TV-Series
Description
Ohtani Yoshitsugu is a retainer of the Toyotomi clan and a supporting figure in Sengoku Basara: End of Judgement, where he serves as the strategist and right-hand man of Ishida Mitsunari in the Western Army. He first appeared in the franchise with Sengoku Basara 3, and the anime adaptation carries over that established role.
His background is shaped by illness. Ohtani suffers from an incurable disease, commonly framed as leprosy, which has left his body wrapped in bandages and slowly eroded his health. Because of this affliction, he was looked down upon from the time of the Toyotomi era. He moves about in a floating palanquin while seated in a meditative posture, and he wears armor with a skeletal appearance beneath a helmet featuring butterfly-like elements that evoke his family crest. His bearing reflects a constant readiness for death; he hated war, yet he went into battle dressed in burial clothes.
As a person, Ohtani is thoughtful, composed, and cunning. He is a tactician who calculates the course of events well in advance and lays out multiple measures accordingly, and he often takes charge of the Western Army when Mitsunari's judgment is clouded. His manner of speech is distinctive and sometimes difficult to follow, marked by unusual phrasing, the substitution of nouns for verbs, and dialogue arranged in fixed rhythmic patterns. Beneath this controlled exterior lies a bitter worldview. He curses the misfortune his illness brought him and holds the conviction that unhappiness should fall equally on everyone, wishing for the whole world to writhe in the same agony he endures.
In the story, Ohtani acts as the second-in-command of the Western Army after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and during the ensuing conflict with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Because Mitsunari is frequently blinded by hatred toward Ieyasu, Ohtani steps in to direct strategy and keep the army moving toward its goals. He functions as Mitsunari's closest advisor and the steadying presence behind the Western cause.
His defining relationship is with Ishida Mitsunari. Mitsunari calls him Gyobu and regards him as the only person he truly trusts, while Ohtani considers Mitsunari a sworn friend and remains loyal to him even as the war turns against them. The two are bound together closely in their struggle against the Eastern forces. In the source material, Ohtani also shares a secret agenda with Motonari Mori, and his dealings with other warlords tend to be marked by deception and calculation rather than open trust.
Ohtani does not have an independent storyline of his own; his character is developed almost entirely through his bond with Mitsunari and the fate of the Western Army. His awareness of his own physical decline and his willingness to face death for his friend give his role a somber tone, and despite his foresight as a strategist, he is repeatedly shown as someone unable to steer the larger conflict away from ruin.
In combat, Ohtani relies on curse-based techniques. He manipulates a ring of giant, swirling prayer beads that he hurls at his enemies to disrupt and damage them, and he commands the battlefield from his floating palanquin. These abilities, combined with his sharp strategic mind, position him among the more dangerous figures on the Western side.
His background is shaped by illness. Ohtani suffers from an incurable disease, commonly framed as leprosy, which has left his body wrapped in bandages and slowly eroded his health. Because of this affliction, he was looked down upon from the time of the Toyotomi era. He moves about in a floating palanquin while seated in a meditative posture, and he wears armor with a skeletal appearance beneath a helmet featuring butterfly-like elements that evoke his family crest. His bearing reflects a constant readiness for death; he hated war, yet he went into battle dressed in burial clothes.
As a person, Ohtani is thoughtful, composed, and cunning. He is a tactician who calculates the course of events well in advance and lays out multiple measures accordingly, and he often takes charge of the Western Army when Mitsunari's judgment is clouded. His manner of speech is distinctive and sometimes difficult to follow, marked by unusual phrasing, the substitution of nouns for verbs, and dialogue arranged in fixed rhythmic patterns. Beneath this controlled exterior lies a bitter worldview. He curses the misfortune his illness brought him and holds the conviction that unhappiness should fall equally on everyone, wishing for the whole world to writhe in the same agony he endures.
In the story, Ohtani acts as the second-in-command of the Western Army after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and during the ensuing conflict with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Because Mitsunari is frequently blinded by hatred toward Ieyasu, Ohtani steps in to direct strategy and keep the army moving toward its goals. He functions as Mitsunari's closest advisor and the steadying presence behind the Western cause.
His defining relationship is with Ishida Mitsunari. Mitsunari calls him Gyobu and regards him as the only person he truly trusts, while Ohtani considers Mitsunari a sworn friend and remains loyal to him even as the war turns against them. The two are bound together closely in their struggle against the Eastern forces. In the source material, Ohtani also shares a secret agenda with Motonari Mori, and his dealings with other warlords tend to be marked by deception and calculation rather than open trust.
Ohtani does not have an independent storyline of his own; his character is developed almost entirely through his bond with Mitsunari and the fate of the Western Army. His awareness of his own physical decline and his willingness to face death for his friend give his role a somber tone, and despite his foresight as a strategist, he is repeatedly shown as someone unable to steer the larger conflict away from ruin.
In combat, Ohtani relies on curse-based techniques. He manipulates a ring of giant, swirling prayer beads that he hurls at his enemies to disrupt and damage them, and he commands the battlefield from his floating palanquin. These abilities, combined with his sharp strategic mind, position him among the more dangerous figures on the Western side.