Although I believe that Spirit Circle is a work that can be considered one of the most perfect works out there, Sengoku Youko manages to position itself as one of the most satisfying adventure stories out there. In terms of theme and characterization, Sengoku Youko is rawer and more loose around the edges, and, if you break it down to its core, it’s action scenes are less about strategy and more about winning through Shounen spirit – but all that is overturned by its sense of scale and adventurous scope.
Sengoku Youko’s story is a story that is split between two protagonists, and involves Gods and beings vaster than anything on the Earth, but it’s mainly about how fun it is to travel with friends that you care about. Separations are only prefaces to future reunions, no matter how heart-breaking they may be. And even if those separations are permanent – memories exist. It has a lot less of the philosophical focus that Spirit Circle can pull off in a mere 40 chapters, but I think writing such a work is important since it allows a writer to stake out a different repertoire. Given that he was writing both works at the same time, it could be that channelling his spirit into this one allowed him to take a more focused approach with the other – but that’s just speculation.
With a laudatory discussion like this though, there has to be a talk about ‘limits’. With Biscuit Hammer, Sengoku Youko, and Spirit Circle, Satoshi has already expended many of the pathways that he’s familiar with. He can no longer tread on familiar ground anymore – that ground being the raw youthfulness and sense of growth that exists in those works. These are the points that will either make or break writers – and I’m really interested to see the continuation.
