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Gintama Game's 2 New Characters Voiced by Yuuki Kaji, Yōko Hikasa

Yūki Kaji (Guilty Crown's Shū Ouma, Zakuro's Ganryū) and Yōko Hikasa (K-ON!'s Mio, Inu X Boku Secret Service's Nobara) will voice the roles of twins Rokuhiko Niijima and Nanae Niijima, respectively, in the upcoming "absurd" Gintama PSP board game Gintama no Sugoroku. Gintama creator Hideaki Sorachi collaborated on these two original characters. (Not coincidentally, next year's live-action NHK Taiga Drama series will be Yae no Sakura, a story revolving around Yae Niijima, wife of the founder of Doshisha University and Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts.)

The "slapstick sci-fi board game with laughs and tears" recreates the world of Gintama in which players advance on the board, sabotage rivals, and battle each other with card attacks. Nanae is a woman with an obsession with firearms, and the Yorozuya team meets her in the virtual board game. She is searching for her twin younger brother Rokuhiko, who has gone missing inside the game.

Gintama no Sugoroku will include an original story mode with the new characters. It also has several stages devoted to MADAO (flee MADAO with money), Shōgun, "Bakudan-Otoko" (inspired by Bomberman with board-leveling explosives), Kintama' (with the Kintoki imposter), and a Popularity Contest. A downloadable "drama maker" bonus lets players create their own original drama mini-episodes by assembling dialogue, characters, backgrounds, music, and storylines.

The game will arrive on the PSP on January 24 for 6,280 yen (about US$79). The download code for "drama maker" bonus comes with the first copies of the game.

[Via Seiȳu Sokuhō, Ota-Suke]