Hakuoki (薄桜鬼) is a franchise of a substantial size that consists of otome games (visual novels), anime series, anime movies and live actions. It found popularity in the country of origin - Japan - due to having the Japanese history as the plot foundation. However, not only Japanese readers and viewers found the story captivating but also people all around the world that loved Hakuoki when they were younger and still do having grown up. Hakuoki tuned 15 years old in 2024!
What is Hakuoki about?
The main themes of Hakuouki are:
- Japanese history:
- samurai;
- war;
- drama;
- romance.
Japanese history as a base for Hakuouki
Hakuōki is based around the Edo Period of Japanese history, more specifically years 1863-1868. It is the time of honorable samurai but also the time of turmoil and the civil war that awaits them, bringing change to the country, its government and the people in it.
The Shinsengumi are a group of warriors of various origins who, by the beginning of the story, are the Kyoto police tasked with patrolling the streets and catching criminals. They operate under the authority of the Aizu Domain and often have to thwart destructive plans of the Choshu Domain.
The main Shinsengumi members that appear in Hakuouki are:
- Kondo Isami (Commander)
- Sannan Keisuke (Deputy Commander, also known as Yamanami Keisuke)
- Hijikata Toshizo (Vice Commander)
- Okita Soji (1st Division Captain)
- Nagakura Shinpachi (2nd Division Captain)
- Saito Hajime (3rd Division Captain)
- Todo Heisuke (8th Division Captain)
- Harada Sanosuke (10th Division Captain)
Plot of Hakuouki
The story begins with a 16-year-old girl named Chizuru Yukimura who travelled from Edo to Kyoto in search for her missing father. She gets attacked by rogue samurai and is later saved by the Shinsengumi members. As they find out about the purpose of her visit, they agree to help her locate her father because they have also been searching for him. Over the course of 5 years, Chizuru gets to witness all the struggles, difficult decisions and loss that the Shinsengumi have to overcome. Each of her new friends has their own beliefs and plans, each of them has their own path during the cruel civil war, and not everyone gets to survive it to see the new era of Japanese history.
Seasons 1 and 2 of the anime (and Kyoto Winds / Edo Blossoms in the game equivalent) bring drastically different approaches to waging a war: while the first part focuses on samurai, swords and resolve to fight, the second one forces the Shinsengumi to adapt to the new era of guns, cannons and strategic moves.
The anime version of Hakuoki has a pre-made route for Chizuru: she falls in love with the Demon Vice Commander Hijikata Toshizou who eventually reciprocates her feelings, and they travel together from Kyoto to Sendai and later to Ezo to join the fight against the Imperial nationalists, but their ending is open to speculation. The game version of Hakuouki allows readers to choose their own route and see what happened to 6 (in the first game) and later 12 (in the Shinkai remake) different characters, some of which fight until the bitter end while others prefer to escape early in order to survive and start a family or simply distance themselves from the conflict.