Okada Nobunaga's previews from "Dousuru Ieyasu" and Kimura Nobunaga's character poster from "THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY"

The "character posters" of THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY were out on the 15th, I hoped to see those of Dousuru Ieyasu within the end of the year but it doesn't seem the case, so I opted for some screenshots of "in action" Nobunaga from the last trailer released on the 25th! This "Okada Nobunaga" is not too shabby.

Here's the character poster for "Kimura Nobunaga", instead: It's super-effective, I'd say!

Looks like it's going to be an interesting 2023, Nobu-wise!

Looks like Gifu (again!) is going to be the greatest protagonist of "THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY"--!

I was wrong to ignore the making of THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY (レジェンドアンドバタフライ) movie, as it bore quite the awesome stuff!

Let's go in order!
First promotional event, the presence of Takuya Kimura (Nobu) and Hideaki Ito (Fukuzumi Tadaie) as special guests at the Gifu Nobunaga Matsuri 2022!

First glimpse of Nobunaga's look from upcoming NHK Taiga Drama "Dousuru Ieyasu"

So, a few days ago the Twitter account of Taiga Drama Dousuru Ieyasu shared the first pics of the main cast in costume-- Okada starred in a short promotional video giving us a glimpse of his costume, so I roughly translated what he's saying there, followed by a few extra infos under the cut!

Nobunaga, is that you? Too iconic, despite Stitch

A few days ago I went to my usual comic shop and I noticed this manga about Stitch featuring Nobunaga. Long story super-short, Stitch and the Samurai (殿さまとスティッチ, Tono-sama to Stitch) doesn't feature Nobunaga but an original character inspired to him.
The appeal of the comic is the gap between the ruthless, silent warlord and his cute attitude towards the "blue tanuki" Stitch.

The Declaration of Ying Zheng in "Kingdom"! A Nobunaga in retrospective?!

The First Emperor of China is one of those historical figures that reminds me a lot of Nobunaga.
As a very amauterish fan of Chinese history, I'm following the anime Kingdom and this peculiar scene from last episode, where Ying Zheng replied to the urging of treacherous minister Lu Buwei on how to stop the wars ripping their kingdom apart since centuries ago, gave me strong Nobunaga vibes--

Oh no∼ It's the Satanic Charm of Nobunaga Once Again! "Honganji" stage-play!

This is yet another pamphlet that I have in my collection of Nobunaga-related thinglets: Yes, I realize that it's a bit awkward to own a pamphlet of a stage-play that I never watched, but I'm always so intrigued about the depictions of Nobunaga in the various media that I can't help bulk-buying when I find a few-- And obviously babble about 'em!

Got a "Kirin ga kuru" doujinshi! Sharing a few pics and impressions!

I'm in the process of acquiring the guide books of Kirin ga kuru-- Even if its conclusion pissed me off, it's one of the few drama that I truly enjoyed watching... So I'm periodically checking the Japanese used shops online for some bargains. Last time, besides the second book, I managed to find a cute doujinshi of the drama and decided to buy to check it out. In this post I'll share some random impressions about it∼

Upcoming Nobunaga movie! "The Legend & Butterfly"!

Looks like we're going to get another dose of cinematic Nobu thanks to The Legend & Butterfly (レジェンド・アンド・バタフライ)! Starring Takuya Kimura (!) as Nobunaga and Haruka Ayase as Nouhime, this commemorative movie by TOEI is going to be released on January 27.

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ⑦ A Matter of Weeks

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until today, June 23 😄 As the last post to celebrate Nobunaga's birthday, I decided to indulge on the date itself-- In its many interpretations and meanings!

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ⑥ Spots of Nobunaga's Younger Days

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until June 23 😄 Since the previous article, for this final round of posts I decided to focus on Nobunaga's origins. After his parents, it's time to focus on the relevant locations of Nobu's youth and his relationship with his land.

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ⑤ Some Insight into Nobunaga's Parents

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until June 23 😄 ^{Source: 日本歴史紀行}
In the previous contributions I investigated the figure of Nobunaga thought his reputations and the symbology suggested by his character. In these last articles, I'll indulge myself in some historical speculations concerning Nobunaga's origins. Here I talk about his parents and his family situation, included the interpretations in literature and movies.

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ④ The Symbols of Nobunaga

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until June 23 😄 Inspired by the book Shinchou Meikan, I took one of its article as the foundation for a few personal considerations concerning the "famous symbols" that make us think immediately of Nobunaga. Well, besides killing a cuckoo and pounding the mochi, of course 😁

"Shincho Meikan" Review! And a few additions∼

I finally got my copy of the Shincho Meikan, the complete archive of Nobunaga's depictions from 1583 to-- yesterday! I'm still in the middle of browsing it, but I already checked its contents and mini-columns... There's lots of blissful suggestions to peruse for my Nobunaga Birthday Project ♥

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ③ Let's Pound the Tenka Mochi!

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until June 23 😄 Following the trail of thoughts from past week, today we're talking about this "irreverent" ukiyo-e by Utagawa Yoshitora!

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ② Nobunaga and the Cuckoo

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to join the celebrations this year too, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, until June 23 😄For today's contribution I kept fiddling around with the King of Zipangu guidebook, this time focusing on the "Cuckoo Poem" that opens the previously analyzed article, that so effectively describes the Three Unifiers of Japan.
Browsing the web about it, I decided to share what I found about it online.

Cute! Nobunaga Pancake∼!

So, the Twitter account of the Gifu Castle Moriagetai attracted my interest with the exclusive pancakes served at CLOVER COFEE, a shop inside the Nagarakawa Ukai Museum. The pancakes are decorated with the crests of the samurai clans of Gifu and Nobunaga's is served with ice-cream and a berries sauce.

NOBUNAGA BIRTHDAY PROJECT ① Nobunaga's Reputation

Inspired by the online event of Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai dedicated to the birthday of Nobunaga past year, I decided to offer my own celebration this year, providing a new post dedicated to Nobu every week, starting today May 12 to June 23 😄 For this first post, I retrieved an interesting article from the guidebook of the taiga drama King of Zipangu dedicated to what people said about Nobunaga, and how these impressions from other people contributed to his modern "reputation".
I translated roughly the part about the "contemporaries of Nobunaga" and offered a commentary∼

Another 1/6 Nobunaga Figure∼

Keep 'em coming!! This new Nobunaga figure is produced by 101TOYS and is scheduled for "Q3 2022". It's part of the series "New Beginning", dedicated to various protagonists of the Sengoku Era. This figure takes the drama King of Zipangu as a reference for the armour.

Nobunaga's new outfit∼

Kento Iwasaki shared pictures of a new Nobunaga's outfit on the Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai blog:

"The Man who dreamed of the World" stage-play by Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai.

So, past week the guys of the Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai managed to set up a stage-play dedicated to the inspiring figure of Nobunaga; the complete title sounds like The Man Who Dreamed of the World ～The Two Rebellions of the Supreme King～ (天下を夢見た男～覇王双乱～, Tenka wo Yumemita Otoko ～Haō Sōran～). The scriptwriter of the stage-play was Nobuhiro Mori and the director was Shin'ya Sato.
The event included the guest starring of seiyuu Yudai Noda as Akechi Mitsuhide and talent Miki Yakata as the "mysterious girl".
The play was staged on March 26th and 27th at Nagoya City Performing Arts Center venue.

Nobunaga as Mona Lisa: the Curse of the Icon

--Have you heard of the Prado's Mona Lisa? Basically, that's a copy of the painting in Louvre, attributed to one of Leonardo's students, probably Andrea Salai.
The painting is interesting, because, after a recent restauration, it showed many similarities to the "original", making people realize that the French Mona Lisa looked like that because the original colours were somehow altered by the centuries.

The idea of restoring Mona Lisa was always somehow ostracized by the curators, though: first, because cleaning up the varnish stratifications could damage the work, then because the treatment would alter the original colors anyway. Others comments, though, made people think that Mona Lisa would never be restored because now her "dirty look" is what makes her "an icon", and the reason why visitors love it and "recognize" it.