Oichi is the first, and only (as of currently, but could possibly stay that way, sadly) character from Sengoku BASARA that’s a hero in TEPPEN. She is the fourth Black Hero in the game, and she has three Hero Arts like every other hero. She is known to be the most tragic character in the Sengoku BASARA franchise. When she first appeared in SB2, she was a shy, but friendly individual, and was married to her husband, Azai Nagamasa. She doesn’t like war, but would sometimes go to fight alongside her husband since she worried for his safety, as Nagamasa fought to bring justice to Japan and end the wars going on. She wielded a double-bladed naginata in battle, and is also the younger sister of Oda Nobunaga. Sadly, she lost her husband to her older brother during the battle at Anegawa, and was forced into serving under him. After the incident at Honnō-ji, she was lost inside the temple, and her sadness enveloped into darkness, which while it protected her from the flames that burned Honnō-ji temple, it would slowly start to consume her. In SB3, she wanders through Japan, sad and lonely, with the darkness around her, as it uses her as a host. While she has some control over it, it usually has a mind of its own. Instead of wielding a double-bladed naginata, she now uses the so-called “dark hands.” In SB4, after the dawn of the Sengoku Genesis, while she still has her dark hands, her husband is now back to save her from them. Anyways, going into her design. She is a beautiful woman with the main inspiration for her design being spider lilies (a type of flower), and cuckoo birds (a type of bird). Makoto Tsuchibayashi (known for his works on Devil May Cry, Sengoku BASARA, and Shinobi) was the person who designed her. I can definitely see these inspirations, mainly with her hairstyle, and the fact that the end of her clothes resemble tail feathers, but spread out like a spider lily does. Also, she is typically depicted either holding resurrection lilies (a type of spider lily that’s white with a pink tint), being in a field of red spider lilies, and/or having cuckoo birds flying nearby. Laura Bailey returns to voice Oichi in English, and Mamiko Noto returns to voice Oichi in Japanese for TEPPEN. As I was expecting, I felt like Noto did a wonderful job with Oichi’s voice. I was a little skeptical with Bailey though, because there hasn’t been any English voiced Sengoku BASARA media (or just any English language media) in a long time. While I felt like she did a good job, I felt like she did better in the past with Oichi’s voice. Also, a few of Oichi’s lines in TEPPEN seem slightly out of character, but most of the them fit her well. Her theme soundtrack in TEPPEN is a remix of Kanegasaki Nightmare from SB3, and SB3U. I prefer the original version more because I feel like it fits more with the character and story of the game, but I like the TEPPEN version too. I think that she is a very fun hero to use in TEPPEN, and I feel that her Hero Arts are pretty good.
She actually got me back into using Black element decks and heroes more often (Red was my main color, and I occasionally used Black, but rarely used Green, and Purple). Now I use all four colors a lot, as it provides me more of a variety of strategies (Red was my main color, the new Sengoku BASARA cards got me to use Green, and Purple more often, and Oichi got me to use Black more often).
I’m very happy and thankful for Sengoku BASARA getting added into TEPPEN.
I’m hoping and wishing that they will do at least one more expansion (the next one) with a Sengoku BASARA hero, and more Ōkami, and Sengoku BASARA cards, like what some rumors say, and that they will go all-out on the Sengoku BASARA cards to make up for the previous expansion. I know that there have also been rumors that the next expansion will focus on Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and/or Street Fighter, or that it will introduce new franchises such as Ace Attorney, Dead Rising, Onimusha, Strider, and/or Viewtiful Joe. TEPPEN currently has four Red Heroes (Ryu from Street Fighter, Rathalos from Monster Hunter, Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, Amaterasu from Ōkami), four Green Heroes (X from Mega Man X, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Nero from Devil May Cry, Felyne from Monster Hunter), three Purple Heroes (Morrigan Aensland from Darkstalkers, Dante from Devil May Cry, Zero from Mega Man X), and four Black Heroes (Albert Wesker from Resident Evil, Nergigante from Monster Hunter, Akuma from Street Fighter, Oichi from Sengoku BASARA), so that means that the next hero will be a Purple Hero since TEPPEN likes to add one of each color before starting again to make it all equal and balanced. Darkstalkers, Devil May Cry, and Mega Man X seem unlikely since they already have a Purple Hero. Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter also seem unlikely since they currently have the most heroes in the game (three heroes each). Ōkami seems unlikely because other than Amaterasu, and certain factors, there isn’t much possibility for another Ōkami hero. Resident Evil, and Sengoku BASARA seem to be the most likely (unless they add in a new franchise or new franchises) because they both don’t have a purple hero, Resident Evil has two heroes currently (Albert Wesker, Jill Valentine), while Sengoku BASARA has one (Oichi), both have a few (Resident Evil) or several (Sengoku BASARA) other characters that have a shot at being a hero (based on certain factors), and Sengoku BASARA currently has the least amount of cards of the eight franchises in TEPPEN (it’s behind Darkstalkers, and Ōkami, and far behind the other five). Based on certain factors, I feel that of the Sengoku BASARA characters that appear in the game, Gotō Matabei, Kasuga, Katakura Kojūrō, Kuroda Kanbei, Maeda Keiji, Mōri Motonari, Ōtani Yoshitsugu, Shima Sakon, Uesugi Kenshin, and Yamanaka Shikanosuke have a possibility to be the next hero, with Katakura Kojūrō, Maeda Keiji, Mōri Motonari, and Shima Sakon being the most likely. Of the characters that don’t appear in TEPPEN, I feel that Azai Nagamasa, Katō Kiyomasa, and Kyōgoku Maria have a possibility of being the next hero. Nagamasa, and Maria could easily fit in, with relation to Oichi, because Nagamasa is Oichi’s husband, and Maria is Nagamasa’s older sister, thus making her Oichi’s sister-in-law. Kiyomasa is newer, but him being a hero in TEPPEN could help make him more popular. Considering that Oichi is a depressed character, having someone more cheery could help balance that out. My main suggestions for the next hero would be Azai Nagamasa, Katō Kiyomasa, Maeda Keiji, and Shima Sakon because they would all fit the role of a Purple Hero, and help balance out Oichi’s despair. As much as I would want Date Masamune, Ishida Mitsunari, or Saika Magoichi to be the next hero in TEPPEN, they don’t meet certain criteria that gives them a chance at being one (Masamune lost his with TOA, while Mitsunari, and Magoichi lost theirs with BOA). My biggest hopes and wishes for TEPPEN is that the next expansion has a Sengoku BASARA hero with Ōkami, and Sengoku BASARA cards, and that there are more Sengoku BASARA cards than the previous expansions. Also, I’d like to see Epic versions of Ii Naotora, Ishida Mitsunari, Saika Magoichi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, like what they did with Date Masamune, and Sanada Yukimura with the recent expansion (they were Legendary Units in TOA, but got Epic versions in BOA). I would hope that everyone else who’s still missing (Azai Nagamasa, Benmaru, Bontenmaru, Izumo no Okuni, Katō Kiyomasa, Komatsuhime, Kyōgoku Maria, Miyoshi Trio, Sanada Masayuki, Sanada Nobuyuki, Takechiyo) get added in as cards. If none of this happens, while I will be a bit sad and disappointed, I will still continue to play TEPPEN. I don’t want to sound negative, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s no more Sengoku BASARA content in TEPPEN, considering how the series has been treated in recent years. Either way, I’m very grateful that Sengoku BASARA was even added into TEPPEN in the first place, and that they have given it one more expansion with a character from the series as a hero.
Other than that, I’m also hoping that Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers gets added in as a hero in the future (he would be a Green Hero, based on his Unit Card).
