#like I have a vision but it will go unrealized OTL

[cidnangarlond]

the pieces off the market board I always want so bad r like. hang on I have to pull the mb up to get their names again. the hooded fireglass leather vest. rebel coat and rebel boots (ALWAYS SO EXPENSIVE IT'S UNREAL). calfskin rider's jacket and bottoms (also always so expensive). also the sky pirate aiming vest and beret ALSO ALSO WHY IS THE COMPANY TABARD SO EXPENSIVE DOES IT TAKE A LOT TO MAKE

[hanahikari]

On the Katsugeki / Touken Ranbu ending sequence

I’ve been trying to figure out the two swords that appear in the ED, the ones that appear at the beginning and at the end.

Now that I’m on episode 12 of Katsugeki, I finally figured it out~ I’ll be using the lyrics from this site. 

(Sorry, I am very late to this fandom OTL)

This sword must be Izuminokami Kanesada:

A sword seemingly shedding tears, as it overlooks a tourou nagashi ceremony. A sword who could do nothing but watch as the people it served went on to death, to continue to exist even when those people are long gone.

It could be any sword appearing in Katsugeki, or really any sword in general, but this part of the ED has these lyrics:

Witnessing our dream, we cried, Despite believing our steel hearts Contained no tears.

— Hyakka Ryouran, Kalafina

Did he not look surprised to be shedding tears when he first came across Hijikata?

For the whole series, up until episode 10, he acted as if he felt nothing regarding his previous master or at least, treated the subject with a nonchalant air. Doesn’t even want to see him, doesn’t want to save him from his death as recorded in history.

Or at least that’s how it looked like to everyone (or maybe everyone knew it was just a front) when in fact he adored Hijikata very much, he wanted to see him again, it deeply pained him to not have been with him in the Battle of Hakodate.

In reality, he doesn’t want to see Hijikata because he doesn’t want / know how to deal with the feelings he still bears for his previous master. He doesn’t want to save Hijikata from his death because that is history and his present master, the Saniwa, exists to protect history and preserve it.

And so this sword must be Horikawa Kunihiro:

Indeed, the blade length is telling of a wakizashi, at least.

But that’s not all, because the lyrics for this part of the ED is:

The world you witnessed Vanished some time ago Beyond a red rainbow.

Which is followed by:

But it still awaits, Unwaking, Within the heavens.

—Hyakka Ryouran, Kalafina

These lyrics state a world long gone, and a dream that lies unrealized. Such were Hijikata’s vision of the world until he died.

To (probably) most people, a dream unrealized is a dream dead, but not to Horikawa:

Horikawa is still bearing the hope that Hijikata would live and see his dream come true.

So he takes it upon himself to do something:

That is, by bending / changing history. As Izuminokami says, by common sense what Horikawa wants is a contradiction, however.

In episode 12, we see him with Hijikata, working with him again:

Those lyrics if you overthink may say, “That world might be long gone, and your dream might have not come true, but maybe things can change and I can grant your wish,” and that’s what Horikawa is trying to do.

Hyakka Ryouran is perfectly made for this series. A song of swords who have gained a human body and a human heart, but with it carrying the feelings they had for their previous master/s—the master/s they served but were not able to protect in the end, the master/s who died for what they believed in—with them. It is a song of how they have to watch their former master/s dreams shatter all over again, to watch them die again without being able to do anything because that is the history that they were called upon to preserve. 

Hyakka Ryouran is a song of longing, for something / someone very dear that one was not able to protect, and that’s what gets me everytime. This song struck me since the first time I listened to it and still strikes me in the feels every single time I listen to it (I don’t skip the ED, nor do I skip the OP).

They might have gained a human body, with the ability to move and think as they want, but at what expense?

As once said in a Studio Ghibli movie:

A heart’s a heavy burden.

—Sophie Hatter, Howl’s Moving Castle

Whew, this turned out longer than I intended.

To be honest, I have no idea what Horikawa could be planning at this point; all I know is that I believe Horikawa is not a dumb kid and that he specializes in assassinations, and that Izuminokami will have to go against him (and cross swords with him) eventually.

Maybe there is a way to save Hijikata and to protect history at the same time, and that’s what Horikawa is pursuing. Maybe there really isn’t anyway for both to exist, that Izuminokami is right. Will just have to look forward to the next episode~