Archive for August 28th, 2008

Hot Vampire Samurai, aka Hakuouki

August 28th, 2008

Whew, there is so much beautiful art available in the mags for this game, I just spent a significant amount of time scanning it – this post will be image-heavy because I couldn’t decide what NOT to show.
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As mentioned when it was announced, Hakuouki, being released September 19 for the PS2, takes place in the Meiji Bakumatsu, or the end of the Meiji era. The Shinsengumi was a group of samurai policemen infamous for its strict rules, its ruthlessness, and the fact that it was the only samurai group that allowed commoners to join – the samurai class was usually restricted to the aristocracy.

The Shinsengumi’s leader was Kondou Isami, and his lieutenants were Hijikata Toshizou and Okita Souji. They and other famous members are all main characters in Hakuouki.

Hijikata Toshizou (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – The second-in-command of the Shinsengumi. Strict but thoughtful.

Okita Souji (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) – The captain of the Shinsengumi’s first regiment (troop? team?). Laidback and nonchalant.

Saitou Hajime (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) – The captain of the 2nd team. Serious and cool.

Harada Sanosuke (CV: Yusa Kouji) – Quick to anger but loyal and friendly, Harada prefers the spear to a sword.

Toudou Heisuke (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) – The lively young Shinsengumi member who doesn’t hesitate in battle.

Now, these guys I’m not sure are capturable, but they have big pictures, so I’m thinking they might be

Nagakura Shinpachi (CV: Tsuboi Tomohiro)

Sannan Keisuke (CV: Tobita Nobuo) – If you’ve played Bakumatsu Renka, in that game this character is called Yamanami, an alternate reading of his surname. And wow, I think this is the first time I’ve seen this seiyuu in an otome game other than Angelique! (He’s Lumiere there).

At the beginning of the game, the main character comes to Kyoto searching for her father, a doctor trained in Dutch medicine. One night she’s attacked by a group of ronin, but she escapes and hides. She senses something odd happening, and emerges to see a group of Shinsengumi killing the ronin with amazing strength and speed. Finding her, they take her off to their lodging, and talk about killing her to keep her from telling what she saw. But when they find out who she is, they decide not to – her father is involved with them, and they’re looking for him as well.

Staying with the Shinsengumi for a while, she finds out the cause of those ronin who attacked her – they took a red elixir that the Shinsengumi call ‘ochimizu’. It gives superhuman strength and healing ability, but it also creates a hunger for blood (rasetsu) in whoever drinks it. The ronin had drunk ochimizu and it eventually turned them into bloodthirsty monsters. When rasetsu manifests, the person’s hair turns white and their eyes turn red.

As you’ve probably guessed, most of the Shinsengumi main characters have taken ochimizu as well, which is why they’re so strong. As the story progresses and your choices take you down a certain path, the characters’ thirst for blood will appear. When that happens, you can choose to a) let them drink some of your blood, b) give them medicine, or c) try to have them suppress it. Your choices will affect their ‘Rasetsudo’, which is the other stat to affection that all the characters have.

The top gauge is Hijikata’s affection level, and the bottom is his rasetsudo (getting pretty high too!)

If a character’s Rasetsudo gets too high, he will lose control and become a monster.

There’s also a mysterious group (two of whom belong to the Shinsengumi’s enemies, the Satsuma-han)who show up saying they’ve ‘come to get’ the main character. Maybe to bring her to her father?