Shonen Jump: The History of Friendship, Effort, and Victory.

Jump’s motto of friendship, effort, and victory has basically become the image of Jump’s titles. With most of Jump’s titles having these concepts interwoven into their narratives in some way or another. Whether they’re romcoms, action, sport, or gag titles, any of these genres can have the motto that represents Jump. Aside from DeathNote I struggle to name too many other big Jump titles that don’t have these concepts in someway interwoven into their stories (if you have any more examples feel free to tell me). So, where did this motto come from and what’s the history behind it? Well, most people would probably point to Dragon Ball for creating it, that is if they only know 10 shonen series and don’t do their research. And with that, let me sit you down and explain the history of Jump’s motto. 

The 60’s - Pioneer(s)

It’s interesting to note that Jump was at one point not the biggest shonen magazine, or even the biggest magazine period, and that mainly has to do with the fact that it’s several years younger than two of its biggest competitors, Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine which already had strong followings due to early success in the 60’s thanks to titles such as Gegege no Kitaro and Star of the Giants for Magazine, and Osomatsu-kun and Dororo for Sunday. Jump had no identity, and was the newborn baby of the shonen manga world. So what the editorial staff decided to do, was instead of hiring veterans like Tezuka or Ishinomori, they got young and unheard of rookies do come in and start publishing manga to get Jump moving, and it worked. In particular there was one title that I want to focus on that came from this batch, and that manga is Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho which is the first Shonen Jump manga to receive a TV anime adaptation, and was a major pioneer in what would eventually become Jump’s identity. I won’t be going into too much detail about Otoko Ippiki as there is a really good twitter post going into great detail about the manga and it’s editorial influence which I will link as I highly recommend it. Basically, Otoko Ippiki is Jump’s first battle manga, it’s a manga about a young boy who wants to be the strongest gang leader and who gets into a lot of fights with other gangs before the manga becomes a political commentary in the second half. The manga is the embodiment of friendship, effort and victory, and these concepts were massively tied into its narrative from the friendship of the main character and his followers, to the effort he puts into becoming the strongest gang leader, to the victories he achieves in his fights.Hell the manga was one of, if not the first to have a noticeable female fanbase as well, with it attracting plenty of female readers. However, despite this, Otoko Ippiki was not the title to coin the motto, it was mainly a title that simply had these themes and concepts embedded into its narrative and that was all. But, it did lead to that motto being coined, as the manga would go on to become a big influence to a little known high schooler by the name of Masami Kurumada. 

The 70’s - Establisher(s)

It is important to note that Otoko Ippiki wasn’t the only title to have the concept of friendship, effort, and victory implemented in its manga before Jump’s motto was coined, as sports titles like Play Ball and Samurai Giants also very much carried these concepts into their stories which are fairly common in sports titles. But to leave off from where we left off in the 60’s, a highschooler by the name of Masami Kurumada was heavily inspired by Otoko Ippiki to eventually become a mangaka and write battle manga with similar themes and concepts that resonated with him from Otoko Ippiki. These themes and concepts of course being what would later go on to become Jump’s motto. This, combined with Kurumada’s influence from another manga by the name of Ashita no Joe, would lead to the creation of his super powered boxing title Ring ni Kakero. If Otoko Ippiki was Jump’s first battle manga, than Ring ni Kakero was the first one with super powers. Ring ni Kakero, was huge during its publication. I won’t go into much detail on the manga as there is a great blog post that talks about what the manga is about and gives it more justice than I ever could (which I will also link, as it’s a good read). Ring ni Kakero, was very successful, and the manga would go on to be credited as the title that helped Jump reach 3 million readers, and because of all the money it was making it ended up helping in creating a new building for Shonen Jump. But that’s not all, the title is also credited as the one that officially established Jump’s motto of friendship, effort, and victory, which is the motto that defines the magazine to this day. Ring ni Kakero was even listed as the title that helped bring female readers into Jump permanently, carrying over from what Otoko Ippiki did. But even with all of that, that isn’t all it did.

Kurumada ended up also inspiring a duo of mangaka that he was good friends with, this duo was Yudetemago, the duo who created Kinnikuman. With how successful Ring ni Kakero was as a battle title, Yudetemago became inspired to switch Kinnikuman from a gag manga, to a battle manga about pro wrestling, and Kinnikuman went a long way in helping establish the blueprint of Jump’s motto by having these concepts being tied to every aspect of the manga’s story when the focus shifted, which helped inspire many young children at the time, with many of these children going on to become mangaka for the magazine themselves and to name a few these authors include: Eiichiro Oda, Tite Kubo, and Yoshihiro Togashi, who have all cited Kinnikuman as an influence in some way or another. I will leave you on that.

The 80’s - Solidifier(s)

With the 80’s came the conclusion of Ring ni Kakero, and after all it had done for the magazine, Shonen Jump went out of their way to give it a fully colored final chapter as a send off, and as a thank you for everything it ended up doing for Jump. This fully colored final chapter is an honor that only 3 other titles have received since Ring ni Kakero’s conclusion. The 80’s also saw the explosion in popularity of romance titles, with series like Touch and Urusei Yatsura being two of the biggest, and every magazine was starting to jump on the bandwagon to ride off the success, though ironically Jump did not jump on this bandwagon, which we can mainly thank the author of Otoko Ippiki; Hiroshi Motomiya who told the editorial staff to instead go against the trend, and to focus on creating battle titles. This idea, would later go on to create Fist of the North Star, as Jump teamed up Buronson and Tetsuo Hara to create a popular battle title, and boy was it ever popular. Fist of the North Star, took the blueprint of Jump’s motto that Ring ni Kakero laid out, and took it in it’s own direction while still carrying the core concepts.

Battle titles weren’t the only things carrying these concepts, as I stated sports, romance, and gag titles all did it as well. With series like Dr. Slump, Captain Tsubasa, and Kimagure Orange Road being some of the biggest titles for these individual genres at the time. They all tied Jump’s new motto into their stories and took off in their own directions. Kimagure Orange Road in particular being one of Jump’s most popular romcoms ever, embodies the motto of Jump, from the friendship that the main trio develops, to the effort they put into their daily lives as students, to the victories that come with their successes in life.

On the other hand, we come back to where we started the post off with; Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball may not have been the title that created or established Jump’s motto, but it was a title that alongside Kurumada’s own Saint Seiya, went out of it’s way to set the motto into stone thanks to their immense popularity and influence which would go on to continue inspiring artists in the future, which would lead to the tradition of the motto being carried over into the 90’s, the 2000’s, the 2010’s, all the way to the present day. Not just continuing in battle titles, sports titles, gag titles, and romcom titles either, but in just about every other genre that would be published in Jump as well as the years went by solidifying Jump’s identity as one that will last for many years to come.

The 90’s: The Continuer(s) 

With the 90’s, Dragon Ball continued its dominance in Jump, and a surge of battle manga started appearing, shifting Jump’s focus for many years to come. Popular titles like Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ninku, and Hareluya II BOY all came out at this time and they all helping in laying down Jump’s identity in the same way the 80’s did. Of course these weren’t the only titles, as Dragon Quest Dai no Daibouken and Rokudenashi Blues still continued alongside Dragon Ball, and they too were massive contributors in this path that Jump would continue. Battle manga weren’t the only thing thriving however, Slam Dunk was also publishing during this time and was on par with Dragon Ball with it’s popularity, if not even more popular, and it too went out of it’s way to continue solidifying Jump’s identity. Speaking of sports titles, Captain Tsubasa showed it still had the power to captivate Japan even with Slam Dunk exploding in popularity, with its sequel based on the World Championship being a huge success and similar to Kurumada, Yoichi also continued where he left off in helping solidify Jump’s status.

Even with the late 90’s being the Dark Age of Jump’s circulation, it continued to create titles that would go on to continue helping establish Jump with titles like Sexy Commando Masaru, Houshin Engi, I’s, and many more that I will mention in the 2000’s. I especially want to mention Masaru as it’s a gag manga that embodied Jump’s motto in the most bizarre way possible. Similar to Kimagure Orange Road, it ended u[ showing that the motto doesn’t only apply to battle manga and sports titles, but that it can also be applied to practically anything, and Masaru shows that gag manga too can embody the motto. Despite it being so ridiculous and a huge joke, the manga still very much carried the motto into a bizarre direction, only further solidifying that Jump’s motto could be applied to anything, such as the bizarre friendship that forms from the Sexy Commando Club, to the effort they put into their ridiculous traning of the Sexy Commando fighting style, to the often stupid and hilarious victories they achieve in their “fights”. The 90’s was a time that basically continued where the 80’s left off.

The 2000’s: World Wide Mainstream

Our final decade (won’t be covering the 2010’s-modern era as I feel that Jump’s popular enough nowadays to the point where everyone is aware of the modern era), is the 2000’s, a time where Jump had recently recovered from the Dark Age after the endings of Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk in 1995 and 1996 respectively, with their final chapters being published in full color, becoming the 2nd and 3rd titles in Jump history to receive the honor. The ending of both titles caused a 2.5 million drop in circulation for the magazine, which caused a panic of sorts, and with the endings of titles like Yu Yu Hakusho, Dai no Daibouken, Rokudenashi Blues, and many more also happening from 1994-1997, the magazine scrambled to create new series to help keep the magazine alive. Luckily titles like Hareluya II BOY, Houshin Engi, Rurouni Kenshin, and Hell Teacher Nube helped keep the magazine a float for the beginning of the 2000’s where brand new titles would penetrate the western audiences, introducing the magazine to the western world along with its legacy, its influence, and of course, it’s motto. Series like the Big 3 and Yu-Gi-Oh not only helped Jump recover from the Dark Age but also helped it reach a western audience like never before. Along with older Jump titles that were also having their anime adaptations airing in the west like Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin, Jump began to captivate and influence the west, with this era introducing them to the legendary magazine and a alongside it, its motto that is so ingrained into the magazine and its stories, which is a trend that remains to this day. The 2000’s brought Jump to a modern, mainstream audience outside of Japan and boy did it succeed. Not just that, but also continued to flourish in Japan as well, with the Big 3 all being huge titles that to this day remain as some of the magazines best selling manga in the magazine, with the big one being One Piece, the best selling manga of all time, and a manga that has captivated the country of Japan even to this day. Naruto and Bleach were also huge titles themselves, spawning millions of fans all over the world, and both becoming some of the best selling manga of all time. The big 3 embodied Jump’s motto to its fullest and most raw form, and they went a long way to introduce the concepts of Jump’s motto to a new audience.

Yu-Gi-Oh was another title that was exploding in the west, as it was not only a popular manga and anime, but it was also a huge merchandise tactic with millions of people playing the card game of Yu-Gi-Oh, which has the concepts behind Jump’s motto embedded into it, becoming one of Jump's most iconic titles due to the genius marketing behind it.

Even with all of this, the 2000’s had titles like The Prince of Tennis, Bleach, and Reborn which all brought huge amounts of female readers to the magazine similar to Otoko Ippiki in the 60’s, Ring ni Kakero in the 70’s, Saint Seiya and Captain Tsubasa in the 80’s, and Rurouni Kenshin in the 90’s. And all of these titles went a long way in introducing the identity of Jump to a new demographic and bringing in a permanent female audience. And with that, we end up in the modern era where Jump continues its legacy even after the finale of popular titles like Bleach which is still beloved by its fans today, to Kochikame which ended after 40 years of publishing and over 200 volumes, to Naruto which received its final chapter in full color, becoming the 4th title in Jump’s history to do so. Despite all of this, Jump continues to thrive and evolve, as it proceeds to continue what all of these different era’s helped to usher in, continuing Jump’s identity and motto, with the new titles continuing to carry these core concepts and further exploring them in new directions, to new audiences, and to new heights. With all of this in mind, I have no doubt that Jump will continue to thrive and evolve for many years forward, after all, just like its motto entails, anything can be accomplished with friendship, effort, and victory.

Links: https://twitter.com/shonensalto/status/1025739149473718275?lang=en
           http://landofobscusion.blogspot.com/2013/05/ring-ni-kakero-1-manga-it-all-starts.html

Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin vs Enishi - a Battle of Conviction, Change, and a Smile

Rurouni Kenshin is a wonderful story of change, love, atonement, revenge, and responsibility with a great cast of characters with wonderful chemistry, but two things that always stood out to me were the villains, and the battles, especially in their thematic value in the story. Most notably Enishi Yukishiro and his battle with our lead character Kenshin Himura, today I won’t focus on Enishi himself but rather his final duel with Kenshin, which remains my favorite fight in shonen, and in manga period for what it does for the characters and the themes of the story.

In their first duel, Enishi had the upper hand, due to his conviction being so strong, with Enishi truly believing in his Jinchuu; his act of revenge on Kenshin for the death of his beloved sister. Kenshin’s conviction however, was weakened, with Enishi’s appearance, the attack on the town, and Kenshin’s inability to let go of the past damaging his conviction of atonement, and when the fight started, Kenshin was already at a disadvantage. Kenshin in the Kyoto arc had learned to accept the Battousai inside of him, but also to move on from it, but in Jinchuu it deals with him learning to move on from the people he killed, which includes the accidental killing of Tomoe Yukishiro, Enishi’s older sister and Kenshin’s former lover. Kenshin, now remembering the guilt he felt when he took her life, is now felt with having to take responsibility for his actions, blaming himself for Tomoe’s death, and Enishi’s downward spiral into madness, all of this weakening Kenshin’s conviction, and all but strengthening Enishi’s.

Enishi having the upper hand in the duel, counters all of Kenshin’s attacks, even his final attack: The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Enishi’s conviction being so strong all thanks to his sisters smile, Tomoe’s. In imagining the most important person to him smiling, Enishi’s Jinchuu gave him the victory over Kenshin. Kenshin was for a second able to overpower Enishi before the fight ended, with Enishi threatening to take Karou’s life Kenshin’s conviction rose, with him refusing to let another loved one die, but it was all but futile as Enishi took the person most important to him, Kenshin now losing another woman he deeply cared about was sent into a deep depression destroying all of his conviction.

As we find out however, Enishi did not kill Kaoru, rather the body Kenshin saw was that of a puppet made from flesh, put together by Enishi’s partner, Gein. Enishi wanted to drive Kenshin into a deep depression, destroying his conviction without having to kill Kaoru due to Enishi's inability to kill any women who remotely look like his sister, he couldn’t take her life due to the trauma he suffered in seeing Tomoe die in front of him at such a young age. But as he sits down, finally victorious, he imagines Tomoe, his beloved sister no longer smiling for him, instead she gave him a face of disappointment, Enishi angered at why his sister won’t smile for him breaks down. Unable to imagine his sister smiling for him, Enishi’s conviction for his Jinchuu begins to weaken.

Kenshin, is now stuck in limbo, being unable to change and move on from the past, despite living in the present, it's almost like he’s not a part of it. But with Kujiranami’s battle with Yahiko, Tsubame wants to do everything possible to save Yahiko and so she tries to reach Kenshin, she calls to him in desperation to save Yahiko, finally getting him to move. Tomoe’s father, is able to talk to Kenshin, reminding him to keep moving forward, and to let go of the past, to change with the times and to continue his goal of atonement, to help out others around him. With this small push from Tomoe’s father Kenshin was able to get back up, and the rest he did himself. Kenshin’s conviction was now reformed, and with his dream of Tomoe smiling for him, his conviction strengthened, Tomoe was happy that Kenshin finally did what she wanted him to do, to simply move on from the past and to live his life to the fullest, and him finally realizing this, she smiled for him. Now she wants Kenshin to help Enishi do the same.

Enishi, still unable to change, decides that this time he’s going to kill Kenshin himself. Kenshin and his friends arrive on Enishi’s island to rescue Kaoru, and for Kenshin to finally settle the grudge between him and Enishi. Enishi’s anger and still powerful (but weakening ) conviction overpower Kenshin, but Kenshin continues to get back up as his conviction continues to strengthen and Enishi’s weaken, as with every attack Kenshin slowly starts to catch up to Enishi, matching his speed and power with every blow, Kenshin continues to get up, his conviction strengthening, Enishi’s however is weakening, as he becomes a mindless monster of rage unable to understand why Kenshin won’t go down, Enishi is no longer the cold, and calculated man he was in their first fight, now the roles have swapped with Kenshin being the one in control. Kenshin finally is starting to close the gap between him and Enishi, he decides to finally put it all down to the final attack. With Kenshin’s conviction stronger than ever, he connects the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki with Enishi’s Kofuku Zettosei, but something is different, something Enishi himself notes is different about this attack than the one in their previous duel, Enishi noting how much stronger Kenshin’s attack is in this final blow. Enishi’s weakening conviction gave Kenshin’s strengthening conviction the advantage to surpass Enishi, Kenshin was willing to move on and change, Enishi was not he was still stuck in the past and unable to change, he could not surpass Kenshin. All it came down to now, was a smile. The smile of the person who matters so much to both men, the smile of the person whose death brought so much pain to both, one feeling guilt and atonement, the other feeling anger and revenge. They both needed her support to win, Kenshin already had the smile he needed, he didn’t need another one, Enishi however begged for his sister to smile, just once for him again. But she didn’t, Enishi in this important moment, could not imagine the most important person in his life so much as crack a smile. Kenshin having the smile he needed, a strengthening conviction, and his willingness to change surpassed Enishi, and defeated him.

Enishi Yukishiro: Refusal to Change

Enishi Yukishiro is a character that I’ve always found to be extremely fascinating, and easily one of my favorite aspects of the story due to his parallels with Kenshin, his mental/emotional state, and his contribution to the stories themes.

Trauma:

The trauma Enishi suffered at such a young age at witnessing Tomoe’s death is one no child, especially not one so young should have to suffer, especially at witnessing the most precious person to him getting killed brutally. This created a deep pain within Enishi, a pain so strong that it changed his hair color to white, and left him with a burning hatred, a hatred that he kept inside of him for 10 years, boiling. This pain that he suffered, caused him to be massively traumatized, and that mixed with his anger made him develop a dangerous mindset that started showing signs of sociopathic and psychotic nature. His anger, made him quickly upset, especially in regards to other people's happiness or at the mention of someone else talking about Tomoe. Meanwhile his due to the trauma he suffered he created hallucinations of Tomoe, and these hallucinations are so real to him that he listens and talks to them in an almost childlike nature, emphasizing that he hasn’t changed at all, in his mind he’s still a child.

The childlike way Enishi reacts to his hallucinations are resembling to that of a child with their parent figure. When he does something and he sees Tomoe smile in his head, he acts like a child who was congratulated by their parent by acting smug and proud, but when he sees Tomoe with a sad expression, he acts angry and confused like a child when his parental figure is upset at him.

Alongside his hallucinations, he was also traumatized to the point where it caused him to become unable to so much as harm a woman who looks even closely to Tomoe, such as when he tried to harm Kaoru. He couldn’t hurt her, the thought of doing it drives him into an incredible amount of pain, and this alongside his childlike mindset and hallucinations are being caused by the trauma he suffered at a young age, which has left him unable to move on from the past.

Anger:

Enishi’s anger is subtly showed throughout the series, and that mixed with his psychotic tendencies makes Enishi very unpredictable and dangerous. He could snap at any moment due to having kept his anger inside of him for so many years, simply boiling and getting more dangerous with only small outbursts before he finally snaps at the final fight against Kenshin. The first sign of this repressed anger is in his first conversation with Kenshin, where Enishi tries to keep a cold and calculated persona as he tries to get inside of Kenshin’s head, before getting in their fight to have an advantage, but then Kenshin says Tomoe’s name, and then the calculated and calm Enishi snaps for a second, and screams off the top of his head, telling Kenshin to not say her name ever again, and in doing this causing his mouth to bleed, before returning to his calm nature.

We get another instance of this deep anger inside him when we get a flashback of when he was a child, living alone and in horrible conditions in China after Tomoe’s death. Afterwards he is taken in by a kind family, willing to give him a new home, but Enishi proceeds to murder them, not because they did anything to him, but rather because seeing them being so happy when he had his entire happiness taken away from him angered him, and thus he killed them.

By now, we have been giving the information to know that inside Enishi, he has a dangerous and unpredictable anger and after having thought that he had Kenshin beat, he tries to imagine Tomoe smiling for him, but instead he envisions her sad. Almost like if in his mind, these hallucinations of Tomoe act like a conscience, and like if somewhere in his mind, he knows what he did was wrong, and knows that Tomoe would think so too. No matter how much he may not realize this himself. Tomoe wants him to move on from the past, and to change, but in causing pain to Kenshin and holding on to the past instead of moving on, she becomes upset. Her emotions being shown through his hallucinations, as if he knows that Tomoe would be upset at him for what he has done, but he never admits it, acting confused and angry at Tomoe for not smiling at him in his hallucinations. There’s something wrong going on inside of Enishi’s mind that makes him such a sad and almost haunting character, and this scene of him going berserk in seeing Tomoe upset is a great example of how messed up Tomoe’s death left him, but it also shows that hidden anger, and even the sadness he feels at her death but we’ll get to the sadness and pain he feels later.

The final showcase of Enishi’s anger comes in form in the final battle, in being unable to imagine Tomoe smile for him he becomes a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment, but in finding out Kenshin survived his attempt at defeating him and leaving him for dead, brought Enishi to his limit, he was on the verge of letting loose and snapping completely. In the final battle against Kenshin, that’s exactly what happened, he snapped and in releasing all of his anger he activated an ability that all those years of repressed anger caused, his frenzy nerves and as Saito pointed out, Enishi lost all composure and care for his own well being and was now set on nothing but Kenshin’s death, but alas, he was defeated.

In his defeat, we are told that more than anything, he's really angry at the fact that he unable to protect his sister. In a way, you could look at his Jinchu as a form of atonement for himself, to atone for not having been strong enough to protect his sister on the day she died. Only, his Jinchu is based on revenge and murder, while Kenshin's solution is based around forgiveness and protecting those you love. Tomoe wanted both Enishi and Kenshin to move on, but Kenshin was held back by doubt in his ability to ever find atonement, held back by chains in a way. While for Enishi the mere concept of moving on and changing was completely alien to him, it never crossed his mind. If Kenshin was held back by chains due to his doubt and guilt, then Enishi was completely engulfed in these chains due to revenge and hatred, never even trying to escape the chains that kept him from moving on from the past.

Sadness:

Finally, I want to talk about Enishi’s least talked about but his most subtle aspect, and that is the amount of pain he’s in. Similar to Kenshin, he too feels regret, and he too is deeply in pain, with several panels showcasing the parallels in how both men feel. The story wants you to understand Enishi, and that he isn’t just some cold and sadistic villain like he pretends to be, instead he’s an insanely emotional person, one who’s undergoing the same pain that our main character is, he like Kenshin is a human being who too feels real and genuine sadness over what he cares for. We are shown the anger that he feels from her death, and also the trauma he suffered in our first meeting between Enishi and Kenshin, but we don’t get his first sign of the pain he feels until a little bit before Kenshin tells his friends about his past, we are shown a scene of Enishi by himself, laughing at the thought of unleashing his Jinchuu on Kenshin, acting like a sadistic, cold, and psychotic monster, and then we see him crying. Enishi, this cold killing machine that we’ve been shown up to this point, was crying in just thinking about his sister, and this scene establishes that he too feels a lot of pain in remembering the past.

The next example is of a scene with Enishi and Kaoru. After having realized that he can’t physically harm her, Kaoru makes him soup. Despite everything he’s done to Kenshin, and her friends, she finally understood Enishi. He wasn’t an evil tyrant like Shishio, he was simply misguided, he saw the wrong thing at the wrong time and since then misunderstood everything about what happened during Tomoe’s death, and Kaoru understood this, because she realized that Enishi was feeling the exact same pain that Kenshin was feeling, the pain of losing a woman who mattered so much to both men. She didn’t forgive him, but she did finally understand him, and she wanted to help him move on because of the fact that she recognized the pain he’s in, and out of kindness she makes him soup. When looking at the soup and Kaoru’s act of kindness he remembers when Tomoe who used to cook soup for him when he was younger, and he gives a face of pure sadness and pain that describes everything that he was feeling in remembering the past.

The final moment showcasing this pain was after being unable to imagine Tomoe smile for him in the final battle with Kenshin, which lead to his defeat due to being unable to change and move on from the past, something Kenshin was willing to do and hence Kenshin was able to win. Afterwards however, he does the unthinkable and saves Kaoru due to being unable to witness a woman who looked like Tomoe die, and afterwards Enishi drops to his knees, and begins crying. And here we see the 3 components of his character in effect, the 3 things that are keeping him from moving on. The trauma he suffered at witnessing Tomoe’s death which makes him unable to harm or see a woman who looks like her be harmed, the anger that he feels towards himself for not being strong enough to save her life, and finally the sadness he feels at losing the most important person in his life and he cries over losing her. In the end, Kaoru now understanding what she has to do in order to help Enishi move on from the past, gives Enishi the words of the only person he’ll listen to: Tomoe’s diary and with this Enishi now has a chance at finally being able to move on from the past.

Intro

Basically a blog on analysis of shonen manga and their themes.