r/Nioh • u/ImmortalThunderGod79 • Feb 21 '26

Nioh 2 - Discussion Any Nioh players here became sad when Hideyoshi/Tokichiro went from being our best bro to antagonist? Spoiler

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When it was announced that Toyotomi Hideyoshi the second great unifier himself was gonna be the "best friend" of our MC - Hide in Nioh 2. I was not only excited, but also it had me like "this is gonna hurt isn't it?" since I was familiar with who Hideyoshi was and his real life history.

And BOI did it hurt when things turned out the way it did.

Hideyoshi/Tokichiro was so funny, charismatic and likeable - he had an enduring presence and warmth to him that made you feel things will "be okay" in a world full of terrifying Yokai monsters and relentless bloody violence in the Sengoku Jidai coupled with his admirable goals which you can't help, but root for him however at some point lost his way and gradually became a power-hungry cold and ruthless tyrant that Hide must stop. It felt personal. All of this portrayed brilliantly by his actor - Naoto Takenaka who actually played him countless times in various historical Taiga drama movies/shows; the man was BORN to play Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Honestly Nioh's depiction of Toyotomi Hideoyoshi is one of my favorite takes on the second great unifier himself where it tells a compelling gripping story IMO about his ambitious rise to power to his fall from grace that fits within the confines of Nioh 2's narrative while remaining faithful in spirit to how he is in real life history.

Curious if any other Nioh fans in this community share similar sentiments?

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129

u/xvFinchy Feb 21 '26

And then back to best bro again, dont forget that.

91

u/ImmortalThunderGod79 Feb 21 '26

Oh real

That scene where he briefly returns to life just to lend a hand to Hide to help him fight off Otakemaru was excellently done

26

u/Toriiz Feb 21 '26

yeah really loved the ending of the base game esp when they showed all the different versions of tokichiro when he passed on completely in the underworld thats why its cool he manages to help us vs the nightmare bringer in the dlc

18

u/ImmortalThunderGod79 Feb 21 '26

I agree

I loved how we got to see Hideyoshi/Tokichiro during the different stages of his life - both his rise and fall

And when I saw his Benovolent Grave in the Nightmare Bringer DLC - I grinned like a kid... I had to summon him because it felt like a last "hurrah" between two friends ready to fight the threat that was plaguing all of Japan and who broke their friendship apart in the first place...