Himehibi Another Princess Days ~White or Black~ - Review

 

Genre: Otome/VN.

Developer/publisher: Takuyo.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp/products/himehibi_wb/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v26906

Release date: 10/12/20.

 

Good old Takuyo is still around and released a new entry in the hime hibi series!

of which I have only played the first entry, I did buy the second one but never

played actualy managed to make time for it.😅 I did pass on their other new game

Hanasaku and maybe i'm glad I did as reviews weren't exactly doing it any favors.

 Who is Takuyo? that's a long story but they've been around for a long time.

Enough about that and more about Himehibi 3! which in terms of being of an otome game

was a little more simple than the other Takuyo game I recently played!

 

Pro's

- Mostly light-hearted but there seemed to be more to it all but not too deep.

- Pretty art, love the soft colours! most of the backgrounds are nice to look at as well.

 

Grey area

- Music manages to fit the mood most of the time but its nothing special.

 

Con's

- Kinda on the short side, but on the flip side it knows where to end.

- Not all route are well-rounded better not come her for a deep plot.

 - They should have used a different ending theme for the black lily route, too upbeat.😓

 

The OP is decent I guess, catchy enough.

Kisakino Emi is invited to enrolls at sumeragi gakuen, a high-class all boy school that is

undergoing an experiment of letting girls enter, all the boys are princes and the girls princesses...

Its is all a project/test held by the sumeragi group and she has been chosen to be a model student

like some of the guys have. There's a ranking system like Masamune for example is the rook

and Kazumi is a self-proclaimed unicorn(knight) wait why unicorn?! well there surely

was a good sense of humor around as well basically every romanceable guy is named

after a chesspiece and Emi's the queen she joins their commitee and with them prepares

for the festival, each route does this differently and you get closer to him.

Emi also has to deal with being a model student... Other than that a relative of Chiharu

typically tries to make things difficult for everyone involved, gotta have some bad guy I guess.

Depending on your choices you can get different type of route such as: white lily or black lily

there's four endings total, the former is happier than the other but what I liked about this

they explored different sides to the character and different kinds of love which kept things

interesting, for some this is for better others for worse basicallly black route is spicier.

Other than that the general system of the game was smooth and I had no real issues

on my journey to full-complete!

 

This game is set in a rich kids school thats fancy high-class but more up to date with current times

kind of reminded me of zettai kaikyuu but without the harsh class system.

Hmm... maybe the setting was too fancy for me atleast there were no annoying minigames

and was still pretty relaxing it also didn't feel like it took forever to get interesting

otome-wise like shinigami to shoujo this game was much shorter and to the point.

The common route served its purpose well enough to introduce and explain things.

There are many cg which is only the guy(s) some were good others meh.

The protagonist even comments how just staring at pretty boys is happiness enough

well atleast there are cg's with the two of them together so I can't complain much.😌

Himehibi1 also had this problem... but I guess its just a thing this series has

but this 3rd installment does it a little better than the first.

Also its ceroB(12+) so its probably better to not expect it to be that raunchy

because what was there was very tame which might be a blessing cuz there

are maybe two endings were the game was pushing this rating.

 

Emi is a good girl she might be more likable than the protag of himehibi1 but I did think Emi

is a bit too forgiving. Most of the guys are likable and the only one who pissed me off 

was Yumeji and paperbag-kun turned out to be worse than I expected.😓

There was definitely enough going on with the character(s) to keep me interested also the game

seems to know its cliches but actually not giving 2fucks about it and still rolls with it

characters like Kazumi would actually be boring were it not for their quirk

and I found his character to be very interesting!  though the humor was odd 

and a bit corney I feel you're either gonna love or hate it. Atleast every route was unique

and focused on that character which was a plus, some endings might feel lacking

but if you do all you will truly know everything about the guy (for better or worse).

 

This game was overall pretty simple in what it tried to do, I think I can recommend

this game if you want something light-hearted and character focused while not minding

having to look past the surface of a pretty face, cuz there are some ~problems~ some more obvious

than others. Romance wise... it depends for some it only gets good at the end

others are more well-rounded overall it was still open ended, I think this new himehibi

does kind of retain the old spirit its also not too bloated in length it ends when it should.

I think this game was alright... Kazumi's route while corny was fun😅 it might not

be my cup of tea but it wasn't bad! Masamune's route was very enjoyable

and he's definitely my husbando, the only route I didn't really like was Yumeji

but that was mostly because the guy lost his last shred of dignity in the black route

atleast his white route was still somewhat enjoyable but yea watch yourself with him and Paperbag because as much as I like to say there were no bad ends these two are like uhuh riiight?

Ah well otome games are always like that, one route that just rubs you the wrong way

you can't like everything but this game does a good job of finding paths that you could like.

Chiharu was the most well-rounded route and I also really liked him, he's so wholesome it hurts.😭

 Overall I think this was a pretty good otome game some parts might be a bit cliche

but that's not necessarily a bad thing if it doesn't try to be something its not and

the plot was okay too, for what it was worth this was mostly enjoyable.

I don't know what else to say but if you want to try a more classic

yet modern(for today's standard) this game is a good bet! that is if you don't mind it being simple.

7,6/10

My playorder was:

Kazumi > Masamune > Yumeji > Chiharu > Paperbag.

Idk if there was some recommended order but none are locked nor was there a story that had

to be played out in specific order so you can do whoever you fancy in whatever order you want!

This is the end of non-spoiler section, more ramblings about routes after the jump.

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Tsumikui ~Sen no Noroi, Sen no Inori~ for V - Review

罪喰い ~千の呪い、千の祈り~
 Game: [Tsumikui ~Thousand curses, thousand prayers~.]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher:Operetta, Dramatic Create.

Platform: PC, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://dramaticcreate.com/tumikui/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18295

Release date: 2017-06-29

Since I already played the demo I skipped to the point where demo ended, no point

in sitting through the prologue again which only was relevant 
for the sake of explaining how/why to begin with.

I think the way I wrote my review really reflects how this game tried to tell its story... lmao.
My general opinion of tsumikui is mostly the same as others... meaning its a mediocre
long winded game that has the potential to be so much better but it has too many short comings.
Look I played/read many vn's this year but this probably takes the cake for being long winded
to the point I often took breaks 4~ hours a day may have been all I could take! add that some routes
took 5/6 days and sub routes 2 at most, been stuck on this for two weeks or so, 4 hours
is a fair amount of time but sometimes when I wanted to progress further i lost the energy.
This in general was so difficult to write a review of... I feel like I spend more time
writing my dislikes than being positive, there may not have been much I liked cept Shiou or Ren.
Maybe its cuz its Operetta or maybe its me... but its probably me lol buut could be the developers.
Despite the demo hitting my interest I shot myself in the foot by purchasing the full thing
because I knew about the monologues and TL;DR , I knew...

Story is about some stuff happening 1000 years ago and a curse been running till now.
The same people from back then get reincarnated, they have to deal with remembering the past
 which wasn't pretty, Kaoru was lucky to have lived a fairly normal life for 15/16 years though.
Thanks Tsukasa...
Kaoru has to kill 1000 criminals to undo the curse or else she'll die, at first some parts may not be
easy to understand but the further you get the more you'll know but honestly it tends to drag itself
out with wordy narration that goes on and on.. then suddenly I find myself looking away
after I pressed auto mode since its way longer than it should've been, poor execution? maybe.
Its the writers job to keep it interesting not bore people with unnecessary junk text. That aside
there's a lot of  talk about past self, morality and also angst, how can Kaoru find love while
having to deal with all this? don't forget the teenage hormones that run amock!
Well atleast the first route I did aka Shiou's handled this surprisingly well
but honestly Touji's was better in certain aspects even tho he's an oyaji. >_>;
Complaints aside the story is good but yeah... I just didn't enjoy sitting through TL;DR monologues.

Pro's
- Interesting story that makes you want to finish it all the way even tho its meh at times.
- Art, obviously looks great- CG's move and multiple sprites.
- Voiced heroine, if you don't like it you can turn it off.

Con's
- Long and draggy.
- Music, fitting bgm in most scenes but others are average, also tracks wouldn't loop
and certain sub character voice(such as man A) are loud...
- TL;DR, they love being detailed and narration should've been toned down as it too wordy.
- The slice of life scenes made this to much like a shoujo manga...
- The battle scenes are boring due to text dumps ruining suspense of it all.

If you hadn't guessed this is a story centered otome game if you're looking for short, fun or to the
point otomege look elsewhere, I only ended up getting this because certain aspects intrigued me 
look its not bad it just gets a tad draggy and I don't got problem with monologues but I do when it is
used to further delay the story at hand that's just poor execution if you the reader
 get bored and just space out from it all and/or close the game as a result.
The heroine is a bit too accepting of certain matters but yeah what would you do if you are
told you'd die if you don't consume a 1000 criminals other than that she's mostly great?
Kaoru will speak her mind and wouldn't mind rushing the opposite way to save a friend.
Sadly she's inconsistent re:romance she says she's not interested then later she's uh I may like him also she's not exactly ''strong'' just willing but she can't do much either. So just a typical girl!
I guess feelings can change but in some routes it was irritating imo.
Scenes are still long and ruin otherwise excellent action scenes with monologues
basically they love to *record scratch* *freeze frame* while shit is happening
delaying the actual action and ruining the scene with pointless narration/monologue. x_x
I guess you can go figure why I dropped quinrose after two games.
Uh so let's mention that while I liked that Kaoru had a female classmate to talk too
but some part just weren't interesting, in most SOL scenes I was like move on please?
They have this grand plotline but deal with it so casually half the time I am just like lol ok.
Take that as you will but I am done mentioning this, I think early on Tsumikui
has a typical shoujo manga feel where not much happens except they made it into an otome
in which you can go after another guy that isn't the main interest which is obviously Ren.

System's easy enough and not worth mentioning except you can rewind read text making
backlog jump useless, there's skip to the next unread too so yay this is surprisingly comfy!
Sadly they don't turn affection meter off for locked routes... just don't try to go for Souta
Kagerou or Ren when you can't or you'll be disappointed if you hit a roadblock.

In short... *non spoiler*

Me trying to write out my thoughts on this game.

From the demo I figured this would be a mixed bag of all things and it sorta was but not
particularly bad also I wouldn't say it was a kusoge even though at times it gets awfully close.
Tsumikui is a somewhat enjoyable otome with a decent story at the core, its fun to find out its story
which is carefully told to you in an enforced play order which was recommended by the creators.

The themes it covers made me a little uncomfortable at times, angst, hate, morality and more
like I said there's little time for fluff but that doesn't mean there is no sweet romance scenes
its just poorly paced. Honestly speaking it doesn't really stand out that much in what it tried to do
but that doesn't matter it still managed to be decent just a lot of things just could be done better
Tsumikui is an example of being too story-driven and not being able to make it all interesting
or better put make the most of its themes.
Fun character interaction? BARELY, boring internal monologues? YEP.
I partly liked how sometimes they make you think this character isn't important and then a route
later he gets his spotlight... outside of that chara such as Tsukasa despite them being great
are just there, like he's interesting but they just never use his character properly. 😢
 I am also surprised this wasn't an R18 in the PC ver because then things could get randy...
also a little scary but its fine the way it is I don't need them to put disgusting shit in badends.
Also while the CG's were beautiful they're spread out poorly in some part I wish there was one
yet nothing then suddenly near the end of the route a nice spread of them in a row. 😮
Not everyone gets the same amount either, my bae Shiou got the most.
Either way with each route I played I wanted to press on as each one I did hinted something
that's covered in the next thus somehow making it enjoyable to unravel each characters mysteries
there was almost no route that was wasteful each character played did play a part but whether or not
it was worth it in the end... saa some routes just weren't well rounded enough. coughmorihitocough

If you want a meaty otomege I'd sooner recommend Ken ga Kimi than this game atleast
its more carefully crafted and the common route actually had a point.
Here? only a few route felt truly well rounded such as Shiou not to mention, Morihito gets screwed
over in more ways than one and honestly had the worst route of all. I never liked him because
he was annoying and only truly stops his Sera obsession in his own in predicable manner no less. -_-
Well that ends my non-spoiler section, I honestly can't give it any higher than a 6/10
and I agree with a lot of other reviews on certain facts and  that Tsumikui isn't that great.
Definitely do not recommend unless you love Operetta's works or something and can stand
huge chunks of text monologues... going on forever and ever detailing stuff
purely to make it drag out which makes an otherwise short vn much longer than need be.

So now you ask is the vita port worth it if I played the PC ver?
Well did you really like the original and the characters, especially Kagerou.
Personally I do not think its worth 6000 yen for the exact same thing with just a bunch of 
after stories  that aren't that long to begin with and a semi-new route unless 
you really like any sort of new content for a particular vn you liked.
If you haven't played PC ver and have a vita then yes go for it if you like longer otome games
I can't gaurantee you will like it but who knows! your opinion could differ
but if you never cared for Kagerou or didn't like it that much give it a definite pass. 

Playorder: 
(This order was recommended by the writer and makes sense, Ren is locked till last so no choice).
Shiou > Touji > Kagerou > Morihito > Souta > Ren.
Kagerou finishes off the Kuga arc and Ren the concludes the whole past arc.
This probably the one and only order you can even take there's really 
not much room to order it the way you want.

Character rambles after the jump...
There be spoilers, minor or major below so tread carefully but there won't be any summaries
 as this game is too wordy I doubt anyone will ever do it... its just too much really.

Tsumikui ~Sen no Noroi, Sen no Inori~ for V - Demo Review

Game: [Tsumikui]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher:Operetta, Dramatic Create.

Platform: PC, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://dramaticcreate.com/tumikui/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18295

Release date: 2017-06-29

Well time for another demo because its still a while before the games I am interested
 actually come out and me is bored... so let's try this and well it wasn't so bad at all.

The theme of Tsumikui is sin and reincarnation... and naturally

I was more interested in the past than the present.

Kaoru is a cute heroine but her past self way back in the heian-like period did something 

terrible and its come to haunt her in 20XX aka present time.

Kaoru is quite like a typical shoujo manga heroine... the daily life parts are nice

but honestly they are surprisingly draggy and TL;DR as the game did not pick up untill 
like an hour of highschool chitchat that barely had any importance to the plot except some moment
halfway through when bad people get brought up and Kaoru almost has a heart attack.
Atleast Souta was cute and I get they did it to show that Kaoru's life 
is not going to be the same but it could've been shorter?

It seems that this game mixed some things I like and things I do not like

and executes it in such a way that early on I was basically meh half of the time
but I admit when things picked up it did get better, even if Ren was a little
abrupt in that one scene, he did eventually explain what was going on
and eventually Kaoru is like please help me get out of this mess and well 
Ren is more than happy to help her cannabalize the souls of 1000 criminals
to undo a curse thats been running for generations, if she doesn't do this she'll die.

Of course its not going to go smoothly but that is expected, Kaoru's normal life is shattered
after finding out she's the reincarnation of Sera-hime and she's now being led 
on a cursed path she may or may not find happiness on.
Even then Kaoru needs a little time... because killing people even if they did bad things
doesn't feel right to an average highschool girl like herself but Kaoru is no doormat
she just needed some time to take it all in and is willing to fight for her life.

Either way the demo is of fairly decent length, you'll get to see all of the main guys
but early on you're only spending time with Ren plus they have the nerf to cockblock 
Ren's route behind SIX other guys! sweet mother of Operetta why you do this?!

Pro's

- Interesting story.

- Voiced heroine, her voice is ok, if you don't like it you can turn it off.

- Art, there's moving CG's too.
- Music, fits most of the scenes.

Con's.
- Pacing, TL;DR.

- Two main characters are completely ignored and treated like side characters.
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