TGS News!!!

[takenaga.livejournal.com]

Edit:Updated - 1/17/11. Updated cast list again and added a link to the drama CD.

Haruka 5 has just been announced for the PSP! It will be released February 24, 2011.

The game will break a series tradition and feature an entirely new voice cast. The new voice cast change was done to celebrate the series's 10 year anniversary. The game world will be a mix of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.

Cast:
Hasumi Yuki - Takahashi Mikako

Hachiyo (sorted by Seiryuu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu pairings from Ten to Chi)
Kiryuu Shun - Terashima Takuma
Sakamoto Ryōma - Suzumura Kenichi
Chinami - Abe Atsushi
Okita Sōji - Okamoto Nobuhiko
Komatsu Tatewaki - Tachibana Shinosuke
Fukuchi Ōchi - Takemoto Eiji
Ernest Satow - Shintanda Michael
Takasugi Shinsaku - Yasumoto Hiroki

Sub-characters
Yakumo Miyako - Saiga Mitsuki [Kokuryuu no Miko, yea it's a girl!]
Amami - Suwabe Junichi
Kiryuu Sou - Shimono Hiro
Kondō Isami - no listed actor
Hijikata Toshizō - Hoshino Takanori*
Katsu Kaishū - Ono Kenichi*
Nagaoka Shintarō - Nemoto Masakazu*
Makoto - Katō Masayuki**
Saigō Takamori - Nara Tōru*
Katsura Kogorō - Kondō Takeshi **
Harry Parkes - Aoyama Yutaka* (Drama CD info)
Fukuzawa Yukichi - Kawamoto Naru** (Drama CD info)

The Four Gods and their Divine Aides [ZOMG!]
Seiryuu - Tomokazu Seki
Suzaku - Takahashi Naozumi
Byakko - Inoue Kazuhiko
Genbu - Hoshi Sōichirō
Kōzanze Myō-Oh - Miki Shinichiro
Gundari Myō-Oh - Miyata Kōki
Dai'itoku Myō-Oh - Nakahara Shigeru
Kongōyasha Myō-Oh - Ishida Akira

* = Voice actor for the first Drama CD (12/29); may or may not be voiced in the game.
** = Voice actor for the upcoming Drama CD (2/23); may or may not be voiced in the game.

Preview images can be seen from the links below:
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201009/18033763.html
http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012083/20100927038/
http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012083/20101026006/
http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/haruka5/

There will also be an Aizōban release for Haruka 4 on the PSP! It will be released December 22. New drama CD and cast commentary. Whee. 20+ new events will be added and new images. Previously unvoiced sub-characters will be voiced. Each main character and sub-character will get an extra chapter after their main story is finished. Preview images of some of the new stills can be seen in the links below.
http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012086/20100919031/
http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012086/20100927036/
http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/haruka4/psp/

Comments

[minrathous.livejournal.com]

sobs i wish they would do the sengoku era i dream of dating bishounefied nobunaga forever ngl but i guess they just made sengoku angelique so :(

sad to see they don't have the old cast anymore but kyaaaaa suwabe suzuken saiga mitsuki *w*

also whoa does this mean the miko will be voiced this time :O

[takenaga.livejournal.com]

Yar, I was half-expecting to see a Sengoku Angelique game to be announced lol. Maybe we'll still see it later on down the line haha.

I'm also a little sad the old cast won't be coming back though. Ishida-san~~~!

also whoa does this mean the miko will be voiced this time
Hmm probably not. Previous games she didn't speak much and I don't think it'll be any different this time. I think this is mostly for whatever drama CDs and such that they'll might do with the miko.

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

Hrm. With the change in cast and the recent historical period mix, why didn't they just make it an entirely /new/ game and not part of the Haruka franchise? I'm attached to Haruka because of the voice cast and swapping them out just makes me cranky, much as I might LIKE to see Suwabe, Yasumoto, Suzumura and the others in a Koei game. (which is all moot, I don't own a PSP, anyhow).

[takenaga.livejournal.com]

I was kind of thinking they were going to either announce an entirely new game series or another Angelique game. So this was definitely a curve ball I kind of wasn't expecting. I'm a little sad about the voice cast but am open to how the actual game will before making any kind of judgments. =Does not own a PSP either. Is fail=

[chiisai-hime.livejournal.com]

As much as I love Suzuken and Suwajun, I feel like i've been seeing them everywhere in otome games lately... and many of the old cast haven't been doing much besides harutoki lately. Glad everything's coming on the psp though :)

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

I'm a Haruka ignoramus, so I don't know how strongly the fans identify the characters with their former seiyuu, so to speak. As an Ange fan, though, the fact that Koei did away with a franchise's entire voice cast gives me pause. I know that actors age out of roles, but thinking of an Ange with no more Shou Hayami, no more Takehito Koyasu, no more Toshiyuki Morikawa, Toshihiko Seki, or Nobutoshi Canna...makes me sad.

[saramichiru.livejournal.com]

I hope this doesn't sound weird, but thank you for sympathizing like this. That's pretty much what it feels like. Most of us wouldn't have been terribly opposed to the equivalent of NeoAnge considering the health of the Haruka franchise, but after sticking with the same baseline voice cast for "Un-Deux-Trois-Quatre", swapping out everyone IN ADDITION TO sticking the next number in the series onto it like we're supposed to take it in stride just doesn't digest well at all :| ...

[btamamura.livejournal.com]

As happy as I am about some of the seiyuu joining the Neoroma family, at the same time, I really wish it was for a completely new game. I love the cast from the previous Haruka games (it's because of three of them I even discovered the series!) and would've really rather had their return.

[btamamura.livejournal.com]

By some of them, I mean those I'm familiar with...

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

Based on looks only, I like Takasugi Shinsaku already. At first his voice made me shudder, but the latter two voice-clips at the official site sound so... soft. I'm starting to think Yasumoto's voice MIGHT actually fit him.

Of the four gods, I LOVE Byakko. He looks so regal and beautiful. And lots of white is always a good thing (not to mention Byakko has always been my favorite of the Holy Beasts). I hope Inoue-papa's voice for him will be both soft and refined.

PS. Also, I died when I saw who Michael Shitanda really is. His original name is Masato Amada and he voiced Junpei in Digimon Frontier - who had a really scratchy, ugly and annoying voice. But Ernest sounds good? And he actually says English phrases that are intelligible. I never knew Amada/Shitanda knew English.

[takenaga.livejournal.com]

Super late reply but yea Shintanda is Japanese American so yea his English would be pretty good hehe.

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

Now that I look at the voice actors again... Takashi Kondo is in there. I guess it's a good thing~

And Takanori Hoshino as a ladies' man type character kind of makes me giggle. x'''''''''D

But I freaked out when I saw Kenichi Ono as Kaishu. Sure the guy is an old character, but I LOVE this seiyuu so friggin much. All thanks to his role as Asurada in Cyber Formula. ...He was a talking car with a snarky know-it-all personality EVEN more epic than KITT's.