Meanwhile, in Fate, Nobunaga is either a goofy dork you want to hang around with or a dommy mommy

ok, but "Orka NobuDAKKA" might be the single best name for an ork I have ever heard 🤣

Nobunaga calling himself "the demon of the sixth heaven" in context seems like a similar clapback to "What is a king to a god?"

No one is safe from Flanderization, not even history.

Future storytellers (as in, during the Sakoku period) were highly traditionalists: the dangerously open-minded Nobunaga became a monster to not imitate and the one who did all the "bad stuff" during he war instead of his main ally Tokugawa. Hideyoshi was born a peasant, so he wasnt's "as noble" like the other warlords. Meanwhile the Tokugawas PAID the history makers.

Ieyasu Tokugawa may as well have been the original Yakuza boss.

The Pokémon conquest version of Oda Nobunaga was strangly sympathic despite him being the final boss

"History is written by the winners... history is full of liars."

Frankly, I agree with your ending sentiment. While it's nice to enjoy these wacky anime depictions of these people, it's important to remember the history of these people as well. And honestly, I really don't think anyone should believe any historical figure was a big frikken super robot with a drill spear.

The dude is a gun nerd who opposed the mainstream religion of his country, won many wars and gave himself a badass title. Nobunaga is based.

Two major things: 1) The "Narutofication" of Nobunaga is older than you think. I find him fascinating as a historical character but many of my friends in Japan have said that he's taught to them as a villain and a ruthless dictator, so his public image has been poor for decades if not longer. 2) You used a few clips from Nioh 2, have you finished the main quest line all the way through? Because Nobunaga is depicted as fair, philosophical, and while stoic, they tone down his cruelty a lot and definitely give him a few heartfelt moments with Yasuke and Nōhime. Then with Hideyoshi, aside from the fact that they combine his character with the protagonist, he's only initially depicted as a goofy monkey, but they definitely let it be known that he becomes drunk with power later on (granted it's because Kashin Koji/Otakemaru is possessing him and the first Nioh definitely paints Tokugawa as a hero, but the first two unifiers get a way more realistic treatment in these games regardless)

Lessons are: 1. Don't get too easy on seeing popculture interpretations of historical figures, only to think that they are true 2. Even 3 unifiers of Japan have their sins and virtues, demon not allways mean actuall aliases, funny not allways mean good, and golden not allways mean virtuous

I've said it before and I'll say it again: war and being a good person very rarely mix well. It's never going to be as simple as good guys and bad guys.

Totally agree about hideyoshi, just wanna point out WHY the korean campaign would be left out of samurai warriors: SamWar is about the CIVIL WAR and UNIFICATION. When Hideyoshi was in power the country was effectively unified and the korean campaign wasnt a civil war.

This gave me one hell of a flashback to dinosaur king on 4kids of all things. In one episode they recited a rhyme that although I don't remember exactly I have found through googling. "Nobunaga piled the rice, Hideyoshi kneaded the dough and Tokugawa ate the cake"

The funny part about Fate's depiction of Oda Nobunaga is their worst offense is portraying him as a slim-built, gender-bent girl voiced by Rie Kugimiya. Historically, their portrayal is more in line with a more historically accurate Nobunaga: one that is reflective of their failings in unifying Japan and calling out how their successors were fools who made just as many mistakes as they did in their pursuit of a unified Japan.

I simply love how kouta hirano depicted him on drifters

The nobunaga stuff really reminds me of Vlad tepes. Dude was a monster, but when you look at stuff from the point he would have had to, it starts making more sense. A big one is the burning down and slaughter of a village. This even happened in a flashback in castlevnia. Now it's usually portrayed as ohh he's so evil he just went and slaughtered his own people because they were trading with people outside his kingdom. But no. If you actually look into it, they were trading with the invaders specifically. He showed up, punished the merchants (from everything I've found effectively a warning and actual punishments) saying not to do it again. Than they did, and he came back, punished the merchants properly this time and warned that there wouldn't be another time. They didn't believe him and again traded with the people trying to invade. That is when he burned the place down and slaughtered the merchants. He gave them three chances to quit their crap and stop undermining their home kingdom for the enemy, but they didn't. There's also the famed forest of the impaled. And yeah, brutal and horrific, but it wasn't without point. It was there to terrify the ottomans to bugger off and leave Walachia alone. And it worked. The invading army saw it and turned the hell around because they didn't want to fight someone who would do that. One brutal act protected his lands for quite some time. It's not talked about but Walachia was basically used as stomping ground between two huge empires trying to fight each other. So not only did he have to fend off the ottomans who had been making life hard for Walachia since long before he was born (and he had very personal reasons to hate) but also the holy roman empire and the forces of Christendom. So he often ended up fighting both. He used his image as a monster to his advantage and scared both empires to go around him whenever possible. Despite how most media portrays him as this blood crazed maniac, a lot of his actions feel like he was calculating how to scare people and avoid having to kill more than needed. While these ones seem dubious (if anyone has some actual sources on these let me know) but I've heard other examples like him learning that there was Christian propaganda about him being a demon, and because it made them scared he rolled with it and played into it effectively saying "if I'm a demon, do you really want to anger me?" as well as a battle where he attacked an ottoman force with a small army, only to almost immediately retreat over a hill, but as his soldiers vanished from sight over the hill he set free thousands of bats to give the illusion that his army were vampires and had fled via magic (I myself call some degree of BS on this one as bats and vampires didn't really get tied until bram stoker rolled around almost four hundred years later) in an attempt to scare the enemy off.

Gaijin talks about bout much de hates Fate's version of Nobunaga... despite the fact that fate's version (despite the gender bend) is one of the more faithful version of him. Its literally called out in game that his "Demon King" form is a version that is 'farthest from the truth' and the result of retrograde beliefs in history. And as far as Hideyoshi is concerned, despite that he also takes on a form similar to that of the silly monkey. Hideyoshi is called "happy-go-lucky yet calculative", "emotionally fragile yet cruel without compare", and "double-faced" by almost all in-universe servants who knew him (His alignment is Chaotic Evil as well). Also, in the scenarios where we are fighting against Nobunage, some characters mention that, of the three, Nobunaga is probably the best of all of them and the most preferred one who should've led. We still gotta fight against Nobu because that's not how history played out, and we need to put it back on its original path.

Hideyoshi: "guy we are going to destory korea and invade china!" Samurai: "I Like Your Funny Words Monkey Man"

My brain is rotten, how rotten?, I've played so much Fate GO, I can no longer hear Nobunaga's name without my brain reminding me of the mini Nobus and their "Nobu No Nobu"

moral of the story kids? all the sengoku warlords were ruthless in their own way, The tagline for the first Nobunaga's ambition game was even "Be ruthless! your rivals will be!"

As a child and teen you see Oda as a monster, but as getting older and more accurate do more research, you realized that Oda is the least jerk of the 3 unifiers I like how oda nobunaga conquest is him going "ENOUGH WITH THE RIGHTEOUS BUDDHIST SH!T!" and go "if you other warlords think your a great buddhist then I'm a demon lord from hell". Also I would like to see Hideyoshi still have his funny monkey motif, but show that brutal and sneaky side he was more like, but that use that funny monkey persona as a way let his oppoents guard down and come across as more friendly to allies and the commoners.

Fate dose have a reason why there characters are not always correct, excluding gender heroic spirits are based on both what they actually did and the myths that people made after them, hell it even gets so bad they even manifest with the skill "Innocent Monster" such individuals include Vlad III, Antonio Salieri and Nobunaga getting his own version because of the one time he called himself the demon king

One moment that always gets twisted in games when referencing Nobunaga is his defeating of the warrior monks of the Honganji. Media (mostly games) are content to view the Honganji as simple religious folk and victims of Oda's wrath, and are usually depicted as defenseless monks who did nothing wrong. In history though, the warrior monks of Honganji were thieves and vagrants. They often stole from the innocent, raised taxes in their area to astronomical levels, and their fighting force was armed to the teeth. Oda engaged in a campaign against the monks in order to quash their activities, a campaign spanning a decade, while also at a great disadvantage, as the monk's temple was situated at the top of a hill, which made it easier for the warrior monks to rain down bullets from above using their rifles. Oda eventually manages to win the campaign, and order the men women and children in the temple to be slaughtered, and it's usually this decision that media uses to paint Nobunaga as a bad guy. But think about this for a second: Oda spent over ten years attempting to attack an enemy while situated in a VERY bad position, all while the warrior monks of Honganji killed several of his men, while the campaign drained much of his resources and finances. And if history is consistent in one thing regarding Oda is that he had a BAD temper. So in my eyes, the dude basically had a gamer moment and punished the monks for putting him and his men through so much those past ten years and punished everyone and anyone when he had the chance. That's a VERY human emotion, and while rash and violent, it's not nearly as bad as, say, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's failed campaign against Korea, for example. I think Oda's response to the Honganji campaign was the brash, but understandable. But games try to depict that as Oda massacring innocents. It's just disingenuous. That being said, I love Sengoku Basara's depiction of the dude as literal Satan with a shotgun. It's absolutely hilarious.

I always hate when games set in the sengoku jidai always make Nobunaga so evily. I'm part japanese, and from my fathers side, come from a line of samurai that served the Oda clan for centuries. In fact when we go to Japan to see my grandmother, my ancestors samurai armor was mounted in the living room with the Oda flag on the wall behind it.Everytime I play period games about the sengoku jidai I will either scream in anger or lead the oda army to conquering Japan as for the reasons i already said.

*ironic that Oda despite being "The Devil" by his own words was probably the most morally grey out of the 3 great unifiers while the other 2 are straight up evil*

2:41 just want to bring up that that is explicitly Oda Nobunaga FROM AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE( Origin is from the Fate franchise) we still haven’t properly seen proper human history Nobunaga and plus dissipate her origins from a joke manga she is still a badass in both game and in Fate Type Redline though I DO GET Goombahs point with the whole “Narutofication” thing( also I learned a new word today) The Fate Franchise is very near and dear to me is all

I’m a Catholic in Texas of Mexican descent, and I actually learned about a Japanese Christian named St. Paul Miki.

Oda Nobunaga was just an ambitious guy and his ambitions were seen as bad, despite everyone else having their own ambitions that were causing as much or even worse problems, nobody in leadership is fully clean of wrong doings at some point. I'd liken the fairy tale version of Oda Nobunaga in media to that of a wrestling heel. Hideyoshi was just a farmer to start off right? A lot of things went wrong once Hideyoshi really started tasting power and he was quite a constant opportunist that ruined things for everyone else, he's a guy that went from some rather humble origins to an absolute nightmare for anyone 'in his way'. I wonder if someone actually pointed out that Ieyasu had a lot of money, when he was busy telling everyone else that anyone with a lot of money was suspect. Is it wrong to like Oda Nobunyaga for being a cat with guns?

07:49 a better example is what happened in the American Civil War in 1861. Virginia seceded from the Union. Its capital is Richmond, which is awful close to Washington DC... OF COURSE, the union armies would repeatedly invade to try to take Richmond.

Hey! Fate is more historically accurate than 99% of Japanese media and you know it! Even if the loli's are a cynical ploy to ride off Saber.

I see him in a similar light to Dracula. An actually good man who used a reputation of ruthless brutality to deter enemies, and eventually it made him a monster in pop culture.

I mean, let's be real: Next to nobody in the Sengoku Jidai was a good person. Basically every daimyo was a horrible person in some form or another. I personally enjoy Nobunaga's persona in Samurai Warriors 1-4. He wasn't really a 'villain' per say. Sure, he was more or less the main antagonist, but he was always portrayed as a conqueror who would do what the land needed most. Hideyoshi, on the other hand, is always portrayed with his positive aspects while ignoring his more despicable elements. Ironically enough, the fact you showed Nioh's portrayal is great, because it's probably his most historically accurate one.

for me nobu was just dude that did things but i loved how Drifters made nobunaga as character

I’ve spent years feeling like I was the only one that thought Nobunaga wasn’t THAT bad. The amount of vindication I got watching this was cathartic 🤣

I think Oda Nobunaga is the first case of a Memetic Badass in history, it's kind of funny that he suffers from both Flanderization (Emotionless Demon King) and Memetic Badass (the Demon King moneker coming from Nobunaga being a sarcastic smartass in reply to the Takada).

Reminds me of how Cao Cao gets portrayed as a supervillain in a lot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms adaptations. In fact, the first Warriors Orochi game seems to lampshade the similar character assassinations by having people get Cao Cao and Nobunaga mixed up, lol.

My first real exposure to the Sengoku era history was the Nioh games, and boy when I tell you the culture shock I get when I saw what Tokugawa looks like in Samurai Warriors vs Nioh. 😂

You either die a hero or live long enough to become an anime demon-god.

Your description of Hideyoshi actually reminds of his interpretation in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams. I don't remember the story too well having not played it in a while, but through the first half of the game, Hideyoshi is built up as the main antagonist who was senselessly killing countless by sending Genma (essentially zombies) on unsuspecting villages in the name of unifying japan, and even mentions the murder of Hidetsugu if i recall correctly. That said, I feel I remember they did the whole "He was possessed" thing and was never actually bad to make way to the actual main antagonist, but still sounds like closer portrayal to what you described in history.

Honestly despite some of the creative liberties that Fate takes with some historical figures they still have some of the best versions of said figures cause they go out of their way to explain historical facts when the character doesn't match with what we actually know about them. Nobunaga is a great example cause besides being female they do not sugar coat what he actually did but also make sure you know that he's not just an evil bad guy for the sake of being an evil bad guy.

When it comes to recent depictions of Nobunaga, have you heard of: Sengoku Komachi Kurotan A time travel Light Novel (and Manga adaptation) that has (thanks to a KZfaqr named Meti that reviewed the manga version) a pretty good interpretation of him. Not demonized, but also not hero worshipped, but instead going for a Nobunaga that is more of an opportunist that he supposedly was in real life.

The image of Hideyoshi in mass media is so funny to me because i first heard about him during my Korean history lectures and so i got to know him as a mass murderer and invader before i met him in pop culture and the difference is hilarious. Even my bachelor thesis is about his invasion on Korea so this topic os close to my heart ❤️ it was fun to learn more about Nobunaga and Tokugawa from this video, thank you!

Looking at the facts, it makes sense that a man in an era of war would be brutal, just like everyone else.

While it's hard to really call any of the three "moral", one thing I've thought is that Nobunaga would probably be the most personable of the three unifiers given how casual he could be with some of his subordinates.

I wouldn't write off Fate Nabu as even from my limited experience with that version of them from FGO, I know that they are a strong willed person that will do what needs to be done to accomplish thier goal even if those things aren't necessarily looked apon in the best way. That and things like Nabu's skills such as Innocent Monster which is based on negative stigmas that history imprinted on them and they inprinted onto themselves in some situations. Others like Vladd III, Hans Christian Anderson and Salieri have that skill as well which represents negative things that history has done and has perceived them as. Also Fate Nabu is someone who has learned from their past mistakes and points out the flaws and mistakes of their successors and previous enemies and thier wrong doings. Fate also has lots of good depictions of characters like Miyamoto Musashi, Senji Muramasa, and Sakamoto Ryoma. Gender bending aside (at least for Musashi) they are great depictions that showcase great what ifs like Musashi not writing his famous book and not achieving his goal or more accurate to history like like Sakamoto Ryoma being a reformist that got killed before they were able to see any changes they helped to enact.

Ah yes, judging historical figures by modern moral standards. What could possibly go wrong... Also Ieyasu wasn't the one who closed off the country, on the contrary he promoted foreign trade with his red seal ship system and Japanese merchants were very present at SEA and even India during his reign and until the the mid 30s. Even during the Sakoku period they still traded with their neighbors and with the Netherlands. But anyways Sakoku isn't a bad policy in itself, the tokugawa government just took too long to end the policy.

Thank you for this! I've found Nobunaga such a fascinating historical figure ever since I took a few Japanese history classes in college. I have a few things I'd like to add, but I unfortunately don't have sources. Please keep that in mind and bear with me, and if anyone can confirm or disprove me I'd appreciate it. First, on the subject of Mt. Hiei, there is a story I was told about the last straw that made Nobunaga snap. As you mentioned, he had been sieging the temple for a long time. Well, one of his commanders was struggling elsewhere, so he had to withdraw troops from the siege to reinforce them. As he was leaving, Nobunaga sent a missive to Enryaku-ji saying basically, "Look, I have business to attend to. Don't attack us as we're leaving, or you'll regret it." Obviously they attacked him, so after that other area was stabilized, he came back and the rest is history. The other story I was told takes place not long after he rose to power. I was was able to find a little bit about this on Wikipedia, so I feel a bit more comfortable about its validity. One of Nobunaga's brothers was part of a plot to overthrow him as head of the Oda clan. The plot was thwarted, and, at the behest of the brother's mother, Nobunaga spared him. However, it later came to light that said brother was still plotting against him, and Nobunaga wasn't gonna give him another chance and had him killed. I like these stories personally because, combined with other stories about him, it paints Nobunaga as a man who tries to be reasonable, but is VERY no nonsense and will not put up with people's bullcrap.

Then theres FGO Nobunaga. Washija!! But the creators actually gave so much detail on FGO Nobunaga. Especially her demon king version.

Ironically, the one source I think gets Nobunaga LESS Flanderized? Of all things, KAMEN RIDER. Nobunaga has had four major appearences, and while some fall into the brutal warlord view, they also give service to the totallity of him. The first, a Humoculous powered by Desire Alchemy. He has a desire for power but is quick to learn, manifests that power to take over a company, seeks out vengence on a decendent of Akechi Mitsuhide - but at the same time said descendent reminds him of a dancer he loved who his desire made him want her to be with him, and when he has a talk with his first friend in this life - the Rider of the series - he goes and heals up the woman who got injured in his rage, realizing he was too focused on his desires before being forced into a berserker state. Even when he's in the process of dying after being beaten, his last request is for the woman to be sent a flower - far from the monster a lot of shows depict him as. The second was an alternate universe counterpart who was a warlord. When under attack from an unstoppable foe, his primary goal is one of his underlings escaping when the writing is on the wall, sacrificing himself in what was probably allusion to said death by Mitsuhide. The third? A series focusing on the power ups being the spirits of Luminaries of the past. He was one of the main 15 Luminaries, notable figures of history, and his main weapon is the Rifle - mainly as they had used Musashi for swords. While the spirits don't play major parts, of note is that Nobunaga is portrayed mostly in a heroic light, used by an Anti-Hero Kamen Rider at first, then when that one fell under mind control, he represented the three spirits of that rider who teamed up with the main hero. And keeping in mind, neither Hideyoshi nor Ieyasu get a spot in the initial line up, only being super relevant at a later point where the three make a super mode as the Unifiers. And the fourth... Ahem. The fourth suggests the historical Nobunaga was actually a time travelling Kamen Rider who took up his mantle while the actual figure was a bit of a doofus. It's meant for comedy.

18:45 Worth brining up, but from what I’ve gathered, the Sakoku wasn’t really Ieyasu’s idea, because it was his grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu that enacted that policy (Not to mention that the Sakoku began in 1633, and Ieyasu died 1616). That not to say he had no influence in the events that led to the Sakoku, but at the very least, that particular wrongdoing can’t be blamed squarely on Ieyasu. Just to be clear though, I don’t think that error detracts from the point of the video. Regardless of if the Sakoku was his idea or not, everything else he did makes it clear that Ieyasu wasn’t the golden boy fiction likes to paint him as.

They likely had to do some unsavory things on the way, but those 3 are the ones that helped bring Japan together. Their lasting impact on the country was definitely a good thing even if it wasn’t always pretty

Abraham Lincoln only wore the hat 1 time.

I love that I could follow alot of the history because of your previous orka nobudaka video. The additional unifiers were so facinating! Thank GG

Great video, Goomba! We should all remember the old adage "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." I agree that parodies and jokes can be entertaining fiction, and that we should all strive to look in to the actual events events of what happened. Doing so gives us both important lessons and a greater apreciation for the fictions we enjoy.

Orka NobuDAKAA is just utter brilliance.

Nobunaga planted the rice. Toyotomi harvested the rice. But it was Tokugawa that cooked and ate the rice...

Not gonna lie, I had my suspicions with Nobunaga when playing Nioh 2. You basically get to see him as a pretty chill guy. The sequel to me cleared up any sort of idea of him being this Demon King media keeps depicting him. MEANWHILE FOR HIDEYOSHI, even from the beginning I knew this man would be up to something. Granted the guy was a lovable trickster until he embraced the evil and caused so much tragedy. So hearing this, I’m not fucking surprised one bit. XD While yes Nioh 2 does do this fictionalize things like Naurto, I could see the hints then believe Nobunaga was evil and Hideyoshi was a goober.

On one hand I'm surprised it took you this long to make a video about the three unifiers of Japan, but it's a good video and a good message to remember the historical people for who they are by reading history. Regarding the Goemon plays, while certain sources says that Hideyoshi adopted Goemon's baby boy, other sources said that he had the baby be boiled together with his father during Goemon's execution.

As I understand it, the rejection of Christianity wasn't just "can't serve your lord if you serve your *Lord* first", but rather a fear of Western power. Which does make sense, since sadly when European kings were expanding their influence they often sent Jesuit missionaries with such ideas, since a Catholic church would answer to the Pope, meaning that messages sent from their ports to Japan would carry a great deal of weight. So, not so much "can't serve your lord if you're serving God" and more "can't serve your lord if your highest authority is a European man".

Big fan of Fate Nobu especially in Type Redline. Also wouldn't exactly call her a loli, writing Fate Nobu off as just fanservice is a shame given how well shes written both as a joker character and a serious, threatening one.

Hmmm Oda Nobunaga is not THAT badly depicted in SW or Nobunaga's Ambition. Far from he tends to get a lot of credit. They do tend to give him the Darth Vader arc with the focus on the Mount Hiei stuff. The over the top villain stuff is usually present in other media. Tokugawa is very frequently depicted as a schemer and opportunist in games. Both in the Koeie games and media like Kessen. Though both the Oda and Tokugawa depictions actually depict it partially as a positive thing. 'The monkey'. Yeah.. can't really say anything about that one. It's kinda funny If you look at the historical parallels Oda is very much Julius Caesar and Tokugawa the Octavian/Augustus. Oda did the legwork but there was still too much chaos. But he got it all rolling through cunning, charisma, strength of will, opportunism, ambition and a little bit of idealism. While Tokugawa is more the statesman than conqueror. The man surrounding himself with experts while he himself was the reformer. And the patient powerbroker. Oda and Cao Cao have very similar tropes regarding their depiction. Ironic since in my old class on Chinese history Cao Cao is the one that actually gets some good stuff attributed to him that had lasting impact unlike the Wu & Shu factions.

Thank you. I love this video. I have been waiting for you too go off like this. I love this kind of content, because it's setting things straight without attacking people or their love of something.

First time I heard of Tokugawa was in the 2003 TMNT series. Shredder exclaimed that it was him who "conquered Japan and gave rise to the Tokugawa clan" Yea, they must be bad if The Shredder and the Foot Ninja allied with him

Wasn’t Satsuki from Kill La Kill get inspiration from Nobunaga and she’s one of the *good guys?*

Really enjoyed this video as a fan of the Musou genre. Thanks man for putting this together!

Probably my favorite depiction of these guys is Nioh and Nioh 2, although even that is romanticized a bit. Nobunaga is a an ambitious but ultimately fair leader who encourages the main character have goals beyond just serving him. Hideyoshi is a goofy guy who uses words and manipulation to put himself in favorable positions, but gets downright brutal once he gets a taste of power. And Ieyasu is a man trying to unite Japan under his rule and and treats everyone as a tool for his goals, not exactly because he wants to, but because unifying Japan is so important he feels he has no choice.

People have a serious issue with Separating Fiction from Reality, but thats not the fault of Fiction Writers. Blame falls on those who refuse to learn History. You cannot force Stupid People to BE Smart.

With all due respect to Gaijin Sengoku Basara’s last release was 8 years ago and iirc Samurai Heroes came out in 2008 in America…so while I totally get his annoyance with the Bishounen protagonist transformation Ieyasu got it’s far from this…universal trope.

in defense of FGO's Nobbu, she herself acknowledges she's a gag character and that the REAL Nobunaga could kick her ass.

For that fate comment I expected more from you as a researcher that you would actually take it into consideration that fate version of nobunaga is actually a pretty good betrayal not to mention that nobunaga is a fan favorite of the franchise both from writers and fans so you straight up attacking her is a quite a disappointment.

An old phrase that I will always remember, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Thank you for shedding light on these two I hear so little about 😃

The absolute shameful behaviour of those three have deep repercussions in Japanese society to this day. It's a nice thing to have all three men put into context!

I refuse to believe that Date Masamune didn't wield six swords, and didn't ride a motorcycle horse.

honestly I would love to see Macbeth retelling with Nobunaga as Macbeth

Thank god someone said it, because it's been a thing I'm noticing for a while too, I started out as the sort of person GG describes in the video, but slowly learning about the nuances of the history I got to pretty much where he is now. And ironically, Fate STILL has one of the most accurate depictions of Nobunaga, yeah they can be goofy, but that's because the character started in a literal gag manga, but because they're such a popular character, they keep getting brought back, and each time a serious story pops up, you see the depiction of the demon king Nobunaga, so in the end, you kinda end up with what Nobunaga was described as in total, someone who was enterprising and pioneering, a very effective leader, but can be a ruthless monster when they want to be.

Now that you've mentioned it, I'd like to see you cover the Perry Expedition and subsequently the musical Pacific Overtures.

Very nice. Helps out some great context to the already great Extra History series on the warring states period.

Hideyoshi also decided to take power from Nobukatsu, and then went to war against Tokugawa and Nobukatsu. Tokugawa was already shogun when the event you are talking about happened, so he wasn’t committed to Hideyori at that point. Hideyori was also staring to build his gun stores and army size at this point, with the only intention being war with Tokugawa. Yes the inscription thing happened but there was a few little things that led to both of their battles.

20:32 In fate franchise SHES NOT A LOLI

When it comes to Hideyoshi, I remember well a game by the name of "Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams" which was my first time learning about this period of Japanese history. It does not shy away from painting all of the big bois as monsters both metaphorically and literally, the main character even has traumas about his time in Korea. Safe to say, I've always been kinda iffy on the narutozation of many of these historical figures because of it, and I'm glad people like you can bring a spotlight to the fact that history is written by the victorious and whoever is writing down oral traditions which often only contain grains of truth rather than the full truth as it's often not as good of a story.

Also, I am pretty sure Orochi from One Piece is based on Hideyoshi.

Don't forget that with the Meiji Restoration came the rise of Zaibatsu basically a select few rich families given subsidized government money to rapidly modernize. These Zaibatsu became one of if not THE leading factors in Imperial Japan's rise and pursuit of war in WW2. So yea Tokugawa arguably railroaded Japan into WW2.

Commodore Perry: I've brought my F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Also Gunboats. Tokugawa: *GODDAMNIT*

A manga that depicts Nobunage quite accurate, I think, is "Sengoku Komachi Kuroutan".

It feels good being this early to a video again. Also, I kinda hoped you'd mention Edomae Elf, since one of the main characters was a close personal friend of Tokugawa back in the day.

This is similar to the Three Kingdoms era with Cao Cao. People mostly view him as evil while Liu Bei is the most virtuous and benevolent due to pop culture and the many versions of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I enjoy the many forms of media. It's nice seeing your analysis of the Three Great Unifiers in this aspect too.

I appreciate the deep dive into a relatively unknown aspect of history but, as someone who translates stories from the Konjaku Monogatari Shu and puts them up here, I can't help but be a bit disappointed at yet another video about the Sengoku/Edo periods. You said it yourself, the Sengoku is easily the most adapted period of Japanese history. And while that's understandable, it's still a bit frustrating that everyone in the west just ignores the rich offerings of other periods, especially the Heian period. Well, I suppose that's why I do what I do. Regardless, I appreciate the video. It's always nice to see someone break unrealistic stereotypes.

But hear me out. Japan painting Nobunaga as somewhere between Skeletor and the Devil is kinda funny.

I really hope you'll be doing a Which Ninja on Pruncess Peach Showtime. I was seriously impressed when I saw she had water shoes and used a pipe of bamboo to breathe under water... great attention to detail.

I must admit, @Gaijin Goombah, your videos have helped me to develop a character for a campaign of mine on Sundays. Your insight and experience on Japan, its history, figures and myths have helped me out a lot. Thank you.

I always saw nobunaga similar to vlad the impaler guys who I would best describe as intensly hated men who did overall good through violent and extreme acts that were honest about it both men made jokes in character of being evil and semi courted the image (I know vlad did oda not sure but at least he didn't seem to care) but It still comes as they owned up to what they did without regretting doing it

I'm suddenly put to mind that Tokugawa must have been part of the inspiration behind Clavell's novel "Shogun": a ruler dies, leaving his son to be overseen by 5 daimiyos, only to see their oath of loyalty devolve into a power struggle, with a castle, some Christians, and the fate of Japan's future in isolation involved. Interesting to see, since the chief daimiyo character -- Toranaga -- clearly has to be the analog to Tokugawa. Save that in Toranaga's case, he's seen as a master manipulator and strategist: thinking many steps ahead of his foes, and using people to gain the thing he wanted most: The Shogunate. At times you can find Toranaga as a likable, if at times harsh ruler, but clearly never portrayed on the level of Tokugawa.

Oh my god, not even one full minute in, and I'm already nostalgic for the Onimusha series.

Glad you took some images from Nobunaga's Ambition, love that franchise

We need to also make sure we do this for our own public figures, both historical and current. Trust me, making both Biden and Trump into caricatures and ignoring their own histories isn't doing us ANY favors.

Honestly. . . Hearing about Hideyoshi's establishment of the Bateren-tsuiho-rei; I HAVE ABSOLUTE CONTEMPT TOWARDS THIS MASS MURDERING MONSTER!!

No mention of Nioh? Was curious where on that spectrum the unifiers fit in.

Great video man! Are there any plans to cover Shogun once it finishes?