Posts Tagged ‘ヒイロノカケラ’

Shin Tamayorihime – Hiiro no Kakera

I’ve been playing the new Hiiro no Kakera, and it’s good, although it doesn’t have the same punch as the original…I guess it would be tough to, since most fans are familiar with the storyline. I was really impressed with the seiyuu though – I totally forgot that they were all the same as the original! Except Touma, he sounds almost exactly like Takuma (has he ever done a very different voice?)
So far I still have Touma and Shun to do, but I’m taking a break so I don’t get bored. And their personalities are totally different too.

The six guardians are, of course, descendants from the original six, except for Shirou, who (though he may be descended from Ryou since he has the same last name) was more made into a guardian rather than being one naturally. There are two enemy groups trying to control Kanna City’s source of (spiritual) power, one being the Tenyakuryou (sp?), whose head scientist raised the heroine, and the other being the Teni, a religious group whose leader says she is the Tamayorihime. Half of the guardians have connections to the Tenryakryou and half to the church, and depending on whose route you go into, the ending ‘boss’ will come from one of these groups. Then there are the mysterious twins Kyousuke and Teppei (both acted by Ueda Yuuji), who act as both deus (dei?) ex machina and comic relief. I really like them, and almost wish they could have more part in the story.

The story isn’t as angst-filled as HnK1. Each route has its intense moments, even happy-go-lucky Shirou, but they’re not drawn out for long (IMO Shinogu’s is the most angsty so far). Also, at least so far, there’s been no route where it’s the heroine + 1 guardian against the rest, so the story’s atmosphere isn’t as oppressive as Hiiro no Kakera 1 was. Overall, whether these changes are good or bad is a matter of taste. Personally I think I’d like to have seen some more story for each guardian where it’s just him and the heroine – one of the downsides to having the guardians on your side is that there’s a lot of group scenes and not too many one-on-ones. And the scenarios for each character could, I feel, have been explored more. It is ‘easier’ to get through the story though – in the original sometimes I wanted Tamaki to just run away, the whole village (including her grandmother) seemed horrible

How do you guys like it? Which do you like better, and why?

Hiiro no Kakera Day, October 1 2009

OK, let’s lay it all out on the table: The first day of October this year is now officially Hiiro no Kakera Day.

Why? Well, let’s take a look…

1. The newest installment in the series, Hiiro no Kakera Shin Tamayorihime Denshou (New Tamayori-hime Legend) is released for the PS2 – 7140¥. One thing I just noticed, the Hiiro no Kakera is in katakana for this game, whereas in the original and #2 it’s kanji/hiragana.
2. Hiiro no Kakera Aizouban, the original Hiiro no Kakera game and Ano Sora no Shita de, along with the extra scenes and events added to the PSP version, is released for the PS2 – 5040¥.
3. Shin* Hisui no Shizuku ~Hiiro no Kakera 2~ is released for the PS2 – 6090¥. Several, even most aspects of the game are being improved or simply re-done. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this before: the voices have been re-recorded (with the same seiyuu) and the soundtrack has been re-done as well. Also, there are ‘added special effects’; I have no idea what this would involve, hopefully they’re not too cheesy. There will also be new scenes and CG’s, and while that’s normal for a re-release, the amount sounds like more than usual, and each character will have more ‘action scenes’ in his storyline. A staff member says that the whole story and each route will also be more dramatic, and responding to fan requests, even the characters themselves have been improved.

I’ll be very interested to see what this will turn out like – it was actually Hisui no Shizuku that really got me into the Hiiro no Kakera franchise. For some reason, though I had the original, I didn’t get into it, and really just rushed through one route without really understanding or appreciating the story. I think it might have been timing, and the fact that it was the first long, straight visual novel I played. Hisui no Shizuku, for some reason, was easier for me to get into (knowing the basic plot from HnK helped a lot), and motivated me to go back and play HnK 1 again (though I still need to finish Shinji and Suguru, eheh).

So, with three games from the same franchise coming out ON THE SAME DAY (oh, did I mention the twin pack of HnK Aizouban and Shin HnK 2 coming out as well?), I’m just going to call October 1 Hiiro no Kakera Day.

Now whether I’ll buy these is a good question…I’ll pay close attention to further updates on what the changes to HnK2 will be, maybe I’ll play it again to try and figure out the differences between it and HnK1, which was, and is, so popular – even now, 3 years after it was released, Takuma and Mahiro are STILL in the top 10 characters, and the game currently sits at #2 on B’s Log popularity poll.

I think I’ll probably get the HnK2 remake, and of course I’m planning on buying Shin Tamayori-hime Denshou. But the Aizouban…I dunno. I already have the original and Ano Sora no Shita de…is it worth the 5040¥ for the Christmas event and a few new scenes? If anyone has the portable version, is there enough extra for the money? Hmmmm……

Anyways, just for fun, here are the original promo videos for

Hiiro no Kakera

Edit:the vid has been removed, I could only find the OP for the DS version

and Hisui no Shizuku Hiiro no Kakera 2

No vids that I could find yet for Shin Tamayori-hime Denshou!