The Tragedy of a Stormy Night is the 55th episode of the Rurouni Kenshin anime series.
Synopsis[]
As Sōjirō's sandal breaks as a result of the duel's intensity, both combatants take a brief intermission. With all left muddled and mystified at the young man's philosophy, that "if you are weak you die, and if you are strong, you live", in such a gifted but twisted youth, there are many questions to be asked. What is the mysterious history that echoes behind such a brutal ideal? What will be the result of Sōjirō's current state of mind during the fight?
Plot[]
Kid Sōjirō being forced to keep working late at night
The episode runs through several flashbacks of Seta Sōjirō's traumatic childhood. It is revealed that he was born as a result of an affair between his biological father and a prostitute. He lived with his older half-brother, step-sister in law and half-nephews and nieces, who would abuse him and literally use him as a slave, beating him as they pleased, treating him as a simple tool for their amusement and the advancement of their rice business. In the beginning, he would cry and get angry, which would simply cause them to beat him more and more and spout on about how he was being ungrateful to make him feel bad, so later on, his response was to laugh rather than cry.
Shishio's body wrapped in bandages in the moonlight
Meanwhile, Shishio Makoto is on the run, being sought after by the Meiji Government, who betrayed him and tried to murder him after all the assassinations he had done just for them. Sōjirō one day sees Shishio, now bandaged and burned swordsman, hacking through two policemen. Shishio notices this and is about to kill Sōjirō, until he sees him laughing in the face of death. Bewildered by Sōjirō's unusual behaviour, Shishio demands that he provide him food and new bandages and he'll be spared. The outlaw soon learns of Sōjirō's situation and tells him that the only reason he is abused is because he is weak and also tells him a key idea that would shape his life for years to come: "if you are strong, you live, if you are weak, you die".
Kid Sōjirō realizing his relatives are going to kill him
After noticing a significant decrease in their stock of bandages and incorporating it with the fact that the outlaw they are after (one of Sōjirō's brothers is a police officer), suffers severe burn-damage, his family realize and rightfully come to conclude that Sōjirō has been hiding Shishio. They track down Sōjirō and are about to kill him, but Sōjirō has a Wakizashi in his possession, given to him by Shishio as a gift for helping him. So Sōjirō hides under the house, but when one of his relatives finds him, Sōjirō uses it to kill him and all his oppressive tormentors once and for all, while a heavy rain falls all around.
Shishio leaving the barn to find the murder scene
Shishio (who had been hiding inside the barn, while aware of the fight outside) comes out to the garden of the house and sees what Sōjirō has done. He asks Sōjirō if he is crying, but Sōjirō denies it, so Shishio decides to adopt him as a brother, telling him that from now on he will be his right-hand man and the strongest warrior of all, only second next to him. So the two of them leave the place for good. That being the background story of how Sōjirō became the strongest of the Jūppongatana during all these years.
Kenshin finally being able to ready Sōjirō's intentions
In the present day, as Kenshin and Sōjirō ready themselves in their intermission, Kenshin digests and analyzes Sōjirō's mention of his philosophy, concurring that such a young man never had such an easy time growing up, or anyone to have shown love or care for him, and follows such a philosophy to cover up his weakness towards the idea of death and emotion. Sōjirō, having repaired his sandals, now stands at the ready. However, as the battle begins with one step short of the Shukuchi, Kenshin is able to sense emotion stemming from Sōjirō and block his all angle attack. Irritated, confused, and inquiring of Kenshin's philosophy of the strong protecting the weak, which he runs counters to, asks Kenshin the cryptic question, that if he was protecting the weak, why the rurouni was not there for him in own his time of pain. Realizing the emotions within Sōjirō now begin to manifest, Kenshin also desires to understand what pain Sōjirō has gone through, where the second half of the duel now only begins to start.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Anime Notes[]
- There are a couple of differences between the original manga and this anime episode:
- Sōjirō's stepfamily are shown in the anime to have conclusively realized that he was hiding a dangerous fugitive, before attempting to kill him. In the manga, Sōjirō found them wasting the harvested rice in order to get famine tax stipends from the Meiji Government.
- In the original manga there is a panel (that corresponds to the last moments of this episode when Kenshin shouts at Sōjirō) in which is is shown that Sōjirō is present all places of the room (the floor, all the walls and the ceiling) at the same time as an effect of him using the Shukuchi. This scene is toned down in the anime.
Trivia[]
- This anime episode marks the most time the story has invested in explaining the backstory of a character, with almost one entire episode focused on the backstory.
Gallery[]
