December 2011 Eroge Releases

WHITE ALBUM2 ~closing chapter~ and Gin no Toki no Corona highlight a lackluster month that is mostly full of remakes, sequels and fandisks. BaseSon celebrates their 10th anniversary with yet another heroine-laden title, Appare! Tenka Gomen, while EX-ONE debuts the first of three titles with Manatsu no Yoru no Yukimonogatari. Imoutos? Ya, there’s 365 of them in Latte’s Imouto Senbatsu☆ Sousenkyo.

A shame this month was so bad it required nukige padding just to have enough releases to justify a post. Apparently Merry Christmas in Japan means ____ you. In all seriousness though there has not been a month this bad in quite some time, I guess that is good in a way, more time for me to play Skyrim.

STAR←IDOL

Company: abelia
Game site: すたどる！
Release date: December 16, 2011 Delayed to January 27, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. Tatsuya is the producer of the 5-person idol group ‘Cinq Doll’ and anticipated great success for them, however the group’s popularity remained low. He was convinced that this was because there was no clear leader among the group, so he decided on a leadership competition where they will tour the country and the girl with the most fans will become the leader of the group.

Let’s ignore the obvious similarities to ChuxChu Idol and The idolm@ster and focus on what new things this game brings to the table. There’s… a rhythm game where your idol practices sucking on a banana. Actually, never mind. The PV feels like something from the 90s.

Yet another game about pimping out teenage idols. I do have to admit the sea cucumber and banana BJ DDR made me chuckle, in a bad way. I suppose people who actually like idol games may rejoice over something coming out this month, but this is even more shallow than most in a genre that already scrapes the bottom of the barrel. There is little worse than a game that is just so bad that it doesn’t even warrant scorn.

After playing the trial, I just wanted to say that the system got boring real fast. You can train your idols by getting them to suck on phallic objects, spend money on promoting her or spreading rumours about rivals, and battle other idols, where for some reason breasts jiggle and laser-like lines flash across the screen. I guess they’re supposed to be her charisma or something. If the presentation was better and the system felt like less of a chore, maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more.

Mebae

Company: たぬきそふと (Tanuki Soft)
Game site: めばえ
Release date: December 16, 2011
Comments:
Tanuki Soft’s fourth loli nukige title, depicting the beginning of sexual desire. Yuzuki enjoys his school life, even though he is constantly teased by his older sister Anna. Among his latest pleasures is his new-found love of masturbation. He finds out that it doesn’t just make him feel good, but is supposed to imitate sex. He collects porn on the internet and masturbates every day while imagining having sex with girls at the school. One day, he found himself alone with a girl from his class Riko and his desire to have sex grows stronger.

Nonohara Miki’s erokawaii designs make Tanuki Soft’s games popular, even though Mebae is slightly less loli than their previous works. An interesting note is that Riko isn’t a virgin and considers sex as her hobby. I believe this is the first time they’ve had a character like that. Maybe she’s interested in 3P too?

So to sum this up, we have a nukige based around the sexual exploits of a horny teen and the obviously less than legal “Heroines” he uses to satiate his overflowing hormones with. A game like this is so far from anything I consider worth consideration as there is no effort put in anything aside from the H content for other horny teens and lonely men to get off to. With no true plot to speak of what point is there for even bothering to take the time to create something like this in a visual novel format will forever elude me.

Sex sells. Loli sells.

So if I am reading that right, you buy lolis?

No, you should get your eyes checked.

Oh, I suppose it was my mistake then….

Kikouyoku Senki Gin no Toki no Corona

Company: ETERNAL
Game site: 輝光翼戦記 銀の刻のコロナ
Release date: December 16, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. The fantasy SRPG Gin no Toki no Corona follows ETERNAL’s previous title, Tenkuu no Yumina. Touka isn’t a normal student: he has the ability to sense and interfere in the purple-lit space known as ‘shinya’ (true night). One time in shinya, he met a strange girl named Tokino who also had the same ability as him. Then a woman named Murial descended from the skies and entrusted a small girl Corona to them. Even though she is an innocent girl right now, she is a dragon girl who possesses enough power to destroy the world. Murial tells them if they raise Corona right then they will be able to save the world from ending.

Corona uses a 3D map simulation and of course a vast array of skills during battle. Like in past games, the protagonist Touka is voiced. The scenario writers stay the same as Yumina, but the illustrators are new. Touka’s pretty chuunibyou. Pretty sure some people can’t wait for this to come out (and then spend many weeks or months playing it). Even if you didn’t play Yumina, you should be able to enjoy this if you like SRPGs.

I must say I preferred Eternal’s work when they were still Xuse, the eternity sword series in particular. Everything since going their separate ways has felt as though the concepts are lacking the depth to the concept and setting that made their previous games so good. This time we have an RPG version of 11eyes, which was certainly not the best game to mimic in my opinion. When the concept, story, and characters feel lacking something to stand out beyond the norm, I find it difficult to deal with the repetitive and time consuming gameplay required to complete their games. What I wouldn’t give for a “Skip all battles you have already won” button in these games so I only had to trudge through mediocre and outdated gameplay once yet still be able to read the variations in the individual routes.

OP2

Battle PV

HOTEL.

Company: 暁WORKS-黒- (Akatsuki Works Black)
Game site: HOTEL.
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
Keisuke is the vice manager of the Hotel Primeiro, a warm respite for the hearts of weary travellers. He is an overly serious individual who strictly enforces the hotel’s rules. In the comforts of his room, he listens to a melody over and over again. After he heard a similar music coming from the lobby, he headed there to find a girl playing the guitar. When he asked her for the name of the song she was playing, she rushed at him with a knife. Fortunately, he was able to stop her by grabbing the blade. She collapsed to the ground, not knowing why she just did that.

She later apologized for the incident, introducing herself as Sarah and requested to listen to his tape after he mentioned it. The soothing melody made her cry and she explained that it was composed by her precious friend Lucille who had been murdered. It was Lucille’s wish to let everyone her hear music and become happy, so she was travelling around and playing her songs to people in order to fulfill this wish. However, she decides to stay in the hotel for now.

I just can’t seem to get “Hotel California” out of my head. The tone of HOTEL. is serious but yet relaxing at the same time, with Keisuke, Sarah and possibly other residents harbouring their own dark pasts since, ya know… we’re all prisoners here, of our own device. The game is fully voiced and the relaxing classical and blues inspired BGMs are a nice compliment. Probably worth checking out to see how new writer Kanazuki Shizuku fares with the story.

Akatsuki doing a slice of life styled drama is about as backwards is if Nitro+ were to do an idol game or if Key made an action game, of course we know these things are impossible so why, just why Akatsuki? In all seriousness what is up with companies trying to make games that are the polar opposite of what their brand is known for?

My own questioning of business decisions aside, this game itself lacks direction, the vaguely nebulous impression it leaves upon closer inspection gives the game an air of pointlessness. There is little real direction to the story to bind the characters events and settings together in a coherent and recognizable form. Yes, there are plenty of themes in use, most of which are capable of supporting a good story of their own right, from the music theme, isolation, overcoming past traumas, all of which set in a backdrop of hotel management seems like a potential winner. However for all the elements in use we have no real central pillar that drives the story while acting as the foundation for the other themes. Without some main focus along which the characters can develop themselves and their stories the story feels a little too aimless to warrant much attention. All of that said, this is definitely the month for a game such as this to be released, during such a drought of decent games the ugly duckling suddenly looks so much prettier when surrounded by even uglier ducks. Provided the drama is not too overwhelming and force fed down our throats in the most unappealing ways as most dramas do, I have some hope for this game, not much though.

Princess-Style

Company: メテオ (Meteor)
Game site: Princess-Style
Release date: December 22, 2011 Delayed to February 24, 2012
Comments:
Madoka’s family were descendents from the nobles, but they have fallen on hard times. However, due to his father’s financial successes, they’ve regained some of their wealth. His old-fashioned father was strict about speech and appearances and arranged his transfer to the prestigious Ookusu Gakuin to help him become a proper man. On his way to the dorms on the first day, he came upon a beautiful girl in the school’s courtyard, who looked like a princess straight out from a children’s book. While he was entranced by her beauty, she suddenly opened her eyes, looked at him and let out a scream, causing him to run away startled.

When he reached the boys’ dormitory, he found the same girl from before, Orfina, in his room. She is the princess from a small Northern European country who came to study at the school. However, she refused to live at the embassy and snuck into an empty room (which is now his) with her servant Kanon. Even though it was against the rules, she was determined to stay there and ends up taking over most of his room. Thus began his strange co-living with a proud princess. Over time, he became closer to her. Madoka had a difficult time adjusting to the high culture at the school. There is a group known as the Reijinkai where those in the nobility gather. They invited Orfina to join them, but were turned down. After some commotion, he ended up creating the Shakoubu with Orfina to oppose the Reijinkai. Which group would be able to gather more members?

I’d gladly have a cute princess living with me; it would’ve made school a lot more fun. However, I don’t really understand why they had to introduce the ‘club vs club’ aspect when there’s already so many plot devices at their disposal. Meteor’s games are more about character than story (see: Yaya) and this seems to be the same as usual for them. Ayame is really cute (and a double A!).

This game feels like a twisted combination of Duelist x Engage and Princess Lover with some KoiChoco thrown in for good measure. Not the best combination by any stretch and I can only question why they bothered to include so many plot devices in a story that is devoid of well.. story. The entire club battle theme would have been best used on the route of a specific heroine or heroines rather than as a general story device while the whole princess in his room thing is just plain boring with how the writers force that situation to bring the characters together. Perhaps had the creators been bothered to take the time to develop the setting and story better they could have given the characters in this character based game a background that brings out their charms. Instead we get a trite and cliche charage that has no value in terms of originality or artwork, sure if you enjoy reading the same stories about the same characters in the same situations this may not be so bad. I for one feel that this is yet another game to add to the pile of forgotten games that could have been had the creators bothered to take five extra minutes to brainstorm and flesh out the design and story of their game.

Meteor seems to like blonde main heroines, although this one isn’t a Yaya clone like Matsuri was.

In Japan foreigner = blonde, so as a foreign princess she needs to be blonde or else she would be Japanese.

Why didn’t I see pink and orange haired girls in Japan…

Colorblind?

WHITE ALBUM 2 ~closing chapter~

Company: Leaf
Game site: WHITE ALBUM 2 ~closing chapter~
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
This is the second part of the White Album 2 game, taking place three years after the end of the introductory chapter and adding new heroines Koharu, Chiaki and Mari. This is one of the most anticipated games of the month, if not the year, after a well-received prologue that featured beautiful visuals and an engaging story. If you haven’t played the first part, it might not be a bad idea to pick up the set of two games together. I feel the drama is a little over the top, but at least it has a decent story.

Did not play the first game, will not play the second. This series is about as interesting as it would be were it a game about the life of britney spears.

That game would be full of plot twists and appeal to those who like watching trainwrecks.

And end with a bunch of random kids from different fathers. Although at least unlike other southerners they wouldn’t be from her brothers, so that is a plus is suppose.

‘Oops, I did it again’ indeed.

*Cough*…. convincing you are not.

Appare! Tenka Gomen

Company: BaseSon
Game site: あっぱれ！天下御免
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
The famous Ooedo Gakuen is the home of students who will become the future leaders of Nihon. It is a mix of traditional setting and modern technology where students walk around with swords. Yakumo recently transferred to the school and he is very satisfied with the school life. There is a school rule that students must earn money to support their own expenses, in order to learn how to be independent. He helps out at a nearby tea shop, but soon after he starts some delinquents pick on him. A girl on a white horse, Yoshine, appears and dispatches them after a lively swordfight. Touched by her pure sense of justice, he ends up helping her in her quest to change the world.

BaseSon’s 10th anniversary work follows the same format as Koihime and turn historical characters from the Edo era into girls. However, only one of the 11 writers (Kamishiro Izumi) worked on the Koihime project, while the rest mostly worked on nukige, underperforming titles or Zettai★Maou. As much as I liked Koihime, I’m quite hesitant about playing this one.

The original Koihime was a decent game despite the lack of character development, stories, and routes despite the overabundance of H content. Every sequel since the original only made things worse by embracing what was bad about the original to exclude everything that made the game worth playing. Now we fast forward to Appare and we see BaseSon going the Moeshouden route right from the start, too many characters, too much H content, too little story, setting, and character development. A shame really as the type of gender swap stories that BaseSon seems to love making can be rather interesting, especially when combined with their better than average character designs. However their choice of quantity over quality certainly hinders their own games as even if you like a character from one of their games there is so little development it feels so lacking as though it were a trial route instead of a full route of character development. Without a feeling of satisfaction at the end of a route I can only conclude that the route was a failure in its very purpose. If you happen to like 3+ player games with lots of wanton and poorly developed H scenes with a wide variety of character types then give it a shot, if like me you prefer quality over quantity then steer well clear of what is likely to be a harem charage with little story to drive it.

As much as I’d like to disagree with you, the issue of quantity vs quality is an important one. With such a huge cast, it’s natural to play the charas that you’re interested in, and the routes would be too short to satisfy the player. What I like about these games though is that they do try to fit in the historical references from a different perspective. Maybe that’s why they needed so many chars since there’s just too many feudal lords and what not in the past.

I agree about the historical references being interesting and a good point for those games, but with all the multiple partners and lack of real character development and routes the whole thing is so unsatisfying. Maybe instead of the giant games they could have released smaller individual games changing perspectives and situations for the protagonist or something. Would allow for better story and character development and still let them cover all those characters.

PV

Amakan Ecchi na “Love Icha” Tsumechaimashita

Company: PeasSoft
Game site: あまかん えっちな“ラブいちゃ”詰めちゃいました
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. Amakan is the fandisk for Ama Ane (Otome and Natsumi) and Kimi o Aogi Otome wa Hime ni (Hitomi and Rin). It also includes the standard version of Tsun na Kanojo Dere na Kanojo and an original story titled ‘Iinazuke wa Imouto-sama!’. Hayao lives with his true imouto Yuuna, but they don’t really get along. A beautiful girl who he had never seen before, Haruka, suddenly showed up and announced that she was Hayao’s imouto and also his fiancée. Yuuna opposed Haruka’s declaration since she had secret feelings for him. Neither would back down and it ended with Yuuna proclaiming that she was going to marry him as well.

Yeah, this is pretty much a nukige fandisk if you hadn’t noticed from the cover. I’m fine with imoutos and all, but there’s no plot here. Pass.

Never was able to get very far into Ama Ane, despite repeated urgings to the contrary, and seeing as how nukige are not for me in the first place, I shall pass as well.

Iinazuke wa Imouto-sama! PV

Omae no Pantsu wa Nani-iro da!?

Company: Molamola.software
Game site: お前のパンツは何色だ!?
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
On Takato’s first day at Kojou Gakuen, an energetic girl Mitsuna ordered him to use his genius brain only for her sake for the next three years (and all this while he could see her panties clearly). For Takato who failed to make it into an overseas school of his choice and ending up transferring to Kojou Gakuen instead, of course he bluntly said no. However, she manages to convince him to join her unofficial club Tateyoko-kai that she is the leader of. The only thing that the Tateyoko-kai does is to ‘help others using words’. The other club members are just as weird as Mitsuna: do-M ojousama Yomi, poor girl Shizuku who masturbates everywhere, his osananajimi Sae who’s a stalker no matter how you look at it, and delusional denpa girl Sako.

And just like Amakan above, this one is pretty much a nukige too… or rather, a pantsu-ge. The game uses a ‘talk battle’ system where you have to choose a series of correct dialogue to persuade heroines or help solve their worries. It comes in various forms, such as a ‘Prevail mode’ and a ‘Detective mode’. There’s a sample of how it works on the game site. It’s an interesting idea, but I think it’ll be better with a timer and maybe some random effect so you can’t just memorize the right choices. But that still won’t get me to play this. Pass. And what’s with the rap in the BGM?

While the choice system is somewhat unique and an interesting idea I agree with Micchi that without a timer and randomized “correct” choice that changes based on a number of different potential interaction sequences it falls far short of its potential and is little more than a gimmick. As much as I like stalker characters and comedy games, the rap BGM, choices that are essentially no different than normal, interesting characters, yet a boring plotline I can’t see this game as worth much. Maybe if you took the characters out of the rest of this game and put them somewhere else I would want to play it.

System

Hiyoko Strike!

Company: イグジット (Ex-iT)
Game site: ひよこストライク！
Release date: December 22, 2011 Delayed to January 27, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. The usual classroom. The usual boring lesson. Shin stared outside blankly and then suddenly a girl appeared… outside the 2nd floor window! She jumped in from the window and introduced herself as Utakata. Everything else was just as illogical: taking her clothes off while standing on the desk, sticking her finger up his nose, and having things that look like animal ears and tail. His head hurt from all this, but at the same time he was also a bit excited since the world that he knew became more vivid.

A random but cute game. I don’t think it intends to take itself seriously since one of the heroines is called ‘Classmate A’ since Shin never remembers her name. Shin’s blood-related imouto Hina looks like she could be a good amaenbou type. One thing I noticed is that the illustrator sure loves using glow effects. I don’t think it’s natural for a girl to be glowing like a firefly at night.

The main problem with this game is there is not enough direction to the story. So a strange girl comes along and brightens up his otherwise dull life is fairly standard, however where do we go from there? Sure I can think of plenty of outcomes, but it is sorely lacking a driving force behind the story and characters to make things interesting enough for people to want to buy this game. Still there is a lingering desire to fill in that huge blank, so given how boring this month is I may see what it has to offer, can’t be any worse than the rest of the monotonous high school based eroge.

I disagree with Micchi on the glow effects, i didn’t see any abusive use of glow effects beyond the illustrator paying attention to light sources and shades far more than the usual lazy or inept artists. Well that said I can’t say I agree with the style itself, as it does not suit my taste and I feel that the inking, lineart, and shading all seem to contradict and contrast each other.

Furifure 2

Company: Noesis
Game site: フリフレ2
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
The sequel to Noesis’ Furifure, although the characters are different. Kaito has been visiting the find-a-partner BBS “FreeFriends” to buy sex since he finds it difficult to have close relationships. It is through this site that he hooks up with his long-separated blood-related imouto Sumire, who doesn’t know that he is her older brother. Just like in the previous title, you can choose between pure or dark love.

A high immorality rating on this one. He should just tell her that he’s her older brother, that he loves her and she should call him onii-chan or nii-san. I’m sure she’ll happily oblige.

Without the whole random partner crap on a sex friend site the method of bringing previously aquainted characters together is an interesting device with a lot of untapped potential as most of the games that have made use of it were failures. Obviously the only reason this is here is because it features an imouto, and Micchi can never resist that. Although the potential of the dark side makes me almost want to play just to spite Micchi and friends by abusing an imouto.

Zen, you’re not playing this game.

But think of the wonderful little sister screen shots i could share with you!

Hanasaku Otome to Koi no Grimoire

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debonosu)
Game site: 花咲く乙女と恋の魔導書（グリモア）～ギルドのない村にギルドを作ろう！～
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
Lime and Sheena are dragon girls who wanted to be of help to the world and joined an adventurer’s guild to undertake quests. One day, the guildmaster asked them if they wanted to start a guild in a town that doesn’t have one. They happily accept the challenge and head off to the remote village of Erile. Along the way, they saved a young boy Ein from monsters. He tells them that he used to be bigger, but was turned into a small boy by the monsters’ magic and asks for their help in returning him to his normal form.

This time the RPG system is in 3D, similar to those regularly found in MMOs. They’ve also added a magic synthesis system, as well as the ability to build a guild that you can customize. There’s a variety of quests to do and items to gather, with which you can customize your guild house. The game is fully voiced, including Ein. Not only are Lime and Sheena quite loli in looks, but they’re voiced by the lethal combo of Sakakibara Yui and Hokuto Minami. If you can’t stand high-pitched voices, better stay far far away. I’m quite interested in the system, so I’ll be checking this out even though the controls in the trial weren’t the best. Also, taking Lime home with me. Hau~ omochikaeri~!

I think they failed to realize MMOs are extremely boring to play by yourself, all those added features are nice and all but without people to play with kinda has little purpose. I mean yay you can design a guild hall that you can’t even show off or compare to others, not to mention a battle system most of us are probably bored to tears of by now. Would be nice if the characters were not so loli, there were a few more options, and they developed the story better but hey no one ever bothers with those things in gameplay eroge.

My desire to grind is calling me. Gonna grind hard, baby.

Yes I am sure we all know your love of grinding on lolis by now.

PV

Nanatsu no Fushigi no Owaru Toki

Company: etude
Game site: 七つのふしぎの終わるとき
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. Tomo is a student at Tokinodai Gakuen, a small traditional liberal arts boarding school that was built in the Meiji era. However, he has a secret – he has a clock passed down from him by his grandmother which allows him to control time – and he uses this ability to make his school life enjoyable.

One time, Tomo found out that there is a link between the clock and the seven mysteries of the school. If one obtains any of the seven clocks linked to the seven mysteries, they will be able to use various time-manipulating powers. His interest perked, Tomo set out after school to the old school building to begin his search. During his search, he meets various girls and together they unlock one of the seven mysteries. They arrive at a space where time has stopped and find a girl in traditional dress sleeping there. She used to be able to manipulate time, but now she has lost those abilities. Will they be able to find all the clocks, awaken the sleeping girl and return her to her time?

Playing with time is a dangerous thing. Seeing the sleeping girl in limbo should be a fair warning to them. However, everything’s bound to end up well, probably with some drama when the girl Nanaho has to leave them. The scenario writers were both sub-writers in Sugar Coat Faeries and it’s hard to judge their writing, but I think the story has potential. The art isn’t my taste, but maybe some of you might like it. Elis is really cute though.

Another gimmick used to grant undue significance to stories of the mysteries in a school setting. Well I would let that slide were it not all so convenient for the plot, although even were I to put that aside there is the rest of this plot which screams predictable. With the goal being to awake a girl frozen in time, this almost becomes a club activity story with a premise leading to a type of “Fated meeting”. Given the mediocrity of the underlying story, aside from the time aspect which does not appear to develop the complexity one would expect of a time travel based storyline. Rather than someone interested in a unique or intriguing story, this game suits those who prefer cliches, club based activities, and exploration of various mysteries revolving around a school setting. In other words perhaps aside from the last part, a game for the Micchis out there.

Manatsu no Yoru no Yukimonogatari

Company: EX-ONE
Game site: 真夏の夜の雪物語 -MIDSUMMER SNOW NIGHT-
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
The debut title from EX-ONE, a pure love story illustrated by Mikeou and written by Saitou Kenji and Fuuyama Yuuki. It’s the height of summer, but snow blankets the mysterious town of Aome-machi where it snows year-round and the legend of the Yuki-onna has been passed down for generations. There are hot springs, beaches and ski results in this popular sightseeing town. Yuuya transfers into Aome Gakuen and stays at the Snowflake Lodge which his relatives run. He meets his cousins Mana and Koromo who have opposing personalities, the public morals committee leader Nozomi who doesn’t seem to like him, and the mysterious Yukina who calls him her husband. What secrets do they hold and how will he solve them? And so begins the winter fairy tale in the middle of summer.

The trial was extremely long, with the prologue alone being four chapters long.  The interesting part is the occasional visions that Yuuya has of the snowscape with a lone cedar and the girl who looks like Yukina. It seems like a flashback or a parallel universe. The scenario is also driven by the yukionna aspect and ice snowflakes in the girls’ hearts which only he can shatter. The animated OP is also quite impressive, but we all know how choosing games by the OP can result in disappointment, so I’d recommend playing with caution especially coming from a new company. Expect the game to be quite long and routes to be gradually opened as there were 11 separate routes (2-3 per heroine) after the prologue, each of which is 4-5 chapters long. Mikeou seems to like drawing large breasts. Sorry, that is not a 79, no matter how I look at it.

Why is it that games like this always seem to include some completely random and mostly arbitrary seasonal or magical distinction to the town, can’t they make a story just as good without their silly gimmicks to stand out? I suppose without the “Unique” setting what we really have here is a standard high school romance game with all the standard personality types who manage to show up in almost every game. Might have been a good idea to downplay the whole Yuki-onna thing to keep at least some mystery in the story. In a month so devoid of anything remotely worth playing however this game suddenly looks a lot better than it is, enough that I will probably end up giving it a chance without any hope for it turning out to be anything aside from a minefield of cheap moe.

About the OP, I would rather game companies put as much work into their games as they do some of their OPs, this one being no exception to that rule. I don’t see the point of making a poorly animated OP for a game when a standard slide show would often look far better.

Seifuku Tenshi

Company: シャーベットソフト (SherbetSoft)
Game site: 制服天使
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. This is the first professional release by former doujin circle SherbetSoft. Even though Kento was fed up with the monotony of every day, he doesn’t do anything to make it better. His only joy is sneaking glances at the angel-like girl Shion who sits next to him. One day at dusk, he saw her with wings on her back. As she tells him about her ‘angel sickness’, they are attacked by the ‘angel hunter’ Hiruta. He helps her escape and avoid the clutches of a man who harbours great hatred for angels.

A mysterious disease that grows wings. A group of people who hunt down these ‘angels’. Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well maybe the story deviates after this considering the setting is different from Eustia, but it’s probably better to be fully original for a first professional title. The art by Kisaragi Myuu isn’t bad. Note that this is a low-priced game and features only one heroine, Shion. If you choose wrong, she gets caught and there’s a dark end (complete with H scenes). The trial was pretty interesting, although I wish that the tsundere osananajimi Ayane also got a route. With the background story and their special place, it’s almost like she’s set up for one.

Just when I thought I had escaped from the tragic mockery of all that is holy, Eustia, along comes a game that feels as though they copied August’s homework, changing a few things so the teacher wouldn’t be able to claim they copied, obvious though it may be. While better grounded than Eustia was, the story also lacks the otherworldly feel by relying on the stereotypical high school setting, this likely means a distinctive lack of prostitutes and homicidal knife wielding characters. I doubt there will be many drug dealing crime bosses to influence the events throughout their pris… school either, a pity that. At least we still have people with nothing better to do than randomly hunting down those who happen to be two winged angels. Thanks to these hardworking souls efforts to exterminate and judging by images such as the one above, rape our tragic winged heroine Shion, our protagonist has something to do other than be bored every day.

Bishoujo Mangekyou -Norowareshi Densetsu no Shoujo-

Company: ωstar
Game site: 美少女万華鏡 -呪われし伝説の少女-
Release date: December 22, 2011 Delayed to December 29, 2011
Comments:
This is an ongoing series by the newly-reopened ωstar, featuring a series of mini stories. Horror writer Natsuhiko visits a traditional hot springs inn in the mountains to see a room full of traditional Japanese dolls. There he meets a mysterious beautiful girl Renge. She offers him a kaleidoscope, asking him if he wants to take a glimpse into a world which he shouldn’t see. The first story is about the perverted girls’ school teacher Shigehiko who swore not to lay hands on any of his students in order to maintain his position. However, that all changed after he met a mysterious girl Kirie. He became entranced by her, even though she told him to stay away from her if he valued his life.

I know you’re getting this for Happou Bijin’s art. Yes, the story has an air of mystery around it, the BGM matches well and the OP is mysteriously captivating, but you’re getting this for Happou Bijin’s art. Most of which are animated HCGs. I assume that there’ll be more than the two mini stories which are listed on the site, but regardless it’s a bit disjointed if there’s no common theme that links them aside from showings of sexual desire and temptations from enchantresses. Maybe I’ll keep an eye on it for future developments.

Nearing the end of this months mercifully short parade of games I find myself feeling somewhat merciful after being force fed a long list of games that appear to have been carefully modeled after the last present their neighbors dog left on the creator’s sidewalk. And so I am looking forward to this game, yes as Micchi pointed out it is probably eighty, no make that ninety percent related to the artwork, but that doesn’t mean that the other ten percent isn’t lurking around. Just to escape from the rest of the games this month I will overcome my intense dislike of multiple and probably loosely connected stories in a most likely vain hope that I will not disappointed. Most of my interest beyond the art lies with the potential for connections between stories and how all the various elements are woven together, both inside their own little universes and as the outsider observing through the kaleidoscope. I cannot help but be curious how they will explain things, perhaps they are all the protagonist in parallel universes and he is simply viewing the plethora of potentialities available to him based on his choices in life, would make for an interesting connection that way.

PV

Imouto Senbatsu☆Sousenkyo ~365-nin no Imouto Icharabu Manifesto~

Company: Latte
Game site: 妹選抜☆総選挙 ～365人の妹いちゃラブマニフェスト～
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
April 1st is the day when the world is full of lies, however to Kouta, it is his precious imouto’s birthday. His father returned that day after a long time away and told him: “Actually Kouta… you have 364 other imoutos”. He was still confused when his father brought him to Tachibana Gakuen. He was the only guy at the school. The other 365 students were… all his imoutos.

The tachi-e are depicted using Live2D, resulting in more movement, however sometimes it looks a bit awkward with the way the hair and clothes flow. Ignoring the fact that it’s pretty much impossible to have 365 imoutos unless your father is a serious player, this means that there’s an imouto for every day of the year. However, only 3 of them have routes (Yotsuha, Matsuri, Hiiragi). The rest are just mob chars, which is a shame, even though they have 11 seiyuus voicing them. Because of this, I’d still prefer SisPri where each imouto has their own charm.

No matter how merciful I may feel this is still just plain terrible. It feels as though they took Sister Princess and decided to copy it but go even further by providing far more sisters, only to get lazy and cop out by only focusing on a few of the potential cast they created. Personally I think playing as the father when making all those sisters would have made a better game, turn it into an RPG where he has to travel around seducing women as fast as possible in order to provide enough little sisters to fill a school for his son. Then again the eroge industry hardly needs anymore bad ideas for their games. When even Micchi would prefer one of the worst imouto based series to a game you know it has to be pretty bad and I can’t imagine many other imouto fans will find this satisfies their little loli sister lust.

Hey, SisPri was decent and one of the first of the genre. It was just that the first anime season sucked.

So, the idea of being shipped to an island to live with uhh twelve was it? Little sisters who fawn over your every need as though you were some kind of king appeals to you? Surely I never would have guessed.

Yotsuha’s manifesto

Koisuru Koto to Mitsuketari!

Company: Fizz
Game site: 恋するコトと見つけたり！
Release date: December 22, 2011
Comments:
Kyou comes from the family of a former samurai, and is a pretty normal student aside from serving as the deputy student council leader. One day, two girls Yukina and Towa showed up at his side. They were the descendants of knights who served the Tsukushiro household and both of them were his fiancée. After they move in with him, other girls also take notice and make their feelings known to him, including his senpai and student council leader Mira, and kouhai and cousin Satsuki, who lives next door to him.

The main selling point of this game is ‘seifuku knee socks’. The limited version also has a patch that allows you to change them to black tights or keep the knee socks on for H scenes. Knee socks are wonderful! Long live zettai ryouiki! Satsuki in particular is so adorable! The seiyuu cast is definitely impressive with Sakakibara Yui, Ogura Yui, Oukawa Mio and Fujimori Yukina voicing the heroines. However, the long list of middlefare illustrators and scenario writers makes me worry that this is nothing more than your standard love comedy chara-ge. Well, nothing wrong with that so long as you enjoy it though…

Essentially a poor rendition of Gokudou no Hanayome with some extra gimmicks throw in for market appeal without having to do much work on story or character designs. Were this to be as comedy based as the early part of Gokudou this may have been worth overlooking the flaws for the sake of putting a smile on the readers face. The comedy feels somewhat bland however leading me to believe this will be yet another sub par game in a month devoted to worshiping sub par games.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Hanasaku Otome to Koi no Grimoire
2. Imouto Senbatsu☆Sousenkyo ~365-nin no Imouto Icharabu Manifesto~
3. Princess-Style

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. …
2. Uhh…
3. *Tumbleweed*  <- With tinsel!
   

The winter season is generally low on good titles, but damn this month was bad. I had a lot of problems just trying to pick 3 games I’d consider playing.

Apparently Santa decided on coal in everyone’s stocking this year, only in keeping with the times he upgraded to crappy eroge instead of a crappy rock.