General admission tickets went on sale earlier this morning for Yoko Taro’s next stage play in the Bakuken series. Use the link below to make your reservations:
General Admission Sales: Begins from 10:00am on Monday, November 18th Calls accepted at 0570-08-9999 (10:00am – 6:00pm). Phone reservations will end closer to the performance date.
Internet reservations: From 10:00 on Monday, November 18th Available until 8:00pm the day before the performance. To make reservations, you must be a CN Card member, CN Mobile phone member, or CN Premium member.
Please note that there is a mistake with the URL to the CN Play Guide website. Please be sure that you add the “www” in the URL for it to work properly.
With the first wave of ticket reservations completed, the second wave began about a week ago and will be concluding tomorrow! If you will be in Japan later this December and are interested in going to the next iteration of Yoko Taro’s Bakuken series of stage plays, now is your chance!
Actually, tomorrow is the last day to reserve tickets. S seats are all sold out, but there are still some A seats available!
The key visual for the next edition in the Bakuken stage play series has been officially released. It seems like we’re going back to the black/white color scheme from the first play.
And, I can’t help but imagine that the hairstyle for Michael / Akiyama Yoshifuru is reminiscent of Masayoshi Yura’s bandage/eye patch… I’m sure that’s not intended here; just, I can’t help but see things that aren’t necessarily there. haha
Just last night was another fun “Game Sakaba” segment with many folks from the NieR development team and more in which we were able to watch the guys play around with the new system from SEGA in which it lets you play actual UFO catcher games through a simple touch on your smartphone!
I will not be covering the main portion of this livestream regarding the UFO catchers, but you can watch the full broadcast from the link below:
Music: Song of the Ancients / Atonement (Ver.1.1a)
Size: 500ml
▶︎ New “Smart Toy” brand anitech by HIBINO
Much along the same lines as the PSYCHO-PASS smart toy that was released in 2016 which connects to your smartphone and transforms, several NieR:Automata themed items are currently under development. Here’s a look at the PSYCHO-PASS toy:
Firstly, here’s the mock-up of 2B’s sword, Virtuous Contract:
And secondly, here’s the mock-up of Pod042:
Please note that there seems to be three pods shown in the image on the left, but these are the individual stages in which the smart toy will effectively morph into. They’re currently debating what size to make the smart toy, as if they go with a 1:1 ratio, it might be too large for most people (as there’s little storage space for most in Japan). They demonstrated generally how large a 1:1 ratio would look like in the image on the right.
▶︎ Happy Birthday, Yosupi!
Yosuke “Yosupi” Saito’s birthday was on August 25, so the gang gave him a little birthday celebration including a song/rap by Yoko, Namio, and Ui. The only thing was… the girls couldn’t quite hear the BGM track to be able to sing their lines very well and it was kinda a mess in a hilarious way. They later tried it again and it was a bit better, but it was a little painfully obvious that they didn’t perform a technical rehearsal before the livestream… lol
Music written by Keiichi Okabe (DJ Okabe)
Lyrics written by Yoko Taro
Performed by Mio Hanana (Diva Namio) & Ui Hinagata (Diva Ui)
▲ The lyrics were color coded for the performers.
Red: Yoko
Blue: DJ Namio
Pink: DJ Ui
Green: DJ Namio / DJ Ui
What was really funny about this is that Saito even ratted them out, saying that they needed to practice and rehearse more, which to anyone involved in productions like this, is an ABSOLUTE given. There’s no excuse for them not to hear the BGM and therefore mess up, but even the second time through, they still kinda messed up, so… yeah, they needed a couple more takes in rehearsal. haha
Here’s a look at Yosupi’s cake that they gave him. The first photo is pretty funny with Yoko’s head on the side. For the actual cake, you can see that they printed a photo of Yosupi in his 9S cosplay that he wore for the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya earlier this month.
They even made a large poster of the same image of Yosupi as 9S (which he dubbed 54D) and unveiled it during the program. For some reason, the camera focused on his knees, maybe at Yoko’s request.
They also made some small acrylic stands of Yosupi and Yoko in their cosplays from WCS2024.
▶︎ NieR:Automata Ver.1.1a – Season 2
▶︎ The Limited Edition DVD/BD Boxset Bonuses:
Digital jacket with original artwork by character designer and chief animation director Jun Nakai
New short story by Jun Eshima, 笑顔ノ君ヘ “Egao no Kimi e” (To you who smiles)
Drama CD “fa[T]al error“
Collection of production materials, “Elements of NieR:Automata Ver.1.1a 002”
”Pod’s Records 002” Illustration Book
Replica Disc
Special Illustration Card(s)
Virtuous Contract
▶Over 130cm of an overwhelming presence with realistic texture ▶Reproduces battle scenes with vibration, light, and sound effects based upon movement ▶Secondary product: Pod042 remote control ▶Includes voice recordings of the main character, 2B ▶Comes with unique serial number engraved ▶Scheduled for release in Autumn 2025
Pod042
▶Automatic transformation mechanism ▶Reproduces laser beams with sound effects and light ▶Can be remote controlled with the Virtuous Contract or smartphone ▶A special voice recording plays when stroked ▶Includes an alarm and alert function with Pod042’s voice ▶Comes with unique serial number engraved ▶Comes with dedicated stand ▶Scheduled for release in 2027
▶︎ The Next BAKUKEN Stage Play in 2025!
They let slip that there’s another Bakuken stage play set for 2025, and we’ll hear more about the details later in December, maybe around Christmas along the same lines as the previous Saito Santa livestreams, which officially ended in 2022. This will mark the 4th official play, 3rd in terms of story, which should continue the story from the last one in which we saw the appearance of Kyosuke Suga as Michael. Although I’m very excited to see him back, if that’s the case, it will be hard to see him as a BAD GUY in need of saving by Yatsume…!! The implications for the whole Bakuken stories in terms of the overall Yokoverse is CRAZY!
Absolutely insane take: Could Yatsume actually be the basis for Accord…? We know she’s immortal and will always come back to life due to “reasons”… It would be interesting if this is how Yoko envisioned fusing everything together. This next play might be the last for Bakuken… before Yoko gets another idea for something brand new.
More news will follow when it’s been announced! Please stay tuned!
Bakuken 3 ~The Genpei Final Battle~ September 14-19, 2023
The 3rd installment of the Bakuken stage play series will be back in full swing later this September!
Title: Bakuken ~The Genpei Final Battle~
Date: Thursday, September 14 – Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Place: CBGK Shibugeki
THE TEASER
In the era of the Genpei War. Before Taira, one who boasted overwhelming power, Minamoto was well on his way to destruction.
There, the cornered Minamoto welcomes in the forbidden Onmyoji, Abe no Seimei. Afraid of Abe’s power, Taira recruits Kiichi Hogen, a monk rumored to have spiritual powers. Still, Hogen appears to be unmotivated and merely drinks the days away.
As the stench of war intensifies, a Portuguese merchant named Michael appears to offer his support to both sides…
