You probably know by now that Eroge Review’s closed down in light of the new and confusing laws regarding loli. Well, it’s back up, only now Narg’s going to heavily screen everything that goes up for fear of offending the opposition. And you know who they are. For the whole thing, I’m with digi’s side on the whole issue here. Now, apparently the EOCS ( an eroge industry association) is enforcing a ban on eroges with rape in them, thanks to international (US) pressure!

When you live in a democratic society that gives you the freedom of choice , to speak and to voice your opinions, you have the right to act the way you want so long as do no harm to anybody else’s well-being. That is pretty much the foundation of freedom, and it’s what the constitution both upholds and protects. Freedom for freedom’s sake, to uphold your freedom and rights so long as you do not impend on another’s. That is what America’s democracy was built on – check out the Declaration of Independence, I hear it’s a good read.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case right now. When uninformed lobbyist groups who could hardly give a damn about real facts start pushing their agendas forward because it’s the most sensationalist and popular method of gaining widespread recognition start to act, you know the media and the politicians will be listening. For the media, it’s ratings – it’s something else to scare your kids at night with. For the politicians, they’re a huge bulk of the voting populace, so clearly they have to curry favor and please these groups! Whenever these groups get together, this usualy spells trouble for everyone seeing as they live in a world that is so detached from ours.

Not only do you have the whole ban on lolis in the UK, US and here in the Philippines pushing forward, you’ve also got the whole ban on rape games in Japan in effect, this latest issue born out of a Japanese committee’s desire to suck up to international pressure, compromise, and give in. Bonus points for currying favor with the US, I suppose! All of which are just plain fucking retarded.

First off, they’re trying to restrict, limit, and altogether ban materials such as loli and rape games, under the reasoning that these games LEAD people to go out there and abuse children and rape women. Tell me if that sounds familia, because that tune DEFINITELY fucking sounds familiar – it’s something that they’ve been trying to sell to us for some time now, even though we all know better.

Back in the 80s, politicians cried foul over rock musicians, citing that their music incited teenagers to violence and suicide. Remember the Ozzy days? Yeah. After that they went with guns, demanding that guns be outlawed because they directly and unquestionably drove people to murder. No, it’s not the man behind the gun who makes the choice of shooting someone the criminal, it’s the guns themselves! Not satisfied, they later went with video games and how they inspired kids to violence, with the incidents of school shootings as their prima facto evidence. Because clearly, video games induced kids to take out their aggression on real people. After that, they went with rap music, with groups claiming that rap music drove kids to shoot up people and do drugs. Now, it’s the loli porn and rape games, citing that these drive people to commit crime upon children and women.

Sensationalists. Life would be a whole lot better without them.

I find child porn absolutely disgusting and anathema. Rape is, while a joke that we use and abuse to death in the dasaku channel, something that I know enough not to endorse and carry out in real life. But the sheer magnamity of the idiocy by which people ASSUME that FICTIONAL materials drive people to commit acts such as raping women or abusing children is beyond me. Haven’t they ever heard of personal accountability? Whatever the fuck happened to responsibility and personal choice? Back then, when we did shit we would be accountable for it because we chose to act it out with full intent and knowledge of what we were to commit – does that not fucking apply any more, despite it being part of the law that determines whether or not a man is guilty? When a person chooses to commit a crime, they are personally accountable and responsible for their transgressions, if they are of sane mind and thinking. It is NOT the material which makes the choice for them and carries out the crime in their favour – it is the person who chooses to carry it out!

Do lobby groups, Christians, and politicians think that we are just to stupid to think for ourselves? That we are unable to determine the huge, thick fucking line that exists between reality and fiction so much that we need to be regulated and controlled as to what we can and cannot be exposed to? Just sit back for a moment and think for yourself – Are you really that stupid that you need to be moderated by the government and lobby groups as to what is good and bad for you? Can you not tell the difference between fantasy and reality by yourself? Can you not distinguish the disassociation between fantasy, fiction, and real life? I’m pretty sure that every time I end up banging a loli in one of my eroges, I’m not submerging myself in the experience by using the loli as a proxy for real life children. Or when I go through rape-scenes in my dark-themed eroges, I don’t think of doing the same thing to real women.

The hypocrisy and stupidity of this entire debacle is just fucking astounding. If these groups and governments are so intent on curbing crimes such as rape and child abuse, why not DIRECTLY go after the perpetrators? Cut it off at the source, instead of coming up with legislations that ultimately curb on our freedom to exercise ourselves? Such measures takes too much effort, so they’ve decided instead to take the simpler route – to trample on your freedom under the guise of protection.

Unfortunately, the moment you denounce them for their stupidity and bring up the real issues that matter, you will simply be demonized and antagonized; lumped in with the same people that these groups SHOULD be after just because you went against them and the issues that they are trying to protect. Even if you’re trying to protect the same issues!

So would you rather choose to lie down and let them have their way? Live in ignorance and choose to ignore your right to question and fight those who choose to oppress your freedom? I can see why simply choosing to stay silent about the whole issue and let it subside is an easy choice; but remember that the more ground you give them, the more they will take from you. Who knows how far they’ll go until their uninformed paranoias and private agendas are sated?

Question authority. Fight the war, and fuck the norm.

UPDATE: So it seems that TBS apparently made up the whole bullshit. Good for them and their ratings, fucking sensationalists. HOWEVER, the fact of the matter is that the eroge industry is STILL in heavy criticism from groups in both Japan as well as international one. THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT! We have until June 2 to wait and see what is really going on and what is going to happen.

So how was the revolution afterall?

I hope you have plenty of fresh underwear. The revolution does not permit soiled underwear before battle.

Needless to say this game’s ero level is MONSTROUS. The girls experience overflowing amounts of hammering, so much so that they must find new forms of communication to convey their experience. Suzune does it by basically losing command of language so much that she reverts to primal vocalizations and erotic gagging noises. Aika just cuts to the chase and goes speechless – literally. Either way, this game is way, way above most others in the art of heroines getting screwed senseless by the protagonist. Even Atelier Kaguya’s girls don’t devolve to such extents as Suzune and Aika do during lovemaking.

Character-wise Suzune and her route isn’t all that interesting. She basically gets addicted to sex with Kazuhisa that she can’t stop thinking about it and getting horny, which clashes with her sense of duty as a teacher. Aika’s is better; her story starts with her secret being blown and a true love relationship blossoms over time.

Now Aika is quite the character. Foul is the gentlest description possible. Imagine a volcanic tsundere with a dere side that only shows up when she’s getting vigorously piston-ed in bed. Kazuhisa has a hard time throughout the story figuring out what he really is to her, but it all comes down to the reason why Aika looked down with contempt on all the confessions various boys have made to her: they’re all just words. Aika is a person who believes in action rather than simple words anyone can mouth off at any convenient time. Kazuhisa can say he loves her, but can he actually show the same?

Kazuhisa finally shows his love through a certain event but Aika doesn’t say anything that indicates she feels anything for him afterwards, and is still as foul-tempered and violent as ever following that event, but you have to remember that she’s a woman of action. Watch what she DOES rather than says as the story progresses, and at the end of the story she too finally shows rather than tells her love for him.

Aika is like a high-risk, high-gain investment. You pay a lot and HARD with her foul temper and VIOLENT jealous tendencies (like being on the verge of castrating Kazuhisa when she suspects he’s going after some other girls), but the rewards are boatloads of awesome sex with a seriously hot girl who seriously enjoys doing it with her lover, and true romantic feelings in return – though coated with harsh language and sometimes confusing courses of action.

So get out there lads! Take big risks, earn big rewards! Join the revolution of love!

Xuse Chief: Hmmm, what do people usually think when they hear the word ‘tentacles?’

Awkward silence for a few moments.

Xuse Staff 1: Eh, schoolgirls getting raped at random?

Xuse Chief: Mm hm.

Xuse Staff 2: Dark, torture-themed games?

Xuse Chief: Keep going.

Xuse Staff 3: Body distortions? Violence and horror? No romantic atmosphere whatsoever?

Xuse Chief: You are all right. That’s why our next game will be a pure-love tentacle romance!

Long awkward silence.

Whole Xuse Staff: EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?

A conversation similar to the above probably took place at some point during the time between Seinarukana and Tsukumono, and the idea likely boggled the mind just as much. When one thinks tentacles they usually think of endless wriggling masses of slimy, semen-spewing appendages enveloping hapless schoolgirls and plunging themselves into every orifice, driving the victims mad with waves of ecstasy and horror, leaving them sex-starved shadows of their former selves. Heroes are defeated or killed. Heroines are enslaved in a wet tempest of sex. What little romance exists is crushed under a wave of beastly lust and demonic hedonism, and good endings are an endangered, if not extinct species in the realm of tentacle sex.

So how does one turn such a ghastly, loveless fetish into a romantic, character and plot-driven story? Or rather, what could’ve possessed Xuse to even think of such a thing in the first place? I know not who or what their muse was, but I do know one thing after finishing the game.

It worked.

Tsukumono ~Yadorigi Romance~ is a testament and triumph to the idea that not only can you make porn out of anything, but that you can also make a romantic story out of it. Well, I don’t know how a guro or vore romance would work out, but looks like tentacles has surpassed that daunting barrier separating dark fetish and warm romance. Of course Tsukumono has some dark elements and events as well, but the overall atmosphere and theme of the game is bright and positive.

You are Kyouzaki Meguru, the lone survivor of a terrible car accident that claimed the lives of your beloved family: your parents and older sister. A relative’s family took you in and you’ve been living under their care every since. In the present you are an ordinary high school student living together with your older cousin, Sugiuchi Sae, who is also a language and classics teacher at your school. She takes care of you as a guardian, and makes sure to see not only to your needs but to your education as well. Miyakura Amane is your energetic if figure-wise lacking osanajimi and president of the art club, into which you were involuntarily drafted in the past by Amane and Sae. Occasionally you are harassed and teased by another older cousin, Kyouzaki Misuzu, who is currently a loitering, good-for-nothing with no care for the world or the future NEET sponging money off of her parents and causing trouble in general for everyone around her. Also attending school is classmate Ono Kanatsu, a quiet, mysterious girl; the glamour model and teen idol, Kishida Shiina; and her #1 fan and, for lack of a better description, dog Kudou An. Side characters include aspiring athlete and best friend with a girly face Someni Taiki, science teacher and Sae’s current boyfriend Yasunaga Souichi, and your homeroom teacher and art club advisor, Okakura Yui.

A strange wind blows through the town one day. Nothing seems to come of it other than you being bedridden with a fever the next day. From that time forward you occasionally hear a strange voice inside your head. You reluctantly join an art-related excursion one day only to fall into a deep hole when no one else is around. All seems hopeless when the voice in your head returns, offering to save your life if you pledge servitude to it. With no other options, you hastily agree and are somehow pulled out of the hole by a unseen, mysterious presence. That night, the voice returns, and the owner reveals himself:

Well it could be worse. You could have Hemisphere of all people sticking out of your back.

Thus starts you life together with a tentacle creature called Maro. And how is it, you may ask? The answer, at least from my impression and experience, is darned impressive. From the pits of tentacle fetish arises a moving story with plot, emotions, and a wonderful cast of characters. It’s not as intricate and deep as a Key or Typemoon game, but it’s a massive cut above the vast majority and sits amongst a prestigious group of games that sits just a small level below masterpiece rank. Tsukumono is not merely a game that makes a story out of the tentacle genre. It’s also a terrific game.

The cast of characters is especially great, and the primary reason why is because they are not squeaky clean. Majority of romance ero-game heroines and characters are one-cut stereotypes with simplistic, bright and cheery personalities. Some may have dark sides, but those lie distinctly separated from the rest of the person and rise to the surface only by plot. Tsukumono’s characters have flaws that are visible and present in their words and actions throughout the course of the story. There is a dirty feeling to some of the characters, and that dirtiness adds so much depth and interest. They often evoke distaste and in some cases downright hatred, but it’s of the good kind.

As for the plot, it’s superb but quality varies greatly amongst the routes which is one of the reasons why this game isn’t a masterpiece. On one end of the scale you have Kanatsu’s route, which I felt was tepid, while on the other end you have Sae’s which is completely mind-blowingly AWESOME. Some of the routes also share an event that is portrayed with different intensities. I usually subscribe to the save the best for last approach, but then because of the shared event you might experience it with low intensity and meaning compared to from one of the better routes, which means that when you get to the better route that same event no longer has the intended full impact because you’ve already experienced a weaker version of it. These reasons and some more make recommending a route play order exceedingly difficult.

The routes from strongest to weakest are:

1. Sae

2. Shiina and An

3. Amane

4. Misuzu

5. Kanatsu

I can’t offer a solid recommendation for a play order, but here are some general rules:

1. Kanatsu’s route only somewhat diminishes the ending for Shiina and An’s route, but doesn’t affect the other routes. Additionally the joy of Shiina’s and An’s route is in the middle and right up to the ending, so I wouldn’t really worry about when to play Kanatsu’s route.

2. Shiina and An’s route should definitely be played later because you need enough experience and exposure to these two with the other routes so that their own has maximum impact. This route and Kanatsu’s do not feature that shared event I mentioned.

3. Sae’s route is the most epic and has an incredibly awesome ending with superb buildup and tension, so if you want to end the game with an amazing bang, this is the last to play.

4. Amane’s route tells the most about Maro as a character, and has the most intense and emotional version of the shared event I mentioned earlier. You may want to play this earlier if you want to experience that event with full impact, but at the same time this one tells the most about Maro so you might also want to play this later after having experienced Maro sufficiently.

5. Misuzu’s route has a very weak version of the shared event, so be aware of that when deciding when to play this route.

I’m planning on making in-depth, spoiler-filled posts on the overall story and the characters sometime in the future. In the meantime, Tsukumono ~Yadorigi Romance~ is a fresh and surprising look on the tentacle genre, and also a great game in its own right. It goes to show indeed that not all tentacle monsters are bad after all!

Shikata Akiko’s got a new album out – rather, it’s been out for some time, so you should take a listen to it. Like, right now. it’s called Harmonia, and it sounds much like Shikata Akiko’s style; less of Navigatoria’s pop-friendly sound and more of her RAKA-ish ethnic ones. There’s also a track in there that, much like RAKA, takes Ar tonelico 2’s OP song and turns it into something that’s probably part Celtic, part Japanese, but it’s definitely all Shikata Akiko’s style. To those who don’t know who Shikata Akiko is – she’s the one who sings the Hymmnos for Misha Arsellec Lune aka MAI WAIFU in Ar tonelico 1, and Croche Latie Pastalie in Ar tonelico 2, among other things. She also did some songs for Shadow Hearts, and also did the OP for Umineko no Naku Koro ni. So if you ended up liking those songs yet still want more, then you might wanna give Harmonia a shot.

Me? Man, I can’t fucking stop listening to it. It grew on me so much that one of the tracks there, Kaze to Rashiban, overtook every other fucking Asriel song. Just take a look. It’s crazy awesome, and what I really love about the song is the whole dynamic, upbeat feel that it has, coupled by the vocal interplay. And that crescendo near the end? Gets me every time.

But the good news doesn’t stop there!

Okay, first of all, Asriel’s gone and done the ED for 11eyes Crossover for the XBox 360, just like what they did for the original 11eyes in the PC. I didn’t end up liking it as much as the original ED, though. In fact, I liked Dearest… more than Tsukioku no Chikai…just how fucked is that? Hahaha. Liking the extra single more than the actual featured single. But whatever, Dearest… is awesome and definitely loads better more than Tsukioku no Chikai.

But then, for more Asriel, here comes the good news. Their 8th Album, Quovadis, is due for release this May 5. FUCK YES! You can see it here in their official site, as well as sample what the tracks have to offer.  It’s got a total of twelve tracks listed, and the sound is still decidedly Asriel. From the previews available, it sounds like a good mix of their “old” and “new” styles blended together. Definitely looking forward to this one.

And if you thought that it ends there, you’re mistaken. If you’ve checked the official site, by now you’d see that their banner is also advertising their first major album this May 27. Apparently Asriel’s gotten that popular, which, hopefully, is a good thing. No word or anything about the upcoming commercial album, named Unveil, though I’m hoping that they put up samples for it at least a week before its release just to get a taste of what to expect and fervently anticipate with each waking breath.

That’d do it for now. Oh, and why the lack of links to MP3s? Blame my laziness – well, no, not really. Okay, it’s a mixture of boredom and annoyance over my MP3 files being wiped, so I’m not really in the mood for it at the moment – plus, you’ve got torrents for that. Lazy motherfuckers. Go start up those torrents!

In the meanwhile, I’ll be basking in radiant bliss over my Shikata Akiko and Asriel collection with my HD595. Damn thing is so sweet, it’s almost like pure earsex. Almost, because I need an AKG K701 and a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go for that. And I need monies for that! Gimme my audio bliss!

UPDATE: Okay you guys, here’s three tracks from Harmonia. Kaze to Rashiban is the track that I am so moyamoya over, while Uzumebi and Replicare are both made of fucking win. Thanks a lot #dasaku…you fucks. :D

The more time I spend typing about just how fun these games are, the less time I get around to playing them! GAH! Okay, so here we go. First, Baldr Sky.

While this one is all about Merry rambling through Baldr Sky’s Chapter 1, it’s also a decent introduction to the gameplay mechanics as well as the visuals and interface of the game. Yes, it’s an eroge in the sense that it also has a game in it, which is completely fucking welcome and awesome, in the form of mech combat. The combat system needs some getting used to at first, but once you get the hang of combos and the various ways of executing attacks it becomes a rather fun part of the game – and it better be damn fun, seeing as it composes a large chunk of the game. You have three routes to go through in succession: first Rain’s, then Nanoha’s and lastly, Chinatsu. You get more attacks and plugins (what you use to upgrade your, among other things) as you progress more through the game, so it’s definitely in your best interest to replay it again and again if you want to unlock everything.

So what’s my take on Baldr Sky? Damn awesome, that’s what it is. Much thanks go to Zakarum for getting me to grab this game – at first I was only partially interested in it, but his constant prodding and proclamations of love for Rain spurred my curiosity on enough to make me actually get it and see what exactly made Zak love Rain the game so much. And after clearing the game, I have to agree with him – Rain is OH SO FUCKING HOT, but I’m fine with Chinatsu. As for Nanoha…fuck. I hate Nanoha. WORST OSANANAJIMI EVER, AND VERY MUCH THE WORST CHARACTER TO ADD. She sucked so hard that now I’m rethinking my stance on osananajimis.

I like the way Baldr Sky presents its story – it’s got a mix of Ghost in the Shell technobabble/action as well as hilarious and interesting high school love comedy/drama mixed together. You’d think that both of those would hardly blend together, but Baldr Sky’s got the execution right. And the way the successive playthrough keep on adding to the story is an effective way to build up your interest – the game just loves handing you more pieces to fit into the puzzle just when you thought you have it all figured out.

Also, the lolicon plug-in is hilarious. And the H scene with Aki-nee? GOD DAMN HOT. But moving on!

There’s Himegari -Dungeon Meister-, Eushully’s latest game.

It’s about this fearsome Maou (or demon king) who, at the end of his reign of terror, was beaten and ended up with his body sealed away. His soul ended up wandering about, was found and subsequently regained conscious after being given a bit of mana by a demon that he left behind, because he deemed her unfit to fight and was basically incompetent. Now with all of his competent demos and subordinates slain, the Maou has no choice but to entrust his soul to this nameless tsukaima in the hopes of getting a new body. Things doesn’t end up his way, however, and he ends up with his soul merged with that of a small, young human named Emilio, who is apparently the gardener of the princess who maintains the seal on the Maou’s body. Talk about coincidence.

So to cut the long story short, you’re basically digging through the dungeons in the hopes of building up your army as well as regaining both your power and your former body. It’s got fun fun room exploration and combat, and since I’m a sucker to RPGs, I obviously took a liking to this one the moment I sampled the trial.

I don’t really know why it’s so much fun. But it is! However, I didn’t really find the random stat boosts + random cards fun. At all. The exercise of saving then repeatedly reloading for several minutes on end just to get a decent set of stat boosts, as well as picking Clear Points from the maids was just completely taxing on my patience – and I’m a very patient person, mind you. I put up with it even when I had to do it for 30 minutes onwards! While the results were very much worth it, as my Lily was just steamrolling everything in her way, the means of achieving it was as fun as playing Russian Roulette, only with five loaded rounds.

For those of you who need some help with the game but can’t be bothered to read Japanese (which sort of defeats the purpose, really…but I digress), then there’s the Himegari page on the Eushully Wiki that you can use as reference. While most of the info is still under construction, feel free to help out and collect info or something.

OKAY! Plug’s done, back to fun!

Lily is one great tsukaima, seriously. Her Mature form is not only hot but ridiculously powerful. It’s great for taking care of anything and everything! And if you need additional stats to raise her performance, don’t forget that you can H up your captured enemies to raise both your mana as well as Lily’s stats (depending on the type of enemy).

Right. From the deep, dark bowels of dasaku comes this one. It’s pretty much the first in what we’re planning to do, and since this is the very first one, you’ll have to forgive the relatively shitty quality. This was the third attempt during our recording, and during that time digi, me, Coke, Ci, and Zeroblade were all thinking “man, just fuck it, let’s just get this over with”.

We covered anime, eroge, manga, games, and some general stuff…but not completely. I mean, it’s the first one so we’re just seeing what we’re capable of and that sort of stuff. Yeah.

You also got the omake right there. Enjoy! Personally, and I think we all agree with it, the omake is much more enjoyable – even though you’re not gonna understand one goddamn bit of it.

To dullen the trauma, here’s some delicious Atelier Kaguya porn. Mmm-mmmm. No matter how many times I’ve looked at them, they are still fucking fine.

It will be the day that Apricot decides to rise up against Atelier Kaguya and show them that they are not the only ones who should possess the holy mantle of rampant eroticism.

Apricot is a company that probably diverged from Crossnet. They are known as the creators of Ayakashi and especially as the makers of the somewhat famous Maple Colors. Their latest major work is the sequel, Maple Colors 2, and now they seem to have created their own version of Atelier Kaguya’s Berkshire Yorkshire or Team Heartbeat division: Apricot Cherry, and they are about to release their instrument of revolution: シスタ×シスタ～Lovevery Sisters～

Story so far in the trial is simple. You pick from one of two branches right off the bat: one for the teacher, Nishizono Suzune, and one for the honor classmate and younger sister of the first, Nishizono Aika.

Suzune’s story goes that you, Kazuhisa, confess your love to Aika and get shot down instantly. The teacher, Suzune, notices your despair and tries to inspire you to not give up. You decide to mend your heart by taking a day off and you receive a phonecall from Suzune-sensei who proposes the most off-the-wall idea: go out on a date with herself as practice.

Aika’s story is that she’s chosen to participate in some English speech contest without her consent. During break or something, Kazuhisa spots Aika going somewhere and follows her up to the rooftop where out of curiosity he decides to spy on what she’s doing all the way up here.

Aika basically reveals in a fit of rage that she’s not the always-polite, well-mannered honor student that she seems to be. She’s arrogant, sees her classmates as a bunch of morons, and is putting on the front of an honor student in order to maintain her own and her family’s reputation.

Obviously Kazuhisa knocks over a bucket trying to escape and gets caught by the not-so-well-mannered honor student.

That’s pretty much the story so far, but that’s not what this is all about. It’s about these (be sure to mouse over for captions):

The above picture alone (and that mole) should show you how dead serious Apricot Cherry is. Revolution is serious business.

In this scene she gives the impression she’s being taken somewhere she doesn’t wanna go cause she knows that once she gets there she’ll never want to come back.

Here’s some of the other girl now, Nishizono Aika:

The second image only lasted about a second but I managed to close the UI and take the screencap before the image automatically went away. You know what they say about reproduction being the most essential drive of all living creatures.

Play an Apricot or an older Crossnet game and it almost feels like animation sometimes. All the better for fapping.

Apricot Cherry is clearly trying to duplicate (or do better) what Aterlier Kaguya is famous for, and so far they’re doing a wonderful job at it. The exquisite art, the fleshiness, the “I’m being hammered so silly I’ve lost my sense of self,” facial expressions; all enhanced by dialogue and occasional sound effects guaranteed to light a boner in your pants.

Apricot Cherry’s revolution is coming. Are you ready to take the plunge into Aika’s delicious woman-hole?

Oh, shit! Apparently it’s Mou Yamete’s first year anniversary since I moved to dasaku, and my second year in blogging. Man, oh man. It’s  definitely been a while now.

Honestly, I still have a lot of things to learn when it comes to a lot of stuff like web design, CSS, PHP and other stuff – though admittedly, it’s fun. Everything’s been a crazy ride of fun and madness ever since I joined dasaku, and I have digi aka Randall Fitzgerald to thank for all this. Under his despotic thumb guidance, I’ve learned a lot of stuff like how to spot totally fine headphonz, which are sexy. Sexy phonz are totally fuckin’ hot. My preferences have also widened greatly, and I LIKE IT! I mean, why limit yourself to certain fetishes/genres, when you can broaden your view and enjoy them all?

It’s been fun seeing a lot of blogs about eroge get put up though! It’s nice seeing the community that’s already been there for quite a while put up blogs and write about what they think of the whole thing, and in increasing numbers. Pretty awesome, really, though admittedly I don’t really visit as many blogs now as I used to back then, so…;__; It’s still a very wonderful thing, though, and I’m not disputing it.

So, let’s see…any future plans for this blog? It’ll still be about eroge, ALL AROUND EROGE ALL THE TIME, though if you’ve seen Newprimus’ posts, then you’ve probably wondered if I’m willing to take in some guest authors and have them write out some sexy articles for some smexy wimminz and eroges. To which I say, yes! I’m planning something like that.

SHIT I LOVE MAHOU SENSHIS SO MUCH, I mean, fuck, It’s definitely been quite a fun ride, and here’s looking forward to more fun in the future! DASAKU, DON’T STOP DELIVERING! Never fail to expand my horizons.

Shit…I should really work on my thesis proposal…Now for some more eroge!

God DAMN, man. Delicious bishoujo princesses with totally SMOKING HOT BODIEZ (good job #dasaku, you bastards), totally raunchy eroscenes that are more than enough to make carnal connoisseurs weep from the level of indulgence, and writing that completely works the ero in as a part of the whole and not just something added as an afterthought. Welcome to Atelier Kaguya (to be specific, Atelier Kaguya Team Hearbeat, but shut up I’m trying to be dramatic here), and to Toriko no Hime.

During the past week, I was stuck in the provinces with nothing but my laptop and my portable music player + HD595 to keep me company, which was really more than enough to keep me occupied during my entire four-day stay. It was out of a whim that I tried out Toriko no Hime, and now I find myself sticking to it out of complete dedication. Just…god damn, man.

For a bit of a background, the four-day vacation in the provinces was due to the easter holiday, though technically it was a week-long thing. I won’t bore you with details regarding my personal life, so suffice to say that it was supposed to be for some peace and relaxation with the entire family, that sort of thing. And seeing as it was a holiday dedicated to remembering the passion of Christ and all that, I find it more than ironic that I ended up getting deeply attached to AtoKagu’s stuff during that time – but whatever.

Man, AtoKagu makes some REALLY sexy stuff. Not like it’s anything new since I did dabble in some of their titles such as Dungeon Crusaderz, Dungeon Crusaderz 2, Prima Stella and Sarasara Sasara, but the full weight of that statement only hit me while I was going through Toriko no Hime. AtoKagu REALLY makes the sexy stuff, and they know how to make it work! Though to be fair, I’m referring to Team Heartbeat in this case more than the other…departments, or whatever. I wouldn’t go as far as to call their titles as mindless sexfests, as there are stories evidently present in them, and they are pretty much wound up around the ero. Both the ero and story are intertwined with one another, so calling it a simple sexfest is a bad idea, nor is it notably outstanding in its approach with the story. It’s just AtoKagu doing their stuff!

In Toriko no Hime, you take on the role of Claude, a “Chouritsu” or Tuner, whose job is to turn high-class women such as princesses into slaves whose existence are lower than that of a prostitute’s, as it goes, upon his clients’ requests. It’s not as simple as breaking the ladies by raping them or such – no, there’s a whole profession dedicated to it, and Claude is considered one of the best in this profession. On this particular day, he is assigned to “tune” three princess – Princess Lydia, Princess Hilda and Princess Eleanor. To Claude, it is just another request, but for his “superior”, a demon named Nora, it is something far more than that.

Right. That aside, the women are FUCK HOT. Personally I prefer Team Heartbeat’s women over Berkshire Yorkshire’s cause of the curves, the degree of fleshiness and the overall SMOKIN’ HOT BODIEZ – and this is very much apparent in the game’s three main heroines. I’m more into Lydia and Hilda than I am into Eleanor – hell, I’d even pick Nora over Eleanor. Like I said in my older posts, aside from a few notable exceptions such as Kabane from DCz 2, I’m not really big on elven women. And as for the title…if you are looking for high-quality ero stuff, you have found it, my friend.

Like I said earlier, AtoKagu (and in this case, Team Heartbeat) manages to work their ero into their story in such a way that it doesn’t feel tacked on, out of place, or forced into such that they could simply work in a sex scene while thinking that no one would notice. No sir, that sort of shit doesn’t happen with their stuff – they work their sex in nicely, and they work it in good. Coupled with their fantastic art and their “engaging” voice acting, and you’ve got yourself a real winner for the ero here. If you’re the kind of guy who scoffs at the ero content of eroges, then clearly their stuff isn’t for you, but if you are the kind of man who finds yourself attracted to the prospect of completely entertaining ero that’s as important to the game as much as your penis is to you (or something…shit, that was a bad analogy FUCK!) breathing is to you, then you have just found solace.

Take Dungeon Crusaderz 2 for an example. The way the ero is put in there doesn’t feel as needlessly tacked on as much as the shitty gameplay mechanic (which, admittedly, could be workable with a few heavily-needed tweaks and improvements here and there, but I digress). The scenes weren’t short and didn’t feel like they deviated from whatever was going on at the moment, and my goal of advancing the story was also in line with unlocking more eroscenes with the smokin’ hot bishoujos there to keep me company. Most of the eroscenes there were unlocked by completing quests so they were more of rewards than in-line the story, but they’re completely rewarding in the sense that they feel more like a continuation of the quest that you just undertook and not as an add-on to keep you momentarily satisfied. Plus you get to do your favorite bishoujo, I mean, FUCK, who can resist that?! BRB REPLAYING HAREM DELUSION SCENE ENDE HERE I COME!

Okay…enough rambling, I’ve derailed myself from the main topic long enough. So…Toriko no Hime. I’ve actually finished both Hilda’s good and bad ends but DIDN’T manage to see the eroscenes for myself because I was unable to find a good private space with which to keep the eroscenes away from prying eyes with…so now I’m replaying through her route. She is just awesome. Between Lydia the tsundere and Hilda who is completely awesome, I just can’t choose who to pick as my favorite!

Aaaaaand…it’s all thanks to Toriko no Hime that I am now completely in line with Atelier Kaguya Team Heartbeat. Like, fuck man…I’m even grabbing Natsukami while I’m typing this out for more delicious ichaicha ero action from those guys. They REALLY know their stuff, and I’ll be damned if I miss out on it!

And if you’re after MORE Team Heartbeat stuff, then don’t fret! After Dungeon Crusaderz 2 comes Magical Witch Concerto, their next title. Story, character and sample CG pages have been up for quite a while now (see if you can spot the character from DCz 2!), and the ladies look to be lusciously delectable as always! My favorites right now would have to be Francesca Arkwright and Chloe Niven, because…hey, you know, Nathalia isn’t too bad herself…I mean, god DAMN.

And taking a look at the sample CGs brings us to one of the hottest CGs EVER.

Why is it so fucking hot?! WHY?!? Thankfully, #dasaku has all the answers.

[23:10:48] <~digiwombat> I CAN TELL YOU WHY IT’S SO GOD DAMN HOT
[23:10:55] <@Alkenshel> DO TELL
[23:11:20] <~digiwombat> BECAUSE HER CONTEMPLATIVE EXPRESSION TELLS YOU THAT SHE FULLY UNDERSTANDS WHY SHE IS ENJOYING THE THE SEX ACT
[23:11:31] <+iluna> Alky
[23:11:40] <+iluna> I’ll share the joy with you once I complete the game
[23:11:40] <+Zeroblade-> UOOOOO
[23:11:41] <+iluna> thankie
[23:11:45] <+Zeroblade-> SO ENLIGHTENING
[23:12:02] <~digiwombat> It’s not overdone or overemotional. IT’S JUST SIMPLE AND KNOWING!
[23:12:23] <~digiwombat> No O-face. Just the soft, earnest realization of PLEASURE
[23:12:30] <~digiwombat> We should all be so lucky. *thumbs up*
[23:12:32] <@Alkenshel> FUCK YES

You can bet your ass I’m all over Magical Witch Concerto. In the meanwhile, Toriko no Hime and Natsukami go!

This is Hemi, going back to more princess tuning sessions. FUCK YES AND LONG LIVE ATELIER KAGUYA!

Akatsuki no Goei – I came into this one without any expectations, and ended up finishing three routes plus following up their afterstories in the span of two days. What the fuck.

The setting of Akatsuki no Goei takes place in a future Japan where the equilibrium between the rich and the poor is so completely fucked up that there exists two sides of Japan, the side where all the poor and desolate are left to rot, and the “normal”, prosperous side. The former side exists in a very dystopian state where every day is a battle for survival, while the latter is similar to modern day society only with more reverence and emphasis to those belonging to the upper class. It also follows that the dystopian side is sealed off from the “normal” Japan, and that the people there aren’t socially registered in any manner at all. So you can see that things are really fucked up, but people take it for what it is.

The male lead is Asagiri Kaito, who, unlike his companions eagerly into their training as future bodyguards, doesn’t really have his heart set on being a bodyguard. The game starts off with a brief introduction to a kidnapping scene which Kaito bears witness to, then cuts away to events two weeks prior, where his nature and reasons for joining the academy are disclosed. Kaito takes his leave from his bodyguard training and is set to become a free man until he witness the kidnapping attempt, during which he ends up following the kidnappers all the way to their hideout – not because he wants to protect the victim, but because he was looking for something “out of the ordinary”. So he beats up the thugs, gets the ojousama back to her home, and goes off – at least, he tries to leave. Turns out that the girl he ended up rescuing is a VERY distinguished personality, and she has other plans for Kaito, plans that involve him becoming her bodyguard despite his MOST adamant refusal.

Seriously? I really recommend this game. Kaito’s personality and character is COMPLETELY distinct and different from any other eroge lead I’ve seen – his personality is 50% of the reason as to why I couldn’t tear myself away from this one. The other 50% would be the heroines and the completely intriguing premise and execution of the story, not to mention the various  gags and exchanges between characters. Sure it hits some snags here and there, but it’s still a very good title, one that’s worth checking out if you’re desperate for something new and interesting. My favorite routes would have to be Reika’s and Tsuki’s, partly because I really like their characters a lot, and because of the events involved.

Battle Goddess 0/Ikusa Megami 0 – Just noticed that I haven’t written much about this one, so…yeah. Ikusa Megami 0 is the prequel to the whole series, though to be honest I really haven’t played any other Ikusa Megami titles aside from this one. But what I do know, however, is that this game is just about perfect. The gameplay system is easy and intuitive, battles are fun to get into, and the story is more than just riveting – it’s a very engaging saga, one that’s worth seeing from start to end. For those new to Eushully and their stuff, I can imagine it being more than just a tad confusing, so I would suggest you either get people who are familiar with their works to ease you into it, or to try out their other titles to get more understanding of the world surrounding BG0.

Nothing more about this one needs to be said, aside from it being a must. If you haven’t played this one yet, you should. You owe yourself that much.

At the very least, play it before Himegari comes out this month!

Edo Ranze – After Afker’s several proddings, I went ahead and tried out this one out of curiosity for the tsundere character. It’s merits goes beyond that though – it’s a lighthearted, completely amusing title from the guys over at AliceSoft. Unlike their standard eroges, this one’s purely ADV, and the fun lies in seeing the various GAME OVER scenarios as well as the hilarity in most of the events.

Plus, you’ve got some quirky characters in this one – and I mean, quirky. A loli ninja who gets off from seeing the main lead suffer, two gay guys who both serve as the princess’ loyal bodyguards, among others. It’s a small game judging from its size, so it doesn’t take much dedication to play through and finish unless you’re extremely lazy or have eroge ADD, like me.

Flyable Heart – Unisonshift Blossom’s titles have a fairly singular ambiance or feel about them, and if you’ve played Nanatsuiro Drops, I can say that Flyable Heart shares the same ambiance. It has really friendly characters, bright visuals, and cheerful, light-hearted expositions for the most part – also standard fare for Blossom’s stuff, which I’m not saying is a bad thing. Everyone else has also written a piece about Flyable Heart and I don’t feel like repeating what they’ve said in part because I am lazy, so just go and check out what they said about it.

Kururi, however, is much love. Which brings me to a rambling of sorts – with Unisonshift Blossom’s stuff, how come I ALWAYS end up liking the flat-chested characters more than ANYBODY else? In Peace@Pieces, Anzu and Death-sensei were the girls for me; Nanatsuiro Drops had me smitten all over Sumomo; now in Flyable Heart, Kururi’s got dibs on my heart, and then there’s Gumi! It’s not like I’m biased towards flat chests, as it’s more their personalities and characters that I REALLY end up loving, but the coincidence amuses me. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you.

Mahou Senshi Lemmtear Knights – I’m a newbie to Triangle’s stuff, so this would be my first foray into their eroges. I am NOT, however, a stranger to mahou senshis and the like, as it is one of my most sought-after fetish. If you’re after mahou senshis and ero, then this is a GREAT way to find out and see how the two mix. You play the role of the main baddie whose purpose is to enslave the heroines against him into his side. In order to accomplish this, you have a variety of demons and magic spells at your command, and said enslavement occurs after you engage in combat with the heroines.

There’s a LOT of mahou senshis in this title, which made me really really REALLY pleased. They even have En Ciel Rena in here! And playing as the baddie for the main role was, while a bit disorienting, fitting for the various eroscenes present. It’s just that, you know, I’d rather PERSONALLY see to the capture and enslavement of these bishoujos myself, with my own dick in tow, and not have fat old balding men or demon lizards do the job for me. But this is how Triangle does things, so…eh. I don’t exactly have a choice.

The bishoujos, however, are very much abundant, and very delicious to boot!

Tokino Senka -Would I be right in saying that this is Studio e.Go!’s last title? Tokino Senka involves Amagi Hayato, a young man from the future who wakes up in feudal Japan during a strong thunderstorm, only with no recollection of his memories. His sword skill, however, proves valuable in defending the country that he finds himself in, as well as his special ability to see events ahead of time. He allies himself with the resident lord, Akitsu Yoshihiro, and with him at their side, they set about to turning the tides of war around on their enemies.

Hayato’s a pretty quirky but likable character – he can be badass when he needs to be, and perverted whenever his male instincts call for it. It’s also worth mentioning that HE’S VOICED, which is a very welcome feature as his voice matches his personality very much. For the heroines, I ended up liking Kikyou, Yui and especially Karin the most out of them all, though I kinda wish that Hikage was capturable, or a secret heroine.

It has a decent battle system, which resembles an RTS, though units can quickly degrade into clusterfucks, which is hardly helpful when it comes to en masse battles. Unlike most RTS games, though, only the units are what you can command in this one – no need to build structures or harvest resources to be converted into precious war funds. Storywise, it later involves several “what-if” scenarios that, as a history buff, I found amusing. Like, what if the feudal Japanese armies employed Hoplite tactics? What if they had access to automatic rifles and grenades, or a tank?

WLO – Newprimus has already put up a brief write up of WLO based on his experience with the trial, and it’s already appropriate enough for an introduction as to what the story is about so feel free to read up on it if you want. In my playthrough, I was hesitant in choosing between Yuriko and Arisa, so I went ahead and followed my own advice: “when in doubt, go for the osananajimi“. And so my first playthrough was done with Aina’s route.

Let me get this out of the way first: I hated the protagonist. My god was he annoying, though thankfully he changes before you hit any of the girls’ major routes. Still, prior to that he was hair-tugging infuriating, and I swear I wanted to punch my monitor more than thrice. I lost count the seventh time I felt that raging urge rising within me.

It’s a pretty hilarious title though, and VERY in certain routes and events. I’m in Arisa’s route right now, and the scenes prior to as well as after the play just had me laughing so hard, and that’s just in the beginning of her route. Between Aina and Arisa, I’m rooting more for Arisa. GO ARISA! Her character is more interesting, and her route is more intriguing than a plain old boring osananajimi route.

Holy fucking shit.

When Alter released a Sennin Haruka figure, I was thinking how totally fucking awesome it would be if they released a Narika one as well, for two simple reasons:

• Kotobukiya’s Narika figure SUCKS MAJOR ASS.
• Narika is MUCH LOVE!

Of course, it was all just wishful thinking back then. But apparently Alter is not only psychic, they’re also very grateful motherfuckers. Not only do they decide to release a Shihoudo Narika figure, but the figure is of her Chouko Sennin form! God damn!

You can imagine the moegasms and the gushings I’m having over this figure right now. Fuck. FUCKKKKKKKKKK. See, somewhere in the back of my mind I’m frantically panicking because I have very little money left for this one, and my cashflow will only start up once the new semester comes around. Unfortunately, the prevailing thought for now is “FUCK THAT, THIS IS A MUST GET!”

And yes, Chouko Sennin Narika really does look a bit mecha-ish. That is how Narika and Haruka’s Chouko Sennin forms really are in the game. Too bad you only see them twice, and that there aren’t any CGs of them.

So…yes. THIS IS A MUST GET! And if Alter ever decides to release a Tenrou Kunagi figure, I swear I’ll just lie down and die of sheer joy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Wizards Climber is about this wizard named Lazlocke (fuck their names are hard to romanize) who encounters a girl named Serisu, who has been waiting outside the Wizard’s Guild for a long while. The gist of the matter is that Serisu comes from a rich and influential family, but her father has been killed and the title of the family head usurped. She knows who the usurper is, but cannot confront him and obtain her proper right as the successor due to her lack of magical talent…so in desperation, she’s been waiting all this time for someone to teach her. Lazlocke agrees to take her in as his apprentice under one condition; that her body be his to use whenever the “craving” strike him. Also, they have three years to prepare Serisu for the upcoming tournament which will help her prove her talent as a Wizard.

Softhouse Chara’s Wizards Climber was a mixed bag for me. While I adored the various customizations and jobs that you could have Serisu take, the battle system draws some rather irked reactions from me. To be honest, I don’t really like it when RPGs wrench from your hands the control over whatever interactivity there is between you and the game. Battles should be firmly left in the hands of the player so I could squeeze from it whatever fun there is to be obtained, not have me simply sitting in the backseat and giving out simple instructions! Because of this I end up bored and disinterested whenever Serisu engages in fights or tower climbing, as I’m left simply waiting for the results to appear, or to tweak some of her tactics whenever needed.

What is fun about Wizards Climber, though, are the characters.

Wizards Climber’s got a rather adorable cast, from Serisu to Soshiette, Ieru and especially Viola. Not only are they interesting and amusing, they’ve also got an assortment of ero scenes that’ll leave you asking for more! Since Serisu is the main heroine, it goes without question that she’s got the most number of scenes available, with Ieru and Viola coming in next, and Soshiette along with the other subcharacters coming in last. However, it’s not like you can access the other characters aside from the first go.

Wizards Climber is a game that needs to be repeatedly played, if you wish to explore it in its entirety. The game is not meant to be finished in one run through, as the more you play through it, more features are unlocked ranging from different events available to other heroine routes, with a total of six modes available!

Moving on from Wizards Climber, there’ ωstar’s Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo. My interest for this one was spurred by the fandisc’s release, and I figured that if I was going to invest time with it, I should play through the original first. So I did! And the result was…

SHIT. I can’t believe I was this late to the party! Kanojo^3 is one of the raunchiest titles I have ever played, easily on-par with AtoKagu’s stuff! Basically the story is that the lead protagonist whose name eludes now used to live in an island, until a dormant volcano decided that it was tired of being dormant and decided to throw a party with everyone involved, whether they liked it or not. An eruption occurs, and everyone is forced off the island, including the lead who now has to live with his relatives. These relatives being three bishoujos of utterly delectable delight. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), their parents are long-dead, and they live off of the family’s ice cream shop.

Honestly, fuck the story. And I mean it. Sure the ice cream dramatics provide some semblance of distraction, but put that aside – the only thing worth checking out in this one is the ero. BUCKETLOADS OF IT AND MORE! There is a LOT of eroscenes available, enough to oversatiate even the most overzealous carnal connoisseur! There’s a total of four routes selectable (see, there’s a pair of girls that count as one route), plus a harem route.

The selection is done by picking which girl you’re interested in from the world map, with a set number of days available before the game puts you down a certain route. I’ve only finished Mafuyu’s route, and am going down Akina’s route at the moment, but JESUS, the ero is…definitely worth checking out. Both voice acting and the CGs complement each other very well, especially when it comes to those scenes!

And lastly, Atelier Kaguya’s Sarasara Sasara.

Newprimus has already written up the game’s backstory so there’s no need for me to expound on it. Aside from the usual “it’s AtoKagu, what do you expect?” comment that I could make, complete with snide rolling-eyes gesture, it has its share of improvements over Prima Stella, and some shortcomings as well, though I would say that this is loads better over Prima Stella. For one thing, the main guy doesn’t go around boning every girl before he makes a decision as to who to pick (which must come as a bit of shock to some people). Every ero scene up until the branching point is made through the “world of dreams”, a select power made available to Hiroki due to his contract with Tsukimi.

Me and Zak believe that this game is what must be AtoKagu’s homage to Ar tonelico. The ero scenes are actually Dives! The two mikos‘ hair color resembles Ruka Truelywaath’s and Croche Latie Pastalia’s, not to mention that both Reyvtails are also mikos! Tsukimi is similar to Shurelia not only in her hair color but in her childishness and possessiveness! I SEE, IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

NOTE: IF YOU TAKE THE ABOVE SERIOUSLY, YOU NEED A GOOD DOSE OF LOOSEN-THE-FUCK-UPS. NOT SOLD IN A PHARMACEUTICAL NEAR YOU.

The game pulls no punches when it comes to having you pick a heroine – after a mandatory ero scene with each one of them (and an optional one with either of the two mikos) then a second scene with Tsukimi, the game will prompt you early on as to who to pick. Yes, the branching point comes in early on in this one, and not dragged so far as in other titles. I also like how each scene is very straight to the point and concise – all scenes are just properly composed enough so you find out what you want to know in order to advance the story but not enough to make it dragging or dull. One could argue that it’s because of their single-minded focus to ero that brought about this concentrated attention to detail, and if it is, then hot damn. Good for them!

The biggest point that I have against Sarasara Sasara, however, would be this:

Let us remember for a moment Prima Stella. All heroines had an abundance of ero scenes, with two extra ero scenes per heroine, and you also had the nun as an extra heroine. Not to mention the extra 3P scenes, as well as the eroscenes with that girl in the swimming club. That is a SHITLOAD of eroscenes.

Now to Sarasara Sasara. All heroines have an abundance of scenes, true, with only one extra ero scene per heroine (two for Tsukimi), and…an extra scene for the nurse. WHERE IS MY MAHIRU ROUTE?!??!? WHERE IS MY DELICIOUS MAHIRU ICHAICHA?!? I can’t believe it, but AtoKagu’s *gasp* cut down on the ero content! WHYYYY!!!!!

And that’s it from me. Between moegasms, strokes, and rage-induced frothing at the mouth while lamenting the lack of Mahiru scenes, this is Hemisphere going back to his precious bishoujo ichaicha time. LATER!

Fuck YES!

Much like the AliceSoft x Leaf preorder collaboration, two of my beloved eroge companies have decided to take the same approach – these two being Lump of Sugar and Yuzusoft. Mere words cannot express the amount of fangasming I am going through right now – the thought of these two companies together makes me cry with joy alone! – so I’ll simply use the remaining space to present to you the campaign as it is.

I know that it’s just a promotional campaign, though I can’t help but hope for more collaborations between these two!

Pardon the lack of any prior build up, but I believe that succulence of such stature needs no introduction. Behold Mikoto, who is – aside from being a radiant feast for the eyes – your dedicated offensive spellcaster in the world of Valkyrie Complex, Circus’ upcoming game, to be released this May, along with *gasp* Tayutama -happy days- and Tenshin Ranman. The prospect of obtaining Valkyrie Complex along with a China Dress-clad Mifuyu and Yuzusoft’s temptingly luscious bishoujos is very, very much welcome, though in such a case I believe I must exercise proper restraint lest my expiry come at such a young age. Moe overdose is a very real thing, and it is quite a fatal one, gentlemen, so be warned. These innocent cuties might look like so much eye candy, but ingest too much into your system and you might just succumb to diabetes of the moe kind.

Valkyrie Complex is, unlike Circus’ prior RPG Eternal Fantasy, an SRPG one, closely resembling games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and the like. Poeple familiar with the genre know how it goes – the battlefield functions very much like a chessboard in which your players and the enemies take turns, with their movements and attacks affected by the surrounding terrain. In Valkyrie Complex, however, there is the very welcome system of AP points determining and limiting your overall possible actions, unlike most SRPGs which simply give you one turn to either move, execute an action or do nothing.

The screenshot below should suffice as a guiding example of how the system works. When your character is given the turn, you can choose from a variety of actions. Movement would cost you 1 AP per tile, while attacking would cost 4/5 AP, depending on the weapon. Skills vary from character to character, though the usual cost is roughly 5 AP and 4-7 SP. Items are usable depending on what you have equipped, and you can only carry three items maximum. Once you’ve consumed your entire AP or if you decide to pass up your turn because of insufficient AP or otherwise, it then moves on to the next character. AP is not cumulative per turn, as you will always start the turn with your character’s maximum AP alloted no matter how many you save up from the previous turn.

While the system is commendable for its vast freedom in selection, the lack of an ability to cancel your movement once it’s been made is somewhat of a bother – I say somewhat because, while it does make for a challenge with regards to unit placement, I suppose I’ve just been spoiled by other SRPGs that provide this option. While the sprites aren’t anything flashy or outstandingly remarkable (though they are quite nice), I was honestly too busy with the combat to be bothered by it.

The battle trial for Valkyrie Complex comes with three stages, hopefully enough to whet your appetites and leave you craving for more. You can find it available here, and I heartily suggest that should you be an enthusiast about eroges with gameplays, then you might want to make use of the opportunity presented here and sample the trial! Hemi’s verdict is clear and succint: this one is a must-have for me. Whenever it involves ladies, especially bishoujos of the valkyrie kind, I believe Hemi’s lovestruck cries and praises of adoration makes his position very much clear. Who needs visibly naked ladies when one can feast at the sight of armored women with spears and swords with the know-how pertaining to effective weapons use!

As for the second title in this entry…

My heart jumps with exultation at the tremulous thought of being able to attain this title in the coming month! Eushully’s next title, Himegari (Princess Hunter) Dungeon Meister, is very much a Eushully title – not that it wouldn’t be, at the very least. But that is to say that it is going to be very much familiar to Eushully fans and to those who have sampled and subsequently enjoyed their previous works.

The gameplay in this one is about digging deep through 1000 floors in order to break the seal cast on the Maou, and in the process, one can avail of a LAW or CHAOS alignment. 1000 floors might sound like too much, but seeing as the company in question is Eushully, I’m sure they can deliver beyond our expectations.

The trial involves three parts, and a brief rundown of the story before progressing to the gameplay. At the heart of it is Lily (assuming that you retain her default name), who you must guide around in her spelunking within the depths that await her. There are various options available in order to aid her travails, such as powering up her equipment, healing her HP and FS, or indulging in fornication for the purpose of improving her various status once you’ve accumulated the necessary points.

Though not included in the trial, a part of Lily’s appeal is the ability to “upgrade” her form into two others, those being a tsundere and a matue woman. Rather, the feature is included in the trial, though unfortunately I am unable to harvest the proper amounts of points required in order to bring up Lily to her tsundere form.

The dungeon exploration and combat system occurs on the same screen. You have a limited amount of turns available in combat, after which the instigator of the scuffle would be forced to return to their prior position should they fail to defeat their adversary. For some reason, though, what has me giddy over this title, aside from the dungeon exploration and the combat, would be playing “dress up” with Lily and the other various special characters. That is, outfitting them with various equipments and skills in order to gauge their effectiveness and designate favorites with not only characters but with set-ups as well. This being a standard fare for Hemi whenever it comes to RPGs, it should come as no surprise.

The trial is located here, and if your burning curiosity for Eushully’s next title drive give you unrest, playing through it should give you a sense of relief, before the burning anticipation kicks in.

Now to return to my tremendous backlog! But prior to that, I give my sincerest apologies regarding the lack of entries these past weeks. Suffice to say that I will be posting as often as time allows me regarding eroges, whether they be the latest upcoming or ancient ones. Just that I have no plans of making a fixed schedule when it comes to posting said entries – or even composing them, for that matter. Pray that the spirit moves me as it did now!

These three titles I am to discuss have not had the luxury of my attention going AWOL on them, though the reason isn’t unrelenting dedication. Work has left me with only two to three hours of free time, and between blogging or playing eroges, I chose the latter. With the little time left available for the pursuit of my hobby, I now find it less tempting to sample other titles while I indulge myself in one – however, expect my perfidy to return once this month ends and my work obligation is accomplished. Heinous!

I’ve always held a fond curiosity over Moonstone’s titles largely out of their game’s art resemblance with Marmalade’s – due to Mitha’s and mikeou’s identical character designs – and recently I’ve had a chance to play one of their products. Clear, which runs on the ExHibit engine (much like Shirogane/Gouen no Soleil games by SkyFish), is delightfully full of highly moelicious bishoujos, with the girls composed of your standard harem archetypes. I found myself fawning over Miki in the short time after she reminded me of Tsukimiya Kaede (of Miraroma); unfortunately I had already put myself on Mutsuki’s route, who, while delectably succulent, has yet to douse the flames of passion that I hold for the pretty pink-haired osananajimi beauty.

The male lead holds a deep, dark secret that renders him unable to properly communicate and form relationships with other people. Intriguing – or so it seemed at first. His uncaring nature and priority to logic above all is borne out of necessity, as his disregard for emotions stems from his thinking that such things are only privy to humans, of which he is not. Coupled with his not-so-bright past – a mother who utterly loathes their breed, a deceased older brother, and a distraught father – and it appears as if they’ve covered all the bases in accounting for his dysfunctional character. Due to this he appears largely incompetent when it comes to social interactions, and for this I find him hard to sympathize with, though I think his detached perspective on everything is refreshing and a bit amusing.

An aside: the sword-obsessed miko is a temptingly scrumptious treat, not just for the eyes but also for the ears – I shouldn’t have to explain why. Despite her amiable character, though, she gets no loving in terms of a route, much less ero scenes. Lamentable!

I’ve also managed to finish Twinkle Crusaders – a title that I once put off due to its intimidating length and constant barrage of humor – or at least, one of its routes, namely Azel’s. Is it no wonder that I went after the tsuntsun heroine with a notably frigid demeanor? I hope not. I appreciated the shift from the first chapter, as with the change of pace  came with it the gradual unraveling of Azel’s character, eventually thawing out and distilled from pure tsuntsun to tsundere and later, to sheer irresistible deredere.

Watching it unfold brought me innumerable levels of joy, leaving me speechless as I moegasmed whenever Azel shifted between tsun and dere. This is what it means to pursue tsunderes, to catch that transition from haughty condescension to reluctant compassion, and then savoring that defining moment when pure, uninhibited love finally blossoms!

Admittedly, the game is by no means epic in quality, but for length, it is more than a viable contender due to the wide diversity of scenes particular to each heroine. Each choice made whenever the heroine selection screen presents itself guarantees an event with the chosen bishoujo at its core while having vastly different content. This also applies to subcharacters whenever they make themselves available! Such variety guarantees the absence of redundancy when pursuing each of the five available heroines.

Last is Ouzoku, Softhouse Chara’s SLG title. Suzukuri Dragon was the only Softhouse Chara title that I had played and very much relished, until recently. Whereas Suzukuri Dragon was about building up a nest while exercising your virility upon hapless young maidens in order to please your potential mate, Ouzoku revolves around Zin Arbalest and his campaign against the dominant kingdom of the continent. It involves building up a sizable army that would comprise the bulk of resistance; defending territories or sieging enemy lands during missions, and of course, satisfying the urges of your female allies, be it in battle or otherwise.

Most people usurp a kingdom by murdering the current royalty and wrenching the power for themselves. Zin, however, has a much less bloodthirsty (and very charming) methodology; by satisfying the queen’s nightly desires until she becomes dependent on him. While amusing, it is also very, very raunchy – and the way Softhouse Chara handles their fornication-central events makes this game, along with their other titles, a must-play for carnal enthusiasts. The presence of gameplay adds more to Ouzoku’s value, making the playthrough experience very much laudable.

I cannot guarantee with absolute confidence, however, that I would continue to remain faithful to Clear (as it is the only one in which I have not yet cleared a single route). Already, my dedication is beginning to waver – and with this wide selection, I can only guess how far I can stick with Clear and finish a route. Mutsuki, you must not make my resolution falter all the more!

Sarasara Sasara is about a small village way out in the country called Mikogami. It is an idyllic little town with crop fields situated between mountains and mostly untouched by human civilization – and lately dwindling in population and prosperity. Recently the elders of the village agreed to allow Mikogami to undergo redevelopment by an outside real estate and development company into an actual modern town. The actual process is not yet underway, and the villagers have yet to decide on which of two competing development companies they will entrust their village’s future. And many in the village wonder whether their new home will retain any of the atmosphere and soul that made it special in the first place.

Agatsuma Hiroki is our male protagonist. He is both a student at a university and the young president of his real estate and development company, which is one of the two firms competing for the redevelopment rights of Mikogami village. He leaves the company to his subordinates while he travels to Mikogami under the guise of a student photographer, with the fake identity of Takeda Hiroki, to find out more about the village and to do research on how best to approach the challenge of redevelopment.

Turns out there’s more in store than he bargained for. Kagami no Tsukimi is the town’s resident Shinto goddess and protector of the land, and her power has been weakening over time. This is the cause for the town’s recent decline, and if the redevelopment project were to go on as planned, her existence would cease totally, leading to the death of the town as it loses its source of spiritual nourishment. To prevent this, the redevelopment project must be halted.

An impossible request, as Hiroki points out, since people and resources are already in motion for Mikogami’s redevelopment. On the other hand, simply allowing the project to continue would lead to its eventual demise through Tsukimi’s disappearance, so he asks if there is another way.

According to Tsukimi, there is a ceremony of sorts that can be performed over time to separate herself from the land whilst maintaining its spiritual nourishment, or some such. She recruits Hiroki, and two of the heroines, Saori and Aya, to help her complete this ceremony and save the village. What role must Hiroki play in all this?

AKBY has actually strengthened in story, and Sarasara Sasara’s premise has gone up a few ranks in the interesting meter compared to Prima Stella. The characters aren’t as varied in personalities as Prima Stella’s but each heroine seems to have more character potential. There are many games where conversations feel like they’re dragging and you’re just waiting for the next comedy situation or plot event, but both Sarasara Sasara and Prima Stella have very solid pacing and ability to catch and keep the player’s attention. Each scene and piece of dialogue has a purpose, and no conversation or event is allowed to drag on beyond its intended goal. It’s strange and ironic that a company renowned for producing games that are story-less sexfests would have a rare and excellent command of pacing and keeping the player’s interest that most games fail at. Makes you wonder if they’re really storytelling geniuses in disguise and have been producing sexfests just for kicks or to intentionally trick the audience into a certain perception of AKBY.

Speaking of sex, there’s only one sex scene in the web trial, in which Tsukimi “demonstrates” to Hiroki his “role” in the ceremony to him. Since it’s the very first h-scene in the game, it’s light on length and comparatively light on intensity compared to some of Prima Stella’s best h-scenes, but don’t worry. The sensual dialogue, raunchy sound effects, glorious art, and the sheer sexiness of it all that sets AKBY apart from everyone else still exists in Sarasara Sasara and has not diminished one bit. And while the h-scene in the web trial isn’t that long, it does reveal that our protagonist is a cute little tsundere deep inside. It’s also where Tsukimi reveals that she has taken a genuine liking to him and makes her little declaration of war, which will drive you people CRAZY. It is such a delightful and erotic foretelling of things to come in the full game; very clever of AKBY I should say.

In conclusion, AKBY seems well on the road to becoming a stronger creator of story-based ero-games while maintaining that AKBY touch of ero we have come to love. There is much to look forward to, both in this game and further in AKBY’s future.

But that’s out in society, where sameness is a necessity that keeps people together. This is a different world. Where the power of the message is more important than the way it’s delivered. Where you can wave greetings to a beautiful bishoujo or take her body with the force of a hurricane, fettered only by the sounds of mixing body parts and her voice howling in ecstasy, and both could be ways of casually saying hi.

This is the dark beyond night. The invisible beyond the unseen. The chaos behind the unpredictable. This is a special place, and only those with their heads screwed on in special ways tread here. Are you special?

I am Newprimus, and as you can clearly see Hemisphere kidnapped me from my idyllic school life, took me to his dungeons, raped me with and in all manner of ero-cliches until I was brainwashed, and then installed me as an author inside his little kingdom of lust and madness. Maybe he’s the lust, and I’m the madness. Time will tell, if it’s still around later on to say anything.

Today I will discuss a number of web trials I played recently as my first post as an author of this blog. The games ツンな彼女 デレな彼女 by PeasSoft, スズノネセブン！ by ClochetteLumie, and W.L.O. 世界恋愛機構 by AkabeiSoft.

Tsun na Kanojo Dere na Kanojo (my limited Japanese thinks so) is a high school romance game with a tiny spice of…I’m not 100% certain but am fairly sure what it is. The tsundere ideal is what defines this game, as the title would imply. Half the heroine cast are dere, or mostly dere, and the other half are mostly or entirely tsun. The game starts and progresses fairly normally, with the deredere osanajimi who wakes you up in the morning, the tsun tsun osanajimi/little sister figure, and the male best friend. There’s also a genki female friend trying to get the deredere osanajimi closer to you but secretly has a crush on you. There’s another osanajimi who you reunite with, but hates you for some reason yet to be explained (in the above picture), plus the other tsun and dere girls. Then there’s that mysterious meteor that crashed one night. It’s like a small bucket of special in an ocean of generic. It should turn most people away, but there’s that little bit of uniqueness that retains a grip on your curiosity. In the end it’ll probably inflate your backlog and consume your time but not much more. Malicious little thing, isn’t it? Don’t let those deredere girls fool you. They’re all ticking yandere time bombs ready to explode in a shower of blood and sawblades.

Next game is Suzunone Seven, by ClochetteLumie. Clochette did Kamipani, and at least one seiyuu returns for their second game.

Recall Happiness? Pretty much the same kind of setting here. A modern world with magic and magic schools. Suzunone Gakuen is the one the game takes place in, and the story is that the male protagonist, his female best friend, her older brother, two upperclassladies, a semi-shy girl, and the school director’s eccentric grand-daughter are selected to be this year’s “Suzunone Seven”, each of whom are one way or another problem students of some kind. Their mission, given to them by the school, is to cohabitate together in a single room within the school complex for one month and individually accomplish something to clear themselves of their problem status. The male protagonist has a particularly complex mission, which I believe is “Realize someone’s wish,” or something like that. That’s deep, dude. Good luck.

Everything about this game is better than TsunKano, if you had to compare. Characters, plot, humor, voice-acting, perhaps even art. Amane’s seiyuu returns to voice Minato, the female best friend I mentioned, which is also what Amane’s role happened to be in Kamipani. In fact, both characters are very similar and could be said to be the same character type. The differences are:

1. Amane is smart and is a student council president. Minato is dim-witted and is a problem student.

2. Amane is energetic at times. Minato is HYPER at times.

3. Amane is skeptical of magic and supernatural. Minato goes NUTS over magic.

4. Amane has a 88cm bust. Minato’s is 92.

5. Amane has no problems being naked in front of Tomoyuki. Minato has no problems demonstrating a good morning handjob to a sheltered ojousama upperclasslady by using a magically-pinned Yukimura as the model (though the sempai faints before Minato starts so nothing happens).

Basically Minato is Amane. But better. Which means a good thing, but even better. Hence win.

For the rest of the cast you have Nino, the semi-shy girl whose magical powers have a tendency to go berserk and nuclear at inopportune times and Sumire the school director’s grand-daughter who is…….. strange. There’s Yuzuri-sempai, the aforementioned sheltered ojousama, and a top-class magic student, and her constant companion Riri, also a sempai, who is probably a lesbian and has romantic feelings towards Yuzuri. There’s Shin, Minato’s older brother, who is just as crazy as she is. Kujo Kaname, the group’s hilarious, often-depressed and underpaid teacher who is undergoing the cohabitation together with her charge as a supervisor (note the same last name as Amane from Kamipani). There’s also that other teacher who is a celebrity in the world of magic and whom the students can’t decide whether she’s a sadist or a masochist, and also Sumire’s older sister Momoka who has a hobby of taking embarrassing photos of unsuspecting students. And lastly Yukimura, the male protagonist. Hard to get a bead on this guy. I guess sarcastically or sardonically straight-laced but relaxed would be the phrase to describe him?

The third and last game I tried is WLO-something from AkabeiSoft. I played none of these games with AGTH, and this one I skipped through much of with Ctrl due to time so I have little idea what’s going on. I can only give you a partial impression of what I’ve gleaned from this game.

First, AkabeiSoft. If the name of that company isn’t familiar, then how about Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo? How about G-Senjou no Maoh? Familiar now? Fairly epic, plot-filled drama is what Akabeisoft is famous for, but WLO, so far as of this web trial, is different. Not different like in a different kind of story or drama, but different in the sense of someone hitting his head real hard or smoking a lot of hard drugs and developing a totally different personality, or a number of them. It’s like the staff of AkabeiSoft all went completely bonkers sometime after the completion of G-Senjou no Maoh. Because that’s what WLO is. Totally bonkers.

You’ve got a mysterious organization called “World Love Organization” and its rival the “Nothing or All”, both competing over our male lead for some reason. A loli robot who spontaneously takes off her clothes in the middle of a bar. The leader of the WLO bribing the protagonist’s parents for his human rights, and getting them. And many more, both incidents and people, but by far the absolute best part of this game so far is this girl:

You should see the parts where these thought bubbles of hers suddenly pop up that cover half the entire game screen in non-stop, near-incoherent, delusional babbling. This trial is unvoiced, so to hear the dialogue in the final game as well….

Again I haven’t gleaned much of what this game’s actually about, but madness, pure unadulterated madness, is at least part of what’s going on at Akabeisoft. How much of that makes it into the final game remains to be seen.

This was by far one of the most entertaining and memorable titles that I’ve had the pleasure of playing through, both this and Itsusora. Just…wow.

As previously mentioned, I had the same feeling that I had going through Itsusora’s routes when I went through both Jako’s route as well as the final scenario. Probably because Supreme Candy gave me an experience similar to Itsusora’s with regards to its humor, enjoyment, emotional attachment, drama, mystery, and action. I LOVED IT ALL!

That, and as with Itsusora, it was Supreme Candy’s final scenario that really left the strongest impression on me as well as leave me longing for more scenes with the final heroine. Of course my love for Sannee trumps all, but Jako is quite entertaining, amusing and lovable a heroine to ignore – ESPECIALLY when paired with Yuuri. No, Merry, I’m not trying to claim her as a waifu or anything, so you can relax.

I really love how the final scenario managed to mix in serious plot elements with lighthearted comedy. You’ve got bits like this, and this, and more, all of which are completely amusing and make for sheer comedy gold! I would have recorded more but Audacity’s shitting up on me, eh… There’s also this, this, this, this, this, this, this and lastly, this! ALL OF THEM ARE WORTH SEEING IN-GAME REPEATEDLY!

But in the midst of them were the story bits presented in Jako’s route, only used in greater detail to further explain the underlying conspiracy that has so far gone unnoticed.

And just when the game’s got me reeled in tight thanks to its lighthearted, catchy harem humor along with two very charming and adorable heroines, it chose to open the whole can of worms, all of which are integral to Supreme Candy’s main plot. After the explanations and discussions about space-time continuums, multiple dimensions, rift effects, as well as what happened in the past between Jack, Atropos/Jako and Hesperas-Fosforas/Yuuri and the background of the Key, I swear I felt my brain about to explode.

Thanks for the overload of information, Makura, some of which just flew over my head. But the same thing happened with my experience in Itsusora, yet I still ended up loving that game and Sannee SO MUCH. So would it follow that I would also love Supreme Candy just as much, despite the confusion?

Of course.

And after the whole obfuscating babble? Supreme Candy then made up for it by presenting us with an awesome action scene that revealed the extent of Yuu’s badassery. Yuu’s so badass that he can outmanipulate someone who can control the whole of time, space, and causality! For a bunch of text and moving images, the whole fight was just thrilling and engaging.

Then you get the ending after all that, which was FUCKING WIN, to put it lightly. Having both Yuuri and Jako continue their feud over Yuu was exactly what I wanted to see more of, and I’m sure that Makura knew that it was one of the final scenario’s strongest points. Hence why they treated me with more of it! I melted, moegasmed and suffered from several consecutive strokes after seeing both of them fight AND act all tenderly and sweet over him.

After finishing it, I just couldn’t remove the huge smile on my face no matter how hard I tried to. God damn, maybe I need to replay Itsusora to get the same high Supreme Candy out of my mind!

Oh my god, Jako route is win. I am completely sold. SOLD!

Jako route is just completely made of win. The small teaser after Yuuri’s epilogue already had me all pumped up and excited to start down her route. And once I did hit her route…oh man. Brace for pure, unadulterated, sheer hilarity during the first half. Jako’s tsundere nature was just…delicious. No other way to put it. DELICIOUS I SAY!

The fortune telling was already win enough…

But oh man, I could tell that it was just a taste of things to come. The bed stabbing scene was just hilarious, and up to now I still can’t get Jako’s voice going “Ei! Ei! Ei!” out of my head. And every time she says that she’s calm? Pure win. Let’s also not forget… KONO! KONO! KONO! KONO! KONO! KONO! KONO! KONO!

But the one of her slapping Yuu was just downright completely unfair. Sent me into several moegasms at the sight of it, with no chance of immunization.

I really have to applaud Jako’s seiyuu. This was really one of those instances where the seiyuu either makes or breaks the character – and Jako’s seiyuu was totally made for this role. Her lines are perfectly fitting, crisply accented and toned with such convincing yet hardly exaggerated deliveries that I can’t really think of anyone else bringing out the same performance.

While the first half was sheer unmatched comedy gold – at least until you go through the final scenario – the second half was just moving emotional drama between Yuu’s reluctance to attach himself to other people and Jako’s reluctance to connect with Yuu and her supposed duty. There was a sense of contrast between Yuu who refused to connect with humans for fear of helplessness, and Jako who saw herself as only a weapon only to be humanized later on by her interactions with and growing love for Yuu.

Her route also gave the backstory behind her and Jack’s story, which was an important part of the whole story of Supreme Candy. Aside from being interesting and providing Jako’s history, I was thinking that the whole thing would come into play later on (and it did, in the final scenario!). It also gave the background for the Supreme Candy, something which I felt was sorely needed after all this time.

For Jako, the whole thing between her and Yuu must have made her feel helpless in the face of events repeating themselves while being helpless to do anything about it. For Yuu, I wanted to thwack him hopeless the moment he gave into his despair and let his other self abuse Jako like that…I mean, COME ON. Give her the sweet, tender loving she deserves!

Luckily for me that the ending totally redeemed Yuu’s character, as well as kick up his badass rating several notches up. And I’m glad that the ending was, in many ways, completely gratifying. Of course, there’s still the final scenario to go through!

For some reason, playing through Jako’s route and the final scenario made me nostalgic over Itsusora…I don’t know why though. But I felt the same excitement that I had going through Itsusora with the last two routes of Supreme Candy.

EDIT: Here you go, two additional tracks of Jako’s awesomeness! I rather love the second one, hahahaha.

First of all, Yuuri is MUCH LOVE. She’s one of my favorite characters from Supreme Candy, so let me get that out of the way first.

With that done…yay Yuuri route! Oh man, saving her route as the last out of all the main heroines gave me the best experience ever: both before beginning her route, and after finishing it. Kudos to all who told me to save it for last, the advice was definitely not for naught.

Yuuri’s character is something of a crazy genius who can’t seem to mingle well with normal people. Going down her route, I saw the extent of just how much she was bullying, and how she never bothered to fight back. It wasn’t all about bullying though, as her route was all about her interactions with child Yuu and how he slowly gets to fall for her. There’s also the issue of why Yuu tends to distance himself from people, and what happened after Shirayuki’s death.

It also has a sequence of emotionally heartrending scenes leading up to its ending. With Yuuri disappearing and Hanei helping Yuu slowly remember just what it is he’s forgotten…talk about cutting open huge, deep wounds. And when Hanei called Yuu and had a heart-to-heart talk with Borges about how those forgotten are worse off than being dead, that was just completely depressing. Especially since Hanei’s also one of my favorite characters, but moving on…

At least the epilogue was completely gratifying! I thought of it as a suitable reward for Yuu given his change of heart in the events following Yuuri’s disappearance.

It also foreshadowed a lot of crazy things that would come into play later: the Library in Babel, the Shining Trapezohedron, and of Yuu and Yuuri’s connection to each other. Her epilogue completely brings this out into the open, what with the whole business between Hesperas, Fosforas, and Jako.

Coming next: Impressions pre-Jako route, post-Jako route, and post-Hesperas/Jako route! Then the review!

Oh my god. Fua fua fua, moeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

Shuri’s route was just moe overload. But what else could you expect when both she and Yuu spent most of the time looking for moe? Not to mention the fact that she is made of MUCH LOVE. Their first encounter was hilarious, but the classroom one was just completely funny when it ended up the way Yuu imagined it would, never mind how her behavior was completely the opposite.

Her motto can be much summed up into “as long as it’s interesting and fun, it’s okay!”. That’s why she ended up transferring into the boy’s school on purpose, something that everyone at first thought was a mistake. That’s also why she joined Yuu’s club, and also why the wrath of the school’s disciplinary committee was brought down upon them.

Shuri’s just completely adorable. Her “never give up”, cheerful, all-smiles demeanor is something that makes her totally cute and irresistible. And when paired with meido fuku, oh my god, game over. I just froze and suffered from repeat moegasm attacks. Seeing her try on maid clothes just because she found out that Yuu liked them was hilarious, but seeing him defend her from the punks that tried to pick her up was awesome. So was his backup when things started to get rough. And the scene in the clubroom, which would hopefully end up saving the club thanks to Shuri and Yuu’s efforts? COMPLETELY HILARIOUS.

After that, the mood dipped into seriousness, no thanks to Yuu turning down Shuri’s confession. His self-loathing just HAD to kick in during that moment…man, I wanted to kick him in the balls so bad for that. Why’d he have to belittle her like that? The confrontation that followed between her dad and Yuu just added to the tension, though Yuu managed to save face and redeem himself in that one. Too bad Shuri still had to leave though, but hey, at least they got back together after a year!

UEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!

Sorry, I just needed to get that out of my head…GUILLOTINE CHOP~!

There we go.

To me it felt as if Tokimi’s route was the shortest out of all the routes, though that doesn’t mean that it was not as fun or as entertaining. I rather enjoyed the appearance of Guillotine, never mind me facepalming every time she showed up in front of Yuu who had no freaking clue who she was or where she could have possibly come from. As if the laugh itself wasn’t a damn huge giveaway, I mean, how many people does Yuu know tend to laugh like that?

Tokimi’s route helped show Yuu’s childishness inside, with Guillotine’s character serving as a good contrast to Yuu’s character. The whole thing was a good use of the Supreme Candy plot-device in the hands of someone else other than Yuu. I figured that the moment the candy went missing and that Tokimi would have it, which she would use to make herself older once she figured out what it did. Since she’s “I’ll marry onichan once I grow up!” all the time. Though that part was predictable, what followed wasn’t.

Tokimi (as Guillotine) and Yuu’s interactions were cute in a childish way, but then again that’s the whole theme of her route so it’s hard to avoid that. Even the whole conflict in her route centered on the childishness, though in different manners: Tokimi with her innocence, and Yuu with his brattiness. When he exploded in Tokimi’s face after his questioning gave him no answers as to why she gave away the bell that he bought for her to someone else, my eyes just rolled in disbelief. But he redeemed himself in a later scene, so I forgave him for it. Plus, Yuu’s a badass.

Like Yumine, Tokimi only has one ero scene, and it’s when she grows up. If you’re more into Tokimi as a child, then too bad – you won’t be seeing any of that.

Yumine’s route was a sweet one. At first it starts off innocently enough with Yumine helping Yuu confess his feelings for Hanei with trial runs, since Yumine thinks that he has a thing for her (her being Hanei). This is why Yumine’s route consists mostly of her and Yuu doing “confession trial runs” every time he visited the girl’s school. It starts off innocently enough, but soon leads off into Yuu and Yumine getting to know each other more. Which is when the game starts showing Yumine’s otaku side.

That’s when things start to get hilarious, with Yumine revealing that she’s just as much of an otaku as Yuu’s dad is, going even so far as to call him “master” after spending time in his company. Her utterance of the word “moe” whenever Yuu as a kid did something that she found adorable is akin to a brief peek into this side of her, and it’s hilarious to boot, thanks to Kawashima Rino’s performance.

Beneath it all, it’s a cute love story that focuses on Yumine and her attempt at writing a book on romance with Yuu as her material and inspiration. But more than that, it’s also about how she’s afraid of love despite her inclination towards it, and how Yuu breaks down that fear of hers as well as give her courage for her aspirations.

What’s more touching than a love story between a totally masochistic otaku and a totally sadistic self-hating badass, anyways? Talk about a match made in heaven. With scenes such as the hilarious comedy between Yuu’s parents, Yuu and Yumine (who could really pass off as their daughter), her going moe over kid Yuu’s actions, or the really cheesy but emotionally drawn-out confession scene, it was a great route overall.

Too bad she only had one ero scene though: man, for someone who Yuu had his first ero delusion over, you’d think that she’d have more ero scenes.

So with that, on to how the ending really wraps things up!
[spoiler]First of all, I don’t take credit for the whole thing below. It’s from a discussion thread on Megiddo. It’s a pretty good wrap-up and explanation of how the whole events leading up to, as well as, the ending went.

Chad dies while saving her son Beigel and his allies. She gets killed by Swen who had no choice to kill her in order to open up the final path for his son Beigel, as he says “Forgive me” to Chad before he kills her”. Chad left a note and her stuff to the merchant Rito to give it to Beigel when he returns to town. with the note saying “もう、どこにも行かないよ” (From now, I’m not going anywhere) causing Beigel to break into tears.

When Beigel and his party reaches the world clock and defeats it, the second clock that nobody knew that it existed, revives the fallen clock, making the task impossible for Beigel’s current state. So he eats the pages from the bible causing everyone but Beigel to be sent back to 10 years into the past so that they can find a way to defeat the 2 world clocks. Because Maria holds Beigel’s 2 children, she wasn’t affected by the time rewind leaving her memories intact. Only Natas and Maria remembers who Beigel was and his heroism.

With Chad(mother), Swen(father), and Buddy(sister)’s spirits residing with Beigel, he fights the clock once again but fails. Thus he becomes manipulated by the world clock, walking the same path as his father Swen. He recreates Buddy, who died while protecting Swen and Beigel. As Swen and Chad’s path, Beigel and Maria could have shared the same fate.

As Swen was to Chad, Beigel and Maria followed exact same path throughout the entire game.

The reason why Swen killed Chad was the world clock was watching the whole situation where Swen was to deceive the world clock in order to help Beigel get past the guardian of the gate way to the heaven, where Swen alone fights the guardian Beil so that Beigel can make his way to the world clock.

It is later revealed along with the 2 quotes “The mother, in order to protect her child” “The father, in order to assist his child to make progression”

At the last showdown after rewinding time Beigel alone states “Don’t think that this is the end. I believe in everyone, I believe they will make the right decisions and return, for that day I will wait for the right moment, until then I will call for them, right here, forever till then.” Hence the title ‘ Kimi ga Yobu, Megiddo no Oka de ‘ (Your callings, from the hills of Megiddo) explaining reference to Maria and Beigel along with their allies and children.

In the end, Beigel and Maria’s 2 children destroys the 2 world clocks as they were the 2 saviors that were required. At the last animation cut scene, you can see the sand wall going down and the next scene showing the sunset and the ruins of the Megiddo and Celestial core along with destroyed remainings of the 2 world clocks.

P.S. FYI reason why Rinnon’s CG wasn’t there along with the ending is because it is in the same scenerio with the CG where Maria and her 2 children are next to her as Rinnon came to start a new and the final journey with the children of Beigel and Maria.

Then there’s

The 2 clocks were destroyed as they hold the boundary between the mortal world and the world’s end thus bringing down sand wall and showing the ruins of the 2 Core locations at the end. The reason for showing the fallen Beigel right before showing the world’s boundary wall going down was to show that it wasn’t Beigel who brought down the 2 world clocks at the last fight but his children. As Natas stated they will meet again(”a short good bye”) before Beigel’s final departure to the world’s end, pointing out to their future encounter. It’s still a bit of a let down that only Natas(”Even if the world does not recognize you, I shall remember you for all eternity”) and Maria remembers Beigel’s legacy.

I pretty much got everything right except for the tiny detail of Beigel’s kids actually taking down the World Clocks. If I wasn’t too emotionally distraught at that point I might have seen and recognized their remains being shown RIGHT THERE, but alas. Then there was the whole tip-off that the World Clocks were the only things maintaining the barrier between the two worlds, and it going down meant that the World Clocks were finally defeated.

Remembering that Beigel wound back time and that only Maria and Natasu remembers his heroics is a pretty bitter wound to reopen, but eh…that’s the price that he had to pay in order to save the world. Like I said, bittersweet and full of despair yet at the same time brimming with hope.

Still…

STILL doesn’t take the sting out of the ending though![/spoiler]