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Nippon Ichi Software Announces Disgaea D2 Strategy RPG

Game developer Nippon Ichi Software revealed the title of the newest Disgaea game, Disgaea D2 for the PlayStation 3 console, at the Dengeki 20th Anniversary festival on Saturday. Disgaea producer Shōgo Kosakai, Tomoe Hanba (voice of Etna), and Yuko Sasamoto (voice of Flonne) attended the event.

This new game celebrating the Disgaea series' 10th anniversary will feature Laharl as the main character, with Etna and Flonne at his side. Kosakai explained that because it was the 10th anniversary, the staff decided to return to the roots of the game and bring back Laharl as the main character, instead of introducing a new protagonist for a completely new Disgaea 5. The game, previously codenamed as "Project D," tells the continuation of Laharl's story after the events of the first game.

Kosakai also went on to explain the meaning behind the "D" in the title. The first meaning the letter holds is "dimension" or "wall," to convey the feeling of "wanting to break through the wall to reach a new source of fun."  Hanba added that another meaning of "D" is "Destiny," referring to Flonne's love-obsessed character. Sasamoto then commented that still another meaning of the D is "Dramatic," referring to Etna's love for dramatic and over-the-top situations.

The PlayStation 3 game will ship in Japan on March 20th, 2013. A Limited Edition set will include two Niitengo Etna and Flonne figures, a deluxe hardcover design collection book, and a 2-CD original soundtrack scored by Tenpei Sato (composer for previous Disgaea games). The bonus for preordering the game is a code for the PlayStation Network store to download the Legacy alternate outfit for the characters. The outfits puts them in their original costumes (although it does not return Flonne to trainee angel form).

The first Disgaea video game was released in Japan in 2003, and was released in North America by Atlus Games later that year. NISA took over distribution of the games in North America startign with the second game, which was released in Japan in 2006.  

Geneon Entertainment released the anime adaptation of the first game in 2006, and the license was recovered by Funimation when Geneon Entertainment ceased in-house North American distribution. Broccoli Books licensed the Disgaea manga, and released two volumes of the four Disgaea 2 manga until it also closed its doors.

Source: Famitsu