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THE MEH
The premise of Sengoku Youko is both generic for a fighting shounen and familiar coming from its author, who was working on Hoshi no Samidare at the same time. Two siblings (not really in here) defeating both bad humans and demons and telling them to do better, out of love for either one or both species.
The initial plot structure is one of the same for a fighting shounen as well, the main group gets formed while defeating minor enemies, antagonist organization and big bads appear, more and more powerful bads appear later on, the good guys get stronger by getting more and more power ups, some romantic interests thrown in, and there you have it, your fighting shounen served and ready to go.
The comedy can be a mixed bag, there’s a lot of the usual silly yelling, funny moments thrown in during serious ones, overreactions and the like, yet there’s also some good comedy about subverting those typical shounen moments by cutting them off out of annoyance around one of the protagonists, so it evens out.
The powers are based on elements, spiritual energy, illusions, and the fights revolved completely around either fist or sword fights with demonic powers or transformations in them. At most they mix some boxing in it but that’s about it for innovation, which is very basic and inferior in terms of choreography compared with Hoshi no Samidare.
At least the usual craziness from this author is still there and if all you want is epic scales and scope in your fights, you will have them in both parts of the manga.
The art is overall decent but can be rough around the edges since the author was never very good at drawing. The artwork is simplistic and often lacks details or backgrounds, the character designs are simple and generic and feel kind of reused from other works, the motions are so-so, and as a whole there’s a very sketchy feel about what’s on the pages. At the same time the special effects are really powerful, and combined with the sketchy art style, the darker, hypest and more psychological moments in the manga have a raw feeling that make them immersive, impactful and memorable enough.
THE BAD
You can’t have your typical fighting shounen without its typical elements and moments, and that’s where all the bad writing comes in:
-Convenient power ups in battle, with even its own nine tails like Naruto.
-Quick training sessions on rooms where time moves differently so the main characters can conveniently become way stronger in order the defeat their opponents. Sometimes not even that but training montages through flashbacks and after time skips instead.
-Forgiving old bad guys that become future allies against stronger new enemies.
-Lack of permanent deaths in the long run. For the most part that’s present as well, but at least the characters that do die in here are more fleshed out than the ones in Hoshi no Samidare.
-Meh antagonist organization. As a whole they are fine, there’s enough variety amongst them and both good and bad guys in it but individually almost every member in it is lacking powerful enough characterization. Eventually two or three of them are fleshed out but the vast majority of them are not. Later on more antagonists appear and they leave a lot to be desired for how hyped they were when they appeared for the first time. Plus their existence is confusing in a way that feels like a plot hole. They come from the far more advanced past and despite claiming that they try to prevent their end, descendants keep over the time on which the series take place in, how is that possible?
-Random anachronistic element that doesn’t fit the historical setting, in the form of a rapper like villain that even speaks in English randomly, what the hell is with that guy?
-Lots of last moment saves and characters appearing randomly when needed.
THE GOOD
Despite the criticisms I’ve made, I think that Sengoku Youko is overall a decent one time read fighting shounen plainly for its second half, which although it still has the issues from the first, it also amplifies the good parts of it and adds some more on its own.
First of all, it takes an interesting narrative choice by switching the roles of some characters, thus you have some good guys from the first part being the antagonists while some bad guys are now the protagonists, while at the same time it follows every single recurrent side character or antagonist from earlier with a new role and newer character dynamics with some others, thus everyone remains kind of relevant for the story and plot and there is a sense of evolution for most of them that way.
This is done by not forgetting anything from both the earlier and the later parts, as every seemingly unimportant side story and character reappears with a role in the final battle and arc, while it also tries to make some sense out of the stuff that previously didn’t have much, or any.
The themes are ok as well. As it seems to be the case with this author, it’s anti-suicide, edgyness, depression, losing yourself out of greed for power, people getting a new perspective and identity in life and all that stuff, with this time the relationships between humans and demons as an addition.
Last year we have had several anime depicting demons in different ways, Frieren as irredeemable, Helck as victims, the S-Rank Adventurer Daughter anime as something in between, as there were demons that were just evil, as well as others that could be reformed with better nurture. Sengoku Youko takes a similar stand as the latter, as there are both demons that kill for hunger and humans that kill any demon indiscriminately, as well as demons and humans that coexist peacefully, since even though they are different on the outside, they still share presence in a same spiritual world, thus being essentially the same. The end of the manga also shows how demons can be reformed by being taught a different diet.
The key to the theme exploration is the presence of characters that are both human and demon, products of artificial experiments. Thus both demons and humans learn that coexistence is possible through them, with the key characters for that aspect being Shakugan in the first half, who was not just a friend for Tama and a romantic interest for Shinsuke, but also the one that helps the human hating Jinka notice that.
Tama is important for the theme exploration as well, since she was around humans or half humans as well as demons her whole life, which is why she is the mentor for everyone else in the main group, in terms of getting along between the different species.
And finally, remember that golem from Hoshi no Samidare with an existential crisis that was one of the best, if not the best character from that manga? Well Senya here is the same but done much better, coming from an empty husk of a character to an amnesiac little boy to a dangerous monster that can’t control his powers, to a suicidal half demon half human character with an identity crisis and full of guilt and repentance, to the hero of the story that never really breaks the power scaling, and finally a Buddha like figure that spreads forgiveness, hope, pacifism and coexistence between demons and humans, exactly because of the nurture, psychological introspection and character dynamics and development he has throughout the whole story.
The evolution of other characters is good as well. Jinka starts as an edgy hotheaded character but we also learn how good he is with other demons, and he develops by learning that coexistence between species is possible, before losing himself in his own power, requiring every other character to cooperate in order to stop him.
And Shinsuke begins as a comic relief character that turns himself into the edgy suicidal loner before he also learns the same thing as the other characters, and becomes a mentor for everybody else.
The female characters, as a whole, have an important role also during the fights, which is kind of rare for a fighting shounen, and although they never really match the males in power, for its genre and time period in setting, their roles stand out and deserve a mention, as they are not just romantic interests, plus the seemingly most powerful creature in the series (for the longest time at least) is a woman. Another good thing is that, although they are presented as cute and romantic interests, and although there are some nudity moments in the manga, they are very few and are never shown in a sensual way, thus the women are never treated as fapservice.
The second half also fleshes out other characters that up until that point were fun but shallow.
The conclusion is solid as far as characterization goes, as everyone gets a catharsis, and although easygoing and with a typical happy finale, it is also kind of bittersweet in a way, as it bothers to actually show the inevitable pass of time and its consequences, without a happy ending that skips character dynamics like Hoshi no Samidare, thus I consider this one to be better.
Bottom line, as it’s usually the case with straightforward action fiction, this is not a series you really follow for the writing or substance, even if it does become better in the second half, but the changes in it in the later stages of the manga and the characters, along with the epic shit moments, that make it a one-time worthwhile read.
6/10
