Your most pointless TV/movie/book nitpicks

[jian]

What nitpicks did you have re: Blue-Eyed Samurai? It's basically a fantasy piece so I didn't really see any major issues with it despite various odd/questionable takes it was making. But I'm far from an expert on Japan in what I assumed to be the late 1700s or early 1800s (I dunno if they ever pin it down more than "Edo period" and I think elements of it sort of span the entire period).

Re: Usagi Yojimbo they were making a modern animated version around the same time as Blue-Eyed Samurai, not sure what happened to it. On Netflix as well.

I don't think it's obviously a fantasy piece, so far - the closest thing is the thunderbolt iron, and well, thunderbolt iron is a real thing, and probably much better iron than you could get in Japan in those days.

Blue Eye Samurai isn't clear about the exact date but it implies it's soon after the onset of the sakoku (closed country) edict in the Edo period, so probably about 1640, or about 3-4 decades after Usagi. The initial blurb says Japan was closed to all foreigners, which would have been quite a surprise to all the Chinese and Korean traders moving goods through Nagasaki at that point. The sakoku only really applied to Westerners, but then that's all that BES cares about, it's very much written from a white American viewpoint. This is disappointing because one of the writers (Amber Noizumi) is half-Japanese.

The first niggles that annoyed me were:

1) You don't carry a flintlock pistol like that muzzle down, the bullet (and probably the powder) will fall out, even if you wadded it. It's not a Glock*. Also, where are you carrying it inside your kimono jacket, have you invented the shoulder holster? TBF he never fires it, maybe it wasn't loaded at all, it's just for show.

*I noticed the Glock thing in the plot summary for Hijack, by the way, and was horrified at the idea that someone might still be buying into the Glock myth from Die Hard 2, but it turns out not.

2) It's very unlikely that a sword school, however prestigious, would have a mon (the circular emblem on their kimono and gate) in this period, since mon were very much for daimyo families at this point. It's certainly true that later - 18th century onwards - other organisations and businesses adopted mon because of the general weakening of the feudal order, but it's pretty unlikely at this period.

Also, all the mixed messages about brothels are kind of gross and put me off.

I think the Usagi series pitch became the 2022 teen Usagi science fantasy series I mentioned, which is fine.

 

[Ryujin]

1) You don't carry a flintlock pistol like that muzzle down, the bullet (and probably the powder) will fall out, even if you wadded it. It's not a Glock*. Also, where are you carrying it inside your kimono jacket, have you invented the shoulder holster? TBF he never fires it, maybe it wasn't loaded at all, it's just for show.

I think that would come as a bit of a surprise to military re-enactors, let alone the original militaries. There is a lot of artwork showing flintlock pistols being carried muzzle down, tucked in sashes or belts. There are existing examples of the early "holsters, which were essentially just loops of leather, in which pistols would be carried. You don't typically walk or ride into battle with an unloaded firearm, as you want that first shot off ASAP. You don't want it muzzle up in conditions where you might get wet, because "keep your powder dry" is a thing. You might not have priming powder in the pan, because the frizzen isn't necessarily going to hold it in, but that can be dealt with fairly easily when needed. (caplocks simplified that, somewhat).

 

[jian]

I think that would come as a bit of a surprise to military re-enactors, let alone the original militaries. There is a lot of artwork showing flintlock pistols being carried muzzle down, tucked in sashes or belts. There are existing examples of the early "holsters, which were essentially just loops of leather, in which pistols would be carried. You don't typically walk or ride into battle with an unloaded firearm, as you want that first shot off ASAP. You don't want it muzzle up in conditions where you might get wet, because "keep your powder dry" is a thing. You might not have priming powder in the pan, because the frizzen isn't necessarily going to hold it in, but that can be dealt with fairly easily when needed. (caplocks simplified that, somewhat).

Oh, fair enough, then, I thought people carried those muzzle down and then loaded them just before entering battle, hoping the wad would stay in until you needed it. The priming powder is still an issue, I suppose. This guy was just carrying it loose in his jacket somehow on a daily basis, just down the pub (well, soba restaurant).

Honestly, I think it's pretty likely it wasn't loaded (though it was never explicitly said to be so) since its owner clearly had bought it illegally to show off and mostly relied on its threat value. However, I'm also pretty certain that the writers hadn't given it that much thought and just treated it narratively as a modern pistol, which is a pet peeve of mine in media*.

*Not as bad as some characters discharging a black powder pistol several times in succession without reloading or it being some sort of multi-barrel monstrosity that somehow doesn't discharge all its barrels at once.

 

[Ryujin]

Oh, fair enough, then, I thought people carried those muzzle down and then loaded them just before entering battle, hoping the wad would stay in until you needed it. The priming powder is still an issue, I suppose. This guy was just carrying it loose in his jacket somehow on a daily basis, just down the pub (well, soba restaurant).

A smooth bore with an ill-fitting ball/bullet might be an issue but if the ball is properly fitted (and you might have your own mold to make them), then the wading should hold it in quite well. A smooth bore would be more of a potential issue than a rifled barrel would be, as well.