Sanada Yukimura (Sengoku Basara)

Sanada Yukimura debuted in the 2005 game Sengoku Basara; the westernized version was titled Devil Kings. For the westernized version, he was given the name "Scorpio". A young samurai serving Takeda Shingen, Yukimura fights in battles across Japan to allow his lord to unify the land. He is sometimes seen having arguments with his lord. They bond by simply yelling at each other during lectures and later through punches. In the game, Yukimura meets samurai Date Masamune and they become friendly rivals. However, their biggest threat is Oda Nobunaga.[10]

Yukimura returns in Sengoku Basara 2 once again serving the Takeda clan and is opposed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi who seeks to conquer all of Japan under his forces.[11] In Sengoku Basara 3, Shingen is ill, which depresses Yukimura. However, he decides to lead the Takeda clan in place of his lord. In one of Yukimura's endings, Shingen recovers and looks over a mountain to see Yukimura once again facing his rival, Masamune.[12]

In Sengoku Basara 4, Yukimura fights for the Takeda clan once again. However, he has a smaller role in the story since the game focuses a little more on Ishida Mitsunari.[13] The spin-off game, Sengoku Basara Sanada Yukimura-Den,[14] centers around his past while also being more historically accurate than previous titles. The second son of Masayuki, head of the Sanada family, he appears as a young samurai with a strong desire to support the Takeda clan. Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen's son and new leader of the Takeda clan, is captured by the "Demon King of Owari", Oda Nobunaga, and is on the verge of death. To rescue his lord, Yukimura fights against the Oda clan with the rest of the Takeda clan together with his father, Sanada Masayuki, and older brother, Sanada Nobuyuki.[15]

Outside the games, Yukimura is present in the anime adaptation by Production I.G. In the first season, Yukimura meets Masamune and both join forces to defeat Nobunaga. By the beginning of the second season, Yukimura has a duel with Masamune but loses the fight.[16] Nevertheless, the appearance of Hideyoshi causes him to lead the Takeda clan forces to stop his plans to conquer Japan. Yukimura's mistakes and the enemies' forces cause him to lose multiple lives, but he manages to defeat one of the main enemies in the finale. In the film finale Sengoku Basara: The Last Party, Yukimura succeeds Shingen after deciding to support Tokugawa Ieyasu's plan to end the wars. In the climax, he joins his rivals to stop the revived Nobunaga. In the ending he engages in battle with Masamune once again.[17]

A new anime based on the hit video game, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes has Yukimura dealing with his lack of self-esteem as he does not consider himself worthy to lead the Takeda clan. He also appears in the spin-off anime, Gakuen Basara, as a high school student.[18] A manga adaptation of the second game was created by Yak Haibara with Yukimura being one of the three main protagonists.[19] He is also a present in the novelization of Sengoku Basara 3.[20] Yukimura is portrayed by Kōhei Takeda in a live-action television show of the game series titled, Sengoku Basara: Moonlight Party.[21] In a Sengoku Basara stage play that made a crossover with the series Devil May Cry, Ryūnosuke Matsumura played Yukimura.[22]

Sanada Yukimura has been popular in Japan. In 2016, the character's image was used to promote tourism in Wakayama Prefecture while also promoting the historical person from the Sengoku period. The prefecture hoped to capitalize on his recent popularity with a "stamp rally" that guided visitors to locations like Kokawa Temple and the Wakayama History Museum.[23] Additionally, Yukimura appeared on the cover of Sanada Yukimura and Sengoku Wakayama Monogatari, a pamphlet that lists tourism and culinary information for the Wakayama Prefecture.[24] In another promotion related to the fictional character, Japanese restaurants owned by Kiwa Corporation started serving meals that used Yukimura's image, as well as masu boxes from Uratika.[25] Merchandising based around him has also been released,[26] including large action figures of Yukimura and Masamune from Destructoid.[27] In a poll to select the best characters from the series, Yukimura took the third spot, behind Mitsunari and Masamune.[5] Unable to pick just one, voice actor Takehito Koyasu considers both Yukimura and Masamune as two of his favorite characters.[6] In a series of Sengoku Basara magazines, Yukimura has been featured prominently in the second issue as it focuses largely on his role in the franchise.[28]

Johnny Yong Bosch's voice acting as Yukimura received positive response by critics.

Critical response to Yukimura's characterization and role in the Sengoku Basara franchise has been generally positive. Gamereactor regarded him as a "standard hero" as he found him a normal character in contrast to others like Masamune who have cooler personalities.[29] Japanator liked Yukimura's relationship with Masamune despite the irony that their historical figures never met. While liking the English dub, the reviewer lamented the fact the video games lacked Japanese voice options prevented fans "from indulging Masamune's penchant for random Engrish, dampening the enjoyment somewhat."[30] Game Revolution stated that they found Masamune and Yukimura to be unique characters in the franchise whose physical looks would amaze players.[31] Kotaku regarded him as one of the most attractive men in the cast, commenting that he wears an open jacket that shows his abs (six-pack) in most of his appearances which expanded his popularity.[32] Noting the series' cast looked like characters from shōnen manga and anime, the same site noted that Yukimura had a few similarities with his historical figure.[33] Johnny Yong Bosch's English voice acting as Yukimura was praised despite some of the screaming required of the character.[30][34]

ToonZone had mixed thoughts about Yukimura's characterization since he was not highlighted as much as Masamune was but still enjoyed his design due to his striking red color.[34] FandomPost liked the action scenes featured by the two protagonists of the anime as seen in the English release of the series.[35] DVD Talk agreed, noting the appeal of the fight's animation comparing it to an "explosion of firepower and blue lightning. It is borderline supernatural and powerful enough to be seen as basically a nuclear blast a couple klicks away".[36] Blu Ray noted that Masamune and Yukimura's developing friendship and rivalry served as one of the strongest parts of the first season.[37] Anime Herald agreed noting the two rivals "rise to greatness" through their fights and the lessons they learn in the series.[38] While also liking the fight scenes from the first season between Masamune and Yukimura, Fandom Post felt the second season managed to further develop these characters with even better fight scenes. Yukimura was confronted with more serious scenes, leading more men, whereas in the first season he was a mere general under Takeda Shingen.[39] In a review of the movie Sengoku Basara Samurai Kings: The Last Party, Fandom Post enjoyed the friendly clash between Yukimura and his superior Shingen.[40] Anime News Network felt the fight scenes featuring Yukimura were highly entertaining due to the visuals provided by the anime staff. They also noted his growth as a character having inherited the leadership from Shingen.[41]

In On Transmedia Storytelling and Historical Awareness in the Historical Video Game Sengoku Basara, Yukimura's design was praised for fitting the historical figure as well as his rivalry with Masamune which help to make him popular enough to be the subject of several types of promotion in Japan. This also resulted in the noteworthy Yukimura-den which retells his life more realistically. The game was earned by the success of promoting the character; "In this case, the narrative of Sanada Yukimura from the game can be compared or explored through the narrative of Sanada Yukimura from the movie, and whether they are similar or different, the process results in the expansion of the grand narrative of the character."[42]