Keiji Maeda

Keiji Maeda (前田 慶次, Maeda Keiji) is a character introduced in Samurai Warriors. He premiered as the Samurai Warriors equivalent to Lu Bu but this position was taken by Tadakatsu Honda in the following game. As with Ina, he is also a bonus character in Kessen III if the memory card has a Samurai Warriors save file.

Akin to his historical counterpart, he is always seen riding his horse and companion, Matsukaze. In the first game, he's 25 years old. His symbolic items are the kanji for "chivalrous" (豪) and "tiger" (虎).

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors, Keiji is a wild man who loosely served under Oda Nobunaga. He became a wanderer after the Battle of Nagashino, where he felt outdated by Nobunaga's mass use of rifles against the Takeda Cavelry. He continues to wander the land and participates in brawls wherever he goes. Hearing of the great god of war, Kenshin, Keiji decides to storm the Hojo castle to intercept and look for him. Unfortunatly, he arrived before Kenshin, so he decides to pass the time by storming the castle himself, and winds up wiping out the Hojo by the time Kenshin arrives. Keiji finds Kenshin praying to his fallen enemies, and becomes even more impressed by Kenshin's "class". In his shorter story ending, he enters the Uesugi forces only to have a peaceful yet boring country to defend. He wonders if this is his real path in life.

In his true ending, he continues to chase after Kenshin, seeking a job. Kenshin proposes a test: he'll consider Keiji if he proves himself a true samurai and takes on the entire Uesugi Army by himself. Keiji gains aid from an unlikely band of comrades from his former scuffles. His rag-tag team includes Okuni, Goemon Ishikawa, Magoichi Saika, and Yukimura Sanada. Although Keiji insists on fighting solo, Kenshin alters the deal, claiming that a true samurai protects those who have faith in him. Learning that his comrades are more important than strength, Keiji seems pleased with the result, dispite not getting into Kenshin's employ.

In Samurai Warriors 2, he wanders the land after he served the Oda clan. He spots Mitsunari's flight at Kyoto and decides to stick up for the fleeing Western Army. His exploits were noticed by Kanetsugu Naoe and he's hired to fight for the Uesugi cause. After they suffer a staggering defeat from the Date forces, Kenshin makes a stand at Hasedo and insures the safety of the fleeing Uesgui troops. When they learn about Mitsunari's execution, Keiji stops Kanetsugu from following his lord into the afterlife and inspires him to lead a surprise assault on Edo castle. When they succeed, Keiji says that he might wander again while he scatters the remaining Tokugawa resistance.

In his dream stage, he has a showdown with the most feared man of the east, Tadakatsu Honda. Yukimura and Kantesugu reinforce his charge through the Tokugawa and Date troops. Once he defeats Ieyasu, he is given the privilege to fight Honda and is donned the greatest warrior in the land when he wins.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, Keiji surprisingly allies himself with Orochi due to his admiration for the snake's strength. In the Wu storyline, he eventually grows bored of fighting for Orochi, and offers to join Sun Ce's resistance, but only if Sun Ce and all his allies fight and defeat him first. His dream mode for Warriors Orochi 2 implies that he wants to "save" Orochi by giving him the death he desires.

Kessen
Keiji appears as a wild unit for the Toyotomi side in Kessen. Although he leads a small army of 3,000 men, he has an amazing amount of stamina and will charge through larger armies with relative ease. He's somewhat rare as he'll only appear in the last stage at Edo or Sekigahara.

Development
Keiji was designed to look like the strongest character and visually beats the original cast in height. His charismatic hairstyle and tiger fur were made to emphasize his strength and "wild nature". His first design took some inspiration from Tetsuo Hara's interpretation of Keiji from the Hana no Keiji series. These key concepts were kept for his redesign but the designers jokingly lament that he isn't supposed to be the mightiest character.

Personality
Keiji is a fun-loving brawler who doesn't give a hoot about rules or laws. He enters campaigns with unabashed confidence, often thinking that every battle is one big and crazy party. His most gifted trait is his ability to live life as it comes, never worrying what others think of him and treasuring his own personal values. Although Keiji was historically a patron of the arts, he quickly gets bored with Okuni's dance in her Samurai Warriors ending.

While others may see him as a simple wild man, he does have some code of personal ethic and will stand for the common people. He feels that fights should be fought fairly and doesn't condone killing or involving innocent bystanders. He also admires bravery and often feels compelled to stick up for the underdogs. His role in Warriors Orochi seems to contrast his personality but, in actuality, he emphasizes with Orochi's personal strife and seeks to help him.

In select conversations in Empires, it's revealed that he's also infamous for his pranks against his uncle, Toshiie. He states that his uncle's high-and-mighty attitude unnerves him and he uses these mostly harmless tricks to let off some steam.

Appearance
His Samurai Warriors alternate outfit has him shaved bald and dressed in monk-like clothing. His upper vest is decorated with a golden octopus design. His second color scheme in Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends changes his hair black and tints his clothing red. This could be an allusion to Capcom's version of Keiji in the Sengoku Basara series.

Voice Actors

 * Steven Blum - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Steve Szczepowski - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Michael Benyear - Kessen (English)
 * Yuji Ueda - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Kazunari Tanaka - Kessen (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "Ha! There goes another one!"
 * "Let's go crazy!"
 * "This was fun! Catch you later!"
 * "Alright! Let's go spill some guts!"
 * "Don't make it too easy for me!"
 * "Ah, a rumble in the Capital. This is great!"
 * "Helping these poor fellas could cost me my life. Ain't I heroic?"
 * "Sure, being a pirate has its allure, but killing pirates? That's the life for me!"
 * "I wonder if we're gonna survive this... Ohh, I love the suspense!"
 * "Why are tigers strong?... Because they're born that way!"
 * "This battle's gonna go down in history. Hey, I wonder if I will too?"
 * "Aww man, I'm not gonna die here am I?"
 * "Sorry for the hassle."
 * "Yeah, I hear ya. To tell you the truth, I don't actually think I'm crazy. I think I'm perfectly normal, and it's the rest of the world that's wrong in the head."
 * "Keiji, you're up!"
 * "Alright! In the name of our creepy snake overlord guy!!!"
 * Masamune Date and Keiji in Warriors Orochi


 * "So, who will join me in the dance of combat?"
 * Keiji initiating a duel; Kessen

Ground Attacks

 * ,undefined: Jumps down making a shockwave
 * ,: Swings downward

Samurai Warriors 2
Moveset remains relatively the same. His horse musou is the same as other characters in that his horse will do a high speed charge through enemies. Like all characters, he also has a Level 3 Musou effect where he's surrounded by several ground shockwaves. He gains a few new techniques.
 * ,,,,undefined: (Xtreme Legends only) Keiji emits a whirlwind around him.
 * His musou actions remain the same. During the level 3 version, various ground explosions will emit around him.
 * R1 + : Lunges forward with his free hand, nabs his opponent, and throws them after he gains a spinning momentum.
 * R1 + undefined: Whistles for his horse. Cannot be used in-doors.
 * Personal Skill: Reversal. When Keiji is hit, tap undefined for an immediate counter. Cannot be used when he's knocked over or stunned.

Warriors Orochi
Loses his C5, personal skill, and Level 3 Musou. Gains a different R1.
 * R1 - Stomps the floor and creates a shockwave around him. Gains a boost in attack speed.

Trivia

 * In Samurai Warriors 2, Keiji's English voice sounds quite similar to Michelangelo from the TMNT 2003 series
 * The pachislot calls him the "ultimate kabukimono", a stereotype that the creators actually tried to avoid during Keiji's creative process.