Is Sengoku Youko the New Bleach? Let’s Go Demon Hunting with Samurai!

Could you love a demon? Could you love a demon if it were kinder to you than the humans in your life? And if you did love a demon, could you hold onto your humanity and find forgiveness? Or would you embrace your hatred to become a vile killing machine? Would you become a demon yourself? Sengoku Youko sets up a tale of opposites where love and hate are weapons in the war between humanity and demons.

Also, the orange hair and samurai swords make Sengoku Youko feel like a Bleach spinoff. Do people still remember Bleach?

Sengoku Youko follows Ichigo Kurosaki Tama Youko (an orange-haired fox spirit) and her “adopted brother” (Jinka Yamato). I have questions regarding the legality of this adoption. Anyway, Tama loves humans, while Jinka smells of demon taint. I’m sure that explains his murderous intent. Can Tama’s love calm Jinka’s inner diabolical bloodlust? Will she prove that the Beatles were right? Or should the boys from Liverpool have sung, “All you need is love, a weak-kneed samurai, and a golem-girl with stone fists?” That single wouldn’t have charted well. Weak-kneed ronin Shinsuke and rock-beats-everything Shakugan are in the story for reasons. What reasons? Jinka needs to learn about being human — from humans.

Sengoku Youko has been airing since January this year. Here are a few reasons why it might be the next Bleach.

Sengoku Youko Does Japanese Fantasy

Fantasy will never die. There are so many flavors of fantasy that the genre — broad and stuffy as it can be — always has dark corners of wild innovation. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling are obviously the big names associated with fantasy. But their bread-and-butter European-inspired fantasy — the kind with elves, goblins, and wizards — is only a slice of the magical fantasy pie.

Anime is great because it offers a variety of slices to satisfy your hobbitish anime appetite. Dungeon Meshi and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End are for European-inspired fantasy. Is it a stretch to call Dandadan an urban fantasy? Not at all. And, if you enjoy ghouls and ghasts in high school, you might enjoy A Terrified Teacher in Ghoul School. Of course, we’d be here for a long time if we tried to categorize every fantasy anime.

But Japanese fantasy is the slice I’m eyeing. Obviously, the best people to tell Japanese fantasy stories are Japanese. Sengoku Youko has monsters, demons, and magic. It also tells its story in the space before an authentically Japanese backdrop, the Warring States period (or Sengoku Jidai). It’s a bonus that Western fans like us can enjoy Sengoku Youko through the miracle of modern streaming. We can have our anpan and eat it!

Sengoku Youko and Shonen Supremacy

Was J-List built on the back of incredible shonen anime? Maybe! How many encountered Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, or other shonen titles before discovering cultured anime? Be honest. I bet many of us became anime fans because of shonen titles.

That’s why I had to check out Sengoku Youko. It’s worth your attention if it’s a better shonen series that builds on what other shonen titles achieved (like Bleach). Whether it is worth your time depends on two aspects. The conflict and the characters.

Sengoku Youko ramps up the conflict of the Sengoku period with blood-thirsty demons and human experimentation. The real story was never tame. By the end of the second episode, you’ll sense that the world of Sengoku Youko is vast and dangerous. As much as the violent media jaded me, the show’s fight scenes highlighted the inherent danger within the world that Shinsuke and his friends inhabit.

“Character-driven” is a fancy way to refer to stories that unfold because of the choices the people in them make. Flawed people make bad choices, which makes for excellent TV. Tama doesn’t seem to understand people and botches her attempts to help them. Meanwhile, she misses the obvious signs that Jinka is an unstable murder hobo. Shinsuke isn’t much better. The relationship between these unlikely companions creates a juicy drama buffet.

Should You Be Watching Sengoku Youko?

Sengoku Youko is quite dark. I like stories about demon-hunters fighting to maintain their humanity (cries in Warhammer 40,000). But I still felt uneasy watching Jinka smashing monks’ heads in. It might come down to taste. You might enjoy the bitter notes of death and demonic corruption. If you’re a shonen fan or looking for a great Japanese fantasy, Sengoku Youko is well worth a try.

Masahiro Aizawa directed Sengoku Youko for the studio White Fox. Jukki Hanada wrote the series, adapting it from the manga originally written by Satoshi Mizukami (Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer).

You can watch Sengoku Youko on Crunchyroll in Japanese with a wide selection of subtitles. It earns a solid Chibi Megumi rating of three for its unique character-driven story. In a time ruled by antiheroes like Venom and Deadpool, Sengoku Youko distinguishes itself as a unique anime that tells an evocative story.

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