News roundup: Gakuen Basara 5 manga details and more on Basara Matsuri 2013 ~Haru No Jin~

Goodness, it's finally started happening. After weeks of silence, solid details are coming out at last for the merchandise and events we'll be seeing at the end of March.

The cover art for this month's new Gakuen Basara 5 manga has appeared on the eCapcom website. It's a lovely, colourful picture with as many characters crammed in as possible. I hope it wraps around to the back cover as well to show even more of the cast members.

Capcom followed up by announcing the full release details as well. Nari is providing the cover again (if that wasn't obvious already from looking at it!). The manga will include colour illustrations from Yukihiro Utako and Kyuugou plus the usual manga chapters from GakuBasa regulars Minami Seira, sanorin, Danbo, Matsuura Hako, Maki, Rokuji, Yonata, Arai Karo and Yanagi Batoshirou. Gakuen Basara 5 will be released on 28th March 2013 for ¥1,029. It will be 164 pages long.

The big news for today came in a little later, though: the homepage for Basara Matsuri 2013 ~Haru No Jin~ has been updated. Amazingly, even the general tickets have already sold out! There'll be some exclusive merchandise on sale in a tent set up outside the venue from noon until 21:00 on the weekend of the festival which even people who don't have a ticket for the show can visit. Here are the pictures of what attendees can buy.

Basara Matsuri 2013 ~Haru No Jin~ t-shirts (¥2,900).

A choice of four tin badges (¥400 each).

Click below for the rest!

Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura rubber key covers (¥700 each).

A muffler towel (¥2,000).

A 'thermos bottle' thermal flask (¥2,000).

A floor cushion for sitting on (¥2,000).

A blanket decorated with all of the main warriors who'll be represented at this Basara Matsuri (¥3,500).

Basara Matsuri 2013 happi coats - traditional festival accessories, available in a choice of blue, red, yellow or purple (¥4,000 each). They say "Basaragumi" ('Basara Team') on the front and "Basara Matsuri" on the back.

A choice of bright 'big' uchiwa fans (¥700 each). They're pretty cool since they have quotes from the characters on the reverse side written in flamboyant, festive text. I sort of want all of them.

Fans who spend more than ¥3,000 will receive an exclusive shoulder bag (while stocks last).

Unrelatedly, there is also a small Capcom update about a regional campaign running for Chousokabe Motochika at the moment in the real world until 1st September 2013. The Kouchi Prefectural Museum of History in Shikoku is holding a 'Chousokabe Motochika Rally' which involves exploring the history of the Kouchi (Tosa) area using GPS and plans set up by the local tourism organisations. You can read more about it here if you will be in the area during the campaign. It looks like a great way to spend a day sightseeing!

Finally, while this hasn't been formally announced (well, the CDs themselves haven't been announced yet either), it seems that the release date for the two upcoming compilation CDs, Sengoku Basara Tougun BEST and Sengoku Basara Seigun BEST, has quietly slipped to 10th April 2013. This makes sense since so little information has been revealed about them so far.