Today's acquisitions (10th May 2013)

I'm receiving a lot of nice deliveries at the moment. This one included JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volume four, the Sengoku Basara Seigun BEST and Sengoku Basara Tougun BEST CDs, and the first volume of Drifters to go with the volume I bought last week. Oh, and a scary freebie toy from Natsume Yuujinchou.

The most exciting part of the delivery is the pair of CDs, since each contains a track from next year's Sengoku Basara 4 game! The full details are in my earlier post here. Their arrival was timely, as the first batch of the CDs sold out at most stores this week. They should come back in stock soon as they aren't intended to be extremely rare. 

I don't tend to review my CDs because most English-speaking fans just download their copies (it's a little depressing), but I'll make a small exception and put down some quick comments about the new tracks so that I can laugh at myself later when I find out I was wrong about everything. The CD booklets didn't contain any interesting hints about the new game. They did, however, include a few of last year's new illustrations from Browser Sengoku Basara. Some of them were heavily cropped in the game so it was my first time seeing the full versions.

Sengoku Basara Tougun BEST

The Sengoku Basara 4 track on Tougun BEST CD is Tentei ('Ruler of the Heavens'). After ordering the CDs, I was suddenly worried that the preview songs were going to be extremely short. I was relieved when I saw each was just over four minutes long. The first thing I noticed was that it seemed extremely familiar - it turns out that Tentei is the background music used in the Sengoku Basara 4 teaser trailer (which I may have watched too many times). After the part which is used in the trailer, the melody becomes more beautiful and regal in tone; I'm excited imagining what kind of dramatic scenes it's going to accompany in the game!

There is also a previously-unreleased Sengoku Basara 2 track titled Souryuujin ('Twin Dragon Formation'). It's a short, bouncy BGM which I don't remember it from the game, but that's probably because I'm too excited to concentrate on the music whenever I get to go up against Masamune and Kojuurou.

Sengoku Basara Seigun BEST

Sousei ('Genesis' or 'Creation') is Seigun BEST's Sengoku Basara 4 offering. It's mostly a slow, sombre piece with some majestic percussion, though it does vary later on and become more urgent. I'm not sure what this song will be used for since it feels too emotional for most of the content the game is likely to contain. Of the two preview tracks in the set, this one was my favourite.

There are also two additional unreleased tracks from older games. I'm still struggling to place where Sengoku Basara 3's Shukuen ('Fate') is played in the game, which is especially sad as I spent most of the last few years solidly playing it. It's an upbeat, fast song, and wondering about it is going to make me start playing the game again soon. Sengoku BASARA ver. 0 is an almost-unrecognisable take on the series' theme from the first Sengoku Basara.

News roundup: A new Capcom shop will open in Kooriyama, Fukushima for a very limited time

I thought that the new anime streaming service would be the only news today. I was wrong.

Capcom have taken me by surprise by suddenly announcing the opening of a new shop in Fukushima prefecture. It will be sited on the first floor of the MOLTI building next to Kooriyama station - but there's a catch. It's only going to be open from Friday 1st March to Sunday 10th March 2013. So unless you happen to live nearby or fancy a trip out to an otherwise-unremarkable city without much notice, visiting it will be a challenge.

If anyone does happen to be available to pop to Fukushima during this very specific ten day period, they'll be able to purchase goods from Monster Hunter, Resident Evil (Biohazard), Sengoku Basara and more. On the first weekend there'll be visits from the Airou/Felyne from Monster Hunter to liven things up where the first 50 customers to spend more than ¥1,000 will receive a present.

At all other times, customers who spend more than ¥1,000 will be rewarded with a coaster-sticker. They can pick from a large selection while stocks last. Fortunately the selection seems to be drawn from a similar campaign running at the more permanent Capcom Shop in Odaiba, so obsessive collectors of Date Masamune coasters aren't missing out on too much. The absence of Kojuurou and Sasuke in the list of coasters implies that they may already have sold out in Odaiba.

For some reason this next piece of news isn't mentioned anywhere official yet, however, artist Sumeragi tweeted this morning that the third compiled volume of the Mame Sengoku Basara manga will be coming out next month. Mame Sengoku Basara 3 is already up for order on Amazon.co.jp; other bookstores will list it very soon. The price is the usual ¥819 and the release date will be 27th March 2013, the same week as Gakuen Basara 5 comes out.

Finally, T.M.Revolution has delivered for his worldwide fans and his newest album Under:Cover 2 is available today on iTunes in the UK. That's the same date as it was released in Japan, and our version is a steal at £7.99 for 15 tracks. The Under:Cover series collects up T.M.Revolution's greatest hits as a series of 'self covers', which means they're remade with input from a number of famous guest artists. While the second collection doesn't have any Sengoku Basara music, it does contain a few songs from Gundam SEED. Users specifically looking for a cheap way to own a few of Nishikawa's Sengoku Basara songs can check iTunes UK for Naked arms and SWORD SUMMIT, as well as the abingdon boys school tracks BLADE CHORD, JAP and WE aRE. Hopefully the missing songs will make their way over to this side of the world one day.

Today's acquisitions (16th Feb 2013)

Some satisfying deliveries arrived today as well as a few belated gifts from a family member.

Most of the new arrivals took the form of manga, with the first volumes of the English versions of Starry Sky and Blood Lad joining Bakuman. volume 17. Mori Kaoru's Anything And Something short story collection and the second volume of Haibara Yak's Sengoku Basara 2 manga complete the top row.

The magazine in the bottom right is the fifth volume of Capbon, the 'All Capcom Synthesis Information Magazine'. It contains a variety of Capcom-related manga, including a chapter of Sumeragi's Mame Sengoku Basara and another from Itou Ryuu's series Sengoku Basara 3 Naked Blood - starring a young Ieyasu. There's also a generous helping of news reports and previews for all kinds of Capcom games. The backstage photo report from Butai Sengoku Basara 3 ~Setouchi Kyouran~ made me want the DVD version more than ever.

Finally, I also received two CD singles: angela's 'KINGS' (the opening theme from K) and the Shin Sekai Yori ending theme CD. I'd ordered this back when it was originally listed for Taneda Risa's gorgeous outro 'Wareta Ringo', so it was a pleasant surprise to find it also included the second ending song by Hanazawa Kana, 'Yuki Ni Saku Hana'.

It's time to start reading!

News: Sengoku Basara Tougun/Seigun BEST audio CDs revealed

Amazon and other Japanese media outlets have recently listed two new audio CDs relating to Sengoku Basara for the first time in a long while. The provisional titles are Sengoku Basara Tougun BEST (Sengoku Basara Eastern Army BEST) (CPCA 10291) and Sengoku Basara Seigun BEST (Sengoku Basara Western Army BEST) (CPCA 10292). Each has a release date of 27th March 2013 and a price of ¥2,100. Animate's listings contained a little more detail.

The CDs are obviously going to be compilations themed around the two Sengoku Basara 3 factions, with Animate specifically listing Date Masamune, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Katakura Kojuurou as representatives of the Eastern army and Sanada Yukimura, Ishida Mitsunari and Sarutobi Sasuke as central figures in the Western forces (for the purpose of this CD release). The compilations will include a selection of BGM tracks from the very first Sengoku Basara through to Sengoku Basara 3 Utage, including the spin-off games. They'll contain a selection of popular songs and also some previously unreleased material.

The end of March is looking even more exciting every day!

Basara Matsuri 2013 ~Haru No Jin~ update: T.M.Revolution

A very quick Basara Matsuri update this morning: Capcom have announced that T.M.Revolution will be appearing on both days! While it's not an enormous surprise given Nishikawa's ever-increasing influence over the series, it's still good to hear. Interesting too that it is T.M.Revolution rather than abingdon boys school this time; the most recent song for the series was performed by a.b.s. so this mini-concert will either be older tracks or - dare I hope - an opportunity to show the audience something new..?

If it's old tracks, I'm hoping for Sword Summit and Utage!