Amazon Japan has now updated with the full new cover too so I've changed to the gigantic version of the picture.
A lot of people are saying that Yukimura looks younger than he did in Sengoku Basara 3. Masamune looked young on the cover of the first issue too yet his Sengoku Basara 4 illustration ended up keeping his appearance from the previous game, so this might just be a deliberate stylistic choice for the sake of the magazine. It will be nice to see a Yukimura full of his original hot-blooded energy in Sengoku Basara 4, though, so I'm going to hope it's a clue!
I'll write a full review of the magazine when my copy (hopefully) arrives later in the week.
Edit 27/08/2013: Japanese fans have started receiving their copies and posting information, so I'll list what I've seen here. Please consider these completely unsubstantiated rumours at the moment even though the source is usually reliable.
- The next issue will have Tokugawa Ieyasu on the cover and as the main feature. There will also be a cute Ieyasu rubber strap.
- The next bonus CD will be presented by Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura) and Koyasu Takehito (Sarutobi Sasuke). It's marked as 'volume 1' so it will probably run for two issues like the Date-themed CDs.
- Yukimura is said to address Sasuke in a quote from Sengoku Basara 4 (so he'll be included in the story somewhere). Oyakata-sama will also appear in the story, but neither of them has been confirmed as playable.
- Yukimura is still in the Takeda forces and trying to bring the turbulent era to an end.
- In a quote he corrects himself, addressing Shingen as Oyakata-sama then as Takeda Shingen and declaring that he'll throw down a challenge to him. Without knowing the context it's hard to be sure what this line relates to.
- His qualities of hot-bloodedness and purity have supposedly been given a boost. This Yukimura will be a straightforward, hot-blooded guy, as he was in the original game.
- Yukimura's Sengoku Basara 4 story will have links to Mitsunari and Sakon. The magazine includes a picture of him facing off against Sakon and another where he's confronting Mitsunari.
- Masamune will appear in Yukimura's story too. One person said he is going to try to put a stop to Masamune becoming a king that the people will fear and shun.
- It seems that the magazine's cover illustration may actually be his character art from the game since it also shows up inside. However, it might be temporary.
- The next issue will also include a manga called Wan-Nyan Sengoku Basara (tentative title) by Tane Jugou. It will be an official Capcom-approved slice-of-life manga about the commanders reimagined as cute animals (I have to ask based on the comments on my blog the other day: SHD, are you psychic?).
- The next issue will come out in 'Autumn 2013'.
- The magazine's official website has been updated with the Yukimura cover for Mame Sengoku Basara volume four as well as details for submitting questions for the next magazine's CD. I'll put it all in a proper news post after work since it's official information.
- More miscellaneous Twitter links: new shot of Shikanosuke, Sakon/Yukimura, Mitsunari/Yukimura
Relatedly, staff at one Animate store in Japan were apparently delighted about Yukimura's return.
Yes he looks very young, very sweet and "anime", and very very pale...different from his usual hot-blooded self, I think.
ReplyDeleteNot that I ever doubted that he would be present, but it's nice to see him confirmed! I wonder how his relationship/rivalry with Masamune will play out now that Masamune also has a weird apelizard-dude stalker.
Some Japanese fans are joking that the magazine covers are designed to show the characters looking like teen idols to attract buyers. I'm expecting his proper game render will be inside in the feature article so we should know if it looks any different tomorrow/Tuesday when someone can take a low quality picture. I hope he joins the characters on the official website too on release day (or Thursday at the latest).
DeleteI'm desperate to know what the articles say inside the magazine ;_;
With Katsuie and Sakon they might as well start an idol band... :D (All their seiyuu can sing, after all. Well, except for Nakai, at least from what I've heard.)
DeleteRe: Yukimura & Masamune, rather than Matabee it's Mitsunari who makes me uneasy, since for all intents and purposes it seems he's Masamune's new rival/main opponent. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I really want the old Blue vs Red rivalry back and in at least some focus for both characters.
Nakai's (completely in character) song for Ixion Saga DT was...interesting :) I would certainly support an idol-style image album. It's astounding that there isn't one already!
DeleteI've never felt that convinced by the chemistry between Masamune and Mitsunari. It sounds as though they're going back to basics with the rumours circulating from the magazine, putting Yukimura back in his place as Masamune's mirror image (in terms of personality) so I've got a good feeling abut that - even if the plotlines which hog all of the marketing material end up being Masamune/Mitsunari and Katsuie/Sakon. Unless Mitsunari eventually eclipses even Masamune's popularity and the pair of them drop down in importance next time D:
(I doubt that will happen...)
The idea of Yukimura confronting Sakon has grown on me. Keiji has a similar playboy attitude but Keiji's a thoroughly nice guy, whereas I'm not sure Sakon really is. Yukimura's honest personality might come as a shock to him; I'd like to see Yukimura taking control of the conversation the way Keiji did to him with his teasing in 2.
I first heard Nakai sing in a character song for the anime Switch. It was hilarious because due to the voice and the lyrics it was like Masamune singing about how cool and badass he is. (Which he would totally do given the chance. :D) As far as image albums go, though, I don't think any song can be better than the anime theme music for the main characters. (The game music is nice and all, but the anime soundtracks are simply awesome - you can tell that the composer had lots of fun with them.)
DeleteAs for the rumors, I hope they're true...
Eee I'm so relieved to hear that Yukimura will be in the new game! I was getting worried haha. Thanks so much for sharing this. c: Also thanks for sourcing my cosplay picture back to my tumblr page. ^u^
ReplyDeleteI really love your blog and the reviews you do on here. :D
Thank you for the kind words! Your cosplay was great - I was so happy to see a Sengoku Basara fan :)
DeleteOf course this has to happen when I'm away from the internet. ^^;; Anyway, it's good to be certain about Yukimura's appearance, but I'm still anxious over his place and his story, and also the rest of the Takeda army. I hope the magazine has some info about that!
ReplyDeleteI also hope that this is not how he'll look in the actual game. He looks so very young, feminine and sort of mellow, especially since we can't see his frowny eyebrows. He's cute and all but I prefer him being more hot-blooded and "manly." ^^;; (And I'm not sure what's going on with his right arm but it doesn't seem very natural...)
I've added some more rumours to the post. Hopefully he'll appear on the official website this week (or in the two gaming magazines which are due to come out) so we can get more details about his game appearance.
DeleteThe rumors sound pretty good. An animal manga! Ha! :D
DeleteIt's good to know that Yukimura got his original personality back (phew), and that Sasuke is back in some shape or form. I hope that Shingen is there, too... *crosses fingers* If Yukimura's story also starts from "zero" maybe we'll see the early days of his association with Shingen. Yukimura vs Sakon... I can only think it's Yukimura either trying to protect his 3rd place on the polls, or getting his "identity" back as the red double-wielder poster boy. ^^;;
(And the scan with Mitsunari has one of my favorite anecdotes about the historical Yukimura.)
I can imagine you having extra fun beating Sakon up whenever he appears as a boss now. "Take that, you impostor!"
DeleteIt's good that Ieyasu will be heading up the next issue of the magazine too. If his reveal gets even half the cheering that Yukimura's has over in the Japanese fandom then he should get a boost too. I've heard nothing but overwhelming positivity all day since the magazine started circulating!
You bet that's what I'm going to do! (It's not that I hate Sakon or anything, but... ^^;; ) In any case, I'm glad that so many people are happy about Yukimura's announcement. That Animate store photo is hilariously adorable.
DeleteAbout Ieyasu, it is indeed a good sign that he's the next one, I would've expected Mitsunari. Although as with Yukimura, it's not Ieyasu's appearance that I'm anxious about, but rather his story and relevance. Well, Mitsunari called his name in the PV so I guess they'll still have a connection of sorts on both sides. (As I hope Masamune will with Yukimura!) Now all I need is some good news about Keiji.
More info, nice! It seems promising story wise. Yukimura vs Sakon looks like a sight to behold, with both being a bit similar, energic and acrobatic dual wielders.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the hot-bloodedness and purity and hopefully manly frowny eyebrows :D
Ps. Whoa the deer wears the deer horns too like a hat. Trippy
PPs. Whoa they actually did a manga with everyone as animals? Weird, but also interesting.
I'm rather looking forward to the new animal-themed manga :D
DeleteEverything about the magazine gossip seems crazy - exactly how I like it!
so that render is looking like his SB4 one which I have no problem with looks great, and is it weird that im more excited to see that animal manga more than ieyasu in the next mag? I hope everyone is shown as an animal and its an ongoing series.
ReplyDeleteand also the Sakon VS Yukimura shot looks like that will be an intense and awesome cut scene I cant wait to watch, so raindrops when would you say the next big SB4 reveal's might happen 2-3 weeks right?
I'm expecting a lot at TGS (a release date, in particular, would be nice soon!). I'm also hoping they'll announce a new Basara Matsuri ~Fuyu No Jin~ timed to happen just before the game release where the final details will all come out.
DeleteIt would be good to get a Yukimura feature in one or both of this week's gaming magazines. They said they were increasing the pace of reveals so if that keeps up maybe we'll get voices for the last batch this week (plus Yukimura on the website), then Yukimura's voice next week and some returning characters in Famitsu?
They might decide to present something new at the Kyomaf event too. Perhaps a new trailer, since we already know TGS will be bringing playable content a few weeks later? Seeing Shikanosuke and Matabee with the returning characters would be very welcome.
I love how crazy you are about the animal versions :)
I'm interested to know whether they'll use their associated animals (i.e. Masamune = dragon, Yukimura = tiger, Kojuurou = rabbit etc) or go with cuddlier ones to match the tentative title. Wan-Nyan ('Woof-Meow') Sengoku Basara sort of implies fuzzy animals... hopefully we'll get to see some preview pictures before the next volume arrives.
yeah I cant wait for TGS I hope there gonna show a PC roundup like with SB3 showing some gameplay for all current characters so we can see how our newbies play in game and maybe see H&H in action in the new system and hopefully there among the PCs at the demo at TGS.
Deleteand the animal manga something ive been dreaming they would emphasize in SB more and this plus the SUMI-e ink animals are making me so excited for SB4 this time around, but may I ask why kojuro is often depicted as a rabbit? I think he is better off as a dragon with masamune and itsuki is a good rabbit, but I see kojuro as a rabbit in fan arts more often too. but I also hope some SB4 newbies make it in this animal manga.
Dragon-Kojuurou is cool :D
DeleteThe bunny thing is because he uses the moon as symbolism a lot (his jinbaori and moveset, for example) and in Japan, rabbits are heavily associated with the moon. The slight weirdness of having such a manly guy as a cute bunny adds to the appeal, I think.