Episode 1

**Deceive! The Shinsengumi of Criminals** (タバカレ! 咎人新選組, *Tabakare! Toganin Shinsengumi*) is the 1st episode of Shine On! Bakumatsu Bad Boys anime series.

## Synopsis

Ichibanboshi travels the country in search of the masked samurai who murdered his family. He finally finds a group of samurai wearing the same mask as the man who killed his family, but he is arrested by thief-takers attracted by the commotion. Sentenced to die, Ichibanboshi closes his eyes in regret, but...

## Summary

Ichibanboshi arrives in a town and rips his wanted poster. He finds a group of three samurai attacking an old man and an young girl. He stops them and shows them a mask, asking if they had see samurai who wearing such masks. The men wonder from where he got the mask and put on the same masks. Ichibanboshi is happy to have finally found them and introduces himself as Samurai Killer. He starts fighting them, but is quickly arrested the thief-takers. He is then prepared for an execution, but to his surprise he is taken elsewhere.

Ichibanboshi is then lined with other criminals, who also expected to be killed and wonder where are they. The man standing in front of them introduces himself as the eight unit captain of the Shinsengumi, Heisuke Todo. Heisuke explains that on 18th August, the government changed. Someone assassinated Isami Kondo and the other Shinsengumi commanders, leaving a severely injured Heisuke as the only survivor. As spoken, the criminals will "die" as the new substitute leaders of the Shinsengumi and live or die if they refuse. Thus the following commences.

* Sakuya as Hijikata Toshizo, for it fits his job description as a hitman.
* Bo as Harada Sanosuke, for all the food they can serve.
* Gyataro as Nagakura Shinpachi, for still having much to enjoy the finest things in life (liquor, women and gambling)
* ~~An unnamed criminal to be Serizawa Kamo.~~ (slain by Sakuya)
* Sogen as Sannan Keisuke, for he can have access to dissect corpses, while treating injured as a doctor.
* Suzuran as Saito Hajime, for able to practice his religion for the dead.
* Akira as Okita Soji, for the Shinsengumi is a total meritocracy where her gender is accepted, while cross-dressing to test herself against men.

This leaves only Ichibanboshi, who strongly refuses to become a samurai after one wearing a faceless mask killed his family. To his surprise, Heisuke shows him a mask and confirms it as the same mask the samurai was wearing. Heisuke reveals that the samurai is the same culprit behind the killing of the Shinsengumi leaders, who belong to an organization known as the Masked Demons. Having reached an agreement with somebody in common against, Ichibanboshi breaks free as he agrees to join the Shinsengumi as Kondo Isami.

Heisuke reports to Katamori Matsudaira that the substitutes joined the Shinsengumi. Katamori notes that with the increased criminal activity in the capital, they can't afford to disband the Shinsegumi right now. Meanwhile, Akira decides to start training the men. Katamori tells Heisuke that he doesn't expect much from the criminals, but they just need to maintain enough influence to scare the forces attempting to overthrown the shogunate. Heisuke swears that the Shinsengumi will be restored and will protect public order in Kyoto.

Akira asks the new members, who knows swordsmanship, but except Sakuya, the rest prefer guns, raw power, bombs or even peace. However, as swordsmanship is needed, Akira decides to start with Kondo, Ichibanboshi takes a few moments to realize she means him. Akira and Ichibanboshi face each other for a match, but Ichibanboshi throws his wooden sword, stating he doesn't need it and attacks her with kicks. Katamori reveals that he looked into the mask and it seems its used in Noh plays, but will continue to investigate more. He then tells him about a ronin wandering around Shimabara and Gion. Heisuke tells him he will take care of him.

Heisuke returns to see Akira and Ichibanboshi fighting, but stops them. He hits Ichibanboshi and gives him his wooden sword, stating that the sword is the samurai's soul and he can't just throw in on the ground. Heisuke tells him they won't be fighting opponents who can be defeated with kicks and Ichibanboshi agrees to learn swordsmanship. Heisuke gives them their first job, explaining they will be patrolling the city and take care of some business. Heisuke decides that they will split in three groups focused around those with combat experience. Heisuke, Gyataro and Bo will head to Gion. Akira, Suzuran and Sogen will go to Karasuma. Ichibanboshi and Sakuya are the only two left, but they immediately disagree to go with each other. Heisuke tells Sakuya that he is strong and even if a puppy is running around his legs, he should be fine. Ichibanboshi doesn't like to be called a puppy, but gets punched by Heisuke to shut up. Heisuke also tells the rest to avoid combat as they aren't skilled enough.

A blond man decides to give a new sword to a ronin.

While patrolling with Heisuke and Gyataro, Bo smells tempura and rushes to eat it. Heisuke punches him, scolding him that a samurai will not do this and apologizes and pays for the food. Gyataro laughs at Bo, but Heisuke tells him that they are being paid and he doesn't need to do that. Gyataro acts like he doesn't know anything, but Heisuke insists that he puts it back. Gyataro then takes out a wallet and drops it to a man, telling him that he dropped it. They hear a woman scream and head out to check it. Akira's group also joins them and they see a man with a cut wound. Sogen tells him that he will treat the wound and Suzuran states he will pray for him if he dies. Heisuke decides to leave them there and go look for the ronin.

Ichibanboshi tells Sakuya that he will surpass him in swordsmanship, but Sakuya tells him he is already number one is stupidity. They hear a man asking for help and see ronin holding a weird sword. Ichibanboshi rushes and kicks him from behind, allowing the other man to escape. The ronin slashes from distance, sending a range attack and Sakuya pulls Ichibanboshi down to avoid the attack. He then engages the man, but after a short fight, the ronin runs away. Sakuya tells Ichibanboshi that he needs to draw his sword and see the skills of his opponent, instead of head rushing. However, Ichibaboshi states that by that time the other man would have died. While Sakuya wears the sword for killing people, Ichibanboshi carries it to protect people. Ichibanboshi then starts running after the ronin.

Sakuya reunites with Heisuke and the rest, and tells him they run into a ronin with a weird sword and one of those masks. Ichibanboshi ignored orders and went after the ronin. That annoys Heisuke and they start looking for Ichibanboshi. Meanwhile, Ichibanboshi catches up to the ronin, who is about to kill a family with a kid. Not wanting the kid to have the same fate as him, Ichibanboshi yells at the ronin to stop and draws his sword. The sword shines red and he engages the ronin, breaking his purple shinning sword. The family asks him who he is and Ichibanboshi introduces himself as the commander of the Shinsengumi, Isami Kondo.

## Characters

* Ichibanboshi
* Sogen
* Suzuran
* Gyataro
* Bo
* Sakuya
* Akira
* Heisuke Todo
* Katamori Matsudaira
* Teijiro Akizuki
* Rashomaru

## Trivia

* One of the criminals to be Kamo Serizawa's substitute is based off from Luchist Lasso, one of the antagonists from Hiroyuki Takei's hitting franchise, Shaman King.