| Zan!hime | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Akira Jotaro (aka Justice0) |
| Writer(s) | Akira Jotaro |
| Director(s) | Akira Jotaro |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Run time | 21-22 minutes |
Zan!hime is an anime that was written, directed, and created by Akira Jotaro who also created the anime Dokuganryu-hime, Sengoku Busou: Kabuto, and Restaurant of the Revolution.
The story takes place in a re-imagined version of the Edo era of Japan just ten years after the unification of Japan. The story is about the daughter of Date Masamune who runs away from home and meets with a young ronin samurai and has him chased by her pursuers in order to run away.
Plot[]
After Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan in 1600, the Warring States era had finally ended after a century of war and the remnants of the Western Army of the Battle of Sekigahara were spread out across the land while the feudal lords who sided with them were stripped of their statuses. In 1610, the princess of the Date Clan, Iroha ran away from home and had disappeared from Sendai, believing that it was a kidnapping, her father, Masamune, sent out soldiers in pursuit to find her and kill anyone who could be the kidnapper. While running away from her pursuers, Iroha stumbled upon a young man by the name of Shiraii Kentaro who was travelling with a sword and had him chased instead. Now believed to be Iroha's kidnapper, Kentaro must run away from the people chasing them and find who the girl being chased is.
Characters[]
Main Protagonists[]
Shiraii Kentaro[]
- A 23 year-old man who fought under the service of the Tokugawa in the Battle of Sekigahara when he was 13 but became a ronin when his father died a year later. He used to be a farmer before he joined the Tokugawa army at the age of 12 and had trained harder than any samurai-in-training during that time. After becoming a ronin samurai, he has only trained and searched for jobs to do as he travelled across Japan, and in his travels, he has done some bodyguarding, work for the police, bounty hunting, and even stopping crime. He is a cheerful young man who is sometimes mistaken to be a minor due to how young he looks and is also very dedicated to bushido. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.
Iroha/Zan[]
- The daughter of Date Masamune and the princess of the Date Clan. She is a bipolar 16 year-old girl with two different personalities, the playful and kind Iroha, and the manly master samurai Zan. Iroha is usually kind and playful and also very adventurous but whenever she holds a sword, she turns into Zan and becomes almost like a man in a girl's body with a perverted man's personality and masterful weapon skills. The only two people who knows about her second personality, Zan, are Kentaro and her father Masamune. She is the only daughter of the eight children of Masamune. She fell in love with Kentaro after he protected her even after all the bad things she done to him. She ran away from home because she wanted to explore the world instead of waiting to be wedded in her father's castle. She is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.
Main Antagonist[]
Date Hidemune[]
- Iroha's eldest sibling and half-brother. The 19 year-old unintitled heir to the Date Clan who secretly hired assassins to kill Iroha in order to begin his plan to take over the Date Clan while his father hired mercenaries to find her. Because he cannot inherit the title of daimyo due to his mother, he planned of an idea to take over the Date Clan by trying to kill his younger sister, Iroha. He found out about Iroha's second personality after he witnessed it for himself when he managed to kidnap her. He is known throughout Sendai as the most handsome and kind of lords but he is actually very devious and only wants to rule as the lord of the land. He is voiced by Daisuke Ono.