Earlier today, Sega hosted their second live streaming event for Project Sakura Wars. During the event, details on the game’s battle system, a new trailer and a pair of cast members were revealed, along with details on the game’s Japanese release. We break the details down below.
Gameplay
Project Sakura Wars will use an action battle system, a departure from the tactical combat found in previous entries in the series. The Spiricle Armors will be capable of jumping, wall-running, and aerial combat among other maneuvers. Players will be able to swap between their units on the fly.
Special moves are triggered during combat. At points in the battle, a button prompt will appear over the enemy’s head. Hitting Triangle at this point will initiate a finishing move.
Trailer
The 81-second promo focuses on the game’s combat, as well as the new characters that were introduced today.
Cast
Two new cast members were confirmed, both of whom are part of the Shanghai Combat Revue:
- Yang Shaolong: Yuuichirou Umehara
- Yui Huang: Sumire Uesaka
The characters for the Shanghai Combat Revue were designed by Yukiko Horiguchi (K-On!, Lucky Star). Visuals for both characters were revealed, which you can check out below.
The Shanghai Combat Revue will pilot Spiricle Armors known as Wanglong.
Character Visuals
A visual featuring Sakura and Seijuro in their combat gear was revealed, which you can check out below.
Character Themes
Each character will have their own theme song, which will be presented in both vocal and instrumental versions. Sakura Amamiya’s will be titled Shojo Nandesu Yo, and will be performed by Ayane Sakura.
Release Information
Project Sakura Wars will hit Japanese retailers on December 12. A standard and Limited Edition are both planned for the project. The Limited Edition will include a soundtrack CD and an artbook. The CD will feature more than sixty songs from the franchise’s history, while the artbook will clock in at contain seventy-two pages of art from the series.
Early adopters will also receive a PS4 theme, though details on this have yet to be announced.
The project will be released worldwide in Spring 2020.
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Clarice: Saori Hayami
- Hatsuho Shinonome: Maaya Uchida
- Seijūrō Kamiyama : Yōhei Azakami
- Sakura Amamiya: Ayane Sakura
- Azami Mochizuki: Hibiku Yamamura
- Anastasia Palma: Ayaka Fukuhara
- Sumire Kanzaki: Michie Tomizawa
- Reiji Shiba: Tomikazu Sugita
- Kaoru Rindou: Yui Ishikawa
- Komachi Ooba: Ryoko Shiraishi
Bleach creator Tite Kubo is providing the original character designs, while Jiro Ishii (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Under the Dog) is in charge of the story structure. Series composer Kohei Tanaka (Sakura Wars franchise, One Piece, Mobile Fighter G Gundam) is scoring the game’s soundtrack. Other staff members include:
- Script: Takaaki Suzuki (Girls und Panzer, Strike Witches)
- Setting and Scenario Summary: Takanobu Terada
- Development Director: Tetsuya Ootsubo
- Producer: Tetsu Kitano
- Character Visual Setting: Masashi Kudou
- Main Mechanical Designer: Mika Akitaka
- Executive Producer: Haruki Satomi
- Original Concept: Ohji Hiroi
Project Sakura Wars will be set twelve years after the events of Sakura Wars 5: So Long, My Love. In this new entry, the Combat Revues, which previously protected nations from evil while working incognito, are well known to all.
Indeed, the Great Combat Reveue World War is more of a global sporting event, in which the Combat Revues from across the globe gather in Japan’s Imperial Capital to compete in a tournament. These disparate groups then compete to determine which country’s kouma-crushing corps reigns supreme. By the time Project Sakura Wars begins, two such events have already taken place, and the nations are gathering in the Imperial capital for the third. What should be a peaceful event, though, suddenly takes a turn for the serious.
Sega’s email communication describes the story as:
The stage is set in a romanticized version of 1940s Imperial Tokyo. 10 years ago, a cataclysm resulted in the devastating loss of the Imperial Combat Revue of Tokyo, the capital’s global defense force operating out of the Imperial Theater. The theater has since fallen on hard times and risks closure. As captain of the new Tokyo revue, it’s up to you to mend the hearts of your troops and restore the Imperial Theater back to its former glory!
Project Sakura Wars was first revealed on April 14, 2018 at Sega Fes, and was originally tentatively slated to launch prior to March 31, 2019. On April 19, 2019, Sega Holdings President and CEO Haruki Satomi confirmed that the project will be “more than a game.”
A western release was not confirmed until March 29, though Japanese Asian releases were confirmed to be in the works.
On March 27, all-female theater troupe OSK Revue announced that they will host a new Sakura Wars musical in Kyoto. The production which will be an operatic adaptation of 2001’s Sakura Wars Kayou Show story The Sea God’s Villa.
Sakura Wars is an original project by Sega CS2 R&D (later Overworks) and Red Entertainment. Ohji Hiroi (Moeyo Ken, Far East of Eden), Satoru Akahori (Saber Marionette J, Martian Successor Nadesico), and Kosuke Fujishima (Ah! My Goddess, You’re Under Arrest!) are listed as the original creators of the franchise.
The first title appeared on the Sega Saturn in 1996. The initial entry, while released only in Japan at the time, was estimated to have a 200,000 lifetime sales goal. The title sold 205,270 units in its opening week, which was roughly 57% of the launch shipment. At the time, the title was seen as having the largest debut for a Sega title to date. It would go on to move 359,485 copies throughout the Saturn’s lifespan.
Since then, the title has gone on to spawn:
- Five main-line titles
- Fifteen spin-off games
- An anime TV series by Madhouse
- Five anime OVA series
- Seven manga and light novel adaptations
- Sixteen high-profile live stage shows
The final main-line title in the series, Sakura Wars V: So Long, My Love was released in North America by NIS America. The title is available on Sony’s PlayStation 2, as well as Nintendo Wii console.
