News roundup: Okamoto Nobuhiko will join KobaP at Jump Festa this weekend

There will be a special guest at one of this weekend's Jump Festa presentations

It's almost time for the promised Sengoku Basara presentations at Jump Festa this weekend!

Capcom posted an update last night to advise that the start time will now be 13:30 - ten minutes earlier than previously stated. The presentations are still scheduled to last just half an hour each.

In addition, there's been a last minute announcement which confirms that seiyuu Okamoto Nobuhiko (Shibata Katsuie) will be joining KobaP on stage for the Sunday show. This is also being reported all over the gaming press and on the Basara Matsuri website so I hope that KobaP has some interesting news to share with us all.

(If his hinted game announcement ends up being the upcoming Tales of Zestiria collaboration we already know about, I will cry.)

A preview image arrives for the final Judge End keychain

I'm not sure why it took VAP so long to add the sample picture to their site this time, but they've finally revealed how the bonus keychain from the first press version of the final DVD/Blu-ray volume of Sengoku Basara Judge End will look.

Gyoubu looks more intimidating (and cute) when he's small, doesn't he?

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Edit (18:00): Speculation time!

I'm not feeling well at the moment so some delirium may be contributing to this post, but what if KobaP really is announcing the next game this weekend? And what if the reason Katsuie's seiyuu is accompanying him on Sunday is because there will be an Oda theme to the game?

What if that means they're going back to their roots as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations, and bringing back Nouhime and Ranmaru (and dare I hope, giving the classic characters who were only partially finished in Sengoku Basara 3 Utage proper upgrades and stories of their own)?

Well, it could easily just be that Okamoto was the only one of the more popular seiyuu who happened to be free that weekend - they used Kojuurou's seiyuu to announce a few things at Kyomaf last year even though he's not all that significant in Sengoku Basara 4. The staff have said before that Sakon is popular all by himself whereas Katsuie needs more support.

Still, I want to believe in my wild theory!

News roundup: Preorder details - and another lottery is coming next year

The Sengoku Basara series will feature in a new Ichiban Kuji prize draw next year

The smaller Ichiban Kuji V: Sengoku Basara Judge End ~The Battle of Sekigahara~ prize lottery isn't even going to begin for another couple of weeks, and already eagle-eyed Japanese fans have spotted something even more interesting scheduled for February next year.

The excitement began when it was discovered that the Kujimap website had posted details for an event titled Ichiban Kuji: Sengoku Basara Part 2. This hasn't been formally announced yet, but these early reveals tend to be accurate and there's already a detailed list of proposed prizes which has been updated over the course of the day.

A rank prize: Date Masamune 'real' figure
B rank prize: Date Masamune 'Kyun-Chara' figure
C rank prize: Ishida Mitsunari 'Kyun-Chara' figure
D rank prize: Shima Sakon 'Kyun-Chara' figure
E rank prize: Shibata Katsuie 'Kyun-Chara' figure
F rank prize: Hand towel (four different designs)
G rank prize: Notelets (four different designs)
H rank prize: 'Stylish' rubber strap (seven different designs)
I rank prize: 'Extreme' rubber strap (seven different designs)
Last One prize: Date Masamune 'real' figure (Last One version)

This could just be me reading too much into the timing and the choice to feature the Sengoku Basara 4 leads again, but the first Ichiban Kuji: Sengoku Basara lottery was held during January 2014 to coincide with the game's big release. This one is planned for late February 2015, and once again it seems game-related. Given that Basara Matsuri is going to be held at the beginning of February, could this be part of a media push to highlight a new game - perhaps the expansion to Sengoku Basara 4 that many of us have been hoping for?

If so, it's possible we'll be hearing the first news about a new game in the next couple of months so that Capcom can build up the hype ready to give the audience a preview at Basara Matsuri.

It's nothing more than my gut feeling but I don't think that the series is popular enough right now to justify another countrywide lottery event without it being part of a bigger plan. With the curtain rising on the Butai Sengoku Basara 4 stage play this weekend, I'm going to be keeping my fingers crossed for new announcements soon.

And in the meantime, I'm going to be worrying about how to get my hands on those Sakon and Katsuie prize figures...

(If you want to know more about Japan's Ichiban Kuji draws, I once posted a short description here which explains how they work.)

Preorders open for the next issue of Sengoku Basara Magazine

The next volume of Sengoku Basara Magazine can now be preordered through Amazon Japan, so we can expect the listing to appear elsewhere very soon. Volume seven of the magazine will be released on 27th November 2014. Amazon currently has it mislabelled as volume six but the dates all match up to the next issue, which is supposed to be featuring Shima Sakon as its cover star.

Even more Mame Sengoku Basara goods will be released next month

According to Japanese fan @yukimurabo, this month's issue of Dengeki Maoh has confirmed that there will be more Mame Sengoku Basara and Sengoku Basara Magazine merchandise coming from Dengeki on 27th November 2014.

On the Mame Sengoku Basara side, there will be wooden straps (¥600) and chirimen crepe mirrors (¥800) featuring a choice of Masamune, Mitsunari, Yukimura, Ieyasu, Keiji, Sakon, Katsuie, Shikanosuke and Matabee illustrations. The new CG illustrations from Sengoku Basara Magazine are going to feature on acrylic pass cases with Masamune, Mitsunari, Motochika and Motonari designs (¥1,200).

More details appear for the next Sengoku Basara Judge End Blu-ray/DVD

The VAP website has updated to confirm more about the specifications of the Sengoku Basara Judge End discs. I'm going to take the opportunity to recap everything we know so far about the individual volumes since the information is spread out over so many different posts.

Sengoku Basara Judge End: I

Release date: 24th September 2014
Catalogue number: VPXY-71336 (Blu-ray) / VPBY-14329 (DVD)
Price: ¥5,800 (Blu-ray) / ¥4,800 (DVD)
Blu-ray specification: Colour, Stereo, Linear PCM 2.0, 16:9 1080p HD
DVD specification: Colour, Stereo, 16:9 LB, Dolby Digital 2.0ch
Run time: 70 minutes (not including extras)
Contents: Sengoku Basara Judge End episodes 1-3, textless opening/ending videos, and an audio commentary with Nakai Kazuya (Date Masamune), Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) and Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki.
First press bonuses: Exclusive Masamune/Kojuurou keychain and episodes 1-3 of Hoshi Souichirou and Seki Tomokazu's 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' Radio show on CD, with a bonus episode featuring seiyuu Nakai Kazuya (Date Masamune).

Sengoku Basara Judge End: II

Release date: 22nd October 2014
Catalogue number: VPXY-71337 (Blu-ray) / VPBY-14330 (DVD)
Price: ¥5,800 (Blu-ray) / ¥4,800 (DVD)
Blu-ray specification: Colour, Stereo, Linear PCM 2.0, 16:9 1080p HD
DVD specification: Colour, Stereo, 16:9 LB, Dolby Digital 2.0ch
Run time: 70 minutes (not including extras)
Contents: Sengoku Basara Judge End episodes 4-6, and an audio commentary with Ishino Ryuuzou (Chousokabe Motochika), Nakahara Shigeru (Mouri Motonari) and animation producer Itou Kouhei.
First press bonuses: Exclusive Yukimura/Sasuke keychain and episodes 4-6 of Hoshi Souichirou and Seki Tomokazu's 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' Radio show on CD, with a bonus episode featuring seiyuu Ookawa Tooru (Tokugawa Ieyasu).

Sengoku Basara Judge End: III

Release date: 26th November 2014
Catalogue number: VPXY-71338 (Blu-ray) / VPBY-14331 (DVD)
Price: ¥5,800 (Blu-ray) / ¥4,800 (DVD)
Blu-ray specification: Colour, Stereo, Linear PCM 2.0, 16:9 1080p HD
DVD specification: Colour, Stereo, 16:9 LB, Dolby Digital 2.0ch
Run time: 70 minutes (not including extras)
Contents: Sengoku Basara Judge End episodes 7-9, and an audio commentary with Morita Masakazu (Maeda Keiji), Hayami Shou (Tenkai) and sound director Iwanami Yoshikazu.
First press bonuses: Exclusive Ieyasu/Tadatsugu keychain and episodes 7-9 of Hoshi Souichirou and Seki Tomokazu's 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' Radio show on CD, with a bonus episode featuring seiyuu Morita Masakazu (Maeda Keiji).

Sengoku Basara Judge End: IV

Release date: 24th December 2014
Catalogue number: VPXY-71339 (Blu-ray) / VPBY-14332 (DVD)
Price: ¥5,800 (Blu-ray) / ¥4,800 (DVD)
Blu-ray specification: Colour, Stereo, Linear PCM 2.0, 16:9 1080p HD
DVD specification: Colour, Stereo, 16:9 LB, Dolby Digital 2.0ch
Run time: 70 minutes (not including extras)
Contents: Sengoku Basara Judge End episodes 10-12, and an audio commentary with Seki Tomokazu (Ishida Mitsunari) and Ookawa Tooru (Tokugawa Ieyasu).
First press bonuses: Exclusive Mitsunari/Yoshitsugu keychain and episodes 10-12 of Hoshi Souichirou and Seki Tomokazu's 'Sengoku Basara: Judge End' Radio show on CD, with a bonus episode featuring seiyuu Nakahara Shigeru (Mouri Motonari).

Every volume will come packed in an illustrated Digipak with a booklet. Whether you loved Judge End or hated it, these discs are a great deal for seiyuu fans.

For those more interested in the visual side, there's also a preview of the exclusive keychain featuring Tokugawa Ieyasu and Sakai Tadatsugu. It will be included with the third volume as a first press bonus item.

Mini-Ieyasu's tiny eyebrows are the best!

News roundup: A little news and a lot of Sengoku Basara: Judge End speculation

Today's roundup is a few very short updates and then a lot of overexcited speculation about the new anime adaptation.

Artwork revealed for the new Sengoku Basara Complete Box packaging

One of the exclusive bonus features of the upcoming Blu-ray box set is a three-sided artbox illustrated by Ookubo Tooru (the anime's character designer). The preview pictures have now been released and it's rather attractive.

This rerelease is also being promoted with limited cinema screenings in Japan for fans who want to watch Sengoku Basara -The Last Party- on the big screen one last time.

Pianists can now learn to play music from Sengoku Basara and other Capcom games

Yasashii Piano Solo: Capcom Game Collection ~30th Anniversary~ is a 72-page book that will be released in Japan on 30th May 2014 for ¥2,000. It's a collection of music from classic Capcom games arranged as gentle piano solo pieces. The tracks that were chosen to represent Sengoku Basara were the series' self-titled theme song and Under Pressure.

Stage actress and singer AKIRA will be performing the new Kuroshitsuji ending song

While this has nothing to do with Sengoku Basara directly, I want to note that the upcoming Kuroshitsuji: Book Of Circus (Black Butler: Book Of Circus) anime is going to have an ending theme performed by AKIRA of DISACODE. Fans of the Butai Sengoku Basara series might recognise AKIRA as the actress behind the beautiful stage play version of Uesugi Kenshin.

She's great in her role as Kenshin; I'm pleased to see her career going so well!

Sengoku Basara: Judge End is now also known as Sengoku Basara -Judgement-

Thanks to NTV's English-language website we now know that Sengoku Basara: Judge End is planned as a 12-episode television series. It also has a new official English title: Sengoku Basara -Judgement-. This slight change will be quite confusing, especially since the abbreviated name used in Japan is still Sengoku Basara JE. I'll try to remember to be consistent about how I refer to the show in future.

I thought it might be fun to speculate about the content of the new anime and clear up some questions people have been asking at the same time. Here's an impromptu one-person Sengoku Basara: Judge End Q&A session...

News roundup: Some minor news and a few Sengoku Basara 4 screenshot translations

This Saturday, there are going to be a staggering four Sengoku Basara events running in Japan at once. I'm not anticipating any news from the stage play, manga signing or college demonstration, but producer Kobayashi Hiroyuki will be presenting a brand new video again at a branch of Yodobashi Camera in Hakata, Fukuoka and there is bound to be some news to report on after that. Because of this I thought I could hold out until Saturday before writing another news roundup post, however it turns out that I was wrong; there's more to report about than expected!

Basara Magazine Vol. 3 is formally announced for release on 27th November 2013

They really took their time with the official website update to announce the details of this issue. Until this week, all that was there was a simple PDF file and I had to scavenge my information from shop listings.

Anyway, the update means we have the first picture from the new one-shot manga, Wan-Nyan Sengoku Basara, which reimagines the series with the characters as cats and dogs. It sounds interesting.

New manga Sengoku Basara Comic Anthology 'Setouchi Chronicle' now has a firm release date

The magazine's website also confirmed that 21st December 2013 will be the release date for the delayed Sengoku Basara Comic Anthology 'Setouchi Chronicle' manga compilation. The details are as previously reported and while we don't have final cover artwork yet, there's at least a little preview picture to make it feel more as though the book might one day exist.

Perhaps they're planning on unveiling the full details along with Motonari in next week's magazine?

Basara Club prepares for its December launch with a survey

The new Basara Club fan club will be commencing activities at the start of December, and as a warm up they've asked members to start submitting messages and fan art for the first issue of the official newsletter ahead of its January 2014 release date. For those of us with less imagination and talent, there's also a fun survey - hopefully the first of many - which asks fans to vote for their favourite of the following:

• Date Masamune's famous lines.
• Weapons you want to use.
• Costumes you want to wear.
• Names of moves which you can't help shouting out.

It's not multiple choice so there will probably be some really weird suggestions, though they're trying to keep things sensible by asking people to name the character the weapon/costume/move belongs to and justify each answer. I haven't decided how I will vote yet...

Translations of some more Sengoku Basara 4 content: Menus

Since I had some free time (my Crunchyroll subscription temporarily expired this week...please don't tell me what happened in today's Kakumeiki Valvrave!) I decided to quickly prepare some visuals to attempt to demystify some of the new material we saw in the newest trailer and screenshots. I'm not very good at this kind of thing so please forgive the amateurish presentation.

Firstly, Sengoku Creation Mode's main 'march screen', with annotations. You can click the picture to make it larger.

I've noted that there's a sale running in the Basara-ya shop (indicated by the red ticket over its name). If there's a 'special deal' instead of a sale, the shop icon will look like this:

The shop has various sections you can browse, so this is what the next menu apparently looks like.

Finally, the shop itself. I merged two different pictures together to show how the sale items and special deals appear.

Unsure whether these annotations will actually help anyone... but you never know! The weapon inscription screen will have to wait for another day.

Translations of some more Sengoku Basara 4 content: Stages

Next, here's a list of every confirmed stage in Sengoku Basara 4 so far to the best of my knowledge. To qualify for the list, I must have visually confirmed the name in a screenshot or video. Even though it's obvious who the bosses will be on some of the levels where that data is missing, I only want to include information which is 100% confirmed.

Please note that the punctuation is sometimes inconsistent between screenshots in Japanese so I just picked one version. Some of the names sound more like story encounters than battles...

Stage	Japanese Name	Type(s)	Enemy Commander
Abrasion: The Beauty of Insufficiency	研磨　不足の美	Outbreak	-
Azuchi-Shiten Gathering	安土四天結集	Outbreak	-
Battle of Sekigahara: Eastern Sun	関ヶ原の戦い　東陽	Outbreak	Tokugawa Ieyasu
Bizen: Ujou (Okayama Castle)	備前・烏城	Normal	Kobayakawa Hideaki
Echizen: Kitanoshou Castle	越前・北ノ庄城	Normal	Shima Sakon, Shibata Katsuie
Fate: One-Eyed Dragon	宿命　独眼竜	Outbreak	-
Incident at Honnouji	本能寺の変	Normal/Outbreak	Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide
Investigation: Shikanosuke	探索　鹿之介	One-on-one	Yamanaka Shikanosuke
Izumo: Shiraga Castle	出雲・白鹿城	Normal	Yamanaka Shikanosuke
Kaga: Maeda Kabuki-Matsuri	加賀・前田花吹祭	Outbreak	-
Kai: Tsutsujigasaki Yakata	甲斐・躑躅ヶ崎館	Normal	Takeda Shingen
Kawanakajima: Hachimanpara	川中島・八幡原	-	-
Mikawa: Komaki-Nagakute	三河・小牧長久手	Normal	Tokugawa Ieyasu
Oda: Azuchi Castle	織田・安土城	Normal	Oda Nobunaga
Osaka: Toyotomi Hajou	大阪・豊臣覇城	Normal	Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Oushuu: Aoba Castle	奥州・青葉城	Normal	Date Masamune
Pirate Fortress: Hyakki Fugaku	海賊要塞・百鬼富嶽	Normal	Chousokabe Motochika
Remains of Ounin: Souden	応仁の跡　走伝	Outbreak	Ashikaga Yoshiteru
Revenge: The Sword of the God of War	復習　軍神の剣	Outbreak	-
Shizugatake: The Oda Vanguard Advances	賤ヶ岳・織田尖兵進行	Outbreak	-
Takeda Otoko Dojo	武田漢道場	Outbreak	-
Tango: Sengenji	丹後・泉源寺	Normal/Derivation	Kyougoku Maria
Tootoumi: Iinoya Castle	遠江・井伊谷城	Normal/Omen/Derivation	Ii Naotora
Toyotomi Reminiscence Struggle	豊臣回顧闘争	Outbreak	Toyotomi Hideyoshi

If you're wondering about the 'Type' column, stage types are a new mechanic introduced in this title. I'm not sure whether all stages are available in all five variations, so I thought it would be interesting to make a note of this information too.

Normal stages are the same as usual; fulfil the objectives and win the battle. I think most of the battles you'll fight in the first round of Sengoku Creation Mode will be like this. The newest video shows the rewards for a normal battle as the standard mix of weapons, money and enhancement materials.

Outbreaks have red backgrounds behind their names and suddenly appear depending on the actions taken by the armies in the game. They seem to be just like the special stages which traditionally appear mid-game depending on your performance. The rewards shown in the video looked similar to the normal ones only with some nicer enhancements on the weapons.

Omen battles appear on the map just like Outbreaks, except they have an ominous purple background. Going by the newest video, they reward the player with books and experience points.

If you ignore an Omen battle, it might turn into a Derivation. These have a blue background, and a mixture of rewards.

The fifth and final type of encounter is a One-on-one match; a quick boss fight which is touted as being a good source of weapons. The single screenshot of one of these shows that every single reward tier offers weapons, even the lowest rank.

I'm a little confused about the colour scheme for Omen stages and One-on-one fights, because Investigation: Shikanosuke was specifically used as an example of the latter in several articles yet it seems to have a blue label. The picture shows Shikanosuke fooling around instead of a stage background. Is that the main difference between them?

Anyway, that's the end of today's speculation! I may have misunderstood how this 'stage type' system works and the colours might mean something else (if so, let's blame Weekly Famitsu magazine for the original article rather than my incompetence).

Speculation: The second Sengoku Basara 4 character gameplay movie. Let's take a look!

This morning, Capcom released the second character gameplay video for Sengoku Basara 4. Their timing wasn't great for me as I had to work, so I'm going to make up for lost time and try to pick the video apart this evening instead!

The trailer includes all of the characters mentioned on Saturday as well as two who were missed in the list.


Here is a list of things I've noticed. I've linked to forum posts where other people beat me to it!

Ieyasu (with Tadakatsu)
Stage: Yoshiteru's, based on the enemy flags. The stage seems to have at least three sub-bosses. It doesn't look anything like Yoshiteru's casino stage which was shown in Weekly Famitsu a while ago, though this one has turned up before in Katsuie's gameplay introduction in the first character gameplay video (English subtitled version) a while back.

Tadakatsu (with Ieyasu)
Stage: Oda army, but with Mitsuhide's forces. The stage has some kind of gauge with flags. It was also seen in the Masamune segment of the previous video.

Kojuurou (with Masamune)
Stage: Takeda army. There's a large clearing in the north, a padlock and a strange semicircle of clear orbs at the top of the screen (a weather gauge?). One boss can be seen.
Update 12/11/2013: It has been suggested by Balder and Mewshuji that this might be a glimpse of a Kawanakajima stage. I wish it was possible to see the full map in the video!

Sasuke (with Yukimura)
Stage: Shikanosuke's Amago army. The stage has some targets marked with pink crests and some of the bases have different icons - I believe that this indicates that they've been upgraded to two-tier or three-tier camps. The same stage was shown before in Mitsunari's gameplay introduction.

Magoichi (with Tsuruhime)
Stage: This looks like the Honnouji stage with Nobunaga's forces fighting Mitsuhide's. One of the Oda army's soldiers mentions Nouhime-sama by name in a line of dialogue (via BlackKite).

Tsuruhime (with Magoichi)
Stage: Motochika's based on the flags and enemy names.

Kanbee (with Yoshitsugu)
Stage: Presumably Kingo's based on the flags, though it looks amazing.

Hideaki (with Tenkai)
Stage: The gauge at the top of the screen has the Ishida crest behind it. I think the red text might say 'Western Army', which strongly indicates that this is a Sekigahara stage.

Tenkai (with Hideaki)
Stage: I have no idea...there seem to be two large structures on the map. Are they vehicles?

Nobunaga (with Oichi)
Stage: A Toyotomi castle. Possibly the encounter they're calling Osaka: Toyotomi Hajou?

Oichi (with Nagamasa)
Stage: This looks like the same stage as the previous one except now both the Date and Takeda forces are present instead of the Toyotomi.

Shikanosuke and Oyassan (with Naotora)
Stage: The Shimazu forces can be seen. The map is missing, the climate looks warm and there's just one boss so this looks like a classic Yoshihiro encounter. After the first gate is open, some kind of fleeing objective opens up. This stage has been shown a few times before.
Notes: Oyassan's dialogue is really cute, and you can take control of him! Also, Shikanosuke's kill counter is actually recording how many people he has 'investigated' in his search (via Intrepid Wanderer).

Nagamasa (with Oichi)
Stage: Are there four different enemy bosses, all from different armies? Nobunaga is there and one of the messages refers to penetrating the first Azuchi Demon Gate so I'm going to make a guess that this is the Azuchi-Shiten Gathering encounter. Hideyoshi's forces can also be seen. I wonder if this is going to be a Yoshiteru/Nobunaga/Hideyoshi/Ieyasu stage to go with the split-screen picture of the four together which keeps appearing in magazine articles?
Notes: We can see Nagamasa charging up his 'Power of Justice' right at the start.

Matabee (with Tsuruhime)
Stage: Masamune's - the same one they showed with Yukimura in the previous character gameplay video.
Notes: Like Shikanosuke (and a few older characters), Matabee has a special kill counter. His records how many people he has 'executed'. I really like Matabee.

--

Since there are only four playable characters unaccounted for with this huge gameplay trailer (Keiji, Motochika, Hideyoshi and Hanbee, if I'm not mistaken), I'm guessing it will be a while before we get the third in the series. It's certainly not likely to feature at this weekend's handshake event.

Instead, my guess is that we'll see a followup to the first general gameplay 'handbook' video (English subtitled version). That one was described as being a simple introduction to the game system, so perhaps next week we'll see some of the more advanced techniques?

News roundup: Sengoku Basara 4 updates and stage speculation

I thought that I could squeeze today's news updates into the end of yesterday's big Weekly Famitsu translation post, but it turned out that there were too many and the post became too long. Here we go!

Official Sengoku Basara 4 website updates to show the Kyougoku-Azai army

The official Sengoku Basara 4 website has now been updated so I've added pictures to my original article. The front page has changed to show the game's cover artwork and there's a new (very short) teaser trailer. The Kyougoku-Azai army character profiles will be available on 14th November.

The trailer isn't the only sign that the marketing for the game has begun in earnest. Twitter user @foi1059 posted a snapshot of a gorgeous two-page advertisement for Sengoku Basara 4.

Gaming websites such as Famitsu, 4Gamer, Dengeki Online and Gamer have now started to cover the new reveals with higher resolution pictures.

Character profiles from the Sengoku Basara 4 limited edition are previewed

A news posting today gave us a glimpse of Shibata Katsuie's profile from one of the Sengoku Basara 4 Hyakka Ryouran Tamatebako special edition books. It looks pretty interesting, listing the characters' main defining features ('a frustrated man', in Katsuie's case) and a bunch of personality/design notes, including a reference to the Gelgoog's beam naginata in Mobile Suit Gundam. They're keeping a few things hidden in the preview version of the profile, but part of it reads as follows...

"...and separated from his beloved Oichi so she could enter into a political marriage to Azai Nagamasa. Katsuie wasn't able to tell her how he felt. In the midst of his despair, he wonders what he's living for."

The news report also notes that the CLAMP illustrations will include pictures of Yukimura/Sasuke, Naotora/Oichi, Yoshiteru and also one other, which they're keeping secret for now. This is in addition to CLAMP drawing Masamune, Mitsunari, Sakon and Katsuie for the book as previously reported.

More details surface about Sengoku Basara Magazine issue three

The e-Capcom listing for Sengoku Basara Magazine vol. 3 is now available, shedding light on more of the content. Sengoku Basara 4 producer Kobayashi Hiroyuki and director Yamamoto Makoto will give a 'pre-release interview' about the game. Cover star Tokugawa Ieyasu is going to receive tribute illustrations from artists Toh Azuma and Ayamura Kirihito. Last but not least, the Showgeki Basara Talk! bonus CD will be presented by Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) and Koyasu Takehito (Sarutobi Sasuke) as we knew, and it's been confirmed that their 'Basara Challenge' task will be a game of hide-and-seek. I suspect that Sasuke will be better at this than Yukimura...

The other details are as reported in my earlier post. Amazon Japan is now listing the magazine for purchase, too.

On the subject of Ieyasu, the official Sengoku Basara twitter account had some fun this morning pointing out the button detail on his Gakuen Basara DLC costume.

More listings appear for as-yet unannounced merchandise

Shuueisha's Sengoku Basara 4 strategy guide has been spotted at Manga-Oh, for release on the same day as the game itself on 23rd January 2013. The sold-out Sengoku Basara Magazine CD: Showgeki Basara Talk! Vol. 1: Masamune & Kojuurou No Maki Special-ban disc is also getting a second press this winter for those who missed it the first time around.

TV Asahi posts an introduction to the world of the Sengoku Basara stage plays

A short introduction to the Butai Sengoku Basara stage plays has been placed on YouTube courtesy of TV Asahi after its original broadcast last weekend. It's been created to promote the current stage play, Butai Sengoku Basara 3 Utage Two. Official videos covering the series are rare so I thought it was worth a mention!


Speculation time

There are a few stray pieces of information from previous reports and yesterday's Weekly Famitsu article which I want to draw particular attention to as we draw closer to the final character reveals.

We're up to 30 characters revealed now out of the 40 promised. We've seen characters such as Kasuga, Yoshitsugu and Hisahide appearing in promotional videos already, and there have been sightings of the Shimazu and Uesugi armies' flags in the past. But those aren't the only clues, and today I want to talk about stages.

We've previously been shown pictures of the march screen with points marked on the in-game map where we'd expect to see Hetsugigawa (Sourin/Muneshige), Hasedou Castle (Yoshiaki) and Itsukushima (Motonari). The latter is supported by this glimpse of Itsukushima's world famous torii which Japanese fan @hananohiyoko125 spotted in today's magazine.

While it's not certain which characters will be assigned to which locations in Sengoku Basara 4 - the status of all four of these characters is still unknown - at the very least there are strong hints that we'll see them appear in the game.

In addition to this, this week's magazine mentioned some interesting 'outbreak' encounters. The battle which immediately stood out to me was called "Revenge: the sword of the God of War". The God of War is obviously Kenshin, and his 'sword' might refer to his 'beautiful blade', Kasuga. If it's a revenge encounter, could something have happened to Kenshin in the storyline? Is it a hint he'll be a non-playable character again this time, or could this be a flashback?

I guess we'll have to wait before finding the answers to these questions. I'm expecting (at least) two more characters to be announced in next fortnight's Weekly Famitsu to get us up to the total promised for this month's issue of Sengoku Basara Magazine, unless they're saving the last two for a sudden reveal in the magazine itself. It's hard to believe that we're just over two months away from the game's release!

Speculation: Who is the mysterious woman in the newest Sengoku Basara 4 trailer?

I think it's time I rounded up all of the main guesses about the identity of the mysterious new character in case we get the answer this week. Here's a quick summary of what we know about her for sure:

• She's only appeared once so far, in the newest promotional video.
• The press describe her as the 'final new character' in the game.
• Dengeki explicitly referred to her as a 'non-playable character' in their report.

So who is she? Here are the names which seem to keep coming up on English and Japanese discussion forums.

Izumo No Okuni 出雲阿国

• Okuni was known for her dancing, and the mysterious newcomer is shown gesturing elegantly and spinning as though dancing in mid-air.
• If she fights with her ribbons there is potential to have her entire move set use theatrical dance movements and flourishes, which would suit the person credited as the famous performer who brought the world kabuki.
• Okuni is an interesting historical figure who would fit into the Sengoku Basara world quite well.

Mochizuki Chiyome 望月千代女

• A legendary female ninja with ties to the Takeda clan.
• The emblem on the woman's chest looks very similar to the Takeda crest. I think it's possible that it's actually a stylised flower, like the four-petal designs on her skirt and in her hair. But a red diamond crest is such a familiar sight to fans of the series that it immediately stood out.

• Personally, I'm not convinced by this theory (even though it would be interesting to have more female ninja). The evidence is quite weak and relies entirely on the diamond crests on her clothing tying her to the Takeda clan, but the creators already have trouble juggling three popular Takeda characters. Her design also looks too fancy and exotic to fit the image of a legendary kunoichi.

Himiko 卑弥呼

• Himiko's name has already been linked to Sengoku Basara 4. Tsuruhime is said to be acting on instructions from a mysterious voice which calls itself 'Himiko'.
• As an ancient (time-travelling) queen, she would be 'above' the other warriors like Yoshiteru, which would fit in nicely with her role as a non-playable surprise character.
• As a monarch, she would probably have a strong opinion on the 'Sengoku Creation' storyline and determining the true ruler of the country.
• The traditional floral imagery and feathers in the new character's design might indicate she has roots in an earlier culture. She has an exotic look which many people are associating with a fantasy character rather than a Sengoku-era commander.
• In the video the woman is spinning through space, which is generally not something normal people do. On the other hand, this is Sengoku Basara and it's probably a clip from the opening movie...
• However, a number of fans are upset at the idea that a character from hundreds of years before the period even began would take up a character slot in a Sengoku-era game.

Grown-up Itsuki いつき

• The new character's hair is very similar in colour to Itsuki's. Her hairstyle is more mature but still incorporates a pair of braids, too.

• A lot of people want Itsuki to return.
• She's involved in the storyline of the current stage play, so a tie-in would make sense.
• Itsuki's seiyuu has sadly passed away, so giving her a redesign would avoid any inconsistencies if her voice is a little different.
• This can also be combined with the Himiko idea. It's plausible that Itsuki could be channeling Himiko given her supernatural storyline elements, and this would be a very neat solution to the problem of reintroducing her and giving her a link to Tsuruhime.

Kyougoku Maria 京極マリア

I wasn't convinced by this guess at first, but Japanese fans have been digging up clues and they've built up quite a few good arguments.

• Maria was the real-life sister of Azai Nagamasa. Since they still haven't formally announced Oichi or explained Nagamasa's brief presence in the promotional videos, they could be holding back to reveal an interesting storyline for them all.
• Although Maria isn't well known in the English-speaking community, she was the wife of Kyougoku Takayoshi and mother to Kyougoku Takatsugu, so there's plenty of room for the Kyougoku house to have ties to major conflicts in the series' storyline. Maria may have been chosen over her famous male relatives in order to increase the number of females in the roster.
• Maria had ties to Tango Province. There's a spot marked on the map in a screenshot which has been published several times, right in the middle of the Tango area. I was struggling to work out which battle or castle it might relate to back at the time - maybe it's her stage?

• We haven't yet heard anything about the Xavists, even though Sourin and Muneshige are expected to appear in the game. The real-life Maria was known for converting to Christianity, so her storyline would probably be deeply connected to the Xavists.
• Her exotic looks might be inspired by her ties to Christianity, too.

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Finally, there's the matter of the mystery flag seen behind Oichi in the same video.

It's a distinctively lurid green/yellow colour, just like the clothing worn by our mysterious woman. The crest (which I've singled out in the corner) is a yotsumeyui design. This was used by a number of families, significantly including both the Amago and the Kyougoku.

We know that Yamanaka Shikanosuke is tied to the Amago family. However, his livery colours are blue/orange, not green/yellow, and he seems to be using the alternate hanawachigai crest instead of the yotsumeyui. In Sengoku Basara 3, Amago Haruhisa wore the yotsumeyui on his headpiece but used a pink/grey hanawachigai on his banners too.

Given all of this evidence, I think it's safe to say that the flag behind Oichi is not associated with the Amago family in Sengoku Basara 4. Yet our mysterious lady's belt design seems to incorporate the same shape as the crest on the flag.

If it really does belong to our mystery lady, the chance of her being Kyougoku Maria increases greatly. Then there's the fact that it's shown behind Oichi, who has ties to the Azai family Maria was born into. I'm becoming convinced.

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There are plenty of other suggestions, ranging from one of the male characters in drag to Matsuhime, Tachibana Ginchiyo, Nene or Hosokawa Gracia (who also has ties to the Tango area). Someone even wondered whether she was Shikanosuke's deer in human form!

I think that a visitor from the past, a spouse or a sibling is more likely than the new girl being one of the existing characters' children; Capcom has apparently tried to avoid true parent-child relationships in the series so far. While we wait for some kind of official confirmation the discussion has been continuing over at Koei Warriors!

News roundup: Setouchi Chronicle manga on the way, Mame Sengoku Basara figures and more merchandise

This has been a relatively quiet week for news if you're an overseas Sengoku Basara fan, at least until tomorrow when the official website will update and open up the character profiles for Hideaki, Tenkai, Keiji, Toshiie and Matsu.

It's another story in Japan, of course. Many fans spent last weekend attending the Oni Kojuurou festival in Shiroishi along with game producer KobaP and Kojuurou's seiyuu Morikawa Toshiyuki, while this weekend Motochika's seiyuu Ishino Ryuuzou will be attending the Machi Asobi event in Tokushima with the Sengoku Basara 4 team.

I'll quickly run through the latest news stories now.

Dengeki Playstation volume 552 contains surprisingly little Sengoku Basara 4 coverage

Weekly Famitsu broke the news of the latest character announcements last week, and now it's Dengeki Playstation's turn to profile the newcomers and add commentary about Sengoku Basara 4...except the usual comments from director Yamamoto Makoto are missing and the game was only given a single page of coverage. Worst still, it was all recycled and only a couple of tiny pictures seemed to be new. They'll be on the official website in a few hours anyway, making it a pretty disappointing issue of the magazine.

On the bright side, Sengoku Basara 4 has reentered the Most Wanted chart in 15th place. Let's hope it can climb higher! It's reportedly moved up to 12th place in the ranking of upcoming titles in Weekly Famitsu.

Sengoku Basara Comic Anthology 'Setouchi Chronicle' revealed

A few new manga solictations have quietly appeared in shop listings over the last couple of days, including volume 6 of Itou Ryuu's Sengoku Basara 3 Bloody Angel manga due for release on 8th November 2013.

That's not all though; there hasn't been any formal announcement yet but fans of Motonari and Motochika will be thrilled to learn that the third anthology manga to be themed around specific characters is on the way, and it's going to be based around the Setouchi area!

Sengoku Basara Comic Anthology 'Setouchi Chronicle' is scheduled for release on 27th November 2013 under the Dengeki Comics EX line, priced at ¥893. I wonder what the cover will look like if it's going to feature more than one army?

The chances of Motonari and Motochika being in one of the next few character announcements just increased further.

Release information for the Mame Sengoku Basara trading figure set

I'd been waiting for this. The colour samples for the new Mame Sengoku Basara trading figures were shown off properly this week, although the matte finish makes me think they're still CG rather than photographs of actual figures. The release date will be 23rd January, just like the new game, and the cost of a box of nine randomly-packed figures will be ¥5,850 (¥6,143 with tax). They're available through all major importers such as Yesasia and AmiAmi.

The characters available are Masamune, Kojuurou, Mitsunari, Ieyasu, Yukimura, Sasuke, Motonari and Motochika with one hidden character. I personally think Keiji will take that spot as he features quite prominently in the spin-off and (in my opinion...) his Mame Sengoku Basara design is the cutest of all.

The rush of new Sengoku Basara 4 merchandise continues!

Capcom is sparing no effort to promote Sengoku Basara 4 with another batch of merchandise revealed on the CafeReo website. The new items are due for release in late November 2013. I'll quickly run through the descriptions.

Firstly, you can now keep your glasses safe with a Sengoku Basara 4 spectacles case and cleaning cloth, available with a choice of Masamune, Yukimura, Mitsunari and Kojuurou designs at ¥1,800 per set.

People who don't wear glasses will have to make do with Sengoku Basara 4 pen cases for ¥800 each. This time, the designs available are Masamune, Mitsunari, Katsuie and Sakon.

A choice of three ¥2,500 cushion covers with designs based on Masamune/Kojuurou, Yukimura/Sasuke and Mitsunari/Sakon is next. Cushions must be purchased separately.

Memo pads costing ¥600 each might be a more affordable option for fans of Mitsunari, Masamune and Yukimura.

Lastly, there's a range of purses for ¥1,800 each decorated with Masamune, Mitsunari, Yukimura and Kojuurou imagery. Each also includes a charm which resembles an old-fashioned Japanese coin. Please note that I mean 'purses' in the English sense, as in a pouch to hold coins - they aren't full-size handbags! The purses will be released a little later than the other items in mid-December 2013.

Recall announced for the Sengoku Basara 4 official calendar

The Sengoku Basara 4 calendar was recently shipped out to customers and a few fans were shocked to discover that Kojuurou's page (July) has a flaw in the form of a black smudge. The full details are buried within the apology posted by the manufacturer.

One of the advantages of buying Japanese products is that companies will generally own up to their mistakes and treat their customers well. If you purchased the calendar as an import, I'd recommend contacting your retailer swiftly to ask them whether they can assist with fixing the faulty page.

Elemental powers for the new Sengoku Basara 4 characters are still uncertain

I've seen quite a few sources claim to know decisively which element the new Sengoku Basara 4 characters are, and I want to bring the topic up here because I don't think it's as clear cut as people are saying. For example, the English-language Sengoku Basara Wiki refers to Shikanosuke, Katsuie and Sakon as having wind elemental powers, with Naotora as fire and Matabee as lightning.

The Japanese demo build, which journalists were able to play at last month's Tokyo Game Show, seems to be the main source of clues about elements. The photographs in this report make it appear as though Naotora is indeed fire, with both Sakon and Katsuie light. Or possibly wind; the icon is new, after all, but it would be strange for there to be three different yellow-coloured elemental graphics.

However, if you look carefully during the TGS Digest footage released by Sony, Sakon is shown with a completely different elemental symbol during the shot of the character select screen. Before it switches to him, the same element is clearly visible in Masamune's profile.

Masamune is very unlikely to have lost his signature lightning theme so this implies that Sakon might be lightning as well. Alternatively - and I feel that this is a more likely explanation - it means the elements for the new characters hadn't yet been decided at the time Capcom put their demo footage together.

Please tread carefully before assuming any of the new characters have had their official elements confirmed yet. If the official sources contradict one another it's impossible for anyone to know which to trust!

Australian television show Good Game covers Sengoku Basara 4 at TGS

Thanks to the delightful @starshapevx on Twitter, I was alerted to a video from an Australian television show Good Game which briefly covers Sengoku Basara 4 during a tour of TGS 2013. I hadn't ever heard of Good Game before but the hosts seemed respectful and they even managed to get a translated introduction to the game straight from director Yamamoto Makoto, helpfully asking him questions and demonstrating that English-speakers can be interested in Sengoku Basara 4 too. The important part starts at the 5:49 mark in the video.