someone explain the ending to me ;_;

Tryhards like Togame get blown the fuck out by history. People who go with the flow don't.

>>144512269
But Togame was, without knowing, setting history back into it's natural flow. At least that's what I understood.

>>144512269
honestly all her lines about the pawn stuff confused the fuck out of me at the end

>>144511957
>someone explain the ending to me

Togame, despite her talk of caring and changing over the length of her journey, was still the same person that she was at the beginning. She was still loyal to her lord and still willing to do anything to get into his graces. As such, she was still intending to betray Shichika over to her lord despite what had happened throughout the series. She did care about her friendship with Princess Hitei, although the rivalry and her motivation prevented her from doing anything about it.

Shichika and his family's martial art were the 13th and final sword: they are the ultimate weapon, designed to destroy the other swords. He ran up to the lord and smashed his head in, because it was the lord's desire which drove Togame (who he loved) to her death and the lord just laughed at the circumstance, considering her discardable.

Princess Hitei seemed to enjoy her rivalry with Togame and considered her a friend, although she clearly didn't take it as seriously as Togame did. She only killed Togame on her lord's orders, regretted doing so, and put her life in Shichika's hands because of that regret. Shichika realized that Princess Hitei wasn't in any better position than Togame was, and so let her live while facing down the person who was really responsible for Togame's death.

At the end, Shichika and Princess Hitei were outlaws for killing off the lord. Nobody was going to mess with Shichika, and probably because she had been through something similar (and likely because of her similarity to Togame), he was fine with Princess Hitei tagging along.

What else did you want to know?

>>144512582
Okay, this cleared up alot.

I guess its a bit difficult with all of these names being thrown at me (both names of characters and historical figures).

I was also wondering what this plan was. Why did Shichika's father kill Togame's father? Were they orders?

Also how come the plan was to destroy the swords? I know he was the ultimate weapon, but why was the secret plan to destroy all the other swords? Or was that not the blacksmith's intentions?

>>144512984
>Why did Shichika's father kill Togame's father? Were they orders?
The lord's plan was to collect all the blacksmith's weapons together and rule Japan under the power they provided. Nobody could stand up to anyone holding them, so they lord thought that he could hold ultimate power with them all.

Shichika's father was the blacksmith. He opposed the idea of one person holding all the swords, and thus all the power. Togame's father was ordered to take possession of all the blacksmith's swords, and/or kill the blacksmith so that he couldn't produce more. Shichika's father obviously didn't like such a plan, and killed Togame's father to stop it.

>Also how come the plan was to destroy the swords?
Shichika's father's plan was to destroy the swords because they were too powerful. With feudal lords going after them and attempting to dominate the country with them, their intent was clearly being misused. As such, he developed the 13th sword (the martial art) as a way to destroy all his other swords and prevent their misuse.

The lord's plan was either to gather all the swords and rule, or to gather all the swords and test the 13th sword against all the rest. Either way, he wanted the most powerful weapon in the land. The lord had just assumed that Shichika would go along and follow his rule like everyone else. The lord had not accounted for Shichika only following along up to that point due to his love for Togame, especially when he ordered for Togame to be assassinated.

>>144512984
>>144513833
Actually, I think you reminded me of something. (It's been awhile since I watched the series, so I didn't remember a few details.)

Togame actually planned to kill Shichika at the end. The reason was that Shichika was in love with her and willing to do anything she asked. Togame knew that she would do anything the lord asked unquestioningly, which meant that Shichika being alive would put him under the lord's rule despite what he wanted. She also wanted revenge on what Shichika's father did to her father - although that was probably more of an excuse she made to herself than anything. Shichika clearly valued his independence, and she didn't want to see him submitting to the wills of the lord that Shichika's father opposed so strongly.

Also, I think that Togame secretly wanted to screw over the lord - due to the lord's order being what got her father killed. And letting Shichika break all the blacksmith swords, then dying himself, would do that nicely.

It's just that Togame was assassinated first, and probably to her appreciation. Getting assassinated meant that Shichika would live and do what he wanted, although with not forcing Togame and Princess Hitei into a final (likely fatal) fight.

I still don't get what the fuck was wrong with Shichika's sister. Was she too powerful for her body to handle? What let her adopt all the techniques just by observing them? Why did she want to die by her brother's hand?

>>144514531
She was born unhealthy and the martial art was physically demanding. It was going to kill her for using it.

I don't remember why she could learn techniques just by observing. I think it was her unusually high intelligence, which let her memorize a technique properly just by observing it once. It became an even larger sore point for her: she was able to fully learn the martial art, including parts which Shichika struggled with to master, but she couldn't use it herself without getting hurt.

I think she wanted to die by Shichika's hand because she knew she was going to die anyways. The lord had found out about them, which meant she needed to use martial arts to defend herself, which means she would end up dead from using them fairly soon. She wanted to be sure that Shichika was strong enough to survive on his own, that he mastered the art properly, and most likely harden him a bit to the idea of killing loved ones by his own hand.

Remember that Shichika's sister knew that Shichika was in love with Togame, and she still believe that Togame was looking for a time to betray Shichika.

>>144512582
I'm not sure that Togame was telling the truth. She had her scheming eye open when she was talking IIRC.

>>144513833
>Shichika's father was the blacksmith

I thought the guy that possessed the Phoenix ninja guy was the blacksmith?

>>144514886
Possibly. It's been awhile since I watched the show, after all. There were a lot of little subtleties that hinted at the characters' true intentions, beyond what they were saying outright. I'm sure that I missed some important ones even on my first watching and haven't revisited it in a long time.

>>144515099
The blacksmith was the one who crafted the martial art which Shichika uses. I'd assumed that was Shichika's father, since it wasn't taught anywhere else and was kept a family secret. Again, it could just be some aspect I missed when watching the series.

I don't really remember the guy that possessed the Phoenix ninja guy. You could certainly be right. I'm just trying to paraphrase as well as I remember the show.

>>144515149
Yeah, I could be wrong too. I'm not even 100% about the meaning of her eye. But I'm pretty sure it activated whenever she was scheming.

everything was a setup for snek in bakemonogatari

worst girl etc

>>144513833
>>144515272
I watched Katanagatari very recently, and Shichika's father had nothing to do with the blacksmith. But the blacksmith knew Shichika's ancestor, and taught him the basics of kyotoryu. Over many generations, kyotoryu was improved and improved, until Shichika finally perfected it. Phoenix guy was possesed by the blacksmith.

Shichika's father was working for the lord, who sent him to collect the swords. That's why Shichika's father killed Togame's father; to get the sword he had. But after the lord witnessed Shichika's father's sheer power, he grew afraid of him, and banished him and his wife to the island. 20 years later, Katanagatari begins.

>>144517570
Ah, thanks for the clarifications.

Most importantly, Katanagatari is about failure and coping.

Any character that made it out alive/well did so by losing gracefully, giving up on their lost dreams and moving on.

Hitei threw away her plan before Shichika had even reached the keep, because her dream was already dead and clinging to it would only see her die with it.

Togame would not let go of her dream, even though she knew she would never get an audience with the Shogun: While she was busy with grunt work collecting the swords, Hitei secured one and waited, meaning that Togame really could never have collected all the swords from the start.

>>144520240
That's a great way of looking at it desu. I was wondering if the anime had a msg