New Stage Play by Yoko Taro, “Bakuken”

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Updated: 3/25/2021 – 10:23 pm

During Saito Yosuke’s Christmas special last night on Christmas Eve, they announced a brand new stage play by Yoko Taro. Please see below for the current details.

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  1. The Details
  2. The Cast
  3. Tickets
  4. Links
  5. Speculation

THE DETAILS

Bakuken ~Shogun Imperial Match~

  • Yoko Taro
    Original Story / Script
  • Matsuda Ichidai
    Director
  • Schedule: Wednesday, March 24 – Wednesday, March 31, 2021
  • Dates:
    • Wednesday, March 24: 6:00pm
    • Thursday, March 25: 6:00pm
    • Friday, March 26: 6:00pm
    • Saturday, March 27: 1:00pm, 5:00pm
    • Sunday, March 28: 1:00pm, 5:00pm
    • Monday, March 29: 6:00pm
    • Tuesday, March 30: 2:00pm, 6:00pm
    • Wednesday, March 31: 1:00pm
      * Seats at half-capacity.
  • Location: CBGK: Shibu Geki, Shibuya

All are the strongest.
All are madmen.
And all are foodies.

The war-torn “Hinokuni” was conquered by Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Swordsmen who have lost their purpose to fight happen to meet at the restaurant “Yatsumedo.”
They heard a rumor that an Imperial Match* would be held for the shogun to choose his swordsmen.

  • Imperial Match (Gozen Jiai, 御前試合): A martial arts match held in front of shoguns and daimyu during the samurai era. Also a match to be held in front of the Emperor.

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THE CAST

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TICKETS

Tickets are slated to go on sale in mid-January.

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https://twitter.com/gekidan_ds/status/1342091072311160832

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SPECULATION

The majority if not all of the characters in this cast are a variety of famous figures in the history of Japan, but the main point that sticks out is that not all of them are from the same time. There are characters from the Sengoku, Azuchi-Momoyama, and early Edo periods, some separated by over 200 years.

In terms of the date, this stage play will debut AFTER the release of NieR Re[in]carnation (Rein) and BEFORE Replicant Ver.1.22… I have a hard time believing this will have any direct connection to Replicant, but I can imagine it having an indirect connection to Rein since it’s basically a mash-up of various stories, plus we already know there is at least one story that takes place around the Sengoku period (see also: Assassin). Notably, the family crest that is shown in her design is originally made for this project, but it somewhat resembles that of the Sasaki clan, so I would watch out for a possible connection with Sasaki Setsu with this clan. Another clue for this is that… There is no real-world famous figure by the name of “Sasaki Setsu”, so I would imagine this is an inserted, original character.

Additionally, I couldn’t find any information on Yatsume either, so this may also be an original character. The fact that Hanagiku will be portraying this character can mean several things, but the main thing that sticks out to me is that this character may be the red herring of the story. The name of the restaurant where the characters gather is called “Yatsumedo”, so I assume she will either be the owner of the restaurant (therefor the puppeteer of the story) or something similar. She tends to play either adamantly strong characters or the deviously insane type of character… so I’m betting she’ll be doing the latter.

So, I’m currently speculating that this play might have an indirect tie-in to NieR Re[in]carnation. What do you think?

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