The Great Fire of 1657

I'll start by saying that till this episode I felt the show was a strong 8-9/10. Really enjoyed the characters, story arcs, and animation style.

This episode left me confused as it didn't feel like the show that I had watched till now.

The pacing felt all over the place and the fights just seemed unbelievable. I know the show wasn't completely grounded in reality but I lost the ability to suspend disbelief in the final fight. The characters completely changed to advance the plot at a pace that wasn't on level with the rest of the show. The story backed itself into a corner on it's own and then broke to get to the destination.

Will I watch a S2 - most definitely - but I hope it's at the same level as the episodes preceding this one.

From cliche deaths to weird plot armour this episode is such a let down to the rest of the show. Fowler constantly yoyos from being the best samuri ever to someone who runs away at every chance and also the scene where a woman and an oldman close the door on about 20 soldiers is downright the dumbest thing i have ever seen in a tv show.

This was a bleak end to the season! At this point I am glad that we got a season two cause this episode was a great season finale, but as a series finale it would have been very unsatisfying with numerous unfinished arcs and open plotholes!

This episode culminates with Fowlers plan being set in motion! After all this time in the shadows he fully reveals himself and his strength! He is a guy with no redeeming qualities! A villain you can only hate!

I enjoyed Akemis journey as well as she has descided now what to do with her life after getting a choice!

The finale part with Mizu was not as bad as others are saying! To her, the mission is the most important thing to her, and she will not risk it, even if it means sparering a life.. for now! She is still determent to get revenge!

This season was incredible! One od the greatest surprises from last year! I can not wait for season two!

The machinations in the Shogun's palace were breathtaking. It was like this isn't Mizu's story anymore. Just turn it over to Azumi and let her wrangle her way through the machiavellian plotting. The plot twist of someone close to her being involved in Fowler's schemes was shocking but somehow not too surprising.

Mizu enters the story like a hurricane and wreaks havoc on Edo. It's bold of the writers to depict their heroine as such a destructive force. Just for her personal sense of vengeance?

We even get more backstory on Fowler, to understand his evil. Doesn't excuse it, but offers context.

I loved the ending, but I'm seeing this series after the renewal for season 2 has already been announced so there's no threat of the series ending on a cliffhanger. They have really opened this story up to becoming truly epic.

I'm getting a feeling that Mizu might discover some rather unexpected things about her true parentage. One thing's for sure, none of the four men she's targeted for death will turn out to be her father. That is way too expected for this series.

This show is all about overturning gender expectations and ironically, Mizu has some gender expectations of her own that might get overturned. And I'll just leave it at that.