An incomplete list of character nicknames in Sengoku Basara

One of the many interesting things about the Sengoku Basara series is how much care the creators put into each character's dialogue. Every character consistently addresses the others (and themselves) in a particular way, which means you can often tell who spoke and who they were speaking to from written text without any context at all. This makes it quite challenging to translate; it's almost impossible to replicate the variety in the original script without resorting to obscure English expressions which sound very strange in a Japanese setting - such as Sasuke addressing Yukimura as 'Guv' rather than his usual 'Danna' in the English adaptation of the manga.

As a result of this careful attention to character interactions, many of the warriors in the games have attracted a number of nicknames over the last eight years. Some of these are based on names (and titles) used by the real-life historical figures; others are inventions used only in Sengoku Basara. And some are nothing more than in-jokes between fans.

In the west, new fans often seem to comment that it's very difficult to learn who all of the characters are. The nicknames don't help and there don't seem to be many resources in English to help people decipher them. I decided to try to put together a list of the most common ones - partly to be helpful, and partly because I was curious to see how many I could remember all by myself. The answer turned out to be 'a lot', though this list is far from complete, and doesn't even touch on honourifics or the multitude of personal pronouns the series employs.

Firstly, a list of nicknames for individual characters. It's hopefully obvious which of these are official in-game nicknames and which are jokes.

103-year-old 103歳
Motonari. A joke based on the age he would actually have been if he were at the Battle of Sekigahara.
Anaguma 穴熊
Kanbee. 'Badger'.
Aniki アニキ
Motochika. 'Older brother', but used more like the slang expression 'bro'.
Benmaru 弁丸
Yukimura. His real-life childhood name.
Bishamonten No Keshin 毘沙門天の化身
Kenshin. Literally 'Bishamonten incarnate'.

Anime series which parody Sengoku Basara

I was looking at the search terms visitors use to find my silly blog recently, and amongst all of the searches for "kintama" and topless pictures of Yamato from Sukitte Ii Na Yo, one stood out like a sore thumb:

"Which animes make parodies of Sengoku Basara?"

Sadly, although I write about all kinds of things that kind of content wasn't available here. I'm really sorry for disappointing whoever was searching for such an amazing website; there's no way that photographs of my latest BL doujinshi shipments can fill the same void.

Having said that, what a great idea it is for a new blog post! So without further ado, I want to make a list with pictures wherever possible. Please leave a comment if you know any other references or parodies which I've missed. Manga is fine too, but let's ignore official guest appearances by Sengoku Basara characters in other media (e.g. game crossovers) or the list will be too long to manage. General parodies of feudal warlords don't count either, it has to specifically be the Sengoku Basara version of a character.

Here we go!

Chronicles Of The Going Home Club (Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku) episode 2
(Added 11/07/2013) 
A new addition to the list (two within the space of a week)!  You can check it for yourself at the 3:31 timestamp on Crunchyroll. The characters are discussing the unifiers of the Sengoku period and somehow Masamune pops up mid-conversation.

Genshiken Nidaime (Genshiken second season) episode 1
(Added 07/07/2013) 
Production I.G. clearly couldn't resist slipping a Sengoku Basara doujinshi into the pile of books which appears during the Genshiken Nidaime opening sequence. You can watch it on Crunchyroll at the 4:00 mark to see for yourself.

These books also look mildly familiar later in the episode (picture take at the 7:56 mark)...