Sakura Wars creator Oji Hiroi appeared at the “Sega Universe Playground” live event held in Tokyo, Japan on August 8. As reported by Dengeki Online, Hiroi took the stage for a special talk show commemorating the Sakura Wars series’ 30th anniversary. To the delight of fans, he showed a very optimistic stance when it comes to the possibility of personally spearheading a potential continuation.
When asked about whether he has any ideas for a sequel, Hiroi said he has a plot for “Sakura Wars 6” that he has kept exactly as he penned back in the day. “I don’t know if it would hold up in today’s world, or whether I’d be the one to make it, but if such a time ever comes, I’ll do the job right,” he said, also adding that if he ever does get such an offer, he will definitely accept it.
Of course, rather than an official announcement, these are just Hiroi’s personal feelings on the matter, and whether his vision for Sakura Wars 6 gets to take shape remains to be seen.
Noteworthy from the rest of his speech though, is the extent to which Hiroi came to be engrossed in the world he created with Sakura Wars. He recalls that while working on the games, the characters would constantly be on his mind, not leaving his thoughts even when he would have dinner with his wife. He said the characters as “feeling like his lovers,” explaining that he felt like he had to constantly live his life close to them.
Although this made him deeply lonely and sometimes caused trouble to the people around him, Hiroi expressed huge thanks to the rest of the Sakura Wars development team for supporting him and essentially being the only ones to truly understand him. He describes his creative drive quite poignantly, though not without a touch of self-deprecating humor: “This is where I live. To create a place for myself, I have no choice but to come up with ideas. I’m always creating images and characters in my head, and when I bring them in, a place for me is created, and the staff gather around me. That’s why I have absolutely no friends (laughs).”
Hearing all this, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Hiroi is still raring to create a new Sakura Wars even after all these years.
