Sega held the ninth Project Sakura Wars stream on November 20, revealing new info on the game. As usual, the stream featured game producer Tetsu Katano and was MCed by Mami Yamashita. Yohei Azakami, who voices protagonist Seijuro, was there too along with Hibiku Yamamura, who voices Azami. The stream most notably revealed a brand new character, Hakushu Murasame. She’s designed by Persona‘s Shigenori Soejima and voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro. We covered everything about Hakushu in a separate article.
As the stream started, Producer Katano jokingly acted as if he was tired of always starting these streams by repeating past info. When reintroducing the Shangai Combat Troupe characters, Katano joked that its captain Yang Xialong is “Ready Perfectly”, referencing Seiya in Cautious Hero. Both characters are voiced by Yuichiro Umehara.
We covered all the info on Project Sakura Wars so far. You can find everything linked at the end of this article.
First off, we saw a new gameplay video introducing Azami. It’s slightly different than the one they showed in a previous stream:
Next, they also re-announced the first volume of the manga will be out on December 19. A novel adaptation titled Shin Sakura Taisen The Novel ~Sakura no Koro~ will also release on the same day. The novel is written by Ayumu Mugi, a freelance scenarist who writes many things from Vtubers to routes in visual novels. They know the Sakura Taisen series pretty well according to Katano.
We also got an update on the toys. Most notably we saw the interior of the 1/20 Koubu Kai toys releasing in early 2020. They’re designing them in CG for the first time, seeing we couldn’t see the whole cockpits in the past games.
We also got to see one of the TV commercials for Shin Sakura Taisen. They’ll start airing in December. Yohei Azakami was happy one of his voice clips is in the CM:
『#新サクラ大戦』TVCM初公開!
PS4『新サクラ大戦』は12月12日(木)発売!
予約受付中https://t.co/CC5D1yVQlq#サクラ大戦 pic.twitter.com/zxqXqWPJ3k— サクラ大戦公式@SEGA (@Sakura_Taisen) November 20, 2019
Producer Katano also shared new comments on the recently revealed characters. As you already know, Sakura Amamiya uses a sword called Amamiya Kunisada, and this sword belonged to her late mother, Hinata Amamiya.
Katano said it’s Kubo Tite who named the sword. Kubo Tite similarly picked the names and wrote the setting of other weapons and elements in the game.
Following that, we got to see some of the Project Sakura Wars demo releasing on November 21. The gameplay most notably shows the combination attack cutscene with Azami. It’s pretty Sakura Taisen-like:
大型ボスとのバトルムービー公開!
ペア機との絆を深めてボスに勝利しよう!
合体攻撃ムービーも初公開!PS4『新サクラ大戦』は12月12日(木)発売!
予約受付中https://t.co/CC5D1yVQlq#新サクラ大戦 #サクラ大戦 pic.twitter.com/nPJG7Mc4KQ— サクラ大戦公式@SEGA (@Sakura_Taisen) November 20, 2019
After that, we saw even more gameplay, this time showing a battle from the World Combat Troupe Tournament:
Unlike what I previously thought, the gameplay makes it clear here that both teams can only hit the enemies and initially don’t directly fight each other. You can see Yui there multiple times, but her attacks can’t reach you, and vice versa. We’ve detailed these battles in a previous article linked at the end of this one.
It was also revealed that you can replay previous battles in Project Sakura Wars with a simulator. Getting the highest rank in battles will net you bonus bromides. In-game, the simulator was named “Ikusa-chan” by Reiji Shiba, the technician character voiced by Sugita. It’s a dumb pun with how “ikusa” means “war” in Japanese.
Newt up was live gameplay, showing the various functions of the Smartron, the steam-powered smartphones used in the game:
You can use Seijuro’s Smartron at any time by pressing Triangle. Mami Yamashita and Hibiku Yamamura pointed out how the girls have no privacy as Seijuro can trace their own Smartron to always check where they are with the map.
Characters with a green mark mean the story will advance if you go talk to them.
Blue exclamation marks mean side dialogues and events.
Pink heart mark means it’s an event related to their romance route.
You can also rewatch past events and 3DCG anime cutscenes. You can also check the bromides you’ve collected so far. Lastly, you can play Koikoi Taisen, one of the many minigames which appeared in past Sakura Taisen games.
You can pick which character to play against. Yohei Azakami screwed up at first and picked Azami. So they had to reset. What they initially planned was that he’d pick Claris “by mistake” to show how she’s wearing a swimsuit, and then pick Azami. They did this to tease Project Sakura Wars will have DLC costumes. This is the first time they revealed the game will have DLC in general, and they mentioned these DLC swimsuit costumes will be released sometime after the game.
Next was a sequence with Yohei Azakami and Hibiku Yamamura throwing shuriken together. They both completely missed the mark. So they were forced to eat super bitter Manju all while maintaining a poker face for ten seconds. Mami Yamashita tried it too and apparently the manju were actually pretty good, just that had a really bitter aftertaste. It was pretty fun to watch:
After that sequence, we got to see another commercial, which again shows some brand new scenes:
『#新サクラ大戦』TVCM
もうひとつのバージョンも公開!🎥PS4『新サクラ大戦』は12月12日(木)発売!
🌸予約受付中🌸https://t.co/CC5D1yVQlq#サクラ大戦 pic.twitter.com/vix1SjU6bj— サクラ大戦公式 (@Sakura_Taisen) November 20, 2019
It was followed by the goods and collabs corner. Yamashita and Azakami always wear glasses during this segment to shows they won’t screw around, seeing this involves other companies. (This made me think of the stupid workplaces in Japan that prohibit women from wearing glasses among other things). You can watch the corner starting at the timestamp below:
We first got a look at the various goods sold for the game.
We also learned the full version of Shin Geki Teikoku Kagekidan will be released on various digital music stores on November 27. The instrumental version as well.
Then we heard about the Shin Sakura Taisen x Puyo Puyo Quest collab. The collaboration happened not only because they’re both Sega games, but because Producer Katano also worked on Puyo Puyo Quest.
They also revealed Shin Sakura Taisen will be a time-limited addition in Super Robot Wars X-Ω (Cross Omega) in December. This isn’t surprising considering the original Sakura Taisen and tons of much less probable series appeared in Cross Omega already. I’m still waiting for Pretty Rhythm and Sakura Taisen to appear in a console SRW game though. Azakami jokingly pointed out how Shin Sakura Taisen isn’t coming to SRW DD instead, where he’s voicing the main protagonist.
Next up, they detailed the Shin Sakura Taisen x Border Break collaboration that’ll happen in December. Border Break will add the five girls from the Flower Division as playable pilots, and a weapon with a Sakura petals effect. They all have voices recorded for the occasion too. Producer Katano mentioned this was the first collaboration Sega set in stone. It was definitely over a year ago seeing Azakami and Yamamura mentioned they recorded for this collab around the time they recorded for the game itself.
Shin Sakura Taisen will also be getting a collab with Animax Café +. Some super cute SD illustrations of the characters were made for the occasion. More details are on the café’s Twitter.
A collaboration with the Lawson shop in Ginza will also be happening from November 28 to December 23. They’ll sell many exclusive goods there, and decorate the storefront for the occasion. One of the two towels to be sold is pretty funny. It uses a LIPS User Interface as artwork and all four choices say the comedic and Sakura Taisen traditional line “my body is moving on its own!!”.
Lastly, they went over the various shop-specific preorder goods for the game. All of them have been finalized. Note the cool Hatsuho PS4 theme found at Amazon JP. They also unboxed live part of the Sega Shop specific deluxe pack, which includes a portrait of Sumire and a 3D character crystal:
Ending this stream, they announced the next stream will happen on December 11, from 19:00 to 21:00 JST (click here for time conversions). It’ll be held at the Hanayashiki Amusement Park in Asakusa. People part of the Sakura Taisen Ouengumi can participate in a lottery to get to attend the event live.
One interesting thing Katano mentioned as the stream ended is how Azami’s popularity grew a lot the more they revealed about the game and her in particular. It doesn’t mean that the other characters aren’t popular though, needless to say. Katano also added it was really fun chatting with everyone all these streams, how he loves exchanging with the fans, and how he always reads the comments live.
The usual end of stream photo from the official Twitter, with from left to right: MC Mami Yamashita, Yohei Azakami, Hibiku Yamamura, and Producer Tetsu Katano.
PS4 exclusive Project Sakura Wars launches on December 12 in Japan and in Spring 2020 in the west. A demo will be launching on the Japanese PlayStation Store on November 21. We’ve covered every single detail Sega revealed about the game:
- First story details and the first trailer
- Spoilers from the unfinished French trailer
- Comments on the Sakura Taisen series from its original creator Oji Hiroi
- Translation of the Famitsu interview with the staff: Part 1 Part 2
- Comments from the main cast
- Comments from Toshihiro Nagoshi, story and mecha details
- Gameplay intro videos for Sumire, Kaoru, and Komachi
- Comments from Sumire’s seiyuu Michie Tomizawa
- Shangai characters designed by Lucky Star’s Yukiko Horiguchi, new gameplay
- Toshihiro Nagoshi explaining the switch to action RPG battles
- London characters designed by Sword Art Online‘s Abec, new gameplay
- Berlin characters designed by Strike Witches‘ Fumikane Shimada, Yasha’s intro, story, and gameplay trailers
- Anime announcement trailer
- Opening movie and Limited Edition details
- Stage play announcement, OST comments from Kohei Tanaka and more Limited Edition details
- How long it takes to beat the game and more comments from Producer Katano
- Reveal of Itsuki and Hiromi, designed by Haruhi Suzumiya‘s Noizi Ito.
- New gameplay videos, screenshots, and story details
- Demo details and Combination attacks details
- Compilation of all the Character Song Music Videos, more gameplay
- New character introductions, screenshots, explanation of the tournament battles
- Introduction for Hakushu Murasame designed by Shigenori Soejima, new character design videos
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