Date Masamune (Sengoku Basara)

In Sengoku Basara video games

Date debuted as a playable character in Capcom's hack and slash Sengoku Basara from 2005. The leader of the Date clan, Date is a warrior who wishes to conquer Japan. During the story, Date encounters the Takeda warrior Sanada Yukimura, with whom he forms a friendly rivalry. However, Date is also opposed by warlord Oda Nobunaga, who seeks to defeat Date in order to achieve his goals.^[9]

By the events of Sengoku Basara 2, Date and Yukimura continue their rivalry and once again face a new threat: Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who seeks the unification of Japan under his banner.^[10] In the sequel, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, Hideyoshi has been killed by Tokugawa Ieyasu while Date is nearly finished by Mitsunari Ishida, one of Hideyoshi's warriors. This led to the weakening of Oshu's power. He fights against Mitsunari in order to win back his lost honor. Following Date's revenge, he once again faces Yukimura but decides to spare his life, having bonded with him across the story.^[11]

Date next appeared in Sengoku Basara 4, an alternate retelling of the events of the three games. Date once again seeks to conquer Japan and is mainly opposed by Hideyoshi.^[12] Following Sengoku Basara 4, Capcom created a new title which instead features a younger Date as a playable character in a smaller role, as the game focuses more on Yukimura. During Date's story, he is confronted by Hideyoshi but loses the fight.^[13]

Adaptations and other media

In the anime adaptations of Sengoku Basara, Date's role is similar to the one from the games. In the first season, Date befriends Yukimura across their fights but starts feeling fear upon confronting Nobunaga. In order to overcome his fears and help a saddened Yukimura, Date disbands the Date clan's forces to prepare for the battle against Nobunaga. In the climax, both Date and Yukimura join forces to kill Nobunaga.^[14]

During the second season, Date defeats Yukimura but shortly after this he faces Hideyoshi.^[15] Hideyoshi easily defeats Date, leaving him with multiple wounds. Date manages to kill Hideyoshi in the ending of the second season.^[16] However, this causes Mitsunari's rage in the film The Last Party where he seeks the death of Date. Date nearly dies in the battle against the avenger which causes all of his men to create an armor strong enough to deflect any attack. Date then prepares to finish Mitsunari, but Ieyasu interrupts the battle to seek peace. Nobunaga is revived and the warriors join their efforts to stop his plans to conquer Japan. In the movie's ending, Nobunaga is defeated and Date once again battles Yukimura to know who is the stronger warrior.^[17]

An alternative third season shows the events of Samurai Heroes with Date being lectured by Kojuro during the time he frets over his powerlessness. A proposed fourth anime series is expected to show Date as a high school student from Japan.^[18]

Date was planned to be added to the crossover fighting game Tatsunoko vs. Capcom but was removed due to time constraints.^[19] A manga adaptation of the second game was created by Yak Haibara with Date reprising his role from the game.^[20] A live-action television drama titled Sengoku Basara: Moonlight Party premiered on July 12, 2012, with Date portrayed by Kento Hayashi.^[21] In a Sengoku Basara play that made a crossover with the series Devil May Cry, Date was played by Daichi Yamaguchi.^[22]

Popularity

Date as seen in the Miyagi elections's advertisements.

In a poll from Japanese fan magazine Newtype, Date was voted the 21st most-popular male anime character from the 2000s.^[23] In July 2009, he took the 10th spot of the season.^[24] In 2009, Date's image was used by Capcom to raise awareness of an election in Miyagi Prefecture, noting in a press release that "[w]arring lord turned video game sensation Date Masamune is a household name in Miyagi Prefecture. This campaign aims to use the broad appeal Date Masamune has among the residents of the prefecture to draw attention to the election and increase the turnout of younger voters."^[25]

While discussing this, Engadget noted that Date was far more popular in Eastern territories than Western territories due to lukewarm reception of Devil Kings. Nevertheless, the site expected the third game in the franchise to bring more appeal of Date to English players due to Capcom having announced its localization.^[26] In a Yahoo! Japan poll from 2010, Date was voted as third-most-popular video-game character, behind Hatsune Miku and Mario.^[27] In June 2009, JYB sold a tour in Japan known as Sengoku Basara: Date's Troop Tour. It focused on events related to Date and Kojuro. A total of 90% of the people who went there were young women.^[28] Multiple types of merchandising based on the character have been released such as an identical helmet.^[29] In a series of Sengoku Basara guides, Date has been featured prominently in the first issue as the volume highly focuses on his role in the franchise.^[30]

Critical reception

McCollum's English acting as Date earned praise by critics.

Initial reactions to Date focused on his particular use of six swords, with GamesRadar jokingly speculating that they were behind Date having an eye patch.^[31][32] Nintendo World Report primarily noted how distant Date's characterization was from his historical counterpart as well as how he wields six swords.^[33] Japanator liked Date's character, most notably his relationship with Sanada Yukimura despite the irony that none of these historical figures ever met. While liking the English dub, the reviewer lamented the fact the video games lacked his Japanese voice actor, who made heavy use of Date's trope of using Engrish.^[34]

Game Revolution stated that they found Date and Yukimura to be common characters since the franchise already had multiple fighters whose physical looks would amaze players.^[35] Gaming Nexus was more critical, finding Date's gameplay repetitive and his search for Mitsunari Ishida to be simplistic in its execution.^[36] Japanator praised both Robert McCullum and Kazuya Nakai for providing appealing voices for Date in English and Japanese, respectively.^[37] A similar response to Nakai's voice acting was given by Otaku News based on the delivery of Date's Engrish lines.^[38] Toon Zone felt that McCollum also gave a good performance as Date despite criticizing his overuse of yelling.^[39]

Critics had also focused on Date's role in the anime adaptation of the series, which was more positive in general. FandomPost liked the action scenes featured by the two protagonists of the anime as seen in the English release of the series.^[40] Blu Ray noted that the development of Date's and Yukimura's friendship served as one of the strongest parts of the first season,^[41] with Otaku News also enjoying the balance between these two leads despite their differences in personality and methods of action.^[38] Anime Herald agreed and noted the two rivals' "rise to greatness" across their fights and the lessons they learned in the series.^[42] While liking the first fight scenes between Date and Yukimura, Fandom Post felt that the second season managed to further develop these characters, with Date facing conflicts with his associate Kojuro which made him more vulnerable than in the first season.^[43]

In regards to the film The Last Party, Date's rivalry with Mitsunari Ishida was praised due to its tragic beginnings and eventual revenge clashes between Ishida and Date.^[44] This subplot was noted to be one of the major highlights of the feature despite Date's differences from his TV series' characterization.^[45] Anime News Network felt the fight scenes featuring Date were highly entertaining due to the visuals the anime staff provided.^[46] Japanator noted that Date was his favorite character from the games and believed Production I.G succeeded in adapting all of his action scenes.^[37]