English Dub Review: HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI “The Curtain Falls on the Aging Wiseman”

Curtain calls?

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

Compared to the previous episodes that infamously spoiled a plethora of future plot-points and character deaths early on, we thankfully don’t get those here. But instead, we got a scene with Emperor Chuu begging for Bunchuu’s help right before he punches something to pieces with super strength, And much to his shock, Bunchuu straight up asks what Dakki did to him. We don’t get an immediate answer, but you’d think the Emperor himself would be wow’ed at having Superpowers or something. Back in the human world, things aren’t going so well. Ki Sho, whom Taiko was supposed to help is dying and his womanizing son “Ki Hatsu” has to take his place as the Emperor of Seiki (Compared to the episode 4 flashback, it turns out he only had 3 sons and one of them was disturbingly killed by Dakki.) Taiko does manage to help the transition go smoothly, despite Ki Hatsu at first, feeling like everything is happening so fast but proceeds to declare war on the Yin Kingdom.

Dakki is also preparing for the war by making the entire nation of Yin think with their dick with her seduction skills while claiming that she’s speaking in Emperor Chuu’s behalf while he’s sick. Much to Bunchuu’s disdain for Dakki and concern for the Emperor’s well being, It’s an effective scene that displays the manipulative nature of her character which is somewhat equal to Dio from the Anime/Manga franchise Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The difference here is that compared to Dio, Dakki doesn’t have a fully fleshed out backstory or clear motivations that drive her despicable self-serving goals. Later on, we also learn there are two factions of immortal beings. One side from “Konron mountain” where Taiko comes from, while the other faction called “Kingo” lives in a floating machine-looking island and have both been bitter rivals to each other for thousands of years.

But Taiko being the idealistic dude that he is, wants both factions to put aside their differences and get them into a treaty of sorts. After all, this would also benefit his primary goal in getting rid of Dakki and her minions living in the human world, and in theory would be a perfect plan. Of course what Taiko doesn’t know is that he could be heading right into a trap it seems. We cut to Bunchuu meeting the Kingo leader only to discover that Dakki has stolen soul and what makes matters even worse, is that everyone within the Kingo Faction has sided with her. He does check on Emperor Chuu later on who is feeling well but begins to say some puzzling things that cause concern for Bunchu. The episode ends on a suspenseful note when Taiko & Supu are on their way to see the Kingo leader before we see a foreboding shot of Dakki’s glowing red eyes.

Our Take

I feel that for once, this episode’s pacing & structure was has improved slightly.  And best of all, No out of context spoilers or ruined reveals to possible character deaths compared to the previous episodes. While it had very little action, it worked in terms of making us somewhat give a shit about what was going on, As having a kingdom entirely handed over to a sleazy Pepé Le Pew reject like Ki Hatsu sounded like a bad idea at first, but I was left shocked at how serious the direction took with him declaring war on the Yin Kingdom in his dying father’s honor.

Taiko has good intentions in uniting people sure, but Dakki kinda pointed out in a way that their both working in the shadows against each other. The difference here is that Taiko actually takes human lives into consideration. While we do get some vaguely hinted backstory regarding Dakki having ties with the Senin world at one point of her existence, it’s not enough to make us give a shit about why she wants to bring anarchy & chaos to humanity or destroy the Yin Kingdom at all.

A small step in the right direction, but let’s hope the next episodes keep things compelling.