Sengoku Basara: The Last Party

If you’ve been partying without flying horses and swords that turn into dragons, then you’re not doing it right

Why is this the LAST PARTY?! I WANT MOAR. Because this is just too addictive. What can a girl do when these MANRY men keep on hunting each other like crazy dogs and many EPIC fights ensue that defy gravity?! I can already see OC going fangirl crazy with more footage of Mitsunari and Ieyasu. Though for me, Date’s Engrish lines are the killers.

I don’t think you understand how much we love Sengoku Basara. I don’t think you understand how much I love Sengoku Basara! Well, you are about to find out that I love this anime more than I will any man. I’m sorry, future boyfriend. Forgive me. Basara always comes first.

I was so scared that nobody would sub this because this movie has been aired since FOREVER, and not even the RAW version was seen! So you can imagine how happy I was when I saw that they’ve subbed this. I’m so excited because I can see my favorite Basara cast again (which is everybody). I can’t wait anymore! PUT YOUR GUNZ ON!

Overcooled: In the event that you forgot the entirety of season 1 and 2, the movie is kind enough to recap everything. I, however, am not. After a recap and a cutscene taken straight from the video game it’s based on, we finally get to the main subject. Mitsunari is ravaging Japan in order to find Date Masamune and murder him for killing his master, Hideyoshi. He depletes some of Mogami’s forces before finally finding Date and engaging him in battle. Date just spews random engrish at him before basically flying away on his magical horse. Nothing new there.

When Date returns to Oushu after finishing his scouting job, he suddenly collapses to the ground. Mitsunari’s specialty is apparently leaving a multitude of cuts that don’t open until an hour later. Date does NOT take the loss very well. Meanwhile, Shingen prepares to take the head of Kenshin and take over his forces as spoils of war from a battle he won against him in season 2. Before he can lop the androgynous ice-man’s head off, a buff man riding a Gundam stops them. He is no other than Ieyasu – the only character in this show who aged since season 1! He is countering Mitsunari’s belligerent attempt to take over Japan with his own, more peaceful approach. While they don’t agree to outright help him in his near-hopeless mission, they do compliment him and wish him luck.

I’m just gonna rest my head here for a bit, kay?

Ieyasu manages to enlist the help of Motochika and Keiji. They start touring the land in order to gain more followers, but most other towns are still mightily suspicious. Most of all, Ieyasu would want Mitsunari by his side, but he just sees Ieyasu’s work as that of a traitor. They both used to fight for Hideyoshi, but only Ieyasu is willing to admit that Hideyoshi was a tyrant and needed to change his ways.

Pirates and hippies…sounds like a legit group.

Mitsunari asks Yoshitsugu to convince Tenkai…to convince Hideaki…to forge a letter in Ieyasu’s writing. That is a lot of convincing. Anyways, it sounds like a good plan since they’ve been taking over villages with Oichi and putting up Ieyasu’s flag to blame him. It’s failproof except EVERYONE realizes the letter is false right away. Yukimura – now officially the successor of Shingen – is especially concerned about this letter sent to smear his idol’s name. In order to set things straight, he heads out to talk to Ieyasu about whoever is opposing him. At the same time, Masamune is riding out to smash Mitsunari’s face in for killing so many people just to draw him out for a fight.

Yukimura and Date cross paths and whenever this happens, you know they simply can’t hold back their emotions. IT’S TIME TO PASSIONATELY MAKE OUT!…Oh, wait, no that’s just a doujin I read. IT’S TIME TO FIGHT! A ridiculous battle gets underway, but Keiji stops them midway and forces them to go together to Sekigahara and support Ieyasu as he makes a speech to officially clear his name. The only problem is that Mitsunari comes out of nowhere and starts trying to kill Masamune, so all the soldiers start to think Ieyasu set them up for a sneak attack. To make matters worse, Motonari appears on his moving castle thing and starts using his forked tongue to further provoke the soldiers. At this point, almost every character is fighting each other to try and come out on top.

Amongst all the squabbling, Masamune faces Mitsunari alone to settle things once and for all. At first Mitsunari gives him a run for his money, but he’s caught off guard when his finishing move is blocked by a special accessory his army gave him as a present. Masamune’s counter-attack is an incredibly flashy….jumping jack. Yes, Mitsunari is defeated by an attack named after a warm-up one does before exercising. Mitsunari survives, if only because Ieyasu protected him at the last moment.

By the way, did I mention there was an entire REVIVE ODA NOBUNAGA SUBPLOT?! Well, he’s come back to life now thanks to his imouto lolololol. Mitsunari attacks him recklessly for destroying the land that Hideyoshi was meant to reign, his leper friend Yoshitsugu sacrificing himself in the process to protect him. After crying tears of blood and getting pissed off, everyone musters up enough strength for a final, combined attack. It kills him, but he instantly revives due to Oichi’s presence. Speaking of which, she suddenly gets a mesage from her dead lover and decides to save the day by killing Tenkai in a rather pathetic fashion and then bring Nobunaga back to the realm of the dead with her….by hugging him. First jumping jacks, now a hug.

At this point, my grandma shouted from the next room “Ohhhh, that man sounds angry!”

With Nobunaga defeated, all that’s left is for one final fight. Mitsunari still hates Masamune, but decides he’d rather rather have a match with Ieyasu. It’s only fair given how Mitsun-tsun ignored his affectionate friend for like, THE ENTIRE MOVIE. Of course, Yukimura fights with Masamune and Motochika with Motonari. So what did we learn, kiddies? Nothing. NOTHING CHANGED. So let’s just get distracted by dancing samurai and be merry, okay?

Oh man, that fivesome took a lot out of them.

The After Party:

I guess gravity wasn’t invented in the Sengoku era yet

At this point, you shouldn’t even be fazed by this.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this fighting stance

Roronoa Zoro ain’t got NOTHING on Mitsunari

End Thoughts:

Time to COOL OFF from too much fangirling because after watching such awesome fights that put some games to shame, people getting revived left, right and center and of course the subtext of bromance EVERYWHERE, it’s almost impossible for me to be objective about this. Forget about gravity after seeing Magistrate float, think about hairgel looking at Mitsunari’s pointed hairdo, laugh your head off hearing FukuJun voice a sissy character and doing nothing but squeak, roll your eyes seeing too many characters still ALIVE and stare in wonder at the epic fights. Being a fan of this since the second season started airing, I have loved its outrageousness and if you want to have some mindless fun with MANRY BISHIES going at each others’ throats, this is your ticket.

Last Party is a hotpot of blazing seiyuu cast that leaves your eargasming even after the movie is over. I mean, Nakai Kazuya as Date Masamune (Hijikata, Zoro, Mugen), Tomokazu Seki as Mitsunari (Gilgamesh, Toujou, Chiaki), Tooru Okawa as Ieyasu (Toshio, Gedächtnis, Mustang), Toshiyuki Morikawa as Kojuurou (Sephiroth, Jonouchi, Dante), Fukuyama Jun as Hideaki (Yukio, Takanashi, Gammon), Takehito Koyasu as Sasuke (Sister, Craft, Zechs), Souchiro Hoshi as Yukimura (Rygart, Lio Shirazumi, Goku), Show Hayami as Mitsuhide (Aizen, Wolfwood, Ichiya), Masakazu Morita as Keiji (Ichigo, Barnaby, Hiramaru), Noto Mamiko as Ichi (Sawako, Yuri, Hagoromo-Gitsune), Romi Paku as Kenshin (Edward, Toshiro, Angelica) and Wakamoto Norio (Dues Ex, Shining, Cell) as Nobunaga. I mean, where else will you find such a perfect voice cast that will keep you involved in a story that is gamey as hell (yeah, I’m aware of the games!) but with new spins.

I won’t waste time on plot because Overcooled and anaaga have already elaborated on it. Though the sad point for me was the sudden death of OYAKATA-SAMA (no, I wasn’t fazed at all by the shredded house)! I mean, sure he was old and stuffs but this is Sengoku Basara where no one dies (except for that gorilla). Though, I do understand that Yukimura was supposed to get more responsibility and become the Tiger but I liked the punching tournaments and ceaseless shouting of OYAKATA-SAMA/YUKIMURA! Moving on, Ichi was the poster girl of grief but at least she did SOMETHING this time around and killed the annoying yet ROTFL-inducing HNNNGGing-Nobunaga (Wakamoto’s awesome!). Overall, I liked the fivesome action and glimpses of Chousokabe/Mori. GG subs made me laugh even more than I wanted to and this ended up being a fun night, which should be live-watched just for more laughs and entertainment. So, fly your own flag with X-bolts and enjoy the last party that ends with a dancing army. Now tell me which movie has this much entertainment, huh? So, I’ll sign off with a JUMPING JACK BREAKER! Ja ne~

I am a huge fan of the Sengoku Basara franchise. I thoroughly enjoyed both seasons of the anime, I’ve played over 100 hours of the third game and I have enough fanart and doujins to make your head spin. I’m a fangirl, in short. I love the series for it’s complete disregard for historical facts (and physics, for that matter) and focus on hot-blooded action. I’m usually opposed to battles won with GUTS instead of wit, but this series takes everything so over the top that it simply couldn’t be any other way. The movie was the same brand of flashy action with explosions, somersaults, magic horses, and all manner of crazy shenanigans. While nothing will ever top Hideyoshi parting an entire ocean with his fist in season 2, the levels of crazy were around where they should be for the movie. It was pure, unbridled fun!

The funny thing is that Oda Nobunaga’s fight wasn’t even half as cool as Masamune fighting Yukimura. I know Masamune is the most popular character in the series (Fact. They did an official poll.) but the other characters deserve some attention. Keep in mind the games came before the anime, so it’s only now they’ve decided to change things and make Masamune take charge. In the game, Ieyasu kills Hideyoshi – causing Ieyasu and Mitsunari’s rivalry to take over Japan to be the main focus. Mitsunari is much more bitter at a former comrade who once marched under Hieyoshi’s banner to have been the murderer than a random hooligan like Masamune. It also makes Ieyasu’s attempts to quell Mitsunari’s anger even sadder, as  Mitsunari is so blinded by his devotion to Hideyoshi that he doesn’t care about his friend and how immensely guilty he feels for what he’s done. Anyways, I won’t do a point by point analysis of the differences, but I do prefer having Ieyasu being the killer. I will give the movie props for following everything else in a similar fashion, just making slight changes to suit the new story. That was cool. I’m not sure why I’m so fussy about the story when Sengoku Basara isn’t exactly the most eloquent of storylines. The plot is usually just an excuse to get people to fight. They will even revive people if it means there can be an epic battle. They also will not explain why Hideaki has a giant hot pot, who Tenkai is, or any real details in preference of just getting into the battles. 90 minutes just wasn’t enough time!

Rushed as it was, I don’t deny that I was grinning the entire time. Forget the spotty plot and changes, DATE IS SPOUTING ENGRISH AND MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS ARE FINALLY HERE!!!  Sengoku Basara is fanservice at its finest. I think the only character to actually die and stay that way would be Hideyoshi – everyone else is too popular to stay six feet under for too long. How did Motonari survive that giant attack in season 2, huh? Anyways, I’m glad everyone is alive and well, because I don’t want this franchise to end any time soon. The characters and their relationships with one another are just too precious. Yukimura and OYAKATA-SAAAAMAAA, Mitsunari and Ieyasu, Motonari and Chosokabe, Oichi and Nobunaga…so many of them have bonds (oh god no, I’m starting to talk about bonds) linking them together. So even though there is a buttload of characters, they’re all relevant to each other in some shape or form. I love that. The characters in Basara are some of my favourites out of sheer fondness. Sengoku Basara fans – WATCH THIS MOVIE. Non-fans – start watching season 1!

SO MUCH MANLINESS. It was full of GARness. I’m happy because I can see Basara one more, but I have mixed feelings after I watched the movie. Obviously the movie didn’t do enough justice for Mitsunari and Ieyasu. They are far far more amazing in the game than how they are in the movie, but it’s because it was Ieyasu who killed Hideyoshi, not Date. When the movie was finished, I can’t help but asking myself, “Seriously, what the hell is Ieyasu doing here?” All he has been doing is… Nothing! Well, he did try to convert people into Ieyasuism, but I just don’t feel Ieyau’s charisma at all! He’s so weak in this movie! But I shouldn’t say that because Kenji did NOTHING in this movie. And Mitsunari? He’s pure evil here, which is another disappointment. He has so many sides in him, but all we can see in the movie is his evil side. And that connection thing Ieyasu said at his battle against Mitsunari in Sekihara? Sorry dude, but my fujoshi brain isn’t picking any connection between you and Mitsunari at all. There is a connection between Mitsunari and Yoshitsugu (!!) though, which is gross. It’s sad that Mitsunari and Ieyasu were somewhat lacking depth in the movie because they are great characters.

The story was also disappointing too. I never like the idea of resurrecting Nobunaga. I mean, dude! He’s DEAD! Do we actually need him? No if it’s for a better plot, yes if it’s for the sake of keeping everybody alive. Sadly, it seems that CAPCOM decided to take the later. Sure, it’s nice that everybody is still alive and all that, even though they decided to fight their arse off in the end; but I prefer a better plot even though one of the guy has to die for it. And what’s with the whole “Mori appearing out of nowhere” thing? They’re putting him there because obviously he’s in high demand too, just like Chosokabe. I don’t like how they’re just throwing in characters just for the sake of pleasing the audience. It’s as if this whole movie is just a fanservice for the crowd. Wait… It IS full of fanservice!

Oh well, I guess I should stop complaining and see the bright side of things now. At least I get to see Date and Yukimura playing with each other’s shafts. God, their horses are hilarious as hell. The fighting scenes were so manly, and thank goodness Mitsunari gets the credit of killing Nobunaga. That guy needs more love, seriously. Although the story is lacking, somehow the movie still can keep you entertained. The lack of proper plot in Sengoku Basara is probably one of the appeals of it. If it’s possible though, I want a remake of this movie in the series version with the original storyline of Ieyasu killing Hideyoshi. Need some Magoichi and Tsuruhime (that’s her name right?) too please! But if that’s impossible, then I guess this movie is more than enough. Plot? WHO NEEDS PLOT? ALL HAIL SENGOKU BASARA.

The only one to HEAT YOU UP is Metanorn, and don’t you forget it!

About Tag Team

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.