Monday 7 March 2016

Rumours and gossip from Sengoku Basara 10th Anniversary Matsuri ~Feast of Ten Years, Ten Shades~

It's taken me longer than I'd like to post this due to real life commitments, but here's a round-up of what I've seen fans who were lucky enough to be able to attend the event talking about on social media this weekend. My current sources are fan reports and the media articles from 4Gamer, Famitsu, Gamer, Dengeki and WWS Channel.

There aren't many pictures available yet, though I enjoyed this blog entry from singer Akita Chisato which shows her posing with some of the other performers (and KobaP) wearing a stage outfit which resembles Maria's clothing. Akita sings the vocal version of Maria's theme.

Anyway, I should focus on the news - not there's very much.

First and foremost, it's been officially confirmed that the next major announcement about the new characters for Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den will take place in April 2016. Several of the attendees speculated about whether there were going to be more newcomers than the already-announced Sanada Masayuki and Sanada Nobuyuki, Yukimura's father and elder brother. Personally, if there are additional characters I strongly suspect they'll be unplayable for now to keep the focus on the Sanada family.

Speaking of the mysterious newcomers, several people were excited to hear Yukimura calling his father 'oyaji-sama' and his brother 'aniue' (a somewhat formal way to say 'older brother'). A lot of people were surprised about the first of those word choices. One fan theorised that Nobuyuki might use 'chichiue' (a more formal way to say 'father') to address Masayuki, though this nothing more than speculation at the moment. In any case, the Yukimura fans were going crazy about this tiny scrap of new information.

There's a new promotional video for the game, though it's not yet available online. A few jumbled comments about it reveal that:
  • This video highlights the new gameplay.
  • Both Masamune and Yukimura are shown.
  • In one of the scenes, Yukimura calls out to his father and brother.
  • There's still no sign of Shingen or Sasuke.
  • One fan said that Masamune's gameplay in the new video clip reminded them of Dante and the Rainstorm (from the Devil May Cry series).
I can attest to how difficult it is to enjoy a new video and simultaneously remember all of my observations for several hours at a boisterous event, so it's not surprising that the fan reports aren't very detailed. Hopefully it won't be too long before the video is available from the official website so we can check it out properly.

The last piece of news about the new game is that the theme song for Sengoku Basara: Sanada Yukimura-den is to be COMMITTED RED by T.M.Revolution. The lyrics of the song are said to be themed around Yukimura this time.

A double a-side single will be released with both COMMITTED RED and the Kidou Senshi Gundam EXTREME VS-FORCE theme song Inherit the Force. The release date is 6th April 2016, even though the game isn't being released until summer. The first press CD+DVD version (ESCL-4611~4612) will cost ¥1,667 before tax and contain both songs along with their music videos.


The standard CD version (ESCL-4613) will cost ¥1,111 before tax and contain both songs along with their 'Re:boot' versions. I love that both cover designs have a different theme inspired by the two games.


The fan reports mostly focus on the emotional impact of the seiyuu performances - it's important to remember that the main purpose of this event was the series' tenth anniversary celebration. The usual Sengoku Drama Emaki dialogue readings featured many popular scenes from Sengoku Basara 2 and Sengoku Basara 2 Eiyuu Gaiden (HEROES) as a treat for long time fans, and many of the talk segments had the actors and performers looking back over the past ten years. Genda Tesshou (Takeda Shingen) reportedly complained that he wanted to be able to speak English like Masamune in the series. He wanted to be able to say things like "I'll be back!" - apparently imagining Oyakata-sama acting like this made Morita Masakazu (Maeda Keiji) very excited.

In more amusing news, it seems that seiyuu Nakai Kazuya (Date Masamune) was having an exceptionally busy day. After participating in a broadcast earlier in the day, he attended a Gintama Matsuri event elsewhere in Tokyo then rushed to Basara Matsuri. But then he had to return to the other venue in the centre of town for a second Gintama Matsuri event! I'm curious about how much of the performance he was actually present for in the end; many fans have commented with sympathy after learning about his tough schedule.

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Although the information about the game was disappointingly scarce, I'm even more surprised at the lack of any big merchandise announcements or crazy tie-ins aside from the song. That's very unusual for a Basara Matsuri and I wonder what KobaP actually talked about during his news bulletin segment since the media reports confirm that there were no big reveals.

The next possibility for some updates is the Basara Club newsletter which is supposed to include an interview with the staff, so I'm looking forward to receiving that soon. Even if they're holding the character information back until April, there's a chance that they'll reveal some more details about the gameplay when that newsletter arrives, right?

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Update: The DVD recording of the event is already available for preorder through the Ace Shop along with a few leftover items from the merchandise booth. It's priced at ¥8,000 (plus ¥600 postage) and is tentatively scheduled for release in late June 2016.

The two-disc DVD set will contain the live vocal performances this time with the sole exception of T.M.Revolution's mini-concert. It's expected to include 140 minutes of footage from each of the two performances. Bonus content has yet to be confirmed.


Are all Sengoku Basara discs going to be released through that shop from now on? It's terribly inconvenient for people outside Japan. Of course I'm going to buy it regardless...

6 comments:

  1. It is kind of strange the Matsuri revealed so little that's new. I was expecting some merchandise announcements too.... I really love that Chisato dressed up as Maria though, that's awesome! :'D

    As far as the info for Yukimura-den goes I think we got about what I expected. Given this game's gameplay seems to be more driven by "look how cool these two (maybe one or two more) playable characters are!) than "look at all the characters you can use!!", I suppose what people want to see first is gameplay footage to know what a spinoff title like this will entail. As such, this trailer isn't a bad thing. Interesting Yukimura's calling Masayuki "oyaji-sama"... sort of makes my theory that Masayuki will be a stand-in for Shingen in Yukimura's life seem more plausible, along with the idea that Shingen may not interface with Yukimura directly. I hope Sasuke's still around at least! Would be very strange if he wasn't given how tied he is to Yukimura.

    I really don't expect anyone new besides Masayuki and Nobuyuki, but, if there are any new characters I'd expect them to be related to the Sanada still. Maybe Kirigakure Saizo and Akihime...?

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    1. I'm sort of hoping for more NPCs (even though NPCs are annoying) to add flavour, especially if they're clever about it and introduce NPCs who end up being relevant in future 'Retsuden series' titles. More than a handful of playable characters seems unlikely at this point.

      Kirigakure Saizou would be wonderful. Even if Shingen is sidelined or missing from the actual game, I'd quite like to see Sasuke and Shingen interacting together again one day as they don't ever seem to do that nearly enough these days. Would they dare to introduce someone like Akihime even in this 'more historically accurate' type of game? Hmm!

      YamamotoD has been conspicuously silent for ages now, too. I'm beginning to think that they realised it was hard for him to focus on working on the main series and doing all of the promotion, so perhaps he's planning something special for a future Sengoku Basara 5 while the new staffers work on Yukimura-den. I will quickly forgive them for any character omissions in the spin-off series if it means the next numbered game has a long enough development time to avoid all of the usual corner-cutting.

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    2. Well if they end up adding NPCs that'd be useful in further Retsudens, Uesugi Kagekatsu or a slightly more serious version of Kanetsugu seem like foregone conclusions, as would Takakage Kobayakawa and either Ukita Naoeie or Hideie, due to their importance in the post-Nobunaga Sengoku era. This is all supposing, of course, that they wouldn't just let Kenshin or Hideaki take those respective roles. I have a feeling they're going to be doing things "historically" as in how Samurai Warriors is "historical" and less how a history drama is "historical"... especially given Yukimura and Masamune's outfits have become even more outlandish and that they still have their rivalry.

      Ah, yeah, Akihime, I suppose, could indeed cause "problems" among the fanbase if they treat her straight up as Yukimura's wife. But they could easily sidestep direct references and have her take another role, perhaps an ambassador between the Sanada and the Western army.

      It would be nice if Sasuke and Shingen could interact more, yes yes!

      And yeah, hopefully his silence is a good sign. Working on a really great Sengoku Basara 5 for a good long while, now that so much groundwork is laid and there's this game to tide people over, would be a great thing, especially if it was absolutely complete with no need for an expansion game like Heroes, Utage, or Sumeragi.

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    3. ... I just realized Naoie died a few months after Nobunaga, d'oh! Hideie then, unless they're planning on doing a Hideyoshi-den, haha.

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  2. Many companies do this nowadays such as assassins creed series , Dark Souls series ,
    So yeah YamamotoD is working on the main game while another team works on a spin off series .

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  3. i would die happy if Dante is added as a guest character , there have been so many devil may cry refrences in the series , DEVIL MAY CRY X BASARA Should be a thing .

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