Post-Hoc Integration Sample Pitch

Graciously donated by the Sakura Taisen post-hoc integration pitch team. This is a very good example of a post-hoc integration pitch that is thorough, thoughtful, and legible.

Pitch

Basics

• Setting thoughts:
  • Base the Combat Revues out of the Orbital Ring colonies, because the Neo-Countries fit the idealized versions of Paris, New York City, and Tokyo that we see in the games.
    • This means the official titles would be the Neo-Japan Combat Revue, Neo-France Combat Revue, and Neo-America Combat Revue.
    • 1920's era Japan is a Mythic Cultural Touchstone, kinda like how New York is Neo-America and we see an idealized Paris as Neo-France.
    • The idealized 1920's New York actually gives Neo-America a vibe that might be useful (i.e., it's not "America, Fuck Yeah!"), and it would be fun to change stuff to play with the Europeans' middle finger to Britannia.
  • Part of their story is realizing they can't just keep ignoring the way the world is, and may need to fight people. This is a conflict, but a good one. (This plays nicely with Shuffle Alliance themes, see below.) It also plays well with Sakura Wars 2's conflict with the military.
  • Gemini Sunrise can be from Texas Colony, which saves us from figuring out how Texas exists in Code Geass-inspired North America; it also actually still works with "Gemini comes to New York and feels overwhelmed" because the disparity between Texas Colony and orbital ring colonies seems stark.
• Timeline thoughts:
  • Why is it not the 1920's? "Don't worry about it!" In all seriousness: lots of modern day shows get updated (see Gridman), and the Spiricle Armor use spiritual power so they're not exclusively steampunk mecha.
  • The Demon War happened during the Gryps Conflict. Demons began attacking a number of locations, including in the orbital ring colonies, and the Federation formed an anti-demon unit. This included Shinnosuke Yamazaki, who made the blueprint for the first Spiricle Armors, and Kazuma Shinguji (Sakura's father).
    • I suggest the Anti-Demon Squad have been Titan-funded, then swapped over to AEUG after Dakar. Shinnosuke could have kept some Titan ties, though.
  • The Revues began to be formed and trained around UC 0091 and 0092, with different Revues coming together sooner than others.
  • Sakura Wars 1 could have occurred during the Axis Shock, basically; Ogami and the Flower Division could have been pals with Domon.
  • Present day has the events of Sakura Wars 2, 3, and 5 occurring in the present, which makes the Neo-Japan, Neo-France, and Neo-America Combat Revues available from the start.
    • Probably some finagling to avoid situations like "Gemini is a janitor for a year." It's fine, it's a MU*, characters get involved early. These specific situations seem like they could be ironed out at the app level, though, much like having Rikka and Utsumi able to pilot.
  • Canon timeline:
    • Sakura Wars 1 occurs in 1923.
    • Sakura Wars 2 occurs in 1925.
    • Sakura Wars 3 occurs in 1926.
    • Sakura Wars 4 occurs in 1927.
    • Sakura Wars 5 occurs in 1928.
    • New Sakura Wars occurs in 1940 (and says the previous characters vanished in 1930).
• Factions, tentatively:
  • Combat Revues: Shuffle Alliance. Thinking they fit very well, with themes of being secret (or, well, they're publicly a musical theater troupe and actually combat pilots that fight demons), independently funded (through their shows and mysterious benefactors), and a questionable-at-best integration with national militaries.
    • There are probably OCU connections here for some characters (Yoneda, Ogami, Taiga). Some complicated entanglements seem like a good thing for these characters.
    • Each Combat Revue gets some funding from their respective Neo-Colony, but are mostly independently funded by their performances, Mithril, and the general Shuffle Alliance network. Maybe Domon, George, and Chibodee literally own large shares of their respective colonies' theaters.
    • OC Revues could be a thing (and maybe in other factions). We see a Berlin Revue, for example.
  • Black Demons (Sakura Wars 2): G-Hound.
    • Because they attempt a military coup to install their leader as the Emperor of Japan, just with evil powers instead of straight politicking. Their leader is Keigo Kyogoku, a former military officer turned hardline politician. He wants to restore Japan to the 17th century. This obviously may need some tweaks, but this sounds like a Blue Cosmos person.
    • Notably, they also have Shinnosuke Yamazaki -- formerly Aoi Satan, the bad guy from the first game -- as the seeming leader of the Black Demons. He claimed to be possessed by Actual Satan but Sakura Wars 2 really emphasizes him as a human who fell to evil.
    • They also have a (secretly) resurrected Kazuma Shinguji, wearing a mask and calling himself the Demon King. I know this bit may need some tweaking.
  • Paris Phantoms (Sakura Wars 3): Amalgam.
    • They want to bring back pre-Roman France. Specifically, Gaul. The goal fits well with Amalgam's theme of turning back the clock, though how they want to turn the clock back exactly may need to be changed on SRTMOO.
    • Salut, their leader, is the one behind this. He wants to restore France into pre-Roman times. He is also a clown, and I don't mean that in a perjorative sense. He recruited the other Phantoms.
    • He wants to do this by using the Great Oak Tree, a powerful spirit in Paris to bring back Gallic France by sacrificing people to the tree. It goes crazy later and roots shoot all over Paris. Some gendarmes shoot at the wicked tree roots. This part may need tweaks, but doesn't seem that out there. It's probably a question of "how."
      • It looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMIOSXjIyfM&ab_channel=TheSakuraWarsChronicle
  • ODA FUCKING NOBUNAGA (Sakura Wars 5): BioNet.
    • He is invading New York in the game. And he says he is a demon who cannot understand human emotions; this probably needs some editing. This is similar to Alexis-Kerib and Over Justice.
    • He is specifically pursuing people who are reincarnations, which I think can handshake well with other parts of the theme.
  • Sakura Wars 4 and New Sakura Wars: These could probably be figured out later. I feel like lessons might be learned that could make this better.
    • Sakura Wars 4 has a ghost daimyo that is incensed that he is seen as a villain, and wants revenge on Neo-Japan. I feel like this could be excellent and have more impact later, especially if it's adapted some to fit SRTMOO's history.
    • New Sakura Wars is where I have a weak spot, because I don't have a PS4, but it's also set 10+ years after the rest of the series so I don't think punting the can down the road is too irresponsible.
• Canon point? Tentatively, to maximize appability:
  • Sakura Wars 1: happened already, during the Axis Shock. The basic summary is:
    • A group of strange mecha and monsters began attacking Neo-Japan and spots in the world before the Axis Shock. They were revealed to be a group of chi-users, with strange monsters, called the Hive of Darkness. They tried to take over Neo-Japan. They were beaten back, though there was a final resurgence.
      • Their leader is supposed to be the Biblical Satan, but Sakura Wars 2 handily says that he was actually a disaffected Japanese officer that turned to dark arts. I suggest we strike that part (and the part where someone is also the Archangel Michael), and just say that Aoi Satan/Shinnosuke Yamazaki and Ayame were powerful chi users. That's kind of weird and the series doesn't really go there again.
      • I envision this happening with connections to the Shuffle Alliance, and likely ties to the Devil Gundam. I could see DG Cells playing a role, but didn't want to innovate too much there without checking with staff.
  • Sakura Wars 2, 3, and 5: concurrent, with the Revues working together more than canon because they'd be less location-limited on a MU* by necessity of the medium.
    • Sakura Wars 5 doesn't appear to need to occur after 2, 3, and 4. It's set later, but aside from Ogami and Sakura doing a cameo at the beginning, and Shinjiro Taiga being Ogami's nephew, there isn't really a close link in plot material that I could find. The nephew part works with some age adjustments.
  • Sakura Wars 4: happens later
  • New Sakura Wars: happens laaaaaattttterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, it has some stuff and might be best for a later Phase, if used

Antagonists

• The overarching theme of the series is how to answer the question "is it better to sacrifice the present to restore the past?" The villains in all five games address this at least a little. In most cases, a lot.
• They're not likely to be applied for, however, the themes that the protagonists respond to -- rejecting a return to the past to favor an uncertain future, rejecting the creation of an artificial world (e.g., fighting against villains who want to restore Gaul instead of accepting modern France), and grappling with choices between sacrificing themselves and protecting people -- fit in well with existing antagonists and themes on the game. There's interesting interactions that can go far beyond "Sakura Shinguji kicks ass."
• They seem to need to make mecha or otherwise be mecha-sized, typically. There are demons.
• Demons/Kouma are "grudges given form," born from negative emotions and feelings. I suggest we say sufficiently strong will can control them, so many of the named Sakura Wars villains are powerful chi users with techniques to control them. I gather this is not that far off from things we see in Ultra series, for instance (but could be wrong!).

Spiricle Armor, Spirit Power, and Abilities

• Background Ideas:
  • Sylusium is a metal that helps with protection against demonic powers in the game. It was discovered during the American Civil War in the original timeline, but this could have been something that cropped up pre-One Year War. This is very flexible, though. It may offer fun handshakes.
  • Project development started around the end of the First Neo-Zeon War, with Shinnosuke making the original blueprint. I was thinking it was also designed to make a very small unit for action inside colonies, with a Republic of Zeon + Neo-colonies engineering team. It does look a little Zaku-ish for a reason.
  • The Spiricle Armors were developed using those notes, to use chi powers that had been seen to such effect from Master Asia in the recent Gundam Fight, which also captures the Revue teams constant problem with personnel: "wait, our recruitment policies rely on folks with strong spiritual power and not everyone can do this, oh shit??? Why can't we find qualified candidates?? Indeed.com doesn't have a field for this??? HELP???"
  • But in UC 0093, the Neo-Japan Combat Revue fields Koubus and then development for other teams happened after.
• Spirit Power notes:
  • Spirit Power as a concept is so similar to chi that it could simply be chi.
  • It doesn't seem like it would be any more special than various special folks already existing. Meaningful combat happens inside a Spiricle Armor; anime cutscene combat can be on foot.
  • Necessary for characters to pilot Spiricle Armor.
• Stats ideas:
  • Size 2S. They average out to about 3 meters (between 2.5 and 3.5 meters depending on the show).
  • Kinesthetic pilot type -- the characters visibly stick their arms inside of receptacles to move them.