Shocking! Encounter at Okehazama

This is for episode 2 of Sengoku Basara.

This episode continues after the attack from Hojo's army against Takeda's thank to the intervention of Date. Yukimura is set to follow Date and get the head of Yoshimoto Imagawa before he does. Killing Imagawa would represent the conquer of his fief (territory) and thus expand the general's power.

In this episode we get a closer look at why the events of Kawanakajima ended without a battle. Uesugi explains that both him and Takeda decided not to fight for Date's involvement would have resulted in more casualties tahn they expected.

We also get a better look at Kasuga, the spy for Uesugi. All the thought that she presents during the chapter are related to his general and she gets an energetic reaction (to put it in a softer way) to the touch and kind words that he gives to her. This implies a deep emotional connection to Uesugi.

When Date and Yukimura finally meet at Okehazama, their fight is portrayed with a different animation style. As much as I would like to give a prominent explanation to this, I can't accurately point a reason for this decision.

Takeda faces Hojo Ujimasa at his castle. Here Takeda shows his great prowess by a series of stunts (one of my personal favorite parts of the whole anime is when he climbs the wall riding the two horses). He is ultimately faced with the famous assassin Kotaro Fuma which he manages to defeat with relative ease exemplifying his might as a general over that of any legendary assassin. He finally ends up fighting Hojo who calls forth his ancestors to aid him in the battle. Takeda in a swift move was able to defeat Hojo proving how a good general, one that is prepared to fight for his soldiers, can defeat any opponent no matter his upbringing.

Back at Okehazama, Imagawa uses some body doubles to flee from the scene, thus demonstrating that even the generals in the Sengoku era were not only courage and strenght but also fear and weakness like any other human being. Yukimura, Date and Kojuro each follow one of carriages that escape the scene. Here we are introduced to Nobunaga Oda's 3 retainers (names are not introduced yet). Each one of them gets to the carriage first and kill the impostors, except for the one that actually found Imagawa who just injures him and takes him to Nobunaga.

Date arrives to the scenen where Nobunaga is standing at the top of a ledge, and freezed at the sight of him. A storm is revolving around him and his eyes are a deep shade of red. This represents the pure evil and torment that he carries with him. Moments later Kojuro and Yukimura, now assisted by Sasuke, arrive at the scene. All but Yukimura stare with awe at the power that emerges from Nobunaga. Yukimura starts ranting at Nobunaga which is a simbol of how naive and strong willed Yukimura really is and how he won't let anything stop him. After Yukimura is asked to be silent by his partners, Nobunaga shoots Imagawa and thus claims the fief in front of Date and Takeda's retainer Yukimura.