01x02 - Screening and Choosing

[bunniefuu]

A condemned storyteller once asked
to be beheaded while telling a story.

My father, Yamada Asaemon Kichiji,
accepted his request.

Even after he was beheaded,

the storyteller finished his tale.

He didn't even realize he'd been beheaded.

It was the perfect blow,
painless and devoid of emotion.

After that, I made it my goal to duplicate
that stroke my father made.

An impressive blow.

Brilliant work for a woman.

Thank you.

There's fear.

In your swordsmanship.

Doubt and fear.

You'll make the condemned
die painful deaths.

I'll work on it.

Sagiri...

Look at your blade.

The truth is reflected in the blade.

My blade, heavy with fear,
causes the condemned to suffer,

which makes my blade heavier still.

What should I do?

How can I eliminate doubt
and fear from my heart?

Like my father.

Perhaps...

if it were a life I could take
without doubt or hesitation.

Thank you for coming, condemned criminals.

The man sitting before you
is the 11th Sei-i Taishogun,

His Excellency Tokugawa Nariyoshi.

Normally, you'd never have the opportunity
to have an audience with him.

What was that?

You ain't so special!

You lookin' down on us, huh?

What's a shogun?

Who do you think you are?

Is it safe to have so
many of them gather here?

It's what the shogunate wanted.

A burglar who k*lled 30 people, Tanio Seikichi.

The serial arsonist, Nikimaru.

The former constable and m*rder*r, Kido Shukan.

They're all heinous criminals
who've caused chaos.

Aw, man. I can hardly breathe.

I wanna see Tokugawa in person.

You cannot.

Here are your secret orders.

You will travel to Shinsenkyo and return
with the immortality-granting Elixir of Life.

Whomever completes this task
shall receive an official pardon...

in the form of this certificate.

The atmosphere changed.

With that, I could go
on a k*lling spree again.

Adachi Matagoro...

A fiend who k*lled only woman
and children, and only for pleasure.

Could I k*ll a truly evil person who's
better off dead without doubt or hesitation?

Are you Gabimaru the Hollow?

Your hair color and build gave you away.

You're pretty famous in our line of work.

But...

I'm disappointed.

You're way smaller, more wretched-looking,
and even tinier than the rumors say.

You've even been apprehended, too.

Sorry to disappoint you.

I was certainly wary of him at first.

But now he's so listless,
like he's a different person.

Is this man just like the other criminals?

Or is he even more evil than
that, as the rumors claim?

I shall now describe to you
the island you'll be going to.

It is like Paradise...

We already heard that!
It is like Paradise...

Whatever!

Is this some kind of fairy tale?

Remove your masks, criminals.

I can finally breathe again.

He's the only sergeant who returned alive
from a recent expedition.

As you can see, he's no longer human.

When he returned,
he had lumps all over his body.

They began blooming the next day.

The roughly 60 other members
of the expedition are still missing.

We don't have
the slightest clue what happened

on the island, considering this
is our only source of information.

No one said the island
would be so dangerous!

What's the problem?

Blossoming into flowers would be
a mystical blessing.

It would almost be wasted on you lot.

Screw you!

What are you talking about?

I'm not going!

Don't mock us!

Enough.

You're criminals sentenced to death,

and you're being granted
an opportunity to travel to Paradise.

Don't you realize how generous
His Excellency is being?

Hey!

You don't know anything
about the island, right?

What if the Elixir's not there?

Yeah!

Can we come back empty-handed?

They've got excuses for everything.

If you don't like what we're offering,
then you can drop out.

Participation is voluntary.

Then I'll pass. Gives me the creeps.

I'd rather die with my
boys waiting for me at the—

I forgot to mention one thing.

When you arrive on the island,
you'll be assigned monitors.

M-Monitors?

You've already been condemned to death.

That still applies on the island.

In other words...

Act out on the island, and you'll
be beheaded on the spot.

The Yamada Asaemon will
accompany you as your monitors.

Don't get any funny ideas.

They're from the Yamada clan.

Turn against them,
and you'll end up like him.

Naturally, if your monitor dies, whether by
accident or homicide, you'll be beheaded.

If your monitor isn't with you,
you won't be allowed onto the return boat.

Really?

Yes.

I see.

I can't tell if he's brave or just dumb.

Hey, you.

Yes, Your Excellency.

Sorry, but there's one more thing.

Before you land on the island,
you need to reduce your numbers.

What?

All of you won't be able to
land on the island.

The ship's capacity and the number
of Asaemon available are limited,

so we'd like you to reduce your numbers.

Reduce?

You're a bunch of idiots.

In other words...

You want us to winnow the chaff here, right?

Wh-What are you...

See?

They're not saying anything
after witnessing that.

They want us to k*ll each other.

If you don't act quick, you'll be k*lled.

Well, that's one way to interpret it.

Anyone who dies here
would've been useless anyway.

Oh, and don't untie your hands.

Die!

Die!

My, my.

You don't often see fights
to the death in this day and age.

I've always wanted to see one.

Stupid shogun...

What point is there in doing this?

They can't fight properly
with their hands tied.

It's a brawl. A chaotic free-for-all.

In the end, they'll all be useless.

So, which ones have red seals?

You mean the criminals
with exceptional skills.

One might even describe them as superpowers.

They've been stamped
with red seals in the registry.

That man is one of them.

Despite his young age,
he led a group of bandits.

He's an extraordinary
fellow who established

a bandit village deep
in the mountains of Iyo.

Last year, that woman was involved
in the invasion of Sagiwa Castle.

She's a kunoichi who neutralized
every last retainer in the castle.

He's a master swordsman known as the "Blade
Dragon" or "Unparalleled in Eight Provinces."

He's a massive fellow said
to eat bears head-first.

They say neither swords
nor spears were effective against him.

It's like a Warring States picture scroll.

Among them, the most notable is
the living legend, Gabimaru the Hollow.

Over there.

Wait, what? The legend hasn't moved at all.

Feeling overwhelmed, Sagiri?

Eizen-dono...

It'll be even more brutal on the island.

Not just among the criminals.

You'll be exposed to harm as well.

When that happens, will you be able to k*ll?

Let me take this opportunity to tell you...

you're not suited to this job.

Why would a woman bother to wield a sword?

The daughter of a warrior should
live quietly in her mansion

and stay far away from
the fate of an executioner.

With all due respect, Eizen-dono,
I would have if I could.

Testing swords on bodies, beheading criminals,
making medicines from corpses...

Even if you don't wield a sword,

everyone born into the Yamada clan makes
their living through people's deaths.

Wait up!

Daughter of Neck-Chopper Asa!

Daughter of Cannibal Asa!

m*rder*r!

Get out here!

Come on!

You can try to turn a blind eye to it.

But the truth is reflected in the blade.

Damn.

We've got no choice.

We'll have to break through
the samurai to get out of here.

Boss...

That samurai is a woman.

We'll k*ll her and take her sword.

Can you k*ll him?

I can't escape the executioner's fate.

In that case...

I refuse to quietly accept it.

I'll see for myself what my fate is.

Why?

Why?

k*lling people is never okay, y'know.

Can't you come up with another way
to choose who's going?

When did you...

Get back!

We might be murderers, but not all
of us k*lled because we wanted to.

What are the guards doing?

I won't let you do this to us.

How dare you tell His Excellency what to do!

Oh, come on.

Not k*lling people if you don't have to
is the most natural thing in the world.

Watch your tongue, fiend.

If you don't want to participate,
then forfeit your chance at the pardon.

You're not listening.

Hey, you there.

Huh?

I'll send you on the expedition
if you k*ll this man.

What?

Seriously?

Stay where you are.

No, wait.

You guys don't like this
pointless k*lling either, do you?

Doesn't bother me.

If that's what it takes to survive,
then it suits me just fine.

Don't dodge that.

Can't we talk about this?

If you're not going to fight,
then shut up and die.

Fine, then.

You leave me no choice.

Guess I'll k*ll you.

Huh?

If you try to k*ll me, I'll k*ll you.

I thought you didn't want to k*ll anyone.

I don't.

But I can't afford to die either.

So I don't have a choice.

What?

What are you talking about?

Just thinking about what

I'm going to be burdened
with weighs heavily on my mind.

Aw, man. This sucks.

This really sucks.

He's a m-monster...

This is...

the Hollow.

Just thinking about what

I'm going to be burdened
with weighs heavily on my mind.

His methods are brutal.

Would you approve if
I made it pretty instead?

Is it possible that what I needed wasn't
the strength not to fear k*lling...

But the resolve to take on the burden
of that fear and the lives I took?

Sagiri, are you all right?

Perhaps this was too great
a responsibility for you after all.

No.

I will k*ll him.

Stop, criminals.

You will be joining the expedition.

Aza Chobei the Bandit King.

Tamiya Gantetsusai the Sword Dragon.

Twisted Keiun, the Hunter of One Hundred.

Nurugai of the Sanka.

Horubo the k*lling Prayer.

Runaway shinobi, Gabimaru the Hollow.

Akaginu the Cannibal Courtesan.

Kunoichi, Yuzuriha of Keishu.

Moro Makiya the Apostate.

Rokurota the Giant of Bizen.

The ten of you will be going.

Each of you will be accompanied by
an Asaemon executioner of the Yamada clan.

You will board a ship,

travel to the uncharted
island in the southern sea,

and find the immortality-granting
Elixir of Life.

Do this, and you will earn your freedom.

Do not worry.

You are going to Paradise.
Heaven. Shinsenkyo!

There is no danger.