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They Aren’t As Innocent As They Seem

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Oniichan_Sharing_ChikoI’m highly looking forward to FrontWing‘s Innocent Girl which comes out on February 28th. Pure Girl was an enjoyable read and I love Nanaka Mai’s art, so there’s no doubt that I’ll be playing it come next year. There may be no Remon-chan, but Ichigo-chan looks even cuter and irresistible! I really want Konoka… she’s just like Miyako! So pure and innocent! Doesn’t seem like a perorist though.

Other new titles announced this week include:

ALcotClover Day’s
eRONDOKoinaka -Koinaka de Hatsukoi x Nakadashi Sexual Life-
HulotteImouto no Okage de Mote Sugite Yabai. (November 29th)
Lump of SugarSekai to Sekai no Mannaka de (December 20th)
PeasSoftKoisuru Shimai no Rokujuusou

Release dates have been set for the following:

Hina to Issho – October 25th
Usotsuki Ouji to Nayameru Ohime-sama – October 25th
Mai*Sister – November 29th
Juukishi Cutie☆Bullet – November 29th
Soshite Kirameku Otome to Himitsu no Gojou – November 29th
Wagaya no Himegami-sama! – November 29th
Love Replica – December 20th
Magicalic⇔Sky High – December 20th

Escu:de is releasing a powered up version of Akatoki! on November 29th, with more clothes-shredding ecchi goodness. They’ve also got the Sensuibu! OST coming out on September 27th.

Shining_Ark_VelvetMay-Be Soft is holding a chara poll featuring all heroines from their past games for their 20th anniversary. Which girl will top the MBS48? Seems like the Henshi~n!!! cast has lots of support.

Alphamax’s 1/8 scale figure of Shining Ark‘s Velvet has some nice booty. She can be yours for only ¥9800 and has a January shipping date.

Check out MOONSTONE’s delicious dakimakura of Imopara2‘s Chiharu. Gotta love the cheerleader outfit. There’s also a dakimakura coming out for Gangsta Republica‘s Misogi.

Starting to play September trials now. There’s quite a few titles that stand out, including Karumaruka*Circle and Cocoro@Function!.



SR Apps are the Future!

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Natsu_no_Osananajimi_to_Fuyu_no_Kanojo_YumeMari topped the Koiken Next subchara poll and will get a route in the upcoming fandisk! Congrats! ^^ The Amatarasu Riddle Star chara poll is now underway and will run until September 13th.

The 180-page full colour Renai 0 km Portable official artbook will be on shelves September 20th. How many pages of Noki faces will there be? I hope there’s a full-page spread.

GIGA’s bitter smile. is being ported to the PSV by TGL. It is scheduled for November 28th. Also coming out on the same day is Alchemist’s adaptation of CUBE’s your diary.

Two Saber figures are available for preorder: Wing’s 1/7 scale Saber pajamas ver. (December, ¥8400) and Griffon’s 1/7 scale Saber (October, ¥10,700). I like the first one more.

Delicious Aori daki… *drools*…

Finished the trials for both Cocoro@Function! and Karumaruka*Circle. I’m especially excited about PULLTOP’s upcoming title as it was quite long, but yet kept you entertained all the time. Pacing is done quite well and the characters are likable. I really want a concierge app (v2.0) like Bell!!! I wonder what further abilities will be uncovered when they level up their CF apps…

After playing through Cocoro@Function!, Karumaruka*Circle didn’t grab me as much. There’s the notion of the maka (basically the seven sins) and getting together for a ritual to rid themselves of it. Definitely has a magical element to it, but the prologue didn’t do much beyond introducing the characters. Nicole is awesome!!

September post is tentatively scheduled for the 14th or so. I want to play through these trials first before writing.

Cocoro_Function_Bell

Webclap responses:

Hello Micchi! I highly respect you and visit your blog regularly. I endend up doing a blog on wordpress for reviews about many otaku related stuff, but since I play A LOT of Eroges, it is almost dominated by Galge reviews. I even believe that much of the blog has your influence on it (like the widgets and terms that I use). If possible, I would like you to take a look at my blog and give some hints about what I should do to make it better (I am kind of new to this blog thing). It would be pretty awesome if you could add my blog to your link list too. Thanks! http://otakuoverdrive.com/ by gangrelion
Thanks for visiting! I’ll be happy to link to your site. As for blogging advice, since you’re just starting out, I think the key thing is talking about things that interest you. You’ll find out over time you’ll end up creating your own niche and style. It took me a year or so to really figure out what I wanted to blog about, so be open and receptive to changes ^^


Cooling Down the Hype

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Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_HisuiSad news to pass on as both PULLTOP’s Cocoro@Function! and Lose’s Monobeno -happy end- have been pushed back to October 25th. At least there’s still many good titles for this month.

Other delayed titles include:

Chiisana Kanojo no Serenade – October 25th
Otome Switch – November 29th

Debonosu’s next title will be Senjou no Folklore, scheduled for December 20th. Also coming out on the same day will be Baseson’s Sengoku†Koihime. PULLTOP Latte’s Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort has been set for December 13th.

New company Particle is releasing an original girls’ love drama CD series called Lilycle this fall and winter. They’ve got some recognizable seiyuus voicing the characters, so if you’re interested in yuri, it may be worth checking out.

Shinku and Aozora finished one-two in the Iroseka World’s End chara poll. Enjoy your hotcakes as you admire this wallpaper of Sora-chan. The final match in HOOKSOFT’s Rakko-san last running campaign chara poll came down to Shushu‘s Anna and HoneyComing‘s Clarissa. When the results come out, I expect a landslide win for Clair unless Anna has something up her sleeve (like usual). Other recent winners include Mizukano‘s Ion (with wallpaper) and Henshi~n!!!‘s Miko and Maidken‘s Rena (both will get dakis).

Chara polls currently running include Tsujidou-san no Virgin Road (until September 22nd), Nyan Cafe Macchiato (until September 29th), Timepiece Ensemble (until September 30th) and Lump of Sugar’s Sekachu (until October 4th).

Visual fan books are coming out for Magicha on September 27th and Grisaia no Rakuen on October 11th.

Eiyuu_Senki_PercevalThe PSP adaptation of your diary has been set for November 28th. Kaho and Natsuki get routes, while there’s also a new heroine Hotori.

Watch the heroines from Namaiki Delation! go all deredere with the Namadere Touch! phone app for iPhone/iPad and Android.

Eiyuu*Senki‘s Perceval gets a 1/8 scale figure from quesQ this December for ¥10,290. Also coming out are 1/8 scale figures of Majikoi A‘s Benkei (Griffon, October, ¥9200) and Summon Night 3‘s Aty (ALTER, January, ¥11,550).

Here’s a pair of dakimakuras from PeasSoft: Koi×Koi=∞‘s Christina and Koisuru Otome no Sextet‘s Mai.

I didn’t get much done lately since Noels just came out in NA RO2 and I’ve been grinding my loli. Should have more time this week to get some progress on the post. Sorry for the delay!

Irotoridori_no_Sekai_Aosora_WP


Living in the Game World

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Karumaruka_Circle_NicoleClochette‘s upcoming title Sakigake⇒Generation! will have the protagonist and heroines in a motion sensing game world. The average bust size is 88, although there appears to be some variance. Of course, there’s still an imouto. Other new titles announced this week include:

Akatsuki WorksHello Lady!
Gesen18Sengokuhime 5 ~Senka Tatsu Haou no Keifu~ (December 6th)
GIGAKiss Ato -Kiss will change,my relation with you-
Hexenhaus – Koisuru Kimochi no Hanakotoba
PralineBaka Moe Heart ni Ai o Komete!
ReonAisare Roommate
SORAHANEHaruka Kanata
Tanuki SoftShoujo Kyouiki (January 31st)

minori’s 12gatsu no Eve has been set for January 31st, while both bootUP!’s Aneimo Neo+ Second Sisters and Dandelion’s Meguru Kisetsu no Yakusoku to, Tsunaida Sono Te no Nukumori to have been delayed to November 29th.

Ai topped the Amatarasu Riddle Star chara poll, with Miu and Madori placing 2nd and 3rd, respectively. NekoNekoSoft has started up the chara poll for Soshite Kirameku Otome no Himitsu no Gojou. It runs until September 30th.

The PS3/PSV port of Akatsuki Work’s & has been scheduled for December 26th. I enjoyed it.

The manga adaptation of TENCO’s Eiyuu*Senki GOLD will be serialized in CompAce. CharaAni is currently taking preorders for the D.C.III R X-rated official visual fan book, which comes out on November 26th.

karory_2014_CalendarNew doujin maker Steroider’s upcoming title Love Potion Sixty Nine looks quite pretty. They seem to be related to Hyperiyon, who did S.I.S.T.A.R.S..

Two Nitro+ figures available for preorder: 1/4 scale Super Sonico santa ver. from FREEing (December, ¥18,800) and Griffon’s 1/8 scale figure of Kimikoi‘s Miyuki (September, ¥8400).

2014 calendars are up on Amazon JP for preordering. Those for popular illustrators karory, Tony, Kantoku and Coffee Kizoku are going for ¥1500.

You can now get a dakimakura of Namadere‘s Nagisa, to go with the equally-stacked Misaki.

Still working on the post, and now I’m busy with work as well. The goal is still to get it out before the releases.

Natsufuyu_Yume_Doutei


Summer 2013 Anime Impressions

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Not a great season by far, but at least Silver Spoon and Uchoten Kazoku managed to wiggle its way in and provide me some comfort. As my workload has ramped up, I won’t be able to watch as many anime as I used to, and of course all the conventions are taking its toll on me. Oh well, at least the tanukis, pigs, and dogs will suffice for now.

At least better than last season as with Wanko it has become more and more difficult to find time to watch sub par series. It is one thing to spend the time on something enjoyable, but a few hours a week on what is mostly garbage is kind of hard to deal with. Thankfully there were a few shows that were well worth it this season. Although I cannot guarantee we will keep it up much longer if at all due to time, I would like to apologize for the delay of this post, mostly my fault this time since things kept coming up to take over the time i allocated to writing.

Here’s a chart, so follow along. And of course, a summer preview from Random Curiosity for more information on this season.

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou (07/01 Mon)

dog-scissors-02

I hate to say it, but this show is really as generic as it comes. The only redeeming factor is my love for dogs, and seeing the main protagonist as a dog. Well, at least it’s cute.. so it’s not bad of a watch considering what I’m watching it for. If I didn’t find things adorable, I would probably have cut 90% of anime off the list by now.

WATCHING

This is probably the dumbest idea for a show I have ever had the misfortune of bearing witness to. I saw the beginning and the end, and as such I can say with certainty that I feel nothing but pity for anyone who had the misfortune of watching through the entirety of a show so bad the creators should be ashamed and start the show with a warning apologizing for any loss of brain cells or loss of mental health.

DROPPED

Free (07/03 Wed)

free-02

Five young, sweaty, and muscular boys embark on a journey fan service and man-love. As far as man-loving shows go, I found it more watchable than its counterparts. It’s still sad I hate Kimi to Boku so much… can’t believe a show with guys showing off their abs in half the episodes could top it. As far as moe-blob shows go, I’d say they did a great job with the show since it’s no different from other KyoAni shows. However, this isn’t exactly my cup of tea and I have no interest in any of the characters. And… I don’t think I can take seeing more highly detailed muscles.

DROPPED 

Rozen Maden (07/04 Thu)

rozen-maiden-02

I’m surprised they went this route with the story, and I do find it interesting after such a huge time gap since its last anime release. Although a lot darker in this incarnation, it’s a bit nice seeing an adult protagonist this time. And throwing in alternate worlds, and timelines into the mix, it’s not all about tea parties this time around. Still, I can’t get enough of the dolls and their daily life… just take a look at that screenshot above XD;;

WATCHING -  Waiting for Suiseiseki to meet the new “chibi-ningen”.. desudesudesu…

Servant Service (07/04 Thu)

servant-service-01

Not really bad, yet also not really any good. Unfortunately Servant x Service was unable to achieve the same humor that made Working a good show. I just cannot find the same level of attachment to the characters or the story, on top of which the jokes fail to be funny or even just fun. Aside from background noise I cannot find much value in spending the time to watch this show when almost anything else would be better, or even more entertaining despite being worse.

DROPPED

Kiniro Mosaic (07/06 Sat)

kiniro-mosaic-02

2D > real life. Life needs to be more fluffy and cute. They’ve managed to make 2D British girls into a real threat, but then again, they just seem like Japanese girls with blonde hair :3 There are shows that manage to be cute or moe, but there are shows that represent the genre itself. Just like Yuruyuri, this level of moe overload is something that can’t be ignored.

WATCHING

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou (07/06 Sat)

genei-kakeru-taiyou-02

 

The main thing that really irked me is the standard monster of the week formula. I don’t really care how it builds up, but I just find it way too predictable for my liking. At least I ended with a good laugh as I witnessed the scene depicted in the screen cap. Or maybe I should say horrified. But it’s my first time seeing a group of children being wheeled in one cart like that.

DROPPED

Fate kaleid liner Prisma Illya (07/06 Sat)

fate-illya-02

Don’t expect much of this series other than a normal magical girl show with an infusion of elements from the Fate Stay Night universe. But as Ruby put it best, “little girls make the best magical girls.” It’s hard to make an argument against that… but overall for those who are looking for a dose of cute magical girls and some type moon fun with their favorite characters, this alternate universe should satisfy some of the fanbase… but as the tone is different from those set in the actual mainstay series, this will probably insult the fans that have no interest in seeing their favorite series being lumped with something cute.

WATCHING

Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi (07/06 Sat)

kamisama-inai-nichiyoubi-02

All I can say is that this story really ends in three episodes. Afterwards, the protagonist becomes a huge magnet for hugs. She’s so cute that everyone happens to find her adorable. While the world is suffering from the effects of what had happened, it eventually becomes a story of a naive girl that wants to save the world through the power of cuteness.I have no problem with series that happen to be cute if that’s what the anime is fully aiming for. However, when it ruins a premise that’s supposed to be something of a more serious nature, I just can’t get over how it transitions to such a terrible state.

DROPPED

Uchoten Kazoku (07/07 Sun)

uchoten-kazoku-02

I’m a bit glad that there’s finally a series that I can generally recommend to other people. There’s no moe, lolis, or generic characters that you’ll find in everyday anime. There’s an actual story that involves supernatural creatures, lore, and is full of Japanese culture. Now this is the stuff that I think of when I refer to anime, and it’s great to see this popup in this disappointment of a season. As much as I enjoy cute moe shows, I can actually feel my brain rotting as I watch those :3 Come on, animation industry, take an example from this, I like to actually feel like an adult once in awhile, when I watch my anime. Then again… I felt more of an adult at age 6, when I started watching anime… compared to the feelings and thoughts I have watching the current anime.

WATCHING

I would say this has been the pleasant surprise of this season, managing to be both entertaining and intriguing at the same time. While it may not win any awards there is something subtly endearing about the setting and protagonist. In addition the studio has done rather well at pacing the series, providing entertainment while doling out small bits of information about the setting, characters, and their past. What the series manages to achieve is a steady flow of development where there is never a state where nothing is happening but also never a time when it feels overwhelming or rushed. Hardly something to call one of the best shows of all time, it is nevertheless such a nice feeling to have a show that is simply good without some glaring flaw to take away from it.

WATCHING

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui (07/08 Mon)

watamote-02

No anime comes close to being as dark and awkward as this anime, as it depicts social anxiety at its worst. Our heroine is possibly the most realistic character to appear this season, and you can’t help but feel for her as she fails in life. Life isn’t as fluffy as K-ON and this anime just pounds into you what horrors reality has in store for those who are socially inept. I just wonder how this series will end..

WATCHING

 

Gin no Saji (07/2013)

gin-no-saji-02

This is probably my favorite anime of the season as it showcases how different and fun a 2D agricultural school could be! What i want from my anime is something different, and this definitely hits the spot as I watch Hachiken Yuugo slowly grow from his experiences at his new school. The anime itself manages to make farming interesting, and the amount of detail and knowledge that they’re dishing out in each episode helps creates an immersive world. I never expected that the creator of Full Metal Alchemist could switch from a battle manga to something like this, but then again some mangaka continue to surprise me with how they churn out new works different from their previous ones.

WATCHING

Being the series I looked forward to most, it comes as no surprise to me that I enjoy this show the most this season. Always nice to see some new subject matter beyond the generic high school based slice of life or harem romance anime that have taken up a huge part of every recent season. Not to say Silver Spoon is completely devoid of any romance themes but they certainly are not central when compared to developing the characters and settings. While the idea of moving a city boy character to a rural country or farm setting itself is nothing new, they have done a good job with background information to add that little bit of glue to hold the setting together. A real pity more series and creators don’t put as much research into series, it would have made many a setting more convincing. Regardless of whether looking for comedy or a relaxed story about a style of life most people could never imagine, Silver Spoon manages to deliver a slice of life series that while it may embellish things actually does try to reflect life.

WATCHING

 

Danganropa (07/2013)

danganronpa-02

I simply can’t take this seriously enough with how stupid the characters are. The murderers are obvious enough to figure out, and you just can’t believe that they would pull off plans with such a huge amount of flaws. Sure, they’re high school students, but I kind of expected more from these “super duper students”. If they’re the cream of the crop, why do it feel like they chose from such a small pool  of students. And as usual, it gets annoying to see them accuse the wrong people so easily.. you think they would be more careful since they’ll all die if they’re wrong.

DROPPED


September 2013 Eroge Releases

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SAGA PLANETS’ Karumaruka*Circle highlights this month’s releases, as they try to assure their fans that the quality of their stories will not decline following the departure of scenario writer Niijima Yuu. One thing that’s for sure though is that an oniichan will do anything for their imouto, including going to a girls’ school like in Chuable Soft’s Noblesse of Rouge, saving parallel worlds in Macaron Soft’s Imouto Spiral, or spending equal time with all ‘imoutos’ in Rosebleu’s Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka? and Galette’s Oniichan Sharing. There’s also a remake of ALICESOFT’s Rance 01 -Hikari o Motomete- for those who weren’t into eroge back then… which is pretty much all of you.

A sad month for most who love to read a good eroge as it is full of swarms of rabid little siblings consuming all elder brothers in their path, rehashes of older games, and continuations of ongoing series. I wish only for a few games here and there that are not so identical to each other the feeling of them all being stamped from the same mold lingers throughout the game. Actually at this point I would go for some variance in the characters alone, not necessarily new but some less used designs at least would be nice to see now and again. Sadly each new month finds pleasure in betraying my innocent hopes and dreams by churning out prefabricated eroge content each more alike than the last.

Karumaruka_Circle_CGMagical_Marriage_Lunatics_CGYume_ka_Utsutsu_ka_Matryoshka_CG
Himegoto_Union_CGIchiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_CGOniichan_Sharing_CG
Natsu_no_Osananajimi_to_Fuyu_no_Kanojo_CGBaldr_Sky_Zero_CGNoblesse_of_Rouge_CG

Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka?

Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka

Company: ロゼブル (Rosebleu)
Game site: 1番じゃなきゃダメですかっ?
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
A slightly old-fashioned wooden apartment called Ittokikan (Maison Ittoki) lies at the top of a gentle slope located nine minutes walk from the train station. It is a place inhabited only by girls who are disappointed with their male siblings. Shou was to be a new resident, but naturally he was refused entry to the apartment. However, he was able to open their hearts with his initiative and positive disposition and was accepted into their group. In turn, they became lovestruck with him and it was suggested that he become an older brother figure to everyone in the household. This prompted the declaration by his non-blood related imouto Hisui that she will stop being his imouto. Could they be satisfied all being second for his love?

Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_CG2Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_CG3Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_CG4

The game references Maison Ikkoku, down to the numerals in the heroines’ surnames. The pseudo family concept reminds me of Shiawase Kazoku-bu, but at least here they don’t change roles every club meeting. Of course, I can’t say no to what basically amounts to an imouto-ge (they all end up calling him oniichan, niisama, etc). The trial was enjoyable even though I thought that the obstacles were overcome too easily. For example, Ruri’s despise of men stems from her older brother attempting to rape her (that bastard! you fail as an oniichan if your imouto doesn’t love you!), but her guard quickly breaks down around our lucky protagonist and from some smooth talking.

This tops my list for this month (since Cocoro@Function! was delayed) since it’s got that slice-of-life feel and there’s plenty of comedy, parodies and dirty jokes. All the characters are quite enjoyable, and that includes the subcharas “What colour are your panties today?” Ai and “Cute pretty raburabu ikeike beautiful punipuni kyapikyapi curecure” Akane-chan. Have you listened to our primary imouto Hisui? That’s right, it’s Sana! She’s Agumi Oto voiced and sounds pretty much exactly like Sana! How can I say no to another Sana!? Hau~ omochikaeri~!

As the first of many, many, way too many little sister based games I can only sigh in disappointed resignation at this month’s releases. Par for the course with like minded games almost no effort is put into setting, story, or character development. Not that most people who are simply gaga for the word “Imouto” actually care about those as long as there are usually though not limited to childish looking and acting young girls calling the protagonist their brother. I have said this before but it never ceases to amaze me that people actually like when all of the heroines are the same or similar archetypes as that appears to defeat the entire point. The little sister character appeal is partially due to her being in a unique position apart from the others, and against all odds. Instead you have a story where you move into an apartment otherwise inhabited by a number of girls who dislike every other man close to them aside from you calling you brother in an attempt to get suckers like Micchi to buy the game. Try harder please, at least make it a normal apartment complex with normal people both male and female, with some variation to the characters. Sure it is more effort but when your game has so many identical competitors you really need to do more than call random gentle idiot protagonist number 13.462 a variation of “Onii chan” to have some hope of standing out.

Magical Marriage Lunatics!!

Magical_Marriage_Lunatics

Company: MOONSTONE
Game site: Magical Marriage Lunatics!! -マジカル マリッジ ルナティクス-
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Yuuta is just your typical guy who enjoys an ordinary school life with his osananajimi Yuuna. Suddenly one day, a mansion appeared in his backyard, inhabited by the vampire princess Luce. One by one, other other-worldly princesses came to him, all of whom had made a childhood promise to be his bride when they grew up. He didn’t remember the promises, but then Yuufa also joined into the fray and proclaimed that she’s the one who will always be with him.

Magical_Marriage_Lunatics_CG2Magical_Marriage_Lunatics_CG3Magical_Marriage_Lunatics_CG4

MOONSTONE is known for their chara-ge and this time you can choose between a vampire, a succubus, a tenko, a goddess, a witch or that childhood friend who you know will never win. It kinda sounds like Shuffle!, except Yuuna doesn’t seem like a yandere type. As for the story, well… if you can accept that they’re all princess and all happen to know each other even though they live in different worlds, and then they decide to all go to the same school as him, then you’re set! Karin and Luluna have their charms, but I’m gonna be cheering for the most normal one. Go Kanban Musume Yuuna! YuYu forever!

Okay lets make a game where the protagonist gets to score with a bunch of otherworldly princesses, that should be a sure hit. Now just to make extra certain everyone will love the game lets make the setting a standard high school romance where everyone just appears out of nowhere, brilliant! Nothing like a lazy plot line where ordinary school boy A has a bunch of special girls fawning over him because of something he conveniently cannot remember yet was apparently important enough that the girls remembered and held true to it after an average of ten years. I cannot help but admire how hard companies work to avoid five extra minutes of planning and discussion, and maybe two weeks to a month at most of extra effort required to not be so generically lazy. As much as anything outside the norm interests me I would rather heroines not spontaneously pop into existence for the protagonists romancing pleasure. Whats more the heroines could at least not be immediately attracted to or gunning for the protagonist without any kind of real preparation or development.

Oniichan Sharing

Oniichan_Sharing

Company: Galette
Game site: お兄ちゃんシェアリング
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Seseri, Futaba, Chiko and Yuu are four very close childhood friends who share everything amongst themselves. Kazuki has been with them since they were young and loved them all like they were his imoutos (including his true imouto Seseri). One day, they wondered who’s oniichan he is. Of course, everyone’s oniichan! As such, he’s free to return to any of their homes and spend the night under the same roof as them. Wouldn’t you like to experience all these various daily lives with your imouto?

As Imosen has taught us, imoutos are very willing to share oniichan amongst themselves, just not with others. For oniichan, there’s no question which imouto is the most precious. They’re all equally precious to me! Especially when they’re so cute and adorable like these four! In particular, I love the erokawaii twins Chiko and Yuu! The story is kinda chaotic, but that’s to be expected from such a game. One new thing this title offers is the chance to view some H scenes from the imouto’s side as well. So now you can see for yourself just how much they love oniichan. It’s super imouto time!!

I would say this Kazuki fellow should have given his parents some condoms but since they aren’t all blood related that would not have solved the problem entirely. It is however quite rare to see a game this poorly made, even the games above have managed to maintain a minimum level of decorum in their design. Instead this is basically a nukige where the 12 year old “Heroines” call the protagonist “Onii-chan” or some derivation thereof. I suppose this does answer the question of how can you do worse than a barrel full of younger sisters, a nukige about said sisters.

Himegoto Union ~We are in springtime of life!~

Himegoto_Union

Company: SEVEN WONDER
Game site: ひめごとユニオン ~We are in springtime of life!~
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Saizou seems to be a typical student, but he’s actually a ninja-in-training! Maybe destiny had something to do with it, but he met four girls who also had secrets which couldn’t be told to others. They were the blonde transfer student Himeria (who’s actually a princess), his model-like senpai Yuuki (who’s actually a heroine of justice), the beautiful swordsman Hijiri (who’s actually a girl in disguise), and his small kouhai Koharu (who has superhuman strength in certain situations). Himeria revived the local history research group, which became the ‘secret union’.

Himegoto_Union_CG2Himegoto_Union_CG3Himegoto_Union_CG4

The trial wasn’t that interesting and honestly, the only heroine which appeals to me is Koharu. It might have to do with her being a Kirihana-voiced kouhai, but also because her dere side is pretty powerful. The pacing was not bad, so it could be a decent read if you’re not expecting anything too out of the ordinary.

I’ll admit when I am impressed by a game, and this game has impressed me. As a human I cannot help but be in awe of how mundane someone can make absurdity. Everything about this game from our randomly ninja.. ish protagonist to the silliness of the girls and their exceptionally boring abilities feels as if it should be appealing to the market as an over the top comedy. Yet somehow the game cannot feel cohesive enough to pull it off in a satisfactory way, instead resulting in another dull monotonous grind through eroge cliche. Maybe games like this are more entertaining when they are among the first five or ten games you have played, but after a few hundred it gets rather old and stale to the point it feels as though there is a secret template everyone copy pastes when they don’t feel like working to make a game.

Karumaruka*Circle

Karumaruka_Circle

Company: SAGA PLANETS
Game site: カルマルカ*サークル
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
“You’re the master of this world!” With those words, Kaito was invited by his energetic turtle-toting kouhai Nicole to Seikai Gakuen’s student council room to join the star-crossing circle. All of the girls in that group are peculiar in their own way. Once every year, on the night of Tanabata, they gather to try to access ‘Karumaruka’. If they are successful, then they would be freed from their curses and their fear of the future.

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Kaito, the 4 main heroines, as well as two side characters all have ‘maka’ (which basically are the seven sins). It could be viewed as both a blessing (special abilities) or a curse. As you probably know already, Niijima Yuu is no longer the scenario writer for SAGA PLANETS, so instead we have Seo Jun (Harupoco, Aemushi), Toishi Hiroki (AQUASakusaki) and Mikuriya Mikuri (Midori no UmiKimisora).

So, what’s my first impression? The prologue was easy to read, and it definitely felt a lot like the openings for Natsunagi and Hatsusaku since there’s an element of magic and mystery in a school setting. Also, Kaito reminds me of Hatsuyuki, being distant from others and also embodying ‘wrath’. Not sure exactly what ‘karumaruka’ is and I hope that they take a true route approach like in their past games. Going niconico for Nicole~

Can there be an honorary eighth sin for stupidity? If only it were companies may think twice before releasing such a travesty were they to actually face potential punishment for inflicting harm upon the human psyche. Pretty standard setup, make the protagonist and his harem of potential H scenes share some secret that forcibly binds them together. thus allowing a cheap and easy to write means of tying them together with a red rope of fate thick and obvious enough even the most oblivious of protagonists let alone readers could see it coming eons away. Follow it up with a shared goal, some copy pasting of character designs complete with varying shades of hair color and changes in bust size lest the forgery become too obvious and there you have it, ready made eroge about the mysterious curse of the seven deadly sins all packed up and ready to go. Oh lets not forget to throw in the H scene reward for choosing a few options correctly followed up by the usual problem the relationship faces and post solution everything is resolved in a happy or bittersweet manner. Honestly though it may sound as though I am against eroge, the format itself is less of a problem, though would be nice to break from that also, but instead an issue of the writing itself. Writers who follow the eroge template as though it were a stencil turn a two dimensional story into a one dimensional string of words. What used to be the main draw in character development and creating a story that was both involving and interesting has degenerated into throwing the standard set of character designs into a standard setting with a few new words like “Seven sins’. All I would like to see is companies at least try, even if its not perfect, something that is not exactly the same sans changing a few words around as every other game released in the past year or so would be nice.

Noblesse of Rouge

Noblesse_of_Rouge

Company: チュアブルソフト (Chuable Soft)
Game site: ノブレスオブルージュ -Noblesse of Rouge-
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Toshiya’s twin imouto Rui is part of the student council at Alexandra girls’ school, a school for the nobility, and is highly admired by all students. Rui injured her leg in a training accident and wanted him to take her place until she heals completely. The student council officers (D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos), fondly called the “three musketeers”, are happy to see ‘Rui’ again. Will he be able to keep up this disguise until Rui returns?

Noblesse_of_Rouge_CG2Noblesse_of_Rouge_CG3Noblesse_of_Rouge_CG4

I would never have imagined there’d be an eroge based off the Three Musketeers, but here we are. I wanna hug Hotoha and An is a lovable idiot, but why is the male protagonist in crossdressing games always so attractive!? It also doesn’t help that the game’s fully voiced. Similar to previous Chuable Soft games, the map system has you visiting different locations and meeting heroines. However, I thought that most of the choices are too short and don’t add much. It seems like Rui (Louis) will return at one point since there’s a couple twincest scenes. Mmm…

Pretty much the same game as Kimi to Boku to Eden no Ringo from 2011. All they changed was adding in the three musketeers silliness to avoid it being almost one hundred percent identical.

Baldr Sky Zero

Baldr_Sky_Zero

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: バルドスカイ ゼロ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. This is the latest title in the GIGA’s Baldr series. When Edward came to in the virtual world, he was in the middle of a battle. A giant humanoid robot (shumicram) distracted the enemy (virus) which was targeting him by yelling at him. The girl Sakura and him fought off the enemies’ attacks together and then helped out a girl who was being chased by the state army. As he was about to depart the virtual world, he remarked to Sakura that he could not remember his own name. Coming to in the real world, he found himself in a foreign room. He soon met Sakura again. She belonged to the Squall team of the Fenrir mercenary unit and this was their base. In the Southeast Asia State (SAS) where reality and the virtual world are separated, the only way to survive in this never-ending war was to pilot a shumicram, so he volunteered to join Fenrir.

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There are numerous modifications to the battle system, including a branching system for development of new weapon and robots, and improved robots don’t only offer increased stats, but also better performance among active skills, increased drop rate or lowering detection by enemies. Rain makes an appearance here, but I’m not sure how much of a role she has here. Not really too interested in the ACT series or mecha in general, so pass.

Back to the only thing they seem to do right, there are few people not familiar with the Baldr series by this point. Like it or hate it this typically isn’t the type of game that anyone new to VNs would be inclined to start with so those of you know want to play or just ignore this game are already well aware and there is little need for me to say anything.

Muv-luv Alternative Chronicles 04

Muv-Luv_Alternative_Chronicles_04

Company: アージュ (âge)
Game site: マブラヴ オルタネイティヴ クロニクルズ04
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the fourth and final installment of the Muv-luv Alternative Chronicles series. It includes Muv-luv Unlimited: The Day After episode:03, as well as two new stories, the Total Eclipse radio segment and some additional contents. Basically they’re churning out more append material for the Muv-luv franchise.

Continuation for those following it.

Rance 01 -Hikari o Motomete-

Rance_01

Company: ALICESOFT
Game site: ランス01 光をもとめて
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is a remake of the original Rance title which came out 24 years ago. The womanizing warrior Rance is accompanied by his magician slave Sill as they search for the kidnapped noble daughter Hikari. It uses an old-style chip-based battle system, but the layout is pretty polished. It comes with some spiffy BGMs as well. If you always wondered how Rance or Hani came about, now’s your chance to find out.

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Obviously a game for fans of the series, definitely not my cup of tea though.

Rebellions: Secret Game 2nd Stage BOOSTED EDITION

Rebellions

Company: FLAT
Game site: リベリオンズ Secret Game 2nd Stage BOOSTED EDITION
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the 18+ PC version of the PSP title of the same name, which was itself a port of Secret Game: CODE Revise. It has a boosted scenario, new visuals and OP, as well as a new ‘secret game’.

Best way to make money is to release the same content with some DLC level extras as a whole new game on a different platform, then repeat the process back in a never ending tornado of cash.

Natsu no Osananajimi to, Fuyu no Kanojo

Natsu_no_Osananajimi_to_Fuyu_no_Kanojo

Company: Nephrite
Game site: 夏の幼馴染と、冬のカノジョ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is Nephrite’s first title. The town of Nagashimo only experiences two distinct seasons due to its topography, with only short periods separating summer and winter. Seiji returned to his hometown at the beginning of summer after 10 years away and was happy that nothing appeared to have changed. Together with his lively osananajimi Karin, fellow proud transfer student Mitsu, onee-san-type cousin Yurari, complete-changed friend Atsu and imouto Yume, they founded the animation club to help the school with events.

There are 3 illustrators and 4 writers working on this title and the direction seems to be lacking as I don’t really see a link between them aside from the use of smartphones. Also, some CGs seem stiff. The only reason I’d play this is for the sharp-tongued imouto Yume who calls herself ‘Yuu’ and Seiji ‘Nii’. The speech gap makes me think of Shinikiss‘ Shizuku. You better not cheat on your imouto, doutei oniichan.

I have said this many many times but for a first release games need something more to appeal in a market where almost everything is the same. When content is the same or similar most people will go with the known company as a certain level of quality can be assumed instead of a complete unknown. In the case of this game much of the problem goes back to the animation club itself, as this provides too simple a means to bring the characters together. Even if not conscious of it most people would feel it fleshes out the probably story and progress as well as interactions too cleanly. Instead assuming no added depth was wished for in regards to setting, the creators should have focused on a gradual association due to varied circumstances brought about by choices. That is to say the game would focus on the protagonist being an individual, flesh him out more with some feelings of isolation in a new area and limited connections to the other characters who would be introduced in a more fluid natural way. Rather than having a shotgun named animation club loaded with heroines aimed at your face with the trigger being pulled so early on a linear circumstantial introduction would help the characters feel more organic. To stand out focus on the choice system and branches, give the system some silly name as they always do and advertise that as a hook to get people interested in giving the game a chance. Even with something so minor the change in story flow provided would make people remember the game and characters more than something so generic.

Sangokuhime 3 ~Tenka Shinsei~

Sangokuhime3

Company: げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 三極姫3 ~天下新生~
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is a continuation of the Sangokuhime series, with over 350 generals. In addition to the three kingdoms, there’ll be routes for Kouhosuu Gishin (Yizhen) and Ryofu Housen (Lu Bu). In the new battle system, up to 18 units can fight simultaneously and there are 6 different general types, which adds more balance. There are also 16 different types of troops which can be employed. I’ll be passing on this since I haven’t played the series, nor am I interested in tactical games at the moment.

Another game that fans are well aware of, and if not I usually advise starting series with earlier games. Sure there are often many new additions and fun bits with the newer games but once the game is done it becomes so much harder to go backwards with the less refined systems and stories.

Imouto Spiral

Imouto_Spiral

Company: まかろんソフト (Macaron Soft)
Game site: 妹スパイラル
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the first title by Macaron Soft. Seiji is a normal male student without a girlfriend, except that he has strange dreams almost every day. One day, he was going to be reunited with his imouto who hadn’t seem since they were small. However, not one, but five imoutos were waiting for him! It happened that some incident caused the protagonists from different parallel worlds to disappear and their imoutos went searching for them. All of them ended up coming to Seiji since he was the same as their brothers. At the same time, strange dimensional distortions started appearing around him, threatening the balance of all the worlds. How will he and his imoutos confront this crisis?

Macaron Soft is the latest reincarnation of C:drive and Citron Soft. Imoutos will save the world! The plot sounds ridiculous and it certainly delivers on it. If there’s imouto chuuni, this is it (only Mutsumi is normal). Mutsumi is the best imouto and Kokoro is an annoying moth. The unbalanced eyes in some of the tachi-e bothers me. If imoutos would come to me just by dreaming about them, why haven’t I woke up in a house full of imoutos yet? I need to level up more.

I would say they should try harder to be unique but anyone who uses the “Imouto” fad as a gimmick is beyond saving to begin with.

Yume ka Utsutsu ka Matryoshka

Yume_ka_Utsutsu_ka_Matryoshka

Company: エフォルダムソフトcrown (Effordomsoft crown)
Game site: 夢か現かマトリョーシカ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the debut title by Effordomsoft crown. Mamoru lives on the island of Shinonoshima, enjoying every moment with his osananajimi Miyako and close friends Isuka, Shiori, Nagi, Aoi and Kazushige. Their time together is irreplaceable to him and he believed that it would continue forever. However, he did not know he was about to fall into the abyss of despair.

He fell into a deep sleep due to a certain incident, and when he woke up, no one else remained except Miyako. Not wanting him to remain in sorrow, she told him about a ‘tradition’ passed down through generations. On the 100th night after the loss of their precious ones, if they are able to gather memories deeply connected with them and offer them to the island’s protective god Wadatsumi, then it might bring their lost ones back. They prepared for the ceremony while clinging on to the belief that it will work. 

They got this dream or reality thing down since I have no idea what’s going on after playing through the trial. The scenario is written by first-timer Sakigami Ryou. I don’t intend to play this, but well, at least the OP isn’t bad.

Rather poorly thought out deus ex machina from the start when gathering an insubstantial thing such as “Memories” brings people back to life. In the end just another believe and wishes will come true story. Even if the point of memories is to pick and choose which character comes back it is still lacking to create an emotional attachment that makes the reader really care about the whole situation as the protagonist does. Not to mention this has basically been done before with uhh Kiminozo I think it was, minus the whole oh memories will bring them back cheese and it being a group effort this time. The idea to take an accident and render a character invalid or otherwise unavailable is nothing new, and has been done to better effect before. Hard to respect them for trying to mimic previous successes by providing a stereotypical tragedy for a cheap emotional hook. If they wanted to go this route, the accident needs to occur after significant investment into character development. Since even this is not enough on its own, perhaps a timed choice achieved by clicking on a sprite during the event causes different outcomes, including the potential for the protagonist to be the one in the hospital and seeing a dream as whichever girl or perhaps even girls talk to him about their memories while hes in a coma. If they really wanted to go all the way they could even offer lets say three different endings, with the variables being time spent before the accident, two different timings for waking up under each “Route” and the choices for the final relationship problem after waking up and reclaiming their life. The point of this being a generic cheap tragic accident and magical wishes that make everything better do not a good story nor good game make.

Koi×Koi=∞ ~Koisuru Otome ni Dekiru Koto~

Koi_Koi_Infinity

Company: PeasSoft
Game site: 恋×恋=∞(いんふぃにてぃ) ~恋する乙女にできること~
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Fuuma is part of the ‘love support committee’, founded by the school’s most popular idol Naho, along with his senpai Ayane and imouto Nagisa, to give those boys and girls in love a little stiff push. Overcoming many obstacles, their ultimate goal is to revive the legend of love in the school and to know the importance of true love.

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The trial was H-only, so that pretty much shows you what’s the most important thing in love. Joking aside, it’s a standard eroge theme where those helping others seek love end up falling in love themselves. For me, I’m already in love with the imouto Nagisa and she’s in love with me, so we can skip through all the stuff in the middle and get right to the best part… the icharabu. What? You thought I was gonna say something else? They need to do something about the Clochette (a.k.a. balloon) syndrome though.

The helping others in love club idea seems to be the usual fallback when writers run out of ideas for anything else. Actually any made up useless club tends to be a fallback for writers who cannot seem to even imagine what an actual club must have been like or something along those lines. It is not as though there is a complete lack of legitimate club settings to use. Oh well, regardless PeasSoft is not known for their stories, and it would seem they have delivered yet again.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka?
  2. Oniichan Sharing
  3. Karumaruka*Circle

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. NO
  2. MORE
  3. Younger Sisters.

More Sana! More Sana! More Sana!

So next time Micchi decides to delay a post for a month or so someone needs to delete all record of Sana everywhere, or maybe assassinate Agumi Oto..


More Communication with Sonico

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Himegoto_Union_KoharuNiijima Yuu has been confirmed as scenario writer for new company’s Qoobrand’s debut title, which will be illustrated by Inugami Kira (Seizon, Himanatsu), Kozakura Ryou (Natsunagi) and Asakura Hayate. key has announced a game for Angel Beats!.

Other new titles announced this week include:

FLATHikoukigumo no Mukougawa
Nitro+Necromancer
piriri!Kimi to Boku no Kishi no Hibi (January 24th)
SkyFish - Shin Shirogane no Soleil -ReAnswer-

HappiesImouto Heaven has been set for December 20th, while the following titles have been delayed:

Electro Arms – November 29th
Hina to Issho – November 29th
Love Majo! – November 29th
ALIA’s CARNIVAL – January 31st
Soushuu Seishinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin – February 28th

In another round of restructuring for the AB2 brand, WHEEL‘s site has closed down and it has been merged with AkabeiSoft3.

Did the titular heroine of Tsujidou-san no Virgin Road win its chara poll? Nope, Azusa takes the victory! She’ll get a commemorative wallpaper. The chara poll for Galette’s Imouto Sharing has started up. Who should I choose? I want to pick both Chiko and Yuu!

Nitro+’s PSV port Motto! Sonicomi has been scheduled for March 20th and there’s also an anime adaptation in the works. There will also be a new Little Busters! EX anime focusing on Sasami, Kanata and Saya. They were the new heroines added in Little Busters! Ecstasy.

Idolmaster_Cinderella_Girls_UzukiLook, it’s Erona! Broccoli’s 1/8 scale figure of DRACU-RIOT!‘s Erina comes out in February for ¥9000. Other new figures available for preorder are:

ALTER – 1/8 scale Melty Christmas ver. (Shining Hearts, December, ¥11,550)
GSC – 1/8 scale Uzuki new generation ver. (im@s Cinderella Girls, April, ¥8800)
Max Factory – 1/7 scale Melty swimsuit ver. (Shining Hearts, March, ¥8800)

The dakimakura for Eiyuu*Senki‘s Napoleon is now available for preorder.

Time for be shared by imoutos! ^o^

HHG_Megami_no_Shuuhen_Fiana


Imoutos Always Come First

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HHG_Megami_no_Shuuhen_HikariAQUAPLUS/Leaf has been acquired by Yumenosora Group, the parent company of Toranoana. Since there’s no corporate restructuring, I doubt there’ll be any change in the short term.

7GEAR has closed down before their debut title ALIVE even came out. It’s tough out there, folks.

Hey look, an imouto wins another NekoNekoSoft chara poll. This time, it’s Yuri coming out on top in the Kiraoto chara poll. In the side poll, MY SISTER #1 Yuki retains the crown against MY SISTER #2 Ai.

The PSP port for Nonoura is set for a December 19th release.

The Imopara2 HLN will be on shelves next week on October 11th. Imoutos everywhere!

WAVE has a pair of 1/10 scale Beach Queens figures coming out soon, starting with Daito‘s Nagi in March for ¥4200, followed by Mahoyo‘s Aoko (standard and Rurihime original ver.) in April for ¥4200 and ¥5600, respectively. Why isn’t there one for Kanasuke?

You can now preorder the dakimakura for Love2Quad‘s Ermalit, which ships in late November.

So I’m playing through Oniichan Sharing this week and I’m done the twins Chiko and Yuu. Pretty much it boils down to being an imouto nukige with some… interesting scenes. I wish there was more icharabu though.

Rosebleu’s Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka? is waiting in the wings, then I have some October trials to play. Looks like my weekend’s booked.

Oniichan_Sharing_Chiko_Yuu



A Dream Come True?

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Monobeno_Happy_End_NatsuhaPurple Software’s Hapymaher is getting a fandisk, Hapymaher Fragmentation Dream. More news forthcoming in the October issue of TECH GIAN. The next title in raiL-soft‘s Astelite series, Astelite Shissouki, will come out on December 20th. Glacé has also revealed their next title, Koishiki Manual, scheduled for spring 2014.

Praline’s Baka Moe Heart ni Ai o Komete! has been set for January 31st.

Windmill’s HHG Megami no Shuuen has been delayed to later this winter. The following titles have also been delayed:

Kazoku Keikaku Re:Tsumugu Ito – November 29th
fortissimo FA – December 20th
Juukishi Cutie☆Bullet – March 28th

Attention all trap lovers! Nounai Kanojo just put up a harem route patch for Josou Kaikyou.

Miiya and Morscha came out on top of the Nyancafe cat fight chara poll. They’ll both get a wallpaper which comes out on November 1st. Other recent chara poll winners include Sekachu‘s Aira and Timepiece Ensemble‘s Saori.

The Walkure Romanze anime has started airing and the OST and LN will both be coming out in December.

Following bitter smile., GIGA is coming out with social games for Anoore and Sakahari.

Keromakura’s Himanatsu PS3/PSP title has been pushed back to November 29th.

Figures available for preorder include the following:

Haruka_NarikaArcadia – 1/7 scale Aira (Shining Blade, March, ¥11,340)
KAITENDOH – 1/8 scale Narika (Choukou Sennin Haruka, January, ¥8000)
MegaHouse – 1/7 scale Miki Beyond the Stars ver. (im@s2, January, ¥7800)
MegaHouse – 1/7 scale Umi (im@s Million Live!, January, ¥8200)
ORCA TOYS – 1/7 scale Sasara animal costume black cat ver. (TH2, April, ¥9800)

Well, I got my icharabu fix in Futaba’s route in Oniishare. Seseri’s route was also good in a totally different way. She sure loves her oniichan a lot. Maybe a little too much. Definitely an lewd imouto (淫妹) if I’ve seen one myself.

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Definitely Not the First

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Cocoro_Function_BellPajamas Soft announced four separate titles in this month’s issue of TECH GIAN. They are teaming up with WHITESOFT for Renai☆Harem and SkyFish for LOVE×2Life!. Their low-price sister brand Puchi Pajamas has two games planned: Ero Doll☆ in January, and Lilium×Triangle in February. Other titles announced this week include:

Kogado StudioKuuzoku Senki SORA
Puchi KeroKotoba no Kieta Hi ~Kokoro Made Hadaka ni Suru Jun’ai Choukyou~
rootnukoUmisora no Fragments

Mark your calendars! D.C.III P.P. will be coming out on March 28th! I can’t wait for more Sara!

Release dates have also been set for the following:

HHG Megami no Shuuen – November 29th
Aisare Roommate – January 31st
Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa – January 31st
Kiss Ato – January 31st
MeltyMoment – January 31st

The Noblesse of Rouge OST, featuring Shimotsuki Haruka’s OP and Rita’s ED, comes out on November 29th from GWAVE. The special edition includes a Rui tapestry.

Dakimakuras for Hyakka Ryouran Elixir‘s Marguerite and Andromeda are available for preorder until November 7th.

There’s a short story for Otome Riron to Sono Shuuhen‘s Dietlinde on Navel’s blog.

Played through Hisui and Ruri/Hotaru’s routes so far in Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka? and they’ve been quite underwhelming. At least Ruri had some nice CGs, but the drama is almost laughable with the lack of development. The tie-ins to the game’s title seemed forced. I’ve only got Sango’s route left since I don’t plan to play Kohaku’s, but at least this one is off to a better start, introducing the drama earlier. Let’s see if this one ends up better than the rest…

Ichiban_Ja_Nakya_Dame_Desu_ka_Ruri


Webclap responses:

Hey Admin, I would like to know if you exchange links. We have site that deals with manga, anime and review articles. So if you feel like we can do some work together please do let me know. I would look forward to work with you. Thanks. by hinata
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October 2013 Eroge Releases

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Are you ready for the Heart Link? PULLTOP’s Cocoro@Function! should be everyone’s top pick in this light month. Let’s hope that it will maintain the high quality from their previous award-winning game Konosora. LOSE makes everyone happy with more lolis in its sequel Monobeno -happy end-. Popular comedy Green Green gets a remake from OVERDRIVE, while Ricotta follows up the Walkure Romanze anime with its sequel, Walkure Romanze More&More. It may be a small list, but there’s some great games here.

Sad, sad month, not only are the games not just bland, but outright bad, on top of which there are so very few of them. It takes a month like this to appreciate all those months were nothing special comes out and the whole list feels generic. I know I tend to complain about how cookie cutter games are much of the time, but please bring that back before we see more months like this.

Monobeno_Happy_End_CGCocoro_Function_CG7Maou_no_Kuse_ni_Namaiki_da_2_CG
Green_Green_Overdrive_Edition_CGChiisana_Kanojo_no_Serenade_CGWalkure_Romanze_More_More_CG
Cocoro_Function_CG5Usotsuki_Ouji_to_Nayameru_Ohime-sama_CGCocoro_Function_CG

Usotsuki Ouji to Nayameru Ohime-sama -Princess syndrome-

Usotsuki_Ouji_to_Nayameru_Ohime-sama

Company: Whirlpool
Game site: うそつき王子と悩めるお姫さま -Princess syndrome-
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
It’s been two years since the mysterious disease “princess syndrome” had been made public. It affects young girls during puberty and the split personality-like symptoms range from mild to serious. In serious cases, she could become like a totally different person due to her wavering feelings and gain a special ability called ‘märchen’ which could cause great problems to those around her. To combat this problematic illness, all carriers (called ‘princesses’) were gathered at Saint Andersen Gakuen on the secluded island of Yumegashima. One day, a boy Yuuji came to the school. He was the ‘fake prince’ who could put a stop to their rampaging.

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So, puberty is an illness and it is up to YOU to save them! Or better yet, just go after those that haven’t reac… never mind. The heroines all have ‘princesses’ inside them, such as Rapunzel, Orihime and Little Mermaid. It is said that the princess syndrome will dissipate over time and will be completely gone by the time they become adults. The prince only comes around once every 10 years. This time, Nanau Misou (Konosora, Sukimazakura) is in charge of the story, but the important thing is more Komowata Haruka SDs! That’s what sets Whirlpool games apart from other comedy-focused chara-ges.

And thus Micchi is finally honest about his real motives with younger sisters. This game is pretty dumb though, not the idea of referencing princess characters from myths and fairy tales but the way each story is thrown into a blender turning them all into a horrific looking sludge is rather unappealing.  When you have the freedom to create a setting or world in whatever way you want there is zero reason to throw things together so haphazardly. I find it hard to even laugh when something is so poorly made, the least they could have done was make a new setting for them to coexist in, like the Shrek series of movies did.

Chiisana Kanojo no Serenade

Chiisana_Kanojo_no_Serenade

Company: フォン (feng)
Game site: ちいさな彼女の小夜曲
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. The ‘ningyo matsuri’ (mermaid festival) is held every year in the village of Suminoe-chou, which faces the Pacific Ocean. Takumi helps out with his family’s popular cafe Mermaid with his osananajimi Mizuka and his mother Isana.

On the night of the festival, Takumi came upon a girl with a beautiful voice. She was surprised at the unexpected visitor and accidentally slipped into the sea. He saved her and since he couldn’t let her be in her drenched state, he invited the mysterious girl Shione to his house. When Isana decided that Shione would stay in their house and Matsuri, who he had met at the festival, transferred into his school, his days gradually began to change.

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This title is misleading. I thought that they would all be little girls like in OTA-MA!, but there’s only just one. Well, Shione is really cute and I’d wanna take her home. I like the way Takumi thinks.

She is too small, he should have thrown her back like any honorable fisherman would. Obviously Micchi likes to break all kinds of laws related to the size of his catch both above and below the waves. Otherwise standard fare other than the fishy theme.

Monobeno -happy end-

Monobeno_Happy_End

Company: Lose
Game site: ものべの -happy end-
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
This is the sequel to Monobeno, with after stories for Sumi, Alice, Natsuha, and a pre-story for Hishakaku. It also rewrites parts of Sumi and Alice’s route which seem to be bad ends for Natsuha, and adds a toggle for certain CGs. Upon players’ requests, the H scenes are more numerous and intense. All in all, it’s a happy end for everyone.

In Sumi’s after story, Tooru trains hard to turn back the clock for Natsuha, while supported by Sumi and their daughter Emi, who has a special ability to see ‘holes’ which link the youkai world. In Alice’s after story, Tooru’s happy life with Alice after fleeing the clutches of Himemiya-sama is disrupted with the appearance of a young girl Seishin Himemiya, who reverted Alice to a little girl and took her memories. In Natsuha’s after story, Natsuha remains in her small form and Tooru aims to cure her IAGS completely.

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As expected from a loli-ge, the happy end consists of loli form of pretty much everyone… including the big-breasted Tooko. If you don’t believe me, just check out the ever-so-plentiful CG gallery. Well, I have absolutely no problems with it as the art is pretty and um… the art is pretty… Ahem, it’s nice to see a company go the extra mile to please its fans, without just throwing H scenes left and right with no regard to story. The trial which covered the start to Sumi’s after story was quite interesting and Emi is really adorable. Personally, I like Alice more though, and of course Natsuha/Nyatsuha.

No, no no no, no no, no. Way too young to be anything other than disgusting.

Green Green Overdrive Edition

Green_Green_Overdrive_Edition

Company: OVERDRIVE
Game site: グリーングリーン OVERDRIVE EDITION
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
This is a remake of GROOVER’s 2001 title Green Green with the same staff (Katakura Shinji as illustrator, Kuwashima Yoshikazu and Yamaguchi Noboru in charge of scenario). The graphics and systems gets an update, and of course there’s new voicing and songs. Kanenone Gakuen is a private male boarding school situated deep in the mountains. One day, the principal announced that there’s talk of the school turning co-ed next year, to the jubilation of the hormone-driven boys. How will Yuusuke and the other guys adapt to this new setting when they haven’t even talked to a girl before? 

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Green Green is one of the more well known slapstick love comedies of the early 2000s, having three games in the series and also spawning an anime. Maybe it has to do with the artwork, but I feel like it’s one of those games which really capture the seishun spirit of high school (at least the one which we hold as an ideal). Let those hormones run wild – it’s not an illness! I’m fine with Midori and Wakaba, and of course Sanae-chan. Those long sleeves suit her so well. Tenjin, you’ve got great tastes, man. *brofist*

So old, I remember this series from what feels like ages ago. I don’t remember too much about it so I might play it but I do have to note that it seems companies bring out old material when they run out of ideas for new content. Regardless, considering this was one of the older generation that got in early on many of the current trends it should be more interesting than the generic garbage most games amount to anymore at the very least.

Cocoro@Function!

Cocoro_Function

Company: PULLTOP
Game site: ココロ@ファンクション!
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
As the world nears the middle of the 21st century, it feels like the golden age for networks. With the multi-function communications card “Orca”, one can not only make calls or browse the net, but also use a wide array of apps, do shopping, operate household appliances, or even take classes. Since it also serves as an identification card and health insurance card, among others, one could say that all you need for everything in your daily life is one card.

Taiyou is the well-respected student council president at Seishin Gakuen, located in the most advanced city where everyone uses Orca. One day, there was an automatic update which upgraded Orca to a new version. Due to a certain bug, some students had a strange app called “Cocoro Function” installed on to their card. The app broadcasted Taiyou’s thoughts and feelings to everyone, revealing his perverted nature to all, and he was forced to resign from his position.

Even though it was impossible to delete the app, he couldn’t bring himself to stop using his Orca. Finding out that there were other versions of the Cocoro Function app as well, and that they could bring trouble to the school with their abilities, he decided to form the Cocoro Function Countermeasures Committee (CFC) to aid those who are troubled by this strange app. Will they be able to return to the peaceful life from before?

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There’s a lot of hype for Cocoro@Function! after the success of PULLTOP’s previous title Konosora, which won the Moe Game Award 2012 gold prize, and has also been translated into English as If My Heart Had Wings. Note however that it’ll be a new group of writers, highlighted by Takashima Eiji (Witch’s Garden). How will they make the story any different from other games where a group of students start up a club to solve some stuff?

I’m really looking forward to this game! The trial didn’t seem long at all, and the pacing was well done, with the plot moving along at a nice clip. The theme of the game is communication, not only the advanced networks which exist in Ecoplaza, but also the communication between humans. How many times have you lied or covered your true intentions online because there are no consequences? What if you aren’t able to do so anymore? I’m interested to know what happens when their apps level up, and how they will be able to uninstall the app (or maybe live with it). I know one thing’s for sure… GIVE ME BACK MY MIA-SAN!!!! >_____<

The slapstick comedy works with the enjoyable characters, all of whom have their own special Cocoro Function app. I do have some worries about Mina being the lead heroine as she didn’t make that much of an impression on me (since their reunion). From the trial, it felt like the twins Mebae and Ibuki were like subheroines with their lack of screen time. Let’s hope they don’t have throwaway routes like other twins in past games. I want an Orca just so I can have my own personal concierge Bell! Long live private mode!!! BELL IS SO CUTE! I want a route for her! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

In my experience the more popular and greater the expectations for a game the more likely it is to be disappointing. Sure in a month of poor to non existent releases it can stand out more than it would in a month full of better games but I cannot help but feel as though the idea here is nothing special disguised behind the orca system.  Removing the terms they use and there is little difference between this game and your typical magical wishes everyone can come to understand each other and make wishes come true plot. I feel this entire story would have been better in all respects if they did away with the cocoro app for their silly iphones. There was some potential in the exploration of communication and hidden agendas in such a setting that is lost when everything is simplified for easy writing and storytelling. By relying on the magical app for the association of characters and subsequent conflict the entire process of a game that relies on written words is cheapened.

There’s nothing wrong with a game based around magical wishes!

Only if they were more than just a simple system of deus ex machina for the authors to write themselves out of anything.

Walkure Romanze More&More

Walkure_Romanze_More_More

Company: リコッタ (Ricotta)
Game site: ワルキューレロマンツェ More&More
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
This is the sequel of Ricotta’s 2011 title Walkure Romanze, which has an anime adaptation running this fall. It elevates three popular subheroines Akane, Bertille and Ayako to heroine status, and it also has after stories for the 4 original heroines.

The world’s best knights gather at Winford Academy and it’s gotten quite lively with the jousting tournament nearing. Due to a misunderstanding, Takahiro’s osananajimi Mio was challenged by the proud Bertille to a match at the tournament. Since she hadn’t even rode on a horse before, he ended up guiding her to victory as a begleiter (knight’s assistant). With many watching the wonderful match, his skills as a begleiter were noticed by many students and they took quite an interest in him! However, he was unsure if he wanted to continue on as a begleiter or to return to being a knight. How will he fare in the both the arenas of jousting and love?

Not much has changed between the original and the sequel, with the exception of some common route plot changes to bring the subheroines to the forefront. One thing to note is that Orgol is not working on this title, so I feel like the story will be slightly worse. There’s also a bit too much oppai for my tastes. But for those who like that (and oshikko), enjoy! Also, needs more Lisa.

As one of the games I disliked the concept for most, and found to be downright insulting the readers intellect I don’t have much to say about a rehash for cash. Not surprising they would make this game after the release of the anime, coming out with it on such timing is obviously a good business decision so not that I would to start but there shouldn’t be much worth reading here story wise.

Maou no Kuse ni Namaiki da! 2 ~Kondo wa Seisen da!~

Maou_no_Kuse_ni_Namaiki_da_2

Company: ラグジュアリー (Luxury)
Game site: 魔王のくせに生イキだっ!2 ~今度は性戦だ!~
Release date: October 25, 2013
Comments:
This is the sequel to Maou no Kuse ni Namaiki da!. The 30-year old NEET Kuranosuke unified the demon world, but didn’t end up being the great maou. He lives peacefully with the maous in the human world, but one day an angel came to his room (via his monitor again) and he ended up being caught in a strife between two heavenly powers, one intent on destroying the demon world and the other with a pacifist approach. Somehow, he was able to solve it with the help of the maous. But then the two angel faction leaders, as well as the angel from before, came to stay at his house too!? It seems like they’ve taken a liking to him after his help from before. 

Nuki nuki nuki. There’s really no other way to look at it. The system upgrades are pretty much all H scene related, such as climax countdowns. I’m really interested in the sharp-tongued angel Gertrude. Who knew angels were this lewd?

More sequel and more nukige along with it. Hard to be interested in a CG set with sound effects, there is little point when I don’t care about the characters, their stories, or the setting of the game.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Cocoro@Function!
  2. Green Green Overdrive Edition
  3. Chiisana Kanojo no Serenade

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Green Green Overdrive Edition
  2. Uhhh…
  3. No?

I’d use ‘oniichan’ as my user name so Bell will call me oniichan every day!

I think “Lolipedofin” would suit you better.


Let’s Have a Little Heart to Heart

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Soshite_Kirameku_Otome_to_Himitsu_no_Gojou_ShizukaThe art for ad:lib‘s next title Doko no Donata no Kanjou Route looks pretty good. I especially like the lively twintailed senpai Sayaka. It comes out on January 31st. I.D.‘s next title, Love Relation, is featured in this month’s issue of Dengeki Hime.

Palette’s much-anticipated Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki is planned for April 25th. There still haven’t been much info, but that’s normal considering the release date. Release dates have also been set for the following:

Kotoba no Kieta Hi – December 20th
Koisuru Kimochi no Hanakotoba – January 31st
Shin Shirogane no Soleil – January 31st
Hapymaher -Fragmentation Dream- – February 28th
Koisuru Doll to Omoi no Kiseki – February 28th

Galette’s Timepiece Ensemble has been delayed to December 20th.

Lewd imouto Seseri and younger twin Yuu finished 1-2 in the Oniichan Sharing chara poll and will get dakimakura. Ricotta has started up the Walkure Romanze More&More chara poll via Twitter. It runs until November 8th.

The complete sound track for Karumaruka*Circle will be on shelves on December 20th for ¥2625. It contains 32 BGMs in total, plus the 2 OPs and ED.

ALICESOFT’s Toushin Toshi II is being ported to the 3DS twenty years after its initial release. It comes out on January 30th.

WAVE has a trio of 1/10 scale im@s2 figures coming out with Miki, Azusa and Takane all together with a beach parasol. You can buy all three for ¥13,600, or get each separately at ¥4200 each. They come out in March. Other new figures available for preorder include:

Idolmaster2_Miki_Azusa_TakaneGriffon – 1/7 scale Super Sonico ~bikini & sofa ver.~ (Sonicomi, November, ¥9400)
Kaitendoh – 1/8 scale Drake swimsuit ver. (Eiyuu*Senki, February, ¥7500)
Max Factory – figma Chihaya (im@s2, April, ¥4500)
Orca Toys – 1/7 scale Manaka animal costume black cat ver. (TH2, April, ¥9800)
Phat! – 1/8 scale Iori (im@s2, April, ¥7800)

Happies’ Imouto Heaven will come with a dakimakura of either heroine, Chitose or Iori. Dakimakuras are also available for preorder for Tiny Dungeon‘s Von and RebellionsYuuna.

Papara all night long in the Kisaragi Gold☆Star seifuku by BOO-COS.

Sango’s route in Ichiban was a lot better than the previous two since it actually introduced the drama early to give it time to develop. It really showed the closeness of the kouhai trio. I skipped Kohaku’s route in favour of playing Sensuibu!.

Sensuibu_AliceNow THAT was very fun! It’s been a while since I’ve played a SLG and I’m pretty much being a completionist and maxing out all skills and styles. While the battles are pretty much the same for all four routes, the focus differs depending on the route.

My only complaint is that many of the routes don’t really have much romance development. Instead, there’s lots of twists and turns as they move on towards the Wasser Gral finale. Also, Mei is a great heel; I hate her guts and made sure to destroy her slowly. Kekeke…

Now, it’s time for Cocoro@Function!. Come to me, my MIA-san… and Bell!!!!!

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November 2013 Eroge Releases

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Having an imouto makes you more popular. It also makes this month a lot more interesting, but then again anything beats having only 7 releases like last month. ensemble presents their third title with a trap protagonist with Sakura Mau Otome no Rondo, while you can enjoy a period of popularity under your imouto’s watchful (and jealous) eyes in Hulotte’s Imouto no Okage de Motesugite Yabai.. There’s also plenty of parenting guidance available in ALcot Honey Comb’s Aka-san to Kyuuketsuki and Chuable Soft’s Wagaya no Himegami-sama.

“Having an imouto makes you more popular.” seems to be the conclusion of most games this month. Just goes to show not all ideas are theory of relativity. In some ways I am kind of glad this month is so full of the sisterphile games, with so many sooner or later the industry will try another gimmick to avoid the constant competition. Just as a candle burns out faster the hotter it is, the more of these crappy siblings we get out of the way the sooner things can go back to normal with people making decent games for more than just a “Moe” child calling the protagonist onii-chan.

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Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension-

ElectroArms

Company: light
Game site: Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension-
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
There’s an urban legend that one can attain superpowers if they start up an app under moonlight while facing Roppongi Hills. While it’s an unfounded rumour, there indeed exists an application called “Electro Carrier”, distributed by the huge company Igel, which accesses the life-changing MMORPG “Electro Arms” upon proper start-up. The world transforms into a virtual one using the new system ‘Realize’, with floating monolith dungeons to explore, and an arena for players to battle, and each player is bestowed various ‘arms’. Reiji was delighted in this unrealistic scene and wished to make his shitty life into an interesting one. But is there a hidden motive behind Electro Arms?

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Sounds kinda like SAO, but this setting fits light perfectly. A bunch of delinquents battling in a virtual world with giant weapons in a flashy manner… this should be pleasing for the chuuni-loving folks. Especially since the protagonist is an outlaw. I’d be lying if I wouldn’t play something like this from time to time. I’d keep a cautious eye on those GMs though. Note that the game uses a lite version of the E-mote system from Witch’s Garden, although it really doesn’t add anything. Actually it looks pretty bad.

I am so sick of the MMO or any game immersion plot line crap, it was old before the original .hack, now its just beating a dead horse into dust. It’s one thing if it was done well and somehow interesting, but so far they have all followed similar formulas. There is little to no point in not making a story just basic sci fi or fantasy, the game element is little more than a gimmick and easy plot loopholes. Light games have steadily been getting worse of late, to the point I find little to no interest in their concepts let alone the problems they have with writing. A shame to see yet another company go the way of Type Moon and Nitro+.

HHG Megami no Shuuen

HHG_Megami_no_Shuuen

Company: ういんどみる (Windmill)
Game site: HHG 女神の終焉
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is another telling of Hyper→Highspeed→Genius with a new set of heroines aside from returning protagonist Kyuushirou and heroine Mephisto. When Kyuushirou woke up, he had lost his memories and didn’t even know his own name until his imouto Hikari told him. They attend Hazuki Gakuen, a public school for training geniuses to become the ‘saintess’. His head hurt just from hearing the word ‘saintess’. It’s as if it carried an important meaning to him in the past, but he cannot remember it.

He met three girls at the school: the most saintly Nadeshiko from Yayoi Gakuen, the leader-in-waiting for the saintess’ knightage at Saint April Gakuen, Fiana, and the genius Sally who attends the magic and ‘gift’-researching Kisaragi Magic Academy and who is the only one in the world with three ‘gifts’. He had a premonition that if one of them became the saintess, then the world will be destroyed.

Furthermore, there was someone after his life. The mysterious assailant Reigetsu told him that his presence in this world will cause its collapse. However, at that moment, his hidden ‘gift’ awakened – ‘hyper highspeed’, the ability to have infinitely many parallel thoughts. Then, he came upon a giant library where he had a sense of déjà vu. A girl who looked just like Hikari greeted him: “Long time no see, or should it be nice to meet you? I am Mephisto and I am on your side to destroy this world”.

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It may sound like it’s just a spinoff, but there’s actually a connection to the final route in the original game, so it should be considered more as a sequel. Of course, you could play it without having played the original too. Mephisto/Hikari is already enough reason to play. Long live imoutos!

Whether it is called a sequel or a fandisk or a remake or even a new game the original idea was unworthy of additional attention to begin with. Just throwing random terms out doesn’t suddenly make a poorly written and planned out story good by any stretch. These settings based around arbitrary magical girl type development take the most basic of eroge formula then try to spice it up by changing the names for some elements. Suddenly calling a table a stapler does not make some new, revolutionary, or even interesting story about the legendary carpenter who made it for his sickly imouto infused with the feelings of love he had for her when the blood he coughed up from his dying breath caused by inhaling splinters while making it seeped into the wood. Nor does giving her the ability to transform into naked child who can summon a tutu in a suggestive pose to a generic background called the power of biscuit turn the story about her sealing a dark lustful contract with her beloved bloody table in exchange to something somehow deep and meaningful. I wish the makers of eroge would realize making up a random power to give character is not creative, nor does it change anything from the generic high school romance aside from the words used. Everything here is as basic as an eroge gets, from the story to the character designs. I can only assume that maybe people like to let themselves be fooled into thinking that giving a girl the name of a demon from a famous story turns her into something other than generic transfer student A who changes the protagonists view on the setting and gets the story moving.

I personally don’t mind the basic eroge setting. In the end, it’s all about the presentation. A legendary carpenter or the power of biscuit might make you try a title, but what keeps you playing is if they can keep you interested to the end. So I’m not worried about random terms and stuff like that. If that’s what floats your boat, so be it.

The problem I have is the underhanded nature of it all. When marketing a game they make it look new and creative by renaming common fixtures and themes in almost all eroge. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet just as garbage by any other name would smell as foul, so I take offence at them calling garbage a rose for the association value. If they want to make a standard game, fine, when done well even I enjoy those, but don’t try to lie about what your product is.

Aneimo Neo+ Second Sisters

Aneimo_Neo_Plus_Second_Sisters

Company: bootUP!
Game site: あねいもNeo+ Second Sisters
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is a full remake of Aneimo Neo with 8 total heroines. New heroines Asuka and Reiko join Mai and Nana, while subheroines Takami, Hazuki, Sakura and Sawako are all elevated to heroine status. The only thing that would make me play this new version is the route for Shirou’s classmate/osananajimi Hazuki, who is voiced by Hirayama Saya (Sinsemilla‘s Sakuya).

I never did approve of these types of remakes. The idea reminds me of DLC content, especially the type that EA games is known for where they restrict content from the core game just so they can charge you extra for it later.

Amatarasu Riddle Star

Amatarasu_Riddle_Star

Company: seal-QUALIA
Game site: あまたらすリドルスター
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is the first game by seal-QUALIA, softhouse-seal’s new ‘pure love’ brand. Takaya is bored every day, so much that he agrees to go along with his osananajimi Yua’s strange requests. Tonight, it was a picnic at night while watching the stars. Seeing a shooting star, Yua hurriedly wished for something exciting to happen… and the shooting star crashed near their school, although it doesn’t seem like it created a crater from afar. They were dumbfounded by what they’ve seen, just as another shooting star shot by. This time, Yua wished that it wouldn’t land in the town… and it crashed in front of them instead. In the cloud of dust, a white-haired bunny-eared girl jumped out and ran towards the town. They ran after her and were surprised when they saw the new form of their school.

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It’s interesting to see softhouse-seal try making a full-priced title which isn’t focused on comedy and ecchi. There’s definitely has a fairy-tale feel and a child-like ‘wishing upon a shooting star’ theme. I love these types of stories which are based around Alice in Wonderland. I’m not sure how much ‘story’ there will be, considering the writers mostly have experience in ecchi comedies only, but it’s at least got my attention. Of course, mostly because of the ultra-adorable Kokoro. There’s even a chippaizuri in the gallery!

I feel Takaya’s pain as reading the same plot about the same characters in the same setting roughly ten to twenty times a month can get old. Considering the relationship to softhouse seal I have to admit I am surprised the “Pure love” story is not about the protagonist getting hit by said meteor only to gain the ability to grope the girls from his ghostly form as a gift from the shinigami sent to take his soul so he can fulfill his dreams and rest in peace. Generally it seems when out of ideas for a romantic game eroge writers fall back on fairy tales, wishes, and shooting stars, or in this case why not combine both for extra points.

You need to be more in tune with your inner child!

My inner child doesn’t like lame stories or girls that look and act his age, they give him cooties.

Oh, that explains why you like those onee-chan types.

My inner child simply has refined tastes. But then again anything is better than gazing lustfully at a ten year old because she calls you “Onii-chan” *cough*.

Soshite Kirameku Otome to Himitsu no Gojou

Soshite_Kirameku_Otome_to_Himitsu_no_Gojou

Company: ねこねこソフト (NekoNekoSoft)
Game site: そして煌めく乙女と秘密^5
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
Due to certain circumstances, Tetsuo’s imouto Yuri was accepted into Saint Ouka Gakuin, a girls’ school for the upper class. Since she was quite shy and only a member of the lower-middle class, she thought it would be impossible for her and looked to her oniichan for help. It ended up with him dressing up as a girl and attending school with her. However, he wasn’t a pretty boy or a natural trap, but just a manly man. With his broad shoulders and muscular frame, he was constantly watched by dubious eyes and Yuri did her best to help keep his secret.

One day, a fellow dormmate Shizuka invited him to join the drama club since they were lacking people to play male roles and he would be a good fit with his manly frame. After Tetsuo and Yuri joined, they discovered the club’s secret: it is actually a place for those girls who are deathly afraid of males to overcome their fear via practice.

NekoNekoSoft advertises the game as a ‘super moe-ge’ and you can’t go wrong with a bunch of lolis. Don’t worry, they’re all 18 or over, including the 25 year old chibi sensei. A NekoNekoSoft imouto is reason enough for me to play, and the cast is quite good too (Miru, Natsuno Koori, Fujimori Yukina). I liked Yukiiro and am interested to see a non-’iro’ title which doesn’t use the childhood setup. The twist on the trap protagonist is a good start, although those ojousamas must be pretty dense (or sheltered) to accept it so readily. I’m not here for untoward reasons! I’m just here to help my imouto!

As much as I would like to see a crossdressing story about a buff and manly protagonist, here we are obviously not going to be given a game for it. This is how I view the people who would enjoy such a pedophiles delight of a game. Aside from the excuses to get in the pants of children there is no actual story worth reading or characters worth consideration to be seen within a few miles of the game so no need to bother saying more here.

Meguru Kisetsu no Yakusoku to, Tsunaida Sono Te no Nukumori to

Notonoto

Company: だんでらいおん (Dandelion)
Game site: めぐる季節の約束と、つないだその手のぬくもりと
Release date: November 29, 2013 Delayed to winter 2014
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. Akira can’t remember anything from his childhood, however it doesn’t bother him since he still enjoys a relatively normal life. One day, he was led to an abandoned amusement park by a cat, and he had a vision of many people there, coupled with hearing the noises of the crowds. His forgotten feelings, wishes and memories… To fulfill the promise from that day long long ago, Akira’s frozen clock had once again begin to move.

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The story follows the area cultural research society, led by ever-inquisitive leader Ayame and the protagonist Akira. Dandelion often has mysterious plots which don’t really end up amounting to much in the end. What’s most interesting is the kouhai Komachi, who uses a Kansai accent. Neko’s also like a nice ‘bro’ who you can talk about ero with, and doesn’t care if you see her chippai. I found the constant use of the OP melody as a BGM to be a bit annoying.

Luckily after this post I won’t remember the game, nor will most people.  Some things happen that act as a catalyst and excuse for heroine type characters to fall for the protagonist, and thus the story comes to an end after a few H scenes.

Love Majo!

Love_Majo

Company: ミスリル ソフトウェア (Mithril Software)
Game site: らぶ魔女!-LOVE MAJYO!-
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is the debut title by Mithril Software. One rainy day at the park, Naoya broke the precious pendant of Ichika, a girl who he had just met. She told him that it wasn’t just an accessory, but the ‘full moon crystal’, the source of magical power for a witch. If it wasn’t fixed within three weeks, then she will revert to being just a normal girl. In order to restore the crystal, she must extract the witch’s power which went into his body. Of course, that meant doing ecchi things with him every day!

A nukige by new writers from a new company. The illustrator is Kizuki Erika, who last worked on SMILE’s Loveressive. The main heroine is Ichika, so you better like her since that’s where most of the H scenes will be coming from. You get to choose what type of H (similar to Love Lab) and it employs a ‘tsun→dere system’ where her actions change as you repeat certain positions. It seems like there’s still some scenes (including 3P) for imouto Hinano. I wonder why regaining magical power often involves having sex like bunnies?

Nukige, also known as verbose HCG. Sex is used for magical power because its an easy solution without the need to care about what you are writing. When things are forced onto the characters by the setting or powers outside of their control, the usual restraints on logic are gone, even more so when an imaginary concept like magic is used to explain it.

Otome Switch ~Kare ga Motteru Kanojo no Remocon~

Otome_Switch

Company: Digital Cute
Game site: オトメスイッチ ~彼が持ってる彼女のリモコン~
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
Haruki is a normal guy with normal grades and looks, a twin imouto and of course still a virgin. However, one thing that set him apart from others is his vibrator fetish. Of course, it’s not something that he would tell others, so he has kept it a secret for over 10 years. At his school, there are two girls out of his league: the beautiful and smart honour student Fumika who is respected by all, and the cute and lively Natsuya, who most guys want as their girlfriend. For some reason, they have vibrators under their panties and the remotes are in his hands!? Moreover, it wasn’t just to satisfy his fetish, but it’s also the key to solving the girls’ problems?

The main feature is the DVS (dokodemo vibe system) where you can turn the vibrator on and off anytime, causing real-time reactions from the heroines. But it’s not just for pranks, the story can change depending on the setting of the remote. Well, we can’t fault Digital Cute for catering to certain fetishes and their past titles Musumaker and Burunyanman were entertaining, to say the least. Vibrators seem pretty tame, but it’s a matter of time before there’s some more hardcore scenes. Especially with adult shop Erocute’s Cookie-san. Don’t get fooled by that meek exterior and watch your back!!

If the protagonist has such a fetish for vibrations can’t he just take up learning a musical instrument?

Natsuiro Macchiato

Natsuiro_Macchiato

Company: Maple software
Game site: 夏色マキアート
Release date: November 29, 2013 Delayed to March 28, 2014
Comments:
This is Maple software’s first game. The protagonist loves online games and one day, he spent too much on the gacha while trying to get a rare item. After his parents received a bill for an amount enough for a family to stay at a nice hotel, they told him to either quit playing or earn his own money to fund his gaming. So he ended up doing part-time at the family restaurant Fortuna where his classmates Madoka and Emily, as well as the student council president Marina, also worked.

Shortly after starting work, he heard about a rumour from the store manager about a major chain restaurant which was to open nearby. He went to the rival shop to do some scouting and found his classmate Akane working there. At that time, the owner’s loafing son was arguing with her and he chased him out of the store. Thankful for his intervention, Akane asked him to help her at the store. However, the success of this major chain restaurant would endanger the future for Fortuna.

Does it really matter which side he supported? In the end, he’ll earn some money so he can blow it on ship daughters gachas. I’ve learned early on to avoid gachas like the plague. With two of the three writers also having worked on Heart’s Annaffiare, the story likely won’t be much different, albeit in a family restaurant setting instead.

Seemingly desperate to appeal to potential readers by way of a relatable protagonist rather than an investment into story or even characters. How utterly spontaneous and unexpected that some classmates and the student council president essentially fall into his lap when he takes a job forced upon him by situation circumstances. So convenient they all just happen to work with and go to school with him isn’t it?

Kazoku Keikaku Re:Tsumugu It

Kazoku_Keikaku_Re_Tsumugu_Ito

Company: ディーオー (D.O.)
Game site: 家族計画 Re:紡ぐ糸
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is a renewal version of D.O.’s popular 2001 title Kazoku Keikaku. Tsukasa had never felt the warmth of family after losing his parents when he was small. One day, he helped a girl Haruka who collapsed in a back alley and ended up living together with her even though he was the type not to forge close ties with anyone. Soon he was surrounded by other problematic people, all of whom had one thing in common: they all did not have family to call their own. These total strangers decided to live under the same roof as if they were a true family for mutual benefit: “family project”.

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It’s another well known title from over 10 years ago, although the new artwork isn’t that much more polished than the original. The cast is also voiced by different seiyuus as expected. A more dramatic choice than last month’s Green Green, but I’d prefer the latter instead.

It seems that the eroge industry has reached the same point as Hollywood. When nothing else comes to mind just remake and re-release the same content from a decade or so ago under the guise of updating.

Wagaya no Himegami-sama!

Wagaya_no_Himegami-sama

Company: チュアブルソフト (Chuable Soft)
Game site: 我が家のヒメガミさまっ!
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
On the night of the summer festival, lightning struck the sacred tree at the shrine and a tiny girl appeared in the root, just like in Kaguya-hime. Takuya ended up taking care of her since she was quite attached to him. Afterwards, his miko classmate Shiori and famous swordswoman senpai Tsubaki declared that they will live with him too, and his osananajimi Kei seemed closer than before. Hime was actually the child of God and when she suddenly became an adult, it posed a ton of problems for him since she still acted like a kid. How is he supposed to treat her? Like his daughter? His classmate? Or the daughter of God?

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All girls love a responsible family man and what better way to show your parenting skills by picking up a young one, especially when you can skip through the bratty stage. Of course, the focus here is on the warmth of family, similar to their previous title Sweet Robin Girl (although I doubt that small Hime is a viable heroine). I like a good heartwarming story; let’s hope that this doesn’t end in pained separation like in Kaguya-hime. Kei reminds me a lot of LOVELY QUEST‘s Hami, especially with her deep blushing. Ahhh… twintails are nice…

Apparently kidnapping random children to claim as your own is the theme of the month. Of course a humanoid pet would appear to attract heroines like a magnet designed for that express purpose. Pretty much the same game everyone has played a hundred times before plus the god girl gimmick to try and look different. In the end though fitting a character into the setting that acts as the focus for everything is no different than every other lackluster game out to make a quick buck at the expense of the readers.

Sakura Mau Otome no Rondo

Sakura_Mau_Otome_no_Rondo

Company: ensemble
Game site: 桜舞う乙女のロンド
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
Aoi and his imouto Yuri have lived overseas since they were small, moving from place to place while following their father’s work. One day, it would decided that his father’s new job would be in a southern country where the sun’s rays beats down hard. However, since their mother thought it would not be good for the weak Yuri to come with them, the two of them were sent back to Japan.

They were enrolled into upstanding boys’ and girls’ schools run by their aunt, but he was told to dress up as a girl and join Yuri at the girls’ school Ouka Gakuen instead since her mother was worried about Yuri and wanted Aoi by her side Since everyone was interested in the homecoming siblings, they were soon recruited into the student council ‘Ouka-kai’ and became the center of attention at the school. Moreover, his aunt told him to also show up at the boys’ school Kikka Gakuen from time to time, resulting in Aoi leading a very busy double life.

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Do you see a common theme here? The responsible oniichan goes to great lengths to protect and support his precious imouto. It doesn’t matter if he’s a manly man or a baby-faced trap. I love how ensemble does the cross-dressing in noble girls’ school setting. You could say they’ve inherited the torch from Caramel Box. The art is quite pretty and I look forward to lots of sappy romance with innocent maidens. So delicious!

Not the best reasoning to get the protagonist cross dressing at a girls school by any means. It is rather tiring seeing the setting force everything in such nonsensical ways just to speed the whole process up and reach a quick standard resolution and H scenes with the chosen heroine. While the game is dull it has more potential than most this month. It would however be nice if they chose to put more work into the story, setting and characters from the start. All that had to be done to make the setting less about forcing the protagonist to cannonball in a Mcdonalds playhouse ball pit of heroine fodder, and more about a gentle and gradual series of slight nudges towards the desired direction. At least without inflicting blunt force trauma to their victims skull in an attempt to convince them the protagonist is cross dressing at a girls school with conveniently missing parents, they could have maybe fooled people into believing in a game with a standard design but good writing.

Izayoi no Fortuna

Izayoi_no_Fortuna

Company: Lapis lazuli
Game site: 十六夜のフォルトゥーナ
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
Kaoru left home and travelled across Japan from place to place due to some circumstances. When he arrived at the small town of Gojou, situated between the sea and mountains, he collapsed due to the intense heat and was taken in by the resident sister Lucia. He decided to stay a while in the town to repay her kindness. Afterwards, his cousin Otome appeared, having followed him all the way to this town, and he also met the mysterious twins Kona and Shigure. He had always been searching for how to use his freedom after having broken away from the bonds of destiny. Are all these chance happenings the work of goddess of fate?

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This game uses an ATS (active time scene) system where you can change perspective when the protagonist isn’t around. It’s not a requirement to see the other side, but just some bonus scenes. This has a similar feel to Lapis lazuli’s previous work Areas, which wasn’t that well received. However, the characters are cute, especially the twins (Kona is voiced by Agumi Oto!). Now that I think about it, there sure are a lot of twins in eroge. It’s like a 2-for-1 deal. The trial was pretty slow early on, but was quite captivating later on as Kona’s true nature is revealed. Kaoru has the ability to see the future, but does he have the ability to change it as well? Will they be able to find the culprit?

This feels as though they took a fantasy style plot and tried to adapt it to a more modern setting. That said nothing about the game suggests much depth to the story or characters, instead leaning towards monotony with the summary revealing the entire story that anyone would care about.

Hina to Issho

Hina_to_Issho

Company: イグジット (Ex-iT)
Game site: 雛といっしょ
Release date: November 29, 2013 Delayed to December 20, 2013
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Hiyoko Strike!‘s imouto Hina, who had gathered over 70% of votes in the chara poll. Lots of ichaicha and sense of immorality await in this middle-priced extended epilogue of Hina’s route. Who could say no to more imouto?

Fandisk where I wish we could be over the sister fad already.

Aka-san to Kyuuketsuki.

Aka-san_to_Kyuuketsuki

Company: ALcot ハニカム (ALcot HoneyComb)
Game site: 赤さんと吸血鬼。
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
It was an odd time for Yuu to transfer to Niiyatomori Gakuen. Other than being able to fall fast asleep anywhere, he’s a pretty normal guy. Within half a month, he had made three friends. Shuugetsu is smart, handsome and a model student… if he could just keep his mouth shut. Shuugetsu’s osananajimi Kamui is an active girl who looks like a cool beauty… except she turns awfully delusional at the sight of anything cute. The long black-haired student council president Konoha is perfect in every way… until at important moments when extreme nervousness takes over.

The four of them are the only members of a dormitory within the school premises, which will be closed down for reasons relating to the declining birthrate. One day, a new transfer student and dorm mate arrived. The blond-haired Alexandra and her maid Ingot said they came to Japan to study meteorology, but she has a secret. Then one day, they found a child left behind in front of the dormitory.

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Two child-raising games in the same month? Maybe these protagonists aren’t totally useless after all. Or maybe it’s a sign that the eroge player base is changing? Kuwashima Rein’s artwork is nice and clean, but I wonder about the choice of Ootsuki Suzuki as the writer for a title from what’s known to be a chara/moe-ge company. The characters are all peculiar in their own ways, and it’s a bit obvious what Alexandra/Axelina/Axel’s secret is from the title. It should set up for a nice comedy. Still not sure why they threw in a kid. It’s even a boy. You’ve got competition now!

Just bleed the brat and use it to feed the new girl, two birds with one stone and the game can get back to being a generic save the club / dormitory / school story. Honestly the whole child raising bit is a major turn off for me, I mean to start with who leaves children lying around for random teenage boys to pick up and care for in the hopes of getting in the closest girls pants? Then again the inclusion of mysterious blood sucking transfer student does not help matters much either as neither the setting nor story calls for her inclusion.

My*Sister

My_Sister

Company: フルールソフト (Fleur-soft)
Game site: 妹*シスター
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is the debut title by Fleur-soft. Yukito lives with his two cute imoutos Mashiro and Leia, enjoying his school life with them by his side, even as he is tempted by their sweet charms. However, due to a certain incident, they and his kouhai Sora who lives nearby have been more aggressive for his love.

A blood-related imouto, non-blood-related imouto and fake imouto (she calls him Yuki-nii). It’s great to be surrounded by all kinds of imoutos, although I wish there was some balance in the chest area as well. It seems like a group of newcomers who wish to take advantage of the imouto wave. There was only one sprite for each character in the trial. Pass since there’s enough imouto-ge this month without having to resort to a nukige.

So, hopefully the avalanche of little sister themed games causes a drought to follow for the next few decades or centuries or ideally millennia.

I’d wish for better imouto-ge than this one if this was the last of them (which it won’t be, unfortunately for you).

Imouto no Okage de Motesugite Yabai.

Imouto_no_Okage_de_Motesugite_Yabai

Company: ユロット (HULOTTE)
Game site: 妹のおかげでモテすぎてヤバい。
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
One year ago, Tokiya fell in love with Kanae at first sight. For the purpose of declaring his feelings for her, he underwent hell-like training from his imouto Meguri and studied like mad to enter her school Seimatsurika Gakuen. However, Tokiya was quite the introverted person and didn’t have any confidence. Meguri suggested that he use the Asasaka family’s hidden technique ‘kokkai no gi’, which can make females attracted to him and give him a period of popularity, at the expense of the possibility of marriage in the future.

Tokiya did the ceremony clinging on to this last hope and immediately saw its effect on Meguri. Freshly confident, he confessed to Kanae under the sakura tree. However, she replied that they should start off as friends. Why didn’t the technique work as expected? He resigned himself to starting off as friends with her, but It seems that other cute girls are trying to seduce him!

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The OP makes it clear that this is like a story taken straight out of a light novel. And I also have something that I want everyone to know: Meguri is the true end! She’s such a cute imouto who’s kind and understanding and would do anything for her nii-san, so it’s obvious that he’ll choose her in the end. She’s voiced by Haruka Sora (With Ribbon‘s Haruka, Cocoro@Function!‘s Mina, Berry’s‘ Yuna and of course, Daito‘s Kanasuke). There’ll be lots of other heroines coming for you, and you’ll have to turn them all down one by one… BUT! You have to do it! Do it for your imouto!

I suppose I should be happy they made an attempt to explain why all things female follow the protagonist around like a mother duck. But then once again it is just trying to force the relationship to rush through a generic common route and typical heroine routes. At least without the ceremony I would have considered it a standard game and thus reliant on how well written it was, not put off by the cheap excuse for girls to be all over him. While the standard format is hopelessly overused the writing is what ends up making such a game enjoyable or a waste of time. There is nothing wrong with a game that is fun to read even if not interesting, but when a company chooses a cop out added onto a story with the usual setting, chances are pretty good that the writing itself is bland at best.

Mirai Senki Slavenil

Mirai_Senki_Slavenil

Company: STARGAZER
Game site: 未来戦姫 スレイブニル
Release date: November 29, 2013
Comments:
This is STARGAZER’s debut title. Katana had a dream one day: he was the ultimate ruler on a giant battleship floating in space, meeting his loyal and admiring subjects. This moment of unspeakable bliss was shattered by a sharp pain in his chest. He saw blood when he put his hand to his chest and wondered if he was going to die. Even though he knew it was a dream, he felt extreme loss and sadness as he fell… into the arms of a naked girl. She told him that even though this was just a dream, it could happen at a later time and that she would protect him.

Katana woke up confused and found the same naked girl in front of him. She introduced herself as EXE, a war maiden called ‘slavenil’, sent to protect him… or at least get his genes if she failed to do so. Four other girls later appeared, also after his life or genes. They were the space pirate Yuraha, the princess of a fallen kingdom Tsukino, the assassin Nao, and another slavenil EXA. In the middle of the fierce fight among them, it happened that they all moved in with him. What will happen to Kanata and these five girls?

Well, that’s obvious: they had lots and lots of sex. There’s some mecha in this game, but we all know it’s not the focus. The thing that stands out would be animation in the PV and the music being done by heavy metal band BLOOD STAIN CHILD (I’m not a fan of this genre). Also, the trial was pretty ridiculous. What the hell did I just play? Those slavenil outfits offer little protection…

Well on the plus side they tried something different, so kudos to Stargazer for trying, they get an A for effort. That said, they can now hop back on their short bus gold star sticker in hand. Next time maybe they will realize it takes more than a mostly naked robo girl with a giant super soaker revolver to make a game good. At least the game teaches anyone reading not to run suspicious .exe files from strangers.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Sakura Mau Otome no Rondo
  2. Imouto no Okage de Motesugite Yabai.
  3. Amatarasu Riddle Star

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Aka-san to Kyuuketsuki. <-Because there is no little sister focus.
  2. Amatarasu Riddle Star <- Because there is no little sister focus.
  3. Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension- <- Because there is no little sister focus.

Otome Switch‘s OP is strangely addictive… kuru~ kuru~

Please invest in a new fad eroge makers, “Imouto moe” is so old they are grannies now, do these people really have a fetish for old ladies?

Imoutos are not a fad. They are part of our existence. I don’t expect someone who prefers onee-chans to understand.


It is a Glory of the Macrocosm

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Izayoi_no_Fortuna_KonaCOSMIC CUTE’s new sister company, Nostalgic Chord, debuts with Houkago no Futekikakusha on April 25th. Nounai Kanojo has announced their next title, Renai Made Sentakushi Hitotsu.

Maple Software’s Natsuiro☆Macchiato has been delayed to March 28th.

Palptanks won the Rance 01 chara poll. I have no idea what the correct spelling of her name is, so let’s just call her Pal-chan. The Himegoto Union chara poll is underway and runs until November 15th. Hijiri’s got the early lead, but Koharu’s not far behind!

The PriministAr visual fan book will be on shelves November 27th for ¥2940.

The OST for VenusBlood -GAIA- will come out on November 29th, the same day as the much-anticipated SLG.

Delicious dakimakura of Gengetsu no Pandora‘s imouto Shinorin available for preorder starting November 15th. It’s a re-release, but this time using Lycra fabric as the base material.

So I’ve been playing Cocoro@Function! the past week. Was it worth the hype? Well, the different versions of “Cocoro function” were interesting, but many of the stories did not progress much further than being a series of dirty jokes/thoughts, lots of ba-couple moments and ‘open’ H scenes.

But that’s not to say it wasn’t interesting though… just that the story isn’t at the same level as Konosora. I still have the final route for Asagao to finish and it supposedly reveals the origins of these mysterious apps. I’ve also got a bunch of November trials to play, as I haven’t quite decided which I want to play first when they’re released.

Cocoro_Function_Sexy_Pose


I Seek You, Nii-san!

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Amatarasu_Riddle_Star_MiuVanadis is making a sequel to St Monmosu Gakuen titled St Monmosu Fantasy!! ~Omatsuri da yo Zenin Shuugou!~. It seems like there may be two new heroines.

Release dates have been set for the following:

Bradyon Veda – January 24th
Koishiki Manual – February 28th

Dandelion’s Meguru Kisetsu no Yakusoku to, Tsunaida Sono Te no Nukumori to has been once again delayed to later this winter. Other delayed titles include:

Koisuru Kimochi no Hanakotoba – February 28th
Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort – March 28th

The Cocoro@Function! chara poll has started up, so all of you better vote for Bell so she can get a route if there’s ever a fandisk! You will need the Orca serial code from the package box though. You have until November 22nd! Other chara polls that are currently running are Sakigake⇒Generation (until November 18th), OwarusekaiFutapara (until November 20th) and Love Majo! (until November 29th).

Puchi Para will be releasing the Namaiki Delation HLN on November 29th. A 14-track arrange CD of the Mahoyo soundtrack, “Original Soundtrack Repetition”, will be out at C85 on December 29th for ¥3500.

There’s an after story for Ojonana‘s Nanami which will be available for download using the package serial code until December 13th.

Super_Sonico_Mizugi_Santa_FigureThe PSV/PS3 adaptation of Oretsuba will be coming out on March 13th. It will include a new scenario.

Oh hey, ALTER’s 1/7 scale figure of Super Sonico swimsuit Santa ver. is pretty cute! There needs to be more Santa swimsuit outfits! It comes out in April (not Christmas) for ¥9200.

Don’t let Kotonoha-sama catch you with this Sekai dakimakura. Otherwise, you or someone else will have to do a lot of cleaning up.

As expected, Asagao’s route reveals the origins of the “Cocoro Function” apps and Bell as well. The route was one of the better ones, compounded with a deredere imouto and MORE BELL! All in all, the game was like most Hollywood movies: not much substance, but entertaining nevertheless.

Sakuoto_SiblingsSome quick thoughts on the November trials… Izayoi no Fortuna was surprisingly good with Kona’s reveal. Kiraoto will probably be just another loli-ge. Riddle Star is so random but the Alice in Wonderland parallels are fun. Don’t like the art in Wagaya no Himegami-sama. Like the plot in Aka-san to Kyuuketsuki even less. Looking forward to Sakuoto; it’s just a matter of time before Aoi’s cover is blown. Moteyaba will be my top pick as Meguri is an awesome imouto who can communicate telepathically with nii-san.

Afterwards, I went back to complete some routes I skipped in past games (Hitoren and Imaimo). After putting Kimika’s route on hold for over half a year, it’s refreshing to go back to a title with polished art and a decent heartwarming story. Even if you don’t normally play all-ages games, you should really check it out (and not only for Ayumu!). Also, I can’t believe I actually finished Risa’s route. She is so annoying!

Moteyaba_Siblings



Berry Berry Good

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Sakura_Mau_Otome_no_Rondo_YuriClochette’s Sakigake⇒Generation! has been set for May 30th. Still another half year till you can play VR RPG with your imouto.

Ex-iT’s Hina to Issho has been delayed to December 20th.

Celia topped the first Walkure Romanze More&More chara poll, with Akane and Noel completing the top 3.

The Madou Koukaku visual fan book will be on shelves on December 13th. The Kiraoto OST will come out on the same day as the game, November 29th.

Super Sonico the Animation will be on air for the Winter 2014 anime season, starting in January. Come watch me do absolutely nothing special, Cameraman-san!

Griffon’s upcoming 1/8 scale figure of Shining Ark‘s Shannon is based on Tony’s artwork. It comes out in December for ¥9200.

For those wanting something a bit more risqué, there’s a 1/6 scale 15+ figure of Walkure Romanze‘s Mio coming out next June for ¥14,000 from Daiki Kougyou, as well as milkpot’s 1/6 scale castoff figure of TH2‘s Tamaki pink swimsuit ver. in March for ¥15,750. I find the quality for castoff figures to be a little lacking though.

Preorders have started for the following dakimakuras: Koimari‘s NekokoHimanatsu‘s Hinazakura, Koisuru Shimai no Sextet‘s Yuuka and everyone’s favourite lewd imouto Oniishare‘s Seseri.

It’s been relaxing going through Kimika and Matsuri’s routes in Imaimo. While Kimika trying to overcome her shyness is a common story, Matsuri’s is anything but. She’s an awesome bro. Now on Oot’s suggestion, I’m gonna enjoy the sweetness that is Berry’s. I want a parfait now.

Berry's_Patissiere_Yuuka


Tell Me, Bell!

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Imouto_no_Okage_de_Motesugite_Yabai_MeguriEushully is the latest company to fully remake one of their most popular games. Tenbin no La DEA. ~Ikusa Megami MEMORIA~ will be add new characters and do away with the point allocation system after leveling up. There are also some other system changes.

Other new titles announced this week include:

Astronauts SiriusDemonion II Maou to Sannin no Joou (March 28th)
AXLAXL 10th Project (March 28th)
FireworksDoushite, Sonna ni Kuroi Kami ga Suki Nano?
GIGABaldr Sky Zero 2
hibiki worksPRETTY×CATION
QoobrandMajo Koi Nikki
SMILENatsukoi High Pressure
softhouse-seal GRANDEEMomoiro Seiheki Kaihou Sengen
studio blanketYumemiga-cheek!

Release dates have been set for the following:

Hitonatsu no – February 28th
Otonari Koi Sensou! – February 28th
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai -Dreaming Sheep- – March 28th
Love Relation – March 28th

Happies’ Imouto Heaven has been delayed to January 31st.

Oh, this is nostalgic! The PSP port for Suzunone Seven! will be released on January 30th. More Sumirecchi!

Super_Sonico_Cheer_Girl_FigureAsagao’s dere side is too powerful, propelling her to a victory in the Cocoro@Function! chara poll, ahead of a surprising Mina and Bell. 兄さんDIE好き! Ouka topped the Sakigake⇒Generation chara poll. I would’ve voted for Ririko or Yuria, but I guess there’s a reason for the recent balloon effect in Clochette’s games. The Shin Shirogane no Soleil chara poll has started up and will run until December 6th.

The Karumaruka*Circle visual fan book from MAX will be on shelves on December 18th. It includes a short story and 4koma, along with the usual goodies.

Love the energy in Orchid Seed’s 1/6 scale figure of Super Sonico cheer girl ver.. It’ll be shipped in August, at a price of ¥12,000.

Hey everyone, it’s Bell! Did you miss me? Everyone’s favourite concierge will wake you up in the “Bell Alarm” app from Google Play. What do you mean my device is incompatible??? Something’s wrong!!! BELL!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more week for Moteyaba

Bell_Alarm


Webclap responses:

Can, you be my little sister pls micchi san :3 by Kawaii micchi ^^
Eh eh eh??? There’s another Micchi here??? Wait, why am I being the imouto???


What is True Love?

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Timepiece_Ensemble_ChiaraAXL‘s next title will be Racial Merge and it’ll come out on March 28th. Other titles announced this week include:

La’crymaCadenza
La’crymaKanotsuku
Navel HoneybellSoratobu Hitsuji to Manatsu no Hana -When girls wish upon a star.-

hibiki works’ PRETTY×CATION has been scheduled for April 25th, while Puchi Kero’s Kotoba no Kieta Hi has been delayed to January 31st.

Misaki and Ili are victorious once more in the Owaba & Futapara chara poll! The top Futapara finisher was Merikuri… who isn’t even a heroine. Hijiri topped Koharu for the Himegoto Union chara poll win. Both will get dakimakura for C85. Chara polls have started up for Sengoku†Koihime (until December 13th) and Timepiece Ensemble (until December 18th).

“Chata Works Best III” will be on shelves on February 12th. It features songs from LoverAbleSakura Sakura Festival!Kisaragi GOLD★STAR and others.

The latest ‘sleeping with’ CD from EDGE RECORDS is with imoutos. The “Imouto to Issho ni Nemureru CD” comes out December 11th and you can get a dakimakura of your favourite imouto too. Saika and Mifuyu are both a bit like my type.

Aside from the announcements for Persona 5 and Chaos;Child for the PS3, there’s also a port for Shin Koihime†Musou on February 20th. Imaimo will be available on the PSV too, although I’m not sure if there’ll be any new content.

Dakimakuras will be out shortly for Tsuyokiss Next‘s Kohane and Walkure Romanze‘s Noel.

Moteyaba sure makes you feel miserable for rejecting other girls. However, I must be resolute. Everything for my imouto. (It’s really difficult with Aoba though…)

Moteyaba_Aoba


Webclap responses:

keep up your good works ^_^. Here is clap for your good works. *clap* *clap* *clap*
btw, lately I began hooked with playing eroge. I asked some people for their recommendation of eroge that I should play and some of them recommend me to play Hatsuyuki Sakura, Natsuyume Nagisa, Grisaia trilogy, Lovely X Cation 2, Fureraba, and irotoridori series. What do you think about those eroge? Are those eroge really good?
Btw, can I steal… I mean marry one of your little sister? :D by Kazuya

Thanks for the claps! Hatsuyuki and Natsunagi are quite good, and quite similar too (both written by Niijima Yuu). They’re more focused on story, but still like a chara-ge. Personally, I liked Iroseka a lot. Make sure to play both games if you do start it. Haven’t played the others yet, but I’ve heard good comments on all 3. You can check out the upcoming Grisaia anime for an intro to the game. Hey, no stealing! ><

Do you have any opinions on SORAHANE’s new title, “Haruka Kanata”? It looks like a great nakige, if the story is anything to go by so far…I highly anticipate it!! by Kitty-tama
I haven’t taken a close look at it yet since the release isn’t for a few months. SORAHANE’s games have been interesting though.


December 2013 Eroge Releases

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Another Tsuyokiss and fortissimo game? Well, it’s not the only loop happening this month, as GLacé’s Timepiece Ensemble will feature that plot device prominently. Debo no Su has a rare real-time strategy SLG coming out: Senjou no Folklore. For those who are more interested in magic, check out Whirlpool’s Magicalic⇔Sky High and Lump of Sugar’s Sekai to Sekai to Mannaka de. I know I will.

Tis the season for coal in our eroge stockings it would seem. Not much released this month at all let alone much worth playing, a few games here and there may surprise readers but for the most part a bleak and dreary month, can only hope next month turns out better.

fortissimo_FA_CGTimepiece_Ensemble_CGSekai_to_Sekai_to_Mannaka_de_CG
Ayame_no_Machi_to_Ohimesama_CGMagicalic_Sky_High_CGLove_Replica_CG
Tsuyokiss_Next_CGLove_Potion_69_CGSengoku_Koihime_CG

Sengokuhime 5 ~Senka Tatsu Haou no Keifu~

Sengokuhime5

Company: げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 戦極姫5 ~戦渦断つ覇王の系譜~
Release date: December 6, 2013
Comments:
This is the sequel to Sengokuhime 4, offering an alternate ‘if’ retelling of the Sengoku era. The main routes are for the Oda family after the Battle of Okehazama, as well as a new one for the Chousokabe family. There’s additions to the routes for the other lords, which number over 120. The system has been updated with a seamless world map, potential rebellion outbreaks, military type branching, improved naval fights, among others. Unless you like the gameplay or the characters, there’s not much difference here from other Sengoku games in my opinion.

I enjoy the setting of warring states in any location or time period as a general rule, however most of the eroge based on these tend to have too many heroines to properly develop them all. Aside from that it would be nice if they improved their character designs, so they looked less like twelve year olds, and gave the game a real combat and strategy system.

Timepiece Ensemble

Timepiece_Ensemble

Company: GLacé
Game site: Timepiece Ensemble -タイムピース アンサンブル-
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
It’s the day before Hourai Shinobazu Gakuen’s culture festival. Taki and the rest of the Pip Club’s members are busy preparing their booth. On to way to the discount store to buy some last-minute supplies, he came upon a new store in a back alley called Kikouya (House of Tricks). Entering the shop, he was greeted by a talking cat Tetmet who took his order and brought him everything he needed, and at a bargain too. When he was about to leave, the storeowner Kuroha asked him if he would like to ‘buy time’. He was perplexed at her question, but was too worried about finishing up the club’s booth for the culture festival, muttering that ‘if he only had one more day, then everything would be done in time’. “Thank you, please come again,” said Kuroha as he left.

As expected, there wasn’t enough time for them to finish their preparations, so the club members all stayed overnight at the school to finish up. Although some parts were still not completely done, they planned to give it their all. When they woke up, they began their preparations for the culture festival the next day. An extra day had been added due to Taki’s wish, and he was the only one who realized it.

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If you’ve probably noticed, Kuroha and Tetmet are returning characters from ALcot Honey Comb’s 1/2 summer and the same staff works on this title, led by illustrator Sesenayau and scenario writer Wakase Ryou. The set-up with a wish-granting mysterious shop reminds me of ORANGE YELL’s Konoseka. Is it just me or are there more stories with loops recently? While the small Kirihana-voiced Chiara and imouto Sasa catch my attention as usual, I’m most intrigued at osananajimi Nanami’s character. She has heterochromia, a sign that she is possessed by the ghost of her twin older sister who passed away when she was 12.

A place to shop for easy plots seems fairly easy to come by these days, the core theme being nothing remotely new. Without the shop whats left is run of the mill eroge, without much going for it. Maybe if the shop added something of value to the story the game might have been something worth reading, but as that is unlikely I’ll have to pass on this one.

fortissimo FA//Akkord:nächsten Phase

fortissimo_FA

Company: ラクリマ (La’cryma)
Game site: fortissimo FA//Akkord:nächsten Phase
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
This is the all-ages version of fortissimo EXS. Didn’t they say the last one was the final game for the series? I have the feeling they’re churning out more games just so that they can add more OPs (which actually are pretty nice).

This is getting as bad as Da Capo, how many times can they justify re releasing the same game..

I’d like to believe that at least D.C. had new content each time….

People are free to believe whatever they want.

Ayame no Machi to Ohime-sama

Ayame_no_Machi_to_Ohimesama

Company: MORE
Game site: あやめの町とお姫様
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
Testuya recently had been seeing the same mysterious dream, with a lonely kimono-clad girl gazing at the moon in the middle of an open grassy field. He returned to his hometown of Koga after four years in Tokyo and was a bit saddened to see his place of memories changed due to recent development. One night, he headed to his favourite place, the garden of irises Ayame-en, and was startled to find a girl there who looked like the girl in his dreams. He joined the archaeology research group that she was a part of with the intention of getting to know her. Contrary to his initial impression, Ayame was a hardcore gamer, lacked common sense and called herself a princess from the Sengoku era.

Ayame_no_Machi_to_Ohimesama_CG2Ayame_no_Machi_to_Ohimesama_CG3Ayame_no_Machi_to_Ohimesama_CG4

MORE’s second title is definitely a lot more interesting than their previous title Shukusai no Utahime. At least the characters have some peculiarities and the artwork has improved. In particular, Ayame’s CGs are quite beautiful. There really is something special about long black-haired girls (even if they’re damedame inside).

May have been better had they done away with the club bit, the setup smashes the protagonist headlong into fated girl A far too quickly and easily. With the point being his dream connecting to reality a gradual approach that keeps dangling the mystery of her character would be a better approach.

Tsuyokiss NEXT

Tsuyokiss_Next

Company: CandySoft
Game site: つよきす NEXT
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
It’s been several years since the ‘legendary era’ at Ryuumeikan. The powers of student council and the public morals committee have increased to encompass not only clubs, but also over all classes. Now the two committees which had become friendly with each other were led by two aggressive girls, Hakari and Neko. Respecting the traditions imposed by the principal Heizou, they fight each other, dragging Hakari’s follower Sanagi along in the process.

Tsuyokiss_Next_CG2Tsuyokiss_Next_CG3Tsuyokiss_Next_CG4

This new installment of Tsuyokiss takes place 5 years after the previous series. Nothing much has changed, from the art to the story. It seems like an attempt to ride the coattails of the franchise instead of making something totally new. Honestly, they could’ve called it by any other name and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Nothing really stands out for me, so pass.

If we are lucky the girls kill each other in the first five minutes sparing us from the rest of the game. Unless of course a generic story heroines and resolution happens to be exactly what you are looking for. Although in the interest of fairness, I will be the first to admit I am at least glad this is not a generic save the club story. As sad as it may seem at this point, after several months of slim pickings to be had, I feel inclined to wish more companies stopped with the pointless gimmicks that keep ruining basic games, and stick to the generic game focusing solely on writing and character development throughout.

Magicalic⇔Sky High ~Sora Tobu Houki ni Omoi o Nosete~

Magicalic_Sky_High

Company: Whirlpool
Game site: まじかりっく⇔スカイハイ ~空飛ぶホウキに想いをのせて~
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
A long time ago, the magic world suddenly appeared, causing much confusion and many challenges to everyone. However, humans and magicians co-operated and now they live together peacefully. Ten years later, schools have been built all over the country to train those who have innate magic ability. Hayato attends one of them, Clarus Magic Academy, and is the best in the school at flying. However, he is totally incompetent at everything else.

One day while flying around like usual, he suddenly lost the ability to use his magic and fell from the sky. He narrowly escaped death at the expense of his cherished broom and found himself in an unfamiliar ancient ruin. Hayato found a carefully-kept broom there and thus, his sky-high story had taken off.

Magicalic_Sky_High_CG2Magicalic_Sky_High_CG3Magicalic_Sky_High_CG4

There are tons of stories with the magic school setting and the protagonist who is mostly useless. This is also not too far from most other Whirlpool chara-ge titles. That doesn’t mean however that you should just write it off, as they usually make some quite entertaining games. You know you’re in for some comedy when the treasured broom turns into a girl (she lets you ride her all the time). I’ve got my eyes set on the shy puppy-like kouhai Charlles. Those tare-me are so wonderful >w< Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Personally I have never been able to enjoy Whirlpool games, even as chara-ge. The games are simply written too poorly, the pacing, dialogue could never keep me entertained. On top of it with no real plot to speak of and fairly generic character designs I never understood what people saw in the games by this company. Sometimes I have to wonder how many people actually care about the text at all, and see all eroge as nukige of varying lengths.

It’s a hit and miss for me. Melodia was fine, but 77 was boring to me. Do keep in mind that Whirlpool has a bunch of different scenario writers. Magicalic is written by Daisangen, Shimura Nayuta and Seto Ryouichi. So, the most similar title should be Melodia.

True they aren’t always the same people, I do however randomly give their games a chance and every time I have there were similar enough problems to lump them together.

Love Replica

Love_Replica

Company: Garden
Game site: ラブレプリカ
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
This is the first title by Garden. Sawato was brought up under the strict martial arts training by his grandfather and has never had a girlfriend. His dream was to have one and he had a revelation one day from a goddess who told him, “if you want to be popular, then you should join a band”. Even though he thought that it seemed too simplistic, he went about recruiting members for the band. One day, a new transfer student arrived in his class. She told him that if he becomes really good, then she’ll let him touch her breasts. Highly motivated by this, he gradually became obsessed with the band activities, making precious memories over the summer.

Love_Replica_CG2Love_Replica_CG3Love_Replica_CG4

The synopsis doesn’t mention it, but there’s much more to the story than a K-ON! setting with a guy wanting to get some booty. ‘Love replicas’ are cloned humans whose sole purpose is as a vessel for organs required for transfer to people suffering from incurable GODS (genetic deficiency organ dysfunction syndrome). However, the pacing isn’t as good as I’d hope for, and the plot seems to be lacking focus. It gets really boring hearing a monologue of technical terms, even if it’s related to the plot. It’s essentially information overload, but luckily it’s confined to the early part of the game. The relatively new scenario writer Suou Tachibana seems to want to incorporate too many elements. They could’ve easily left out the band set-up. Well, at least Garden is taking a chance on their first title instead of just making a forgettable one. The OP isn’t too shabby either. Poor Elizabeth T_T

As Micchi already mentioned there are too many conflicting themes to give the game real direction. To me however what is worse is how none of them are even good themes worth pursuing on their own. Each is as though the author simply states “This is how things are” and then proceeds to follow up the assumptions with less than stellar writing. No matter what the people creating a game want it to be about, they need to temper themselves, especially for a first title that will be what establishes your reputation, a game that is overly ambitious has difficulty maintaining the quality for the plethora of oft times conflicting thematic plots that run essentially in parallel. A band game with a better introduction for the main character to commit to it, or a tragedy about ethics and what it means to be human minus the silly names and weak setting for it all would have resulted in a game potentially worth playing.

I’d rather have the latter. There’s enough band games as is.

But are there any good band games? I can’t think of any at least.

Hina to Issho

Hina_to_Issho

Company: イグジット (Ex-iT)
Game site: 雛といっしょ
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. This is the fandisk for Hiyoko Strike!‘s imouto Hina, who had gathered over 70% of votes in the chara poll. Lots of ichaicha and sense of immorality await in this middle-priced extended epilogue of Hina’s route. Who could say no to more imouto?

Fandisk where I wish we could be over the sister fad already.

Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de

Sekai_to_Sekai_to_Mannaka_de

Company: Lump of Sugar
Game site: 世界と世界の真ん中で
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
Gripping pain, numbing loneliness, burning one-sided love. These are feelings which stay with you all through your life. These intense feelings are what created the world we live in. One day, there was great commotion at the dormitory Erdõs at Kaginomori Gakusha. Renri’s imouto Kokoro was going to be released from hospital after an extended stay, and Minori suggested that they do a major cleaning of the dormitory before her arrival. While cleaning the attic, he found a notebook containing words which he did not know would change his peaceful days.

Sekai_to_Sekai_to_Mannaka_de_CG2Sekai_to_Sekai_to_Mannaka_de_CG3Sekai_to_Sekai_to_Mannaka_de_CG4

Moekibara Fumitake art and more kemonomimi… that’s enough reason to try this out. It seems like most of the characters are voiced by new seiyuus, unless they’re using pseudonyms. I feel like they’ve done a good job with the voicing, so it shouldn’t be a problem. The story reminds me a bit of Karumaruka since Renri, Minori, Aira and Haruka all have the same mysterious key, which opens a locked gate in a narrow passageway at the school. The mysterious phrases from the notebook were inscribed on a stone tablet nearby, and there’s a ritual involved too. So, essentially it’s a slice of life game with a mysterious side. The main heroine is the energetic and ever-positive Kokoro, who is not blood-related. With such a cute mascot chara by your side, it’s no wonder that Renri is a total siscon. I’m not letting any of you have her!!

Lump of Sugar is essentially the Adolf Hitler of the eroge world. Why is this you may ask? Because they do everything they can to commit genocide against everything that makes a game good. First of all their games usually have hints of something that may be enjoyable to play, then always find some way to ruin it or just be so silly and nonsensical that their own setting hardly matters, as they were clearly far too high on homemade hallucinogens to care about anything happening beneath them. Games that begin life as chara-ge with a slightly unique setting bloom into randomized events meant to achieve serious dramatic effect, yet for my part I am never quite sure whether I should laugh at it, or cry at how bad it all is. As the final nail in the coffin the writing itself is pompous to the point it makes you wonder if the company was formed by performance art majors under the impression that emulating the writing syntax of Nathaniel Hawthorne made them better writers and people, a distinction that would clearly carry over to anyone who read their works. The point being their writing has a poor pacing to it, lending itself to on the best of days be overly verbose to the point every scene feels bogged down in unneeded text. While it may be possible to soldier on and should you be inclined to do so you may find your Japanese language skills improving, I would rather not feel something I read for enjoyment is simply not enjoyable to read.

Astelight Shissouki

Astelite_Shissouki

Company: raiL-soft
Game site: 星継駅疾走軌(アステライトシッソウキ)
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
This is the third game in raiL-soft’s Astelight series. In the midst of a deep fog shrouding a ‘station’ somewhere in the barren wasteland of an unknown world stood a strange giant machine. A forgotten legend has been revived: the train of the departed, containing people from the past, present and future. What things can they see while on this mysterious train? Why are they on this train and where is it heading? Will they be able to get off it safely?

Ooo… mysterious… That’s pretty much the same as raiL-soft’s other games, as the synopsis never tells us much about the actual story. It includes a few returning characters from Jourantan and Nendaishi.

I give up on Rail soft, usually they have interesting settings and plots but their horrible writing tends to ruin the flow and characters while reading. This time however the plot itself is lackluster, reminiscent of the game about a ship wandering around that either Rail or Liar soft made.

Sengoku†Koihime ~Otome Kenran☆Sengoku Emaki~

Sengoku_Koihime

Company: BaseSon
Game site: 戦国†恋姫 ~乙女絢爛☆戦国絵巻~
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
This is an all-ages title from BaseSon. Kenjou trained hard every day under the tutelage of his uncle Kazuto. One day, when he held a sword he found in the storehouse, he lost consciousness. When he came to, he found himself in a place he did not recognize. He met a girl who introduced herself as Oda Saburou Kuon Nobunaga. She held out her hand to a stunned Kenjou and asked him to become her husband and accompany her on the road to national supremacy.

They travelled across the country, racking up victories in this period of social upheaval. However, there was one enemy they could not defeat: the oni. These man-eating, blood-drinking beasts soon took over all of Japan, plunging the country into hell. However, Kuon and Kenjou vowed to continue fighting, issuing a written appeal to all the influential lords: “Samurai who are not afraid of even the oni, gather under me and let us save Japan together!”

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It’s nice that there’s a new Koihime title, but all-ages and you’re already locked in with Kuon? And she already has a wife as well (Yuina). I’d rather be with Hina, Suzume, Toto or Mari. Anyways, I’ll have to check out the trial before passing judgment, as Koihime‘s characters were nice, but Appare was a write-off. It almost seems like BaseSon is planning for an eventual anime and ‘Shin’ version (hopefully 18+).

As with Sengokuhime most of BaseSon’s titles have had too many characters to properly focus on quality development. This time however it seems they went to the opposite extreme, unless you only wanted a Kuon route seeing all other characters you may wish were heroines only ruins the fun of playing the game. Essentially this is a game version of that really bad Nobunaga anime from a few seasons ago, with some oni added in just so its not too obvious.

Senjou no Folklore -Boukoku no Kishidan-

Senjou_no_Folklore

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debo no Su)
Game site: 戦場のフォークロア ─亡国の騎士団─
Release date: December 20, 2013
Comments:
The year 1221 of the Holy Calendar was a turning point for the Vandal Kingdom which ruled the continent of Sahul. The young king James the Fifth initially followed the lead of the previous ruler and was tolerant to the minorities, but turned to a hard-line stance after being influenced by his advisors. He forbade them from being involved in political affairs and betrayers would have their entire home village sent to settlements regardless of age and gender. The enforcement of this Fleming Rule drove those who wished for their own sovereignty underground.

Seven years later in the remote town of Rahy, the captain of the guards Kenneth received news that some rebels had escaped from the suppression of a revolt in a neighbouring province and were heading his way. He gathered his troops in response to their request, but since he had also maintained good relationships with the minorities in neighbouring villages, it was impossible for him to resolve this problem quickly. It was to be the opening act in a long battle which laid before him.

RTS is a genre which doesn’t show up in eroge often. While the system is a bit clunky (I feel it’s a bit too slow-paced), it’s refreshing to try something new. You can train your units in town and class change with enough experience (e.g. from infantry to cavalry). Military-style plots with uprisings, betrayals and revenge are always a draw. This one seems to have more potential than Debo no Su’s previous games (even if they have loli dragon girls).

Personally while I feel the story might be okay, the game system is too poor to take advantage of it. Rather than an actual RTS game, it follows more of a real time TRPG format like Myth, Tears to Tiara, or even the upcoming Project Phoenix. Not sure if I am the only one but I would much rather read the story without any of the boring gameplay. As always these games never really focus enough on making the gameplay fun to bother including it when chances are all it does is restrict and weaken the story and characters.

OP + system PV

LOVEPOTION SIXTYNINE

Love_Potion_69

Circle: Steroider
Game site: らぶ69 (LOVEPOTION SIXTYNINE)
Release date: December 31, 2013 (Comiket 85)
Comments:
This is the first title by doujin circle Steroider. Ren enjoys a carefree school life with his osananajimi Cocoa and twin imouto Mafuyu. The day before his final summer vacation, a girl Reon who called herself a magic ice cream seller gave him an ice cream which could bring him love, known as ‘Love Potion 69′. However, it was forcibly taken by sweet-loving Cocoa and it was up to him to contain her love rampage.

One of the few doujin circles who have art which rivals eroge companies. This was made by staff from doujin circle Hyperiyon, who worked on Color of White and S.I.S.T.A.R.S. There will be appearances from those two games here as well. Well, it’s quite polished and probably short, so you might want to check it out if you have time over the Christmas break.

If all it took to make a game good was artwork and H scenes there would be nothing but nukige.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Magicalic⇔Sky High ~Sora Tobu Houki ni Omoi o Nosete~
  2. Timepiece Ensemble
  3. Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

  1. Please
  2. Make better
  3. Games

Writers sure love turning historical characters into cute girls. Long live alternate universes!

Already developed settings having only a minor easily fixed gender issue? Sounds like an easy fix!

Hmmm… come to think of it, there’s no Christmas-themed games this month.


So This is Paradise

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Sengoku_Koihime_HinaThe seiyuus for ALcot’s upcoming title Clover Day’s have been revealed! Of course, Kiritani Hana is in the mix as Anzu, while Kitami Rikka voices both Hekiru and Hikaru. It comes out in winter 2014 and I’m really looking forward to it!

Two fandisks have been announced this week: Cotton Soft‘s Owaru Sekai to Futagoza no Paradise and Tigre‘s Reminiscence Re:Collect. The Owaba/Futapara FD (coming out in January) will feature a Misaki route for Owaba and a story about the school’s past for Futapara, in addition to after stories for all heroines.

Nounai Kanojo’s Renai Made Sentakushi Hitotsu has been set for March 28th.

Praline’s Baka Moe Heart ni Ai o Komete! has been delayed to February 28th.

Ichika topped the Love Majo! chara poll and gets a commemorative wallpaper. It’s expected since she’s pretty much the main heroine.

The Amairo official visual fan book will be on shelves January 24th. It’s 312 pages and has a bunch of first drafts and secret illustratons.

FREEing’s 1/8 scale figure of Eiyuu*Senki‘s Billy the Kid is up for preorder at ¥8800. It ships in May. Also available is GSC’s nendoroid Saber bride. It costs ¥4000 and will be out in April.

Saga_Planets_4season_Vocal_CollectionThere’s a bunch of goodies coming out at C85 and Akihabara Denkigai Matsuri, including SAGA PLANETS’ four season vocal collection. Priced at ¥3000, it features songs from Coming×Humming, Natsunagi, Kisaragi and Hatsusaku. There’s also plenty of dakimakuras, including Yumekoi‘s MeiMagicarat‘s EltlindeHHG‘s HikariKoihime‘s Keifa and TanpopoRiddleStar‘s Yua and MiuMajisuka‘s Yurika, Sextet‘s Kotone and Namadere‘s Shiori and Mei.

I’m more than halfway to Meguri in Moteyaba! Both Aoba and Maina were cute, but the plot is nothing to speak about. Miya-senpai is awesome too!

Moteyaba_Miya


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