Sakura Wars The Movie to be rereleased by Funimation in Blu Ray format

sakurawars
News has it that Funimation has picked up the license rights to rerelease Sakura Wars: The Movie on Blu Ray Disc this morning. A source from Twitter states that the movie will still retain the Geneon Dub with added extra features. The movie was previously released on DVD and PSP UMD by Geneon a few years back. The movie’s plot follows the Imperial Assault Force after Lt. Ogami Ichiro departs to Paris and are later introduced to Star Division’s member Rachete Altair to battle against the upcoming evil that is descending upon the Imperial Capital.

If your a fan of SEGA media, you should check this movie out when it’s rereleased on Blu Ray. Now if only Funimation can obtain the TV series rights for Toonami. Hit the jump to see the Twitter announcements.

Sakura Wars So Long My Love seiyuu, Naoya Uchida, to have a live birthday concert

sakura08

Famous Japanese voice and stage actor Naoya Uchida, who is known as the voice and potrayer of Commander Michael Sunnyside from SEGA/RED’s fifth installment of Sakura Wars, will be turning 60 this year and to celebrate his birthday, there will be a live concert plus special guest, Dandy Dan (potrayed by Mr. Shintaro), will appear on stage. For our SEGABits readers who reside in Japan, the live birthday concert will be held on May 1st at Ebisu Switch Skylight. Hope his birthday goes out with a bang to the rooftops! (SW fans would know this)

SEGA Tunes Holiday Special: Featuring Sakura Wars and Shenmue!

How do you know something is big in Japan? When the above exists. I’m sure many of you have heard of Sakura Wars, SEGA’s series of strategy/dating simulator games that until recently never made it outside of Japan, but did you know that the franchise has also been used as the source material for a variety of stage shows dating all the way back to 1997?

The above video is from a Christmas stage show that the cast of the games performed back in 1998. In it, you can see many of the core cast members of the original Sakura Wars being portrayed by their voice actors as they sing a variety of Christmas tunes. Its hard to believe that there was once a SEGA franchise big enough to warrant this amount of production.

So pour yourself some eggnog, sit back and enjoy some pleasant Christmas-y SEGA tunes. Given that this is Christmas, we can’t exactly just give you one song now can we? Check below the fold for more Christmas music from both Sakura Taisen and Shenmue.

Retro Review: Sakura Taisen


Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) is a Strategy RPG adventure series that features a unique sim-based story system developed by AM7 Team Shinobi (Overworks) from SEGA along with Red Entertainment. The series first began in 1996 for the Sega Saturn and spawned several sequels, including OVA adaptations, TV anime series, a movie, and other merchandises. While the game was a successful Sega IP in Japan, it never had a release in the West until the release of the fifth game, which was released and published by NIS America. However, the series has had a cult following within the Sega & anime community fan base with english releases of anime videos. Want to know what I think about the game and how awesome it is? Read on to find out.

Sega uploads a preview of Sakura Wars Kanadegumi Anime

With the stage show coming in next month. The anime adaptation is also in the works based on the original manga that’s focused on the Kanadegumi (performance) group. It also seems Ogami and Taiga may not be the only guy with spiritual power in the Sakura Taisen universe, these boys can destroy demons with the power of music. The main theme song for the anime is called “Waltz, to you” by the Kanadegumi group. I’m hoping to see some reference from previous Sakura Taisen games.

SEGA shows a preview of the new Sakura Taisen Stage Show

There’s a new Sakura Taisen stage play coming up next month. This doesn’t mean a new game, but it focuses on the Kanadegumi (performance) group from the latest manga which stars a new character named Neo Miyabi and the five main characters. An anime adaptation is also in the works. The play will run from November 1st to the 11th.

Capcom x Sega x Namco Bandai project gets named and crossover characters get revealed [update #2] high quality scans!


We have been posting about the collaboration project with SEGA, Namco-Bandai, and Capcom. Thankfully for you we have the first details thanks to Famitsu. The game will be called Project X Zone (pronounced Project Cross Zone)

Project X Zone will be a strategy RPG featuring “iconic” characters from all three publishers. According to Famitsu, the characters in the game will team up in pairs for fighting scenes. So who got into the game? Hit the jump to see the revealed characters…

Browser Sakura Wars game gets details

We posted before about the upcoming new Sakura Wars game, only issue its a browser game, not a console one. I can feel you rolling your eyes as your read that, but listen to details of the game first! The game got an offcicial name, “Sakura Taisen Taishou Roman Gakuentan.” Whatever that means. The game is also confirm to take place in Daiteikoku Gakuen or Imperial Academy.

Below in the gallery, we have artwork of Imperial Academy and some ‘gameplay’ shots taken from the trailer. If you want to view the trailer, head over to the main Sakura Wars site. OK, maybe not that much new information, but some info is better than none.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity gets Sakura Wars tie-in


Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP2i) isn’t afraid to have a ton of tie-ins, there has been a great deal announced. Now that Sakura Wars has a new game, it seems like a good time to announce the PSP2i tie-in. SEGA did not provide screens or much information on what will be released, but we do know it will be ‘pay’ DLC. So if you like Sakura Wars, get your credit card ready.

Other tie-in announced was Kaito Tenshi Twin Angel 2, which happens to be a popular SAMMY Kaito Tenshi Twin Angel 2, a popular Sammy pachinko machine.

[Source: AndriaSang]

The Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Premium Pack!

I’m eight months late to the party, but who cares. I’m the first to feature it at SEGAbits!

While SEGA’s Sakura Taisen franchise is insanely popular in Japan, having a number of main series games and spin-offs spanning the Saturn era through to the Dreamcast and Playstation 2, it has had little presence in English speaking regions. The fifth game in the series, Sakura Taisen V: Farewell, My Love, hit the Japanese PS2 in 2005. It wasn’t until 5 years later that the game received a very unexpected English language version. The PS2 received a handsome special edition box (America only from what I can tell) while the Wii received a standard version (which hit both America and Europe). While the game released back in March, it wasn’t until this weekend that I got around to picking up a copy for $30 at GameStop, marked down $10.

So what does this awesome box contain? Let’s take a look!

Click here to read more!

Sakura Wars Live announces new show dates

Sakura Wars will be having its long awaited (according to their site) live comback. There will be 4 shows, spanning 3 days. The party starts on December 10th and ends on the 12th.

The show is going to be entitled: “Sakura Taisen: Pari Hanigumi Live 2010 – Sparking Stars – Pretty Flowers”. It is hard to get a translation out of google. I guess its good to know that Sakura Wars name is still being used, but what about a new game?

[Source: Sakura Wars blog]

We could be seeing Sakura Wars at TGS


People want a new Sakura Wars game and it seems that the series developer, Red Entertainment, has something to announce soon. They updated their blog with a hint about a TGS announcement.

“The next time I handle the blog, I believe I will, for the first time in a while, be able to have a splendid announcement.”

The splendid announcement could be something else besides a new Sakura Wars. Even if its a new game, I doubt it will be released here. I head “Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love” didn’t do so hot.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Sakura Wars creator teasing announcement

Ohji Hiroi, creator of Sakura Wars, was the guest honor at a Sakura Wars pachinko event held in Asagaya. During the show, Ohji Hiori teased an upcoming announcement.

“Next month’s Famitsu might have something interesting to see. Platform or something like…

This does not mean that Sakura Wars 6 will be announced, maybe it means they are releasing Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love in Japan on Wii. You know, since that version was ported just for the US release.

[Source: Siliconera]

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Trailer

As you may known NIS America have taken up the task of publishing Sega and Red Entertainments ‘Sakura Wars V: So long, my love’ in the West.

While Sega have passed up the chance to publish this game, It is still a Sega game at heart. So sit back and enjoy this five minute trailer!

The game releases at the end of March!