Yasuke – Season 1 Episode 6 (Finale/Ending) Recap & Review

Balance

Episode 6 of Yasuke season 1 begins our finale with Morisuke and his men preparing to fend off the Dark Army, biding time for Yasuke and Saki. The warriors sit together and form a protective shield around their temple. It’s a temporary measure at best, and sooner or later this shield will break. For now, it seems to be holding its own.

While they shield themselves, Yasuke and Saki slip out the back and look upon Azuchi Castle. Yasuke scoops Saki under his arm and rushes for the castle. Slashing left and right, Yasuke dispatches the soldiers while Saki channels her powers to help thwart any behemoths standing in their way.

Heading inside Azuchi Castle, Saki uses her powers to telepathically connect to Daimyo. Unfortunately she’s everywhere, with tendrils encapsulating this entire fortress.

Daimyo uses her weird powers to cause projections to appear before Yasuke, fooling his mind. Among those that show up is his old Lord Nobunaga. Yasuke follows this projection blindly up the long, winding stairwells. Eventually he finds himself face to face with Daimyo.

Unfortunately these projections get worse, as Yasuke lashes out against Saki. She fends off numerous sword blows with her shield, blasting the samurai back every time. Eventually Saki helps Yasuke to see through this illusion. He turns the sword and tries to hit back against this plagued menace as Daimyo laughs cruelly.

Eventually all the lights go out and this creature manifests itself into a monstrous form only a Mother could love. While Daimyo continues to fight against Yasuke and Saki, desperate to take the latter’s power for herself, the rest of the group outside witness their shield breaking. With all the enemies gathered together into one giant quadruped, the soldiers stare at certain death.

Saki’s power suddenly manifests into a giant butterfly; a metamorphosis that sees her thwart the threat of Daimyo. Given the monster was created by Daimyo’s power, it could only have been destroyed if that power ceased to exist. Given Daimyo set up a tendrilled connection between the two, this seems to be why it worked. In layman’s terms, the good guys have won.

Unfortunately Yasuke meets his death in the midst of all this. Somehow Saki uses her powers to bring him back from the dead though. With the Daimyo defeated and the threat thwarted, the pair head back to Morisuke and bid their farewells.

Yasuke and Saki continue on, back to their home village. Thankfully the villagers there accept her with open arms. They’re clearly no longer exhibiting the xenophobia that gripped them beforehand. Ichiro heads off with Saki while Yasuke closes out the episode with a glimpse of the pendant round his neck.

But wait, there’s more! During a post-credit sequence, Yasuke greets the child he saved all those years ago down by the docks. As they stand before Noburungo’s grave, Yasuke returns the sword to him and tells the boy that his Mother died with honour.

The Episode Review

So Yasuke bows out with a disappointingly generic and cliched final fight. Saki seemingly has tapped into her powers now while Daimyo’s world-ending threat has been quelled completely. However, everything has felt so rushed and lackadaisical here that it hardly feels that emotionally stirring when everything comes to an end.

Sure, Yasuke himself gets some nice moments near the end, but given the usual run of 13-24 episodes for an anime season, this one has felt very short and abrupt. It seems like all the usual plot points are covered but done so without the care and attention needed to really make this feel like a worthwhile and rewarding watch.

Still, the glimmers of a second season are definitely there but given the hype surrounding this project, Yasuke fails to really exhibit enough enthusiasm and excitement to warrant that. It’s such a shame too because there’s some really nice, progressive ideas being thrown into the mix here. Sadly, they’re never explored in a compelling way. In the end, Yasuke bows out with an unfortunately forgettable finale.