August 2012 Eroge Releases

August is always a light month as companies are focused on producing goods for Comiket. FAVORITE’s Irotoridori no Hikari and Sphere’s Imouto no Katachi once again top the list after being pushed back a month, along with SORAHANE’s Sakura, Sakimashita.. 07th Expansion also starts up another novel game series, the hard-boiled ROSE GUNS DAYS. If you want another type of battle, how about kigurumi vs cosplay in ALcot’s Naka no Hito Nado Inai!?

A light month is an understatement, I cannot find a single game even remotely interesting enough to be worth playing, maybe Dies Irae but I already played that game some time ago. With quite literally nothing worth playing I suppose I should be happy to be able to work on backlogs and other games, but it certainly does make writing about a bunch of generic copy pasted or just plain terrible games more difficult.

Gaku☆Ou It’s Heartful Days!!

Company: Lump of Sugar
Game site: 学☆王 It’s Heartful Days!!
Release date: August 10, 2012
Comments:
This is a low-price mini fandisk for Gaku☆Ou. It includes after stories for each of the 4 heroines. Doesn’t seem like there’s a route for imouto Sorano, but will she get a tachi-e at least? Her draft in the visual fan book was quite cute.

Off to a good start this month with a fandisk.

ROSE GUNS DAYS

Circle: 07th Expansion
Game site: ローズガンズデイズ
Release date: August 11, 2012 (Comiket 82)
Comments:
This is an all-ages doujin game which comes out at C82 and is the first game in the new series. In 1944, Japan was in shambles after their defeat in World War II and they had no choice but to comply with the Allied forces’ reconstruction plan. To avoid problems in the future, the nation was intricately divided on the municipal level between the Chinese and th Americans. Even after being rebuilt a few years later, Japan did not appear to be Japanese anymore, with Chinatowns and Americanization taking hold across the nation. The Japanese had become a minority race within their own nation due to high immigration from China and the US. The story begins in the spring of 1947 with the first meeting between the legendary man Leo and the madame of the Club Primavera, Rose.

Different from Ryukishi07’s When They Cry series which revolve around horror, mystery and the supernatural, RGD is a straight-up hard-boiled story. While the story seems awfully similar to Taiyou no Mokushiroku at first glance, the trial alleviates the worry that it will just be focused on nationalistic themes. To put it simply, it was fun to read. It’s upbeat, the story moves along at a nice clip and while some parts are a bit over the top, it’s what you’d expect from a hard-boiled story (besides, Leo is legendary after all). They added a mini-game where you have to hover or click some white areas, which was pretty simple, but maybe they get harder later on. One major change is that most of the illustrations are now done by Suzuki Jiro, Souichirou and Ninagawa Yaeko. There’s still some Ryukishi07 art for those that need it. RGD‘s a change of pace for 07th Expansion and even if you played their games for mystery, you might want to at least try out the trial to see if it’s for you.

Once again we oh so surprisingly have a game where the primary plot device lies in the setting from Ryukishi07. As anyone who has read this blog for a decent amount of time is likely familiar with my extreme distaste for a “Writer” who relies exclusively on a deus ex machina mechanic to move or conclude everything in his writing. While I have never had a problem with the basic setting of his stories, as that is simply individual choice and like or hate it it is a matter of taste, the conscious decision to abuse the writers privilege of a god like level of control over their creative works. A good writer regardless of subject matter is able to create an organic living system based upon their established structure of rules by which their characters must abide, focusing on use of the world as the plot itself is little more than a cop out due to incompetence. Which brings me full circle into the problem I have with the works by this writer, they all involve manipulation of the setting to create an illusion of plot twist that apparently goes unnoticed by the majority of people. It seems this game will likely end up no different than previous games, despite the apparent change in style all the traditional ingredients in his usual recipe for failure are present and accounted for. Rabid fanbase aside I would advise caution when wasting your time with these games and go into it knowing what you are in for.

Katsute Arishi Hi

Circle: Check&Stripe
Game site: かつてありし陽
Release date: August 11, 2012 (Comiket 82)
Comments:
This doujin game comes out at C82. In a world full of violence, nations have lost their meaning and a group of geniuses created the ‘World Commonwealth’ with the goal of uniting the entire world in the name of peace. It’s been seven years since they began taking over each country and Japan was the first, falling in roughly half a year. Kazuya was one of the few survivors of the battle. He fled with his osananajimi Setsuka and sided with the rebels against the Commonwealth. Then he heard about a rumour that there was a school for captives established on the Commonwealth’s floating base Aegis Zeus. While not sure if it was true or not, he made his way there with the aid of the rebels, with the aim of bringing back the good old days.

Not really sure about the setting, as we don’t really know much about it aside from that they can’t leave (like birds in a cage). The commander in charge was deemed a traitor to the country, with Setsuka vowing revenge against him. There’s promises, mysteries and other serious stuff, but the impression I got from the trial was that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The trial was pretty long for a doujin (more than half a GB), with well-done voicing. I’d compare the dialogue to LoverAble‘s daily banter, replacing the icharabu with general perversion. I’d pretty much call it a tsukkomi-ge with some serious parts thrown in. There’s so much tsukkomi in it that it’s quite tiring… I kinda feel bad for Shizuku. Manmamiya.

An odd choice of setting for a game that tries to involve so much comedy with a story that appears serious. The contrast between the two themes detracts a lot from the value of the game as a whole and they probably would have been better off sticking to one or the other. As a reader it would be difficult to enjoy both without the writers balancing it on a knife edge.

Sakura, Sakimashita.

Company: SORAHANE
Game site: さくら、咲きました。
Release date: August 24, 2012
Comments:
The year is 2238 and due to newfound technology, humans now can choose not to grow old. It is a world of eternal life. Tsubasa readied himself for another school year, the only difference this year being that the swimming club he was part of had been disbanded. His osananajimi Tsubame encouraged him to join the life club, a peculiar club dedicated to searching for ‘life energy’. While he wasn’t sure what that meant, he ended up joining anyway. The club spends its days digging for treasure, eating desserts at Shitoran-tei and running a cosplay fashion show. Most of it was quite random, but it was quite enjoyable. After another day out with Tsubame, he returned home where the streets were eerily quiet. There was a special TV broadcast announcing that there was an asteroid headed on a collision course to Earth and that there was particularly no chance of survival.

They sure know how to get you to play the game leaving you on such a cliffhanger! SORAHANE’s debut title AQUA was well-received and I expect that this Asuseka-like story to be quite good as well. One thing to note is that even though everyone can have eternal life, it just means that they don’t get older. They can still die from accidents (which I guess asteroid impacts fall under). Tsubasa questions why some people eschew such a dream-like ability as eternal life… could it be that when you can live eternally, then you will gradually lose your life energy? There’s a lot of good themes that they can draw from this, especially with impending death staring them in the face (from billions of miles away).

The backgrounds are stunning, although the music can be a bit repetitive at times (I just turn them down slightly). I really like the scenario player which allows you to go to any point in the game you’ve read before, and also shows you where there’s a scene change, CG or bookmarks that you’ve marked. All the characters are cute, especially Miyako’s imouto Kanade… although I’m gonna have to find a way to take her home without Miyako stalking and doing unspeakable things to me for touching her. Maybe I’ll just settle with Miu-tan. We share common interests after all (read: eroge).

Personally I am of the opinion that this game would have been better without the silly club and asteroid, functioning instead with the focus on the value of life with a time limit itself. With the introduction of the concept of that silly club, life energy, and the impending end of the world gimmicks they have taken something that could have been a thoughtful and interesting exploration of human nature and values and turned it into a cheap eroge rendition of FF7. At the very least they could have done away with the lifestre… erm “Life energy” idea as that pretty much ruins any thoughtful points they could have made on the issue of not aging. Coupled with ruining the best theme they had, the game skirts around the two most obvious issues, one being that with 120 years of advancing technology and charting near earth objects along with a significant investment in potential countermeasures and they are still going to die from it? Give me a break and try something believable, better thought out, and less cliche please. The other major issue that is pretty much ignored are the population concerns. As is the earth already has far more humans that it can reasonably sustain and we show no signs of slowing down this global breeding like roaches. Without needing to worry about death this would become a major concern as limit resources would create more wars, and or they would restrict the availability of immortality to the upper classes creating a greater distinction between haves and have nots. If you go with the potential of living in space or on the Moon and Mars explanations, then the asteroid becomes a minor annoyance at best. When a story is so poorly thought out it means the story is not the focus and just exists to create an appeal through vague association to subject matter while appearing unique despite being an average copy paste rendition of the same games we have played dozens of times beneath the facade.

Or possibly, ya know, they just wanted to focus on how a group of youths react to such an event instead of trying to write a sci-fi novel on the macro level?

It is not as though I wish they made everything a super detailed sci fi, but at least stuck to the common sense level of knowledge about our world and its future. In my opinion at least there is a limit to how much you can ignore reality when you use this world and universal rules as a setting. Given that we are all familiar with how our world works, if you want to explore how kids would react to their lives being cut short, it would be far more beneficial to get rid of the frivolous BS and focus on the characters in a more down to earth setting. A reaction provided with a heavily manipulated setting with an objective idea for how much you can enjoy life is just detracting from any deeper themes involving a concept like the meaning of life itself. Instead it is simply another eroge trying to be as similar to the norm as possible while adding some “Excitement” into the standard story and characters.

St. Monmosu Gakuen

Company: Vanadis
Game site: 聖もんむす学園
Release date: August 24, 2012
Comments:
Shink arrived at the school with the intention of being a teacher that will help guide the students towards their goals… but this wasn’t a normal school! Actually, the school was built for monster girls to help them learn how to coexist with humans. He was apprehensive, but was convinced to become the homeroom teacher for the most problematic class. The students skip class, look down on him as a human, try to seduce him or even look at him as food. Will he be able to fulfill his role as their teacher properly and help them graduate?

This is the first full-price game in Vanadis’ monster girl series and it includes the children from 3 of the past games, Mileeta (snake), Vera (Scylla) and Kyuute (harpy). While it’s still a school romance comedy at heart, the fact that the girls are monsters and don’t behave the same way as normals in some ways makes it a bit refreshing. Rin is quite cute and Comet says the darnedest things (and is an amazing stalker due to her lack of life). I wouldn’t expect too much from the plot, but it could be a nice pick up if you want something a little bit different.

Likely to end up as another You Gaku game due to lack of story, if they do actually focus on the differing reactions it could at least offer some amusing comedy. The main worry I have about these games is how they turn the inhuman girl concept into a fetish based nukige rather than a proper comedy which kind of kills fun of reading them.

Hin wa Bokura no Fuku no Kami ~Binbou no Kami-sama datte Shiawase ni Naritai to Omotteiru no da~

Company: ボンボンカンパニー (bonbon-company)
Game site: 貧は僕らの福の神 ～貧乏の神さまだって幸せになりたいと思っているのだ～
Release date: August 24, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. This is the debut work by bonbon-company. A beautiful girl Yoshino transferred to Touju Gakuen, attracting the attention of many boys at the school. But rumours spread that any boy who gets near her will fall into financial misfortune and they began to distance themselves from her. Some kind girls offered a helping hand, but were struck extremely hard into poverty. Soon she found herself isolated.

However, Yoshino’s curse doesn’t scare Daichi – he’s already as poor as he could be. She wondered if he was fated to be with her and revealed herself as the god of poverty. She used to be a zashiki-warashi and believed that if the aura of poverty around her were to be completely cleansed, then she would return to normal. He agreed to help her out by staying by her side so that no incidents would happen, but she also wanted him to help those girls who she had unwillingly cursed. Thus begins his life together with bishoujos at the run-down Sanshunkan dormitory.

I have a confession to make: When I saw ‘hin’ in the title, I thought it was gonna be full of hinnyuu. I was disappointed. Yet another game where the imouto subchar is more appealing than any of the heroines. Unfortunately, the trial takes place prior to Yoshino’s transfer to the school, so it’s just introducing the characters. Aya is the best of course, even though she’s pretty typical. Not really anything that stands out for a new company. Not the best way to debut.

God of poverty seems to be the “In” thing now among the stories centered around shinto gods. I have been seeing this a lot in just about every medium, I guess the appeal lies in a god with a nature that keeps them more isolated and thus easier to take advantage of or write a relationship about by having the protagonist be their lone crutch and lifeline emotionally. Other than their lazy choice in character designs to produce an easily manipulated attachment to build from, the rest of this game reeks of mediocrity. I agree with Micchi here, not the best way to make your entry known in the eroge market.

Fushi Kitan Kyuukon Sennen Shoujo

Company: ocelot
Game site: 不死鬼譚 きゅうこん　千年少女
Release date: August 24, 2012
Comments:
This is an all-ages kinetic novel. Motoki belongs to the news club at Yuzuhara high school. One day, his kouhai Kaede confessed to him and he accepted it, becoming lovers. They started to investigate one of Yuzuhara-chou’s seven mysteries, about the fenced fields, but the club leader Maki started to look like she was being possessed. A mysterious girl who thy met at the dam, Mitsuki, told them that it all stemmed from a bulb (kyuukon) that he had buried.

A probable reason why kyuukon is written in hiragana is because it could mean ‘bulb’ or ‘old grudge’, among others. It seems like every school and town has their own seven mysteries. Then again, it’s akin to our urban legends. I’ll pass on this, but this might be of interest to those who want something mysterious or supernatural.

Maybe it is wrong of me but I expect more from Ocelot, a generic game based on the seven mysteries of a school is way too dull to justify in my opinion. As a company that survives by making all ages games they need to prioritize story more than usual as they can’t rely on H scenes to entice horny guys thinking with their lower halves. More and more it seems Ocelot are more or less a one trick pony with the Polyphonica series, I can only hope that they find something else to put an equal amount of effort into soon.

Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~

Company: light
Game site: Dies irae（ディエス・イレ） ～Amantes amentes～
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
This is the all-ages PC version of the PSP title of the same name. It is essentially a remake of Dies irae ~Acta est Fabula~, with additional CGs, an after story for Marie and Rea, and others. Didn’t play the original nor was it really my type, so nothing more to say here.

I enjoyed Dies Irae, although I did have a hard time liking some of the characters. Of course for those who have already played the game, this doesn’t appear to offer enough new content to be worth replaying for so I will have to pass.

Irotoridori no Hikari

Company: FAVORITE
Game site: いろとりどりのヒカリ
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. This is the much anticipated fandisk for Irotoridori no Sekai, featuring the icharabu and heartful Shinku after story. Now finally together in a new world, Yuuma begins living with Shinku. Even though they both love each other greatly, they become flustered when they try to convey their feelings across. There’s also after stories for the other four heroines, along with a side episode for Shinku’s imouto, Ai.

Yes, Ai route!!! With more Kyou, Tsukasa, Ren and of course Shinku, this fandisk is definitely gonna sell like hotcakes. FAVORITE didn’t disappoint me with the Hoshimemo fandisk, so my expectations are high for this one. Can’t wait for more Shinku and Ai! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Meeeh.

Imouto no Katachi

Company: スフィア (Sphere)
Game site: イモウトノカタチ
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. Yukito doesn’t have a single relative after a great flood which claimed the lives of his parents when he was small. That was also when his imouto went missing. One day, he happened to hear in the news that the past records pertaining to the disaster would be available to the public for the 15th anniversary of the event. He decided to return to his hometown of Kugumi-shi, holding on to the belief that if he checked those records he might be able to reunite with his long lost imouto that he only faintly remembers.

Yukito is not just a tennen. He is a super tennen. THE tennen. I don’t think I’ve seen a protagonist so lacking common sense in my life. However, he passes the oniichan test with flying colours. When asked what he would do once he reunites with his imouto, he said he would embrace her and then give her a passionate kiss. That’s our role model, brothers! There was a secret heroine, Mayuki, which wasn’t revealed until quite recently. Could it be that she’s his imouto? Or maybe Miyuki? Or maybe Chimari… oh wait, she already is one. Maybe they all are imoutos, including MeTA, who’s actually the robot clone of his imouto (*my imagination). True happiness made from love.

Alas, his sister is dead to the world and him, oh well time to move on! Or so I would have liked it to go, instead we get to play Russian roulette with siblings hoping we land on an empty chamber when its time to pick a route. There couldn’t be much worse than landing on the true little sister route after you are locked in, unless of course you find out she really did die and none of them are, whew that would be a nice save. Given this is Sphere however I will sooner bet on a cheap story that does little to bring out the characters in favor of glorified sister fanservice appeal to those who allow themselves to be duped by visual moe linked to the word “Imouto” hook line and sinker.

この中に１人、妹がいる！

Revolver Girl☆Hammer Lady

Company: KAI
Game site: リヴォルバーガール☆ハンマーレディ
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
The world having turned into a barren wasteland after The Crash, humans now live in small colonies, spending their days in fear of monsters called Deadhezz which roam rampant outside. However, there are those known as ‘Hunters’ who eradicate these monsters as a living. Maria and Kiriko are two such Hunters who are based in Carrier Town. One day, a girl named Nena requested their services as her bodyguards. They readily accepted, excited for a new adventure with high reward, but what lies in store for them?

Tentacles. That’s what KAI’s known for and there’ll be plenty of it in this game, which is rife with bad ends. Of course you wouldn’t be aiming for those, would you now? Then again, I’d rather see tentacles than some ugly giant boar-man. Oh wait, he’s there too. Damnit.

Not being Cthulhu like being I cannot say I have much of an interest in tentacles, so I’ll have to pass.

Sekai no Subete no Subete

Company: 霊岳ソフト (Tamaoka Soft)
Game site: 世界ノ全テノ全テ
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
This is the final remake of TAMA-SOFT’s Sekai no Subete, with improved art quality, a new scenario and new CGs. Hiroshi returned to his hometown after 8 years in Tokyo trying to attain his childhood dream and failing to do so. Feeling powerless and lacking support from his family, he could only think about giving up. He felt that a poor student like him was unneeded and there was no longer any place for him. That was before he met Tomoko at the light music club and realized that he was not the only one in the same situation. The story’s unlikely to change much after 10 years, so I think I’m gonna play something brand new instead.

Remake of an existing game with a light music club, no thanks.

Daini Ongakushitsu e Youkoso!!

Company: ホイール (WHEEL)
Game site: 第二音楽室へようこそっ!!
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
Masato returned to Japan after 3 years in Vienna with his parents. Immediately after his first day of class at Yonamori Gakuen, his osananajimi Kana grabbed his hand and dragged him to the second music room in the old school building. She welcomed him to the music club, which everyone in the school dismisses as just a group of weird kids playing together. What will happen to his new school life?

With a cast of eccentric characters typical of WHEEL’s games, this will be an ecchi baka-ge, with an emphasis on ecchi. The writing in the trial was kinda shoddy, but there were plenty of H scenes to enjoy, including one full of music euphemisms. Marianne’s yet another blonde twintailed sharp-tongued loli, who I wouldn’t mind taking home. If I take her home, that means her imouto Charlotte comes along too, right? Right?

Yes take someone from a place well known for classical music who has what I can only assume is such a background else there would be no need for the inclusion of such a location and waste it in some terrible Japanese music club… great concept if the theme is wasting talents. Other than that it is not so likely that there will be anything worth reading here other than the comedy and or if you happen to like the characters so don’t expect anything more.

Well, this is obviously a chara-ge after all. I saw them drinking tea more than playing music…

Yeah it seems like the music theme is most likely neglected early game, but will end up turning around due to some event midway through, either club closing or whatever. The main problem I have is their inclusion of a city well known for its influence on classical music, which does not seem like a coincidence and will likely play a role in turning them into an actual ‘band’ with his guidance or something later. Whether or not they actually do anything with it I can’t know for sure till the full game is released but the potential idea of turning Mozart into K On is a slap in the face for anyone who appreciates actual musical talent. I hope the game does not go that route but still I can’t see any other reason to specifically make the city Vienna otherwise. Being a charage makes it almost worse as there would be no need to even try at an actual story in such a game to begin with.

Naka no Hito Nado Inai! Tokyo Hero Project

Company: ALcot
Game site: 中の人などいない！ トーキョー・ヒーロー・プロジェクト
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
The Tokyo Hero Project was a plan which was implmented two years ago, placing cosplaying heroes in each of the 23 wards to promote public order. But not many people knew that they actually possessed special powers and fought against the secret evil society Black Outsiders (BO) at night. Koutarou is a poor student who lives by himself. One night while he was making his way to a part-time job, he saw a fierce battle between a cosplayer and someone wearing a kigurumi. Due to the incident, he ended up missing his part-time opportunity and his friend Nagahiko suggested a new one for him. A young girl with a black manteau welcomed him: “How wonderful it is to have you here at the secret society BO group!”. From that day on, he battles against heroes while wearing a mascot character powered suit. Do your best, Koutarou!

ALcot’s here again with their antics and dramatic English trailers. I don’t find this one as appealing as Osadai (no Eru) or Onigokko! (no Aoi), but the story, which is pretty much a parody of the sentai genre, is pretty funny, especially since you’re fighting for the ‘bad guys’. Cosplaying heroes and kigurumi baddies are definitely weird, but it surprisingly works. I wish that I was something a bit cuter though, like Yuka’s Prister kigurumi. As usual, they’ve got the usual seiyuus (Anzu Mitsu, Kiritani Hana, Toono Soyogi, Yukito Saori, Kaibara Elena). While I don’t care much for fast food junkie Saori, Louis is really cute! If she asked me to join her, I’d do so in a flash! I do anticipate a fandisk though. Yuka’s wheelchair-bound imouto Mika needs a route.

「あたしのシスコンなめんな！！」

I am well aware of ALcot’s preference in picking a random theme out of a hat then making a game about it but this one really takes the cake. This is one of those games that insults itself just by existing but I suppose there must be people interested in this type of thing if it was in the ALcot hat of potential game ideas. Perhaps it just comes down to my inability to wrap my head around what could possibly be appealing about some little kid hero show type of eroge. Exploration on the limits of imagination is what the creative arts are all about, however there is nothing imaginative about the story, characters, or design of this type of game. So I am forced to wonder what enjoyment there is in a children’s story where the only value possible lies in characters and H scenes.

Trailer

TOKYO BABEL

Company: propeller
Game site: 東京バベル
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. propeller’s latest title is an all-ages stylish battle ADV. With heaven locked, hell submerged in water and the infinite parallel worlds thinning out, the surviving angels and demons gathered with one final hope: to ascend all seven levels of the floating purgatory known as Tokyo Babel and unlock the gates to heaven via Jacob’s ladder. This would be their atonement to the heavens.

However, their plan was foiled by a group of mad individuals who took over the levels of Tokyo Babel with the intention of destroying it all. In the midst of the see-saw battle, a lone young man Setsuna was saved from a perishing world. Together with the “Witch of the Night” Lilith who had rescued him, he took aim at traversing Tokyo Babel, while searching for the reason of why he keeps on living.

Since this is an all-ages title, they managed to secure a very impressive line of seiyuus, including Sawashiro Miyuki, Hanazawa Kana, Itou Kanae and Kamiya Hiroshi. The opening to the trial is definitely very well done, but once it got to the chuuni side with huge weapons, even bigger beasts, actions scenes between characters with superhuman powers and religious references galore, I quickly lost interest. It may appeal to some of you that are into this kinda thing, but I’ll pass.

I mostly agree with Micchi on this game, the childish silliness ruins any chance of this game being worthwhile. Games with more story than simple romance are something I always find preferable, however games of this type too often mistake the means for the end. Trying too hard to integrate mythologies and blend world ending significance into high school aged kids always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when they ruin the immersion. Still I know plenty of people go for these things and I’ll be the first to admit it is leagues above reading the same high school romance comedy for the hundredth time.

I’d still go for the romance comedy, but that’s probably just me.

Well I can only take the same joke so many times before it stops being funny.

Shiromiko

Company: Exception
Game site: 白神子～しろみこ～
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
Kouta was an unattractive soccer club member. After his classmate and osananajimi Youko was suddenly hospitalized, he learned from his mother Fumiko that their family holds a secret power that can cure any disease. Doesn’t sound interesting to me nor does the art draw me in. It’s also unvoiced. Pass.

I agree with Micchi, this is garbage, pass.

IMO-bilizer!

Company: Silver Bullet
Game site: 妹（いも）びらいざー！
Release date: August 31, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. The protagonist has an imouto named Saki. She’s cute, great at studying and excels at sports… pretty much the perfect imouto. They aren’t closer than any normal siblings would be. It’s not like he’s a siscon nor she’s a bracon, or at least that’s what he thought. He wondered if he should fall in love with someone, perhaps his oneechan-like osananajimi Izumi, her baby-faced but big-breasted imouto Mizuumi, or maybe Saki’s cheeky tsundere best friend Yui. But something seemed to be missing. Something that, unbeknownst to him, had always been close to him.

Of course, the imouto is a closet bracon! *rewinds tape* Of course, the imouto is a closet bracon! Obvious Oreimo references aside, all four of the heroines appeal to me, so I’ll definitely be playing this.

Moe centric charage aimed at the Micchi demographic explains the entirety of this game nicely.

Yasashii Mahou no Tonaekata

Company: Felicia
Game site: 優しい魔法の唱え方
Release date: August 31, 2012 Delayed to September 28, 2012
Comments:
This is the debut title for Felicia. Even though Tsukasa lives in a world where magic is recognized, he still doubts its existence since he had not seen it with his own very eyes. One day, the magic club and science club at his school had an argument, ended up with a competition where the loser would have to disband their club. The magic club believes in magic which grants wishes, while the science club believes that one must gradually work towards realizing their wishes. Tsukasa thought that even though their methods were different, in the end it was all about fulfilling one’s dream. He was asked by his osananajimi Ibuki to help out the science club, but that’s when he met Mashiro who was a true magician.

While the company is new, the scenario writer is tiro (Purple Software) and the artists are Akino Takehiko (NekoNekoSoft) and Mutsumi Masato (WHITESOFT, ALICESOFT). This means that the story is likely to be hit-or-miss, but with Samoto Fuuri voicing main heroine Mashiro, maybe I need to check this out just for that… And of course, there’s magic. Magic always makes things better.

When you run out of ideas, just add magic to spice up your standard love comedy eroge. Since that isn’t enough though you need conflict, why not use science to represent the opposite? Without something more than just magic to stand out against the competition using an otherwise plain and average game to promote your company for future releases is not such a good idea. Chances are though that unless you like the characters there wont be much worth reading here as the themes are superficial at best.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Irotoridori no Hikari
2. Sakura, Sakimashita.
3. Imouto no Katachi

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Learn
2. To
3. Make
4. Better
5. Games

What a boring month.