Kuroda Kanbei

Kuroda Kanbei, also called the Nanban Samurai and Don Simon, is an expert in western knowledge and machinery. She first appears at the end of Volume 7, believing she has a way to return Yoshiharu to his own original time period.

Appearance
Being a samurai, Kanbei is shown to carry around a sword, however, her style of dress is very heavily influenced by western culture. She has pink hair and by her own claim she has usually light skin, however her skin tends to darken whenever she's working on machinery and gives her a fairly tanned appearance.

Personality
Kanbei believes in Nobuna's goal of taking control of Japan and believes she can achieve it, on the contrary, she believes that Yoshiharu is a hinderence to this goal. this is because Yoshiharu spared Imagawa Yoshimoto, who should have died and then later became the Shogun, which caused the Oda forces to clash with the Ashikage Shogunate's surviving members. Spearheaded by Ashikage Yoshiaki, an allied force against Nobuna was formed which stands as testimony to Kanbei's claim. Sagara himself seems to agree with her, as his actions seem to make history stay on course instead of changing it while also making the events in question far worse than they were in his own history. However, Sagara's awareness of the Hannon-ji Incident prevents him from deciding to simply give up altogether.

Kanbei likes to work on machines and has designed a large mechanical soldier for battle, however, tragically, she claims to be ten years away from actually getting it to walk properly, which renders it useless.

She is also someone who takes an interest in people of influence, as she did with Yoshiharu after realising just how strong an impact he has had on Nobuna. According to Nobuna herself, Kanbei is trustworthy (despite secretly conspiring to get Yoshiharu sent back to the future) and has knowledge on economics, which both Yoshiharu(now a Daimyou) and Takenaka Hanbei(his strategist) currently lack, as such, she assigns Kanbei to Yoshiharu, much to the shock of the former.

Kanbei also appears to have a habit of bullying others her own age, such as Hanbei, whom she challenged to a duel for the position of Sagara's strategist, and Nene, whom she states she wants to fire out of a cannon simply because it looks like she'd fit inside of one. She is also ignorant to the ways of romance, due to her young age.

She also trusts the use of Tarot Cards, and is aware of the fact that they use the subconscious thoughts of the person drawing them to predict the possible future. She tends to use these cards in greeting. According to her father, Kanbei lacks the ability to properly understand and get along with others socially, which is why she has a superiority complex and bullies others her own age and why she uses Tarot cards to replace communication. She has also openly and bluntly failed to hide her intentions to send Yoshiharu back to the future as she appears to want others to praise her accomplishments and goals. Only her father, her younger sister, and ironically Yoshiharu himself, due to standing up for her against Harima's Daimyou, can break through this personality of her's.

She expressly dislikes those who put bloodline and birth before accomplishments and ability, such is why she hates her home of Harima, where the local Daimyou are all firm in this belief. She refer to them as idiots and is openly and repeatedly looked down on by them for embracing the Christian faith, even though it's clear from their words that they actually don't really even know what it teaches or believes. It is partially because Nobuna is not like this that she sought out and values her.

Eventually, she comes to realise that she is not as capable a strategist as she believed herself to be, easily getting herself and Yoshiharu caught in a trap set by the enemy. However, after Yoshiharu cheers her up by telling her that in the future she's known as the best strategist, partially due to the unfortunately illness driven death of Hanbei Takenaka. She realises that Nobuna's goals were doomed from the start and that Yoshiharu was actually trying to help her accomplish them, and ultimately admits her plans to send him back to the future. Yoshiharu trusts her enough to note that she should do exactly that if he ever becomes a threat to Nobuna's plans.

After Yoshiharu admits to her, Goemon and Hanbei about the Incident at Hannon-ji, she begins to understand the truth about why Nobuna's plans were doomed and comes to admire Yoshiharu's resolve, noticing that he's got too much on his plate as it is, she decides to avoid telling him about Hanbei's illness and resolves to do something about that herself instead. She becomes so strong in this resolve that she ignored all warnings and went to meet with Ukita Naoie in the hopes of brining him to their side to relieve Hanbei's stress, as their plan involved forcing him to surrender anyway. This failed, of course, and Kanbei was imprisoned for several days. Even on the verge of life, torture and death, as well as hearing the disturbing news that her "betrayal" of Nobuna's forces might get her sister killed, Kanbei expressed a strong resolve and chose not to give in. She maintains her loyalty to the Oda clan and Yoshiharu, who saved her from her solitude, and correctly believes that someone is manipulating the former into acting on rumours.

Invasion of Mino Arc
Kanbei is mentioned alongside Hanbei by Sagara Yoshiharu and Saitou Dousan as the two greatest strategists in all of Japan.

Return of the Ashikage Shogunate Arc
Kanbei first appears at the end of Volume 7, and does so before the missionaries of the Oda alliance, namely Luise Froise, and announces her goal to send Yoshiharu back to the future to her. She informs them of Ashikage Yoshiaki's plot as a means of persuading them that he has only caused more harm then good.

Kanbei meets with Nobuna in order to serve under her. During this meeting she uses Tariot Cards to determine Nobuna's future in two ways: 1, how her love will end, and 2. how her goal of conquest will end. She finds that both of them are doomed to meet a tragic end, or rather, that the cards show that Nobuna herself subconsciously believes they will, and again attributes this to Yoshiharu's existence. Nobuna expresses that Saito Dousan and Yoshiharu both acknowledged Kanbei as an equal mind to Takenaka Hanbei, and as such she doesn't hesitate to accept her as a retainer. After that, Nobuna notes that she wants her to work under Yoshiharu, much to Kanbei's surprise, and notes that it's to keep him from flirting with girls, as well as help him run the land under him with Kanbei's knowledge. Kanbei, shocked by how much Nobuna is bothered by Yoshiharu's "perverted woman chasing habits" begins to grow curious as to exactly what kind of man he really is, and notes that her plan, while not exactly going as she intended it to, is becoming interesting.

She later introduced herself to Sagara's court by charging in via the use of her robot, Sagara takes this as something which will mess up history and is relieved to discover that it cannot actually be properly used in battle, it fell over when she challenged Zenki to a fight(on Hanbei's behalf). She then informs Sagara of the influence he is having on the world, with Sagara himself agreeing that his woman troubles will probably lead to the worst possible outcome. Kanbei however finds Takenaka Hanbei defending Sagara's existence. to try and break Nobuna and Sagara apart, Kanbei curses Sagara with a spirit she created, one which will grope any girl he comes close too and frame him for it. Sagara however wonders if this will actually work or just make his situation with Nobuna far worse.

Upon returning to Harima and using her families castle as a base, Kanbei summons the other Daimyou to meet Yoshiharu. These Daimyou question how one of common birth is a general and release their rage on Kanbei, believing she seeks to use Nobuna and take over Harima for herself. After listening to them for a few moments, Yoshiharu comes to Kanbei's rescue by telling them that their precious family names aren't even remembered in the future, while Kanbei's name is famously known across the country itself and beyond. After convincing them to settle down one noble offers Yoshiharu his younger sister as a hostage, however, the demon Kanbei had possess Yoshiharu gropes the girl and destroys the relationship that they'd just managed to establish with said Daimyou. In the aftermath, Yoshiharu notes that the other Daimyou now don't intend to lend them aid, but simultaniously won't aid their enemies. To set a good example, Kanbei's father sends her sister to Yoshiharu's castle as a hostage. Kanbei herself is somewhat impressed by Yoshiharu's abilities, and finds herself unable to dislike him due to his actions during the meeting, which shakes her faith in the fact that he's only a danger to Nobuna's goal.

Later on, while observing the tactics of Ukita Naoie, such as assassination and manipulation, Kanbei suggests a direct attack, while Hanbei disagrees with this noting she's being far to wrecklace. Hanbei notes that Naoie is the kind of person to entrap and execute his enemies in unfair methods on the battlefield, and he is not above assassinating the enemy general, in this case Yoshiharu, with dirty tricks. A messenger arrives from the castle that Naoie is attacking and requests aid from the Oda forces, but Hanbei believes this to be far too convinient for them. Hanbei's guess turns out to be correct when Naoie's forces turn out to be the ones already inside the castle. shocked by this, Kanbei recognises that her skill as a strategist is inferior to Hanbei's, but Yoshiharu comforts her by informing her that history remembers her as the best of her time, unfortunately he also briefly recalls that this is due to the death of Hanbei, but his mind seems to be blocking this. With their impending deaths, and partially scolding him for his trusting nature, she admits her plans to send him back to the future. Surprisingly he admits that should he ever endanger Nobuna he wants her to do just that. After this, Kanbei recognises Yoshiharu's resolve and realises that Nobuna's unfortunate fate was decided long ago. They are then rescued by Yamanaka Shikanosuke, who then expresses her desire to join Yoshiharu's campeign against the Mori.

After entering the conquered castle, Shikanosuke's arrival is revealed to be partially due to Hanbei's planning, for which Yoshiharu thanks her. Shikanosuke then tries to persuade Yoshiharu to let her join his ranks as his slave. After a while, Goemon appears to inform them of a fire starting out in Kyoto, with Hannou Temple being burned with Nobuna herself inside. Realising the Incident at Hannon-ji has occured, which most likely means the end of Nobuna's life, Yoshiharu screams and collapses from the shock. Later, when Yoshiharu awakens, Goemon's information is revealed to have been interrupted by her stuttering and Nobuna actually only fainted while trying to put out the flames. Realising he still has time, Yoshiharu admits to her, Hanbei and Kanbei, about the Incident at Hannon-ji, and notes that with their help he can hopefully avoid it. He also informs them of Yamanaka Shikanosuke's impending capture and execution by the Mori clan, and begins to plan a way to return, since Ukita Naoie's army took the castle to their back and effectively cut off their retreat.

While formulating a plan against Ukita Naoie, Kanbei confronts Hanbei about her drawing the Tariot "Death Card", and Hanbei admits that she closed the dragon vein which was supplying her with power as an Onmyouji, meaning her already bad health is growing worse and she knows she will die. Hanbei states that she doesn't want Yoshiharu to know about this, since he already has so much on his plate, and that she wants Kanbei to take her place when she's gone, which leaves Kanbei shocked and confused.

Inventions
The Oh - It Stopped : A name given to a large robot that Kanbei created. Its name comes from the fact that it can't actually walk on anything but level ground and will fall over with the slightest loss of equelibrium, which not only makes it impossible to move, but renders it impractical for real battle. It was powerful enough to break open the gates to Yoshiharu's castle, but couldn't even bend forward enough to throw a punch at Zenki before falling over.

Sunekosuri : A demon created using Kanbei's onmouji skills and Nanban science. This fury little creature has a natural sense of loneliness which causes it to couch any female that comes within the vicinity of the person it is possessing, except Kanbei herself, who is slightly dejected by that fact as she believes it doesn't perceive her as a girl. It is intelligent and can talk. It is currently possessing Yoshiharu, although in actual fact this possession amounts to it hiding inside his clothes. Even Hanbei's abilities are unable to deal with it.

Trivia

 * She is based on the real life figure of the same name.