Drifters Ep. 5 Thoughts

You probably noticed this already. But in case you haven't, this article will contain spoilers for the latest episode. You've been warned.

Our Drifter's first fight from a couple of weeks ago, was merely a skirmish. Now the real battle begins as Shimazu, Nobunaga, and Yoichi lead the Elves to battle against Orte, the guy who've been bullying their village since. And the series reminds us how much total anti-heroes our three main characters are.

First we have Nobunaga, who is the strategist of the trio, as he imposed several tactics that are befitting of his character in popular culture as being demonic, in a sense. Don't be surprised if viewers call Nobunaga a 'piece of shit', as they meant that in very literal sense. Not only did Nobunaga apply the 'Poison The Well' tactic by contaminating the water in the Elven with dirt and feces, the latter is also used in traps and smeared in weapons, so that anyone who is struck by them and somehow survived would still die by infection.

And he wastes no time with the corpses either. I actually had to Google Search his method of using corpses to produce the minerals needed in making gunpowder.

As a fan of strategy games and fictional works like Romance of The Three Kingdoms, Fire Emblem, and Legend of The Galactic Heroes, as 'stinky' as Nobunaga's tactics were, they are quite effective and something that would've been used in Nobunaga's time period.

Speaking of which, creator Kouta Hirano does not forget where our protagonists come from, thus the trio showed both their personas, as well as their philosophies of their time. Shimazu showed the belief of his time where Samurai never fear death and hell bent on striking down the enemy head on - a belief he instantly planted among the Elves. The Elves suddenly become as blood-thirsty as Shimazu is, and are not afraid to destroy their own village to show it. But even Shimazu himself knows when to hold back and reminds them that there is indeed room for mercy.

Though learning what became of the Elven women pretty much threw the mercy part out of the window.....

Yoichi plays a minor role in this episode. Apart from leading one group to take down Orte's remnants and feeling some jealousy that the Elves are natural with bows and arrows, he also has to deal with Nobunaga's sick methods. We then had another glimpse of Yoichi's past, and see the cruelness of one of his brothers in terms of how war is fought and how it resembles Nobunaga's character.

So Yoichi sees Nobunaga as some crazed monster. Nobunaga sees Shimazu having the potential of being a true warlord. Shimazu seems to care little of the two. Whether this would lead to a battle among the trio is to be seen.

Curious to see what Shimazu will do to Orte and the rest of his men, and whether or not they will meet the other Drifters along the way. But we are however, reaching the halfway point of the season and Shimazu and co. have yet to battle members of the Ends. Hopefully we get there and it will be epic.