"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 ♥

The book is a real trip through the history of pop culture in Japan, and how Nobunaga perfectly fit in there.
I was delighted to see the prints of kabuki included, as those were indeed the first iconic representations of Nobunaga: The book includes also the older "official portraits", starting from the famous portrayal of 1583 to votive statues preserved in temples and the like. Very comprehensive, at least for the most popular depictions.

I like the presentations of the various portraits, too, with the name of the work (or collection were it was included), authors and a short comment that describes Nobunaga's whereabouts.
The book includes pretty much every manga, anime, light novel and game where Nobunaga was included, so we can take it as a pretty complete work. If anything, I was a bit bothered by all the collecting cards listed there-- I know that every author tried his hand at it, but it gets quite repetitive, too--

As I told you, besides the pictures there are a few articles that deepens our pop knowlege of Nobunaga. From why he was so popular in manga or games to the various depictions of the character during the years, it's not such fundamental infos for the historical fan, but they are sure fun when it comes to indulging the success of a character.

Another super-interesting column is the "First Times" of Nobunaga: Here's a commented list of "first times" Nobunaga was depicted in such a manner. It was extremely interesting and I want to share some infos with you!

As for "The first time Nobunaga was portrayed in a manga", that's in Ninja Bugeicho - Kagemaru Den (1959) by the unforgotten Sanpei Shirato: I was so shocked here, as this is the first work that introduced me to Nobunaga and got me interested in him! How fateful!!
--Kinda creepy, too!

The first time Nobunaga was portrayed as a woman was in the light-novel Kaeru Hi made (1995) by Mari Fujiwara: It's the love-story of Nobunaga and Nouhime, where Nobu was a girl forced to live as a man, and Nouhime was a man forced to live as a woman.

The first "What If" story where Nobunaga survived Honnoji was Yume Maboroshi no gotoku (1992) by Hiroshi Motomiya: It's an action manga where Nobunaga escaped Honnoji before being killed, and after leaving Japan in the hands of Hideyoshi, he went to fight in the wars of Korea and China to expand his power-- LOL!
This is nice, it confirms certain theories about Hideyoshi's behaviour after the conquest of most Japan.

The first time Nobunaga was reincarnated in a modern day character was in the manga Ten yori mo Hoshi yori mo (1987) by Michiyo Akaishi: The character of Tadaomi Shijo, the cold yet popular President of the Council Student who can control fire, is a reincarnation of Nobunaga and has a vicious love interest for the protagonist of the manga, Mio.

The first time Nobunaga "time-slipped" was in the first version of the manga Super Sengokuki (1984) published on the magazine Shonen Jump by Norihiro Nakajima: In this incomplete manga the Nobunaga from 1570 found himself in the modern day Shinjuku after dying unexpectedly in the Battle of Narumi. Here he became part of a band of motorized yankees, turning the place upside down.
At a certain point, he managed to get back to Sengoku Era while on a bullet train, but after escaping the attack of Koroku Hachisuka he got back to modern days. Don't ask.

Another super-interesting "first time" for me, instead, was when Nobunaga wore the infamous Western Armour for the first time: Well, this was in manga Nobunaga (1986) by legendary Ryoichi Ikegami. In this manga Nobunaga wore consistently the armour that he would be famous for.

This said, I found something else.
The author of the book didn't consider the educational manga series for children. In my oldest specimen, the manga Oda Nobunaga - Ransei no Tatakai from Gakken Manga Jinbutsu Nipponshi series, dated 1979, I found this first depiction: It's true that Nobunaga wore that outfit only in a panel and he's not wearing an armour, but that's the first time (as far as I know) that he was depicted in such a Western outfit.
The author of the book mentions another example in the Nobunaga from the movie Kagemusha (1980), not included in her reasearch (I guess for copyright stuff).
The manga above was a work by Toshiyuki Nakajima, if you're interested.

This missing part made me consider to work on a "supplement" including the depictions of Nobunaga from children books, stage plays, figures and dramas-- Stuff that I have in my collection and that I could get hold of.
This may be a fun long-term project ^_^