Thursday, August 12, 2010

Pop Culture Samurai: Sengoku Basara

The Sengoku (literally "warring states" 戦国) period was a time of chaos in Japan, when just about everybody and his brother was fighting over their corner of the country and their neighbors' as well.

Sengoku Basara is a testorone-laden, over-the-top pop culture spin on that time, featuring real-life historical characters and some poetic license on the history involved. You can check it out in video game, anime or manga format.

I've recently seen a few episodes of the 2009 anime series, thanks to Funimation (Season 2 is this summer). It both surprised me and made me laugh: as a former resident and big fan of the city of Sendai, it was fun watching its ancient and revered founder, the "one-eyed dragon" Date Masamune, appear on-screen as a trash-talking punk wielding six swords and riding a horse with motorcycle handlebars strapped to it.

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