Masamune Date

伊達政宗 Date Masamune
4-Kanji Description:	奥州筆頭 （おうしゅうひっとう）
4-Kanji Translation:	Head of Oushuu
Weapon:	1-6 Katana
Element:	Lightning
Faction:	Date
Series Debut:	Sengoku BASARA
Playable Debut:	Sengoku BASARA
Games:	Sengoku BASARA Sengoku BASARA 2 Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes Sengoku BASARA X Sengoku BASARA Battle Heroes Sengoku BASARA 3 Sengoku BASARA Chronicle Heroes Sengoku BASARA 3 Utage Sengoku BASARA 4 Sengoku BASARA 4 Sumeragi
Anime:	Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings 2 Sengoku BASARA The Last Party Sengoku BASARA Judge End
Seiyuu:	Kazuya Nakai
Voice Actor:	Kirby Morrow (Devil Kings) Reuben Langdon (Samurai Heroes) Robert McCollum (Samurai Kings/2/The Last Party)
Television Actor:	Hayashi Kento
Stage Actor:	{{{stage actor}}}
Character Theme:	{{{character theme}}}

"独眼竜は伊達じゃねぇ、you see?"

―Date Masamune's quotes.

"Put ya guns on!"

―Date Masamune's quotes.

Date Masamune is one of the main characters and one of the main protagonists in the Sengoku BASARA series. He was portrayed as the energetic and fearless young ruler of the Date Clan. He was known as "One-Eyed Dragon" (独眼竜, Dokuganryū).

He appears in Sengoku BASARA 4 as a playable character. He is initially playable within the game. Completing his story will unlock Katakura Kojūrō.

Description

Medium-long brown hair, a black eye-patch, an uncommon and original blue suit and a classic helmet with a golden crescent moon at its top is how Masamune has been drawn in the anime, respecting each detail from the game. Another curious thing to mention is his horse: it resembles a motorcycle, because it's equipped with real modern handlebars coming out from the mane and an exhaust pipe on the back. Whenever he travels on horseback, he rides leaning back with his arms crossed.

Masamune tends to speak a mixture of English and Japanese and the way he and his men are shown seems to resemble a Yakuza Clan (due to some hairstyles, way of talking and other details). Date Masamune is presented as a cocky and ambitious warlord, usually wielding a single Katana, though when fighting seriously he can use up to six swords at once (three in each hand, held between the fingers). His six swords gain the nickname "Dragon's claws".

While energetic and optimistic on the battlefield, outside of it he is rather quiet, mild, and thoughtful. He discusses plans and difficulties openly with his men and often weighs the counsel of his second in command, Kojūrō Katakura, before making major decisions. This personality contrast adds to his character's appeal, preventing the forming of a single, unchanging personality.

In addition, his loyalty to his men is unmistakable; he has shown more than once to deeply care for all of them, especially for his right hand Kojūrō.

Despite his rivalry with the young Sanada Yukimura, the two have a deep respect for each other and will also form an alliance in order to take down the Devil King Oda Nobunaga.

Historical Information

Date Masamune

Date Masamune (伊達政宗)
(September 5, 1567 - June 27, 1636)

At the age of 14 he participated in his first military campaign, helping his father Date Terumune in the war against Soma clan. At 18 he took the position of his father, who retired by the time. There are at least three versions explaining how Masamune had lost his eye: 1) in an accident because he was a very playful child; 2) his eye was cut out by Kojuurou to localize infection (presumably small pox); 3) he cut the vessel, holding the plucked out eye himself. Still Masamune demanded that on the portraits he should be depicted with both eyes. Though Masamune is considered a cruel person, he is said to be good at cooking. He invented frozen tofu and natto (a dish made from beans). He was the first one to arrange mass production of miso. One of Date’s greatest achievements was financing and patronage of a Japanese diplomatic mission. He constructed the “Date Maru” ship using European technologies and sent one of his subordinates with the 180 people embassy to the Pope. The embassy visited the Philippines, Mexico, Spain and Rome.

Weapons

• Wyvern Tear - A normal sword with weak attack power and defense.
• Gorgon's Claw - A better sword than Wyvern Tear, but not by much.
• Dragon Fang - A special sword with medium attack power and weak defense that adds lightning damage with each hit.
• Uroboros - A special sword with low attack power and very high defense that adds a bonus hit to every blow when an enemy is in a "primed" state.
• Tiamat - Has the same properties as Dragon Fang, but with much higher attack power and medium defense.
• Alastor - The legendary sword from Devil May Cry, which has the same properties as Dragon Fang and Tiamat, but with the ultimate attack power and defense.

Gameplay

Masamune is one of the few characters to have an alternate mode- his regular mode and his 6-Sword mode.

In his regular mode, Masamune uses only one of his swords for his regular attack string. His S-String comprises of the usual slashes and is comparable to most other characters in terms of attack speed and range.

In his 6-sword mode, Masamune uses all six swords. This mode is activated by equipping his personal item, using his Basara Attack, using War Dance or automatically in certain stages in the story. Masamune will return to his regular mode when hit, after certain amount of time has passed, or when using most of his skills. While in this mode, his S-String will deal more damage in addition to being faster and longer (range-wise) than his regular S-String. His S-String also covers more area, than his regular one. However, while in this mode, Masamune cannot guard or evade, making it risky to use in some situations. Prior to Sengoku Basara 3, unless his personal item is equipped, this mode would be canceled once Masamune gets hit or using any skills other than War Dance. Also, in Sengoku Basara 3, Masamune gets a new regular air attack and his skills get upgraded while in this mode.

His personal item lets him stay in his 6-swords mode for the entire battle.

Story Events

Sengoku BASARA 3

He was enraged after he and Katakura Kojūrō were defeated by Ishida Mitsunari, a loyal retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Odawara Castle. So he, along with Katakura Kojūrō, went after Ishida Mitsunari to defeat him in order to return his pride. Later, Date Masamune made a decision to forge an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu and join the battle of Sekigahara to fight Mitsunari. He battles Mitsunari, but not out of revenge, as he states that he was just a stepping stone for him. He defeats Mitsunari but doesn't kill him, remarking that his eyes resemble his before leaving.

In his second story, he heads straight to Osaka and defeats Mitsunari in his first stage. He learns that Yukimura went to Yoshihiro and decides to go there too. After meeting Yoshihiro, he heads to Osaka again to battle Yukimura. After a fierce battle, it ends in a draw and Masamune takes his leave.

Skills

Jet-X

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune cross slashes forward with his six swords. In Sengoku BASARA 2, this skill can be upgraded so that it is repeatable up to three times.

Death Fang

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune juggles the enemies in front of him with 3 swords on his one hand.

Magnum Step

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune thrusts forward with 3 swords on his hand.

Phantom Dive

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• Masamune does a horizontal sweep, then leaps and slams the ground, causing an electrical shockwave that goes forward.

Hell Dragon

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune charges an energy ball on his sword, then unleashes it forward.

Crazy Storm

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• Masamune slashes multiple times with 4 swords -2 on each hands-, then ending with a cross sweep.

Magnum Strike

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Magnum Step while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. do twice attack and knockback towards enemies in second attack.

Death Bite

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Death Fang while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. do more damage and hits.

Crazy Stream

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Crazy Storm while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. Do wide radius, more hits and more damage.

Testament

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• Concentrates all of his energy into one sword for a powerful strike and send wave forward to make them knockback if they didn't receive damage from his sword attack. With the right timing, it becomes a one hit kill. Very useful against Unique Character.

War Dance

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• If used in his regular mode: Release all his sword at once, causing much damage on enemy groups and increase his attack speed.This attack would be canceled if: reached the time limit of use, hit by enemies, or using BASARA attack. In Sengoku Basara 3, it would change his skill style, has longer duration in higher level, and is usable in mid-air.
• If used in 6-sword mode: Masamune does a series of swipes hitting enemies in front of him. In Sengoku Basara 3, it would simply revert back to his regular mode.

Jumping Jack Breaker

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3: The last party
• Masamune throws his 5 swords creating what appears to be a dragon symbol in the air and then pierces the center (which is where the victim is) to do signifigant damage.

Gallery

Image Gallery

Trivia

• Kazuya Nakai, Masamune's Japanese voice actor, seems to have an affinity with voicing rambunctious sword users (Roronoa Zoro, Mugen, Travis Touchdown, even the one-eyed Xiahou Dun), which funny enough, the actor is uncomfortable with sharp objects. (In that same point, his character Hijikata Toshirou in Gintama, references this Masamune quite a lot.)
• In the anime his eyes are blue but in game they are brown.
• Date Masamune's six sheaths (which he carries his swords in) resemble dragon wings.
• Date's horse has handlebars and exhausts that resemble a motorcycle.
• Date Masamune was planned to be a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but in the end he wasn't included. [1].