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Sengoku Basara (TV).


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kornpone



Joined: 05 Nov 2008
Posts: 55
Location: West of the Yodo River
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 12:09 am Reply with quote
Sengoku Basara (TV)

I coulda sworn there was a thread for this already, but I was unable to find one so here goes --apologies to the Mods if I am somehow mistaken. どうぞ宜しくお願い申し上げます。m<(_._)>m

I think we can all agree that this show is just way, waaay over the top. (Mind you, it's not Shin Mazinger Z waaaaaaaaaay over the top, but still.) Not having played the game(s) I can't speak to any comparisons there, but I'm sure some of our worthy colleagues will take up that challenge Wink

Other than the maxed-out brawniness and brassiness of the whole production, I especially enjoy the portrayals (charicatures, really) of actual historical figures: Oda Nobunaga as the ruthless demon king, Uesugi Kenshin as a sort of androgynous ballet dancer, Akechi Mitsuhide as a punk death god, Tokugawa Ieyasu as a little geeky guy with a steely resolve (and a six pack), and so on.

The parallels with the currently airing NHK annual historical tv epic ("taiga drama") Tenchijin, which covers much of the same ground (and plays up its own brand of charicatures) are amusing to say the least.

Tenchijin's hero is Naoé Kanetsugu (née Higuchi Yoroku), right-hand man to Kenshin's successor (and adopted son) Uesugi Kagekatsu. Here is NHK's chart showing the relationships between the characters in the show --

http://www9.nhk.or.jp/taiga/cast/index.html

-- with Kanetsugu shown in the big photo in the middle.

Imagine the surprise then in episode 5 of Basara (and this really isn't worth hiding in spoiler tags since it doesn't shed any light on anything else) when the anime Kanetsugu, looking quite serious in his traditional battle outfit -- as opposed to the outlandish stuff worn by most of the rest of the cast --, appears for a cameo in a face-off with the hilariously mech-like (take that, Gundam!) Tadakatsu, only to be promptly tossed into the underbrush like an elephant shaking off of bug.

So much for NHK's taiga drama! (--Although of course the joke really isn't on NHK, with Tenchijin enjoying record high ratings, as did its predecessor last year, Atsuhime. It's a fun poke anyway, though.)

It's just a damned shame that the Basara storyline doesn't appear to go as far as Hideyoshi's appearance on the scene. . .

But to hell with that. What are we waiting for-- Let's Party!! Laughing


Last edited by kornpone on Fri May 08, 2009 2:41 am; edited 2 times in total
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 1:35 am Reply with quote
Soldiers dancing to the beat in the OP? A horse outfitted with exhausts and handlebars? Samurai walking around in leather trenchcoats? Hilariously bad Engrish? Half the lines yelled rather than spoken? Villain with awesomely campy theme music? Yeah, anyone who takes this show seriously has missed the point. It is Good Dumb Fun, and don't you forget it. One of my two guilty pleasures for this current season. It's also surprisingly smart. I look forward to watching more.
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Sidhardha



Joined: 24 Dec 2008
Posts: 49
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 3:35 am Reply with quote
I didn't expect much from this show originaly, considering it was based on a fighting game; yet currently it turned to be one of the most enjoyable shows of the season. Not stoping to surprise with every episode, and being very entertaining spoiler[the "launch sequence" of their "gundam" made me almoust roll on the floor laughting].


By the way, anyone knows anything about that? http://www.sankakucomplex.com/wp-content/gallery/misc-images-xxi/sengoku-basara-comparisons.jpg

Apparently Sengoku Basara was made different for different media? :O
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Mike On Top



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 298
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 3:56 am Reply with quote
kornpone wrote:

But to hell with that. What are we waiting for-- Let's Party!! Laughing


"O-rite"? Very Happy

The series is damn funny. Every time I see the samurai macarena dance, I begin grinning from ear to ear, and although the show features stuff that could be taken seriously, packed with the wacky character concept makes it hard for stopping giggle all the time. So long for the solemn history - "Mom, see, I can ride horses without holding the reigns!" is more awesome badassery upgrade. Quite a lot of the actual fight comes in tornado blasts of footsoldiers, with or without accent on their leg hair, a la Casshern vs. Dio close encounters, and that rocket armor warrior, making for Ieyasu's might (and missing heigth) - what on earth were Team Basara thinking - Heat Guy J with a drill? Laughing
Anyway, in episode 5 spoiler[the things got really tragic while I hoped that Nagamasa won't be gunned like a dog by his brother-in-law]. Now hates Nobunaga even more Evil or Very Mad It seems like there will be no spoiler[revive option for Nagamasa and he was doing really great against Date ] *sigh* spoiler[Does that mean Oichi will change sides and rightfully kick her demon brother in the butt?]
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 7:22 am Reply with quote
Mike On Top wrote:
Anyway, in episode 5 spoiler[the things got really tragic while I hoped that Nagamasa won't be gunned like a dog by his brother-in-law]. Now hates Nobunaga even more Evil or Very Mad It seems like there will be no spoiler[revive option for Nagamasa and he was doing really great against Date ] *sigh* spoiler[Does that mean Oichi will change sides and rightfully kick her demon brother in the butt?]

She's hardly a proactive character, so I wouldn't count on it. I was expecting them both to die at the end of the episode. (Keep in mind, I know nothing of Japanese history)
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kornpone



Joined: 05 Nov 2008
Posts: 55
Location: West of the Yodo River
PostPosted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:09 am Reply with quote
I have no clue how closely Basara will choose to cleave to history (hell, they've tossed out most everything at this point already) but Nobunaga's demise at the hands of spoiler[his lieutenant] is one of the key turning points in Japanese history, known to pretty much any Japanese person.

Wikipedia's write up does a good job of explaining it:

http://bit.ly/KPuuY (shortened because of Unicode character in URL)

A small hint: if at any point in the show you hear mention that Nobunaga is going to visit spoiler[Kyoto], you'll know what's in store for the Demon King. . .
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Toucanbird



Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 126
Location: Winona, Minnesota
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:08 am Reply with quote
I've never played Demon Kings nor am I any sort of buff on Japanese history but so far, I'm enjoying Sengoku Basara.

The action scenes are pretty decent and the characters are funny as hell.

Of course, I'm a huge Bleach fan so I love how eerily similar Uesugi Kenshin and Hitsugaya Toshiro are in personality (both voiced by Romi Paku) as well as Maeda Keiji's personality, since he's voiced by Masakazu Morita (Ichigo from Bleach).

Although, my favorite character so far is Data Masamune. For some reason, I ROFL when he speaks English.
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Anime_Anbu



Joined: 14 May 2009
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 4:13 am Reply with quote
This show is like a drama because its like whos backstabbing who and what not but its so intresting and i cant keep away.

part of it is probably because im a dynasty warriors fan and it kind of reminds me of that but i keep saying to myself its two diffrent things.

other than that it has a well rounded story and the action is spot on perfect in my opinion Cool Cool sengoku ftw
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Mike On Top



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 298
PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2009 10:30 am Reply with quote
Episode 7:

Poor Date. I think Date doesn't want to lose Katakura more than his own life, but, yu si, it is sad to be blessed by such a capable and perceptive adjutant. Koujiro is the man. Wind cuts and GAR looks - priceless Anime catgrin, but unlike many others, his impulsive dono included, is capable to understand what lies in Akechi's true nature. Quite possibly the appearance of the new evil overlord, Matsunaga, is part of Oda's (or Akechi's) plan to finish off Date's army by luring Koujiro spoiler[to (probably) his death], which would greatly diminish his power. Oda's tactics of "divide and rule" comes to fruition with Koujiro and Yukimura leaving their masters' side. Notably, in the beginning of the episode (Takeda, through) Sasuke spoiler[warns the Uesugi's female ninja to never do that].
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LordRedhand



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 1472
Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana
PostPosted: Sat May 23, 2009 11:44 am Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
Mike On Top wrote:
Anyway, in episode 5 spoiler[the things got really tragic while I hoped that Nagamasa won't be gunned like a dog by his brother-in-law]. Now hates Nobunaga even more Evil or Very Mad It seems like there will be no spoiler[revive option for Nagamasa and he was doing really great against Date ] *sigh* spoiler[Does that mean Oichi will change sides and rightfully kick her demon brother in the butt?]

She's hardly a proactive character, so I wouldn't count on it. I was expecting them both to die at the end of the episode. (Keep in mind, I know nothing of Japanese history)


Yeah she doesn't strike out against her brother and in fact remarries one of his vassals spoiler[ Shibata Katsuie, who she was originally married to before Azai Nagamasa. ] At least if they were to follow history....
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kornpone



Joined: 05 Nov 2008
Posts: 55
Location: West of the Yodo River
PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 1:04 am Reply with quote
LordRedhand wrote:
Yeah she doesn't strike out against her brother and in fact remarries one of his vassals spoiler[ Shibata Katsuie, who she was originally married to before Azai Nagamasa. ] At least if they were to follow history....


Yup, pretty hardy lady alright. Wikipedia has a good writeup on her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oichi

--which is frankly amazing to read in light of the fact that it's about a real person and not simply a game/anime character. It gives you a little sense of the kind of steely toughness combined with grace that makes some of these sengoku ladies popular even today.

Ep 8. Well, goshdernit, after the almost perfunctory manner in which spoiler[Matsunaga* was dealt with], I had a feeling that Daté Masamuné's good ol' 'zoku (bike gang) boys would spoiler[somehow stumble out of the rubble with only a few bruises and scrapes], but I didn't expect it to dive into quite so much mush! That was downright sentimental. Confused

*More background on Ep 8:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsunaga_Hisahide

--And it would seem, incidentally, that the great Buddah statue indeed didn't fare particularly well during the 1567 battles of Nara, losing its head and most other appendages in the process. Alas, no one has yet produced an English version of the otherwise excellent article in Japanese:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/東大寺大仏殿の戦い

= = = = = = = =

o/t: For those of you keeping score with Tenchijin (okay okay, so maybe I'm the only one Embarassed ) it looks like NHK's rendition of Sanada Yukimura will be appearing this coming Sunday, and man, what a fop!

http://www9.nhk.or.jp/taiga/cast/08_sanada/yukimura.html

Is this their way of getting back at Basara for the recent maltreatment of their star Kanetsugu?! Very Happy
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Mike On Top



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 298
PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:26 am Reply with quote
kornpone wrote:
LordRedhand wrote:
Yeah she doesn't strike out against her brother and in fact remarries one of his vassals spoiler[ Shibata Katsuie, who she was originally married to before Azai Nagamasa. ] At least if they were to follow history....


Yup, pretty hardy lady alright. Wikipedia has a good writeup on her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oichi

--which is frankly amazing to read in light of the fact that it's about a real person and not simply a game/anime character. It gives you a little sense of the kind of steely toughness combined with grace that makes some of these sengoku ladies popular even today.


A very little sense indeed, if you ask me. Rolling Eyes
Anyway, I saw her listed as a playable character in one of the games and thought all playable characters kick ass like in Street Fighter or something, meh Laughing
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LordRedhand



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 1472
Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana
PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 7:55 pm Reply with quote
I'd say competition from Koei was the reason she was made playable as she was a playable character in Sengoku Musou 1 and was not in Devil Kings/Sengoku Bassara 1. I believe she became a playable character in the Sengoku Bassara 2: Heroes set.

Which really was playing catch-up with some of the playable characters in Sengoku Musou 2.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:58 am Reply with quote
Wow, two months, eh?

Anyway, I don't know why but fansubs of episode eleven were nonexistent. I couldn't find a group that had done episode eleven to save myself, and yet episode twelve was apparently subbed. What was going on? Anyway, because of that I had to put this series on hold. Luckily I recently checked a site I know about but don't much visit and it was streaming the subbed episode, so that was a good - nay, great - find.

As for episode eleven itself, it was pretty good I have to say. For what it is, Sengoku Basara is a solidly decent show, and this episode didn't stray from the formula which had worked so far. The fight scenes could have been better, but the characters and plot were alright.

Anyway, onto episode twelve. They've got quite a bit to fit into the last episode, so here is to hoping.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7341
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:20 pm Reply with quote
11 was out there, just for some reason it wasn't posted to the usual anime torrent sites, it was posted to the other torrent sites, though. I was very pleased with the ending, there was a lot more drama going on than I would have ever predicted. I'm really looking forward to the second season. The DVDs can't come soon enough.

I might have made a mistake in buying the Devil Kings game. It's really hard to get over the crappy localization with its horrible English voice acting (and I love dubs) and ridiculous renaming of everyone and everything! Did Capcom really think taking all of the Japanese out of the game would make it better? I mean really, Scorpio? Azure Dragon? Red Minotaur? What were they thinking!?

Emerje
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