{"id":70690,"date":"2026-08-06T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=70690"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T08:03:57","slug":"renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/","title":{"rendered":"Renya Setoguchi, author of &#8220;Overwhelmingly Positive&#8221; visual novel Hira Hira Hihiru, announces new project Hyakubyaku"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japanese studio BA-KU has announced Hyakubyaku &#8211; a brand-new title directed and written by Renya Setoguchi (note that the title is simply transcribed, not an official English title). The Steam store page is currently in preparation, while the release date remains under wraps for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hyakubyaku will be BA-KU&#8217;s second self-published title, following 2022&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2101350\/BLACK_SHEEP_TOWN\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Sheep Town<\/a>. In 2023, the studio also released the dark visual novel <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2314820\/Hira_Hira_Hihiru\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hira Hira Hihiru<\/a> with the support of publisher Aniplex. Both titles were penned by Setoguchi and have received positive reception, with Hira Hira Hihiru earning an &#8220;Overwhelmingly Positive&#8221; rating on Steam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1529\" height=\"858\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1529px) 100vw, 1529px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-70698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-001.jpg 1529w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-001-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Setoguchi&#8217;s past work includes classic bishojo visual novels like CARNIVAL, SWAN SONG and Kira\u2606Kira, which have earned him recognition for his nuanced psychological writing and thematically rich storytelling. Afte announcing his retirement in 2008, Setoguchi returned to the game industry in 2019 with the release of MUSICUS. Since then, he has been active with BA-KU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Few details about Hyakubyaku have been revealed so far, but the game&#8217;s artwork will be handled by illustrator and animator Karin Kanzaki, while the music will be composed by Hideyuki Babai. Also known under the alias &#8220;BB,&#8221; this will be Babai&#8217;s first collaboration with Setoguchi since SWAN SONG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hyakubyaku is currently in development. Updates on the project are expected to be announced through <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BA_KU_official\/status\/2085153886055137749?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BA-KU&#8217;s official X account<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This will be studio BA-KU&#8217;s second self-published title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":70697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-08-06T10:00:52+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3msfrvcyxv625","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3msfrvcyxv625\",\"cid\":\"bafyreiakpa3vbh2zpelirfoumgnayvktzoxhht3gccxe5su4nemwvlqdnq\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreihipiwkcmatmdgxxbjc27zu2i2tqfq2wzk7ocwdififkwvtkovgby\",\"rev\":\"3msfrvcz2sw25\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-70690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Renya Setoguchi, author of &quot;Overwhelmingly Positive&quot; visual novel Hira Hira Hihiru, announces new project Hyakubyaku - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Renya Setoguchi, author of &quot;Overwhelmingly Positive&quot; visual novel Hira Hira Hihiru, announces new project Hyakubyaku - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This will be studio BA-KU&#039;s second self-published title.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-06T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"860\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Renya Setoguchi, author of \"Overwhelmingly Positive\" visual novel Hira Hira Hihiru, announces new project Hyakubyaku - AUTOMATON WEST","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Renya Setoguchi, author of \"Overwhelmingly Positive\" visual novel Hira Hira Hihiru, announces new project Hyakubyaku - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"This will be studio BA-KU's second self-published title.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-08-06T10:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1530,"height":860,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70690-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/renya-setoguchi-author-of-overwhelmingly-positive-visual-novel-hira-hira-hihiru-announces-new-project-hyakubyaku\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Renya Setoguchi, author of &#8220;Overwhelmingly Positive&#8221; 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