Game
Gallery
Kamo Serizawa (芹沢 鴨, Serizawa Kamo) is an antagonist of Hakuouki: Reimeiroku. He used to serve as the Head Commander of the Rōshigumi (later renamed the Shinsengumi).
Serizawa is introduced when he finds Ryuunosuke beaten almost to death and offers him food. It is a rare display of kindness as Serizawa is mostly seen as a brutal, rude and fearless man who has earned a terrible reputation both for himself and for the Rōshigumi.
His character is based on the historical Serizawa Kamo.
Appearance
Serizawa has shoulder-length spiky dark-red hair, almost black on the top half of his head and silver gray lower down, with a samurai top knot at the back (much like Kondou's hair). He wears amber-colored trousers and a midnight green haori (in his free time) or a traditional blue haori of the Shinsengumi (during battles).
Personality
Serizawa is proud, vivacious and violent. He enjoys tormenting the weak and demonstrating his power, his allies (or servants in most cases, like Nishiki Niimi and Ryuunosuke Ibuki) are generally afraid of him, even though some of them happen to genuinely admire him. Although Kamo has a sharp mind, he is quick-tempered, arrogant, and self-centered which ignites hatred in people around him. His outrageous behavior is the reason why the former Rōshigumi became notorious during his time as the commander in Kyoto (and were called "Wolves from Mibu"). However, he believes that playing the role of a villain is meant to help in achieving his goals, which he frequently lectures Hijikata about. He keeps blaming Hijikata and Kondou for being too soft and lacking resolve while doing all the hard work for the Rōshigumi.
Serizawa is good at reading people's emotions and manipulating them. He makes Okita murder Tonouchi by revealing Tonouchi's plan to assassinate Kondou; he dwells into Hijikata's deep feelings about not being born in a samurai family; he understands Ryuunosuke's rage due to Serizawa's brutal actions towards another geisha which resulted in Ryuunosuke being rejected by Kosuzu; he feels Oume's desire to kill him even while she is behind him, and so on.
Story
Amidst the desolation of snow and frost, the plum is the first to bloom in brilliant color.
The blossoms keep their fragrance, even after they have scattered.—Kamo Serizawa, intended death poem
Serizawa appears in the very beginning of the third season (prequel) of Hakuouki. He finds Ryuunosuke Ibuki laying half-dead on the ground, offers him food and brings him along to the Rōshigumi headquarters. When Ryuunosuke decides to thank him and leave, Serizawa insists that the kid is indebted to him, so Ryuunosuke has to stay and become Serizawa's "dog".
Throughout the season, Serizawa abuses Ryuunosuke by stepping onto him or hitting him, he also makes him buy sake almost daily and massage his shoulders. Other members of the Rōshigumi seem dissatisfied with Serizawa's behavior towards them as well, as he disrespects everyone and loves to make a scene or plot something in secret. However, due to being smart and powerful, Serizawa provides the Rōshigumi with funds and connections, later agreeing to work with Koudou Yukimura and experiment with Ochimizu as it is an order from Bakufu which means it can provide the Rōshigumi with more money.
At some point, Serizawa finds out that Tonouchi Yoshio is willing to assassinate Kondou. He tells Okita about it knowing the boy's attachment to the commander. Okita kills Tonouchi which aggravates Hijikata and upsets Kondou as well as everyone else in the squad. Later, while on a trip, Serizawa provokes sumo wrestlers, and he and Okita kill two of them which discourages everyone and makes Hijikata even angrier.
The initial hatred towards Serizawa appeared when Kondou forgot to book a room in an inn for him, and Serizawa burnt a building saying that it was not warm enough to stay outside.
After Serizawa's order to put a head of a ronin on display in Osaka, people start to fear the Rōshigumi and call them "Wolves from Mibu".
Getting drunk in Osaka, Serizawa orders a geisha to strip, and when she refuses, he takes it as an insult and makes a scene forcing Hijikata to cut off her hair. The Rōshigumi's reputation worsens even more. Not much time passes before he claims that a store in Kyoto was running business with foreigners, giving money to rogue samurai and not giving money to Serizawa, so he burns the store down.
At the end of the season, Serizawa starts feeling bad health-wise and tries to fix it by drinking more sake but gets to the point of not remembering where he is and who is around him. He attacks Hirama and hits Ryuunosuke when a few rogue samurai recognize him and pick a fight. They are quickly stopped by Kazama who enters the scene and claims that they are no match for Serizawa. He states that Serizawa is suffering from a disease that slowly makes his whole body useless, and Serizawa laughs that he expects to die in agony.
Aizu gives an order to Kondou and Hijikata to "deal with" Serizawa. Kondou tries to talk it through with him but Serizawa ignores.
Ryuunosuke overhears Serizawa sharing his love life story with Oume telling her about the only woman he has ever loved who died of the same disease he is suffering. He claims he was happy to know that he was infected with the same disease as his beloved who fought for her life even while being mistreated by others.
When the Aizu make it clear that Serizawa needs to be removed from the picture, Kondou and Hijikata come up with a plan. Serizawa feels it and tells Oume to leave giving her money. When she refuses to do so, he seemingly kills her in her sleep (which is only hinted at and not stated obviously). When Hijikata and others come to assassinate him, Serizawa meets them head on. Ryuunosuke runs in to beg for his life as the commander is suffering from a disease but the pleads do not stop Hijikata, so Serizawa laughs and drinks Ochimizu. He attacks everyone easily, including Ryuunosuke, but then tells him to live and lets him go. He fights Hijikata who, with the help of Okita and Sannan, pierces through his heart. Serizawa's last words towards Hijikata are "Well done".
Musicals
Serizawa is portrayed by Kubodera Akira in all his HakuMyu appearances.
Themes
"Gōgan Fuson'na Shi" and "Bushi no Michi ~ Ima, Kakugo no Toki [3]" are Serizawa's main leitmotifs.
Trivia
Serizawa writing his death poem with his own blood
- A very little known fact about the real life Serizawa: he was very fond of children and often showed his drawings to them.
- His intended death poem was written while he was imprisoned and sentenced to death for what was considered cold-blooded murder. While jailed, he refused food and had only a small window that could give him any sight of the outside. He bit open his pinky, writing the poem with his blood. As it turned out, he ended up surviving the ordeal and later became one of the Rōshigumi commanders.