August 2017 Eroge Releases

August is usually quite a slow month, being Comiket and all. This time you can count all of them on two hands, and the top picks would arguably be fandiscs: MadoSoft’s Wagamama High Spec OC and Minato Carnival’s aptly-named Minato Carnival FD. There’s also the requisite SLG from SofthouseChara, Ryouchi Kizoku, and another imouto-ge from NekoNekoSoft, Ruri no Kasane ~Imouto Monogatari~. Time to kick back and relax?

Sure August is slow. But that just saves me time spent reading and writing about the releases, so no complaints here.

BLADE×BULLET Kinrin no Soleil

Company: SkyFish
Game site: BLADE×BULLET 金輪のソレイユ
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. This is the latest game in SkyFish’s Soleil series. Valkyrie, the ultimate divine spirit weapon. Anyone who obtains its power can overcome the military of an entire nation. Deep in the North lies the closed city of Eljudnir, upon which many girls gather with varying aspirations. The last person left standing would be able to obtain its power.

The resurrected Yagi met a girl who called herself Hela, the goddess of underworld. She told him that he possessed the spirit of the malicious god Loki, and informed him that, together with the black valkyrie Reginleiv, he was to hunt down those who sought the powers of the valkyrie.

A bit of a Norse-themed battle royale? It seems a bit darker than usual. I’ll gladly stay out of the fray.

Silly game I have zero interest in. That said however I would like to note that Japan in general really needs to find some new mythological concepts to abuse. The whole Valkyrie thing is kind of boring anymore. Even more so when 99% of them get it wrong from the basics. If you aren’t going to make up something new it is fine to warp and twist existing mythology. Just, ya know, get the parts that are completely copied right. Don’t just use the names and terms to make it sound more interesting than it actually is. Such a lazy approach which denies all sense of creativity.

Kotonoha Amrilato

Company: SukeraSparo
Game site: ことのはアムリラート
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
This all-ages yuri game is the debut work by SukeraSparo. The high schooler Rin had just finished eating at the local shopping arcade when everything suddenly changed around her. The sky was dyed pink and she could no longer read the signboards nor understand what others were saying. Unable to make sense of the situation, she sat down dejected on the street.

That’s when a cute girl who could pass for an idol, Ruka, held out a helping hand to her. With Rin’s self-proclaimed positive outlook and Ruka’s broken Japanese, they were able to eventually come to a mutual understanding. This is the beginning of a pure, yet sometimes difficult, relationship between the two girls.

I like the setting in this middle-priced game and have high hopes for the story since it’s by J-MENT (Katahane). The art is by Naruse Chisato, who drew the art for many Kogado Studio titles. The common language Juliamo is an artificial language (which sounds like Esperanto… wait, is it Esperanto??). You can think of the game as Duolingo for this language, and as you learn the language yourself, you can read the story in Juliamo too. It seems like a lot of work, but I might check it out anyway due to its uniqueness.

Yuri. There I’m done.

But no. There’s more. I know I say this a lot but setting should not be the driving force behind the entirety of the story. In this case the swap of setting from real world to real world going through that time of the millennium is central to all development. Only problem is the whole concept is essentially pointless. Everything could have been done in a normal setting without the pretentious semi fake language garbage. In fact by altering the setting much of the process is cheapened. Characters are smushed together like kids caught in a trash compactor with little to no feeling of choice. Literally the only person this Rin character can rely on just happens to be the focus. Some semblance of effort put into all the wrong things in all the wrong places. I mean what is the difference between a story about moving to another country versus a sudden dimension swap? Writers having to try. That’s about it. Takes more effort and care to properly develop characters and setting that way. So why bother when you can use the setting to shoot your two characters into each other in the hopes of creating a critical mass that will collapse and suck all the money out of the wallets for those who care about the yuri niche.

 

Tonari ni Kanojo no Iru Shiawase ~Two Farce~

Company: プレカノ (PreKano)
Game site: となりに彼女のいる幸せ ～Two Farce～
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
This low-priced title is the first game by Prekano, a sister brand of GIGA. It won’t be long before the historic literature club will be disbanded as there’s just the protagonist and his kouhai Chisa left. Even as they worry about the club’s future, they carried on with their daily trivial exchanges in the club room together. And so, they became closer by the day.

The story is the first by Takihama Hajime and just has one heroine. You may have noticed she has big boobs. Literature clubs are a thing of the past; If they renamed it as e-books club, they may get more club members.

Being related to Giga is bad enough, but then there is a club being disbanded theme. One day we will find that this plot template was written into the Yonaguni monument and eroge writers are so insistent on it as a form of tribute to the ancient civilization that died from boredom.

Promotion movie

Minato Carnival FD

Company: みなとカーニバル (Minato Carnival)
Game site: みなとカーニバルFD
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Minato Carnival’s Tsujidou-san no Jun’ai Road and Anekouji Naoko to Gin’iro no Shinigami. There will be new stories for both games, with new heroines Yui and Lorri, as well as a cross-series scenario. There’s also a port for PSV game Kurogane Kaikitan and a mahjong game. Should be plenty for the fans.

Fandisk, as Minato tends to do.

Ruri no Kasane ~Imouto Monogatari~

Company: ねこねこソフト (NekoNekoSoft)
Game site: ルリのかさね ～いもうと物語り～
Release date: August 25, 2017 Delayed to October 27, 2017
Comments:
At a small shrine in the suburbs, the priest’s only son met his young relative Ruri when he was still a high school student. While they didn’t get along at first, they became close before they knew it.

One day, both of their parents passed away in an accident. They were both left without any relatives, and Ruri had only just entered elementary school. After much agonizing, he chose to live together with her.

Ruri is so cute!! I’d definitely take her home immediately! There’s no one else out there to protect her but me… onii-chan! NekoNekoSoft’s template is strong and I’m sure Ruri will turn out to be another great ‘onii-chan suki suki beam’-blasting imouto. Straight to my heart! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Shrine of the pedos.

Wagamama High Spec OC

Company: まどそふと (MadoSoft)
Game site: ワガママハイスペックOC
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Wagamama High Spec, with after stories for all four heroines and new routes for sub-heroines Karen, Chitose and Yukari. How could you say no to more ero and hijinks?

Another Fandisk.

Ryouchi Kizoku

Company: ソフトハウスキャラ (SofthouseChara)
Game site: 領地貴族
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
Siegfried is the fourth son from a small poor noble family who won some land thanks to his battle contributions. He founded a new Maired clan and ruled over a vast territory in the southern part of the kingdom. He thought that it would be a pleasant and relaxing life, but he wasn’t ready for the amount of work that was involved. Of course, there’s lots of paperwork and required appearances, but also having to answer to faction requests, making babies and naming a future successor? Everything was new to him and the only people to help him was the daughter of a ruined noble family, a knight who had been dismissed with dishonour, and a high-class prostitute. He didn’t know if they could be relied on, but nevertheless he takes his first step towards successfully managing his territory.

This is a territory management simulation game. To succeed you will have to use all your resources, skills, knowledge and the power of your lower body.

Conceptually interesting. Sadly poorly implemented. If there was more effort put on making the management gameplay more fun and interesting I could actually end up liking it. But sadly they over did the H influence plus simplified the relationship and management mechanics. 

Ren’ai Kyoushitsu

Company: UnN/A
Game site: 恋愛教室
Release date: August 25, 2017
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from June. This is the debut title by UnN/A. Standing outside of the classroom, Yuuga took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. Once he summoned the courage to open the door, he was immediately surrounded by girls in the class who treated him like a rare animal. That is natural since this had been a girls-only school until last year. However, not all the students were receptive of having a boy in their class. There were three groups: those for the co-ed change, those against it, and those whose views were in between. He has yet to get used to his new life in this new classroom with new friends, but he felt that his future is full of possibilities.

A pretty standard school love comedy. The unique aspect is that the four heroines were decided by a character poll among the 16 candidates. The winners were the board chairman’s granddaughter and leader of the anti-coeducation faction Stella, naive ojou-sama Karen, mood-maker classmate Sui, and frail imouto Kazuha. The game is what you think it is.

Nothing special here. Not really good, but also not really bad. If you want to read something as close to the median of eroge possible this month, here ya go.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Wagamama High Spec OC
2. Kotonoha Amrilato
3. Ruri no Kasane ~Imouto to Monogatari~

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Ruri no Kasane ~Imouto Monogatari~
2. Kotonoha Amrilato
3. Wagamama High Spec OC

Who’d have thought that one day you could be learning an artificial language in an eroge?

You mean the moon runes we read aren’t?

Wait, that’s not your real top 3, is it???