Bandai Namco is preparing an Xbox 360 RPG. I could stop right there and this game would be rare enough as it is. A Japanese RPG on the 360. But oh no, it gets better.

Bandai Namco is preparing an Xbox 360 RPG called Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream starring Frederic Chopin. Yes, that Chopin. Since I'm sure you all are up on your musical history, you undoubtedly know that Chopin died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. The game takes place three hours prior to his death, in which Chopin has a dream filled with anime-style characters that look like they belong in a Tales game. In this dream world, people with incurable illnesses have magical powers. He meets another fellow sicky, a girl named Polka, a 16 year old boy named Allegretto who tries to help her any way he can, and presumably a whole cast of other characters that haven't been mentioned yet. Yes, all the names will be music related.

According to IGN:

Music and story look like they will play a big part in Trusty Bell. Bandai Namco has drafted famous Japanese actor Leo Morimoto to perform narration for the game’s Japanese version. Performing the piano numbers that Chopin left to the world (before having his RPG dream) will be Russian pianist Stanislav Bunin.

Trusty Bell is in development at tri-Crescendo, a studio that worked on the sound components of tri-Ace titles like Radiata Stories, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile and also worked on programming, sound and the battle system for Baten Kaitos, along side Monolith Soft . The game is currently without a final release date in Japan.

This is one of the weirder concepts I've heard in a while. And yes, I'll play it. That is, if someone dares to bring it over here. Full scans from Famitsu with more art and screenshots can be found here.