The delusion search engine Doosle system in Lump of Sugar’s recent title Rensou Relation was annoying enough that they’ve released a Koosle patch which makes it more like your typical eroge choice screens. However, you will not be able to use your old save file. I knew this was going to be a problem after playing the trial already. I commend all those that tried to play the game without a walkthrough.

AkabeiSoft3’s Seikishi Melty☆Lovers has been scheduled for September 18th, while the following titles have been delayed:

Sorcery Jokers – July 24th
Love Love♥Princess – July 31st
Magical☆Dears – September 18th

The drama CDs for light’s Dies irae and Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen will be on shelves on August 28th. Both are priced at ￥3000.

New figures announced this week include:

DragonToy – 1/6 scale Ai suntanned ver. (Fault!!, September, ￥13,800)
WING – 1/7 scale Super Sonico OL ver. (September, ￥11,800)

Eclair has released a summer short story for Koiharu on their website.

There’s an Android alarm app for SMEE’s PURE×CONNECT.

I prefer being confessed to in PURE×CONNECT. Really liked Moemin’s!

It has been five years, but key’s Angel Beats! -1st beat- will be the first of six games in a series which will expand upon the events and setting of the anime. This month also shows that there’s plenty of ways to get a harem: dress up as a trap in MOONSTONE Honey’s Ojou-sama to Himitsu no Otome, have your mom set you up in ApRicoT’s Maple Colors HHH ~Class Zen’in Ore no Yome!~, or run a candy shop in Galette’s Lollipop Factory. I’ll have my eyes glued to the viewfinder for ALcot’s LOVEREC.. Oh camera spirit, show me what’s most precious in life!

A month where titles are only noteworthy due to the fame or infamy of their parent company or existing content and not their own merits. Lazy games that rely on a brand name are nothing new, but it is depressing to see so many in a month.

Angel Beats! -1st beat-

Company: key
Game site: Angel Beats！ -1st beat-
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
Five years after the airing of the original anime, Angel Beats! is finally released as an all-ages game. This is the story of boys and girls who confront their fates while in the afterlife. After his death, Otonoshi found himself at a school for those who have died. He meets a girl named Yuri, the leader of the “Afterlife Battlefront” (SSS) who rebels against God and fights against it day and night. Standing in their way was God’s messenger, the pretty girl “Tenshi”. With no memories of his life, he didn’t understand what was happening in this world, but he joined the fight with Yuri.

I always thought that Angel Beats! would be a game when it was first announced and well, here we are. It will be released as a series of six volumes, telling the stories for each character so that they can move on. The first game focuses on Girls Dead Monster’s Yui and Iwasawa, and Matsushita, covering the events up to episode 10 in the anime. However, even players who did not watch the anime should be able to fully enjoy it. It’s fully voiced, featuring the same cast as the anime, and of course Maeda Jun is in charge of the scenario. I wonder if he’s putting more time into these games or the upcoming anime Charlotte.

It’s nice to see the cast again. While the trial just goes over the first two chapters (episodes), there are plenty of choices where you can go in a different direction, although mainly for comedic effect. For example, you can choose a nickname before you remember your own name, like ‘Lolicon’. I like Yui-nyan a lot, so I may decide to play this if I have time. It’ll probably take quite a few years for them to complete all the games.

More of Key choosing to do what they are bad at instead of what they are good at. Angel Beats has always been them rushing headlong along the wrong path so I am sad to see them still going with it. Their strength as a company has always been generic high school based romantic comedy and drama. Any time they step outside of the more slice of life style during their stories, even momentarily, the writing and concepts all go to hell. Sure it may not be a deal breaker if all you want is a simple laugh while not paying much attention to it. However it muddles the merits and quality of what they are truly good at. All the supernatural stuff and extra bits are just something Key has always had trouble with. I really wish they could accept that and make content that catered to what they do well instead of insisting on emphasizing what they do poorly. While comedy may work to some extent without involving the reader in the setting and story progress, it severely undermines the drama as well as the connection of the reader to the characters.

This trend is nothing new, even back with Kanon, while I liked Mai as a character, her route was god awful, and only made me feel much more detached from her character. Tomoyo from Clannad kind of highlights the issue well, the comedic scenes of her kicking the best friend were fine, the generally irrelevant other delinquent fighting stuff felt awkward and forced.

Bit of a long rant, but it is depressing to see a company that can do so well at something abandon it in favor of emphasis on settings and characters that lie in the exact opposite spectrum. Even more so when the issue was not popularity, at least at the time Key chose this direction for their brand putting their name on anything would have been an instant success, which makes it all the more baffling.

LOVEREC.

Company: ALcot
Game site: LOVEREC.
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
The story takes place at the end of April in a small school in Funakura, a quiet town close to the sea. Akira is a shutterbug who loves taking videos even during meals. He left the film research club to start a videography club with his osananajimi Chiho. He wished to create a work which will make people smile. However, the film research club’s young prodigy director Miyuki strongly opposed it. It was decided at the school’s information session that if they can defeat the film research club at a competition, then they would be recognized as a proper club.

He ran around finding members for the new club, but they still did not have enough members as the deadline approached. Just as their future looked bleak, there was a strange flash from his cherished video camera that he’s had for the past 10 years and a small girl appeared before him.

“I am the camera spirit. Let me protect you, Master”

After meeting the easygoing camera spirit Hitomi and the pro video editor Nori who doesn’t attend school, his surroundings began to greatly change.

Why do we create things? Why do we fall in love? Why are we there?

They experience the emotions of youth – anxiety, anger, laughter, sadness – as they gradually move forward together true to their own feelings.

ALcot games are typically must-play for me. It’s hard to top Clover Day’s, but I enjoyed the trial even if it was a bit slow-paced in the middle. The characters are fine, especially requisite imouto charas Hitomi and Nori, and there’s the little bit of magic that adds spice to the story. If I had to name the motifs of this game, it would be smiles, goals and finding your own way and desires. There’s friendship, drama and climatic moments. I’d say it feels more like an ALcot Honey Comb title than the parent brand.

I wonder if my camera has a cute spirit inside it too. Hitomi is so cute, calls him ‘nii-sama’ and is voiced by Uehara Aoi (Chrono Clock‘s Miu, Mayosube‘s Vier, Sakusaku‘s Konami). Hau~ omochikaeri~!

In a game like this what Micchi calls “spice” I call poison. What could have been a heartwarming story of growing up in a chosen path of life was turned into cheap H scene bait with a couple generic heroines. The two causes for this change are the obviously silly camera spirit, and the less obvious but even more pointless club drama to create conflict. Choosing to go with both the camera spirit and club drama weakens the emphasis on what matters, why? Because the spirit is an easy and simplified get out of jail free deus ex machina for the writers both for creating dramatic attachment and for solving problems. Along with that, club drama is perhaps the worst source of conflict in eroge. It is only used when all other options are either too hard for the writers, or they just too lazy so want to churn out a generic game a week faster.

If they really wanted to include something supernatural there was the better option of say while taking pictures or video at a shrine capturing something unexpected on film that eventually leads to meeting the enshrined god or goddess. Why is this a better approach? Well first off its not a magical camera ghost that just shows up to solve a problem and help the protagonist carry on. But more than that it provides more attachment through gradual meeting, without being introduced as nothing more than a solution to all problems, but as an actual character with a role and growth.

As far as the club garbage, it serves no purpose from the beginning other than to sow the seeds of conflict. However my real issue lies with the the lack of investment the reader would have in the event and characters growth while struggling against it. An example of how it would have improved without it would be the protagonist struggling with trying to express himself properly through his camera, how to capture what he really wants so he can really share that with others. Along the way meeting other people through various ways and situations each offering a different solution that results in a new approach for both of them in the future. All within the confines of his existing club of course.

Alcot may focus on charage, and may not have had any really special stories sure, but there is some difference between a good charage and a bad one. A difference that is more than simply whether or not you like the characters. Even a character you like won’t leave the same impression in a story that doesn’t even try to bring them to life. 

PENDULUM

Company: KAI
Game site: PENDULUM
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
PENDULUM takes place after the events of KAI’s debut title Walpurgis. It had been four years since the abominable ‘Circle of Doom’ incident and true peace still had not fully returned to the world. Various areas were still infested with grotesque angels (circulars) and it was up to a group of girls with magical powers, Magus Order, to rid them once and for all.

It appeared that their efforts had lowered the numbers of the circulars. However, people started questioning the existence of the Magus Order when their powers rivaled that of even the military. This caused a rift among the members of the Magus Order itself, resulting in a split of the group.

But even in the midst of the confusion, the fact remained that circulars are threatening the world. They cruelly murder humans and revel in hearing their screams and suffering. The Lightning Lancers division of the Magus Order descended from the assault dropshop Orthros into this hell which no one wishes to see, to fight against these ‘angels’ before disaster envelops the world once more.

Lots of tentacles doing stuff that tentacles do. They must be happy to have bishoujos walk straight into their arms tentacles.

Oh the excuses they come up with for tentacles.

Ojou-sama to Himitsu no Otome

Company: MOONSTONE Honey
Game site: お嬢様と秘密の乙女
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
This is the first title by MOONSTONE Honey, a sub-brand that combines moe and ero. Yuuri looks like a cute girl, but he’s actually the son of the world-famous women’s fashion brand Shinohara family. He is in line to take over as the president of the giant corporate group in the future, but he is quite uncomfortable around girls. He would blush just standing in front of them and of course, he couldn’t talk properly with them either. Because of this, he can’t get a girlfriend nor even any female friends.

Since he doesn’t understand girls’ feelings, it would be impossible for him to lead a fashion brand for women. So, his family recommended (forced) him to attend the prominent Magnolia Girls’ Academy. As a normal girl, he should be able to quietly get through this unfamiliar school life, but why are the prettiest girls at the school flocking to his side…?

Well, I guess that’s what happens when you’re the youngest child in the household and have 5 older sisters. He wouldn’t have problems with girls if he had 5 imoutos instead.  Even though it’s by MOONSTONE Honey, the staff is pretty much the same as the other MOONSTONE games. It has a similar feel to ensemble’s cross-dressing games and in fact, the protagonist looks awfully like Otokana‘s. As with ojou-sama school settings, there’s also the ‘Engage’ contest, which is like marriage with the exchanging of rings after a confession. Among the heroines, the androphobic kouhai Yumina catches my eye. She’s so shy and adorable, almost as much as the trap Yuuri.

Because apparently you need to understand a girl’s feelings and be in touch with your inner maiden to run a company. Even assuming he is supposed to be a designer I highly doubt one needs such insight to either staple lace on everything or go nuts with scissors on fabric. Even more having sisters kind of makes it less sensible, give him some brothers or something so he would feel more awkward. Justify it as him trying to understand fashion trends or something rather than having him be awkward around boobs necessitating this trip to the petting zoo.

I think he’ll be the one that’ll be petted.

Oh the poor poor thing.

Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o New Gene!

Company: 聖ミカエル女子学園 (St. Michael Girls’ School)
Game site: その花びらにくちづけを にゅーじぇね！
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
This is the latest game in Fuguri-ya/YurinYurin/St. Michael Girls’ School’s Sonobira yuri series. The girls at St. Michael’s affiliated school are all excited for the main school’s ‘best couple’ voting event and decided to hold their own contest too, like their admired onee-samas. Lovely and affectionate couples were soon nominated, starting with the osananajimi pair Nagisa and Rina, and twin sisters Ai and Aya.

New transfer student Hazuki thought that it would not concern her, but she was chosen as well. She was paired with the pure and refined maiden Manami, who she greatly looked up to, but was like an unattainable flower to her. They were far from being a couple, so it would be futile even with the full support of their classmates. Hazuki decided to ask Manami to be a best couple with her anyway and she surprisingly agreed.

More yuri. They all looks so cute. Especially the twins. I support twin yuri.

Nature finds a way, apparently. Let us hope none of them are part West African frog.

Maple Colors HHH ~Class Zen’in Ore no Yome!~

Company: ApRicoT
Game site: メイプルカラーズHHH ～クラス全員俺の嫁！～
Release date: May 29, 2015
Comments:
This is the latest title in ApRicoT’s Maple Colors series. Shinji transferred into the special class at Kouka Gakuen, where he was the only male student. He was forced to do so by his mother, the school’s board chairwoman, who wanted him to find a bride so she can have a grandchild as soon as possible. All 14 of the girls in his class were gathered there as his potential brides. He was given a permit which allowed him to have sex with any of them. While he was met with cold stares at first, they soon warmed up to him as they worked together preparing for the school festival. So begins his harem-like school life with his classmates full of individuality.

It’s a change from their previous games where all the students in the class are troublemakers; instead, it’s become a harem game. It retains the bright colours that’s a staple of the series. The idea of a free sex pass is one that’s already done by softhouse-seal in their Zettai series. If I had to choose one of them, I’d go with Kuu or Kokoa.

You know they aren’t even trying anymore when a parent is on their school board and sets them up in a class of girls along with a license to sex. I suppose I can admire the fact there is no attempt to hide the laziness behind some gimmick, so at least they are honest. Which is better than when companies try to lie about this crap, so kudos to Apricot for giving us trustworthy tripe.

Lollipop Factory

Company: Galette
Game site: ロリポップファクトリー
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
Haruki is the owner of the import candy shop “Lollipop Factory”, which used to be a dagashi-ya shop run by his late grandmother. Now it’s a cute and colourful candy shop which is popular among the students at the nearby girls’ school. One day, five girls from the nearby Kotohana girls’ school came to gain work experience. He becomes close to them through sweets and soon forms a relationship with them!?

The special feature for this sweet love comedy is ‘mouth communication’, such as feeding each other (whether by utensil or mouth) and finger licking (lots of peropero). And of course the small stature and childish personalities of the heroines. As a ladies’ man, Haruki believes that one should not treat a girl like a child even if she is much younger than you. This is the sign of a true gentleman. I love sweets too, and it’s better than Chiccha Love Apart even if doesn’t seem to use the candy shop setting much. His imouto Setsuko is hilariously perverted. Have fun with LOLIFAC!!

Please die.

Otome ga Kanaderu Koi no Aria ~Kimi ni Sasageru Encore~

Company: ensemble
Game site: 乙女が奏でる恋のアリア ～君に捧げるアンコール～
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
This is the fan disc for Otome ga Kanaderu Koi no Aria, featuring after stories for each of the 5 heroines and added heroine Kanade, while chara poll winner Kei will get a route as well. Two additional patches (for Mikoto and Kotori/Yuuhi) will also be available for download from their website for a month after the release.

It’s fully voiced, including our trap protagonist ‘Izumi’. The trial was just for Kei and it had the same feel as the original (except they know he’s a guy now). He’s still dressed as a girl because he’s cuter that way. I still need to play Otokana… guess this will go on the backlog as well.

While this game was similar in setup to Otome blah blah Canvas, which I will just call Canvas from now on, it was far inferior. The writing between the two was the difference between night and day. Even though the characters themselves were fine in Aria they were poorly developed, the setting was awful and gimmicky, the protagonist was awkward and felt forced, and last but not least the routes themselves were bland as a tofu taco. Suffice it to say Aria was boring. Almost painfully so. Not saying it was a bad game, just not good, and certainly not deserving of a fandisk regardless of whether the characters were appealing or not.

You’ve had a tofu taco!?

I had a nightmare about one once, never again.

Neyuki no Gen’ei -Shirohana-sou no Hitobito-

Company: シルキーズプラス A5和牛 (SILKY’S PLUS A5 Wagyuu)
Game site: 根雪の幻影 -白花荘の人々-
Release date: June 26, 2015
Comments:
This is the first title by SILKY’s PLUS A5 Wagyuu. Shigeaki used to be a carefree womanizer until he met Kaho, whom he immediately felt destined to be with. It took over a year to convince her to be his girlfriend, so he has grown to love her above any other girl. He is certain that he would not meet another girl better than her.

To celebrate their beginning as a couple, they visited the Western-style boarding house Shirohana-sou in the mountains. They were greeted by the beautiful Touko, who used to be the dorm mother when the building was a dormitory of the missionary girls’ school that Kaho graduated from. After some pleasant chatter, they were led by Touko’s daughter Kikyou to their room. The guest room was quite well made and felt almost luxurious. He had planned to just spend a relaxing time with Kaho in the mountains, but it seems like he would be able to enjoy this vacation more than he had envisioned.

That was what he innocently thought at that time. He could not have imagined that they would soon be caught in a world far away from their normal days.

Even though it’s under the same brand, this game is by a different group than last year’s surprise work Nanairo Reincarnation. It appears to be a horror mystery, at least the setting is what’s typical for the genre. There’s probably something similar hidden in the basement, like in Dark Blue. However, it seems like there’s quite a drop in quality from Nanarin.

Difficult to judge completely, but the setup doesn’t sit well with me. I never like games where the protagonist is in a relationship already, especially one like that as it makes everything else feel so wrong. Instead of choosing a girl to pursue its choosing between not cheating and who to cheat with, or dumping the girl for someone else. Either way it makes the protagonist through which the reader views everything into a douchebag.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. LOVEREC.
2. Angel Beats! -1st beat-
3. Otome ga Kanaderu Koi no Aria ~Kimi ni Sasageru Encore~

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. I would rather be a magical girl,
2. In a sea of tentacles.
3. Otome ga Kanaderu Koi no Aria ~Kimi ni Sasageru Encore~

It’s nice to have a quiet month every now and then.

I would agree if more months were not quiet to the point of silence.

In addition to announcing the fandisc D.C.III With You (likely for later this year), CIRCUS is planning on a new series D.S. set on a different star-shaped island Kazanajima, a ‘paradise’ where misfortune befalls no one. This new school life starts in spring 2016. Bring it on. Other titles announced this week include:

Gesen18 – Sangokuhime 4 -For the Future- (September 18th)
Luxury – OH! Yuusha yo, Itte Shimau to wa Nasakenai! (August 28th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Sengo Muramasa – October 30th
Koisuru Kimochi no Kasanekata – November 27th

Dandelion has cancelled Meguru Kisetsu no Yakusoku to, Tsunaida Sono Te no Nukumori to after many delays, to no one’s surprise.

ALICESOFT has released a short bonus scenario for Evenicle. Since it takes place after the events of the main game, it’s recommended to play it afterwards. It also reveals the results of the chara poll, won by Kathryn.

Having collected users’ suggestions for costumes, Lose is now asking for your input on which of the provided list suits each character most. It’s quite an extensive list with some very particular traits. You have until July 8th to cast your vote. The Mousou Complete! chara poll has also started up and runs until June 30th.

The new seiyuu for Imouto no Seiiki‘s main heroine/imouto Yukana will be Akino Hana. Should we expect something like Re;Lord‘s Ria?

Sakakibara Yui’s 10th album, “Lofty rose”, includes 14 songs and 2 live DVDs from past years. The songs are mostly eroge OPs, but there’s two original tracks as well. The price of the limited edition is ￥4600.

Phat’s 1/8 scale figure of im@s‘s Yukiho will ship in November for ￥8400. I like straw hats.

Dakimakuras are available for Imouto no Seiiki‘s Yukana and Otokana‘s Mikoto and Kotori.

Visual Arts/key has started up an overseas event page. Their next appearances will be at AX and Japan Expo in early July.

Purple Software has added two Android apps for Chrono Clock‘s Kuro: a wallpaper stand and clock widget.

PURE×CONNECT was pretty entertaining. Moemi, Arisa and Ayumi are all great. I won’t forgive Sora for her murderous ways. RIP Masako, Hiromi and Catherine. I’m back to Chrono Clock now. It’s interesting how the H scenes are separate from the main story, but I thought it was a good choice (at least for the routes I’ve completed so far).

Azarashi Soft has revealed a sequel to their debut title, Amakano ~Second Season~, and also a new work, Royal Garden ~Otome ni Koisuru Ouji no Gikyoku~, planned for October 30th.

NEKO WORKs is making a fandisc for C88: Nekopara Vol.0 Minazuki Neko-tachi no Nichijou!. It will be sold on the third day (August 16th) and most likely in their online shop as well.

Other new titles announced this week include:

Astronauts Comet – Tou no Shita no Exercitus (August 28th)
bootUP! – Hanitsuma Hs ~After Wedding~
CandySoft – Aneyome Concerto (September 25th)
Fudegaki Soft – WIZARD LINKS (November 24th)
Harmorise – Hitotsu no Yane no, Tsubasa no Shita de
HULOTTE – Yomesagashi ga Hakadorisugite Yabai. (November 27th)
Jitaku Studio – Naderebo!
MadoSoft – Wagamama High Spec
onomatope* – Kyuuketsuki no Libra (October 30th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Seven Piece! – August 28th
Renai Phase – September 25th
Valet☆Style – September 25th
Koko Kara Natsu no Innocence! – November 27th
Tokyo Necro – November 27th

makura has posted an emergency recruitment for a scripter for Sakura no Uta. It seems like their previous one bailed, putting the July release date very much in danger. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being delayed until September.

Mei easily won the Puramai Wars chara poll and will get some goods at the upcoming Comiket. Onee-chan Kyouko finished last. GIGA has started up the chara poll for Renai Phase, which runs until July 10th. The winner will be featured on a free fan in an upcoming event.

Upcoming music CDs are: 11gatsu no Arcadia Complete Songs (June 19th), P×C2 raburabu birthday collection vol.1 (Chitose) (June 26th), Yakimochi Stream OST and Koinaka complete vocal album (August 21st), Koinaka lovers vocal mini album (August 21st), and fripSide PC game compilation vol.2 (August 26th).

The Hanasaki visual fan book will be on shelves on July 17th for ￥3000. It will include a short story about a past event.

New figures available for preorder include:

Alphamax – 1/7 scale Saber dress ver. (Fate, November, ￥12,800)
ALTER – 1/7 scale Rouna swimsuit ver. (Shining Hearts, October, ￥12,800)
GSC – nendoroid Kazuki (Grisaia, November, ￥3,889)
Kotobukiya – 1/8 scale Excela (Shining Resonance, November, ￥12,000)

MAGES’s Steins;Gate 0 for the PS3/PS4/PSV is due for this fall.

Dakimakura are available for preorder for Love Equation‘s Chisato and Byakko‘s Kaho.

The June append for PRETTY×CATION2 is ready for download on their site.

Lump of Sugar has released LINE stamps for Tayutama‘s Mashiro.

Finished Chrono Clock and it didn’t quite meet my expectations. The main plot device wasn’t used much and there’s not enough Miu. T__T  Playing Sumire now and it seems pretty short.

New titles announced this week include:

Inre – Boku wa Kimi Dake o Mitsumeru ~I gaze at only you~ (November 27th)
minori – Tsumi no Hikari Rendez-vous
PETALA – Revive ~Yuurei Seikatsu wa Paradise~ (August 28th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Cocoro Rista! – October 30th
Nanairo＊Clip – November 27th

The following titles have been delayed:

Kenseiki Alpha Ride – September 18th
Sakura no Uta – September 25th

The chara poll for ALIA’s CARNIVAL Flowering Sky has started up, with the winner getting a dakimakura. The poll closes on July 1st.

Pink Pineapple is making an H anime OVA for MOONSTONE Cherry’s Daemon Busters. Fortunately they’re not using the fish-eye lens like in Imopara.

The Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen OST will be on shelves on July 24th.

Steins;Gate 0 has been scheduled for a November 19th release.

im@s‘s Miki is the latest to be featured in Kotobukiya’s Cu-poche series. It’ll only be sold at the Wonder Festival 2015 Summer in July, for ￥3200. ORCA TOYS has a 1/5 scale figure of TH2‘s Sasara black bunny ver. also out in July for ￥13,800.

Dakimakuras are available for preorder for Hanasaki‘s Wakaba, 11gatsu‘s Kokone, and Lollipop Factory‘s Meru, Mai and Rena.

Busy with a lot of stuff this week and most likely for the next month. Sumire didn’t quite live up to its potential and was definitely too short. Also played Spica’s route in Love Equation and she was delicious. Mmm… There were a few July trials on the docket and Sorcery Jokers was mildly intriguing.

Very exciting news for Muv-luv fans coming from AX this year. Degica is starting a Kickstarter campaign for a Muv-luv and Muv-luv Alternative localization in late August. It is planned for a PC/Steam release. No further info on tiers and stretch goals. Muv-luv Alternative is one of the most well known eroge, both in Japan and among English-speaking fans, so there’s no doubt that this should be very heavily backed.

Erika topped the Mousou Complete! chara poll, followed by Mia and Mari.

The Eroge! & Ero Manga! art works will be out on September 30th for ￥2,778., while the Sanoba Witch will be available on August 28th for ￥3,000. The Sanoba Witch OST also comes out on August 28th for ￥2,500. There’s also a Shimotsuki Haruka 10th anniversary best album scheduled to be hitting the shelves on August 5th, also for ￥3,000. It has 16 tracks of anime, console and arcade songs.

sprite’s high flying title Aokana is getting a PSV adaptation in 2016!

alphamax’s 1/7 scale figure of Shining Hearts‘ Kaguya swimsuit ver. takes pre-orders until August 20th. It will ship in November at a price of ￥12,800.

Dakimakura are available for preorder for Monobeno‘s Natsuha (medium size) and Hyakugojuunenme no Mahoutsukai‘s Nadeshiko.

Twitter had begun suspending many accounts which featured pornography, including some artists and eroge companies, notably Lose. No problem, they’ve got a new account up already.

Busy working this week. I’ll be busy again next week too.

light’s Dies irae anime crowdfunding project has ended and they’ve raised over 100 million yen! Well done! As a gift, all supporters get the smartphone version of Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~ for free.

Chuable Soft’s Watashi ga Suki Nara “Suki” tte Itte! has been set for October 30th, while the following titles have been delayed:

Shoujo Ramune – July 31st
Koi to Mahou to Kanrinin – August 28th

The chara poll for Luxury’s OH! Yuusha yo, Itte Shimau to wa Nasakenai! has started up and runs until July 23rd.

The Koikano visual book will be on shelves on August 25th for ￥2800.

PSV ports FLOWERS and ALIA’s CARNIVAL Sacrament have been set for October 22nd and October 29th release dates, respectively.

Want more risqué figures? How about Sengoku Tenshi Djibril‘s Aoi courtesy of Orchid Seed? The 1/7 scale figure will ship in December and is priced at ￥10,000. There’s also Skytube’s 1/5.5 scale figure of Walroma‘s Akane scheduled for December at ￥14,800.

Full size Jashin-chan!!! All yours for ￥12,000 (if you can get it out of Mashiro’s hands).

What is paradise to you? For me, it’s a happy life with Shinku and Sora in FAVORITE’s fandisc Akai Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai. Perhaps a harem situation such as Chien’s Yakusoku☆Love Harem or surrounded by innocent angels in Shoujo Ramune? Just hope it isn’t a mirage, like in Liar-soft’s mystery-horror Fairytale Syndrome or Tigre’s Maboroshi no Dystopia. Of course, you can create your own in Kiss’s Custom Maid 3D2.

Paradise for me is where looking at Shoujo Ramune makes the creatures come out of the monitor and kill the person who sees them. Mostly a bland month though otherwise, I do have some hope for Dystopia but otherwise the games are all of lower quality.

Sakura Nikagetsu

Company: オレンジエール (ORANGE YELL)
Game site: さくらにかげつ
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
The falling of the sakura blossoms is the season of first encounters and farewells. Just as Yasumi was beginning his first year at Saint Linette Academy, four girls came to live at his house. He had earned the title of “human breeder” for raising his three useless, but famous childhood friends properly. So, it was a given that the four girls who came were also useless themselves.

Hako, a sheltered girl who looks perfect but is incapable of doing anything at all.
Nayu, a childish and friendly miko who doesn’t do anything.
Shimai, a cursed girl who has absolutely no motivation.
Mamori, a self-proclaimed medium who looks down on others, but knows little about the world.

They can’t cook, take a bath alone, sleep at night, fix their hair, or return home without getting lost. It’s extremely difficult and chaotic trying to raise them properly, but he enjoys these happy days.

However, he has a secret which he cannot tell others. He actually has a reason for helping these four girls. One month ago, one of his childhood friends, Korobu, had slipped like her usual klutzy self and died in an accident. He still had something to tell her, so he agreed to a deal with the masked ‘angel’ Sakura. If he can raise the four girls that she brought to him properly within two months, then she will allow him to see Korobu for a short time.

All the girls are ponkotsu (affectionately useless), which means they often lack common sense. It’s fine to have one or two of these characters in a game, but when everyone lacks any common sense, the game is not any fun to play.

As I have said before, and Micchi already stated about this game, too much of one trait is a bad thing for a game based around choosing between what are supposed to be separate storylines. What makes it worse is the game does a poor job of making the trait work. A typical throw some arbitrarily important protagonist in a herd of girls till sex ensues situation. In summary, poor concept, poor execution, D-.

Best ponkotsu girls are from NekoNekoSoft. All those adorable ponkotsu osananajimi. And I don’t mind a game full of imoutos.

Oh, really? So you are fine with them all just having the term “Imouto” in front of their character description? Their specific and unique relationship not being something that makes them special and different than the others, not to mention gives them their charm?

Of course a game with only imoutos will not have the same impact or depth, but that doesn’t mean I won’t like it. Just look at Galette.

Custom Maid 3D2

Company: KISS
Game site: カスタムメイド3D2
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
This is the newest version of the Custom Maid 3D series, with an enhanced maid editor and training system. You are called out by your uncle to the Empire Club salon, where you suddenly find yourself as the new owner of the establishment. However, this came with a load of problems. Thanks to your uncle’s negligence, the once-thriving salon is now in decline and deep in debt. So, you must immediately hire and raise first-class maids to entertain and service guests, in order to make lots of money and save the salon. Will you be able to return the Empire Club salon to its former glory?

I had way too much fun with all the customization options in CM3D. I’m ready for more.

Playing virtual dress up with busty sock puppets isn’t exactly my idea of an enjoyable afternoon…

How about an enjoyable night?

I’d rather take the clothes off than put them on at night.

Dance movie

Sorcery Jokers

Company: 3rdEye
Game site: ソーサリージョーカーズ
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. One day, magic suddenly was born. It was not only known by people, but it was also recognized by the current government. Now, it is used as an energy resource and has permeated many other fields. This story is about six people who live in a world where magic exists whose fates are intertwined.

The fourth hot-blooded battle title from 3rdEye features dual protagonists in the caster (magician) Haruto and the outcast Senri. The conflict is predominantly between the magicians recognized by the school/state and those who are not (outcasts). Besides the slight changes in the setting, we should expect pretty much the same. If you like this sort of thing, go for it. They seem to be good at it.

Way too chunni for me as much as I enjoy varied settings and things, I hate over the top chunni. Never helps to have multiple protagonists either, I cannot recall any game successfully pulling that off. Two points of view makes it too difficult to bond with the characters.

Now that the trial is out, my opinion has changed greatly. Yes, there are two main male characters (Haruto and Senri), but the story is told from 5 perspectives (Haruto, Senri, Fiona, Asahi, Riku). You can switch between the different episodes using the Episode Jump system. The battles and dialogue are both very interesting and the pacing is quite good. The main problem with multi-perspective stories is repetition, but this one is done thoughtfully so there’s little overlap and plenty of suspense. The trial was quite long, but it was entertaining all the way through. The cast is quite varied, almost each of whom has a mysterious side to them (even Haruot’s imouto Hina). One fault that the game had is that Haruto felt too one-dimensional; he’s too much of a clueless hero who would do anything for justice (“it’s not fair”). If you’ve got time, this is worth reading!

Fairytale Requiem

Company: ライアーソフト (Liar-soft)
Game site: フェアリーテイル・レクイエム
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
Fairytale syndrome. It is a type of personality disorder that causes one to think that one is a character in a fairy tale. Boys and girls who suffer from this condition are kept in the isolation ward known as “paradise”, which specializes in treating it. They each carry out their lives in accordance with the picture books which they carry and abide by like the “Bible”.

Alice chases after the invisible rabbit.
Rapunzel lets her long hair down from the window.
Gretel, dressed in rags, searches for her older brother.
Odette stands by the waterside every night.
Gerda tries to escape to seek out Kai.

Rather than characters taken out from the fairy tale, they are instead pressing themselves into these roles. It is a somewhat uncomfortable and painful sight to see. A boy with amnesia unexpectedly entered this stage. He did not know who he was, nor why he was there. Unlike the girls who had their own pretend roles, he had nothing to turn to. At that time, he found a sketchbook in his room with something scribbled in it:

“There is a sinner among the girls. Her sin is murder.”

Liar-soft’s newest title is a twisted fairy tale mystery-horror with pop-up gothic art reminiscent of the witch world from Madoka Magica. The interface and music gives a fairy tale-like feel, although the setup is reminiscent of Portal in that nothing’s as innocent as it seems. We are talking about a mental illness after all. This one appeals to me more than Liar-soft’s past games, so I just may try it out.

Usually I like liar soft games, at least their ideas and hearts are in the right place, even if their writing is not. Usually that is. This time they seem to have come down with a case of lazy and stupid. The fairytale aesthetic is fine. Trying to make it darker, while about as innovative as a tsundere transfer student with a forgotten childhood promise to throw her panties to the wind, is fine also. Which brings us to the real problems, the painfully stupid type of crazy, and the painfully crazy type of setting. Here we have a game where the people who felt inclined to make it ran out of ideas before they even started. Due to sheer desperation one of them saw their daughter playing pretty pretty princess and thought she would make a great prototype for an erotic game. Unfortunately this was apparently without snorting their preferred magical pixie dust of creativity so the thought process ended there. All of which means we have something that amounts to a generic high school romance with a fairytale skin and some awkward fake emo jammed so far up your chimney no fairy godmother will save you.

Yakusoku☆Love Harem

Company: シアン (Chien)
Game site: ヤ・ク・ソ・ク☆ラブハーレム
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
Touma is very close to his imouto Nobara and osananajimis Kasumi and Yuriko. Even though all three had feelings for him, their relationships never progressed any further than friends. Each of them made a ‘promise’ with him when they were small. While the ‘promises’ varied slightly, in the end, they were all wishes to “be together forever”. If Touma chose one of them as his girlfriend, then it will ruin relationship with the others. So, their relationships remain at a standstill.

Then another girl Iris appeared into this complicated situation, claiming to have made a promise to marry him. She was very forceful in her approach, while being oblivious of the others. This was the spark for the rest of the girls to take matters into their own hands. Touma realizes that he loves all four of them equally. Is there a way for him to make all their ‘promises’ come true without hurting anyone? Will this love story end happily for everyone?

It’s a harem-ge with the usual stuff: comedy, bracon imouto and prancing naked girls.

Hooray for excuses to be indecisive enough to have your cake and eat it too. Harem games are fine and all but at least make the protagonist work for it.

Maboroshi no Dystopia

Company: てぃ～ぐる (Tigre)
Game site: 幻のディストピア
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
In the far future, the world’s population had grown to an unsustainable amount. The country descended into chaos and the government built a special protection area with high walls as the final paradise: Utopia. Ryouta comes from a noble family and was promised a life in peace, but he hides a certain ambition in his heart. It is a secret which cannot be told to anyone.

We find out in the trial that a certain tragic event in Ryouta’s past caused his life to ‘end’ and that something happened in his previous school prior to his transfer. Utopia is not quite the paradise that is envisioned, with different castes occupying different areas of the city. The lowest tiers in this city of over 200,000 are about to fall into ‘dystopia’. The story seems promising, but I just don’t like the protagonist Souji. I understand his personality is affected by his past, but his happy-go-lucky and perverted nature combined with his lack of respect for rules nor desire to make friends grates on my nerves (even if it’s refreshing different from standard protagonists). The art is too shallow for my liking and there needs to be more sprite variety. But at least there’s a talking wolf.

What do you know, I agree with Micchi. I want to like this game, but the protagonist is just wrong for it. Furthermore it is difficult to have faith in the writing as the setting feels disconnected from the rest of the story. I hope I am wrong about it, but Tigger here seems to have bitten off more than they can chew. The background asks for more than the story and characters appear willing to deliver. Plus there is the lingering Attack on Titan feel to how they set everything up that makes me cringe.

Akai Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai

Company: FAVORITE
Game site: 紅い瞳に映るセカイ
Release date: July 24, 2015
Comments:
This is a fandisc for the Irotoridori no Sekai series, focusing on everyone’s favourite hotcake-loving magician Shinku. Yuuma and Shinku return to Arashiyama-sou for a short visit with their precious daughter Sora. Their friends hear about their arrival and returned to spend time with them under the same roof like old times. They have finally achieved the normal days which they had yearned for, and it is full of bright smiles and happiness.

More Shinku and Sora! How could you say no to that? It’ll be nice to see how much the characters have changed (or not). I wonder what kinda games Kyou is making… My bets are on eroge. I can’t wait to see more Sora! She’s so adorable >< Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Fandisk.

THE BEST FANDISC!!

Kadenz fermata//Akkord:fortissimo

Company: ラクリマ (La’cryma)
Game site: Kadenz fermata//Akkord：fortissimo（カデンツァ フェルマータ アコルト：フォルテシモ）
Release date: July 31, 2015
Comments:
This is the all-ages PC port for the PSV title of the same name which came out in December 2014. The only difference is the inclusion of an append patch in the limited edition which focuses on the normal life side of the story. But basically it’s just an opportunity for those that don’t have a PSV to play the game (and La’cryma to milk the series further). Wait for the H version that’ll likely come out in a couple months!

Circus is that you?

Considering there’s a lot of staff overlap, pretty much.

That explains so much.

PSV OP

Love Love Princess ~Ohime-sama ga Ippai! Motto Ecchi na Harem Seikatsu!!~

Company: ぱじゃまエクスタシー (Pajamas EX)
Game site: らぶらぶプリンセス ～お姫さまがいっぱい！もっとエッチなハーレム生活!!～
Release date: July 31, 2015
Comments:
This harem comedy title follows their previous work Love Love Life, in collaboration with SkyFish. Born into a family of martial artists, Souji is a bit stronger than most people. One day, he was visited by the king and princesses from the Kingdom of Ellant, a nation of knights where power means everything. It seemed that the king had once been saved by Souji’s mother, and he wished to adopt him into the nation which is now only full of princesses.

Moreover, he was asked to choose one of the princesses as his bride, or more if he wished. They soon began fighting over who would be first and Souji, a true pervert at heart, suggested that he’ll marry them all and the first to get pregnant will become his first wife. It was a totally wild idea, but the king readily accepted it!?

That’s a man who knows what he wants. Or maybe he’s just a pervert. And a very dense idiot. Even though they all come from the same country, each princess exhibits a different charm. They’ve got to appeal to the masses after all. Princess bride games aren’t really my thing and this is purely a nukige, so pass. (I want a polar bear butler though…)

What a slacker, he gets his harem route delivered without any effort. He doesn’t even have to conquer each heroine individually first. I wish him good luck in managing his cheap pre assembled harem, as I would not want any part in managing this stable.

Shoujo Ramune

Company: たぬきそふと (Tanuki Soft)
Game site: 小女ラムネ
Release date: July 31, 2015
Comments:
It’s been a few months since Kiyoshi quit his job to fulfill his dream of running a dagashi-ya in the outskirts of Tokyo. He wanted to live the rest of his life watching little girls. His plan was a success, with the kids from the nearby school visiting his shop every day and talking with him happily like friends. However, soon after summer vacation started, he noticed one of his usual customers, Chie, stealing some candies. Even though it wasn’t much of a loss, he couldn’t let it slide. When he questioned her, she said that she’ll make up for it by working part-time at his store. Thus begins his summer vacation with small girls.

It’s summer! The small town feel! All the innocent lolis! Their smiles and laughter will melt your heart in the summer heat. Why don’t you get to know them a little more?

If you did not last month, please end yourself by the end of this one.

Imouto no Seiiki

Company: フォン (feng)
Game site: 妹のセイイキ
Release date: July 31, 2015
Comments:
This is the second title in feng’s low-price series, following Kanojo no Seiiki. When Youhei was small, he used to visit Akiba often. Even though it was for his imouto Yukana, he soon got hooked on game centres and that’s how he became friends with his ojou-sama classmate Fuyuka. One day, Fuyuka gifted Yukana with a Christmas trip and the siblings enjoyed their time alone together like a couple. Looking at his imouto, he realized that still hasn’t saved her from that time.

“You won’t let your imouto take your virginity even though you’re into Akiba stuff… I hate you, oniichan!”

This is the happy and bittersweet love story between siblings. The seiyuu for main heroine and tsundere bracon imouto Yukana has changed from Yoshizumi Haruna (Nitta Emi) to Akino Hana. While I think she’ll do a decent job, it’ll probably won’t feel right for those who have played the original game. That being said, I’d still be interested in playing this since it’s got Ryouka art, is pretty short and likely full of icharabu. I have the feeling that feng will make another game for ikayaki-loving classmate Maika.

These games make me feel as though Feng has given up. Not that I blame them Hoshikaka was pretty damn bad. Could do with better heroine material at the very least though.

Koisuru Shimai no Sextet PLUS

Company: PeasSoft
Game site: 恋する姉妹の六重奏（セクステット） PLUS
Release date: July 31, 2015
Comments:
This is just the original game with some additional episodes added for main twin heroines Kotone and Shiho. It’s probably not worth getting if you already have the main game, although it’s a decent pickup at less than normal price if you haven’t played it before.

Pretty much a fandisk, so I’m pretty much going to ignore it.

Micchi’s Top 4 for This Month

1. Akai Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai
2. Imouto no Seiiki
3. Fairytale Requiem

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Maboroshi no Dystopia
2. Shoujo,
3. Ramune.

Warm fluffy hotcakes!

You mean “Flat” right?

Studio Ryokucha has recently redesigned their website, as well as announced their next title, Hanikami CLOVER. Neither artist Ruchie nor writer Hisame Kouji are on the staff, but at least Hirose Madoka is still around to provide us with cute SDs.

Lump of Sugar‘s next work will be Kodomo no Asobi, coming out on October 30th. More Moekibara Fumitake, Nanaroba Hana and Anii! What gimmick awaits us this time…?

Other new titles announced this week include:

AkabeiSoft3 – Sorairo Innocent
Campus – Haru Uso -Passing Memories- (October 30th)
CandySoft – TsuyoKiss FESTIVAL
Carol Works – M-Ria! ~Ore ga Do-M ni Natta no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui~
Chelsea Soft – Sorakoi (December 18th)
Marble CandySoft – Tsuushinbo (October 30th)
ninetail – GEARS OF DRAGOON 2 ~Reimei no Fragments~
Nyan Nyan – Ero Mangaka-san to Binbou Shimai (October 30th)
Reon – Kimi to Koisuru Gakuen Kissa (November 27th)
SAMOYED SMILE – Samidare Growing Up! (November 27th)
SkyFish – Ruri no Ie -DOMINATION GAME-
SkyFish poco – Wan Nyan☆À La Mode (December 25th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Hitotsu no Yane no, Tsubasa no Shita de – November 27th
Amakano ~Second Season~ – December 18th
Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o – December 18th

The following titles have been delayed:

Imouto no Seiiki – August 28th
Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori – October 23rd
Kadenz fermata//Akkord:fortissimo – October 30th
Koisuru Shimai no Sextet PLUS – TBA

Hibiki works has released the July append life patch for PRETTY×CATION2. NekoNekoSoft is making a mini fandisc for Sumire, for sale at C88 for ￥3000. It should be pretty short.

The second outfit poll for Lose’s upcoming title is underway! This time, they’ve pared down the list to a reasonable size.

The Daemon Busters H-OVA will satisfy its viewers on September 25th.

ALcot’s Clover Day’s is getting a PSV port! It’s scheduled for October 22nd. DEAR’s Love Revenge will also be out for the PSV on October 29th.

ALTER’s 1/8 scale figure of Fate‘s Archer is scheduled for a December release, at a price of ￥11,800.

With Comiket and Denkigai just around the corner, there’s a ton of dakimakura coming out, including Sukisuki‘s Rinka and Chiho, Koihime‘s Shuri and Reiha, Amakano‘s Mizuki, Panyanyanda‘s Saku, Yoake‘s Feena, Mai and Estel, D.C.III‘s Ricca and Sara, D.C.II D.M.‘s Yuuki, Hime-sama LOVE Life‘s Ruria, Clover Day’s‘ Izumi, Kagura Kaentan‘s Mikoto, Ayakashi Sange‘s Otsuu, Chrono Clock‘s Kuro and Michiru, Puramai Wars‘ Mei, Aokana‘s Misaki, Koikano‘s Sena and Mizuiro‘s Hiyori.

Finally on Hitomi’s route on LOVEREC. now! It’s not been their best work, but I think the true end should be better at least. Also, next week’s weekly news will be out on Thursday since I’ll be taking off on a trip afterwards.

New company Ushimitsu Soft‘s debut title will be Chuuni Hime no Teikoku. It is planned for an October 23rd release. Meanwhile, ninetail’s GEARS OF DRAGOON 2 has been set for December 18th.

Imouto Toa won the Wagamama High Spec chara poll, while Suzuha topped the Ren’ai Phase chara poll.

A-TOYS is making a 1/3 scale figure of Daito‘s Tsugumi. Nice smile and dynamite body! It comes out on October 31st for a very cool ￥36,000. Other figures coming out are Kotobukiya’s 1/7 scale figure of Fate‘s Saber (December, ￥12,800) and Orchid Seed’s 15+ 1/7 scale figure of Grisaia‘s Yumiko (January, ￥12,800).

Dakimakuras available soon are Samidare Growing Up!‘s Kiriha, Hanasaki‘s Kanna, Boku no Hitori Sensou‘s Rumi, PRETTY×CATION2‘s Azusa, Unionism Quartet‘s Amane and Silveria, and ALIA’s CARNIVAL‘s Tsukuyomi and Karin.

A new set of LINE stamps are out for Nekopara, featuring Maple, Azuki, Cinnamon, Coconut and Shigure.

While the first three routes in LOVEREC. (Chiho, Miyuki, Nori) were so-so, the true end (Hitomi) had a much more complete story and tied in elements from the other routes. There were even some delicious bonus material afterwards. While I enjoyed the game, I still feel that it is more of an ALcot Honey Comb title than one from the parent company… or maybe Clover Day’s was just too good in my opinion.

I’ll be flying out on a trip to the west coast for a week and a half. There’ll be no weekly news next Friday.

Sayori and Korie Riko are busy this Comiket with their personal works Nekopara Vol.0 Minazuki Neko-tachi no Nichijou! and Hakoniwa no Gakuen. ALICESOFT’s Rance03 Leazas Kanraku gets a remake, while chara-ge PRIMAL×HEARTS2 gets a sequel from Marmalade. Karin fans can rejoice as it’s now her turn in BaseSon’s Shin Koihime†Eiyuutan 2 ~Otome Enran☆Sangokushi Engi [Gi]~.

Love it or hate it not a month with much substance. Pick up the one or two games that suit you then carry on with those overflowing backlogs.

Nekopara Vol.0 Minazuki Nekotachi no Nichijou!

Circle: NEKO WORKs
Game site: ネコぱら Vol.0 水無月ネコたちの日常！
Release date: August 16, 2015 (Comiket 88)
Comments:
This is a very short all-ages fandisc for Nekopara, with a total playtime of under one hour. It takes place prior to Vol.1 and the download version only costs 300 yen. The 1000 yen package version includes a 24 page illustration collection (with ero) and some system voices. How could I say no to Chocola, Vanilla, and my other dear kitties? For those who want ero, you’ll have to wait till volume 2 at C89 this winter.

Fandisk, off to a great start this month.

Hakoniwa no Gakuen

Circle: 無人灯 (Mujintou)
Game site: 箱庭の学園
Release date: August 16, 2015 (Comiket 88)
Comments:
This all-ages closed-room suspense title is the debut work by doujin circle Mujintou. In the woods not far away from the city lies a school which is called the ‘miniature garden’. In reference to its namesake, an original “miniature festival” is held every three years. There’s a rumour that a suspicious death will befall someone on the night of the festival. This year, Yasunari and four other students found themselves trapped alone in the school on the day of the festival at sunset. Will it be just a fake confinement or are the rumours true?

It seems that scenario writers love closed-room mysteries. This time, it’s 5 students trapped in a school and someone will die unless they find the culprit. The art is by Lump of Sugar illustrator Korie Riko, which is why I’m writing about it here. It’s interesting to see her art featured in something other than a moe-ge (not since Terebi no Kieta Hi). For an inexpensive doujin title, the plot should be simple enough to pull off. The trial is fully voiced and the lesser-known seiyuus did a relatively good job. It’s worth checking out if you have time.

I will never understand the appeal of closed off settings. They just ruin a lot of the suspense and variables by limiting everything. I understand that it is easier to write because it simplifies all possibilities, but when it is your job, put some effort into it. Oh also will never understand the appeal of this artist. Their characters are flat and they are quite bad at expressing emotion.

Koinaka lovers

Company: eRONDO
Game site: こいなかlovers
Release date: August 21, 2015
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Koinaka, with after stories in an omnibus format with plenty of icha ero. I like the art, but I didn’t play the original game. Will a fandisc for what was practically a nukige be even more ero?

Fandisks yay.

Ichibun no Ni Koigokoro

Company: 天ノ葉 (Amanoha)
Game site: 1分の2恋ゴコロ
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the first game by Amanoha. Aoi doesn’t go to school; instead he works hard every day on part-time jobs to care for his two imoutos, Hina and Runa. While he does have some regrets about not attending school, he is satisfied and motivated by the sight of his imoutos’ smiles.

One winter day, Aoi was working harder than usual in order to celebrate his imoutos’ birthday, which was fast approaching. Then he reunited with his former kouhai Minori and met his shy neighbour Koyuki. These encounters brought about changes in Aoi’s relationship with his imoutos.

The story is written from both the perspective of the protagonist Aoi and each heroine, to develop a greater sense of romance. There’s no trial out yet, but all the heroines are cute, especially his angelic imoutos. This is the first story by Nakamura Panda, so I’d suggest approaching it with tempered expectations.

Do I even need to say it?

But it’s not a fandisc!

You’re right. It’s much worse.

PRIMAL×HEARTS2

Company: ま～まれぇど (Marmalade)
Game site: PRIMAL×HEARTS2
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the sequel to PRIMAL×HEARTS, with a new cast at the same school, taking place 6 years later in the same school but with a new set of heroines. On the advice of his older sister, Daichi transferred into Ainoshima Gakuen in the second term. His heart was full of expectation for a new life, at least until he crossed the school gates where he was accosted by the two student council leaders. There are two student councils: the noble Gekka-kai and the fashionable Tendou-kai. They regularly compete against one another and their support is evenly split. As such, he held the sway vote and everyone greatly anticipated his arrival, much like what happened at the school 6 years ago. They say 777 is lucky, but to Daichi, who had planned to spend a quiet school life, it was extremely unlucky.

The story is very similar to the original, with the new protagonist Daichi being the younger brother of Bitch-san, Michi. It was well received as a pretty chara-ge, so fans will probably still love this one despite the unoriginality. I’m still a Tendou-kai supporter! Note that the first edition features a raburabu after scene for PRIMAL×HEARTS‘s Sera.

Am I the only one who finds this series title horribly unappealing for the subject matter? It makes me think they are trying to fight off velociraptors after their delicious hearts or something. Other than the title though its one of those more of the same, so as long as that’s what you expect and want from it have fun.

OH! Yuusha yo, Itte Shimau to wa Nasakenai!

Company: ラグジュアリー (Luxury)
Game site: おお勇者よ、イってしまうとは情けない！
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
Luxury’s latest title after their Maou no Kuse ni Namaiki da! series is a shota icharabu story. The hero Yushia and his party headed towards the demon lord’s castle to defeat him, but he fell into the demon lord’s sub-commander’s trap and was turned into a weak level 1 shota. When he reunited with his party members, he earnestly asked for their help in training him back up to regain his lost powers. But each of them wanted him for themselves and took full advantage of his unfortunate situation to make him their playtoy. Will he be able to endure their ecchi training? What will become of his quest to defeat the demon lord?

Another nukige title from Luxury and this one caters to those who like big-breasted onee-san types. It must be tough being a weakling in a vast dangerous world (of oppai). Good luck, our little hero!

At least it’s not loli.

So you’d rather have a shota. Now I get why you wanted to play that trap game.

Attractive women taking advantage of little boys just makes them lucky. Men taking advantage of little girls makes them victims.

Ayakashi Sange

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debonosu Works)
Game site: アヤカシ散華
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
The demon world was united by the rare mastermind Ibaraki Shouhou. However, he was assassinated by his chief vassal Sarugami Gensuke before he could attain his dream of conquering the human world. With the loss of its absolute ruler, the demon world fell into a state of chaos and strife. Shouhou’s son Jinkurou decided to seek revenge for his late father and attempted to rally the surviving retainers for his cause. However, he had been disinherited and ousted for being a womanizer, so no one answered to his appeal. Thus, he set out with his most trusted friend Iori and loyal retainer Kuroko to re-unite the demon world once more.

Different from the Kagura series, the protagonist is an oni who fights, kills and has sex with all women he comes upon. Kinda sounds like Rance. It’s a tactical SLG with the ultimate goal being a reunited demon world. The CGs are probably not too different since most of it was monster rape anyway.

These games are so good for cultivating moral behavior. Beating up a woman means you are entitled to sex her.

Traveling Stars

Company: HOOKSOFT
Game site: トラベリング スターズ -Traveling Stars-
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This present-day fantasy title is the 15th anniversary work by HOOKSOFT. Souma is your average guy living a very ordinary life in peaceful Japan, however one day he was chosen for an extremely important role. As the world’s ambassador to the newly linked ‘other world’ Sansarune, he was tasked with taking in their magic culture there. He despaired at having no friends, TV nor games in this world, but how could one not be excited about being in a fantasy world that everyone dreams of? It was a world of elves, vampires, angels and demons, not to mention girls with animal ears.

Ten years later, Souma returned to the human world to the jointly-created floating city Arteal, and enrolled into the newly-founded magic school there. As someone who had experienced both cultures, he was relied upon, looked up to, and adored by everyone. It was a unique new beginning for someone who used to be just a normal boy.

I like stories with a bit of magic and fantasy, so this seems to be made just for me. I’ve got my sights on the little demon (baka loli) Rea. She’s so gonna get taken home! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Ugh. Tryhard syndrome. Would have been so much easier without the horribly random and nonsensical fantasy world gimmick. Its just another Shuffle like that. Could have at least made the setting another world period. Or failing that come up with dozens of better premises so we can avoid that awkward and silly flip flopping they used to give the protagonist some random importance. Sometimes simple is best.

Rance 03 Leazas Kanraku

Company: ALICESOFT
Game site: ランス03 リーザス陥落
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the remake of Rance III, the pioneer RPG which came out in 1991. The Kingdom of Leazas was attaked by Prince Patton’s elite forces from the north. Then appeared demons of unsurpassed power which could not be hurt by anyone. The castle fell in an instant and the commanding princess Lia was taken prisoner. One ninja survived the fall of Leazas, along with the national treasure and the princess’s final message. Their last remaining hope lies in the free city Ice in the west: the brutish warrior and womanizer Rance.

The dungeon exploration is the same as the card system in Rance01. The battle system is also updated, with new characters and rearranged scenarios. Another opportunity for those new to the Rance saga to get acquainted with it. Most likely there’ll be more remakes to come.

Well, it’s Rance. Do I even need to say any more?

Revive ~Yuurei Seikatsu wa Paradise~

Company: PETALA
Game site: リバイブ ～幽霊生活はパラダイス～
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the debut title for PETALA. Souta is an unlucky fellow who found himself as a ghost one day. He couldn’t remember how he ended up like this, but despite having regrets over not having done ‘this and that’ with his osananajimi love interest Hijiri, he was still quite composed considering his current situation. That’s because he’s invisible now and can watch girls undressing and in other unthinkable poses all he wants!

However, his fulfilling ghost life changed when he met the great spirit-sensing old woman Jako. She told him that if he continued on as a ghost, then he will one day vanish completely from this world. To avoid this and to become human again, he needs sexual energy known as soma, which dwelled within those whom he has a special relationship with. Will he be able to find his ‘true partner’ and revive successfully?

It’s a trio of first-time scenario writers for this low-priced title that seems to be more of a nukige. Ever imagined being an invisible man? Here’s the game for you!

If there was an actual game made from the concept sure. Nukige though, why bother with the pretenses it’s not like anyone cares why hes a ghost or needs to go around poking everything with his incorporeal penis.

Tenkiame

Company: ぐみそふと (Gummy Soft)
Game site: 天気雨
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
In the middle of summer vacation, the protagonist receives news that his grandfather had fallen ill. Taking the place of his busy parents, he travelled a bit reluctantly to his grandparents’ home. Luckily, his grandfather’s situation wasn’t serious, and he spent time with his grandmother, who he hadn’t seen in a long time. She mentioned that the greenery in the area will soon disappear as it is razed for urban development. He lamented that it was a sign of the times.

As he sat on the porch, feeling the cool breeze and listening to the soothing sound of the swaying wind chimes, he thought it was a very comfortable feeling. He noticed a small girl next to him, basked in the gentle sunlight. He was captivated by her beautiful hair, ears and smile. This is the beginning of a small love story with an innocent and curious white fox and a quiet and meddlesome fox.

It is said that when there is a sunshower, a fox’s wedding is being held. That’s why both of the heroines in this game are fox girls. They even use the E-mote system to make their ears and tail move. I like fox girls, so I wouldn’t mind playing this. Look at how adorable Shiro is! I’m totally captivating by those delicious armpits… haa haa…

Probably the only game this month I look forward to. Not that I am expecting anything amazing from the game, but as long as it doesn’t overreach itself there should be a decent laid back charage in here.

Rural settings are always nice and relaxing, so long as there’s no crazy spirits roaming about.

Tou no Shita no Exercitus

Company: アストロノーツ・コメット (Astronauts Comet)
Game site: 塔の下のエクセルキトゥス
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
A long long time ago, a certain civilization lived in prosperity with its superior technology until it destroyed itself due to over-development. The world was destroyed in this ‘accident’, but it gradually recovered after a long time. However, it was limited only to the areas surrounding the Tower of Velvalem, built by the “family of the dawn”.

Then a new problem soon arose. The number of persons under the protection of the “tower” had increased too much, causing its circulation ability to become unstable. After plenty of hand-wringing, the leaders at that time created a manic system with ‘demons’ coming out of the tower to attack and reduce the human population, and consequently preserve the balance of the world.

A hundred years later, Melcriti Gakuen was founded as a training school for adventurers who fight against these demons. They were able to repel them and the population began to increase once more. As a result, Velvalem became unstable and the countdown towards destruction is underway. Yuuki was accidentally summoned by Chloe into this world. He must fight as an adventurer through various challenges along with the heroines.

This new RPG comes from a different staff from those that worked on Verethragna, but it uses the same card battle system. The setting is the usual ‘get to the top of the tower’ kinda adventure. There’s a lot of characters covering a range of classes. I think the character designs by Kokusan Moyashi and Rozea aren’t bad. I’ll need to play a trial to determine if it’s worth pouring hours into.

Now I may be dumb, but even more than being dumb, I am lazy. Too lazy to actually bother reading about a game system I read, understood, and decided was garbage before. So I may be dumb for remembering wrong here, but throwing cards at each other while hoping your cards have bigger numbers written on them does not make for great gameplay flow in a story based medium. Yes I am aware there is more to it than that, I just don’t care. Anyway the premise here is basically a never ending cycle of eroge creators screwing with botched settings. Could have just left the setting at the destroyed civilization, demons, and then have two military forces one for the demons one as police the end. All the extra pointless fluff just gets in the way for no good reason.

Also the word “Adventurer” is way too overused at this point. It is just a catch all phrase for people that do stuff in our setting because we are too lazy to think and want our characters to be free from any obligatory fetters. Nothing more than lazy writing but crappy authors.

Imouto no Seiiki

Company: フォン (feng)
Game site: 妹のセイイキ
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. This is the second title in feng’s low-price series, following Kanojo no Seiiki. When Youhei was small, he used to visit Akiba often. Even though it was for his imouto Yukana, he soon got hooked on game centres and that’s how he became friends with his ojou-sama classmate Fuyuka. One day, Fuyuka gifted Yukana with a Christmas trip and the siblings enjoyed their time alone together like a couple. Looking at his imouto, he realized that still hasn’t saved her from that time.

“You won’t let your imouto take your virginity even though you’re into Akiba stuff… I hate you, oniichan!”

This is the happy and bittersweet love story between siblings. The seiyuu for main heroine and tsundere bracon imouto Yukana has changed from Yoshizumi Haruna (Nitta Emi) to Akino Hana. While I think she’ll do a decent job, it’ll probably won’t feel right for those who have played the original game. That being said, I’d still be interested in playing this since it’s got Ryouka art, is pretty short and likely full of icharabu. I have the feeling that feng will make another game for ikayaki-loving classmate Maika.

These games make me feel as though Feng has given up. Not that I blame them Hoshikaka was pretty damn bad. Could do with better heroine material at the very least though.

Koi to Mahou to Kanrinin ~Renai Rensa-hen~

Company: Prometheus
Game site: 恋と魔法と管理人 ～恋愛連鎖編～
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the first title by Prometheus. It is the first part of two mid-priced games, with each focusing on two separate heroines. Magic is seen only in fairy tales, movies, manga and other fiction. However, even though people cannot see it with their own eyes, it actually exists in this world. Originally it’s only used by women, but for some reason, Takeru was born with this ability. He was uncomfortable with his special ability and soon kept his distance from others.

One spring day, his grandfather, who had raised him up, passed away. It was written in his will that Takeru was to take over the management of the dormitory at the school which his grandfather had founded and was the chairman of. He thought that it would just be a simple business matter, but he never thought at that time that he would fall in love with a girl who lived there. Also, he did not notice that there was a giant organization targeting him for his ability…

Yada yada yada… AND some sinister group is after him!! Just like I.D. and P.W.’s games (same group as Prometheus), they’re still mixing a ton of plot devices with likely no intention of wrapping them up. Their sales would probably be better if they made up their mind and did it well. I played the trial a bit and it was rather bland. The characters felt forced, especially Moka-senpai, and they really need to have more variety in their BGMs.

I swear there must be a class in Japan where they teach this crap. If you don’t know how to force your character to interact with heroines so he can squirm his way into their panties, just eliminate all competition. Sooner or later the last guy on Earth is bound to get some I suppose. Which is basically what the Infinite Stratos style plots are.

Shin Koihime†Eiyuutan 2 ~Otome Enran☆Sangokushi Engi [Gi]~

Company: BaseSon
Game site: 真・恋姫†英雄譚2 ～乙女艶乱☆三国志演義［魏］～
Release date: August 28, 2015
Comments:
This is the second of three low priced sequels to the Koihime series, focusing on the Gi generals. It is only available via download (DMM). The main heroines are Karin, Shunran, Shuuran and Keifa. New characters include Karin’s troublemaker cousin Karon, and Eika and Shanfu, who showed up in the Shoku volume. There’s also a Ren append waiting for those with the NEXTON-PASSPORT.

Who’s the first girl to get pregnant? That’s right, Keifa-chan~! She still hates his guts and wants to kill him, but her ‘love’ is second to none! It’s a given I’ll be playing this, but I expect great things from her route. Heh.

More Eiyuutan with less characters. At least less good ones. Never did like that faction personally, one or two are ok but most of them are kind of meh. Still personal tastes aside, it is Koihime going in a better direction than breeding heroines like roaches, so I support that.

Micchi’s Top 4 for This Month

1. Shin Koihime†Eiyuutan 2 ~Otome Enran☆Sangokushi Engi [Gi]~
2. Tenkiame
3. Nekopara Vol.0 Minazuki Neko-tachi no Nichijou!
4. PRIMAL×HEARTS2

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Tenkiame
2. Shin Koihime†Eiyuutan 2 ~Otome Enran☆Sangokushi Engi [Gi]~
3. 3?

I thought it was summer… Where’s the swimsuits?

Under the AC with everyone else trying to escape the heat.

Debonosu and light are partnering up for Studio e.go!‘s renewal title, IZUMO4. It is planned for the upcoming winter. Other new titles announced this week include:

Applique – Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku
LOSE – Maitetsu
MORE – Kono Koi, Seishun ni Yori.

âge’s Schwarzesmarken Kouketsu no Monshou has been delayed to November 27th., while release dates have been set for the following:

Sorairo Innocent – October 30th
TsuyoKiss FESTIVAL – December 25th

Iris was voted as best onee-chan in the Yuusha poll. Chara polls have started up for Valet Style (until August 16th) and Kyuuketsu Hime no Libra (until September 6th).

Whirlpool’s Melodia and HOOKSOFT’s MeltyMoment are getting PSV ports, while the PSV ports for Tsuriotsu and Kiss Ato have been set for November 26th.

ALICESOFT’s Blade Briders is getting an H OVA courtesy of Pink Pineapple. It comes out on October 30th.

AXL’s vocal song collection 5, “Drafting”, will be sold at Denkigai Matsuri 2015 Summer, as will the Dies irae drama CD “Todestag Verloren” (which will then be on shelves on August 28th). The PRETTY×CATION2 raburabu birthday collection for Azusa comes out on September 24th.

New figures coming out are the Cu-poche of im@s movie’s Miki (August, ￥3200) and nendoroid of Fate‘s Shirou (December, ￥3704). Broccoli also has some teaser pics for their upcoming figures of Sanoba Witch‘s Nene and Tenshin Ranman‘s Sana.

Recent dakimakura on the way include 11gatsu‘s Sena and Airu, Schwarzemarken‘s Irisdina, Biman‘s Alice and Dorothy, Kanotsuku‘s Koharu, Kami no Rhapsody‘s Mistoria, Sakigen‘s Ouka, Akaseka‘s Shinku, Himakoi‘s Akane, Sorakoi‘s Sora, Yorino‘s Mayura and Haruka, Kamimaho‘s Kisaki, Shoujo Ramune‘s Tenka, Tearstilla‘s Marine, Sakura no Uta‘s Rina, Mayosube‘s Touka, Maitetsu‘s Hachiroku, PENDULUM‘s Makoto, ALIA’s CARNIVAL‘s Tsukuyomi and Karin, Rensou Relation‘s Himari and Aiko, and Sakusaku‘s Yuuri.

A bonus patch for Karin in ALIA’s CARNIVAL is available from NanaWind’s webpage.

sprite is holding a live event for Aokana and Koichoco in late December at DIFFER Ariake.

My west coast trip was awesome, full of fun in the sun and plenty of good food. Then I came back to the Tree of Savior closed beta. Where did my week go?

As one who loved the moe nukige Kurafuta, I’m very excited that CUBE‘s next game will be Mamiya-kunchi no Itsutsugo Jijou -The quintuplets situation of the Mamiya family-! Not only that, but Galette is planning the third game in their Onii-chan series: Onii-chan Teacher ~Himitsu no Jugyou o Kibou Shimasu!~! Other new titles announced this week include:

Caramel Box – Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier (December 25th)
HARUKAZE – Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart -Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat.-
Navel – Otome Riron to Sono Go no Shuuhen (December 18th)
Palette Qualia – Otome＊Domain
Whirlpool – World Election

ALcot’s Kimi no Tonari de Koi Shiteru! ~The Respective Happiness~ has been set for November 27th. Marmalade’s PRIMAL×HEARTS2 has been delayed to October 30th.

The Sorcery Jokers chara poll will run until September 18th.

MadoSoft’s Wagahigh isn’t even out yet and they’ve already announced an anime for it at C88! What high specs! It is planned for next year.

Qoobrand’s Majo Koi Nikki will be getting a PSV adaptation.

The Hime-sama Love Life! vocal and soundtrack album will be on shelves on September 18th, the same day as the game.

What a beautiful and well-designed Saber bride figure from Souyokusha! This 1/7 scale figure comes out in December at a reasonable price of ￥12,278.

Good luck to the folks who are braving the C88 heat. I’ll be taking it easy at home.

With the second game in BaseSon‘s Shin Koihime†Eiyuutan ~Otome Enran☆Sangokushi Engi~ series coming out at the end of this month, they’ve announced that the third game, focusing on the Go generals, will come out on October 30th. The main routes are for Renfa, Shishun and Sai. I hope there’s some scenes for Shao and Minmei!

Other new titles announced this week include:

Escu:de – Fall in Love × 4tune (November 27th)
Lass Lunatic – Midare Setsugekka!! ~Hakanaku Chiru Sasameyuki~ (November 27th)
Parasol – QUINTUPLE☆SPLASH (December 25th)
Tamamo Soft – School of Fantasia
Tsukimi Soft – Happening LOVE!!
WHITESOFT-ALBINO – Koi no Hanito ~Ecchi de Amai Honey Trap~

Release dates have been set for the following:

M-Ria! – November 27th
Naderebo! – November 27th
Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart – November 27th
Onii-chan Teacher – December 18th
IZUMO4 – December 25th

The following titles have been delayed:

Kenseiki Alpha Ride – October 23rd
Ichibun no Ni Koigokoro – November 27th
Seven Piece! – TBD

Yuumi topped the Valet Style chara poll, followed by Aoi and Mirei.

The August append life for PRETTY×CATION2 is available on the game site.

The Kami no Rhapsody visual & guide book from Enterbrain will be on shelves on September 26th.

New figures announced this week include:

Kotobukiya – Cu-poche Chihaya (im@s, February, ￥4200)
Kotobukiya – 1/8 scale Rinna (Shining Resonance, January, ￥9800)
Phat! – 1/8 scale Rise (P4, February, ￥10,800)
Skytube – 1/6 scale Maya tennis wear ver. (Fault!! S, February, ￥13,800)

SAGA PLANETS will start taking preorders for the dakimakura for Hanasaki‘s Hikari on August 27th! The dakimakura for 11gatsu‘s Airu will also be coming out on September 30th.

I’ve got so many trials to play, but I’m reading Tree of Savior stuff all day long instead. This must be what they call withdrawal. It’s also been ridiculous humid this week and I’m dying with no A/C. Luckily, there’s a solution to everything: a healthy dose of catgirls.

The anime adaptation for Aokana will be produced by Gonzo. It is scheduled to air in winter 2016, most likely in January. I hope they don’t butcher it too badly, especially the visuals. They’ll probably go with Asuka’s route, while touching on parts from Misaki’s route. I’d be happy with ample Shiro-nyan.

Release dates have been set for the following:

Koi no Hanito – January 29th
Wagamama High Spec – April 28th

Glacé’s Amanosora Retrospect has been delayed to October 30th. The OP also came out this week. You’ll have to wait an extra month for Amahoshi.

Lose’s third outfit poll for Maitetsu narrows down the list of choices to 40 for each character. The top 10-20 will be considered for the game.

The OST for Escu:de’s Fall in Love × 4tune comes out on November 27th, the same day as the game.

The port for Majokoi will be on the PSV and it is planned for December 24th. The Kaga Create release, Dragon×Caravan will feature a new route, two new characters, additional episodes for popular subcharacters, and new CGs and OP.

Q-six’s 1/6 scale figure of Walroma‘s Celia gym class (pool ver.) is planned for January, at a price of ￥14,800.

It took 10 years, but makura’s Sakura no Uta is actually coming out. Those that can’t get enough of Sayori’s art can enjoy SMILE’s Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma.. Take initiative and find yourself a girlfriend in GIGA’s Ren’ai Phase. If you still have your Juukishi disc, you can get AkabeiSoft3’s knight maiden drama Seikishi Melty☆Lovers for free!

Another month filled with disappointment, mediocrity, and backlogs. Yet at the bottom of it all there is some hope for a few enjoyable games, at least more than usual that’s for sure. Most will at best be enjoyable time wasters which already makes it a pretty good month, but one or two may actually end up being good. Not that I expect it but hey you never know when a game may turn out to be a diamond in the rough.

Magical☆Dears

Company: Navel honeybell
Game site: マジカル☆ディアーズ
Release date: September 18, 2015
Comments:
During the current age of science, magicians don’t exist except in fairy tales. It is not for another 20 plus years before their existence became known. No one believed in them at first, then when it was shown that magic does actually exist, magicians were viewed with disdain from the public. However, it was thought that no one could defeat them. The general public surrendered to the magicians, but all the magicians wanted was to have a place of their own to govern. Thus, the magic school city Arcadia 5 was founded.

Currently, the gender ratio of magicians has reached 10000:1 with male magicians nearing extinction. Tomohiro is one such male magician, raised under close watch apart from the outside world. However one day, the chairwoman of Arcadia 5 sent him an invitation to attend the magic school. So, he decided to go with his imouto Minazuki in order to see the outside world.

But he was the only boy at the school and curious eyes followed him whenever he went. Amidst this situation, he had two goals to achieve: to fall in love with someone and to become a great magician.

There’s an imouto and magic is involved, so that’s enough to make me interested. However, I feel like I need to play the trial before I can judge it as anything more than a harem chara-ge.

I like to imagine the discussion that resulted in this magical last guy in the universe baby making simulator went something like this:

Douche A : “Everyone listen up, we have to make a new eroge. Which means it must be set in a high school somewhere as the stubbornly smug douchebags we are have our heads stuck so far up our own asses we can play hockey with our own tonsils. But as we all are aware, our ability to write would make a chimp cringe, thus we need to use some gimmick that would convince a high enough percentage of the horny mental patients that make up our target demographic to buy our game! So what are your ideas?”

Douche B : “Oh oh, I know, I know, we will have magic! Everyone likes magic! Plus we don’t need to explain anything since a wizard did it!”

Douche A : “Brilliant Douche B! I like the way you think, extra blowjobs and coke for you! Anyone else!?”

Douche C : “Yeah, I have a great idea too! Lets make the ratio of magical fairy men significantly less than women so our protagonist is automatically important cuz, penis! Plus this will guarantee him a harem since he is basically the only white magic wand in the world.”

Douche A :”YES! Gentleman we have a game, now let’s all go get drunk while snorting our magic pixy power powder to get in character for our “writing”. Leave the rest to the intern after he’s done extracting the magical power from our wands!”

Douche chorus : “Yaaay!”

And lo came this horrible deformed monstrosity called an eroge, born from a union that had to be incest. Thus we have irrefutable proof that little sisters should be avoided as heroines. The End.

But doesn’t everyone love magic and imoutos?????

If by everyone you mean overweight 40 year old virgins and bandwagon weebs, then yes! No arguments there!

Ya know, you could write a pretty good eroge. Since you’re such a big douche (¬_¬)

But I am also a lazy douche without magical motivating pixy dust power.

Sangokuhime 4 ~Tenka Ryouran Tenmei no Koi Emaki~

Company: げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 三極姫4 ～天下繚乱 天命の恋絵巻～
Release date: September 18, 2015
Comments:
Countless man-made and natural disasters have driven people mad and the continent into chaos. In the midst of the Yellow Turban rebellion, a few brave warriors declared their desires to take supremacy over the nation. Akito is a young man, wandering in search of his purpose in life. Only he has a mysterious ability – a kind heart unbefitting of these troubled times.

The Sangokuhime series completely changes with the appearance of the protagonist Akito, who has a special ability. This 4th installment features a new world, characters and story, with 8 different routes. Similar to Koihime, there are around 40 different heroines from the three factions (Gi, Go, Shoku). The SLG system has also been improved. I never had much interest in this series, but with the total remake and some attractive characters, I’m keeping my options open. Doubt it’ll come close to Koihime though.

From the creators that brought you such amazing titles as Sengokuhime, Sengokuhime 2, and even Sengokuhime 3, comes something the world would never expect! Presenting Sengokuhime 4! A whole new world of ripping off a popular idea, for the fourth time running!

While maybe not entirely fair since the gameplay is different I suppose. Equally pointless though so hardly winning points for originality there. Sengokuhime suffers from the same problems that Koihime does, too many heroines to feel any attachment to the characters. Honestly I would be fine with the ripping off if they made a proper game of it, or properly cared about the characters at least. As is the game is a somewhat half hearted attempt to cash in on the Koihime niche without adding anything.

Well, to be fair, Koihime is still cashing in on itself.

Yeah but when a ripoff of what is basically a ripoff is milking it just as much, and in an even more reptetive fashion it does leave a rather sour taste.

Seikishi Melty☆Lovers

Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: 聖騎士Melty☆Lovers
Release date: September 18, 2015
Comments:
In Ederant, the greatest honour regardless of gender is becoming a knight. Till enrolled in the knight-training school Equites and must find a partner for the knight examination. He met the smart but naive Sefi, the motivated cool beauty Frey, the mysterious gun-toting Lil, and the foreign giant sword-wielding Canon. His pure admiration of knights would soon change into a greater wish due to these girls with the same aspirations.

They’re still at it with this knight theme. Those that bought EffordomSoft’s utter failure Juukishi can send their game disc to AkabeiSoft3 in exchange for the game, if it’s still in one piece. But nothing will make me try another such game. Nooooooooooooooooooooope.

I blame Ricotta and that terrible Valkyrie Romance series for this flood of crappy knight games. All the other companies saw that they made shit shine so jumped in line to copy. Problem is I’m pretty sure no one who liked Valkyrie Romance cared about the knight garbage in that setting. After all that was the only thing that made it a terrible game, since it was a poorly made and horribly thought out gimmick which cheapened the series. Without that Valkyrie Romance would have been a better series. On the other hand the knockoffs seem to have missed the entire point and decided everyone would like them too if they followed the lead of Bobo the drunken hobo clown. At least copy the good things people, or maybe play those games first so when you dress in drag alcohol without the roofies are enough to get in your customers panties.

Hime-sama LOVE Life!

Company: Princess Sugar
Game site: 姫様LOVEライフ！
Release date: September 18, 2015
Comments:
Due to his father’s work, Yahiro began living together with his imouto Io. Walking home after wrapping up the enrollment procedure at their new school, they noticed a large truck stopped outside of their house. Since they had already moved everything in, they wondered what it was doing there. They found the door unlocked and nervously went upstairs worried that there might be a burglar. Instead they found a girl pushing a giant piano with all her might… while in her underwear. They stood dumbfounded at the absurd sight. Why was there a half-naked girl in their house? Soon she noticed them and yelled at them to get out. A few minutes later, she came out in a beautiful dress.

“I am deeply sorry for my earlier actions. My name is Ruria Fondina. I have come here to live with you as family.”

She was a princess from a certain island nation, and his imouto Io was also a princess. That was only the beginning as many other princesses showed up at their door one by one!

Sharing the same roof as four princesses… what a royal harem! I’m fine with all of them, although I’d spoil my imouto princess the most of course! The cast is quite nice: Arisugawa Miyabi, Momoi Ichigo, Aoba Ringo and Ogura Yui. This could be a decent pick up for some mindless ecchi comedy.

If I get sent stuff I don’t want in the mail I typically send it back. Spam these days has gotten so bad that the even the Russians send you their free trials. Sure you may have fifty hours or a month of free use but they just want to get you hooked so you pay. Remember to read the contracts before use and demand they pay for the return postage.

Aneyome Concerto

Company: CandySoft
Game site: あねよめコンチェルト
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
This is a fandisc for Aneyome Quartet which contains after stories for the 5 main heroines (Yurina, Momone, Saori, Anzu, Minamo), plus an ‘if’ story where he did not choose any of the Hanabishi sisters as his fiancée. Two new foreign heroines Maria and Sylvie appear; they were adopted by the Hidaka family and are now his older sisters.

Cute penguin. Here you go Zen: all the onee-sans you want!

At this point it is no secret I prefer the older sister types to the younger ones. That said though I cannot for the life of me remember the original game here, so it must have been bad.

Besides I don’t think I have ever seen a wedding dress with exposed boobs. This makes it hard for me to believe in the sincerity to the realism I demand from fictional works~! I mean really, who the hell wants to marry a girl with a self removing dress, where is the fun in that? People so devoid of a man’s romance should never be allowed near a pen.

Sure, I’ll be waiting for your review~☆

The end. There review over.

Tincle★Twinkle Festival!

Company: Digital Cute
Game site: ちんくる★ツインクルフェスティバル！
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
Situated on an expanse of land in a corner of the city, Saint Maradonna is a girls’ school with a long, storied history dating back to the early Showa Era. One of its traditions is a festival which is not known to outsiders: Chinkousai. It is a holy ceremony performed every year so that the girls at the school may be blessed with children with the greatest man in the future. The top student is chosen as the worshipped male deity Vernis and bestows the best genes upon everyone.

However, this year’s chosen one, Sena, refused to be put in such a shameful position. Instead, she ordered her twin brother Seiji to take her position. So, he was forced to dress as a girl and to live in the girls’ dormitory. His cover was quickly blown and his manhood was shown to all of the students. He thought that this was the end of his life, but they all thought that he was a true form of Vernis and greatly respected him.

What’s with Japan and dick-worshipping festivals? It’s a twist from the usual ‘guy ends up in a girls’ school’ story. I like Kouguchimoto’s art, which is both cute and ero. They promise lots of fetish H scenes and animation. There’s also some hidden scenes, so good luck with completing the game! Do you have the chinko fever?

Uuuuuuh…. Hooookay then…

…

……

………

Yeah, so uhh the game kind of makes fun of itself. How do you even make fun of a game with a protagonist who is essentially a big throbbing penis being worshipped in an all girls school?

Well hopefully it’s funny. If so I’ll go with it. If however it tries to be even remotely serious I would chop this festival off my list so fast this girls school would never even know it was there in the first place.

PV

Valet☆Style -Loyalty of valet-

Company: CroixSoft
Game site: ばれっと☆すたいる -Loyalty of valet-
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
This is the first title by CroixSoft. There are two kinds of students at the prestigious Konoe Gakuen: the children of wealthy families (masters) and those who study hard to become the best butlers (valets). Their school life is one full of grace and dignity. Kazuma, an extremely poor guy who constantly works part-time jobs, was thrust into this different lifestyle after it was discovered that he was actually part of a noble family. He even had his own personal butler. Surrounded by valets and ojou-samas, what kind of encounters lie ahead for him?

Pretty much the entire staff is rookies. There’s a 10 year reunion with your imouto and she’s still 110% bracon. Art’s not particularly great and I’d rather have maids than butlers. Pass.

Well, that’s dumb.

Sakura no Uta -Sakura no Mori no Ue o Mau-

Company: 枕 (makura)
Game site: サクラノ詩 －櫻の森の上を舞う－
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
After the death of his world-renowned artist father and without any relatives to rely on, Naoya was taken in by the family of his best friend Kei. There he met Kei’s sisters: his new homeroom teacher Ai and actress imouto Shizuku. Then, with the start of the new school year, his osananajimi Rin, who had changed schools long ago, reappeared before him. As the sakura petals blow and the promised reunion unfolds, a torrent of emotions cascades down at that moment of time.

It’s been over 10 years since it was first announced, but SCA-Ji’s planned romance title is seeing the light of day with some staff changes. You didn’t think this would actually come out, did you? As opposed to the Wittgenstein-inspired philosophical Subarashiki Hibi, Sakura no Uta portrays the happiness that exists in normal days, elaborating on the “live happily” notion from Subahibi. They claim that it will not be philosophical, but I wouldn’t take that at face value. It couldn’t be just a normal love story, right?

Boohoo daddy died like every other eroge protagonist. But unlike the other protagonists who take inspiration to launch operation panty invasion, I’m gonna whine and drama all over your face about it.

Ok being an asshole for no reason aside this is one of those games I am a little interested in. Why? Because while there is nothing especially good about it, there are likewise no major stop signs slapping me in the face from the start. This is a huge improvement over most games these days so there is a lingering hope for it. That said long development times usually result in bad ends, and staff changes even more so. Don’t hold out too much hope but might be worth a try with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism.

Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma.

Company: スミレ (SMILE)
Game site: 僕と恋するポンコツアクマ。
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
Ren’s virginity is in danger! His osananajimi Riria was frantically trying to pull down his pants and begging to touch his dick. The truth is that she’s actually a succubus and was embarrassed not having any sexual experience at her age.

He was suddenly pushed into the school’s special dormitory. It was a girls’ dormitory full of ponkotsu (affectionately useless) demons: Yuu, the yuki-onna who was extremely sensitive to the cold; Arle, the mummy girl who is uncomfortable with tightness and loves the feeling of freedom; Emiri, the hopeless angel who has no sense of modesty; and, Miyabi, the witch who passionately develops a love drug to bring happiness to the world. The dormitory was built to rehabilitate them and since he was mistakenly moved there, he was assigned as an assistant to watch over them. His happy and troublesome days as a teacher for these cute but incompetent demons has begun.

Are useless girls cute? I guess it depends on how they’re depicted. The art by Sayori and Hirose Madoka, along with the varied fantasy cast combine to make this ponkotsu-only title show greater promise than the recently-released Sakura Nikagetsu, which was rather pedestrian. It’ll make you laugh, charm you, while still being ero enough to rival a nukige. I’m quite a fan of the artists, so that alone is enough for me to put this on my list. I don’t expect too much from the plot. It’ll be kinda like Nekopara, but longer. Imouto angel Emiri can be my cupid any day! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

A little on the simple side setting and plot wise, but as long as the game remains lighthearted and funny should be an enjoyable read. Games like these are good to read either between more serious titles or when there is nothing else. This is however assuming they don’t completely botch it the way YouGaku did.

Ren’ai Phase

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: 恋愛フェイズ
Release date: September 25, 2015
Comments:
Jun hasn’t ever had a girlfriend and was chastised by his online friend AMATERAS for planning to spending Christmas alone. He never gave it much thought until now, but it made him concerned that he wouldn’t be able to date a girl all his life. His friend told him not to be such a worrywart and just take the first step or he will remain a virgin for life. Motivated by these words, he decides to get a girlfriend by Christmas Eve and enter the first love phase.

Tsundere ojou-sama, pampering onee-chan, tennen iincho and pet-like osananajimi. How will they change when they become your girlfriend? It’d probably be slightly awkward, but sweet and adorable! Especially kouhai Kokoro (CV: Fujisaki Usa) who loves sitting on your lap! She has claimed your lower half, that’s not such a bad thing~ It’s a simplistic view of romance where you are the only guy and all the girls have the hots for you. The set-up with starting out as friends to becoming lovers is pretty much like Fureraba. Lots of dokidoki!

Let us be honest with ourselves here. Giga has a horrible track record outside of Baldr. Which means you should approach any game outside of their Baldr series with the attitude of an engineer clearing a minefield, great trepidation and lots of careful probing.

I will admit that this seems to be a step in the right direction for them. A game that is not trying too hard to be gimmicky or amazing in any way shape or form. A simple game that focuses on the characters and their interactions should be doable for them, or at least I hope so. Good luck Giga, like an abused wife I am still tearily rooting for you despite the beatings.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma.
2. Sakura no Uta -Sakura no Mori no Ue o Mau-
3. Ren’ai Phase

Zen’s Top 4 for This Month

1. Sakura no Uta -Sakura no Mori no Ue o Mau-
2. Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma.
3. Tincle★Twinkle Festival!
4. Ren’ai Phase

Gimme DA-TENSHI!!!

Ha! I beat Micchi for a month!

By wanting to play a game that worships dicks.

I’d rather worship a penis than magical incestuous pedobait. Besides at least it’s hilariously stupid, not just stupid stupid.

makura’s Sakura no Uta has been delayed once more to October 23rd. What’s another month at this point?

The following titles have also been delayed:

Tincle★Twinkle Festival! – October 30th
Magical☆Dears – November 27th

Lass‘s next title will be Liber_7. No further info is known about it.

The Kadenz & Fortissimo chara poll has started up and will run until September 14th. The result will be revealed at the upcoming La’cryma 10th Fes.

FrontWing is releasing a pair of books on September 25th: the Yuki Koi Melt visual fan book and the Akio Watanabe Artworks 3 -Le Eden de la Grisaia-.

The PSV port for Whirlpool’s Melodia is scheduled for November 26th.

A pair of Fate figures are in the works. ALTER’s 1/7 scale figure of Heroine X will be out in December for ￥10,800, while Flare’s 1/7 scale figure of Caster casual wear ver. is planned for February at ￥11,000. Looks pretty good!

Can you identify the seiyuu just by hearing them say ‘onii-chan’?

New titles announced this week include:

Nounai Kanojo – Kenja no Okuri Imouto
Softhouse Chara – Sono Kojou ni Yuusha Hou Ari! (December 18th)

The mini FD for PriministAr‘s Senri and Kayano has been set for November 27th.

Campus’s debut title Haru Uso has been delayed to November 27th, while Abogado Powers’s Seven Piece! has been rescheduled for October 23rd.

The second chara poll for OH! Yuusha yo, Itte Shimau to wa Nasakenai! runs until September 25th.

Mikoto’s surprise birthday party will be the story for the second D.C.III side stories CD series, coming out on October 30th.

Here’s a pair of figures in skimpy clothing: ORCA TOYS’s 1/6 scale fighter Sasara (TH2DT, April, ￥17,800) and Q-six’s Celia bikini/lingeria ver. (Walroma, February, ￥15,800).

The Yamakase Ran Art Works, featuring art from MOONSTONE titles as well as personal illustrations, will be on shelves on September 28th.

So, a certain mobile game came out this week for the iOS…

AkabeiSoft3 aren’t letting the knight theme die just yet. Coinciding with the release of Seikishi, they announced that there will be a sequel! Ya~y…?

Other new titles announced this week include:

AkabeiSoft3 – Hataraku Otona no Renai Jijou (December 25th)
GIGA – Amaekata wa Kanojo Nari ni.
HexenHaus – Angenehm Plats -Kleiner Garten Sie Erstellen-
WhitePowder – Lamunation!

Release dates have been set for the following:

Hanikami CLOVER – January 29th
Mamiya-kunchi no Itsutsugo Jijou – February 26th
World Election – February 26th

The following titles have been delayed:

Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori – November 27th
Tokyo Necro – January 29th

The September append for PRETTY×CATION2 is available for download.

The Schwarzemarken anime is set to go on air this winter season in January. CLOCKUP’s Eroge! & Eromanga! art works will be featured in an illustration collection due out on September 30th. It’s priced at ￥3000.

The PSV port for GIGA’s Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o. will come out on December 17th.

A 1/6 scale figure of Fault!! A‘s Ai based on Tony’s illustration will be released in March. You can pre-order it now for ￥13,800.

Dakimakuras are available for preorder for Monobeno‘s Chima, Seikishi‘s Frey, Sukisuki‘s Chiho, Hime-sama LOVE Life!‘s Maika, and Harvest OverRay‘s Komachi and Lilia.

The Koikake trial is now available. I’m debating whether to play it now or wait for the full game as I had already pre-ordered it. Might opt for the latter since I’m busy with other stuff lately.

Campus’s low-priced debut title Haruuso hadn’t even come out yet (in fact, it was delayed from October to November), and they’ve already announced that the second title in the 4-part series, Tenmondokei no Aria, will come out on December 18th. Setsuna will be the main heroine in the next game. I guess we shouldn’t much content if it’s just a month between games. That’s a quicker turnaround than softhouse-seal!

Doujin circle Studio Hi-Lite will be releasing Alice-san Kore Nan Desu ka? on December 31st at C89. Their games are always quite whacky.

The following titles have been delayed:

Sengo Muramasa – December 18th
Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart – February 26th

The MuvLuv & MuvLuv Alternative localization Kickstarter campaign started today and they’ve already reached the goal of $250,000 USD. They’ve still got stretch goals up to $720,000 USD. You might want to check it out.

The sprite LIVE 2015 -Beyond the Sky- will be held at Differ Ariake on December 29th (C89 Day 1). Lottery tickets will be sold from October 1st to October 29th. Good luck to those who want to go.

Finally played Nekopara vol.0, which took less than an hour. There’s a backlog of trials to clear…