Having come this far in the Sengoku Basara series I feel no need to write about Judge End because anyone who has come to this point knows exactly what to expect from the series. From the beginning, Basara set out to teach the history of the Sengoku period, with fairly accurate chronology and a nice cast of historical figures, all while being a ridiculous over-the-top testosterone festival. People swing swords and uproot trees and entire armies. Evil is palpable to the point of changing the weather and spawning Satanic monochrome temples in the middle of a battlefield, with zombies and glowing purple hands all over the place. For the historical view it is much easier to mentally replace any and all characters with some thousands of soldiers with them at the helm, but where is the fun in that?
Judge End picks up immediately after the events of the second season, where Toyotomi Hideyoshi is at the height of his power, and tells the story of his death and the interactions that led to the great clash of Eastern and Western powers at Sekigahara. In particular it tells a tale of allegiances, ideals, and the friendship between Ishida Mitsunari, a short-tempered swordsman with an unwavering sense of loyalty to Hideyoshi’s memory, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, the idealistic brawler who overthrew Hideyoshi in an attempt to end the endless fighting of the Sengoku period. While there are no shortage of ridiculous battles and bickering that Basara is known for, Judge End has much more character development than previous seasons, although the development focuses more on unfolding events than backstory and their reasons for fighting. At this point those factors have been established, and while the rapid changes in power quickly bring all our familiar characters to the point of breaking and questioning their place in the war, everything is just one big buildup to the final confrontation at Sekigahara, where characters pair off to resolve their inner turmoil and find a place in the coming world.
There are a noticeable number of fan favorite characters missing for much of the series. Indeed the people surrounding the decisive battle of the Sengoku period were much different than it had been in the past, with Takeda Shingen having been dead for several years and the Uesugi faction remaining completely detached from the fighting. Basara has its usual clever way of avoiding the solid truths of the events, for fear that they would make the characters less likeable. Indeed, while the generals were all traditionally fearsome samurai renowned for their prowess, there is no way any of them resemble the youthful and distinct figures they have in Basara, let alone would they have pranced around the battlefield with giant axes or sun laser mirrors. But again, where would be the fun in that? So Tadakatsu Honda, who in reality was one of the greatest warriors to have ever existed, is represented by a giant flying robot. So the Chousakabe clan rides a boat with legs onto the battlefield. Why not? A whole generation of otaku would be virtually clueless as to the key events of the Sengoku period were it not for the ridiculous lovability of Basara, and I am not about to cast the first stone.
However, some characters get completely shortchanged, and even if history supports their relative lack of importance, introducing them in the show and then not doing them justice does not sit quite right. Generals like Hojo Ujimasu and Kanbei Kuroda are relegated to comedic roles that serve to break the tension once in a blue moon, and the Christians led by Otomo Sourin are completely relegated to be clowns. Given the massive relevance of Christianity in the Sengoku period, it seems odd and almost insulting that they are passed over. The demonic forces of the Oda clan return for a subplot that ties back to the first season, but for the buildup of tension the resolution comes so quickly one could hardly be blamed for thinking they missed it.
Most noticeable of all, Judge End starts by killing the major player of season 2 and putting many of the protagonists at death’s door, and yet after the first episode it refuses to let any of its characters die, including the people who actually died well before the events depicted in the show had even begun. By the end, the only change is the peace of mind with which everyone looks towards the future (by which of course I mean the next season, as the last episode so blatantly sets up for) in a sort of massive emotional catharsis disguised as a flesh-and-blood war. For as fun as watching the whole process is, the end result is too perfect, too neatly wrapped up to avoid playing any favorites. Fairness has always been a strong point for Basara, allowing every and all characters to get enough motivation to win our sympathy. But this approach to fairness is childish, and historically inaccurate, something we can usually rely on Basara to not be.
Do all these traits make it unwatchable? Not by any margin. Judge End is still a very worthy season of Sengoku Basara, and in fact I find it even more enjoyable that the first season. Seeing years and years of letters, skirmishes, subterfuge, alliances, and power struggles condensed into a few months of the generals flying from place to place, demolishing all nearby structures as their swords and one-liners fly is a distilled type of mindless clichéd entertainment, and all the while it still manages to remain a cut above being a simple parody of the genre. It has fun with the time period, gets all the key events explained, tells its own inventive subplots and character relations, and blows up a gorge or two for good measure. And most importantly, it has the warrior spirit, the force that turns a bloody battlefield with dangerous enemies and cloying death into one giant party, with plenty of dance partners and endless surprises. We could probably guess that the real warriors of the Sengoku period were not quite as enthused as the Sanada Yukimura or Date Masamune we know, but the one we get is a battlefield second and a party first, and a good party is hard to come by.