MovieChat Forums > Stranger: Mukô hadan (2009) Discussion > If the final showdown had ended differen...

If the final showdown had ended differently...Kotaro' s fate (spoiler) :)

posted 12 years ago by snake_eyes989
3 replies | jump to latest

One of the best animated films that I have EVER seen. :D

One question, don't think it has been asked yet---

I'm very curious about what Luo-Lang "Rarou" would do to Kotaro and his dog, if he had killed Nanashi during their epic duel. Luo - Lang sure seemed like a sociopath (and an interesting and a layered character), and I'm really not sure what would the boy's fate be in that case.

Would Luo Lang just let him go? Maybe - because Kotaro is just a kid, does not have any real fighting skills and he is not a challenge to Luo-Lang (something that Luo-Lang craves for, obviously). Luo-Lang never really had any quarrel with the kid, save for the orders of his boss (and we've seen how much respect he had for that guy lol) :D

Would he simply kill him there and then, quick and painless? Maybe. He has no more use for him, all the Ming members are dead, kid is just refuse. And let's not forget that Luo-Lang seemed like a textbook sociopath - man with very little soul and pity.

Would he take him to the Emperor, and take the fame and credits all to himself? Somehow I doubt that - we have seen that he doesn't care (or has stopped caring) about the Ming and their crazy cult.

Also, during the brief scene when Luo - Lang carries Kotaro to the top of the temple, it seems that he really does not believe that Kotaro's death will bring immortality medicine, and maybe (just maybe) he sympathized with him a little bit.I know, this is kind of a strectch, but this animated movie has some very well developed characters, and I do believe that even textbook sociopaths (such as Luo-Lang) can feel sympathy to a very small degree.

So, what do other fans think? :)

"The Right Man in the Wrong Place can make all the difference in the World..."

[–] sage216 12 years ago

I personally think he'd just leave them there. As crazy as he is, he didnt seem like the type to kill the kid/dog without reason.

[–] jjoxx 11 years ago

I agree – Luo was an interesting case in a cast of very multifaceted characters. It's definitely no coincidence that both he and Nanashi are both "barbarian" foreigners with remarkable physical characteristics (namely hair color). In Luo we can see shades of another path Nanashi's life might have taken if he didn't abandon his life as a servile warrior, and was continually excluded from society for his appearance while simultaneously valued for his lethality. In such a theoretical case, you can see how over time, the only thing that would matter to him would be the thrill of battle, namely against skilled foes, which is all Luo cares about in the film.

Given that, as I was watching the final duel, I also thought that if Nanashi was slain (or, as is more likely in these cases, they killed each other), Kotaro wouldn't be in any danger from Luo-Luang. Calling the Ming group a 'cult' is a little dismissive: the Ming were following the orders of their emperor (the emperor of China, specifically) in the same way that the Japanese soldiers followed their lord (and after his death, Itadori). It's difficult to relate to 1) as foreigners ourselves and 2) as a people centuries removed from life in 13th Century Asia, but fealty to a lord/leader/emperor was a truly life-defining element for men at the time – at least it was for all the important characters in this movie. To the point, while Luo is really only interested in fighting able warriors, he's not really sociopathic either. He only betrays Byakuran when the old man is about to snuff out the greatest warrior Luo's ever encountered before having a chance to fight him; so it can certainly be said that he's maybe got unconventional priorities, but he doesn't go around killing everyone who can hold a sword just to sate his bloodlust.

So yeah, most likely if Luo had come out on top, he would have just left Kotaro and Tobimaru alone, since there was nobody left telling him to kill/capture them.

*beep* Awesome Movie

[–] snake_eyes989 11 years ago

In Luo we can see shades of another path Nanashi's life might have taken if he didn't abandon his life as a servile warrior (...) you can see how over time, the only thing that would matter to him would be the thrill of battle, namely against skilled foes, which is all Luo cares about in the film.

Very well put, my thoughts exactly. :D Overtime, all Nanashi would care about would be fighting skilled foes. We can see in his flashbacks, that when he was younger, he was certainly on a slippery slope on to becoming something similar to Luo - Lang.

Still not sure about the fate of Kotaru and Tobimaru if Nanashi was killed, but I'm more inclined to believe that as you and previous poster said - Luo would probably just leave them there and be on his way. Interesting speculation - what would happen if Kotaru tried to attack Luo? Maybe he'd just incapacitate him? In any case, I also believe that the boy would not be killed if Nanashi was slain. It still seems to me that Luo sympathized with the kid just a little bit.

Calling the Ming group a 'cult' is a little dismissive: the Ming were following the orders of their emperor

When I referred to the "crazy cult", I did not mean specifically about the warriors. Yes, the Chinese warriors were simply skilled soldiers and servants of the Emperor, although ritualistic sacrifice of a child is something that is close to a "cult" (and by this I mean Emperor's cult, warriors were just obeying orders).

However, one thing I disagree about - you say that Luo Lang could not be classified as sociopathic or "deranged" in any way. I believe that "unconventional priorities" is somewhat of an understatement in this case. I'm not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but simply for discussion's sake ;) - pay attention to Luo Lang's face during the final duel. That's pure orgasm right there :S, and a lot of Youtube clips of the final battle has posters saying "OMG Luo Lang, rapeface xD"
Don't forget that he provoked a fight with Nanashi at the bridge for no reason at all, except maybe that Nanashi was carrying a sword. He referred to the fight as "fun", I believe.

Keep the comments coming, I'd like to hear more opinions :)

"The Right Man in the Wrong Place can make all the difference in the World..."