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Good Job Horny Pastry Puffers!

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haruru_minamo_ni_mioriEscu:de has announced Re;Lord Episode 3 ~Grossen no Maou to Saigo no Majo~. This final installment of the series will come out on July 28th. Other new titles announced this week include:

SILKY’s PLUSHikari no Umi no Apeiria
Studio OrcaYuganda Uso no Koi to Letter

Release dates have been set for the following:

Kimihane Couples – June 30th
Shin Koihime†Musou -Kakumei- Souten no Haou – July 28th

Lass Pixy had set the date for the second Pure Marriage game for April 28th… and then delayed it indefinitely the day after. It seemed like there must have been a mix-up somewhere.

The character poll for Unionism Quartet A3-DAYS will run until March 17th. It seems to be pretty close so far.

The Ginharu visual fan book will be on shelves on March 24th.

Shimotsuki Haruka’s 7th vocal works album “Musubine Ribbon” is planned for March 22nd. Each of the 2 CDs cost ¥3000, while the premium box (¥6700) comes with an acrylic key holder. AXL’s 6th vocal song collection, “Burn out”, comes out on April 28th. It is priced at ¥23145

Congrats everyone! The Nekopara OVA kickstarter has topped $1 million thanks to the follow-up “Slacker Campaign”. Believe in the power of loli Chocola and Vanilla!

nekopara_loli_chocola_vanillaGSC has a pair of figures coming out: nendoroid Lancer/Scáthach (FGO, April, ¥4444) and Super Sonico 10th anniversary wedding ver. figure (Super Sonico, January, ¥18,056).

Dakimakuras are available for pre-order for Maitetsu‘s Nagi and Senren‘s Mako.

Kamiyaba has been like the past HULOTTE games: not much of a story, but a decent cast supported by prominent seiyuus, and plenty of H scenes. I’ve also got Full Kiss left to play before finalizing the March post.

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March 2017 Eroge Releases

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Don’t dwell on the reduced number of games of the previous month, we’ve got plenty of promising games on the way! Live with an imouto android in minori’s TRINOLINE and seek a happy end for a tragedy in Uguisu Kagura’s Suisou Ginka no Istoria. Gods will want you to worship them in Clochette’s Haruru Minamo ni! or perhaps they will come to help support you in your quest for love in HULOTTE’s Kamidanomi Shisugite Ore no Mirai ga Yabai.. If you just want some quality ichaicha, look no further than eRONDO’s Koinosu☆Ichacolize.

A month that is filled with mostly deceptively sub par games sadly. The majority are reliant on gimmicks to try and hook people into a purchase. On the other hand the few that are not are either nukige or fandisks. Only one game made it past the Zen filter this month, sad days.

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trinoline_cgomoi_o_sasageru_otome_no_melody_cgkoinosu_ichacolize_cg6
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Koinosu☆Ichacolize

koinosu_ichacolize

Company: eRONDO
Game site: こいのす☆イチャコライズ
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
eRONDO’s second title Coicha is all about building a ‘love nest’ where you can be lovey-dovey with your ideal girlfriend. After choosing your heroine and deciding on your name (default is Masakage) at the beginning, the game branches off into three separate routes which all take place in the same setting (your apartment), although with different story backgrounds. Ichika is a servile waitress who catches your eye at a café that you frequent. Sachi is a petite girl who you used to play with and with whom you were entrusted on days when she attends a cram school nearby. Natsume is the imouto of your next door neighbour who temporarily lives there when her older sister studies abroad.

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I always love me some ichaicha and all three girls are so cute! I want them in my room too, especially the shy (but lewd) Sachi-tan! (I’m not a lolicon.) Hau~ omochikaeri~! The seiyuus (Ayumu Sara, Akino Hana, Kusuhara Yui) bring the characters alive and the art by Takeya Masami is nice as well. A nice touch is that the decorations in your room change as each route progresses, as the girls bring in their own personal items. I feel like each story should have a decent amount of ero content (with some pretty original situations), so it should be worth your time if the heroines interest you! There will also be append discs later on, so you can continue your sweet relationship even past the end of the game.

I feel as though this bird nest simulator’s take on attracting a mate was created with the purpose of some desperate guy marrying one of the heroines in real life. A good way to get free publicity as Love Plus has shown us. What confirms this suspicion of mine is the way they have already stated they are going to add in more content later with what is essentially DLC. So either the actual game is going to be shorter than the midget limbo champion and will need a pair of stilts to justify standing next to all the other games; Or they want to throw this one under the Circus steamroller and stretch out the content as far into infinity as is humanly possible. Neither option looks promising personally.

But maybe the game is enjoyable so who cares right? Which brings me to the crux of what really makes the whole thing just a useless gimmick. There is no point. I am not one to deny a game for no reason, though it may seem like that at times. In this case the gimmick is something that really doesn’t add any substance to the story or character development. So what if the background changes? Does a background with some extra stickers and a few changed terms constitute a unique selling point? Does this emphasis on constructing a nest in some Ikea friendly mating display cause us to feel a deeper bond between characters as they develop themselves amidst a rich and involving setting? No. In the end Erondo is just trying to shove what is essentially a fluffy little kitten in our face in an attempt to cat tax content. When playing any visual novel character development and bonding is something of a reward. That is to say as the characters and their relationship change results in said changes being expressed makes the progress feel like a return on the invested time. Wherein lies the problem. All the characters and their development are circling the apartment gimmick as they are flushed down the vortex of mediocrity. If the whole each girl stapling her panties to the background wall to mark her territory was put in game with a solid foundation of character building with cohesive and involving story then I would be all for it. Turning the cherry on top into just a cherry is simply not as satisfying or appealing. Stop being lazy and go write a proper story.

This is just a nukige wrapped in pink ribbons with a cherry on top. The story is not the important thing and everyone knows it.

Nukige are fine as long as they know their place. Don’t try to print out your life story onto the pink ribbon as though it is supposed to make things better. The problem I have is that the gimmick means nothing for a nukige so it’s just trying to take advantage of people. It’s hard not to feel insulted when they try stuff like this to appeal to people.

Chiccha na Hanayome ~Mada Mada Tsubomi da mon~

chiccha_na_hanayome

Company: Galette
Game site: ちっちゃな花嫁 ~まだまだつぼみだもんっ~
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from January. Keita works at the flower shop Frances, taking care of the storefront and doing deliveries on behalf of the scary-looking manager. He mostly makes deliveries to the town’s large cultural center, where events are held almost every week, including piano recitals, ballet performances, art contests and drama shows. He delivers flower bouquets of celebration and support to the site. When he saw the girls who were trying their best to achieve their dreams, he remembered his own dream which he had given up on. He wanted to make clothes for girls, specifically wedding dresses. What will become of his and the girls’ dreams?

Galette is still making loli-ge after K-ko and Azumabito moved to Tinkle Position, with pikazo taking over lead illustration duties. All the girls are under 150cm and 77 chest size. So at least they got that part down. I’ll wait for the trial to see if the story is decent.

If you find yourself wanting to invest in the pedo market via a flower shop I have a suggestion for all potential investors. Remember that your fields of flowers will require bees for pollination, in which case you should import them from Africa. Also remember bee suits are an unnecessary expense for the friendly African variety of bees. So really get in there and rub your face on the hive to let them know you are their friend.

Leave it to Zen for all the swell advice.

At this point I should be given a medal for my public service.

Haruru Minamo ni!

haruru_minamo_ni

Company: クロシェット (Clochette)
Game site: はるるみなもに!
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
The seaside town of Tamatsue is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Even though it is undergoing modernization via re-development of the coastal area, there is still a feel of a small town in the mountain side. There are two shrines in the town, dedicated to the ‘god of the mountains’ and the ‘god of the sea’, but while the former has a ‘living goddess’ who they are proud of, there is no enshrined deity for the latter. Thus, they invited a new god to take its place. However, the ‘living goddess’ who appeared was rather useless and couldn’t fulfill the roles required of her!

The older brother of the ‘god of the mountains’, Tatsuki, was asked for help by the new goddess, who also became his classmate. While he supported her in her divine training, many other gods descended on the town. It seems that they all had an interest in him…?

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Clochette’s latest title brings back memories of their debut work, Kamipani. Their games have been pretty consistent, as well as the size of the heroines’ oppai (after a blip in Kokonatsu). This time each route is by a different writer, so we might get some variation in the quality. The trial went through all the character introductions and highlighted each girl once. I thought it was decently paced, although it didn’t grab me as much as other games this month like Istoria or TRINOLINE. I do want MONGAAAAAAAAAAAAA though.

Blah blah isolated town (because of course it is) with gods who all want to rape our protagonist who judging by his circumstances must be the god of eroge. I can never quite place Clochette games in all honesty. It is really hard to tell if their writers are retarded but trying their best, or just being really lazy and don’t care at all since most people only play their games for the heroines and art style. Every game I can think of has some kind of supernatural element to try and add spice to the story but it is essentially all completely pointless anyway as there is no real story being made with it. Not that I want them to as their settings for such things are pretty awful. But the fact they try so hard for something that really doesn’t matter is extremely confusing. Point being play it for the characters, ignore roughly 80% of those useless squiggles that appear on the screen, since the setting and story are basically pointless. Clochette should team up with Erondo, match made in heaven. 

Office de Sasou Ecchi na Kanojo

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Company: PULLTOP LATTE
Game site: オフィスで誘うエッチな彼女
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
Touma started his career at the Saint Laird company fresh out of school. There he met the beautiful and caring senpai Mai, who is quick to get jobs done. However, he soon found out that she is actually quite the slacker away from work. Although she warned him to keep it a secret, their relationship soon became one where they would talk about anything.

One day, Mai came over to his room to drink with him, and ended up in just her underwear in a drunken state. Tempted by her words and actions, he ended up having sex with her. The next morning, she bashfully dismissed the events of the previous night and left without saying another word.

Starting from that day, Touma’s life began to change rapidly. His relationship with his stylish boss Shinobu deepened as their workload together increased. When everything was completed, he was assaulted by her and they had intense sex together. Meanwhile, he had caught the attention of a high schooler Mikoto who works at a family-run lunch shop which he favours. What will become of his relationships with these attractive women?

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This is a nukige that is similar to Hataraku Otona. However, it’s quite odd to promote a more mature setting when there’s still a high-schooler among the heroines. I guess having passionate sex at the workplace is a way to de-stress? Or at least in the fictional world…

As Micchi already mentioned the first thing I thought of was Hataraku Otona, which was pretty much a nukige itself. So now I will make a heartfelt request. Please someone, make a game like those two without the nuki part of the ge. Thank you.

Natsuiro Kokoro Log ~Happy Summer~

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Company: Hearts
Game site: ナツイロココロログ ~Happy Summer~
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Natsuiro Kokoro Log, featuring after stories for each of the four heroines, as well as harem routes for both the real and virtual worlds! It takes place one year after the original game as the computer research club members head to a training camp and end up helping out at a traditional Japanese café.

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I made sure to make time to play the original game before this came out and Rin is now one of my favourite imoutos! Of course that means that I can’t wait to play the fandisc! Let’s dive into the cyber world once more!

Fandisk yay.

FANDISC YAY!! ^o^

Full Kiss

full_kiss

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: フルキス
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the latest game in GIGA’s Kiss series. Masaharu started at his new school hopeful of getting a girlfriend. A year later, his dream appeared to have been merely a delusion. However, the falling cherry blossoms signal the beginning of a new year and perhaps, a chance for his dream to finally come true.

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Just an average guy who happens to befriend a shy classmate, catch the eye of the student council president, have a female ‘bro’ and be served by a kouhai. Basically the usual Kiss set-up while everything just seems a little too convenient.

Giga releases games that are mediocre at best so often now I am exhausted from griping about it. I wonder if their strategy is to flood the market with so many bad games that standards are much lower thus making their progressively worse Baldr series look that much better by comparison? Probably is.

Amanatsu Adolescence

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Company: コンフィチュールソフト (Confiture Soft)
Game site: 甘夏アドゥレセンス
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the debut title by Confiture Soft. At Kazamitou Gakuen, students are free to do as they choose and the light music club which Akira is part of is actually the most ‘free’ rock band! Following the motto of enjoying everything in the world, he partook in the club activities as a base player with guitarist Ryou and vocalist Natsu. That was until the club was disbanded after setting the auditorium on fire with a flame-throwing guitar.

Akira was put into the science club and remained melancholic even while being comforted by his classmate Amane. However, when he returned home, he was greeted with the sight of a beautiful and naked silver-haired girl. Sasha is a Russian girl who will be staying at his place due to his parents’ arrangements. Together with the former light music club members, Sasha and Amane, he works towards the upcoming Amanatsu Music Fest and the Russian rock festival Вторжение.

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It’s basically your typical school setting eroge with a band. They seem to promote oppai, but they’re up against Clochette this month. What does Russian rock sound like?

K-on went out of fashion how long ago? Not that it was ever a good fashion mind you. This game is like going to your parents house only to find them trying to be funny referencing the “latest” internet meme from ten years ago.

But did K-ON! have a flame-throwing guitar?

For all I know it may have? Did you watch that awful series? I know I did not make it past two episodes before I wished the Earth fell into the Sun just to keep that shameful existence from tainting humanity any longer.

Noroi no Maken ni Yamitsuki Otome

noroi_no_maken_ni_yamitsuki_otome

Company: ソフトハウスキャラ (SofthouseChara)
Game site: 呪いの魔剣に闇憑き乙女
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
A long time ago, the continent was peaceful until a black mist enveloped the kingdom, making ill all those who touched it. The citizens believed that it was the work of a demon lord and became scared to leave their own homes. When the beautiful princess also fell ill, the king beseeched someone to defeat the demon lord in exchange for a reward. One young man offered to do it in exchange for the princess’ hand in marriage. Together with his friends, he defeated the demon lord, who vowed to be resurrected one day to get his revenge. The young man returned to the cheers of the people who called him the ‘hero’.

Claire greatly admires the hero who saved the world and thus, started on the path of the adventurer. However, there is not much work available for novices like her, so she does part-time at Len’s magic item shop. One day, she came upon an old magic sword in the shop. When she picked it up out of curiosity and swung it around, a dark glow emanated from it and a demon beast came out! While she was able to stave it off, the beast escaped from the shop. Not only that, but the sword had cast a curse upon her. With the help of the former adventurer Len, Claire embarks on a life-risking journey to drive back the darkness and rid the sword’s curse.

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This is pretty much a typical SRPG, where you explore maps, hunt monsters, collect items, gain levels and skills, upgrade weapons and stats, and all the wonderful grind that you love. The difference here is the auto map exploration, where you can give relatively simple commands to Claire, like switching weapons or objectives. The main difficulty for me was deciding when to leave the dungeon since travelling too deep while not being high-leveled enough is a surefire way of getting a game over screen. Luckily, the game auto-saves after every day so you don’t have to repeat too much. The system is pretty in-depth and you could customize a lot, so if you’ve got the time to play an SRPG, then go right ahead. I’ll be passing though.

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Terrible RPG with porn to make up for it.

Kamidanomi Shisugite Ore no Mirai ga Yabai.

kamidanomi_shisugite_ore_no_mirai_ga_yabai

Company: ユロット (HULOTTE)
Game site: 神頼みしすぎて俺の未来がヤバい。
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
Hajime is just like any normal guy who wants to fall in love, except that he collects charms from shrines all over the country with the hopes of becoming popular. The self-proclaimed goddess of marriage Urara suddenly appeared before him and told him that if he didn’t find his fated partner within a year, then he will remain a virgin for his entire life! His future had become very unstable because some of the charms which he had collected were actually real. Just like eating too many sweets would lead to a stomachache, his obsession with charms of marriage had resulted in the opposite effect.

He was eager to get a girlfriend and avoid a solitary life, but he didn’t want to put in much effort to do so. Fortunately for him, Urara showed him three girls who were potential partners and also taught him how to tell how close their fate is to him. It is similar to the idea of the red string, except it is displayed as a number instead, and the goal is to reduce the number to zero.

The prime minister’s daughter Nanami, popular idol Suzuna, and Japan’s greatest detective Yukari. All three of them have their own eccentricities. Thus begins his relationship with girls whom he had previously no ties with.

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It might sound like the ‘en count’ is a gimmick and well, it is. The increases and decreases seem random, and it’s just another way to show a change in affection (and so that you can say you have a love scouter). Urara can basically do whatever she pleases (the Kami-phone is hax), including becoming his imouto. Because every god wants to be an imouto. I don’t expect much of a story from HULOTTE; it’s a chara-ge through and through.

Premise is needlessly complex. No need for the time limit, the charms, or the fact that he is a friggin “Normal guy who wants to fall in love.”, seriously. I think that whole normal guy falling in love bit is on half of all eroge in one form or another. Anyway point being there are plenty of ways to get him in bed with his love scouter installed in a magical real doll without all these useless story contraptions forcing it. By making it needlessly complex it is hard to have a positive opinion towards the story itself, as it detaches itself from its own sense of setting by doing so.

Oh and I swear to Rngesus that if there is an over 9000 joke in here I will fly to Japan and murder their family.

(Good thing I didn’t make such a joke…)

Suisou Ginka no Istoria

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Company: ウグイスカグラ (Uguisu Kagura)
Game site: 水葬銀貨のイストリア
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
The “City of Water”, Amemadoi, was built on a man-made island and boasts a beautiful and gorgeous cityscape. The lone wolf Eishi and his bizarre imouto Yuura and polite and kind childhood friend Sayo each have their own problems, as is the case with the hero-admiring kouhai Yurugi and cool Kukuri, who he found stuffed in a trash can in an alleyway. Various events and expectations were waiting ahead for these individuals with wounded hearts, such as playing concentration with the club room on the line, playing old maid with a girl who had been cast off, making up for what has been lost while watching the fireworks with fascination.

Despite his disposition, Eishi vowed to bring a happy end for everyone. One where everyone would be able to smile. He would do it in his own way, working hard to attain an uncertain goal. This is the beginning of a story about growing up in a city where tears have been lost.

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I had high expectations for this second title from Uguisu Kagura after their impressive debut title Kamimaho and the trial didn’t disappoint. There was plenty of content through the three chapters and a constant air of mystery, enhanced by the music choice (and sometimes lack thereof). There are three major themes: 1) overcoming the hardships from the past and growing up; 2) changing the future via intense card battles; and, 3) family relationships, both real and fake. Nothing is what it seems and the variety of card games (memory game, old maid, texas hold ’em poker) were incorporated neatly into the story. Even a game of concentration is captivating when the stakes have been raised considerably high.

I’m particularly interested in what will become of Sayo and Yuura’s relationships with Eishi after the grand reveal, as well as how the legend of the mermaid and the lack of tears, and the associated ‘suisou ginka’ apples will tie into the endings. Should Eishi be considered as a hero or a dark hero? The sad circumstances and seemingly helpless situation sure set up for a tragic ending, as Kureha was planning all along. Is there any way that we’ll get a happy end? I strongly suggest that you pick up this game and find out yourself!

Of course Yuura is bizarre. What little sister in an eroge is not?

I may have been interested in this game without the cringe inducing card games. No, just no please no. The RPG games are bad enough when it comes to destroy the pacing of a story. Throwing in crappy card battles just destroys any feeling of attachment to the game by wasting our time. How many of us want to play solitaire? Since that is essentially what it is. Card games are meant to be played with other people. They are multiplayer only. If you find yourself playing single player cards especially in this day and age you took a wrong turn somewhere and need to evaluate your life.

The player doesn’t actually play the card games. They are merely used as a plot device and to good effect, if I must say.

If they played the games I would have set off on a rant lasting half this post. The concept is dumb enough without having to actually go through it manually.

Hoshizora Tea Party Extra ~”Ai” Hajimarimashita!~

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Company: SkyFish poco
Game site: 星空TeaParty えくすとら ~「恋愛(アイ)」はじまりました!~
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from December. This is the 18+ fandisc for SkyFish’s 10th anniversary project, Hoshizora Tea Party. The story continues one year after the events of the free version. If you want to play the all-ages version, all three chapters are now downloadable from their website. It seems like more and more companies are repackaging their trials as ‘free downloadable games’ to encourage players to purchase the actual eroge.

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Fandisks are glorious during busy months.

Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody

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Company: ensemble
Game site: 想いを捧げる乙女のメロディー
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
Misaki is an aspiring pianist studying abroad in Germany, with the dream of someday playing the piano that his late father had built. One day, he received a call from his older sister Shiori who was the music teacher at Lilie Girls’ School. She told him that the lone piano that was entrusted to the school would be donated to the museum at the end of the year and asked him if he would take over as the music teacher while she goes on maternity leave. Presented with the opportunity to fulfill his dream, he decided to accept the position and returned to Japan.

When he arrived at the school, he discovered that only students at the school have the chance of playing the piano, and only if they are selected to perform on it during the school festival. Thus, he must attend as a student while serving as a teacher. Of course, that means that he must dress as a girl. While he was afraid of the consequences if his secret got out, his desire to take advantage of this final chance made for an easy decision. And so begins his new life as a cross-dressing teacher and student.

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It’s another cross-dressing game from ensemble, and this one features a pretty level-headed protagonist, voiced by Kitami Rikka. He teaches the two competing quartets Eins and Zwei for the performance (Schulfest). I got a good sense of the characters from the trial (I like the kouhai subcharas Koume and Kotone), and I feel that it’s not much better or worse than their past titles. Play it only if you like a particular heroine… or you want to be a trap.

Okay Ensemble by this point we all get it. There is no one who doesn’t know you only make trap games. It is also glaringly obvious that there is some struggle going on when coming up with new scenarios. That said, no. Someone please just backhand every member of this development team nice and hard. Really, what in the ever lasting hell is this story concept. Can’t the protagonist just be a teacher, or want to learn from the music teacher thus tries to be a student? Not both. Even worse is the reason for either is just stupid and lacking. How hard is it to not write your own dumb asses into a corner within the first paragraph of a summary? If we can’t imagine any human being coming to the same conclusion as the protagonist and the setting that pushes him into his decisions then how can we possibly enjoy the reading? At the very least, when making batshit insane decisions for your characters, make it set in an asylum or something.

Something as trivial as a skirt won’t get in the way of a man’s dreams!

Fine. I don’t mind their trap games. But at least make it somewhat convincing. This is just way too convoluted and retarded as for why he is even there in a girls uniform.

Hataraku Otaku no Ren’ai Jijou

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Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: 働くオタクの恋愛事情
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
Tetsuya works hard as a taxi driver, and enjoys anime, manga and games during his private time. While he is satisfied with his current situation, he can’t help but feel a bit lonely not having anyone around with whom to share his hobbies.

One day, he picked up a female passenger and noticed that she had a keychain of a character from an old anime he loved. They chatted happily about anime during the ride and she gave him a business card when she got off. She worked at the anime song bar Blue Comet, a place where otaku like him can gather and chat in a relaxed atmosphere. He was somewhat interested and decided to pay it a visit. Meeting others who have the same hobbies as him, his daily life began to gradually change.

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While it has a similar name to Hataraku Otona no Ren’ai Jijou, there’s not really anything in common, other than being pretty much a nukige in a bar setting. There’s lots of references, including the usual suspects like Granblue, Idolm@ster and Gochiusa, but also to old titles such as R.O.D. and FLCL. Based on the trial, there’ll probably be plenty of cosplay H scenes, out of the 55 total. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Sakakibara Yui voice a main heroine (Amane).

Same problems as the office game above. Only this time drop the stupid “Otaku” references garbage. It doesn’t make the game or setting more relatable. All that does is show how little regard you have for your customers by flipping them off since you think adding that by itself is enough to sell.

I feel like it’s just a way to make a new nukige ‘different’. We all know everything but the H doesn’t matter, so the writers could do whatever the hell they want.

Even something as pointless as a nukige can have good or bad writing. I feel as though most companies don’t even bother with actual writers anymore. Just hire some hobo for 5 bucks to throw words onto a screen and you get a story.

Majo to Ken to Sen no Tsuki

majo_to_ken_to_sen_no_tsuki

Company: KAI
Game site: 魔女と剣と千の月
Release date: March 24, 2017
Comments:
This game takes place after the events of PENDULUM. Peace seemed to have been returned to the world with the decrease in the remaining number of circulars. However, one day the pure white circulars suddenly turned into pitch-black demons who have a increased penchant for destruction. These ‘evilised’ spread all over the world in an instant. The Magus Order continued to fight on the front line, but they were being overwhelmed by the power of the evilised.

In the midst of battle, Ren was turned into a circular due to the great magic power and was going to ‘evolve’ into an evilised until Sayaka was able to seal him in suspended animation. However, they would eventually have to fight against this immense power in the future. As a last resort, Sayaka decided to create the homunculus Rei using a part of Ren’s soul and hidden magic powers to fight against the evilised.

More tentacle action. Now in black.

Scantily clad girls showcasing the next generation of fully automated, adjustable, and flexible sex toys.

TRINOLINE

trinoline

Company: minori
Game site: トリノライン
Release date: March 31, 2017
Comments:
Shun’s imouto Shirone drowned on a hot midsummer day. He could not forget the memory of that day and was held back by the events of the past. Finally, he decided to continue living his life for her sake as well, accepting the past and moving on while still cherishing their precious memories. After suffering through his childhood, now every day is an unchanging day at school.

Summer has arrived this year and once again, he thinks back to his time with Shirone. Then he heard the sounds of her favourite song being played on the piano from afar. When he followed the sounds to its source, he saw his imouto there.

“Please take care of me from now on, onii-chan.”

Shirone was no longer in this world. Standing before him was Trino, an android who looked exactly like Shirone. She was a new kind of android that his genius childhood friend Sara had created to bring him happiness. Just like others which have gradually assimilated into society, Trino looks, moves, sounds and feels like a human. However, she had one unique trait: she carried Shirone’s memories.

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Why isn’t technology advanced enough in the real world to give me an imouto android!? Despite the large chest sizes for recent minori games, I found myself liking all the girls, especially “Shirone” (the name given to Trino, written in katakana). She follows the Three Laws of Robotics (devised by Isaac Asimov) and the story deals a lot with the interaction between androids and humans. While “Shirone” looks and acts just like Shirone, she is merely a replacement and each person has their own feelings regarding this, from disdain to acceptance. Would such an android bring you happiness or is it just the same as dwelling on the past?

Now, most of the conflicts that arise are not uncommon for such a subject, but I feel like minori has pulled it off well, at least in the common route. The H scenes feel a bit out of place, but the main story kept me intrigued. “Shirone” is a good girl who learns what feelings are, and ponders why humans continue to live through suffering or fall in love even when it is so painful. I look forward to reading more of the story and think it’s definitely within the top 3 of the month.

Micchi’s first sentence made me the happiest person in the world. I was ready to end everything there, 10/10 game of the year just for that. But, perhaps in my gleeful enthusiasm I read on, only to come to the realization they made the pestilence that is the younger sister into robo zombies. There is no more hope, the world, it is doomed.

Ok all joking aside the concept itself can be kind of interesting. Doubt I’ll like the younger sister character, which does kind of ruin it a bit for me. Though it is not completely hopeless since there are a few of those imouto characters Micchi loves so much that I like as well, just rare. But as I said the concept itself about the conflict between real and false, definitions of such and advancement of technology can be interesting. The only thing I am a bit wary if is how the story will play out and develop. When trying to invest in a deeper story everything needs to match in order to pull it off and leave the reader satisfied in the end. At the very least I am hopeful and will definitely be giving the game a shot.

Micchi’s Top 5 for This Month

  1. Suisou Ginka no Istoria
  2. TRINOLINE
  3. Natsuiro Kokoro Log ~Happy Summer~
  4. Koinosu☆Ichacolize
  5. Haruru Minamo ni!

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. TRINOLINE
  2. ??
  3. ???

I’m going all in for my imoutos!

In that case, I fold.


Falling For You

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omoi_o_kanaderu_otome_no_melody_miaKAI’s Majo to Tsurugi to Sen no Tsuki has been pushed back to April 28th.

Tech Arts is ceasing operations and illustrator Akaza has left the company. It encompasses such brands as May-Be SOFT and SQUEEZ. I particularly loved their Henshi~n! series for the sheer hilarity of the situations.

Illustrator Moriyama Shijimi has also left Lass, although they will still continue doing the art for Pure Marriage.

Akane has won the Bitch Sisters dakimakura chara poll and she’ll get two versions (one with graffiti and one without). The Silverio Trinity and Ouka Sabaki chara polls have started up and will run until March 20th and March 31st, respectively.

You still have a couple days to pre-order the Hanahime visual fan book that comes out on March 24th. It’s priced at ¥4320.

The soundtrack for CLOCKUP’s euphoria will be sold later this month for ¥3000.

deremas_shikiNew figures revealed this week include:

GSC – 1/8 scale Shiki mystic elixir ver. (Deremas, November, ¥15,556)
VERTEX – Sakuya swimsuit ver. (Shining Blade, June, ¥13,000)

Dakimakuras are available for pre-order for Onikiss‘s Asahi and Yayoi, Maitetsu‘s Fukami, and Sankaku Ren’ai‘s Suzu.

The Travelling August 2017 concert will be held at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall on July 23rd.

After a short route for Kanae, I’ve moved on to Kuon’s route in Rorolog. Saving Kotone for last ^^

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March News Break

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HOOKSOFT’s Amenity’s Life Mini Fan Disc -Rezona & Kanade ver. has been set for a May 26th release.

The visual fan book for Floflo will be on shelves on April 28th. It will include staff interviews and an append disc with character voices and CGs.

AQUAPLUS is releasing a WA2 OST with only Kazusa vocal songs. The 10-track album is priced at ¥3000 and will be out on April 20th.

SAGA PLANETS’ Karumaruka*Circle is getting a PSV port. It will be out on June 29th. It’ll be the third port of a SAGA PLANETS game, after Hatsuyuki and Hanasaki.

Dakimakuras are available for pre-order for Golden Hour‘s Natsumi and Yuki, and Amenity’s Life‘s Kanade.

It’s Cinstage 5STEP this Sunday and I wish I could be there T___T  I’d buy all the doujins of Miho, Miria, Miku, Nono, Arisu, Chie… I’d buy everything! Actually now that I think about it, it’s probably for the best I’m not gonna be there…

I didn’t play any eroge this past week (been watching a lot of hockey games instead), but I intend to finish Kuon’s route this week. So far I like Rin’s route more, but it’s not like I’m expecting too much from the story in the first place. The Rorolog HS trial also came out today if you’re interested.


That’s the Last of Lass

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Lass has filed for bankruptcy. They were best known for 11eyes and their more recent titles haven’t garnered the same level of popularity. It’s a shame that old companies are going out of business, but there’ll be more to take their place.

MadoSoft’s fandisc Wagamama High Spec OC will feature after stories for each of the four heroines, plus routes for subheroines Karen, Chitose and Yukari. It is planned for August 25th. Other new titles announced this week include:

AXLAi Yori Aoi Umi no Hate (June 30th)
MOONSTONESakuranomori†Dreamers 2 (July 28th)
PULLTOPPure Song G@rden! (June 30th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Bishoujo Mangekyou: Tsumi to Batsu no Shoujo – June 30th
Aoiro Note – July 28th
Bokura no Sekai ni Shukufuku o. – July 28th
Hikari no Umi no Apeiria – July 28th
Sakura Hitohira Koi Moyou – July 28th

The following titles have been delayed:

Koinosu☆Ichacolize – March 31st
Chiccha na Hanayome – May 26th

The first vocal collection for the Custom Maid series comes out on March 24th for ¥3500.

FREEing’s 1/7 scale figure of Shining Blade‘s Yukihime -swimsuit ver.- will be coming out in September. It’s priced at ¥11,852.

Cure Maid Café will be holding a collaboration cafe for Palette’s 9-nine from April 7th to April 23rd.


Heating Up

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The protagonist of Whirlpool‘s next game, Hatsujou Sprinkle, has lewd thoughts all the time. This is because he is a descendant of demons, and he soon awakens to his powers of lust, causing all the girls around him to become aroused! Will you be able to wait until July 28th for your dose of ero?

Vanadis has announced their next monster girl title: an idol one with a scylla and dragonewt! Mezase! Monmusu Idol♪ is planned for this summer.

Shirokuma Dango’s Iyashi no Megami no Marmot has been set for July 28th.

Thea has won the Unionism Quartet AAA chara poll, narrowly over Silveria, Yurina and Selphy. The outfit poll for Maitetsu‘s Hibiki has started up and will run until April 23rd. Nekomimi parka all the way!!

Queen Ted’s 1/6 scale figure of Monobeno‘s Natsuha nya nya sukumizu ver. comes out in June for ¥13,000. That’s ridiculously expensive for the shoddy quality, but at least it’s castoff-able…?

Dakimakuras are available for pre-order for Otomero‘s Chika and Kotone, and Hanahime‘s Anko.

The Cinderella Girls general election on Mobamas will likely be coming up soon and I’ll be fully supporting Nanami in her quest for a voice. I hope that she’ll be able to make it in the top 50! I’ll be tweeting out screenshots of Nanami every day. Please retweet and spread the love!


April 2017 Eroge Releases

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The catgirls are back to serve you in NEKO WORKs’ Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise, with Maple and Cinnamon in the spotlight. Frontwing continues their Grisaia series with the first two volumes of Grisaia: Phantom Trigger, and Palette starts a new low-priced series with 9-nine- Kokonotsu Kokonoka Kokonoiro. There’s a pretty good mix of games available for everyone!

Not much standing out this month. Some average games that may be worth playing. As well as some extremely awful travesties which could be considered terrorism against intelligence.

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9-nine- Kokonotsu Kokonoka Kokonoiro

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Company: ぱれっと (Palette)
Game site: 9-nine-ここのつここのかここのいろ
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the first episode in Palette’s new low-priced 9-nine- series, focusing on Miyako. There’s not much to Shiromitsugawa other than being a university town. They worked hard revitalizing the town to appeal to tourists, but it was all a flop. However, it would soon garner the spotlight due to an unexpected source.

Kakeru is a young man who tends to have a blunt attitude, but acts with a strong sense of responsibility. He is a kind person who thinks first about those around him. He led a peaceful life like a normal student until he damaged the sacred treasure enshrined in the Hakuda Tsukumo Shrine. Then, mysterious objects called ‘Artefacts’ appeared from another world and they granted special abilities to those that possess them.

It used to be a ordinary town with ordinary students. Now, Kakeru is caught up in the change of fortune caused by those with newfound special powers.

Each episode will highlight a different heroine, with the scenario written by Kazuki Fumi (Akeiro, Nanarin) and of course, the beautiful art drawn by Izumi Tsubasu. I don’t think there’ll be 9 episodes, but who knows…. However, I’m a bit disappointed that they’re following the trend of making smaller games in installments as it reduces the character interactions which help develop a story. Obviously they intend to make money by bundling goods with the game since the most expensive limited set costs 17,800 yen and the game is only 2800 yen by comparison. I really hope that they will continue making full games. In the meantime, excuse me while I will gawk at the art.

Perhaps unsurprisingly I find myself agreeing with Micchi when it comes to the issue of story in relation to games released in installments. Separating things feels like little more than a scumbag business practice. The goal of it all being to tempt people into continually buying products to get all the content they want. As this is a fairly new method it is hard to properly judge but I suspect the goal is make people pay more in the end after all the puzzle pieces are assembled. Whether that is the case or not yet has too many variables that I am way too lazy to be bothered calculating. Especially as it involves production costs. Still, even if that was not the case and they were just doing it to pad out expenses and lower the risk of each game, the whole thing is still anti consumer.

Generalized speculations on the market trends aside this game in particular seems to be hedging its bets all over. Which does not paint things in a positive light from the start. Reinforcing this is our friendly neighborhood Pandora wannabe opening his box of stupid powers. Frankly such an arbitrary hundred eighty degree setting manipulation makes me sigh in jaded resignation at this point. These stories are getting so bad I am actually finding myself yearning for a comeback of boring cliches. At the very least a cliche is a proven to work concept which is a hell of a lot harder to screw up. In this case if they insist on making the setting involve any kind of supernatural or special abilities things should have been there from the start. In other words him murdering the shrines pet rock would bring him into another layer of the setting. Rather than turning the setting around based on him doing something foolish. There is a huge difference in depth of the story and setting between something minor changing the world, and something minor bringing someone into a pre-existing world.

On a side note, I think the younger sisters have rotted Micchi’s eyes. Average art with a few five minute photoshop effects over some softer colors. That said, it does stand out a little bit based on them actually bothering to spend five minutes on their cover art at least. Even if nothing else judging by what they released so far. 

D.S.i.F. -Dal Segno- in Future

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Company: CIRCUS
Game site: D.S.i.F. -Dal Segno- in Future
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the fan disc for Dal Segno. During the winter, Atsuya and his friends received an invitation letter from the island’s manager Ame, who was supposed to have disappeared.

“Let’s meet again at the village where snow falls and the fireflies fly”

Travelling to the snow-bound onsen town where the ‘snow fireflies’ are said to dwell, they were greeted by the new manager Kanade, along with fireflies dancing about in the falling snow. It was actually an event organized by the Amakase Research Institute to thank them for taking good care of Ame and the fireflies are actually man-made fairies.

Then, the true fireflies actually appeared during the night with a full moon. In the midst of the fantastic scene, Ame reappeared before them once more. Is it another artifical event or is it a miracle for this night only?

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I never did get into D.S. like I did with D.C.. I’m still waiting for more D.C.III

Stupid but since this is a fandisk I’m not even going to consider it worthy of pointing out why.

Grisaia: Phantom Trigger Vol. 1 & 2

grisaia_phantom_trigger

Company: フロントウイング (Frontwing)
Game site: グリザイア ファントムトリガー 第1・2巻
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the first two volumes in Frontwing’s new all-ages game in the Grisaia series. Following the Heath Oslo incident, the existence of the US-Japanese anti-terror organization CIRS has become a matter of public knowledge. CIRS has been rebuilt from the ground up, and its most covert functions spun off to a new agency: SORD (Social Ops, Research & Development).

The goal of SORD is to train a new generation of operatives to defend the country against future threats. To that end, the organization has established a series of schools up and down the country. Mihama Academy, more-or-less left to rot after its abrupt closure, has been given new purpose as one such ‘specialist training school’.

This new incarnation of Mihama Academy is home to a diverse group of students, who every day work to polish their unusual skills – sometimes on the job. Mihama now entrusts the misfit girls who attend it with guns and live ammunition. Paying their own safety no heed, these students are again and again plunged into dangerous extrajudicial missions – all for the good of the realm.

“We’ve been provided with a place in the world.
That alone isn’t enough –
there wouldn’t be any meaning in living, if that was all we had…
It’s not enough just to be made use of by others.
I live by my own strength, and I fight to survive.
That’s the only way those of us who actually make it through can find forgiveness…”

No matter how much life grinds them down, what future awaits these girls, who’ve themselves chosen the path of the gun?

Frontwing has been tapping the English market, using Kickstarter campaigns and releasing their games on the Steam platform. It makes sense for them to expand on their successful Grisaia series, although some might be disappointed that it is all-ages (at least for now). There will be at least 3 volumes, with possibly more planned afterwards. To be honest, I don’t care much for the firearms and battles, but I do like the character relations and backgrounds. It also always has good production values, especially the artwork and OP.

Oh look Frontwing is back with what is probably my most hated series of all time. Were it only one game that failed to catch on I may not hate it so much. But when stupidity becomes contagious I can’t help but wish for a Darwin vaccine to give the world a final solution to this epidemic. How the people who write this even managed to breathe long enough to keep going baffles me. Although not as much as how the dumb asses who liked this intelligence insulting garbage keep fueling the continuation. Perhaps I am looking at things in the wrong way, and the people making it aren’t really that dumb. Just take sadistic pleasure in laughing at the retarded sheep who actually pay to lap up their half-assed, horribly written, and plain stupid stories. I know I would if I was them. In the end I don’t know if I would rather tell Frontwing to eff off or beg them to hire me.

Tayutama 2 -After Stories-

tayutama2_after_stories

Company: Lump of Sugar
Game site: タユタマ2 -After Stories-
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the fan disc for Tayutama 2. Takachiho-shi Yakotami-chou is a particularly powerful spiritual spot where humans and Tayutai work hard to coexist in harmony. There is a festival there called the Jintaisai which started naturally from their mutual expressions of gratitude. The Tayutai would create a gift using their powers and give it to the one that the human that they live with and love; in return, the human would share his own spiritual energy with the Tayutai. However, there was an incident at this year’s festival. It was one that no one could’ve imagined.

“Ah!? Where did my pantsu go!?”

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The fandisc will be about pantsu. I’m not kidding. Every single character’s voice clips talks about pantsu (mainly Sora stealing them). In addition to additional stories for the four heroines, there’s also a new pink-haired loli who joins the fray, Momo. She’s a lost Tayutai who is taken in by them. I would take her in too! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Fandisk from Lump of Sh…

Newton to Ringo no Ki

newton_to_ringo_no_ki

Company: Laplacian
Game site: ニュートンと林檎の樹
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
Shuuji and his osananajimi Yotsuko were tracking down his missing grandfather when they unexpectedly went back in time to the 17th century. He destroyed an apple tree upon his arrival in front of a young small-chested girl. What he didn’t know was that she would be known later as a father of modern science, Sir Isaac Newton!

Due to his untimely actions, the world was robbed of the discovery of universal gravitation. Will he be able to correct history and return to the present?

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Don’t look for a deep story here; they went straight out and called it a comical time travel ADV. Their debut title Kimiyume was much in the same vein. Play it if you want lots of gags or just so you can be with a loli… for SCIENCE.

Also, you have to watch the teaser. Professor Hymen commands you.

You know things are getting desperate for the gender swapping historical figures market when they reach Newton. At least they aren’t taking themselves or their story too seriously though, so I won’t fault them for any of that. If the game is funny, all will be forgiven.

Teaser

Meguru Sekai de Towa Naru Chikai o! -Meguri Kuru Haru-

meguru_sekai_de_towa_naru_chikai_o_meguri_kuru_haru

Company: Studio e・go!
Game site: 廻るセカイで永遠なるチカイを! -巡り来る春-
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is an append disc for Megutowa, with Harune (CV: Fujisaki Usa) upgraded to heroine status. Her story will be separate from the main route, while there will also be post-marriage scenes for each heroine. There is also a power-up in the battle system, with new youkai and skills.

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You all knew this was coming. There’s no way they would add a loli imouto as a subcharacter without giving her a route. It would be a travesty!

Fandisk where they made a youkai heroine. 

Digest

Hatsukoi*Syndrome

hatsukoi_syndrome

Company: Campus
Game site: 初恋*シンドローム
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
Everyone says that your first love never comes true. Yuuto thinks that it is indeed true since he, like most others around him, had lost his first love. But unlike the others, his broken heart has still not healed to this day.

Looking at the watch that his first love Haruka had gave to him as a present, he decided that he will finally move on from the past. He resolved to bury the watch under the giant cherry blossom tree on the school grounds, which is said to be seen as being in full bloom by those who are in love, and cut loose from his past regrets. However, there was a girl wearing an unfamiliar school uniform who had arrived there before him, looking up at the cherry blossom tree. Lunalight noticed him and asked him a question while smiling:

“Do you want to fall in love?”

The magician-in-training Lunalight wished to experience first love and also breaking up, in order to understand love and become a full-fledged magician. It was a fateful first meeting for Yuuto, who was still bound by his first love. He would also be reunited with the girl from his past, who had given up her first love to become a magician. What will become of the futures of these three, who are held captive by first love?

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Lunalight is the only heroine in Campus’ latest low-priced offering, with Haruka not getting a route (not even in the future). It’s best to give up on the past. It’s a requisite for magicians to have experienced lost love (to train their mental strength), so that’s the reason for Lunalight’s particular request. It sucks for the protagonist though, to be used for their career advancement. Maybe I could change her mind? She’s a pretty cute kouhai after all.

I lost enough brain cells this month. With how blatantly retarded this setting is I really don’t believe I have to say anything and people will understand just fine why it’s bad.

Niizuma LOVELY×CATION

niizuma_lovely_cation

Company: hibiki works
Game site: 新妻LOVELY×CATION
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the latest title in hibiki works’ CATION series. It’s been a year since Hibiki started working in beautiful Sakuragi, a city of four seasons. He’s gotten used to his new life and everything is smooth sailing, but he started to think about his future when his close friend got married. He realized that marriage was something that doesn’t just happen one day, but it is the culmination of ‘everyday’ actions over a long period. Having made up his mind, before long he fell in love with a girl. It was the first step towards a happy marriage.

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Similar to Ginharu, this game is separated into two parts: lovers and married couple. There’s only three heroines instead of the usual four. The E-mote system has been improved too, and there’s still the usual systems (lovely call, map selection and item collection to increase attributes). I’m not sure why they keep using the map system when it just seems like a waste of time (you’ll most likely be using a walkthrough anyway). It seems we’re getting more of these married life games. Is it a sign of an increasing age of the target audience?

Not a fan of excessive interference in eroge in general. Most of it is just there to be annoying for no real point. Just let us pick a girl at the end of a common route that introduces all the basic characters and their relationships. After that any other choice should either be a bad end or just for comedic purposes. No point to anything else really.

As far as the married life stuff while it is getting more common, rather than age I feel its more about closure. Many games feel as though they end somewhat abruptly. Can’t really bask in the afterglow of a complete route. This is even more pronounced when it is well written and the reader can feel for the characters. Much like a cool down walk after a run the post marriage arcs bring a sense of ending to the story that gives the readers a better feeling at the conclusion.

Majo to Ken to Sen no Tsuki

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Company: KAI
Game site: 魔女と剣と千の月
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. This game takes place after the events of PENDULUM. Peace seemed to have been returned to the world with the decrease in the remaining number of circulars. However, one day the pure white circulars suddenly turned into pitch-black demons who have a increased penchant for destruction. These ‘evilised’ spread all over the world in an instant. The Magus Order continued to fight on the front line, but they were being overwhelmed by the power of the evilised.

In the midst of battle, Ren was turned into a circular due to the great magic power and was going to ‘evolve’ into an evilised until Sayaka was able to seal him in suspended animation. However, they would eventually have to fight against this immense power in the future. As a last resort, Sayaka decided to create the homunculus Rei using a part of Ren’s soul and hidden magic powers to fight against the evilised.

More tentacle action. Now in black.

Scantily clad girls showcasing the next generation of fully automated, adjustable, and flexible sex toys.

Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise

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Circle: NEKO WORKs
Game site: ネコぱら vol.3 ネコたちのアロマティゼ
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the third volume in everyone’s favourite Nekopara series. It’s another day at the pâtisserie “La Soleil” for Kashou and his catgirls. The proud and fashionable Maple gets along well with Cinnamon, who is apt to think delusional dirty thoughts. Maple worried about dreams which she started having and Cinnamon wanted to help her best friend, but didn’t know what to do.

Watch as they grow up and strive for their dreams in this heartfelt catgirl comedy, which is only a little lewd. Now open for business!

nekopara_vol3_cg2nekopara_vol3_cg3nekopara_vol3_cg4

You mean Cinnamon will finally get to do this and that!? Look, she can’t wait!! For me, I’m more of a fan of the refined and savvy Maple. We have lots of maple up here and it’s sweet. I’m sure her story will be just as sweet. Does that mean that Shigure finally gets a route next…!?

It’s Nekopara 3.0.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. 9-nine- Kokonotsu Kokonoka Kokonoiro
  2. Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise
  3. Grisaia: Phantom Trigger Vol. 1 & 2

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Newton to Ringo no Ki
  2. Niizuma LOVELY×CATION
  3. Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise

I have an idea: how about a law of imouto gravitation?

I’m perfectly fine with throwing little sisters into a singularity, so I approve.


Wait for Me, Senpai!

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SkyFish’s next title will be BLADE×BARRETT Kinrin no Soleil, while the following have been delayed:

Hanidevi – May 26th
Onii-chan Daisuki! – June 23rd
Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm EXTRA1 – June 30th

Ashley topped the Silverio Trinity chara poll and will get an append scenario. The second Harumina chara poll has started up and will run until April 16th.

PULLTOP’s music collection and the Konosora full complete soundtrack “All skies” both come out on May 26th, for ¥9074 and ¥6019, respectively. There’s also the Casablanca no Tsubomi and Golden Hour OSTs (¥3000 each) on sale on May 26th and June 30th.

The Rewrite Harvest festa PSV port has been pushed back to May 18th.

quesQ’s 1/7 scale figure of Fate/Grand Order‘s Lancer/Scathach is scheduled for an August release, at a price of ¥14,500.

The dakimakura for Maitetsu‘s Hibiki is now available for pre-order!

It’s a VR wedding ceremony for Niizuma LOVELY×CATION. We are living in the future.

I started playing Ragnarok Journey for nostalgia’s sake. And by playing, I mean auto-playing.



Webclap responses:

Hey, Micchi. Just thought you might like and add my small blog http://vndbreview.blogspot.com or review aggregator http://vndbreview.tigrimigri.com to blog sidebar. Oh, well, never huts to ask huh. by kivandopulus
I’ve added your blog to the list on the sidebar.

What can I do to play an untranslated visual novel while not knowing Japanese at all?? by Marvin
You can use a text hooker and translator. It’s best to learn a little bit of basic grammar though. Good luck!



The Idol Battle is Back!

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Azarashi Soft Zero’s debut title will be Yami to Shukusai no Sanctuary. Will they be following in MOONSTONE’s footsteps?

Release dates have been set for the following:

BLADE×BULLET Kinrin no Soleil – June 23rd
Mezase! Monmusu Idol♪ – July 28th

Laplacian’s Newton to Ringo no Ki has been delayed to May 26th.

The Otomelo chara poll has started up and will run until April 21st.

The Aokana EXTRA1 vocal & sound collection and Amakano+ soundtrack CD come out on June 30th. That’s the same day as the Aokana game.

New figures available for pre-order include:

ALTER – 1/7 scale Ranko Bara no Yamihime ver. (Deremas, November, ¥24,800)
GSC – nendoroid Shielder/Mash Kyrielight (FGO, July, ¥4444)

Dakimakuras are coming out for Koihime‘s Sui and Pairen, Amakano SS‘s Kanade, and Angel Beats!‘s Tenshi.

Here’s a 360° VR version of the Hanasaki OP. You dropped your top, Wakabro.

The 6th Cinderella Girl general election will run from April 10th to May 9th. Vote for Nanami!! Help her get a voice!!


Want to Play Dress-Up?

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Minato Carnival is making a fandisc, aptly named Minato Carnival FD, for their two titles Tsujidou-san and Anegin. It is planned for August 25th.

Other new titles announced this week include:

Debonosu WorksTsuki no Michibiki Kumo Haruka
Enishi SoftOni ga Kuru. ~Ane ga Hinshi de Pinchi Desu~ (July 28th)
Omichi Soft Arui wa Ko to Iu na Mahou

NEKO WORKs’ Nekopara vol.3 has been delayed to May 26th due to illustrator Sayori’s illness.

YuzuSoft is holding a character poll for Senren to determine who will get a figure. It runs until April 21st. Will Mako be able to hold off the others, especially Murasame?

The Sakura no Uta official visual archive will come out on April 25th, while Ryouka’s illustration collection, “Kurumi”, will be on shelves on April 28th. Both are ¥3200.

AstralAir Finale‘s OST, “White Memories”, is released on May 1st. The vocal song collection for Tayutama 2 -After Stories- follows soon thereafter on May 19th.

The Nintendo Switch port for Fate/EXTELLA has been set for July 20th.

There was a dress-able full-scale figure of Walroma‘s Celia displayed at WonFes 2017 Winter. This life-like offering from insight can be all yours for 1.1 million yen (plus taxes).

The following figures are available for pre-order:

DragonToy – 1/6 scale Super Sonico wet and see-through photo shoot winter coordinate ver. (July, ¥15,700)
Kotobukiya – Cu-poche Kaede (Deremas, September, ¥4500)
Max Factory – 1/7 scale Berserker/Tamamo Cat (FGO, January, ¥15,556)
Phat! – 1/8 scale Red Saber “Mordred” (Fate, November, ¥14,800)

Dakimakuras are coming out for Ou no Mimi‘s Peony, Angel Beats!‘s Tenshi, AstralAir‘s Yuki, Hanahime‘s Maher, Hakui no Tenshi‘s Hitomi and Satsuki, Megutowa‘s Harune, Harumina‘s Kanae, Tenkiame‘s Shiro, Hit Me‘s Hitomi and Tsubasa, Natsukoi‘s Hikaru, Unionism Quartet‘s Silveria and Selphine, and Hanikami‘s Emiru. Petit linge also has a dakimakura for their upcoming game. Most of them will be released during the upcoming Character1 event.

I’m totally wasting this Easter long weekend away…


Winter is Coming

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The last volume of Innocent Grey‘s FLOWERS series has been announced: FLOWERS Fuyu-hen. Campus also follows suit with Fuyu Uso, featuring the final heroine Setsuka. It is scheduled for July 28th. Other new titles announced this week include:

ALICESOFTChoushi Shinki no Ixseal (July 28th)
Astronauts SiriusHyakki Ryouran no Yakata (July 28th)
Island BelleDolphin Blade
NekoNekoSoftRuri no Kasane
petit lingeLost Echoes (July 28th)

Marmalade’s O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu has been delayed to June 30th, while Debonosu Works’ Tsuki no Michibiki Kumo Haruka has been set for July 28th.

The Silverio Trinity OST will be out on May 26th.

Frontwing has announced a Grisaia side episode for the PSV, planned for this July. The Wagahigh PSV port has been set for a July 27th release.

New figures available for pre-order include:

ALTER – 1/7 scale Rider/Artoria Pendragon [Santa Alter] (FGO, October, ¥13,800)
FREEing – 1/4 scale Yui bunny ver. (Muv-luv TE, September, ¥22,307)
PLUM – 1/7 scale Assassin/Scáthach (FGO, July, ¥13,000)

Dakimakuras are coming out for Kimi no Yumemishi‘s Nanoha, Nekonin‘s Tama and Yura, Sakura no Uta‘s Sakurako, Majoken‘s Tsubame, Zanane‘s Nene, Himakoi‘s Akane, Noraneko2‘s Noel, Ouka Sabaki‘s Rimu, Mamiya-kun‘s Tamane, Kamiyaba‘s Urara and Hanayo, and Bitch SistersAkane (plus a graffiti version).

I did absolutely nothing this week except watch hockey. It’s the playoffs after all.


Of Fate and Figures

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Hiyoko Soft’s first title in four years will be a supernatural mystery, Kieta Sekai to Tsuki to Shoujo, while CIRCUS continues with the fandiscs with D.C.III DreamDays.

The third volume of Grisaia: Phantom Trigger has been set for July 28th.

The following titles have been delayed:

Ren’ai Kyoushitsu – June 30th
Kimihane Couples – fall 2017

Mei has topped the second Harumina chara poll, overtaking Ema, who won the first one. There’s a poll for UnisonShift’s upcoming title Anata ni Koisuru Ren’ai Recette running until May 2nd, with the winner getting a dakimakura.

New figures available for pre-order include:

FREEing – 1/4 scale Ilfriede bunny ver. (Muv-luv Alt, October, ¥21,111)
GSC – 1/8 scale Saber/Atilla (FGO, April, ¥14,630)
Kotobukiya – 1/7 scale Lancer/Tamamo no Mae (FGO, October, ¥13,800)
Union Creative – Altera sweet devil ver. (Fate/Extella, September, ¥12,500)
VERTEX – Super Sonico Christmas ver. (Sonicomi, August, ¥16,900)
WAVE – 1/8 scale Kaede [Shirahae no Shukujo] (Deremas, September, ¥12,800)

Magic Bullet is working on an 18+ figure for Biman‘s Kirie. The 1/7 scale figure is planned for later this spring.

The April append for PURELY×CATION is available for download.

Dakimakuras will be coming out soon for Majikoi‘s Momoyo, Hanidevi’s Aoi, Maitetsu’s Makura, and Hapymaher’s Arisu and Yuuko. Hiyoko Soft also has a dakimakura for their next title.


May 2017 Eroge Releases

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Navel couldn’t just sit and watch CIRCUS churn out fandiscs. Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou 2.1 E×S×PAR!! will be the first of possibly two fandiscs for their cashcow series. Eushully’s Meister series also continues with the dungeon exploration and fortress construction Amayui Castle Meister. There’s also a couple ojou-sama titles and nukiges, but overall it’s time to catch up on the backlog!

A month full of nukige, fandisks, and a Eushully. So not too surprising I am less than thrilled with our springtime releases.



Amenity’s Life MiniFanDisc -Rezona & Kanade Ver.-

Company: HOOKSOFT
Game site: Amenity’s Life MiniFanDisc -レゾナ&板野奏 Ver.-
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
This is a low-priced mini fandisc for Amenity’s Life, with routes for Rezona and Kanade, who had the most suggested situations from the fans. Now you can put your delicious bread in the oven.

First Fandisk of the month.

ChronoBox

Company: NO BRAND
Game site: ChronoBox -クロノボックス-
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
This is the first title by NO BRAND. Nayuta was one of many students who attended “EDEN” on a small solitary island called “Angel Island”. The enjoyable time that he spent together with his friends was put to an end by a sole black box and a “girl in black”.

Surely, it will be all right. It’s best to keep forgetting the past which should not be remembered and continuing living their lives with their angel-like friends who have gathered in EDEN. The nightmare on which the girl leads them has yet to end…

A very mysterious title that has the death game set-up. It is written by Sakuraba Maruo, known for Dasaku. There’s a long list of characters, many of whom will likely suffer tragic and bloody ends (and since most are female, it’ll probably be after some ero scene). This list has already been trimmed by one after the trial. Who is the culprit and what is the past that must not be remembered? If you can stand the blood, it may be an interesting pick-up.

Death game style scenarios are honestly just plain lazy. Mysteries and especially those involving horror take immersion to be of paramount importance. If you can’t feel the tension the entire purpose is lost. This is similar to popular games that rely on jump scares to create a sense of fear and horror. It just does not work unless the person playing is particularly susceptible to these things. Which is why the whole thing is lazy, makes things easier on the writers as they don’t have to think much. All they need is to make some random violence happen, cover up whodunit then wait for awhile to reveal the “mystery”. Without the need to craft an appropriate setting, characters, and especially story it makes the whole thing much easier.

This one is just a CG set of girls dying. Don’t go in expecting anything more from it. You won’t be getting any decent atmosphere or horror. Just hope they don’t make it even dumber with the protagonist also being the antagonist in some form.

Anata ni Koisuru Ren’ai Recette

Company: ユニゾンシフト (UnisonShift)
Game site: あなたに恋する恋愛ルセット
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
The recently-founded Rokkasei Gakuen doesn’t have a rich history. One of its notable features is that students will select their specialization during the second term of their first year. Haruma decided to pursue the confectionery course that had been added this school year for the simple reason that he loves sweet a lot.

Nonoka, who loves both eating and making sweets
Yuzuki, who looks to be perfect at everything, but is actually quite clumsy
Fuuka, who possess maternal instincts and fortitude behind her quiet demeanour
Miel, who has a discerning palate, despite her lack of motivation and energy

Haruma’s meetings with these unique girls in his class draws him further not only into the charm of sweets, but also sweet sweet love…

The requisite saccharine school love title for the month, with absolutely no serious parts whatsoever. The game also showcases different hairstyles for the girls, and a vast array of sweets to tempt the reader. There’s many scenario writers and artists that worked on this title, so you can tell that it’s not as cohesive as other titles. But that’s usually par for the course for these types of games. You’re just here for the sweets, after all.

Not a fan of fat head poorly shaded pastel art. Otherwise generic if a little sloppy game plus cake.

Mmm… cake…

Ojou-sama to Aware na (Ko)Shitsuji

Company: Carol Works
Game site: お嬢様と憐れな(こ)執事
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
Rikudou is pretty much homeless because of his freewheeling father. Fortunately, his uncle took him in and arranged everything for him with the sole condition that he serves as a bridge between him and his rebellious daughters. He readily agreed, thinking that it was a common worry for a father, and thus his days of suffering began.

The daughters are not only rebellious, they are crazy sex-starved vixens! Run away while you can, cute voiced protagonist! The art could be better (the necks are quite long) and it’s pretty much a nukige, but the ecchi comedy is pretty funny. I would feel pity for Rikudou, but it sure beats being homeless in a park. He just needs to avoid Karin, who will assault him at any moment. Then again, when he dresses up as a girl, he’s so cute and anyone would jump at the chance…

I agree with Micchi, the art looks weird at times. Also the style doesn’t fit the game, too childish looking.

Aside from that, well nukige. May have been more enjoyable without that aspect. Could have used silly humor and crazy characters with proper development.

Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren’ai de Dekiteimasu!

ojou-sama_no_hanbun_wa_renai_de_dekiteimasu

Company: Luxury Tiara
Game site: お嬢様の半分は恋愛で出来ています!
Release date: February 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the first title by Luxury Tiara. The pretty boy Hajime is an agent of a large secret organization, who was asked by the boss one day to do the impossible. His mission was to infiltrate Houshou Girl’s Academy, where only pure maidens are allowed, and to claim the title of the greatest lady: ‘Highness’. Thus, he traded in his weapon for lipstick to become an agent of matchless beauty. What is the purpose of this strange mission?

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The scenario is written by Tanikawa Takami, who last worked on ensemble’s Golden Marriage. As common with girls in ojou-sama school settings, there’s a large cast. Just like Koitate, his mission is to protect Arika, the granddaughter of the boss of the organization. However, it doesn’t seem like his cross-dressing plays much of a role, which will disappoint those that are into this genre in the first place.

So not only is it a copy of a pretty standard and cliche theme with the random infiltrate school protect girl thing; But it also has the ensemble crap. It is like this writer sat down and after working on one of the stupid ensemble titles thought to themselves “Yes! this is what I want, perplexing and stupid goals and setting.” really brilliant. I would have considered it fine if things were left at the bodyguard role. Which mind you is bad enough, since ya know could just hire a female for the role, not hard people. I’m willing to suspend disbelief on that much if they come up with a somewhat plausible reason like shortage of staff or some special circumstances. Not going to demand complete realism but at least try. Sadly, no. They had to put all their effort not into making the story good or characters well developed. Nope they come up with some retarded “Highness” garbage. This is the type of crap that has been making Ensemble games awful. If you are going to copy another persons work at least get the answers right. This is almost like someone cheating on a test with a list of all the wrong answers. Which honestly confuses and mystifies me.

I’ve got good news for you! There’ll be a game next month with a bodyguard protagonist and it’s by ensemble!

I am unsure whether I should be laughing, or crying in response to that.

Chiccha na Hanayome ~Mada Mada Tsubomi da mon~

chiccha_na_hanayome

Company: Galette
Game site: ちっちゃな花嫁 ~まだまだつぼみだもんっ~
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. Keita works at the flower shop Frances, taking care of the storefront and doing deliveries on behalf of the scary-looking manager. He mostly makes deliveries to the town’s large cultural center, where events are held almost every week, including piano recitals, ballet performances, art contests and drama shows. He delivers flower bouquets of celebration and support to the site. When he saw the girls who were trying their best to achieve their dreams, he remembered his own dream which he had given up on. He wanted to make clothes for girls, specifically wedding dresses. What will become of his and the girls’ dreams?

Galette is still making loli-ge after K-ko and Azumabito moved to Tinkle Position, with pikazo taking over lead illustration duties. All the girls are under 150cm and 77 chest size. So at least they got that part down. I’ll wait for the trial to see if the story is decent.

If you find yourself wanting to invest in the pedo market via a flower shop I have a suggestion for all potential investors. Remember that your fields of flowers will require bees for pollination, in which case you should import them from Africa. Also remember bee suits are an unnecessary expense for the friendly African variety of bees. So really get in there and rub your face on the hive to let them know you are their friend.

Leave it to Zen for all the swell advice.

At this point I should be given a medal for my public service.

Hanidevi! ~Honey & Devil~

Company: eufonie
Game site: はにデビ! Honey&Devil
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
Yuuto was returning home after finishing up his part-time job when some men in black suddenly appeared and forced him into a car.

“Hurry up and take off your pants! I can’t take it anymore!!”

Without given a choice, he was sexually assaulted inside by a girl named Ouka, who had become possessed by a succubus after carelessly touching a sealed book. It caused her to become aroused indiscriminately. She had desperately searched for a way to drive away the succubus and targeted him since he was the descendant of an exorcist. While Yuuto didn’t know anything about exorcisms, she would be able to withstand the succubus’ powers for a short time by having sex with him.

He was at a loss after such an unexpected first meeting, but it didn’t end there. She arranged for his immediate transfer to her school, the prestigious Ten’ouji Gakuen.

“Please have sex with us and drive out the succubi!”

It wasn’t just Ouka who was possessed by a succubus, but three other girls as well: the pretty book girl Ruri, the strict monitor Aoi, and the student council president Kaoruko who is his childhood friend. Will he be able to expel the succubi and what will become of their relationships which started off with sex?

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It’s been three years since eufonie’s last game (Koiken) and they went full out nukige. The art is quite good and they have some of the most lewd tokutens I’ve seen in quite a while. As expected from succubi… I mean, girls possessed by succubi. When they ask so nicely, I just have to help out, no?

CG set with commentary. 

Newton to Ringo no Ki

newton_to_ringo_no_ki

Company: Laplacian
Game site: ニュートンと林檎の樹
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. Shuuji and his osananajimi Yotsuko were tracking down his missing grandfather when they unexpectedly went back in time to the 17th century. He destroyed an apple tree upon his arrival in front of a young small-chested girl. What he didn’t know was that she would be known later as a father of modern science, Sir Isaac Newton!

Due to his untimely actions, the world was robbed of the discovery of universal gravitation. Will he be able to correct history and return to the present?

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Don’t look for a deep story here; they went straight out and called it a comical time travel ADV. Their debut title Kimiyume was much in the same vein. Play it if you want lots of gags or just so you can be with a loli… for SCIENCE.

Also, you have to watch the teaser. Professor Hymen commands you.

You know things are getting desperate for the gender swapping historical figures market when they reach Newton. At least they aren’t taking themselves or their story too seriously though, so I won’t fault them for any of that. If the game is funny, all will be forgiven.

Teaser

Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou 2.1 E×S×PAR!!

Company: Navel
Game site: 月に寄りそう乙女の作法2.1 E×S×PAR!!
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
This is a fandisc for Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou 2, with after stories for Est and Paruko. There is also side story for Ion. Yes, Asahi is fully voiced in this game. It’s pretty obvious that there’ll be a second fandisc after for the other heroines.

Fandisk. Just more Navel taking the easy route to money milking.

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Haruoto Alice*Gram

haruoto_alice_gram

Company: NanaWind
Game site: 春音アリス*グラム
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
Seiryou Gakuen is a popular high-ranked school in the seaside city of Minato which prides itself on the latest facilities and student independence. Since a year ago, it has been managed concurrently by the student council and the new entrants council.

Soutarou is a second year student who is part of the ‘twilight club’ (tasogare-bu) that was formed under special circumstances and is governed by the student council. It helps with minor things like searching for lost objects and resolving troubles and worries. Even though every day is busy, they are carefree and he gets to walk to school with the student council president who he looks up to and talk with the beautiful club leader.

One day, he received a letter with no name on it:

“Will you be able to solve the repeated problems that will happen from now on?”

At the same time, a helicopter descended upon the school. The club was then beseiged by various troubles: negotations with the two school councils, a place with snow cherry blossoms, a mysterious clock tower, and a mysterious ability that could be used only by a few select people. There are many secrets called ‘alicegram’ which lie buried in the town. Will Soutarou be able to solve them all?

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The cast is quite nice for this fantasy love comedy (with balloons), but it’s hard for me to have an opinion on this game without more info. What are these mysteries? I feel like this is gonna get delayed again since there’s not even a trial out after many months of delays…

This is what the military would refer to as a “Clusterfuck”. Pretty much a complete mess of pointless nonsense. Essentially every single thing about this game can be discarded. Only the characters have any bearing on an actual story. So unless you absolutely must read one of the routes, I don’t recommend wasting your time with this game. Unless of course you happen to enjoy chaotic high school club cliches.

Amayui Castle Meister

Company: エウシュリー (Eushully)
Game site: 天結いキャッスルマイスター
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
Avaro is a tanryoushi, a magician who specializes in the construction and restoration of labyrinths and castles. To realize his dream of one day having his own workshop, he accepted a job to investigate ruins in the Kingdom of Influse with the purpose of accruing some funds. Unfortunately, he was trapped in a cave-in. He wandered about and came upon Fia, a girl who was asleep inside a magic stone.

When Fia awoke, she did not have any memories, but was certain that she was a goddess. She could move the entire ruins using her powers. She revealed to him that she must enter the kingdom’s forbidden holy ground, the “Mist Corridor of Sacred Sound”. She invited Avaro to come with her, saying that he could use the ruins as his workshop any way he wishes. Despite doubting her unbelievable words, he accepts her conditions and becomes an apostle of the self-proclaimed goddess.

They headed north in the mobile ruins-cum-workshop and before long, rumours of the ‘Guaracuna Fortress” spread across the country. As Avaro fought against those who viewed his workship as something of value or as a threat, he searched for the truth behind the goddess’ memories. This is the beginning of a story that weaves bonds together with the goddess of marriage.

This is the latest title in Eushully’s Meister series, featuring in-depth dungeon exploration and item collection as you level up your character units. You have to attain goddess points to help Fia reach the holy ground. One new additional to the system is the ability to disassemble items for materials to power-up your equipment. It also seems like there are also more loli units this time around. I tried a bit of the trial and it seems much better than their last game (Sankaiou). Probably will be worth the pick-up for the SRPG crowd. Fia is cute and she’s voiced by Kiritani Hana.

So another Eushully game. Which of course means it will likely be overly and pointlessly complicated to unnecessarily add on gameplay time. I’ll pass thanks. I do usually appreciate their art which is better than most though. 

Hime-sama LOVE Life! -Motto! Ichaicha☆Paradise!-

Company: Princess Sugar
Game site: 姫様LOVEライフ! -もーっと!イチャイチャ☆ぱらだいす!-
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Hime-sama LOVE Life!, with another stories for each of the six heroines, plus an extra for Maika and Sakuno together. Just your typical fandisc with more ichaicha.

Yet another fandisk

Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise

nekopara_vol3

Circle: NEKO WORKs
Game site: ネコぱら vol.3 ネコたちのアロマティゼ
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. This is the third volume in everyone’s favourite Nekopara series. It’s another day at the pâtisserie “La Soleil” for Kashou and his catgirls. The proud and fashionable Maple gets along well with Cinnamon, who is apt to think delusional dirty thoughts. Due to a certain incident, Maple began worrying about attaining her dream and Cinnamon wanted to help her best friend, but didn’t know what to do.

Watch as they grow up and strive for their dreams in this heartwarming catgirl comedy, which is a little ecchi on the side. Now open for business!

nekopara_vol3_cg2nekopara_vol3_cg3nekopara_vol3_cg4

You mean Cinnamon will finally get to do this and that!? Look, she can’t wait!! For me, I’m more of a fan of the refined and savvy Maple. We have lots of maple up here and it’s sweet. I’m sure her story will be just as sweet. Does that mean that Shigure finally gets a route next…!?

It’s Nekopara 3.0.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise
  2. Ojou-sama to Aware na (Ko)Shitsuji
  3. Anata ni Koisuru Ren’ai Recette

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Nekopara vol.3 Neko-tachi no Aromatise
  2. Newton to Ringo no Ki
  3. Whatever.

Now excuse me while I tend to my kitties…

Proof that cats are better than dogs. Also lame month, seriously.


Looking Good!

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Release dates have been set for the following:

FLOWERS Fuyu-hen – September 15th
Arui wa Koi to Iu Na no Mahou – September 29th

Digital Cute’s Tantei Seven has been delayed to June 30th.

The outfit poll for Maitetsu‘s Makura will run until June 4th. The winning outfit for Hibiki is the nekomimi parka! That’s what I voted for! ^^ It seems many people liked it as well since it has more votes than the 2nd (mini skirt maid outfit) and 3rd place (just baggy Y-shirt) finishers combined.

There’s a new Katahane CD in the works.

The PSV port for World Election is set for a July 20th release.

Dakimakuras are available for pre-order for Amenity’s Life‘s Mikuri and Coicha‘s Ichika.

The YuzuSoft shop is running at Gamers Kyoto until May 15th.

Miyako’s knit parka looks pretty good. You can get it for ¥22,000.

It sure doesn’t look like there’s much coming up for May (except for Nekopara Vol.3)… Well, more time to catch up on past titles and look forward to Mashiro!


New Beginnings

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TRINOLINE Genesis is minori’s fandisc project and they would like to know what you want in it. You have until May 22nd to fill in the questionnaires.

CIRCUS’s fandisc D.C.III DreamDays has been set for September 29th.

Nanawind’s Haruoto Alice*Gram has been delayed once more to June 30th.

The interim results for Windmill’s Ko~cha heroine 2017 general election has Happiness!‘s Jun in the lead. Did you really think it would be anyone else? Carina and Haruhi have until May 29th to catch up. The Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren’ai de Dekiteimasu! chara poll has also started up and will run until May 24th.

The latest titles to get PSV ports are Cotton Soft’s Futagoza no Paradox (August 24th) and Akatsuki Works’ Hello Lady!.

New figures available for pre-order include:

GSC’s nendoroid of d Avenger/Jeanne d’Arc (FGO, October, ¥4,444)
native – 1/6 scale Arisu (Biman, October, ¥15,800)

Dakimakuras are coming out for Ren’ai Kyoushitsu‘s Kazuha and Clovers Days’ Anri.

PSG is truly Cocoro@Function! 2.0.



Moe Game Award 2016 Winners

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The Moe Game Award 2016 winners have been announced! The grand winner is MadoSoft’s Wagamama High Spec, and it also was the top game as voted by users! The rest of the top games are Lose’s Maitetsu, BaseSon’s Sengoku†Koihime X, and YuzuSoft’s Senren*Banka.

Individual winners are as follows:

Scenario – Re:LieF (RasK), Maitetsu (Lose)
Game design – Shinsou Noise (Azurite), Hanahime*Absolute! (mirai)
Graphics – Sen to Hatou, Tsukisome no Kouki (August)
Pure love – Giniro, Haruka (tone work’s), Akiyume Kukuru (Sumikko Soft)
Mystery – Akeiro Kaikitan (SILKY’s PLUS WASABI), Sakuranomori†Dreamers (MOONSTONE)
Ero (pink) – Gakkou no Seiiki (feng), Hanikami CLOVER (Studio Ryokucha), Hataraku Otona no Ren’ai Jijou (AkabeiSoft3)
Ero (black) – Houkago 3 (BISHOP)
Burning – Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~ (light)
Character design – Floral Flowlove (SAGA PLANETS), Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart (HARUKAZE)
New brand – Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana (SWEET&TEA)
Fandisc – Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o. FINE DAYS (PULLTOP), Otome Riron to Sonogo no Shuuhen -Belle Epoque- (Navel)

Theme song – ISLAND (FrontWing), Amatsutsumi (Purple Software)
Topic – Otome*Domain (Palette Qualia)

Three sequels have been announced this week:

Escu:deAkatoki! 2 (September 29th)
GaletteOnii-chan, Migite no Shiyou o Kinshi Shimasu! 2 (September 29th)
HARUKAZENora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 (October 27th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Dolphin Blade – September 29th
Hoshifuru Yoru no Farnese – September 29th
Yami to Shukusai no Sanctuary – September 29th

Sakura topped the Shinsou Noise chara poll and gets a dakimakura.

In addition to the upcoming sequel, Noratoto is getting a short anime this summer! There’s also a PSV port coming in the fall, a novelized version on June 30th, a manga serialization in Dengeki G’s, and a net radio show on Hibiki!

Phat!’s 1/7 scale figure of Persona5‘s Futaba will be out in December for ¥12,000. There’s also a nendoroid of Tsuriotsu‘s Luna available for pre-order soon!

The tone work’s Live Fes 2017 will take place on September 16th at DIFFER Ariake. Raffle tickets go on sale on May 26th. The sale of tickets for Travelling August 2017 has begun and runs until May 31st.

The 88-page full colour FLOWERS Aki-hen fan book will be on shelves on July 28th. It’s priced at ¥2300.

The 6th Aokana cafe is being held at JAM Akihabara until June 6th. Come get your Mashiro udon!


ONII-CHAN! ONII-CHAN! ONII-CHAN!

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MONAKO’s second title will be the nukige Kimi ni Semaru Otome no Lesson. It is set for a September 29th release. Meanwhile, Tanuki Soft’s Onii-chan Daisuki! has been delayed to July 28th.

The Niizuma LOVELY×CATION append life vol.1 is now available for download.

ONIICHANONIICHANONIICHAN!!! Hoshimemo is getting an English translation! Sekai Project‘s Kickstarter has already reached its $45,000 goal, with the stretch goal of fandisc Eternal Heart and additional goods highly attainable. Let’s get it done!

Denpasoft has also recently announced that they’ll be bringing over Escu:de’s Re;Lord. Not sure if they’re going with the whole series, but this is most likely.

The 3rd volume of the Love2Quad H anime, featuring imouto Honoka, comes out on June 30th.

The OSTs for Tsuki no Michibiki Kumo Haruka and Akataoki 2! come out on the same day as the games, July 28th and September 29th, respectively.

Of course you’ll want this 1/7 scale figure of Deremas‘s self-proclaimed perfect Sachiko. ¥16,800 is nothing for the cutest girl in the world! You’ll have to wait till December for her. In the meantime, you can play with GSC’s nendoroid of Tsuriotsu‘s Luna, out in October for ¥3889.

The 5th Maitetsu dakimakura will be kemomimi lingerie Kisaki. Wow….

Nekopara Vol.3 just came out… and there’s already Vol.4 planned! Shigure or harem? Both!?


June 2017 Eroge Releases

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Idols are the hot thing this month, with both AXL’s Ai Yori Aoi Umi no Hate and PULLTOP’s Pure Song G@rden! showcasing the future of Japan’s culture. I’m excited for more Mashiro in sprite’s fandisc Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm EXTRA1, while others will be waiting for the fourth volume of ωstar’s Bishoujo Mangekyou series: Tsumi to Batsu no Shoujo. There’s also more sweet stories in Marmalade’s O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu.

Idols are only any good when made of gold. In a lost temple. Protected by falling boulders. As far as the rest well a surprisingly decent month for once. Sure a few games are the usual bland fare, and some even worse than just bland, but can’t win them all. Still it has been a long time since I had to think about which would be the best three games, instead of trying hard to even come up with three capable of being filler. If only every month was at least this decent.



BLADE×BULLET Kinrin no Soleil

Company: SkyFish
Game site: BLADE×BULLET 金輪のソレイユ
Release date: June 23, 2017
Comments:
This is the latest game in SkyFish’s Soleil series. Valkyrie, the ultimate divine spirit weapon. Anyone who obtains its power can overcome the military of an entire nation. Deep in the North lies the closed city of Eljudnir, upon which many girls gather with varying aspirations. The last person left standing would be able to obtain its power.

The resurrected Yagi met a girl who called herself Hela, the goddess of underworld. She told him that he possessed the spirit of the malicious god Loki, and informed him that, together with the black valkyrie Reginleiv, he was to hunt down those who sought the powers of the valkyrie.

A bit of a Norse-themed battle royale? It seems a bit darker than usual. I’ll gladly stay out of the fray.

Silly game I have zero interest in. That said however I would like to note that Japan in general really needs to find some new mythological concepts to abuse. The whole Valkyrie thing is kind of boring anymore. Even more so when 99% of them get it wrong from the basics. If you aren’t going to make up something new it is fine to warp and twist existing mythology. Just, ya know, get the parts that are completely copied right. Don’t just use the names and terms to make it sound more interesting than it actually is. Such a lazy approach which denies all sense of creativity.

Ojou-sama wa Sunao ni Narenai

Company: ensemble
Game site: お嬢様は素直になれない
Release date: June 23, 2017
Comments:
Souichi seems to be a normal student, but he is actually an experienced bodyguard. One day, he was asked by his mother, who is also a bodyguard, to transfer into Reihou Gakuen to help her protect a certain girl at the school. Reihou Gakuen used to be a famous girls’ school, and even after turning co-ed, it is still predominantly full of girls. Moreover, he was surrounded by eccentric girls for some reason. One of them was the girl who he was supposed to protect, and she smugly said:

“From now on, you are my ‘schwester’!”

The girls seemed unapproachable at first, but he began to see another side of them as he got closer to them.

It’s an ensemble game that doesn’t have a trap protagonist!? What has the world come to??? (Actually, the last one was Koikata, not too long ago.) The game’s theme is ‘gap moe’, which typically means the usual cliches. Of course, there’s an imouto who happens to follow him to the school. At least ensemble doesn’t deviate there. If you were wondering, ‘schwester’ means ‘sister’ in German, and it is a system that Kuon re-instituted where two students would be paired up for their entire time at the school. I feel that the art is a bit all over the place, especially since there’s eight artists that worked on it. It’s gonna be weird not having a cute voiced protagonist…

If only they changed the relationship between a few of the characters and made Kaoru and Rui heroines I might be more inclined to play this one.

Working with what we have I approve of Ensemble not going trap as those were getting beyond stale and they need to break it up a little. However while I applaud the lack of cross-dressing the rest is the same as ever. Which sadly includes a lot of the stupidly terrible things that continue to pile up in Ensemble games. Even something as simple as tossing the whole German sister thing out the window would improve the quality of the story and setting markedly. Ensemble is still ensemble is what it all boils down to I supposed.

Art wise, yeah I’m gonna have to agree with Micchi here. It is all over the place, with some more obvious than others. I know you need to do this to turn out games quickly but honestly I cannot imagine it being worth it. Eventually flooding the market with crappy games just dilutes everything too much for anyone to care. Take a step back, use the extra time to write well and focus on quality instead of quantity. Competition is too fierce to rely on being massively mediocre.

Omokage Railback

Omokage_Railback

Company: ハイクオソフト (Haikuo Soft)
Game site: 面影レイルバック
Release date: June 23, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from last February. During Masashi’s last summer as a student, it was decided that he would transfer schools due to his non-blood-related older sister Juri’s work as the young manager of Yoshioka Construction. His new school would be in the small rural town of Yagurana, located at the end of the railroad. He met the young land-owner Iroha, who vows to protect the land from corporations, and started going to school with her. However, the reason why he was there was because of Yoshioka Construction’s desire to develop the land. Moreover, he was the heir of the corporation itself.

Omokage_Railback_CG2Omokage_Railback_CG3Omokage_Railback_CG4

This is the 10th anniversary title for Haikuo Soft and the main theme is ‘reunion’. The conflict stems from whether you want to support the development of the land or protect the town and keep it as is. I’m leaning towards laying off the development since I don’t want to make a cutie like Iroha sad. She’s so adorable (and reminds me of Yotsunoha‘s Nono)! I wanna protect her!

Of course it is a sister without blood relation, fair game, of course of course. Convenient eroge loopholes aside there is nothing particularly good, nor bad about the game. Oh, other than Iroha, she can go be useful as part of a foundation during the development of the region.

While at the time my thoughts were little more than “Hmm, this may be worth playing when it comes out.” after all the delays… Lets just say I have been itching to play it for such a long time that it drove me nuts. If this turns out to not be good I will throw such a hissy fit that Micchi will have to sit through hours of my ranting.

I will do it if you sit through hours of my imouto raving.

Can I just give you my sister instead…?

Is she 2D?

With a small dimensional diet I’m sure that can be arranged.

O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu


Company: ま~まれぇど (Marmalade)
Game site: お家に帰るまでがましまろです
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:

“Hey, are you all right?”

Kanon held out her hand to Ryou, who had collapsed on the ground in the park. Left without a home after being kicked out, he was taken in by her and given a place to stay in exchange for working at her pâtisserie, “Marshmallow Tree”. The shop had been very popular before she had become the owner, but now it doesn’t get many customers due to a change in opening hours and the arrival of a famous competitor nearby.

He was able to liven up the shop a bit with the help of others, but his relationships with them also got more complicated at the same time. Every day is full of chaos, with unexpected events happening one after the other. What will happen to him and the shop? It is the beginning of sweet and fluffy marshmallow days.

The selling point is the art for sure. Illustrators Ashi Shun and Sasorigatame are back from the PRIMAL×HEARTS series, and Chikotam is back with Marmalade for the first time since Koimari. Sweet cafe settings are good as a relaxing title, especially when there’s cute heroines, like lovable ponkotsu Kanon and picture book author Sasa. There’s also loli ‘onee-chan’ Ushio! That’s not a stereotype I see often, but one I’m definitely open to! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Simple. I like simple. Sure, I used to spurn simplicity, but those were simpler times. Now simplicity in eroge is a rare blessing. Look at Ensemble for example, their insistence on inane complexity completely ruins their games. So, simple, is good. Complexity may be great when you can pull it off, but if you can’t or do not wish to put in the effort, then simple is far better than pointless gimmicks. A good solid foundation is all I ask for. No Matter if the setting, story, or characters are to my taste, start from the base and build your game well.

Obviously to anyone who has read a bit of my commentary I am not fond of the setting, characters, or art style. Far too cutesy for my tastes. But even someone as jaded as me needs a good read without any pretention once in awhile, if just to affirm there are still writers that understand their craft. No matter how sugary it is. Diabetes ahoy.

Zen… playing… a… cafe… chara-ge…???

Boredom and despair make people do awful, sinful things. Besides I have played them before. Just none so… uhh, Micchi-ish…

Ai Yori Aoi Umi no Hate

Company: AXL
Game site: アイよりアオい海の果て
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
In the future, nations and civilizations have disappeared due to rising sea levels caused by tectonic movements and global warming. The survivors lacked technique and talent, but they were able to restore an ancient battleship and attach a spare hydrogen engine to it. Then, a long long time passed, and all land was inundated by the sea, and humans barely survived aboard the self-navigating self-repairing ship.

Ao is a boy who lived in the town aboard the ship. He helps out his parents with plowing the fields and fixing the fishing gear. There is no entertainment aside from visiting the floating market once a month and gazing at the passing ancient flotsam and pondering what they were once used for. It was a relatively depressing life akin to living in a closed society.

One day, he entered the ship’s engine area, which the adults had told him absolutely not to enter. There was a picture from long ago, showing girls in colourful clothes dancing at a school in front of a large crowd of happy children. This was a ‘culture’ which has long since been lost. Moreover, he found a girl sleeping within a capsule. She was wearing the same clothes as those shown in the picture.

The capsule opened when he touched it, as if he had authenticated something. The girl appeared to have lost her memories, aside from one thing: that she is an idol. An idol’s job is to sing and dance, and to spread happiness to everyone. Ao and the self-proclaimed idol Ai set out to revive the idol culture in this small world floating on the sea.

Just another AXL gam… wait, this seems different since it’s set in the future instead of past. Well, they’re still trying to resurrect the past anyway, so I guess it’s all the same. You’d think that they’d have greater priorities than idols, but maybe mental health is a problem in the future.

Macross on water.

Teaser

Golden Hour

Company: NIKO
Game site: ゴールデンアワー
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
This is the first title by NIKO, a sister company of MORE. Yuuya got in an accident just before the regional qualifier finals for the soccer nationals and he couldn’t play anymore. After the team’s eventual loss and the end of his playing career, he lost sight of his goal in life, and instead just killed time at the game center every day. He also gave up on love, believing that the girl he’s interested in, Natsumi, did not feel the same way about him.

On the way to the game center after school one day, he met a girl, Yuki, who looked exactly like Natsumi. It felt like he had met her before even though it should be their first time seeing each other. She suddenly told him:

“I will support your love.”

And so the time which had stopped for Yuuya and Yuki began to move once more…

Eroge loves romanticizing high school love and this one is no exception. In fact, they went overboard with all the bloom effects to make it more ‘dramatic’. At least the scenario might be decent (by Konishi Tsubasa), if they keep it simple.

Story is hauntingly similar to my all time favorite game of this type, Natsu no Ame. Which is honestly a double edged sword. If everything is well written sure this isn’t a bad way to go if a bit cliche. On the other hand if not, things are too complicated to end at simply mediocre and will dive into the bad side of awful real fast. In this case the whole Natsumi and Yuki thing is worrisome. No matter which resolution they go for with that I can only see it being superfluous to the story. As Micchi already said, the key is going to be keeping it simple. All I can do for now is hope they will do a good job.

Tantei Seven

tantei_seven

Company: Digital Cute
Game site: タンテイセブン
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from February. Bango doesn’t like his own name, which has caused him to be teased since he was a kid. However, he has friends by his side: childhood friend Kasumi, best friend Reiji, and imouto Mariya. Together they formed the ‘paranormal research clab’ (the complete idiot Kasumi misspelled the name) at Kototoi Gakuen in Mina-Asakusa.

However, without the adequate number of members, their official club status was denied and their club room was taken by rival clubs. Bango and Kasumi were eager to find other members to search for supernatural activities with them. They gathered many unique individuals and they came upon strange events.

It all started when they entered a house full of junk in search for a lost cat. The place was a den of psychic phenomena, a theme park of malicious spirits. Yet still they advanced into the deepest parts of the house in pursuit of the mysteries of the former tenants. At the same time, a series of bizarre incidents befell the area around the school. First, a commotion regarding a dangerous drug. Then, the death of a cat who had been skinned. Finally, there was even a murder.

There was a doll left behind at each crime scene. Who is the culprit? They must use the special powers which they have possessed since their childhood to solve the crimes.

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Welcome to Danganronpa: the eroge. This detective game focuses on the trinity of ‘mystery, occult and suspense’. There’s a main story, as well as side stories and side missions linking a cast of over 40 characters. The protagonist’s hax ability is ‘synesthesia glass’, which allows him to read the feelings of others. You can use this ability to determine if someone is telling the truth or not. The imouto’s ability is ‘sweet sweat’, which does exactly what you think it does: it makes you want to peropero protect her. Digital Cute’s games are always a bit different from the rest and at least offers a unique experience. It might be worth playing for the sheer hilarity of some situations.

Another of these games. Honestly I will never understand how anyone can get away making and selling this garbage. I have said this before so I’ll keep it short this time. Any mystery or detective styled game needs to keep things simple. All this extra crap, especially the special abilities just weakens the feelings of suspense while ruining much of the fun of trying to think ahead and solve it. There are tons of other things done poorly or just plain wrong here, but when they can’t even get the very core of it right, is there any value in pointing them out? At least for me I think not.

Pure Song G@rden!

Company: PULLTOP
Game site: ピュアソングガーデン!
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
In 2027, advances in virtual reality technology have allowed for the creation of a ‘mixed reality’, combining both reality and virtual reality. It is not uncommon to see ‘virtual idols’ performing, and the most popular one is Ai, who was created using the newest state-of-the-art VR technology. Kanata is part of the M3 (Music Mediaworks Mate) circle of music lovers, along with his self-proclaimed guardian and cohabitant Kuon, and kouhai Asuka, who is interested only in weird ‘sounds’, among others.

One day, they were able to attend the huge virtual live event “Pure Song Garden” as part-time staff members thanks to the connections of Ritsu, a lady who lives in the same apartment as Kanata, and who used to take care of him when he was a child. Before the event, Ritsu brought them to the stage and did a start-up test for Ai as a special demo for them, but when she appeared, something felt off.

Actually, it was not Ai, but a beautiful girl Iroha who looked just like her. She said that she came from fifty years in the future for a short trip. Her ‘navigator fairy’ Suzu, a girl with fairy-like wings who accompanied her, explained that only Iroha’s consciousness travelled from the future and that she was only temporarily using Ai’s virtual body. At that time, there was a great commotion on the event grounds over Ai’s sudden disappearance. Iroha will have to take over Ai’s role on stage at the live, and Ritsu and the M3 members did their best to support her.

Everything was going smoothly at “Ai”‘s performance when a warning sounded and an unexpected error occurred! The “VR hazard” accident resulted in Iroha unable to return to the future.

HAI DOMO VIRTUAL YOUTUBER IDOL KIZUNA AI DESU! What a coincidence that we have two games this month with idols named Ai and one is from the ‘past’, while the other is from the ‘future’. This feels like Cocoro@Function! 2.0, complete with bouncing oppai the E-mote system. Iroha, Kuon and Asuka are all good heroines, but I have to choose the adorable kouhai. Yes, I chose the “I want to marry her” option. Hau~ omochikaeri~! I don’t quite get how the ‘time shifting’ works, but how will Iroha return to her timeline? But I guess more pressing is how will the H scenes work for Iroha when she’s technically in a virtual idol ‘doll’ body. I have faith in science and technology.

First of all this is basically all pop music. If you enjoy it, congratulations for liking what is essentially statistical math. It is all just a formula designed to leave the most impact. Hence why that crap tends to get stuck in your head easier. In other words pop is just a calculation to draw in money, not musical expression, or even music.

Hence this brings me to the main point here, I hate vocaloids. About the only thing I hate more than vocaloids is Kpop, since while they are the same thing, the vocaloid is more honest about it. When something is tuned specifically to be pleasing to the eyes and ears is it still art? I think not. There is no expression involved.

On to the game itself, the concept is pointless, gimmicky, and well, rather stupid. Maybe it’s just me but I find most games that include things like the E-mote system tend to focus too much on those useless system gimmicks to be any good story wise.

But you get to control the bounciness level! Gameplay!

Set it to max, throw them hard at the ground, and bounce them into orbit. Or better yet the Sun.

Akaneiro no Kyoukaisen

Company: ALcot ハニカム (ALcot Honey Comb)
Game site: 茜色の境界線
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
One night, Shuu met the fox spirit Tomoe. In order to become a goddess, she must subdue the ‘tatari’ (curses) which devour all. Shuu’s hometown of Kanbe has been struck by these curses since some time, and despite the efforts of Tomoe and the half-youkai Kasumi, their numbers have only increased. Now Shuu’s kouhai Shion has also become targeted by them. In order to protect his hometown and those precious to him, Shuu joined the fight against the tatari. As they cross the line between the human and demon worlds, the world becomes dyed madder red.

The concept of the game is a mix of 燃え (fiery battles) and 萌え (moe), with a somewhat traditional feel. There’s only happy ends, and also a focus on more ero in H scenes (particularly using different perspectives). Tomoe used to be a loli when you take her in, but she’s grown a lot since then. On the other hand, I will spoil Kasumi all day long. I don’t expect much from the story, but maybe the characters will make it worth playing.

Akaneiro no Kyoukaisen reminds me of a game Alcot Honey Comb did a long time ago called Kurenai no Tsuki. The main difference being the story here feels more rushed, chaotic, and out of balance with the setting itself. Much like Micchi I don’t expect much from the story, and thus from the game itself.

Haruoto Alice*Gram

haruoto_alice_gram

Company: NanaWind
Game site: 春音アリス*グラム
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from May. Seiryou Gakuen is a popular high-ranked school in the seaside city of Minato which prides itself on the latest facilities and student independence. Since a year ago, it has been managed concurrently by the student council and the new entrants council.

Soutarou is a second year student who is part of the ‘twilight club’ (tasogare-bu) that was formed under special circumstances and is governed by the student council. It helps with minor things like searching for lost objects and resolving troubles and worries. Even though every day is busy, they are carefree and he gets to walk to school with the student council president who he looks up to and talk with the beautiful club leader.

One day, he received a letter with no name on it:

“Will you be able to solve the repeated problems that will happen from now on?”

At the same time, a helicopter descended upon the school. The club was then besieged by various troubles: negotiations with the two school councils, a place with snow cherry blossoms, a mysterious clock tower, and a mysterious ability that could be used only by a few select people. There are many secrets called ‘alicegram’ which lie buried in the town. Will Soutarou be able to solve them all?

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The cast is quite nice for this fantasy love comedy (with balloons), but it’s hard for appreciate the mysteries when they’re resolved by deus ex machina methods. Might’ve been better if they kept it more simple.

This is what the military would refer to as a “Clusterfuck”. Pretty much a complete mess of pointless nonsense. Essentially every single thing about this game can be discarded. Only the characters have any bearing on an actual story. So unless you absolutely must read one of the routes, I don’t recommend wasting your time with this game. Unless of course you happen to enjoy chaotic high school club cliches.

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm EXTRA1

ao_no_kanata_no_four_rhythm_extra1

Company: sprite
Game site: 蒼の彼方のフォーリズム EXTRA1
Release date: April 28, 2017
Comments:
This is the Aokana after story for Mashiro. A senpai who she admires. The senpai who she loves. Friends with whom she could confide her worries and do her best. Just by showing a little bit of courage, she was able to obtain so many precious relationships. Mashiro thought that she has finally reached the happy end.

However, she was barely passing her classes. She lost completely in a sweets battle to Rika and Arika. On top of that, Misaki and Asuka declared that they are Masaya’s lovers!? At this rate, her dear senpai would be taken from her, she’ll have to repeat a year, and Mashiro Udon would go out of business!?

Mashiro’s mother Botan suddenly suggested that she and Masaya go on an overnight date. She declared that she’ll make a tasty bento for him and dress up nicely. With the help of the others, she trained really hard to up her feminine qualities before the date. Will they reach the true happy end!?

There are two fandiscs planned based on the results of the character poll. Mashiro took first place, while Misaki will be featured in the following game. I’ve already pre-ordered it (went with Trader’s Y-shirt tokuten). We’re reaping the rewards now, fellow Mashiro fans! Just Mashiro, all Mashiro! Look at that Mashiro ofuro tokuten! That lovely expression and perfect form! MASHIRO LOVE!! I’m waiting for you, Mashiro-chan! Fly into my arms!!

No one, by which I mean myself, cares about Mashiro.

Bishoujo Mangekyou -Tsumi to Batsu no Shoujo-

Company: ωstar
Game site: 美少女万華鏡 -罪と罰の少女-
Release date: June 30, 2017
Comments:
This low-price title is the latest in ωstar’s Bishoujo Mangekyou series. Yuuma is on leave from school since being hospitalized due to a certain incident. He reunited with his beautiful twin sister Yuuri for the first time in a year and began to live with her, but he had a secret that he could not tell her: he is deeply in love with her. When that secret came to light, love turned to madness and he was assaulted…

Twincest is wincest.

Been awhile for these CG sets.

Ren’ai Kyoushitsu

Company: UnN/A
Game site: 恋愛教室
Release date: May 26, 2017
Comments:
This is the debut title by UnN/A. Standing outside of the classroom, the protagonist took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. Once he summoned the courage to open the door, he was immediately surrounded by girls in the class who treated him like a rare animal. That is natural since this had been a girls-only school until last year. However, not all the students were receptive of having a boy in their class. There were three groups: those for the co-ed change, those against it, and those whose views were in between. He has yet to get used to his new life in this new classroom with new friends, but he felt that his future is full of possibilities.

A pretty standard school love comedy. The unique aspect is that the four heroines were decided by a character poll among the 16 candidates. The winners were the board chairman’s granddaughter and leader of the anti-coeducation faction Stella, naive ojou-sama Karen, mood-maker classmate Sui, and frail imouto Kazuha. The game is what you think it is.

Nothing special here. Not really good, but also not really bad. If you want to read something as close to the median of eroge possible this month, here ya go.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm EXTRA1
  2. O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu
  3. Ren’ai Kyoushitsu

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Omokage Railback
  2. Golden Hour
  3. O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu (Yes, I know. But have to validate these once in awhile.)

Finally, Mashiro comes home!!

Comes home to your white van?


The Cutest Bishoujo Ever

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Windmill’s Ko~cha heroine 2017 general election has wrapped up and the winner could only be the one and only Watarase Jun from Happiness!. It’s amazing how much lasting power he she he (?) has. Thanks to all your support, Jun will get a dakimakura this summer! By the way, the second and third place finishers were Campanella‘s Carina and Happiness!‘s Haruhi. Still lots of love for old titles.

Both ωstar’s Bishoujo Mangekyou -Tsumi to Batsu no Shoujo- and NIKO’s Golden Hour have been delayed to July 28th.

Kantoku’s third illustration collection, “pure”, will be on shelves on July 15th. It’ll contain 144 pages of splendid art for ¥5000.

The “Hulotte Songs Best” album comes out on June 9th for ¥3000, featuring OP, ED and character songs from With Ribbon, Moteyaba and Yomeyaba. The “Ninetail Chronicle Vocal Collection” is planned to go on sale on September 22nd. There’ll be two discs, with a total of 28 songs.

5pb. has announced Steins;Gate Elite, which is a majorly updated version of the original visual novel with new elements.

DragonToy now has a black version of their 1/6 scale figure of Walroma‘s Celia coming out in September. This price is still the same at ¥18,500.


Taste the Rainbow

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New releases announced this week include:

ninetail – VenusBlood -BRAVE- (September 29th)
SUKERA SPARO – Kotonoha Amrilato (August 25th)

Release dates have been set for the following:

Ruri no Kasane – August 25th
Yuganda Uso no Koi to Letter – September 29th

The following titles have been delayed:

O-uchi ni Kaeru Made ga Marshmallow Desu – July 28th
BLADE×BULLET Kinrin no Soleil – August 25th
Omokage Railback – September 29th
Sakura Hitohira Koi Moyou – September 29th

The 3rd chara poll for Ren’ai Kyoushitsu has started and will run until June 16th. The top three finishers will get routes and the winner will be featured in the goods included in the official mail order! The trial just came out, so check it out before making your daily vote!

The latest Lump of Sugar heroine to get a figure is Hello, good-bye‘s May. This 1/7 scale offering from Orchidseed is clearly not for the kiddies. It ships next February and you can pre-order it for ¥13,500. What about Koharu???

Phat!’s latest Deremas figure is of Frederica little devil maid ver.. It is 1/7 scale, ships in January and priced at ¥13,000.

Frontwing is the latest to join the eroge company live concerts. Their “First Flight” will be held in December at DIFFER Ariake. More details to follow.

Time to catch up with some trials…


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