Koei Tecmo announced Atelier Ryza 2 will be out in Japan on December 3, PS4 and Switch. The Steam version will launch in January 2021, and that's highly likely when the western version on all platforms will launch as well.We have new details and screenshots on the exploration. New characters were revealed as well, reintroducing Tao, who isn't a shota anymore, Bos, and a new character named Sherri Glaus, who isn't human but the same race as Lila from the first game. The game's shop specific preorder bonuses in Japan were revealed as well.The English site didn't add these new details and screenshots yet so we translated everything below.

As we already know, Ryza now got a grappling hook like Lupin III. It's named the Emerald Band.

Ryza can breath underwater thanks to special candy called Air Drops. That's how she'll get to those underwater materials and dungeons.

Koei Tecmo also revealed Ryza's clothes have a wet clothes effect when she gets out of the water.

We got to see new screenshots of the royal capital too: Asura Am Bart. Remember that I'm not the official localization team of the game who's probably getting underpaid and under-credited, so all these names could be different in English. The royal capital is divided into multiple sections, each with its own atmosphere.

Tao and Bos are currently studying at the royal capital, and that's how they'll reunite with Ryza. This is also where Ryza will meet new character Sherri Glaus.

Here are the character profiles:

Tao Mongarten (Voiced by Junta Terashima)

Tao is much taller than before, and you wouldn't imagine he used to be bullied. He's studying every day to become a scholar. He still likes to shut himself in reading books, but the royal capital has so many places to learn he spends much more time outside than back at Kurken island.

Note that in the first Atelier Ryza, Tao was voiced by Yui Kondo. Young and adolescent boys like this are always voiced by female seiyuu in Japanese media, and get changed to a male seiyuu if they grow up, so it's not surprising. Junta Terashima most notably voices Shin Ichijou, the protagonist of the King of Prism movies, part of the Pretty Series and Pretty Rhythm franchises. He's a pretty popular idol seiyuu.

Sherri Glaus (Voiced by Yukiyo Fujii)

Like Lila Decyrus from the first game, Sherri Glaus is part of the Whitefang clan of the Oren. In order to accomplish a certain objective, she's currently traveling, gathering materials, going to the same ruins as Ryza. She has a gentle personality and acts friendly with everyone, but tends to be distant towards Ryza for some reason.

Yukiyo Fujii is most notably the new seiyuu of Tomoe Hotaru / Sailor Saturn since Sailor Moon Crystal. She also voices Megumi Tokoro in the Idolmaster franchise.

Bos Brunnen (Voiced by Yohei Azakami)

Unlike the first game, Bos is friends with Ryza and especially Tao now. He's studying hard to be a worthy successor of the Brunnen family.

While I consider him a relatively new seiyuu, Yohei Azakami is extremely talented and already got multiple protagonist roles. He most notably voiced Kamiyama Seijuro in Shin Sakura Taisen. He already voiced Bos in the first game.

Now that Tao was properly revealed, new visuals for the Japanese Limited Editions were shared. There's still one mysterious character though, probably Lent:

Lastly, most samples for the shop specific preorder bonus in Japan were revealed. A gallery with the goods using new original artwork is included below. Keep in mind before scrolling down that as usual these bonuses are on the sexual fanservice side, so you shouldn't look if it could bring misunderstandings at your workplace or home. The full list of preorder bonuses including artwork which aren't new can be found on the Japanese official site. I'd definitely translate and detail everything if time permitted. But I'm sure you can get by by yourself in the first place if you're planning to import.

Producer Junzo Hosoi recently explained Ryza was always supposed to be the protagonist for two games.You can catch the previous details here too.

You can preorder Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy on Amazon to support us.