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.

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.