"The Warring Age"
"On the battlefield, there were samurai."
"On the land, there were peasants."
"Beyond the flames of war, the merchants watched."
"It was the samurai who held the era."
"The merchants bought the era, and put an end to the war."
"The samurai, having lost the era, became bandits."
"The peasants still remained on the land."
"The bandits' swords turned toward the peasants."
"Their resounding mobility was the object of the peasants terror. And then..."
Um, Samurai-sama....?
Wait just a moment. First, I need to fill my stomach.
O- okay...
Grandfather was right. Samurai are hungry.
Are you trying to mock me?! I aspire to greater things!
I will not accept your offerings!
I may be down and out but I am still a warrior!
Oh, she's a fine one, huh?
She is a peasant.
She is indeed a diamond in the rough. She will shine, if polished, I bet.
Young Lord...
Cut down the bandits, huh?
All that we peasants can offer as thanks is this.
Eat as much of this rice as you like.
Kirara.
Kirara? Nice. Very nice, that's pretty.
She did it!
I was sure that you would save me. I believed it.
Being able to understand each other,
and to share with each other,
are both as short-lived as a bubble on the water.
Obscured by the sands of time,
unable to hold on,
I gave up, until I saw you again, asking
"How much pain
have you been carrying, all alone?
And how much loneliness
is hidden behind your eyes when you smile?"
Embrace this miracle of an encounter now,
By gazing upon each other, we can become stronger.
And if this isn't what you call love,
then what is it you call love now?
--Sister! --Mikumari-sama!
I'm sorry to have worried you, Komachi.
Samurai-sama...
Kanbe-sama saved me.
Um... what about Katsuchiro-sama?
Well...
This will give him a good opportunity to come to know himself.
A good opportunity... to know himself?
That hurt!
Are you alive?
Oh, you are alive. Well, let's go.
Kikuchiyo-dono!
Ee-yow!
--Lousy, worn-out heap! --Kikuchiyo-dono, are you all right?
It's no use... it's no use...
Sure enough, I knew this would happen.
Yo, Master Masamune, I'm all run down here again, you see?!
It's your body, after all. You should take better care of it.
Who are you?
Sonny, bring that arm that's hanging there behind you over here, would you?
I have heard. What are you afraid of?
Samurai came...
Samurai tried to cut me down...
Nobody can cut you down.
You are the influential successor to Maro, Master of Kogakyo.
You are my son. No samurai can cut you down.
Then, why would he interfere with me?
If he interferes, he should be destroyed.
That's right...
I should do that to him, huh?
The samurai?
The mechanical one. I hate mechanical samurai.
What shall we do about the girl?
I sure do want her. I'm beginning to want her even more than before.
Yo, Katsu-noji!
How long are you going to keep brooding?!
Cut it out. I don't know what's goin' on, exactly,
but you should probably leave him alone.
You there! You there, sir!
Yes, you!
What's this?
Search me. First time I've seen him.
Young one, you're deprressed! You're so depressed!
Whoa, hold on!
How improper of me! From my long stint as a performer,
I seem to have developed a bad habit of being too forward.
You'll have to forgive me.
Who are you, then?
Oh, I should have said so earlier. They call me Katayama Gorobe.
If you could remember me henceforth...
And just what business does Katayama so-and-so have with me?
Why don't you entertain yourself somewhat before going on?
Despite how I may appear, I was once a samurai, you see.
But, the times being what they are,
my katana now only supplements my work as a performer.
I used the skills I gained during the time of war to earn my daily bread.
You use your katana to do tricks?!
What kind of tricks, eh?
Kikuchiyo-dono!
Katsu-noji, you're sure stewing over something or other. You shouldn't do that.
At your age, you shouldn't be thinking about anything,
except enjoying yourself and having a good time of it!
I'll do nothing of the sort!
Then, what exactly do you have there?
Sir, how good of you to mention the same thing I was thinking.
You are exactly right. Would you care to make a wager with me?
A wager?
Yes.
Have you any experience with the bow?
Of course.
That is good. Well then, with this arrow, aim for me, right here.
This is going to be cool, huh?
I will catch in my hand the arrow that you shoot at me.
If I fail in this grand contest, my life will meet its end.
If I lose, I ought to die, but if I win, you shall see to my meals this day.
That is the arrangement.
Here.
Very well.
This is an interesting man. He says he is a samurai, too.
That guy is no samurai any longer!
Is that right?
Now then, now then, watch on! A grand contest, focusing on my life,
where whether I live or die is up to destiny!
Okay, young one! Aim well! Right here!
Look now, right here.
This is absurd.
Flirting around with the taking of life is not a thing a samurai would do.
Are you too nervous, young one?
What did you say?! Would you mock me?!
All right, just for you, I will come a little closer. Come on, right here.
Come on!
He went and did it.
Yeah...
He up and shot him!
This is why I can't abide samurai!
Thank you for bringing Ukyo back.
If he had died on me,
then all of the money I have spent up to now would have been wasted.
Yes, sir.
This is the merchant's city.
If the samurai start throwing their weight around, our social standing will be disrupted.
Is that mechanical samurai an associate of the bandits?
No. I have never seen his model before. It is possible that he is nonstandard.
Hmm. I heard that he had company.
There was one youngster with him.
Kill that one too. And the peasants, as well.
The young lord desires the girl.
Remind him of his place.
As you wish.
Katsushiro-sama!
Kirara-dono, you are safe!
Kanbe-sama!
What?! Did you say Kanbe?!
Hey, you dirty samurai! What the hell are you doing there?!
So, it is you.
The bandits will be cut down by me! Me! Me!
You get lost!
Take good care of that fighting spirit of yours.
You don't get it, you bastard! Hey, hold up! Hold up!
I just heard. You were the one who saved Kirara-dono?
It appears your first battle was a painful one.
Thank you very much!
Kirara-dono, forgive me!
Katsuchiro-sama...
I was unable to protect you. Despite telling you not to let go of my hand,
I was the one who let go of yours!
What's worse, it was Kikuchiyo-dono that cut down those outlaws.
I was felled immediately by them, and in my state...
How pathetic I am! I am ashamed to have called myself a samurai!
It's all right, Katsuchiro-sama. After all, everyone came out unharmed.
Kanbe-dono was right. If I cannot even protect you,
how am I to protect a whole village from the bandits?
That won't cut it, Katsu-noji!
You broke it!
Stop, Kiku-noji!
I won't rest until I've had a word with this dirty samurai!
Look here! This is your rice!
Do you know how much sweat these folks put into growing this rice?!
No, you don't! You're a samurai, after all!
They feed you this rice, while they eat this!
Go to their village! You're the one who saved the girl.
Is that what you call a losing battle?! If you still won't go after that,
then I will cut you down right here!
Why, you... let go!
I have made up my mind.
What are you talking about now?!
Which one of us didn't give the other a chance to speak?
Ah, right...
I have accepted that you have placed your resolve in my skill.
I will go to your village.
I shall not eat this rice uncaringly.
Thank you so much!
They finally caught themselves a samurai!
How's that?
Feels like I could even beat Kanbe now.
You could spend the rest of your life trying, but you'll never beat that man.
Bite your tongue!
There are no obstructions around it, then? Defending the bluff will be difficult.
Sensei, if we procure weapons in the city here, and then train the villagers...
This is a battle, not a game. Defending is a more difficult task than attacking.
Right, Sensei.
Stop that! I don't remember ever asking you to call me "Sensei."
Even if you haven't accepted me as your apprentice, you are still a teacher.
That's the spirit, Katsu-noji!
I'm just expressing my honest feelings.
Don't.
Right, don't.
Komachi...
Both Katsushiro-sama and Nunky there are samurai that are coming to the village.
You shouldn't be arguing.
No, we're not taking either of them to the village.
Sensei!
You're not what?!
What we need are samurai.
I'm gonna get some sleep!
You say the main force of the bandits consists of 40 units...
Yeah, thereabouts.
Benigumo and Raiden models. Sounds like reinforcing our arms will be inevitable.
War is not something you can fight without warm bodies.
Now then, I'd like to have seven of us, including myself.
Seven...
Grandfather said we'd need four.
We can't take Nunky?
We can't go against the samurai-sama.
If that's what Kanbe-sama says, then we don't have any choice.
With that settled, let's go into the city. We have to find the remaining six.
Mikumari-sama, if you would, please stay here.
Why?
Some outlaw band might come after you again, Mikumari-sama.
That's right!
The city has turned out to be a much, much more scary place than we thought.
It's no place to be going sightseeing.
We cannot protect the village by being afraid.
Yeah, but...
Be cautious.
Right.
Missy...
Take heart. I know of an interesting man who could be your first samurai.
Hmm, that does sound interesting.
Go see them, and they'll feed me rice, huh?
Sister! They're back!
Hide yourself by the entrance and hold that aloft.
What for?
When the samurai enters, hit him as hard as you can.
Understood.
If you would come through here...
I appreciate it.
Hmm, you must be joking.
Well done!
Oh, you're calling me to be a multitude of reinforcements, then?
It is a battle with utterly no chance of distinction or prize.
The only reward to speak of will be a full stomach.
Let's do it.
Thank you so much!
Cut it out, all of you! I am not Buddha.
I do not go to the village out of pity, neither for what there is for me to eat.
I go, Kanbe-dono, because I wish to stand together on the battlefield with you.
I saw you put down that burglar earlier.
Truth be known, I was one among the crowd.
I haven't trembled like that in a long time.
Ah, everyone and his uncle is always Kanbe-dono this, Kanbe-dono that!
Oh, you're that guy who lost his head at the same time!
Shut up!
Get down!
What is it?
Thanks. I'm impressed that you knew.
It was the smell. Both the scent and the current of the air
are altered by the thirst for blood.
Earlier, I detected the same scent following you.
It was because I sensed that long-absent, familiar scent that I called you over.
Familiar scent, you say?
Of being soaked with blood.
What are you talking about?
You missed.
Does this mean the never-miss legend has finally come to an end?
You talk too much.
However, it looks like this will be fun for the first time in a while.
I'll agree with you there.
Katsushiro, watch after everyone!
Impressive!
We've hooked them.
You're pretty skilled, I'll give you that much.
Thanks.
Are you another samurai that was purchased by the peasants?
They make me feel good, you know?
Then you won't reconsider? In that case, I have little choice.
I must stop you.
For what reason?
What would you do if you knew?
Looks like you've caught Maro-sama's attention.
Maro-sama?
He's the father of Ukyo, the one who kidnapped you.
He's the administrator of this city.
It looks like you guys are going to have to do battle with Maro-sama
before doing battle with the bandits.
Let's let them have it!
Would you guys like to make a wager?
The old man merely gazed off into the distance
from the hideaway in which he lived.
The baby cries, seeking only
for the warmth of his mother.
We are born paying the price
for someone's punishment, for someone's sins,
but there is no such thing as a future without salvation,
and the present slips quietly into the past.
We string together nothing but hollow ideas,
and tell nothing but hollow lies.
And as the rain falls down upon us,
something appears and then fades away.
Okara-chan, it's Komachi. Listen to this, if you would!
We finally hired ourselves a samurai-sama!
It's Kanbe-sama, the one who was Sister's favorite candidate to hire.
Nunky Kiku-noji gave him a hard lecture, and Kanbe-sama came around.
Way to go, Nunky!
We were also able to hire another samurai, Gorobe-sama,
who has the scent of the battlefield about him.
I'm starting to understand more and more about the scent of the battlefield.
I wish Kanbe-sama and Gorobe-sama would try harder to take baths...
or to even just rinse themselves off.
I'm sure that's what the scent of the battlefield must be.
I'm quickly losing track of what kind of tastes Sister has.
By the way, Sister, what are you going to do about Katsushiro-sama?
Well, I'll write again soon. Bye now!