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[Sengoku Youko] Wanna talk about Tsukiko for a bit because she's an interesting character
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Tsukiko is a central character who appears in part two
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Part Two follows Senya, a young boy who had 1000 demons implanted in him
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He can shapeshift and is just absurdly powerful
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But he's also a kid and still growing up
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And also he has amnesia so he's super confused
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But he wakes up in a village where one of the other central characters is trying to get him to have a life as a normal kid
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It doesn't work out because the power of 1000 demons is a strong lure to other powerful people
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but for a while he's just like
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doing kid stuff
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And one of the things he does as a kid is make a friend, a girl around his own age named Tsukiko
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Tsukiko is like 9-10? around the same age as Senya
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And all the other village kid call her the strongest fighter
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Not because she's super buff and rowdy but because she just has a really good sense of timing so she's good at narrowly dodging shit and slipping attacks into tiny gaps despite not being super strong or fast
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But she's also a kid with no special powers
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So when demons and shit start getting attracted to Senya's power, she goes from being "the strongest fighter" in kid land to a helpless child
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because what's a little kid with a stick going to do against a god or a dragon?
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Well
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What she does is she starts following around Senya's master, a guy named Shinsuke (and I could make an entire plurk about Shinsuke because he is ALSO a GREAT character) and repeatedly demanding that he train her
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Shinsuke repeatedly confused, mostly because he's a drunk and doesn't feel like anyone could learn anything useful from him
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(he's SUPER wrong but like he has an inferiority complex)
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And basically just tags along on Shinsuke and Senya's adventure
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And keeps on butting in to fights in small but helpful ways
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And sometimes she is a damsel in distress
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And sometimes people tell her that girls shouldn't be learning how to fight
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But she never gives up
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And then
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There's an 8 year time skip
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And she's a badass swordfighter with a magic shortsword that can summon lightning
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but she's STILL frustrated
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because like she's super cool but also she's still hanging out with Senya
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And Senya has also been training and HE has the advantage of having 1000 demons worth of power in him
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Senya is completely unreasonable
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(Senya is also a super good character and I could make a whole fucking plurk about him TOO)
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And like
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the plot arc of being full of sullen frustrated anger
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because no matter how hard you train you can't keep up with the main character
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because he has unfair natural advantages
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is not a plot arc that normally gets to go to a girl
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She talks a lot about how she wants to protect Senya
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but can't
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because he's a million times stronger than her
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And even starts dabbling in dark magic trying to bridge the gap
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And just
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I'm rooting for her
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Is all
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The story never frames her as anything other than sympathetic
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You're clearly supposed to be on her side