Anyway, Shibashou himself. I saw a post on Reddit that noticed some similarities between Shibashou and the mythological Qilin:
And the more that I look at this thing, the more I think this is correct. I was wondering why the Seika gang seemed to have animal themes and this appears to be the answer, Shibashou is inspired by the Qilin. Just look at Shibashou himself:
-Horse-themed breast plate
-Spiral hair and Glaive patterns
-Scaled bracers
-Pig tails semi-resembling antlers
These things even have origins dating back to the warring states era.
But what is most interesting is what I found about the Qilin on Wikipedia (research level 100), that these things “are said to appear with the arrival or passing of an illustrious sage or ruler.”
Now I’m not going to comment on any historical spoilers but…the fact that we have been introduced to the minor sub plot of Riboku just being proclaimed the Lord of the second largest city in all Zhao, with his subordinates openly proclaiming that they want to see him as the King of Zhao, and now Riboku is joined in battle by the metaphorical herald of the sage…Hara really does intend to go hard with this sub plot it seems lmfao. Man is the GOAT, quite simply.
To anyone who thinks Shibashou is nothing more than a powerful Zhao general, the more and more we learn about this guy, the more important his ultimate roll in the story appears to be. His arrival, I believe, is to signify the importance of Riboku and his advancement as a powerful sage/ruler…and perhaps eventually any other Kingly commanders Shibashou may end up joining forces with. But I wouldn’t know anything about that.