The Ambition of Oda Nobuna (Oda Nobuna no Yabou) is an anime inspired by the manga of the same title by Mikage Kasuga. Dare I say, it’s listed in the historical genre, but truly nothing is historical about it other than all the namesakes of the characters involved are real men who fought in the civil war. Did I say “men?” I’m sorry. I totally forgot this is Oda Nobuna we’re talking about.
The series takes place when a teenage boy from the present day gets stuck in an alternate (and past) universe when Japan was in a civil war during what we know of as the 16th century; only this time, both men AND women were allowed to rule as feudal lords and military personnel. In this mess of literally gender-bending history, the boy known only to his fellow comrades as Saru (literally “monkey”) meets a rather promiscuous Oda Nobuna(ga?), a lower Japanese noble who desires to unite Japan and extend its diplomacy to the coming European nations. Together with her clansmen and retainers, Oda Nobuna and Saru plan to conquer Japan with the least amount of bloodshed while having a typical anime romance sequence.
Overall, nothing is terribly wrong with the series, considering it obviously plays to an audience of the typical male otaku who enjoy seeing women playing sexual warrior roles. However, I can’t help but wonder why anyone would decide to write about a gender-bending of a truly historical figure like Oda Nobunaga. That has the same effect as if an American novelist decided to say Abraham Lincoln doubled as a vampire hunter as well as President of the United States (oh wait, that’s already been done). I just hope that fans of this show appreciate that this is totally FICTION and not actually real; and therefore has nothing to do with historical fact.
