waterscroll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
waterscroll) wrote2020-01-19 10:37 pm
waterscroll) wrote2020-01-19 10:37 pm
Entry tags:
IkeSen Kennyo
IkeSen is treating me very well this month. Sasuke's route continues to be excellent, more about that later. And in addition I paid too much money for a few short stories about the evil warrior monk Kennyo, who unfortunately doesn't have a route yet (but probably will in about a year). I think they were worth the too-much-money though, because I've been watching them over and over again.
In most other routes Kennyo is a completely destructive villain. He wants revenge on Nobunaga for destroying his monastery and, lacking a sizeable army, mostly gets it by pitting warlords against each other. The kinds of things he does include burning peasant villages and getting Shingen's people to think Nobunaga did it and Nobunaga's people to think Shingen did it, so they will keep fighting each other. He's ruthless and has no qualms about targeting civilians.
But it's a little more complicated than that. In Mitsunari's route Kennyo goes out of his way to give a poor peasant money for food and medicine before destroying the peasant's village. What was that all about? Was it hypocritical and meaningless? We don't find out if the peasant died in the ensuing battle, but maybe he did. So why did Kennyo go out of his way to give him what he needed first?
In the short stories Kennyo is always surrounded by animals and always caring for their wounds. And it's not that he cares for animals rather than people, you can tell he once dedicated his life to caring for the sick and wounded and still does that when he can. But destroying Nobunaga is more important.
IkeSen gives Nobunaga a mostly free pass. His war crimes are glossed over in favor of the prosperity he brought. Nobunaga is rapey towards MC at the beginning of his route, purely out of a sense of entitlement - as he says, he doesn't like to sleep alone - but it ends up ok because MC wants him and in any case it turns into a game. And ok, fine, I enjoyed Nobunaga's route a lot. But Nobunaga was definitely allowed to get away with stuff, by both the MC and the narrative.
And maybe this is overreading but: if Kennyo is a healer, maybe Nobunaga in power is the greatest wound of all. Maybe the way this narrative allows Nobunaga even more power than history did makes this wound even more damaging.
In every route, and in his own stories as well, Kennyo is absolutely clear that he knows he is damned and going to hell for everything he's doing to stop Nobunaga. He has a strong conviction that stopping Nobunaga is worth not only his life but also his afterlife. As much as I loved Nobunaga on his own route, I can't help but think Kennyo might have a point. And whether or not he's right about Nobunaga in particular, someone who is willing to give up absolutely everything to stop a tyrant is someone I'm going to have to at least a little bit admire.
I do wonder how things are going to go in Kennyo's route, if they're going to make it so he doesn't do the bad things he did in other routes or if they're going to have him do the bad things but show them from his perspective. I'd kind of prefer the latter.
In one of the short stories there's a very powerful scene where MC tells Kennyo that she used to want him to stop trying to take revenge on Nobunaga, but now she understands where he's coming from she just wants him to live. Which is powerful, because he doesn't want to live at all, and it seems like this sketches out the beginnings of a redemption arc. If he could be willing to live, even knowing that Nobunaga is in power, maybe he could find a way to work towards healing his very wounded country in a way that is less destructive.
Anyway, thank you IkeSen for giving me a messed-up complicated evil religious dude to love. And here I thought you were just a fluffy AU. I stand very corrected.
In most other routes Kennyo is a completely destructive villain. He wants revenge on Nobunaga for destroying his monastery and, lacking a sizeable army, mostly gets it by pitting warlords against each other. The kinds of things he does include burning peasant villages and getting Shingen's people to think Nobunaga did it and Nobunaga's people to think Shingen did it, so they will keep fighting each other. He's ruthless and has no qualms about targeting civilians.
But it's a little more complicated than that. In Mitsunari's route Kennyo goes out of his way to give a poor peasant money for food and medicine before destroying the peasant's village. What was that all about? Was it hypocritical and meaningless? We don't find out if the peasant died in the ensuing battle, but maybe he did. So why did Kennyo go out of his way to give him what he needed first?
In the short stories Kennyo is always surrounded by animals and always caring for their wounds. And it's not that he cares for animals rather than people, you can tell he once dedicated his life to caring for the sick and wounded and still does that when he can. But destroying Nobunaga is more important.
IkeSen gives Nobunaga a mostly free pass. His war crimes are glossed over in favor of the prosperity he brought. Nobunaga is rapey towards MC at the beginning of his route, purely out of a sense of entitlement - as he says, he doesn't like to sleep alone - but it ends up ok because MC wants him and in any case it turns into a game. And ok, fine, I enjoyed Nobunaga's route a lot. But Nobunaga was definitely allowed to get away with stuff, by both the MC and the narrative.
And maybe this is overreading but: if Kennyo is a healer, maybe Nobunaga in power is the greatest wound of all. Maybe the way this narrative allows Nobunaga even more power than history did makes this wound even more damaging.
In every route, and in his own stories as well, Kennyo is absolutely clear that he knows he is damned and going to hell for everything he's doing to stop Nobunaga. He has a strong conviction that stopping Nobunaga is worth not only his life but also his afterlife. As much as I loved Nobunaga on his own route, I can't help but think Kennyo might have a point. And whether or not he's right about Nobunaga in particular, someone who is willing to give up absolutely everything to stop a tyrant is someone I'm going to have to at least a little bit admire.
I do wonder how things are going to go in Kennyo's route, if they're going to make it so he doesn't do the bad things he did in other routes or if they're going to have him do the bad things but show them from his perspective. I'd kind of prefer the latter.
In one of the short stories there's a very powerful scene where MC tells Kennyo that she used to want him to stop trying to take revenge on Nobunaga, but now she understands where he's coming from she just wants him to live. Which is powerful, because he doesn't want to live at all, and it seems like this sketches out the beginnings of a redemption arc. If he could be willing to live, even knowing that Nobunaga is in power, maybe he could find a way to work towards healing his very wounded country in a way that is less destructive.
Anyway, thank you IkeSen for giving me a messed-up complicated evil religious dude to love. And here I thought you were just a fluffy AU. I stand very corrected.
no subject
The kinds of things he does include burning peasant villages and getting Shingen's people to think Nobunaga did it and Nobunaga's people to think Shingen did it, so they will keep fighting each other. He's ruthless and has no qualms about targeting civilians.
O___________o
...okay, I can see why he thinks the Buddha won't listen to his prayers any more and why he refers to himself as a demon. I thought he was just being Edgy in the short stories.
Does he justify his actions as trying to stop a tyrant in the routes and stories you've seen? The snippets I saw made it sound like he was focused more on revenge.
Which is powerful, because he doesn't want to live at all, and it seems like this sketches out the beginnings of a redemption arc. If he could be willing to live, even knowing that Nobunaga is in power, maybe he could find a way to work towards healing his very wounded country in a way that is less destructive.
I don't think this is very plausible, but I do wonder if Nobunaga and Kennyo learning to work together could be an answer. SLBP!Nobunaga, at least, really genuinely cares about the people, even if he goes about it wrong a lot. Maybe IkeSen!Nobunaga just needs a spiritual advisor and/or someone willing to tell him to fuck off?
no subject
Does he justify his actions as trying to stop a tyrant in the routes and stories you've seen? The snippets I saw made it sound like he was focused more on revenge.
I'm reading him here more sympathetically than he reads himself, which is maybe unjustified. He's not in a place to even think that there might be good motivations or outcomes in what he's doing. He doesn't try to justify his actions in any way, which I sort of like.
Maybe IkeSen!Nobunaga just needs a spiritual advisor and/or someone willing to tell him to fuck off?
I'm thinking about Kennyo's death scene in SLBP and how thorougly Kennyo was able to call Nobunaga on his bad behavior. In that universe I can maybe imagine an AU in which Mitsuhide or Sen no Rikyu or someone else sympathetic to him was able to save Kennyo and he ended up in a spiritual advisor role to Nobunaga.
IkeSen Nobunaga is in some ways a harder problem because everything always goes well for him. SLBP Nobunaga has to deal with failure and the reality that no matter what he does, even when he takes a commoner wife, the commoners aren't in love with him. IkeSen Nobunaga has the Plot Gods on his side, Which is part of why I'm cheering for Kennyo, because *someone's* got to give Nobunaga a check of some kind. But I don't think I have a picture of how it could work yet.
no subject
I'm reading him here more sympathetically than he reads himself, which is maybe unjustified. He's not in a place to even think that there might be good motivations or outcomes in what he's doing. He doesn't try to justify his actions in any way, which I sort of like.
Oh, yeah, same. I do wonder if he and MC are going to have a talk about what he really wants and if there's a better way to achieve it.
In that universe I can maybe imagine an AU in which Mitsuhide or Sen no Rikyu or someone else sympathetic to him was able to save Kennyo and he ended up in a spiritual advisor role to Nobunaga.
Hmm, maybe! I can see that! And I think SLBP Kennyo is enough of a pragmatist that he might go for that, as well as enough of a pragmatist that Nobunaga would listen in a way he won't to Rikyu.
IkeSen Nobunaga has the Plot Gods on his side, Which is part of why I'm cheering for Kennyo, because *someone's* got to give Nobunaga a check of some kind. But I don't think I have a picture of how it could work yet.
Hmm...I could see IkeSen Nobunaga being willing to make peace with Kennyo, if Kennyo was willing to make peace with him. IkeSen Nobunaga just seems to roll with things a lot and seems in love with novelty - he turns the MC into his lucky charm and chatelaine just because she's weird and pretty and she saved his life this one time!
And if MC marries Kennyo, I guess that's a reason to keep Kennyo around and listen to both of them?
no subject
http://www.hongwanji.or.jp/english/history/
So a route in which Kennyo marries MC and rebuilds his monastery would be actually sort of plausible. Hm. And yeah, IkeSen Nobunaga does like to roll with things, and is pretty happy to ally with Shingen in almost all the routes, so maybe peace would be possible.
I would love to see SLBP Kennyo and Nobunaga conspiring together! They'd have a lot to talk about: how to get the 'common people' on your side while doing everything you want, how to use inspiring but false narratives to motivate people, how to create unity while keeping the power for yourself. Working together they'd be amazing.
no subject
Yeah, that does sound plausible. And I could see Kennyo being happy that way.
They'd have a lot to talk about: how to get the 'common people' on your side while doing everything you want, how to use inspiring but false narratives to motivate people, how to create unity while keeping the power for yourself. Working together they'd be amazing.
Yes, and those conversations would be amazing to listen in on! I imagine there would be a lot of insults tossed around all the while -- I think Nobunaga only really learns things when people are yelling at him and calling him a fool.
Also, MC and Kennyo would really be fascinating, given that she is a common person and also a true idealist (and she tends to think about things in terms of black and white). I would love to see him pick apart Nobunaga's MC's motivations in the same way he does Nobunaga's, and I would love to see her give him one of her "the reason you suck" speeches in return.
no subject
Since you mentioned wanting fic recs, here's a slow-burn Kennyo fic that I enjoyed. Warning: it's an unfinished WIP
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18610567
no subject
https://acrispyapple.tumblr.com/post/189371290527/kennyos-route-pv-ikesen-jp-route-release-on
Wow, that cg is lovely.
no subject
The use of color and lighting is amazing. It feels almost watercolory to me? Not an artist.
And I'm definitely excited about the blade cg.