Hanbei Takenaka

Takenaka Hanbei is an onmyōji who is part of the Oda clan. She previously held position as a master strategist in the Mino province under Saitou Dousan, but aligned with the Oda, and swore loyalty to Sagara Yoshiharu after Saitou Yoshitatsu declared war against his father. She is considered a brilliant tactician, and was known and feared among other strategists such as Niwa Nagahide and Akechi Mitsuhide. That with her powers in ommyoudou make her a force to be reckoned with. She defeated all others who tried to outwit her in battle, and only came to the Oda clan after being saved by Yoshiharu, Mitsuhide, Inuchiyo and Goemon, and becoming friends with Yoshiharu. She is based on the real-life historical figure of the same name. Her seiyuu in the anime is Ogura Yui. Hanbei is petite, and somewhat child-like in appearance. Her appearance would make one assume she is very young, even though her age isn't revealed. She has large hazel eyes, and medium-length silver hair tied up at two sides. She wears what looks like a small, turquoise, sleeveless yukata, with two poofy armwarmers, and fingerless gloves. A white sleeveless top covers her yukata, with a bright blue bow tied on the left. She also has waraji, which she wears with tabi. Despite being one of the most, if not the most, powerful characters in the series, with her magical abilities, and genius intellect, Hanbei is very shy, and usually timid around strangers. When she first meets Yoshiharu and Nagamasa, the first thing she says is, "please don't be mean to me," but she becomes comfortable with Yoshiharu later on. Despite this however, Hanbei can be a great leader, and very easily gives orders. She is very decisive, and is always the first to come up with a plan, or figure out the enemy's strategy. Due to her nervousness around people, she usually has her "double," Zenki, relay her orders, but she will give them in person without a problem if the situation calls for it. Like Yoshiharu, Hanbei prefers to avoid bloodshed in any way, and will always try to defeat her enemies by causing minimal damage. When the Oda clan tries to capture her, she defeats them by causing minimal causalities, but demoralizes them at the same time. Hanbei will however, abandon this attitude, and respond with great wrath to someone who harms or threatens Yoshiharu, as shown with Danjo. Because of her frail body, Hanbei is aware of her short lifespan and has developed the belief that even should she die the world will remain unchanged, so as a result she does not have any dreams of her own. However, in place of dreams, she has a strong sense of righteousness and a strong ideology, and it is this which ultimately draws her to the overly righteous Yoshiharu. Ultimately, she does end up developing feelings she can't explain towards him and creates her dream: to make him shine and protect him forever. This is the source of her undying loyalty.