=============================================================== Episode Summaries by Lynne (tougei@hotmail.com) Note from Key 2 Anime: I got these summaries from the RK Archive (http://rka.crosspaths.net/index.html). All these summaries are done by Lynne. If you have any questions of would just like to thank her for her wonderful efforts please email her at tougei@hotmail.com Episodes #71-74 =============================================================== Episode #71 Kaioh's Conspiracy. Shougo's Trapped! Sano was not eaten by the dogs. He is unconscious and lying on the floor of a cave. When he wakes up, he finds himself looking into the face of Magdaria. She notices he is hurt, takes him back to her home in the hill, patches him up, (almost kisses him), argues with him, gets angry, and locks him in the room. Meanwhile, Kaioh, Santo, and Amakusa Shougo are plotting the demise of the Meiji government through the instigation of a civil war, but they are disagreeing over price and methodology. Carrying a gun, Magdaria goes back to the room where she locked Sano, but he has disappeared. Kenshin is blind and being nursed back to health by Kaoru in a holey shack. Misao bursts into the shack with Yahiko and tells Kenshin that Magdaria and Shougo have a big secret. Sano is in the caves sneaking around, trying to find Magdaria's medallion. He runs into Shouzo; they fight, it's a draw. As they both recuperate, Shouzo tells Sano how he came to meet Magdaria and Shougo and why he would give his life for either of them. (Doesn't Shouzo look like Parn?) Meanwhile, Kaioh and Santo are plotting the demise of Shougo, Kenshin is still bare chested in the holey shack listening to Misao tell the "big secret" and Magdaria is praying in the church, but thinking about Sagara Sanosuke, when she starts coughing up blood.............. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode #72 The Reminiscent Days... Shougo and Sayo's Painful Past. Misao tells Kenshin and company that one year ago Shougo appeared in Shimabara and united the Christians while training them to be solders. He performed what appeared to be medical and natural miracles, but he was trained in western medicine and astrology. His sister Sayo (Magdaria) is dying of consumption (tuberculosis). As Misao is telling this story, Shougo walks into the chapel and finds his sister crumpled on the ground. Sayo tells her brother that she will be going to heaven soon. Kenshin and company (Misao, Yahiko, and Kaoru) are bounding over the rocks, Kenshin following the sound of Misao's footsteps. They see/hear Santo in a boat. Kenshin says that Santo is being used by Kaioh, who was a wanted man at the end of the Edo dynasty. Kaioh's mother was a Christian who escaped Japan's persecution of Christians and went to Holland. She died giving birth to Kaioh. Kaioh never knew who his father was and blamed Japan for taking away his identity. Santo sends a signal to the shore and Kenshin surmises that the military is getting involved. Suddenly, a wire appears and wraps around Kenshin's neck and he is hauled up the side of the mountain.................. Magdaria is in her room when Gen-emon (the round man, remember him?) knocks on the door. He tells Magdaria that he saw her medallion. Sano and the Parn look-alike are in the depths of the caves. Sano is going to find Magdaria's medallion and Shouzo is tagging along. Magdaria has been lured by the promise of her mother's medallion into Kaioh's clutches. Kaioh brags to her that he has been planning Magdaria's and Shougo's death for a long time. Once they are dead, Kaioh will manipulate Shougo's followers with a fake book of prophecies. The Christians will rise up and topple the Meiji government and Japan will become a colony of Holland, ruled by Kaioh. Sano and Shouzo are in the shadows listening. The reveal themselves. A cage rises from the ground to surround the trio (Sano, Magdaria, and Shouzo), and as Kaioh leaves, boulders explode from the ceiling of the cave and crash down on the three in the cage................... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode #73 Evil With a Sneer! Shouzo, Karyu's Damaged in the Explosion. Kaioh sends one of his goons back to the cave to make sure Magdaria and company are dead. In the meantime, Kenshin is being hauled up the side of a mountain by his neck. He escapes. Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Misao heard the explosion when Kaioh dropped rocks on the cell holding Sanosuke, Magdaria, and Shouzo. Kenshin and company investigate and find Sano and Magdaria about to be killed by Kaioh's goon. Yahiko and Misao assist and defeat the goon. (Earlier, Magdaria had sent Shouzo off to tell her brother about Kaioh's conspiracy.) On the way out of the cave, Kenshin fills Sano in on Kaioh's plans. Kaioh plans to have the army kill Shougo and his followers on "Holy Hill". Then Kaoih will call Shougo a martyr, thus insuring that Kaoih receives the loyalty of Shougo's followers. Kaoih will then try to take over the country with hundreds of thousands of Christians. Magdaria grows weaker. Kenshin tells Sano to take her to Elsten-dono, the Dutch Consulate, who is also a doctor. The army starts to surround the Holy Hill. In the meantime, Shougo is praying and remembering his past, and Kaioh is getting ready to leave Shimabara. He brags to one of his men about the approaching death of Shougo, while unbeknownst to him, Shouzo is behind a bush listening to every word. Shouzo reveals himself and Kaioh beats the crap out of him. Shouzo, bruised and battered and lying half dead, drops the pineapple bombs Sano had given him earlier for protection (didn't I mention them?...gomen). The bombs roll down the hill and bounce into the boat Kaioh is just stepping into, blowing it and him to hell....................... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode #74 Sanosuke's Tears... Eternal Separation Between Them. The noise of the explosion of Kaioh's boat brings Shougo out of his temple. Shougo sees the army surrounding his hill. Realizing that Kaioh betrayed him, he gathers his followers and tells them that today they will be going to heaven with him. His followers become excited and ready to fight. Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Misao are all trying to reach the hill before the battle starts. Sano is running with Magdaria on his back, trying to get her to the Dutch Consulate Elsten. The battle between the Christians and the army begins with Shougo taking out about a dozen soldiers. Then the Christians charge down the hill ready to go to heaven. Kenshin and company arrive at the scene. Still blind, Kenshin yells "YAMERU!!" (STOP), rappels down the cliff using his sakabatou, and jumps right in the middle of the battle. The Christians don't want to stop, they want to go to heaven. Meanwhile, Misao is being dragged into the army camp by two soldiers, and Sano is trying to save Magdaria. Sano flags down a carriage on the road, and guess who is in the carriage? Yep, the Dutch Consulate and Santo. Elsten stops and begins to examine Magdaria, but Santo draws a gun and attempts to shoot him. Magdaria sees the gun and throws her body in front of the Dutchman and takes the bullet. Sano stops Santo, but Magdaria is dying. Magdaria sends the Dutchman to the Holy Hill to stop the massacre of her brother and the Christians. Then Sagara Sanosuke holds the woman who could have been the love of his life while she dies. At the moment of Magdaria's death, the medallion breaks off of Amakusa Shougo's chest and he is shot in the side by a young boy soldier. Kenshin, not knowing Shougo has been shot, confronts him and tells him that he, Kenshin, will fight and defeat him, to prevent all the useless deaths of women and children............