Ikemen Sengoku – Masamune Date

Synopsis

You’ve landed your dream job as a fashion designer but before that a long awaited vacation to Japan. While you are visiting the historical remains of Honno-ji temple, guided by your travel book about the Sengoku Warriors, you meet another traveller. At that moment lightning struck and you are teleported to 14^th century Japan during the Sengoku period. As luck would have it, you saved Nobunaga from his fiery death and this triggered a massive change in history where all the Sengoku warriors who should have died escaped death. Your fellow traveller informs you that you would be able to return to modern Japan via a wormhole which will open in 3 months’ time. In the meantime, you would need to gather your wits around you and survive this tumultuous time. 

Masamune Date Route

Masamune Date is a feudal lord of Oshu. He’s a skilled horse rider, master swordsmith and has great perspective about people. He’s also constantly teasing MC, getting touchy feely and dragging her around on his chores so that she would be able to settle into her new life in the Sengoku period. He also moves at his own pace and tempo to the chagrin of the other lords, but Nobunaga trusts him to get things done. 

After MC shared a kiss with him, it got her all riled up on what this means for the relationship between them. MC is obviously attracted to this roguish man with the black eye-patch but apparently in his dictionary and in this period, he doesn’t attach much meaning to such sentimental gesture as opposed to conviction shown through actions. 

Masamune comes on to the MC rather aggressively – he observed that MC is obviously attracted to him, the mood is right so he advances to bed her even if there is no clarity on the commitment or relationship. Thankfully she has a sound head to reject him.

Sasuke who is working for the opposition feudal lords finds MC and tries to convince her to leave with him to Kenshin’s territory. Masamune intercepts and attempts to kill Sasuke as he is enemy to Nobunaga. MC desperately begs Masamune to let Sasuke go as he is a friend from the present time. Masamune is hungry for his blood and threatens to even kill MC if she got in the way. He even claimed that he will kill his friends and family or die to fulfil his mission. MC chided him for his blind loyalty to his ideals of a perfect leader.

Ieyasu warns MC to steer clear of Masamune as she is likely to be hurt in the aftermath of his storm. However she wonders what motivates him even if it costs him everything. Masamune tells MC that he has only one goal – to build a country where people can eat good food without worry and to do that, he will do whatever it takes to fight for it. While MC understands him, she is adamant that he cannot kill her friend and pleaded him to also understand her point of view.

As Masamune and MC continues to hang out, her attraction to him and his show of affection for her is driving her crazy. She really wants to give in to his advances but at the same time is trying to protect herself once it is time for her to return back home. Besides given how Masamune acts on how he feels at any time, she thinks he might also have treated other girls like this too. 

MC finally decides that she loves Masamune too much to deny herself anymore after they went on a proper date together. He invites her to his place to pick up a dress. When she arrives smelling of gunpowder after her afternoon rifle practice, Masamune went feral on her. He reveals that gunpowder reminds him of the traumatic incident when he had to kill his own father when he was held hostage by rebel lords. MC realised that Masamune the wild stallion he is has never had the opportunity to recover from this episode as Sengoku samurai just leap from one battle to another. 

War is finally upon the warlords. Nobunaga is engaged in a pincer attack from both Shingen and Kennyo so he split his forces into two. MC decides to go to battle with Masamune even though she’s not ready to kill. Yet she knows that if she isn’t there with him she will regret it. Masamune and MC goes on another date at a village festival. Masamune tries his best to understand MC and the world she comes from. During the date, MC expresses her readiness to go the next step with Masamune even though their relationship is still unclear. She realises she is completely in love with him.

Ieyasu speaks with MC and chided her for coming to the front line. MC realises that his sharp words came from a deep concern for her, that killing someone would mar her forever. Masamune is happy to see Ieyasu and MC getting along. Ieyasu tells Masamune that they only needed to hold the fort till Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide joins them but Masamune was keen to already push the enemies back themselves. The night before the war, the camp broke into panic as soldiers fell sick from drinking poisoned water. 

The war has started. When Masamune learns that the poison wasn’t applied by Yukimura, he rushed back to camp to find MC about to be shot at by the culprit sent by Kennyo. He jumps in front of her to protect her from the bullet, sustaining a bullet wound in his shoulder. MC is worried for him and feels guilty for not being able to pull the trigger herself which caused him to be hurt. Masamune tells her it is not her fault and asked her to promise not to tell anyone as it will affect the army’s morale.

MC is too worried about Masamune and knows there is nothing she can do to stop him from heading out to battle. Thus with the help of Ieyasu, she dresses up as a soldier and rides out to battle to watch over Masamune. Kenshin is spotted in the frontlines. When MC saw that Masamune is caught up in a one on one fight with Kenshin and that Ieyasu’s troops wouldn’t be able to reach him in time, she pulls away and rides towards Masamune to save him. She is thrown off the horse but manages to get in position to fire a clean shot at Kenshin. Masamune rushes to stop her from killing Kenshin. 

He tells her that he will never forgive himself if she ever killed anyone causing her to lose the smile on her face forever. Kenshin realises that Masamune is injured so he calls off the duel. Hideoyoshi and Mitsuhide also arrives with reinforcements so the opposition troops retreated as well. Ieyasu scolds both of them for their reckless behaviour. Nonetheless MC is glad that Masamune finally decides to accept her the way she is – that is she doesn’t have to kill anyone to prove her worth to him.

MC returns to Azuchi first to help with the injured while Masamune finishes up with the retaking of the fort. The warlords report their victory to Nobunaga. A few days later, Ieyasu returns. MC is excited to meet Masamune but learns that he had collapsed so she rushes to his manor to find him. Due to exhaustion, Masamune is put on bed rest by the doctor, otherwise he’s perfectly fine. 

MC and Masamune spend the time chatting about expectations in their relationship. Masamune explains that she’s more precious to him than other women he has slept with before, than a wife which is usually a political union or family. I suppose he’s finally expressing the emotion of love which MC reciprocates. They continue to tease each other running around the manor and finally collapsing into each other’s arms and thus consummating their love through the night. 

Masamune tells MC that once the war is over, he intends to bring her back to his castle in Oshu and live together officially. MC is delighted that Masamune is serious about her. However the prospect is dimmed when Nobunaga hints that he has no intention of having MC leave him as her presence had made the war campaigning a lot more palatable. I guess if I can understand Nobunaga’s thinking, it’s probably to ensure that the Date clan would remain loyal to him always.

Sasuke springs a visit to inform her that the wormhole would be opening soon in Honno-ji. If she were to make it in time, she would need to start packing up to start the journey there. MC tells Sasuke of her decision to stay in the Sengoku period because she’s fallen in love. She loves Masamune so much that she’s willing to give up her life in present day to be with him. Sasuke respects her decision and wishes her all the best.

Dramatic Ending

MC waits impatiently for the whole day to see Masamune again. When he finally turns up despite the storm brewing outside, MC is touched by his actions. By then it was obvious to everyone that Masamune and MC are a couple. Meanwhile, Mitsuhide has discovered the whereabouts of Kennyo. Without wasting any time, he summons the warlords to finally subjugate this threat.

Masamune and MC spends some intimate time together. She tells Masamune that she plans to stay in this time period with him but cautioned that Nobunaga might stop her from going to Oshu. Masamune says he will deal with Nobunaga, failing which he would just run off with MC. Mitsuhide interrupts their conversation to gather the warlords for the final confrontation with Kennyo. The warlords ride through the rain and night with intent to capture Kennyo alive. Masamune tells MC to turn away if the violence was too much for her to bear. MC is glad that Masamune has come to accept her just the way she is. 

Nobunaga’s warlords quickly captured Kennyo. However instead of killing him, Nobunaga tells him that he intends to hold him captive until he unites Japan. Then he wants Kennyo to decide whether he still wants to kill Nobunaga after he realises the dream of a unified country. MC is relieved that no blood is shed.  

Several days later with the temporary peace restored, all the warlords return to their fiefdom. MC and Masamune also go on a trip to Kyoto to send Sasuke off and thereafter start their life together in Oshu. MC was shocked when she saw Yukimura with Sasuke. Tensions arose between the two opposing warlords. Before things could blow out of proportion, she demanded that they play nice on the journey and just pretend to be friends at least during the trip.  

Masamune backed down in consideration for MC which shocked Yukimura. He never expected anyone would be able to tame Masamune. (Now if Yukimura is scheming, he would be thinking how to use MC to his advantage to get rid of one of Nobunaga’s fiercest and strongest ally). Anyway they agreed on a ceasefire so the rest of the journey felt like a road trip among four friends especially seeing how Masamune and Yukimura kept squabbling like an old couple. However both of them warned MC not to attach too much sentimentality to the situation because they will always be enemies and she would be hurt either way when that happens. 

The night before they reached Honno-ji, Masamune and MC laid together in a field of flowers to express their love for one another. Masamune vowed that the only time he would die would be next to MC after he did his best to protect her. In the meantime he will keep on living. That is sooo sweet. I can really see the character development behind this wild stallion.  

Upon arriving at Honno-ji, MC guided Sasuke to the spot where she arrived when she was teleported to this time zone. However before Masamune and MC could leave the temple, lightning started to flash shaking the whole structure. As the roof threatens to collapse, Masamune pushes MC out to the balcony and ends up being trapped under the beams. MC is unable to reach him before the wormhole opens and she gets transported back to her own time together with Sasuke.  

Though MC is separated from Masamune, she decides to continue living everyday of her life to her fullest as Masamune would have expected of her until the next wormhole opens again. She moves to Kyoto to be near Honno-ji and starts her career as a fashion designer. A year later, Sasuke tells MC that a wormhole is about to open. MC rushes to the stone structure and made it through the wormhole after bidding Sasuke farewell forever. She lands in the same place she left right on top of Masamune.  

Masamune and MC are so happy to be reunited with one another that they literally throw themselves onto each other. Both have lived with the expectation and belief that they will meet each other again. MC realised that Masamune has sustained burnt scars on him and asked him how he had survived the fire. He told her it was due to his vow to her that he would only die next to her that he summoned the strength to survive and live on (and of course with help from Yukimura too). With the renewed pledge of never leaving each other again, they made up for lost time of being apart.  

MC returns to Oshu with Masamune. He gifts her with the kimono based off the design he had ripped from her book. Later he sends out a smoke signal to inform the rest of the warlords that MC is back safe and sound. Not too soon after they were summoned to return to Azuchi. MC reports to Nobunaga. She thanked him for taking care of her when she was stranded here but told him that she intends to live with Masamune in Oshu. Nobunaga agrees without any objection.  

Dramatic Route Epilogue 

Nobunaga teases MC requesting for a kiss in front of all the warlords. MC rejected it outright and was annoyed that Masamune didn’t even flinch in the face of another man attempting to kiss his lover. Mitsuhide added fuel to the fire when he hinted that Masamune might have even kissed a few ladies here and there when she was absent. This is a lie as Masamune had abstained from flirting with other women ever since he pledged himself to MC.  

MC leaves the banquet hall to get some air and finds Ieyasu sitting by himself. She shares with him her insecurities and jealousy. Ieyasu offered to test it out and pushed MC to the floor and looked lovingly at her. Masamune walks in upon the scene and was quick to laugh it off as them playing with each other. MC thought it was just an act to rile Masamune but she had a nagging feeling that there was something real with Ieyasu.  

They return to Masamune’s chamber. He finally asked her why she looked so upset throughout the day. MC shares her thoughts, and he reassures her that he does feel jealousy. However he would only do something about it if he felt there was any danger of losing her or she cannot hold her own. In fact if he was seriously jealous, he wouldn’t hesitate to cut the man down. Ok maybe it’s not good to get Masamune jealous afterall. With her concerns assuaged, Masamune and MC spent the night convincing each other of their love.

Review

What is there to hate about a devilishly good looking hunk with a black eye patch? Absolutely nothing. I think what caught me off guard was how quick the ‘romance’ developed between MC and Masamune. However the story developed to help readers understand the difference between attraction/lust and affection/love. Even Masamune confessed that he had felt nothing like this before. He’s obviously had many women and but they were all just flings to satisfy his manly needs. By resisting Masamune’s advances and charms in the beginning, MC established herself differently and even managed to ‘tame’ Masamune to understand her point of view when it comes to courtship and also accepting her as a modern woman with ambition instead of his traditional perspective of women.

Another character development took place when Masamune stopped MC from killing Kenshin. Whether it was borne out of his own male chauvinism (how would I ever live it down that my lover killed the god of war while trying to protect me…) or his desire to protect MC’s innocence, it was a good to see the change in expectations. Kenshin turned out to be a rather decent guy too as he would rather face Masamune on the battlefield when he is at his full strength. The strange camaraderie between Masamune and Yukimura was also bittersweet. It’s heartwarming to see two people so similar hit off as unlikely friends, only to know that they will be at each other’s head when they meet on the battlefield. Such is the cruelty of war where there can only be one victor.

I like the relative maturity of the romance between Masamune and MC, i.e. how they continued to live fully waiting for each other across time and space; and how Masamune is not easily jealous of other men taking a pass at his lover; how he is able to swallow his own bloodthirst and accept a temporary truce with Yukimura at the behest of MC. Masamune is definitely a great catch as a potential lover, as long as you can keep up with his wild side.