Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings

In this episode the characters are introduced. Takeda Shingen wants to attack his rival Uesugi Kenshin. The one-eyed dragon, Date Masamune, wants to attack Kenshin too. To prevent Date from interfering in the fight between Kenshin and him, Takeda sends Sanada Yukimura to stop Date Masamune. Then a battle between Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura begins.

Takeda Shingen and Date Masamune both want to conquer and kill the general of Imagawa. On the way to the general Yoshimoto Masamune rides through Hojo's land and let them think that he allies with Takeda. So Takeda's army has to defend themselves and Yukimura rides to take Imagawa Yoshimoto's head before Masamune. Then they fight against each other to decide who will kill Yoshimoto.

A new chracter is introduced, Maeda Keiji. He has an elder sister too. He later visits Kenshin and talks with him about various things, like love. Then he visits Date Masamune to form an alliance with him but ends up fighting with him.

Azai Nagamasa is formally introduced. He is the leader of Oumi as well as the brother-in-law of Oda Nobunaga. After he heard what misdeeds Oda is bringing across the country, he no longer wants to accept this fact and is setting out to prevent him from attacking Asakura, an ally of his. After he tries to persuade Oda from attacking their joint ally, Oda tells him to attack Asakura himself or he will kill his own sister, Oichi. In the meantime, Kasuga is with Takeda Shingen to confirm his alliance with Uesugi. After she leaves, Sasuke comes back to report his failure in persuading both Azai and Tokugawa in forming an alliance with Takeda. In the end Date, Uesugi, and Takeda formed an alliance to defeat Oda, and Azai plans to head out to prevent Date from attacking Oda's army.

As the alliance between Takeda, Masamune, and Uesegi moves to attack Oda, Takeda and Uesegi's armies are stopped by the army of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Takeda and Yukimura ride out to meet with Ieyasu, in one last attempt to sway him against Oda. In the end, Ieyasu stands firm in his alliance with Oda, and orders his army to advance on Takeda and Uesugi's armies. While the two-on-one battle quickly gains favor of the alliance, Ieyasu summons his general, Honda Tadakatsu, an enormous man with an enormous drill for a weapon, who quickly turns the tide of battle. Meanwhile, Masamune continues to ride for Oda's head, but is stopped by Nagamasa's opposing army. The two are quick to begin their fight, but midway, as Masamune begins to gain ground on Nagamasa, he stops at the heralding of Oda himself on a nearby cliff face. Oda, still in possession of Oichi, sends his men to flank around behind Nagamasa in order to take aim at Masamune. Seeing through this, Oichi rides off with Akechi, through Akechi's sadism and Oda's unemphatic tendency, to warn Nagamasa that Oda will shoot through him to reach Masamune. As she stumbles onto the battle, she begs Nagamasa to run. As Nagamasa turns around to the frightened Oichi, Oda's men fire a volley. Though only a lone bullet deflects off of Masamune's helmet, Nagamasa is riddled with bullets. As another volley is fired, and another, the bullets rip through Nagamasa while Oichi stares on helpless. Meanwhile, the combined might of Yukimura and Sasuke seems to have stopped Tadakatsu's rampage.

As Nagamasa is dying in Oichi's arms,he shares his last words with her. Akechi reveales that Oichi was sent to the Azai Clan to deceive Nagamasa, as well as other important generals in order to weaken their military power,but because she fell in love with Nagamasa, she couldn't accomplish any of her given orders. With his last words he forgives her for lying all the time to him and then he dies. Masamune who witnessed it all, gets heated up and despite Kojuuro's advise to retreat, he starts a battle with Mitsuhide. Meanwhile Ieyasu is faced with the truth that Oda has abandoned him and orders, with the help of Tadakatsu's to hold back the enemy, the soldiers to retreat. The wife of the Demon King,Nouhime arrives and because of her witnessing the retreat and betrayal of Ieyasu she kills off few of his soldiers and sets off to kill Honda Tadakatsu as well. While Tadakatsu saves Yukimura from getting hit by Nouhime's underground bomb,he, with Yukimura's spear stuck in his jetpack unable to fly,dies himself. In the meantime Masamune decides to pull back his army from attacking Oda to prevent to be annihilated by Mitsuhide's firearms.

After her moment with Uesugi Kenshin, Kasuga finds Sasuke nearby and a conversation ensues - mostly consist of teasing and shuriken flinging. It ends when an explosion happens nearby and Sasuke goes to investigate, even though he had a hunch that it's not from Oda's force. Back in the House of Takeda, Date Masamune is still unconscious and Koujuro is outside his door, holding back his anger of not being any use to Masamune in the previous battle. He talks briefly with Yukimura until Sasuke brings a Date soldier with a letter - some of his men were taken hostage by a shrewd man named Matsunaga Hisahide and he was demanding Date Masamune's swords and Takeda Shingen's armor for an exchange. Koujuro tells all to ignore this threat and sacrifice his men in order to prevent harm to both faction. However, Masamune - who just woke up and heard everything - disagrees with his assessment and decides to save his men. Knowing that Masamune is in no condition to move, Koujuro challenges him and ends the bout by moving into Masamune's blind side and hitting him squarely on his wounds, and knocks him out promptly. Even so, Koujuro decides to honor his lord's wish and vows to bring those men back. After Koujuro left, Yukimura is questioned by Shingen as to why he let Koujuro go alone. After making Yukimura to see the error of his ways, Shingen orders him to aid the rescue and bring the armor back for sure.

Matsunaga Hisahide is intrigued by Katakura Koujuro's arrival, and plans to use him in order to force Takeda's hand. Under normal circumstances, Takeda will not lend out the armor for life of foreign soldiers, but this condition changes if Koujuro -the highest ranking vassal of Date army and Masamune's confidant - gets captured and taken hostage. Matsunaga wanted to drive a wedge between two factions. This is his display of contempt toward the will and purpose of Anti-Oda alliance. Miyoshi Death Squad blocks Koujuro's path, using a special incense which works as slow acting poison. With his strength reduced, Koujuro has hard time fending off his enemies but he overcomes with quick thinking, skill, and sheer willpower. Yukimura and Sasuke arrives at Tōdai-ji some time later. With lingering presence of poison in the air, they worry about Koujuro's current state and follow after him.

Oda Nobunaga advances from Kyushu where he cuts down all in his path, killing both Shimazu Yoshihiro and Zabby, and decimating their forces. Meanwhile, the other alliance generals recoup, Date Masamune (who is now up and about) and Kojūrō are once again on equal terms, while Takeda Shingen gifts Sanada Yukimura with a new spear to replace the one that was lost during the previous battle. However, Sarutobi Sasuke bring bad news as he fills the others in on Nobunaga's movements as well as the fact that many warlords are falling to Owari forces. This includes Tokugawa Ieyasu, who has been assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhide. It is figured that Oda's vassals will soon be coming after Masamune, Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. Yet, Sasuke feels no need to send a warning to Kenshin since the man's own scouts must have informed him of the advance by now. Meanwhile, Kenshin and Kasuga have a intellectual talk, but they are interrupted by a shinobi who professes to work for Sasuke, showing the Takeda Clan symbol. Kenshin decides to meet with her, but after only a few words, the woman shoots at him instead. The shinobi reveals herself to be Nōhime and proceeds to initiate a battle between herself and the warlord. She is quickly subdued, but Mori Ranmaru shows up as her back up, killing Kenshin's men and wounding the general himself. Nōhime takes advantage of the situation and aims her guns at Kenshin. Kasuga steps in to take the hit, but Kenshin pulls her away, taking a bullet in the chest, abdomen, and wrist. After the warlord falls, Nōhime and Ranmaru escape, leaving a devastated Kasuga holding the body of her lord in the rain. Back at Kai, Shingen rides out to the site of a dam that in breaking due to the overflow of the Midai River, due to the torrential thunderstorm. He uses a bolder to staunch the biggest of the leaks as the other villagers rush to repair it. However, none other than Akechi shows up, having been sent to take down the Tiger of Kai. Caught between trying to repair the dam and fighting off Akechi Mitsuhide, a one-sided battle ensues, and it is only after the arrival of Yukimura and some of Masamune's men (who have also come to help repair the dam), that Shingen is able to fight his enemy head on. Masamune and Kojūrō also show up, and Masamune is enraged by the sight of his enemy from the last battle. Using one of his attacks, Akechi destroys the dam, causing all the men and villagers to be swept away. While Shingen tries to hold his own against the raging water, Akechi jabs the blade of his scythe into the warlord, causing the man to lose his grip and fall into the river. Yukimura dives into the water to save his lord, but fails to reach him. Left standing on the shore, an infuriated Masamune and Kojūrō get ready to face off against Akechi, who agrees to the battle with pleasure as lightning illuminates the soon-to-be battleground.