The conclusion of the Burning Rhapsody series by Wax.
Year is 1868. Political unrest shakes Japan. Zen'i sees in the uproar an opportunity to overthrow Iroha. A few assassinations have thrown the general populace in a state of panic and the forces of order start losing ground in certain places. Zen'i quickly learns that his head is wanted by the Gojin. His life at risk, he has to divert his attention to the sect, and begins an investigation to find them out.
- "The scholar is out. The demon hunter is back."
The story is in two parts:
- Liberation centers around the Gojin in Shikoku
- Revolution centers around the political shifts and a battle in Kyoto, about two months later.
The game features examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: The Gojin were featured in previous games, but they take center stage as the antagonistic force of Liberation, and a major force responsible for generating chaos in Revolution.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Iroha reveals that Tora was partially responsible for her plans to Take Over the World.
- Diminishing Villain Threat: Iroha comes down considerably easier this time. Since Zen'i and Kyoku didn't have Totsukas last time they faced her, they had much less chance of actually catching up to her. Naoji and Kira bring her down relatively easily by teaming up on her.
- Doing In the Wizard: Played with, as the presence of most of the characters introduced in Foreigner (all but Jin and Sayami) and the entirety of 4 is non-canon.
- Downer Ending: If one doesn't unlock the Final Boss battle, Zen'i dies. Even Nii treats it as one, even though Nii contracted Yukirou himself, as he changes his mind about the method he wants to kill Zen'i with, as indicated in his dialogue with Sumomo.
- Easily Forgiven: Nii, for causing the entire drama in Liberation, is let go relatively easily by Zen'i, especially considering they have to cooperate in Revolution.
- Grand Finale: Revolution
- Heel–Face Turn: Relatively, Juuma. To assist in overthrowing Iroha, he goes to undo his seal on Kira, and turns all the Majins into attack dogs targeted at Iroha.
- Hunk: The three monks introduced in Revolution. All of them are absolutely ripped.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: Yukirou and Sumomo both use a giant scythe as their weapons, but Yukirou favors far more brutal attacks.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Averted. After the gods of 4, Yukirou is a significant step down. The dramatic stakes are entirely on his attempt on Zen'i's life via ritual magic. Even Iroha only matches Tora because he is in sealed form.
- Shout-Out: Takashi and Kou borrow moves from the Mishima family, namely the Thunder God Fist and Wind God Fist respectively.
- 0% Approval Rating: Iroha has nobody but herself to fall back on in Revolution, and she has a lot more enemies than backup plans.
New characters:
Introduced in Liberation:
Yoshinori Matoi
Profile:
- Height: 177 cm
- Weight: 75.7 kg
- From: ???
An imperial hitokiri who has been acting up recently. He feels his reputation has been smeared recently by assassinations that have been wrongfully attributed to him.
Tropes associated with Yoshinori:
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a nasty diagonal scar on his stomach, but is a good guy.
- Heroic Build
- Psycho for Hire: He's a hitokiri, but he's not in it for the money.
- The Stoic
Tsubaki
- An assassin partially responsible for the state of unrest in Japan.
Tropes associated with Tsubaki:
- Fragile Speedster: As an assassin, she is speedy and stealthy.
- The Rival: She's Yoshinori's, as she's the one who has done the assassinations he was framed for.
Sumomo Osaeguchi
- The gloomy Gojin princess. She has a sad outlook on life.
Tropes associated with Sumomo:
- All Love Is Unrequited: She falls for Zen'i, but he barely has an idea what this is. Subverted by the time of Revolution, as he acknowledges that she brings him comfort.
- Forced into Evil: The only reason she's still a Gojin is because she knows Yukirou would kill her if she left.
- Important Haircut: Her P2 costume is her by the time of Revolution, where her hair, instead of being nearly-to-the-floor long, it barely reaches her shoulder.
Yukirou Osaeguchi
- The leader of the Gojin.
Tropes associated with Yukirou:
- Bald of Evil: Barring his ponytail, he is entirely bald.
- Diminishing Villain Threat: Downplayed. His personal threat level isn't down a bit, though he isn't the leader of the Gojin by Revolution.
- Promotion to Parent: He raised Sumomo himself after he killed their parents.
Introduced in Revolution:
Takashi
- A monk with history as the man who created the Jiyubudoka. He isolated himself after control of his organization was wrested from him.
Tropes associated with Takashi:
Seigi
- A man of justice, he is a stand-out agent for the Yosseidan.
Tropes associated with Seigi:
- I Have Many Names: "Hero", "Justicar" or "Suijin", all are nicknames of his.
- Making a Splash
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl / Wouldn't Hurt a Child: As a self-fashioned "justice man". However, he will take down women or children if they're guilty.
Kou
- A monk who usually tends to people.
Tropes associated with Kou:
Kira Kaikubo
- The one who made the Majins along with Juuma, who betrayed and sealed her.
Tropes associated with Kira:
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Averted. Her powers allowed her to see the real world even while sealed.
- My Greatest Failure: She's partially responsible for the Majin outing. Trusting Juuma to cooperate was a mistake, however, and she's sour enough about it that after he unseals her, she immediately seals him instead.
- Older Than They Look: She looks about 30, but is actually 58 years old.
- Orochi
