News roundup: Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi tidbits and a new Gakuen Basara

A few additional notes about Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi

As many people will already have seen, the official Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi website is now live and there are a few new pictures to be found!

There's also more press coverage with the same new information presented in a variety of ways: 4Gamer, Dengeki, Famitsu, Gamer, Inside Games, Moca

I've made a few notes since it's fun to chronicle the flow of information.

• Yoshiteru's basara-zu ink artwork shows a peacock, which seems like a good match for him. The official website jokingly describes him as the 'violet comet' who moves at triple speed and manipulates time.
• The 'most sadistic, wicked beauty in history' Maria seems to have a sexy dancing woman as her illustration.
• (Edit: the-masked-m0g has pointed out that the woman resembles a celestial maiden - more details here!)
• Sen No Rikyuu's basara-zu image looks like two infants surrounded by plants (tea leaves?). I guess it represents his duality.
• There's one interesting piece of information on the website which was missing from the magazine: "Number of players: Unconfirmed". I don't see why they'd say that if they're only planning to include the usual two player modes...
• Some fans are guessing that the anime scenes shown so far might be from the game's opening sequence, since they appear to show the Tenka Medals you can collect and everything looks very flashy.
• Speaking of Tenka Medals, I didn't explain this yesterday but the reason I'm leaving their name in Japanese when there's a perfectly good translation that could be used is that it's a pun. The characters used to write 'Tenka' simply mean 'Heavenly Coins', but in the main game storyline everyone is always battling to try to seize the land for themselves - and the word they always use for the 'land' in this context is also pronounced 'Tenka', and literally means 'everything under the heavens'. So in the main games, you're trying to obtain the land, and in this expansion you're trying to obtain medals.
• Although I clarified this elsewhere, in case anyone was uncertain the new skills mentioned in Weekly Famitsu are regular moves, not super (R2) moves. Balder at Koei Warriors suggested a way that they might be implemented and I think that it's a strong possibility.
• It was hinted in the magazine article but the website's layout pretty much confirms that the Tales Of Zestiria crossover will be limited to the costumes we've already seen, and the next five collaboration announcements will be completely different.
• Hmm, if the Tales Of Zestiria crossover outfits came from KobaP's personal relationship with producer Baba Hideo, I wonder whether the next five collaboration announcements will relate to other things he likes? Perhaps there'll be an official Mobile Suit Gundam crossover and some kind of in-game zarusoba tie-in (I'm kidding - I hope).
• Sen No Rikyuu's name has been trending on the Japanese side of Twitter for much of the last day, with @yukimurabo spotting 'psychic' and the 'wabi' of wabi-sabi joining it at one point. Whether you love or hate his design, it's undeniable that it's got a lot of people talking and creating comical parodies.

A new Gakuen Basara manga anthology is on the way

I was checking Manga-Oh earlier and stumbled upon some great news: there's a brand new listing for a Sengoku Basara Series Official Anthology Comic: Gakuen Basara: Gakusai Rantou-hen ('School Festival Brawl') - in other words, Gakuen Basara 8! It's scheduled for release on 27th March 2015 under the Dengeki Comics EX label. No further details are available yet.

The next Basara Magazine CD will be released soon

Also due for release on 27th March 2015 is the next compilation CD from Sengoku Basara Magazine. Titled Sengoku Basara Magazine CD: Showgeki Basara Talk! Vol. 4: Chousokabe & Mouri No Maki Special-ban, it will cost ¥2,700 and collect the comical audio content from the latest issues of Sengoku Basara Magazine along with some new material.

Seiyuu Okiayu Ryoutarou (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) will join Ishino Ryuuzou (Chousokabe Motochika) and Nakahara Shigeru (Mouri Motonari) on one of the bonus tracks to make things even crazier. The 'Basara Challenge' skits are about looking after children, an interrogation and a brand new episode: television shopping. What on earth would an infomercial hosted by Motochika and Motonari be like...?

Listings are already available on Amazon Japan and AmiAmi.

The description warns that the jacket artwork is a placeholder but I think it's likely to stay since it matches the others in the series.