#samurai warriors nene

[chibigingi]

Samurai Warriors 4 Nene

Original date of completion: November 16, 2023 Program used: Clip Studio Paint Timelapse: https://youtu.be/fD1QjG_UKtM?si=AjJnCmZBqVXJ0864

[kw-warriors-innuendos-blog]

Nene:

1. While they pull off the Hideyoshi infidelity stuff as a joke, he doesn’t cheat on her in game canon, which makes her yandere persona even funnier. I remember a conversation in Empires 2 between Nene and Hideyoshi that she said she was going to break his arms and legs if he went after another woman, then in the Orochi series, Nene chases him throughout Orochi World so that he wouldn’t flirt with the goddesses or the DW cast. That being said, Nene’s a nice lady, I think her motherly persona is charming and cute

2. Well, Hideyoshi is her historically and canonical husband, but..that doesn’t mean that’s the only guy I like with her. At first, I thought I could get behind a Kiyomasa x Nene ship, but Kiyomasa is actually kinda creepy towards her, and a creep in general, so I pass on that one now. I thought she and Hanzo were pretty nice together...actually, what happens in Orochi Land stays in Orochi Land, she should have got with Sun Jian ;) 

3. Non-romantic OTP...hmm...her and Nouhime should interact more. I thought her and Bao Sanniang had a cute friendship in Orochi, same with Ayane and Sophitia, too. 

4. I imagine making Nene into a ninja when she was first revealed must have been a little strange at first; as she was known for being a nun, and the woman at Hideyoshi’s side. With the removal of Kunoichi in SW2, I guess Koei needed a female ninja and seeing that they wanted to go into Hideyoshi’s reign, it made sense to have his behind-the-scenes- wife as a ninja. Not just any ninja, but a ninja mom who hands out spankings like she hands out candy, I guess Dommy Mommy is a trope people like in Japan? Seeing that we would later get Aya and Zhang Chunhua as very domineering mothers (if I’m wrong with this, sorry, I’d love an explanation from the JP fans on this :) )

But I can’t really think of an answer too much for this one other than ^^

[mairos-comet]

First a foremost I don’t hate the fandom or the game itself I’m just been convinced I couldn’t play it and enjoy it.

I have come to a conclusion that I can’t play Ikemen sengoku. I love seeing the post from the people I follow, but man I cant unsee it, or ignore the history part of it.

Now to those who follow me or see this are asking why.

I’m a huge samurai warriors girly, like Koei’s samurai warriors/dynasty warriors games.

When I see the characters all I can think of are these guys and the shifty questionable things they did in history.

I know I should look past it and enjoy the pretty men but I can’t. Just go in and see how close they follow history shit like that but I just can’t.

So here are some comparisons.

——————

Yoshimoto imagawa (you can make him look as handsome as you like I can’t unsee The Tamari playing idiot I just can’t)

Ieyasu Tokugawa (ban women from performing in theatrical arts, they were also banned from shrines and performing shrine ceremonies and could not play the bamboo flute. women samurai where restricted from traveling and he encouraged women to stick to staying at home to raise and educate children basically stay at home moms with no life)

I got nothing nice to say about him. I’m a Okuni fan she was a girl girl. she is the founding mother of Kabuki theatre and only women perform in it she would trained women in acting, dance from the red light district to give them a trade to work in, and a way out of sex work and he goes and bands women from it which never got reverse to this day. Nope don’t like him.

Hideyoshi Toyotomi (monkey. In SW he’s portrayed as pervert who couldn’t keep it in his pants, wanted to merry nobunagas sister Oichi, helped defeat and kill Oichis husband after a coo. married nobunaga niece (oichi daughter) as his second wife instead because oichi was like nope not today monkey and then her daughter was adopted by Nene Hideyoshi first wife which is just what the heck and ick)

I’ll give him this he started out as a poor farmers son and because Nobunaga habit of picking up and putting faith in the underdogs of society he rose up the ranks pretty fast even avenged his lords death by Mitsuhide.

There is also Kenshin and shingen who are portrayed as two old men fighting eachother all the time. Also Kenshin might of had a weird relationship with his sister. Or his sister might of had a weird relationship with him.

nobunaga was clever man though brutal. killed a bunch of iga ninja villages. Was a big fan of guns and he played everyone for fools pretty much all the time. but also had women samurai and people of other countries in his army so he didn’t discriminate.

Mistunari ishida. It’s a shame he didn’t win against Ieyasu.

Date was a badass in every interpretation I’ve seen

Yukimaru is yukimaru? He’s okay. He was the poster boy for samurai warriors for so long.

Ranmaru is nobunaga “squire” and bottom nothing more and nothing else.

Now if they put Kotaro Fuma or Keiji Maeda in the game… I’ll look past it all and try to play it. Haha

[pierswife]

Okay, I do have to ask, though ... when you played SW, who was your favorite character (or who were your favorite characters) to play? I know gameplay varies a bit depending on the games, but I'm still curious!

My frame of reference is SW4 (if my posting didn't make that obvious asdfghjkl), and I tend to favor characters with a Hyper Attack focus ... something about the speed they have is very appealing. Hence, me being a Yoshitsugu/Masamune girlie ... I can't remember Hanbei's "specialty" off the top of my head, but I also know I love playing him, too.

~ throughpatchesofviolet 🪻

@throughpatchesofviolet

OKAY OKAY OKAY HI SARAH NOW THAT I CAN PROPERLY SIT AT MY PC

You see this girl? This girl right here? This is my fucking daughter. I am plucking her out of the game and we're going to go on so many fun little adventures together. Gracia also happens to be one of my favorite characters to play as across the games! I've always enjoyed the magical aspect of her weapon and how it takes some serious skill to get good at crowd-control combat with her outside of hyper attacks. My first game for Samurai Warriors was her introduction game, actually! Which was Samurai Warriors 2: XL! So I ended up getting a soft spot for Magoichi as well since he was the supporting lead in her story for that game. They had such a cute almost father-daughter relationship and whenever it gets a nod in the newer games it makes me smile all goofy. I also really identified with her when I was younger with her wanderlust and want to learn more about the world! I would also kill to cosplay as her one day because that's legit my dream aesthetic.

Out of the games though, I have the most hours sunk into the 3DS games (the first one being based on 3 and the second one being based on 4)! While they aren't the best versions of the game to play graphics and speed-wise, they were still super super fun and I frickin LOVED how the developers made sure each character got their own little story line events with the MC (which was basically just an edit mode character) and side stories! Like those games are LONG. But I enjoy them very very much and it was great to be able to play one of my favorite series of games on the go.

As for other characters I like to play? Takatora and Masamune are SUPER fun. I'm also a sucker for Kiyomasa, Masanori, and Mitsunari because they're all super fun to play too. Oh! And Nene! Love the ninjas in general. Lady No is also pretty fun. And I use Naotora's weapon on one of my edit mode characters in Samurai Warriors 4 Empires (Koei I am begging please bring 4 Empires to PC so I don't have to dig my PS3 out every time I want to play it). Honestly I could go on and on with the list! I find almost everyone very fun to play as (with an exception of Kanbei, I like him as a character but his moveset leaves a lot to be desired for me).

[yeonchi]

Koei Warriors Retrospective Part 9: Samurai Warriors 2

Samurai Warriors 2 (戦国無双2) Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PC Release dates: Japan: 24 February 2006 (PS2), 17 August 2006 (Xbox 360), 11 July 2008 (PC) USA: 19 September 2006 (PS2), 19 September 2006 (Xbox 360), 27 June 2008 (PC) Europe: 22 September 2006 (PS2), 22 September 2006 (Xbox 360), 27 June 2008 (PC)

For years, what I knew about this game and the Samurai Warriors series in general came from the Warriors Orochi games. I didn't know a lot about the figures or battles of Sengoku era Japan unless I researched it on Wikipedia or eventually played the games.

While writing my personal project in 2014, the order of adapted battles in the story for that year went as follows: Mikatagahara, Odawara, Nagashino, Shizugatake, Okehazama, Komaki-Nagakute, Sekigahara, Ōsaka and Honnōji. If I had a more proper understanding of the game and the era, I probably would have done those things in order, but then again I'm just making up my story and not entirely adapting history.

Like how Dynasty Warriors 5 was made more historical than previous games, Samurai Warriors 2 was the equivalent for its series. This game goes past Nobunaga's era to focus on Hideyoshi's unification of the land and the Battle of Sekigahara, introducing characters associated with said battles. The visuals are made golden to contrast the darker colours of the previous game.

Let's get into the guts of it right after the break.

Samurai Warriors 2

Starting off with the characters now, and one thing to note is that the character lineups are not consistent between games as characters have been cut and reintroduced as the series goes on. As such, Goemon Ishikawa, Kunoichi and Yoshimoto Imagawa have been cut from this game, but their images can still be seen in Sugoroku and the Battle of Okehazama is still mentioned at the start of the Story Mode for related officers.

Okuni and Ranmaru Mori are still in this game, but they have no Story Modes. Okuni is unlocked by winning a game of Sugoroku while Ranmaru is unlocked by playing the first two Mitsuhide and Ranmaru's Requests in Survival Mode. Their fourth (and later fifth) weapons are also unlocked in Survival Mode as well.

Here are the new characters debuting in this game:

Ieyasu Tokugawa (PC'd)

Mitsunari Ishida

Nagamasa Azai (PC'd)

Sakon Shima

Yoshihiro Shimazu

Ginchiyo Tachibana

Kanetsugu Naoe

Nene

Kotarō Fūma

Musashi Miyamoto

Kojirō Sasaki (NPC)

Katsuie Shibata (NPC)

As listed above, Ieyasu Tokugawa and Nagamasa Azai are now made into playable characters, with Nagamasa's seiyuu changing from Takayuki Sasada in 1 to Hiroshi Kamiya from this game onwards. Nene essentially replaces Kunoichi's role as a female shinobi in this game. Yoshihiro and Ginchiyo's introduction also marks the introduction of the clans of Kyūshū, most notably the Shimazu and the Tachibana (through the Ōtomo clan). Katsuie Shibata and Kojirō Sasaki are the new NPCs appearing in this game; they can be unlocked as bodyguards for 6,400 gold in the shop after clearing a mission in Survival Mode. The narrator in the Japanese dub has been changed to Daisuke Gōri, who also voices Shingen Takeda.

Hideyoshi Hashiba is now known as Hideyoshi Toyotomi from this game onwards, with his seiyuu changing from Munehiro Tokita to Hideo Ishikawa. Historically, the name Toyotomi was granted to Hideyoshi and his clan by the Emperor in 1586. In this game, Hideyoshi's surname is never mentioned and he is only known by his former name when he's an ally or enemy before the Conquest of Kyūshū (Shikoku in XL); when you play as him, he will always be known by his new name no matter what battle you play. Later games would make the distinction clearer and more accurate, with Hideyoshi being known under Hashiba or Toyotomi depending on what year the battle took place (except for the stages where he wasn't originally featured in 3 in which case is is always known under Toyotomi).

Story Mode is made up of five (individualised) stages per character (no splitting paths or special conditions) with an extra Gaiden/Dream stage after completing the first five. Ieyasu and Mitsunari, being the leading figures at the Battle of Sekigahara, get a sixth story stage. For Kenshin, Oichi, Magoichi, Mitsunari and Yoshihiro, their Dream stages are unlocked after also fully clearing the Story Modes for Shingen, Nō, Masamune, Kanetsugu and Yukimura. The stages Village Rescue (set in Saika) and Pirate Hunt (set at Ōsaka Bay) are used as filler stages for 10 characters (including Kojirō in XL).

Free Mode is streamlined from how it was in the first game; each (or rather, most) battles have only two sides to play as and they utilise one character's version of each battle from Story Mode (with some exceptions depending on who you play as). Reused stages and Dream stages are excluded in this mode. One thing you will notice is that Odawara Castle has two versions for the west and east sides, though I wish they didn't name both versions as Siege of Odawara Castle (小田原城攻略戦) even though it is technically correct. All battles are one part only (thank god), with castles being incorporated seamlessly onto the maps.

Although battle objectives/missions still exist, battles are not entirely defined by them, meaning that objectives only trigger when you approach certain areas or officers. Also, for the first time, there are no subofficers listed in the officer/Unit Info list, meaning that player characters are listed individually in the list. If you're not a listed officer in the battle, you are shown at the bottom of the list, which is still better than being listed under the commander as "Player 1" or "Player 2". Third-party armies are now displayed in a separate list to the enemy army so more than 12 enemy units can be placed on the map.

Speaking of missions and Odawara, the west map features a mission where you have to defend a siege ramp. The siege ramp in that stage has got to be the weakest siege ramp ever because every enemy that comes near it will try to attack it and it gets destroyed if you leave it alone for more than 30 seconds. The Battle of Chencang in DW5 was less intense in comparison.

Survival Mode continues from the last game. Instead of offering two (or three) modes to choose from, you're given four missions to choose, some of them free and some of them paid. Each mission has five floors and you have the option to save after each one. In the free missions, you have Search for a Hero (強き者求む) which is just randomised missions, or the request storylines from Ranmaru, Mitsuhide and Keiji which cover you for the first 50 floors.

Once you get to that point, you're able to skip up to floor 51 on a new playthrough by paying a fee. The game goes up to floor 100 but you can continue on if you want to. Floor 71 has missions to unlock two rare horses, Persian Mare and Moon Child (Hoshōtsukige/放生月毛). Floor 76 has missions to unlock Katsuie and Kojirō. Also on floor 71 along with 86 and 96 are missions to unlock three Level 4 skills, but you need to have your character's respective Level 3 skills before attempting to unlock them otherwise you're just wasting your time. The good thing is that once you've done this for one character, you don't have to do this again for everyone else. When you get those Level 3 skills, you can just buy the Level 4 skills at the shop.

Sugoroku is a unique mode in that it's a Monopoly-esque game unlike the traditional Japanese board games. You play with four opponents (human or CPU) and the overall objective is to be the first player to achieve a particular gold amount set at the beginning (from 5,000 to 50,000 gold). You can choose between a small map covering only Honshū or a large map covering all of Japan.

As you go around the board, your focus is to obtain three flags scattered randomly on the map and return to home base to move up a rank. While you do this, you buy unoccupied territories to claim rent from the other players and take occupied territories by challenging their owners in one of six different challenges (provided without a separate Challenge Mode).

If you land on a shrine, you'll get to roll two dice to determine what happens to you; you might earn gold, increase land prices (fucking Asian real estate developers lol), take another turn with one or two dice, lose gold, teleport to another square or make things happen to everyone. If you roll a double here, you're taken to achieve a goal in a challenge; completing it will give you 100 gold, but failing it will cause that reward to be rolled over for the next double roll challenge. The weird thing about the shrine dice rolls is that it's hard to determine which die will determine which category or challenge until they land and rearrange themselves (ie, if die 1 lands on the right and it decides the left number, vice versa with die 2). If they made it so you roll one die at a time or made both dice different colours, then you could have a better idea of what to expect.

This game does take some time to play, even for a 5,000 gold target. The bad thing about this is that you can't save and move onto something different, even in a single player game, but that's what emulators are thankfully good for. At the end of the game, you get about 12.5% of your final gold total to use in the rest of the game, which is just paltry for the effort required to play it. I'll come back to gold earnings later.

In battle, Special Skills are a new mechanic introduced in this game, triggered by pressing R1, then pressing either Square or Triangle. This functionality replaces ranged attacks from the first game. With the introduction of Special Skills, a very small number of characters are able to summon horses, those characters being Yukimura and Keiji (and later Toshiie in XL). If you ask me, it is a bit unfair that only three characters can summon their horses, but rest assured that this does get fixed in future titles.

Two new moveset types have also been introduced for characters in addition to the Charge Attack moveset from the last game, namely the Normal Attack moveset and Special Skill movesets. Some characters from the last game retain their Charge Attack moveset while others have their attacks reassigned for the Normal Attack moveset or nerfed for the Special Skill moveset. For the Normal Attack moveset, Normal Attacks go up to N12 while Charge Attacks go up to C8 and are single-tiered. For the Special Skill moveset, it remains similar to the Charge Attack moveset except the Charge Attacks are only double-tiered, but both Special Skills are triple-tiered.

The Musou bar is upgradable to three levels, with the maximum reached by the time you reach the maximum level of 50. You can unleash a Musou Attack as long as the first section of the bar is filled, meaning that you can only manually charge it up to that point (but let's face it, who does that anyway). The first and second level Musous only affect the colour of the finishing shockwave (from blue to green) while the third level Musou adds a secondary effect depending on the character (while also changing the finishing shockwave to yellow). The same applies to the True Musou Attack as well.

Holding down the Circle button on horseback no longer swings your weapon like it did in the last game and DW, but you can still perform Normal and Charge Attacks while charging around. This game would begin a trend of horseback Musous just being bland rampages.

The right analog stick can now be used to rotate the camera, something that would be included in future Warriors games from this point forward.

Between battles, you will be able to access the shop to upgrade your weapons and skills. The shop is run by Saya, the master's daughter from the first game's New Officer Mode (who also slaps Magoichi in the first movie of his Story Mode). She will continue to make appearances as the shopkeeper in future games.

Four levels of weapons continue to be offered from the previous game. Weapons can have up to eight slots for attributes (going up to level 20 in a similar manner to DW5) and they can also have an element that is activated when you have one level filled in the Musou Gauge. The Dark element from the last game has been replaced with the Wind and Demon/Death elements. You can upgrade your weapon with a random ability for the price of 100n + 400, where n is the number of times you've upgraded your weapon. There is a chance that you may get a duplicate attribute; the stats do stack but you can have a maximum of 3 copies for that particular attribute.

Skills are a new mechanic that replaces the item system from the first game. Characters can learn skills by buying them in the shop, levelling up or stealing (or rather, learning in the English version) from enemy officers. Excluding rare skills, you'd be looking at spending 81,600 gold to buy all non-rare skills up to level 3, then another 30,000 gold to get the three level 4 skills. Rare skills can be learnt on Hard difficulty and above by defeating certain playable officers. When your character reaches a certain level (in a multiple of 10), they will learn a quasi-unique Self Skill. Skills can be turned on and off before starting a battle.

Bodyguards are also reduced to being a single officer instead of a group of four soldiers (also similar to DW5). They can be levelled up to a maximum level of 20. There are 10 classes of bodyguards and you can keep up to 8 of them (out of a total of 54), but if you were to hire everyone, you'd be looking at spending 153,900 gold. Once again, bodyguards only have voice lines when they are killed.

My main gripe about this game are the costs to purchase things in the shop when compared to the amount of money earned each battle. Amongst the collectible items in the game, you can collect up to 100 gold at a time, with level 4 Greed giving you a multiplier of 1.8 for a total of 180 gold. Given how much things in the shop cost, you can only really afford to do so much before you run out of money. Compound that with the fact that there are 26 playable characters in this game (32 with Xtreme Legends) and it does take a while for you to get your character decently powered-up. Of course, if you've spent a lot of time on this game (particularly 18 years ago when this game was first released) then this will be nothing to you, but this is coming from me who's only been playing it for two years in the hope of eventually reviewing it.

New Officer Mode has been removed in this game, but the closest thing to playing the CAW sword, spear and naginata movesets, along with the movesets of various troop types, is by using one of Nene's Special Skills, which can make her disguise herself as a nearby soldier or officer.

No new voice lines have been recorded for Survival Mode (like with the last game), so the only voices you'll be hearing are those that were already in the rest of the game. Some lines have been recorded for player characters in Sugoroku, but I'm not sure if they were also heard in other areas of the game. This can't be traced back to lazy localisation (we haven't even got to that point yet) because I've been playing this in Japanese and I've experienced the same thing, though I suppose if the lines were voiced in the Japanese version and not the English then this issue wouldn't have stood out that much and I probably wouldn't have noticed it when I did.

Now let's talk about the English localisation of this game and hmm... are those the English voice actors being credited in the credits? Breaking with what should be tradition for Warriors games, the localisation for this game was done in Canada, the actors provided by Total Casting and the dubbing produced by Agile Sound, both being subsidiaries of Montreal-based Agile Entertainment. No justification is given as to why Koei decided to use another company instead of Voicegroup for localisation, but a lot of fans I've seen do seem to like the English dub for this game. As someone who came to this series after playing Warriors Orochi however, I honestly can't get used to it as it sounds kind of bland in some places, but hey, I guess that's my toxic nostalgia talking. Looking forward though, I can see how some character lines from this game inspired those in Warriors Orochi.

For the first time, the PC port of SW2 does not have any enhancements like DW4 Hyper or DW5 Special. Once again, given the timing of that release, the lack of Xtreme Legends features in PC ports continues to confound and infuriate.

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends (戦国無双2 猛将伝) Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 Release dates: Japan: 23 August 2007 (PS2), 14 April 2008 (Xbox 360) USA: 18 March 2008 (PS2), 16 April 2008 (Xbox 360) Europe: 28 March 2008 (PS2), 16 April 2008 (Xbox 360)

Uniquely, the Xtreme Legends expansion for SW2 was released after its Empires spinoff, explaining the nearly 18-month gap between the vanilla game and the expansion as opposed to the 6 month gap in the case of DW4 and 5. At least DW3XL came out nearly a year after its vanilla release.

This game also marks the first time that (the full content of) an Xtreme Legends expansion is made available on a non-Sony console. With the Xbox Live Marketplace being the first digital game distribution shopfront of its kind, SW2XL was made available on the Xbox 360 as DLC in April 2008, it being compatible with both the physical and digital versions of the vanilla game. Such a shame it's no longer available for purchase now that the marketplace closed down at the end of July 2024.

In Japan, the DLC release was a month after a physical version was sold on 19 March 2008 in the form of a "with Xtreme Legends" Complete Edition. This also begins a confusing tradition of Complete Edition games being released alongside Xtreme Legends expansions exclusively in Japan. Such a thing wouldn't happen in the West until DW8.

Some PS2 players have reported issues with this game, particularly those with older "fat" models and Slim models, due to the game being on a dual layer DVD-9 disc and the laser reader sometimes having issues with it.

5 new playable characters make their debut in this game:

Toshiie Maeda

Motochika Chōsokabe

Gracia

Kojirō Sasaki

Katsuie Shibata

Kojirō and Katsuie were previously made playable in Empires, but this game gives them new unique weapons. Motochika's introduction introduces the Chōsokabe clan of the Shikoku region as well. Gracia, the daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi also known as Tama(ko), is never named by any of the characters in any game she appears in. Granted, Gracia is her Catholic name and she wasn't baptised until 1587 when Hideyoshi was conquering Kyūshū, but it's kind of weird to have characters refer to her as "Mitsuhide's daughter" or something vague.

Yoshimoto Imagawa makes a return in the expansion after being cut from the vanilla game. As such, Okehazama returns as a stage in this game and a new stage, Shikoku, is introduced.

Toshiie Maeda is an example of a generic officer being upgraded to a playable character in the expansion. However, the extent of how he is upgraded when seems to vary. See, the assumption is that when a generic officer is made playable in an expansion, that officer's appearance in other stages is upgraded to their playable appearance (which does happen in later games). In the case of Toshiie in this game, some of his appearances are straight-up upgrades, but in some stages he is replaced by another generic Oda officer like Nagahide Niwa, Nagayoshi Mori or Nagachika Kanamori. This happens regardless of whether Toshiie was an allied or enemy officer in the vanilla game.

So yeah, all the Xtreme Legends trimmings are there, from Story Modes for the new characters, Novice and Expert difficulties to fifth weapons for all characters, including Ranmaru and Okuni which once again, are only unlockable in Survival Mode. Levels are increased to 70 for player characters and 30 for bodyguards.

In regards to Musou Mode, the final cutscene movie of Toshiie's Musou Mode has been changed in Western releases for the Xbox 360 and the European release for the PS2, but it is intact in the US release for the PS2 and all Japanese releases. The original cutscene shows Toshiie, in grief over Katsuie's death, punching out Hideyoshi while proclaiming his new duty to watch over him and share the burden he bears. In the changed versions, the cutscene was changed to be a shortened replay of Katsuie's final cutscene where he farewells Toshiie before resigning himself to his fate inside a burning Kitanoshō Castle. I presume this decision was made for censorship reasons due to violence, which is kind of weird considering the nature of this game and the fact that Toshiie gets punched himself in earlier cutscene movies.

New charge attacks are introduced for all characters, namely the C5 for the Charge Attack and Special Skill movesets and the C9 for Normal Attack movesets. They are all single tier and some of those attacks may also incorporate elements of their Special Skills.

Two new sections have been added to the shop. When your character reaches level 19, Special Skills will be available for purchase, but note that buying one only buys it for that character and not everyone else. To buy all 15 Special Skills you'd be looking at spending 417,000 gold per character. If you don't want to spend that much, then take note that some characters' Self Skills are the same as Special Skills such as Finesse/Spring, Resist/Balance, Omniscience/Awareness, Pressure/Repel and Resist/Confidence. Only one Special or Self Skill can be equipped on a character.

The other new section in the shop is Orb Synthesis. Using orbs, you can directly add attributes of +20 to your weapon or even change your weapon's element, even for fourth and fifth weapons and weapons with no attribute slots. Orbs are mostly obtained through Mercenary Mode, but in rare cases they can also be found in Story and Free Modes (though I suppose the chances are higher on harder difficulties). The cost to do this is x*y where 0 < x < 9 for the number of slots and y < 5 for the weapon level, which potentially makes it more expensive than when you upgrade a weapon normally. Weapons without attribute slots (usually initial weapons) are treated as if they had one and fifth weapons are charged the same as fourth weapons. The maximum limit of three copies per attribute still applies.

Mercenary Mode is the new unique mode added to this game. It serves as a great grinding mode for experience, gold and orbs, plus this is arguably easier than Xtreme Mode in DW4XL and 5XL, probably because it carries over your gold and character stats from the rest of the game.

After selecting your character, you can choose from three battles that all have different objectives and handicaps, such as starting with low health, multiplied damage or nullified guarding. You earn gems after each battle and as rewards for completing special missions.

Guards can also be hired between battles for 10 gems each. You can deploy two guards at a time with an additional three in reserve. After playing or deploying a character for a certain amount of turns (certain rewards can reduce this), they are able to be levelled up, granting them an additional skill. Skills include automatically opening gates when approaching them, using some of your Musou gauge to create a barrier, earning an extra gem every 50 KOs and nullifying enemy quagmires (giggity)/birdlimes/tar traps, poison attacks and fire attacks. Skills apply from both the player character and the guards deployed, so it's a good idea to ensure you have as many bases covered as you can.

As you play battles with clans, they will give you rewards the more you play with them. When you play 7 battles under the same clan, you will be offered to join them as a retainer for 50 gems. Once you do, no other clan will give you rewards while the clan you joined will continue giving you rewards the more battles you play under them.

Special events will appear in the menu throughout your playthrough. Some of these may be rewards from various people, requests for assistance that unlock special missions, or offerings that unlock Precious Swords. I'm not sure if those missions expire, but if you're aiming for the second ending, then it's a good idea to complete them as soon as you have the gems for them.

There are two ways to clear Mercenary Mode. The first way is to join a clan and fight another 7 battles under them for a total of 14, at which point you can fight a battle to unite the land and clear the mode. The second way is to collect all ten Precious Swords and unlock a battle for supremacy, where you will have to fight three officers in hyper mode to clear the battle. This battle doesn't happen until you reach battle 100 because of how the Precious Swords are collected and there's nothing special after that. As such, there is no reason to replay with the second way other than to get the associated achievements/trophies because the first way is faster.

Like with Survival Mode in the vanilla game, no new voice lines have been recorded for Mercenary Mode. Is it so much to ask for consistency?

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends HD Edition (Sengoku Musou 2 with Moushouden HD Ver.)

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends HD Edition (戦国無双2 with 猛将伝 HD Ver.) Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita Release dates: Japan: 24 October 2013

This is the version of the game I've been playing for the purposes of this review. Why did I pick this version for it? Well, I was able to get most of the Samurai Warriors games on the PS3 anyway, so why not get this version of SW2 and make RPCS3 my Samurai Warriors hub? Sure, I could play the Xbox 360 version for a widescreen experience that's closer to the original PS2 release, but why the hell should I go to the effort of setting up Xenia for it when I could just get this?

In 2013, Koei (Tecmo) rereleased SW2XL alongside Empires in an HD Edition for the PS3 and PS Vita. Both games are sold separately on the PlayStation Store, but on the PS3, they can be bundled into a single digital package or a physical disc, meaning that when you launch the game, you are greeted with a launcher that allows you to select between the two games. This also allows you to switch between the games by going back out of the main menu and into the launcher without having to change discs or exit to the Home Screen/XMB. Save data and trophies remain separate between the two games.

The main enhancement of the HD version is that this version takes advantage of the PS3's capabilities to deliver improved graphics and more enemies on screen. Apparently this version also makes use of the AI engine from the next game, Samurai Warriors 3, and while I haven't seen any Japanese sources to confirm this, I can say that you do get a bit of that feeling, particularly in Empires. All modes and characters are available from the start.

With this game also being available on the Vita, ad-hoc multiplayer gameplay is available (Sugoroku only allows you to have two players playing wirelessly against two CPU players). Cross-save functionality is also available between the PS3 and Vita through the PlayStation Network. This would also become a thing for later games, although in general, I wish Sony made it so that save files can easily be copied between different consoles, like the PS3 and Vita via USB, without necessarily having to be logged into the PSN. However, this would essentially require companies like Sony to believe in the philosophy of free and open source software (FOSS).

If there's one thing I could say about this port, it would be, WHY WASN'T THIS PORT RELEASED TO THE WEST? The localisation already exists, so it would be easy to publish a localised port of a remastered game. Considering what happened with the Western release of Samurai Warriors 3, this game could have been an easy cash grab to make up for it while also being a nostalgia trip for people who played the game on the PS2 or Xbox 360. Koei (Tecmo) aren't the only main factor in this as Sony also plays a factor in the decision to publish games and ports. This is something I'll come back to when we cover Warriors Orochi Z.

Rant: Why I play in Japanese/MobileJOY

Before I started this retrospective, I stated that I would be playing the Japanese or Asian versions of the games over the English versions where possible. There are multiple reasons for this.

Firstly, there are some games and ports that were only available in Japan/Asia, such as SW2XLHD, SW3Z and WOZ. Secondly, and this ties into the first reason, I don't want to waste time setting up and going between other emulators (like Dolphin for SW3 on the Wii or Cemu for WO3 Hyper on the Wii U) to play the games in English. As it is, I'm already playing Xtreme Legends expansions on one console per game to save time and effort.

Thirdly, and this reason is more for the later games, I play Japanese/Asian versions because I'm disappointed with Koei Tecmo's treatment of localisations, not just with the lack of English dubbing, but their translation decisions and errors. "But Azuma, translation errors existed in earlier games as well!" Yes, I know and I have noticed them despite their rarity, but I'm bringing this to the forefront because of Koei Tecmo's complacency to these incomplete localisations and apathy to their Western fanbase in regards to this. I'll talk more about this when we get to Warriors Orochi 3.

The main exception to this rule mostly involve games that I already have on portable consoles, like the first few Warriors PSP games. Playing older games in Japanese is mostly for consistency with later games. In the case of the PC games, it's a mixed bag. I already had DW8XL and DW8E in English and I recently downloaded the Chinese versions for them, DW6 and WOZ are in Chinese and the other games have language options which I might utilise, but for the most part I play in Japanese or Chinese.

Now in regards to playing with the Japanese version, you might notice a section in Camp or Options called MobileJOY (like how the "import" function is also known as MIXJOY). Basically what it involves is that you go onto Koei's Musou Mobile website (with your phone) and enter the code on the screen, then it will give you a password that you put onto the screen to unlock the bonuses, which typically involve in-game items. Some games also have additional tie-ins to GREE's 100-man-nin collaboration series, such as with Samurai Warriors 3 Empires where you can unlock characters and rare items in its 100-man-nin counterpart, and in turn, you can unlock special buildings from that game in this one.

The Musou Mobile service, and with it MobileJOY, was discontinued in March 2020. Presuming that the password is generated by the game every time it is booted or you go into the MobileJOY page, that means that the game would also have the password to unlock the bonuses, so technically all that is needed would be the formula to cracking the code. But it doesn't seem to unlock anything special so maybe that's why people don't seem to want to bother with it.

In spite of Koei's decision to use a Canadian company to localise this game (and one from Quebec no less), Samurai Warriors 2 was the certified hood classic that defined the childhoods of its fans just as Dynasty Warriors 5 defined those of others including myself. It apparently had such an impact that it got Koei to get off their asses and release its Xtreme Legends expansion on the Xbox 360 before later remastering an already HD-capable release to the PS3 and PS Vita seven years after its original release. If SW1 is comparable to DW3 and DW4, then SW2 is comparable to DW5, something that would be cemented in a later crossover spinoff series.

Empires is up next for review followed by Katana, those being the spinoffs for SW2.

[retrospectivemothra]

A Plague Tale

Hugo De Rune**

His rats**

Appleseed

Deunan Knute*

Detective Comics/DC

Barbara 'Batgirl/Oracle' Gordon**

Martha Kent*

Deus Ex

Eliza Cassan**

Devil May Cry

Kyrie From Devil May Cry 4*

Dynasty Warriors

Diaochan

Lianshi

Xiaoqiao

Final Fantasy

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca From FFXII**

Jihl Nabaat from FFXIII*

Vivi from Final Fantasy IX*

Full Metal Alchemist

Riza Hawkeye*

Mass Effect

ARIA T'LOAK*

Hannah Shepard**

Karin Chakwas*

Urdnot 'Eve' Bakara*

Metal Gear Solid

Laughing Octopus**

Olga Gurlukovich**

Screaming Mantis*

Sunny Gurlukovich**

Mobile Suit Gundam

Emma Sheen from Zeta*

Marida Cruz/Ple Twelve from Unicorn*

Pacific Rim

Sasha Kaidonovskya*

Samurai Warriors

Kunoichi

Nene

Oichi

Solo Leveling

Cha Hae-in*

Star Trek

Alexandria 'Alex' Munroe*

Beverly Crusher**

Kathryn Janeway*

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

Antonia 'Nomad' Winters

[ariparri]

Samurai Warriors Masterlist

A list of all my artworks for Koei Tecmo's Samurai Warriors series. Mostly contains OC content with some fanart.

Blog Masterpost | Dynasty Warriors | Sengoku Basara

Mayu

Samurai Warriors 5

Archive Bio

Musou Art

SW4 Reference

Kana

Nobunaga's Ambition

Musou Art

Archive Bio

WO4 Design

Cherry Blossoms

SW4 Reference (Outdated)

Yasohime

Archive Bio

Reference

Nobunaga's Ambition

First Mission

Momoka

Archive Bio

Reference (Outdated)

Other Content

Templates

Expression Chart

SW4 Reference Sheet

SW4 Character Bio/Archives

Fanart

Multiverse KiyoKana

Mother and Daughter (Kana & Yaso)

Valentine's KiyoKana

Mitsunari Ishida

Kunoichi Alt. Design 1

Kunoichi Alt. Design 2

Sisters

Idiot Trio's Wives

Ninja Training

Pool Party

Li Dian's Pursuers

DianAi & KiyoKana

Crane Wife (KiyoKana)

Secret Santa

Alternate Designs

Mistletoe (KiyoKana)

Secret Santa

Yurami

Miname x Nagatada

Nohime

Aya

Nene

Gracia

WO4 Dream Team

Unlikely Duo

Gracia

Chibi Tachibana

Couple Arts

Lady Yamanote

Idiot Trio Halloween

Kana's Onigiri

Collabs

Art Trade

Art Trades

Art Trade

[toonabby]

One day before Christmas...

As we only have a few hours left before Christmas, imma just gonna make a list of games/anime/cartoons/companies/people/whatever that turned 5/10/15/20/etc. this year that I skipped out (partially due to me quitting Twitter/X after July ended):

(Updated to add more examples)

1958 and earlier

(1923) Walt Disney, a multimedia conglomerate known for the creation of Mickey Mouse and the Disney Channel and its (infamous) buyouts of other million dollar companies, turned 100 on October 16, 2023.

(1948) Toei Animation, a Japanese animation studio known for series like Dragon Ball, One Piece, Digimon, Pretty Cure, Sailor Moon, and more, turned 75 on January 23, 2023, literally 11 months ago.

(1953) Taito, a Japanese toy, arcade and video game company known for the Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble series', turned 20 on August 24, 2023.

(1958) Veteran Los Angeles-based voice actor/director Tony Oliver (the titular Lupin III; Lancer from Fate/stay night; Rick Hunter from Robotech), turned 65 on May 12, 2023.

1963

Late rapper Coolio, known for his hit single Gangsta's Paradise, posthumously turned 60 on August 1, 2023.

LA-based voice actor Dino Andrade (Gelbin Mekkatorque and Millhouse Manastorm from World of Warcraft; Zuzu from Zuzubaland; York from Ba Da Bean) turned 60 on September 16, 2023.

Dan Povenmire, creator of Phineas and Ferb, Milo Murphy's Law and Hamster & Gretel as well as being the voice of Dr. Doofenshmirtz from the former show, turned 60 on September 18, 2023.

1968

Tezuka Productions, the namesake company its late founder Osamu Tezuka known for producing the anime adaptations of Tezuka's works, turned 55 on January 23, 2023.

Hollywood actor Will Smith (his namesake from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; Oscar from Sharks Tale) turned 55 on September 25, 2023.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman (James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine from the X-Men film series) turned 55 on October 12, 2023.

Long-running British series Doctor Who turned 60 on November 23, 2023.

1973

Schoolhouse Rock! turned 50 on January 6, 1973.

Kamen Rider V3, the second series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 50 on February 17, 2023.

Hudson Soft, the now-defunct subsidiary to Konami known for producing the Bomberman series, turned 50 on May 18, 2023.

Houston-based voice actress and Sentai Filmworks regular Hilary Haag (Satsuki Miyanoshita from Ghost Stories; Nene Romanova from Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040; Teletha Testarossa from Full Metal Panic; Lingyin "Rin" Huang from Infinite Stratos; Yui from Angel Beats!; Seth Nightroad from Trinity Blood; Rebecca Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash!; Rosette Chrstopher from Chrono Crusade) turned 50 on December 3, 2023.

1978

Koei, the precusor to Koei Tecmo known for producing a series of games such as Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, turned 45 on July 25, 2023.

1983

Kagaku Sentai Dynaman, the seventh series in the Super Sentai franchise, turned 40 on February 5, 2023.

Mario Bros., the precursor to Super Mario Bros., turned 40 at an unspecified date in 2023.

Famicom, Nintendo's first home console and the NES' occidental counterpart/predecessor, turned 40 on July 15, 2023.

SG-1000, Sega's very first but region-exclusive home console, turned 40 on July 15, 2023, the same day as the Famicon.

The 1980 version of Inspector Gadget turned 40 on September 5, 2023.

LA-based voice actress Laila Berzins (Xiao from Genshin Impact; Demeter and Persephone from Hades; Mrs. Croaker from Amphibia; Milluki Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter: The Last Mission) turned 40 on October 4, 2023.

The anime adaptation of Captain Tsubasa turned 40 on October 13, 2023.

Texas-based voice actress Elizabeth Maxwell (Ymir from Attack on Titan; Albedo from Overlord; Winter Schnee from RWBY; Nikki from Camp Camp; Urbosa and Riju from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom; Rosaria from Genshin Impact; Natasha from Honkai: Star Rail; Ashmedia from Trillion: God of Destruction; Shino Kiryuu from Girlfriend, Girlfriend) turned 40 on October 13, 2023.

1988

Choujyu Sentai Liveman, the twelfth series in the Super Sentai franchise, turned 35 on February 27, 2023.

LA-based voice actor Aleks Le (Luke from Street Fighter 6; Zenitsu Agatsuma from Demon Slayer; Kazuya Kinishita from Rent-A-Girlfriend; Thorfinn Thordarson from Vinland Saga [Netflix dub]; Sundae from Zuzubaland) turned 35 on March 12, 2023.

Arc System Works, the creator of several fighting game franchises like Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Granblue Fantasy Versus, turned 35 on May 12, 2023.

LA-based voice actress Lauren Landa (Kyoko Sakura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica; Litchi-Faye Ling from BlazBlue; Annie Leonhart from Attack on Titan; Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon [Viz dub]; Merlin from The Seven Deadly Sins; Mio Naruse from The Testament of Sister New Devil; Kasumi from Dead or Alive) turned 35 on June 9, 2023.

Dallas-based voice actor Mark Allen Jr. (Youta Narukami from The Day I Became a God; Hiiragi Seiichi from The Fruit of Evolution; Ukyo Saionji from Dr. Stone; Evan Spencer from Genesis Avalon: Patroit; Rankichi Umeda from Tribe Nine; Benjamin Pavard from Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst) turned 35 on June 18, 2023.

Garfield and Friends, the second animated adaptation of Garfield, turned 35 on September 17, 2023

The Sega Mega Drive, Sega's third home console and the occidental counterpart/predecessor to the Sega Genesis', turned 35 on October 4, 2023.

Kamen Rider Black RX, the sequel to Kamen Rider Black and the ninth series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 35 on October 23, 2023.

1993

Dallas-based voice actor Ben Balmaceda (Neku from The World Ends with You: The Animation; Kaveh from Genshin Impact; Jirou Yakuin from More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers; Radiou from Aharen-san wa Hakarenai) turned 30 on January 14, 2023.

Sydney-based voice actress Aimee Smith (Milia Basset from Freedom Planet; Freya from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang; Margo from Hands Up; Bonnie, Jeanne, and Izanami from Dislyte) turned 30 on January 25, 2023.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the seventeenth series in the Super Sentai franchise and the second series to be adapted to Power Rangers, turned 30 on February 19, 2023.

Charlotte-based voice actor Nicholas Andrew Louie (Nagi Umini from A Couple of Cuckoos; June Hase from Fire in His Fingerprints) turned 30 on April 3, 2023.

Kamen Rider ZO, the second film in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 30 on April 17, 2023.

LA-based voice actor Michael Malconian (Niru from AFK Arena: Just Esperia Things; Geo Yaksha and Hayato from Genshin Impact; Caboose from Red Vs Blue; Forseti and Helcurt from Mobile Legends: Adventures) turned 30 on June 18, 2023.

Japanese voice actress Kaori Ishihara (Aladdin from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic; Madoka Kyouno from Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne; Hitomi Tsukishiro from Iroduku: The World in Colors; Tiese Schtrinen from Sword Art Online: Alicization; Luna Elegant from Demon Lord, Retry!; Kanna Tanigawa from Waiting in the Summer; Shouta Magatsuchi from Miss Kobayashi Dragon Maid; Ram/White Sister from Hyperdimension Neptunia; Welsh Cocott from Mugen Souls) turned 30 on August 6, 2023.

Texas-based voice actor Jonah Scott (Legoshi from Beastars; Aiden Cadwell from Dying Light 2 Stay Human; Sniper Mask from High-Rise Invasion; Kojiro Nanjo from Sk8 the Infinity; Tatsu from The Way of the Househusband; Courier from Akudama Drive) turns 30 on September 8, 2023.

Rocko's Modern Life turned 30 on September 18, 2023.

Sonic SatAM, the first Sonic cartoon, turned 30 on September 18, 2023.

3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Panasonic's first and only video game console, turned 30 on October 4, 2023.

New York-based voice actor Tom Schalks (Jake from Sims Settlements 2; Gordon from My Friendly Neighborhood; Charles and Rictor from Hannahpocalypse; Snap Wexley, Red Leader, and Senator Colandus from Star Wars Audio Comics) turned 30 on October 11, 2023.

Japanese voice actor Kaito Ishikawa (Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia; Genos from One Punch Man; Nero from Devil May Cry; Naofumi Iwatani from The Rising of the Shield Hero; Shinhou Kimizuki from Seraph of the End; Sakuta Azusagawa from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai; Naruzo Machio from How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?; Junichiro Kubota from Tomo-chan Is a Girl!) turned 30 on October 13, 2023.

Atari Jaguar, Atari's final video game console before departing from the console wars and later going under, turned 30 on November 23, 2023.

The Moxy Show, the first original Cartoon Network cartoon, turned 30 on November 26, 2023.

Long-running Christian 3D animated series VeggieTales turned 30 on December 21, 2023, literally three days ago.

1998

LA-based voice actress Ryan Bartley (Ram from Re;Zero; Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion [Netflix dub]; Sage from Sonic Frontiers; Yuna from Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale; Misa Kurobane and Yusa Nishimori from Charlotte; Pompompurin from Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures; Nitroplus from Megadimension Neptunia VII; Bouquet from Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online) turned 25 on February 3, 2023.

Japanese voice actress Sayumi Suzushiro (Nijika Ijichi from Boochi the Rock!; Uruka Takemoto from We Never Learn; Kei Shirogane from Kaguya-sama: Love is War; Wise from Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?; Maho/Grey Sister from Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters; Kirara from Genshin Impact) turned 25 on February 4, 2023.

Power Rangers in Space, the seventh series in the Power Rangers franchise, turned 25 on February 6, 2023.

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, the twenty-second series in the Super Sentai franchise and the seventh series to be adapted to Power Rangers, turned 25 on February 22, 2023.

Toronto-based voice actress Dallis MacKenzie (Jormugand and Stheno from Legend of Alma: idel RPG; Marsha Mello from Kindi Kids; Athena and Akasha from Mythic Girls) turned 25 on June 9, 2023.

LA-based voice actress Olivia Vidas (Nemona from Pokemon: Paldean Winds; Larissa from The Marching Pride of Cadence High) turned 25 on July 25, 2023.

Noddy, otherwise known as The Noddy Shop or Noddy in Toyland, turned 25 on September 7, 2023.

Manilla-based voice actress Vanille Velasquez (Neon from Valorant; Zeri from League of Legends; Jelly from Jelly, Ben, and Pongo; Kokeko from Lil Wild; Clover Stryder from Final Melody) turned 25 on September 27, 2023.

The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, a VHS-exclusive animated miniseries based on the 90's McDonalds ads, turned 25 on October 9, 2023.

2003

Kamen Rider 555, the thirteenth series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 20 on January 26, 2023.

LA-based voice actress Vera Tan (Maur from Paella; Gwyneth from AFK Arena: Just Esperia Things; Maria from Well; Laura from TNSSA: The Visual Novel) turned 20 on January 27, 2023.

Power Rangers Ninja Storm, the eleventh series in the Power Rangers franchise, turned 20 on February 15, 2023.

Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, the twenty-seventh in the Super Sentai franchise and the twelfth series to be adapted to Power Rangers, turned 20 on February 16, 2023.

NIS America, an American division of Nippon Ichi Software, turned 20 today on December 24, 2023.

2008

Kamen Rider Kiva, the eighteenth series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 15 on January 27, 2023.

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!, the sequel to Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and the fifth series in the Pretty Cure franchise, turned 15 on February 3, 2023.

The Mr. Men Show, the fourth animated adaptation of the Mr. Men books, turned 15 on February 4, 2023.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, a childhood of mine, turned 15 on February 7, 2023.

Engine Sentai Go-onger, the thirty-second series in the Super Sentai franchise and the seventh series to be adapted to Power Rangers, turned 15 on February 17, 2023.

The anime adaptation of To Love Ru turned 15 on April 4, 2023.

Playhouse Disney short series Can You Teach My Alligator Manners? turned 15 on June 21, 2023.

Martha Speaks and Sid the Science Kid turned 15 on September 1, 2023.

The anime adaptation of Toradora! turned 15 on October 2, 2023.

The Secret Saturdays turned 15 on October 3, 2023.

The anime adaptation of A Certain Magical Index turned 15 on October 4, 2023.

Kid vs. Kat turned 15 on October 15, 2023.

The anime adaptation of Hells Angels, titled Hells, turned 15 on October 18, 2023.

Toot & Puddle turned 15 on November 16, 2023.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, the first installment to the BlazBlue franchise, turned 15 on November 19, 2023.

The Dinky Crow Show turned 15 on November 23, 2023.

The Penguins of Madagascar TV series turned 15 on November 28, 2023.

Nickelodeon's second Anthology series Random! Cartoons turned 15 on December 6, 2023.

2013

Monster Monpiece, the first game to the Genkai Tokki series, turned 10 on January 24, 2023.

Power Rangers Megaforce, the twentieth series in the Power Rangers franchise, turned 10 on February 2, 2023.

DokiDoki! Pretty Cure, the tenth series in the Pretty Cure franchise, turned 10 on February 3, 2023.

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, the thirty-seventh series in the Super Sentai franchise and the twenty-second series to be adapted to Power Rangers, turned 10 on February 17, 2023.

Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God, known as Sei Madou Monogatari in Japan and based on the original Madou Monogatari game, turned 10 on March 28, 2023.

Mugen Souls Z, the sequel to 2012's Mugen Souls, turned 10 on April 25, 2023.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Producing Perfection, the first spin-off title in the Neptunia series, turned 10 on June 20, 2023.

Idea Factory International, an American division of Idea Factory, turned 10 on September 30, 2023.

Kamen Rider Gaim, the twenty-fourth series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 10 on October 6, 2023.

PBS Kids rebranded itself 10 years ago on October 7.

Peg + Cat, which premiered alongside the aforementioned rebrand, turned 10 on October 7, 2023.

The anime adaptation of Non Non Biyori turned 10 on October 8, 2023.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, a remake to the first Hyperdimension Neptunia game, turned 10 on October 31, 2023.

Rick and Morty, the longest-running adult cartoon on [adult swim], turned 10 on December 2, 2023.

2018

The anime adaptation of Laid-Back Camp turned 5 on January 4, 2023.

Darling in the Franxx turned 5 on January 13, 2023.

Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, the twenty-fifth series in the Power Rangers franchise and the sequel season to Ninja Steel, turned 5 on January 27, 2023.

Hugtto! Pretty Cure, the fifteenth series in the Pretty Cure franchise, turned 5 on February 4, 2023.

Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, the forty-second series in the Super Sentai franchise, turned 5 on February 11, 2023.

Furiki Wheels turned 5 on July 2, 2023.

Transformers Cyberverse turned 5 on Spetember 1, 2023.

Kamen Rider Zi-O, the twenty-ninth series in the Kamen Rider franchise, turned 5 on September 2, 2023.

Hilda, an animated adaptation of the comic of the same name, turned 5 on September 21, 2023.

Zombie Land Saga turned 5 on October 4, 2023.

44 Cats turned 5 on November 12, 2023.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a reboot of She-Ra: Princess of Power, turned 5 on November 13, 2023.

Let's Go Luna turned 5 on November 21, 2023.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the first installment in SAP's Spider-Verse film series, turned 5 on December 14, 2023.

Bakugan: Battle Planet, a reboot of Bakugan: Battle Brawlers, turned 5 on December 23, 2023.

[ariparri]

Thanks for tagging me! 💜

Thoma (Genshin)

Kensei (Bleach)

Lon’qu (Fire Emblem)

Nene (Samurai Warriors)

Pinky (Bully)

Sampo (Honkai Star Rail)

Leopold (Black Clover)

Claire (Resident Evil)

Kenshi (Mortal Kombat)

Jel (Palia)

Tagging: @chrystabelleblaumferge @imagitory @nerdyliv @ceriseb3rries @pprimaveraaa and whoever else wants to join in!

10 FANDOMS, 10 CHARACTERS

list ten favorite characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people!

Love Momozono / Cure Peach (Precure)

Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom)

May (Pokemon)

Satsuki Kiryuin (Kill La Kill)

Elodie (OK KO)

Buttercup (The Powerpuff Girls)

Envy Adams (Scott Pilgrim)

Pinkie Pie (MLP)

Claire Francois (I'm in Love with the Villainess / I Favor the Villainess)

Princess Daisy (Super Mario)

Other than Love being number one, this list is not in order

@mockguffin @wallflower-koharu @vaugarde @moonscape @princess--bongwater @zukoromantic @malewifefirestar @minakosroom @route505 @red-rose-corner and anyone else who wants to participate! Those who've been tagged do not need to participate if they don't want to btw.

[nikaryflare]

 While I'm figuring out how to draw humans, have a Nene from Samurai Warriors. Went with her SW3 outfit 'cause it's easier to draw.

[thunderboltage]

🌸 "i got to kill this b*tch" 🌸

[pinkrabbit567]

Crosspost from my twitter acc (1)

OG text: It came to me in a dream

[romance-of-three-memes]

If a bunch of late 16th century daimyo find something you did morally repulsive then I think you really need to stop and take a long hard look at your life because these people regularly betrayed each other over the political equivalent of a sandwich and murdering their own family members wasn't terribly uncommon.

I realize cleaning up the reputation of some historical figures for fictional retellings isn't *necessarily* bad depending on the context and as long as you don't claim it's historically accurate or try to override the actual history, creative license and all that (you're being told this by someone who thinks Date Masamune was neat despite him also being scum historically) but there's a point where I go 'okay this is way too much, you're getting on my nerves with how blatantly bullshit this is' and Samurai Warriors Hideyoshi is just one of those people/characters. Especially when you compare his portrayal to Nobunaga, who they totally lean into making a stereotypically evil warlord type character (but they do it in a fun way I think, and I can't say I find it to be unfair given what he was like historically).

I'm no longer sure if this post is about how I think turtle boats are cool or about how I particularly hate Samurai Warriors' take on Hideyoshi. Especially given how him treating his wife Nene like shit is portrayed in an obnoxious jokey way. I remember being like 12 while playing Samurai Warriors 2 and thinking 'I hate this guy' over how he treats Nene, and that's before I knew anything about him outside of what the games told me.

I know the Samurai Warriors devs are never going to put Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempted invasion of Korea into the games because I mean, it makes him and by extension Japan (and really every playable character involved) look bad and for whatever reason they've decided to paint him as the Good Guy of the three conquerors (which is still hilarious to me because he was as ruthless as Nobunaga, he just tended to be more subtle about it), and it feels out of place in a game that focuses on internal conflict and politics and the unity of the country, and uhhh also that whole colonizing the hell out of Korea for a good chunk of the 20th century thing is still a sore spot between modern Japan and both Koreas and often Japan's 'solution' to that is to ignore it and pretend like the Koreas are unreasonable for still being bitter over it, so yeah.

But have you considered the fact that I want turtle boats in the game?

[final-yorha]

Hideyoshi's SW5 Portrait Nene ,Kyomasa , and masanori in the Background EXPANSION CONFIRMED

[incorrectsamuraiwarriorsquotes]

Hanzo: I stole nothing.

Kunoichi: I broke nothing.

Kotaro: I stabbed nothing.

Nene:

Kunoichi: Aren’t you proud of us?

[wingsofhcpe]

Still can't believe I actually own the same plushie shown to be owned by Alex's friend in today's episode.... I think I'm gonna name mine Alex, now.