‘Retake Japan’ in a New Mobile Game From Fate/Grand Order Dev Delightworks

Not content with running one of the world’s most popular mobile RPGs, Fate/Grand Order, developer Delightworks has another mobile RPG up its sleeve. This time, it’s teasing the affair with the mysterious tagline “Retake Japan” (“Nihon, Dakkan”/”日本、奪還”). This isn’t the title, though, as that’s carefully redacted on its actual website for now. Ahead of a planned reveal livestream on September 2, 2020, other information can still be gleaned that might give a clue as to what we’re looking at.

The biggest clue is this teaser trailer, released last week:

The trailer shows off background art, taking place in a fairly modern-looking Tokyo, and zooms in on a character wearing what looks to be a cherry blossom-pink mecha suit. That character is Shino Sakura, one of the three revealed so far on the website. Shino, along with characters Asebi Mikohama and Fuuka Aoshima, all appear connected to a bunch of “redacted” bits of information. Still other named-but-unrevealed characters on the site hail from different parts of Japan, with prominent focus on the “Retake Japan” tag line.

All this seems to suggest an unconfirmed connection with the Sakura Wars franchise. For one, the mecha design shares many design elements with the Spiricle Armor from the Sakura Wars games, including the coloration, three-fingered hands, and hakama-like decor pieces. Mentions of song and performance, perennial elements of Sakura Wars are littered throughout the website, as well. Even the brief character introduction videos being posted on the official Twitter feed open with a blast of windblown cherry blossom petals.

【ディライトワークス 新作RPG‟日本、奪還。”プロジェクト】
本日8月30日(日)、ヒロイン「咲良しの(CV:岸本萌佳)」の紹介動画その1を公開いたしました。

9月2日(水)20:00より発表会生配信！

詳しくは→https://t.co/hhuNapDL2S #日本奪還 pic.twitter.com/6zllPYQsWb

— ディライトワークス PRODUCTS (@DW_products) August 30, 2020

Lastly, the frequent exhortations to “retake” Japan could loosely be interpreted as calls to “restore” or “liberate” the nation, which falls in line with one of the trademarks Sega registered earlier: “Sakura Kakumei.” Though the word is closest to “Revolution,” it’s occasionally associated with terms like “liberation,” such as in the anime series Valvrave the Liberator.

Whatever this is, those interested won’t have long to wait, given that a reveal stream is planned for the evening of September 2, 2020. The stream can be seen on Youtube and feature the involvement of  hololive personality Shirakami Fubuki. The game itself is scheduled for a Fall 2020 release on Android and iOS, and it will be free-to-play.

Incidentally, another potentially Sakura Wars-adjacent game, Project B.L.A.C.K. will also have its reveal stream on September 2nd (at exactly the same time), and feature hololive personality Houshou Marine.