Why Oda Nobunaga (戦国BASARA / Sengoku BASARA) often depicted as villian in most chambara / samurai medias?

He is portrayed so because many Japanese samurai commentators regarded him as upstart usurper that destroyed harmony of Japanese idealized samurai hierarchy. In their view, he is the motorcycle gang leader complete with punk hair and bad attitude. He is ruthless, brilliant, unorthodox and uncharacteristically non conformist hence his constant portrayal as dark lord from another dimension.



Confucian influenced samurai commentators did not like upstarts hence they often written Nobunaga in rather bad light, only concede grudging respect when it warrants so such as his conduct in Battle of Nagashino 1575 CE (the battle that signified the end of famous Takeda clan) and his putting down of Ikko-Ikki monk rebellion. Not to mention his ruthless campaign against Iga ninja clan (as shown in GONZO anime series Basilisk) which some historian compare it to Mongolian genocide against feared Assassin clan during the Crusades. This is the man who hired an African as his personal bodyguard, he purchased him from visiting Portuguese missionary which brought him as slave. He is also the one promoted sandal bearer to general which later inherit his legacy and finish uniting Japan in his wake. The sandal bearer's name is Toyotomi Hideyoshi whom Nobunaga nicknamed him "Saru" which means monkey. This is why Hideyoshi was carrying a pet monkey in Sengoku Basara series.



However the one that upset so many samurai commentators is his liberal usage of gun on Japanese battlefield, they considered gun has changed the nobility of samurai warfare. The katana blade and bow is no longer elegant weapon of decision which celebrated in timeless samurai poetry, it is a simple peasant with arquebus can gun down even the mightiest warlord from safe distance riled samurai purists to no end. Hence it is no surprise that they look on Nobunaga with sullen disdain for this tradition breaking aspect.




In latest game inspired anime series Sengoku Basara / 戦国BASARA, it is an easy template for story writers to copy this popular casting of Nobunaga as badass baddie instead of more understanding examination of him. Just like how most Romance of 3 Kingdom media usage of Cao Cao as villain most of the time.

The series is fun to watch but don't take it too seriously. However the cast VA is like who's who in Japanese VA industry which is like Yang opposite of concurrent infamous Queen Blade which boasted very impressive female VA lineup Ying (the anime with lactating acid breast ahem). Nobunaga is voiced by famous Norio Wakamoto which considered by many fans as most macho male voice comparable to James Earl Jones Darth Vader.

It is basically a Gurren Lagaan with samurai setting with little homoerotic spiced relationships (Yukimura and Lord Takeda is perfect example).

Somewhat sufficient Wiki entry

Hetalia Axis Powers/ ヘタリア Axis Powers sequel is on

An update that bound to upset some Korean zealots, season 2 of Hetalia is on and will be 26 episodes like 1st season. However it will limited to web streaming, no major TV broadcast thanks to effective protest by Republic of South Korea who protested demeaning portrayal of Korea in Hetalia. Despite Season 1 has zero appearance of Korea, the national anger even went up the highest office in South Korea's politics for discussion.

What's more, some Korea anime fans even attacking websites that were critical of them like Sankaku Complex.

Cheers.

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John Woo as guest VA in Souten Koro / 蒼天航路

A different interpretation on Romance of 3 Kingdoms anime series, Souten Koro / 蒼天航路 will feature the famous director as one of the voice soon. The particular episode is scheduled around 28th April.

It coincides with screening of Red Cliff 2 in Japan, so it is a form of viral marketing for his movie.

Red Cliff 2 is rather conventional story on Cao Cao as baddie who tried to conquer whole China whereas Souten Koro depicted Cao Cao as benevolent leader who tried to put down disruptive rebellion by Liu Bei and the gang.

Rather interesting juxtaposition.

Personally, I think both views have their merits but Romance of 3 Kingdoms were so shrouded in many mythos that is difficult to divide which one is true and which one is not.

As for Red Cliff 2, the movie tries to too hard to be epic but it kinda overwhelms itself by focusing too much on few individuals in such vast canvas. John Woo can't make up his mind which movie should be, epic or human drama. It is a shame.

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Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn / 機動戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン Movie confirmed?

According to this Italian Gundam fan website, the Sunrise people sort of confirming that there is works on Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn in progress at Italian anime convention news conference. The president of Sunrise stated the release of Unicorn movie in 2010 to mark 30th anniversary of famous mecha franchise which also saw the completion of full mock up statue of Gundam.



Storywise, it took place 3 years after Operation Axis (seen in Char's /Sha's Counterattack) firefight between remnants of Zeon called "The Sleeved" and moping up Federation fleet led by Londo Bell taskforce that successfully blocked Char's /Sha's masterstroke. Based on ongoing novel series by Fukui Harutoshi.

Bad news though, creator famous for "Mr-Kill-Em-All" Tomino himself is not involved and so is Katoki Hajime in the production. Katoki has his detractors but I love his touch on Gundam since 0083 Stardust Memory. So it remains to be seen who will be the mecha designer and director for Unicorn movie.

Cheers.

Future of Manga reading?

I always believe in one day, paperless society is possible and we can stop chopping down trees to make it. This article talks about current products in the market and what is general trend of consumers of manga in USA. I was wondering if same thing is occurring in Japan right now as this article was published. Manga in Japan is very big business and I am not too surprised if the industry is most reluctant to switch to e-manga reading culture that is on the rise on rest of the world.

It will repeat the same problem that Naptster started years ago, giant and clumsy Japanese corporations find themselves outfoxed by small nimble software that enables fans in Japan to read manga electronically and swipe memory cards at drop of the hat to exchange manga datas scanned by people who believed in traditional manga format will endanger world ecology. No doubt the Japanese were moving torwards e-manga which I approved a lot but it is rather at slow pace, signifying more resistance to the change of medium.

Sounds too fantastic? Maybe. But never underestimate prosumers (refer to Revolutionary Wealth by Alvin Toeffler) power to influence market.

Cheers.

Valkyria Chornicles / 戦場のヴァルキュリア game sequel is announced

The critically acclaimed game which is a now basis for ongoing anime series is going to have sequel announced by SEGA soon (they use word considering but Japanese are masters of understatement). While they failed in console business,they still rocks in software development and they see big money when there is one. It is just matter of time, to be honest.

I wonder if they will make anime of Virtual On. LOL.

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