July 8, 1864 is a special day for the Shinsengumi, it marks perhaps the most significant event in their organization. I am speaking of course of the Ikedaya Jiken or the Ikeda Inn Affair. Even non-Shinsengumi fans have no doubt heard of this event when dealing with the time of the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Bakumatsu. The raid conducted by these men were purported to have set back the Choshuu extremist movement for at least a year and maybe more. To understand and appreciate the significance of this event, I would like to share with you a few of the readings I've comes across. Most of these are transcribed from many Japanese text so I had to arrange them in a more orderly fashion and perhaps paraphrase a bit. As usual take with a grain of salt, all my usual disclaimers apply. Feel free to e-mail me if you are interested in the ISBNs.

The political turmoil in Kyoto and the division of the Sonno-joi followers

“Sonno” - to revere the emperor and “Joi” - to expel the barbarians, are two very important terms to the understanding of the Bakumatsu. So was the Koubukattai which is the union of the Shogunate and the Imperial family... As early as October 15, 1863 Kondou Isami had already submitted a petition to the Bakufu to further the Sonno-joi movement by appointing the Shinsengumi as forefront soldiers to expel the foreigners. This came about due to a meeting that he attended a few days earlier on October 10. Shogunate supporters in Gion that advocated the Koubukattai, which was the union of the Bakufu and the Imperial family was supposed to have a meeting to discuss the Sonno-joi movement and the problems it was encountering but to Kondou's dismay, little ground was covered in this respect thus his filing a petition on October 15 for the Bakufu to intensify Sonno-joi. Thus the Shinsengumi was a follower of Sonno-joi but a supporter of the Bakufu.

Unlike the Shinsengumi there were also Sonno-joi followers who advocated for the downfall of the Bakufu and the separation of the Imperial family. This faction in doing so perpetuated a series of mass killings and terrorism in Kyoto against important persons in the Shogunate citing

Fans of Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi will be happy to hear that the popular PS2 dating game is now being ported over to the Nintendo DS! It looks like autumn 2008 will be an interesting one with a couple of "Otomate" Shinsengumi games being released. Unlike the original PS2 game, what's good to note about a DS port is that DS games in Japan are not region-coded! The game will cost 4,410 Yen however there is a limited edition for 6,510 Yen.

If you already have the PS2 version there is still value in buying this because there are more than 20 events added (famitsu is saying 40!!) in addition to the original. Also there is a bit of real time added in as the event is allowed to unfold real time, unlike the original when it's generated after the end of a conversation. This is not just an event, but an "addition mode" that can be played. They also added an extended epilogue that can be played! The conversations are reproduced and event CG is reproduced!

To your right is the cover for the game. Starting at the bottom with the blond hair is Kondou-san! Purple hair is Hijikata Fukuchou! Bluish Black hair is Hajime-chan (Yep you heard me! HAJIME-CHAN)! Bluish Silver hair is Okita-kun! These are all my favorite characters so you can be sure I am going to be importing this game for myself!

See some screenshots of Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi DS at Gamespot Japan here!

Want to know more about BRS? Oops sorry that's my nickname for this version... Head on up to our BRS section to your left to learn more about the original release. While you're at it, why not try the manga we translated ourselves out of pure love for this series? Oh yeah that manga is in our download archive and can only be accessed by HNK members...