Rise of the Ronin’s inclusion of same-sex samurai romances explained  

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin has been receiving attention on social media again lately- this time for the romances that the player can foster between their male protagonist and other male characters in the game. This has led some to liken Rise of the Ronin to a BL (Boy’s Love) game, but how historically accurate is this aspect of the open world title? 

Set in the 1860s during Japan’s turbulent Bakumatsu period, Rise of the Ronin is an open-world RPG where you can play as a male or female character. During your journey, you will meet many real-life historical figures with different beliefs about what kind of country Japan should become. You can build bonds with these characters and even cement your relationship with a Veiled Vow. Depending on the character, some of these strong bonds have the potential to turn into deep romantic relationships. These can be opposite sex or same sex relationships. 

Fans of BL manga and video games, a genre mainly aimed at women which features romantic relationships between men, have commented on X that Rise of the Ronin turns into a BL game if your main character is male and you manage to build very strong bonds with certain male characters. In particular, the romantic possibilities with real-life historical figures Shinsaku Takasugi and Ryoma Sakamoto have caught their attention. Let’s take a closer look (some spoilers for Rise of the Ronin bonds below!). 

First Shinsaku Takasugi, the young samurai who went against the Tokugawa Shogunate. He starts out suspicious of your allegiances, but you can gradually build your trust with him by helping him root out corruption. Develop your bond, and eventually it is possible to declare that you are in love with him. Reciprocating your feelings, the musical Shinsaku will take you to a quiet lodging where he declares his wish to spend the night with you through a song from the pleasure quarters. 

Commenters referred to how the player character and their love interest have a suggestive conversation together, only for the screen to fade to black and then show them together the following morning. Known as “asa-chun” in Japanese, these cuts are often used in dramas to imply that characters slept together. This happens with the Shinsaku Takasugi and Ryoma Sakamoto romances in Rise of the Ronin. 

If you confess your love to Ryoma, eventually you will find yourself spending the night with the famous figure who opposed the Tokugawa Shogunate. In this conversation, he will try to make you jealous with talk of his past relationships with women, which leads to him confessing his deep feelings for the main character (cue another strategic “asa-chun” fade to black…). 

Some players have previously commented on how surreal it is that historical figures like Commodore Perry can come round to your house (Related Article). For them, the act of romancing well-known figures from the Bakumatsu period must feel even more bizarre. Although Rise of the Ronin does take some artistic license with history, the romances you can have with some of the characters are not so far-fetched. It is not a game where you can sleep with everyone regardless of gender, as historical characters who are deemed unlikely to be attracted to you can only become firm friends. 

But what about the same sex romances you can have with Ryoma Sakamoto and Shinsaku Takasugi? During the Edo period, there was a culture of strong bonds between men that involved sexual relationships, especially among the samurai class. These are well-documented in books from the time like Saikaku Ihara’s Mirror of Male Love (although often between adolescents and older men). In a real-life letter sent by Shinsengumi commander Isami Kondo to the Shogun in 1864 (around the time of Rise of the Ronin’s setting), Kondo euphemistically comments on the homosexual activities occurring between his troops (although in this case, he suggests that is because there are not many women around). 

Therefore, Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja devs seems to have concluded that there is a realistic possibility that Ryoma Sakamoto or Shinsaku Takasugi could develop a romantic relationship with your male protagonist. 

For more about Rise of the Ronin, check out our summary of an interview with producer Yosuke Hayashi and dev producer and director Fumihiko Yasuda. 

Rise of the Ronin is out now on PS5.