wowie.. the anime hooked me and the LN even more I should say
Spoiler for volume 8/9?:
had a skim up to volume 8 and gotta say... I'm sitting at the edge of my thumbs from looking at Yoshiharu rushing back to Kyoto, does Mitsuhide (Juubei-chan) actually struck on Nobuna in the Honnou-ji scenario? or was it just the rebels from the Yamato province?
anyhoo, has anyone actually read up to volume 9?
I haven't read the books myself, but I have been able to piece together quite a few bits of information. As for your question, here.
Although what we're really looking forward to is the MC doing his 300 thing (only with 500 instead), we're given something completely unrelated instead: Masamune is back home and talks with her old friend (don't know the romaji of her name) and starts her plan to become the demonic tyrant that will rule the world (MC's little confidence boosting speech really got taken way out of proportion).
Now back to what we're really after, MC Covering the Retreat:
The men with him are prepared to lay down their lives to get the MC back, but the MC refuses: He's selfish and he wants the cake and eat it too, and He declares that won't abandon them to die and just run off by himself, and that they'll all go back together. The MC uses a number of tactics, like putting extra gunners on the cannons Mitsuhide left him and having them fire off sequentially for a constant rate of fire in a fairly narrow space to good effect (even though Mitsuhide honestly forgot to leave her gunners with him, he made due with the people he had). They steadily retreated until they got intercepted by an enemy omiyoji (a young boy who I will refer to as Young Omiyoji) who summoned a huge number of familiars to intercept them. With all the familiars flying about acting like search planes, the MC and his forces were stuck.
In the end, they came up with a plan: Omiyoji siphon powers from dragon lines (or points, or something like that?), which are in the mountains where they were. If they can block those points up, then the Young Omiyoji's powers will get weaker and they might be able to break through. They embark on this plan and goes to find the Dragon Point, but got caught by the Young Omiyoji near the end. MC reiterates that he won't abandon his men and would rather die in exchange for their lives, plus the Young Omiyoji stated that so long as he takes the MC's head it won't matter if lets the rest of the troops do. At that point, the MC hears Hanzo say "then die", feels a sharp pain in his back, and blacks out.
On Nobuna's side:
The Oda army is in disarray and retreating. Nobuna did meet up with Matsumae (invaded kyoto before surrendering to Nobuna last volume, mature woman, nicknamed "the scorpion", has a penchant for poisons), who came to help her (even though the other generals in Oda's army distrusts her, Nobuna accepts her help without reservation). She helps them through a pass (Or some critical guarded juncture) using her wiles and poison to blackmail the guard. Before Nobuna manages to make it to Kyoto, however, she was shot by an enemy gunner and blacked out.
A bit later, in Kyoto. The Oda army managed to retreat from Kyoto, but Nobuna's still heavily injured and unconscious. She was shot twice in the stomach, but she barely survived since those bullets hit the cell phone the MC gave her before separating, so the bullets didn't go in as deep as they could have. She did still lose a lot of blood though, and she's still out of it. She's also been visibly having nightmares in her sleep, dreaming about how the MC got caught and killed while retreating. Matsumae gives her some shady medicine though to help with that, and her dreams turns to the MC returning unharmed, them reuniting and getting married.
Back in the real world, the Oda army is having problems. The one who shot Nobuna was hiding up in the nearby mountain monastery (I think it's Ishiyama Hongan-ji) along with a number of other anti-Oda forces. The warrior monks there aren't letting the Oda forces come up to root them out due to the old rule about how it's no women allowed (and being damn misogynistic about it too). Oda's army couldn't really force it despite their anger though, since it is a deeply religiously and culturally significant place and to break their rules would turn the rest of Japan against them. So while Nobuna's unconscious, they're at an impasse.
In the meanwhile, Mitsuhide and Matsudaira (who, before she separated from the MC last volume, declared that she would change her name to Tokugawa Ieyasu, so I'll refer to her as Ieyasu from now on) are leading a rescue force to go back for the MC (Mitsuhide was beating herself over her blunder in leaving the MC the cannons but not the gunners). They catch up the MC's forces just in time to see them being cornered by the Young Omiyoji. They hear the Young Omiyoji say that he doesn't care what happens to the troops so long as he takes the MC's head. Then they see the MC say "fine, but it's too shameful if I let to take my head to your master, so I'm going to choose my on death". He then steps in front of a cannon and has it blow himself up to smithereens. The Young Omiyoji sees this and the relief forces with Mitsuhide and Ieyasu, and retreats, his objective complete. Mitsuhide, seeing the MC's death, was overcome with rage and charged the Young Omiyoji on her horse, but he just floats over a crevice that she doesn't see, and Mitsuhide falls to her apparent death.
Back to Nobuna. She finally regains consciousness, only to hear the news: that the MC and Mitsuhide were dead. She also hears about the situation with the monastery, and, overcome with sorrow and emotion, orders the mountain be set on fire and the monastery be burnt to ash.
Now to the MC. Obviously he's still alive. He wakes up from where (a mud pit i think?) Hanzo hid him after knocking him out and tries to make for Kyoto while covered in scratches and bruises. While running, he gets hit in the back with an arrow, and after going a bit longer, falls over and blacks out.
Now for Mitsuhide. As she was falling she managed to jump off her horse and plunge her sword into the cliffs. Then she basically climbed back up using her bare hands. When she finally got back to where she fell, she saw the signs that the MC was alive after all and followed his trail. She finally comes across him lying on the ground with an arrow in his back. She pulls out the arrow and dresses the wound, but noting that it shouldn't have killed him. However, he was fading fast due to exposure (heart rate and breathing was nearly none-existent, plus he was deathly cold). She performs CPR to get him to start breathing again all the while complaining about how he took her first, second, third, etc kiss. She then had to warm him back up, which she does by sharing body heat via direct skin contact (remember that pic from back then?). At this point, it's noted that she has fallen for him. This next portion I'm not too sure about, but Mitsuhide hears a scouting force nearby and starts talking to herself for some reason (yeah, I really didn't get that part), about how she admires and likes the MC. Near the very end, the MC regains consciousness and heard the very end of it. Mitsuhide pulls the tsundere card and the two starts arguing, not heeding their voices. Finally, the scouting force finds them, and Mitsuhide steps to the entrance (I think they were hidden in a cave of some sort since Mitsuhide found the MC?), and even though both her swords were snapped earlier, she still steps to the front and declares that she won't let anyone come in even one step (courage of a girl in love, isn't it something).
Back at the Oda place. The Oda army has set the preparations for burning Ishiyama and only await Nobuna's command. However, we shift to Hanbei (remember her, who was out since the last chapter of the previous volume), who has finally awoken from her fever from last volume. She quickly gets filled in on the events, comes to the conclusion that the MC didn't die, and rushes out with Francis to stop Nobuna before she burns Ishiyama. She manages to get the story out to Nobuna, about how Hanzo probably used the cover of a smoke bomb to knock the MC out and have the Demon of the Front (remember her, the familiar she sent with the MC since she was too sick to come with him?) assume his appearance and take his place. The whole suicide by canon bit was just to cover it up and convince the pursuing forces that the MC was dead. She finally summons the Demon of the Front, who confirms the story (too bad she couldn't tell earlier since she needed Hanbei to summon her, and Hanzo left right away to find the MC without telling anyone other than Tokugawa who's with him to maintain operational security). While Nobuna is still in shock over the news, the MC and Mitsuhide finally shows up along with Hanzo's scouts. They reunite. Nobuna's still in shock, plus the vivid dreams she had from Matsumae's medicine, she's not sure if she's still dreaming or not. Matsumae pops up with a suggestion (why don't you [the MC] kiss her to break her out of it), which the MC follows. Of course, he was really disheveled (plus he even had a leaf stuck in his teeth), and that plus the fact that they were in public provokes Nobuna's tsun mode, and thus the romantic atmosphere is broken in favor of slapstick.
Flashback to how they got there. Apparently, those scouting forces that discovered Mitsuhide and the MC weren't enemy forces like she thought, but Hanzo's men. Of course, they heard the whole confession Mitsuhide made toward the MC while he was unconscious, so the embarrassed Mitsuhide threatened to kill them if they said anything.
Although our heroes are reunited, the problem with Ishiyama remains. Of course, those asshole monks (all the enlightened ones apparently already left) heard about Nobuna's preparations to burn the mountain, so they decided to negotiate (even while retaining their misogynistic and stuck up attitudes). Nobuna plays hardball in return, and gives the following conditions: Give up the one to shot her (they claim they can't since he already ran away, but Nobuna decides to let that one slide), give up the Young Omiyoji (agreed), complete disarmament of the monks (extreme dismay, but I think they got pressured into it eventually?), and finally, make a treaty to the effect, to be signed by her in the monastery. That last one really didn't go well (cue more misogynistic BS) due to the longstanding rule about no females up the mountain (which was precisely the reason Nobuna stipulated it: she wanted to abolish that rule, go female rights). They were at an impasse on that last bit (the monks aren't willing to abolish the rule, but if Nobuna burned the mountain, she'd lose a ton of popular support, which she does need). Finally, the solution comes to do this officially: they (Nobuna's group) would ask the only other with the authority to abolish the rule, the head miko in Kyoto (from last volume). They consulted her, and the origin of the rule is revealed: originally, there was both a monastery and a nunnery on the mountain, and they had the mutual rule of no female/male allows for segregation of genders, but eventually the nunnery disappeared and only the no female rule remains (the rule had nothing to do with the monks' misogynistic claims of women being impure or whatever). Seeing that, the head miko used her authority to abolish the rule, and the Oda forces could now secure the mountain without major political backlash.
While the MC visits and reassures Nene that he's still alive, Nobuna, with motherly advise from Matsumae, intends to call the MC to her place at night for his promised reward (the kiss. She didn't really count the one from earlier). When the MC arrives though, he meets Katsue, who stubbornly wants to make good on her promise (letting the MC grope her breasts as much as he likes). Although the MC is more interested in finding Nobuna, Katsue is stubborn about it and won't direct him to Nobuna until the promise if fulfilled, so the MC gropes and they get caught by Nobuna, who's tsun parts get provoked and chases him out at swordpoint.
There's also a bit about a private meeting between Nobuna and Mitsuhide, where Nobuna tearfully thanks Mitsuhide for bringing the MC back alive. She also askes Mitsuhide to take care of the MC, which Mitsuhide misinterpreted in her head as Nobuna telling Mitsuhide to marry the MC (Mitsuhide had a very tsundere reaction in her thoughts too "well, it's not like I wanted to marry him [the MC], but if it's the princess's order, it can't be helped"). I can see this misunderstanding coming to bite all of them...
Finally, 2 final scenes:
First, we have Nagamasa and Nobukatsu (he got found out as a boy after getting imprisoned). They got busted out by ninjas and escaped, but Nagamasa meets some Azai retainers. Nobuna's been kicking their ass and Nagamasa's father intends to make a final stand and commit seppuku. They also beg Nagamasa to come to their aid. Nagamasa, unable to stand by and watch her clan and especially her father die, heads out to rally the Azai forces, leaving Nobukatsu behind.
Enter Shingen Takeda. One of the corrupt monks from Ishiyama arrives at Takeda's place with news that Nobuna burnt down Ishiyama (she never did, but with the speed messages travel, they don't know that). Takeda uses this as an excuse to mobilize her forces and start campaigning against Oda.
And that's it for summaries. I don't think I'll be doing any more of these, mostly due to the only Chinese translation I can find of volume 5 is incomplete and it doesn't seem like it'll be completed anytime soon. I think I'll put off reading the rest until I do get a complete translation of volume 5, since I doubt I'd be able to follow it if I missed parts of the plot, especially with my level of Chinese...
Although what we're really looking forward to is the MC doing his 300 thing (only with 500 instead), we're given something completely unrelated instead: Masamune is back home and talks with her old friend (don't know the romaji of her name) and starts her plan to become the demonic tyrant that will rule the world (MC's little confidence boosting speech really got taken way out of proportion).
Now back to what we're really after, MC Covering the Retreat:
The men with him are prepared to lay down their lives to get the MC back, but the MC refuses: He's selfish and he wants the cake and eat it too, and He declares that won't abandon them to die and just run off by himself, and that they'll all go back together. The MC uses a number of tactics, like putting extra gunners on the cannons Mitsuhide left him and having them fire off sequentially for a constant rate of fire in a fairly narrow space to good effect (even though Mitsuhide honestly forgot to leave her gunners with him, he made due with the people he had). They steadily retreated until they got intercepted by an enemy omiyoji (a young boy who I will refer to as Young Omiyoji) who summoned a huge number of familiars to intercept them. With all the familiars flying about acting like search planes, the MC and his forces were stuck.
In the end, they came up with a plan: Omiyoji siphon powers from dragon lines (or points, or something like that?), which are in the mountains where they were. If they can block those points up, then the Young Omiyoji's powers will get weaker and they might be able to break through. They embark on this plan and goes to find the Dragon Point, but got caught by the Young Omiyoji near the end. MC reiterates that he won't abandon his men and would rather die in exchange for their lives, plus the Young Omiyoji stated that so long as he takes the MC's head it won't matter if lets the rest of the troops do. At that point, the MC hears Hanzo say "then die", feels a sharp pain in his back, and blacks out.
On Nobuna's side:
The Oda army is in disarray and retreating. Nobuna did meet up with Matsumae (invaded kyoto before surrendering to Nobuna last volume, mature woman, nicknamed "the scorpion", has a penchant for poisons), who came to help her (even though the other generals in Oda's army distrusts her, Nobuna accepts her help without reservation). She helps them through a pass (Or some critical guarded juncture) using her wiles and poison to blackmail the guard. Before Nobuna manages to make it to Kyoto, however, she was shot by an enemy gunner and blacked out.
A bit later, in Kyoto. The Oda army managed to retreat from Kyoto, but Nobuna's still heavily injured and unconscious. She was shot twice in the stomach, but she barely survived since those bullets hit the cell phone the MC gave her before separating, so the bullets didn't go in as deep as they could have. She did still lose a lot of blood though, and she's still out of it. She's also been visibly having nightmares in her sleep, dreaming about how the MC got caught and killed while retreating. Matsumae gives her some shady medicine though to help with that, and her dreams turns to the MC returning unharmed, them reuniting and getting married.
Back in the real world, the Oda army is having problems. The one who shot Nobuna was hiding up in the nearby mountain monastery (I think it's Ishiyama Hongan-ji) along with a number of other anti-Oda forces. The warrior monks there aren't letting the Oda forces come up to root them out due to the old rule about how it's no women allowed (and being damn misogynistic about it too). Oda's army couldn't really force it despite their anger though, since it is a deeply religiously and culturally significant place and to break their rules would turn the rest of Japan against them. So while Nobuna's unconscious, they're at an impasse.
In the meanwhile, Mitsuhide and Matsudaira (who, before she separated from the MC last volume, declared that she would change her name to Tokugawa Ieyasu, so I'll refer to her as Ieyasu from now on) are leading a rescue force to go back for the MC (Mitsuhide was beating herself over her blunder in leaving the MC the cannons but not the gunners). They catch up the MC's forces just in time to see them being cornered by the Young Omiyoji. They hear the Young Omiyoji say that he doesn't care what happens to the troops so long as he takes the MC's head. Then they see the MC say "fine, but it's too shameful if I let to take my head to your master, so I'm going to choose my on death". He then steps in front of a cannon and has it blow himself up to smithereens. The Young Omiyoji sees this and the relief forces with Mitsuhide and Ieyasu, and retreats, his objective complete. Mitsuhide, seeing the MC's death, was overcome with rage and charged the Young Omiyoji on her horse, but he just floats over a crevice that she doesn't see, and Mitsuhide falls to her apparent death.
Back to Nobuna. She finally regains consciousness, only to hear the news: that the MC and Mitsuhide were dead. She also hears about the situation with the monastery, and, overcome with sorrow and emotion, orders the mountain be set on fire and the monastery be burnt to ash.
Now to the MC. Obviously he's still alive. He wakes up from where (a mud pit i think?) Hanzo hid him after knocking him out and tries to make for Kyoto while covered in scratches and bruises. While running, he gets hit in the back with an arrow, and after going a bit longer, falls over and blacks out.
Now for Mitsuhide. As she was falling she managed to jump off her horse and plunge her sword into the cliffs. Then she basically climbed back up using her bare hands. When she finally got back to where she fell, she saw the signs that the MC was alive after all and followed his trail. She finally comes across him lying on the ground with an arrow in his back. She pulls out the arrow and dresses the wound, but noting that it shouldn't have killed him. However, he was fading fast due to exposure (heart rate and breathing was nearly none-existent, plus he was deathly cold). She performs CPR to get him to start breathing again all the while complaining about how he took her first, second, third, etc kiss. She then had to warm him back up, which she does by sharing body heat via direct skin contact (remember that pic from back then?). At this point, it's noted that she has fallen for him. This next portion I'm not too sure about, but Mitsuhide hears a scouting force nearby and starts talking to herself for some reason (yeah, I really didn't get that part), about how she admires and likes the MC. Near the very end, the MC regains consciousness and heard the very end of it. Mitsuhide pulls the tsundere card and the two starts arguing, not heeding their voices. Finally, the scouting force finds them, and Mitsuhide steps to the entrance (I think they were hidden in a cave of some sort since Mitsuhide found the MC?), and even though both her swords were snapped earlier, she still steps to the front and declares that she won't let anyone come in even one step (courage of a girl in love, isn't it something).
Back at the Oda place. The Oda army has set the preparations for burning Ishiyama and only await Nobuna's command. However, we shift to Hanbei (remember her, who was out since the last chapter of the previous volume), who has finally awoken from her fever from last volume. She quickly gets filled in on the events, comes to the conclusion that the MC didn't die, and rushes out with Francis to stop Nobuna before she burns Ishiyama. She manages to get the story out to Nobuna, about how Hanzo probably used the cover of a smoke bomb to knock the MC out and have the Demon of the Front (remember her, the familiar she sent with the MC since she was too sick to come with him?) assume his appearance and take his place. The whole suicide by canon bit was just to cover it up and convince the pursuing forces that the MC was dead. She finally summons the Demon of the Front, who confirms the story (too bad she couldn't tell earlier since she needed Hanbei to summon her, and Hanzo left right away to find the MC without telling anyone other than Tokugawa who's with him to maintain operational security). While Nobuna is still in shock over the news, the MC and Mitsuhide finally shows up along with Hanzo's scouts. They reunite. Nobuna's still in shock, plus the vivid dreams she had from Matsumae's medicine, she's not sure if she's still dreaming or not. Matsumae pops up with a suggestion (why don't you [the MC] kiss her to break her out of it), which the MC follows. Of course, he was really disheveled (plus he even had a leaf stuck in his teeth), and that plus the fact that they were in public provokes Nobuna's tsun mode, and thus the romantic atmosphere is broken in favor of slapstick.
Flashback to how they got there. Apparently, those scouting forces that discovered Mitsuhide and the MC weren't enemy forces like she thought, but Hanzo's men. Of course, they heard the whole confession Mitsuhide made toward the MC while he was unconscious, so the embarrassed Mitsuhide threatened to kill them if they said anything.
Although our heroes are reunited, the problem with Ishiyama remains. Of course, those asshole monks (all the enlightened ones apparently already left) heard about Nobuna's preparations to burn the mountain, so they decided to negotiate (even while retaining their misogynistic and stuck up attitudes). Nobuna plays hardball in return, and gives the following conditions: Give up the one to shot her (they claim they can't since he already ran away, but Nobuna decides to let that one slide), give up the Young Omiyoji (agreed), complete disarmament of the monks (extreme dismay, but I think they got pressured into it eventually?), and finally, make a treaty to the effect, to be signed by her in the monastery. That last one really didn't go well (cue more misogynistic BS) due to the longstanding rule about no females up the mountain (which was precisely the reason Nobuna stipulated it: she wanted to abolish that rule, go female rights). They were at an impasse on that last bit (the monks aren't willing to abolish the rule, but if Nobuna burned the mountain, she'd lose a ton of popular support, which she does need). Finally, the solution comes to do this officially: they (Nobuna's group) would ask the only other with the authority to abolish the rule, the head miko in Kyoto (from last volume). They consulted her, and the origin of the rule is revealed: originally, there was both a monastery and a nunnery on the mountain, and they had the mutual rule of no female/male allows for segregation of genders, but eventually the nunnery disappeared and only the no female rule remains (the rule had nothing to do with the monks' misogynistic claims of women being impure or whatever). Seeing that, the head miko used her authority to abolish the rule, and the Oda forces could now secure the mountain without major political backlash.
While the MC visits and reassures Nene that he's still alive, Nobuna, with motherly advise from Matsumae, intends to call the MC to her place at night for his promised reward (the kiss. She didn't really count the one from earlier). When the MC arrives though, he meets Katsue, who stubbornly wants to make good on her promise (letting the MC grope her breasts as much as he likes). Although the MC is more interested in finding Nobuna, Katsue is stubborn about it and won't direct him to Nobuna until the promise if fulfilled, so the MC gropes and they get caught by Nobuna, who's tsun parts get provoked and chases him out at swordpoint.
There's also a bit about a private meeting between Nobuna and Mitsuhide, where Nobuna tearfully thanks Mitsuhide for bringing the MC back alive. She also askes Mitsuhide to take care of the MC, which Mitsuhide misinterpreted in her head as Nobuna telling Mitsuhide to marry the MC (Mitsuhide had a very tsundere reaction in her thoughts too "well, it's not like I wanted to marry him [the MC], but if it's the princess's order, it can't be helped"). I can see this misunderstanding coming to bite all of them...
Finally, 2 final scenes:
First, we have Nagamasa and Nobukatsu (he got found out as a boy after getting imprisoned). They got busted out by ninjas and escaped, but Nagamasa meets some Azai retainers. Nobuna's been kicking their ass and Nagamasa's father intends to make a final stand and commit seppuku. They also beg Nagamasa to come to their aid. Nagamasa, unable to stand by and watch her clan and especially her father die, heads out to rally the Azai forces, leaving Nobukatsu behind.
Enter Shingen Takeda. One of the corrupt monks from Ishiyama arrives at Takeda's place with news that Nobuna burnt down Ishiyama (she never did, but with the speed messages travel, they don't know that). Takeda uses this as an excuse to mobilize her forces and start campaigning against Oda.
And that's it for summaries. I don't think I'll be doing any more of these, mostly due to the only Chinese translation I can find of volume 5 is incomplete and it doesn't seem like it'll be completed anytime soon. I think I'll put off reading the rest until I do get a complete translation of volume 5, since I doubt I'd be able to follow it if I missed parts of the plot, especially with my level of Chinese...
WOW! Thanks so much! This is fantastic! I'm so intrigued about the the Mitsuhide development.. Wonder if they're going to go all serious yandere-mode for the Honnouji incident..
Although what we're really looking forward to is the MC doing his 300 thing (only with 500 instead), we're given something completely unrelated instead: Masamune is back home and talks with her old friend (don't know the romaji of her name) and starts her plan to become the demonic tyrant that will rule the world (MC's little confidence boosting speech really got taken way out of proportion).
Now back to what we're really after, MC Covering the Retreat:
The men with him are prepared to lay down their lives to get the MC back, but the MC refuses: He's selfish and he wants the cake and eat it too, and He declares that won't abandon them to die and just run off by himself, and that they'll all go back together. The MC uses a number of tactics, like putting extra gunners on the cannons Mitsuhide left him and having them fire off sequentially for a constant rate of fire in a fairly narrow space to good effect (even though Mitsuhide honestly forgot to leave her gunners with him, he made due with the people he had). They steadily retreated until they got intercepted by an enemy omiyoji (a young boy who I will refer to as Young Omiyoji) who summoned a huge number of familiars to intercept them. With all the familiars flying about acting like search planes, the MC and his forces were stuck.
In the end, they came up with a plan: Omiyoji siphon powers from dragon lines (or points, or something like that?), which are in the mountains where they were. If they can block those points up, then the Young Omiyoji's powers will get weaker and they might be able to break through. They embark on this plan and goes to find the Dragon Point, but got caught by the Young Omiyoji near the end. MC reiterates that he won't abandon his men and would rather die in exchange for their lives, plus the Young Omiyoji stated that so long as he takes the MC's head it won't matter if lets the rest of the troops do. At that point, the MC hears Hanzo say "then die", feels a sharp pain in his back, and blacks out.
On Nobuna's side:
The Oda army is in disarray and retreating. Nobuna did meet up with Matsumae (invaded kyoto before surrendering to Nobuna last volume, mature woman, nicknamed "the scorpion", has a penchant for poisons), who came to help her (even though the other generals in Oda's army distrusts her, Nobuna accepts her help without reservation). She helps them through a pass (Or some critical guarded juncture) using her wiles and poison to blackmail the guard. Before Nobuna manages to make it to Kyoto, however, she was shot by an enemy gunner and blacked out.
A bit later, in Kyoto. The Oda army managed to retreat from Kyoto, but Nobuna's still heavily injured and unconscious. She was shot twice in the stomach, but she barely survived since those bullets hit the cell phone the MC gave her before separating, so the bullets didn't go in as deep as they could have. She did still lose a lot of blood though, and she's still out of it. She's also been visibly having nightmares in her sleep, dreaming about how the MC got caught and killed while retreating. Matsumae gives her some shady medicine though to help with that, and her dreams turns to the MC returning unharmed, them reuniting and getting married.
Back in the real world, the Oda army is having problems. The one who shot Nobuna was hiding up in the nearby mountain monastery (I think it's Ishiyama Hongan-ji) along with a number of other anti-Oda forces. The warrior monks there aren't letting the Oda forces come up to root them out due to the old rule about how it's no women allowed (and being damn misogynistic about it too). Oda's army couldn't really force it despite their anger though, since it is a deeply religiously and culturally significant place and to break their rules would turn the rest of Japan against them. So while Nobuna's unconscious, they're at an impasse.
In the meanwhile, Mitsuhide and Matsudaira (who, before she separated from the MC last volume, declared that she would change her name to Tokugawa Ieyasu, so I'll refer to her as Ieyasu from now on) are leading a rescue force to go back for the MC (Mitsuhide was beating herself over her blunder in leaving the MC the cannons but not the gunners). They catch up the MC's forces just in time to see them being cornered by the Young Omiyoji. They hear the Young Omiyoji say that he doesn't care what happens to the troops so long as he takes the MC's head. Then they see the MC say "fine, but it's too shameful if I let to take my head to your master, so I'm going to choose my on death". He then steps in front of a cannon and has it blow himself up to smithereens. The Young Omiyoji sees this and the relief forces with Mitsuhide and Ieyasu, and retreats, his objective complete. Mitsuhide, seeing the MC's death, was overcome with rage and charged the Young Omiyoji on her horse, but he just floats over a crevice that she doesn't see, and Mitsuhide falls to her apparent death.
Back to Nobuna. She finally regains consciousness, only to hear the news: that the MC and Mitsuhide were dead. She also hears about the situation with the monastery, and, overcome with sorrow and emotion, orders the mountain be set on fire and the monastery be burnt to ash.
Now to the MC. Obviously he's still alive. He wakes up from where (a mud pit i think?) Hanzo hid him after knocking him out and tries to make for Kyoto while covered in scratches and bruises. While running, he gets hit in the back with an arrow, and after going a bit longer, falls over and blacks out.
Now for Mitsuhide. As she was falling she managed to jump off her horse and plunge her sword into the cliffs. Then she basically climbed back up using her bare hands. When she finally got back to where she fell, she saw the signs that the MC was alive after all and followed his trail. She finally comes across him lying on the ground with an arrow in his back. She pulls out the arrow and dresses the wound, but noting that it shouldn't have killed him. However, he was fading fast due to exposure (heart rate and breathing was nearly none-existent, plus he was deathly cold). She performs CPR to get him to start breathing again all the while complaining about how he took her first, second, third, etc kiss. She then had to warm him back up, which she does by sharing body heat via direct skin contact (remember that pic from back then?). At this point, it's noted that she has fallen for him. This next portion I'm not too sure about, but Mitsuhide hears a scouting force nearby and starts talking to herself for some reason (yeah, I really didn't get that part), about how she admires and likes the MC. Near the very end, the MC regains consciousness and heard the very end of it. Mitsuhide pulls the tsundere card and the two starts arguing, not heeding their voices. Finally, the scouting force finds them, and Mitsuhide steps to the entrance (I think they were hidden in a cave of some sort since Mitsuhide found the MC?), and even though both her swords were snapped earlier, she still steps to the front and declares that she won't let anyone come in even one step (courage of a girl in love, isn't it something).
Back at the Oda place. The Oda army has set the preparations for burning Ishiyama and only await Nobuna's command. However, we shift to Hanbei (remember her, who was out since the last chapter of the previous volume), who has finally awoken from her fever from last volume. She quickly gets filled in on the events, comes to the conclusion that the MC didn't die, and rushes out with Francis to stop Nobuna before she burns Ishiyama. She manages to get the story out to Nobuna, about how Hanzo probably used the cover of a smoke bomb to knock the MC out and have the Demon of the Front (remember her, the familiar she sent with the MC since she was too sick to come with him?) assume his appearance and take his place. The whole suicide by canon bit was just to cover it up and convince the pursuing forces that the MC was dead. She finally summons the Demon of the Front, who confirms the story (too bad she couldn't tell earlier since she needed Hanbei to summon her, and Hanzo left right away to find the MC without telling anyone other than Tokugawa who's with him to maintain operational security). While Nobuna is still in shock over the news, the MC and Mitsuhide finally shows up along with Hanzo's scouts. They reunite. Nobuna's still in shock, plus the vivid dreams she had from Matsumae's medicine, she's not sure if she's still dreaming or not. Matsumae pops up with a suggestion (why don't you [the MC] kiss her to break her out of it), which the MC follows. Of course, he was really disheveled (plus he even had a leaf stuck in his teeth), and that plus the fact that they were in public provokes Nobuna's tsun mode, and thus the romantic atmosphere is broken in favor of slapstick.
Flashback to how they got there. Apparently, those scouting forces that discovered Mitsuhide and the MC weren't enemy forces like she thought, but Hanzo's men. Of course, they heard the whole confession Mitsuhide made toward the MC while he was unconscious, so the embarrassed Mitsuhide threatened to kill them if they said anything.
Although our heroes are reunited, the problem with Ishiyama remains. Of course, those asshole monks (all the enlightened ones apparently already left) heard about Nobuna's preparations to burn the mountain, so they decided to negotiate (even while retaining their misogynistic and stuck up attitudes). Nobuna plays hardball in return, and gives the following conditions: Give up the one to shot her (they claim they can't since he already ran away, but Nobuna decides to let that one slide), give up the Young Omiyoji (agreed), complete disarmament of the monks (extreme dismay, but I think they got pressured into it eventually?), and finally, make a treaty to the effect, to be signed by her in the monastery. That last one really didn't go well (cue more misogynistic BS) due to the longstanding rule about no females up the mountain (which was precisely the reason Nobuna stipulated it: she wanted to abolish that rule, go female rights). They were at an impasse on that last bit (the monks aren't willing to abolish the rule, but if Nobuna burned the mountain, she'd lose a ton of popular support, which she does need). Finally, the solution comes to do this officially: they (Nobuna's group) would ask the only other with the authority to abolish the rule, the head miko in Kyoto (from last volume). They consulted her, and the origin of the rule is revealed: originally, there was both a monastery and a nunnery on the mountain, and they had the mutual rule of no female/male allows for segregation of genders, but eventually the nunnery disappeared and only the no female rule remains (the rule had nothing to do with the monks' misogynistic claims of women being impure or whatever). Seeing that, the head miko used her authority to abolish the rule, and the Oda forces could now secure the mountain without major political backlash.
While the MC visits and reassures Nene that he's still alive, Nobuna, with motherly advise from Matsumae, intends to call the MC to her place at night for his promised reward (the kiss. She didn't really count the one from earlier). When the MC arrives though, he meets Katsue, who stubbornly wants to make good on her promise (letting the MC grope her breasts as much as he likes). Although the MC is more interested in finding Nobuna, Katsue is stubborn about it and won't direct him to Nobuna until the promise if fulfilled, so the MC gropes and they get caught by Nobuna, who's tsun parts get provoked and chases him out at swordpoint.
There's also a bit about a private meeting between Nobuna and Mitsuhide, where Nobuna tearfully thanks Mitsuhide for bringing the MC back alive. She also askes Mitsuhide to take care of the MC, which Mitsuhide misinterpreted in her head as Nobuna telling Mitsuhide to marry the MC (Mitsuhide had a very tsundere reaction in her thoughts too "well, it's not like I wanted to marry him [the MC], but if it's the princess's order, it can't be helped"). I can see this misunderstanding coming to bite all of them...
Finally, 2 final scenes:
First, we have Nagamasa and Nobukatsu (he got found out as a boy after getting imprisoned). They got busted out by ninjas and escaped, but Nagamasa meets some Azai retainers. Nobuna's been kicking their ass and Nagamasa's father intends to make a final stand and commit seppuku. They also beg Nagamasa to come to their aid. Nagamasa, unable to stand by and watch her clan and especially her father die, heads out to rally the Azai forces, leaving Nobukatsu behind.
Enter Shingen Takeda. One of the corrupt monks from Ishiyama arrives at Takeda's place with news that Nobuna burnt down Ishiyama (she never did, but with the speed messages travel, they don't know that). Takeda uses this as an excuse to mobilize her forces and start campaigning against Oda.
And that's it for summaries. I don't think I'll be doing any more of these, mostly due to the only Chinese translation I can find of volume 5 is incomplete and it doesn't seem like it'll be completed anytime soon. I think I'll put off reading the rest until I do get a complete translation of volume 5, since I doubt I'd be able to follow it if I missed parts of the plot, especially with my level of Chinese...
That was pretty darn intense. For sengoku fans out there, are there any major changes compared to real history?
Although what we're really looking forward to is the MC doing his 300 thing (only with 500 instead), we're given something completely unrelated instead: Masamune is back home and talks with her old friend (don't know the romaji of her name) and starts her plan to become the demonic tyrant that will rule the world (MC's little confidence boosting speech really got taken way out of proportion).
Now back to what we're really after, MC Covering the Retreat:
The men with him are prepared to lay down their lives to get the MC back, but the MC refuses: He's selfish and he wants the cake and eat it too, and He declares that won't abandon them to die and just run off by himself, and that they'll all go back together. The MC uses a number of tactics, like putting extra gunners on the cannons Mitsuhide left him and having them fire off sequentially for a constant rate of fire in a fairly narrow space to good effect (even though Mitsuhide honestly forgot to leave her gunners with him, he made due with the people he had). They steadily retreated until they got intercepted by an enemy omiyoji (a young boy who I will refer to as Young Omiyoji) who summoned a huge number of familiars to intercept them. With all the familiars flying about acting like search planes, the MC and his forces were stuck.
In the end, they came up with a plan: Omiyoji siphon powers from dragon lines (or points, or something like that?), which are in the mountains where they were. If they can block those points up, then the Young Omiyoji's powers will get weaker and they might be able to break through. They embark on this plan and goes to find the Dragon Point, but got caught by the Young Omiyoji near the end. MC reiterates that he won't abandon his men and would rather die in exchange for their lives, plus the Young Omiyoji stated that so long as he takes the MC's head it won't matter if lets the rest of the troops do. At that point, the MC hears Hanzo say "then die", feels a sharp pain in his back, and blacks out.
On Nobuna's side:
The Oda army is in disarray and retreating. Nobuna did meet up with Matsumae (invaded kyoto before surrendering to Nobuna last volume, mature woman, nicknamed "the scorpion", has a penchant for poisons), who came to help her (even though the other generals in Oda's army distrusts her, Nobuna accepts her help without reservation). She helps them through a pass (Or some critical guarded juncture) using her wiles and poison to blackmail the guard. Before Nobuna manages to make it to Kyoto, however, she was shot by an enemy gunner and blacked out.
A bit later, in Kyoto. The Oda army managed to retreat from Kyoto, but Nobuna's still heavily injured and unconscious. She was shot twice in the stomach, but she barely survived since those bullets hit the cell phone the MC gave her before separating, so the bullets didn't go in as deep as they could have. She did still lose a lot of blood though, and she's still out of it. She's also been visibly having nightmares in her sleep, dreaming about how the MC got caught and killed while retreating. Matsumae gives her some shady medicine though to help with that, and her dreams turns to the MC returning unharmed, them reuniting and getting married.
Back in the real world, the Oda army is having problems. The one who shot Nobuna was hiding up in the nearby mountain monastery (I think it's Ishiyama Hongan-ji) along with a number of other anti-Oda forces. The warrior monks there aren't letting the Oda forces come up to root them out due to the old rule about how it's no women allowed (and being damn misogynistic about it too). Oda's army couldn't really force it despite their anger though, since it is a deeply religiously and culturally significant place and to break their rules would turn the rest of Japan against them. So while Nobuna's unconscious, they're at an impasse.
In the meanwhile, Mitsuhide and Matsudaira (who, before she separated from the MC last volume, declared that she would change her name to Tokugawa Ieyasu, so I'll refer to her as Ieyasu from now on) are leading a rescue force to go back for the MC (Mitsuhide was beating herself over her blunder in leaving the MC the cannons but not the gunners). They catch up the MC's forces just in time to see them being cornered by the Young Omiyoji. They hear the Young Omiyoji say that he doesn't care what happens to the troops so long as he takes the MC's head. Then they see the MC say "fine, but it's too shameful if I let to take my head to your master, so I'm going to choose my on death". He then steps in front of a cannon and has it blow himself up to smithereens. The Young Omiyoji sees this and the relief forces with Mitsuhide and Ieyasu, and retreats, his objective complete. Mitsuhide, seeing the MC's death, was overcome with rage and charged the Young Omiyoji on her horse, but he just floats over a crevice that she doesn't see, and Mitsuhide falls to her apparent death.
Back to Nobuna. She finally regains consciousness, only to hear the news: that the MC and Mitsuhide were dead. She also hears about the situation with the monastery, and, overcome with sorrow and emotion, orders the mountain be set on fire and the monastery be burnt to ash.
Now to the MC. Obviously he's still alive. He wakes up from where (a mud pit i think?) Hanzo hid him after knocking him out and tries to make for Kyoto while covered in scratches and bruises. While running, he gets hit in the back with an arrow, and after going a bit longer, falls over and blacks out.
Now for Mitsuhide. As she was falling she managed to jump off her horse and plunge her sword into the cliffs. Then she basically climbed back up using her bare hands. When she finally got back to where she fell, she saw the signs that the MC was alive after all and followed his trail. She finally comes across him lying on the ground with an arrow in his back. She pulls out the arrow and dresses the wound, but noting that it shouldn't have killed him. However, he was fading fast due to exposure (heart rate and breathing was nearly none-existent, plus he was deathly cold). She performs CPR to get him to start breathing again all the while complaining about how he took her first, second, third, etc kiss. She then had to warm him back up, which she does by sharing body heat via direct skin contact (remember that pic from back then?). At this point, it's noted that she has fallen for him. This next portion I'm not too sure about, but Mitsuhide hears a scouting force nearby and starts talking to herself for some reason (yeah, I really didn't get that part), about how she admires and likes the MC. Near the very end, the MC regains consciousness and heard the very end of it. Mitsuhide pulls the tsundere card and the two starts arguing, not heeding their voices. Finally, the scouting force finds them, and Mitsuhide steps to the entrance (I think they were hidden in a cave of some sort since Mitsuhide found the MC?), and even though both her swords were snapped earlier, she still steps to the front and declares that she won't let anyone come in even one step (courage of a girl in love, isn't it something).
Back at the Oda place. The Oda army has set the preparations for burning Ishiyama and only await Nobuna's command. However, we shift to Hanbei (remember her, who was out since the last chapter of the previous volume), who has finally awoken from her fever from last volume. She quickly gets filled in on the events, comes to the conclusion that the MC didn't die, and rushes out with Francis to stop Nobuna before she burns Ishiyama. She manages to get the story out to Nobuna, about how Hanzo probably used the cover of a smoke bomb to knock the MC out and have the Demon of the Front (remember her, the familiar she sent with the MC since she was too sick to come with him?) assume his appearance and take his place. The whole suicide by canon bit was just to cover it up and convince the pursuing forces that the MC was dead. She finally summons the Demon of the Front, who confirms the story (too bad she couldn't tell earlier since she needed Hanbei to summon her, and Hanzo left right away to find the MC without telling anyone other than Tokugawa who's with him to maintain operational security). While Nobuna is still in shock over the news, the MC and Mitsuhide finally shows up along with Hanzo's scouts. They reunite. Nobuna's still in shock, plus the vivid dreams she had from Matsumae's medicine, she's not sure if she's still dreaming or not. Matsumae pops up with a suggestion (why don't you [the MC] kiss her to break her out of it), which the MC follows. Of course, he was really disheveled (plus he even had a leaf stuck in his teeth), and that plus the fact that they were in public provokes Nobuna's tsun mode, and thus the romantic atmosphere is broken in favor of slapstick.
Flashback to how they got there. Apparently, those scouting forces that discovered Mitsuhide and the MC weren't enemy forces like she thought, but Hanzo's men. Of course, they heard the whole confession Mitsuhide made toward the MC while he was unconscious, so the embarrassed Mitsuhide threatened to kill them if they said anything.
Although our heroes are reunited, the problem with Ishiyama remains. Of course, those asshole monks (all the enlightened ones apparently already left) heard about Nobuna's preparations to burn the mountain, so they decided to negotiate (even while retaining their misogynistic and stuck up attitudes). Nobuna plays hardball in return, and gives the following conditions: Give up the one to shot her (they claim they can't since he already ran away, but Nobuna decides to let that one slide), give up the Young Omiyoji (agreed), complete disarmament of the monks (extreme dismay, but I think they got pressured into it eventually?), and finally, make a treaty to the effect, to be signed by her in the monastery. That last one really didn't go well (cue more misogynistic BS) due to the longstanding rule about no females up the mountain (which was precisely the reason Nobuna stipulated it: she wanted to abolish that rule, go female rights). They were at an impasse on that last bit (the monks aren't willing to abolish the rule, but if Nobuna burned the mountain, she'd lose a ton of popular support, which she does need). Finally, the solution comes to do this officially: they (Nobuna's group) would ask the only other with the authority to abolish the rule, the head miko in Kyoto (from last volume). They consulted her, and the origin of the rule is revealed: originally, there was both a monastery and a nunnery on the mountain, and they had the mutual rule of no female/male allows for segregation of genders, but eventually the nunnery disappeared and only the no female rule remains (the rule had nothing to do with the monks' misogynistic claims of women being impure or whatever). Seeing that, the head miko used her authority to abolish the rule, and the Oda forces could now secure the mountain without major political backlash.
While the MC visits and reassures Nene that he's still alive, Nobuna, with motherly advise from Matsumae, intends to call the MC to her place at night for his promised reward (the kiss. She didn't really count the one from earlier). When the MC arrives though, he meets Katsue, who stubbornly wants to make good on her promise (letting the MC grope her breasts as much as he likes). Although the MC is more interested in finding Nobuna, Katsue is stubborn about it and won't direct him to Nobuna until the promise if fulfilled, so the MC gropes and they get caught by Nobuna, who's tsun parts get provoked and chases him out at swordpoint.
There's also a bit about a private meeting between Nobuna and Mitsuhide, where Nobuna tearfully thanks Mitsuhide for bringing the MC back alive. She also askes Mitsuhide to take care of the MC, which Mitsuhide misinterpreted in her head as Nobuna telling Mitsuhide to marry the MC (Mitsuhide had a very tsundere reaction in her thoughts too "well, it's not like I wanted to marry him [the MC], but if it's the princess's order, it can't be helped"). I can see this misunderstanding coming to bite all of them...
Finally, 2 final scenes:
First, we have Nagamasa and Nobukatsu (he got found out as a boy after getting imprisoned). They got busted out by ninjas and escaped, but Nagamasa meets some Azai retainers. Nobuna's been kicking their ass and Nagamasa's father intends to make a final stand and commit seppuku. They also beg Nagamasa to come to their aid. Nagamasa, unable to stand by and watch her clan and especially her father die, heads out to rally the Azai forces, leaving Nobukatsu behind.
Enter Shingen Takeda. One of the corrupt monks from Ishiyama arrives at Takeda's place with news that Nobuna burnt down Ishiyama (she never did, but with the speed messages travel, they don't know that). Takeda uses this as an excuse to mobilize her forces and start campaigning against Oda.
And that's it for summaries. I don't think I'll be doing any more of these, mostly due to the only Chinese translation I can find of volume 5 is incomplete and it doesn't seem like it'll be completed anytime soon. I think I'll put off reading the rest until I do get a complete translation of volume 5, since I doubt I'd be able to follow it if I missed parts of the plot, especially with my level of Chinese...
That was epic! I think it gives a much more intense feeling than the anime has done so far, but I guess they have limited possibilities with only 12 eps and an OVA ... meh too bad ... anyways thanks for the read!
That was pretty darn intense. For sengoku fans out there, are there any major changes compared to real history?
Spoiler for History stuff:
Ishiyama Hongan-ji capitulated and without a siege (while also being kept from being destroyed), and Takeda is moving to help the Azai-Asakura alliance earlier than in our history.
Sometimes being devoted too much on religion can lead to nasty results. The monastery almost got the worst result, good thing those monks thought it through. Oh and all summaries are on the social group for ease of reading.
Sometimes being devoted too much on religion can lead to nasty results.
Sounds like a cautionary tale that spans the ages!
Interesting now that almost all the major "ODA IS A TYRANT" events have not come to pass, it'd be curious about how much long-standing effects this will have..
That was epic! I think it gives a much more intense feeling than the anime has done so far, but I guess they have limited possibilities with only 12 eps and an OVA ... meh too bad ... anyways thanks for the read!
Wait, how do you know it's 12 eps and an OVA?
But yeah, very intense volume this time, everyone give a stnading ovation to Mechatrill for that! Shame about all the tsuntsun-ing all over the place, but seeing Takeda act years in advance, that will be entertaining. Though I'm still wondering if Oda can just crush Takeda, gun>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> cavalry after all...
Sounds like a cautionary tale that spans the ages!
Interesting now that almost all the major "ODA IS A TYRANT" events have not come to pass, it'd be curious about how much long-standing effects this will have..
Good change if you ask me. Some guys in some other websites graded this Light Novel as horrible because they didn't follow the original history like killing the brother, Dosan dying, and the works. Which I thought was really really stupid and I hardly call people stupid. The changing of original events is a major theme in the Light Novel. Oh and we now know what may happen in Honnou-ji or at least the cause.
Sounds like a cautionary tale that spans the ages!
Interesting now that almost all the major "ODA IS A TYRANT" events have not come to pass, it'd be curious about how much long-standing effects this will have..
Well, the first clear sign is that she doesn't act like a tyrant. Note that this has some advantages and disadvantages, ex: when she went to Kyoto(?) her kindness made the takeover much easier, no rebellions or anything, but on the other hand she's much more emotional, and completely dysfunctional without the MC. This is something that the current generation of LN's do very well in my opinion, expressing how much the cast relies on the MC. They did it in Index, DxD, and now Nobuna. It's a very interesting concept.
Good change if you ask me. Some guys in some other websites graded this Light Novel as horrible because they didn't follow the original history like killing the brother, Dosan dying, and the works. Which I thought was really really stupid and I hardly call people stupid. The changing of original events is a major theme in the Light Novel. Oh and we now know what may happen in Honnou-ji or at least the cause.
I actually find that hilarious, when people read a time-travel themed story, and then hate on how it doesn't stick to history. OF COURSE IT DOESN'T, the butterfly effect dictates that even a change in an insects position can cause tornadoes, why does the MC just being there not change things radically?
But yeah, very intense volume this time, everyone give a stnading ovation to Mechatrill for that! Shame about all the tsuntsun-ing all over the place, but seeing Takeda act years in advance, that will be entertaining. Though I'm still wondering if Oda can just crush Takeda, gun>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> cavalry after all...
Spoiler for Commentary:
Unlike the Battle of Nagashino, we have Oda fighting against both the Azai-Asakura alliance and Takeda. It's not going to be easy.
The good thing about this Light Novel is that Sagara Yoshiharu explains historical events before changing them. So any audience can enjoy it while learning the back story. Also I got a question.
In the anime, Katsue's breasts bounces even when she is wearing armor. No the armor looks like a T-Shirt. Does it actually mention that Katsue's breasts bounces with the armor in the Light Novel or is that a change?
Unlike the Battle of Nagashino, we have Oda fighting against both the Azai-Asakura alliance and Takeda. It's not going to be easy.
Spoiler:
That, and at this point in the timeline, I don't think Oda has access to as many matchlocks yet, because the Battle of Nagashino doesn't take place until Shingen is gone and replaced with Katsuyori..
I wonder what will be Nagamasa's fate in this world? I can't think that 1) because time is accelerated so much, that the Oda are strong enough at this point to beat both Azai-Asakura + Takeda and 2) I can't imagine Nobuna can go around forgiving EVERYONE that betrays her?
Even then, we have a problem. Nobunaga had 3,000 arquebusiers and also the alliance with Tokugawa in Nagashino . Even if the wooden stockades and rotating volleys of fire are used, Nobuna is seriously outnumbered
2012-07-25, 11:12
