Yeah, another 7 months away from my blog...but this time my excuse is really good!!!! SRSLY~ I have landed in sword hell...well, I am still in there and don't want to come out but I need to write this down...so...here goes~
I had quite the interesting conversation some time ago about whether Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru and its 2nd season is a good interpretation of the Touken Ranbu franchise or not. One reason I heard that supposedly makes it bad is that the swords in the show appear "out of order". If you don't know the game you might ask yourself "What the f*** is she talking about? What order?". Let me explain~ As the game is developed bit by bit and each month there is new content, there also is an order on which swords appeared or more accurate were implemented. In short: There were certain swords when the game was first released and over time new sword were added. But the implementation of a certain sword doesn't mean that you will automatically get them at the time of their release. For example you might have bad luck at smithing or you just started when most of the swords were already in the game.
So far, so confusing, right? Now Hanamaru took the stage and the order established in the game was broken down. Swords that were implemented later appeared in the citadel earlier than swords who were implemented way before. So, does changing the order make Hanamaru a bad anime? I don't think so because each player gets swords earlier or later regardless of when they were implemented.
Lets take me for example ;) The latest sword that was implemented was Hyuuga Masamune. I got him pretty fast but I still haven't received Kikkou Sadamune, a sword implemented already in 2016. I mean, I already got so many swords that were put in the game later. Looking at you Daihannya <3 So, even though I knew he was already in the games code I did not yet receive him. Keeping that in mind and looking back at Hanamaru it makes sense how they made the swords appear.
Furthermore there is the issue of transferring game content (that is not a visual novel) into an anime. The game itself does not have a coherent story. It is an assortment of different stories from different time periods put under one roof. You are putting swords into teams at random, going to different stages with teams that have no connection to this stage whatsoever. The player can decide for themselves if they want to keep grinding a certain stage or go on further. Sure, there are certain swords that are bound to appear earlier because of the games mechanics but Hanamaru did get that right. Also the anime depicts the life in the citadel, there is no player having the power over the game. Sure there is a Saniwa making swords appear, like the player does, but they also are a part of the citadel unlike the player who only is an onlooker.
To put it simply: The story in Hanamaru is right in the middle of the action, there are no announcements of which sword is implemented next and which event is on now. All the swords are already available from the get go, now only the power put into the Ofuda and smithing decides who will appear next. Also there are no duplicates in Hanamaru...why not complain about that? Where is the stack of Kane-sans? Where do all the Yagens hide? Where are my 10 Tsurus and my 5 Kogis? I mean there are a lot of points to complain about in Hanamaru but the order of appearance sure isn't one in my opinion. It would have been totally weird if they had introduced the swords in order of implementation. I mean how the he*** did Jiji appear so fast in the citadel? HOW????Not complaining though~
Sorry~ for that rant but I had to get that off my chest *sighs* I really like Hanamaru and I really want to like the 2nd season as well. There sure are a lot of points to complain about - the anime is by no means perfect. Just, in my opinion picking on the "wrong" order of appearance is just nitpicky. Complain about how the new swords don't get enough screentime, how season 2 tries to relive jokes from season 1 or how there is no interaction between the Tenka Goken...or the weird pacing...I would understand all these points because I complain about them too. To critique these points makes total sense but the wrong order...just nah~
