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Stranger Than Heaven Game Reveals Story, Gameplay, Cast, Winter Launch – News

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Game launches on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, Game Pass; story spans decades in 20th-century Japan

Sega and Xbox unveiled a new cast and story trailer and a 92-minute presentation for Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s Stranger Than Heaven game (previously codenamed “Project Century”) on Wednesday. Both the trailer and the presentation highlight the game’s story, show gameplay footage, reveal the main cast, and announce the winter launch date.

Story Trailer:



Presentation Video:


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Image via Stranger Than Heaven website

The game will explore different times and places in Japan’s modern history, including Kokura, Fukuoka in 1915; Kure, Hiroshima in 1929; Minami, Osaka in 1943; Atami, Shizuoka in 1951; and the fictional neighborhood of Kamurocho (based on the Kabukicho neighborhood, and a constant setting of RGG Studio’s Yakuza/Like a Dragon games) in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1965.

Sega describes the game’s story:

A 50-year saga of those with nowhere to go and their desperate struggle to find a home. In 1915 San Francisco, a young boy, Makoto Daito, sneaks aboard a suspicious ship in the harbor under the cover of night. Born to an American father and a Japanese mother, Makoto faces harsh persecution due to his Asian heritage. 

After losing both of his parents, Makoto decides to travel to his mother’s homeland, Japan, where a fateful encounter awaits. With nothing but the shirt on his back, Makoto soon learns, however, that his voyage across the Pacific is anything but a “free ride,” and that this one choice will forever change the course of his life. 

The game will launch this winter on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, and will also be available via Game Pass.

The game’s cast includes:

  • Yū Shirota as Makoto Daito
  • Snoop Dogg as Orpheus
  • Moeka Hoshi as Tae Matsumoto
  • Tori Kelly as Suzy Day
  • Akio Ōtsuka as Heigo Yashima
  • Tokuma Nishioka as Kiyoshi Otsuru
  • Satoshi Fujihara as Takashi
  • Cordell Broadus as The Veiled Stranger
  • Ado as Keiko Shirai
  • Bunta Sugawara (model basis) and Takashi Ukaji (voice) as Genzo Iwaki
  • Sega provided the following comment regarding the character Genzo Iwaki and the model for the character being based on the late actor Bunta Sugawara:

    In STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, the late and legendary actor Bunta Sugawara appears. SEGA received formal consent from his family, and, with materials provided by Toei Company Ltd.—which produced many of Mr. Sugawara’s films, including the Battles Without Honor and Humanity— RGG Studio crafted his CG character design based on archival footage and photographs from the time.

    Snoop Dogg, Satoshi Fujihara, Ado, and Tori Kelly perform the game’s theme song “Stranger Than Heaven.”

    Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s remake of the Yakuza 3 game along with the new standalone Dark Ties title, launched as a single release for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam worldwide on February 12.

    Ryu ga Gotoku Studio’s Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (Ryū ga Gotoku 8 Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii) game launched worldwide for PS4, PS4, Xbox X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and PC via Steam in February 2025.

    Source: Press release

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    Manchuria Opium Squad Manga Resumes Serialization With New Artist Tsurushima – News

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    The official X (formerly Twitter) account for writer Tsukasa Monma and the late artist Shikako‘s Manchuria Opium Squad manga announced on Monday that the manga will resume in this year’s 45th issue of Kodansha‘s Weekly Young Magazine, which will ship on October 5. The manga will continue serialization with Shikako‘s successor, manga artist Tsurushima, who was their senior colleague while working as assistant for Yasuhisa Hara‘s Kingdom manga.

    Hara also shared the announcement on his X/Twitter account. Hara stated that Shikako expressed before they died the hope that an artist from the Kingdom man ga would take over the artwork for Manchuria Opium Squad. Hara commended Tsurushima for their resolve to succeed Shikako and continue drawing the manga’s art.  

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    Image via Amazon Japan

    Manchuria Opium Squad will resume on October 5 with two chapters. The 12-page chapter 216 was originally planned to be 16 pages long. Shikako was able to complete 11 pages before they died. Monma arranged the 12th page, which does not feature any characters, and the assistant(s) who had been supporting Shikako drew the background. From chapter 217, the manga will take a new step with art by Tsurushima.

    Weekly Young Magazine‘s editorial department stated in the announcement that the manga’s resumption is made possible by the thoughts and dedicated efforts of many people including Shikako‘s family; Tsurushima, who respected a friend’s final wish and took over the manga’s art; writer Monma, who expressed their desire to continue the manga’s story up to its conclusion; the assistants who provided production support; and the readers who believed and waited for the manga’s return.

    Monma and Shikako serialized the manga on Kodansha‘s Comic Days service from April 2020 to September 2021. The manga moved to Kodansha‘s Weekly Young Magazine in September 2021, with its 43rd issue of 2021. Kodansha shipped the 22nd compiled book volume in November 2025.

    Kodansha publishes the series in English on the K MANGA app. 

    Shikako died on November 8, 2025 due to choroidal melanoma, a rare form of cancer that develops in the eye. The artist wanted someone to complete the manga series in their place, and the Weekly Young Magazine staff stated then that they would respect Shikako‘s wishes. 

    Writer Ryūki Ōnuma and Tsurushima launched the Shikyuuji: Kōkō Kyūji ni Asu wanai manga in Young Magazine in June 2023. The series then moved to Kodansha‘s YanMaga Web manga site in December 2023, where it ended in January 2024. Tsurushima most recently drew the Gokuaku Tensei (Extremely Evil Reincarnation) manga, which ended with its fourth volume that Kodansha shipped on July 17.

    Sources: Manchuria Opium Squad manga’s X/Twitter account, Oricon News


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    Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret Manga Gets TV Anime in April – News

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    An X (formerly Twitter) account opened on Monday to announce that a television anime of Kashiko Amane‘s Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret (Hōkago no Idol ni wa Himitsu ga Aru) manga will premiere next April.

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    Image via Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret anime’s X/Twitter account

    The main cast members are:

    Hikaru Sato (The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Dropkick on My Devil!) is directing the anime at Gekkō, and Fumihiko Shimo is overseeing and writing the series scripts. Kibidango 14-gō (Azuma Tozawa) is designing the characters. Satoru Kōsaki and monaca are composing the music. Ryō Aizawa (Starry Cube) is producing.

    Yen Press publishes the manga in English, and it describes the story:

    Hizashi Hiruno, a freshman at a super-elite high school, has just finished his first academic proficiency test of the year. He anxiously awaits the results, which will set the tone for his next three years at school. But due to a mistake on his answer sheet, he receives an abysmal score and gets sent to remedial lessons! If there’s one silver lining, he’s not the only one—and his comrade could be the girl of his dreams?!

    Amane has been serializing the manga on Hakusensha‘s Young Anime Web site. Yen Press published the fourth manga volume in June.

    Source: Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret anime’s X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie


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    4 of Dragon Ball Z’s Goku Voice Actors Perform Kamehameha Together – Interest

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    If you thought a Kamehameha from one Son Goku from Dragon Ball Z was powerful, what about four? That very moment was captured by Mexican voice actor Georgina Sanchez last week. As four of the voices behind Son Goku, Masako Nozawa (Japanese, front and center), Mario Castañeda (Spanish, left), Sean Schemmel (English, center back), and Ankur Javeri (Hindi, right) performed the move before the Tokyo X convention in Houston.

    Nozawa, Castaneda, Schemmel, and Javeri appeared at the Tokyo X convention at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas between September 26 and 27.

    Dragon Ball Z was the second anime series to adapt Akira Toriyama‘s Dragon Ball manga. The anime series premiered in April 1989 and continued until January 1996. It spawned several feature-length films and the truncated Dragon Ball Kai anime series in 2009.

    Nozawa holds the Guinness World Record for “voice actor who voiced the same character in a video game for the longest period” and “longest video game voice acting career,” for her work as Son Goku. She won one of the 71st Kan Kikuchi Prizes “as a traiblazing representative of Japanese voice actors” in 2023. In her acceptance speech, she confidently stated she will continue voice acting until she is 182 years old. The Japanese government honored her as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2025. She released a new line of merchandise in late August 2026 in celebration of her 90th birthday.

    Sources: Georgina Sánchez’s Instagram account, Tokyo X’s website (link 2, link 3)


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