Anime
Gallery- Game
Sen (千姫 Sen-hime), also known as Princess Sen and Osen-chan, is a support character in Hakuōki. She is a high-ranking female demon from the village of Yase, a chief of the Yase clan who has been living in Kyoto since ancient times.
Personality
Sen is a cheerful, enthusiastic, helpful, and brave young woman. She treats Kimigiku more like a friend or a sister than a subordinate. From the moment she meets Chizuru, she is openly friendly and sympathetic to her situation.
As a demon princess, Sen also has a strong sense of responsibility, and prioritizes the good of her subjects and species above herself.
Despite having a strong sense of propriety, Sen is also bold and unafraid to speak her mind, especially when displeased. While she is passionate about certain issues such as the Shinsengumi's repeated failures to protect Chizuru and keep their Rasetsu Corps under control, her emotions do not usually interfere with her ability to calmly and eloquently explain her perspective. When genuinely angered, she displays a haughty or even intimidating side, and is capable of talking down even to Kazama. She can also be persistent to the point of ruthlessness, threatening to turn all the demons in Japan against Kazama if he tries to abduct Chizuru in her presence (in Kazama's Stories route).
Background
Senhime is a fictional character. Though very little of her background and personal life is explored in the games, it is mentioned that as a demon princess, she is the descendant of the legendary Suzuka Gozen and Sakanoue no Tamamuro, a court noble, general and shogun of the early Heian period (794-1185 AD). Among Sen's ancestors are also Kazuhahime, and her younger sister Suzumori Yukina, as well as Kazama Chitose (from the prequel, Toki no Kizuna/ Shall We Date: Demons' Bond), therefore making her a distant relative of Kazama Chikage. It is also possible that Sen is a distant relative of Chizuru and Kaoru as they are also implied to be descended from the Original Demon Bloodline.
In the games
Chapter 2
Sen first appeared when she defended a child being harassed by a group of ronins, prompting Chizuru to intervene, with the eventual assistance of Saitou. Sen insists she had the situation under control while scolding Chizuru for her recklessness, but nevertheless appreciates her help. She is able to deduce Chizuru's true gender and promises to keep it a secret. Since then, it is mentioned that Sen and Chizuru meets several times and became friends.
Chapter 3
Having heard that Kazama is targeting Chizuru, Sen, accompanied by Kimigiku, visits the Shinsengumi headquartes requesting an audience with Chizuru and all Shinsengumi captains present. Sen reveals that Kazama and his companions are in fact demons, and that she herself is a demon princess.
Furthermore, Chizuru is the solve survivor of the Yukimura clan, a once vast and powerful demon clan in the east that was massacred by humans many years ago, hence Kazama’s interest in her.
When Sen insists the Shinsengumi entrust Chizuru’s safety to her, her lack of confidence in the Shinsengumi offends most of captains, particularly Hijikata, prompting him to refer to his nickname “the demon vice-commander”. Kondo diffuses the situation by allowing Chizuru to speak with Sen privately so she can make the decision by herself without feeling pressured.
Chizuru kindly declines Sen's offer, and though still worried, Sen respects Chizuru's choice, while also questions if she's staying because she has feeling for someone in Shinsengumi, much to Chizuru's embarrassment. Sen and Kimigiku depart, assuring Chizuru that they’re her allies.
Heisuke's route
Sen and Kimigiku interrupt the battle between Heisuke and Kazama, introducing herself as the head of Yase clan, Sen and Kimigiku then escorts Heisuke and Chizuru to safety before they left.
Later, Sen visits Chizuru at her old home in Edo. She apologizes to Chizuru for the way she convinced Kazama to give up on her, like she was demeaning Chizuru being lower than her. Chizuru understands and instead is grateful for her help. Sen then explains to her, Heisuke, and Sanan, that she had Kimigiku investigated about Rasetsu and Water of Life and discovered that the elixir originated from the blood of demons from France. The Western demons are bloodthirsty and aversive to sunlight, and since the Water of Life is made from their blood, the Rasetsu also inherited these traits. She tells Chizuru that she will investigate further and tells her if she finds something else.
Sometimes afterward, Sen meets up with Sanan at Shinsengumi HQ, having a heated argument with him until Sanan forced her to drink his blood through kiss. The effect of the blood immobilized her while she's struggling against the blood's effect. Despite Chizuru, Heisuke, and Kazama's best effort, Sanan abducts Sen to build his kingdom of Rasetsu with her as his puppet ruler. She is held captive at Sendai Castle and is continuously being forced-fed Sanan's blood as she's still resisting his control. Chizuru, Heisuke, Kazama, and Kimigiku invade the castle to save her, finding her unconscious. While Heisuke distracts Sanan, Kazama retrieves Sen. However, Sen then transforms into her demon form under Sanan's control and injures Kazama. He is able to feed her his pure demon-blood, temporarily weakening Sanan's control over her. When he commands her to kill Chizuru, Sen stabs Kimigiku instead, the resulting shock freeing her from Sanan's control.
After Sanan is defeated, Sen thanks Chizuru and Heisuke for their help. Kazama reveals that in Yukimura village there's a spring that could potentially cure the effect of Water of Life and suggests that Chizuru and Heisuke should live in countryside. Sen clarifies that he means he will spare Heisuke, despite being a Rasetsu. She then scolds him for not being honest. She then bids Chizuru and Heisuke farewell, promising she will come to visit them once things calm down.
In Hakuōki: Kyoto Winds
Sen's involvement in the plot is largely the same as in the first half of Stories of the Shinsengumi, with the following exceptions.
Chapter 5 (Heisuke)
Sen reminds Kazama and Amagiri that it's forbidden for demons to directly be involved in human's politics, which includes attacking men from the Shinsengumi to abduct Chizuru. Kazama argues that they have no intention on aiding Satsuma any longer since the Satsuma will be victorious either way, but Sen points out it still doesn't excuse the sins he already committed and threatens to take further measures against them as stray demons. Amagiri questions what should be done, to which Sen tells them that Chizuru will be under the Yase clan's protection and Kazama and Amagiri must vow to never interfere. Sen firmly reminds him of his position, the weight of his sins, and finally, threatens to banish his entire clan. Kazama begrudgingly concedes, but tells Sen that if Chizuru herself agrees to marry him, then she cannot interfere. Once Kazama and Amagiri depart, Sen is relieved and assures Chizuru and Heisuke that her proposition should prevent Kazama from bothering for a long time. She and Kimigiku then escort Chizuru and Heisuke to Osaka Castle.
In the musicals
Sen appears only in HakuMyu Toudou-hen, and is portrayed by Yanagita Erika.
- "Yaisa! Yaisa! Yaisa!"
- "Shōjo no Omoi"
- "Ore-tachi no Nakama"
Themes
"Shōjo no Omoi" is Sen's main leitmotif.
Trivia
- There is some discrepancy between the games and the anime regarding Sen’s lineage. In the anime, her lineage is implied to be on par with that of Kazama, Kaoru and Chizuru. However, in Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, Sen is stated to be the direct descendant of Gozen Suzuka and her human lover, Sakanoue Tamamuro. Regardless, she is still referred to as being pure-blooded. This is likely because as Suzuka and Tamamuro existed more than one thousand years ago, it bares little significance on her lineage.
- In the localization, Sen claims that Suzuka and Tamamuro were her grandparents. However, this was in fact a mistranslation. It would make more sense for Suzuka and Tamamuro to be Sen’s ancestors as opposed to her grandparents, as they allegedly lived sometime in the early Heian period. Furthermore, the demons of Yase are stated to have started serving the Imperial Court during the Genkō Period (1331-1334).
- According to Toki no Kizuna canon, Sen is also distantly related to the Kazama clan though Yukina's marriage to Kazama Chitose.
- Some fans have theoriesed that Sen is also the direct descendant of Yukina's older sister Kazuhahime, and Amagiri Kazutake the Wayfarer, due to a slight familial resemblance, thus making her also a possible relative of Amagiri Kyuju.
- Sen is also implied to be a distant relative of the Yukimura clan as they are all implied to be descendants of the Original Oni Bloodline.
- Though "Hime" typically translates to "princess" in English, it can also just denote a high-ranking noble lady. It was not uncommon for non-royal noble women to be addressed as such, e.g "Nōhime" (chief wife of Oda Nobunaga). Hime can also be used to denote feminine divinity for a deity, e.g the goddess Toyotama-hime.