Nobunaga the Fool - 19

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The latest episode of Nobunaga the Fool is all about the main characters facing their inner demons.

Nobunaga, Jeanne, and Kenshin head to Yomotsuhirasaka to gain power from the ley lines after they face the dragons, which end up being analogues of each of their inner demons in some way.  Meanwhile, Nobunaga leaves Mitsuhide in charge of Oda castle while he’s away.  If they should fail to be accepted by the dragons of Yomotsuhirasaka, they will be unable to return to the land of the living.

And on top of that, to my great surprise, it turns out Hideyoshi isn’t dead!  He miraculously survived the mortal wounds he suffered at Alexander’s hands; Himiko is currently doing everything she can to keep him alive for Nobunaga’s sake.  While he’s alive, he’s definitely not out of the woods quite yet.

Predictably, Nobunaga, Jeanne, and Kenshin all have different goals in their trek to the land of the dead.  Nobunaga wants to gain power for the sake of the people of the Star of the East and to unite heaven and earth, Jeanne wants to gain a stronger shield to protect Nobunaga and everyone else, and Kenshin simply wants to become stronger for himself.  Unsurprisingly, because Nobunaga and Jeanne have more altruistic goals, they survive and return, while Kenshin likely won’t return or, if he does, will probably do so considerably maimed due to his arrogance and selfishness.

At this point I’m most interested in finding out more specifics about Mitsuhide’s past and learning whether or not he’s going to betray Nobunaga.  It would be pretty devastating if he did betray him, even though it would make sense due to the historical figure he’s based off of.  Da Vinci’s discussion with him about The Last Supper painting seems to me like foreshadowing, although I’m eager to be proven wrong on that point.

On another, more personal point, I’m disappointed that Jeanne’s character development continues to devolve into torture and fanservice.  She has such potential to be an interesting, strong character, but is increasingly sexualized and degraded through mental, physical, and at times even sexual torture.  I’m hoping against hope that this will lessen within the final few episodes.

Nobunaga the Fool Episode 20 Preview

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