Nobunaga meets Takarazuka: "NOBUNAGA - Tenka no Yume"

Recently I started to collect Japanese pamphlets about my favourite anime movies... Since I found some for cheap, I also presented myself some dedicated to various stage plays featuring Nobunaga.
This is my first arrival, the pamphlet of "NOBUNAGA - Tenka no Yume", the recent show featuring the Moon Troupe of Takarazuka:
This refers to the show of Tokyo at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre.
Let's leaf through it together!

What Would Nobunaga Do?

The idea for this post came from fellow Nobu-enthusiast Davide who contacted me asking for an illustration about Nobunaga coming back to our age and dealing with current events.
What would be his reaction, what would he do to "fix" things..?
This isn't a new question, as we can see from the thousand time-travelling anime that feature Nobunaga in the present in various forms and situations. There's an anime where Nobunaga was revived in the body of a cute teenager girl, for example, or a manga where he is the current Prime Minister of Japan.
Even Les on his book about Okehazama wonders about Nobunaga's strategy against international terrorism that he feels so similar to Ikko Ikki dudes, and I can see the standard Japanese getting nostalgic about Sengoku Era and its genuine lifestyle, even if it meant dying young and in miserable conditions, maybe by the hands of their own kin.

So, you know, while drawing, I wondered. And going past the stereotypes of the ruthless conqueror and the demonic warlord, I seriously asked myself: "What would Nobunaga do?"
And I found my very own answer: he would enjoy himself.

Nobunaga 450 Digest (一)

So, let's start the new year with a first report on Gifu 450th Anniversary!
^{Image coming from Nobunaga450 official website. The banners that celebrate the 450th Anniversary of the city foundation were placed by the exit of JR Gifu Station during the Gifu Nobunaga Matsuri of 2016.}As I said, since the celebrations are going to be strongly Nobunaga-related, I decided to offer some coverage of the various events happening around Gifu, digging around websites, blogs and other media as I find them quite relevant to our interest-- Since we can't be there all year around, at least we can use some informations, right?!

So, let's start with some recollection of past events, and a list of the upcoming events scheduled for January and February.

"Appunti di Bellezza" Exhibition

So, a few days ago I was visiting an exhibition of Japanese Dolls in Rome, when I noticed a flyer promoting an interesting event dedicated to the celebrations of the 150 years of diplomatic relationships between Italy and Japan-- My Nobu-radar blinked furiously as I recognized his kamon on the flyer, and so two days later I was in lovely Urbino to visit the exhibition and, fortunately, have a nice talk with one of the artists, Paola Ghirotti.

Nobunaga Concerto (2014, 2016)

Today I'll review the series and sequel movie "Nobunaga Concerto", again your time travelling TV drama pimped by popular actors, lously based on mangas and fawning over great ideals but with a mediocre resolution.
The staff for both TV drama and movie is the same, featuring director Hiroaki Matsuyama and Ayumi Ishii as the original creator of the manga.

Nobunaga by ACI on pre-order!

It looks like that awesome 1/6 figure of Nobunaga is on pre-order-- On SEVEN website there's also a sale available for a few days only.
This new line of toys dedicated to the Sengoku Generals is going to be titled Daimyoden.
There are two versions available: the "standard" version for 194 dollars, which includes a set of hands and the sword Heshikiri Hasebe, and a "deluxe" version for 220 dollars, which includes the extras of gun, haori and a "Tenka Fubu" banner.

I'm going to pre-order mine soon. The only uncomfortable bit is that ACI Toys is famous for its late deliveries, so I'm not so sure that I'll manage to get my beautiful Nobu within March 2017 September 2017...

Nobunaga at the Movies!

--See that I'm not the only one obsessed with Nobunaga movies?
In the recent future two events will feature the adventures of our favourite warlord on the big screen:
The first, part of the pre-events for Gifu 450th Anniversary, is the special airing of the awesome Oda Nobunaga - The Lucky Adventurer on 17 and 18 December at the Gifu City Cultural Center; the showing will be followed by a talk show featuring two interesting guests: the first is Kyoko Kagawa, who acted as Nouhime in the movie, and the other will be a performer, the traditional singer Osamu Nagaoka. Here's the page with the details of the event.

The second event involves the city of Kyoto! Do you think that "the Capital" would keep still on 2017, and leave all the Nobu fun to Nagoya and Gifu? Hell no!
On January 14 the theatres will delight the audience with another time travelling adventure in the Sengoku Era, Hon'noji Hotel, where this time the protagonist is the young Mayuko (Haruka Ayase) who will have the chance to meet Nobunaga (Shinichi Tsutsumi) during his final days at Honnoji thanks to the weird location of the hotel where she's staying there in Kyoto.
On the website of the movie it's possible to watch the preview and check out further details of this work that looks like a huge promotion of Kyoto's tourism. --I hope that this will be subbed faster than Nobunaga Moyu!

Nobunaga no Hitsugi (2006)

Here I am again!
Today I'll review this movie, that despite the title is not focused on our favourite warlord, but rather on his vassal, Gyuichi Ota, and his compilation of the glorious Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga ("Shichoukoki"), our favourite biography of Oda Nobunaga.
The movie is based on the historical novel of the same title by Hiroshi Kato, dated 2005. It was a huge bestseller, as you can guess by the movie rendition in the span of a year!
The direction of the movie was entrusted to Haruhiko Mimura and the script was adapted by Shoukei Nagasaka.

Nobunaga no Chef (2013, 2014)

Ok, I got a few days off from work, so I'm profitting to catch up with some TV drama and movies to review.
Doing anything else would be waaay better in terms of quality time, but you know how dutiful I am, so here's the review for the two seasons of Nobunaga no Chef, a recent seasonal TV series based on the homonymous manga by duo Nitsuru Mishimura/Takuro Kajikawa.

Nobunaga Kouro! 'Cause what happens in Okehazama stays in Nagoya.

I-I just wrote yesterday about the pre-events of Gifu 450th Anniversary, and now there's already stuff about Nagoya, that can't stay on the sidelines looking at other people profitting of Nobunaga's name..?
The news come straight from Okehazama Battle website, where we can find about this "Nagoya Castle Sengoku Festival" scheduled for December 11. It's not clear if this is going to be a recurring event or it's just a one time thing... Knowing Nagoya PR though, I believe that it's going to be another regular Nobunaga-related festival on Nagoya's roster (not that I'm complaining!)...

Another interesting event happening during the festival is the special collaboration between Nagoya city and the manga Ikusa no Ko by Tetsuo Hara-sama, "Nagoya ni Okehazama ari." (literally, "Okehazama is in Nagoya"), that will feature special merchandising for sale and a lottery. Fun fact, a similar pre-event was held in Tokyo, by the Yurachuko Station, and you can read the report about it on the official website of the mangaka.
Speaking of which, today the new chapter of the manga is up for online reading :D

The events are free, and they'll be set in the Ninomaru park of Nagoya Castle. Here you can find the websites for both events!