Gensou Manège - Review

 Genre:VN.

Developer/publisher: love&art/mages.

Platform: Switch,mobile.

Official Site: https://gensomanege.com/  

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25993 

Release date: 2020-01-30.

 

I saw this was on sale at the jpn eshop for 30$ and since I had considered playing it

a while back plus the fact these VN rarely go on sale especially otomate/koei let alone 

this low I was like why not? this is also by the folks who made meikoi which I really enjoyed.

This was also one of the first few new otome games on switch but back then I didn't have one yet

so I had to sit out on it till now as I took advantage of the golden week sale.

This game also has a soft/fluffy colour scheme which really helped anyway

I don't know much about this game and went in relatively blind.

Also the title of the game would be something like Carousel of dreams or Dream Carousel.

I am not a professional translator but that is what it simply what it would translate to.

 

Pro's

- Cute & Comfy with an okay plot! but need to do all to fully understand it.

- Interesting characters.

- Gorgeous art and the backgrounds are very well done.

- BGM fit the mood most of the time.

 

Con's

- Kiss CG's could leave to be desired (but still ok).

- Character design can be a bit colour-coded.

- Could've benefited from a slightly stricter play order.

 

OP is cute but not the stuff I felt like watching everytime I booted it up.

 

Gensou Manege ended up being more or less a light-mystery otome game hench why

I won't write too much here except some prologue bits below! this game seems perfect if you're

in the mood for cute and fluffy things but still want to enjoy a little bit of plot to go along with that.

--

The heroine Emma lost most of her childhood memories and she has some weird magic powers...

as well as a miniature carousal she inherited from her late father, she really treasures this.

One day she goes to the amusement park and meets Hugo someone who claims to know her.

Hugo asks Emma to work with him because the people who work at the park are stuck there

so he wants her to help release them with her magic. After thinking about it and acknowledging

her magic powers might be of help she ends up joining their troupe! most of the time

she's been teached to not let anyone know of her powers as well. What could come of this?

The setting is french themed, not sure when its supposed to take place but they had electricity

anyway it is entirely a work of fiction so its best not to think too hard about it.

--

 

This game does have a common route but its more of a get to know

everyone a little while getting used to working with them kind of thing. It didn't feel like

it was too long and its also there to decide which route you'll end up on.

Art is really good, the backgrounds are very detailed and sprite work is pretty good! once more 

I will say I really love the colour-scheme even the user interface...and most of the time

I don't really care about the latter so I think that says something.

Music is fitting enough... but it didn't stand out too much and its just okay.

 Seiyuu cast... they're all relatively well known maybe some a little less though some of

the voice actors I hadn't heard in a long time so it was good to hear them again.

 

System wise its just standard stuff, a little common route to check flags to get on

the preferred route! there's only two endings one good and one not so good.

It does have a minigame but its nothing too hard or annoying.

The weird part about this after the first minigame there is an option to skip it anyway

which gives you an auto A-rank(still need to fail it for the other end though).

After the first playthrough I decided to skip every minigame because while cute it got redundant.

 

As for play order... the guide I used said if you care for the story that its better to save

Hugo's route for later as it contains the most revelations and he unlocks Arnaud.

My order ended up being: Luciole > Crier > Lyon > Serge >  Hugo > Arnaud.

If I had to recommend any order it would probably be this:

Serge / Luciole / Crier > Lyon > Hugo > Arnaud.  Because Lyon is where some

revelations start rolling and it start making more sense, the way it works

is Serge/Luci/Crier do have hints about what's going on but you won't really get it 

till you do Hugo nor will it fully make sense till Arnaud's route. So the order of the first

three or four routes doesn't matter that much as its hard to see how it fits into the big picture.

This game has a certain bittersweet feel to it, there is still some comedy to be found

as expected from the dev's of meikoi but comedy is not really the focus.

All the backgrounds were so detailed and helped with the setting the game

and made it more immersive. The heroine Emma also had a sprite!

She's cute and was pretty pro-active as well I couldn't dislike her at all.

The music always helped to set the tone/mood of the scenes but like I already

said above its not that great either. Romance wise it was good it just that

some routes may seem to not have much going for them but still all connect to it in some way!

 

Now I am personally wondering... why does this one go so under the radar?

is it because its not from otomate? by some other dev and not in english?!

or maybe just bad marketing? idk... maybe most just weren't interested

cuz they didn't have a switch yet at the time it came out, I know I had to pass.

Anyway this was like such a feel-good otome game and I could tell they tried with it.

I definitely recommend checking this one out if you're in the mood 

for something cute and fun that still has an underlying plot to figure out!

even if its not on a sale and at full price I think its more than worth it

just be careful with your play order,there are routes that do have more revelations than others!

I think this game is also good for beginners just trying out the otome game genre as the plot

in most routes is not too heavy but its there and you're just mostly in for a good time!

 7,7/10

As for language difficulty its easy to follow its plot, it might be good as a test

if you think you have a good grip on your japanese.

 

Okay that ends the non-spoiler section and the rest is all just character rambles and CG

there's probably a better digest of it by now but I still wrote some stuff down I remembered.

 

Birushana Senki ~Ichijuu no Kaze~ - review

 Genre:VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/birushana/fd/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v32229
Release date: 2022-03-31.

 

Well its here! the FD to Birushana or Bilshana (depending on how you spell it).

I'm surprised it got a FD but it did do pretty well so its only natural.

I kinda did wonder if it was really needed or not... as release draw close but its better

than something never getting a FD... like Hana Oboro for example.

 Aside from the usual after stories the fd also has routes for some of

the side characters that only had mini routes in the original.

 

Pro's

- After stories are diverse and suit the characters.

- New routes give those characters plenty of substance.

- Gorgeous artwork.

 

Con's

- After's get less Cg's than the new routes...

 

The OP movie is pretty good, definitely the type i'd just let play.

Its just a standard VN, After stories don't have any choices and its mostly just chill

and fluff as you get to enjoy some time with your husbando.

New routes do have choices but cuz of the love catch its easy to tell which is the

best choice and thus making it easier to get both endings.

Right after I downloaded the game from the jpn eshop I dived into Benkei's route

and well I already was satisfied in the romance department! even if he was not my fav.

 

After's aren't that long either... I think the length was about two hours depending

on your reading speed. There's not much to work with so don't expect too much

except some fluff and wrapping up some loose ends, as well as some horniness?

some had it on the lvl of oh god just fuck already?!

As for the new routes... they do a pretty good job of giving those guys more substance!

they are like a full route in the original game so we get to spend plenty of time with them.

Before starting on this I wasn't that hyped for the new routes cuz I was fine with 

what we got in the original and there wasn't much to them except

Shigehira but Tsugunobu really grew on me and ugh he's now my best boi!

With this I think the content value of this game is pretty good and will last a bit unless you binge...

The new routes get more cg's than the afters which could be disappointing! for afters 

there were only 3/4 cg's (with variation) and one bonus with the guy in present day clothing.

The new routes also follow some of the general plot of the original because again its about

the genpei war, you can't expect them to suddenly make it about something else

which is good because it was consistent in making room for the new-old friends.

I think that in general something Birushana is good at is concistency, there's minimum holes

in its plot they might be there but once you did all it really did make sense.

Of course its not perfect... and there's definitely some problems but I really do love

this series and its cast, it was great to spend more time with them.

If I had to be really honest neither of the Satou brothers were particularly interesting

in terms of plot, Takatsuna was slightly more interesting cuz he's Yoritomo's retainer but don't do

these routes expected new and exciting plot revelations cuz that's not what they're here for.

They're basically here for another romance option... someone for Shana to be happy with

which was nice in its own way, personally I did enjoy spending time with Tsugunobu.

For play order I did want to try to alternate the afters with the new routes which was: 

Benkei >  Shungen > Tsugunobu > Tadanobu > Noritsune > Takatsuna >Yoritomo>Tomomori >Shigehira.

Anyway Birushana FD is a great treat for fans that want a little something extra

I wasn't disappointed with the additional romance for some of the guys cuz some of them needed it.

The stories are diverse and suit the characters, in that sense Birushana doesn't disappoint.

Maybe I am being too positive but if I like it, I like it. There's not much to complain about either

except maybe the CG count for the after stories but it seems they wanted to focus more on the

side characters new routes anyway its better to have quality over quantity and its not like

the after's were bad... I mean the guys getting hornier is a good thing no?

 

I could understand some people not giving two fucks about those guys having new routes but maybe

it will surprise you & you'll end up with a new best boi, i'm speaking from experience here.

So overall me thinks depending on what you're here for that this

is a pretty good FD to compliment the original!

 

PLEASE NOTE that from here on there will be spoilers both for the original game and this FD

as I will write a little about the after stories/new routes from this point onward, so if you plan

to play either the original game in english/jpn or this FD I recommend to stop reading here!!!

 

 

 

Buddy Mission Bond - review

 Genre: interactive VN.
Developer/publisher: Ruby Party/Koei and Nintendo.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/aq2fa/index.html
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v30145
Release date: 2021-01-29.

I heard about this game last year but didn't get to it, now that otomate decided to try to dive into

the no romance but friendship genre I was reminded of this and I thought huh why not?

from what I found it doesn't seem to be that bad and its reception in japan were mostly positive!

Honestly the title of the game is a bit generic so I wouldn't be surprised if many glossed over it.😅

I was once again reminded to not judge a book by its cove- err title.

Side note, this game is a collab between Koei and nintendo.

There aren't really any major plot spoilers in this post, please enjoy the game for yourself

cuz this is one of those games like psychedelica that you just can't say too much about its plot.

Pro's

- Decent enough plot with some twist and turns.

- Amazing cast of characters.

- Great art and BGM to fit the mood.

- Quite long but pacing okay, has replay value/reason to redo a chapter.

Con's

- No touch screen support, a bummer for switch lite users.

- Some aspects of the mystery might be a bit too obvious...

- It might be overwhelming to unlock and/or see the side events alongside progressing the main plot.

^^Its okay to do it later to not burn yourself out.

 

OP Movie; I watched maybe once or twice.

 

 

Buddy Mission Bond is a mystery visual novel but honestly what I really liked the most

was the chara's. This may be a VN but it is more like an animated comic/manga!

The protagonist Luke is voiced by Kimura Ryohei and it has many other high profile seiyuu as well

such as Namidai, kondo takashi and morikawa toshiyuki. Kouki Uchiyama also

voices someone and he's easily my favorite besides the main gang.

 The story was easy to follow, its about Luke who was an orphan but then he met

Edward who became his role model and adoptive father. Luke eventually followed

in his footsteps by becoming a detective, he always dreamed of being a hero.

Luke ends up on a case about a diamond thief which leads to him investigating

a case on his own and ends up teaming up with allies which lead to one thing and another!

I'd love to talk more of the story/side episodes but I think this game really is best

to be experienced when knowing as little as possible of its plot i'll still be sharing some screenshots

but most of these won't give away the main story/are without context of whatever is going on.

 

 Main cast:

Luke: Cinnamon roll too good for this world too pure... who wouldn't protect his smile?

Aaron: Best bro! despite his attitude this fact is undeniable by the end of this game. 

Though he does need a stress ball or just take walks with doggie Luke....

I like how he never gets a new shirt... or maybe it just rips naturally.😅

Mokuma: Moe oyaji??? laidback guy for the most part he also has a ''real shit'' mood.

Chesley: Didn't like him much at first, he's a bit twisted but his past made me sad

actually twisted is putting it mildly he's a megalomaniac with varying lvls of moods

and also has a hateboner for Mokuma.😨 Idk this guy was just 2weird5me?

all the BL themes in this game is basically Chesley's fault and to some extend Mokuma too.

 

None of them are perfect or anything but I learned to love them for better or for worse.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I liked how their alias/codenames formed BOND...

 

There's a lot of QTE and aside the usual choice you sometimes have to solve puzzles

and there's a 3d adventure element. So if you're up for that it is definitely

worth looking into it, it has a trial version on the jpn eshop if you're curious.

More rambles after the jump break.

 

Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta... ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~ - Review

Usually I'll post the box art but... I liked this title screen and i've been doing it for rpg's too.

 Genre: Otome VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/hamehura-kaizoku/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v29251
Release date: 2022-02-10.

 

Long title aside hench forth it shall be known as Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~!

Otomate decided to make otome game for hamefura a lightnovel which had an anime adaptation.

Unfortunately they decided to not give the girls full routes and only the guys are romanceable

this is something I didn't mind but I could see some might do. As it kinda felt subtexty/comedic

and to turn it into full harem; basically who doesn't love Bakarina? 😅

I also tend to be kind of wary of games that are based on an anime because they tend to exist

solely for fans and the quality of said game tends to vary greatly but hamefura turned out alright.

The art quality was very high and the style stays true to the anime and in terms of plot it was decent. 

 

OP movie; for some reason they have disabled the embedded version so here's the link.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eljl92KUUgg

 

Anyway this game/VN is like a side story in the hamefura universe it doesn't exist in the canon

if you ever wanted to spend more time with some of the guys now's your chance I guess?!

I'm not sure when this takes place but it acts as an extension of the first season... you could

probably play it without watching but this game doesn't go into who the chara's are

they briefly go over it in the prologue but that's it. The anime is pretty fun and s1 is only 12 eps

which isn't very long so why not give it a watch to get to know the series?

The characters unique to this game are locked though so if you don't know who to choose

i'd say Alan or Geordo first but honestly I really do recommend checking out the anime first

cuz this game really is more for fans, the general premise is even so

that the story in this game is a fandisc to fortune lover.

 

Pro's

- While not much to work with, each route was unique/self-contained.

- Characters are consistent and not OOC.

-Art is gorgeous.

 

Con's

- If you were hoping for fluff and only comedy/romance... this might be disappointing

as they actually tried to have a plot and characters to take part in it.

- Its better if you watch atleast S1 of the hamefura anime as the game does very little

to establish its cast,existing relationships or explain the world.

 

 Bakarina is voiced except some of her thought/monologue!

the art is pretty nice the style is like the anime and it doesn't seem to suffer from tracers.

Music is fitting nothing to complain about, the plot kinda felt like it was another

episode/OVA or something and depending on your choices you'll end up investigating an incident

that happens on the ship they're staying on with whoever you like.

The story isn't much but it can be interesting, all the side npc have sprites too

so its easy to tell them apart, voice acting was excellent as well.

 

System is just standard VN stuff, during the bakarina meetings where you have to select a choice

you can't save so you have to do it before it comes up. There is also a bug if you skip

too fast through the ideafactory/otomate/criware/OPmovie stuff when booting up the game

where the software just closes. So its better to just let all that play and if you do want

to skip the op movie just let it play 5-10 seconds.

Compared to recent otome I played it finally felt like I was playing a proper one again

uh what is a proper one is subjective of course but I think this one had some classic stuff.

I say that cuz Hamefura wasn't depressing, more fun and romance focused

its exactly what I wanted even though my expectations were low.

It was pretty enjoyable from start to finish and that's coming from someone that's not

that big of a fan as I liked the anime enough to check out this game.😅

It might be sad that the girls don't have full routes but personally I don't even want to think about

romancing Mary except as in a joke ending. Maybe there really are Mary fans out there

or Maria/Sophia so the fact there is 1 joke ending and the normal end is well... better than nothing.

 

That aside the game does feel kinda short but the pacing is okay and it doesn't seem

like it overstayed its welcome, any longer and I would have been bored tbh. Like I'd love it if games

took their time but you also don't want to get bored! Hamefura doesn't have that problem.

Its entertaining enough but it doesn't focus completely on the couple at all times

and I could see how some find that disappointing! they did try to have a plot that

made sense in the world of hamefura so I am not sure why this would be a bad thing

cuz if this game didn't have the plot it has then the routes would be super short and they average

at 6 hours or so which I think for what we got out of it was more than enough

either way I didn't have many complaints I was happy with Alan's route!

While this was an enjoyable side dish after the anime, if you don't like the novel/anime

or don't like any of the guys enough to want to romance them its probably better to pass

cuz this is nothing but fluff with a slighly entertaining story full of cute romance

so if you were here for some deep plot uhm look elsewhere cuz the hamefura game ain't it.

 It does have bad/death ends but only one or two per route and they're not long.

Most of this game still keeps the charm I got to know this series with! depending on how much

you like the other guys beside your favourite it might be a bit of a chore to do multiple

playthroughs as the general plot does kind of remain the same however each time

you do a new playthrough you unlock new scenes to understand the overall plot better

though some of these scenes only seem to exist to make it more obvious.

Unfortunately despite this game not being canon one route in particular has so much lore

and world building it felt kind of like a waste if this was only one game

I applaud them for the effort but it did take away from anything else.

Most of the characters in this game don't get much personal focus except Rozy/Silva

that's because they got that in the anime so they're not gonna waste time, for some it means

their routes were less interesting, I thought the main guy of this game would be Geordo but eh

classic poster boy curse with that one, Silva would like a word with him.

All in all ~Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~ is mostly an enjoyable otome game

for fans of the series that want to actually romance the guy(s)! So if that's what you're looking for

or just another hamefura adventure in general it gets my recommendation.😄👍

But yea if you don't want bakarina to end up with anyone stay away from this game and pretend

it doesn't exist or something, as its jpn only at time of writing so it shouldn't be too hard.

8.5/10

My play order was Alan > Geordo > Keith > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.

Imo it doesn't really matter but I suggest to do your fav first which in my case was Alan!

Doing Alan first might not be the best, I do think Nicol flows well into Rozy's route.

If I had to recommend anything its probably Geordo/Keith > Alan > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.

Anyway the non-spoiler sections end here! some route comments along

with my fav cg's after the jump break.

Blue Reflection Second Light - Review

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Gust/KOEI
Platform: PS4, Switch, PC.
Official Site: https://blue-reflection.com/secondlight/uk/
Release date: 2021-11-09.

 

Well you know it was coming... but I delayed playing this game for a bit.

Prerelease I have seen some... less than positive comments I tried my best to ignore them

cuz i'm only really here to see how it ties all together. The anime wasn't the best either...

and I wonder what the hell gust even tried to achieve with this multi-media project? cuz it seems

like cash was tight or they just didn't have the time to do better? maybe that too.

It also didn't do that well in japan, blurays cancelled and lacklustre sales.

There's supposed to be a mobile game too but idk what happened to that.

If you're still wondering if should play the first game and watch the anime...  not really unless you

have time and want to see more Hiori/Mio or experience Hinako's adventure but its not a must.

Anyway... like I said in my post about the anime ray the characters and to some extend the story

 really are BR's strong point, if you want a quick and dirty TL;DR for the most part I enjoyed it

but this game isn't the best either its nice in its own way.

Pro's

- Story&character are interesting to learn more of.

- Pacing is okay, feels a bit too relaxed at times though,

- Decent amount of optional content.

- Music is great.

 

Con's

- Requests that require stealth are quite annoying.

- One on One battles controls feel off, relies too much on perfect timing.

(Its interesting but idk why they decided to suddenly turn it into a QTE/action game....)

- Animation in combat, its hard to see what's going on while having to watch turn bar as well.

- Dating part while cute might get redundant and there are many.

- Was it really necessary to force an entire NG+ run for one more scene?!

 -

 

I like the OP movie, song is calm and sets the mood for the game!

too bad it only plays once after you finish the prologue, maybe it also plays

if you linger on the title screen but I didn't bother to check.

Storywise it still offers the same type of emotional/chacracter development the first game

and the anime to some extend is known for so all in all its still blue reflection

really I think the character stuff like getting their memories back is the best part.

The first half of the game was pretty relaxing for the most part and felt like there was no rush

to go and do things which in a way is kinda bad? its very laidback that just playing

one or two hours was enough and come back to it whenever I felt like progressing.

Sometimes I do think this is nice, in most rpg's you always have to save or protect something

but in this game they're just trying to survive while getting back their memories

obviously the fighting/protect part came in too but overall it felt different from other rpg's

even the first blue reflection game which was more sailormoon-ish than this.

I liked the general flow of the story, but it did remind me of the persona  4/5

cuz the dungeons are character focused and you slowly get to see the big picture.

However I fear this is gonna make or break the game for people, this game is a slow burn

and at times it feels more like a character game cuz the story takes a while to get going. 

The one time I was annoyed was at the end of ch10's boss rush cuz there was no rhyme or reason

to be even fighting those exact same enemies again, there wasn't even any dialogue for it. >_>

 I liked the majority of this game more than I expected even though I don't like the combat

at all and think that the original blue reflection had more charming UI/menu design.

I did always think that the original blue reflection was kinda open-ended

and that there was something missing maybe they did it on purpose? and now we

got the anime ray and this game second light which continues from that.

There's more content and subevents don't feel as static anymore as well unfortunately like most

gust games sub events can seem endless as they appear even and trying to see all date

or do all request once they show up can feel overwhelming.

Anyway its not a bad game but... its also not the greatest either its just okay!

Many times you want developer to do more with an IP and they don't... 

well gust did try here and i'll give them credit for it! I mean the anime might not

have been the most appealing to watch but this game was nice to slowly go through

its just that depending whether or not you have the energy for a second run

its okay to just youtube the additional scene when you're done like it makes sense storywise

why they did it, however there's not enough new content to make it worthwhile.

and I wanted to add that it could ruin the experience by turning it into a slog.

I remember BR1 being more like oh well all's well that ends well but then this game

comes crashing in like bitch hold up you ain't got nothing on me! in the end

while I enjoyed most of the journey I still feel a little mixed about this entry.

I totally understand why some people are pissed or annoyed... because this game has a few

questionable design choices archaic even and I can't really recommend it

except as a character game and hey maybe you'll like the combat too

but its not really a typical rpg the story just doesn't allow it to be.

7/10

More rambles after the jump.