Nagamasa Azai

浅井長政 Azai Nagamasa
4-Kanji Description:	信義不倒
4-Kanji Translation:	Unfaltering faith
Weapon:	Katana & Buckler
Element:	Light
Faction:	Azai Kyōgoku
Series Debut:	Sengoku BASARA 2
Playable Debut:	Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes
Games:	Sengoku BASARA 2 (NPC) Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes Sengoku BASARA X (Oichi's Assist) Sengoku BASARA Battle Heroes Sengoku BASARA Chronicle Heroes Sengoku BASARA 4 Sengoku BASARA 4 Sumeragi Sengoku BASARA Sanada Yukimura-den
Anime:	Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings Sengoku BASARA The Last Party Sengoku BASARA Judge End Gakuen BASARA
Seiyuu:	Kōji Tsujitani
Voice Actor:	Christopher Bevins (Samurai Kings/The Last Party)
Television Actor:	-
Stage Actor:	Kousei Sakurada
Character Theme:	{{{character theme}}}

Azai Nagamasa is the daimyo of the Azai clan, husband of Oichi, brother-in-law to Oda Nobunaga and an ally of Asakura Yoshikage. He has a sister named Kyōgoku Maria.

He is only mentioned in Sengoku BASARA 3 within Oichi's dialogues, indicating his death was a stepping stone to her own fall from grace.

Description

A former ally of Oda Nobunaga, now rebelling against him. He is a man fighting for justice and vows to destroy anybody who creates chaos, namely Nobunaga. Wields a long sword and a folding buckler. His fighting style and mannerism are similar to that of a typical superhero, primarily the Metal Hero Series. He's also often seen roughly telling Oichi to be quiet or stop crying, only to shyly declare his love (sometimes with flowers), making him a male tsundere. He is playable in Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes.

His story revolves around ridding Japan of the chaos, preferably Nobunaga, and his relationship with Oichi which started out with love, then turn to hatred and eventually leads back to loving her again. Nagamasa's story can be looked at a tokusatsu point-of-view due to certain elements of the genre present. He is the husband of Oichi.

Gameplay

Nagamasa is an agile character, though not to the same extent as the ninja characters. His S-String comprises of slashes with a combination of shield throws. Unfortunately, due to the series' portayal of him acting like a Super Sentai Hero, almost all of his attacks ends with a pose, leaving him vulnerable to attacks for a brief period. In Sengoku Basara 2 as an NPC, he shares a modified moveset to Yukimura.

Also, Nagamasa is the only character who is able to extend his aerial "downward" attack (skill button while in air), pushing his enemies further along the ground.

In later games, Nagamasa's special gimmick revolves around his buff skill. His buff has three levels indicated by a red glow on his equipment- sword only, sword+shield, sword+shield+self. Whille buffed the glowing equipment has more range and deals more damage. At max level, Nagamasa also gains some stagger resistance and a powerful laser slash accompanies each slash in his S-String, increasing his range, attack and hit count. Additionally, at max level, Nagamasa is able to perform a powered up version of each of his other skills. Nagamasa's buff is lost upon performing a powered up skill.

While the buff is obviously acquired by using its own skill, there are a few other and faster ways to acquire it.

• At the end of each skill (and S-String), Nagamasa's shield or sword will flash. The player must press R1 when the sword or shield blinks to get one level of the buff.

• The player may simply fight normally. After killing enough enemies, Nagamasa will automatically get a buff level.

• Performing his Basara Attack will instantly put Nagamasa to max level buff.

• When performing his buff skill, Nagamasa will raise his hands twice before charging. Nagamasa's hands will also flash that those points. The player must press R1 on both instances to instantly get a max level buff (Nagamasa will skip the charging part). If the player mistimes either R1 press, Nagamasa will continue his buff skill as normal. 

Skills

Shining Slash - Cross (Kizan - Juumonji)

Element: Light

Slices and dices in a cross fashion the evil running rampant in this world. From Lv. 2, additional button pressing creates a shockwave. At Lv. MAX, the shockwave is strengthened.

In Sengoku Basara 4, after creating the cross, Nagamasa can use Katsumoku - Totsugekishin to spin and push the cross forward.

Wing of Light - Flying Armor Bullet (Kouyoku - Hikoudan)

The shield flies, mowing down the surrounding evil. If the skill is charged, the shield flies and pulls the enemies near.

Heavens - Violent Soaring Sword (Tenkuu - Resshouken)

With a strike of justice evil is launched to the heavens. By holding and then releasing the skill button, a jumping special attack can be added.

Close Attention - Charging Advance (Katsumoku - Totsugekishin)

The shield is prepared, and a rush attack undaunted by evil is executed. After level up the number of hits increases.

Strength of Truth - Light Equipment (Riryoku - Soukou)

Element: Light

Arms are powered up for a set time with the strength of truth. If the skill button is pressed, the sword will be powered up; if the normal combo button is pressed, the shield will be powered up. The skill lasts more after level up.

In Sengoku Basara 4, Nagamasa will power up his sword on the first usage, then his shield, then himself in that order (powered up equipment is skipped; so if the sword is already powered up, he will powered his shield instead, and so on). While powered up, attack range is increased for that gear. If Nagamasa is fully powered-up, his attack, attack range is further increased and gains an additional "slash" per attack. Additionally, if this skill is used while fully powered up, Nagamasa will enter a charging stance. If a skill button (or button combination) is pressed, Nagamasa will execute a powered up version of that skill (complete with slow-mo effect, action pause and kanji markings).

Silent - Instant Kill (Mugon - Sokusatsu)

Element: Light

Without waiting for the opponent's response, evil is erased with a slash attack. If the button is pressed with the correct timing, it's possible to execute a combination of up to four hits.

Historical Information

Azai Nagamasa

Azai Nagamasa 浅井長政 1545 – August 28, 1573

He received the clan head position from his father when he was 15 and despite his young age he proved to be a capable leader. At 19 he married Nobunaga’s sister Oichi to sooth the tensions over territory with Mino Province. When Nobunaga declared war with Asakura clan, Azai backed Asakura. He also joined the alliance of Asakura, Rokkaku and Enryaku-jimonks against Nobunaga. The conflict lasted for 3 years. Eventually Nobunaga defeated Nagamasa. Driven into the corner Azai sent his wife Oichi and their three daughters to Nobunaga and committed suicide. His only son and heir was killed by Nobunaga.  But thanks to his daughters Azai blood runs in the veins of all country governors (Chacha became a concubine of Hideyoshi and mother of Hideyori, Gou became the wife of Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shogun, and mother of the third shogun - Iemitsu).

Gallery

Image Gallery

How to Unlock

Game	How to Unlock	Notes
Sengoku BASARA 2	Unplayable	-
Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes	Unlocked by Default	-
Sengoku BASARA X	Unplayable	Oichi's Assist
Sengoku BASARA Battle Heroes	Clear the game with Oichi	-
Sengoku BASARA Chronicle Heroes	Clear the game with Oichi	Unlocked by Default with Battle Heroes Save Data
Sengoku BASARA 4	Clear the game with Katsuie	Can be unlocked with DLC
Sengoku BASARA 4 Sumeragi	Unlocked by Default	-
Sengoku BASARA Sanada Yukimura-den	Complete Story Mode	-