Hana Awase New Moon -Himeutsugi Volume- is the Nintendo Switch rerelease of the second game in the Hana Awase tetralogy, which originally debuted as a series of Windows PC games back in 2012. The Switch port from dramatic create (HuneX) comes with an extra short story as a bonus with each volume, as well as multilingual translations (text only) and an upgraded card battle system.
I played the previous game (Hana Awase New Moon -Mizuchi Volume-) back when it was first released on the Nintendo Switch in English in late 2023, and really liked its blend of unhinged plot twists, menacing love interests and hanafuda tournaments, so it was only a matter of time before I got to the second game in the series: Himeutsugi Volume. Each of the four games is based around a specific love interest (or love interests) from the 'Five Brights', the star pupils of the card-battling school the main character attends.
This weekend, the Animate Girls Festival 2014 (AGF)event was held in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City entertainment complex. AGF is a gaming convention solely targeted towards female fans - in other words, it's a feast of otome games and bishounen-filled anime which don't have to share billing with the big-budget mainstream games aimed at a male audience.
There are a few big brands in the otome gaming world which tend to dominate (e.g. Uta No Prince-sama, Hakuouki, Diabolik Lovers and Starry Sky) but one of the best things about female-orientated gaming is that it tends to be full of obscure titles which don't need huge budgets to generate a loyal fan base. To an outsider, the booths were probably full of similar-looking male hosts sporting colourful hair, ridiculous costumes and sexy poses, but to a fan this was as diverse a concentration of female-orientated content as you could possibly get.
The festival was split into two separate events on the 8th and 9th November 2014, each of which had a staggering amount of special merchandise, stage events and light hearted attractions on offer. With this being the event's fifth year everything was run in a professional way without too much queueing once the early morning crowd began to clear.
Today was the day my monthly shipment of magazines arrived. I ordered quite a few this time so I'll be covering the Judge End content a bit later in a news roundup.
As well as the magazines, I grabbed the first volume of the Sengoku Basara 4 manga (which looks awesome) and the recent Sengoku Basara 4: Ryuuou-Kamewari-hen novel, complete with lovely illustrations by Haibara Yak. Perhaps one day I'll have time to actually read all of these books I keep buying...
Since I have hobbies outside of Sengoku Basara, I also grabbed Cool-B Bitter Princess magazine for the Jooubachi No Oubou goodies. My copy of Sore Ha Kagayakeru Hachi No Oujou, the bizarre musical based on the Jooubachi No Oubou scenario, arrived this weekend too. The randomly-packed 'bee pot' sticker turned out to be Utsuro.
Finally, a close-up shot of that sticker because it's so cute. I really wanted Ruby but Utsuro isn't a bad alternative.
I'll get started on today's news post later this evening when I'm not tied up with my real world commitments!
I was very surprised to learn that veteran Japanese game company D3 Publisher had recently released an official English (and Chinese) edition for their smartphone visual novel Gyakuten Yoshiwara. The unusual setting caught my eye and it wasn't long before I was downloading the free trial to see what it was like.
The plot of Gyakuten Yoshiwara (since retitled Forbidden Romance: The Men of Yoshiwara) is straightforward; you're a young woman living on an island where there's a huge gender imbalance. The men are so rare that the majority of them live and work in the Yoshiwara pleasure district, selling their nights to lonely girls who are looking for male company or yearning for a child. It's a simple reversal of the many stories of forbidden love between a man and his favourite courtesan which have been staples of the historical fiction genre for years.
The Yoshiwara district of the game has its own distinct culture which blends the Edo period red light district with the more masculine atmosphere of a modern host club. Everyone there wears gorgeous costumes loosely inspired by historical attire. Although the theme of the game is rather adult in nature, the game's content doesn't contain anything naughtier than you'd find in an everyday drama or soap opera. The dialogue very generously refers to the men as 'gentlemen of the night' rather than anything vulgar.
These two shameless flirts are my favourites
Since the game had only just been released when I checked it out, there were only two characters available for selection. I chose the gaudily-dressed Takao as my young lady's first partner because his flashiness was appealing. If the manager of a brothel was offering my character a night with a courtesan of her choice, why not go all the way and choose their top oiran? I dutifully paid the fee to play the main storyline once the free introduction was over and ended up paying for two bonus chapters afterwards, so I guess that shows I enjoyed it.
The character artwork is lovely and bursting with the flamboyant colours of the pleasure district. There are only five characters in total though there are six routes - one guy has a second storyline which hasn't yet been released. Despite the small selection I think most gamers will be able to find a partner they're reasonably happy with, whether it's the audacious Takao, highly-strung Tokiwa, elegant Kaguya, inexperienced Kagerou or the ruthlessly efficient manager, Iroha. It doesn't hurt that they're all exceptionally handsome.
This is what someone 'past his prime' looks like...
One of the unusual features of Gyakuten Yoshiwara is that it employs the 'E-mote' system, which means that the character artwork will gently move as you play to make it seem more 'alive'. It's a little like the motion in games such as Dragon's Crown except when I first played the characters' facial features would sometimes twitch weirdly along with their swaying hair. The first thing I did after encountering this phenomenon was look for a way to disable the system; sadly, this wasn't possible. Some character artwork tolerated the distortion better than others; watching Takao's eyes and nose wildly contorting made me feel more disturbed than impressed. The effect looks pretty good on the rest of the characters and you can see it in action in this promotional video.
Thankfully, the glitchy animation was fixed shortly after the game's release with a free update. It's a shame this wasn't until after I had played through Takao's entire story as I'd got into the habit of dreading his attempts to kiss the main character! The new animations are a big improvement and much closer to the original designs.
While it's not unusual for a smartphone title, perhaps the biggest potential disappointment of the game is the lack of voice acting. There's none at all, which means you're entirely dependent on the translated English script for immersion. I'm so used to seeing and hearing the original speech patterns in this kind of game that it feels as though something's missing. Instead of voices the player is treated to a selection of delightful instrumental music to set the scene. Over in Japan there are three situation CDs voiced by what seems to be a fantastic seiyuu cast (along with a spin-off manga) so perhaps a fully-voiced sequel might be possible one day if the series becomes more popular?
Where the lack of voicing hurts most is that the mostly-serviceable English translation is riddled with typos; in some cases these are quite severe, such as the two occasions during Takao's route where the wrong character's name was attributed to an important line of dialogue. The characters' names were mixed up again in Iroha's route, so I felt that the translator might have been working from a script without being able to see who was speaking on-screen. Another reason for my suspicion was that the tone of the dialogue didn't always match what was happening (no doubt exacerbated by the vagueness of written Japanese). If D3 Publisher could try to have a second native English speaker proofread their scripts in future to check for mistakes it could greatly improve the quality of their adaptations.
The script is decent - just in need of polish
Despite a few teething problems, Gyakuten Yoshiwara is a fascinating experiment and for its low price it's a no-brainer if you like sultry guys and historical settings. There are two endings for each story and attractive CG illustrations to collect. It's absolutely wonderful to see more quirky visual novels getting official English-language releases. Fans with access to an iOS device should definitely check it out to help support this niche genre in the west.
The English edition of Gyakuten Yoshiwara can be downloaded for free from iTunes in the UK, USA, Japan and in many other local stores. The introduction and first chapter of each character's story is free; after that you have to pay to find out what happens - in the UK it costs £2.49 per story, with a extra stories available for 69p each if you can't get enough of these 'gentlemen of the night'. The price seems very reasonable, especially as you can pick and choose your favourite guys in any order.
Since the game's initial release the updates have been thick and fast and most of the main characters now have their stories available for purchase. Since I like his exotic looks, flawless dress-sense and surly personality, I'm going to buy Tokiwa's story next as soon as it's released - and then I'm going to think about ordering the situation CDs for more immersion!
Update 13th July 2014: The game has recently been retitled Forbidden Romance: The Men of Yoshiwara so I've updated the review to reflect this!
Just in case anyone reading this decides to give the game a try, I'll be cheeky and leave my invitation code here (it will give us both points towards unlocking bonus illustrations): PhJyJuPZ
Edit: Wow! Thank you! I never expected to be able to unlock the pictures but I've already received the maximum number of points from people using the code! Please enjoy the game, everyone.
After some annoying problems getting the game to actually run in the first place, I passed a few idle hours playing through the silly Dot Kareshi -We're 8bit Lovers!- I ~Densetsu No Otome~. It's a Japanese otome game from Rejet which came out last year for Windows PCs.
The premise of the 'Dot Kare' series is that you are a typical female gamer who has spent many hours playing a traditional console-style roleplaying game. Unfortunately, your careless treatment has turned your party members into twisted parodies of the usual RPG staples with major personality flaws.
One day, you find yourself trapped inside the game, where you have to complete a quest with your disgruntled (and rather flirtatious) party in order to find your way back to the real world.
Dot Kareshi's release format is unusual; it's a series of three drama CDs packed with individual visual novels. Each CD/game set includes four different characters - the party in this first volume is composed of Hero (Yuusha), Mage (Mahoutsukai), Priest (Souryo) and Thief. I'm going to use simple English renderings of their names for this mini-review instead of the literal Japanese titles to make it easier to understand. Outside of a single joke the guys don't have names of their own and are referred to exclusively by their job titles.
This post refers back to my previous mini-review of the first title in the 'bee game' series, Jooubachi No Oubou: Menou-hen. There will be spoilers for both games as well as remarks about the games' adult content. Please don't read any further if you're uncomfortable with that.
Jooubachi No Oubou: Kaguya-hen is the second half of the Jooubachi No Oubou story. While Menou was raised in her hive as a princess, her sister Kaguya was cast out and left for dead by those she trusted most. This is the story of Kaguya's struggle to reclaim her birthright no matter how many setbacks she has to face along the way.
First and foremost, I should warn that the game is full of adult content and a considerable number of distressing situations. Sensitive gamers are advised to avoid the series entirely; Kaguya's game is noticeably worse than Menou's and there's a great deal of gore on top of the usual abusive undertones. I can't even begin to list the unpleasant themes which crop up this time around. The official website has demos and sample artwork to give gamers an idea of what to expect.
For those unfamiliar with Jooubachi No Oubou: Menou-hen, it's an adult PC game aimed at women about a female bee's journey to becoming the new queen of her hive. I know that I have a lot of male readers so if that description makes you uncomfortable please don't read my mini-review. I haven't included anything explicit in my summary but I'm going to be talking about the content of the game nonetheless.
There are spoilers below for all of the content in the game, including the endings.
These acquisitions posts are slowing down recently since my anime purchasing has gone on hold for a couple of months (aside from an odd preorder slipping through here and there).
I got some good stuff today. First of all, my preorder for the US version of Hakuoki: Warriors Of The Shinsengumi (Hakuouki Musouroku) arrived. Because I'd purchased it from Amazon, it came with a bandana as a bonus. Aksys are probably my favourite US game company these days with their recent forays into otome titles.
I put the game box on top of Sannan's face for the picture because I don't like him much.
While checking the link for Hakuouki, I noticed that Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (Bakudan Handan) - the next of Aksys' otome games - is already up for preorder on Amazon, so I've added it to my list as well. It looks as though it's going to include some kind of bonus item too. Keep them coming, Aksys!
Hakuouki wasn't the only game-related item to come recently. Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (Shin Sangoku Musou 6: Empires) also made an appearance along with its GAME-exlusive preorder DLC. Accompanying it are two Sengoku Basara doujinshi, one stunning Someya Rui art book loaded with full colour illustrations and the Haru Comic City 18 event catalogue.
It was unintentional, but I just noticed that I covered up Hisahide's face with the game in this picture. Perhaps I can make a habit of this if I buy enough games.
Starry Sky (Suta Suka for short) is a series of otome games and associated dramas from Honeybee. The original games stand out even in the crowded Japanese marketplace due to Kazuaki's unusual art style, and I must confess that I've always wanted to give them a closer look. However, since it's a school series and Japanese-only, Starry Sky has always dropped down my priority list. Fortunately Digital Manga Publishing have come to the rescue, releasing one of the spin-off manga adaptations in English back in May 2012 to give fans a taste of what they're missing. The English release seems to have paused for the time being as a result of DMP's shift to online-only distribution for much of 2013, after which I imagine it's going to resume.
The plot of Starry Sky doesn't attempt to be realistic. Yahisa Tsukiko is a kind young girl attending a specialist educational facility for astronomy students - where she's the only female in the entire school. Naturally she attracts the attention of quite a few of the young men she's studying with, though they're all very gentlemanly about it and nobody seems to bother her (admittedly, anyone who did would be lynched by the rest of the students within seconds). The story is told as a series of flashbacks from a slightly older Tsukiko looking back fondly at how she spent her school years with these strange, space-obsessed boys. The first volume of the manga contains three chapters, each of which focuses on one of the potential suitors with two short bonus chapters at the end which cram in a few more characters for a few pages. Although mangaka Minagawa Hal notes that she'd love to feature the entire cast eventually, for now fans of the guys who don't star in their own chapters have to make do with a few cameos.
I'm not usually keen on high school settings for romantic stories since nothing ever really happens, and indeed that's no different here. Still, the guys are very cute when their feelings for Tsukiko are in danger of being exposed, and seeing them ruffled or being teased with confessions which end up going nowhere is the series' bread and butter.
After some early reservations (the first chapter did nothing for me), I gradually found myself enjoying watching Tsukiko's heart-warming interactions with the guys around her. I still have some quibbles; it's cheesy that almost everyone seems to have a celestially-themed name, and the core premise of the series is thoroughly silly. However, Starry Sky grew on me as I met more of the characters. The third story about the stoic vice captain of the archery club was my favourite and I could quite happily have read a much longer manga series solely devoted to him romancing the main character.
One of the problems with the adaptation is that the Starry Sky universe contains a lot of characters differentiated mostly by their hair, and since most of them wear matching school uniforms it's quite difficult to tell people apart in this black and white manga. I expect that fans already familiar with the cast from the games have no such trouble, but when you're being introduced to more than a dozen characters (some more fleetingly than others) over the course of a single manga volume, it can get difficult to follow. An introduction or list of characters at the start would have made things less confusing for a complete newcomer.
In terms of the English version, the translation is good, if a little disjointed at times - this could well be the case in the original text too. I didn't notice any distracting mistakes and they also included a few bonus pages of notes from the creators, so Digital Manga Publishing's version of this book is a solid offering. The cover also proudly boasts about the original games, so hopefully Honeybee will consider making them available overseas one day if this release is a success.
All in all, I enjoyed this book and will be purchasing the next volume, if it ever appears. In the meantime I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone will pick up the PSP games for a western release. I want to see more of the Starry Sky world!
