I started with Rurouni Kenshin and ended up in Hakuouki.
I did not know what Rurouni Kenshin is about, and now I'm intrigued!
I've been also thinking of it as something of a Buddhist parable, in which human warriors, furies and demons all try to figure out who is strongest and the answer is that no one is because the cycle of suffering is inescapable. In the end all the warriors of all kinds end up putting down their swords because what else can you do.
I can see that.
None of the routes I've seen so far have really presented much of a middle ground between "fade into obscurity", "die in battle", and "raise an army, murder everyone, rule" (every single villain in the routes I've played).
The game feels very ambivalent on honor, to me (and I think proving who is strongest is tied to that, especially for both Sannan and Kazama, who tie strength to worthiness). It feels like the game sometimes glamorizes honor, but at the same time, it doesn't exactly present good things happening because of the honor, either. The characters get a happy ending only when they back away from the idea of their honor, and for Kondou and Hijikata, the honor seems muddled by their ambition. And there was that bit with Itou, which I think was supposed to be read as horrifying.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2019-11-05 07:36 pm (UTC)I did not know what Rurouni Kenshin is about, and now I'm intrigued!
I've been also thinking of it as something of a Buddhist parable, in which human warriors, furies and demons all try to figure out who is strongest and the answer is that no one is because the cycle of suffering is inescapable. In the end all the warriors of all kinds end up putting down their swords because what else can you do.
I can see that.
None of the routes I've seen so far have really presented much of a middle ground between "fade into obscurity", "die in battle", and "raise an army, murder everyone, rule" (every single villain in the routes I've played).
The game feels very ambivalent on honor, to me (and I think proving who is strongest is tied to that, especially for both Sannan and Kazama, who tie strength to worthiness). It feels like the game sometimes glamorizes honor, but at the same time, it doesn't exactly present good things happening because of the honor, either. The characters get a happy ending only when they back away from the idea of their honor, and for Kondou and Hijikata, the honor seems muddled by their ambition. And there was that bit with Itou, which I think was supposed to be read as horrifying.