Yes, I totally agree that Kanbei slapped Katsushiro because he neglected maintenance on his sword. However, I also think that Kanbei did it to snap Katsushiro out of his daze.

I guess there won't be a three-way love story after all. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Overall, the animation was pretty good. It's just that some of the villagers, the extra ladies, were drawn pretty awful. I guess that was intentional.

The story is shaping up pretty well. Oh, btw, who was in the shadows in the forest? Was it a bandit, one of the samurais, or someone we don't know about yet?