News roundup: e-Capcom share details of their Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi preorder campaign

A quick news post today as official store e-Capcom posted a major update outlining their Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi preorder campaign.

e-Capcom will be releasing special bundles they've calling the Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi Limited Edition and Complete Edition, which include the game and an 'approximately life-sized' 60cm x 180cm microfiber bath towel of the buyer's favourite character.

There will be 41 different designs for the bath towel, each patterned after a different character from the series - that's almost every character playable in Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi with separate designs for Wabisuke and Sabisuke along with Akechi Mitsuhide and Tenkai. The only character missing is Tadakatsu (more on him later).

Those who preorder one of the bundles also earn the right to purchase up to 40 additional towels for ¥7,222 each before tax. Purchasing duplicates of the same towel isn't allowed, so those who dream of owning 41 matching Oichi towels will have to purchase the game multiple times instead (this is presumably to discourage people from buying to resell).

As for the other bonuses, all five previously-announced early reservation preorder weapons will be included if you order by the deadline along with the Welcome To The Wabi-Sabi Tea Party wallpaper. Here's a summary of each of the four versions e-Capcom is offering:

Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi Complete Edition set

• Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi 21 Costume Hobby Box edition of the game
• An 'approximately life-sized' bath towel
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru's preorder DLC weapon Rinne Genkou
• All four early preorder bonus weapons (if preordered before 24th May)
• The wallpaper of the game's box art (if preordered before 24th May)
• The Welcome To The Wabi-Sabi Tea Party wallpaper (if preordered before 24th May)

This version will cost ¥17,990 (PS4) or ¥16,990 (PS3).

If you don't want the 21 DLC costume codes from the 21 Costume Hobby Box version, you can order the standard version instead and still receive the bonuses:

Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi Limited Edition set

• Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi standard edition of the game
• An 'approximately life-sized' bath towel
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru's preorder DLC weapon Rinne Genkou
• All four early preorder bonus weapons (if preordered before 24th May)
• The wallpaper of the game's box art (if preordered before 24th May)
• The Welcome To The Wabi-Sabi Tea Party wallpaper (if preordered before 24th May)

This version will cost ¥12,990 (PS4) or ¥11,990 (PS3).

To sweeten the deal further, one lucky buyer will be randomly selected to receive a 300cm x 300cm 'extraordinary Honda Tadakatsu towel' as a bonus prize.

The special bundles will be made to order so if you want any of those towels, you will have to place a preorder. The early preorder period for the bonus weapons and wallpaper ends on 24th May and after that the bundle listings will only remain available until 5th June 2015 at 23:59 Japan time.

e-Capcom will also be selling the game without the towel, so make sure the listing you choose says it's the 'Limited' or 'Complete' edition before buying. I'll add the direct links on Friday.

Note: e-Capcom does not ship outside Japan, however it's possible to order from them using a proxy or forwarding service.

Since the preorder period commences on Friday this week, those of us in western countries can probably expect to see listings appearing elsewhere on Thursday evening. It's possible that other specialist stores will be offering their own exclusive Sengoku Basara merchandise as a preorder incentive too.

This week's Weekly Famitsu magazine will include an article about the new game

The latest preview of Thursday's issue of Weekly Famitsu has also gone online today and once again Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi is going to be highlighted in a 6-page feature. The article will include information about Sen No Rikyuu's gameplay, the Battle Roulette system and the remaining major tie-in DLC costumes.

Event report: Sengoku Basara 4 x Capcom Challenge Park in Okazaki

During my incredibly short trip to Japan last week, I managed to find time to visit the temporary Sengoku Basara 4 x Capcom Challenge Park exhibition which is running until 30th April 2015. Here's a report with some pictures in case anyone is interested in what the event involved.

The first challenge was getting there, as the Capcom Challenge Park is part of an arcade complex in the Aeon Mall Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture. It takes at least a couple of hours if you want to travel there from Tokyo. Since I didn't have much time I took the Hikari Shinkansen to Toyohashi then a direct train to Okazaki - one of the quicker routes so long as you time it correctly. If you have a less hectic schedule it's far easier to get there via Nagoya, which has some excellent shops and sights of its own.

Event report: Basara Matsuri 2015 ~Fuyu No Jin~

I booked a flight to Japan to attend today's Basara Matsuri 2015 ~Fuyu No Jin~ (hereafter abbreviated to Basara Matsuri) in a moment of madness after way too many months of overtime at work, and that's where I've spent most of the day, soaking up the festival atmosphere and enjoying being around my fellow fans.
It's already been confirmed that there will be a DVD recording released in June so I'll add a second post reviewing everything properly when that happens. This is just a basic event report; please understand that I might have omitted or misremembered a few details since watching the show a few hours ago!

Basara Matsuri 2015 ~Fuyu No Jin~ was held at the colossal Nippon Budoukan in the heart of Tokyo's Kitanomaru park, the same site which hosted the fifth anniversary celebration back in 2011.

There were two performances; one in the afternoon at 14:30 and one in the evening at 18:30. With the venue being so large, obtaining tickets was much easier than usual - even though there were more fans in attendance than at the previous Sengoku Basara event. The evening show was also broadcast live to audiences in cinemas all across Japan to ensure as many people could watch as possible. Tickets cost ¥7,000 for attendees and ¥3,500 for those who saw the show at one of nineteen selected cinemas across Japan; given that I'd estimate that there were around 6,000 people watching each performance live and several thousand more spread out in the cinemas, organising this kind of event was a very big deal.

Naturally, the advertised guest list was suitably impressive.

Thoughts about Sengoku Basara 4

I wasn't originally planning on reviewing Sengoku Basara 4 since I'm not really qualified to describe the technical achievements or provide impartial commentary about the intricacies of its design. Most game reviews seem to focus on mechanics and high level play, whereas I'm nothing more than a weird fanatic who loves the series a little too much.

However, it seems that a few crazy people wanted to know what I thought about it after all the months of hype. I decided to gather my impressions some time ago and the imminent anniversary of the game's release seemed like a good excuse to finally post them. As usual, I haven't structured this post as a review so much as a jumbled stream of consciousness.

One other thing that I should mention is that I mostly play in two-player co-op mode for the first few months of a Sengoku Basara game release; my partner's interest tends to wane more quickly than mine and it's fun to experience the new stories together for the first time. In that respect my opinions on some gameplay decisions might be unusual since two-player mode makes some parts of the game much easier, and others rather more challenging.

News: Capcom will host a Sengoku Basara 4 stage presentation at Jump Festa '15

Jump Festa '15 is the latest in Shounen Jump's annual series of manga and gaming conventions, scheduled to be held at Makuhari Messe on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st December 2014. Naturally, there's often a Capcom booth at the event to promote their newest games.

The official Sengoku Basara news portal suddenly updated this morning to announce that there will be a Sengoku Basara 4 presentation at the Capcom booth this year as well! Last year's Jump Festa event revealed a lot of new information about the then-unreleased Sengoku Basara 4.

So what can we expect this time? Right now, not much is known. Capcom's Jump Festa '15 microsite contains the same information as the news portal, reporting that attendees will be able to play Sengoku Basara 4 on stage to try to win prizes. Series producer Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki will also be making announcements relating to February's Basara Matsuri event - and more.

The Sengoku Basara 4 stage events will be held between 13:40 and 14:10 (Japan time) on both days of Jump Festa '15. It's a short timeslot so there's a chance all they'll be doing is promoting Sengoku Basara 4 and announcing the next batch of guests for Basara Matsuri, but it's also possible there'll be more information closer to the time. The Butai Sengoku Basara 4 stage play will finish its run two weeks before the event takes place so it will be the perfect opportunity to begin dropping hints about the next big project.

I'm definitely curious!

Event report: Butai Sengoku Basara 4

As luck would have it, I ended up visiting Japan at the same time that the new Butai Sengoku Basara 4 stage play was running in Tokyo. This is the first time in the five years of the stage play series that I have managed to accidentally time one of my trips to coincide with the plays and I wasn't about to miss this chance, so yesterday evening I found myself excitedly approaching the Tokyo Dome City Hall along with a couple of thousand of other eager fans to see how well the Sengoku Basara 4 storyline made the transition to live action.

I'd had no idea that I would be able to see this stage play until a few weeks ago so I didn't purchase my tickets as early as usual. It was incredible, then, that I managed to get a really good seat right at the front of the first floor of the balcony despite the show being almost sold out. I could see absolutely everything, right down to the actors' finely chiselled physiques.

Those of us who weren't seated in the arena below missed out on the fun of having the actors running into the aisles during the performance (Yukimura even apologised to several audience members as part of the act!), but with a perfect view of all of the action there was no reason to be disappointed. I am forever grateful that Lawson's online ticketing system accepts foreign credit cards, making reserving last minute tickets much less stressful than it might have been otherwise.

I'll summarise the overall details first. The play's run began in Tokyo on 31st October 2014 and it will end in Nagoya on 7th December 2014 after 27 performances.

The full cast list is as follows (newcomers are in bold):

Nakamura Seijirou (Ishida Mitsunari)
Hirose Yuusuke (Tokugawa Ieyasu)
Katou Keisuke (Shima Sakon)
Fujita Ray (Shibata Katsuie)
Yamaguchi Daichi (Date Masamune)
Matsumura Ryuunosuke (Sanada Yukimura)
Yoshida Tomokazu (Katakura Kojuurou)
Murata Youjirou (Sarutobi Sasuke)
Nitta Kenta (Ootani Yoshitsugu)
Takahashi Hikaru (Fuuma Kotarou)
Kubodera Akira (Oda Nobunaga)
Taniguchi Masashi (Akechi Mitsuhide)
Sakurada Kousei (Azai Nagamasa)
Tamaki Nami (Oichi)
Amano Kousei (Ashikaga Yoshiteru)

There's also the usual extended cast of nameless background soldiers and the whole thing has been put together by maestro Nishida Daisuke and the original creators at Capcom. Fans may notice that there are fewer named characters than last time; presumably Nishida chose to keep things simple so that they could introduce the new setting without too much mayhem. The result is a very tight story which leads up to a struggle between four factions (yes, just four!) before a satisfying climax.

From here on, I'll be talking about the content of the play so please stop reading if you don't want any spoilers. There will be rambling, too.

Manga review: Sengoku Basara 4 Dengeki Comic Anthology

The Sengoku Basara 4 Dengeki Comic Anthology is a 132-page collection of manga based on the Sengoku Basara 4 setting and characters. It was originally released by ASCII Media Works in the Dengeki line on 25th April 2014, priced at ¥850, and it's still readily obtainable from all good online bookstores such as CD Japan, Yesasia and Amazon Japan. A Kindle version is also available.

With this being the very first anthology to feature the seven new Sengoku Basara 4 characters, it was a real treat for fans who want to see more of them in manga form (outside of the two series being serialised monthly in Dengeki Maoh). The regular cast members show up too, of course, but their roles are far smaller than those of the newcomers.

The cover depicting the game's four leads with antagonist Yoshiteru looming in the background was illustrated by Ayamura Kirihito. Sadly, it doesn't wrap around to the back of the book to depict the rest of the characters; I'd have loved to have seen them drawn in Ayamura's style as well. There are two additional colour illustrations on the first few pages: Satsuki Yuu has drawn an amusing picture of Shingen, Naotora and Yukimura, while Yamada Uiro presents a cool confrontation between Katsuie and Sakon. The pictures make for a stunning start to the book and really set the scene.

The rest of the anthology is made up of short manga.

Matsuri De Chouhan Shoubu ('A Chouhan Match at the Festival')
Ashika Nozomu
Sakon goes to visit the festival with the intention of speaking to Keiji and gathering information about Ieyasu. Not long after he arrives, however, Tsuruhime and Magoichi turn up and propose a gambling match, supposedly acting on Himiko's orders. It's a proposition that Sakon can't resist, but with all of the cheating going on it seems unlikely that his original mission will ever be a success...

News roundup: the Sengoku Basara 4 Special Package is released

The Sengoku Basara 4 Special Package was released yesterday

The biggest Sengoku Basara news story this week has definitely been the release of the limited 'Special Package' edition with its attractive price point, bonus DVD and bundled DLC codes. KobaP tweeted a picture of an unboxed version showing all of the contents.

People who already have the game can still enjoy a few of the benefits, such as the free promotional wallpapers and the video tributes from Aoki Shiki (Maou) and Edosan" & Fumiichi. There's also a little competition; if you follow the @BASARA_CAPCOM account on Twitter and retweet this message, you'll be entered into a draw to win a signed Sengoku Basara 4 promotional poster or some Ichiban Kuji goodies. Please be aware that it's necessary to have access to a Japanese mailing address to claim the prize.

More Mame Sengoku Basara collectibles are on the way

A set of eight Mame Sengoku Basara Trading Rubber Magnets is due for release in November 2014 priced at ¥5,000 for a box or ¥500 per individual magnet.

Details of the third standalone Sengoku Basara Magazine CD

An Amazon listing has appeared for a new audio CD: Sengoku Basara Magazine CD: Showgeki Basara Talk! Vol. 3: Ieyasu & Mitsunari No Maki Special-ban. This is the third disc based on the talk CDs packaged with the magazine and it collects the two shows presented by Ookawa Tooru (Tokugawa Ieyasu) and Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari). As usual there's some bonus content for the standalone release such as a guest appearance by Nakamura Yuuichi (Shima Sakon) and an additional drama track.

The themes for the three 'Basara Challenge' segments are 'Sentai Hero' from Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 5, 'Children's Telephone Consultation Room', which is presumably from the as-yet unreleased sixth issue, and 'Tennis', a brand new challenge. If the second one sounds strange it's because it's a parody of a real Japanese radio show called Kodomo Denwa Soudanshitsu where children call in with questions for adults to answer on a variety of topics.

The new CD will be released on 27th September 2014 priced at ¥2,700. The artwork used on Amazon is a placeholder so there will probably be a brand new illustration produced for the final version to match the earlier volumes.

The first volume of Mame Sengoku Basara 4 will be released in September

Fans of Sumeragi's cute super-deformed spin-off series can finally pick up the first volume of Mame Sengoku Basara 4 on 27th September 2014 to see the Sengoku Basara 4 cast joining the Mame Sengoku Basara world. So far it's only been listed in a few reliable Japanese stores such as MangaOh; expect it to appear elsewhere in the next few days. The formal announcement would usually coincide with the release of this month's Dengeki Maoh magazine tomorrow.

Sumeragi has tweeted a preview of tomorrow's chapter of the Mame Sengoku Basara 4 manga if you're curious about how the designs for the new characters look.

Round 3 of the Capcom Summer Sale on PSN means more deals on old games

The current round of Capcom's Summer Sale on the Japanese PlayStation Store has added the PlayStation 2 Sengoku Basara titles to the list, so if you happen to have some extra PSN credit and don't want the Sengoku Basara HD Collection for some reason, you can grab the old games very cheaply indeed.

Sengoku Basara (download edition)
Old price: ¥823
Sale price (until 1st September 2014): ¥500

Sengoku Basara 2 (download edition)
Old price: ¥823
Sale price (until 1st September 2014): ¥500

Sengoku Basara 2 Eiyuu Gaiden (HEROES) (download edition)
Old price: ¥823
Sale price (until 1st September 2014): ¥500

Capcom preview the design for the new Katakura Kojuurou x Sanada Yukimura bus

I already described the bus a couple of days ago, so I guess all that's left is to post the new preview picture showing how it will look when it's in service!

Nakai Kazuya is to be a guest on Sengoku Basara: Judge End Radio

It's been announced that seiyuu Nakai Kazuya (Date Masamune) will appear as a special guest on the exclusive episode of Hoshi Souichirou and Seki Tomokazu's 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' Radio which comes with the first pressing of the Sengoku Basara: Judge End I home video release. Fans are invited to submit messages for Nakai by email before Wednesday next week.

Enter-sis show off the intricate buttons for their upcoming merchandise

The 'Giga Collection' clutch bag and canvas wallets are still a long way off but Enter-sis Factory have begun promoting them on Facebook with a preview picture of the detail on the metal buttons which will decorate both items. They look a lot like the Giga Basara stamp in Sengoku Basara 4, and I think they're very attractive even as unfinished prototypes.

NTV presents more Sengoku Basara: Judge End merchandise

Two more upcoming items appeared on the official website today for release at the start of August 2014.

A shitajiki (pencil board) costing ¥400.

A collection of coasters costing ¥300 each.

More actors are to graduate after the next Butai Sengoku Basara stage play

The 'urgent' Butai Sengoku Basara news broadcast took place this afternoon. I haven't had a chance to watch the hour-long broadcast myself yet, but bad news travels quickly and it seems that the show has announced that four of the most popular actors from the series will be 'graduating' after Butai Sengoku Basara 4 at the end of this year.

This is a real blow for the stage play series as Nakamura Seijirou (Ishida Mitsunari), Hirose Yuusuke (Tokugawa Ieyasu), Yoshida Tomokazu (Katakura Kojuurou) and Murata Youjirou (Sarutobi Sasuke) have all played their characters every single time they've appeared. Yoshida and Murata in particular have been with the stage plays ever since they first began. Given the trouble that the staff have had finding a replacement for Kubota Yuuki (Date Masamune) and Hosogai Kei (Sanada Yukimura) ever since they left, I feel quite uneasy about the future of Butai Sengoku Basara.

Animate posts its weekly Sengoku Basara: Judge End preview

To end on a happier note, here's the preview gallery for the fourth episode of Sengoku Basara: Judge End which airs tomorrow. It looks as though there's going to be a lot of interesting content!

In addition, Capcom's official Sengoku Basara Twitter account has drawn attention to today's image from the online Basara-ya shop in Sengoku Basara 4. It has a teaser picture of Kenshin and Kasuga together from the new anime as well as a birthday message for Matsu.

News: the details of the new Butai Sengoku Basara 4 stage play are revealed

The cast and dates are announced for Butai Sengoku Basara 4

The official website for the upcoming Butai Sengoku Basara 4 stage play has been launched today, and with it comes new information to give fans an idea of what to expect!

Title: Butai Sengoku Basara 4
Tokyo dates: 14 performances between 31st October and 9th November 2014
Tokyo venue: Tokyo Dome City Hall

Fukuoka dates: 4 performances between 22nd November and 24th November 2014

Fukuoka venue: Canal City Theatre
Osaka dates: 5 performances between 27th November and 30th November 2014

Osaka venue: Morinomiya Piloti Hall
Nagoya dates: 4 performances between 5th December and 7th December 2014

Nagoya venue: Chuunichi Theatre

Tickets will cost ¥7,400 and presales begin on 31st July. General sales commence on 13th September.

The cast list so far is as follows (newcomers are in bold):

Nakamura Seijirou (Ishida Mitsunari)
Hirose Yuusuke (Tokugawa Ieyasu)
Katou Keisuke (Shima Sakon)
Fujita Ray (Shibata Katsuie)
Yamaguchi Daichi (Date Masamune)
Matsumura Ryuunosuke (Sanada Yukimura)
Yoshida Tomokazu (Katakura Kojuurou)
Murata Youjirou (Sarutobi Sasuke)
Nitta Kenta (Ootani Yoshitsugu)
Takahashi Hikaru (Fuuma Kotarou)
Kubodera Akira (Oda Nobunaga)
Taniguchi Masashi (Akechi Mitsuhide)
Sakurada Kousei (Azai Nagamasa)
Tamaki Nami (Oichi)
Amano Kousei (Ashikaga Yoshiteru)

Nishida Daisuke will be putting the production together so we can expect his usual high standards. An 'urgent' video broadcast is going to be made with Nakamura, Hirose, Yoshida, Murata and Nishida at 21:00 on 25th July 2014 which might provide more information.

So, we have a brand new Masamune this time around and Matsumura seems to have taken over from Yoshioka Yuu after the two of them shared the role of Yukimura last time. I'm most interested to see the three Sengoku Basara 4 newcomers in action - Fujita Ray is a member of Dustz, the band which performed the first ending theme to the Sengoku Basara anime series!

All in all, it looks as though it will be a very serious production. I'm hoping they'll announce a few comic relief characters later on to lighten the mood, though a few of the warriors in the list should be able to provide some laughs depending on the story.

Update: Sengoku Enbu -Kizna- x Sengoku Basara 4 tie-in website launches

It has only been a couple of days since the collaboration was announced yet the website is now ready for viewing! The samples of the in-game cards look attractive even if they're reusing artwork from Sengoku Basara 4.

Update: Animate TV posts the details for Sengoku Basara: Judge End episode 3

The third episode of Judge End is swiftly approaching and Animate TV have posted their weekly preview article, including some spoilers in the screenshot gallery on the second page.

News roundup: the Sengoku Basara 4 Special Package is confirmed

Sengoku Basara 4 will be rereleased in Japan as Sengoku Basara 4 Special Package

The mysterious rerelease of Sengoku Basara 4 has now been formally announced. As per the rumours it will come out on 24th July 2014 for ¥4,490 (excluding sales tax) and include the game, all nine of the DLC costumes, the special custom theme given to people who collected all of the costumes and a Sengoku Basara 4 video DVD. In addition, the game will have the option to unlock all characters right from the start (this feature is currently available separately as paid DLC).

There will also be a PSN edition of the pack which includes everything except the bonus DVD for ¥4,157 (excluding sales tax). The box art for the 'special package' version is below.

The Sengoku Basara series will feature in another piano score book

Hot on the heels of the recent Yasashii Piano Solo: Capcom Game Collection ~30th Anniversary~ book comes Yasashii Piano Solo: Sengoku Basara Best Selection, another collection of sheet music to help pianists play classic themes from the history of the series. This 88-page book will be released on 25th June 2014 priced at ¥2,000 before tax, and it will include a character sticker as a bonus.

Details announced for the next Basara Matsuri event DVD

January's Sengoku Basara 4: Basara Matsuri 2014 ~Shinshun No Utage~ event is finally coming to DVD on 9th July 2014 priced at ¥5,000 before tax. The first batch will only be available to customers who order through the Basara Club shop, e-Capcom or Otomart; other stores won't be shipping their copies until 20th August 2014. The pack will include a colour booklet together with a single DVD in a clear case. Disappointingly, the DVD only includes 110 minutes from the evening show and 90 minutes of extras (clips from the afternoon show and backstage footage). Both shows were very similar but it's a shame that the whole afternoon performance will never be available on disc.

e-Capcom updates with new goods for August 2014

Capcom's official online store e-Capcom has added a bunch of new merchandise and declared that this week will be a 'Date Festival' with special pricing on some Sengoku Basara items. There are also four new sets of fantastic new products on the way to tempt fans who already have everything they need.

The first of these takes the form of four new designs for the Sengoku Basara 4 Badge Collection. They'll be priced at ¥450 each when they're released on 28th August 2014, and it's worth noting that they're extra large badges (hence the higher price). Like before, there's a playful theme. Masamune's is a name badge, Kojuurou and Kingo are labelled 'the vegetable enthusiasts', and Shikanosuke's badge has a cautionary sign advising that deer might appear. My favourite is probably the last one where Sasuke, Keiji and Sakon team up to appear as charming as possible - the text is an embarrassingly cheesy chat-up line.

For the stationery collectors out there, four new Sengoku Basara 4 Clear Files are due for release on 28th August 2014 priced at ¥350 each. This time each file will depict two characters: Kojuurou/Sasuke, Nagamasa/Oichi, Hanbee/Hideyoshi and Keiji/Shikanosuke.

Next up is a pair of gorgeous fully-printed t-shirts in a choice of Ieyasu and Mitsunari designs, each priced at ¥7,500 before tax, to celebrate the finale of the Sengoku Basara 3 Bloody Angel manga. The t-shirts will be released in S, M, L and XL sizes in late August 2014. A postcard replica of Itou Ryuu's illustration titled 'Bloodstained Fallen Angel' will be included as a bonus for fans preordering through e-Capcom.

Saving the best until last, a pair of jerseys themed around Motonari and Motochika has been unveiled. Each will cost ¥9,800 before tax when they are released in late November 2014. They're available in S, M, L and XL sizes and expected to sell out quickly. As a bonus, fans who preorder either jersey from e-Capcom will receive a postcard of both characters illustrated by manga artist Itou Ryuu.

I cannot get over how ridiculous that hood looks on the Motonari design. Amazing!

e-Capcom doesn't ship internationally so it may be necessary to use a proxy buying service for some of these products - in particular, the t-shirts and jerseys have been confirmed to be exclusive to the Akita Shoten and Capcom online stores.

Cover artwork is confirmed for some upcoming books

The cover artwork has been revealed for the first volume of Yoshihara Motoki's official Sengoku Basara 4 manga adaptation:

July's Sengoku Basara 4: Ryuuou-Kamewari-hen ('Dragon King/Urn-Splitter Arc') novel has its final cover artwork up as well.

In addition, fans who purchase the final volume of Sengoku Basara 3 Bloody Angel at Animate will receive a comical illustrated pamphlet to go with their purchase.

The Basara Club online shop adds new members-only merchandise

The Basara Club online shop has updated with some other goodies as well as the event DVD - and most of the new items are exclusive to its members. They've added the old merchandise from the defunct Eiyuu No Kai fan club, some leftover items from the Basara Club fan meeting events earlier this year and the 'second season' of exclusive goods such as a two-piece sticker set (¥1,080), a two-piece mini notepad set (¥864), a smooth hand towel (¥1,296) and four IC card decoration stickers available in Yukimura, Ieyasu, Hanbee and Keiji designs (¥540 each).

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Whew! That was a lot of new merchandise. I'm expecting even more updates about the anime any moment now too, since Tuesday is when all of the June mainstream anime magazines appear in stores.

Magazine review: Sengoku Basara Magazine issue 5

This season's issue of Sengoku Basara Magazine is a dazzling hot pink to celebrate Chousokabe 'Aniki' Motochika. Just like Mitsunari and Masamune in previous issues, he's received a brand new CG illustration for his role as the cover star. The collectible rubber strap shows a different side of Motochika in his cute Mame Sengoku Basara form.

Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 5 was released on 27th May 2014 priced at ¥2,500. It can be purchased from most Japanese bookstores which offer international shipping, such as Amazon Japan, Yesasia, CD Japan and Manga Oh.

The talk CD this issue is Showgeki Basara Talk! Ieyasu & Mitsunari No Maki Vol. 1 starring seiyuu Ookawa Tooru and Seki Tomokazu. I'm not usually interested in the 'Sekigahara duo' but thanks to their funny seiyuu they're hilarious in this kind of informal discussion. The conversations between the two seiyuu have a natural flow, then when they get into character for their 'Basara Challenge' drama Ieyasu always sounds as though he's provoking Mitsunari on purpose simply by being nice to him. The entire 'Basara Challenge' segment is amazing with members of the Toyotomi army cast as the purple, yellow, white and red warriors in a theoretical 'Sentai Hero' team: Sengoku Sentai Basaranger.

Somehow, hearing Ookawa saying the words 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' in the CD's introduction made the upcoming anime adaptation feel closer than ever.

My rambling summary of the rest of the magazine follows!

News roundup: The newest volume of Sengoku Basara Magazine is now on sale

Sengoku Basara Magazine issue 5 goes on sale in Japan

Sengoku Basara Magazine issue five is now out in Japan and the first rumours are spreading online about its content. I'll post a full review once my copy arrives but here's a summary of what I've heard so far, starting with the official information now the magazine's website has updated. First of all, there's a new cover illustration.

A novelisation of Sengoku Basara 4 is coming on 10th July 2014 priced at ¥680 titled Sengoku Basara 4: Ryuuou-Kamewari-hen ('Dragon King/Urn-Splitter Arc'). The plot is said to focus on Date Masamune and Shibata Katsuie and it will be packed with original stories. Takase Mie is handling writing duties and illustrations will be provided by the talented Haibara Yak.

The magazine's sixth issue will be dated 'Summer 2014' and feature Mouri Motonari on the cover, rubber strap and character profile. The main article will cover the Sengoku Basara: Judge End (Sengoku Basara -Judgement-) anime and there will be a photo report from the last stage play. The manga chapters will be Sumeragi's Mame Sengoku Basara 4 (Shucchouban), Yoshihara Motoki's Sengoku Basara 4: Bontenmaru-hen and Tane Jugou's Wan-Nyan Sengoku Basara. Ookawa Tooru (Tokugawa Ieyasu) and Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari) will return for the Showgeki Basara Talk! Ieyasu & Mitsunari No Maki Vol. 2 bonus CD.

A rerelease for Sengoku Basara 4 will be coming in July?

A listing has appeared online at retailer Nojima which appears to announce a rerelease for Sengoku Basara 4. The new 'Sengoku Basara 4 Special Package' will come out on 24th July 2014 for ¥4,849 and include the game, all nine of the DLC costumes and a special video DVD. In addition, the game will have the option to unlock all characters right from the start (this feature is currently available separately as paid DLC).

Since this hasn't yet been formally announced there's no word on which videos the DVD will include. The pack is timed to match the month of the anime's release so Capcom must be hoping to attract some new fans.

More artwork revealed for the new Sengoku Basara Complete Box

Amazon has posted a small picture showing how the items inside the new Japanese Blu-ray box set will look when it's released this July. Very nice!

News roundup: More details about Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 5, and more

It's approaching the end of the month, which means that we're finally getting confirmed information about some of the new Sengoku Basara publications from magazine announcements.

Contents listed for the next issue of Sengoku Basara Magazine

I mentioned the release date for Sengoku Basara Magazine Vol. 5 (Spring 2014) was going to be 27th June 2014 and we now have more details and a placeholder cover image via e-Capcom (which bewilderingly lists its release date as 15th June).

This issue's leading article will be about the upcoming Sengoku Basara: Judge End anime television series. Series producer Kobayashi Hiroyuki (KobaP) and series director Yamamoto Makoto (YamamotoD) will give an interview and there will be comments from the anime's main staff, who will presumably have been announced by that time via the media. The advertising copy promises that it won't be long before we know the full story about the anime (finally!).

To go with Motochika theme on the cover, rubber strap (preview picture found by @yukimurabo) and character profile, there will be an interview with seiyuu Ishino Ryuuzou and stage play actor Yagami Ren with pictures of the pair together.

As previously announced, the bonus CD will feature Ookawa Tooru (Tokugawa Ieyasu) and Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari) and include one of the usual 'Basara Challenge' skits, this time with a 'sentai hero' theme. There will be three manga serialisations: Mame Sengoku Basara 4 (Shucchouban), Sengoku Basara 4: Bontenmaru-hen and Wan-Nyan Sengoku Basara.

There will also be articles about the joke weapons and 'fateful encounter' drama scenes in Sengoku Basara 4. A special interview with popular seiyuu Nakamura Yuuichi (Shima Sakon) will complete the Sengoku Basara 4 coverage.

At the moment the only website that I've seen taking international preorders for the 114-page magazine is Amazon Japan; other bookstores should start listing it very soon.

Sengoku Basara 4 mugs are on the way

The series of mugs which displays various characters' most famous lines of dialogue is now adding four new designs to the collection. Date Masamune, Ishida Mitsunari, Shibata Katsuie and Shima Sakon have all got new mugs on the way in late June 2014 priced at ¥1,200 each.

This series of mugs has always been very popular so I expect we'll see the range expanding in future to include more of the Sengoku Basara 4 cast. I imagine that my own collection will soon be expanding...

The Sengoku Basara ~Soul Revolution~ manga cover is revealed

Satta Naoto's one-shot manga adaptation of the Soul Revolution drama CD now has its cover artwork on display at e-Capcom.

It's scheduled for release at the end of May 2014 on the Dengeki Comics NEXT label.

Artists announced for the Sengoku Basara 4 Dengeki Comic Anthology

We finally have the list of contributors for this poorly-advertised anthology manga, which has had a variety of release dates and is now finally available from some stores.

Capcom's news feed posted a release announcement yesterday with what looks like the full list of contributing artists: Ashika Nozomu, Satsuki Yuu, Ishida Hayanori, Koutake Hiroyoshi, Sanjou Kiiro, Yamada Uiro, Horiguchi Leo, Shimesaba, Akaboshi Tatsumi, Nagao Uka, Tane Jugou, Katou Michiru, Yoshii Aki, Hakyu Shou, Mizusawa Michiru, Suzuka, Mizuno Sao and Ayamura Kirihito.

Most of the contributors have participated in previous Sengoku Basara manga anthologies so it will be great to see them drawing the new Sengoku Basara 4 characters!

Dengeki's event merchandise is now on sale

This is just a reminder that the special merchandise from Dengeki's Game No Dengeki Kanshasai 2014 event back in March is now available from the Dengekiya and e-Capcom websites in limited quantities. It may be necessary to use a deputy service to purchase if you don't have a Japanese shipping address; CD Japan or Otaku Republic should be able to help if you're not sure how to buy and don't mind paying the high fees.

Book review: Sengoku Basara 4: The Complete Guide

The 'review' part of this post will be brief as there's not a great deal to say about an official strategy guide. Sengoku Basara 4: The Complete Guide was published back on 22nd February 2014 by ASCII Media Works under the Dengeki label. It was priced at ¥1,800 and is still readily available from most online stores, including CD Japan, Amazon Japan, Yesasia Global and HMV Japan.

The book is thick at 400 pages and contains exhaustive lists of just about every possible piece of information a person could want to know about Sengoku Basara 4; it's much more detailed than V Jump's earlier Sengoku Basara 4 PS3 Edition: Sengoku Sousei Eiyuutan Dramatic Heroes Guide. If you can only buy one of the two and want a detailed resource to go with the game, I'd recommend this one. My first edition copy also included a Shibata Katsuie bookmark, which was a pleasant surprise! It seems that there are at least three bookmark designs available since commenter VegaManX4 received Sakon instead and I've seen talk of a Masamune design elsewhere. There's probably a Mitsunari bookmark available as well.

Another bonus comes in the form of six Mame Sengoku Basara 4-panel comics strips right at the end of the book. They're very simple gags which parody certain moves and scenes from the game; even though they're drawn more simply than the regular series, they're a welcome addition.

I can't even begin to fully summarise the new information contained in this book - and I wouldn't particularly want to annoy the publishers by trying - but there are some important details which I think that other fans would like to know. I'm going to make a few translated notes which might make it a little easier for people trying to track down all of the game's secrets through the language barrier.

First of all, some general facts.

• Kyougoku Maria's element is officially wind.
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru's is 'all of them'.
• Naoe Kanetsugu's element is 'invincible'... as is his attack power, movement speed, etc. His character profile is taped into the book after the official ones and it looks as though he added it himself.
• As many people have suspected, there are official 'tiers' for how strong each warrior is in a kengeki sword clash. Hideyoshi, Tadakatsu and Yoshiteru are all regarded as 'A' rank and the list extends down to Oichi, Tsuruhime and Kingo who are all considered 'F' rank. The higher tier characters win clashes more easily, deal more damage upon victory and gain significantly more of a boost to their Style Gauge.
• Although all weapons can be made equal in the end, each different weapon type is linked to specific inscriptions and statistics. For example, if you're looking for the 'Six Realms' inscription you should be looking for the blue 'Derivation' battles as much as possible and playing on Basara difficulty. It only ever appears on the characters' sixth weapons in Normal difficulty so it will be exceptionally hard to find it that way.
• The chance of success with the 'Change' inscription is greatly affected by the quality of the inscription you combine it with. Using it on the gold-coloured inscriptions means that you'll get a green-coloured inscription as a reward approximately half of the time (even when the gold-coloured inscription hasn't been upgraded to the 'Extreme' version).

The bulk of the new information is about the game's stages. The stage selection system in Sengoku Basara 4's Sengoku Creation mode has confused a number of people, so I think I'll try to explain how it works using my experience and the data in the book. I'll start with the basics.

• You will always be given a maximum of six stages to play through in Sengoku Creation mode.
• If your character is one of those with alternate routes, you'll be prompted to choose your Drama (blue/white scroll) or Anime route (red/white scroll) after the third battle.
• Unlike most stages in a normal ('Creation') route, the stages for Drama and Anime routes are predetermined.
• If you're looking for a particular stage, don't play one of its boss characters or the stage won't appear (obviously). It's best to play as someone from an enemy faction!
• The Outbreak (red) stages can either appear at random based on the actions of other armies or as a result of you ignoring the random Omen (purple) stages.
• The Omen (purple) battles which appear during your campaign will lead to specific encounters if you ignore them.
• Clearing certain stages can cause specific Derivation (blue) stages to appear afterwards. In some cases, a single stage can lead to a chain of up to three related battles.

With that out of the way, I'm going to present the next set of information in a huge list. We now have confirmation of how to achieve some of the more obscure special challenges on each stage - as well as the conditions for triggering the stages in the first place. It's more obvious in-game if you can understand Japanese since the battle reports announce the developments before each stage appears with a cutscene.

Results of the unofficial international Sengoku Basara fan survey (part 1)

The results are now in! After three weeks the unofficial international Sengoku Basara fan survey managed to gather 302 unique responses, mainly due to the kindness of fans spreading the word on their local discussion forums. While this is a very small sample set compared to the Japanese polls, the responses were all very detailed and full of enthusiasm. Thank you, everyone!

The survey is now closed and I've spent the last few evenings tidying up the results to find out a little more about the international Sengoku Basara community. I've changed all of the spelling to match my preferred romanisation system, but please be assured that every vote was counted irrespective of spelling or language.

Every wonderful comment was read carefully. One person asked whether I could title this post with Masamune's rowdy catchphrase; I'd rather keep the post title consistent to make it easier to find, so I'll compromise like this.

Are you ready, guys?!

An unofficial Sengoku Basara fan survey

Following on from the discussions about the Weekly Famitsu poll results the other day and some friendly hinting from fellow fans, I tried making an English-language survey for international Sengoku Basara fans. It's not perfect, but I think it might still be interesting to pool the results.

Please share your thoughts about the series at this link.

You can share the link anywhere you like. The more fans who participate, the better!

If it manages to get a significant number of responses from unique voters I'll follow up with a summary of the results a few weeks from now.

Update: Wow, there have been lots of responses after just a few hours! Thank you to everyone who has participated so far and given such detailed, interesting answers!

News roundup: Results of the Sengoku Basara 4 survey in Weekly Famitsu magazine

Tomorrow's Weekly Famitsu magazine reports the results of its character ranking survey

Just as promised back in late February, the 27th March 2014 issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine (released 13th March) has published the results of the character ranking survey it ran on its website as part of a feature about Sengoku Basara 4. It was a simple survey with just three questions and the voting was only open for a few days, but it shows some interesting results since it was asking the Weekly Famitsu audience rather than limiting the respondents to buyers of the game.

A total of 'more than 1,200' votes were tallied from a mostly female audience and every participant had to provide reasons for their choices in order to have them counted (a selection of the best were published). In that respect, I suppose it makes sense that it is being treated more like 1,200 fan letters than a small selection of votes - four full pages of the magazine were dedicated to the article. Here are the results.

Q1. Which of the playable characters in Sengoku Basara 4 do you like the most?

1. Ishida Mitsunari (147 votes)
"His earnest, straightforward appearance is cool." (female, early 20s)
"I'm so happy to see him appearing together with Hideyoshi and Hanbee!" (female, late 20s)
"His drama route made me cry." (male, late teens)
"His numerous high-speed moves are thrilling." (female, early 30s)
"His fighting style is pretty cool; playing as him feels exhilarating. And the sexiness of his second costume is nice as well!" (male, early 20s)

2. Date Masamune (121 votes)
"With Sengoku Basara 4, I was moved by how much he had matured since the earlier games." (female, late 20s)
"His six-sword style feels especially exhilarating!" (male, early 20s)
"Whether it's his looks or his voice, everything about him is cool." (male, early 20s)

3. Tokugawa Ieyasu (96 votes)
"Watching him suffer even as he's striving to bring peace to the land makes me want to cheer him on." (female, early 20s)
"His nimble footwork is great." (male, early 30s)
"As an invigorating, sporty type of guy, he has a fresh charm I haven't seen from anyone else." (female, late 20s)
"The tanuki from his Giga Basara technique is cute." (female, early 40s)

4. Sanada Yukimura (94 votes)
"I'm attached to him because I've used him ever since the very first game." (male, late 20s)
"I had a lot of fun seeing the Takeda army acting the way it used to in Sengoku Basara 4" (female, late 20s)
"I love Yukimura so much that I don't even know the reason any more!" (female, early 20s)

5. Gotou Matabee (83 votes)
"It's not just how great he is to control or the sensation of speed from his moves; he stands out and makes an impact!" (male, early 30s)
"In any case, he's unpleasant in a good way!" (female, late 20s)

6. Mouri Motonari (78 votes)
"I like Motonari-sama...both his funny side and his serious side." (female, late teens)

7. Shima Sakon (77 votes)
"It's fun to be able to switch between his kicks and his blades while playing." (female, late 20s)

8. Ootani Yoshitsugu (43 votes)
"I've been brought to tears countless times by the way he always seems to be putting Mitsunari first." (female, late teens)

9. Takenaka Hanbee (41 votes)
"I'm so pleased that he's been revived! His beauty, his strength and even the way it's easy to use him are his charms." (female, early 20s)

10. Azai Nagamasa (40 votes)
"His ultra-flashy actions are like a tokusatsu hero, and somehow refreshing!" (male, early 30s)

The most popular female character was Ii Naotora. She didn't make the top ten but it was noted that she had a lot of support from male fans.

Well, I'm probably not alone in thinking that it would have been difficult to predict this outcome. I feel bad for Masamune and Yukimura yet at the same time, very happy for Ieyasu after his dismal performance back in BSR48. And Matabee - what a dark horse! He's certainly popular online but I wouldn't have expected him to rank so highly in his debut title. He'll probably want to add two more names to his Matabee Enmachou hit list for holding him back from first place.

Q2. Which of the non-playable characters in Sengoku Basara 4 left the greatest impression on you?

1. Ashikaga Yoshiteru (605 votes)
"The feeling that he's an overwhelmingly powerful being. There's no other impression he could give." (male, late 20s)
"He's... strong! And there's the impact of his voice (lol)." (female, late 20s)

2. Kyougoku Maria (273 votes)
"Her interactions with Nagamasa and Oichi were really interesting." (female, early 20s)

3. Kasuga (103 votes)
"Her one-on-one stage was so full of sorrow that it made my heart ache." (female, late 20s)

4. Akechi Mitsuhide (55 votes)
"He was intense in Oda Nobunaga's drama route." (male, early 20s)

5. Takeda Shingen (43 votes)
"It's not Sengoku Basara without Oyakata-sama!" (female, late 20s)

A resounding victory for the shogun. The magazine commented that the newcomers had made a strong impression with Maria's sensual charms apparently captivating many male fans.

I think almost every Kasuga supporter must have said something similar to the woman whose comment they picked (I certainly did). In the end, though, it was probably Shingen's comment which left me feeling most inspired.

Q3. Which military commander would you like to see playable other than those included in Sengoku Basara 4? It can be one of the non-playable characters, a character from an earlier game or a Sengoku-era warrior who hasn't yet appeared in the Sengoku Basara series.

1. Ashikaga Yoshiteru (120 votes)
"I want to use a shaku which can transform into various weapons to beat up the enemies." (male, late teens)
"I want to see Yoshiteru's story." (female, late 30s)

2. Nouhime (116 votes)
"The greatest female warrior in the series. I love her weapons and her moveset as well!" (male, early 20s)

3. Kyougoku Maria (79 votes)
"Her attack animations are interesting! And I'd like to use her as Nagamasa's battle comrade." (male, late teens)

4. Amago Haruhisa (54 votes)
"Now that Shikanosuke has arrived, I want Haru-sama to join the battle too!" (female, early 20s)

5. Itsuki (52 votes)
"She's been taking a break ever since Sengoku Basara 3 but I want to play as an improved Itsuki-chan with Sengoku Basara 4's system." (female, late 20s)

The article commented that there were a lot of voices clamouring for Nouhime's return to the series, and that the battle for fourth place would have been tight if Haruhisa hadn't taken the honours. It sounds as though there were several characters with around 50 votes.

I wish they'd published more of the results for this question in the article even if the number of votes per character might have been quite low. I guess we have to wait for a proper Capcom poll for that.

Cover artwork for Mame Sengoku Basara volume 5 and the next Gakuen Basara

As the release date for Mame Sengoku Basara volume 5 draws closer, a larger version of the cover artwork has appeared. Keiji is as cute as a button.

I believe that this will be the very last compiled volume of classic Mame Sengoku Basara before the transition to the new Mame Sengoku Basara 4 series.

Gakuen Basara volume 7 was originally listed as a 'tentative' title and it's now clear why; it's been renamed to Gakuen Basara: Gakuen Sousei-hen. I'm not sure what the reason is but it could be that the staff are worried that people will think it's an ongoing series and be afraid to pick up new volumes. Giving each book a unique title in future might encourage new readers to try the series out (in case the deer wearing a gakuran cap wasn't enough on its own).

The artists for this volume have been confirmed, too. Nari has drawn the cover as usual with Kyuugou and ENU providing special illustrations. The list of manga artists includes regulars Arai Karo, Sanjou Kiiro, Yanagi Batoshirou, Koutake Hiroyoshi, Mikami, Danbo, Sanorin, Maki and Rokuji along with newcomer Konko Yukime. I'm not familiar with Konko Yukime outside of her doujinshi work so it will be interesting to see her contribution as part of the Gakuen Basara team.

Hopefully Naotora, Yoshiteru and Maria will make it onto the back of the book!

New Sengoku Basara 4 videos are set to debut

It looks as though we can expect five new videos in the next week according to the Coming Soon notices on the official website. They're probably gameplay videos, though we might get some kind of promotional videos for the ongoing social networking campaign that they've been running once they're done (a highlights clip with the most stylish user-submitted gameplay videos would be nice once that contest finishes).

There was also a promotional video showing off Kanbee's Sengoku Creation mode last week which I never mentioned at the time. Poor Kanbee.

Magazine review: Sengoku Basara Magazine issue 4

I don't think it's unfair to call this fourth issue the least interesting volume of Sengoku Basara Magazine so far, primarily because its release comes long after most readers will have picked up their copies of Sengoku Basara 4. There's very little new information left to reveal about the latest game that hasn't also appeared in Weekly Famitsu, Dengeki Playstation and the various books which have been published, and it's apparently still too early for Capcom to share any news about the upcoming stage play or anime adaptation too. I'm hoping that will change next month after the Anime Japan event takes place but there's no way to know for sure.

Anyway, the magazine was released on 27th February 2014 for the usual price of ¥2,400. At the time of this review it is still available for order internationally through Amazon Japan, Yesasia, CD Japan and Manga Oh. All of the previous issues sold out reasonably quickly (the prices for used copies of the first issue are ridiculous) so it's best to place an order swiftly if you plan on adding this to your collection someday.

Ishida Mitsunari is the fourth warrior to feature on the magazine's cover and Mame Sengoku Basara rubber strap. Like Masamune last year, he's received a new CG illustration - I hope that the other cast members (along with Yukimura and Ieyasu who missed out) will receive new artwork in the coming months now the game has been released!

The bonus talk CD is Showgeki Basara Talk! Yukimura & Sasuke No Maki Vol. 2 with seiyuu Hoshi Souichirou and Koyasu Takehito. I had a quick listen as I worked earlier and they were both adorable as they navigated topics about the Sengoku Basara 4 characters; Koyasu muttered that he liked Nouhime at one point and lamented her absence in the latest game. The popular 'Basara Challenge' segment involved Yukimura and Sasuke visiting an amusement arcade and trying out a crane game. Yukimura's tortured howls of disappointment made it very funny.

The first 28 pages of the magazine are devoted to tips and information about Sengoku Basara 4. Every single playable character gets some coverage, though since most of the space is devoted to the various story routes those with just one don't get as much attention as those with several. The gameplay tips don't include anything that hasn't already appeared in previous publications (we have to wait for the Complete Guide book for that). The article analyses each story (with occasional comments from the creators too) and small CG pictures of everyone posing in their alternate outfits provide a taster of the kind of content the Official Complete Works book will be presenting in the next few weeks.

News roundup: A new PS3 Sengoku Basara 4 custom theme and yet more merchandise announcements

There haven't been any leaks (that I've noticed) yet from tomorrow's Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 4, which either means that the publisher has done a great job keeping things a surprise or, as I suspect, there isn't actually going to be much new information after all this time. Mitsunari receiving a brand new CG illustration for the front cover was a pleasant surprise.

I suppose it's possible to analyse the blurb on the cover more with desperation while waiting for my copy to ship: it uses the same wording as before in specifically describing the new anime adaptation as a new 'Sengoku Basara' TV series, so it can't be an adaptation of Gakuen Basara or Mame Sengoku Basara, right? It has to be a new season of the regular anime, right?!

Anyway! Before I drive myself crazy with anticipation, here are the latest wallet-busting headlines from the Sengoku Basara world.

Tomorrow's bonus DLC is going to be a special PS3 custom theme

The Sengoku Basara 4 DLC scheduled to arrive on PSN tomorrow (27th February 2014) is the batch of previously-store-exclusive character costumes we heard about previously along with Muneshige's Jumbo Xavi-kun.

I mentioned before that there was going to be a bonus for fans who purchased all of the available DLC costumes and it was unveiled at a press event held at the Capcom Bar earlier today. As anticipated, it's nothing groundbreaking: a new custom theme for fans to install on their PS3s. However, the sample screenshots look great. If I wasn't already planning to buy all of the outfits anyway, it would be kind of tempting...

There are twelve different pictures included in the theme, one for each month of the year.

While I'm on the subject of DLC, if anyone managed to buy the game without receiving the Date Masamune (hakama/wooden sword version) outfit, please drop me a message over Twitter (or by email if you can figure out my address). I have one spare PSN code available which could save someone ¥300.

A new official video shows off more gameplay combos

I'm sure this will be included in tomorrow's official website update, but in the meantime members of the gaming press have been circulating it themselves. A third dose of exciting gameplay can be enjoyed in the newest demonstration video, Sengoku Basara 4: Deeper Basara Action.

Jacket artwork is revealed for the two upcoming CDs

I reported the release details for these two new CDs just two weeks ago and now we already have the jacket illustrations to enjoy. Manga artist Ashika Nozomu has drawn Masamune, Yukimura, Mitsunari and Ieyasu for the Sengoku Basara Mini Drama Best!! compilation CD.

To go alongside it, Mame Sengoku Basara's Sumeragi has contributed a much less serious-looking picture for the Sengoku Basara Magazine CD: Showgeki Basara Talk! Vol. 2: Yukimura & Sasuke No Maki Special-ban disc. I think it matches the first volume nicely even if the sample image is rather small at the moment.

New merchandise is revealed to celebrate the Game No Dengeki Kanshasai 2014 event

A range of gorgeous new merchandise items has appeared over at the Dengeki Maoh blog, cruelly taunting those who can't make it to the industry event that will be held in mid-March.

Sengoku Basara 4 A4 clear file (¥350).

Sengoku Basara Magazine A4 clear file (¥350).

Sengoku Basara 4 B2 wallscroll (¥3,000).

Sengoku Basara Magazine B2 wallscroll (¥3,000).

Mame hanging scrolls for Masamune and Mitsunari (¥1,500 each).

Mame Sengoku Basara acrylic straps with earphone jacks. Eight different designs (¥600 each).

The goods will also be available for order in April via the Dengekiya online shop. The prices above are for the event and they may change before the items go on sale online.

Capcom launches another campaign promoting vehicle crime prevention in Japan

I took a long time to write this news roundup so the Sengoku Basara fans over at Anime News Network have already posted a proper article about this. It seems silly to duplicate their effort so I'll link to theirs. Now that Masamune has successfully warned the citizens of Osaka to be more careful with their cars, it's Yukimura, Keiji and Kanbee who are trying to spread awareness in the Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo areas. Kanbee has become much more popular since the Gunshi Kanbee drama began, hasn't he?

Edit: VegaManX4 kindly pointed out that the news was also reported on the official Capcom Investor Relations website with a full English article.

As a bonus, here's a picture of one of the Masamune posters from the previous campaign. It was still being displayed when I visited Osaka last month.