Turkey!-Time to Strike-

Episode 11

Even though—or perhaps precisely because—the modern girls know how blood-soaked the Sengoku era can be, they're seeking to help the Sengoku squad in as bloodless a way as possible. So they're trying to end the conflict in a way that'll end in as few casualties as possible, while marrying the sensibilities of both sides. In other words, you just know we're about to get some high-stakes Sengoku bowling.

It not being my area of expertise, I can't speak to any authenticity—let alone specific examples—of Nanase's claim that Sengoku lords would sometimes use shogi to settle disagreements. But honestly, I wouldn't be at all shocked if that were true. Especially with regards to the more distant past, hobbies, games, and other more recreational activities aren't something you see most people thinking too hard about. But indeed, even during impossibly older times, people loved to play games! Given my background in studying the medieval world, the main example I tend to point to when talking about this is Hnefatafl—a Scandinavian strategy game (which, yes, you have seen mentioned in Vinland Saga) that, colloquially, people tend to think of as Viking chess. While the two have similarities, Hnefatafl is, nonetheless, a different game all its own (the most immediately obvious being the way the board is set up).

Take this with a grain of salt, but if we were to take metalwork (EX, coins) out of the equation, I'd be willing to bet Hnefatafl game pieces are probably right behind combs and eating vessels/utensils as the Viking-era items that we still have the most of, because there are just so many of them out there. Go to any museum or gallery that has even an okay collection of Viking-era goods—especially museums in, say, Scandinavia, or certain parts of the Midlands and Northern England—and there's a pretty good chance that they'll have Hnefatafl pieces, or at least references to it around the museum. In fact, I've seen at least one such museum with Hnefatafl sets (modern-made, obviously) in its gift shop.

Still, that's an example that's typical for me to pull out of my metaphorical hat. Since this is Anime News Network after all, and my partner and I have been re-watching Yu-Gi-Oh! lately so it's in the front of my brain right now anyways, here's another fun one: while they weren't exactly playing them on, say, motorcycles, card games have been played in Egypt for longer than you might think! And to prove that, although there's asterisks on how there's still much we don't know about these objects, and a lot of this is going to depend on your definition of “playing card,” but arguably the strongest contenders for oldest surviving playing cards in the world—which date back to the 13th century—are Egyptian. And this is to say nothing of Senet: an Egyptian board game whose history goes back thousands—very plural—of years.

But getting back to the episode itself, the group is solving this potentially fatal problem the only way they know how: bowling. How else was this series ever going to end, if not a round of bowling where everyone's lives are on the line? Honestly, I love that single-mindedness of this show overall. Bowling is the solution to everything, whether it makes sense or not. It works for some anime better than others, but this one has already had more than its fair share of cheesiness, so I think it's perfect.

And speaking of things that don't always make sense: Before this series ends, we must observe a moment of appreciation for the physics—or lack thereof—that we've seen throughout Turkey!. This episode, while another one of the more obvious cases of it by way of Nanase's throw that absolutely would've been a gutter ball if this were real life, is far from the first time we've seen this type of thing in Turkey!. My personal favorite is still earlier on in the series, when the girls used a bowling ball to take down the thugs that they met upon arrival. Didn't feel like it made sense then, and still doesn't now. But I think that fits the unique brand of silliness of Turkey! just right, so I'm all about it.

Alas, next week we're going to get the last episode of Turkey!, so I'll hold off on overall thoughts until then. But in the meantime, I'm definitely already starting to think about how much I'm going to miss getting new episodes of this wonderfully tonally dissonant show each week. Even in a season with some massive hits, Turkey! has absolutely been a standout for me. So needless to say, I'm excited to see how the series concludes next week.

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Turkey!-Time to Strike- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.