Samanosuke/Kaede

Picture
The Samurai warrior Samanosuke Akechi and the Ninja Kaede from the Onimusha video game series.


Samanosuke/Kaede
Some people may not know but they are an actual couple because it was said in the first game that when Samanosuke turned 20 he decided to see the world (as seen in Onimusha: Warlords in a flashback). As he traveled over Japan and the Far East, he came across a female ninja named Kaede, who was a member of the Iga ninja clan. Originally, she was sent to assassinate Samanosuke for reasons unknown, but she didn't kill him for reasons that were never explained, but she decided to join him on his travels as his loyal partner and confidant. Over the next 4 years it's pretty obvious that the two of them developed a partnership, a friendship, trust, honor, respect and of course deep feelings.

When Samanosuke disappeared, Kaede spent the next 10 years looking for him until she found him (as seen is Onimusha Blade Warriors). Kaede was killed in 1582, before the events in Oni 3 starts, years later in Oni: DoD (1597), Samanosuke (as Tenkai Nankobo) mentions her, "We should put an end to this madness... for Kaede." The fact that he was thinking about her after all that time showed that he still loved her.

I've seen some people think that Samanosuke and Princess Yuki are a couple......... well there's nothing to even base that on... nothing... so I don't know where they're seeing that at all, he cares about Yuki but that's because there family. He was trying to save her life because she was going to be killed... that's all... and after Oni 1, she left to see the world and she's never seen or heard from again and no one even mentions her in any of the sequels.

When Samanosuke talks about who survives in this world, the look on Kaede's face and the tone in her voice when she says his name "Samanosuke", she showed that she cared about him. To anyone who has played the games... if you think about it, Kaede was really the only person who was very close in Samanosuke's life for 4 years. When his cousin, Yuki, said that she envied Kaede for being able to travel with him, it looked as if Kaede blushed.

He left because he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he had hurt or had killed Kaede, he went away because he wanted to protect her. A sacrifice, and that's really what real love is... sacrifice. Upon his return somewhere in 1571 (months or sometime after the events in Onimusha 2) Samanosuke and Kaede return to assist his uncle, Akechi Mitsuhide, in absolute secrecy. For the next several years Samanosuke and Kaede travel all over Japan, slaying Genma wherever they may find them. We don't know the exact year in which Kaede was killed, if it was in 1582 (Oni 3) or a year old or 2 or 3 before that, there haven't been any details on that, all we know is that she's dead before the events in the 3rd game begin.


Changing the events in the Game
They say that Kaede never found Samanosuke and died 14 years later in a war at Yamashiro Province, but this was changed in Blade Warriors in the Story-Mode. Oni 1 takes place in 1561 and 14 years from that would have been in the year 1575, but at what battle in Yamashiro Province? If they're talking about the famous Battle of Yamazaki, well that didn't happen until 1582, the same year that Oni 3 takes place. Also, the narrator says that nobody knows what happen to Samanosuke... well we all know that was changed since he came back in the 3rd and 4th game. The only explanation to this that I can think of is that they didn't know how popular Samanosuke was going to be after the first game and they had to bring him back, because Jubei didn't become as popular.


Changing the events in a Story
Now this isn't the first time that writers and developers have changed the events in a game's storyline to what was already told. Capcom has done that before and I can think of 7 other video games series such as
Legacy of Kain
http://www.thelostworlds.net/BO1/index.html
http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR1/index.html
http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR2/index.html
http://www.thelostworlds.net/Defiance/index.html
Castlevania
Castlevania Legends takes place in an alternate timeline, separated from the main chronology, "Because Castlevania Legends was a work that completely ignored Castlevania's look, when I became producer, I removed it from the proper history. I think it would be best to think of it as a story from a different world that used the same look." (Konami Magazine. Volume 4. Page 75.)
Resident Evil
Metal Gear Solid
Knights of the Old Republic
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Revan#Continuity_issues
Alone in the Dark
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alone_in_the_Dark&oldid=586190407#Storyline_and_inconsistences
Mortal Kombat

I know there's more, but it's the same with comic books and TV shows like Star Trek, there have been many things that where said and shown that were completely taken back in later Star Trek series and movies.


Story
Some people have said that Onimusha Blade Warriors is not part of the Oni storyline (there's one fracking nutcase asshole at Ign.com and Youtube who ignores the facts to this)... but it is... as a side story for the main characters in the story mode, everyone else is just there to play for fun. It has to be because Blade Warriors explains where Samanosuke was after the events in Oni 1, on Marcellus's past, another Oni warrior that gets mention called Sougen and it gives some info on the Oni War. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, to anyone who has played the Oni games like Onimusha: Warlords and wants to know what happen to Samanosuke and Kaede, Blade Warriors will give you that answer.

In Blade Warriors Samanosuke says that he hid himself away from everyone. After Samanosuke destroyed Fortinbras he couldn't remember what had happen to him when he woke up and saw Nobunaga looking down at him. He saw that Fortinbras had been killed... but not by human hands. He then feared that if he was in his full Oni form again that he wouldn’t be able to control himself if he started hurting the people he loved, manly Kaede. Samanosuke went away for 10 years until Kaede found him. Samanosuke had heard that Marcellus was once an Onimusha warrior during the Oni wars and that Guildenstern took Marcellus's dead body and turned him into what he is. He feared that if he didn't find a way to understand the Oni powers inside of him then he could have become what Marcellus was. But during those years Samanosuke was able to understand and master the powers of his Oni gauntlet.


Kaede
Kaede was a very interesting female character... but her past isn't one that we know that well or one that we will ever know. Kaede was killed off in Oni 3, although we do not see it or even hear about it in the game at all. Before Oni 3 came out there was an interview with Keiji Inafune, he said that Blade Warriors is part of the storyline and that Kaede was killed by Gargant.

GMR: "Are there any crossovers from the previous games?"

Keiji Inafune: "Kaede is actually dead by the time Onimusha 3 begins, killed by the character you saw in the opening movie. If you want more information on her, that's in Blade Warriors. A lot of the background story is revealed in that game, especially what happens between 2 and 3."
http://archive.today/ZVqlh

Now lets remember that Keiji Inafune was the Producer of
Onimusha: Warlords
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Density

The Executive Producer of
Onimusha Blade Warriors
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
Onimusha: Drawn of Dreams

So when it comes to someone like him who's been involved since the first game to the last, when he states something like this... it's true, the Story-Mode for the main characters in Blade Warriors is canon. What goes on in that game can't simply be ignored, those who stated that it's not... haven't even bothered playing the game...

When it comes to unanswered questions
We don't know how or why Kaede ended up fighting Gargant.
We also don't know the reasons why Kaede didn't kill Samanosuke.
Was it something he did or said that changed her mind?
Did Kaede see that Samanosuke was a good man?
If so... then how did she see that?

My best guess
Since Kaede didn't kill Samanosuke, did the Iga clan try to kill her for not completing her mission?
If so did Samanosuke risk his life to save her and kill the Iga Ninjas from killing her?
If so or if not, maybe Kaede no longer had a Ninja clan to go too.
Did Samanosuke see this and then wanted her to join him as his Ninja partner?
Was that something that Kaede was forever grateful for?
Something she saw that she could never repay him for?
That may explain why Kaede was so devoted to Samanosuke and why she spent 10 years looking for him when he disappeared.

But like I said... we will never know...

All this info is for anybody who's a Samanosuke/Kaede fan... although I shouldn't say that, being that there are no S/K fans besides myself.

A Samanosuke/Kaede fanfic I'm working on
http://www.fanart-central.net/story-55514.html


Personal Statement
There's something I have say... back in 2005 or 2004, I put a link to this picture at a message board website at http://www.neoseeker.com. But there was some dumbass nutcase at that website who goes by the username Shadow Rue on the Onimusha Warlord forms that thought that this picture was a Japanese porn pic......... and he reported it......... and it got taken off......... can you fracking believe that shoot?!?!?!?!?! Who knows what the frack that person's problem was. Looking at the FAQ to this fanart website on the rules about such pictures... if this was a Japanese porn picture and if I didn't put warning labels on it, it wouldn't even be allowed here.