The war that started in the previous episode finally concludes in The Elusive Samurai episode 9 with the defeat of Shokan, that’s all there is to this episode.
As shown in the previous episode, Tokiyuki and his band of samurai faced an obstacle in The Elusive Samurai episode 9: a war waged by Shokan, Sadamune’s retainer.
The continuation of that battle from the previous episode and the result is the topic of discussion.
Table of Contents
All The Battle Sequences
The battle sequences in The Elusive Samurai episode 9 are nothing like its previous episode.
It’s rather more detailed and more vivid, where each main character’s contribution is shown in equal accordance.
The battle between one of the Shokan’s minions with Kojiro and Ayaka was nearly a teeth-and-nail fight for them, and that vibe is duly expressed during that sequence.
The struggle of Ayaka and Kojiro against a much larger, stronger, and seasoned adult warrior does the work of portraying their effort to overcome the adversity to become better versions of themselves to assist Tokiyuki in his upcoming war against Ashikaga Takauji one and half-year later.
Kojiro, Ayaka, and Sizuku proclaiming their absolute loyalty to Tokiyuki was enough to display an example of the code of the warrior in this sequence.
On the other hand, Fubuki chooses to fight a difficult battle against the strongest warrior of Shokan’s team who is hiding his strength even from the big boss of the team, proving Fubuki’s insight.
Hiding his own strength even from the leader and even acting as a clown only to usurp the position of the leader in the future, this mindset of that warrior portrayed the perfect picture of the age of turmoil in Japan.
However, it wasn’t that difficult for Fubuki to terminate that hidden threat and that effortlessness also proved his skill in martial prowess, by the way, he seemed to also have been hiding his strength.
The most interesting instance in The Elusive Samurai episode 9, was probably the battle of Tokiyuki vs Shokan, where for the first time, Tokiyuki actively fought against an enemy.
Learning Demon-Heart Buddha Blade in the previous episode proved to be quite useful since this sword art utilizes his skill in escaping, this new skill gave Tokiyuki’s character an edge since it enabled him to counterattack with confidence instead of only running away.
The total battle sequence of Tokiyuki vs Shokan in The Elusieve Samurai episode 9 is quite a spectacle which we will discuss later, but what is the most interesting turn of events is, Shokan turning a new leaf while stepping into the death’s door.
The arrival of Sadamune with troops just after the defeat of Shokan and his funny skirmish with Tokiyuki’s retainers just until Suwa reinforcement arrived is something like a comic relief which was not necessarily important, but that doesn’t mean it was misplaced.
So, these are the detailed accounts of the battle sequences that happened in The Elusive Samurai episode 9.
Animation In The Elusive Samurai Episode 9
All the battle sequences in The Elusive Samurai episode 9 are more impactful than its previous episode.
Like the battle of Kojiro and Ayaka against one of the minions of Shokan who can overcome them in both physical prowess and battle experience, where after lots of struggle they managed to defeat him, it consists of some bad-ass action sequence with Sizuku’s clever assistance.
Getting deflected by that man many times, this sequence is animated in absolute perfection, and also the way Kojiro and Ayaka both desperately attacked with enough agility is animated without the classic blurr but with changing the speed of camera animation.
On the other hand, the sequence where Fubuki was battling against the strongest member of Shokan’s team, had the animation pointing out the attack pattern with movement traces of the body of the enemy, to make the viewers understand the perspective of Fubuki, and I must say, that was a successful one.
Besides all that, the most spectacular animation of the battle sequence was probably of Tokiyuki vs Shokan, where after cutting Shokan’s wrist Tokiyuki kept on evading Shokan’s attack skillfully in the limited space of a single room.
All the movements were animated in free-flowing motion and seemed like some advanced parkour movement.
Especially the blurry movement and the animation where multiple figures of Tokiyuki are shown, cleanly depict the agility he possessed, however, the most exquisite scene among them probably was where he is shown to skillfully dodge the blood spilling from the wound of the Shokan while laughing and jumping in excitement.
All those skillful animations are the most important factor that made The Elusive Samurai episode 9 a success.
Shokan Exposed
Shokan, who is seen as a straight-out villain in the previous episode, in The Elusive Samurai episode 9 gets his backstory, where he is a second son of a vassal family destined to only be the aid of his older brother despite putting enough effort to make himself better all his life.
The usual story of old Japan, where the older son regardless of his qualifications gets the most out of the inheritance, which made him become something kind of mercenary, and later he turns into a full-fledged bandit-like existence.
This backstory gives enough reason for Shokan to exist as he is now.
Final Thought
The Elusive Samurai episode 9 doesn’t fall short in delivering content that’s exciting enough to keep the viewer’s eyes glued to the screen, since it has some spectacular battle sequence.
There is also a little tidbit of info on the big boss of villains in this arc, Shokan, which is conveyed through flashbacks during the battle sequence, depicting a true villain in the making.
Though The Elusive Samurai episode 9 mostly contains battle sequences that doesn’t mean it neglects its duty to portray the progress of the story, since through the battles this episode does convey Tokiyuki crossing yet another milestone on the way to his goal.
So, all that remains is to wait patiently for the next episode.
