The second straight post on English releases, is this a sign of what's to come in 2012??

Anyways, I might be the last to know (I am sadly late on English news), but DMP Publishing is releasing the Starry Sky comic! Volume 1 comes out in April.

Apparently its genre is shonen (…lol).

(sorry for the shortness of the recent posts, this thrice-weekly schedule is hard! But I’m almost done routes in Angelique, Beyond the Future, and one other game to put up as reviews)

Normal edition: $29.99! Holy cow, for someone like me used to Japanese prices this is amazing for a PSP game.

Limited Edition: Only $39.99! It includes a 72-page artbook (very nice, as the art for Hakuouki is freakin’ gorgeous), and a soundtrack CD. I don’t really remember what the music is like. I’d rather have a drama CD, but considering it would be in Japanese, I can understand why they didn’t include one.

Hakuouki is set for a Valentine’s Day release (very cute!) and I am seriously considering having a party for it, or a podcast or something.

That’s it for today, sorry it’s short!

Apparently 2012 is the year of police and detective games! There’s the Detective VitaminX game (in Feb), and Karin’s new game Eikoku Tantei Mysteria (with the son of Lupin III as a master cat thief!), and the new Tiny Machine Gun from Rejet, with the first CD coming in February and a game in September.

A few pages on Black Wolves Saga, which as I thought has the artist from Gekka Ryouran, and will be released in two segments – one, Last Hope, for the PSP, and the other, Bloody Nightmare, on the PC! In Last Hope you’re with Russ Bogard, a wolf boy, and in Bloody Nightmare you’re with two cat boys, Mejojo (pronounce the j’s as y’s) and Uuger (pronounced Ooje) von Garibaldi. LH is supposed to be a story of true love, whereas BN will show twisted love. Taking advantage of being on the PC, apparently there will be several ‘shocking’ scenes (it’s not R18 though, so I think they mean disturbing/violent). Now, is this actually an otome game? It actually sounds more like a visual/light novel.

New game from ASCII Mediaworks and Vridge, Koi wa Rule ni Shibararenai, for the PSP. In this game the heroine is suddenly appointed as the president of her school (not of the student council but the school!) She can change school events and rules, but the student council has a say as well and can either agree or oppose her decisions. Part of this game is trying to make the student council acknowledge you as the president. Next issue will have the cast, so I might do a post on it then.

Custom Drive is a different sort of otome game coming from D3P – you can customize your boyfriend, not only with accessories, hairstyles, and clothes, but even change their personalities! The producer says players shouldn’t worry too much about playing ‘correctly’, but just play how you want and enjoy the game. Each of the three characters introduced have their own short story up on the website that you can access through a QR code – I’ll have to see if mine works. They also have English descriptions (in SHOUTY CAPS, hehe):

Riito Touma (CV: Toyonaga Toshiyuki from Durarara!!): HE IS YOUR CHILDHOOD BOYFRIEND. Ok then!

Ruka Mayuzumi (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa): HE SEEMS TO LOVE YOU, BUT…? Sounds ominous!

Shion Kannagi (CV: Kimura Ryouhei): YOU WILL COME TO KNOW HIS SECRET. I hope it’s good!

More info on Koisentai Love & Peace for the PSP. I still haven’t listened to my drama CD of it, so when I do that I’ll post on it.

Sangokuren Senki is coming ot the PSP! (I don’t remember hearing about this but it may be old news) New events and CGs will be added, and an ‘episode’ for Genjou as well.

A new game from Takuyo – Kami-sama to Koigokoro for the PSP, where the heroine is training to be a nun and three of the guys are priests-in-training. Another love interest is a priest!

A new character will be available in Harutoki 5′s fandisk Kazahanaki. Rindou is a totally new character, an onmyouji who helps the heroine but acts cold to her, telling her to give up on being a miko. I thought they were missing something and I just realized – Harutoki 5 had no purple-haired bishounen! Rindou is a totally necessary addition. And Sou will also have a route!

Fandisk for Amnesia coming in March -= it’s called Amnesia Clatter.

And finally, there’s a teaser for a new game from Otomate, Hakuouki and Hiirno No Kakera’s producer and miko, the artist from Beastmaster and Prince. Not much is shown, but it’s set in the Sengoku period and apparently about oni. It looks very cool, I love miko’s art.

That’s all for now, more to come on Friday with B’s Log!

The one I’ve listened to so far is the Grimm Fairytales collection、volume 4. The CDs feature popular seiyuu reading familiar tales, but with a slightly more…sensual…vibe than you’re used to. There’s no _real_ adult content that I’ve heard, but the atmosphere is darker and more mature than, say, Disney.　

In the upcoming game, the characters were picked out from several of the CDs:
Navigator (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko) – kind of like a guide on your journey through the stories, in the CDs he does the prologues and epilogues to bookend each volume and tie things together.

Hensel (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) From Hensel and Gretel. This is one of the stories that’s in the Grimm volume, and he reads that one.

Zeus (CV: Kondou Takashi) From Leda and the Swan in the Greek Myth volume. Mmhmm, bird lovin’! (Gahhhhhh)

Hosokawa Tadaoki (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) from the Warring Periods Koi Emaki volume. Gotta get a samurai in there somehow!

Bluebeard (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) from uh, Bluebeard　- I think this is original to the game（伊。絵。Ｉドンｔ背絵意ｔ音. Isn’t this the guy who…well, no spoilers just in case. But yeah…interesting choice.

Issun Boushi (CV: Suzuki Tatsuhisa) The male version of Thumbelina, from the first drama CD (no theme). Cute! I know whose route I’ll be playing first.

Prince (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) from The Little Mermaid on the Hans Christian Andersen volume. He doesn’t need a name, we all know him!

Aoyama Harima (CV: Shimono Hiro) from Banmachiketsu Yashiki. I don’t know this story but it’s in the ghost story CD…I hope it’s not scary. Seriously, I’m a big chicken.

In the game, you’re a young woman who’s invited by the Navigator into experiencing the well-known tales, but your choices can take the story into unknown territory (which, frankly, is good, because a lot of these stories are NOT love stories). All in all, it will be interesting to see how it turns out, there have been several games lately inspired by old stories and fables. Hopefully this one will be better than Mother Goose. Kannou Mukashibanashi is scheduled for January 19.

Odette Scarlet is the heroine. She lost her mother when she was very young, and lived with her father for a long time before he remarried. She is fond of her stepmother and two stepsisters but isn’t good at showing her feelings. It also takes her a while to open up to people.

Characters:
Roy Diefenthal (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko) An aristocrat that often visits the downtown city in disguise. When Odette finds him, she can tell he has no street smarts, and she becomes his guide. Apparently he’s pretty high up in the nobility and is used to luxury, but it hasn’t warped his personality too much.

Gilbert Crois (CV: Koyasu Takehito) A guard in a certain household. When his master goes to the city on his own, he follows in search of him. He also sometimes complains about this master that increases his work so much. He’s a very good swordsman, and is a bit quick to fight.

Glass Walker (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) A shoemaker with a store downtown, he’s highstrung but a skilled craftsman. He tends to lose himself in his work and forget about other things. He used to be popular among the nobility for his quality shoes, but fell out of favour and now sells to the common people. He tries to fit in with the commoners by using rough language, but his higher-class roots show.

Chance (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) A salamander type monster that works in a carriage rental shop. He’s not too swift but is very athletic. Even though he’s often reviled because he’s a monster, he wants to be friends with humans and is friendly. However, he’s scary when he gets angry.

Sirius Bradlay (CV: Takahashi Hiroki) A magician that is old friends with Odette’s mother. He had been abroad for a long time, but came back after hearing about Odette’s father. He’s good at looking after people, but once he gets despressed, it’s annoyingly hard to get him to snap out of it. He’s overprotective of Odette.

Reynald (CV: Kusao Takeshi): A mysterious man who walks the city at night. He tells Odette that she is loved by misfortune, trying to label her unlucky, but becomes interested in her when she doesn’t give in and tries to break through barriers on her own. Odette tells him of some of her worries partly because he’s a stranger, and they form a strange kind of bond.

Feather (CV: Shimono Hiro) An elegant lady with an unfamiliar atmosphere about her, she’s actually a white dove monster. She’s Odette’s next-door neighbour in their new, cheaper lodgings. She lives with other doves and is good at gathering information.

First, there’s the “kimagure play”. Your dialogue choices and how you approach guys are separated into tenshi (angel) and koakuma (little devil). Your rating on this scale changes their feelings for you, and will even change their dialogue, and which events will happen. So yay, not only do we get to play many times, now we play each character twice! Heh, if I ever had to bring just one otome game with me for a long trip, it would probably be Tokimemo. It can be played for ssooooo long.

The skinship mode in the DS has been adapted into the approach mode. It works by using the analog stick to move over and choose whether to ‘look’ or ‘touch’ different parts of…the guys (ok, that sounds really pervy, but if you’ve played Tokimemo on the DS you know what I mean).

They’ve also added animation to the existing character portraits, calling it Live 2D.

And a third new feature of this version is that you can visit the guys’ rooms, totally separate from playing the game. The creators have made rooms for each in 3D, and when you don’t have much time to play or just want to check things out, you can go in them and see what’s up. The guys do things in the room in realtime (according to the PSP’s internal clock), and not only that, the room changes with the seasons.

Cute huh?

I already have Tokimemo 3 on the DS, but…this really makes me want the PSP version too!

Other characters:

式部　密　Shikibu Hisoka (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru): A good friend of Shizuka and a fellow troublemaker, he’s really good at curses. He seems lighthearted, but has a dark side. He’s related to shinigami, and is the best at hexes in school.
遠野　篤郎 Toono Atsurou (CV: Suwabe Junichi): The leader of the school gang, he doesn’t beat up weaklings but has a rival kind of relationship with Shizuka. Apparently he’s descended from oni.

日比谷　京極 Hibiya Kyougoku (CV: Yusa Kouji): The serious leader of the school’s moral team. He used to be human, but was stolen away as a child by spirits (I dunno whether he’s still human or not). He has the top marks in school overall.

和泉　零次 Izumi Reiji (CV: Toriumi Kousuke): A descendent of kitsune, he loves playing tricks but has low spiritual power and little stamina. His kitsune is blood is strong and so he loves abura-age (deep-fried bean curd).

由良城　閨悟 Yurajou Keigo (CV: Namikawa Daisuke): A second year who helps in the infirmary. He’s the third child in a big family, and his marks are pretty good. He has a secret crush on Shizuka, who helps him out with studying, but it’s obvious to everyone what his feelings are. He’s from a line of dog spirits.

飛浦 萌葱 Tobiura Moegi (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki): A third-year student from a family of tengu, he coolly watches everything and enjoys seeing other people’s troubles.

There’s also Hibiya Mitsugu (CV: Hino Satoshi), who I didn’t get a good pic of. I’m already looking forward to this; the setting is interesting and Shizuka sounds like a really fun character to play.