Hatsuho Shinonome

Hatsuho Shinonome is a supporting protagonist in New Sakura Wars.

Appearance
Hatsuho wears her red hair in a side ponytail tied up and pinned with a unique hair pin that her family sells at their family shrine, said to bring good fortune. She wears a red shrine maiden outfit, with the shoulders decorated by ropes, something that is again unique to her family shrine. Her clevage is exposed, although she binds her bust with bandages. Her arms are also covered in bandages due to the amount of cuts and nicks she recieved whilst fixing up the broken down Imperial Combat Revue Theatre stage.

History
In the past Hatsuho and Sakura Amamiya were childhood friends, as Sakura's father would deliver swords to Hatsuho's family shrine. The two would often play together, but after Sakura struggled to perform a ceremonial dance correctly, the two got into a disagreement, which caused Sakura to flee crying. Hatsuho deeply regretted the fight, and blames herself for Sakura and her fall out.

The two didn't see one another until many years later when Hatsuho had joined the Imperial Combat Revue after the Great Demon War, becoming one of the new members alongside Clarissa Snowflake and Azami Mochizuki under the supervision of Sumire Kanzaki.

Unfortunately with the core members missing, the Imperial Theatre was in a state of decline. Hatsuho was considering quitting as all their attempts to defend the city from demon attacks or put on a show ended up with abject failure and humiliation, earning mockery from not only the Tokyo populace they were trying to protect but also the Shanghai Combat Revue who had to come in and protect the city in their place.

However her desire to quit ended when Sakura Amamiya turned up and their friendship was rekindled. Although the girls still messed up all of their performances and many of their battles in their mugens, Sakura's can-do attitude made Hatsuho want to strive onwards.

With Sakura's childhood friend, Seijuro Kamiyama being placed as the captain, the hiring of mechanic Reij and the hiring of professional actress Anastasia Palma,the theatre begins to turn things around. Clarissa, who loves reading and writing is encouraged to pursue this path and become the new script writer, and Sakura makes leaps and bounds in both her acting skills thanks to Anastasia's influence and mugen combat. Hatsuho as a result feels like she doesn't bring anything to the table and that the team would be better off without her, seeing herself as easily replacable. Seijuro's kind words and encouragement help her to see her own self worth and although she still has some doubts, she manages to snap herself out of her depression and continue being her bright and brash self.

When Sakura gets depressed upon believing her hero has become a demon, the stage being utterly destroyed in the fight and losing her combat mugens in battle, Hatsuho attempts to snap her out of this funk. This leads to a fight between the two girls when Sakura states Hatsuho doesn't care about anything as much as she does. Hatsuho storms off, causing Seijuro to run after her, worried she'd let off steam by violently hitting the first rude person she came across. Hatsuho instead simply gets something to eat and composes herself, helping Hiromi Hongou with a drink item that will make everyone appear as Hatsuho to the consumer. Seijuro naturally drinks it as he is attempting to find her. After the antidote is given to him, Hatsuho lets Seijuro know that she thinks he and Sakura should return to their hometown for some R+R before the London match to help clear their mind.

Whilst Seijuro and Sakura are off visiting Sakura's home, the Imperial Theatre is attacked once again. Hatsuho alongside the other girls manages to defend the theatre from Yasha, a demonic swordsman who they believe to be a corrupted Sakura Shinguji. As the stage is ruined, Hatsuho plans to build a new stage in front of the theatre with help from Reiji Shiba. Upon returning, Seijuro admits he's impressed with all Hatsuho accomplished and the two are happy to see one another again, until Seijuro reveals he couldn't lift Sakura's spirits and he's had to leave her there. Hatsuho gets mad at him for not accomplishing his task, to which Seijuro comes and apologises later.

Hatsuho, filled with anger at the situation, travels to Sakura's home and punches her in the face, trying to beat some sense into her that she's giving up too easily on not only her dreams but all of her friends. Sakura responds again by telling Hatsuho that she can't understand because she doesn't care about anything as much as she does, to which Hatsuho responds she cares about Sakura and this is the only way she can think of to make her see sense. The two engage in a brutal beatdown to one another, until Seijuro steps in and gets knocked out by a 'Hatsuho Haymaker' aimed as Sakura. Embarrassed, she leaves before he can wake up, allowing Seijuro and Sakura some time to reconcile.

Later, Seijuro returns, again without Sakura, and meets up with Hatsuho. Hatsuho apologises for knocking him out, but Seijuro isn't phased. He tells Hatsuho that Sakura is lucky to have a friend who cares about her as much as Hatsuho, and they both agree that she'll return in time for the battle with the London Combat Revue. Sure enough, Sakura appears at the last minute to face off against Lancelot and manages to pull off a win.

Later after Anastasia goes missing after the Christmas play, shooting Reiji Shiba and stealing both her Mugen and Sakura's sword. Hatsuho and the others chase her down as Anastasia claims to be in leagues with the demons. Upon witnessing Yasha using Anastasia to obtain the Imperial Key(actually Sakura's sword, able to unseal Shadow Tokyo) and cutting her down after twisting her promise of helping Anastasia see her deceased family again, they bring Anastasia back to the Imperial Theatre but not before Yasha curses all of their mechs, including Hatsuho's, to prevent them being a problem.

Hatsuho is requested to help Reiji fix the spiracle stones in the team's mugens, and is there to witness when Anastasia wakes up in her rejuvination tank. Sumire holds a meeting, and to everyone's surprise Sakura's father shows up, saying he has an easy way to prevent Shadow Tokyo from reopening. All he has to do is make an Imperial Key and it'll deactivate the one the demons have by overriding it. Overjoyed, the team celebrate until it's revealed that in order to do so Sakura's life must be sacrificed. Hatsuho is stunned that her best friend will have to die to save the world, until Seijuro defiantly refuses to let that happen. Hatsuho apologises for not being the one to shout this idea down, and the team form a new plan. Seijuro's Mugen is currently the only one fixed from the curse, but a barely alive Anastasia appears and also offers her aid as Yasha didn't think to curse her Mugen. Hatsuho and the others are to join the duo as soon as their Mugens are fixed. Reiji requests Hatsuho's help to fix up the stones.

Hatsuho is the first of the cursed Mugens to arrive at the battle, having helped remove the curse from the stones and fights valiantly against Yasha's forces. Soon Yasha shows her true power by tapping into Sotetsu Genan's power and using it to power herself up. She immedietly cuts down Anastasia, killing her, laughing as she does so and goes on to attack Azami. Claris dives in the way of the fatal attack and ends up dying in Azami's place. Azami attempts to avenge Claris, but Yasha intercepts her attack, piercing her with her Mugen's sword. Seijuro and Sakura are stunned and paralysed as the hope fades from them as Yasha smugly taunts them about how weak humans are.

Hatsuho however rebukes each of Yasha's points, and defiantly stands up to her, refusing to let her kill Sakura or Seijuro too. She slams her Mugen's hammer into God Breaker, and after she reveals how she felt about each of her fallen friends she declares them her best friends and through sheer grit, determination and her own spirit power manages to depower Yasha. Yasha, stunned asks how she did this, and a dying Hatsuho smugly tells her 'because I'm stubborn'. She states she'd like to be friends with Sakura in the next life, and Sakura promises they will be, allowing Hatsuho to die with a smile on her face. With Yasha now depowered, Sakura and Seijuro manage to overwhelm her, and Sakura finishes the job off.

Hatsuho is revived after Sakura Shinguji uses her powers within Shadow Tokyo to create spiritual cherry blossoms that bring her, Claris, Azami and Anastasia back to life.

Hatsuho joins in the final fight against Sotetsu Genan, helping with the sealing ritual, and giving Sakura enough time to seal Shadow Tokyo once more.

If Hatsuho is chosen as deputy captain, she and Seijuro go on a date in the post credits to a traditional Japanese festival. Hatsuho wears a full kimono, blushing and slightly insecure about her being feminine. When Seijuro tells her it suits her, she blushes. After the sun sets the two watch the fireworks display together, before kissing, illuminated by the fireworks.

Trivia

 * Hatsuho is the only one of the girls not to get a dedicated chapter to herself, as her chapter is more focused around Sakura's character arc than her own.
 * Hatsuho helps run her family shrine. If Seijuro goes on a Christmas date with her, she will have him join in with the shrine's Christmas festivities.
 * If Seijuro stands Hatsuho up on the Christmas date, she will arrive at his quarters and beat him down with her fists, telling him next time she won't go easy on him.
 * Hatsuho has a fear of heights.
 * During Hatsuho's defiant last stand with Yasha, she gives her impressions of each of the fallen girls:
 * Anastasia she thought was an 'emotionless bitch' but when getting to know her, she realised how passionate she was.
 * Azami was considered a headache, but she could never get mad at her cheerfulness.
 * She never knew how angry someone could get until meeting Claris, but there was so much compassion in her scripts.
 * She then states they were all her best friends and she'll never forget them, requesting they give her one last burst of strength.