Shine On! Bakumatsu Bad Boys

After an imperialist criminal gang called the Masked Demons launches a brutal assault, the Shinsengumi’s Eighth Division—Kyoto’s shogunate-loyal police force—is left almost completely wiped out. The only survivor, Heisuke Toudou, is gravely wounded, yet local lord Katamori Matsudaira presses him to restore the unit. With few options, Toudou offers eight convicts a single path to atonement: discard their former identities and take the places of the fallen Shinsengumi captains. Seven accept the bargain; the lone holdout is executed on the spot by Sakuya, a former assassin.

Rebuilding proves far harder than recruiting. Toudou struggles to turn hardened criminals into dependable warriors, especially with the undisciplined Ichibanboshi—driven by revenge after losing his family to the Masked Demons—constantly threatening to derail the plan. As Toudou vows to defend the shogunate against imperialists and foreign encroachment, rival forces, including Kogorou Katsura’s faction, begin moving in pursuit of power at the twilight of the Edo era.