Akihime

"Aki"

- pressuring Shouji to accept a declaration of war.

About
Hara Aki, usually simply known as Akihime, is the princess of the once great Ashikaga House that ruled JAPAN in the distant past, being the sister of the current lord Ashikaga Choushin. At some point during the 4th Warring States Period she married with the head of the Hara House, Hara Shouji, and moved to his home province at Ise. Her marriage also represented an alliance between the two weakened houses, and if the Ashikaga are threatened, the Hara House would be forced to go to war in order to assist her family. While the Hara were a House that took great care for the people's welfare, after the marriage took place Aki has been manipulating the Lord and taking advantage of his status. With increased taxes and most of Hara's funds spent for Aki's personal amusements, the House deteriorated even more, and she quickly gain fame for her malicious nature and became a greatly despised figure, both by the townsfolk and the military.

Aki makes first appearance during the events of Sengoku Rance when the Oda House declared war either against the Hara House or the Ashikaga House, where she demandad her husband to go to war despite the current economical situation, claiming that it would be a disgrace for her if she was married to a coward. During the war she will become increasingly annoyed by the defeats her husband faces against the Oda, wondering if marrying was a poor decision of her part, but she will nonetheless continue spending large portions of the war funds. Eventually one of Shouji's most loyal retainers, a man named Saijou Mochikiyo, will secretly confront Shouji about Aki in an attempt to make him realize of Aki's manipulative nature, however as Aki heard the conversion she was able to convince Hara that the retainer was a possible spy of the Oda and that he should be executed, resulting in Shouji giving the order the following day. If the Oda House demands the Hara to surrender, a meeting will be held where many of the commanders will beg Shouji to surrender, which he refuses claiming that it wouldn't please Aki. Following this declaration, his subordinates will show him a wooden box where Aki's severed head rests, stating that they got rid of the devilish woman that would bring the destruction of Hara. Shouji however didn't take this course of events very well and went mad after seeing his love's head, going on a rampage and killing his subordinates with his sword. Shortly after, Shouji will be killed and his head sent to the Oda, peacefully accepting the surrendering conditions as a result.

Otherwise, if the Oda merely continue with the war and manage to successfully defeat the Hara House upon conquering their castle, Shouji, following the typical traditions of war, decided to commit suicide along with her in order to avoid disgrace within a defeated family to fall upon her. However Aki strongly refused the petition and even asked her husband to just divorce her. Aki's response caused Shouji to snap and attack her out of disappointment and rage, before being stopped by the Lord of the Oda Rance, who barged in just in time, capturing Shouji and taking him as a prisoner. With the Hara House defeated he has to decide what to do with Aki, and the player is giving the options to either "Use her as a commander" or "Take her home and fuck her". If Rance chooses the latter, he will take her to his residence at Owari and keep her as his sex slave until he leaves JAPAN at the end of the game. If Rance chooses the former, he will force her to become a commander of the Oda and lead a Miko unit.

Personality and Appearance
Aki has the appearance of a fairly young adult with a slim build and dressing in a regal fashion. She's often seen carrying a fan, as well as all kinds of jewelry and adornments, and boasts a long and beautiful red hair. She's noted for being very attractive, with many men falling for her solely thanks to her captivating looks. She's refined and elegant, keeping an air of superiority and with a sharp and dismissive expression that emphasizes on her harsh and egocentric personality.

Unfortunately, her personality is not nearly as appealing as her appearance and is pretty much a typical princess born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She is extremely wasteful, demanding and acts in an arrogant manner. She's contemptuous and self-centered, looking down on everyone else and has no regard for others emotions, and she's an extremely selfish person that only cares about her own personal well-being. She's a very serious woman, often displayed as cranky and blunt. She's also impatient in nature, as well as intolerant, never putting up with anything she doesn't want, and like the entire world focuses on her and her alone. She's so incredibly self-centered that she sees no problem in spending the funds of the Hara House buying expensive products such as refined jewelry or elegant clothing for her own personal use, claiming that it is natural for the princess and victimizing whenever her husband calls her out for it. Due to her extremely abusive use of money, the Hara are constantly broke and put together with the bare minimum, making her an unpopular figure with the local population and earning herself the fame of being a devilish woman that has charmed Shouji with her alluring appearance.

Aki also has a strong dislike for weakness and incompetence, especially if it comes from a man. She believes that men should be strong and capable of doing anything they are determined to do, or that she wants them to do. She doesn't tolerate excuses or whining, and demands men to follow her desires as she sees fit. Her husband Hara Shouji has an immense love for her to the point she has him completely under her control, making him follow all her demands. Shouji's love is completely one-sided as Aki doesn't share this sentiment alone, thinking of him as a pathetic man with a weak spirit, resulting in her brushing him off whenever he tries to get closer to her. Despite her abrasive behavior, Aki's sheltered lifestyle and refined conduct led her to become a very prudish person. She finds any matter related to sexuality to be repulsive and unpleasant, resulting in her avoiding to sleep with Shouji as much as possible. It's due to the combination of her harsh and prudish natures that Rance found great amusement in having extremely rough sex with her, which she obviously hated immensely.

Abilities
As the princess of the spoiled Ashikaga House Aki lived a life of comforts and luxiries, resulting in her never doing anything on her own. Because of this, she's largely incapable of doing the most simple tasks like cleaning or cooking, and she's never taken part in the battlefield so she has no combat ability whatsoever either. She also has a weak and fragile body and would be incapable of fending herself in an encounter even against the weakest opponents. All in all, Aki is more or less incapable of doing anything profficiently, and with the way she spends war funds due to her self-centered lifestyle, she has an extraordinarily negative impact on the Hara. However, her social skills are quite impressive, being incredibly skilled at manipulation as she was capable of taking over the Hara House upon marrying its head and manipulating him the way she wanted with great success.

Upon forcefully becoming a commander, Aki had no choice but to learn the basics of war, leading to her to command a unit of Mikos in the battlefield. However, due to her lack of talent and inspiration her unit is not very efficient, coming off as below average and capable of employing only the most basic tactics.

Trivia

 * The historical Japanese sengoku samurai Sanada Yukimura has a wife who is known as "Aki", though the kanji is different (安岐) and there is no actual resemblance between the two.