Wednesday 9 January 2013

Part 15: Yanagita Rikao's Sengoku Basara Science Laboratory

As with my posts covering the earlier parts, this is an extremely rough English translation of part of the blog series Yanagita Rikao's Sengoku Basara Science Laboratory (Yanagita Rikao Sengoku Basara Kagaku Kenkyuujo). Please click the link below to see the original article, which is accompanied by illustrations and promotional videos.

Part 15: A comprehensive analysis of monster-grade strength!! Oda Nobunaga

'Heaven Conqueror Demon King' Oda Nobunaga. Simply writing the name is enough to make every inch of the body tremble in fear. He's probably as much as two metres tall, with a long sword in his right hand, a shotgun in the left, and clad in armour with protrusions which thrust to the heavens like an assassin's blades. Proclaiming himself to be the Dairokuten Maou ('Demon King of the Sixth Heaven'), he issues the words "Bow down to me!". It's as though his presence nullifies any other. And if he enters the battlefield, he displays such strength that it's as though there is nobody else around. Ah, why did the heavens send a warlord like this to walk the earth?

The Demon King has strong arms

A two-metre-tall giant with a huge sword and shotgun, rampaging at full power. If this really happened the situation would be out of control. Furthermore, that long sword is more than a mere katana. When calculated by measuring the illustration in the Sengoku Basara 5th Anniversary Eiyuu Taizen book, the length of the blade on its own is 1.4m, which gives an estimated weight of 36kg. Nobunaga swings this around in one hand without any discomfort. If it's momentum was equivalent to that of a full swing by a professional baseball player, it would have the same impact as a 400cc motorbike crashing at 90km/h. On the screen of the game all of the enemy soldiers are sent flying with a single swing: that would only be natural.

In Nobunaga's hands, even the cape fluttering on his back becomes a powerful weapon. That's the unique skill 'Shouheki Shinku' ('Crimson Barrier'). With a single swing of his cape, Nobunaga sweeps away the enemy in front of him.

It's said that people fly if the wind blows at 40m/s, but for a soldier weighing approximately 100kg combined with their armour a wind velocity of 50m/s would probably be needed. As this ferocious wind is being generated from a position 10m away, it means that Nobunaga swings his cape at a speed of Mach 3.4. Faster than a rifle bullet! Something like a cape would have enormous air resistance, so to swing it at this speed tremendous force would be required. When compared to a baseball pitcher shadow-pitching with a towel, Nobunaga is swinging his cape with 38t of force. The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven is awe-inspiring!

Slashing at sub-light speed!?

As well as this physical strength, Nobunaga uses a mysterious technique. Upon striking the ground with the katana, around ten swords jump out from the ground in front and skewer the enemy. What kind of principle is behind this unique skill, 'Yakusai No Toge' ('Thorns of Calamity')?

The swords flying out from under the ground can only be considered as the result of the ground trembling from the impact with which Nobunaga struck it. At what kind of speed did he shake the ground? It ought to be equivalent to the speed at which the blades jump out. The speed at which an ordinary samurai pierces an enemy with a sword might reach a similar level to a boxer's punch - taking into account that they're holding a katana. Since it's said that a professional boxer's 'straight' punch reaches 40km/h, I'd imagine that a katana flying up at 30km/h would be able to skewer the enemy. If Nobunaga was to make the ground 10m away vibrate using his huge sword, he'd have to swing the blade down at a speed of Mach 880!

I want to nod in agreement even though the Nobunaga of this story has become far more than human. But there is an unresolved issue with Yakusai No Toge: why were there swords buried in the ground to begin with? Had Oda soldiers been secretly buried there previously? Would Nobunaga strike the ground when the enemy luckily arrived at the area where the swords were buried? No way; the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven wouldn't rely on that kind of petty trick.

According to Einstein's special theory of relatively, energy can alter a material. Could Nobunaga not have created the swords with the energy he used to strike the ground? In this guy's case, I feel as though he might be able to pull it off... The swords which jump out have a length of around 2m and their estimated weight is 35kg. The speed needed for Nobunaga to hit the ground and create ten of those would have been 99.35% of the speed of light: Mach 876,000! This goes beyond surprising: it's simply astounding.

In addition, the 'King of Six Demons'!

Although he's strong enough to do all of this on his own, Nobunaga summons the 'Rokuma No Ou' ('King of Six Demons') and scatters the enemies. Give me a break!

The King of Six Demons is about three times taller than Nobunaga. When he appears, the surrounding area gains a bright red glow; this is probably because the King of Six Demons shines red. With the exception of things like diodes, objects give off their own light when the temperature is high. The temperature at which red light is emitted is 3,900℃. I wonder if the King of Six Demons has that kind of body temperature? At this temperature, even rocks melt. Though I'm unable to confirm from the screen of the game, the ground at the feet of the King of Six Demons ought to sizzle and melt. And because this fiend swings a very long sword, it's unbearable. All around, enemy soldiers shriek in agony when they're hit and burst into flames. You could say this is hell on earth.

Furthermore, this King of the Six Demons possesses a frightful technique. By violently thrusting that giant katana into the ground, a huge explosion occurs which generates a fireball with a radius of around 30m and blows enemy soldiers away for approximately 30m as well. From this the power of the blast can be seen as equivalent to that of 95t of explosives. Then the King of Six Demons must be thrusting the giant katana - estimated weight 980kg - at Mach 84!

Ehh, Mach 84? Even setting aside the speed used to create the swords for Yakusai No Toge, this doesn't come close to the sword speed of Mach 880 Nobunaga used to shake the ground. Why, Nobunaga himself is three times stronger than the King of Six Demons. To Nobunaga, even this hellish inferno is nothing more than a servant with inferior skill. It's true that there's 'nobody before Nobunaga and nobody after him'. Not even a demon!

Thinking again, it's very brave of the other warlords to confront this Demon King of the Sixth Heaven without hesitation. And how very strong they are, since they occasionally triumph. The BASARA world has an appropriately BASARA demon king. That's Oda Nobunaga.

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Note: The conclusion requires some understanding of the connotations of the word 'BASARA' to make sense and it was written that way in Yanagita's original article. I have assumed most people who have got this far probably already know what the title of the game means. If not, please read it as 'stylish'!

All content in this post is © CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2012.

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