After the establishment of the New Meiji Government, in which men from the former Satsuma and Choshu Clans played leading roles, and before the Pacific War, Shinsen-gumi, which had been opposed to the Imperial loyalists, was seen as the enemy in many cases, based on the historical view that Japan was a country developing under the rule of the Emperor.
薩長中心の明治新政府が成立すると、太平洋戦争の戦前までは皇国史観の元、勤皇志士の敵である新選組は悪役として扱われる事が多かった。