Actress: Jamie Chung

Name: Takara Sato*Nationality:* Japanese*Affiliation:* Empire of the Rising Sun*Role:* Commander*Former role:* Commander of the First Battalion of the Rocket Angels*Organisation:* Imperial Final Defence Force*Specialities:* Surprise attacks, naval warfare, experimental technologies*Allies:* Shinzo Nagama, Kenji Tenzai*Enemies:* Allied Forces, Tatsu*Appearances:* Red Alert 3: Uprising, Commander’s Challenge
Status: Alive following the defeat of her forces.Takara Sato is a commander of the Empire of the Rising Sun who emerged after the Third World War. Formerly in charge of the first battalion of the Rocket Angels, she used her experience in surprise attacks to rapidly rise through the ranks and become one of the principal leaders of the Imperial resistance against the Allied occupation of Japan.

From the Rocket Angels to the High Command

Before becoming a Commander, Takara led the first battalion of the Rocket Angels, the Empire’s famous female fighter pilots.

Her experience in rapid operations and surprise attacks subsequently enabled her to become a key figure in the Imperial Final Defence Force, established following the military collapse of the Land of the Rising Sun. She quickly established herself as a particularly troublesome adversary for the Allied Forces.

Takara also showed a keen interest in experimental technologies, notably cloning, which she would later utilise in the Commander’s Challenge.

Following the Empire’s defeat, Japan came under Allied occupation. Crown Prince Tatsu, a survivor of the fall of Tokyo, officially agreed to cooperate with the victors.

However, part of the former Imperial high command refused to accept this new situation.

Shinzo Nagama, Kenji Tenzai and Takara Sato rally the forces that have remained loyal to them and launch an insurrection aimed at driving out the Allies and restoring the Empire’s honour.

Takara becomes one of the leading figures of this resistance.

A charismatic commander

Takara manages to establish a significant resistance movement in her province and inspires a deep sense of loyalty in her soldiers.

Even Tatsu acknowledges this quality: her samurai are so devoted that they are prepared to die to protect her.

But Tatsu also claims that she no longer truly cares about the Empire. In his view, Takara has turned her own men against his authority and threatens to destroy everything that her father, Emperor Yoshiro, had built.

This accusation must, however, be seen in context: Tatsu was at that time collaborating with the Allies and seeking to eliminate his political rivals amongst the former imperial commanders.

The Last Rebel Commander

The Allies intervene to quell the uprising.

The Allied Commander first confronts Shinzo Nagama, then Kenji Tenzai. Their forces are defeated and both men are neutralised.

Takara thus becomes the last major rebel commander still active.

The Allies head for Miyako to crush her forces. This time, Tatsu asks the Commander to show no mercy towards Takara’s men, believing that their elimination will put a definitive end to the rebellion.

Takara’s defeat

Despite the loyalty of her Soldiers, Takara is ultimately defeated by the Allied Commander.

She survives the battle, however, and the remnants of her forces manage to retreat with her.

But Takara’s defeat reveals, above all, Tatsu’s true intentions.

No sooner had his main imperial rivals been eliminated than he turned against the Allies, proclaimed himself Emperor and, in turn, attempted to drive the occupying forces out of Japan.

The Allied Commander is therefore forced to fight the very man he had just helped.

After a particularly fierce battle against Tatsu’s forces and his Giga-Fortresses, the Allies secure another victory. The imperial uprising is finally crushed.

A survivor

Contrary to what the violence of the clash might suggest,Takara is not killed.

Following her defeat, she retreats with her remaining Soldiers. Her subsequent fate within the narrative continuity of Uprising is not specified.

However, she reappears as an opponent in the Commander’s Challenge, where her personality and interest in experimental technologies are much more fully developed.

The Commander’s Challenge

Takara is one of the FutureTech Commander’s recurring opponents.

She appears in several challenges and utilises various elements of the Imperial arsenal, making her one of the most frequently encountered commanders in this mode.

All Guns Blazing

In All Guns Blazing, Takara welcomes the Commander to her island fortress.

The challenge centres on the powerful Imperial Artillery systems. Takara naturally attempts to minimise the threat posed by her defences before realising that her opponent is far more difficult to defeat than she had imagined.

The Omega Programme

Her interest in cloning comes to the fore in The Omega Programme.

Takara now has a new island fortress and deploys several clones of Yuriko Omega against the Commander.

Following her defeat, she is outraged by the disappearance of her clones and believes that, with such a force, she should normally have won the battle.

This mission clearly establishes her involvement in the Imperial research into the cloning of Yuriko.

Cat Fight

Takara also takes part in Cat Fight, a contest bringing together several female commanders.

There, she faces off against the Commander, as well as Lydia Winters and Vera Belova.

Takara regards the island as her personal territory and immediately demands that the other participants leave. Even when she is defeated, she takes the situation in her stride, provided her rivals also suffer defeat.

Scavengers and High Seas Duel

In Scavengers, Takara attempts to recover the numerous vehicles abandoned in the wake of Natasha Volkova’s passage. Her scouts quickly arrive on the scene and she warns the Commander not to stand in her way.

She then demonstrates her naval prowess in High Seas Duel, where she challenges the Commander to a purely maritime confrontation.

Once again, the battle turns against her.

Fury of the Empire

Takara finally appears in Fury of the Empire, where she deploys several Giga-Fortresses in both their naval and aerial forms.

After her defeat, she finally hands this technology over to the Commander, noting with irritation that the Giga-Fortresses did not enable her to win.

Personality

Takara has a much more light-hearted and provocative personality than Shinzo Nagama.

She is self-assured, competitive and readily mocking, often viewing confrontations as personal challenges. Even her defeats rarely seem to truly dampen her enthusiasm.

This attitude contrasts with her much more serious role in the Allied campaign of Uprising, where she leads a full-scale uprising against the occupation of Japan.

She nevertheless possesses a quality recognised even by her enemies: enormous military charisma. Her soldiers are extremely loyal to her and are prepared to sacrifice themselves for her.

A new generation of imperial commanders

Takara did not appear during the Third World War in Red Alert 3.

Her rise to power came after the Empire’s defeat. A former leader of the Rocket Angels who became a Commander, she thus represents a new generation of imperial military leaders who emerged from the post-war chaos.

Nevertheless, she joins two veterans of the war, Shinzo and Kenji, in their rejection of the Allied occupation.

Takara is therefore both the heir to the former Imperial military establishment and one of the new figures capable of rallying Japanese Soldiers following Yoshiro’s downfall.