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THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER.
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That was a surprising ending. For Mie to have continued loving Irako like that was unexpected.

Ooh, I wish Gennosuke hadn't done that. He really had nothing left in the end.

While I thought Irako was defeated a bit too easily, I found the death scene captivating. Gennosuke's confession that Irako's dazzle was such that he needed to kill him, plus the fact that he had admired Irako's pride, was wonderfully done.

Really? I always doubted Mie's love for Gennosuke - maybe she did love him, but she definitely did not stop loving Irako.
I think it was Gonzaemon who said something about her maiden's heart being captured and broken by Irako - or something to that effect.

My thoughts exactly. But that doesn't change the fast that she wanted him dead to avenge her father.

The reason she took her own life has more to do with Gennosuke obeying the order he was given. There are 2 panels right before she commits suicide which are taken straight from chapter 9 "Puppets".

Perfect end in my opinion.

Maybe she dies because there was nothing left after revenge. Mie did lose everything after the death match. With only revenge fueling her, after it was over she didn't find anything worth living for. Just another conclusion on my part.

That's what I thought too. She really wanted revenge, and the promise they made with Gennosuke if he wins makes it kinda contradictory to believe she killed herself out of love for Seigen. So yeah, she couldn't bear to see him becoming another mindless puppet - is the most reasonable explanation for me. Still sad though.

Great end nevertheless.

after she reached the peak of her existence, there was no more purpose left for her life
I'm sad Irako died at the end
I felt he was a better man than Fujiki

^I was ʘ‿ʘ when Fujiki sliced up Irako

but really, neither is worse/better, Fujiki followed the codes and was a 'model' samurai, Irako went against the codes and lived it up, but look how both ended up..

I also think that it's not so simple as
Fujiki = justice, honor and integrity
and
Irako = I hate this social order and won't bend to it

as far as I can tell the entire world of Shigurui is unhinged and cruel to the extreme, and small characters like our heroes don't really have much control over events.

The young maiden killing herself wasn't really a shock, you can see that she's subconsciously torn when she has that vision of Gennosuke dieing before the fight then telling him that she saw him win.

the question here is: was that vision fear for Gennosuke's life
or perhaps the part of her that still liked Seigen wanted Gennosuke dead
or maybe both?

Out of all the theories thrown out here, Ill have to agree with this one.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mei wanted revenge for her father's death; she even appeared elated when Fujiki gutted Ikaro ** applause**. As 'guiglar' pointed out in an earlier post, Mei's change came after Fujiki was ordered to behead Irako. For some reason, that did not sit well with her nor Fujiki, for that matter. Although I doubt that Mei killing herself had anything to do with loving Irako, I still believe it was senseless and selfish.

I also agree with 'alcurad' ; I so enjoyed seeing Irako get his and Fujiki giving it to him was the highlight. And yes... "Shigurui" is one bizarre manga written by an author with a equally so imagination. But... I loved every second of it and, for me, it sets it apart from the current mainstream manga. An absolute joy to read (with the exception of the ending chapter).

I was left rather confused about Mie's feelings, myself. There was a comment about Fujiki sensing the darkness hiding underneath in one of the last chapters that made me think she might have loved Irako more, following him not raping her, and actually come to have been more enraged by Irako sleeping with Iku when they were to be married. Not sure. The random chapter where Irako turned up with an ape's head and - for some inexplicable reason - lied about his relationship with Iku also hinted at this.

But the confusion over Mie's feelings was caused more by shoddy writing than anything. She went from wanted to marry Fujiki, wanting to marry Irako after he 'saved' her purity, going insane over her last ray of hope vanishing... to caring about her demented father's school/the father that occasionally sexually abused her to the extent she became a strong-minded woman desperate for vengeance. It didn't fit AT ALL. Surely she should've been happy to she the chains that bound her into a life of existing only to breed be destroyed?...

Anyway, the manga became an extended-beyond-goodness mess once Fujiki lost the three volume(ish?) duel with Irako. Fujiki was robotic throughout and Irako's characterisation ended once he'd got his revenge. All that was left was more animal imagery, manly narration, gore and some needless nudity... with utterly pointless new/random character backstories thrown around to make a series that had long lost its luster drag-on further. WHAT WAS EVEN THE POINT OF THE FROG-GUY AND DICK-WOMAN!? The last we saw of the 'woman' was Mr. Evil doing her up the arse; not caring about 'her' growing a penis. Pure filler.

In short: a decent enough gorefest that long outstayed its welcome. The uninspiring nature of the final duel and the ending itself made it crystal that a shallow work had gone on for far too long.

Yeah, It might just be a filler, but I enjoyed tbh!

Totally agree with the filler crap, completely unnecesary.

I loved the whole story however and it is very refreshing to read something unconstrained and not focused for the mainstream audience once in a while.

About the final chapter, maybe I'm wrong about this, but I get the feeling that Mie never really forgave Gennosuke and you can see how he is tormented by the scene when he is holding her to be raped just before the end, which kind of shows that either she never forgave him at all or that he never completely forgave himself about this.
She also repeats "please kill him" on several points on the final chapters, but you never really know if she is directly asking Gennosuke to kill Seigen or if she is talking to herself and actually meaning the opposite, something like "please (Seigen), kill him (Gennosuke)", thus justifying her not telling Gennosuke about her vision just before the match, why else wouldn't she warn him about this?

And finally, I'm pretty sure that in Mie's vision Gennosuke's face was cut from above, not from below. But that's for another time.

Considering how long they usually drag out fights the final between Irako and Gennosuke was straight to the point, very short..really weird.

Mie was probably the biggest mystery with the whole series. As for her father she hated him but still accepted him for whatever reason. She had fallen for Irako when he "saved her purity" but hated that he killed her father. The whole series I felt she was manipulating Gennosuke really. Mie wasn't always right in the head as shown and heavily implied way earlier in the series that for some reason was brushed aside later on. Remember how she acted during her father's battle with Irako?

Gennosuke was the only Kogan member left to see her will through of revenge. The guy was a beast. When Gennosuke finished off Irako, it was truly the end of everything for her. Serving under Takada(sp?) would just be a restart of all the fucked up sheep following master/puppet stuff she hated when Kogan dojo was thriving. She just wanted to see her father's death avenged. Once that happen and watching Gennosuke unwillingly follow the rules of society of that era she peaced out.

I mainly got into the manga because of the animated series, just wanted to see how it ended. I agree that it dragged on too long for its own good (even though it was only 84 chapters). It's like when the plot is advancing they just pause, side-track with introducing characters who don't really have much, if any, effect on the story at all like Chika (dick-girl) and frog guy. Still, senien samurai series, I can't get enough of em.