Tetsunosuke's desperation to become a killer he isn't, to convince himself revenge has meaning when it only deepens the wound, breaks something in you that the series never quite managed. The animation doesn't just support this, it carries the weight of every moment he tries to be harder than his own breaking point allows. By the end, you're not watching a revenge story anymore. You're watching a kid choose to live in spite of everything telling him not to.

Tetsunosuke is haunted by the memory of watching one of the Choushuu murder his parents. Driven by a hunger for revenge, he wants to become strong, and at fifteen he seeks to join the Shinsengumi. What he lacks is the skill, the mindset and the resolve to cut down anyone who threatens peace or the group without feeling anything. Even with his brother Tatsunosuke and new friends among the Shinsengumi behind him, he has no idea how much blood and pain membership in this historical band will bring. This 2018 action drama film is a fresh anime adaptation of the Peace Maker Kurogane manga.