Riptos's Blog

Anime Relations: Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate

Well it's been a while since I last managed to get around to finishing off a visual novel, what with work and the warmer months rolling round.
However, I finally managed to get KoiChoco finished after it has been sitting in the pile for what feels like months. (I had this before I had Noble Works lol) It's unusual that I play a visual novel after watching the anime adaption and I think that may have hurt a lot of my positivity of the game in general as I knew most of the plot twists and pretty much all of Chisato's route.

Seeing as how I haven't been adding notes to this as I was playing through the game I have to do this in one sitting so this one will be a little bit shorter.

Character Routes and ratings

Chisato Sumiyoshi


Chisato's route essentially is the main heroine route that the anime closely followed. However on the whole I didn't enjoy this route at all. I don't like Chisato as a character for the most part but the thing that irked me the most is that the game gives you absolutely no choice in the regard that you HAVE to go down her route first. I knew everything that would happen on this route in advance so I wound up skipping the latter half of it.

Score: 3/10

Isara Aomi


Isara was the route I really wanted to go down after seeing Yuuki's interactions with her all throughout the common route. She was the proper "waifu" material of the group and had the personality to match. Her route allowed you to meet her little brothers too which were really funny as well. The plot twists on this one where new to me and the actual drive for the presidency was very well done on this one as he had a proper goal to strive for. Seeing how the rest of the Shokken handled the relationship made this one quite interesting to play through.

Score: 7/10

Mifuyu Kiba


Mifuyu was the surprise of the game to me. The only reason I was really looking forward to her route at all initially was because I knew just how much it would irritate Chisato as they are best friends. However as the time progressed on the route I genuinely enjoyed her voice and the interactions were really good. How the romantic side came out on this route was really quite nice. I also liked the drama on this one as it resonated quite well with me as I've had something similar in my own life. This was definitely the highpoint of the game for me and I totally didn't expect it.

Score: 8.5/10

Satsuki Shinonome


Satsuki was an interesting route, the anime adaption teased this as a possibility a good few times so it's nice to see that it gets a decent route. Satsuki as a character is really quite charming and her honesty despite being a politician was really nice to see. The route heavily incorporating Hazuki made for a really interesting set of encounters early.The sad thing about it though is that there was no Hazuki route off of this which would have been amazing lol. The route kind of breaks down in the second half though which is quite unfortunate as alot of the drama could have been easily avoided by simply talking to each other. Not the best route in the game by any means but still passable.

Score: 7/10

Michiru Morishita


Michiru was the route I was looking forward to most as I loved her in the adaption. Also loli with cat girl-ish mannerisms...what's not to love? I was interested from the start wondering exactly how romance could possibly come out of someone who's vocabulary was so restrictive to begin with but I was pleasantly surprised as the story unfolded. Just like with Isara, there is an actual goal behind winning the presidency and it was nice to see it not simply pushed off to the side like it seemed to be for so many of the others. I also liked Chisato's maturity in this route over all of the others. Most of the time she was there to be an obstacle but she is much more adult about it on this one. The resolution to this route is one of the more satisfying too.

Score: 8/10


I'll not break down the other bits, I will simply score them as I saw them.

Art: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
CG's: 7/10
Story: 6.5/10
Side Characters: 7/10 (Extra points for Non-Chan and Hazuki)
H-Scenes: 6/10

Overall: 6/10

I would have scored this higher if it didn't take me literally 2 - 3 weeks to eventually just say bugger it and skipped the second half of Chisato's route. A game shouldn't make me feel like that.

See you all next VN.

Anime Relations: Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de

Well just in time for the New Year, another Visual Novel is done and dusted. This one managed to swoop in totally unannounced to me on my usual go to site for these things. Given the choice of playing KoiChoco and this, I chose this owing to the fact I knew nothing about this one. It's been an interesting week slogging through this so here is a brief overview on the game, characters and my general opinions on them.

Story
The general idea of the plot is you take on the role of a 3rd Year high school student named Takumi Fujishima. He is hopelessly poor and has just lost his job owing to his boss skipping town without paying him. The twist of fate that happens to him
is when he runs into another boy escaping a kidnapping. The unusual element is that he looks exactly the same as Takumi. The protagonist leads the kidnappers away from him in an attempt to save him without knowing who he is. The doppelganger is a man called Shuri Kanemoto and he is the son of a very wealthy family. However he is not in the best of health so at the request of his family and the desperate financial state of the protagonist asks him to be a body double for him while he is in the hospital awaiting surgery. As you can imagine, learning how to be a wealthy son at a high class school is no easy feat and it leads to quite a lot of amusing incidents. Takumi meets up with numerous characters, not all romantically. Can he balance his romances and friendships along with the secret of keeping his identity? That's for you to find out by playing through the game.

Characters


Akari Kanemoto
Shuri's older sister, she is a second year at Rokuroku Academy. She is also daughter of the Kanemoto family so she is held in high regard at the Academy. She has a shy side at times and exhibits a Tsundere attitude but isn't violent. She takes it upon herself to help Takumi transition into Shuri's role in the Academy.


Hinata Kunihiro
Hinata is Takumi's kouhai from his former school. She is the granddaughter of the Motoshige group's chairman though she didn't know til recently. She doesn't have any Ojou-sama traits and is very down to earth and bubbly. She is smarter than she appears to be but struggles to keep up with the Rokuroku Academy's pacing despite having good grades at her previous school.


Shizuru Masamune
Shizuru is the granddaughter of the Rokuroku Academy chairman. She is very diligent in her studies and her etiquette. However she absolutely hates to lose in anything and tries her hardest to be the best. She has a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to her chest as she is in her second year as well.


Maya Nagamitsu
Maya is the calm and collected cool beauty of the first year class at Rokuroku Academy. She has a tough time making friends and has a tougher time talking about family matters. She is continually followed by her childhood friend Kotetsu Nagasone who proclaims her to be his "Ojou" and "Most Important Person".


Sena Tsukimaya
Sena is a maid of the Kanemoto family and more notably Akari's personal attendant. She attends Rokuroku Academy but takes the servant curriculum so she doesn't have special classes like Economics like the others in afternoons. She is very diligent in her work but has a tendency to misconstrue most statements as innuendos. She also has a talent for cooking where it doesn't matter what she uses, whether it it great quality ingredients or cheap ones to make anything she makes "Averagely tasty".

Art

I honestly liked the art of the game, the CG's were very nice for the most part and I love SD CG's in VN's. They can be so cute to look at and really set a mood well. It's not the crispest art I've seen by any means but it does the job really well and it's certainly not a detriment to the game in the slightest. There could have been more backgrounds though, alot of the ones used are done to the point of exhaustion. Like there is only two parts of town it seems according to backgrounds. It's a small grievance but nothing really worth downrating it for.

Sound
The Voices are good, a couple of cast members from Grisaia are in here and perform splendidly. Shizuru's VA is particular deserved so much praise for her role in the game. I haven't fell for a character from voice alone for a very long time in one of these games.
The music for the most part isn't bad, there are a couple of good tracks, notably ones were dramatic things or explanations are happening. I particularly like the one called "Silence", it reminded me quite a lot of the G-Senjou soundtrack when I played that years ago.

H-Scenes
Where would I be without talking about the H-Scenes? On the whole they tend to be pretty formulaic but there were a couple of exceptions. Shizuru's again were the best ones as they broke the mould that the others had set. There were some really good ones though and for the most part they weren't rushed. Also the game didn't give the impression that the MC had a machine gun. I think a couple of scenes have 3 money shots but thats purely because of the MC and Heroine being apart for so long and it's symbolism for them being back together I would guess.

Route thoughts

Maya: 7/10
Maya was very appealing to me very early. She had a nice gap moe from the cool outside to the romantic feelings later on in the route. The drama was a little bit fast which is my main grievance especially considering it actually took a while for the relationship to progress. Also one too many H-Scenes. I found myself just wanting to get to the conclusion during it. The epilogue was ok but a bit short and inconclusive.

Sena: 5.5/10
Sena was a bit of an enigma to me. Her habit of misconstruing everything as an innuendo was both annoying and endearing at the same time. The romance didn't feel as natural as with Maya. I have the same grievance with this route as I did with Maya's before it. The drama was there but it was dealt with exceptionally quickly so the route was more like 95% fluff and 5% drama. I prefer a bit more substance in my routes. The epilogue again didn't really confirm or deny anything. Sadly I expect this to be a running theme.

Hinata: 6/10
Hinata as a character I viewed as the lesser of two lolis. I'm not a fan of a girl referring to herself in the "boku" manner. The drama was quick still like all the others so far but it was a bit better. The relationship took a little while to form which is to be expected as this is a prime example of the "friendzone" in a visual novel format. The one plus this route had over the others I've done so far as that the epilogue was much nicer. This one was a proper timeskip which is what the other two were sorely lacking.

Akari: 7.5/10
Considering I wasn't really drawn to Akari in the first instance, this route surprised me in many ways. The romance was tastefully done, it's always nice to see a transition from Tsun to Dere in an eroge. Akari isn't a violent tsundere either which made this much nicer in the long run. The drama was also much better done. I actually felt feelings of anger and disdain for the antagonists on this route. Akari's Dad was also one of the best things on this route. I love a funny doting parent as much as the next guy but it was definitely one of the highlights of the route. The epilogue is a timeskip but not to the degree of Hinata's sadly (I would have loved to have seen that.) but it was still quite a touching point to go out on.

Shizuru: 9.5/10
From the very first time I saw the cover art for the game I always knew that Shizuru was my heroine of choice. Everything about this route and the heroine herself was done really really well. I'm not normally one for H-Scenes making a route great either but Shizuru's were fantastic as they didn't feel like they followed the same formula as all the others. The interactions between Takumi and Shizuru were easily the best out of the whole game. The route was also longer than all of the others but it never felt like it. I almost, 'almost' approached tears as the route concluded. It tugged on the heartstrings so well. The epilogue is the only grievance I have from this being a 10/10 route for me, simply because the next morning isn't exactly a timeskip. It was still good in the regard that it shown the character motivations and where they would go from there though. All in, I'm extremely glad that I played this route last as nothing else in this game could approach the feels and the drama that this one provided.

Conclusion

All in all, I liked the game, it's by no means the best I've played but it was a fun playthrough, I ended it on a high note with Shizuru which will always make it good for me. I am aware that there is a Hotaru route (Why I have no idea), but I'm really not too interested in pursuing it. She barely has ten minutes screentime across the whole game so I don't see why she would have a route over Makoto. The biggest disappointment this game gave me was that there wasn't a Makoto route, she was easily the best girl for me behind Shizuru. The main problem I have with the game itself though is with the exception of Akari and Shizuru's routes, the drama was introduced and then solved again in the space of ten minutes. It felt like there was no real danger or threat the MC at all because of it. That's of course why I rate the two best routes higher than the others.

How I rate the girls: Shizuru > (Makoto) > Maya > Sena > Hinata > Akari

Ratings

Story: 6.5/10
Characters: 8/10
Art: 7.5/10
Sound: 7/10
H-Scenes: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

That pretty much sums it up, do you agree with me? If you do or you don't post a comment and let me know, as always I love talking VN's with other players!!

Anime Relations: Clannad, Clannad: After Story

A word of warning, this blog entry DOES contain spoilers, not massive ones but spoilers nonetheless.



Another VN completed, another review and thoughts. I saw this game posted in the VN Petition club about a year or two ago, I think it was when the translation project properly took off. So I was quite happy when I finally saw that the game had been translated and released on my usual site.

I'll be honest, I was probably a bit shallow when I initially added this to the list on vndb. The art instantly caught my attention. Most notably Riho's character design caught my interest. So for that reason alone, I picked the game up with a priority to play through at least her own route.

For the sake of saving time, character descriptions and images are credit to vndb.org.

Characters

Nagisa Kariu


Umi's childhood friend and the resort manager. Her duties as a manager is perfect, no matter what problem she comes across, she solves them very neatly. For people that make a mistake or break the rules, she will calmly ask for the reason and will not harshly blame them and will try to understand them. Because of her intellectual side her words might seem stern, but she is very kind and cares a lot about her workers.

Riho Kitsuki


Gentle, easy to get along with others and an attentive girl. She speaks with the "desu wa" or "desu no" and other typical ojou-sama speech patterns. She is a bit off her knockers sometimes, relaxed and happily invading other people's personal area. She feels there is no concept between men and women, so she is constantly hugging the protagonist. She has a clumsy side, sometimes falling down in plain areas, but during work she is more focused than everyone else, after work she will look for other things to do. She came to the island to experience society since she came from a wealthy family.

Umi Kouzaki


The protagonist's kouhai from university, she gives off the aura of being unapproachable. Stern but polite girl, she is calm and determined. She acts hasty and is very careful, but sometimes she is very clumsy. She appears mature but often she becomes childishly stubborn. When the protagonist gets close to another girl she will reveal her jealous side.

Shiori Maki


One of the resort staff. She is a very shy girl, and is always working quietly. Occasionally she would use her cute appearance and ecchi talk which surprises the others, but in the end she is a very hard working girl. At first glance she will have a cold face, but if stared at she will go red in the face very fast. Nagisa places a great deal of trust in her, and loves her like a family. Her hobby is painting, during her day offs she would do nothing but paint.

Sango Tsukumi


She came to the island together with her friend Konami during the summer vacations to work for cold hard cash. A cheerful girl, she looks at everything positively and is a mood maker. Because everyone around her is older, she planned to use honorifics but failed massively. She has a very straightforward personality and can speak to the protagonist normally, she also lovingly refer to Umi as "Umi-oneechan". She is very good friends with Konami and is always worried about her, but at the same time she works really hard.

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Route Impressions:

Riho: 7.5/10

Riho struck me as the most appealing appearance wise of all the heroines from the moment I saw the first picture of this VN. So it made sense that I went for her first.The route threw me some curves quite early on, I honestly didn't expect to get to any H-Scenes for a very long time as she seems like quite a reserved character.Not only did Riho actually do the initial confession, but H-Scenes followed within 20 minutes of said confession haha.I'm not complaining though as the drama in this route was actually done pretty well and really made you wonder why she acts the way she does. The conclusion is a little bit rocky though but that's more than made up for by the epilogue which follows after the credits. I'm a big fan of timeskip epilogues and this is a decent one.

Shiori: 6/10

Shiori on first impressions (Appearances only) was the heroine I had the least interest in. However her personality is what got my interest. She wasn't simply a cookie cutter of a character trait. Once again quite surprised at how the relationship came about in the first place. Though considering how the one before this went I'm beginning to see this as a recurring theme where the MC doesn't actually initiate the first act.The drama kept me guessing for a while, though I guessed the trauma as soon as the flashback started which was unfortunate. The conclusion of the route was pretty predictable if I'm honest but it wasn't unwelcome. However a bad end would have been a hell of a curve ball and I might even have rated it higher had it happened. Timeskip epilogue wasn't as good as Riho's but it was still fine.

Nagisa: 6.5/10

Nagisa honestly surprised me a bit. Her gap moe factor is pretty high though I'll be the first to admit I didn't like the whole horny drunk. I didn't like how Soutarou didn't seem to have any willpower even though he should have. It wouldn't have made the relationship any less cute. The drama was very short and quite predictable for this route as well. However it was nice to see Wataru be a bit more than simply a bishounen as he has been in the other routes I have played to this point. The timeskip was nowhere near as conclusive but it was about what I expected. Though a return to the island for the grand opening would probably have been the best way to handle it.

Umi: 8/10

It's clear the writer and the artists put a lot of work into Umi's character and route. Her route was at least a good hour longer than the others and she had 2+ more H-Scenes in her itinerary. The drama was very realistic, no unbelievable plot twists or anything and for that I commend it. It was actually quite a down to earth route on the whole and that is why I score it as I have. Timeskip wasn't really a timeskip but it got it's point across well enough.

Sango: 7/10

Despite the fact that I love genki loli characters in VN's. This route left me wanting just a bit. There was one reason and one reason only for this...Konami. I understand why she was there but what I don't get is why there couldn't have been a route for Konami instead where you solved her negativity. It felt like Sango wasn't really the focus of this route outside of her having H-Scenes. I love alot of romantic development scenes but they were kinda pushed to the side because of the drama with Konami. On the plus side though, I adored her voice though. It was really cute. Her timeskip was appropriate though the fact that they are a long distance relationship where every other route something a bit more concrete is established is a bit of a let down.


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The best thing about this VN in comparison to alot of the others that I have played in the past is surprisingly the realism of the H-Scenes. For once the MC is not a stallion with a rapid fire cannon. It's something that has irked me about many VN's in the past is how they have the stamina to achieve release multiple times. (I've seen double figures in one session, now even at the highest pinnacle of a man's sex drive, you would be lucky to go above five I reckon.) But this game reaffirmed my belief that it's not all about a money shot. The MC will go twice maximum and even then it's not a simple stop and start which I can appreciate. However this could be due in part to the fact the MC is a college student and not a high school student like in many of these games so his libido is in a bit more control than many others I've seen.

Not a massive point but just an observation that I noticed throughout the game.

Anyway my review scores are as follows:

Story/Plot: 5/10
Characters: 7/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
H-Scenes: 8.5/10
Overall: 7/10

All in all, not a bad game. A bit light on plot for my tastes but the art style and some quirky characters made up for a lot of the shortcomings.

See you all next time for my next review and thoughts!

Anime Relations: Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!

Well I didn't think this game would be out for a good couple of years seeing as how it wasn't long ago that the original game's translation project was completed after a REAAAAAAAAAALLLLY long time.
However I won't say I wasn't pleasantly surprised that the translation for the follow up became available on my birthday this year. Having only finished the original a couple of months ago, this couldn't have came at a better time.
I still remembered the game and the characters vividly so there was very little that I couldn't remember when I started playing Majikoi S.

As this is a follow up game, I won't bore you with character introductions for the most part. I'll introduce the new characters with completable routes that are brought into the plot on this game though.

New Characters:



Tsubame Matsunaga is a classmate of Kawakami Momoyo, so she attends class 3-F.

Tsubame is a cheerful girl who is a little bit of a tsundere.

Tsubame shares Momoyo's love for battle and because of this has become good friends with her.

Tsubame has an MO of not taking a fight unless she knows she can win.

Tsubame agreed to transfer to Kawakami Academy on the note that her father said that she would face strong opponents there.

Tsubame loves to eat natto to the point where it becomes an obsession as she advertised the natto she loves to eat as well as singing the natto song. She is known as the "Natto Komachi".

Tsubame can fight with or without a weapon as she has studied different combat styles.

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Monshiro Kuki is the youngest child of the Kuki conglomerate.

Monshiro joins Kawakami Academy and joins the illustrious class 1-S.

Monshiro is watched over by her exceptionally strong butler, Hume.

She is very upbeat, just like both Hideo and Ageha. She even has her own spin on the famous Kuki laugh.

There are a couple of things about her I can't mention without properly spoiling her route so I won't.

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Kokoro Fushikawa is a student of class 2-S in Kawakami Academy. She is the heiress of the Fushikawa clan (one of the three noble families of Japan) who likes to brag about her noble lineage.

Egotistic, she has a massive superiority complex. She doesn't have a good relationship with the members of class 2-F, since she considers them inferior and loves to show her superiority to them.

Yamato tends to put her in her place when she bullies his friends. When this happens, Kokoro usually asks for help from Aoi Touma or Hideo Kuki to get revenge for her.

Kokoro doesn't like the uniform of the school, and she prefers to go in her high-class Kimono, to show the difference in class between her and the rest.

Quite good in close combat as she is well versed in Judo, but tries not to fight stronger opponents.

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Margit Eberbach is an officer of the German Army and works under the direct command of Frank Friedich (Chris' father). Since most of her missions consist of locating and exterminating the enemy, she received the nickname of "The Hound".

She specializes in CQC (Close Quarters Combat). Margit also uses a pair of tonfas to fight. Margit can measure the strengh of a person by his/her stance and/or aura.

Margit has shared the battlefield many times with Azumi Oshitari (Hideo Kuki's personal maid), also known as "Queen Bee".

Margit has an eyepatch covering her left eye to restrict her own power and only takes it off when she finds a worthy opponent.

Margit transferred to Kawakami Academy to take care of Christiane Friedich (a request from Chris's Father), but she was also worried about Chris, since she knew her from an early age.

She has a sister-relationship with Chris, and she calls Margit, "Maru-san".

Even though she already graduated from high school, she was allowed to enter class 2-S, because Kawakami Academy values strength of the people more than anything. She refuses to use the uniform of the academy, and prefers to use her military uniform.

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Tatsuko Itagaki is the middle sister of the Itagaki household.

Despite appearing very laid back, when she opens her eyes, she becomes an absolute demon on the battlefield. Strength almost rivalling Momoyo.

She dotes on Yamato and is very easy to read thanks to her attitude most of the time.

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Route Impressions: As I played them!

Tatsuko: 6/10

I absolutely adore Tatsuko, the final route from the original game left me wanting so much more from her. So when I was told there was a route for her in this game it was my first choice. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of sleepy "fuwa-fuwa" moments but it just didn't grasp me quite like I wanted. It didn't feel like a personal route for her at all as both Ami and especially Angel get plenty of moments during the course of it. The route felt very harem-esque when for once I didn't want it to. It was nice to see an after story to the Agave story from the original game though so I give it points for that.

Kokoro: 9/10

I really enjoyed this route. The transition from Tsun to dere is actually really well executed. What made this route stand out to me was that the pairing after playing the original game is a prime example of a "what if" as its an unlikely pairing. One of the few things I always wanted to happen in the game was for Yamato to ultimately join the S-Class and what better route for it to happen than this one? After playing this, even with her high and mighty attitude I can't bring myself to hate Kokoro anymore.

Iyo: 4/10

This route felt tacked on and to be honest it was. It's very short and seems to come out of absolutely nowhere which is a shame as they could have fleshed out Iyo's character a bit more. She goes into this game with no personality outside a baseball obsession and ends her appearance in this game with nothing more than that. The H-Scenes felt quite forced in this route as it didn't take long to get there at all.

Margit: 7/10

I enjoyed this route, probably more than I should have. I don't generally like the mature women in the routes. Margit is 21 so there is quite an age gap between her and Yamato. However seeing the gap moe effect as her route progresses is actually quite rewarding. Seeing the really strong Hound being dependant on a guy quite a bit younger and weaker than her was quite an interesting development. Also how the whole relationship comes about it pretty damned funny but I'll let you see for yourself.

Kosugi: 5/10

This route was PREMIUM! Just kidding. It's a hidden extra which I only knew about with the walkthrough I was using. It's a character I never thought about and is a bit more rushed than even Iyo's route as it's purely there for fanservice. Pretty much just an H-Scene but it's a fun one. Kosugi is pretty cute though but there is no real potential in the main storyline to actually have a plot revolve around her which is unfortunate.

Tsubame: Yamato Leads: 7/10

I liked the whole tournament thing that was done during the initial part of her route. The thing I like about Tsubame as that there is a bit more depth to her character than is initially displayed. She is very appealing to look at and her personality changes depending on what choice you pick at the confession stage which is nice. It's amazing what sort of changes happen simply from that one choice. This was the choice that I picked initially and I'd argue it's not even the better one of the two. But you will see for yourself.

Tsubame: Tsubame Leads: 8/10

The tournament thing happens prior to the branch off point so I can't say anymore about it. However I feel that on this path, there is far more closure between Tsubame and Momoyo as it focuses on that portion of her story more. Tsubame is still cute whether she is in charge or not. Interested to see exactly what a timeskip future would have for her and Yamato though as both characters are very driven at what they do.

Monshiro: 10/10

Easily the most endearing heroine to me. I'll be the first to admit that I am a lolicon in the 2D world but everything about her was really cute. Add to the fact you have the added bonus of extra time with Hideo and Ageha who I think are two really awesome side characters makes this route really fun. So many "HNNNNGH!" moments in this route. I found her spin on the Kuki laugh as really cute as well.

Momoyo: 7/10

I like the gap in her character since she gets together with Yamato. The route was a 3 hour-ish exploration of that. Unfortunately with it being an after story, it feels like it's there for fanservice and well...it is. It's nice to see a bit more of Yamato's ambition but there is nothing definitive from the original route that he promises to do which is a shame.

Yukie: 4/10

Not really much of anything in this route but regular fluff. Doesn't have the charm of the original's story for her as Matsukaze doesn't exist in phone strap form anymore. Yukie herself was always a pretty dull character without the tsukkomi character of Matsukaze to bounce off of. The plot for her doesn't really progress and the H-Scenes don't feel very good in relation to alot of the others.

Chris: 7/10

The H-Scenes were still nice on this route but thankfully it wasn't the primary concern. It was actually a decent After Story which actually gives a bit more of an insight into the future that Yamato and Chris would have together. Plenty of humor as well. I don't particularly like Chris as a heroine in comparison to alot of the others but she does match up quite well with Yamato on this route.

Miyako: 5/10

Just like the original route, this is pretty much just H-Scenes compressed into a single route. There really isn't much plot to speak of and nothing truly progresses. It's a shame as I quite like Miyako but unfortunately she is a very one-dimensional character. This route almost feels like it undoes the revelation she has in her original game story.

Yumiko: 2/10

This route came out of left-field. Not once have I considered her a potential partner for Yamato. Add to that, the H-Scene is practically a rape scene really is a bit of a put-off.

Kazuko: 9/10

After playing the original game through and falling pretty heavily for Kazuko's character, seeing new material for her was a great experience. She evolved so much in the original game that seeing her on the route to her ultimate goal and striving towards it was very heartfelt. I've always believed that she was the best match for Yamato as they both have what each other is lacking and the motivation to reach for it. I could watch the whole story running up to the epilogue with no complaints.

True: 9/10

This route felt very similar to the Momoyo route in the main game what with it being full of confrontation. The difference with this one was seeing loads of animated battles which were really nice eye candy. The villians were quite endearing for the most part as well. Also nice to see people like Shakadou and Tatsuko kicking ass with fluid motions. All in all it was very enjoyable even though it's one of those alternate dimension kind of things.

Koyuki: 6/10

I love Koyuki, it was something I always wanted to happen in the main game. However after the true route which didn't really have much development for this route, it felt incredibly rushed. Almost like they couldn't wait for the H-Scene. The main grievance I have is the fact that this will probably be the only time she is featured as a conquerable heroine and they don't show a conclusion which is a real pity. I was hoping so much to be in a group with Touma and Jun as well for this route and was left disappointed.

So all in all I like the heroines in this order...

Monshiro > Kazuko > Kokoro > Tsubame > Koyuki > Tatsuko > Momoyo > Miyako > Angel > Margit > Chris > Kosugi > Iyo > Ami > Yumiko

----------------------------------------------------

To sum up, the game was good but I didn't find it as good as the original. Despite the addition of a new favourite character to the franchise in Monshiro it still didn't win me over quite as much as getting to know the Kazama family for the first time.
Monshiro's route was definitely the highlight as getting in with the Kuki family would help Yamato accomplish his goal of becoming Prime Minister much easier than him going it alone. It's one of those plot points that is pretty much pushed to the side like alot of motivations from the original game. The side routes feel tacked on as nothing more than fanservice as there is very little plot that supports them. That irks me quite alot as they could have at least added about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes of plot instead of just throwing the heroine together with Yamato and "stuff" happens. This doesn't mean I wouldn't want to read Majikoi A-1 if it's ever translated, hell one of the only characters that haven't had a route done for them is on it and she would be very interesting I'm sure. *coughAzumicough*

I'll rate the areas I rated on my Hoshizora entry to make it consistent and give an overall grade.

Story/Plot: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
H-Scenes: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Thanks for reading, if you agree with my opinions or disagree with them, feel free to post a comment below, I like a good debate after all.

Hoshizora no Memoria Review



Company: FAVORITE
Release Date: 27/03/2009
Genre: Eroge, School, Romance, Drama



Hoshizora no Memoria is a game released by a company called FAVORITE and is a Visual Novel which ties in with school life and more unusually the stars. As the title suggests. The game is all about stories rotating round the main character and there are even trace elements on how we as a race fit into the universe. However I will touch upon that later.

Opening Theme

Eternal Recurrence
Artist: Aragaki Toshio



The OP is very vibrant and illustrates the characters giving away very little spoilers actually which is a very pleasant surprise. I've played many a visual novel to have the OP inadvertantly give away some pretty big plot points. Some people wont notice these but the particularily observant player can and it can ruin a plot point or two. The theme itself is very upbeat and actually matches the PV that goes along with it which once again is fairly unusual. All in all it qualifies as one of my favourites that I've heard so far.

Story:

I don't intend to really give too much away here but I will give a brief synopsis which should hopefully help you decide if this is worth trying or not.



You play the role of "Kogosaka You" who has just returned to the small mountain town of Hibaragasaki after his mother has died. Kogasaka (I intend to call him this from here out as "You" will be confusing I fear) and his sister Chinami move in with his late mother's sister Shino and attempt to start a brand new life from there. As is prevalent in these games, the two of them used to live in Hibaragasaki until 7 years ago where they moved away with their mother to the city (It isn't specified which). The prologue shows Kogasaka at a place known simply as "the lookout" which has a beautiful view of the night sky. He meets a young girl and plays with her every day before he has to move away. This only lasts a month but the memory stays with him the entire time he is away as she gives him his first kiss...albeit on the forehead.
So when Kogasaka returns, he makes it his mission to look for the girl from his memories. Upon his return, he goes to the lookout to find it fenced off. Finding a way in and returning to the observation platform from his memories, he doesn't meet the girl of his memories but instead meets a young grim reaper known to him only as "Mare". She appears to look almost exactly like the girl from his memories but looks the same age as when he last saw her. Mare tells Kogasaka that she must reap his nightmare as it's what she promised to do. Before he can object, she cuts him with her scythe which causes him to forget the name of the girl from his past. So the story begins where Kogasaka remembers the girl and the past but he cannot remember his name at all so he cannot find her. So his hunt begins...



The Common route for the game (which to the Visual Novel beginner means the route before you choose a character and has most choices) is much longer than alot of the others that I have played before it. It's quite uncommon for a game's timespan to be more than a month in this genre but for alot of the characters, the common route before you even get to their plot is two months. There arent too many days that get skipped either so as you can imagine replaying through the common route even holding the ctrl key down can take quite some time to get to the next characters route that you wish to play. My suggestion is certainly to make a save at each choice point so that you can come back to it later and at least cut some of the time off as it can be really painful going through it the 5 times necessary before the True route becomes available.

A couple of the plots are very short which I have a complaint with in some regards. Chinami's felt like it was miniscule in comparison to the others and a couple of the other character routes felt quite bland. I went into Komomo's route expecting greatness but I felt it was a bit of a letdown however it is necessary as it does address plot points vital to the story as a whole. Also all the characters are not attainable straight away. Kosame requires you to have completed Komomo's route whereas Chinami requires you to have cleared Isuzu's. The true end requires the 5 heroines to all be cleared and Mare's requires you to have finished all of the prior ones.

Recommended Play Order:

Asuho, Komomo, Kosame, Isuzu, Chinami, "True", Mare

My Rankings for the Routes:

True, Mare, Asuho, Kosame, Komomo, Chinami, Isuzu

Characters:

Kogasaka You:

The main character (Not a faceless one for a change) that you play as throughout the story. He is on a search for the girl of his past and has a love for the starry sky because of her. Not a total spineless coward as alot of protaganists are and tends to solve things himself without relying on others. When he was a child he was very withdrawn and anti-social before he meets the girl in his past which slowly changes him. After he returns to Hibarigasaki he is quite a normal outgoing teenager. His interactions with his sister Chinami are always good for some hilarity. He is the master temple grinder.



Minahoshi Asuho:

One of You's classmates and the class rep of his class. She has quite a bubbly and outgoing personality (But not to the point of it being annoying). She is a very wholesome character who is always out to help others; normally before herself. She is also the vice president of the "Tenkuru" which stands for the Astronomy Lovers Circle and has a very keen love for the stars and their associated legends. Asuho especially likes the legends which have romantic histories to them even though she is absolutely hopeless in matters of the heart herself. She is generally the mood maker of the whole cast and can normally steer a depressing situation back to somewhere more cheerful. All in all, she is quite a nice "normal" character.



Hisakaki Komomo:

With her immediate appearance you can already tell she is the main tsundere of the cast. Sporting Blonde twin tails, it's like a formula. She is however a very diligent person deep down and despite wanting to shut down the Tenkuru for her own reasons (Which become apparent if you do her route) she always seems to help out in dire situations. She is a member of the Student Council and throws her weight around in there a bit. She harbors a hatred for the stars and the lookout though she herself doesnt know why, she just does. As Tsunderes go and I'm a big fan of them, I was quite disappointed with her. I feel the best part about going down a route with a Tsundere is how they break down into a dere eventually but I never really felt that that truly happened throughout her route at all.



Hisakaki Kosame:

Kosame is Komomo's twin sister and also her polar opposite personality wise. She is very reserved and polite but I dont think I could consider her deredere, she certainly isnt that. She has a tendency to think everything is an innuendo which in turn adds to her charm. She is also a member of the Tenkuru and is probably one of the main reasons that it still functions as she has a unique element of control over her twin sister. With her personality it's quite likely that she is a bisexual character as she hints at yuri elements all throughout to both Komomo and Asuho which are rather amusing.



Aoi Isuzu

Isuzu is a first year student at Hibari-Kou and Kogasaka's neighbour. She is very reclusive to the point of being offensive to anyone trying to talk to her. This is especially true when she associates with Chinami as Chinami is very loud in comparison to Isuzu's withdrawn nature. Frequent utterances of "Go die!" and "Go jump off a bridge" are commonplace when trying to speak to her. On a personal note, I didnt really like her. She just seemed to be offensive for the sake of it and even by the end of her route, she hasnt really changed a significant amount in her attitudes.



Kogasaka Chinami

Chinami is the ultimate genki character. She is so bubbly she is described as an "unexploded nuclear warhead". She can't cook at all and anything she does cook becomes something else entirely; normally something black and inedible. She keeps observation diaries on her brother much to his dismay and loves aliens and UFO's. She joins the Occult Society on a mission to have an alien "take her for a ride on it's UFO". Despite her overbearing enthusiasm she has a heart of gold and is certainly one of the most fun characters I've seen for a while.



Mare S Ephemeral

Mare is a grim reaper that Kogasaka meets at the lookout. She quickly makes it apparent that she doesnt reap lives but nightmares. In the prologue she reaps Kogasaka's nightmare which is the girl from his past. However she regularily appears at the lookout on starry nights. She is quite defiant and a completely different type of Tsundere from Komomo. On a personal note I think she is one of the most adorable characters I've ever seen as the way she acts is so cute and her route is just icing on the cake. It's worth the effort to reach. Other than the fact that she is a grim reaper...nothing else is known about her.



Graphics:

The graphics on Hoshizora no Memoria are really good, vibrant colours adorn every character and background. There is a unique feature as well which I will admit I never used as well with the CG's in game. You can zoom on any part of it up to x2.0 which allows you to play looking at what you want to look at. Looking at a pantsu shot has never been so easy.

There are SD Pictures which unfortunately dont appear in the CG section as you get them which are really well done. I think looking at Kosame chop Kogasaka on the head is really really cute and there are plenty of others which I consider to be really funny. The temple grinding is one you will regularily see and always gets a chuckle.



After you finish the game you get a Bustshot option which isnt what it sounds like. It's simply where you can take the sprite of the character you like, slap on your favourite costume and expression from them...pop them in some location they never appeared in and bang...screenshot. It's a nice addition especially for fans who want to get some extra pictures the game doesnt give.

Sound:

There is a plethora of tracks to choose from and you will have nearly all of them after finishing your first route so if you are a sound junkie you will find this to be pretty good that way. That being said though, there werent too many memorable tracks. You generally notice them when playing the game but not when you look for them in the sound menu...at least thats how it has been for me anyway. The voices are really good though. Asuho sounds really sweet, Mare sounds sweeter...dare I say it even Chinami is good at what she does. Her overly genki side is funny to listen to with some of the silly lines she spouts.

H-Scenes:

I will always say this in a visual novel, they are not generally necessary. I don't view them as a paramount part of any story, more as a reward for sticking with a set character. My opinion of the game would not change if they werent there but it's fine that they are. As usual some of the scenes are really good, I particularily liked Kosame's and Mare's but some were fairly indifferent to me. Alot of them felt forced as in it was like a checklist that it had to be done by a set date in the plot whether it felt natural or not. Mare's is certainly a topic for discussion as the lolicon nature of them is that strong that the version I had of the game had the CG's removed. It is fixable though so if anyone wants to know how I can let them know.



Final Scoring:

Story/Plot: 8
Characters: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound: 7.5
H-Scenes: 7.5
Overall: 8

I really enjoyed the game generally and the final route was so worth achieving. There is generally a character here for everyone which is why I think that anyone with a taste for the genre can enjoy it. Even if Chinami puts you off which I have heard many people say is the case...stick with it. The final route is worth obtaining and is quite heart wrenching affair. I wish I could speak about the character of the true route as I adore her almost as much as Mare but I simply dont want to riddle this with spoilers.

Walkthrough posted below as I know how hard it is to get an English one at the moment.

==========================================================================

Walkthrough:
Finish Komomo‘s route to unlock Kosame‘s
Finish Isuzu‘s route to unlock Chinami‘s
Finish Asuho, Isuzu, Komomo, Kosame and Chinami‘s routes to unlock the Mysterious Girl‘s route.
You must complete all the routes to unlock Mare‘s route.

Choices in parantheses () might not shows up, if they don’t appear, then simply ignore them.

Minahoshi Asuho – ?????:

Stay out of it.
Tell her.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
Grab on.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Aoi Isuzu – ???:

Cover up for her.
Don’t tell.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Welcome her.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Hisakaki Komomo – ?????:

Stay out of it.
Don’t tell.
(Forget it.)
Thank her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Give it a shot.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Hisakaki Kosame – ?????:

?You must do Komomo’s route to unlock Kosame’s

Cover up for her.
Tell her.
Try again.
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
……A couple?
(Stay still.)

Kogasaka Chinami – ?????:

?You must do Isuzu’s route to unlock Chinami’s

Cover up for her.
Tell her.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
Thank her.
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
Embrace her.

Mysterious Girl – ?:

?You must do the 5 above routes to unlock this route

Stay out of it
Don’t tell
Forget it
Tease her
Take her feelings to heart.
Keep silent
I can’t
Drop the subject
…………
Stay still.
(……Don’t say that.)
(I can’t accept her.)

Mare – ??:

?You must do the Mysterious Girl’s route to unlock Mare’s

Stay out of it.
Don’t tell.
Forget it.
Tease her.
Take her feelings to heart.
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
…………
Stay still.
…………
Respond to her feelings.

I have decided that with the lack of Visual Novel entries on MAL and the unlikely prospect of there being a Visual Novel option added for reviews and listing what you have and havent seen on here...I have decided that each time I completely clear a VN I will post a full review on what I thought of it.

Probably doesnt mean much to many people but I know some people on here that I have been discussing Visual Novels with in the last couple of months might be interested in seeing an in depth review or two.

So in the next day or say, I will be posting up my first review on Hoshizora no Memoria simply because I only just finished it in the last 24 hours so the story is still fresh in my head and the effect of the ending and characters is still strong in me at the moment.

So yes...watch this space =)