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Review of Soukou Akki Muramasa

SubjectSoukou Akki Muramasa
ByHelpfulness: 3
Vote: 9.6
nemesis2005 on 2021-12-18 last updated on 2023-02-05
ReviewFull Metal Daemon Muramasa has been lauded as a kamige ever since its released in 2009. So what makes the game so great? Muramasa is a giant essay on violence, murder, conflict, and the way of the sword. Narahara Ittetsu, from his Kendou background gives various views on violence and how it is used. Violence is a very strong power, and one needs to be prepared to deal with it when it comes one's way. Sometimes, the only way to deal with violence is fighting back with violence. Hence, creating an eternal cycle of violence we can not escape from. It doesn't glorify violence nor does it reject it, it just describes it as it is. The main thesis can be summed by 4 characters "善悪相殺." Its literal meaning is "killing both good and evil." I think the official translation translated it as "Counterbalance of Good and Evil" which is another valid interpretation, but it's pretty much an almost impossible word to translate without losing meaning. It has several meaning which were explored very thoroughly in 3 different routes:

1) Hero Route: Violence is a necessity for executing justice. Good/evil is just a matter of perspective. Everyone is just fighting for what they believe in, so when you kill someone you are killing both a good and evil person depending on the perspective. There is no such thing as a just hero who kill villains. It's really just villains killing other villains for whatever ideologies they believe in.

2) Revenge Route(official translation is Nemesis Route): Those who kill should be prepared to be killed or have people they care about killed. Very simple, but still powerful theme. This is a continuation of the previous theme as well: even if you are killing for the greater good, you are still committing evil by harming people. There is no such thing as a just hero who kill villains.

3) Maou Route/Conquest Route: This is the core theme of the game: the way of the sword(or really any weapon of murder) is about killing people. It does not care whether that person is good or evil, but only about killing people as efficiently as possible. In simplest terms, it means killing does not care about good and evil.

It is an amazing read, but I actually found Maou route which is the main route the weakest of them all. Plot kind of went all over the place, and I hated the fight with the Golden God. It just felt fillerish and too asspullish. It lacks the human and dillema factor compared to other fights. Plus, I liked the other heroines more than Muramasa, especially Ichijou. I'm a sucker for true routes so I just couldn't get myself to give it a 10 for a true route that failed to satisfy me. Still, Muramasa is a great story that breaks down the boundary between good and evil that I would recommend to everyone.
3 points