NOTE: This article is from the oprainfall campaign hub written by an independent campaign and shared on our website. The opinions herein may not reflect the opinions of the oprainfall website.
The origins of the Senran International Academy can be traced back to the dedicated fan community on the XSEED Game Suggestion forum for the Senran Kagura series. With no company expressing intent on localizing the games, even after more than 450 pages of fan support, we decided that we could sit by no longer and that we had to create a unified front. Senran Kagura has been a huge commercial success for Marvelous AQL and despite the series’ producer expressing an interest in releasing the games worldwide, no progress has been made on an English release.
Beyond just working to get the games localized, we are interested in all aspects of the series and work hard to provide a database of all information relating to it. From the games, manga, upcoming anime, and a host of other merchandise, Senran Kagura has quickly developed into an exciting new franchise. Strong demand to see the series worldwide began as early as the first game, Senran Kagura: Portrait of Girls for the Nintendo 3DS.
Senran Kagura: Portrait of Girls is a side scrolling action game with visual novel and adventure elements that further flesh out the story. It tells the tale of the five main playable characters’ struggles within their Ninja Academy and their battles against five rival characters from another Academy.
Also for the Nintendo 3DS, the second game in the series, Senran Kagura Burst: Crimson Girls, follows a similar system as the first game but follows the rival characters instead. As an added bonus, the entire Senran Kagura: Portrait of Girls game is included as part of this game with all of the gameplay additions and tweaks made in Crimson Girls.
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus is an upcoming game for the Playstation Vita and it departs from the battle system of the 3DS games by shifting from side scrolling action to a beat’em up in the same vein as Dynasty Warriors. The game also introduces new Ninja Academies with 10 new playable characters in addition to the 10 from the previous games being playable as well.
The just recently announced Senran Kagura: New Wave for iOS and Android will be a huge departure from the previous games and revolve around card battles. New Wave will introduce roughly 40 Ninja from a different academies, including some international newcomers.
With the series having developed into a franchise with several games, media, and merchandise the demand to see the games localized has grown even stronger. Fans worldwide will have the option of importing Shinovi Versus thanks to the Playstation Vita being region free, but that does not help with the games on the region-locked 3DS. Thus, because an enhanced version of Portrait of Girls is included on Crimson Girls, getting the latter localized has been our top priority.
Despite none of the games being released in English thus far, since the start of our campaign we have enjoyed quite a bit of good news. For one, Nintendo of Korea recently announced that it will be releasing Senran Kagura Burst: Crimson Girls on the eShop as a digital download. Also, as a direct result of our first community activity, the series producer responded via Twitter that he is making plans to try and bring the series worldwide and he began following the Senran International Academy Twitter account.
Our campaign may be young, but our strong fan base is dedicated and constantly working to make our voices heard. We know that the series producer has taken notice of us and we are continuing to strive to improve our community. The Senran International Academy is more than a localization movement; we are the first dedicated Senran Kagura community in English and will strive to keep fans updated on all aspects of the series now and even after the games are localized. Our current community outlets include:
Forums: http://senran-international.boards.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senran-International-Academy/269180386535793
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SenranInterAcad
Senran Kagura Wiki: http://kagura.wikia.com/wiki/Kagura_Wiki
So please come and become a part of our thriving community!
