Posts Tagged ‘hotokensa’

Hotokenser Review

The first game I installed and played on my PC once I got home from Japan was Gakuen Tokkyuu Hotokenser. This little gem from TWOFIVE is only $20 for the regular version(although I got the limited edition which Kureha is holding in that pic above), and it has full voice, great visuals, and a very fun story. Plus, if you’re a fan of slightly cheesy J-rock made for hero shows, some great music.

The heroine, Ootori Kureha, is transferred to a new high school on the recommendation of her ‘uncle’, a good family friend who’s the president of Hotoke Gakuen. On the way to school her first day, she encounters the members of the student council, who are all very popular – Kondou Ryuuichi (CV: Akabane Kenji), the student president, Sumeragi Rikuto (CV: Takagi Shun), the secretary, and Doujima Mitsuki (CV: Kimura Ryouhei), the vice-president. They all kind of get on her nerves, however, being respectively rude, overbearing, and just plain confusing.

She’s not too happy when her uncle calls her to his office and announces that she is part of the school’s own masked monster fighting force, Hotokenser (she keeps calling it Hotoken-man, which the other characters are amusingly offended by), which is made up of the student council. Unfortunately she doesn’t get any real information other than this, and when she goes to the student council room after school, no one even shows up. Part of the beginning story is just her trying to figure out how to transform, since her uncle tends to forget explanations.

After the intro, you choose which character route you want to try. This makes each route really different, and I’d recommend saving Roku (the green Hotokenser) for last, because I feel like his has the most ‘real’ ending. For characters, I’m a sucker for a good-natured jock type (i.e. Rikuto), but they’re all good, and each has three endings, none of which are really bad.

I saw a review of this in Japanese that said fans of shoujo manga would like this. At first I thought it was a bit of a strange thing to say, because to me otome games and shoujo manga are already very similar. But after playing, I totally get it. The plots are very much like a Betsuma or Hana to Yume comic, with all the guys indifferent to the heroine in the beginning, and with various plot twists and sudden changes of heart.

It is kind of short, and the romance is not that pronounced, but it’s a lot of fun, and refreshing if you’re tired of heavy or angsty games. Even the monsters (which are very like the monsters of the week in Power Ranger-type shows) all have distinct personalities in addition to being voiced by well-known seiyuu, and there’s a lot of humour throughout the game. The only part I thought was overdone on that was poor Gomukeshi-kun (the eraser); I thought Kureha was pretty hard on him sometimes.

And one other problem – it needs a fandisk! Once you play, you’ll know exactly who should be a ‘hidden’ character, except there’s no route for him! So please Twofive creators, if you’re reading this (I can dream right?), make a fandisk! I want more. Even after listening to both drama CDs I got with it…I still want more.

August news!

A bunch of news from the new B’s Log! I’m going to try adding pics tomorrow, but wanted to get the post up at least tonight.

New Games:

• Gakuen Tokkyuu Hotokensaa – announced from Twofive for the PC.

• Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteru – adapted from a popular Asuka comic by Odagiri Hotaru and anime for the PS2. Not otome (at least the article says it’s ‘general’), but very pretty!

Ports/Adaptations:

• Crimson Empire – Quinrose is adapting it for the PS2, yay! Scheduled for December
• Lucian Bee’s and its fandisks released for PSP on October 28! Separately though oh well, at least PSP games are cheaper than PS2 ones…

There are also some cast announcements for Clock Zero and finally for Ishin Renka, I’ll do those separately. And I want to do some previews for Renai Banchou and Tenkaichi Lovers (for the DS, from a cell phone game). Hopefully soon!