It's a lot of new ideas in a short speech, and Saitō is silent for a long moment, mulling that over.
The idea of trying to create the perfect soldier isn't new, of course - but he can remember those uncomfortable arguments, first with Niimi and Serizawa, and later with Sannan, over the use of the ochimizu, what limits they should place on it.
And he can certainly remember how they dealt with Niimi and Serizawa. There were lines that were not to be crossed, regardless of the shogunate's order. This was different. Sannan, Heisuke, Saitō himself - they had all freely made the choice to give up their humanity, for their own reasons. They made no apologies, because they all owned their decisions about what they had become, even if that was something -
no subject
The idea of trying to create the perfect soldier isn't new, of course - but he can remember those uncomfortable arguments, first with Niimi and Serizawa, and later with Sannan, over the use of the ochimizu, what limits they should place on it.
And he can certainly remember how they dealt with Niimi and Serizawa. There were lines that were not to be crossed, regardless of the shogunate's order. This was different. Sannan, Heisuke, Saitō himself - they had all freely made the choice to give up their humanity, for their own reasons. They made no apologies, because they all owned their decisions about what they had become, even if that was something -
"Unnatural."