「これは英雄の物語ではない」
「装甲悪鬼村正の物語である」

What defines a kamige? A sacred Japanese text enhanced by a very high technical level of production? A story of galactic proportions that manages to keep its feet on the ground by proposing a comforting and realistic philosophy of life? A game that knows how to combine rationality and the pursuit of happiness? Soukou Akki Muramasa meets all these criteria.

COMMON ROUTE
The political fresco on which the story will take place is huge (Yamato Empire, Rokuhara Shogunate, GHQ, Great Britain, the League of Nations, the Russian Empire, the Grunedrahe Gezel Shaf, the American Independents, the Germans, the Emishi...) and it is brought in a very clever way with the ingenious first chapter. Soukou Akki Muramasa is a story of gigantic proportions that manages to make a good part of its setting intelligible directly in its first hours. The rest is gradually revealed, as the real plot progresses. Because the true subject of Muramasa isn’t the eternal geopolitical conflicts, or even the internal politics of a country, but all that is revealed much later... The foreshadowing is also very well thought (for example Kanae mentions Shishiku’s interest in Yuhi as soon as they first part ways in the very first chapter). Chapter 2 already presents a somewhat naive version of the real problem of this vn, namely the relationship between the weapon and its master: who dominates whom? The characters are all very much charismatic, and the four generals of Bakufu all inspire a form of deference as their power and nobility are palpable. Even the shogun (who only shines in the last route) is extremely imposing.
The first confrontation with Sorimachi is exceptional on all levels. I don’t think anyone was expecting that level of rawness so soon: 「悪鬼！殺した！」「俺は、俺の邪悪をしんじる！！」
Finally, chapter 5’s narration was an awesome ride from the beginning to the end with multiple twists here and there.

HERO’S ROUTE (ICHIJOU)
The Way (理) of Justice, of Power, of the usefulness of killing to apply it. 「誰かの敵は誰かの味方。 誰かの悪は誰かの善。 刃が生命を奪うとき、必ず善と悪は諸共に 断たれている.」Ichijo is blinded by her ideals (as all the characters of the vn will be in the end): she even admits at the end realizing that she is but a mere killer clearly in the wrong... but she still has faith in her Way (“I believe in my evil !”), even if it means believing in a future as ridiculous as the one where all the Evil of the world will be purged from her blade.
The Fudaraku castle infiltration arc was great from start to finish: the backgrounds, the multitude of new characters, the little romance between Shiro and Sakurako, the character-writing masterclass that is Yusa Doshin (he represents all the 婆娑羅 -basara movements - i.e. a being of passion, slave to his desires, living in absolute excess, reckless and ruthless). And the confrontation at the end between Ichijo and Doshin's page almost made me break my desk, so much it gave off rawness and intensity.
The scene before the final duel with the Crown soldiers massacring a village makes a sharp criticism of the military's violence against civilians and the way governments do everything to stifle outbursts (which the recent wars in the Middle East have taught us readers hard): 「YOU ARE GUILTY」(yes, Kageaki does say that in English).
The final fight… The narration and bgm were incredible (as in all the previous ones, but this one was something even better). I have NEVER read anything like this, it's just unheard of, and I'm just getting started. One has to read it oneself to believe it. The way the story builds its own mythological identity while honoring the Yamato-damashii and the history of Japan is bluffing of narrative and thematic efficiency.
What is justice? What is evil? What is their end, their meaning, their place? Man has always asked himself these questions throughout History. Kings and priests, warriors and poets, merchants, farmers... An infinite number of men and women have dedicated their entire lives to get just one little part of the truth. And we cannot do better. We must follow our paths, our Ways, to the end, in madness and suffering if necessary. This is essentially what I have learned from this first route. One must suspect that the final solution is not yet fully revealed, but one can already begin to imagine its structure at this stage of the story.
「邪悪断つべし！」, 「正義断つべし！」

REVENGE’S ROUTE (KANAE)
The polite interactions with Kageaki are so much fun to read, he has a way of expressing himself that is simply hilarious in its excessiveness (and his VA is perfect). Thanks to them, the moments of peace make the reader feel a real spiritual tranquillity. While the action phases also fulfill their function by offering a perfect immersion in their themes (horror, strength, technique, aikido, bushido) as in their technical aspect (tsurugi UI, 3DCG models, soundtrack).
Kanae’s is the most politics-focused route and yet I see it only as a pretext for the characters (and Ittetsu) to elucidate their existential questions, their Way. Because they are well dominated by their Way, to the extreme. But there is still a few non-trivial messages that Muramasa wants to convey and in particular the relations between the Japanese and the "newcomers" that are the GHQ in Muramasa and the Americans in our real history. One scene comes to mind to illustrate this point: when Kageaki visits the GHQ base during his detention. He says something like "It hurts to admit it, but they are the superior race. And they know it very well. They sincerely believe that their Way is the best for everyone." This is the perfect explanation of the "submit and live in peace" vs. "suffer and keep one’s honor” conflict. All this is even clearer when Kageaki rejects Canon's proposal to ally with GHQ (and he even allows himself a dig at the colonial policy of the British Crown). Chachamaru's remarks in the last route (during the first breakfast) about racism also develop this aspect.
Shishiku, crushed by his ideals and his honor. Kanae, by her thirst for blood and revenge. "The origin (起源) of men is unchangeable," says Sayo before the final assault of the route. What a treat it was to find him in the Devil’s route under his true face, or rather with another mask: the one of a man who has lost everything, sacrificed everything (his father, his bride, his siblings...) to honor his clan and his country. He lacks a brother, a rival with whom to push each other forward. Seeing him grow fond of brainwashed Kageaki was genuinely touching.
I should also point out that the voice-acting is the best I've ever heard in a visual novel. Huge shoutout to Yuusuke Ishikawa (Terashima Takuma, Kageaki) and Kana Yoshikawa (Wakana Sakuraba, Kanae) who are just WOW WOW WOW.
Soukou Akki Muramasa is an inspiring work. By pushing its characters and thematic developments to their far end, the reader is inevitably led to reconsider his own vision of the subjects treated. It sounds naive, but I received some real slaps in the face. I thought I was reading yet another attempt to transcribe Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, so what a surprise it was when I realized very quickly that it was totally different! It is a Japanese work, which praises its culture and its intellectual heritage, and, if dilemmas that are usually found in Western philosophy are sometimes evoked, it is only to show how far they are from Soukou Akki Muramasa's approach.
The tea scene in the garden between Kanae and Kageaki finally made me realize how Muramasa is a love letter to the Japanese language. Almost every scene (and all the fight scenes) opens with descriptions of nature, in the manner of traditional haiku. These brief descriptions simply describe a sensation, a momentary emotion felt by the characters (Kageaki mainly). They never use complicated metaphors or any stylistic devices. Like the whole work, these scenes of calm before the storm shine by their simplicity and their authenticity. Muramasa is not a visual novel that asks the reader to look for a deep meaning to each sentence (as Subahibi would do), but simply to feel what each scene tries to convey.
Japanese people have a very different relationship with nature than Westerners, because of their respective languages. Nature is an integral part of Soukou Akki Muramasa. One just have to look at the phenomenal amount of background representing Yamato under all seasons, under all climates, in the countryside, the mountains, the city, its castles, its luxurious rural houses...
It is by the way much interesting to analyze the relationship of Japanese people to nature through the use that Muramasa makes of it. Beyond its luxuriant natural environment (this quality could be attributed to almost all the countries of Earth — but which is nonetheless relevant, particularly in terms of the specifically Japanese awareness of the passing seasons), another fundamental aspect helps to explain this relationship: the absence of a Christian tradition. In the Christian ontotheology of the world, God is the source of all existence. Nature is a help to man, or even a companion, but it cannot give him salvation. Men seek God (see the connection with the schemes of Professor Wolf & Co.) and desire to find peace in Him. Even nature shares the anguish of mankind and expects salvation from God. In Japan, God as a creator is absent, so men try to console themselves by immersing themselves in nature. A very good example to support all this is the romantic movement of the 18th century, when the Christian influence started to decrease in the West. The Romantics' tendency to immerse themselves in nature produced results similar to the Japanese experience of the physical world. But despite this similarity, the long Christian tradition exerted its influence, and even the Romantics could not fully surrender to nature (Wanderer's Nightsong II, Goethe).
Let’s also add that the Japanese have entrusted themselves to nature from the earliest times, seeking to merge with it when something happens in the human world. And it is in doing so that the 心 – "the Japanese heart" – was born. Without doubt, the Japanese seek to lose themselves in nature because the complications of human relationships operate as a driving force.
The Japanese do not feel a separation between body and soul, unlike what happens in the consciousness of Westerners. Nor are they worked by the Christian conflict between spirit and flesh, or confronted with the clear dichotomy of subject and object that is inherent in the Western tradition (Subahibi makes this point clear). But the Japanese are nonetheless worked by the splitting of consciousness between 表(omote: the public side of things, what everyone can see) and 裏 (ura: the hidden side of things, what shows through when the varnish cracks, the dark, even negative, or simply intimate aspect, the interior of the house). These two notions can be found explicitly or not throughout the reading of Soukou Akki Muramasa. For example, in tsurugi aikido, each movement has these two forms: the 表 form is a confrontation from above, when the performer is stronger than the opponent; whereas the 裏 form, a priori defensive and disadvantageous, consists in accepting and using the opponent's movement (even if both forms have as a principle to use the strength of the latter).
The most common example of this would be the notions of 建前 (tatemae, the conduct and opinions one exhibits in public) and 本音 (honne, the true feelings and desires). Kageaki is dominated by his 建前: he never acts impulsively in society. For example, he shows a borderline comical excess of respect to his interlocutors (even towards infants, which is hilarious in Japanese).

DEVIL AND DEMON ROUTES (CHACHAMARU, MURAMASA)
When Chachamaru brainwashes him to simplify his 表/裏 conflict, it is to leave total control to his 本音: "I am nothing but a sword". In reality, it is his will that he has lost, Chachamaru has standardized his 本音(表) for him to act more efficiently. This explains why Kageaki was more...blunt in his interactions (and also his short relationship with Shishiku).
This is a mistaken view of the 無想 (musou). Thinking to empty all of his mind, Kageaki actually erased only a part of it: his 建前(表). This is my interpretation of Kageaki's internal conflict in this part of the story. I admit that I didn't quite understand what the 無我 (muga) was, the total absence of self, of essence. From what I understood, it is not only emptying one's mind, but also one's entire essence, to become only the avatar of one's ideals, here justice and retribution. However, when Doshin explained all this, he started talking about letting the collective unconscious dominate his will, which leaves me more than confused. Maybe I should understand that Kageaki was supposed to fight on behalf of the whole planet, for the common good, and not only according to his own selfish desires (i.e. to protect Hikaru). I am well aware that the ultimate key to Muramasa lies in this precise internal conflict, and I intend to think about these reflections in parallel with a study of the relations between aikido and Buddhism.
(From now on, my thoughts are even less structured)
- Soukou Akki Muramasa is a self-aware work. There are many references to the very fact that it is an eroge (the meta jokes between Sayo and Kanae, Yuhi's opening monologue in chapter 1, Hikaru's dream, Chachamaru's remarks) and it pokes fun at its own tropes a lot.
- Emishi (蝦夷) is the word used by the Japanese of the Nara and early Heian periods to refer to the indigenous people of Tohoku who refused to bow to the authority of the Japanese emperor. The game uses the same spelling to designate its characters, fantastic in their appearance but realistic in what they denounce...
- Realizing that there is no absolute Good and Evil is fine in itself (or more specifically, establishing that the boundary between these two notions lies in one’s ability to reject the value of life), but how do we apply this truth to resolve (or simply act upon in times of) war?
- Each route shows very nuanced opposites and takes the time to present them well so that the reader is completely engaged. Even with Kanae's route (who is the character I found the least interesting in the whole vn), I LIVED the final battle from my chair. The opposition between the shogun Ashikaga and Hikaru about what should a conqueror be (Fate/zero’s banquet of the kings): conquest for the sake of conquest, to satisfy one's Way; and the conquest by desire, by love (somewhat misplaced), because without love, there is only futile glory.
- Shoutout to the goodbye scene between Kageaki and Akitaka. Sunset, remote hamlet (when I say that nature should be considered as a character itself, as it is so important to the story), only a few sentences, but how heavy are they: 「済まない」
「謝られる筋合いですらありません」「.....そうか.....」「......」 INCREDIBLE. Father and son have nothing more to say to each other, they understand each other too much. Note that Akitaka, like his son, has always been dominated by his 建前, he has never been able to free himself from his responsibilities and his code of honor to follow his desires (to be with his family, to see his daughter grow up).
- A grandiose finale that wonderfully concludes all the narrative threads of this immense story. The climax was breathtaking in its emotional power, I’m still trembling.
- Each antagonist was able to shine by his opposition with Kageaki on an aspect of his Way: the teacher, Captain Nagasaka, that Kotaro じじ, Ouji Suguru, Gargett, the bandit’s brother. But the absolute GOAT, the MONSTER OF MURAMASA, THE ULTIMATE ANTAGONIST, SORIMACHI ICHIZO 「湊斗景明の敵とは。。。雪車町一蔵なのだ」,
- In the end, Soukou Akki Muramasa says no to all of its themes: the Heroes to begin with, their ideals of Power and Justice, the will of Revenge, Good, Evil. Even the protagonist who denies the existence of justice in this world throughout the story, seeks his salvation, his Way, only through an execution that would deliver him from all his sins (hence his unhealthy fascination with Kanae in her route).
- War is not the struggle between good and evil, nor an exercise of honor or justice. War is only an act of destruction towards life itself to satisfy one's own arrogance.
- One must never become a Hero. Murder should never be a selfless act. If you believe that a person should die, then kill them yourself and for yourself. This is basically what I understand from Muramasa: 「人を殺してでも人を救いたかったからだ. 嫌なら、やらん。やりたいから、やったのだ. ……当たり前のことだろうが？本当にやりたくない事をやる人間が何処にいる？殺したいから殺す. 俺は……俺の邪悪を信じる.」
BUT
But men continue to live: nothing is finished. Because unlike weapons (tsurugi), even without a purpose, the heart of men continues to beat. It keeps them alive, forcing them to face a living hell of guilt. It remains to be seen what lessons they will learn from this. The story of Soukou Akki Muramasa is over, but its actors are still there, without a stage to play on (Ten, Fukumoto). And here we have what makes this visual novel a kamige amongst kamige, the ultimate work of art.
Kageaki's harakiri to kill Hikaru did not meet the ultimate principle of aikido (合氣道), 和(harmony, peace). To go back over these events, to elaborate on them, would be to insult their ineffable wisdom, their philosophical power, and also to betray a certain modesty that I hold because these last moments touched me on a very deep level. All I can say is: if you have delved this deep into Muramasa, if you have reached this jewel, then you know. The answer is now within us readers, it is up to us to act accordingly. And let us never forget:

「和を以て貴しとす」

Thanks to Narahara Ittetsu for writing this masterpiece that will forever live in me, to NamanikuATK and his team for the sumptuous illustrations and backgrounds that brought the story to life, to Ishiwata Makoto for the impressive tsurugi designs, and to all the people who worked on this project. Thank you for everything.