A kid joins the Shinsengumi thinking revenge will fix the hole in his chest, then discovers that the samurai around him are already broken in ways he doesn't have the vocabulary to describe. The show doesn't pretend his trauma makes him special. It shows him learning that most of these men are just trying to survive in a time that doesn't want them to. By the end, he's not stronger because of what happened to him. He's just older, and that costs more than he bargained for.

Fifteen-year-old Tetsunosuke Ichimura is haunted by the memory of watching his parents killed by a member of the Choushuu, and he wants revenge. To gain the strength he lacks, he seeks to join the Shinsengumi, a historical group whose members must be able to kill anyone who threatens peace or the group without feeling. Tetsunosuke has neither the skill nor the temperament for that kind of work. His brother Tatsunosuke and the new friends he makes among the Shinsengumi stand by him, but he has little idea of the bloodshed and suffering that come with belonging to the group. The series mixes action with comedy.