Masamune Date

Masamune Date is a character who debuts in Samurai Warriors. He is the young and ambitious ruler of the Date clan. He earned the nickname "One-Eyed Dragon" (独眼竜, Dokuganryu) due to the removal of one of his eyes when he was five. In Samurai Warriors, he is 14 years old, making him the youngest character in the game. He's symbolized by the kanji for "revolt" (乱) and "dragon" (竜).

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors, Masamune is a young boy in charge of an army who recklessly charges and interrupts many important battles (ie: Kawanakajima, Honnoji, etc.) by aiming to defeat both armies at once. This is designed to mirror his reputed rashness and recklessness that made him infamous through his youth (a bravado that wasn't without some brilliance, granted he lost his fair share of battles too at that point). The closest he has to a friendship with the characters is him helping Keiji in his last stage. In Masamune's upper path ending, he conquers Japan and then sets his sights on Spain.

Like Oichi, Masumune's image matures in Samurai Warriors 2 but his personalty is kept intact. In his story, he begins as a submissive unit in the Toyotomi and later the Tokugawa forces. His force was principle in stopping Kanetsugu's army at Hasedo. After he defeats Yukimura at Osaka Castle, Masamune revives his pride and charges against Ieyasu in a coup d'état. For this battle, he fights with his new ally, Magoichi, and they defeat Ieyasu at Mikatagahara. Once he becomes lord of the land, he expresses his wish to someday travel the world and expand his horizons. In comparison to his debut, this version of Masamune reflects his later years wherein he displays great loyalty to Ieyasu and his campaign, despite the fact that deep down, very few - even Ieyasu himself - truly trusted him.

His dream mode explores his possible participation at Sekigahara for the Eastern Army. His allies are shocked when Hideyori takes to the field and many of the former Toyotomi generals defect. Staying loyal to the east, Masamune defends Ieyasu and the remaining eastern generals.

Warriors Orochi
In both games, Masamune is a loyal follower of Orochi. He additionally refers to himself as the "Prince of Pistols". He has an adamant belief that his lord will inevitably conquer the land. However, after Orochi's death in Warriors Orochi 2, Masamune believes that he is the only one capable of taking Orochi's place. He returns to Orochi once his lord is resurrected.

In his Dream Stage, Masamune, Sima Yi, and Mitsunari ward off the Coalition Army with their strategies.

Kessen
Masamune makes an appearance in the first Kessen as the shaky ally for Ieyasu. He is famed for his prized cavalry unit and his army of adept riflemen. In spite of their alliance, Masamune boldly declares that he will betray Ieyasu in the ally camp. If the Eastern forces performs poorly, he will live up to this promise. Otherwise, he makes a very solid yet reluctant unit.

He also appears as a powerful yet minor enemy general in Kessen III. He can become a NPC ally for Nobunaga if he thinks the odds are in his favor. He leads a massive cavalry unit and appears alongside Kojuro Katakura.

Development
Masamune shares many of his design elements with Oichi; they both change at the same rate and are closely tied to one another. For the first title, he was designed to counter the cuteness of the Japanese girl (Oichi) with the "gutsy boy" and "spoiled brat" motif. They strove to make Masamune ambitious but not too deadly. His choice of weaponry was jokingly chosen for originality and to avoid the ethical issue of a child killing/being killed.

He is considered to be a completely different entity in the sequel and is one of the two most changed characters from the original. His newer design aimed to recreate his historical nickname as a man of the Date or "dandy" (伊達者, Datemono), giving a stronger impact for his ambition and craftiness. His charm point is the golden dragon that now decorates the back of his mantle. Since his guns required a new rigging technique, the producer and director are particularly proud of his new fighting style.

Masamune is best associated with the staff by particular sound effects made by his weaponry. The sound of his wooden swords hitting someone ("bon bon") became a sort of inside joke with the development team. In the second title, it was his sword slashing ("baza baza") and his revolvers firing ("pari pari").

Personality
Masamune is an impulsive leader who is boldly arrogant of his abilities. He deems others to be incompetent and often flings the line "Idiots!" or "Imbeciles!" to friend and foe alike. An independent thinker, he rarely listens to his vassals' advice and marches to his own rhythm. Though labeled as an upstart by his enemies, he is actually quite clever and is capable of turning the tides of the battle with his plots. He desires to explore the world and make a new society where numbers can rule. He values his wits, personal material wealth, and power, easily crushed when someone else surpasses him in these aspects.

Due to their contrasting beliefs, he shares mutually antagonizing ties with Kanetsugu. Masamune bluntly deems him to be a hypocrite who uses morals as an excuse to lead men into war. He isn't a fan of Kanetsugu's self-righteous nature and can't stand his preachings for very long.

Appearance
In both cases his Samurai Warriors primary outfits are direct interpretations of the battle garb typical of the samurai of the northern regions which he historically wore - always highlighting his legendary crescent bearing helmet. In SW2 in particular, they get nail nearly every aspect of his actual armor even down to the jet black colors with gold accents - switching out but a few details for better aesthetics (for example, his cape and his dragon styled arm guards). His alternate outfit in SW1 dresses him in a tiger-fur tunic that cuts off above his knees. His hoodie is a tiger's head and his eyepatch is replaced with a bloodied cloth tied around his head. His second color scheme in Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends changes his main color scheme to be a light blue rather than green. This could be an allusion to Capcom's version of Masamune in the Sengoku Basara series.

His third outfit in Warriors Orochi 2 allows him to fight without his helmet and cape.

Voice Actors

 * Skip Stellrecht - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Clinton Lee Pontes - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Darrel Guilbeau - Warriors Orochi (English)
 * John Murphy - Kessen (English)
 * Nobuyuki Hiyama - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Ryōtarō Okiayu - Kessen (Japanese)
 * Kota Nemoto - Kessen III (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "Allies!? Imbeciles! We crush them both! Onward! The real battle shall begin now!"
 * "That's right, stand in my way if you want to get sliced in half!"
 * "Imbeciles!! Know your place!"
 * "I have conquered Japan! Wooo!"
 * "You think you're brave, huh? I think you're dumb!"
 * "Outta my way! Imbeciles!"
 * "This fight is all mine."
 * "I'll show the way!"
 * "Even the heavens are awed by the power of the Date!"
 * "Argh!! Won't you ever shut up about honor, Kanetsugu?! I can hear you even when you're not around. It's like you're in my head!"
 * "This is indeed a good sign. If the principles of honor have penetrated even your thick skull... Then a world in which honor is revered above all cannot be far behind!"
 * "Great. A whole country of Kanetsugus. Just kill me now..."
 * Masamune and Kanetsugu; Samurai Warriors 2 Empires


 * "Masamune, I have served you for a long time. And I have found that you are a man of ambition and cunning deviousness. However, I see now that this was your way of staying true to your dream... A noble dream of joining our land in true unity."
 * "Hey...! Don't you try to sweet-talk me! You're just saying that 'cause you know I've always... wanted... to be appreciated by you..."
 * Yukimura and a sobbing Masamune; Samurai Warriors 2: Empires


 * "Your pathetic parlor tricks won't work against me!"
 * "Ah, did I hear right? Is there a human that thinks he can stand against our might?"
 * Masamune and Taigong Wang; Warriors Orochi 2


 * "I...kill...you!"
 * "Disappear."
 * "Is that really the extent of your vocabulary?"
 * Wei Yan, Hanzō Hattori, and Masamune; Warriors Orochi 2


 * "There is no doubt my cavalry will ultimately determine the victor here! Katakura! After we finish this battle with Mitsunari, we should take hold of the land and perhaps ally ourselves with Spain!"
 * Masamune before the war council; Kessen

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors, Masamune fights with two wooden training swords (boken) and can shoot dragon shaped laser beams from his eye patch. His attacks are fairly fast and broad - with certain swings covering his blind spots - he combos exceptionally well and is a natural on a horse. Drawbacks in this version include; poor reach (fixable to an extent with the right skills) and lighter than average damage potential (the usual drawback for most any faster character). His musou here is a stationary mid-distance rapid fire shot of his 'dragon lasers' in varying directions ending with a few quick swings; useful for crowd clearing but not as effective one-on-one.

He is armed with a spanish-style saber and two pistols in Samurai Warriors 2, which better reflect his close ties to foreign merchants. In this case, he deftly switches back and forth from broad swings to direct pistol fire with moves that can work in most any situation and once again - he has stats that boost his abilities on horseback. His specials are a taunt and rapid pistol fire (deemed somewhat useless by many due to extremely low damage capability and no guard-break). Drawbacks for him now are in the lines of; minor startup lag on some key charge moves (which can lead to some very impromptu interruptions), slightly lower damage output, and a very narrow hit box for his pistol fire to be effective. His musou now is another stationary attack, in which he rapidly fires a barrage of bullets covering his entire front side (he's rotatable when firing too) - with each level up of the musou, there are powered up 'lasers' which come in from the sky at an angle that are added to the attack.

It should be worth noting that Masamune is one of the few characters that regardless of which version played, is almost tailor-made for the ice element. In both cases, his musou in particular is made from generally great to destructive if ice on the current weapon - SW2 in particular takes full advantage of this, as iin many cases a fully powered Masamune with a level 3 musou with the awakening skill maxed can annihilate most any general in a single musou provided that they can successfully freeze the character. This is emphasized throughout the series of games by having his final weapons always carrying ice.

His penchant for speed attacks is alluded to in Warriors Orochi, as he is in the Speed type category.

In other words, if you enjoy a faster than average character with emphasis on combos, balanced crowd clearing/officer dueling ability, great musou potential, and is pretty good on a horse - he's a character for you.