Sengoku Basara Retrospective: The Other Media

With the success of Sengoku Basara 2 in Japan, it was only natural that Capcom would ride the merchandise train and branch the franchise off into other media as well as a few spin-off games.  Eventually some of that media would come to America alongside the first properly translated English game, but since the spin-off games were made during Capcom’s terminally stupid era, they were not released in English.

There was a pair of stripped-down PSP games, Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes and Chronicle Heroes, as well as a fighting game called Sengoku Basara X.  Normally I wouldn’t bother going over them because they’re not especially notable, not part of the main games and I haven’t played them, but it just so happens as I was writing the retrospective that a local arcade had Sengoku Basara X, so I can touch on that.

This isn’t getting a full review because Sengoku Basara X is just Guilty Gear with Sengoku Basara.  It’s a bog standard Arc System Works game.  If you played Guilty Gear or Arc System Works’ Fist of the North Star Fighting game, it’s pretty much just that, but Sengoku Basara.  You get your light, heavy and medium attacks, special moves and the assist character button.

The assist character button is the only thing that’s different about SBX compared to the developer’s other games.  Each playable character has an assist character that players can delay using to make them stronger for the rest of the match.  Unless I’m missing something, assist characters only have one attack and there are only 10 playable characters (12 in the PS2 port).  I’m pretty sure all the voice lines are lifted from the games, backgrounds pale in comparison to the likes of KOF 11 and Guilty Gear XX, there’s no story and character endings are just a piece of artwork. 

The concept of “Guilty Gear, but Sengoku Basara” is interesting enough to give it a try if you come across it, but if you ask me, everything about it is mediocre.  The only thing people remember this game for is the glitchy kusoge insanity people have exploited in it, much like the aforementioned Fist of the North Star fighter.  I give it a 5 out of 10.

The backgrounds recreating SB2 stages are kind of cool, but not impressive.

The real focus here is the English releases.  Of all the spin-off media Sengoku Basara has ever had, the biggest success is far and away the anime adaptation by animation studio Production I.G.  The anime is known in Japan as simply Sengoku Basara, but named Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings in English, so as not to give the idea that it’s an adaptation of the only properly translated English release.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings is an adaptation of the first 2 games that takes various parts of different storylines from the games, with some liberties, to tell a cohesive plot.  The first season primarily revolves around defeating Nobunaga and his moustache-twirling villainy, while the second has Hideyoshi enter as an overarching antagonist with more exploration to his and Hanbei’s backstories and motivations.

Before Psycho Pass (and even then only the first season), I think this anime was Production I.G.’s biggest success, and rightfully so.  Samurai Kings is the second best anime adaptation of a game I’ve ever seen, only bested by Viewtiful Joe’s.  Characters are accurate to the source and play off each other well, it cuts out the more superfluous characters that weren’t needed so it can focus on the plots at hand and action scenes go even harder than those of the Manglobe cutscenes from the first game, maybe even a tad too much.

Obviously Sengoku Basara can get really overblown and dramatic in its action, but Samurai Kings takes that to new extremes at times, where characters surround themselves with aura and charge forward like they’re Super Sonic, sometimes seeming to fly, or one other time where Hideyoshi… Uh… I won’t spoil it, but I’ll say he doesn’t swim.  It’s awesome, but not quite the kind of action the games have.  Production I.G. was wise enough to save those bursts of godlike power for the biggest fights though.  Even among the big, loud, wonderfully-animated action, the pacing is pretty great, alternating between calm, talking moments of diplomacy and introspection and giant bombastic battles set to a truly amazing soundtrack composed by Hiroyuki Sawano.  The song Blaze is one of the best pieces of music ever made for anime and always denotes a big moment.

Samurai Kings perfectly captures what makes Sengoku Basara so good and what makes it even better is that even though it was done by Funimation, a good handful of the perfect English cast from Samurai Heroes came back for their roles, including Johnny Bosch, Liam O’Brien, Patrick Seitz, Stephanie Sheh, Michael Sinterniklaas and Sam Riegal.  Those actors do make the gulf in quality between the actors from Samurai Heroes and the new Texas-based ones very noticeable, however.

It’s clear that the people at Funimation had a lot of passion for Samurai Kings and had a lot of fun with their voice recordings.  You can hear it in the performances and it’s made more evident by the DVD commentary, but the actors from Samurai Heroes clearly had the advantage of already extensively voicing their characters beforehand and some of the Funimation actors do not match up.  Chris Ayres (god I miss him) doesn’t have the booming voice Takeda probably should have, but he’s clearly giving it his all.  Eric Vale isn’t as good as Matt Mercer at voicing Keiji and I get that John Swasey is one of those guys you get for a villain, but his voice isn’t dark, deep and evil enough as Nobunaga to match up to either of the previous English voice actors.  Chris Sabat fares better as Hideyoshi because he’s good at voicing big buff bois.

This anime does has the Fist of the North Star problem with size scaling.

There are a few Funimation actors that are on par with the actors from the games though.  Peter Beckman didn’t return for Yoshihiro, but to replace one Great Old One, Funimation got another: R. Bruce Elliot, the Great Old One of the South.  Elliot has a very different take on the character that’s closer to how the Japanese performance sounds and for that interpretation he does a bang-up job as the jolly and old, but powerful old guy.  This is the guy who played Whitebeard, after all.

With the addition of Elliot, this franchise has had the Great Old One of the North, West and South in its voice cast at some point.  If they ever get David Brimmer, Sengoku Basara might transcend and become some kind of ethereal phenomenon of pure power or something...

 

On the topic of replacements, Robert McCollum’s different take on Masamune compared to Reuben Langdon’s is also a pretty decent replacement and I think it’s the best role he’s ever had.  He is very clearly having a lot of fun with his smarmy dialogue and whenever I see his name on something I think of Masamune.  He's also probably not a kook who thinks Vic is innocent and vaccines cause autism...

For characters that didn't have an English voice until Samurai Kings, Kent Williams was a great choice for Hisahide.  He has a very good voice of calm, confident villainly, as shown by his performances as Dr. Gero, Father, Mr. Compress and Akisame (if you stretch the word "villain").  Hisahide is right in his comfort zone.

The biggest standout by far is Chris Cason as Hanbei.  Cason got Hanbei’s character down 100% and I can’t think of anyone who could do it better.  He has the perfect balance of softness, cold cruelty and ever so slight androgyny.  He emotes Hanbei’s less-hammy dialogue with the confidence and intimidation factor the character is supposed to have, but also delivers convincing performances for the emotional moments.  When I look at Hanbei, Chris Cason’s voice is exactly what I would expect him to sound like.  It's brilliant casting.

With some great performances coupled with great animation and an interesting story, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings is thoroughly entertaining and a fun watch, but as I mentioned in the previous post, Funimation or Capcom tried to market it as a prequel to Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.  I do think that the anime works as an introduction to the franchise because it conveys the spirit of it so well and adapts some of its storytelling, but there are several things that don’t line up with Samurai Heroes.  The biggest things are the ending and the fact that Xavi is quickly killed off, but there’s also the matter of the movie.

Sengoku Basara: The Last Party is the grand finale movie of Samurai Kings and very very loosely adapts the third game, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.  I don’t like this one as much.

The Last Party still has the fun action scenes with great animation, and they brought back even more of the game’s actors, including Troy Baker and a bit part by Christopher Corey Smith, but the story is very weak.  Everything is so simplified and one of the impetuses of the plot is Ieyasu inviting the nation to each one of Hideaki’s giant hot pots?

Where’s the alliances?  Where’s the betrayal?  Where’s the themes of loyalty and having to fight your friends because of irreconcilable differences?  Where’s the Saica faction?  The only characters introduced in Samurai Heroes that matter to the plot are Tenkai (if he counts), Mitsunari, Hideaki and (barely) Yoshitsugu.  It’s a simple plot where characters aren’t really explored and everything feels like an excuse to have fan-favorite characters have big dumb action scenes with Samurai Heroes’ secret gray story path as an ending.

The big dumb action scenes are entertaining and well animated, to be sure.  I played this movie in a projection room at a convention once upon a time and people were definitely enjoying it, but it falls flat in the story compared to the anime it’s concluding.  In the bonus features the creators said they wanted to make something less sad than in Samurai Heroes, but I like sad!  Make it sad!  It’s a sad story!

Sengoku  Basara: Samurai Kings may not end on a high note for me, but the overall package is still a great time.  I give it an 8 out of 10.  If you want an adaptation of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes closer to the source material, there’s Sengoku Basara: End of Judgement.

The second time ever the opening isn’t done by T.M. Revolution.  At least it has the electric guitar licks down.

End of Judgement is a closer adaptation of Samurai Heroes, adapting many of the events from that game into its own retelling.  Unlike The Last Party, the Saica Faction, Tsuruhime and even Sorin are included in a plot that, like Samurai Heroes, is about the alliances formed in the build-up to Ieyasu and Mitsunari clashing at Sekigahara.

Regardless of what I type about Sengoku Basara: End of Judgement, the first episode is a must-watch.  It’s a more detailed and emotionally-charged retelling of the beginning of Samurai Heroes.  It leads up to Ieyasu’s betrayal of Hideyoshi, better elaborates on Mitsunari’s anguish and gives Hanbei and Hideyoshi a proper send-off with more screen time, which means another S-tier performance from Chris Cason.  The second episode is pretty good at adapting the following part of the game’s setup as well.

As for the rest of it, well, it’s not Samurai Kings.  That’s for sure.  The change in animation from Production I.G. to Telecom Animation Film is kind of like the difference between Manglobe's and Magic Bus’ cutscenes from the games.  It’s brighter and cheaper with simplified character designs to make animating easier.

Diplomacy, conversations and personal character moments are at the forefront with End of Judgement, and what fight scenes there are are more grounded and localized, but still have the signature Sengoku Basara super powers.  There’s not a whole lot of soldiers being tossed around by the dozens in the action scenes as much as there are duels between opposing characters that keep the surrounding area intact while clashing weapons.  It’s much more subdued and sometimes the fight scenes don’t even last very long.  End of Judgement is closer to a period drama.  Rest assured, there are still swords spinning like buzzsaws, an anchor as a bludgeon and glowing power fists.

I like that they went with something different after Samurai Kings, and I appreciate a closer adherence to the source material than The Last Party, but I have to admit the emphasis on dialogue means the pacing takes a hit and it’s not as viscerally entertaining as the colorful light show that is Samurai Kings.  If you’re looking for a fun anime to show in the background for a spectacle, this isn’t it.

Still, if it has to be a talky show, at least the voice cast delivers again.  Even more of the actors from Samurai Heroes were brought back for their characters, like Kat Steel, Karen Strassman, Kyle Hebert and Richard Epcar.  The voice cast from Samurai Kings came back as well, with the glaring exception of Troy Baker.  I don’t know why they couldn’t get Troy Baker back again, but he’s been replaced by Matt Mercer, who played Keiji in Samurai Heroes, except Keiji’s still played by Eric Vale here and does a much better job this time around.  Mercer never gives a bad performance, but he can’t do Mitsunari’s anguished screams and anger quite as well as Troy Baker.  Baker’s Mitsunari was one-of-a-kind and even for an S-tier actor like Matt Mercer, he’s irreplacable.

For fans of the game, someone looking for a historical Japan drama or for someone like me who didn’t get much out of The Last Party, I think End of Judgement is a good watch.  I give it a 7 out of 10.  Watch the first episode regardless.  The first episode is a 10 out of 10.
 
After End of Judgement, the last Sengoku Basara anime to be made was Basara Academy.

This one wasn’t even released with an English dub.  You can only get it in Japanese with subtitles and I don’t blame Funimation for not bothering.  Basara Academy is what you get when you make a series out of the little joke animations included as extras on anime DVDs (like Samurai Kings’).  It’s the Sengoku Basara characters except they’re in high school.  Nobunaga is the evil headmaster, Masamune is a delinquent posse leader, Ieyasu and Mitsunari clash in student council chairman campaigns after Hideyoshi was suspended, ect.  In a way it could be considered a Rival Schools anime.  Basara Academy wouldn't be out of place in those games at all.  It came out after the next game I’ll be going over, Sengoku Basara 4, so some of the new characters from that are included too.

It’s about what you expect.  It plays with the established traits of the Sengoku Basara characters for silly gags and hijinks.  It’s amusing and the animation is a step up from End of Judgement, but it doesn't stand out except to fans of the franchise that get all the in-jokes.  What you see is what you get.  I give it a 6 out of 10.

In addition to all the anime, one of the Sengoku Basara manga was also translated into English: Yak Haibara’s Sengoku Basara 2, or as it’s known in English, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends.  Obviously it was changed because Americans wouldn’t recognize that Sengoku Basara 2 is named after a game they never got to play, but even in Japan that’s a little confusing because it doesn’t appear to be a sequel to anything.

America got a pretty sweet deal with Samurai Legends.  The original Japanese run was in 4 volumes, but the English version instead put out 2 double-sized volumes with 2 of the Japanese volumes in each, plus color prints of the cover artwork of those volumes on the inside so you don’t miss them.  The words from the author are also translated and kept intact even though American players probably don’t know what this “Sengoku Basara X” game he’s talking about is.  They did everything right in releasing it in English and that makes it hurt to say that it’s not that great.

If you thought the action in The Last Party was a little light, get a load of the first quarter of Samurai Legends.  It’s almost all planning, talking and negotiations.  In the entire first quarter (which is the first volume in Japan) there is only one actual action scene, maybe two if you count a single page.  A lot of the action is off-panel in a Sengoku Basara adaptation! Even when the action starts picking up, it’s about on par with End of Judgement’s action, but End of Judgement’s story was more interesting on top of that.  Other adaptations strike a good balance of keeping both excitement and intrigue, as well as establish the characters better.  The characters in Samurai Legends are written accurately to their game counterparts, but they are barely given time to develop, as if the reader is expected to already know who they are.

It’s not like it's incompetent.  Yak Haibara’s artwork is pretty good, there are some interesting directions the plot takes if you can look past the pacing issues and I’m sure Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends has its fans.  It’s just that the anime adaptations do it better.  I give it a 6 out of 10.  It’s just alright.

The last thing I’ll cover is Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes: Official Complete Works, the artbook.  I wouldn’t ordinarily give art books any mind because the name says it all. However, I find the faithfully translated English release kind of fascinating in how it highlights what English players missed out on.

Yes, you do get all the artwork, the Makoto Tsuchihayashi drawings, the 3D renders, promotional art, cutscene storyboards and all that cool stuff, but it’s the last few dozen pages that an American player probably tilted their head at.

In addition to the art, the book shows off all the different merchandise that was pumped out to promote the game in Japan.  Fans, posters, cardboard standees, promotional instant ramen and action figures, among many other things, were made to hype it up in Japan.

In Japan.

It really highlights how pathetic marketing and advertizing for the game was in America compared to Japan.  Sure, the media blitz with all the adaptations in this post was itself a form of effective marketing, but in Japan it had all that and all the merchandise, posters and promotions.  In America I think there might have been one magazine ad once.  Maybe twice.  That’s not how you advertize.

Once it gets to the interviews, the art book has to clarify that SB: Samurai Heroes is called Sengoku Basara 3 in Japan and every interview is about the fact that it’s a sequel to Sengoku Basara 2, which American players didn’t get to play because “duuuuh they didn’t like Devil Kings.”  There’s an interview with the creators of the franchise about its history, how they went about making a sequel, how they evolved the formula, and other things revolving around the game American players didn’t get to play and therefore have no idea what they’re talking about.

There’s also interviews with every Japanese voice actor from Samurai Heroes, asking about what they think about coming back or getting to voice a character in the famous Sengoku Basara franchise for the first time.  Not only have most American players never played the previous game for that context, but Samurai Heroes doesn’t even have a Japanese voice option! The only American players who might know these actors as being in Sengoku Basara is if they watched the anime in Japanese, but this is an art book for the game.

Interviews with the singers of the opening and ending songs, as well as the lyrics, are also included, except there is no vocal ending song.  As the art book notes, the English version replaced that song with a different, instrumental track.  I think the replacement track is still pretty great (like the rest of the soundtrack), but it’s not exactly compelling to read an interview all about a song you didn’t even hear.  At least the interview about the opening works, since that was kept in.  Of course, T.M. Revolution’s comments about how he’s been with the franchise for 5 years doesn’t hit as hard to American players, where the only time they got to hear his music associated with the franchise was one game and one anime.

 

Gee guys, maybe not translating Sengoku Basara 2 was a bad idea!

 

I appreciate that the art book was translated 100% faithfully in its entirety, but a localized one that added interviews with the English actors or interviews about the major turning point that was the English release would not have gone amiss.  The only acknowledgement of the English version is a credits list of localizers and voice actors that even further cements how star-studded the English dub was, where nameless warriors with only a few lines were still voiced by the likes of Keith Silverstein, Dan Woren, J.B. Blanc and Doug Erholz.  A sequel to Samurai Heroes with a voice cast like that would be the single most amazing game in the history of mankind.

It would be.  Join me in the next post as we go over Capcom’s descent into evil and the soul-crushing depression that comes as the end result of belief and trust.