Urita, well. The forge is lit on the dawn of Hakuri's (future) birthday and history is about to be written in a lot of blood.
Where's Chiaki in all this, though? Sadly, she's not doing much for herself yet. I'm going to withhold judgment to see how it all turns out. If she takes action to preserve herself instead of waiting to be rescued, all will be well in my book. If she's just a damsel for Kunishige and Akemura to win back, I will not be impressed. Come on, Hokazono! Have at least one woman do something interesting in the narrative before she dies! There's an opportunity to show how Chiaki rebels against all the oppressive expectations of her here!
Okay. I think I've got it all out of my system. Thank you as ever, dear void. See you next week.
