Aloof Ally: Yamanbagiri Kunihiro. He is distant and cryptic toward those he is assigned to work with, spending the majority of his time focusing on his shops rather than telling anyone what is going on or helping with the mission, much to Hizen Tadahiro's annoyance. As it turned out, he had known all along that the mission was doomed to fail because the Historical Retrograding Force had already done what they needed to change history, but he preferred to wait to inform the others.
Izuminokami is sent in to support the group when things start to get messy. Even better, he shows up in Kiwame form after just having returned from his training.
All of the Touken Danshi have their moment when they return to save Yamanbagiri from sacrifice himself.
Bittersweet Ending: The Touken Danshi failed to correct history, resulting in the creation of an abandoned world; however, they were at least able to save Yamanbagiri and Nansen has coped with the loss of Naosuke. As well, as Michi no Oku would reveal, this experience has helped Yamanbagiri onto the path of healing from his grief.
Dumb Blonde: Nansen Ichimonji toes the line of being a Rare Male Example.
Cloudcuckoolander: Downplayed, but Yamanbagiri's mysterious personality makes him seem eccentric more than anything. He spends the majority of the play absent-mindedly tending to his various shops while everyone else struggles over what to do with the changing course of history.
Continuity Nod: The red ropes from the song's original performance in Atsukashiyama Ibun return in this rendition of "Otokomichi", but this time the ensemble members perform the dance while the Touken Danshi play the taiko drums behind them.
Cooldown Hug: Izuminokami gives Hizen Tadahiro a hug of consolation after watching him break down after killing his master.
Covers Always Lie: In a good way; Most of the advertisements for the musical depicts Izuminokami in his standard outfit, but when he appears in the play, he is in Kiwame form, having just returned to Honmaru from training.
Cover Version: "Otokomichi," the third layer strip song from from Atsukashiyama Ibun, returns, although the version here uses the line distribution from Atsukashiyama Ibun 2018 Paris and changes the choreography.
Enemy Mine: The Touken Danshi and Historical Retrograde Force temporarily set aside their differences to escape the abandoned timeline, with the latter making a concerted effort to help them.
Evil Only Has to Win Once: The moment Naosuke and Shoin prematurely met and became friends, the Historical Revisionists had what they needed to change history, and no matter what the Touken Danshi did, the timeline was going to be altered. Only Yamanbagiri was knew this, but he withheld knowledge of it until the very last moment to help the other Touken Danshi grow from the mistake, which very nearly gets everyone killed.
Exposed to the Elements: The play opens with an underdressed Nansen complaining about the cold.
Foreshadowing: Random blackouts and earthquakes happen throughout the play, indicating that history is changing in ways the characters aren't aware of.
The Gadfly: Ookanehira and Nansen annoy each other in equal amounts.
Genre Blindness: Justified; The plot could have been avoided if the characters had followed the example of previous teams and been more cautious and not treated their mission as a "wait and see" situation, but Ookanehira, Nansen, and Koryuu are all newly manifested and thus inexperienced. Yamanbagiri waiting for them to see what happens when history is changed was to help them learn and grow from their mistakes.
The Ghost: Yamanbagiri mentions his unnamed, deceased teammate several times throughout the play, almost sacrificing himself so that he could be reunited with him in death.
Heroic Sacrifice: Yamanbagiri Kunihiro attempts to pull one in order to help his teammates in escaping the closing timeline, even giving up in the midst of the battle so that he could be broken if it meant finally being reunited with his fallen comrade in death. Fortunately, the other Touken Danshi return for him and save him in time.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: Li Naosuke and Yoshida Shoin become this after having a chance early meeting in the timeline. This turns out to be a bigger problem than anyone anticipated, because in the correct timeline, the two were enemies, and the peace established by their historically inaccurate friendship begins to irreversibly alter history.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Historical Revisionists scored their first victory by successfully altering the timeline to the point where even the Touken Danshi are unable to correct it, but it backfires on them spectacularly when the entire zombified population of Edo begins to attack them indiscriminately after the timeline is severed from the rest of history by the Government of Time, forcing them to work with the Touken Danshi to try to escape.
Hypocrite: Yamanbagiri, who had advised Ookanehira that it was his responsibility as team leader to ensure that everyone made it home safely, which he had learned after losing one of his own previous teammates, but then attempted to needlessly sacrifice himself for the sake of the team at the end of the play.
Idiot Ball: While all of the characters in this lineup pass the idiot ball around throughout the story, Yamanbagiri is likely the one who hangs onto it the longest. He was sent by the Saniwa to inform the team that the timeline was doomed to be severed by the Government of Time, but he decided to withhold this information from everyone—including Hizen, who was sent in with him—until the very last moment so they could witness the consequences of not preserving history. Worse, he did this without a plan for how the team would escape during the severing process, which very, very nearly resulted in everyone being trapped in the abandoned world with a million zombies hellbent on killing them.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: The loss of his teammate still troubles Yamanbagiri, and as a result, he starts to question his leadership skills, even urging Ookanehira not to become like him.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Ookanehira speaks down to his teammates but is quite self-conscious about being perceived as weak and inferior himself. His teammates, however, are unconcerned about his inflated ego and mock him anyway.
It's Okay to Cry: Seeing Hizen hesitate, Izuminokami comforts him, telling him it's alright to cry, as he once did after watching his own former master die. After this, Hizen breaks down, and Izuminokami gives him a hug of consolation.
Kill the Ones You Love: Hizen Tadahiro is forced to kill his former master, while Nansen and Koryuu are forced to kill Naosuke and Shoin, two men in whom they have developed emotional attachments to over the course of the play.
Leader Wannabe: Ookanehira is the group's assigned leader… that no one takes him seriously because of his inexperience and bulliable personality. Not even promotional materials treat him as the leader of the group, as Yamanbagiri Kunihiro and Izuminokami Kanesada are given "Front of the group" priority over him in group shots.
Let's Split Up, Gang!: Happens repeatedly in the musical due to the teams' inability to work together for more than 10 minutes. Despite Ookanehira's protests and demands that they cooperate to fix the timeline's errors, each team member chooses to go their own way and tries to influence the flow of history in their own ways, which only serves to further sever the timeline.
Ma'am Shock: Ii Naosuke freaks out whenever the characters refer to him as "old man," despite the fact that he is quite old. He eventually gives up and allows it.
Manly Tears: Hizen Tadahiro breaks down after killing his former master.
Mood Whiplash: After witnessing Li Naosuke's beheading and Nansen's goodbyes, the main story jarringly concludes with the characters joking about buying ramen with the money Yamanbagiri earned throughout the play right next to his dead body.
Mythology Gag: Yamanbagiri Kunihiro running an oil-paper umbrella business alludes to the Tou Stage continuity, in which he is the protagonist and performs with these umbrellas at the end of each play. Musical Yamanbagiri even dance battles using an umbrella, further alluding to his other self.
Naïve Newcomer: Nansen plays this role by being the least knowledgeable about the time period they're visiting, allowing him to ask questions in place of the audience.
New Job as the Plot Demands: Played for Laughs; To pass the time during the mission, Yamanbagiri takes up several jobs, first selling umbrellas, then becoming a sandal maker, then making ukiyo-e. It’s never explained just how he managed to open these shops in the first place, or how he was able to change occupations so quickly.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ookanehira and his team were aware that Ii Naosuke and Yoshida Shoin meeting too soon had not occurred historically, but they allowed them to interact for an extended period of time until they became friends in order to see how it would impact history. If they had kept the two separate after initially realizing it, rather than treating it as a "wait and see" situation, they might have avoided falling into the Historical Revisionists' plans and thusly the abandonment of the timeline.
No One Gets Left Behind: This is essentially the advice Yamanbagiri gives Ookanehira, as the job of the group leader is more about ensuring the team's safe return to Honmaru than defeating the enemy, which Yamanbagiri learned the hard way after the death of one of his former teammates.
No-Respect Guy: Ookanehira. His teammates (mainly Nansen) make fun of him despite the fact that he is the team leader, and no one takes his lead seriously, meaning that whenever it’s time to unite the group, they all go their own way despite his weak protests. It reaches a point where he becomes so desperate that he puts aside his ego and goes to Yamanbagiri, a seasoned Touken Danshi at their citadel and former team captain, for guidance on rallying his team to fix history.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Probably the worst example in Tou Myu so far, as the team is disjointed and lacks proper teamwork, preventing them from reaching their full potential compared to previous groups. This isn't played for laughs like previous musicals, though, because the team's inability to work together and their lackadaisical attitude toward their mission is what dooms the timeline.
Remember the New Guy?: There is a fair amount of hype surrounding Yamanbagiri Kunihiro upon his debut, as it is revealed that he was among the first Touken Danshi to join Honmaru, that he was likely the Saniwa's starter sword, and that he has been team leader an innumerable amount of times. According to Ookanehira, his reputation precedes him in the citadel, as he is the talk of all of the newbies. However, prior to this story, he was never mentioned by anyone, which is unusual given that characters like to namedrop characters before they appear, especially if they will become important.
Retcon: Possibly; While it's only rumored in the citadel that Yamanbagiri was the Saniwa's first sword, Shinken Ranbusai 2016 implies that either Kashuu or Hachisuka was the Saniwa's first sword, with no mention of Yamanbagiri.
Sue Donym: Koryuu Kagemitsu takes on the alias “Ryuusuke” when traveling with Yoshida Shoin.
Time Stands Still: Time briefly stops when the Government begins to process of separating the corrupted timeline from the rest of history. When it resumes, every resident of Edo turns into zombie-like creatures and attacks both the Touken Danshi and the Historical Retrograde Force due to them now being foreigners in the abandoned world.
Wham Line: Izuminokami reveals to that in the correct version of history, Li Naosuke and Yoshida Shoin were enemies, with Li Naosuke ordering Yoshida Shoin’s death. The characters initially brush this reveal off until the peace established by their historically inaccurate friendship ends up causing more harm to history than good.
Unlike in previous musicals, Mikazuki isn’t shown to have been influencing events from behind the scenes. However, this is likely because this timeline was doomed from the moment Li Naosuke and Yoshida Shoin met.
Where the heck was the Kebiishi when all of this was happening?
Worthy Opponent: Ookanehira and Yamanbagiri come to view each other as such by the end of the play.
