Characters / Sengoku Basara Azai Clan

Sengoku Basara — Index
Date Clan | Takeda Clan | Maeda Clan | Uesugi Clan | Oda Clan
Azai Clan | Tokugawa Clan | Toyotomi Clan | Western Clans
Nation Of Xavism | Other Characters | Area Warlords
Crossover
Teppen (2019)

---

Azai Clan

Debuting in Sengoku Basara 2

Azai Nagamasa

Azai Nagamasa

Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (anime)

"My mission is to erase all evil in the name of justice!"

Oichi's husband and a fierce defender of justice, Azai Nagamasa wields his sword and shield with a passion. He loves Oichi but is too shy to say it outright. He was an NPC in the second Sengoku Basara, and in the Expansion Pack he became a selectable character. He returns in the fourth game as a playable character.

---

• Ascended Extra: He was introduced as an NPC but gained enough popularity to become playable in Heroes.
• Battle Aura: In the fourth game, he can charge his sword, shield and himself up with a glowing aura that gives his attacks a drastic power boost.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Sees himself as a defender of justice and his enemies as evil entities that must be exterminated.
• Brother–Sister Team: With his sister Maria.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Prefers to say it with flowers, if ever at all.
• The Comically Serious: He has a tendency to be a bit of a butt of jokes in the fourth game due to his straight-laced demeanor. In his pre-battle cutscene with Sakon, the latter ends up using him as a pedestal while Nagamasa is making a speech. Similarly, he's the only one to reluctantly be a part of Sorin's Amusement Park while both Oichi and Maria take to it pretty quickly.
• Cool Helmet: His distinctive helmet has a horsetail crest on it.
• Dead Person Conversation: Several times in the anime with Oichi as he encourages her to do the right thing.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In the anime, Oichi cradles his bullet-ridden body as he dies. Also the Chronicle Heroes opening.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Learning how to instantly trigger his charge-ups after performing his moves might be tricky, but once mastered Nagamasa becomes absolutely devastating in combat..
• Heroic BSoD: Has one in Heroes after Oichi is revealed to be a spy and has to be snapped out of it by some peasants before he attempts to get her back.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: The historical Nagamasa was rather brutal, such as when he threatened to crucify the aged mother of his retainer, Isono Kazumasa, if Kazumasa failed to ward off the Oda forces besieging Sawayama Castle, and he actually did crucify her when Kazumasa eventually surrendered to Oda due to his army running out of provisions, despite being able to hold off for 8 months.
• Honor Before Reason: In the anime he refuses to break his alliance with Oda and join the good guys. However, once he realizes Nobunaga doesn't have a shred of honour to his name, he quickly decides to switch sides.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Particularly in the anime. Did he seriously believe that Nobunaga could see the error of his ways?
• I Gave My Word: And he claims to have never gone back on it, not even for the Demon King.
• Justice Will Prevail: His sense of justice, however, can be a little... skewed at times.
• Killed Off for Real: For the third game, but returns in Sengoku Basara 4, with his sister in tow. True for the anime.
• Knight In Shining Armour: Oichi thinks of him as this.
• Knight Templar: Is portrayed as one of these in later games, where he will deem anything and everything evil and turns into somewhat of a hypocrite.
• Large Ham: Where justice in involved, speaking quietly just isn't good enough!
• Leitmotif: Theme of Azai Nagamasa.
• Light 'em Up: His attacks involve manifesting huge, piercing blades of light.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Oichi becomes so dependent on him that he's virtually the only thing keeping her sane.
• Love Hurts: It repeatedly gets him killed.
• Lover Tug of War: In the fourth game Nagamasa finds himself being fought over this way by Oichi and Maria of all people. Poor man just stands there looking scared out of his wits.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Has a small fold-out one worn on his arm that also has attack properties.
• Muggle–Mage Romance: With Oichi as of Sengoku Basara 3. While he's a skilled warrior, he has no supernatural leanings while she suffers Demonic Possession.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: He doesn't always agree with his sister, particularly with her decision to align with the Shogun. Nonetheless, since she's his elder sister and therefore head of the clan there's nothing he can do but do what she says or get booted out of the clan.
• Noble Bigot: Nagamasa genuinely wants to do good, but it doesn't occur to him that in trying to eradicate everyone he doesn't approve of he's contradicting himself.
• Parasol of Pain: One of his joke weapons is a old Japanese-style umbrella.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With Oichi (though for the most part it doesn't last long.)
• Riding into the Sunset: Complete with Oichi in a Bridal Carry as well. His Heroes ending is the only happy one he's got so far.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In his campaign in Heroes, Oichi gets kidnapped by Nobunaga. After recovering from Heroic BSoD, he the proceeds to go the castle and hand everyone inside their asses.
• Royal Rapier: Technically a longsword, but he uses it in the same way.
• Sacrificial Lion: Has died for reasons related to Oichi in every single game he's appeared in.
• Shout-Out: His default costume looks like Ultraman. His entire fighting style is essentially fashioned after Sentai.
• Spirit Advisor: To Oichi later on in the anime.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Due to Oichi's heritage and Nagamasa's stubborn personality, their marriage was kinda doomed from the start.
• "Super Sentai" Stance: He performs this solo in his Victory Pose and while powering up.
• Taking the Bullet: In Oichi's Heroes story he jumps between her and Nobunaga's shotgun, leading Oichi to believe it's her fault he died.
• Tsundere: He can berate Oichi in one scene, then gives her flowers in the next.

Oichi

Oichi

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese), Laura Bailey (English)

"Everyone's dying. This is also Oichi's fault..."

Oichi is the introverted younger sister of Nobunaga, who got sent off to marry Azai Nagamasa. Debuts in SB2 as an NPC, but gained such a massive following she is made a playable character in Heroes. She seems to be convinced that everything bad in the world is her fault. And with a brother like Nobunaga, it always went south. She also has dark powers which can possess her and turn her into a psychotic murderer, but she usually keeps those in check... unless she's pushed over the edge.

She appeared again in Sengoku Basara 3, once again proving her Popularity Power. However, not only does she lead the remnants of Nobunaga's army (who have chosen her as his successor), she discards her naginata and utilizes only her demon hands. Having purposely lost her memories to avoid facing the extremely harsh reality, she obeys whoever gives her orders.

---

• Apologises a Lot: Every single time, as much as Nagamasa loves her, sometimes this upsets him so much that he tells her to cut it out.
• Ascended Extra: Joined her husband as one of the popular playables in the expansion.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Why she decides to be Ieyasu's Psycho Supporter, besides just not wanting to be alone.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Oichi is an Extreme Doormat who doesn't want to fight at all and just wants to live a happy life with her husband. But press her too far and her Demonic Possession will answer by tearing you apart with spectral hands.
• Break the Cutie: Over and over and over...
• Boss Subtitles: "Oichi - Living a Nightmare"
• Brown Note: In 3, one of her prisoners apparently passed out from sheer terror after looking into her eyes. Yoshitsugu even has his men blindfold Oichi, warning them not to look her in the eyes.
• Chickification: A minor case in the anime, where she's not even shown fighting until the movie.
• Cosmic Plaything: The universe really seems to hate her and wants to prevent her from ever achieving any kind of happiness.
• Cute and Psycho: Most of the time she's very demure and sweet, if a little depressing, but when she snaps you had better run fast.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Blame Nobunaga for drawing out her dark powers, which she seems to dislike and fear.
  • The powers themselves appear to be the only thing that consistently treats her nicely. In Samurai Heroes, at least, the hands are very gentle in the way they (for instance) put her on her feet, carry her instead of running, or catch her and set her down after a zipline or slingshot.
• Dead All Along: Certain lines from her, Mitsunari, and Nobunaga suggest this is the case in the third game, and the opening narrator/other characters are just guessing.
• Death Seeker: Will desperately whisper "Kill me!" when she blocks, implying she fully understands what kind of horror she's become and that she genuinely wants it to end.
• Demonic Possession: By the third game (and anime season 2). Whether it's Nobunaga or something else remains unknown.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Her method of dying in her Heroes story.
• Damsel in Distress: TWICE. In Nagamasa's story and in the anime, both courtesy of her brother.
• The Dog Bites Back: In her Western Army ending of the third game, after killing Ieyasu she flips out entirely and kills Yoshitsugu while he's busy indulging in maniacal laughter.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The dark purple-haired type.
• Expy: Of Ai Enma, whom her design is based upon, according to the producer. That's why she is voiced by the same VA.
• Extreme Doormat: Doesn't help her situation by just doing whatever she's told without complaint. Sengoku Basara 3 makes this trope more apparent with her. In one path of her story she's captured and essentially used as an attack dog by Yoshitsugu. It bites him in the ass in the end.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: A sleeve on her right arm and pauldron on her left. Her bangs are also uneven, perhaps representing her fragile state of mind.
• Fake Static: Sort of. During her dialogue in battle you often hear this as she speaks, a reference to ghost movies.
• Flower Motifs: White lilies for her love with Nagamasa, and red lycoris for her demonic side.
• Full-Contact Magic: She channels her dark arms through lethargic arm gestures.
• Hime Cut: A variation with locks trimmed at different lengths around her face.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The thing that seems to trouble Oichi the most in the third game is being alone. When anybody tries to befriend her (Tsuruhime, Ieyasu) she instantly latches on to them and seems much happier. She's even quite content binding Nobunaga in Hell, just because it means she doesn't have to be alone any more.
• Image Song: "Nemure Hi no Hana" by Mamiko Noto.
• "Instant Death" Radius: Several of her Super Arts involve this.
• Ironic Nursery Rhyme: Since going insane, Oichi sometimes sings little songs and rhymes to herself in Dissonant Serenity. Several of her voice lines in Sengoku Basara 3 are verses of one specific song.
  Wander freely, wander far, off beneath the Devil's star / In the dark, the girl so bright, got up to see the day by night / Her fear in hand, her fear in heart, her fear did tear her soul apart / The white of flesh, the white of bone, the worms will leave your soul alone / Ask you now, and ask you may, the fate of all on this fair day / On and on the road does go, down into the depths below / Off you went to call the king, you wish to hear the Devil sing...
• Lady of Black Magic: Feminine, graceful, melancholic, and a user of dark, hellish powers.
• Laughing Mad: When she properly loses it. Even her voice changes.
• Limp and Livid: In the third game. She moves like a puppet with a drunk puppeteer behind the strings, and half her movements involve her shadow hands picking her up and moving her around.
• Love Hurts: More like love chews you up, spits you out, and leads you to a tragic demise.
• Love Makes You Crazy: One of the reasons she turned to The Dark Side is because of her love for Nagamasa and the pain his death caused her.
• Love Triangle: Becomes caught in the middle of one in 4 between Nagamasa and Katsuie (though it's completely one-sided in the latter's case).
• Metronomic Man Mashing: One of her moves has her summon an arm to grab at her enemies and slam them around.
• The Mole: In the anime, this was the whole reason she was married to Nagamasa in the first place. However, she falls in love with him for real, and cannot carry out her duties.
• Muggle–Mage Romance: With Nagamasa. Like her brother Nobunaga, Oichi has some very dark powers lurking within her, while Nagamasa is a skilled warrior without being overtly supernatural.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: Uses this prior to using her ghostly hands.
• The Nicknamer: "Lord Happy" and "Lord Grumpy" for Ieyasu and Mitsunari, and "Lord Lightning" and "Lord Flame" for Masamune and Yukimura, respectively. Also "White Bird" for Tsuruhime and "Swamp Butterfly" for Yoshitsugu.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Oh lord, Oichi... Thought she was scary enough in SB2? Well SB3 cranks it up. From the way she moves like a dead human puppet, dark hands cracking up skulls of unfortunate mooks, to playing with said hands while singing a haunting lullaby, complete with distorted audio when she speaks making her feel like she was out of a Japanese horror film.
  • Half the time when you block with her she suddenly whispers "Kill me!"
  • Her stages are just as bad, with the complete darkness and the shit-scary music.
• Nightmare Hands: Part of her magic involves channeling these things.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: So perfect that she grows more devoted to Nagamasa than to her elder brother, who arranged the marriage.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her outfit is mainly black and pink.
• Popularity Power: How she managed to earn her story arc in Heroes — and that's saying something in a series loaded with testosterone, which also leads her to be the sole female character in Cross.
• Powers Do the Fighting: As of the third game, she relies completely on her powers in combat.
• Pretty in Mink: Her outfit is loaded with black fur trimmings.
• Psychopathic Woman Child: She tends to talk in a childish and sing-song manner in the third game.
• Psycho Supporter: In the Eastern Army path of SB3, she becomes one to Ieyasu. He's actually quite uncomfortable about it.
• Red Baron: The Demon Queen of the Fifth Heaven in the third game.
• Redemption Equals Death: In Heroes, she dies after killing her brother and his subordinates. SB3 retcons this into saying that she was the Sole Survivor.
• The Remnant: In the third game, as the "successor" of Nobunaga she's followed by the Remnants of the Oda Army, who serve her with a cult-like fervor. This leads to Fridge Logic when she fights against her brother.
• Say My Name: Particularly in the anime, though the games are guilty of this as well. If she's not apologizing, she's saying "Nagamasa-sama" over and over.
• Shaping Your Attacks: Her Darkness. Though is hard to tell who's controlling who.
• The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female fighter in the fighting game spin-off.
• Some Dexterity Required: One of her biggest perks is that most of her special attacks can be executed and maintained without interrupting her normal attacks. This requires a fair amount of coordination with one's button presses.
• Split Personality: In the fourth game, after Katsuie kills Nagamasa, Oichi snaps and develops a Nagamasa personality in which she believes herself to be Nagamasa.
• Squishy Wizard: From the third game onwards. Her attack and defense scores are quite sub par and she moves and attacks slowly, especially in regards to cool down. However, all her moves have very good range and area-of-effect and involve grabbing, throwing or locking down the enemy's movement, and her shadow element gives her an effective "Instant Death" Radius against mooks.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: She bears similarities to this, especially in the third game, including her long black hair, pale skin, ghostly aura, limp doll-like movement, and hellish powers.
• Sword and Sorcerer: The Sorcerer (or Sorceress) to Nagamasa's Sword.
• Third-Person Person: Makes her seem meek and child-like.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: If Oichi chooses to follow Ieyasu in SB3, he treats her kindly and promises to protect her, ensuring she can live peacefully after a lifetime of trauma and loss. Similarly, in Sorin's Drama ending in the fourth game she's pretty happy with being part of Xavi-land since she happens to like all the singing and lights involved with Xavism.
• Token Good Teammate: Well, she used to be amongst the Oda clan. And even then, compared to Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Nouhime and Ranmaru...
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: It's revealed in SB3 that following Nagamasa's death and her fall into darkness, she forced herself to forget all the terrible things that had happened.
  Oichi: Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream, just a dream...
• Unstable Powered Woman: With the deaths of Nagamasa and the Oda clan, Oichi was Driven to Madness and became possessed by some dark power. She'll wander the land in a confused haze as dark hands kill anyone she happens to come across.
• Voice of the Legion: During her Basara attack, when whatever is possessing her decides everything needs to die.
• Weakened by the Light: In the third game, when fighting her she has health regeneration unless you capture the nearby base and light candles that frighten and stun her. You actually get a bonus for defeating her without lighting said candles.
• What Have I Done: Her story ending in Heroes, after she goes beserk and kills Nobunaga. She herself dies when the building collapses.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Not quite, but she's considered the most beautiful woman in Japan.
• Yandere: In the anime, after being possessed, she meets Yukimura and seems to mistake him for Nagamasa, calling him "my love" and attempting to drag him down to Hell so they can be together forever.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After having some sense beaten into her during her second stage in the third game, the dark powers around her recede completely, she stands straight under her own power and she starts calling out to people, disoriented but entirely lucid for the first time in the whole game. It lasts about 30 seconds before Tenkai kills her to revive Nobunaga.

Debuting in Sengoku Basara 4

Kyogoku Maria

Kyogoku Maria

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese)

"So, you want to prove yourself worthy of becoming mine?"

Nagamasa's elder sister, a vain, domineering woman who likes to get her own way and uses her charms to trap enemies and assess how they may be of use to her. Became playable in Sumeragi.

• "Arabian Nights" Days: Her stage, and she resembles a belly dancer, if her signature music wasn't enough.
• Bedlah Babe: Covered only by a scrap of see-through gauze.
• Blow You Away: Her element is Wind, though a special weapon can change it to Light.
• Brother–Sister Team: With her brother Nagamasa.
• Charm Person: Having magic, she can bewitch her opponents.
• Clothing Combat: She manipulates the sashes on her sleeves to attack her enemies, almost akin to tsukumogami ittan momen, and can also use enormous veils to conceal herself. She can also tie up enemies and use them as leashes so they carry her like sled dogs.
• Crippling Overspecialization: She's great at crowd control and can rack up combos like crazy, but fares poorly in one-on-one scenarios.
• Dance Battler: It is almost impossible to tell her attacks, which are all VERY feminine, graceful, and magical apart from dance moves.
• Dark Mistress: Though the extent of their relationship is kinda awry, most characters consider her this for Yoshiteru.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Her attacks are all slow, awkward and do relatively little damage, but she's quite potent when it comes to crowd control, especially with her ability to make her enemies spin uncontrollably and pinball around the battlefield.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Everyone, whether man or woman, finds it impossible to concentrate around her, even in the midst of battle. Keiji even describes her as "so dazzling it makes me dizzy".
• Easy Evangelism: In Sorin's Drama ending of the fourth game, she ends up becoming the new star of Sorin's Xavi-Land and drags Nagamasa and Oichi along with her (with the former more reluctant than the latter, who actually has fond memories of their wedding in ''Heroes'').
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: As a witch, she can conjure sparkles.
• Expy: Fans can't help to comment that she is almost a carbon copy of Sanzang, if you squint. And she has similar facial structure with Wang Yuanji.
  • She also slightly resembles Koko Hekmatyar.
• Fairytale Motifs: A Vain Sorceress bumping heads with a black-haired, fair-skinned non-relative? Check. A magical sister of a knightly character? Check.
• Flower Motifs: Adorning her skirt and jewellery.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: The historical Maria was an ordinary christian noblewoman who, after her husband's death, preached her religion to people around her, and Jesuits named her one of the best female catechists of the Kyoto-Osaka area. Here, Maria is a very bitchy mage who runs on It's All About Me and doesn't bother with religion, the only hint being her exotic name, which she picked because it sounds great and befits her status. She also thinks that because she's a natural beauty, she can get away with anything.
• Intercourse with You: Basically what her Image Song is about. See here.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Flirts with her opponents a great deal and has one move where she restrains them with her ribbons and then kisses them.
• It's All About Me: She's incredibly self-centered, demanding a constant stream of gifts and attention. In Sorin's drama route in the fourth game, he convinces her and her sibling to become part of Xavi Land by appealing to her narcissism.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: She can fight physically and magically (i.e. conjuring up large veils).
• Lady of Black Magic and War: As it appears.
• Leitmotif: Theme of Kyogoku Maria
• Light 'em Up: Her alternate element, she can also employ a veritable light show to attack in one of her Specials.
• Macabre Moth Motif: Nobunaga calls Maria a poisonous moth when she compares herself to Nohime (who has a butterfly motif).
• Mage Tower: Her stage involves a structure that looks like something outta Arabian Nights accessible via large grand stairway, has palm trees surrounding it, and it overlooks a lake and a distant village.
• Manipulative Bitch: Nagamasa is wrapped around her little finger and she knows just which buttons to press to get her way. It doesn't stop there, however - not only is she prepared to manipulate people for her own selfish purposes using threats and flattery, but in Katsuie's story she couldn't give a damn when he kills Oichi and Nagamasa and proceeds to insult him for being pathetic.
• Melting-Pot Nomenclature: She isn't a Christian convert (although she does join Sorin at the latter's Drama route), she's just calling herself 'Maria' because she feels like it. As it turns out, her name also happens to be the name of the Goddess of Xavism, which leads to Sorin trying to recruit her as a headliner for his Xavi Land amusement park in his drama route.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Played for Laughs in one of her routes in Sumeragi, where she challenges Ii Naotora on her Best Her to Bed Her conditions and almost forces a reluctant Naotora to become her groom (she runs away screaming before the kiss though).
• Obnoxious In-Laws: The very idea that Oichi might direct Nagamasa's attention away from Maria is unacceptable to her, and as such she spends the whole of the fourth game making Oichi miserable.
• Occult Blue Eyes: She has blue eyes and is a sorceress.
• Proud Beauty: Every word and gesture is meant to emphasize her sex appeal.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Maria believes she's the most beautiful woman in the world and thus can do whatever the hell she wants. The fourth game plays this straight.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Often berates Nagamasa for constantly spouting the word "justice", saying it is "childish" and "embarrassing".
• Snakes Are Sinister: Her Familiars are a pair of red and black striped snakes, heck those, being gifted in sorcery, her snobby attitude, and having green clothing would earn her a place in Slytherin House.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Like Oichi and Nagamasa, Maria's the Sorcer(ess) to Yoshiteru's Sword.
• The Tease: Mostly towards enemies, if only for kicks. Her little brother can be on the receiving end as well.
• Vain Sorceress: Maria seems to use her spells both for combat and to rejuvenate herself.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Has platinum blonde hair and is arrogant, extremely vain, self-centered, manipulative, and skilled in black magic.

---