Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 8: Getting Interesting, With Another Bomb

Right back into the fray, now, straight from last episode's dealings with a bomb. Now we shall encounter another bomb--and perhaps, we shall advance the Port Mafia story here a little bit more with episode 8 of Bungou Stray Dogs: Teach a Man To Kill, then To Die. One interesting thing now: we shall see another member of the Detectives in action. Thus, spoilers ahead, intentional or otherwise.

What an interesting way to start, all mysterious with the little girl and her "finding" Dazai. According to what he said, this might be something bad.

...But then they held off on that. Yes, some references to that, saying "Where is Dazai" and such. However, as always, they managed to turn it into a big joke. Yes, how does a man with a suicide fetish stay well and healthy?

True, the first half will be all laughs; I mean, just look at that scene. Once more I seemed to have a good long bout of laughter as Junichirou confessed that he's been "treated" by Dr. Yosano four times.

Speaking of the lady that struck fear into the hearts of the Detectives, here she is. Once more the story takes to one seemingly overused scene, where Atsushi must bring all her shopping goods. But then, what an epic way to introduce someone's other side: threatening to cut off a man's hand, who tried to threaten her. Well, woman power, I suppose. No blaming that.

And then, all of a sudden as usual, the show took on a darker tone, truer to its seinen genre, with a (or rather, yet another) bomber terrorizing the train.

And it seems that this one won't disappoint. Surely we always need another deranged physician in this story, and this time, this one is much more philosophical.

Then, I must say, I quite enjoy Atsushi's fight with the little girl, Kyouka. On one side, it was  an extremely bloody mess, no question. On the other, even from the tone of her words we could tell that Kyouka's nothing more than a brainwashed minion.

It went from just subtly emotional to philosophical with Atsushi's past being thrown back in: all the people in the train were dead or endangered because of him, and once more we see the recurring theme from when he was kicked out of his orphanage--but this time, seems he managed to find a reason to stay alive, to fight for others. Now this is character development. 

Meanwhile, Yosano. Not your regular doctor after all. It was epic, how she 'explained' about death to the guy. This one was philosophical in quite a hilarious, but touching somewhere inside.

One point to make was, yes, indeed, what a convenient ability to have, having to make them even nearer to death to heal someone. While I'm not a fan of her just spilling all her abilities, seems there's no other way around; she did nicely explain the fear around her.

And the finale? Well, once more it retained its emotion, and the presence of a character development.

Yes, it was through a big pep talk by Atsushi. And it was just dumb how he was the one that triggered the bomb. However, hearing Kyouka's voice with some kind of fear, perhaps along with hope not to kill anyone else, she jumped off the train.

...to which Atsushi jumped and saved her. Yes, he'll never let anyone die again, as per his vow.

On a side note, seeing the next episode's teaser, these two might be something. We don't know yet.

Oh, so that was where Dazai went all these time, to the lair of the Mafias.

In that case, then, nothing else to comment for this quite packed and gory episode. Now we got the little girl and Dazai missing as something to look toward to, apart from being introduced a helpful-but-mean doctor. Until next time.

Uh-oh. Forgot to press publish all those days ago. Dammit.

Jerusalem's Role in Crusades: Not That Important

1099 Siege of Jerusalem. Taken from commons.wikimedia.org

Jerusalem is a holy city for all three of the world's largest Abrahamic religions: Jews, Christianity, and Islam. This created at least nine attempts of the Christians to take over the city since the First Crusade (1096-1099); nine more major crusades. However, while being a target in many crusades, as in any other conflict, there were many more factors which trigger a war (where indeed, religion took most of the blame). As such, the role of Jerusalem in these crusades are still debatable; to say that the crusades were called only to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land is quite limited.

The applicable definition of a crusade here comes from the Plurals of said debate, which state that the most important part of a crusade is the spiritual one, and not the retaking of Jerusalem. The crusades were a pilgrimage, but the very definition of a "pilgrimage" has become twisted by the Crusaders (Madigan, 2015). Here, Jerusalem was no longer a main goal, rather a justification of the real causes of the crusades: racism and power, both taken in the cover of a pilgrimage by those days' Christians.

The first main cause of the crusades is, without a doubt, discrimination between religions. The Christians, mainly, were aggressors to the other religions, thinking that they are the enlightened, the rightest. When Pope Urban II called for a crusade to retake Jerusalem at 1096, the built-up tension of discrimination to the East were released (Constable, 2001). It was clearly seen during the harassment to the Jews during and in between the crusades, two of the most prominent examples being the Rhineland Massacre of 1096 in the Rhineland, West Germany, and the Peoples' Crusade of 1096 in Asia Minor. Those crimes against humanity were done by fanatics who, in their desire to destroy the enemies of God, strayed from the goal of a crusade to bring "justice" to the Jews, thought as guilty in bringing Christ to the cross (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2016). 

Cultural harassment did not happen solely to Jews. The fanatical beliefs of Christianity then were also shown to the Muslims. The Muslims (and also Jews) of Jerusalem were treated much harsher than how they treat Christian prisoners (History World, n.d.) Certainly, none of these harassments have any contribution to the goal to retake the Holy Land, and were only the results of the discrimination that made up the burning spirit of the crusaders, the main cause that kept the war ongoing.

The next important factor that started the holy wars were, like other wars, political reasons. The Byzantine Empire asking for help was a great chance for Pope Urban II to bring together the fragmented feudal world of Europe, against a common enemy. The crusaders, most notably the nobles, were enticed to the call to search for new lands and more recognition, in short more power an influence (Runciman, 1995). 

While Jerusalem itself was made as a Crusader State, the crusaders did not limit their search for land just near Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This was most notably seen in the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) which, due to political reasons, strayed from the Holy Land to take Constantinople, leading to the Latin Empire. This proves that they were merely searching for land and power, and the Holy Land is but one land available to be taken then.

In the end, Jerusalem was made as a target for war merely as a justification. The Just War concept was already accepted that time, which mainly states that a war must only be called if and only if other, more peaceful and humane methods to achieve a morally right goal have been exhausted. The discrimination to other religions were certainly not a morally correct goal, nor was the forceful takeover of land and power. Thus, Jerusalem and its surrounding lands, as an important holy city was actually not the main goal of the crusades, but rather merely a front for the many different factors that started the war.

References - Further reading

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2016). The Crusades. Retrieved from Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/crusades.html

Bugnion, F. (2004, Oktober 28). Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello, and Non-International Armed Conflicts. Retrieved from International Comittee of the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/

Constable, G. (2001). The Historiography of the Crusades. The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, 1-22.

History World. (n.d.). The Crusades. Retrieved from Historyworld website: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=fob

Madigan, K. (2015). Medieval Christianity: A New History. New Haven: Yale University.

Runciman, S. (1995). A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade. Melbourne: University of Cambridge.

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This was the final essay for this year's World History class. Translated and edited from Indonesian. This is a response paper, and by no means have been thoroughly studied and accepted as a fact; thus all debates and comments are welcome.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - Episode 7: Down Time

I was hoping for something big again this week. Big shame, it didn't happen. Perhaps it needed a cooldown from the last encounter with the huge Shadow. This episode seven of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Begging the Heavens, did open up some new facts about Mumei--who seems to be getting all the attention nowadays. Spoilers ahead.

IF there are heavy spoilers here. For the first part, largely there were just some separate stories.

Quite interesting to see them involved in a rather relaxed training session (compared to the one with Mumei all those episodes ago). Nothing much to comment here.

And finally, they arrived at somewhere not overran by kabane. The story will get repetitive otherwise. One other thing that did broke the repetition was him being slapped with a sword by Kurusu.

The moment they arrived at the station, when they all decided that they will celebrate a festival, we should know that this was going to be a relaxed, perhaps filler episode.

What are these scenes doing here? Yes, they show their humanity, but like in Grimgar, excessive use of these scenes just remove us from all the action.

At the very least, there were still something going on when Ikoma and Takumi were looking for supplies. Teaching a thing about behaving to a soldier was, sadly, painfully relatable. However, as a kabaneri, Ikoma did have no big deal on facing him.

At least, they managed to stuff in a little irony that he used Kurusu's move at the beginning.

Perhaps this next scene was only for the sake for a tie-in to the first train accident at the beginning. This was, at the very least, a moving moment, when Sukari told the kid that his father was dead, telling him that basically he needs to face his problems and live. Perhaps that was the whole theme of the show.

And what do we have here. Kurusu actually blushing after overlooking Ayame snacking. Seriously, this was, while does indeed deserve a laugh, still just a mere filler.

Afterward, they struck a deal with the lord of the station, who seem to be too willing to give them hospitality.

Meanwhile, the old man that was with Mumei two episodes ago seemed to be some kind of a scout for some group called the Hunters, who shall be approaching soon.

Now, both of these led to me wanting some kind of a political tension or maneuvering, at least something complicated with the higher-ups. However, due to Kabaneri's theme, I am more inclined to believe that they won't be stepping into that realm.

The same sunset, it seems Mumei has retreated to a shrine, to where Ikoma followed her.

Apparently, Mumei was suddenly reminded, in the event of this festival, that she was once called Hodzumi, meaning "Rice Fields" according to Ikoma, by her parents, until her brother removed that name, literally.

This was new; turned out she had a name. A truly sad story, how her brother stripped her name and made her believe that she needs to be the strongest to survive. In the end, Ikoma, true to his oath to protect, vowed again, to cure Mumei and drive the Kabaneri out of the fields--so she could eat rice. Now that was touching.

By the way, nice sunset lighting.

That night, during the festival, Ikoma declared his wish to eliminate all the kabane. As suspected, the pep-talk encouraged other people to dream big... while Mumei expressed her desire to eat rice. Well, a personal goal is much better than being a pointless killing machine just to survive. Here, I would say, they've also managed to motivate our lives, even for a bit.

The next day, the Hunters arrive. Leading them was the son of the Shogun.

Who Mumei runs to and calls Brother.

Oh, perhaps that shall be some political drama right there. Or, at the very least, a battle of ideologies. Ikoma not-so-subtly thought that he needed to find out whether Biba, the brother, was truly a hero. So it seems that this peaceful episode hid more secrets than we thought, after all. Secrets that shall unravel starting next week. Hopefully with more fighting.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - Episode 6: Retaking Ground

A cliffhanger in the last episode sure made us wait what shall become of Mumei. In this episode 6, Gathering Light, we start where we left off, and find some way to kill the big black shadow, with the usual action--plus we'll hear more of what made Mumei tick. Spoilers, then, intentional or otherwise.

It all started with another flashback. It seems her past wasn't too different from Ikoma, after all. She's got pretty much the same backstory, with the added drama that she must remain strong or be thrown away. It does make the two even closer on one side, but does seem a bit recycled, at least for now.

The despair in this scene was blatantly obvious, and only quelled by Ikoma calming Mumei by answering her questions with his own thoughts: equally hating himself for getting them in this situation, but a little more hopeful. The questions asked by Mumei and Ikoma's responses were very philosophical (although, once again, a little overused). Really, the connection between these characters could just go up from here on.

However, here, I have no idea why did Ikoma have flashbacks of Mumei's life while he was fighting. That said, the show seems to give us a new mystery: who was the man that saved her?

Anyway, the fight scenes were nothing too flashy apart from Ikoma tearing up a horde.

Yes, the usual pep talk that made people realize their mistakes. It seems Mumei quickly snapped out of the state she's been in only for just the past episode, by apologizing to the kid that lost his dog.

Intetresting, the people has gone from liking kabaneri to not to liking them again, in just about three episodes. Perhaps that was indeed what truly happened.

Kurusu is back, and now he could slash kabane like nothing. Finally, they could all work together defending the train from the kabane bursting away from the shadow, which was quite an interesting (albeit quite gruesome) twist.

But, as the last few episodes has become, Mumei still took the spotlight by being the one to pierce the big thing's heart. Apart from that, it still manage to make it a tense moment, when Takumi needed to judge the right time to fire their new cannon so she could leap in.

One fault, though: she said, "wait until it closes in," NOT "when it's above us." Oh, one more thing: where did the cannon come from?

Actually, not too many things happened in this episode, though one thing to know is that now we know what happened in Mumei's past. But even the last part was nothing of note, just keeping the train from derailing. 

So, while they did use some overused plot, somehow Kabaneri still manages to captivate... now, with them out of the infested station, what shall happen next week (or, in 5 days)?

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 7: Death of a Disease Called Ideal

Well... seems like my charger's left behind somewhere. Well, I shall make this quick and dirty.

Now, last time we were left wondering with a cliffhanger. A bomb in the city, and the detectives shall now attempt to disarm it, while following the trail of the Azure Messenger with the usual detective work, plus as this episode 7's title says, Kunikida shall be tested quite some about ideals, such that I shall title this article the same. Spoilers, intentional or otherwise, are ahead.

Nothing too special from the first scene. A shame, though, that the OP song needed to be cut. Some comments, though: at the very least, we got to see more people, so far ignored, talking--but, sadly, quite a shame that even halfway through the season, we got no action from Miyazawa nor Yosano.

Also, it seems they put Ranpo out of the picture so he couldn't deduce the location of the bomb. It is cheaty both ways, though. Either we have him finishing the story quickly, or sneakily silencing him.

As usual, the first half would be almost all laughs. It was not often we get to hear Kunikida agonizing over a spilled secret--and a big one, that he was quite attracted to the woman that became a victim.

Although, there were some moments where Kunikida seemed to see that the woman hides more than she was saying. Subtle, at the same time noticeable--and cliche.

Oh, it seems Ranpo checked in and said immediately the bomb is near the port. So much for that.

And it seems they could still keep us interested, by making the bomb unable to be defused.

What came next was quite something: Kunikida stopping the car, blocking the road, to take a call.

Now, here, once again I'm at a loss (or just not paying to much attention, but...). The three phone calls just dropped a massive amount of information, all of a sudden, just to advance the plot. Shame, but I guess they need to make some progress in a season.

However, what they were led to was interesting. The power with the numbers was new, and Kunikida getting thrown around was borderline hilarious.

...but shame Dazai only got himself a generic thug.

...but then again, how the two worked together, switching foes to maximize their strengths, awed me as much as it awed Atsushi. It was not at all a long fight, actually, nor did they use many really fancy moves like the last episodes, shame there, but it was something to watch for a different reason.

The scene after that, Kunikida dealt with his past and shared it with the woman--name still forgotten, sadly. Once more, we delve deep into what made Kunikida tick, the ideals and the guilt behind it. This one was emotional, especially coming from him.

And finally, Dazai lured the Azure Messenger in. Kunikida arrived, and shortly after, the hacker.

Lo and behold, the woman is the Azure Messenger after all, still in line with the late Azure King, her lover. That does explain everything.

At the end, it became all shades of surprising. The Azure Messenger shot Kunikida, which the kid took a shot for--and he took Dazai's gun and shot her back. What a way to end the show.

But it's not done. Kunikida, ever the idealistic man, agonized over how it could have ended better, no one dying. Dazai ended it all by saying that his ideals might drag him down like the Azure King. Thus became the title of the episode. This was a damned strong episode emotionally, dealing right at the heart of Kunikida's idealism--though sacrificing plot and action, sadly. So, we shall wait a week--no, five days, forgive the lateness--for what has become of our man here.

The Roman Legion

The Roman Empire, perhaps the greatest and my favorite nation (besides my own, obviously) to exist. Behind such greatness were the Legions that fought for it. This infographic details the legion of the post-Marian Reforms in 107 BC, with the familiar late Republic and early Empire legionaries and their organization.

Please click to enlarge image.

Please keep in mind that this infographic does not suit to become a reference for any academic papers on the Romans, as it was made mostly from memory for my design class. Also, due to lack of space, I have decided to not spill all minor details about them carrying all their tools and rations during a march, that the chain of command is far more complex, that they not always won such as the case of the tragic assault in Teutoberg Forest at 9 CE, that...

Okay, point is that I could go on and on about tactics and history, but at the very least this will give the barebones of what someone interested might want to know.

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And the tasks just keep on coming. Excuse the lack of content these days, especially nearing the final tests.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - Episode 5: Neverending Darkness

One problem solved last week: the kabaneri and humans could now work together. And here, they shall do so--along with Mumei simply showing off, there are some more dangers, humans and kabane alike. So, in this episode five of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, I warn you of spoilers, intentional or otherwise.

Right at the beginning, this episode is certainly going to be Mumei show-off time. Beating two squabbling men is no small deal, and it seems the people's approval of them is quite high. Quite a change of pace from the last times.

And it seems Ikoma has gotten a new shirt.

After that, we learn a new side to this little girl. Things start to get mysterious again with the presence of the peg-legged man. Apparently, now, she serves some Shogun. It was not often we see her getting beaten by someone, and her face and reactions afterwards of fear of being thrown away by her people was quite a drastic change.

Two changes here: first one was that she's going to prove her strength by rejecting the safer plan to unblock the rails. The second one, deeper down, was when she commented on a dog that was "able to die before [the owners] threw him aside."

While the first one presented an even tougher and foolhardy outside, deep down, she seriously feared that if she can't be strong, then she'll be thrown away, like a dog. Not the most subtle thing, but this could turn out to be some nice character development.

Foolhardy? Yes. Awesome? Definitely. When she outright ignored Ikoma's orders not to attack the nest of kabane, eating away hordes of kabanes is no simple task, and this scene itself was simply a show-off.

And here, we return to the cliches, of agitating zombies by killing a horde--and this time, they could climb walls. Just great.

And her nervous face tells us all about her conflict of trying to prove herself and being at fault, among other feelings.

While Ikoma volunteered himself to operate the crane so Takumi and Sukari could return to the train (a side note, this proves his willingness never to abandon anyne again), once more we see the exhausted and battered Mumei trying to prove herself against a kabane which could do karate (or whatever self-defense art).

That was new. Also, her being defeated was new:

At this point, Ikoma abandoned the crane (which, for some reason, must have its lever pushed by someone to work... not the most effective) and rushed to save Mumei.

I guess I need to comment on his voice acting. No doubt his emotions show up in each scene. However, I guess, sometimes his panicked yells, such as this one here, may be a little bit strange and forced. Or perhaps that is just my own ears.

And thus, a new challenge showed up, in the form of a massive shadow of kabanes. Reminds me of the Secret Saturdays here somehow, not Attack on Titan.

So, we end with a cliffhanger. Just what did and shall happen to Mumei are two big questions here, and how shall the train escape is another. That is all for this week.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 6: A Murderous Plan

It seems we are forging with this theme of "half-laughs, half-serious" with Bungou, after last time we solved a murder. This episode six, The Azure Messenger, we shall deal with a great conspiracy, and putting the Port Mafia in the mix as well. But most importantly, we shall know our idealistic man, Kunikida, better. So, spoilers, intentional or otherwise.

This thing opened very seriously, with Kunikida presenting his Ideals. Knowing that, I really do like him better. Finally, someone with a semblance of ideals in this crazy series.

Speaking of crazy...

That magic-mushroom-induced-craze made me laugh. For very long indeed.

The craze averted, they went on a job to meet an informant. Really nothing too much to comment here, but the presence of the Azure Messenger, that the informant there mentioned. That mysterios name must mean that there's something interesting, perhaps a conspiracy or such.

Oh, we also learn more about Kunikida's Ideals: about women. Well, actually the more interesting thing was that when Dazai noticed that he came all the way just to meet the informant, rather than ringing him.

This may very well be something taken from Sherlock, with the suspicious taxi driver taking them to suspicious places. I dunno, that's just how stuff usually works. Nice job on trying to cover up its tracks, though... as we shall see later on.

Dazai could still squeeze a laugh by being intentionally annoying as usual to Kunikida. Nothing too new there.

And see, they turn to abandoned hospitals. The allusion to horror/detective movies are quite obvious for this one.

But shame again, that they put some unnecessary fanservice here and there, when they saved the woman.

Actually, the scene that hit quite to some extent was when several people were being suffocated in the glass chamber.

On one side, the impact: Kunikida, the man of ideals, was forced to retreat from the gas for his own life.

On the other side... well, couldn't they try a bit more on saving those people? And to make it worst, it seems that had no impact whatsoever the following day:

Knowing Kunikida's ideal woman was... well, a good comic relief.

This one scene was... a little off, somehow. Certainly I liked the deduction that the taxi driver was the culprit (and yes, that part was confirmed) and how his plans worked. However, I still did not get what Kunikida thought in the first place, with the very limited information from the woman, to take them to the driver. 

Oh, it turned out to be an organ-dealing organization, by the way. This really is going to be a big crime story.

The driver forgotten altogether when Akutagawa arrived at the scene, this time with only Kunikida at the scene. Extremely interesting action, as usual, though not long.

We also see his inventiveness here, when he used his stun gun to electrocute Akutagawa. But as all main villains must be, he didn't fall, and retreated.

They then got a whiff of the Azure Messenger at an abandoned building, and delved into the backstory of the Azure King, who blew himself up there. From here, with the repeated use of the word "Azure," I do think this organization will be something fascinating for us and them to encounter.

Here, one of the detectives that was killed was actually the informant's father, which Dazai pointed out. There's also a pattern here, too, where it seems Dazai is always the one to read people. Anyway, once more we see Kunikida's sense of duty, by trying to be there for the kid as a father figure.

And the episode ended when they were told to defuse a bomb by the Azure Messenger. Just great, a cliffhanger. Ah well, on to next week.

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I also would like to say what a darned busy week this has been. Excuse the lack of content on the blog.