My new land

My life, my hobbies, my real self

My Japan purchases!

As promised, it’s time to show you some of the nice stuff I’ve bought in Japan! \(^o^)/

Before leaving, I had a goal in mind: buying all the cheap otoge I could find! I had a really long list of games I’ve been wanting to play, but I couldn’t have them all because, as we know, importing is expensive. That’s why, before leaving, I’ve read a lot of reviews, and took notes: how many were really interesting? which was the right price to buy them? Believe me or not, I made a rank from “I can spend about 4000 yen for this” to “I won’t buy it for more than 1500 yen”, and I stayed quite faithful to it!

I want to show you the cheapest ones first:

p_20161119_125844

I’ve bought Trigger kiss on the first day, it was sold at Akihabara’s book off: I’ve payed about 2000 yen. I’ve always wanted to play this game, because it’s from the Glass heart princess staff (and you know how much I love that game) and the reviews make it sound really funny!

Then, Yakka yakou and Rear Pheles, for 1500 yen each: I think I bought them in Ikebukuro’s book off. I wasn’t that interested, they were quite low on my list, but they were really cheap, so why don’t give them a chance?

I’ve bought Binary Star in Nakano broadway, and I payed only 1700 yen; that made my day! I’ve always been interested in this game, I can’t wait to play it!

I usually don’t buy LE, because….well, I don’t have enough money! But when I saw the Re:viced LE sold for only 2000 yen, I obviously bought it!

Then, let’s talk about the more expensive ones.

p_20161119_130134

I was curious about Dance with Devils: I’ve watched the anime and it didn’t really impress me, so I haven’t bought the game at full price, when it was released; I hoped to find it somewhere quite cheap, but it’s still popular, so I had to lower my hopes. I didn’t know if it was worth 4000 yen, I thought about it for a while, and yet got it. I hope I won’t regret it later!

I was also searching for Period Cube, I entered a few stores to compare the prices (yes, I know my life is sad) until I’ve seen it sold for 3200 yen, and I thought it was not a bad deal.

I was really interested in 7’s scarlet too, because the reviews are all really good… and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the LE sold for less than 5000 yen, even if it was released just a couple months before! Obviously, I got it.

The last game I’ve bought, on the last night in Tokyo, was Haitaka: it was the release day, and it felt so good seeing so many copies sold in the entrance of Akihabara’s book off! Give my copy pleaseeeee!This will be forever a good memory, to remind me that I was in Japan on September 29th.

Moving on from games, time to show you my music purchases!

p_20161119_131131

I used to be a great Arashi and Kanjani’s fan years ago, so I looked everywhere for old CDs and singles released when I was a huge fangirl of the groups. And I found them in Akihabara’s Mandarake! Arashi’s Too be free single was sold for only 50 yen! I swear I looked at the price like “have they forgotten a zero? Is this real?”, and the same was for all the others, sold for 200/300 yen.

While I was shopping in Nakano, I’ve seen many old copies of B’s log sold for 100 yen, so I thought “why not? In the worst case, I might use them as posters!” and I’ve bought the most recent ones. Also, an Arashi book, still for 100 yen, and a Storm Lover fanbook. (Can you feel my eternal love for Book offs?)

p_20161119_131245

I didn’t even know that the most popular otoge had manga, but all these were priced 100 yen each, so I gave them a chance. I’m still reading Clock zero’s light novel, that’s really good!

p_20161119_130934

Now, time to show my action figures.

As I’m a Project diva fan, you cannot blame me if I immediately bought this cute Miku, priced only 1800 yen!

p_20161119_130435

Also, Oikawa is my favourite Haikyuu’s character, that’s why I bought it too, for the same price.

p_20161119_130352

I’ve never bought badges, even if they are so popular everywhere, but I’ve trusted my luck with gatcha a few times. And these are the results: sometimes it was good (Sakuya is so cute), sometimes quite bad (can you see Klap’s sensei? Why couldn’t it be Sousuke or Camil??).

p_20161119_130610

Also, my only otome road purchase, were those cushions priced about 500 yen each.

p_20161119_130809

Cushions seem so expensive everywhere, so when I’ve seen them at decent price, they had to be mine!

That’s about everything, I also bought a few geisha souvenirs for my family and I exposed one in my living room too. (my boyfriend bought many figures instead, so now our house seems a shop, really). Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! \(^o^)/

My Tokyo trip! (September 2016)

It’s been a while since I came back from Japan, but my blog is kind of new and I thought it would be good to share here my experience! \(^o^)/

20160920_111733

First of all, I’m from Italy so it took me about 24 hours to get there: 12 hours on the plane, plus the train, the subway… well, let’s say it was really tiring. But I’ve dreamed about this for my all life, so I was happy more than anything!
Unfortunately it was raining on the first day, so finding our hotel wasn’t that simple and I needed to ask for directions: that’s when I realized that japanese people really don’t know a single english world! well, I was expecting they were not fluent in english, or at least most of them, but………. I hoped that those who live in a big city like Tokyo were used to deal with tourists sometimes! but in fact, they don’t even speak basic english words. Anyway, even if my japanese is bad, I realized I needed to use that al least to survive.
Needless to say, it was the same also in my hotel: as soon as the staff noticed that I’m able to understand a little japanese, they immediately talked to me like I was a japanese person, they didn’t even talk to me slowly!
After all this struggle, I finally started to explore the city.
My hotel was in Asakusa Bashi, so from there I could just walk to Akihabara… in fact, we were there almost every evening!  Since it was still raining very hard, we entered some random shops: the first one was a book off, and since that moment we decided that it was our favourite place for shopping!
It felt so strange to see otoge sold among other games, and some were really cheap! I bought Trigger Kiss for about 2000 yen, and it was just the beginning! \(^o^)/
The next day, we decided to enter every Akihabara store. It took us about 10 hours, I don’t even know how I managed to survive, anyway it felt like a dream! In fact, Akihabara was really different from what I expected: I had this image of “men’s place”, but it’s not true at all! Ok, you can easily see hentai, but there’s also many merch for girls!
Animate is really girlish, you don’t really need to go to ikebukuro to see otome stuff, but the prices were really high, so I just watched without really buying anything. Why should I buy there a game for 7000/8000 yen? It’s even cheaper to buy from Italy! Anyway, the most popular stuff seemed to be Love Live for men and B Project for girls.
My boyfriend wanted to buy One Punch Man, One piece, Naruto, Attack on Titan’s stuff… he was so depressed to see that there isn’t much shounen merch in a place that is supposed to be for men!
While he was complaining, I’ve bought many other cheap games (the LE of Reviced was about 1800 yen) and also otome manga for 100 yen each! I didn’t even know that Clock Zero’s novel existed and I bought it immediately!

20160921_094342 20160920_174431

The 3rd day was dedicated to “traditional shopping”: we went to Asakusa, to see the temple and buy a few souvenirs for our family/friends. I fell in love with little geisha dolls, there are so many of different sizes and clothes… I’d buy them all! So I bought one for my mother, one for me and one for my aunt.
Unfortunately it was raining so hard, that we needed to go early to the hotel to change clothes, because even if I had an umbrella I was soaking wet.

20160922_103553

The weather got better the next day, while I was in Shinjuku.
As usual, even if I saw many stores, book off was my favourite! I took a lot of pictures, even if Shinjuku itself didn’t impress me: apart from the Gozzilla, nothing really amazed me.
Also,the square enix bar was really expensive, but the store with the figure’s room was really amazing!

20160923_102859

On the 5th day, I went to Nakano Brodway.
As it was saturday, I was afraid to see too many people, but it wasn’t a problem at all, at least until 3pm. In fact, I admit I thought to have more “problems”, both in the stores and on the train, for the huge crowd: but if you go there around 10am, before the shops open, then you can enjoy shopping without worrying! 
The Mandarake had so much interesting stuff, we spend a lot of money and ate delicious sushi.

20160924_110202

On Sunday we went to Shibuya: we hoped to enter the Parco store, but it was closed for a while (what a bad luck), so we moved to Harajuku. My friend wanted to go there on Sunday to see cosplayers and “weird people”, but I haven’t seen many… tbh, the strangest people weren’t japanese or asian at all.
I think many people idealize Japan as a place where you can cosplay in the streets everyday, but it’s obviously not true, not even in “anime places” like Akihabara: you see many maids, but they are working, not doing it for fun. In fact, the only cosplayers I saw were american/european people, who probaly thought it was “normal” going out dressed up like that………… well, it isn’t. 

20160925_094529

On the 7th day, I finally went to Ikebukuro.
I had a lot of expectations: I knew the otome road was not huge as Akihabara, but there are many stores, so I hoped to buy a lot of stuff… well, I was quite disappointed. As usual, the Animate was crazily expensive and even the book off wasn’t interesting for me… and I saw hentai there too! Wtf, isn’t this OTOME road?
I think many things are changing, from the past: Akihabara is not just a man’s place anymore and at the same time Ikebukuro is not just for girls. Apart from the Mandarake, which really sells just BL stuff! XD
Another thing, while we’re at it: I don’t get why people complain about the hentai section, because almost every store has also a BL section… some posters are quite explicit too, and you normally see them in Akihabara! People should be more mature: if you go to manga stores, you know that probably there is adult stuff everywhere, of every kind, just deal with it. Being shocked or disgusted for hentai, and immediately going to buy BL rated stuff without problems, makes no sense to me.

20160926_124257

The next day, I went to Ueno.
The park was really amazing, I took a lot of pictures at every corner! 
Unfortunately, it was really hot… well, the weather is really different from Italy: when it’s hot in Italy, it’s because of the sun, while in Japan I felt like suffocating from the humidity… really, I couldn’t breathe! how can they survive?!
I had to go home quite early, before collapsing there…

20160927_092918
At night, we went to karaoke! I had a lot of fun, singing anime and idol’s song has always been a dream for me! it was quite expensive, but totally worth it.
My boyfriend took a lot of embarassing videos, which will never be shown to anybody… I still have some pride left, you know? XD

On the 9th day, we went again to Ikebukuro.
I was there to see the Evangelion store and the Rejet shop, but both were quite disapponting… they were so small! Before entering the shopping mall, there were a lot of people in line, waiting for the opening… and most of them were there for Rejet shop, which was immediately so crowded! I even had problems entering and seeing stuff, I swear! Nothing was really interesting anyway tbh… but it was funny to see also an old woman with her bag full of Rejet’s badges!
The japanese stores are really different from all the anime/game conventions I’ve seen in Italy, because you can see also people in their 40s and 50s looking for manga and games like it’s totally normal… that’s really amazing, how people there don’t think it’s just an hobby for young people!

20160928_105724

The last day was dedicated to Minato.
We went to the highest observatory of the Tokyo tower and it was really fascinating, to see Tokyo from above… I really felt like somehow I’ve accomplished my dream!
I’ve bought a lot of souvenirs, also the weather was finally good, so I really enjoyed it.

20160929_100727

20160929_101548

At night, we went to Akihabara for the last time: I’ve bought Haitaka, and it was so good to see an otoge exposed in the entrance of the store, as a new release of the day! That’s definetly something that I will never see in Italy, sadly.
On the next day, I went home………… and my trip finished.
I have a few regrets, but I’m overall happy about it, I did almost everything I wanted to and for the first time I’ve seen with my own eyes how is living in Japan: something was as I imagined, something was not… but I’m not that disappointed. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back, but I’d like to visit Osaka next time, it looks very different from Tokyo… maybe next year, who knows?

Tomorrow I’ll be posting about all the amazing stuff I’ve bought there!

Dynamic chord Reve parfait

reveparfait01

Dynamic chord Reve parfait was the first game released by honeybee black, and I was really curious to see if this new company could bring us something different from their main branch. Obviously, I already knew honeybee, because of the widely famous Starry sky (who hasn’t played at least one of them?), so in my mind they had an image of sweet and innocent otoge developers, maybe even childish.

When I knew the game was about a band, I imagined it as a rockish version of utapri, but still colorful and funny. I was basically waiting to see good looking young boys making music together, having a good time improving, becoming more and more friends; I could already imagine them talking about their dreams, laughing, and growing up while falling in love…. well, I was wrong.

So wrong.

This game is completely different from every other honeybee release, and also the situations are way more mature than every music game I’ve played before this.

The common route was quite long, but never boring; it never felt like wasting time with useless filler scenes before entering the individual route, but it had an interesting yet simple plot.

What I appreciated the most, was the realism of the characters: somehow, it feels nice to me seeing that they are popular at school, and have groupies and girlfriends. I’m very tired of the concept of good looking yet too pure boys, who are loved by every girl around but aren’t interested in any of them and prefer to be alone. Which real high schooler would act like that? Let them be boys, come on! We all have been at school, and we know how it goes: the popular boys get the girls. End of the story. That’s why I really enjoyed to see those kind of scenes, they felt real; some were a bit shocking at first, because I wasn’t expecting it, but it was a really nice choice.

Unfortunately, the heroine couldn’t keep up at all with the boys: unsure of her looks, always shy, she couldn’t even react to the bullies. She even thought she deserved to be bullied somehow, like “I’m not pretty enough to stand next to these ikemens, I know it!” and it made me cringe.

I’ve played Kuon first. Most of his route was about his crazy ex girlfriend, and trust me, she was really really annoying; her voice, her face…. I just wished I could punch her or at least insult her, but obviously the heroine apologized instead. Every time she said “I can’t live without Kuon”, I was answering “then you can throw yourself under a train, goodbye!”, but it wasn’t an option. Who made the choices for this game?! Anyway, once he finally got rid of her, the route became great again, and I loved it. The secret scenario was awesome! Also, the ending were really good tbh.

I was hoping for something even better while playing Tsumugi, but I was a bit disappointed: he looked like a playboy in the common, yet his route felt quite innocent. I don’t know why, but he suddenly became shy and it seemed quite forced to me, as if the writer decided to add randomly some romanticism in the game at the end.

Reon was the last I played, and I was expecting something really interesting: he’s the heroine’s ex boyfriend, so I spent most of the game wondering why they broke up. I was hoping to unveil a shocking reason behind that, but it was just a typical childish misunderstanding, which became worse because of his tsundere attitude, so it wasn’t that great. There’s also another crazy girl in his route, and I really couldn’t take anymore these crazy bitches! Get out of my otoge please! Anyway, this route was quite good too.

None of the characters really stood out to me, but I enjoyed every route equally.

It was quite short, actually I hoped to play more! A new game which would allow me to play also the drummer, was released after this… but I didn’t bother honestly. Aki was nice, but not worth the price of another game for me.

Anyway, my first experience with honeybee black ended with a good feeling, that’s why I decided to try also another Dynamic chord, featuring Liar-s. I plan to play them all actually, but time WHERE?! But don’t worry, I will.

The question, as always, is: do I recommend this game?

Yes!

This is not perfect, but still very enjoyable, and I liked all the characters; also, the art is colorful and nice. The opening song was really amazing, I still listen to it often, I never get tired! I like this kind of sounds more than the typical idol songs. If you like music themes, and you are a bit tired of too innocent otoge, then try Dynamic chord. You won’t be disappointed!

Taisho Alice

taisho_alice

When Taisho Alice was announced, I admit I wasn’t very excited: it was Primula’s first game, and I didn’t know what to expect from a new company; also, the fairytale theme feels already abused, so it took me a while until I finally decided to give it a chance. And that was a really good choice!

I’ve played the PC version, which was released in 4 different chapters.

I’ve started with Cinderella., even if he’s isn’t my type, so I didn’t have great expectations; I couldn’t imagine from the start that there was an overall plot that tied together all the routes, so I didn’t pay attention at some details, which made sense only in the end. Now I’m so sorry about that, I should replay his route because I feel bad for him, my first impression was really superficial and wrong!

In fact, the route itself didn’t interest me that much besides some funny dialogues, but what really stood out the most to me was the heroine, even more than the characters. She’s really strong and funny, her answers and reactions made her “the real main character”, instead of being nothing but a self-insert for the player, as unfortunately happens sometimes. That, already, was a nice change: I think I’ve never seen an otoge heroine with such an outstanding personality!

I’ve also realized that this game has a very good writing, just by playing Akazukin’s route. At first, he looked like the typical kuudere who has no emotions, but after a while everything changed: his reactions when he was embarrassed were priceless, when he stuttered and had blood running from his nose I was dying from laughter on the chair! Yurika’s comments made him blush and panic even more, and that’s when I’ve noticed that I was playing something very good and different, not just an Alice themed plain otoge. This route had everything: angst, mystery, sad moments, funny scenes, love… it felt really complete, and I started to appreciate this game more than I could imagine.

But still, I didn’t know how deep the plot could become in the next chapter, which was way darker and sadder than the first one.

Kaguya’s route touched very sensitive arguments, like self harm and suicide; somehow, it felt kind of strange to me, because when I met him in other routes I used to think he was a weird but funny character, so I wasn’t expecting something so serious and shocking.

Gretel’s route was even creepy, but I enjoyed it most of all: the first reason, is because I’m so weak at otouto siscon; also, because I was very curious since the beginning about him, it was obvious that he had really shocking reasons to act like a psycho.

The third chapter became even darker and psychological: at that point, it became really obvious that the real plot had still to be unveiled.

Shirayuki’s route was quite calm and light at first, so I hoped somehow to relax a little and have some fun… but I was wrong. In the end, when I discovered the truth about his mother, everything became really tragic and even quite disturbing in a scene.

Mahoutsukai’s route, finally, explained everything! or most of it, at least. I won’t lie, I’ve tried to make some assumptions about the truth, before being able to play him, but I was so wrong… well, I don’t think anyone could predict something like that. It’s really too complicated, and I admire the writer so much for thinking such an original a plot. It took me quite a long time to understand completely what was going on in all those flashbacks, and I had to read many times some of the most important dialogues. I was satisfied with all the explanations, but not that much with the route itself… because it feels like reaching an happy ending with this character it’s almost impossible. And it makes me sad, because I like him, but I must accept it. This route explained all about the other characters too, that’s why it couldn’t focus only on one; but the most important thing, is that everything finally made sense, in a shocking way.

The great final, was obviously Alice. I was afraid that the epilogue could waste something, because the truth seemed already explained perfectly in Mahoutsukai’s route; also, I was worried that the real ending could make suffer the others…. it’s really hard to convey my feelings without spoilers, but you will understand what I mean when you reach it. Alice was really difficult to play, I had to stay focused on every line, or I could probably lose somewhere an important part; I though his happiness would mean someone elses’ pain, and that was my greatest worry, but I’m so glad that somehow everything was solved in a really happy ending. Everyone had to suffer so much, and I had to suffer too while playing, so…….. we needed something relieving in the end.

Do I recommend this game?

Yes, but maybe not to anyone. Don’t give me wrong, the writing itself makes it a masterpiece, the heroine is great and the plot is really good, that’s why overall I think it’s a great game! But some of the routes may be disturbing for sensitive people, the atmosphere can be really heavy sometimes, and creepy. This is not for people who are looking forward to a bright and funny game (even if some dialogues are really hilarious) because the sad part is really the most important, when you go on through the various routes and reach the final epilogue. It’s also very psychological and deep, so you must be really focused and understand every single line, or you will miss something important. Anyway, it’s going to be localized soon (in December, I think?), so people who can’t fully understand japanese can enjoy it too, that’s a really good news! Also, I can’t wait for the fandisk, because Ookami and Ryoushi will have their own routes! (But mostly, because I miss Gretel too much).

If you’re ready to be shocked, Taisho Alice is a must play!

TOP10 Otome games: my recommended games!

I’ve been playing otoge for a few years now, and obviously I went through many different kind of games: amazing ones, mediocre ones and also really bad ones (or kusoge, if you prefer).

Some of them left a great impression to me: they made cry, they made me smile… anyway, they made me feel emotions, and it’s the reason why I still keep enjoying this hobby.

I hope this TOP10 will make you curious about games you’ve never played yet or even heard about!

10- Gekka ryouran romance

Creepy and twisted, as you can expect from Rejet. Some routes were really dark, the endings were shocking, but it’s worth playing because it’s quite different from the usual otoge’s themes. It may seem prectictable at first, but the more you know about the characters and the more you will feel attracted to their madness.

9- Glass heart princess

Bright and funny, with amazing art and great characters. Shinnosuke is the butler of my dreams and I wish Satsuki was my best friend. The stat raising system may be annoying, but it’s totally worth it in the end.

8- Nightshade/Hyakka Hyakurou

The plot is amazing and well written in every route, I literally couldn’t stop playing: I needed to know the truth, and it was even more shocking. It was so tragic, it pierced my heart. Teita’s beautiful art makes it even better, and suits perfectly the historical setting.

7- Amnesia

This was one of the first games I’ve played, and I really loved every character. Shin’s route was very interesting, because I had to solve a mystery and the truth was quite shocking; Toma’s cage is one of the creepiest situation I’ve ever faced in an otoge; Kent blushing in the end made my life complete; Ikki has a special place in my heart, this man deserves more love; and Ukyo was a really devoted lover…I mean, what he did for the heroine was really amazing!

6- Steam Prison

This game is perfect if you enjoy mysteries and you are looking for a strong heroine who knows how to fight!

The plot is deep and well written, the mysteries are unveiled in different routes and I was always curious to discover the whole truth; as I played, I’ve learned that nothing is as it seems and even nice characters can hide something dark and terrible behind a smile.

Cyrus is a great heroine, who always fights to defend her beliefs, even if she’s completely alone; she never stays quiet, waiting for a prince charming to rescue her, but she’s the one deciding her fate. Well, I guess a frail, typical eyeless heroine wouldn’t survive a day in that awful place.

Steam Prison is dark, violent and sad, but still there’s no lack of romance at all, so it can be enjoyed by eyeryone. Unless you’re looking for a funny, cute love story, obviously.

5- 7’scarlet

If you enjoy mystery and horror, this game is perfect for you: the scary plot, the interesting characters, the creepy BGM and the amazing animations made it perfect to me. There was enough romance too, despite it being mostly shocking and tragic. This is recommended to everyone who loves dark settings!

4- Collar Malice

The plot was really interesting and I loved all the characters; the heroine was strong and smart, I liked her attitude: even when the situation was difficult, she never gave up. The ending was amazing, I couldn’t predict the culprit at all and I was shocked! Also, the art is beautiful and the BGM too. The final phrase “everyone has an invisible collar attached” got me thinking, it was deep.

3- Black wolves saga

This is pure despair. In the end, you will feel empty and shocked. The creepy endings will haunt your dreams. The plot is painful, tragic, and wonderful at the same time.

2- Piofiore no banshou

I loved everything about this game: the Italian setting, the plot, the art… but most of all, every single character had his own charm, they were unique and amazing. The writing was so good, I never felt bored and I was deeply involved in every route, even if the boy’s personalities were completely different. I even grew attached to subcharacters and it’s really rare for me.

There’s a lot of violence, so it’s not meant for everyone, but for me it was a masterpiece.

1- Kokuchou no Psychedelica

This game was absolutely amazing. I’ve cried so much while playing, I was so shocked to discover the truth… it really broke my heart for various reason. All this guilt, regret, pain… I could feel it in every route, in different ways; it was really sad, but great. I just wished it was longer, but it’s better short and intense, instead of filled with useless scenes.

As you can see, I prefer darker themes and suffering, then brighter games; this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy funny games like Storm Lover, but for obvious reason they didn’t left me a strong impression like the ones I listed, with a deeper plot.

I reviewed most of these great games, hoping I can make more people interested in them… you won’t regret it, I swear!

Glass Heart Princess

uljm-6196

Writing about Glass Heart Princess makes me feel really nostalgic: this is one of the first otoge I’ve ever played, years ago, so I’m a bit emotional now!

If you just look at the art, you can already imagine how colourful and bright it is; in fact, it’s a funny game without a deep plot, but the crazy moments and the interactions between characters make it really enjoyable and worth playing.

The first part of the game is basically about Kyouko going on dates, to cure her illness: the glass heart syndrome. This also means she has to do a lot of training (by raising stats), so her weak heart will be able to take all the emotions without breaking into pieces. If you fail, you can really see her heart breaking and the poor heroine dies, so take it seriously! It may be quite silly as a plot, but I was laughing all the time, also because the scenes are written very well: it’s simple, but not boring or predictable. Raising stats may be annoying, but I didn’t have great problems, besides Shinnosuke’s route: I just tried to raise everything equally, from physical training (I usually prioritized that, I’ve noticed it helps her heart the most) to reading manga and watching drama, and it was enough.

Shinnosuke was a completely different story: his route must be unlocked in a special way, and it was really hard to get for me… I had to start all over again about 5 times, maybe even more. In the end, I managed to do it, but I don’t even know how exactly.

Anyway, a few tips:

  • usually, when the game starts, you have to shoot Cupid’s arrow to the character you choose, to enter his route; it doesn’t work for Shinnosuke, so don’t do anything;

  • If you will date him from the beginning, you will be called by the shota after a few dates, and end up in his route; do it just to complete the CGs and have some fun, but you can’t reach Shinnosuke’s ending like this;

  • Date Yukito for a while, be sure to choose always the best answer and raise all the stats. I remember that I had problems if I prioritized the psysical training, so I watched a lot of dramas since the beginning, to reach the A ranking very soon.

  • You will see that a new date option appears, called “black pulse”, choose it!

That’s how you can unlock this route. I suggest you to use a very detailed guide, because it’s better if you know exactly what you have to do each training lesson! If you don’t achieve the stats required, you will end up angrily repeating it multiple times, like it happened to me.

Annoying stats aside, let’s talk about the characters!

Yukito is such a cute tsundere: he acts like he doesn’t care, but it’s obvious that he likes Kyouko; he’s also very shy, that’s why he just keeps blushing on every date! He loves animals and he’s a really caring boy, even  if he always tries to act cool.

Tenma is the infirmary doctor at Kyouko’s school: he’s very positive and energetic, even too much for me… I usually can’t stand this kind of character, but his route is quite interesting and I loved his good ending!

Kanata is a typical kuudere, but his innocence and lack of reactions makes every situation really awkward and embarassing for the heroine! well, in fact he hides a huge secret, but I don’t want to spoil!

In this game, every character hides something very shocking and everything is revealed in the main route, which starts when the dates are over: that’s how the funny and easy part ends, the plot unveils and you can see the true colors of everyone. It was quite random to be honest, but also unexpected and interesting!

Shinnosuke is the canon, that’s why he’s so difficult to unlock: he’s her loyal butler, so the main route also shows how he met with Kyouko and why he chose to stay by her side, devoting his life to protect her. It was really heartbreaking and emotional, I was madly in love with him… and I still am, he’s one of my favourite characters ever, he deserves a special place in my heart.

The shota has a short route, I recommend to play it even if it doesn’t interest you, because you can finally get to play him when he gets older in the FD! And he grows up really well, trust me.

Satsuki, the heroine’s maid, is the best side character ever: she always tries to help the heroine in her own crazy way, creating embarassing situations that made me burst out laughing, it was amazing! I think I’ve never had so much fun while playing an otoge, and Satsuki really made everything even greater. I simply love her, and I’m really glad that she had more scenes in the FD, to show why she decided to become Kyouko’s maid. That made me really emotional too.

The fandisk is really short, it took me just a week to play it, but I absolutely recommend it too! I loved every single moment, I even cried in the end…. amazing. No raising stats this time, just simple choices that are very easy to get, you can play without even using a guide if you want. The huge amount of CGs impressed me, I wasn’t expecting it and I was so glad because I love this style, it fits the atmosphere perfectly!

If you haven’t played Glass Heart Princess yet, just do it now! Don’t be afraid of the raising stats system, it may be a pain sometimes, but everything else greatly make up for it! This game can be at the same time funny and very emotional, the art is colourful and great, the characters are weirdly enjoyable and Satsuki will be your best friend ever.

You won’t regret it!

Nihil admirari

1233

I still remember my reaction, when I’ve seen the first trailer of Nihil Admirari: Satoi’s art amazed me as usual, and I immediately decided that I shoud get this game and play it as soon as it was released. There was an immediate hype, and probably it was one of the most anticipated games of 2016.

When I finally managed to recieve my copy, I’ve started playing with huge expectations. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed at first: the common route seemed too long to me, and also the pacing was quite slow, so I was even bored sometimes. But when I finally entered the route, everything changed: I was completely absorbed in the story, I couldn’t stop playing!

I’ve chosen Akira as first, but probably it was a bad idea: his route contains way too much spoilers, and that’s probably what made it so interesting compared to the others. He looked like a kuudere to me, and usually I’m not into that kind of character, so I just wanted to get it done immediately… but everything I planned was changed. Akira’s route was really great. I loved him, the plot, the CGs, everything! I was ready for a plain character, with a boring personality… I was wrong. Many scenes were really cute, others shocking, there was a huge plot twist… it was all I could ask for!

Unfortunately, Shizoru’s route wasn’t as exciting. I had great hopes for him, but… I was almost falling asleep. The heroine tried so hard to prove his innocence, while he was just having fun with other women, and then, magically, he’s in love with her! There’s a huge plot twist, when you think the route is already over, but it makes it even worse. Again, the pacing was terrible.

Anyway, my mood changed again thanks to Shougo! He was my favourite, I really liked him and his route! his tsundere moments were so cute! This route had a good writing, finally, and I feel like he also got the best Cgs. Overall, the art quality is amazing, but somehow I think that Shougo was even more blessed (or probably, it’s just because I loved him so much). I can’t wait to meet him again in the sequel!

Hisui’s route was quite sad, and also boring sometimes. I spent way too much time with the boss’ wife instead of him, and she was really annoying. Her way of talking unnerved me, I swear. I just wished I could talk to him more, because I felt like his personality is more complicated than it seems: he’s not only a quiet shota, some situations made him look like a potential yandere to me… it was unexpected, but not bad.

Rui’s route was more interesting, even if the pacing was, once again, really slow. It was disappointing at first, but then he grew on me and I really loved every single ending, I even cried with the bad ones! He’s a really sweet guy, even if I’m not fond of the “love at fist sight” trope: it makes me think that the writer was just too lazy to develop the romantic part, so he focused only on the plot, because the character already loved the heroine from the beginning for no reason.

Hayato was the last to unlock, so it was obvious that his route had the most important revelations: I was really hyped for it, because I also really liked him from the start of the game (and I wished I could play him first)! Many people complained because there’s too much focus on another character, who is also the secret route, so they couldn’t enjoy Hayato at his best. I quite agree, I think that the secret chara took way too much time and overshadowed Hayato a bit, but the route itself didn’t seem worse than others, to me; Shizuru was far more boring tbh.

This game has a quite heavy plot, so it’s obvious that romance sometimes is put aside: even if it’s Cero D, the sexy parts are not the main goal; or at least, you need to go through hours of gaming before you reach them. I’m sure that when I’ll get to play these characters again in the sequel, in an easy and relaxed atmosphere, I’ll appreciate them more.

I won’t say much about the secret route, for those who haven’t played it yet. Let me just say that I was quite angry in the end, and the heroine as always is too nice with every psycho. I didn’t hate her tho, I admired her for taking actions and chosing to actively do something to save her little brother.

I think I can recommend this game to anyone: it was not perfect, but not bad either. Don’t be fooled by the CeroD rating, this is not a plotless game with random sexy scenes… if that’s what you’re looking for, Otoko Yuukaku is better for you. Nihil Admirari is plot centered and probably a bit too long, with some needless boring moments; anyway, the overall plot is interesting, the characters too and the art is wonderful, so if you give it a chance, you probably won’t be disappointed.

 

Black wolves saga

game

Ive decided to write my opinion about Black Wolves Saga, because sometimes I feel like its not getting all the recognition it deserves. I still remember my feelings after completing it: I was empty, shocked, confused. I enjoyed every character, even the the bad ones!

Mejojo is so arrogant, cruel, full of himself. He truly has no heart, nor pity for anyone: all that matters to him is revenge, and he doesnt hesitate to kill and destroy everything that bothers him. Hes so obsessed by his past, that he lost every kind of empathy or affection. He loves to see people suffer and the only person he somehow cares about is his brother…just because hes even worse than him.

Auger is a true psycho. He seems weaker than Mejojo, because he doesn‘t need to be in the spotlight to prove his absolute power, but he can commit the worst crimes just to entertain himselfHes a liar, a sadist, and also a betrayer.

The poor heroine had to suffer any kind of humiliation, she was even marked and tortured until she had no will to live. She has seen her family members die, her city destroyed…. without any chance to do something at all. She could just watch everything she loved being shattered for no reason in front of her, and all that remained was just a useless, empty life without love, even worse than death. She knew that nobody truly cared about her, because she was just a pawn in Mejojos twisted game: in the end, after losing everything, she lost herself too.

Julians route was a bit better, at least the endings were kind of good… even if terrible moments were everywhere, and also the last scenario was quite creepy. His mind is broken, even if he tries to regain indipendence… but what happened in the past, has probably ruined him forever.

The cats clan was obviously the most painful to play, so after that I took a deep breath and hoped to see something less traumatizing.

Ive started playing the Wolves clan from the king, Arles. He carried on himself so much guilt, despair, pain, but also the hope of the survivors, who looked up at him as the only one who could rescue them for the sure death. I was impressed to see that all the tragedy and pain that shattered this race became also their strenght to build a unite clan, full of trust on their leader, where sometimes there was also time to laugh and find a little moment of happiness. They were not blinded by all the hate that surrounded them, but they were still open to accept Fiona as a member of the family, to protect and respect. I wish I could see some more cute moments between Arles and Fiona, at least in the end… I really want to see them happy!

Raths melancholy was really different from all the other characters attitude: he just seemed to be waiting for death, probably because of his illness. I really wished his route was longer, but there were too many common parts I could skip… I hope the FD will give him more space, he deserves it.

Guillames route had the same problem, it ended too soon, just when I was about to get interested in him. I admit Ididnt like him at first, his attitude was kinda arrogant, but hes a good person after all. (lets ignore the cannibalism part in the ending).

I’ve played the famous siscon Nesso next, and he was the character I was interested in the most since the beginning.  His route was surprisingly funny, there were less yandere moments than I expected. He was so straightforward with his love for Fiona, without even try to hide it, that it seemed entertaining more than shocking! He was actually nice, more than creepy.

Zara just kept making fun of him in his route, and that wass even better! I just wish also his route was a bitlonger: he’s a great pharmacist, not only a butler… he deserved more recognition for his work.

Anyway, there’s no doubt for me that this game is almost perfect…. in a creepy way. I absolutely loved it, and I’d recommend it to anyone. I still have to play the FD, even if going back to PSP is not that easy…. but I will, this games deserves it. The plot is amazing, some revelations are shocking, the characters are really interesting, the sadness makes you cry multiple times… this is not a “simple otoge”, this is a masterpiece. It’s one of my all time favourite game, and one of the few must play: I think every person who likes this genre should try it, just to see how great Rejet can be when it does his job in the right way. Of course, this is not for fragile people who look for simple and nice love stories, but for those who are tired to see love and hearts everywhere and want to try something sadder but original. This will blow your mind.

Just be ready, or it will destroy your soul!

Blackish house Side A

ceet_dsukaaadhb

I know really well which type of games HoneybeeBlack releases, so when I’ve started playing Blackish house I was ready for some kind of violence and twisted characters.

And I was right!

First of all, this game is not as I imagined: I thought the plot would be more original and deeper, but it’s just a quite simple story about young actors who live together in the same house, basically. Of course, this is not an happy easy going game, so there are creepy people everywhere, various abuses and bloody scenes.

The first character I played was Madoka, and I admit his route was not bad, maybe even the most interesting. He looks like a playboy, but he’s actually a good person, so I enjoyed most of it. The reason behind his brother’s hate is quite unbelievable even for an otoge, so I had to pretend it made sense and just focus on him instead. But I can forgive this, because his ending were really good and even the bad ones were interesting! If you don’t want to see blood, then avoid his bads like the black plague. No, wait, avoid this game!

After him, I decided to play Tougo. He smelled like a yandere from a long distance, you can tell he has some kind of twisted personality just by looking at him…. so, I was ready to be locked somewhere, raped and all the worst I could imagine. Well…. he was maybe even worse than my expectations. His violence is more psychological than physical, and it really hurts, I felt sorry for the heroine at some point. And not only for her, but for all the other characters who had to suffer for his terrible sadistic attitude. The bad endings were actually not shocking, but predictable for this kind of character… I was even expecting something more, like mass murder or something like that! I’ve only liked him in Rei’s route, when his sadistic personality was actually put at good use… and it made me laugh so hard! His intentions were probably not good, as always, but the result was really entertaining and I felt like I could somehow hate him a little less, just for that scene.

Among all this terrible angst, Gou seems like an innocent angel. In fact, he’s really too pure compared to the others… when you enter his route, it feels like you’re suddently playing Starry Sky! It was a nice change, I really needed some funny moments after all that suffering. It was even too easy, I was expecting some bad plot twist just to make the heroine suffer as the others route, but it didn’t happen and that made me happy but also disappointed at the same time! Somehow, it felt out of place… like a route of another CERO B game, just put in Blackish house to make the game a little brighter.

The last character was Rei. Unfortunately, in the beginning his route was just irritating: not only his personality is really arrogant and rude, but there are also the typical butthurt bitches that bully the heroine, while she does nothing else than cry, obviously. At some point, thanks to my “good friend” Tougo, the route changed and it finally became really entertaining, I swear I was laughing like crazy! I wish it was like this from the start, or at least earlier. From that point, I’ve really started to enjoy it, and also Rei’s attitude got better. Seeing him embarassed, and his friends laughing at him, was really too much fun! The plot twist later in the route was also quite shocking, I didn’t know how to react… I guess his route is locked for that reason, it makes sense.

I still don’t know how I feel about Haruma, he seems nice but a bad ending ruined his image completely… even if it’s not that unpredictable. I wish I can play him in the near future anyway! He will probably be the last to unlock.

The other side characters look kind of shady, I don’t think I can trust anyone, but that’s what makes them worth playing in this kind of game.

I didn’t hate the heroine: I appreciated her positive side, she tried to overcome her issues as an actress, but most of the time she also lets the boys treat her badly (Tougo obviously being the worst offender), so I could feel pity for her only when she was abused, but not when she just did nothing to protect herself.

Would I recommend this game?

Well, it depends on the people I guess.  I enjoy dark themes and creepy characters, but it gets frustrating just sit here and watch the heroine take all this abuse and suffer.  Also, I wished the plot was deeper: there is only one great revelation in Rei’s route, the others are just about characters overcoming their mental issues. The final ending makes me think there’s also another overall plot behind everything, which still has to be unveiled in the next game, and I think it could be quite interesting. Among the angst, it was also funny sometimes, and the art is great, so there are many good reasons to give it a try.

I think I’ll play Side Z when it gets released, but I won’t be looking forward it expecting some kind of masterpiece.

Moshikami

moshikami

 

Before playing this game, I’ve read so many terrible reviews that I was almost scared, I swear! But I’ve made the huge mistake to preorder it, so there was no way back from Rejet hell.

Many people criticized the common route, for being too long and boring: that’s not completely wrong, some school scenes felt kind of random, but I think it was useful to become immersed in the creepy atmosphere. Those crows gave me nightmares! Even now, after months, I still think about Moshikami when I hear them somewhere.

I really loved the music: everytime something bad was about to happen, that “horror movie” BGM started and I really got goosebumps. Maybe I’m just to easy to scare, but it worked really well on me.

The art was not that perfect, some CG felt a bit awkward: nothing really bad, but I was expecting something better. (Rejet always has gorgeous art for the drama Cds, I wonder why they don’t care about it as much for otoge).

The first character I played was Ace. He’s a quiet and cool guy, his past is not even that traumatizing if compared to the other’s, so I could focus more on the main story. I admit it, I was more interested in the overall plot than the romance part, because…. well, I really needed to know what the hell was really happening and why! Instead of focusing on romantic scenes, I was really eager to reach the first ending and discover all the mysteries that surrounded the heroine, or at least the most important ones. And when I understood the truth…. I was shocked. That moment, I realized that Rejet has really no fear to cross the line and go always further. I really admire them for taking risks, they don’t like to play safe and repeat the same themes.

Kyou’s route was far more bloody and cruel, I’ve seen him (and his sister) suffer so many times, that in the end I was just hoping that she would die and end that agony soon. It was really painful to play, I didn’t even know how to react! The writer must be a real sadist, because he could have make them suffer just once, but he chose to repeat the cyrcle all over again… that hit me really hard.

Shuri’s route was brighter: I usually don’t like shotas, but I appreciated him from the start. Behind his young appearence, he’s really smart, mature and reliable. He’s my best boy, no doubt!

Neiji was a bit disappointing, everyone loves him so I was expecting something more. I liked him, but the only thing I really can’t forget about his route is the truth about the “beach incident”. Well, that was really shocking. And it was probably too much, even for Rejet. I can stand bloody scenes, abuse, creepy rapist, betrayals… but THAT is truly unforgivable.

Then, for the great ending: MASATO. I’ve played a lot of bad characters in my otoge life: abusers, rapists, creepy yandere… but he’s far worse than anyone else. I’d like to meet the person who wrote this game, just to look at him in the eyes and ask: “how could you even imagine something that bad? What’s wrong with you!?”. Well, the purpose was probably to make this game unforgettable for the players, and it obviously worked! In a bad way. I don’t even wanna write my opinion about the good ending, because it made me sick.

When I first played this game, I was so hurt and shocked by some scenes that I didn’t have to courage to complete all the bad endings; I did it more than a year later, and I admit they weren’t terrible as I imagined.

Of course, there’s the usual violence and gore, but nothing worse than situations which already happened in the game: I was waiting to see rape scenes, or even creepier stuff (is there something more disgusting than pedophiles and cannibalism? I don’t know, I was ready for everything at this point).

But nothing really stood out to me, they were not memorable, not even the “common bad ending” which I honestly expected to be Masato’s bloody fest. So you can play them safely… or kind of.

Haruka was not a bad heroine (until Masato’s route at least), and I can’t blame her for being scared… it would really be unbelievable, if she acted strong in that nightmare. She’s not great, but not even annoying. Poor girl.

Is this game worth buying?

I don’t regret playing it, because the overall plot is really good and interesting. The music is great, the art is not bad, the characters are ok… but it’s not the typical otoge. If you’re looking for romance and cute scenes, this is not for you. If you don’t like blood and you can’t stand violence of any kind, then avoid it. Don’t even read reviews, just stay away. But if you don’t mind gore, enjoy some suffering and want an “horror” story, that Moshikami is quite good and I recommend it. Just keep in mind, that you’ll probably be very angry in the end, just like me! At least, when it’s over, you can use Masato as a scale of comparison for bad characters, like “on a scale from 1 to Masato, how terrible is it?” It could be useful!

.

Page 32 of 33

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén