Archive for the ‘News’ Category
News – B’s Log May
Here are the new game announcements from B’s Log this month:
Looks like Quinrose is really getting into paired games! First there was 12ji no Cinderella and 24ji no Cinderella, and now there’s Ouma ga toki and Hyakki Yakou! The heroine, Tatsuta Ui, is a dragon god princess, who’s #1 in the school and uses fire. She’s half god and half youkai, and tries to live up to her royal lineage at school, but secretly feels hemmed in. I think the artist is getting better, the characters look more polished (although they still look pretty stiff – I think that’s a Quinrose thing). Other than the school setting, I don’t think there’s any connection – perhaps this is set before or after Ouma Ga Toki.
New game from Otomate, Genroh – by the same artist who worked on Nise no Chigiri (kya!), this is set during the Genpei Gassen, or the war between the Minamoto and Taira clans in late 1100′s (the same time period as Harutoki 3). The heroine, Saya, can see people’s feelings. The main characters include Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashibou Benkei (who is a totally gorgeous silver-haired bishounen here).
Double Score is a new PC games series from BlueMoon where all the romanceable characters are significantly older than the heorine – the youngest is eight years older, the oldest is 29 years older! There will be six games, each with two character routes, and there are also drama CDs coming out starting in June. The heroine has a part-time job as a miko at a famous love shrine, and through her work there, meets the other characters. The games will be Y2500 each, which seems kind of expensive for only two routes each (although I say this having spent $4 each on Pirates in Love routes, where there are no voices and the story is pretty short, so…)
And finally, the seiyuu for 24ji no Cinderella were announced!
Louis Reed (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) – A childhood friend who’s in training to become a knight
Linus Randol (CV: Yusa Kouji) – Your fiancee, who’s in the nobility
Oswell Savaret (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) – A magician tutor
Damian (CV: Morita Masakazu) – A mouse monster
Feather (CV: Shimono Hiro) – the pigeon (goose? I can’t remember) monsters from 12ji
Spencer Hendrick (CV: Nakata Jouji) – maybe not romanceable? The prince’s servant
Sirius Bradley (CV: Takahashi Hiroki) – probably also not romanceable, a magician
I feel like there was more news than that, so I’ll go check Girl’s Style again. Sorry I didn’t post this earlier, I have no excuse – I bought some doujinishi anthologies along with the mags (you know those large tankoubon size ones for popular anime?) and was distracted. And yes, they were Bleach, and they only had about 15 pages of Ulquihime in all 400 pages, boo.
Kamigami no Asobi
Got all the mags in tonight! There’s a bunch on Kamigami no Asobi so that’s tonight’s post – tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll do a news summary.
- It’s set in a world where gods who have forgotten their love for humanity are re-educated by one young girl. The two characters shown so far are Apollon, and Tsukito, from Greek and Japanese mythology respectively. One thing the producer mentions is that the catchphrase is “Love is Pain”, and that they are trying out something rare in otome games, tragic love. It sounds like they want to try to have some very angsty routes, but they say they’re also putting in happy routes.
- The setting is a school, created by the gods, so it’s not a normal school at all – it looks like a European castle, and it has different sections for the different mythologies. For example, the Japanese part is mountainous, and the Greek part is a beautiful garden. The creators wanted to do a fantasy game, but one that had familiar rules, so they settled on a school life/fantasy mix.
- Besides the two characters presented already, Odin and Loki will be the Norse representatives, and there will also be Egyptian mythology figures (I hope they do Horus and Anubis, I’d love to see hawk (falcon?) and jackal-headed characters!)
- I hear there’s a new Hiiro no Kakera title coming, with the artist from #4.
- New title from Quinrose, Grimm the Bounty Hunter. It looks like it might be set in the Wild West, with the heroine(Grimm?) wielding a pistol.
- Hakuoki does indeed seem to be selling well, at least well enough that my Limited Edition is on backorder >:(
- Finally, sad news that I don’t think everyone knows yet(or maybe I’m the last to realize, that happens all the time ;P) – Kazuki Yone, the skilled genius behind Hakuoki, is no longer with Otomate/Idea Factory. We’ll probably never know why for sure, but it might be because as an experienced, recognized artist, she deserves a higher salary and Otomate isn’t willing to pay.
- New from Otomate: Confidential Money, How to Make $300k in 300 Days – the art is by the Musketeer、Death Connection and Kanuchi artist
- New game with gorgeous character designs from Yura, Hana Awase. So far there are just some characters shown and some teasers, nothing about the game system or specs is known yet.
- Another spinoff from D3, VitaminX Detective B6 for the PSP! The character personalities are the same, but they’ve made it into a detective game. It’s scheduled for release on Feb 9. Vitamin’s system of tsukkomi and through is being used here again.
- A fandisk for Tokyo Yamanote Boys is announced (that was fast!) It’s called Sweet Jelly Beans, and is coming out January 13 for the PC.
- Fandisk for Harutoki 5!!! Actually, it’s called a continuation, not a fandisk, so maybe it will be the same game system? Spring 2012 on the PSP, it’s called Kazahanaki. Drat, I haven’t even finished the first game yet, I still have a couple characters to finish.
- Amnesia fandisk – Amnesia Later, scheduled for March (for the PSP bien sûr).
- Hetalia is being adapted for the DS
- little cheese (the developer of KuroKin) is making a new R18 game, Trick or Alice, for release next year.
- Fandisk for Hiiro no Kakera 3 (Soukoku no Kusabi)
- Juuzaengi coming in April on the PSP
- Urabe Kimimaro (CV: Suwabe Junichi) long-haired fortune teller
- Mitarashi Ryuusei (CV: Hino Satoshi) a host
- Shidou Subaru (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) a mercenary
- Meoshi Kouta (CV: MOrita Naruichi) a gamer
- Wakasa Towa (CV: Kaji Yuuki) member of an idol group
- Mikami Makoto (CV: Suzuki Chihiro) university student
- Shirabe Ayumu (CV: Narita Ken) freelance writer
Hana Awase
B’s Log came with a huge book for Hana Awase! 
It has lots of gorgeous art by Yura.
The heroine, Mikoto, transfers to Kasen Campus where the students (mostly the male ones) are trying to become ‘kaei’ – people who control hanafuda (flower seals) and can use them to play ‘Hana Awase’, a game in which they can bring forth power (to do things? it’s kinda vague). Mikoto likes card games, sewing and cooking, and easily gets involved in things. She gets interested in Hana Awase. The five boys in each year who win’ are called the Five Lights.
Vocab time:
華詠 (Kaei): The few (usually) boys who can use the power of hanafuda.
華アワセ (hanaawase): the competition level of kasen, which is so dangerous it can be fatal. It is only done by kaei and minamo. What the public knows is the ‘hanautsushi’ version only.
水妹 (minamo): The girls who support the kaei with all their body and soul. Always pure young maidens, one kaei will need many minamo to get strong, but a minamo can only dedicate themselves to one kaei.
泉姫 (senki): A minamo who is so strong that she can support a kaei all by herself and has enough power to move heaven and earth. There are no minamo at present who rise to that level, so right now the senki is like a legend.
華遷 (kasen): the game which uses hanafuda. It’s done at ceremonies, contests, and even required for national relations (international? not sure).
Characters:
Iroha (CV: Terashima Takuma) – the top of the top, the top of the Five Lights, and the object of the student’s admiration. He’s perfect and cool, and never shows emotion. He also has the ‘eyes of the moon’, which means that people can’t help but be attracted to him and there’s rumoured to be a test to get into his Chisengumi（地仙組）. The heroine also has this, but ‘the moon’ hasn’t appeared yet in her. Iroha acts the same way to everyone and is totally uninterested in love, but for some reason always shows up to help the heroine in a pinch.
Mizuchi (CV: Fukuyama Jun) – Brought up in a very strict household, Mizuchi believes in following the rules, and hates anyone who breaks them or betrays him. He’s used to discipline and became a Kaei as soon as he came to Kasen. He values the Minamo highly and treats them very well, grateful that they give him power, and so there are always lots of girls in his (鴻鵠組） who want to be his Minamo. He admires Iroha and wants to be like him more than anything else. Because he’s so used to controlling himself, he has no experience with love, and has never looked at any of the Minamo in a more-than-innocent way.
Himeutsugi (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) – He got into Kasen by special selection, and like Mizuchi, quickly became a Kaei. He’s strong but modest, and always stays back a step from groups, but somehow has an open personality that makes people love him. He doesn’t like conflict, so doesn’t start Kasen contests on his own, but once he starts, he gives it his all. The people in his Gekkougumi (月光組） are mostly kind like him, and he takes very good care of his Minamo. He’s never had a serious relationship since he couldn’t stand to hurt someone’s feelings and he’s never let himself fall for someone…until he meets the heroine.
Karekurenagi (CV: Hino Satoshi) – He transferred in second year and quickly became a Kaei to everyone’s surprise. He is equally admired and feared, and often skips school to find trouble outside. He only plays Kasen when he wants. He always is with Minamo from his Oukagumi（桜花組）, and treats everyone in his group as his possessions. He seems to switch them all the time, but the girls appear to enjoy being played with by him.
Utsutsu (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki) – He became a Kaei in his second year, but disappeared shortly after. There are rumours as to what happened, but no one knows for sure. Right now his ‘Houougumi’ (鳳凰組） is led by a deputy, but without the charisma of a Kaei, it’s very small and there aren’t many Minamo. He knows the heroine, although it’s unclear how they meet, and he feels positively towards her. The quote on his page says, “Mikoto is my special one. I only need Mikoto by my side”.
Just talking about Hana Awase took a long time, so I’m going to do the rest of the news on Wednesday!
Hana Awase
There’ll be a big post tomorrow, but for now the cast for Yura’s new game, Hana Awase, has been announced: Terajima Takuma, Fukuyama Jun, Tachibana Shinnosuke, Hino Satoshi, and Sugiyama Kishou. I think the B’s Log I’m getting this week will have details.
Bounty Hunter Grimm
Quinrose’s newest game is about a bounty hunter and the men she gets tangled up with – both the wanted men she hunts, and other bounty hunters. Not too much info right now, but here are the characters.
Heroine: Riza Bernet
Adolf Rooto – An up-and-coming bounty hunter who decides that Riza is his rival, he often shows up to compete with her. He also really looks up to Bremen.
Bremen Marsh – Riza’s mentor and former bounty hunter, now he runs a bar where bounty hunters come for info. He seems very nice, but actually still has underworld connections and is very crafty.
Henzel Nashkatz – A conman and thief who uses traps.
Gretel Nashkatz – With his older brother, also a thief who specializes in traps. Both brothers love sweets.
Jure Rosmond – An assassin who uses both knives and poison. He’s always sleepy and is often late.
Rapunzel Doturm – A master spy and thief, he pulls off really unusual stunts. Apparently the heroine met him in her past.
Interim news post
Well, I thought my B’s Log would get here today but apparently not. Tomorrow it should, so I’ll have the full news update. From twitter and wandering around the net, here are some short tidbits:
And finally, a new PV for Hitofuta Kihyou by Profitrolle, coming out for the PC on March 30.
Diabolik Lovers
Diabolik Lovers is the new series being published by Otomate. As you can see by the banner add on the right, the art’s pretty nice, and the character designs are interesting. The story is that the heroine has to transfer schools because her parents move abroad for work, so she moves in with her relative and transfers to a night school that’s full of up-and-coming entertainers. It also has a shady reputation though, and the heroine’s relative runs (or lives in, not sure) a boarding house where six troublemaker brothers live. There are even rumours that someone was attacked by a vampire, but the heroine doesn’t believe them. In the drama CDs that are coming out monthly, the brothers actually suck your blood (they’re all vampires, and S).
From the left: ??, Shuu, Kanato, Ayato, Raito, Reiji
The six brothers are the other main characters (apparently Kanato, Ayato, and Raito are triplets), and they’re all vampires:
Ayato (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) – A huge S, loves teasing, and has no commonsense
Kanato (CV: Kaji Yuuki) – the smallest and weakest, he’s easily sent into temper tantrums, and is also S and kind of yandere.
Raito (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) – a perverted S who’s often suspended from school for harassment, he talks fast when he gets excited.
Shuu (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) – the oldest brother who’s lazy and unspirited about everything except music (also S).
Reiji (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) – he acts and talks kind of like a butler, but is a very strict S about etiquette and sometimes makes up his own etiquette rules. His hobby is collecting fine china.
Subaru (CV: Kondou Takashi) – the youngest brother and violent S, he’s a loner who’s quick to start fights and doesn’t like his brothers prying into his business. He usually stays in his room.
February News
Not a ton of news this month, but definitely some things to watch out for:
From Otomate:
L.G.S – Shinsetsu Houshin Engi, another classical Chinese novel adaptation. I don’t know anything about the source material, but the setup is that in ancient China, there’s the human world, and then the ascetic world. In the human world, the good king Chuuou was made to do evil things by the machinations of Sotatsuki, so the ascetics decided to seal her. Because of her skill, Yousen was nominated to do this.
Yousen, the heroine, is regarded as a genius ascetic (sennin is hard to translate, I always think of them as wise men but obviously she’s not a man, and they seem to have special powers pretty often) and lives on Mt. Konron. She’s not very sociable, but is meek when talking to her teacher, Gyokutei Shinjin. She was also turned into a youkai somehow by her father as a young child. Apparently depending on your choices during the game, Yousen will either remain a sennin (light ending) or become a true youkai (shadow ending). I’ll do the characters once the seiyuu are announced.
Arabian’s Lost: Quinrose is redoing this for the PSP! I’m kind of excited for this, because I really liked this game way back when it was released for the PS2. It was my first Quinrose game and I loved the non-standard characters. You might recognize Curtis Nile from Crimson Empire, here you can actually get him! The art’s all updated too, which is good, although I’m not sure about Shark’s redesign. Tyrone definitely looks better though. The article in B’s Log doesn’t show Maisen at all, so perhaps his parts are being removed?
Also, the seiyuu for Abunai Koi no Sousashitsu (scheduled for May 31 release on the PSP) are announced:
Mikechi Masaomi (CV: Maeno Tomoaki)
Fujimori Kenji (CV: Kondou Takashi)
Kisaragi Kouhei (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke)
Ogasawara Ryou (CV: Suganuma Hisayoshi)
Onose Aoi (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki)
Hozumi Rui (CV: Miki Shinichirou)
Fujimori Takashi (CV: Narita Ken)
And there are screenshots of the different areas in Bakudan Handan which SOUND like they’re different types of minigames, which would be great. However I still can’t find any description of gameplay in articles or on the website, so I’m not going to assume anything.
That’s about it that I can see, of course there’s more info on several fandisks and upcoming games, but mostly just scene descriptions. Oh, and a new character in Jyuuzaengi, Bachou (CV: Sugita Tomokazu)
Angelique First Impressions and Friday Videos
I finally got Angelique Six Knights, and have been playing a fair bit, but really haven’t gotten too far – apparently the first time around you have to do the non-romance route, and I haven’t even finished that yet. I’m still getting acquainted with all the knight captains, and the battle and bad guy(s?) haven’t shown up yet. Here are my impressions of the knight captains.
Kain (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki) – the oldest knight captain, he’s the defacto leader when Leviath isn’t around. He’s mature and intelligent, and his company is the Dark Crown Knights.
Kiefer (CV: Hirata Hiroaki)- a snobby jerk, although he does have a point when he complains about the unfitting behaviour of Giovanni and Gerhart. His company is the Sharp Ice Knights, and he actually keeps them in line by whipping whoever comes in last during sparring.
Gerhart (CV: Hiyama Nobuyuki) – a big sweetheart, his company the Sea Dragon Knights are apparently former pirates, and one of them is his sister Maria, who becomes friends with Theresa as the only other young woman at the fortress. He’s often drinking and gambling with Giovanni, though he always loses.
Giovanni (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) – a casual flirt, he always wins when Gerhart gambles with him. He likes it when the heroine puts herself in the middle of things like trying to stop a fight. His company are the Shining Light Knights (or something like that).
Eugene (CV: Ono Daisuke) – the knight captain who likes the heroine the least at first – Kiefer treats her with contempt but Eugene almost kills her and definitely wants her out of the fortress, his company is the Moonlight Knights who focus more on magic than fighting. After a while it seems that it’s more that he doesn’t like new people, and he warms up to Theresa faster than Kiefer.
Shona (CV: Kaji Yuuki) – not the most socially adept person but he’s quite perceptive. His company is the Fallen Angel Knights.
Leviath (CV: Narita Ken) – the leader of everyone, he seems cold but has shown some moments of warmth. He looks just like Renoux’s dead/missing brother.
And since this was pretty short, I thought I’d throw in some videos.
First up, Omochabako no Kuni no Alice, coming out this month:
Beyond the Future – I pre-ordered this one, probably won’t be playing it until after Christmas:
The newest game from Rejet, collaborating with the creators of Are You Alice:
Tiny x Machine Gun
A bunch of UtaPuri playing videos, this one is only one song on hard, but it brings up a bunch of other ones as well:
Black Wolves Saga, also from Rejet in 2012, which they’ve been tweeting about incessantly:
It’s about werewolves, and it seems pretty dark.
And Strobe Mania, which I TOTALLY forgot about, I think it’s out already:
Finally, for anyone who’s a Gintama fan (I know it’s 50% toilet humour, 30% meta, and only 20% amazing story arcs, but I just can’t quit it), here is something we would all love to see – don’t even pretend you wouldn’t buy this! (though the video is eight minutes long, the relevant part is only the first two)
Next week I’ll hopefully have a Gekkan post up, and perhaps a Peter Pan one as well!
December News
The heroine, Mikoto, and Iroha.
And, mark this historic day on your calendars, because for the first time in years (at least, I think it’s years), the top 3 favourite characters are not all from Hakuouki. #1 still is, though (Saitou Hajime, yeah he’s kind of adorable). #2 and #3 are from Uta no Prince-sama.
Trick or Alice
Cast for Bakudan Handan!
Tokyo Demons
Diabolik Lover
Renai Banchou 2
Atelier Elkrone
Juuzaengi
Brothers Conflict
Shinigami to Shoujo