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New Sakura Wars Project Reveals Anime's April Premiere, Stage Play's Cast

Sega announced during a livestream presentation on Wednesday that the television anime of the Shin Sakura Taisen (Project Sakura Wars in English) game will premiere in April 2020. The staff also revealed that the anime will feature the Moscow Assault Force, and they unveiled a video for the anime.

Staff will reveal more information about the anime in the project's next livestream presentation.

As previously announced, Manabu Ono (Sword Art Online: Alicization, The irregular at magic high school, The Asterisk War) is directing the anime at SANZIGEN. Tatsuhiko Urahata, who collaborated with Ono on the Saki and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere anime, is in charge of series scripts alongside Ono. Kōhei Tanaka, the composer for much of the music of the game franchise (including the new game), is composing the anime's music.

The main cast of the game — including Ayane Sakura, Yōhei Azakami, Maaya Uchida, Hibiku Yamamura, Ayaka Fukuhara, Saori Hayami, and Michie Tomizawa — are returning for the anime.

In addition, the official website for the stage play adaptation of the upcoming game revealed on Wednesday the main cast, a character visual, and the March premiere for the play.

The newly announced cast members are:

• Rina Takahashi as Hatsuho Shinonome (seen second from left in image above)
• Yui Kanchiku as Azami Mochizuki (seen far right)
• Juri Hirayu as Anastasia Parma (seen second from right)
• Natsume Oki as Claris (seen far left)

The play will star former Cheeky Parade member Yūna Sekine as Sakura Amamiya.

The play, titled Shin Sakura Taisen the Stage, will run at Sōgetsu Hall in Tokyo from March 5 to 8 for a total of eight performances. Eiji Torakawa is directing the play, and Masahiro Norimine is in charge of choreography.

The game will launch for the PlayStation 4 in Japan on December 12, and in the West in spring 2020. The game will take place in the 29th year of the fictionalized "Taisho" period of the franchise in the capital of Tokyo, 12 years after Sakura Wars V. Japan's actual Taisho period only lasted for 15 years, and the kanji used to write "Taisho" in Sakura Wars is different from the kanji used for the real Taisho period.

The game's protagonist is Seijuro Kamiyama, and the story follows him as he leads a "New Imperial Assault Force." Kouma once again appear in the capital, and Assault Forces are created in towns all over the world.

The game is inspiring a manga adaptation by Koyori Noguchi that debuted in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine on September 12.

Sources: Sakura Wars franchise's Twitter account, Sakura Taisen Teigeki Sendenbu Tsūshin presentation, Shin Sakura Taisen the Stage's website, Anime! Anime! (MoA)