Sakura Taisen 5 details announced

TOKYO--Sega released the first details on Sakura Taisen 5: Saraba Itoshiki Hito Yo for the PlayStation 2. The details revealed for the latest game in the venerable series include a new main character and the identities of four of the game's five heroines. Sakura Taisen 5: Saraba Itoshiki Hito Yo is scheduled for a summer 2005 release for the PlayStation 2 in Japan.

While previous installments in the Sakura Taisen series took place in Japan and Paris, Sakura Taisen 5 will take place in New York during 1927. A new young Japanese navy lieutenant named Shinjirou Taiga has taken over Lieutenant Oogami Ichirou's role as the main character. Like previous installments in the Sakura Taisen series, Sakura Taisen 5 will feature a team of five heroines, although one of the character's identities has yet to be revealed. The heroines and the main character will fight against monsters by riding on giant mechs, which is also a series tradition.

Besides cowgirl Gemini Sunrise, who is the main character in Sega's upcoming action game Sakura Taisen V Episode 0: Arano no Samurai Murasume, the heroines in Sakura Taisen 5 will all be new characters. The remaining four characters are: Sagitta Weinberg, a 21-year-old lawyer from Harlem; Ricaritta Aries, a small Mexican girl with pigtails; Diana Caprice, a 19-year-old medical student at Boston University; and Subaru Kujo, a Japanese youth whose age and sex are unknown.

The game is currently 30 percent complete, and it is scheduled to be exhibited at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. A preview disc of Sakura Taisen 5 will be included in Sakura Taisen V Episode 0: Arano no Samurai Murasume, which is slated for release on September 22 in Japan at the retail price of 7,140 yen ($65).