Harada Sanosuke (原田 左之助, Harada Sanosuke) is a minor antagonist featured in Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!. He is the Shinsengumi Captain of the Tenth Division and shares his in-game appearance with Masato Aizawa.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Harada looks identical to Masato Aizawa, with the exception of his hair being tied in a topknot.
Attire[]
He typically wears his blue Shinsengumi Captain's haori with no top-wear underneath it, save for some bandages tightened around his abdomen. For bottoms, he wears dark blue hakama.
Personality[]
Harada's primary concern in life is his reputation as a samurai. He wants to be seen as one of, if not the strongest, most fearsome fighters in Kyoto and will go to great lengths to inspire fear in others. Correspondingly, he is one of the most bloodthirsty members of the Shinsengumi's leadership, since he believes that showing their rivals any mercy will make them seem weak. Despite this fervor, his zeal in pursuing the enemies of the Shogunate is only an extension of his desire for strength and is not born out of any loyalty to the Shogunate itself.
Unlike most of the rest of the Shinsengumi, who specialize in sword combat, Harada prefers to fight using a spear.
Background[]
Harada joined the Shinsengumi at some point in 1866, after they changed their name from its former one, the Miburoshigumi. He was appointed to the position of 10th Unit Captain at the recommendation of Military Advisor Ito Kashitaro.
Involvement[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!: 1867[]
In 1867, during the leadership meeting in which Sakamoto Ryoma (under the alias of "Saito Hajime") joins the Shinsengumi and is immediately promoted to 3rd Unit Captain, 5th Unit Captain Takeda Kanryusai expresses that he doesn't mind Sakamoto's promotion as long as he keeps his troops in line and well-trained. This prompts a snide remark from Harada, who mocks Takeda for his "nighttime training sessions" with his troops, which have left some of them bruised and tired during morning training. An argument breaks out amongst both Captains, but it's quickly halted by 6th Unit Captain Inoue Genzaburo, who chides Harada for his lack of discipline.
A few days later, after 7th Unit Captain Tani Sanjuro and 9th Unit Captain Suzuki Mikisaburo were killed trying to capture rebel assassin Okada Izo, the Shinsengumi's leadership gathers to discuss how to deal with the loss of two captains. During the meeting, Harada complains that, with Suzuki's death, Military Advisor Ito's "faction" of the Shinsengumi has gotten smaller, so he should get to select the next captain to maintain balance with Vice-Commander Hijikata Toshizo's faction. Hijikata reprimands him, insisting that there are no factions within the Shinsengumi, since they are all supposed to be united in their loyalty to the Shogunate. The Vice-Commander then switches topics to an upcoming attack on a gathering of Choshu Loyalist Party leaders.
The following night, Harada takes part in the aforementioned Shinsengumi raid against the Choshu Kinno-to in Ikedaya. The raid is successful but the Shinsengumi encountered more opposition than they should have and the Kinno-to's leader Katsura Kogoro escaped, which confirms Hijikata's suspicions that the Shinsengumi's leadership has a traitor amongst their ranks. Hijikata accuses 4th Unit Captain Matsubara Chuji of being the traitor and, though Matsubara tries to pass off the blame to Sakamoto, he is executed by Captain Inoue. In the aftermath, Harada and Takeda celebrate that, with Matsubara dead, their own shares of the reward for the raid will be bigger.
Several weeks after that, Captain Inoue is assassinated by an unknown assailant and his body is dumped in the river for all to see. Once word reaches the Shinsengumi headquarters, Harada is furious, since the death of another Captain is making the Shinsengumi look weak. He proposes the remaining captains go out into the streets of Kyoto and start massacring any suspected rebels they find, which 1st Unit Captain Okita Soji agrees with, since Inoue had been his friend and mentor. Vice-Commander Hijikata refuses to authorize this but Harada and Okita ignore him, prompting Hijikata to ask Sakamoto and 8th Unit Captain Todo Heisuke to stop them.
The very next day, the Shinsengumi sees another humiliation when Intelligence Officer Yamazaki Susumu is assassinated within the Shinsengumi's base itself. This infuriates Harada even further, since it makes it seem like the Shinsengumi can't even defend its own headquarters. He complains about it to Sakamoto and asks him to go help Captain Todo, since he's investigating the murder.
Weeks later, Military Advisor Ito (who has betrayed the Shinsengumi and secretly joined forces with the rebels) forges orders from Commander Kondo Isami which instruct the Shinsengumi to burn Kyo to the ground. When the Captains receive these orders, Harada gleefully complies, since he thinks it will restore the Shinsengumi's dreaded reputation and inspire fear in the populace. On the instructed night, Harada takes his troops to the city streets and starts setting fires in various homes and businesses while killing anyone who tries to stop them. Sakamoto eventually runs into them and tries to get Harada to stop, but Harada refuses. Harada and Sakamoto have a duel, which Sakamoto wins. Sakamoto leaves a wounded Harada on the ground and begins to walk away, but Harada stops him and asks what he thought of his fighting skills. Sakamoto coldly says that Harada's skills aren't even worth mentioning and that their duel shouldn't even be a footnote in his life's story. Immediately afterwards, a watchtower Harada had set on fire prior to the duel starts to collapse and Harada feebly tries to crawl away while begging for Sakamoto's help. This is vain, as the burning tower drops on top of Harada and crushes him.
Fighting Style[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin![]
Harada is a fighter who uses every tool he has at his disposal, caring not for style nor grace. Similar to Sakamoto's Wild Dancer style, he wields a su yariWP and an Imported Revolver in his boss fight. His moveset consists mostly of wide, one-handed swings and thrusts with occasional gunfire.
He has four separate combos, which are listed below:
- one comprising a running double leftward slashes, and a spinning gunshot-upward diagonal right slash;
- another one made up of two twirling downward slashes, an upward diagonal left, and an upward diagonal right slash;
- a two-hit unbroken combo, consisting of a leftward horizontal swing and an underarm thrust; and
- a fourth combo made up of a leftward horizontal slash and three pistol shots.
His other attacks include the following:
- a lunging underarm spear thrust,
- firing with his pistol up to three times,
- quicksteps, doubling as dodge attacks, including:
- a rightward horizontal slash after hopping to the right,
- a leftward slash-rightward slash after spinning to the left, and
- an underarm thrust while backstepping;
- twirling around before charging forward and performing a spear thrust command grab, shooting Sakamoto once and pulling it out if he successfully impales him;
- an upward hilt strike knockback as a counterattack, and
- a rightward horizontal slash-downward slam that doubles as a downed attack.
His aura in Heat Mode is cerulean blue.
Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
Harada's moveset is completely unchanged from the original Ishin!, although his attack animations have been sped up, making him faster and more dangerous.
He now emits a white aura in Heat Mode.
Trivia[]
- Harada always has bandages wrapped around his abdomen. Though this is unexplained in-game, it is likely a reference to an event in the real Harada's life: A higher-rank samurai mocked Harada's lack of skill with a blade by saying that he probably couldn't even commit seppuku correctly, prompting Harada to commit seppuku in front of the man to prove him wrong. However, Harada failed to actually disembowel himself since the cut he made was too shallow, so he survived but was left with a large scar on his abdomen for the rest of his life.
Gallery[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin![]
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Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Online[]
