Nobunaga Concerto

For the live-action film adaptation, see Nobunaga Concerto (film).

Nobunaga Concerto (Japanese: 信長協奏曲(コンツェルト), Hepburn: Nobunaga Kontseruto) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ayumi Ishii. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday since May 2009, with its chapters collected in twenty-two tankōbon volumes as of February 2022.

Nobunaga Concerto
First tankōbon volume cover
信長協奏曲(コンツェルト) (Nobunaga Kontseruto)
Genre	Historical[1]
Manga
Written by	Ayumi Ishii
Published by	Shogakukan
Imprint	Monthly Shōnen Sunday Comics
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Sunday
Original run	May 12, 2009 – present
Volumes	22
Anime television series
Directed by	Yūsuke Fujikawa
Produced by	Noriko Ozaki
Written by	Natsuko Takahashi
Music by	Masaru Yokoyama
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	July 12, 2014 – September 20, 2014
Episodes	10
Television drama
Produced by	Ken Murase Kenichi Hatori
Written by	Masafumi Ishida
Music by	Taku Takahashi
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	October 13, 2014 – December 22, 2014
Episodes	11
Related
Live-action film (2016)

A ten-episode anime television series adaptation was broadcast on Fuji TV from July to September 2014. An eleven-episode television drama adaptation was also broadcast on Fuji TV from October to December 2014. A live-action film premiered in Japan in January 2016.

As of February 2016, the Nobunaga Concerto manga had over 3.5 million copies in circulation. In 2012, the manga won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category.

Plot

The story centers around Saburō, a high school boy who time-travels to Japan's Sengoku Era. He must become Oda Nobunaga, the famed warlord who helps unite Japan.

Characters

Main characters

Saburō (サブロー)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano

Played by: Shun Oguri

Saburo is a high school boy who finds himself traveling back in time to Japan's Sengoku Era. He meets Oda Nobunaga, who asks Saburo to impersonate him because they look like identical. He occasionally uses his textbook regarding Nobunaga's life to guide him through the events he needs to create.

Oda Nobunaga (織田信長)

Voiced by: Yuki Kaji

Played by: Shun Oguri

The real Oda Nobunaga. Unable to withstand the political pressure as Nobunaga, he has Saburo take his place while he travels around the country. He eventually ends up taking over the Akechi Clan after the previous leader had no heir, and now works under Saburō (fake Nobunaga) as Akechi Mitsuhide.

Kichō (帰蝶)

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki

Played by: Kou Shibasaki

Kichō is Nobunaga's wife

Kinoshita Tōkichirō (木下藤吉郎)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura

Played by: Takayuki Yamada

Tokichiro was originally a spy from the Imagawa, sent to ruin the Oda. Tokichiro initially attempted to incite rebellion through Nobuyuki as well as acting as a stable boy for the Oda army in the Imagawa's advance. Both areas failed as Nobuyuki was betrayed by Katsuie and, due to a miscommunication, he sends incorrect info to Yoshimito, leading to his death at Okehazama. With no place to go, he bides his time under Nobunaga, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill him.

Oichi (お市)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki

Played by: Kiko Mizuhara

Oichi is Nobunaga's younger sister.

Other characters

Ikeda Tsuneoki (池田恒興)

Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu

Played by: Osamu Mukai

Shibata Katsuie (柴田勝家)

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama

Played by: Masahiro Takashima

Originally a retainer of Nobuyuki, Katsuie was initially unable to understand Nobunaga's behaviour, and attempted to kill Matsudaira Motoyasu in order to show Nobunaga's incompetence. Years later, he soon realizes that Nobunaga not only has the support of the people, but also has the ambition to rule the land. Siding with Nobunaga instead, he is still often baffled by his lord's decision making.

Maeda Toshiie (前田利家)

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma

Played by: Taisuke Fujigaya

A violent man, he was found by Nobunaga fighting in the streets. As punishment for his rowdy behaviour, he was not allowed to serve in the army until after Nobunaga's first few battles.

Sassa Narimasa (佐々成政)

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake

Played by: Shinnosuke Abe

Like Toshiie, Narimasa was a violent person and was fighting Toshiie when they were both scouted by Nobunaga. Later on, he becomes a full-fledged officer of the Oda.

Niwa Nagahide (丹羽長秀)

Voiced by: Shinya Takahashi

Played by: Masanobu Sakata

Takugen (沢彦)

Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata

Played by: Denden

Matsudaira Motoyasu (徳川家康)

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama, Nozomi Masu (young)

Played by: Gaku Hamada

Initially a young hostage for the Oda, Motoyasu becomes indebted to Nobunaga after he rescues the young child's life from Katsuie's assassination attempt. Being given Saburo ("Nobunaga")'s modern day pornographic magazine, he eventually forms an alliance with the Oda after the collapse of the Imagawa forces at Okehazama to repay his debt to Nobunaga.

Takenaka Hanbei (竹中半兵衛)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai

Played by: Naohito Fujiki

A strategist that initially served Saito Tatsuoki, he became dissatisfied with his lord's complacency over Inabayama Castle's victories against Nobunaga, and proceeds to take the castle for himself. Interested in Nobunaga's vision of the world, he eventually turns against the Saito, and joins the Oda forces.

Azai Nagamasa (浅井長政)

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura

Played by: Issei Takahashi

Azai Hisamasa (浅井久政)

Voiced by: Akio Nojima

Played by: Kunio Murai

Endo Naotsune (遠藤直経)

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi [ja]

Isono Kazumasa (磯野員昌)

Voiced by: Jun Hazumi

Mori Yoshinari (森可成)

Voiced by: Ryō Sugisaki

Played by: Yoshiyuki Morishita

Mori Nagayoshi (森長可)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

Played by: Takumi Kitamura

Mori Ranmaru (森蘭丸)

Voiced by: Ayumu Murase

Mori Bōmaru (森坊丸)

Voiced by: Marie Miyake

Mori Rikimaru (森力丸)

Voiced by: Nichika Ōmori

Ashikaga Yoshiaki (足利義昭)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita

Played by: Keisuke Horibe

Matsunaga Hisahide (松永久秀)

Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda

Played by: Arata Furuta

Originally a Yakuza member before being transported to the past, Hisahide relishes the chaos of the Sengoku period, believing it to be a battle where only the strongest win. Meeting Nobunaga after his rejection of the Shogun's letter to attack the Oda, Hisahide offers his loose loyalty to Nobunaga until the time he can rebel.

Oda Nobuyuki (織田信行)

Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama

Played by: Yūya Yagira

Nobunaga's younger brother, whom he spites to the core. Nobuyuki, while afraid of Nobunaga, was also tired of his brother's erratic behaviour. In his brother's youth, Nobuyuki had Nohime kidnapped, which was exposed by Nobunaga in front of their father. Years later, he is incited into rebellion by Kinoshita, falsely believing that the Imagawa would support him as the lord of Owari. Failing in his rebellion, he attempts to kill Nobunaga once more when he is sick, only to be betrayed by Katsuie. After his third failure, he commits suicide, but encourages Nobunaga to take the world without the permission of others.

Hirate Masahide (平手政秀)

Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa

An elderly man who is the tutor of Nobunaga, he is befuddled by Nobunaga's lax behaviour and constantly remonstrates his lord for his laziness. While reviewing conscripts, he notices that Kinoshita is a spy for another warlord and rejects him. Eventually, he is murdered by Kinoshita and another Imagawa spy, and dies telling Nobunaga to not let the world think him a fool. Kinoshita would later kill his associate in order to be able to infiltrate the Oda Army.

Saitō Dōsan (斎藤道三)

Voiced by: Yōsuke Akimoto

Played by: Toshiyuki Nishida

The Lord of Mino and the father of Nohime, he was originally a policeman named Nagai Shinichi, who had a family with a daughter. Travelling to the past mysteriously like Saburo, he stays at the Sengoku Period for 30 years. Upon seeing Saburo's school uniform, he gives the younger man his uniform, and later his pistol and a letter to his original daughter and another to Nohime. Like in history, he is killed by his sons in the conflict at Mino.

Hori Hidemasa (堀秀政)

Voiced by: Akira Ishida

Hachisuka Koroku (蜂須賀小六)

Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama

Played by: Katsuya

Yasuke (弥助)

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera

Originally a batter for an unknown professional baseball team, Yasuke was transported to the Sengoku period, where he is found by Nobunaga. While taken in as an officer, he is bewildered by the savage culture of the time period as well as his baseball bat being mistaken as a weapon.

Saitō Yoshitatsu (斉藤義竜)

Voiced by: Kenji Hamada

Played by: Hirofumi Arai

Asakura Kagetake (朝倉景健)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka

Media

Manga

Nobunaga Concerto is written and illustrated by Ayumi Ishii. Ishii started the manga in the first ever issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday, the June 2009 issue, released on May 12, 2009.^[2] Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on November 12, 2009.^[3] As of February 10, 2022, twenty-two volumes have been released.^[4] The series is set to end with the release of its 23rd volume.^[5]

Volumes

No.	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	November 12, 2009[3]	978-4-09-122100-1
2	March 12, 2010[6]	978-4-09-122225-1
3	August 12, 2010[7]	978-4-09-122547-4
4	February 10, 2011[8]	978-4-09-122737-9
5	August 12, 2011[9]	978-4-09-123128-4
6	February 10, 2012[10]	978-4-09-123478-0
7	August 10, 2012[11]	978-4-09-123756-9
8	February 12, 2013[12]	978-4-09-124117-7
9	August 12, 2013[13]	978-4-09-124394-2
10	May 12, 2014[14]	978-4-09-124594-6
11	September 12, 2014[15] September 10, 2014 (SE)[16]	978-4-09-125189-3 978-4-09-941840-3 (SE)
12	April 10, 2015[17]	978-4-09-126028-4
13	January 12, 2016[18]	978-4-09-127004-7
14	September 12, 2016[19]	978-4-09-127388-8
15	April 12, 2017[20]	978-4-09-127596-7
16	November 10, 2017[21]	978-4-09-128012-1
17	June 12, 2018[22][23]	978-4-09-128308-5 978-4-09-943018-4 (SE)
18	February 12, 2019[24]	978-4-09-128859-2
19	December 12, 2019[25]	978-4-09-129463-0
20	September 11, 2020[26]	978-4-09-129525-5
21	May 12, 2021[27]	978-4-09-850566-1
22	February 10, 2022[4]	978-4-09-851003-0

Anime

A 10-episode anime television series adaptation was announced in May 2014. The series is directed by Yūsuke Fujikawa, scripted by Natsuko Takahashi, with music composed by Masaru Yokoyama.^[1] The series aired on Fuji TV from July 12 to September 20, 2014.^[28][29][a]

The series was streamed worldwide outside of Asia on Crunchyroll.^[31]

Episodes

No.	Title	Original release date [30]
1	"Saburou Nobunaga" "Saburou Nobunaga" (サブロー信長)	July 12, 2014 (2014-07-12)[28]
2	"preparing to die in an effort to dissuade one's lord" "Kanshi" (諫死)	July 19, 2014 (2014-07-19)[32]
3	"Viper of Mino" "Mino no Mamushi" (美濃のマムシ)	July 26, 2014 (2014-07-26)[33]
4	"Battle of Okehazama" "Okehazama no Tatakai" (桶狭間の戦い)	August 2, 2014 (2014-08-02)[34]
5	"Love Letter" "Raburetaa" (らぶれたあ)	August 9, 2014 (2014-08-09)[35]
Saburou tries to take Mino by force and fails because of Inabayama castle. He's rejoined by Matsudaira Takechiyo the womanizer. Saburou is in need of a stratagem to scare Mino's people: Tokichirou comes up with the idea of building a fortress in one night. Saburou has also been sending letters to Mino's main retainers who then take Inabayama and side with Owari. Matsudaira changes his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
6	"Mitsuhide Akechi" "Akechi Mitsuhide" (明智光秀)	August 16, 2014 (2014-08-16)[36]
The original Nobunaga contacts Saburou and enters his service under the name of Akechi Mitsuhide while keeping his face hidden. Through his connections, they enter Kyoto to petition Ashikaga Yoshiaki to be the new shougun, and succeed, Mitsu taking care of the court formalities in place of Saburou. He also convinces Oichi to accept Saburou's proposal of marrying Azai to strengthen the Oda clan.
7	"Kill Nobunaga" "Nobunaga wo ute!" (信長を討て！)	August 23, 2014 (2014-08-23)[37]
Oichi, now married to Azai Nagamasa, has a daughter Chacha. Saburou names four generals: Shibata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, Mitsuhide and Tokichirou, who changes his name to Hashiba Hideyoshi for the occasion. Saburou orders Hideyoshi against the Asakura clan. Saburou meets Matsunaga Hisahide, also a time traveler. The shougun asks various daimyou to destroy Nobunaga: the Azai clan answers the call.
8	"An Unthinkable Betrayal" "Masaka no Uragiri" (まさかの裏切り)	August 30, 2014 (2014-08-30)[38]
After conquering Kanegasaki during the Asakura campaign, the Oda forces are facing a pincer manoeuvre due to the treacherous Azai who attacks from Oumi. Saburou quickly decides to retreat to Kyoto: Hideyoshi volunteers to lead the rear-guard so he can finally exact revenge on the Oda. But Mitsuhide and Takenaka Hanbei from Mino accompany Hideyoshi, which leaves him no choice but to fight valiantly.
9	"A Thorny Road" "Ibara no Michi" (イバラの道)	September 13, 2014 (2014-09-13)[39]
The Oda move out against Azai HQ, Odani Castle, but it's too well fortified so they target Yokoyama instead. Azai receives reinforcement led by Asakura Kagitake and sorties. Ieyasu's army comes to support Oda and defeats Asakura. Hideyoshi and Takenaka Hanbei win and occupy Yokoyama. Saburou goes to Settsu to subjugate the Miyoshi 3: he leaves the rear position of Usayama Castle in Mori Yoshinari's hands. Usayama is attacked by Asakura/Azai on their way to Kyoto. Mitsuhide is sent to Kyoto to strengthen their defense; Shibata handles the rear-guard of Settsu while the rest of Oda return to Usayama. Mori Yoshinari buys them time with his sacrifice. The Asakura/Azai army retreats to Enryaku Temple on Mount Hiei.
10	"Two Nobunagas" "Futari no Nobunaga" (二人の信長)	September 20, 2014 (2014-09-20)[29]
The younger sons of Mori Yoshinari become Saburou's pages (including Ranmaru), the eldest son Nagayoshi becoming a general. Saburou meets another time traveler who becomes his bodyguard Yasuke. Several targets are available for the campaign: Azai's Odani Castle, Ishiyama Hongan Temple (Osaka), the Takeda, Mount Hiei (Kyoto). On the counsel of Mitsuhide, Saburou picks the Enryaku Temple of Mount Hiei.

Drama

An 11-episode Japanese television drama was announced in May 2014.^[1] It stars Shun Oguri as Saburo and Nobunaga. It was broadcast on Fuji TV from October 13 to December 22, 2014.^[40][41]

Live-action film

Main article: Nobunaga Concerto (film)

A live-action film adaptation was announced in May 2014.^[1] It features the same cast from the television drama and premiered in Japan on January 23, 2016.^[42]

Reception

As of February 2016, the manga had over 3.5 million copies in circulation.^[43] The series placed 10th on Kono Manga ga Sugoi!'s 2012 list of Top 10 Manga for Male Readers.^[44] In 2012, Nobunaga Concerto won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category.^[45] It was nominated for the 5th Manga Taishō Award in 2012, and ranked 3rd with 57 points.^[46]

Notes

1. The series was broadcast on Fuji TV on Friday at 25:50, which is effectively Saturday at 1:50 a.m. JST.^[30]