Sentai Filmworks has announced that they have acquired the license for two upcoming anime series: Urara Meirocho and BanG Dream. Both series will premiere in Japan in January 2017, with English-subtitled releases to follow.
Urara Meirocho follows four girls on their journey to become fortune tellers. It is based on a four-panel manga series by Harikamo. It is directed by Youhei Suzuki, who has also worked on Shimoneta (A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist) and Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat. Series composition is handled by Deko Akao, who has worked on Flying Witch, Noragami and Snow White with Red Hair. Mai Otsuka, who has previously worked on Shakugan no Shana and Non Non Biyori, is providing the character designs.
BanG Dream! is a mixed-media project that features live performances by the girls’ band Poppin’ Party. Atsushi Otsuki, who has worked on To-Love-Ru and Wagnaria!!2, directed the series. Series composition is handled by Yuniko Ayana, who has also worked on Hello!! Kinmoza, Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls and Flip Flappers. Noriyasu Agematsu of Elements Garden produced the music.
With Emily thrown off the seat of power and her claim to the throne called into question, players must select to play as either Corvo who has had his powers drained by the overthrowing power or Emily with the character they don’t choose being imprisoned in stone. With the city of Dunwall in danger and nearly everyone an enemy, the selected character flees to discover the truth behind the mysteries surrounding them and try to reclaim what was once theirs.
This is a plus considering the actual storyline is handled in a rather rough manner as players are given heavy dumps of information that is spread between only the bare minimum, meaning players will often feel like they are simply being told the main story rather than playing an influencing role in major events. It also doesn’t help that while Corvo and Emily will have some unique pieces of dialogue here and there, the major story scenes don’t change much between the two characters making the unique viewpoints of the story somewhat limited outside of the familiar high or low chaos routes.
Players will find that these numerous routes have also been amplified thanks to the numerous tools that they have at their disposal. The weaponry has been given numerous ways that they can be upgraded to best fit your current playstyle and turn yourself into a killing machine if you so please but those who prefer a non-lethal route will find that there are now a larger pool of non-lethal attack methods and takedowns available, even giving players in open combat a chance to try and subdue their foe without killing them.
Each of these characters offer a variety of lethal and non-lethal ways to take on any challenge the game may throw at you and with numerous customization abilities players will be able to play through this title numerous times and still find something new as they explore the largely open environments that most of the levels are set in. This is a major plus given the fact that the enemies you face off against can be just as deadly once you are caught in the open.
That being said, players shouldn’t expect the stealth route to be as easy either as guards in this entry aren’t quite like your standard grunts. While standard tricks may work on them from time to time, they will often make various changes to their behavior that can catch a player off guard if they expect them to react the same way every time.
Along those same lines, the actual change doesn’t feel all that different since characters are basically the same looking as the original entry though the gore level has been knocked up a notch. These character designs also damage certain emotional moments of the story as the way that their facial structures are handled hamper the expressions they are meant to make. That being said, the voice work and atmospheric noise in the game work incredibly well and help build a living world.