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Is “being hard to capture” a super power?
Not running super fast or being able to break out of any trap, I mean like literally just being good at evading. It may not seem like a particularly cool or noble skill but this is what the anime The Elusive Samurai explores. For warriors known for standing their ground and fighting with honor, this anime flips the script and focuses on how learning to not engage your enemy is a better strategy. But this isn’t saying that stealthy attacks or even pacifism is the way to success. It is actually saying that just because you may not be able to fight your bigger badder opponent, you can still take them down.
The trick that this anime really teaches us is that what your enemies, the world, or maybe even yourself considers your weaknesses, they may secretly be your strengths.
The Elusive Samurai anime takes 12 minutes to hook you. It gives you a fun, playful, and cheery anime about a rambunctious young boy evading his father’s guards in a loving city…and then it changes.
The tonal shift brings betrayal, dismay, violence, action and a lot of blood which is bad for Lord Tokiyuki and his family but it is pretty good for us. This allows us to immediately see the strengths of the anime like the animation. Most of the time it shows off details of the Kamakura era Japan with its free flowing kimonos but when it’s time to fight the anime employs a ton of different styles.
Right at the beginning when Tokiyuki confronts the soldiers that burned down his home, we see them with impact frames that look like they are drawn with a palette of thick oil pastels. Similarly, episode two’s fight is in a painted yet splotchy ink style but it’s inverted to make Tolkiyuki feel otherworldly. These animation changes are always welcomed and never feel out of place and all of this art is used to tell a solid story that is actually based on a real life elusive samurai
Yes Hojo Tokiyuki was a real samurai and though the anime takes some liberties, it’s actually pretty accurate to the real history. Back in 14th century Japan, the real Tokiyuki survived the attack on his family, recruited allies and fought to reclaim his seat of power all while evading hostile forces. You may be thinking that a samurai who runs away would be considered dishonorable but during the Kamakura period, samurai who ran away and survived battle were still considered victorious. Hojo Tokiyuki’s story is a powerful symbol of how the idea of samurai has changed over the centuries. Modern accounts don't mention him at all or it is just a footnote, and though he was a small blip in Japanese History, he is still very symbolic and this anime is keeping this fascinating legend alive. And by taking from history, the elusive samurai creates a powerful and invigorating story.
Young Lord Tokiyuki starts off with everything, enjoying his carefree life and then it’s all completely ripped away from him. He is on the run and all he has is a shady priest who claims he can see the future, may be an actual god, has a weird fixation of Tokiyuki being his adopted child, snd then he just like get spanked in a episode
I have watched that episode several times because I am still so confused why he does this and I think there is one small line in there that half explains why so please in the comments let me know what you think because out of all the great stuff about this anime, this image won't leave my head.
That priest is Suwa Yorishige and he is what makes this journey happen because not only does he keep Tokiyuki alive but helps enlist his army of child experts to fight against those that betrayed them. Each character is unique and offers something to the story giving us a full cast of characters that are relatable, interesting, or just funny.
The anime itself has alot of small battles that introduce new characters or help build Tokiyuki’s confidence or teach him a lesson in some way. The enemies they meet however offer various problems with their attributes like having perfect vision, perfect hearing, or just being a straight up bad man that likes ants.
The big bad of the series is Ashikaga Takauji and he is given alot of time to flex his muscles. He is portrayed as mysteriously and otherworldly as a samurai and can’t even be touched by an opponent. He also has this bizarre calm about him yet he is clearly a deranged man. There is a clear duality between him and lord Tokiyuki.
This is where the anime truly is so fascinating because it opens up the realization that even though Lord Tokiyuki and his retainers are completely outmatched in both numbers and just the fact they are children fighting grown men. I mean the anime is kind of like Peter Pan and the lost boys fighting captain hook except everyone has katanas and it’s certainly not a Disney movie.
But the struggles the heroes go up against shows us that your weaknesses can indeed by your strengths and this is an age old concept that is often overlooked because…well life is incredibly hard but the anime teaches an important lesson that can inspire viewers to reframe how you view your own downsides.
Lord Tokiyuki has nothing going for him at the start. He has no army, no fighting skills, and no power. He even says he will accept death. He is thrown into a sea of vicious samurai wanting to kill him. They see him as a harmless victim that can be easily slaughtered given their size, strength, and experience. They have all the advantage and Tokiyuki is at a disadvantage because he is small, weak and can’t fight. But that’s the whole point. Tokiyuki is able to jump, dip, and dodge everything thrown at him. His movements create such chaos that the samurai can’t get organized and they even injure or kill their own teammates. Running away and not fighting is considered weak yet here Tokiyuki is able to survive more than anyone else.
The beauty of “The Elusive Samurai” lies in the fact that Tokiyuki’s strength isn’t about direct confrontation but about his ability to evade and outlast stronger, more powerful opponents. This calls back to the ancient Taoist principle of wu wei
Wu Wei is literally translated to “no action” so a lot of people get confused and think that this principle literally means to be lazy and do nothing at all but that’s not right. It’s really about aligning with the natural flow of things and not forcing outcomes. So you should take action that feels effortless. In that sense, it involves letting go of control, expectations, and striving, so you act without resistance or forcing a particular result.
Tokiyuki is smiling when he is pushed, ready to accept death, but his instincts kick in and he braces his fall and begins to dodge every hit that comes to him. It is done effortlessly. He doesn't plan ahead or you hear an inner monologue confidently saying what he is going to do next. He doesn’t do anything like purposely tripping an enemy to start a chain reaction. He just goes with the flow of combat. He embodies wu wei because he doesn't resist the reality of his weaknesses. He accepts that he can't fight head-on, so he leans into what he’s naturally good at, evading.
So what his enemies assume is his weakness is really what is killing them and this happens throughout the anime. As Tokiyuki gains retainers, we see countless battles where literal children fight against fully grown samurai. In the second episode, Ayako, Kojiro, and Tokiyuki fight a samurai with immense strength and when things start going wrong, Tokiyuki states that they are just 3 kids fighting a grown man now.
During this fight however, they are still underestimating Tokiyuki and their fighting style is causing them to lose, not their age. Ayako and Kojiro think that they must protect their Lord since he cannot fight. This causes their focus to shift and they stumble in battle. When they realize that they should fight with Tokiyuki and not protect him, they can expose the enemy while the young lord evades. When they view his evasion as weakness, they struggle but once they reframe it as a strength, they can turn the tide.
It is this concept of your weaknesses being actual strengths that carry Tokiyuki to victory and it’s hard to blame his retainers or enemies from viewing him as weak because we all do this. We think it is amazing when the small guy beats the big bad because he never had a chance, when actually we just didn’t see that the cards were obviously stacked in the small guy’s favor. Hojo Tokiyuki is similar to the story of David and Goliath but not in the way you think because much like how the world views the young lord, there is alot that we get wrong about that story.
The story of David and Goliath is a famous biblical story where David, the small son of a shepherd, manages to kill a giant warrior named Goliath with just a rock in a sling. It is framed as an underdog story that is so shocking that a small boy like David could beat such a menacing foe. But after years of historical research, historians believe that this was never really the case. Goliath was over nine feet in height, wearing armor and carrying a huge spear. He would challenge someone from the opposing army every day by yelling “come and face me.” Sounds pretty menacing until you realize that growing to this height is from a disorder called acromegaly. He challenged people to face him because he had a tumor swelling against his optic nerve so he couldn't see well. He was lumbering and slow. Meanwhile David was fast and nimble. That sling he is using by the way is not a kids toy. Researchers have found that slings were fast, accurate, and could turn a stone into a bullet.
So you have a fast ranged fighter against a big lumbering target that can’t see well and can’t reach their opponent…how is that an underdog story?
That’s the elusive samurai. Everybody thinks because you’re weak, small, or lacking experience that you don’t have the advantage but that’s actually everyone else's disadvantage. The scoundrel samurai, Shokan, learns this the hard way. He views children as commodities and believes Tokiyuki’s strategy is half baked. Shokan lunges at the young lord with such ferocity but Tokiyuki uses a sword technique that only someone with his skills can do, playing on Shokan’s arrogance. Tokiyuki is weak so his skills lie in his survival, he is small so he can dodge easier, he has no experience so he can employ his own values as a leader. One of those values is just kindness, another attribute that some think of as a weakness.
How many times have you heard that nice guys finish last?
In that same fight, Shokan sees the young lord smiling and remarks that anyone who can smile in this hellhole cannot be human. He drops to his knees and sees Tokiyuki as the Buddha. He has somewhat of a religious awakening after fighting Tokiyuki. He isn’t the only one either. His retainers are often surprised as to how kind hearted he is. He actually cares for his teammates, even someone like Genba who would gladly leave the young lord for dead.
This has a positive effect on Tokiyuki’s retainers and allows him to recruit highly skilled teammates. Conversely with Takauji, his own brother is becoming afraid of him and urges his men to destroy the extra details of his painting because it depicts him hunting the Buddha. Where most people would think that fear is the best way to lead, Tokiyuki proves that kindness is still a strategy. Tokiyuki’s evasion, mindset, and values make him a threat to his enemies, whether they realize it or not.
So is “being hard to capture” a superpower? That answer depends on how you view it. If we continue to look at things as a weakness or disadvantage holding us back from greatness then that is exactly what it will be but The Elusive Samurai challenges us to spin that view into seeing the strength that can be harnessed. Hojo Tokiyuki’s journey may just be starting but he has already proven to be a leader, fighter, and friend. He doesn’t let what others call weaknesses hold him back, he embraces them and that mindset allows him to reach greater heights.
Sometimes it just takes the right mindset to put you on the right path to whatever greatness you're after, and we have seen this before in an anime that encourages you to find the balance of life on that journey, with an amazing soundtrack, and to hear more about that, you can check out this video, right here:
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