Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Genroh – Seiyuu announcements!
I’m already excited for Genroh, especially now that the seiyuu have been revealed! There’s no release date yet, but I’m going to guess September or October. It’s set in the Heian era, 1179, the exact same timeframe as Harutoki 3, with some of the same characters.
Going from right to left: Heroine, Yoshitsune, Benkei, Kotarou, Tsugunobu, Tadanobu
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) – The son of the Minamoto clan. His deepest desire is to beat the Taira clan, and he fully believes in his older brother Yoritomo in Kamakura. His mother gave him a flute which he keeps with him at all times, and he watches over the heroine.
Musashibou Benkei (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) A former monk of Mt. Hiei who now works for Yoshitsune. He’s intimidating without even trying to be, so he often scares people. He likes to cook and seeing people enjoy food makes him happy. Though he doesn’t show much emotion, he’s actually good at looking after people. (I am totally doing his route first. I knew I would like him, and I love his voice actor too!)
Kotarou (CV: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) – A quick, nimble young man who’s good at talking to people, he has his own reasons for working for Yoshitsune. He has a complex about being short and is determined to become even bigger than Benkei one day. He can’t seem to help being mean to the heroine.
Satou Tsugunobu (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – Yoshitsune’s comrade who lives with him in Hiraizumi. He’s very loyal, and is almost too straightforward in his moral code. He also loves swords so much, he does some blacksmithing. He sees the heroine as a younger sister.
Satou Tadanobu (CV: Suzuki Yuuto) – Tsugunobu’s younger brother who’s an archery expert, and is seen as a bit of a womanizer. He likes to tease the heroine and watch her reactions.
Mikage (CV: Koyasu Takehito) – Yoshitsune’s mysterious teacher, he actually tries to kidnap the heroine.
Yandere Heaven
I’ve heard of this but didn’t pay much attention – there are lots of drama CD series around. But Yandere Heaven is coming to the PC this year, so we can all get stalked and potentially killed by the guys who love us just.that.much.
But hey, since I haven’t read up on it, I could be wrong – it could be an exaggeration. So let’s take a look – there’s still only a teaser for the game (which the pic is from), but there are some drama CDs.
So I went to the site, and did some sample listening. The first one features your little stepbrother Kakeru, and your sempai Atsushi.
When you listen to the samples, they seem to be more about getting rid of the other guy rather than blowing up at you.
Because this was the first edition, released two years ago, I thought I should check out a more recent one.
This one is about a girl, her fiancé, and her butler. This one also seems to focus more on the rivalry, although they do sound kinda crazy when insisting that she only care about them.
Although the characters definitely go into creep mode, in a fictional setting it doesn’t seem so bad.
However, the teaser pic for the game…suggests even more serious craziness. I’ll have to see more about the plot before deciding whether to get this or not.
More May News! – Girl’s Style
I knew there was more!
Issho ni Gohan, the cooking-centric drama cd series, is being made into a game by Otomate for the PSP – for release in September. The heroine becomes the landlady at a boarding house for a nearby cooking school which she attends (which all the guys go to/have graduated from). In addition to the affection meter which changes with your dialogue choices, it will have a cooking skill meter which also affects your endings, raised by cooking minigames and quizzes.
Characters:
Yoneda Hikari (CV: Kaji Yuuki) – the second-year student who’s able to become friends easily with anyone
Karasawa Rei (CV: Ono Daisuke) – the graduate with a harsh personality who’s running a nearby curry restaurant
Toriyama Yousuke (CV: Shimono Hiro) – the first-year who looks up to Hikari and is the house’s moodmaker
Daitou Natsu (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) – a fourth-year in the Japanese food program, he grew up in a traditional Japanese house and knows archery and ikebana. He’s strict about people following the rules and has a hard time blending into groups.
Unoha Nao (CV: Fukuyama Jun) – the weak-bodied fourth year who’s a bit of an airhead, who’s also artistic
Umino Riki (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) – the popular second-year who DJs at a club to make money and wants to ‘produce’ a restaurant
Ther’s also a teaser pic about a new game about ‘glass heart syndrome’, and not being ‘allowed’ to get ‘tokimeki’(I think you’re not supposed to get romantic feelings in the game) from Otomate. More details next month.
And finally, a diagram showing all the different ways you can customize your guy in Custom Drive, resulting in (supposedly) over 1,000,000 variations: hats (5), glasses (5), personality (5), hairstyle (10), clothes (10), accessories (10), over 3 different characters. Now if I remember high school math, the law of permutations would mean that there are…hm, I only get 375,000 permutations. Either I’m wrong (impossible!), or D3 has some explaining to do! We won’t be satisfied with only 375,000, am I right?? …OK, I’ll give them a pass this time.
Kazuki Yone
Just had to post this even though I just posted:
Here’s the new Kazuki Yone game, from Broccoli! Kamigami no Asobi for the PSP. Haha, they made a whole vid from one illustration.
More tomorrow or Wed.
News
Not too many new games this month:
- Hiiro no Kakera 5! Shirahana no Ori. They list it as HnK 4, but we all know that ヒイロノカケラ, the one set in the futuristic city, was #4 so I’m gonna keep going with that. Anyways, it’s set in the Heian period and the art is by Ike, who did #4. Lots of nice costumes but no seiyuu announced yet! It’ll be interesting if they change them.
- A sequel for Asaki Yumemishi. It’s set for Jul 27 on the PC.
- A new Quinrose game that I almost missed because I thought it was Cinderella! Which it is…but the first was 12ji, and this one is 24ji. So maybe I was wrong and the Cinderella one is Noon Bells, and this one is Midnight Bells? This game features one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, Rosalia. Man, I should really get 12ji.
- Fandisk for VitaminZ – I thought VitaminXtoZ was that, but hey I’m not complaining – more Chisato is always good (o^-^o) ウフッ
- Fandisk for Wand of Fortune 2, which I’m finally playing now – I wasn’t sure if it had enough material for a fandisk but I guess so. It begins when Ruru runs into a little fairy called Bell that looks just like her
The seiyuu for Confidential Money were announced:
Kirishima Shun (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) – A genius with a 190 IQ who leads the group. He’s Japanese.
Daniel Johnson (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – A natural athlete who’s good with guns and joins the group to pay his friend’s medical bills, who protected him and got hurt instead
Allan Morris (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) – The quiet and serious treasurer, he’s a former air force member and can pilot anything.
Michael Watson (CV: Nojima Kenji) – a genius programmer and hacker
Raymond Davis (CV: Kawada Shinji) – a perceptive conman with a poisonous tongue
Luke (CV: Tokumoto Yukitoshi) – The coldhearted, do-S sniper who’s trying to get money to escape his criminal group, he’s also the resident pervy guy.
Other than that, there was some more info on Koi Sentai Love & Peace The P.S.P., which I’m really looking forward to, and lots of pages on drama CDs, which are great, but I want more games! Also several pages on Ai wa Kat-tun, which I’m pretending not to have seen.
I also heard a rumour that Kazuki Yone (Hakuouki’s artist) is being hired by someone for another game! That would be awesome.
Mobile games and Pirates in Love
Many fans know that there are tons of mobile otome games available, but most are only for users on Japanese cell phone networks. However, there are some that seem to be available in other ways and I’m trying to track down how. So far I’ve gotten a Yahoo Japan ID, which allows me to start playing some f2p games, but I haven’t actually paid for any yet (I’m not sure if it will work).
But even better than sneaking my way into getting Japanese mobile otoge, there are a few available in English! Pirates in Love was the first I knew of, and though it started out as iphone/ipad only, it’s now available for Android phones as well.
I’ve been playing it and it’s a lot of fun, although the translation is AWFUL. It’s so bad it’s actually hilarious, so, in a way, it makes the game even more entertaining. It’s a comedy already, so it doesn’t ruin the game.
The character designs are really nice, but the backgrounds are inconsistent, either barebones CG, nicely drawn, or some that look like altered photographs. There a few CGs for each character which are just as nice as the tachi-e – whoever the artist is, I really like their style. There are no voices at all, and though the music is alright, there are really only three tracks (maybe four?)
Overall, I’d recommend Pirates in Love, although it’s expensive for what it is – $4 for each route, where you can’t save more than once (per character) and there’s no scene replay. I don’t know whether there’s more than one ending per character.
The same company, Voltage, also makes A Forged Wedding, which I’ve downloaded but not tried yet. And there are several games called Shall We Date? that explore various settings like Heian, the Warring States period, and a Medieval Europe/princes setting. Unfortunately, they’re blocked on my phone because I’m in Canada – boo! I’m working on getting around that as well, because honestly if I want to buy the game, why can’t I?
Weekend videos
Some new vids out:
Vampire Sweetie, the R18 game from Sugar Beans that looks really sweet (I’m hoping it actually is)
Arabian’s Lost – it’s all showing CGs. I wonder if they removed the gameplay T.T
Kami-sama to Koigokoro – the new game from Takuyo where you’re a novice and fall for priests-in-training (and one actual priest I believe)
Bakudan Handan, coming in June about the niece of Inspector Layton(IIRC) and a bomb scare in an amusement park.
Jyuzaengi! Cat people in ancient China! And look, the PV has some animation. I think I’m pre-ordering this.
The new R18 game PersonA based on Phantom of the Opera.
Hitofuta Kihyou coming from Profitrolle March 28 for the PC.
Brothers Conflict Passion Pink, for the first half of the new stepbrother romance.
And finally, one adaptation, I want to get this but I have the PS2 versions…
Scarred Rider Xechs + fandisk portable
L.G.S. Characters
L.G.S. is the latest classic Chinese novel adaptation, coming this summer from Otomate from the PSP. I’ve translated the character relationship diagram on the website. Enjoy!
Taikoubou – a famous, genius military strategist. He makes excellent decisions on the battlefield to win, but will ruthlessly discard anyone he doesn’t see as useful. He’s arrogant and pushy, and a perfectionist, and strangely also very cheap.
Koutenka – A bright, gentle fellow sennin of Yousen’s. He was a human, but was kidnapped by the sennin. He’s a very hard worker. His demeanour is usually very polite and respectful, but once in a while shows his sharp tongue.
Shinjin – One of the 12 head sennin and Yousen’s master. He doesn’t talk a lot, and never gets emotional. Because of this, people think he’s cold, but he actually has very strong feelings, and considers Yousen very precious. He’s also very unlucky.
Kihatsu – a narcissistic prince who’s very odd, and sometimes confuses Yousen. However, in his base he’s fairly innocent and is the group’s moodmaker.
March news!
The goodies this month are soooo goooood, this is why I can’t stop buying these magazines. GS3 PSP decals!!! Can I use right side Seiji, left side Arashi? Yeah, I think so 
HUGE double-sided UtaPuri poster for Debut and a cute memo pad.
And lots of pretty mini-posters, including one of the to-die-for B’s Log cover (Ruka)
OK, enough of that, on to the news!
- Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku is becoming an anime!! Wow, that makes three new otoge anime – HnK, Arcana Famiglia, and WagaHana. And before it was Starry Sky, Uta Puri and Hakuoki. Now if only they would animate Nise no Chigiri I could die happy (ok no, I want to live and enjoy it first).
- There are some pics of Eikoku Tantei Mysteria from Karin – the heroine, Sara Marple, is Miss Marple’s niece – cute!
- Also some pics for UtaPuri Debut, with all the characters biting into apples, holding apples, and tossing apples. Sexy, I guess?
- Storm Lover Kai and Aoiza Kaien…
- More on Custom Drive – you can even change their personalities! I dunno, this seems more and more creepy. Wouldn’t they all be the same except for their hair colour and eyes then?
- A bit on the new character for Tokimemo GS3 PSP – Hasumi Tatsuya (CV: Matsuno Taiki)
- Kami-sama to Koigokoro – have I put the seiyuu for this yet?
- More on LGS as well – for a future post
- Same with Grimm the Bounty Hunter, which is indeed a mix of Grimm fairytales and a Western, from Quinrose
There’s a big spread on Toki no Kizuna, which is spelled 十鬼の絆 （Bond of Ten Demons) in Japanese, in Girl’s Style.
Story: It’s a year after Toyotomi Hideyoshi died (so, 1599), and the human world is once more falling into war. The head of the ten oni clans, Yase-hime, becomes worried about the future of the oni people. She travels to each of the ten clans, now scattered across the land, and asks them to retreat from human contact. On the night that they obey her and all gather in the Yase village, she’s kidnapped and put into a deep sleep. The oni heroine, Suzumori Yukina, is the head of the Suzumori household and was also strong enough to be the ninja guardian Yase-hime. She’s serious and respects the old ways, and has a hawk companion. (Sounds awesome!). Throughout the game, she must decide whether to look for a cure for her princess Yase-hime in the human world, in spite of Yase-hime’s request not to deal with humans.
Yukina
Other Characters:
Chitose (CV: Itou Kentarou) – The oni head of Kyuushuu. He’s outgoing and friendly, but sometimes is overconfident. He fights with one sword.
Kazuya (CV: Kamiya Hiroshi) – The cool and reserved oni head of Mutsu, he is respected by the Yase people. He fights with two swords handed down through his family.
Kazutake (CV: Nomura Kenji) – The oldest of the ten oni, he’s reliable and good at taking care of people. He fights bare-handed.
Shin (CV: Hino Satoshi) – The very proud oni head of China who, unlike most oni, is revered by humans.
On Friday I’ll probably do more on LGS, Kami-sama to Koigokoro and Grimm – although maybe I should wait for their seiyuu…
Weekend videos!
I’ve been so focused on Hakuoki (one friend already downloaded it and is playing through it intensely, I love it), I haven’t been doing too much new gaming, though I picked up Uta no Prince-sama again and am finally working through Otoya’s route. I tried to find a PV for the new game coming up, Debut, but couldn’t find any. Oh well! Since I did upcoming PV’s last week, I thought I’d put up some vids that are a little different.
Party games! I’m thinking of putting out my only “party” otome game (now I wish I’d bought the Hakuoki one!) but I’ve never actually played it.
First, Hakuoki Yuugiroku – after the 1.5 minute mark it shows more of the games:
And B’s Log Party, which I have:
Hah, does anyone remember Hanayoi Romanesque Ai to Kanashimi: Sore wa Kimi no Tame no Aria? It was interesting.
I thought Takuyo Mix Box would be good too, but it seems that it’s only an intro of several of their games. Too bad, because their games have some fun mini-games.
Speaking of Hiiro no Kakera (you watched the last vid right?), my friend reminded me of the futuristic Hiiro no Kakera last night. For anyone who’s played Hiiro no Kakera, the seiyuu for #1 and #4 are the same, but they REALLY change their voices (except Sugita, his is similar ^_^). I remembered a vid I saw that actually shows their voices to compare – I wish the clips were a little longer, but it does the job.
Hiiro no Kakera Koe Kurabe
Lastly, did anyone ever watch Rurouni Kenshin? It was one of the first anime I really got into, and I got ALL the fansubs – way back when they were on VHS! Picture my shock when I hear that, after all this time, they’re making a live-action movie for it. And even more shocking, it looks like it might be decent!
Kenshin movie trailer
I also found a bunch of Hakuoki fan vids, I might put some up later, although most require Japanese ability to understand.
Tokyo Demons
Diabolik Lover
Renai Banchou 2
Atelier Elkrone
Juuzaengi
Brothers Conflict
Shinigami to Shoujo