My Gang of Swordsmen

Time really flies, and it’s already time for this book to be released.

What should I say in my release message?

After thinking for a while, I still couldn’t come up with anything interesting to say.

So let me tell you why I decided to write this novel.

The reason for writing this novel is simple—it’s a tribute to the masterpiece ”Harakiri,” which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and fundamentally changed my perception of film as a visual art.

”Harakiri” was released in 1962 and was directed by the master: Masaki Kobayashi.

Who is Masaki Kobayashi?

He is ranked alongside Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, and Keisuke Kinoshita as one of the ”Four Knights of the Japanese Film Industry” and is one of the most renowned directors in Asia.

To borrow an assessment from a Zhihu writer known as Disciple, from the article ”Why the Masterpiece With a Rating of 9.2 Is Not Allowed to Be Broadcast in Japan?” on Zhihu—”Masaki Kobayashi’s most remarkable quality is his courage to use nationalistic and social prophecies to provide reflective criticism on Japan’s imperialism and authoritarian system.”

Throughout his life, Masaki Kobayashi produced many deep and classic works, one of which is ”Harakiri.”

The general plot of the movie ”Harakiri” won’t be elaborated here. You must watch it yourself to understand how profoundly moving it is.

This movie, from start to finish, gives off a sense of ”stillness.”

The shots remain still, with no drastic camera movements or high-speed scene changes.

The imagery is still, constantly giving a sense of emptiness and calm.

The dialogue is still, with most characters speaking in a very calm manner, rarely is there a scream loud enough to hurt one’s ears.

But despite this very calm movie, it tells a story that only makes one feel as if thunder is roaring past their ears.

Through masterful storytelling, Masaki Kobayashi profoundly critiqued and ridiculed the cruelty, disgust, and repulsiveness of so-called Bushido in this film. Those supposedly noble Samurai, who always talk about Bushido, appear so hypocritical when forcing others to commit seppuku, speaking confidently, looking down on others, but when it’s their turn to cut open their own belly, they fear death and hide at home, not daring to come out.

I remember very clearly that the first time I saw this movie was when I was just starting university.

Before I started writing novels in my sophomore year, I wasn’t much of a movie buff. I hadn’t watched many films and had mostly seen blockbuster popcorn movies like ”Transformers” or ”The Avengers.”

Can you imagine how shocking it was for someone who had only watched popcorn movies to suddenly come across ”Harakiri” by chance?

After watching ”Harakiri,” I was so shocked I couldn’t speak.

Movies can be made like this?!

Forget special effects; there weren’t even many grand scenes. The whole movie just switched between a few scenes.

Even though it’s a black-and-white film, with no special effects or grand scenes, the imagery is still fascinatingly beautiful.

The story told isn’t complex or grand. It didn’t accomplish any grand missions or save the world.

Nor were there nonsensical things like big bears or beautiful girls.

Although it’s just a simple story, it doesn’t feel tedious or boring at all, and after watching, one only wants to watch it several more times.

”Harakiri” fundamentally changed my perception of film as an art.

This movie also became the catalyst for me to delve deeply into sword-fighting themed works.

The reason ”Harakiri” had such a profound impact on me is also because the values conveyed in the movie deeply resonated with me.

I enjoy the spectacle of blades and swords in sword-fighting works.

But I despise the so-called Bushido; I always believed that Bushido is a pile of shit.

To be precise, I detest all feudal rites that ”devour” people.

I’m sure the old readers who followed from my previous work ”Sword Master” understand my stance on Bushido—Ogata Isseki has beheaded countless deluded Bushido fanatics. In ”Sword Master,” I never spared any effort in depicting how the Samurai, who constantly talk about Bushido, ”drive” and ”are driven” themselves.

Out of respect for this great work that directly changed my ”movie perspective” and aesthetics, I had already decided last year to write another sword-fighting themed novel at the beginning of 2022, after the completion of ”Sword Master.”

A sword-fighting novel that pays tribute to ”Harakiri,” which happened to be released on its 60th anniversary in 2022, and its director Masaki Kobayashi.

Since it’s a tribute to ”Harakiri” and Masaki Kobayashi’s work, the theme of this work will be identical to ”Harakiri.”

[To criticize and ridicule the hypocritical, cruel, and repulsive Bushido tirelessly]

To let you, dear readers, see what Bushido really is, and how this crap destroys people to such a hateful and pitiful extent.

While writing the events in Chapter 43, ”Bushido is a Pile of Shit,” about Tojo’s madness, and Chapter 58, ”Anti-foreigner Group (Part 2)” where Shinno forces his subordinates to commit seppuku under the guise of promoting Bushido spirit, and they have to wait until his subordinates complete the ”single cut” before granting them assistance, I felt a sense of liberation like finally relieving oneself after holding it in for an hour.

Ridiculing Bushido feels so satisfying!

Readers hoping to see plots like ”Aoto leading Japan to prosperity” can leave; there’s no such thing in this book.

This is also why I chose the Bakumatsu setting for this new sword-fighting novel.

Because Bakumatsu was the turbulent time when the Samurai era was about to end.

In this chaotic era, where the Samurai class is on the brink of collapse, the normally high-and-mighty, arrogant Samurai show their ugly sides.

If you want to thoroughly ridicule Bushido, choosing this era where the Samurai class is about to be swept into the dustbin of history is the most suitable.

Along with that, I can also mock the Bakumatsu era. I’ve quite a lot of criticism for Japan’s Bakumatsu era as well.

The previous work ”Sword Master,” although it had criticism of Bushido, didn’t have much. Overall, ”Sword Master” is a relatively pure ”Fantasy Adventure Tales.”

But this work, ”Swordsman Corps,” adopts a completely different thematic approach, so the overall story atmosphere will be quite different from the ”Fantasy Adventure Tales” of ”Sword Master.”

Can I pull off writing this ”Swordsman Corps,” which has a completely different theme from its predecessor?

I don’t know.

But I am willing to pour my all, to complete the story of ”Niō” Tachibana Aoto after ”Asura” Ogata Isseki.

Oh, by the way—as soon as I started this work, many pests in the comment section started labeling me with various strange accusations.

For all these people and these comments, I have without exception blocked permanently and deleted their comments.

Because these people are so annoying, labeling me with baseless accusations without even reading the content of the novel.

Anyone who has read any of the content up to this point knows that these accusations are naked slanders against me.

These people who disrespect me by commenting without having read the content of the novel, I naturally won’t allow them to continue staying around.

This release message seems to be getting a bit lengthy, so I’ll leave it here for now. After all, there will be many more opportunities to write such messages in the future.

I will accompany ”Niō” Tachibana Aoto to the end of his journey.

I hope you, who are reading this, can also accompany me on this rather long journey of ”Niō.”

The official release will be at 12:01 PM today.

To be honest, when deciding to write this work, I was quite overwhelmed with pressure because I anticipated that after the book’s release, many people who haven’t even read a single page would bark loudly in its comment section.

Although I was mentally prepared, seeing the baseless accusations these pests made still made me feel very depressed.

As for the initial subscriptions, I have little expectations; it’s enough if everyone can support as much as they can.

I also hope that readers who, for various reasons, have to resort to piracy, can at least subscribe to the first VIP Chapter of this book for 1 cent before leaving.

Your small support can provide immense comfort to my heart—it reminds me that there are still many kind people willing to support this niche work I wrote under immense pressure, a work that is unlikely to become famous and is prone to baseless accusations from some pests.

To all who are willing to support me and this book, I extend my deepest gratitude!

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Shumengshi

May 24, 2022