Part 3: Yanagita Rikao's Sengoku Basara Science Laboratory

As with the other posts in the series, this is an extremely rough English translation of the blog series Yanagita Rikao's Sengoku Basara Science Laboratory (Yanagita Rikao Sengoku Basara Kagaku Kenkyuujo). It's not a word-for-word official translation. The series is intended to promote August's Sengoku Basara HD Collection. Please click the link below to see the original article, which is accompanied by illustrations and a promotional video.

Part 3: Godlike speed and a 2.5 million volt electrical discharge!! Katakura Kojuurou

A sword with godlike speed

Kojuurou is a very orthodox warrior who uses a single katana as his weapon. Each swing is very powerful, able to send five enemies flying 10m into the air with one blow. Although the other warlords can do the the same, the key point is that Kojuurou is armed with just one katana. Exactly how powerful is this sword attack?

Extrapolating from the flight distance of 10m, the enemy must have been launched at a speed of at least 25km/h. At first glance it doesn't seem like a big deal; it wouldn't be strange for a person weighing a few dozen kilos to fly like this. Since it is said that a Sengoku era warrior's armour could weigh up to 25kg, I think that it's safe to say that each individual enemy soldier weighs 100kg with their armour and weapons. Five would be 500kg. A katana weighs approximately 1kg. Consequently, the sword is hitting things which are 500 times heavier than it is, and knocking them into the air.

For this to be possible, the sword must be moving 500 times more quickly than the speed it sends the enemies flying. If they're thrown into the air at 25km/h, Kojuurou's sword speed is therefore 12,500km/h, or Mach 10.2. More than 3 times the speed of a rifle bullet! A sword weighs 200 times more than a rifle bullet, so if the speed is 3 times greater, Kojuurou's single blow is 2000 times more powerful than a bullet fired from a rifle. Great!

Special move: Mugetsu Gokusatsu

Even though Kojuurou is stronger than usual under normal circumstances, he can take things further than that. This is his 'Mugetsu Gokusatsu'. When his fury reaches its peak, his fighting becomes ferocious and his sword speed increases. By how much does this increase his attack power?

During play, the sword's speed on-screen is too fast to measure. Looking at the Sengoku Basara 3 Utage Official Complete Guide, a standard attack value of 8 becomes an attack of 12 in the Gokusatsu state. From this, perhaps it can be concluded that his sword speed is 1.5 greater? If that's the case, the number of enemies defeated in the same space of time would be 1.5 times greater. The enemies would also fly 2.25 times farther (1.5 x 1.5).

This means that the five enemies on the receiving end of the Gokusatsu strike would collectively fly at least 22.5m. If they were alone, it would be 112.5m. If this could be seen in the real world, it would be thrilling.

However, the amount of energy Kojuurou will expend per second is 3.4 times greater (1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5). Naturally, his fatigue will also increase at 3.4 times the rate. This Gokusatsu state is a battle mode which should be triggered when the moment is right, after all.

A flying lightning bolt

Kojuurou's unique ability 'Narukami' sends a bolt of electricity from his katana. I wonder how this can be possible?

Kojuurou's body is clad in blue sparks. We often suffer from static electricity during winter, when clothes made from different fabrics rub against one another. Similarly, I wonder if Kojuurou could be discharging the static electricity generated when his katana rubs against his clothes as he vigorously moves around?

In Kojuurou's case though, the amount of static electricity which builds up is overwhelming. To bring about a discharge in the air requires 500,000 volts per metre. The voltage generated between fingers and a doorknob in winter is approximately 10,000 volts, and there's a crackle as you approach a distance of around 2cm. Yet Narukami can leap as far as 5m. In that case, the voltage must be 2.5 million volts!

Materials such as cotton and hemp, which have been used to make clothing since ancient times, are less susceptible to static electricity. Furthermore, where there is moisture such as sweat it's not easy to build up a charge. Nevertheless, Kojuurou can accumulate 2.5 million volts of static electricity, which tells us that he's able to intensely dart around, violently, without breaking a sweat. His physical fitness is incredible.

Oushuu should be safe as long as Katakura Kojuurou serves as the Dragon's Right Eye with his godlike sword speed, Gokusatsu and electrical discharge capacity of 2.5 million volts.

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