Konami enters the romance simulation ring once again with Love Plus

In the latest issue of G’s magazine I found a game that looks heavily interesting to me. It’s called Love Plus for the DS and it is coming out sadly during the summer when I will be back in America. It’s being made by Konami who has a long history of making date simulation games but have long been gone from making ones geared towards males after the success of their Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side series. Sorry, a lot of this is heavily paraphrased since I don’t feel like translating entire articles, which mostly just involves looking up words. (At least I’m honest.)

So what’s this game like? Well, it has 3 female characters.

Manaka Takane who is in the same class as you. She’s in the Tennis Club. She’s got a cute face and she’s polite. She’s respected at school as well. She likes making sweets and playing the piano.

Rinko Kobayakawa who is in the grade below you. She likes books and music, and she’s working in the school library. She isn’t very sociable.

Nene Anegasaki who is in the class above you. She is working at a family restaurant. She’s always smiling and kind. She likes house work, and horror movies.

Oh, boy if those descriptions don’t sound very cliche I don’t know what is but that kind of stuff is what sells, I guess…

The game play seems interesting. Like all romance simulation games you start out by getting to know the girl you want to date. Apparently depending on your answers the girl’s personality and style can change. You become friends but the game doesn’t end once you confess to her. That is just the beginning. It has RTC game play which means the time of day effects what is going on. SO! No matter what time you open up the DS to play there will be something to do.

You can pick from a bunch of different names you want the girl to call you by like darling, dear, master/beloved/husband whatever the hell goshujin-sama translate to. You can also insert your name and they’ll say it.

When exam time gets close, together you do a study event thing where you get quizzed by the girl. And here is where I think it gets a little weird when you can talk to the game. Yeah, you can talk to the game too. Like, “What kinds of foods do you like?” Also, if you can get a good atmosphere going you can use the TOUCH PEN on them.

Seems like an interesting game. I’ll probably import it in the summer. Although, I’m interested to see how many hours of game play it has. I haven’t really read the staff comments but seems worth reading. There is a lot of mention of Tokimeki Memorial. I wonder if this game kicks it off well it might become a series of sorts? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

All images are from Famitsu.
Love Plus’s website can be viewed here.

Why shows like Lucky Star and K-ON really suck

It’s not shit after all?

It is obviously because there is no male lead character for me to put myself into.

I cried for the whole 2 hours watching the Gurren Lagann: Guren-hen movie

What can I say? Gurren Lagann is just so manly and burning I cannot help but just feel for the atmosphere, and characters. I was expecting to be bored watching the compilation movie like I am with most movie compilations (I’m looking at you Mobile Suit Gundam movies), but it was very easy to get into the whole Gurren Lagann world again. Even if I was familiar with everything it really didn’t seem like I was just watching the same show I had finished a year ago. Was there even new footage? It seemed like the last half hour or so was new because I was scratching my head wondering if this happened or not.

Gurren Lagann is one series I can see being a classic in the future. I don’t care what these mecha fans say or whatever about Gurren Lagann being the trash of the mecha genre. I like Gurren Lagann a lot. I think it makes the mecha genre very accessible to those that aren’t very familiar with it. So, I really don’t care about the whole history of mecha, and why for whatever reason GL is shitty. I just watch anime to enjoy it. It’s never SERIOUS BUSINESS to me as those guys make it out to be.

I will say that Gurren Lagann isn’t remarkably ground breaking or anything, but it tells an excellent story of man’s desire for progress. The characters are all basically archetypes of various types of characters you would find in a story. If anything, I would compare Gurren Lagann to that of a modern legend or myth. We all are familiar with all the themes and characters on a base level. Speaking of the characters, I love all the characters and especially Simon because I think, as men, we can understand his struggle to find himself, to believe in himself, to gain courage, and to strike a piece out of life and call it his own.

Definitely check out the movie if you loved the TV series. I wouldn’t recommend watching it if the series is still fresh in your mind though. Great movie all around. I’m wondering if I will enjoy part 2 as much because I really didn’t like the time skip part of the series.

I want to see Cross † Channel get animated

Yeah, I know it would suck horribly but I still would want to see it get animated because I think it would make a great visual novel anime adaption just because of the story. The whole looping days concept and characters that aren’t too right in the head especially Taichi. I guess, if anything, his character would get hurt the most of an anime version was ever made since he is always joking around, and being extremely perverted. The game looks like it has some great themes about human relationships and interaction and living. They did release that PS2 port so I suppose they could always follow the story in that if they ever wanted a toned down story.

I actually don’t know very much about this game a side from a few things like the whole looping days thing, and I know Taichi can’t be human and the small shrine has something to do with everything. I always seem to learn new details every time I play through it. This time I have been just kinda mining vocabulary from it for Anki. Still nothing substantial like what it is going on, and what not. It is literally every other word must be looked up. Kinda like what is going on when I boot up Umineko… (I learned stethoscope in Japanese from Umineko. Oh yeah!) It would be nice to know at least some day what this game is about. I could have known, I mean, that guy was translating it and got to 80%, but whatever the hell happened to that?

I mean, if you’re going to at least do that much and just stop have the decency to put it somewhere so people can just take over and finish it. I actually e-mailed the guy and talked to him one time on MSN back in 2006 was it? He didn’t want to send me the script, he said he needed an editor and he said he wasn’t confident enough and there being a lot of jokes that translate well or something. I wonder what he is doing now with that? Well, if anything I would be the one to do something with this game. Some day. I am hardly on the level of translating a game. I did translate the first 14 lines one day. Lol. I will share them with you for your amusement.

–
My oldest memory…
Even the date, in the middle of a distant mist
An extravagant private room holding aristocratic goods.
There too was a European made bed with a canopy attached and a chair.
However, I liked sitting on the floor most.
Especially on this kind of day.
The black curtain to be seen from the window was the starry night
I was engrossed in the twinkling stars that were scattered and cut out by the frame.
The window glass shut out the outside world and the inside of the room. It reflected myself.
A secluded room of a young woman.
A pure and beautiful girl dressed in a Western style dress.
Just who are you?
Girl: ….Taichi.
The world is beautiful.

–

In other news, I’m kinda interested to see what Key is going to cook up with their latest game, Rewrite. Since they have both Ryukishi07, creator of Higurashi, and Romeo Tanaka who wrote the scenario for Cross † Channel on board. I really think the character designs might draw away from the story but I guess we’ll see. Would be nice too see some violence in a Key game too but I won’t hold my breath.

An adorable smile

How I just want to hug her while she then throws me on the ground and stomps on my penis me.

Thoughts on Higurashi live action movie – ZOMG RENA LOOKS HORRIBLE

Yeah. Yeah. I’m probably kinda late with this but hey, I’m not too big on live action stuff. So, yeah, I liked this and was pretty above average I’d say as far as live action Japanese stuff goes, but then again I rarely watch movies. It seems like with Japanese adaptions of stuff they seem to follow the original work exactly while with in American they like to take the original idea but change in some way so the audience isn’t seeing the same thing just in the different medium.

I kinda wish that they did change around the Higurashi live action because it did seem to follow the events of the anime exactly, and I find myself some what bored here and there. But it was interesting to rewatch Onikakushi-hen, my favorite arc, knowing what exactly is going on. The first time I watched it animated I really thought it was cool and supernatural. But really a lot of the stuff is just Keiichi getting paranoid over time. The ending was a little different and the movie makes it clearer to the audience that Keiichi might have been paranoid with the syringe not being one at all but really a black marker.

I liked how the actually got actors that were younger. I thought the entire cast was going to be older for some reason. I have no real complaints about the actors except Rena’s actor who doesn’t even look very Japanese and is far from how I would imagine Rena from looking. I’d still hit it anyway though.

I think the setting and atmosphere of the movie did a good enough job of capturing the atmosphere from the anime. I was trying to figure out if the film was actually filmed in Shirakawa. Most of it didn’t look like it was but some of the things looked familiar to me. Still I had a hard time figuring this out.

Ok, so don’t get me wrong. I like Higurashi. I like the setting, characters, and plot. I think as far as suspense/mystery stuff from Japan it is one of the better things out there. The first two seasons were great. Season 1 was a lot better than season 2 but I think that is expected since season 2 was the answer arcs. I want to play the PC games when I return back since I bought them at Otakon 2 years ago. I then want to play the Playstation 2 game since that has updated artwork and new stories.

But that is where my interest ends. Since I’ve been in Japan, 3 to 4 DS games have been released into the franchise. The first two seem okay and just look ports of the original series, but what more is there after the original series? What. Else. Is. There. To. TELL? Takano gets defeated and Rika is freed from the endless loop.

Who the hell are these new characters that have nothing to do with Rika and her friends? I could understand if there was a supernatural element to the Higurashi world, but there was nothing weird going on. Everything could be easily and logically explained. So, yeah, what the hell? Stop milking Higurashi and make something new if it doesn’t involve the original characters. Although there is nothing wrong with the mountains of spin offs and side story material.

I love Rika Furude – Loli Appreciation

Yes, I’m drunk right now, but who cares. I love Rika Furude. She is the first loli that I have ever loved since Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura. Rika is just so cool but so pure and innocent too. She is a 100 year old trapped in a 10 year olds body. That is so hot. I would love Rika-chan so tenderly regardless. I love her nippa and mii that she ends her sentences with. I love her uniform with the suspenders and knee socks with the little red things on the side. I am going to cry when Higurashi Rei ends because that means I won’t get anymore Higurashi in animated form, probably. I really like the Higurashi characters and setting too. I guess that leaves me with the PC games, and console adaptions…

Don’t get the new Harvest Moon game on the PSP

I know it’s late not, but I would say don’t buy Harvest Moon Suger Valley and Everyone’s Wish. The cons really outweigh the pros for the game. I mean, the game has real nice graphics, character designs and music but that is about all its got. I hate the whole being timed to save the village and not free roam as the previous games and having to give gifts to practically everyone everyday so you can get a character’s relationship status up to trigger the various event flags. It gets real tedious and repetitive over time. I could play it for hours when I first bought it but once that feeling of interest wore off I really couldn’t get through multiple days because the gameplay just gets so repetitive from day to day. Yeah, sure all the Harvest Moon games have a level of repetitive gameplay, and I couldn’t tell you what makes me enjoy the 64 and Playstation versions of all other ones. Or maybe I’ve just grown to have ADD and cannot pay attention very well anymore. Who knows?

I hate how events are boring and so are the festivals which didn’t even seem like much at all from the few seasons I played. (I quit playing when I got to winter). Well, events aren’t exactly boring. I mean, it always got me excited to see that someone was there to see me in the morning about something, but it always seemed like it was few and far between. It’s sad because I was really hyped for this game but it does a lot of things wrong that I really like about the series. You can’t even get married until AFTER you beat the game, and you can’t even have a kid this time from what I have read.

So, just stay away from the new Harvest Moon game on the PSP. It isn’t worth importing and it won’t be worth buying if and when they release it in English. You cannot imagine how disappointed I am. I’m debating if I even want to buy the guide or not anymore. It might spark interest in it again but then again it could just be a waste of 16 dollars. The one on the DS seems interesting though where you have to gradually bring back parts of the world and connect them together. I’m kinda iffy about buying another game though at this rate. I still need to buy Amagami.

Toradora is looking to be a solid show

Done with the first 13 episodes of Toradora. I would definitely say that for the genre it is classified under it is a solid show. I hope it keeps up until the end.

Summary of Shijou Mitsuki’s story – She is my favorite girl from Kimi Kiss

Just got done reading a manga centering around Mitsuki from Kimi Kiss. I was relatively surprised of the level of ease I had reading it. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I am starting to understand Japanese or maybe I am just so used to the set phrases from the genre, but it didn’t have furigana so that must mean something. I’m assuming a lot of the things in the manga might be the same as her game story but I don’t know. She’s basically from a well off family and has been doing a lot of different activities since she was a child like piano, ballet, tennis, and excreta. She isn’t too shy but she doesn’t talk to guys, and wonders about the other girls she talks to because she is from a well off family. She’s kinda the typical would make a good housewife character I suppose. In the game she is voiced by Mamiko Noto so I await the eargasm I’ll have.

This is just a summary of the manga I read. A lot of it I kinda over exaggerated at times just because I want to have some fun while I write this. I like this comic. I am such a sap for romance things and I have to admit that it seemed kinda sexual when it really wasn’t showing anything. I mean, the kissing scenes seemed kinda dramatic and weird since they are in high school…Wait, how is this weird? Anyway, if this comic is a sign of what the game is like I might like it. Well, I know I’ll like it, but not even in Tokimeki Memorial and True Love Story do I recall any kissing going on.

ADDED: Oh, I just realized after the fact of posting this that this manga has been mostly translated and scanlated making my entire post some what pointless. HAHA OH WOW. How stupid of me. Their translation isn’t bad. It matches up with what I read it as at least.