Hibikino Watcher vol 2 – Must find the others!

While I was in Japan, I found volume 2 being sold on eBay so I made sure to snag that. Actually while I was in Japan, I probably should have bought them off Japanese Amazon used or Japanese Yahoo Auctions but before I knew it I was too late. Not to mention lack of money. So, I’m really just counting on finding the rest on eBay someday unless I’m ever in Japan again.

So anyway, I don’t know if a lot of you are familiar with Hibikino Watcher. In Tokimeki Memorial 2 it’s the name of the monthly magazine thing that gives you new date spots and seasonal things that are going on in Hibikino (the town) as you play. Later Konami released 3 magazines with the same name. They all included a disc where the girls who were the main subject of each issue could now say your name (or any name you input) if you insert it before you play Tokimeki Memorial 2. Normally, it was just Hikari and Kasumi who could do this.

I’ve been seeking these issues for a long time now and they’re pretty rare from what I can understand. At least going for 100s on the Japanese auctions I’ve seen. This issue I got is volume 2 and has Homura, Yae, and Akane on it. Not my favorite characters at all. Although, they’re all pretty cool.

I must say that Japanese companies know how to pander to fans. The magazine is relatively short, but pack full of awesome stuff like interviews, detailed game information, and design sketches. I’ve only just started to glance over it but not seriously sit down and read it. I’m still in this OMG TONS OF JAPANESE TEXT! I CAN’T READ THIS phase. I think one of the most interesting things I glanced over was from the interview about Yae who is at first a hurt character but opens up much later.

In the game, she just quits going to school if you know her but not on a friendship level or what not. The designers wanted to invoke this feeling from the player like “Was it my fault?”. During planning they actually thought about having it that she commits suicide but decided that might be a little too much so they scraped it. I found that really interesting. For a game like the Tokimeki franchise that probably would have been a little much.

Another section I found amusing was there are questions where it’s Takumi (the main character’s friend who gives him girl’s phone numbers and what not) giving the answers. His image is shadowed out but you know it’s him. Haha. It just has trivial kinda stuff like “Do you know (Maeka’s) nice body’s 3 sizes during high school?” “Why doesn’t Akane wear a winter uniform?” “Why does Jun hate shrimp?” Stuff like that.

Definitely must find the other ones that I don’t have because if the information is any more like the stuff in this volume I would really like to read it. Also, the append discs would be nice to have too.