Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu: Anime vs Manga
So, I know I was supposed to post this a few months ago, but to be honest, I’ve been having a hard time dealing with a depressive episode, but here I am trying to pull myself together, and I thought analyzing something I love would be of help, so here I am.
With that said, let’s start:
Episode 2 v Chapter 2-3
Something I always thought was funny but weird, is that chapter 2 starts with this omake:
Anyway, the 2nd episode of the manga starts right after the touken danshi defeated the retrograde army, the manga takes part of that in its second chapter, so the swords are called for battle on this chapter. Now the second episode starts when they’re running to the castle while, in this part, the manga takes the time for the Saniwa to explain the touken danshi what their new mission is, and also...
So, everyone knows they have to prove themselves in order to be selected as captain, but also the decision of putting them together as an unit has already been made, so they have to put some extra effort to get chosen as the leader.
The next big change between formats is that, in the anime Mutsunokami comfronts the retrograde army with Yangen and Tonbokiri’s help only and they cut to show Kane-san, Kunihiro, the Saniwa and Konnosuke arriving to the scene after the others are gone, the manga shows us they just arrived a few moments later.
And the result of that was an argument similar to the one they had on episode 4 in the anime.
I think this change works for the narrative. In the anime, I got to feel Mutsunokami refused to follow Kane-san orders only because they were the swords of 2 men that were enemies, or even just because they didn’t stand each other. With this we see since the beginning they have different philosophies, that they can’t tolerate the same things, and that Mutsunokami is also willing to fight the way he thinks is right, by himself.
But I also think this was usefull to the Saniwa, as a way to observe the swords reaction to the situation, what each one stands for, and what each one needs to learn from eachother, so, after Konnosuke questions the selection of members for this unit, the Saniwa is pretty confident, this is going to work. On the other hand, it’s pretty obvious the Saniwa decieded who the captain would be after listening to Kane-san’s plan of action, so maybe trusted the uchigatana would be a wise leader for the rest of them, knowing how to guide them and how to proceed in every situation they could get involved during missions.
The next change, that can be kind of obvious is that, when they are reunited after defeating the retrograde army, in the anime they’re just trying to guess what the intentions of the enemy are.
In the manga, as they were told the result of this mission would determine who the captain will be, they talk about how they did.
Basically, the one who atively wanted to be captain was Mutsunokami, therefore his reaction after the Saniwa announced the decision.
Another thing we can get from here is that Kane-san wasn’t actallu trying to get to be chosen as captain, and Mutsunokami is upset about that, but I do think Saniwa chose Kane-san because, well, “give the power to those who don’t want it”, and also we all know, at this point of the story, Mutsunokami would actually change the story in order to save everyone.
As I said, these interactions make more sense to me as why Mutsunokami doesn’t want to follow Kane-san orders. I mean, in the anime is obvious they aren’t bff, but they have a more playful attitude towards each other.
The part where the Saniwa is affected by staying too much time in the past stays pretty much the same, so let’s move forward to the inn part, and the start of the manga 3rd episode.
While in the anime, the fisrt introduction we have at their time in the inn is Mutsunokami waking up (wich actually happens after a couple of pages in the manga) to take breakfast, the first thing we see on this chapter of the manga is this:
In the anime, we see Kane-san left a note for the rest of the team, but in the manga we get to see the actual leaving, where there was no note, but Yagen and Tombokiri aren’t actually asleep, but pretending to be, so they acknowledge his captain leaving, and the new member following him. This coud be taken as him not taking them on count not even to let them know what he’s doing, but I get the vibes he’s just used to do the things by himself, also we can say he was just taking the responsability as captain and letting his unit rest, trusting he would return soon enough. What he didn’t take on count was Kunihiro waking up to following him. I guess we all can conclude he just wanted to stay by his partner side, and who would blame him? - either if you want to see this as a romantic or a fraternal way- this was one of the very few times they will get to spend time only the two of them from now on.
Another thing we got to see in the anime is that, even though they’re not used to be around these persons like this, but it’s not like it is uncomfortable for them, also, Kane-san seems to have some temple and be in control of the situation.
In the manga, we can feel the tension in the air, and that Kane-san doesn’t know what to do quite well.
Here’s where Kane-san deciedes to do the “introduction” thing.
I’d like to high light how the expressions and body language gives us a deeper reflection of each one’s personality. I like to think this version of Kane-san is more relaxed and not that much in control, Mutsunokami is kinda sassy (at least to me), and Kunihiro is even more polite (and cute).
Also, they gwt to have more interaction with each other since the beginning -and all along the manga- like this one:
The reason I like this part (that wasn’t in the anime), is because they -specially Mutsunokami- try to integrate the newbie to te group, also Kane-san gets protective of the boy, in his own way. Besides, Kunihiro tries to distract them and be a mediator so they don’t start a figth. This gives us a look of how the future interactios of these 3 will be.
Another small reaction that wasn’t in the anime is when Mutsunokami shows off his gun.
In the anime there’s no reaction, but here we see this actually shakes the wakisahi, and his partner notices. I think this is a sneak peek of the trauma the boy has with his master death.
From here, there’s no major changes inbetween both formats except for this conversation at the harbor:
Also, the end of the episode is the same of the chapter, so next post I’ll do the comparison of episode 3 and chapter 4-5.
Also, I want to apologize if this post was not as good as you expected, I don’t feel well yet, but I decieded to try and continue with this “series”, else it felt like I would drop this project again, just as a lot of things. I’llmtry to do a better job next time.
