Hanamaru never sold you on the sorties. It sold you on the citadel: swords arguing over farm chores, seasonal festivals, hot springs, and Kashu Kiyomitsu treating his own reflection like a full-time job while Yamatonokami Yasusada carries Okita Souji around in his chest like an unhealed bruise. That's the trick nobody else in the 2205 timeline pulls off, comedy and grief sharing the same tatami mat, and the historical revisionists only show up to remind you what these boys are protecting. This chapter takes it to theaters in three parts strung across 2022, May, July, September, so the wait between them is its own kind of ritual for anyone who has been at this since 2016. Go in for the fights if you want. You'll come out humming the ending song and wondering which sword got handed the mic this time.<br>

The Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru anime continues as a trilogy of films, shown in theaters in three parts between May and September 2022. The earlier Hanamaru series follows legendary swords brought to life in the year 2205, who guard history against revisionists trying to alter the past and also share cheerful everyday lives when they are not fighting. The films blend action, comedy, drama and fantasy with slice-of-life moments.