A new Sakura Taisen project, Sakura Kakumei Hanasaku Otome Tachi, was announced during a livestream by Sega and DelightWorks. The mobile RPG game will launch for iOS and Android in Fall 2020 in Japan. It features the characters from "Nippon, Dakkan" and "Project Black" and is set in the future of the Sakura Taisen world, in 2011 (Taisho 100). At some point in Taisho era, steam technology and spirit particles energy became unusable, pushing Japan in a state of turmoil. Later on, a new energy source was created, and this new energy is distributed all over Japan through towers sending radio waves. The new characters from the Imperial Combat Revue and the members of B.L.A.C.K. oppose each other.The stream featured a reveal trailer, an anime episode introducing the story, and a stage event. We've got all the details below.

Sakura Kakumei is a mobile RPG, and the anime episode is an OAV produced to introduce it. It features the game's intro story and introduces the main characters. The anime was made by studio CloverWorks (owned by Aniplex / Sony).

Sakura Kakumei reveal trailer, anime intro:

The anime episode was followed with a stage event, featuring the seiyuu Moeka Kishimoto (who voices Shino Sakura), Ayu Matsuura (Fuuka Aoshima), and two Producers: Sega Producer Taku Kihara, and DelightWorks Producer Ko Okamura.

The two producers explained the project. Okamura said Sakura Kakumei is a mobile RPG, and the anime episode we saw is a oneshot introducing the beginning of the story. The game's story starts from the point the anime ends.

We also heard Sakura Kakumei is set in 2011 (Taisho 100) so a modern Japan that you might have lived in yourself is pictured, but in the Sakura Taisen world.

Next, Moeka Kishimoto spoke of her character Shino Sakura. It was really fun to voice her as she's a super cheerful girl. Shino is usually very clumsy, but her switch turns on when she fights and she's super strong. So her personality has two sides to it. The Producers said Kishimoto's voice fit perfectly with Shino and they immediately knew it'd be her when they first heard her at the audition. Kishimoto is really happy to be part of the project.

Fuuka is Shino's childhood friend and uses a bandana as a belt. She's the mechanic. Ayu Matsuura is used to voice cute or little sister type characters, so voicing a manly character like Fuuka is a first for her, and she wasn't super confident about it at first.

A third character, Asebi was also introduced. Shino, Fuuka, and Asebi are all from Aogashima, and the game's story will focus on those three. They're all part of the Teikoku Kagekidan. Producer Okamura said they'll reveal more later on.

In the Sakura Taisen franchise so far, the characters would use their Spirit Particle energy to fight with Spiricle Armor and Fighters, most notably the Koubu types. In Sakura Kakumei, the characters uses Ryoshi Dress, Spirit Particle Dress to fight. It gives the game a mecha musume feel. The producers said there will be many more Spiricle Dress introduced later on.

Next, we got a proper intro for the B.L.A.C.K. characters. They're the Dai Teikoku Kagekidan, a super popular group all over Japan, and are a force opposing Shino and co.

Prana, the Center of B.L.A.C.K.,  is voiced by Lynn. She recorded a video message for the occasion, you can watch it at the 1:48:57 mark below:

In her video message, Lynn mentioned Prana is a very confident person, who's perfect at both fighting, dancing, and singing. She explained each member of Noble 12 in B.L.A.C.K. has a codename themed around a gemstone, and that Prana is the Diamond. Unless they were acting it, judging from the producers' reaction, Lynn wasn't supposed to reveal that yet.

Kohei Tanaka then joined the stage as the composer of Sakura Kakumei. He did his usual gag of introducing himself as the actor playing the role of Kohei Tanaka.

Kohei Tanaka explained B.L.A.C.K. isn't necessarily evil, but are still enemies so he tried to make their theme song Wonderful Future reflect that. It has a Metal feel to it too. He tried to make a "strong" song for Lynn and B.L.A.C.K.

Next, they chatted about the Sakura Kakumei theme song, Sakura Hikaru Revolution. The seiyuu mentioned Kohei Tanaka's songs are really hard to sing, something stated a lot on past Sakura Taisen streams. The lyrics were written by Aki Hata.

Next up, the producers explained the official twitter for "Project Black" was turned into the official twitter for Sakura Kakumei once the reveal happened. "Project Black" and "Nippon Dakkan" were the same thing all along. Both hololive VTubers Fubuki Shirakami and Houshou Marine will be ambassadors for Sakura Kakumei. They both joined the stream, voice only. Both VTubers didn't particularly mention anything interesting.

As the Sakura Kakumei reveal stream ended, each of the guests shared some parting words:

Ayu Matsuura (Fuuka Aoshima) thanked everyone and asked us to support the project. Moeka Kishimoto (Shino Sakura) added they were both really hyped ever since they did the voice acting and they're happy the game was finally shown to everyone. Moeka Kishimoto also said she just started a Twitter account:

Kohei Tanaka said he's happy Sakura Taisen is still ongoing and he's still making songs for it. He thanked DelightWorks and Sega for the opportunity, and hopes we'll keep supporting the franchise so he can keep making songs.

DelightWorks Producer Ko Okamura said he knows some are worried because Sakura Kakumei is a mobile game, but it'll keep the "spirit, fun, excitement, and everything that makes Sakura Taisen, even if the setting, story, and characters are different". He said there's "still a little while" before Sakura Kakumei releases in Fall 2020.

Sega Producer Taku Kihara stated they'll reveal much more on the game "soon", and for now they wanted to properly introduce the characters and project. Producer Kihara also stressed out there will be many more songs, and Kohei Tanaka added they're done recording them all.

The final part of the stream included some gameplay:

Here is the full stream:

Personally speaking, I'm really excited and will definitely try out Sakura Kakumei. It looks like the gameplay is a mix of tactical RPG and real time, and looks similar to other mobile games such as SRW Cross Omega. It looks much much better though.

Another last fun point to note is that one of the slogans for Sakura Kakumei is "We'll never, ever give up and always stand back up", which is exactly what Sega Producer Tetsu Katano said when he teased more Sakura Taisen back in June.

Stay tuned on DualShockers as we'll publish soon another article with the full profiles for all the characters, and everything else from the Sakura Kakumei official site. Meanwhile, be sure to check out our coverage of past Sakura Taisen streams so far.

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