Sagara Yoshiharu

Daimyo (Volume 8)

Oda Nobuna (Wife)(Volume 19)

Oda Nobuna (Wife)(Volume 19)

**Sagara Yoshiharu** (相良良晴) is an advisor to Oda Nobuna, after he saves her from a cavalry of incoming enemy troops.

Nobuna refers to him as "monkey" (猿 ***Saru***)

At the end of episode 2, he swears his loyalty to her, in a European Knight manner.

In volume 13, it was confirmed that Sagara Yoshiharu was in fact, a descendant of Sagara clan in Higo province (Kyūshū island). His confrontation with his (supposed to be) ancestor (Sagara Yoshihi) would be able to make him "disappear".

## **Appearance**

Yoshiharu is a young man of average height, with a slim build. He has brown eyes, and short-medium length brown hair that is somewhat wavy at the top, but falls down straight at the sides. He is seen wearing what looks to be a charcoal-gray school uniform, coupled with a yellow t-shirt and red Converse-style shoes. He wore a typical takoyaki stand uniform in a cooking competition in episode 8, but otherwise sticks to his usual clothing. Interestingly, even in the Sengoku period, he wears the same attire, with nobody even questioning his then-strange clothing.

In the Light Novels however Yoshiharu does regularly wear era-fitting attire, he is shown wearing a suit of armour in battle on multiple occasions as well as attending parties in attire fit for the time period. He changed into this attire right off the bat in the first novel after Nene's grandfather Asano gave him a foot soldier's uniform, though it stands to reason he still has his modern clothing, he doesn't wear it usually. He is also depicted wielding a spear, a bow, and riding a horse in a full suit of armour at different times, indicating the fact that he actually does eventually fight in the novels.

Sometime later in the novels, roughly around Volume 11, Yoshiharu is shown to have become considerably more muscular than he was originally, although it does not often show through his clothing.

## **Personality**

Yoshiharu frequently shows a very bold personality. He is quite brave and willing to without hesitation, put himself in harms way to protect someone else; as shown when jumps in front of Nobuna to protect her from an enemy Ashigaru, and didn't even take into consideration that he was unarmed. He is a very outspoken character; and whether he his persuading Saidou Dousan to hand over his territory to Nobuna (in which he risked his life to plead his case), or admitting to Shibata Katsuie that he was ogling over her breasts, he is frequently willing to say whatever is on his mind, or voice his beliefs regardless of how the other party may react. Despite his initial low-status as part of the Oda clan, he's shown many times to challenge Nobuna's authority in front of her subjects, and even physically stops her from taking her own brothers life.

Yoshiharu is a very kind and caring character. He even manages to make Hanbei Takenaka comfortable by showing her kindness, and tending to her when she becomes weakened by using too many spells. He is at times though, quite rude, and insulting. He refers to people mostly (even Nobuna and Saitou Dousan) by only their given names, without adding an honorific title, which is considered extremely rude in Japanese society. On top of that, he's also occasionally quite foul-mouthed, most notably towards Azai Nagamasa, whom Yoshiharu insults nearly every chance he gets. It is also shown in the series that Yoshiharu has a weakness for cute girls, as shown in several occasions, such as in episode 4 when the Oda army ambushes Yoshimoto Imagawa's camp. Katsuie, who was about to strike down Yoshimoto, was forced to let her live as a result of Yoshiharu's unwanted breast-fondling. He then proceeds towards the fallen Yoshimoto and persuades her to surrender.

He is very loyal to Nobuna, and at the end of episode 2, he swears his allegiance to her, and vows to serve her in her conquests. Despite thinking of her as a "brat," he, despite pleads from Katsuie to restrain, berated and threatened Nobutsumi (then Nobukatsu) for insulting her, even after acknowledging that Nobukatsu and himself could probably get along well. He also tells Hanbei that he just wants to serve Nobuna, and "make her shine."

Strategically Yoshiharu has also become a fairly adept leader and is fearless when it counts. Even the threat of death in battle does not seem to completely break his calm. This is perhaps his most noble and impressive trait, as it has allowed him and his allies to escape from situations which would easily break other men down. Yoshiharu managed to lead his men towards a successful, although nearly fatal, rescue of Saito Dousan, as well as a successful retreat from the Azai-Asakura Alliance, and a nearly successful victory over the army of Date Masamune, which would've been victorious had it not been for the arrival of Magoichi Saika. He also appears to possess great charisma.

According to Zenki, Yoshiharu's most impressive trait is to inadvertantly cause himself woman troubles. He has gained the affection of his lord Oda Nobuna, Akechi "Juubei" Mitsuhide, who at first hated him, Hanbei Takaneka, who at first feared everyone, including him, and Katsuie Shibata, who outwardly still hates him, all to name a few. Even the Tiger of Kai has become smitten with him after he saved her life and has chosen him as her new strategist, she even offered him the chance to marry any of her four Generals of Kai, and later all of them and herself, just to persuade him. Needless to say that the aformentioned generals were appauled by this idea until they saw his leadership in battle, at which point they too seemed to acknowledge him. Most impressive, or by his admission the most credible evidence of Zenki's claim, is that he once managed to make an entire cult of girls who worship the cat god smitten with him after defusing their potential uprising with a soccer craze. This event also secured the affection of Magoichi Saika as well, who now constantly seeks to make him her husband. The cult in question was so hung up on him staying with them that it almost erupted in a war with Nobuna and Juubei. Even louise Frois, a sworn Christian, shows affection towards him, although she sees herself as "healing his heart" during times of need and takes on a more maternal persona towards him. While he is openly perverted towards a lot of women, he later begins to show more and more feelings towards Nobuna, especially after the cult incident, during which he actually wanted to return to her side.

He is also very nice towards children, namely Hanbei, Nene, Bontenmaru(Date Masamune) and Motoyasu, who tried to kill him first time they met. This trait causes him some frustration, as he notes that in the end the harem he originally desired was quite different from the harem of Loli's he actually has. Nene even points out that this is Yoshiharu's harem, and counts herself amongst their number, even though she was originally put with him to prevent that from happening. He was even willing to show kindness to the children who annoy or antagonise him, namely Bontenmaru, who tried to become the destroyer foretold in the Christian faith, and Kuroda Kanbei. In Nobukatsu's case, Yoshiharu was willing to forgive and spare his life, despite how Nobukatsu had nearly executed Yoshiharu, because Nobukatsu's life was vital in order for Nobuna to retain her human heart.

During certain times, Yoshiharu apparently tends to use modern references that no one understands, indicating there are certain lapses where he forgets he is 400 years in the past and he casually talks instinctively. For example as Nobuna wanted to build a tourist centre in Azuchi, Yoshiharu asked if Nobuna wanted to "turn herself into Mickey Mouse." Other cases involve how Yoshiharu uses popular slang used in modern Japan such as using popular English phrases, understood by most modern Japanese, or when he asked Nobuna if she was suffering from chuunibyou. Due to this, Nobuna tends to say that Yoshiharu speaks in a "monkey language" that cannot be understood which furthers her imagination of Yoshiharu being some half monkey and half human.