It’s already been said Hideyoshi was (in history and in this game) fiercely devoted to Nobunaga, and he demonstrated this ferocity towards MC when he first comes across her at Honno-ji. He comes across rude and does not trust MC one bit. Which makes some kind of sense, since MC did arrive there out of nowhere and saved Nobunaga. A lot of this has been said before, but this is a much more thorough review.

Introduction Refresher

Hideyoshi’s attitude

Once MC runs through the woods and bumps into another group of warlords, she and Sasuke go off to talk as he recognizes her. Hideyoshi calls out MC’s name and Sasuke has to part ways with her suddenly. Masamune takes almost an instant liking to MC…well, because it’s Masamune.  Hideyoshi… not so much. But trust me when I say it that getting through his harshness in the beginning is SO worth it. Masamune may be the thrilling, horny one (face it, he can be just that…) but Hideyoshi can truly be the sweetest, loveliest warlord MC could fall in love with. The amount of sweetness is almost insane. Which makes me wonder why on earth Hideyoshi could rank so damn low in Cybird’s Sengoku Showdown (he ranked 9th). Meanwhile you have the abusive Kenshin ranking in the top 5. I honestly don’t get it, but that’s me just venting. Now back to sweet Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi and Masamune find MC in the woods and Masamune lifts her up onto his horse. When they arrive at Azuchi, Hideyoshi is greeted by several women, and MC is amazed by that, considering how he treated her when he met her.

Once MC settles in and pushes Nobunaga’s hand away when he cups her chin, Hideyoshi goes into a rage and has to be held back by Ieyasu and Mitsuhide. Even Ieyasu reprimands him with: “You seriously need to calm down.” Hideyoshi makes it seem as though pushing Nobunaga’s hand away, not even forcefully, is a full out attack on Nobunaga. Hideyoshi then pulls out his sword, shocking everyone else in the room. Nobunaga reprimands him, making it clear MC was not to be harmed in any manner. Nobunaga’s tone seems to be enough to leave Hideyoshi embarrassed.

Hideyoshi’s Romantic Route

Hideyoshi still has doubts about MC, until she basically saves Nobunaga’s life from a poisoned pin in a haori that was made for him. That’s when Hideyoshi decides she’s actually a good person, and does not want to harm Nobunaga.

Ieyasu comes to MC later to tell her the pin was in fact coated with poison, and it was extremely deadly. MC suddenly feels sick after hearing all of that, and the thoughts of Nobunaga possibly dying in front of her terrified her. It’s this moment when Ieyasu makes a subtle hint that Nobunaga means a lot to him, and it’s more clear in Ieyasu’s route.

MC realizes she is actually sick the next day when she woke up, and that her body was telling her that the night before. She falls back asleep, only to wake up with a cool feeling on her forehead. She looks up and sees Hideyoshi sitting by her side, taking care of her. Her maid had informed Hideyoshi of MC’s unwell state, and he took it upon himself to look after her.

People complain that he’s a nagging person, or more like a big brother. But not every warlord is likable to people. But as much as I love Masamune, Hideyoshi’s personality, under all that fierce loyalty, is just so amazingly good and sweet. I can’t stop from saying it. It’s then he talks to her and apologizes for his mistreatment of her, realizing she was innocent at Honno-ji. But he obviously doesn’t think words are enough. As he takes care of her, he even tells her that once she’s better, he’ll show her the town. She never got a chance to do so when she first arrived there, so obviously Hideyoshi finds it the perfect opportunity to make up for everything.

On many occasions, I wish that CYBIRD added some vocal bits in certain areas of the guys routes. They’ll do it for events occasionally, but more so in Ikemen Vampire. I’ve played Hideyoshi’s route on the vita, and Kohsuke Toriumi’s voice is just so beautiful, so people that don’t play the vita are really missing out on his route without hearing his actual words. But for me, when I hear him speak, I instantly think of Azusa from Brother’s Conflict.

Once MC is better, she’s made a “date” with Hideyoshi to see the town. When she runs towards him, he is happy to see her looking so much better. I believe this whole town visit was the catalyst in what was to be MC’s and Hideyoshi’s fate to be with one another. Hideyoshi wants to buy her things, fabrics to food, but MC refuses. Like Shingen, Hideyoshi gets involved with her interest in fabrics, enough to the point where he pays very close attention to what the seller has to say and more. She eventually accepts his offer for tea and dumplings. Hideyoshi apologizes profusely for his behavior, and MC and Hideyoshi decide to start over and both introduce themselves to one another. Yay, they are now friends!

Moving on. MC is in town when samurai accost the fabric merchant she buys her supplies from. The poor merchant gets attacked and knocked onto the grown only to get kicked by them as well. MC makes the rash decision to rush to his aid and blocks the warriors from doing anymore harm. Just when she thinks she’ll get hit by one of the armored men, Hideyoshi stands in front of MC, protecting her. He isn’t too happy with how the warriors had treated the merchant, and the fact that they were going to strike a young woman. Hideyoshi saying he’s heard them at the gate makes MC realize he was most likely there to help her when she was done shopping.

The warriors apologize to Hideyoshi and the merchant after being reminded as to how everyone was treated the same in Azuchi. Hideyoshi then faces the merchant and bows so low, his forehead is touching the ground. MC is shocked at this, because Hideyoshi seems to feel he is at fault as well.

After all is settled, Hideyoshi takes one look at MC and tells her he knew she was trouble the day they met. With that said and done, he takes her things and starts walking back to the castle with her. She tries to get her things back, determined to carry them on her own. But Hideyoshi refuses and MC finally gives up.

I think after the town incident, it’s when things between Hideyoshi and MC really start to develop, especially when he gives her fabric and tells her he has a job for her. What is that job? Well, I’ll talk about that in the second portion of his route.