Bakumatsu Rock Episode 1
"Tokugawa Period"
Government Certified Top Idols
Okita Soji
Hijikata Toshizo
Hijikata-sama! You're so wonderful!
Okita-sama! You're the best!
For every set of Shinsengumi member pictures
from troops one through ten you buy,
you'll get concert lottery tickets!
Concert
The person with the most tickets will have an advantage!
I'll take ten!
It's only natural to buy ten or twenty at once!
I'll take twenty!
If I don't see Okita-sama perform live,
there's no point to living in the capital!
That's right! You have to hear their songs live!
Sakamoto Ryoma
Hey, girls!
Listen to my song!
What are you doing?
Cutting the line for concert tickets.
And making your weird shamisen screech.
Er, This isn't a shamisen—
Shut up. I can't hear Okita-sama's solo.
Go away. Shoo, shoo.
Shoo, shoo? What am I? A dog?
Just listen to my song on—
That's...
...a guitar.
Peace Soul! Let's Rock!
Miss, more sake!
Di Telada
Where's our pizza?
Coming!
Hey, take it to their table!
Here's Alberco di Telada's famous Pizza Margherita.
So this is pizza. I've never had it before.
How do you eat it?
Well, sir...
First, you cut it like this.
Then you grab this part, roll it up, and...
Don't eat that!
All you have to do is explain it to them.
If I send you out for deliveries, you get lost.
If I have you wash dishes, you break them all.
You really are useless.
Go out back and do your job.
What job?
The only job you can do right.
Good grief.
Your dream of coming to the capital and becoming
a successful musician is getting farther and farther away.
Don't worry about that, Yataro.
A respected master told me.
My songs have passion.
But Ryo-san, it's not easy for anything but
the government's Heaven's Song to get approval in the capital or Edo.
That's not true.
My songs will be approved any day now!
You're optimistic.
I'm going out.
What's this?
Are you going to sing on the side of the road again tonight?
Yeah, to convey my passion!
See you later!
You're just going to be barked at by dogs again.
Tonight, I'll even move those dogs!
Welcome back. Was everyone moved?
They threw rocks at me.
Were the dogs moved?
They pissed on me.
Why don't they understand my music?
Sake, huh?
I don't feel like drinking.
Have this, too.
Pizza Margherita!
In this era, the government's warriors sing.
Warriors used to wear swords and inspire fear in us common folk.
Now they sing and dance and are highly sought after.
The songs of warriors whose true occupation isn't music are everything.
But I won't give up.
That's the spirit, Ryo-chan.
Yeah!
It's strange.
Your music just sounds like noise now, but when I look at you,
I feel like it'll make me a lot of money someday.
Yeah. I'll pay you back for taking me and Yataro in after we
collapsed in the street.
Besides,
you look very delicious.
The capital sure is a dangerous place.
The depths of my mind are directly stimulated by passion
What is...
A shooting star.
Wh-What's going on?
Another dream about Katsurahama.
Until then, I sang alone.
But since that shooting star fell,
I wanted everyone to hear my songs and be recognized for them.
That's right.
Listen to my music!
Hear me shout!
Shut up!
The noise you're making is interfering with my business!
My child can't fall asleep! You're a nuisance!
I won't give up!
Your guitar sounds pretty cool.
Kid! You know this is a guitar?
In Edo, they're all being confiscated by government
officials as part of their guitar hunt.
Where'd you get that?
I got this from the shaggy master when I was in Tosa.
Shaggy master?
I don't know his name.
Aside from my boss and Yataro,
he was the first person to acknowledge my music.
But there are only three people who understand it.
It's four.
Huh?
Your music is passionate.
Really? You really think so, kid?
Yeah, I like it.
You're discerning, you pretty little boy.
All right! I'll sing for you!
Ryo-san! Ryo-san!
Yataro?
Look at this!
"Heaven's Song"
Audition?
The government's recruiting Heaven's Song singers.
If you pass, the government will grant you permission to sing.
I don't like Heaven's Song.
Ryo-san.
I refuse to sing songs I don't like.
Think about it.
If you're a government-approved singer,
you can probably sing your own songs.
My own songs?
First, wait for an opportunity to sing on a major stage.
Then deliver your music to the world.
My own songs on a major stage.
I get it! Then a lot of people would hear my music!
That's right.
All right! I'll go to this audition!
Yataro, let's give the government a scare!
That's the spirit, Ryo-san.
But first, I'm going to sing a song for this pretty, young...
Huh?
Where'd he go?
Let's go to the audition!
Yeah!
Ow! What was that for?
You may not audition without an invitation.
An invitation?
Come back when you get
an invitation from a Heaven's Song master or lord.
An invitation, huh?
Are you okay, Ryo-san?
Yataro, where did you go?
You looked like you were arguing, so I hid.
You coward.
Audition Space
I don't know where to get an invitation.
A master is a distinguished teacher.
A distinguished teacher...
Like the shaggy master!
The guy who gave you your guitar?
Yeah! He called himself a distinguished teacher!
He's self-appointed.
Audition Space
He's still a distinguished teacher! Who cares if he's self-appointed?
I'm gonna find him and get him to write me an invitation!
Hey, wait. How are you going to find him in the capital?
Good point.
All right! It looks just like him!
This is a person?
I feel like he's too shaggy.
No, he was this shaggy and cool.
You think this is cool?
We'll take this and look for him.
I don't know.
I don't know him.
I've never seen him.
This is him.
He's a shaggy person, not broccoli.
What's wrong? Do your stomachs hurt?
We lost the concert lottery!
Concert?
The Shinsengumi concert!
I used all my savings to buy twenty tickets, too!
I spent all my money on forty tickets!
I can't believe I lost!
How unlucky.
I wanted to hear Okita-sama sing.
I wanted to watch Hijikata-sama play.
He'll put on a concert for you.
His music is cool.
It's you, the discerning pretty boy!
This guy?
I heard him play before, but it was just loud.
How rude.
It's like... you call that Heaven's Song?
My songs aren't Heaven's Song!
What, then?
What are they?
My songs are my songs!
Clear your ears and listen to this!
What was that for?
What are you doing?
Where'd you get that guitar?
Are you one of those guitar-hunting officials?
No! Did you steal it? Take it? Plunder it? Filch it?
What'd you say?
You thief! What'd you do to Shoin-sensei?
Bastard!
Shinsaku.
Who are you calling a thief?
My name is Sakamoto Ryoma!
And that guitar was a gift!
Liar!
I'm not lying!
I'll beat the truth out of you, if I have to.
I don't know who you are, but I won't let you call me a thief.
Bring it on!
You don't need to tell me!
You've been saying nothing but that!
What was that for?
Shinsaku, calm down.
Don't try to stop me, Katsura-san.
I'll take this guy—
I told you to calm down.
Sorry for being so rough with you.
That guitar belongs to our master, Yoshida Shoin.
Your master?
Don't act like you don't know him.
You were asking around for him with this.
This is definitely Shoin-sensei.
It just looks like broccoli to me.
Would you mind explaining how you came into possession of this guitar?
How I got it?
Rolling lightning and flickering flashes
When I was singing in Tosa...
Bravo! Impressive!
Passion?
That's right. Your songs have passion. A burning spirit.
A burning spirit?
You can have this.
Play it with your soul.
Believe in your passion!
Your burning spirit!
Passion? That means Shoin-sensei...
He recognized your music as rock.
Rock? What's rock?
Rock is a new kind of music from the West.
It's a rebellious musical style that stands against stereotypes.
It's a wonderful music of passion and soul.
My music is rock?
What was that performance just now?
That crappy music isn't rock!
But Shinsaku, Shoin-sensei himself...
Katsura-san, I refuse to accept this guy!
My music is called rock.
It's a passionate and soulful style that
strongly opposes Western stereotypes.
Isn't it great?
Rock?
Hey, listen to me!
I know.
Listen to my song!
My samurai radar is responding.
Another incomprehensible invention?
You don't have to call it incomprehensible.
Look, they're here.
See? It's accurate.
I just heard a guitar being played here.
What? No way!
Is that Shinsengumi Eighth Unit captain, Todo Heisuke-sama?
You, there! That's a prohibited guitar!
I don't know about your prohibition, but yeah, it's a guitar.
Heaven's Song
You were just playing something other than Heaven's Song with that guitar.
Yeah! It's rock!
That idiot. Answering his question honestly...
I will confiscate your guitar!
And I will arrest those who play music other than Heaven's Song!
Heaven's Song
What'd you say?
This is the capital, not Edo. Aren't you going too far?
Kyoto and Edo are nothing before the authority of the government.
Well, we're here.
Shoin-sensei was right to be worried.
Shoin? Yoshida Shoin, huh?
The government is trying to control the country with Heaven's Song.
Most concert tickets go to the samurai class and wealthy merchants.
Only a few go to commoners.
Knowing this, you make them
Concert
use most of their money on concert lottery tickets to restrict their lives.
You're well-informed.
You dare voice an opinion against the government?
Arrest him!
You're just as guilty for listening! Arrest them!
Hey, those girls have nothing to—
Arrest me, arrest me!
Am I dreaming?
I'm being arrested by the Shinsengumi!
I'll get to see Okita-sama!
Whoa, whoa.
Dissenters, come quietly!
Run, guys!
Idiot! You should run, too!
I won't run.
You've got guts.
What's wrong with listening to the music I like?
Music should be enjoyed freely!
Music that restricts freedom isn't music!
Rock won't be beaten by violence that restricts freedom!
Well said.
He's passionate.
Music is free! It's the cry of our hearts!
Action!
The depths of my mind are directly
Stimulated by passion... What is this?
A truth I've never experienced
Is unmistakably burning
I run, I stop, I get lost and sparks crackle and fly
That light...
Is that the light of the Peace Soul Shoin-sensei told us about?
Who is this guy? My body's on fire!
Adding the soul of sound to this voice and letting it fly
I won't let you leave me out!
Rolling lightning and flickering flashes
Piercing a belief I cannot abandon
Rolling thunder and unparalleled brilliance
Composing a rolling no one can enter
Hear this transcendent soul
Nijo Castle
I have a message for the shogun!
Please let me pass!
The shogun hasn't been feeling well.
I will make the report.
But I was told to inform the shogun directly.
The message.
Do you have an objection to Chief Minister Ii Naosuke
delivering the message?
Please excuse me.
Yoshinobu-sama,
it seems men singing rock have appeared in the city.
On top of that, they triggered the Peace Soul.
But there is no need to worry.
We have one of the Peace Souls.
I heard it with my ears and felt it in my skin.
Rock is amazing. It surpasses Heaven's Song.
Let me speak with Kondo-san.
Kondo-san is at the castle.
Besides, there's no way Kondo-san would be interested in rock.
But—
If you don't stop complaining...
...I'll kill you.
Soji, don't.
Hijikata-san.
Todo, did you actually hear this rock?
I did. So did my men.
It's amazing.
Shut up.
Welcome back, Kondo-san.
I received a message from Chief Minister Ii Naosuke-sama.
A proclamation from the government
will be issued soon in the capital, as well.
It's almost time.
Hey.
What are you doing?
Let's shake hands and make up.
Now we're friends.
What?
I was moved.
I had no idea how fun it was to rock out with like-minded friends.
By friends, do you mean us?
I don't accept this. I refuse to accept this.
Now, now.
Um... What are your names?
I'm Katsura Kogoro.
This is Takasugi Shinsaku.
I see. Nice to meet you, Cindy.
Who are you calling Cindy?
Shinsaku sounds too refined.
Don't you agree, Sensei?
Sensei? You mean me?
Yeah.
Because you're smart.
What a normal reason.
I can make it with you guys. I know it.
Let's rock together!
I refuse to call your music rock.
Don't be so upset, Cindy.
Don't call me Cindy!
The government will have their eyes on those who rock.
Do you still want to do it?
Of course.
The government ain't nothing when you've got friends.
Today marks the beginning of my... our rock!
I'm going to see a Top Idol Shinsengumi concert with Cindy and Sensei.
Top Idol! Rampage at a Concert!
In the next episode, I'll go on a rampage there.
Top Idol! Rampage at a Concert!
Don't miss it!
You can watch it lying down if you want.