♥ · Yamazaki · Ayunee · · ♥

Poor Akesato/Sarah. Chuckle. She doesn't ever seem to get a real break.

And my, oh my, Suzu... We've got fingers in all sorts of pots, don't we? Talk about playing with fire.

He has taken Yoshida's legacy very much to heart and serves well as a represntation of the more extreme facets of the Choshu.

I pity Akesato more and more. She seems to just be bad luck to the men around her.

OOC: Whaa! Poor Sarah/Akesato! *sniffle*

Yeah..........
This last chapter had me thinking a lot about the changes in her character as we went along. I don't know whether volume 5 resolves things for her, but I can't see her continuing along as a shinobi indefinitely without some consideration for the fact that she will have to watch those she genuinely begins to care for die.

Of course, I could see her going ballistic too. (I realy want to plonk down for volume 5 now just to see what happens. Stupid ADV.)

I wonder if she'll be dead by the end of the manga. Character who aren't leads and experience that much suffering often die.

Hm. True, but I think the way PMK is structured she should live.
If anything there are many "counters/contrasts" in terms of characters...
Tetsu/Suzu, Hijikata/Yoshida, Akesato/Ayu/Susumu...

If the mangaka is being deliberate in these contrasts (Which I think she is), I would probably guess that Akesato would live. Of course, it might be quite a lonely life watching everyone die, but thematically I would accept it as part of a balanced end to the entire series.

Then again, I might be presuming too much on part of the mangaka...

That should read: "Akesato should live, as AYu dies and Susu dies..."

He does!? Eh heh, I never got around to downloading the chapters of volume four that were posted in the PMK community.

Ahnnnoooo. I meant Susu historically dies I think somewhere in one of the later battles. Of course I could be wrong on that, but I recall Susu-p had dug up some research on him.

Susumu is alive and well in volume 4, at least so far...

If I were the manga-ka, I'd probably have Akesato sacrifice herself to save/change Saya's life somehow. But, I am melodramatic like that.

Oh, yeah, that would work really well. If it were me, I'd have her save Saya from Suzu. Suzu's really been fucking with her, and I think it would be fitting if her dying act was to thwart him. Then she can give Saya a touching speech about love and courage, and would finally die beautifully, most likely surrounded by sakura blossoms. And it would make me cry.

Yeah, exactly like that. It seems to fit the formula for the way things go, anyway.