Samanosuke Akechi (Onimusha)
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Hidemitsu Samanosuke Akechi is the main protagonist of the first and third installments in Capcom's Onimusha video game series, Onimusha: Warlords for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows, and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege for the PlayStation 2. He also appears as a supporting playable character in the fourth game Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and as one of the combatants in the fighting game spin-off Onimusha Blade Warriors, both on the PlayStation 2.
Capcom used the face of Japanese/Taiwanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro in the first and third games for Samanosuke's character model. Kaneshiro also provided the Japanese voice talent for Samanosuke in both Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. In the English versions of the games, he was voiced by Tig Fong in Onimusha: Warlords, in Onimusha Blade Warriors and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege by Robin Atkin Downes, and in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams by Joshua Keaton.
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[edit] History
[edit] Background
Samanosuke was born in the year 1535, during Japan's Sengoku Period. The circumstances of his birth (location, exact date) are unknown, but it is implied in Onimusha: Warlords that Samanosuke was a samurai in service to the Saito clan of Mino province (now Gifu Prefecture). A struggle for leadership in the clan (the first game references the historical in-fighting between Dosan Saito and his son Yoshitatsu) previous to the events of Onimusha: Warlords saw Samanosuke separate himself from the clan and travel the world, effectively becoming a ronin. During these travels he encountered and befriended the female ninja Kaede, who became his partner and confidant. Over the next 4 to 5 years they both develop trust, honor, respect and deep feelings of love for each other (as seen in Onimusha Blade Warriors). Upon his return somewhere in 1573 (months if not almost a year after the events in Onimusha 2) Samanosuke and Kaede return to assist his uncle, Akechi Mitsuhide, in an absolute secrecy. For the next 9 years Samanosuke and Kaede travel all over Japan, slaying Genma wherever they may find them.
[edit] Onimusha: Warlords
Samanosuke is first seen in the game's opening cinema on a cliff overlooking the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. In a reference to the Nobunaga's Ambition series of video games, the battle ends with Nobunaga Oda being fatally shot through the throat on the eve of his victory. The opening cutscenes of the game go on to illustrate that Samanosuke has returned to Japan to honor the request of Princess Yuki, daughter of Dosan Saito. In her letter to him she expresses fear at the strange events taking place in her home, Inabayama Castle, and pleads for Samanosuke to "save her". He responds, but is too late to stop two demon ninja from abducting her. The opening cinema closes on a shot of an apparently live and well Nobunaga seated atop a fierce warhorse at the head of a massive army.
Samanosuke catches up with the ninja on the outskirts of the castle and fends them off, but his reunion with Princess Yuki is brief as Osric, a giant red demon wielding a massive club, springs from the ground. The battle between the two is short-lived, and Yuki is taken away by the demon as Samanosuke loses consciousness. While unconscious, Samanosuke is met in a void by the spirits of the Oni clan (this was translated as "Ogre" in the first game, and subsequently as "oni" for the rest of the series). They give him their power in the form of a magical gauntlet which allows Samanosuke to absorb the souls of fallen demons and equip various weapons charged with elemental energy, tasking him to defeat the demons.
As Samanosuke adventures through the castle and the surrounding areas, he uncovers a plot by Nobunaga's general Tokichirou Kinoshita (the game asserts that this man becomes Hideyoshi Toyotomi later in life) and the demon scientist Guildenstern to use Princess Yuki as a sacrifice for a dark ritual to give the resurrected Nobunaga untold power. As Guildernstern's notes explain, the genma (the name of the demons in the Onimusha universe) have made this contract with other humans in the past (examples cited by Guildenstern include Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan); in exchange for loyalty to the genma and a guarantee of constant human sacrifice, the genma give the contractee their power and superior technology. To perform the dark ritual, the genma require the blood of a pure woman who was born in the land the contractee is from, held within a chalice made from her skull, which is to be blessed by the genma king Fortinbras and drunk by the contractee to seal the deal. Through his efforts in the game, Samanosuke manages to thwart the plans of the genma and kill Fortinbras at the game's climax. The epilogue of the game explains that Samanosuke's whereabouts are unknown, as he did not escape Fortinbras' chambers as they collapsed. The player can assume that Samanosuke survived, however, as a cutscene after the credits show him looking upon Inabayama Castle from a distance.
It is later explained by Samanosuke that he was able to escape and says that he hid himself away from everyone. After Samanosuke destroyed Fortinbras he couldn’t remember what had happen to him when he woke up and saw Nobunaga looking down at him. He saw that Fortinbras had been killed but not by human hands. He then feared that if he was in his full Oni form again that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he started hurting the people he loved, mainly Kaede. Samanosuke went away for 12 years until Kaede found him. Samanosuke discovered that Marcellus was once an Oni-Warrior during the Oni-Genma Wars and killed in the battle resulted by treachery, that Guildenstern took Marcellus's dead body and modified him into what he is. Samanosuke feared that if he didn’t find a way to understand the Oni powers inside of him then he could have become what Marcellus was. During those years he was away, Samanosuke was able to understand and fully mastered the mystic powers of his Oni gauntlet.
[edit] Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
Samanosuke does not appear in the plot of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, but the effects of the first game are registered in several documents found by the player in the game. He is mentioned by name in one particular document labeling both him and Jubei Yagyu, the protagonist of Onimusha 2, as high-level threats. He can also be seen in a teaser trailer included with the game for Onimusha 3.
[edit] Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
After Onimusha 2, Nobunaga is defeated by Jubei Yagyu but is not destroyed as Jubei was not powerful enough and didn't have an Oni gauntlet to take Nobunaga's soul. He is revived again in 1582 as the King of the Genma and begins anew his conquest of Japan. Mitsuhide Akechi, Samanosuke's uncle, rebels against his former master and launches an attack at Nobunaga, who is at Honno-ji Temple (this mirrors his famous betrayal in history though the events depicted in the game are altered to conform with the series storyline). Nobunaga sends for reinforcements in the form of a Genma tank (depicted as a giant creature resembling an insect) and surrounding forces. In the opening cinematic of the game, Samanosuke (dressed as a ninja) intercepts these reinforcements and ultimately destroys them, including their commander Gargant in a duel. He then sets off to join Mitsuhide in the final assault.
Samanosuke takes part in the siege on Honno-ji Temple and corners Nobunaga and his retainer Ranmaru Mori in the flaming temple. (Around this time Jubei had gone into hiding, to avoid being hunted down by genma minions of Nobunaga) He defeats Ranmaru without much effort, and then Samanosuke and Nobunaga duel for a short period in which it becomes clear that Nobunaga is superior. Before the Genma Lord can deliver the final blow, Samanosuke and the body of Ranmaru are sucked into a strange vortex and disappear. Samanosuke reappears in Paris in the year 2004 and briefly encounters Jacques Blanc before Jacques is sucked into a similar vortex and also disappears. Through a meeting with the genma scientist Guildenstern, Samanosuke learns the year in which he has arrived and also learns that the genma have been experimenting with time folds, a process by which they can travel to any point in history. Meanwhile in the year 1582, seven days before Mitsuhide's assault on Honno-ji Temple, Jacques Blanc appears near Mt. Hiei. He is given a similar magical gauntlet to Samanosuke's by an Oni spirit who tells him the only way back to his original time is to aid Samanosuke in defeating the genma. The Oni spirit also gives Jacques a partner, a small raven-winged being identified as a tengu named Ako, through whose power Jacques can communicate with others around him and with Samanosuke in the future. He then encounters Samanosuke in the past (hereafter referred to as Past-Samanosuke), and promises to help him.
Samanosuke and Jacques battle against the genma in their respective times, at certain points aiding each other indirectly. During this, the Samanosuke in Paris encounters a revived (and mutated) Ranmaru Mori, and is forced to battle him on several occasions, the final of which takes place atop the Eiffel Tower where the genma have installed the time fold generator. Defeating him, Samanosuke engages the generator and waits. In the past, Jacques Blanc and Past-Samanosuke reach Honno-ji Temple to battle Nobunaga. Nobunaga defeats (but does not kill) Past-Samanosuke easily and then squares off against Jacques. In a duel Jacques defeats the Genma Lord, seeming to have vanquished him, and helps Past-Samanosuke to his feet. He is then consumed by the vortex of the time fold, only to watch helplessly as Nobunaga recovers and kills Past-Samanosuke.
Samanosuke returns from the future after speaking with Jacques and, after absorbing the power in the fallen Past-Samanosuke, transforms into the Onimusha, the same form he took in the climactic final cinematic of Onimusha: Warlords to vanquish Fortinbras. In the final battle, Samanosuke destroys Nobunaga and absorbs his soul into the gauntlet, preventing him from returning again. In the epilogue, the narrator tells us that Samanosuke has embarked on a new quest: to seal the gauntlet containing the soul of the Genma Lord. The end-credits cinematic of the game shows Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who appeared in both Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2 at the head of an army, saying it is now his time to rule as his eyes glow eerily red. This sets the stage for the next game in the series.
[edit] Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
Samanosuke along with Ako decided to set up a hermitage inside Lazuline Hall (the temple on Mt. Hiei). He ascends the path of Buddhism by assuming the name of Nankobo Tenkai, while Ako calls herself Arin. Together they still work in an absolute secrecy by ridding the remnant legion of the Genma across Japan. Even though Tenkai is in his sixties (62 to be precise), he still looks amazingly young; save for his hair, which has turned white, thanks to the mystic energy of the Oni-Gauntlet. Instead of his swords, Tenkai has switched over to Shakujo staves as his weapons. Also somewhere along his life Samanosuke has apparently picked up the ability to speak fluent Spanish.
Fifteen years have passed since Nobunaga's demise. In 1596, Hideyoshi had fallen under the influence of the Genma Triumvirate, which consists of Claudius, Rosencrantz and Ophelia, who are hell bent on annihilating the mortals' world once again. Having sensed that the threat of the Genma has been revived once again, Tenkai decides to take matters into his own hands. He encounters Ishida Mitsunari, the Toyotomi's Clan Retainer (who was actually Claudius in disguise). In the midst of their battle, Mitsunari hints at the use of the Dark Stones, two Genma relics that are the source of Hideoyoshi's power, Tenkai was counter-attacked during the battle and defeated by Mitsunari. He then retreats.
Two years later, a mysterious Omen Star appear in the sky above Japan. At the same time, Hideyoshi begans to gather cherry trees over the Japanese countryside and using a combination of powerful Genma magic and women, transforms them into Genma Trees. During this time, Tenkai senses an unusual but familiar aura roaming across the mortal realm, the aura is actually from a lone swordsman by the name of Soki (real name Yuki Hideyasu), wandering the countryside, burning and destroy the Genma Trees along the way. At the same time, a young woman named Yagyū Akane, the granddaughter of Yagyū Jubei Muneyoshi (taking the name of Sekishusai) and also bearing the elite title of her grandfather, also travels, looking for her uncle, Yagyū Munenori who betrayed the clan and left several of its members dead.
Both encounter Tenkai, and after Soki defeats him in battle, Tenkai joins them. They rescue a man named Roberto Frois, a Half-Japanese-Spanish orphan with the ability to defeat the Genma with his bare hands and they launch an assault on Hideyoshi's abode in Kyoto in an attempt to destroy the blossoming Genma trees. The attack, however, fails, and Tenkai is killed by Hideyoshi's assault.
However, like Nobunaga before him, Tenkai is not dead for long. As he quotes when returning to the group after assisting them in stopping a powerful, possessed warrior named Sakon Shima from destroying their ship. His only explanation is "Hell spat me back out," meaning that he can not die until his task is complete. As before Tenkai lends his assistance in thwarting the Genma's plans. Tenkai also participates in the Shimabara assault and encounters his old nemesis, Mitsunari, or rather Claudius. Tenkai and the others defeats Claudius for a second time and with less than a day left before the Omen Star descends onto Kyoto, bringing apocalypse through the rebirth of Fortinbras, the Genma God of Light.
The group rushes back to Kyoto, with only hours to spare. While Tenkai faces off against Claudius, Soki puts a stop to Hideyoshi's plans concerning the Genma Trees, but that is not enough to stop the descent of the Omen Star. Fortinbras is reborn by fusing with Munenori's essence, and Tenkai lends his assistance by giving Soki his Oni Gauntlet to transform into an Onimusha. Soki accepts the gift and proceeds to defeat Fortinbras. The victory is short-lived, as a blond man dressed from head to toe in white descends from the sky.
This man in white is the true form of Fortinbras, forged with the invincible power of an immortal that even the powers of the Onimusha are no longer a match for. Tenkai, along with the others, use every ounce of their strength to destroy Fortinbras, once and for all. Once Fortinbras was vaporized into thin air, Soki ascended towards the heavens, vanishing from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Only Jubei witnessed this event.
The last we hear from Tenkai is that he, along with Arin, are off on another journey, this time, to seal the Oni Gauntlet, once and for all.
[edit] The Character
As mentioned before based on the likeness of Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hidemitsu Samanosuke Akechi later known as Nankobo Tenkai plays an important role in the Onimusha series is that of an important character. Out of all of the character's he is quite likely the most influential of all of character's from the games in the war against the Genma. The character along with the style and game play of the original Onimusha gained the series wide popularity and pushed it onward to have the many sequels. In general Onimusha games are regarded as excellent action/adventure games. Being the main character in Onimusha: Warlords, Onimusha: Blade Warriors and Onimusha 3: Demon Siege Samanosuke is explored a great deal as a character. Going from a wandering Samurai to eventually a man with a mission to protect the world from the Genma. He's quite often seen as one of if not greatest heroes during the Oni/Genma war. Samanosuke being the first one to become a True Onimusha Warrior in his final confrontation with Nobunaga. After his defeat of Nobuanaga he is no longer the lead character but still an important character in later games as he heavily aids Soki in the others in stopping Fortinbras. Although most of Japanse medieval history has been played out the ending is slightly ambiguous with Samanosuke still needing to seal away the gaunlet's powers for good making it a possibility that another game might be made. If so it is very likely that he will return once again.
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