Sengoku Basara

Are you ready guys?
SHOWTIME!!
—Date Masamune

Sengoku Basara is, in a way, a copycat of Samurai Warriors, only made by Capcom. The main difference is the stylish, ludicrously over-the-top gameplay, characters, designs, and portrayal of Japanese history. While still loosely based on Real Life, they decided to throw most historical accuracies out the window and come up with their own story. They didn't want a historical simulation like Koei did, they just wanted a new-generation Hack and Slash with a Sengoku Period setting.

The result was a game that abandoned logic and ran entirely on Rule of Cool, a World of Badass where everything goes Serial Escalation. Expect a lot of Flanderizations here, both good and bad, and lots of well known seiyuu voicing the characters (Soichiro Hoshi and Mamiko Noto for example). Oh, plus the music is awesome, and has received consistent praise. The series holds a strong fanbase, especially in Japan, mainly because if nothing else, it's just fun.

Capcom attempted to bring the first game to the west by giving it a Cut and Paste Translation treatment in the form of Devil Kings, which changed the characters' names and removed all Sengoku Period references. Safe to say, it bombed and Capcom has been scared to bring the Sengoku Basara sequels to western audiences.

There are three main games in the series so far, as well as a couple of spin-off titles for various different consoles:

  • Sengoku Basara / Devil Kings (2005)
  • Sengoku Basara 2 (2006)
    • Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (2007)
  • Sengoku Basara X Fighting Game (2008)
  • Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes (2009)
  • Sengoku Basara 3 /Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (2010)
    • Sengoku Basara 3 Utage (2011)
  • Sengoku Basara Chronicle Heroes (2011)

An Anime adaptation of the series started airing on April 1, 2009. A second season began July 11, 2010 followed by a feature film debuting in cinemas June 4, 2011. FUNimation picked up the series to be dubbed, as Sengoku Basara rather than Devil Kings, and with an equally-popular cast of who's-who in voice acting.

In the wake of that, Capcom announced that Sengoku Basara would be brought to the US and Europe once more, starting with the third game, translated faithfully, and titled Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.

There is also a manga adaption, Sengoku Basara Ranse Ranbu. The first, second and third games have also been made into manga, all by different artists. A High School AU called Basara Academy has been published, with two volumes so far.

It should also be noted that this game has a parody of itself made by AliceSoft, namely an H-game called Sengoku Rance, the seventh in the Rance series with different gameplay setup (for obvious reasons, though both are quite good games in their own right), but both share the idea of taking a very Broad Strokes version of history, embellishing it with tons of Rule of Cool, and turning the whole thing into a World of Badass.

Not to be confused with the shoujo manga Basara.

This page contains spoilers for both the games and the anime.

Sengoku Basara is the Trope Namer for:
Tropes used in Sengoku Basara include:
  • All There in the Manual: The manga, novels and drama CDs all contain information that is left out of the games, and some of them even tell a completely different set of events. Due to the non-linear nature of the games, other media are free to do what they wish. The anime takes inspiration from both the games and the first manga, but its plot is entirely separate. This makes it hard to decide on what is 'canon'.
  • Anachronism Stew: Most of the main characters lived in vastly different periods of the Sengoku Era... Also, Masamune's horse has chopper exhaust pipes and handlebars and his soldiers look like archetypical delinquents, including one with a pompadour.
    • Not to forget that he recently gained exhaust pipes for himself in Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes and they actually smoke when he runs.
      • And beam swords. Where the sheath is the exhaust pipes.
    • Still nothing to be on par on the Stew-ism of Hondam Tadakatsu
    • And don't forget Nouhime's Hyperspace Arsenal, complete with minigun. Magoichi has a machine gun, grenades and a rocket launcher in hers.
    • And Motochika's mechanical creations.
    • In the DVD extra Mini Sengoku Basara Chousokabe and Mouri are watching the anime on TV.
  • Anchors Away: Motochika.
  • Animal Motifs: Usually linked to the character's name or epithet. Some examples:
    • Masamune with dragons.
    • Shingen and Yukimura with tigers.
    • Nouhime with butterflies.
    • Keiji and Hideyoshi with monkeys.
    • The Ninja with birds.
  • Anime Theme Song: Crosswise, by T.M. Revolution. It's so awesome that as a tip of the hat to Fist of the North Star (which was partially made by the same company, Arc System Works) it's used as the theme song for the Basara K.O. in Cross.
  • Art Evolution: The most startling example of this is not the CGI, but the anime style used in the games noticably evolves over time. From Devil Kings, to Heroes, to Cross to the anime itself.
    • The CG itself has become less realistic and more stylised over time, to match the ludicrously over-the-top design.
  • Ash Face: The player can do this over and over to Kanbe Kuroda in Sengoku Basara 3. Just select the 'Bad Bomb' super art and keep pressing the super art button. Watch a big Cartoon Bomb fall on Kanbe's head, laugh at his Double Take upon noticing the bomb, watch him get blasted through the air screaming "WHYYYY?" the whole time, then crash in an explosion... only to pull himself out of the crater, blackened from head to toe, and shake it off.
  • Author Appeal: T.M.Revolution has a long-standing affair with this series. The only title he (or his band Abingdon Boys School) didn't make an opening song for was 2, and that theme is significantly less popular than any of the others.
    • When it comes to female characters, be sure you'll see plenty of ass and legs. While Kasuga and Magoichi also show their cleavage, every single one of the girls gets some focus below the waist.
  • Awesome but Impractical: As of 3, many characters adopt logically impossible positions while on horseback. Ones that come to mind are Keiji, Tsuruhime, Magoichi, Yukimura, Hideaki and Yoshiaki. And then there's Kotaro and Sasuke...
    • Their mounting animations are just as oddball.
      • The best example of this is probably Takeda Shingen, who stands on not just one, but two horses. The anime takes it to the next level too.
      • Impractical, but possibly true, as some historical accounts state that Shingen was such a big guy that he had to sit astride two horses at once (in fairness, horses in japan were quite small).
  • Awesomeness Meter: How your combos are rated.
  • Badass: All the fighters from the game series. Being a Mook there is not a recipe for a long and happy life, unless your commander happens to be one of said badasses. Let us count the ways...
  • Bash Brothers: Masamune and Kojuro.
  • Battle Amongst the Flames: The Incident at Honnoji stage nearly always takes place amid the already burning temple. In Heroes, Hisahide sets Todai-ji on fire before you fight him there.
  • Battle Couple: Toshiie and Matsu, Nagamasa and Oichi, Nobunaga and Nouhime. Kenshin and Kasuga would count, if they only got together before their endings, in which case the wars have ended.
  • BFG: Xavi, Nouhime, Magoichi.
  • BFS: Keiji, Yoshihiro.
  • Bishounen: Kenshin... and he LIKES posing! Also Hanbe, Motonari, Keiji, and Yukimura in later games.
  • Blade Lock: Usually about once a battle, particularly if the characters are prominent rivals.
  • Blade on a Stick: Yukimura, Ieyasu, Toshiie, Matsu, Oichi, Ujimasa.
  • Blond Brunette Redhead: The Ninja - Kasuga = blonde, Sasuke = brunet, Fuuma = redhead.
  • Bodyguard Crush: Kasuga and Kenshin.
  • Bonus Boss: Musashi and Hisahide in the second game. Nobunaga in the third. Shingen in Utage.
  • Boss Subtitles
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Some of the Mini Sengoku Basara episodes are about Chousokabe and Mouri trying to get more airtime.
    • If you leave the game alone long enough without doing anything, the character might scold you!
    • In the second game, Nobunaga's Victory Pose is him shotgunning the camera.
    • Yoshiaki plays with the camera to draw your attention to him during his introduction and Satake walks into it.
  • Break the Cutie: Oichi, to a T.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Well obviously, it's a fighting game!
  • Canon Shadow: Allies in the third game. Use Tokugawa Ieyasu as Ishida Mitsunari's wingman? And then bring this unholy alliance to go fight Ieyasu and watch the game ignore how the same character is appearing twice? Why not indeed?
  • Capcom Sequel Stagnation: They milked the continuity around Sengoku Basara 2 for a couple of years before the third game came out.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys
  • Cast of Snowflakes
  • Casual Danger Dialogue/Talking Is a Free Action: Characters are somehow able to hold conversations with each other at any point during a stage, even with the whole battlefield in between them. And if whoever you're fighting against is your friend or ally, most likely they'll chat away happily as if nothing were wrong while you're slaughtering their mooks.
  • Changing of the Guard: Ieyasu and Mitsunari steal the main character/poster boy slots in SB3, removing Masamune and Yukimura from the spotlight.
  • Character Level
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Everyone. Well, everyone who is a main character, since their ridiculous strength and fighting ability is what makes them applicable for this role. However they're still normal humans, apparently.
  • Cherry Blossoms: Because it just wouldn't be Feudal Japan without 'em.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Motonari, when introducing himself, gets strangely hammy: "I AM THE CHILD OF THE SUN, MOURI MOTONARI!!! NOW COOOOOMMMMEEEE!!!!"
  • Child Soldiers: Ranmaru and Itsuki aren't even in their teens yet. Tsuruhime may also count. Many characters draw attention to how young they are and few enjoy fighting them.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Kennyo? Who the hell is Kennyo?...
    • Then again, while Nouhime, Ranmaru, Hanbe, Nagamasa, Yoshimoto and Hideyoshi were dumped for a good reason (plot relevance), Musashi, Itsuki, Xavi and Hisahide simply disappear without a reason.
      • Xavi's fate, at least, is mentioned in Sorin's stage several times, with rumours such as "He was homesick and didn't like this land's food". At least it keeps in line (as possible as it is in Basara) with the historical figure he's based on, St. Francis Xavier, who didn't stay in Japan for long.
        • However this hasn't stopped Hisahide from turning up out of the blue as a playable character in Sengoku Basara 3 Utage.
  • Church Militant: Xavi's goal is apparently the conversion of all Japan to his faith. How you ask? Superior firepower.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Most notable are main rivals Yukimura and Masamune, who wear red and blue respectively. Motonari and Motochika also sport complimentary colour schemes.
    • Mitsunari and Ieyasu too. Mitsunari wears black and purple to represent the moon, whereas Ieyasu wears yellow to represent the sun.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Xavi's religion of suspiciously Catholic-looking LOVE (or "Xavism" in Samurai Heroes).
  • Darker and Edgier: Sengoku Basara 3 is much much darker and more serious story-wise than its predecessors.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: If she doesn't snap, Oichi is rather harmless. Likewise the ninja Sasuke, who's quite a nice guy.
  • Demoted to Extra: In the 3rd game; Kenshin, Kasuga, Sasuke, Kojuro, Toshiie and Matsu are now NPCs, and Hisahide, Musashi, Itsuki, Xavi and Kennyo don't appear at all. However in Utage the former are all player characters once again, along with Hisahide.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: Initially Matsu and Kenshin as well as Kasuga and Sasuke shared the exact same movesets. However they soon managed to gain their own fighting style by the second game. Similarly, Kid!Ieyasu and Ujimasa copied Toshiie's polearm moveset before moving on.
  • Drop the Hammer: Itsuki.
  • Dual-Wielding: Masamune scoffs at your feeble dual-wielding and prefers to wield six swords at a time (three in each hand). Yukimura dual-wields spears, and Mitsuhide dual-wields scythes.
    • But wait, in Utage, Masamune takes it up another notch in War Dance mode where while using Phantom Dive he wields all 6 swords at once in ONE HAND! I dont think anything aside from the Rule of Cool can explain how he is doing this.
    • The Ninja Sasuke, Kasuga and Fuuma also dual wield. Sasuke with shuriken, Kasuga with knives, and Fuuma with ninjato.
    • Oichi has two naginata joined together.
    • And Muneshige trumps them all by dual-wielding chainsaws. Yeah, that's right, chainsaws!
    • Musashi, the original dual-wielder, once accuses Yukimura of stealing his technique, despite being younger than him.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Uesugi Kenshin, justified that even his real life counterpart was suspected by many to be a woman disguised as a man. Nevermind that he was based off Takarazuka performers.
  • Easy Evangelism: Occasionally Xavism proves to be more effective than it seems. Motonari, Yoshihiro and Kanbe have all shown up as Xavists, with Motonari still having some deeply suppressed sentiments.
  • Elaborate Equals Effective: Though sometimes it's subverted.
  • Elemental Powers: Include fire, ice, lightning, wind, light and darkness.
  • Epic Flail: Kanbe, using the ball and chain attacked to the stocks binding his wrists together to do some serious damage, including the occasional storm.
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait: The male characters. Come in all shapes and sizes, with plenty of angst and a nice voice cast. Every one of them has to appeal to some sort of fetish.
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: Keiji's cute little mascot Yumekichi.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Basara attacks generally contain a lot of spinning to help raise the hit count. Yukimura, Motonari, Nagamasa and Kotaro also have a lot of weapon spinning involved in their movesets.
  • Evil Is Hammy
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Hideyoshi, Yoshitsugu, Mitsunari (though he's not really evil per se).
  • Evil Versus Evil: Nobunaga, the resident Evil Overlord is often pitted against Ax Crazy Mitsuhide (appropriate, as Mitsuhide caused Oda's death in Real Life). Basara 2 had evil but Well-Intentioned Extremist Hideyoshi as Nobunaga's official rival.
  • Eye Beams: In the opening sequence for Battle Heroes, frickin' 100 foot-tall versions of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi shoot frickin' LASERBEAMS out of their eyes! Needless to say, it was awesome. Shame it didn't happen in the game itself.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Masamune and Motochika make being half-blind cool. And hot.
    • Though while Masamune was indeed missing his right eye in Real Life, there is no record to suggest that Motochika was in the same situation. It probably just adds to his piratey image...
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Keiji, who treads a fine line between this and Rummage Sale Reject.
  • Flanderization: To the max! It's arguable one of the game's selling points.
  • Fighting Game: Sengoku Basara X and Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: This usually happens on a large scale. Every. Single. FIGHT.
  • Foe Yay: Fills this to the absolute brim. You may as well take out the term "rival" and insert "love interest" every time it comes up.
  • Friendly Enemy: Masamune and Yukimura. Ultimately, they always go back to being rivals.
  • Full-Name Basis
  • Gang of Hats: The various armies. Of particular note is Kanbe's army, blue collar workers who use tools like pickaxes and rakes instead of swords and pikes.
  • Get Back Here Boss: A gimmick often employed by various commanders in-game in some fashion or another.
  • Giant Mook: Giant enemies are bigger than every playable character but Honda. This includes Kanbe, Yoshihiro, and Muneshige!
  • Gratuitous English: Frequently used by Date Masamune. PUT YA GUNS ON indeed. Second place is Xavi's faction of Love Freaks
    • The opening theme of Sengoku Basara 3, Naked Arms by TM Revolution. Sung in English in the North American version. By TM Revolution. Good luck making any sense of it. Hear it here. May double as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Grey and Grey Morality: There are very few characters who can be defined as evil in the series (aside from Nobunaga, but he doesn't count), only a group of ambitious people who have similar goals which they will do anything to achieve, who inevitably come to blows. As Hisahide points out, no matter how honourable a samurai's ideals may be, they still cause destruction and death for the sake of their own gains. The whole conflict is extremely chaotic.
  • Guns Are Worthless: Guns have short range, in many cases have visible and dodgable projectiles, and don't do any more or less damage than the associated melee weapons. Gun users exist as player characters and are about as effective as everyone else, leaning towards Glass Cannons.
  • Hard Mode Perks: After a certain point the only way to level up quickly and increase your luck in order to get more money, better weapons or rarer items is to play on hard mode.
  • Harder Than Hard: The Basara difficulty introduced in Utage. You'll die in about three hits from a mook.
  • Hattori Hanzo: Can be equipped as a bodyguard in 3. Well, it's a start at least. Oh and you'll be using him a lot if you wanna find those damn fugitives...
  • Heroic Spirit: The series feeds on it!
  • Historical Badass Upgrade: Most of the cast. Granted, some of those ancient warriors were actually pretty badass on their own....
  • Historical Beauty Update: Seriously.
  • Historical Domain Character:
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: Just a bit...
  • Homoerotic Subtext: Tends to happen when roughly 90% of the cast are male and the writers love teasing their fangirls.
  • Horse Jump: Forget jumping, these horses can fly!!
  • Humanoid Abomination: Oichi is at the very least on her way to counting as one in the third game.
  • Humongous Mecha: Honda Tadakatsu, probably the only Humongous Mecha to ever exist in the Sengoku Era!

Ieyasu: "Honda Tadakatsu! Prepare for launch!"

    • Also, the war machines that show up as occasional mini-bosses. Motochika seems especially fond of using these against the player. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... TOAD-BOAT!
  • Improbable Weapon User: Pick a character. Any character...
    • Joke items made it even worse, as in Toshiie using a swordfish or Yoshihiro using a bottle of liquor.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: Well it would still be awesome without Tadakatsu, but I mean COME ON!
  • Instant Fanclub: I-TSU-KI-CHAAAAANNNN!!!
    • Tsuruhime has a skill that allows her to turn her enemies into this.
  • Insurmountable Waist High Fence: Of the Unclearable Debris, Ankle Deep Water of Uncrossability, Adamantium Door and Gentle Slope of Unclimbability types.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Oda Nobunaga. Allow us to present this image as evidence.
  • Japanese Pronouns: And how. Aside of the usual assortment of watashi, washi, boku and ore, it includes such gems as soregashi (Toshiie), sessha (Yukimura), maro (Imagawa), ware (Motonari), wagahai (Yoshiaki), temae (Muneshige), shosei (Kanbe) and yo (Nobunaga). Oichi, Matsu and sometimes Nouhime refer to themselves in the third person. Second-person pronouns are equally oddball, with the archaic onushi (Shingen), kiden (Nagamasa), sonata (Kenshin) and kei (Hisahide) being thrown around a lot alongside of anata, omae and temee.
  • Japanese Honorifics: Most notable is Yukimura who speaks quite archaically and extremely politely towards everyone, addressing them with the suffix '-dono' which, in that era, was supposed to be only used with equals or higher. He even speaks like this to Kasuga and Masamune's soldiers!
    • Hanbe adresses everyone with the suffix '-kun', even people older than him. This is probably deliberately derogatory.
  • Joke Character: Yoshimoto Imagawa, Ieyasu Tokugawa (until he grew up), Ujimasa Hojo. Third game adds Hideaki Kobayakawa and Sorin Otomo.
  • Just a Stupid Accent: Arslan/Motochika and Puff/Itsuki in Devil Kings. WTF was that all about?!
  • Keigo words like '-sama', '-dono' are almost everywhere.
    • As noted above the writers seem to have a great deal of fun throwing in as many different Japanese Pronouns as they can find.
  • Kiai: Necessary for any warrior, however Yukimura does it best.
  • Kid Samurai: Musashi, Ieyasu (pre-timeskip) and Yukimura, who are all in their teens. However growing up in a feudal country does that to you, just like their historical counterparts. Ranmaru is an exception, being an archer.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Hideyoshi at the end of Nobunaga's campaign in the second game.
  • Killed Off for Real: Since 3 is much more true to history than the other games, characters like Yoshimoto, Nagamasa, Nouhime, Ranmaru, Hanbe and Hideyoshi, whose deaths are important to the new plot, are not coming back.
    • Nobunaga still made it back though. Like a Badass Out of Hell.
      • His sister Oichi also came back, even though she was left for dead at the end of the last game.
  • Leitmotif: Most of the characters have their own individual theme, as well as a different theme for their stage. Oichi gets her own Image Song.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: How you are suppose to clear most of the maps. Strategy? What strategy?
  • Lethal Joke Item: The joke weapons (which change every game) are often some of the most powerful, if not the best weapon for any given character.
  • Light Is Not Good: Mouri Motonari. Child of the Sun? Yeah, right...
  • Limit Break: The Basara Attack.
  • Lip Lock: The English dub of the games are very guilty of this. The anime on the other hand does a good job of avoiding it.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: There are 40 named, fleshed-out characters in the series (46 if you include the area warlords), all but 5 of whom have been playable during the series. Chronicle Heroes will have a total of 33 characters.
  • Lovely Angels: Magoichi and Tsuruhime when they team up at Sekigahara.
  • Melee a Trois: Certain battles in the series involves crashing a battle between two characters and wiping them both out, ending in a fight between all the commanders
  • Metal Slime: Fugitives in Samurai Heroes.
  • Mighty Glacier: Shingen and Xavi, the latter being the slowest character (which can be fixed with a speed boost item) in the game but has a Limit Break capable of, if not outright killing them, taking off massive chunks of boss health if used properly. Hideyoshi leans somewhere more towards Lightning Bruiser and Itsuki is something of a Glacier Waif. The third game introduces Kanbe, who makes up for his lack of speed with his attack range, and Muneshige.
  • Multiple Endings: The third game introduces this to the Drama Story Mode, making the ending you acquire depend on the choices you make when deciding which battles to fight.
  • The Musical: No, really.
    • And the DVD is available in Japan now.
  • Named Weapons: Just about every single weapon is named, some even have more than one. The only exceptions are Mitsunari's swords, which are specifically called 'Nameless'.
  • Name Order Confusion: Samurai Heroes switched the characters' names around to western order, but the anime dub kept the original eastern order used for many pre-20th century Japanese historical figures that the fans were familiar with. This caused some confusion for those not familiar with the difference.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Tiger of Kai, War God of Echigo, One-Eyed Dragon, Demon King of the Sixth Heaven etc.
  • Neutral Powers Bad People: Hard to explain, but usually some elements like fire and lightning are associated with good/sympathetic characters, while ice, light and darkness are usually connected to negative/unsympathetic ones. Of course, there are some exceptions, like Kenshin, Sasuke, Oichi, Ieyasu, and Hisahide.
  • Ninja: Sasuke, Kasuga and Fuuma are all playable, and ninjas regularly pop up during stages.
  • Ninja Log: This exact trick is actually used by ninja grunts in 3.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: With the third game, the series has managed to include examples of all of these to date!
    • Ninjas are standard fare, with playable characters Sasuke, Kasuga and Fuuma.
    • Motochika is a pirate, along with his crew.
    • Nanbu Harumasa commands an army of zombies through magic, or something.
    • Hondam Tadakatsu is a Humongous Mecha and other robotic enemies turn up occasionally (usually when the aforementioned pirate is involved).
  • No Hugging, No Kissing: For a series with so much implied romance, there is very little on-screen action to be had. The only characters who have kissed are Toshiie and Matsu, once, and you don't even see it.
  • One-Hit Kill: Yoshihiro has a move like this, which will kill anything and anyone no matter how powerful. Masamune's TESTAMENT comes close, if charged correctly.
  • Path of Inspiration: Xavism.
  • Patriotic Fervor: A meta-example: There's a good reason why Sengoku Basara 3 was released on the Playstation 3 and the Wii (which are both Japanese-made consoles) and NOT for the Xbox360 (which is an American model), despite the Xbox 360 being capable of handling the game better than the Wii (and not the fact the Xbox 360 has fewer sales in Japan doesn't count.)
    • In another odd example, images of Date Masamune from the game were used on posters encouraging people in the Miyagi prefecture (the real Date's old stomping grounds) to vote in the mayoral election.
  • Pigeonholed Voice Actor: Let's just say, whoever chose the voice cast for this game knew to pick voice actors by role - about the only one lacking is Nobuyuki Hiyama.
  • Pirate: Motochika, complete with Pirate Parrot, and his crew of course.
  • Power Floats: The SB characters laugh in the face of gravity.
  • Power Glows: The more the characters power up, the more brightly they glow.
  • Practical Taunt: Many taunts have an effect on the character's moveset, for example, powering up one of their special attacks. They can also be used to charge the Basara Attack Gauge.
  • Pre Asskicking One Liners
  • Purely Aesthetic Era
  • Rated "M" for Manly: This series will teach you that manliness can achieve anything.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Masamune as the Blue Oni, Yukimura as the Red Oni. The Shingen/Kenshin rivalry also sorta counts (with Shingen as Red Oni, Kenshin as Blue Oni).
  • Redshirt Army: The ordinary soldiers at times seem like nothing more than ablative meat shields for the commanders.
  • Refuge in Audacity: No one questions how ridiuclous any of it is. Such is the power of the Hot-Blooded.
  • The Remnant: In Samurai Heroes, Mitsunari Ishida is continuing in the name of Hideyoshi. More explicitly, Oichi leads the "Oda Remnant" forces. Or rather the Oda Remnants forcefully pulled Oichi back from her sleep and had her become their figurehead. Also, Sorin's faction is apparently all that's left of Xavi's converts.
  • Risk-Style Map
  • Rule of Cool: The franchise thrives on this trope.
  • Say My Name: Used for humor, but technically one-sided, because the other one doesn't say the name...

"Yukimura!!"
"Oyakata-sama!!"
"Yukimura!!!"
"Oyakata-sama!!!"
"YUKIMURA!!!!"
"OYAKATA-SAMA!!!!"
And so on...


The anime includes examples of:

  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sharp enough to cut through solid granite anyway...
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: At one point, Shingen is about to give a Megaton Punch to Yukimura but switches to patting him on the head at the last second.
  • Animation Bump: The animation seems to change a little every single episode, for better or for worse. This is mostly fixed by the second season.
  • Anyone Can Die: Whether or not they actually stay dead however is another matter entirely.
  • Artistic License History: No one dies in the historically correct time, place or way. Also, everything else is just wrong. But hey, Rule of Cool is God.
    • More like they didn't care. This is Basara you're talking about.
  • Awesomeness Is Volatile
  • Badass in Distress: Two people on the battlefield noticed that Kojuro faked out Takenaka Hanbe. One of them was Sasuke; the other one, unfortunately, was Hanbe himself. He retaliates as only Hanbe can.
  • Battle Aura: All the time. Takeda even disintegrates an opponent in a giant wave of Battle Aura.
  • Battle in the Rain: Episodes 2, 3 and 9.
  • Beam-O-War: Happens a lot. Particularly between Masamune and Yukimura.
  • Big No: Episode 9, courtesy of Kasuga.
  • Cool Horse: Masamune's infamous Harley Davidson Motor-Horse.
  • Cue the Sun: Happens twice. The first time is in Episode 1 when Yukimura and Masamune battle each other to a standstill. The second is Episode 12, after Nobunaga is finally defeated.
  • Dancing Theme: "JAP".
    • And here's the full dance.
    • Also, no matter how hard it seems, it is possible for normal people to do it!
    • "The Party Must Go On" from the movie finishes the series really well.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The OVA, which takes place between episodes 11 and 12, focuses on Motochika, Motonari and Keiji.
  • Deadly Closing Credits: Episodes 5 and 11.
  • Death Is Cheap: It certanly is for Oichi, Yoshihiro, Mitsuhide and Hisahide.
  • Debut Queue: Takes this one further by introducing the entire cast in the first episode!
  • Demoted to Extra: Shingen in the second season.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Episode 10. Until Masamune comes along. Then it's a different matter.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: Does the anime loves this or what?
  • Dramatic Thunder: Whenever Nobunaga is on the scene.
  • Dramatic Wind: Where would we be without it?
  • Elite Mooks: Four of Date's retainers (Bunshichi, Yoshinao, Samenosuke, and Magobei) get quite a lot of attention.
    • Season 2 also introduces Oyamada Nobushige, a Takeda retainer, however he gets unceremoniously killed off a few episodes later.
    • Don't forget Akagawa Motoyasu, a Mouri retainer. Later on he appeared to be The Mole, but failed to assassinate Motonari and got butchered.
  • Empathic Environment
  • Enemy Mine: Kenshin, Shingen and a reluctant Masamune form a temporary alliance against Big Bad Nobunaga. The theory is that with him out of the way, they can be free to fight amongst themselves.
  • Evil Old Folks: Hojo Ujimasa is turned into a weak, Don Quixote-like coward who tries to use Kotaro Fuuma to kill Shingen.
  • Eye Scream: In Episode 12, when Nobunaga has Masamune cornered, he torments the poor boy by threatening to gouge out his other eyeball with his finger.
  • Executive Meddling: The anime's second season is designed to bring the anime story into line with the game's Canon, leading to almost half the cast coming back to life for no adequately explained reason.
  • Face Palm: Sasuke, whenever Yukimura does something particularly stupid.
  • Fainting: Yumekichi the monkey faints in the second season. Apparently it's from worry.
  • Faking the Dead: Hisahide.
  • Faux Action Girl: Kasuga, Matsu and Oichi in season one. Ok, Oichi at least killed Nouhime with her dark hands, but still...
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: Seriously, this is the only reason those Mooks exist at all...
  • Foe Yay: While the games were rife with this, the anime practically makes it canon. The dub lampshades this to no end.

Sasuke: (Speaking to Yukimura after his first battle with Masamune) It appears that you've fallen for him. And he, for you.

    • Foe Yay at First Sight: Masamune and Yukimura's first meeting can be described as nothing but this. Afterwards, Yukimura falls to his knees and tells Sasuke that he has a funny feeling in his chest.
    • The movie makes sure to add plenty of Foe Yay. The only fight that didn't have any at all was the one against Oda.
  • Fragile Speedster: A notable mention goes to Kotaro Fuuma. In the first season he almost diced Shingen in Odawara with a deadly combination of his swords and his greater speed. He got pwned by a single fist from Shingen.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Sasuke hauls off and slaps Kasuga in Episode 10.
    • Later on in the same episode, Masamune is forced to beat some sense into Yukimura after he becomes too scared to fight.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Shingen, as well as Masamune when he gets excited.
  • Got the Whole World In My Hand: Hideyoshi does this in the second opening, lifting Japan out of the sea with one hand.
  • Go Through Me: In the second season, Masamune's followers pile onto him bodily to protect him from Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
  • Gratuitous English: Plenty of it in the season 1 OP track, and Masamune is pretty fond of it as always.
  • Half the Man He Used To Be: Tenkai shouldn't have let his guard down.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: "YUKIMURAAAA!" "YOUR LORDSHIIIIIIP~!"
  • Heroic BSOD: Yukimura has one after Mitsuhide wounds Shingen badly enough that his survival is questionable, which he blames himself for not being able to prevent. Only a manly Rousing Speech from both Masamune and Kojuro is able to snap him out of it.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Honda Tadakatsu. Twice.
  • Hollywood Healing: Subverted with a gunshot wound Masamune obtains in the anime, which renders him bed-ridden for two episodes and serves as a major handicap in the Final Battle.
    • Played straight later with Motochika, who appears to be in great condition just days after getting beaten to a bloody smear by Hideyoshi.
    • Also, Episode 1 of Season 2. Yukimura has bandages on with his arm in a sling after he was beat down by Masamune at the beginning of the episode, but he undergoes instantaneous healing when Takeda punches him.
  • Honor Before Reason: This trope basically explains why Nagamasa and Ieyasu remain allies of Nobunaga despite being an Obviously Evil Overlord.)
  • Human Shield: Mitsuhide attempts to use Ranmaru as one against Kojuro. It doesn't work. Kojuro just throws Ranmaru out of the way and kicks Mitsuhide's ass.
  • I Can Still Fight: Masamune's gunshot wound makes it impractical for him to go after the men who were taken hostage. Still, Kojuro has to carefully and gently beat this into his master.
    • This seems to be a habit of his.
  • The Immodest Orgasm: Kasuga's reaction to Kenshin's praise. See here.
  • Incoming Ham: The show is like a food fight in this regard.
  • Just Whistle: Subverted. After Sasuke realizes he can't stop Kasuga from trying to pull a one-woman Roaring Rampage of Revenge on Nobunaga, he instead gives her a flute and tells her to blow it should she find herself in danger. When the time does come to use it, it turns into a rocket-powered glider instead of summoning the other ninja.

Kasuga: I thought you were supposed to appear when I blew into it.
Sasuke: Well, that's obviously impossible. But hey, I'm here now!

  • Kansas City Shuffle: With the help of Sasuke , Kojuro pulls one of these in fine SenBasa-style in the first episode of the second season against the Toyotomi army, saving not only his own lord and their men but the Uesugi and Takeda armies as well, and doing it all in such a way that none of them lose face or owe any favours. He pays for it later.
  • Killed Off for Real: While the anime has brought back some people, Kennyo, Ujimasa, Yoshimoto, Nagamasa, Xavi, Nouhime, Mitsuhide, Hideyoshi and Hanbe seem to be gone for good.
  • Large Ham: There's a few loads, but mostly the guy WHO'S ALWAYS SCREAMING ABOUT HIS OYAKATA-HAM-AAAAAAA!
  • Leave Him to Me: Kojuro vs Mitsuhide, Episode 12.
  • Lighthearted Rematch
  • Lightning Reveal: How Nobunaga makes his anime appearance.
  • Mauve Shirt: Those four Date soldiers who are kidnapped in Episodes 7 and 8.
  • More Dakka: Whenever Nouhime pulls out that gatling gun of hers from Hammerspace
  • I Have Just One Thing to Say: Shingen gives Yukimura a wordless example when Yukimura comes back from Hisahide's hostage situation with everyone alive, but without the ceremonial armor. After Yukimura gives his explanation ("people are our treasure"), Shingen lets loose his usual Megaton Punch, only to stop just before contact to ruffle Yukimura's hair.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Kasuga, even more so than in the game. Her Stripperific clothing and Gainaxing skills probably help a lot.
  • The Mole: In Season 2, it turns out the Date army have one of these in their ranks.
  • Mood Whiplash: Episode 5: After that Crowning Moment of Funny above, we're presented with...Nagamasa's dramatically tragic death, all to make Oichi suffer.
    • And in the very next episode, Tadakatsu goes BOOM, much to Ieyasu's despair.
  • Mooks: Every single soldier. One even wonders why they even bother gathering soldiers in the first place...Probably to keep the mooks from the opposition busy while their bosses fight the 'real' battles.
  • Neck Lift: Nobunaga does this in the last episode. Masamune must weigh about as much as a bag of sugar.
    • In season 2, Masamune gets this treatment again, from Hideyoshi this time.
  • Necromancer: Ujimasa Hojo use his pike to summon the spirits of his ancestors to fight Shingen. He simply make him join them.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: "The Tiger of Kai Dies at Midaigawa," my ass!
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Hideyoshi delivers several of these in the second season.
  • No One Could Survive That: Notice that the smoking black crater where Honda used to be is suspiciously lacking a dead body at its center...
    • Also, Kenshin gets shot twice in the chest by Nouhime and lives to fight again. Sengoku Era medicine must be very good.
    • Sasuke lampshades this by calmly noting that a normal person shouldn't be able to survive being punched through a sliding door and a stone lantern and into a wall. Of course, Yukimura is not a normal person.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: After Hisahide kidnaps his men, Masamune is determined to rescue them, despite being wounded, on the grounds that the Date Army can't afford to lose anyone.
  • Nothing but Skulls: Nobunaga's throne is made up of a pile of skulls in the anime. He even uses one for a cup.
  • Not Quite Dead: Tadakatsu. Twice.
    • As as of the second season, Oichi, Ieyasu and Yoshihiro as well. Despite Nobunaga shooting his prone body at point blank range in the head.
      • The movie has Tenkai appear as well.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: German actually, but fits the bill.
  • One-Hit Kill: Shingen curb-stomping Ujimasa Hojo in Episode 2 with his flaming fist attack.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Kennyo, Yoshihiro, Xavi, and Itsuki in season 1. The first three while they're slain by Nobunaga's men. Yoshihiro is back on his feet in season 2.
  • Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: Masamune is miles away from the battlefield before anyone even realizes that he was shot in the side after the fight with Nagamasa.
  • Rain of Arrows: How Ranmaru gets rid of Yoshimoto's Kagemusha. Also his main attack. It doesn't work so well against Kojuro or Masamune.
  • Rated "M" for Manly: Well, sorta...
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nobunaga spends a good ten minutes informing Masamune and Yukimura how foolish they are for thinking they could defeat him. Naturally, they defeat him.
  • The Rival: Yukimura considers Masamune his Only Worthy Opponent/One True Rival, and vice-versa. So fitting are they for this trope that they're even featured in the image for the main page.
  • Rivals Team Up: Episode 12, when everyone comes together for the Final Battle against Nobunaga.
  • Rousing Speech: "PSYCHE UP GUYS!!!!"
  • Rule of Cool: So many to count, but most prevalent would be Shingen using two horses to ride to the battlefield, all while standing up, each foot stepping on each saddle. And he can get the horses to run on walls.
    • Speaking of horses, Yukimura rides only one, but to dodge bullets, he stabs the ground with one spear and spins around it, while still riding the horse.
    • Masamune rides without handlebars. On a motorbike-horse. He's that cool.
  • Scenery Porn: While the character designs can be a bit sketchy at times, the backgrounds are gorgeous and never fail to impress.
  • Shirtless Scene: Masamune received a rather obligatory shirtless scene in Episode 8, much to the viewers delight. The writers probably thought that with Yukimura going round half-naked all the time, they should give Masamune a chance to be shirtless as well (not to mention improve their ratings).
  • Sparkling Stream of Tears: Oichi and Ieyasu do this as they cry for Nagamasa and Tadakatsu, respectively.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Oh hell yes.
  • Super-Deformed: Mini Sengoku Basara: Chousokabe-kun and Mouri-kun, which follows Motochika and Motonari as they get into all sorts of adventures. Hilarity Ensues. See here.
    • The second season continues this, only this time around the whole cast gets to participate.
  • Sword Limbo: Mitsuhide does this during his fight against the two heroes in Episode 11.
  • Sword Sparks: Complete with Shakeen!
  • Technicolor Blade: Very common.
  • Terrible Trio: Hisahide's "Death God Squad" is composed by three Malevolent Masked Man who use poisons and spears.
  • Third Person Person: Ranmaru and Oichi, like their game counterparts.

Oichi:"It's all Ichi's fault... Ichi's sorry...."

  • Trap Is the Only Option: In Episode 11 Masamune decides to walk into Nobunaga's trap, confident that he'll be able to figure something out once he gets there and kick butt. It turns out that the trap was actually set for Mitsuhide.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Despite being used as a punching bag by Toyotomi, then being caught in the epicenter of his exploding base and then being almost drowned, Motochika shows up two episodes later looking as fit and healthy as ever, AND has a mind to steal Masamune's horses.
    • Matsunaga Hisahide, Oichi and Shimazu Yoshihiro are other examples. One blew himself up and the other two were killed by Nobunaga, yet they're alive and kicking by the second season. Though Oichi has become little more than an Empty Shell and has to fight off possession by her brother, who it seems isn't resting in peace either.
    • This anime has absolutely no shame bringing back supposedly dead characters for the sake of a possible third season. Just how did Ieyasu manage to grow so much in such a short space of time? And how did Tadakatsu put himself back together after being blown up by Nobunaga?
  • Unflinching Walk: In season 2, Hideyoshi pulls this as he approaches Motochika's Fugaku fortress-ship, while cannon fire decimates his mooks around him.
  • Unfortunate Song Name: Maybe it was not intentional per se (we hope), but maybe Abington Boys School didn't figured out that JAP (the opening theme in the first season) is a derogatory insult against the Japanese, especially during World War II, by American soldiers and it's considered a taboo word in the U.S.
  • War Is Hell: Sure the individual duels may be glorious, but the ongoing war and chaos is always presented as a bloody and terrifying waste of human life that brings sorrow to all involved.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Every single fight scene.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted with Ranmaru: after Honnoji's incident and Nobunaga's fall he's shown to have just met Itsuki.
  • What Were You Thinking?: What Shingen asks Yukimura after learning that Yukimura let Kojuro (who, along with Masamune, was under their care) confront Hisahide alone and with only half of the demanded ransom. He did not like the answer he got.
  • Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Shingen and Yukimura regularly smash holes through the doors and walls of their mansion. In the movie, they go so far as to demolish and entire building, much to the surprise of the men inside it.
  • World of Ham
  • Worthy Opponent: A conversation between Shingen and Kenshin in the anime implies that the two of them collaborated to arrange for Masamune and Yukimura to meet in battle specifically in the hopes that the two of them would become Worthy Opponents.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Matsu. Also Oichi to a certain extent.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Oichi tells Nobunaga that she has accidentally killed his wife, Nobunaga calmly responds by saying that a woman like Nouhime can only go so far. He then kills Oichi for the same reason.)
    • And this is after he has already sent Mitsuhide to die against the heroes by giving both him and them a false location of his stronghold. Though to be fair, Mitsuhide was going there to kill him as well.
    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.