A vigilante group. What we would call vigilantes today. The year was 1863, near the end of the Edo period. The Edo Shogunate imposed a tax on them, and they headed to Kyoto in droves. They were a group of roughly 200 ronin. They were the Shinsengumi. Their commander was Kondo Isami. Hijikata ◎zo, the protagonist of this story, was his vice-commander. This armed group was responsible for maintaining order in Kyoto during the tumultuous end of the Edo period. They were primarily responsible for cracking down on pro-imperial and anti-foreign factions and unruly ronin. In a time of chaos...