Tokyo Tattoo Girls leans in on Tokyo, Tattoos, and Girls

Tattoo Assassins? More like Tattoo Warlords

Tattoos are cool. I’m too indecisive to get one for myself, but they’re fun to look at on other people, and that seems to be what NIS America are going for now that they’re localizing Tokyo Tattoo Girls, a new PS Vita and PC game from developer Sushi Typhoon. 

Despite an early trailer (embedded below) that was light on specifics outside of showing off various anime girls, it seems the game is actually a strategy title in the vein of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Players will lead a gang of tattooed, superpowered ladies on a quest to unite the divided wards of post-apocalypse Tokyo, defend their territories from incursions by rival gangs of tattooed anime ladies. The tattoos themselves were designed by real-life tattoo artist Koji Tanaka, who specializes in adapting the traditional Japanese body art of irezumi to temporary tattoo format, typically used in film and TV for actors who don’t want their roles permanently etched into their skin.

The game is due out on November 14 in North America and November 17 in Europe. I have to say I’m intrigued, if only because I’ve been more interested in tattoos since I got the chance to review a cool book on the subject last year.