1 February 2014: It appears there are two shows about Nobunaga this season
It's a good thing this gun doesn't have any mass.
Everything I know about Japan's Sengoku era I learned from manga and anime. However, even in that respect, my knowledge of this period of history is woefully incomplete. There are a ridiculous number of Nobunaga-themed anime and manga, and I've watched or read basically none of them. In fact, most of what I do know comes from one anime, Oda Nobuna no Yabou and one (excellent) food manga, Nobunaga no Chef. Considering that at least one Nobunaga anime appears to have aired nearly every season of every single year since his death in 1582, that's a lot of Nobunaga anime I've missed.
When they point the finger, it means you're a rival.
However, this season, there are TWO shows airing concurrently featuring Nobunaga: Nobunaga the Fool and Nobunagun. Neither are exactly what you might call documentaries or even historical fiction. Actually, they're both science fiction stories only very loosely based on Nobunaga and various other historical figures. When I say "loosely" based, I don't just mean that Joan of Arc is a buxom, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who is frequently in need of rescuing instead of being a badass warrior chick haunted by hallucinations. I mean the buxom, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jeanne d'Arc crashes her spaceship on Nobunaga's planet and falls in love with the rouge after he steals her giant robot. C'mon.
Airborne Nobunaga, Airborne Nobunaga, where have you been?
Surprisingly, Nobunagun is quite entertaining. I've finally found a show with a male anime protagonist who has good qualities and essentially none of the despicable ones I typical associated with Potato-kun. The only catch is this male anime protagonist happens to be a girl. Eh, close enough. Shio is an awkward military otaku whose efforts to save the only girl who has ever been nice to her nearly succeed thanks to her determination, the power of Nobunaga's spirit (I guess?), and a really big Gatling gun. Nearly, but not quite because she still requires training. Sigh.
Tiny pictures are the way of love.
Nevertheless, Nobunagun is better than I expected, especially considering that the only reason I started watching it was because Asakawa Yuu pimped it so much much on her Twitter. On the other hand, I've lost interest in Nobunaga the Fool already, despite Kawamori Shoji's involvement. I'll keep watching Nobunagun, but I don't think I'm going to continue watching Nobunaga the Fool unless Jeanne stops doing fuck all.
