(Voice actor) Ms.Marilyn Lo

In the 1850s, the Edo period, during which the Tokugawa shogun seized power, was coming to an end. Takeaki Enomoto was one of the vassals supporting the Tokugawa regime. He was talented to begin with, but he went to America in 1861 as a member of the Tokugawa regime. Later, he studied in European countries such as the Netherlands and England. What Takeaki saw there was that science, social systems, and military arsenal were much more advanced in these Western countries compared to Japan. In Japan at the time, there were people who advocated for ostracizing foreigners (called joui) and committed terrorism. But Takeaki thought that if Japan didn’t bring in various things from Western countries and try to modernize, there would be problems. What Takeaki thought was especially necessary to Japan was the founding of the naval force. He thought that since Japan is surrounded by ocean, they couldn’t put up a fight without organizing a naval force. So Takeaki exerted efforts into building a naval force and became the Tokugawa regime naval force’s head of warship. He was the de facto commander-in-chief leading the naval force. The Tokugawa regime naval force, founded with the help of France, grew stronger with training. Their ability surprised even the French officer in charge of the training. Meanwhile, the world was changing significantly. In 1868, a war between the Tokugawa regimen and the New government army opposing the Tokugawa regime broke out. The naval force led by Takeaki Enomoto won the battle off the coast of Tokushima against warships that the anti-Tokugawa forces also had, but on land, the New government army won. And there was an incident in which Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the Tokugawa shogun, fled to Edo from Osaka. It was the Tokugawa regime naval force that sent Yoshinobu to Edo. Later, the Tokugawa regime surrendered to the New government army. However, Takeaki did not surrender, because the Tokugawa regime naval force which had overwhelmed the New government army in their strength, remained intact. So, Takeaki escaped Edo and headed to a new land. That new land was Ezo (now Hokkaido). Here, he thought to build a country for the members of the Tokugawa regime ousted by the New government army. In fact, this country was called “The Republic of Ezo” and was even considered an independent country recognized by some countries such as France. However, the New government army of course did not approve of The Republic of Ezo. They considered Takeaki and others as remnants of the Tokugawa regime and targeted them. Here, the Hakodate war, the last battle between the samurais of the Tokugawa regime and the New government army, began.