(CLAMP) Gate 7 Manga Chapter 04 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Mitsuhide attacks and Hana’s first act is to encase Hidetsugu, Mikoto, and Chikahito in a giant flower, which removes their existence from Mitsuhide’s and his oni’s perception, something that impresses Mitsuhide since she doesn’t have her “arms” (Sakura and Tachibana) with her. Hidetsugu explains this to Chikahito since they can still see the battle.  With Mitsuhide bloviating, Chikahito is surprised because how he speaks and acts doesn’t match with the historical record even if this Mitsuhide is the current reincarnation of the original and has the memories of the original.

Mitsuhide and oni attack, but Hana is able to match them, displaying techniques that Chikahito remembers having seen used by previous opponents of Hana. Hidetsugu and Mikoto explain that one of Hana’s abilities is to learn and use techniques used against her.  However, her true power can only come forth when Sakura and Tachibana are there.

Mitsuhide is annoyed that he hasn’t been able to defeat Hana and launches a devastating fire attack but it too fails. Emerging from the flames, Hana demands Mitsuhide tell whether he wants Nobunaga’s corpse or Mara. He tries to answer the question with a question but Hana will not be dissuaded and demands an answer. Mitsuhide admits he wants both so Hana wants to know why.  He gives a proper answer which Hana finds unworthy, causing Mitsuhide to resume his attack on Hana.  However, DATE Masamune arrives, appearing as a kid Hana’s age, and counters the attack to defend Hana. He taunts Mitsuhide before kissing Hana, an act which stuns Chikahito.

Masamune’s arrival forces Mitsuhide and his oni to retreat but he promises to have both Masamune’s and Hidetsugu’s oni.  Masamune promises that before this happens, he’ll have Mitsuhide’s head.

The fight over, the group is returned to the real world where Hana thanks the elated Masamune, who cites this as the second best day of his life. When Mikoto asks what the first best day of his life was, Masamune says it was his first night with Hana. Mikoto asks if elementary school is out since Masamune appears to be skipping class, but he says that he canceled his studies on his own since this was an emergency.   Masamune is angry that Hana was attacked and not happy that Chikahito is living with Hana. Masamune figures he should move in with Hana as well and points his sword at Chikahito. He’s stopped by Kojuro, Masamune’s strategist in their original lives, and the keeper of Masamune’s oni, the sword Kurikara, which Kojuro keeps in his body. This arrangement was made because Kurikara’s price for being bound to Masamune was quite high, forcing him to give up an eye and receive “spirit” from Kojuro.

Explanations to Chikahito out of the way, Masamune has news about Nobunaga and Mara — the Tokugawa are on the move.

I know Hana has no sex assigned to the character, but I’m not skilled like some others (William Flanagan springs to mind) so I’m cheating and using “her.”  ^_~

When I was recently at the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival, the poetry reading-singing event was pre-staged by the MC giving the audience a very brief history of Nobunaga-daimyo and his betrayal by Mitsuhide.  It is there that I learned that Nobunaga killed himself when Mitsuhide’s superior forces defeated Nobunaga’s tiny force.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited to hear this tidbit of information because of Gate 7.  However, as this chapter reveals, a knowledge of Japanese history may be required to get through this manga. ^_^;;;  Now, it seems that many of the characters introduced will be reincarnated versions of actual historical characters.  Japanese audiences will likely be familiar with all of these, but American audiences won’t. As such, I’m hoping Dark Horse has some extensive extras to help go over the historical bits of the different characters being introduced.

On that note, the chapter ending with the news of the Tokugawa being on the move is also a historical reference-name. After all, it was TOKUGAWA Ieyasu who was the first daimyo to rise to the level of shogun. He was also an ally of Nobunaga.  So, that tells me there are more historical figures to be introduced by CLAMP. ^_^;;;

Going back to Hana, her powers are pretty impressive. To be able to master any technique used against her is a really strong power. Is she a guardian of Nobunaga’s body (and thus Mara as well) or is she something else?  Its too early to speculate too much on her (or Chikahito for that matter) but I’m curious to see how she fits into the historical context of things.

Beyond that, I’m afraid this manga is going to be a tough one for American audiences.