FUNimation is beginning their run of Samurai Warriors, aka Sengoku Musou, through Hulu as part of their digital distribution plans. While the original expectation may be to kick it all off with the TV series, what they’ve done instead is to bring out the 50 minute special from the spring 2014 season to get it all going, which is welcome to see since it is all prelude to the TV series and was produced by the same team. Those with a Hulu Plus membership account can stream the show to their TV and mobile device.
The series is directed by Kojin Ochi at TYO Animations based on the scripts by Yuka Yamada and character designs by Aki Tsunaki. The series is also be overseen by the game series producer Hisashi Koinuma in order to make sure it all blends together well.
The cast for the show includes Takeshi Kusao as Yukimura Sanada, Daisuke Ono as Nobuyuki Sanada, Masaya Takatsuka as Kanetsugu Naoe, Eiji Takemoto as Mitsunari Ishida, Yuko Nagashima as Kunoichi, Makiko Ohmoto as Inahime (Ina), Hino Satoshi as Yoshitsugu Otani, Shofu Masaya as Todo Takatora, Hideo Ishikawa as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Sugita Tomokau as Kiyomasa Kato, Takahiro Fujimoto as Masanori Fukushima, Akio Ohtsuka as Tadakatsu Honda, Jouji Nakata as Ieyasu Tokugawa, Shinichi Yamada as Shima Sakon, Katsuyuki Konishi as Ii Naomasa and , Maeda Toshiie, Wakana Yamazaki as Nene, Unshou Ishizuka as Hōjō Ujiyasu, Masami Suzuki as Kaihime, Satomi Satou as Hayakawa-dono (Lady Hayakawa), Nobuyuki Hiyama as Fūma Kotarō, and Ryota Takeuchi as both Katakura Kagetsuna and Uesugi Kagekatsu.
Series premise: The age is the Warring States period, when many officers hold the dream of uniting the country. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a man who has that goal right in front of his eyes, brings his protege and supreme commander Ishida Mitsunari along with a large army to surround Odawara Castle, which protects Ujiyasu Hōjō. However, the castle does not fall so easily, and nearly three months pass. Even many of the generals that gather at Mitsunari’s side suggest breaking the stale-mate. Within the arguments of the generals, the single general who rushes to the scene to penetrate an opening in the castle is Sanada Yukimura. His elder brother, Sanada Nobuyuki, chases after him. Betting on Hideyoshi’s conquest, the Sanada brothers clash with Hōjō!
