Masutaaa~~~ (Note: Must end on an increasing note in a flirty way.)
I think having an otome gaming blog really helps to discipline my gaming behaviour. I used to jump all over the place, flitting among dozen of games and putting several of them on hiatus. But now I’ve toned down considerably and only flit around between three games at most.
Anyway, back to the topic, finally down to the last character! Certainly helps that they only have like 2-4 endings per character (out of which only one is good ending wtf stingggy).
So Karasuma is the owner of a cafe-cum-bar that the Crazy Rabbits frequent. However, the truth is that he's a super-rich obocchama who technically owns Usagiri Jimusho. Also, possibly as a result of his upbringing, he's a perfect gentlemen with good social etiquette (as shown in the party scene in Mission 3) and speaks fluent English (having studied in New York once). He often encourages Aoi when she's in one of her emo I-screwed-up-I'm-so-useless mode. And in fact, being the gentleman he is, he's the only person out of the four guys to have never insulted Aoi. He also has this therapeutic voice which is very nice to listen to. すごく癒される～～～ Oh, and his 「おいで」 is a killer. *melts*
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
Was hopping around the different otome game makers' websites yesterday and saw that Aromarie has posted voice samples of some of their characters in their upcoming game Chou no Doku Hana no Kusari (are they going to use this "A no B C no D" format for all their game titles or what) and realised that the main guy (an oresama character) is voiced by 茶介, the seiyuu who did Unoya in Crazy Rabbits! XD Oh yeah, the voice sample reeks of Unoya all over lol.
AND! The seiyuu who did Mutsuki and Hayata in Sumire no Tsubomi is in it too! He's voicing the manservant character...tte again??? Lol.
AND! AND! It seems like they have an elder brother character...INCEST???!!! :O
AND! AND! AND! A 37 year-old butler... Uh. まさか...ね？
AND! AND! AND--- *gets hit on the head* And an osananajimi character woot!
*drools at the variety of characters available*
On another note, I wonder if they'll actually give the heroine a voice this time. I really hope they would. And I also hope they keep the feature they had in Gin no Kanmuri Aoi no Namida whereby the other characters will call the heroine by her name if you keep the name default.
Inukaaaaaai!!! キャーq(≧∇≦*)(*≧∇≦)pキャー (Because it's necessary for me to open every character review post with a unique yell for the said character ohohoho.)
So Inukai is this super majime (i.e. serious) lawyer with a serious case of OCD (like me). If you weren't doing his route, he's actually pretty much invisible throughout the game, except in Mission 2 when he is the target.
And honestly speaking I wasn't expecting much from this guy when I started playing his route. I mean I just completed Unoya and Takumi's routes daze??? How can he be more interesting, funnier and cuter than Unoya's boke and Takumi's tsukkomi??? Right...???
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
So I decided that instead of trying to finish up Hoshi no Oujo 2, I'll play Hoshi no Oujo first.
Actually I'd have started on Hoshi no Oujo first if I could. You know, like go in the "order". But annoyingly, I had a hard time looking for it and ended up getting the second series first.
As of now, I'm left with Satomi-kyouju and Souma-sensei for Hoshi no Oujo 2. While I'm really dying to do both of their routes (they are the main characters after all and the past life story is pretty intriguing), the OCD in me commands me to do Hoshi no Oujo first. So yeah, I'm gonna play through that first while suppressing my desire for Satomi-kyouju in the second series. At the very least, I plan to go through the repeat characters first (the main characters in the second series are side characters in the first series).
Also, I've read that it's quite a sad story (I do vaguely remember that it is, having played the trial version before) so I'm totally prepared to bawl my eyes out. *arms self with tissues*
Well then. Off to my shoujo harem heaven. ヾ( ^ _ ^ )マタネー
TAKUMIIIIII!!! ♥♥(o￫ܫ￩o)♫ღ THE SUPER SUPER IKEMEN ZOMG.
Takumi is kind of the polar opposite of Unoya. Gives out an icy cold aura. Doesn't talk much. Genius hacker. Good fighter. ♥ A damn awesome tsukkomi. Oh, and he loves sweet stuff! :DDD Yet, despite his coolness, there seems to be a trace of childishness (in a good sense) in him as well. このギャップには超萌え～～～
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
Been listening to Morning Musume's Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game everyday lately and every time I hear 「口説き 口説かれて」 I think of Unoya from Crazy Rabbits lol. I think I've made a permanent association between both of them. XD
In other news, I've been looking at Little Cheese's site and reading up about their upcoming otome game. And I realised that 3 of the seiyuus were in Sumire no Tsubomi too!!! And one of them was the one who voiced Kanade!!! DEFINITELY GONNA PLAY THIS. \:D/ (ALSO THERE WAS THIS CG OF THE MAIN GUY FAPPING WHILE SAYING "ANEKI~~~" ZOMG. But he's the heroine's step-brother so technically it's not incest.) (Add: Omg they added more CGs to the gallery and there was one where the heroine was doing it with one of the guys and the step-brother was like watching them through the door crack zomggg.)
Speaking of seiyuus, I was also looking up some seiyuu profiles on Wikipedia and I realised that the SAME person voiced Mutsuki and Hayata in Sumire no Tsubomi! O_O Like eeeeeeh???!!! But they sound like two different persons!!! ありえない。マジありえない。
I used to not care about seiyuus during my anime addiction days but playing otome games has made me pay more attention to them than I thought I ever would. I even have my own list of favourite seiyuus now~ ♥
(I'm almost done with Takumi's review. Should be able to post it over the weekend. At least I hope my OCD character allows it. Been editing the thing like crazy and driving myself crazy while at it lol. Hope to be able to get some otome gaming done as well. Aiming to continue with Hoshi no Oujo 2 and finish up the side characters so that I can finally move on to the two main characters.)
Spent a good hour or so drooling at the bishies over at Hakuouki's game sites.
DO WANT. （´・ω・｀）ｼｮﾎﾞｰﾝ
I feel like getting a PS2 right now. Or even a PS3. What's the difference anyway. Would it be better to just get PS2 since there are hardly any PS3 otome games around??? Would be cheaper too. But what if after I buy PS2, they release a super hot PS3 otome game??? Ugh. Damn these gadgets of sin.
But then again I don't think I'll be able to get one anytime soon. Trying to save up for a new PC and a Japan vacation. Siiigh. Imma just go play my PC otome game now. Gonna continue with Crazy Rabbits and start on Inukai's route.
I've been to Mirai's website many times but have never really took notice of their 4-koma section. And I'm so glad I did today because they have some really cute stuff!
Here are some of my favourites:
Sumire no Tsubomi
Lol poor Haru.
And jealous!Kanade is teh kewtz~ ♥
OMG KANADE!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
ツンデレ最高！ ＼＼( ⌒▽⌒ )／／ バンザーイ
Jingi Naki Otome
Hahaha. Oh Ryu.
And I can totally imagine Asou-san saying that. XD
Tsundere S Otome
I haven't played this game yet but this is cute too. Love the dokidoki expression. ^^
Honestly I wanted to do Takumi's route first after previewing the character profiles on the official website. だっていちばんイケメンだもん！ But I found Unoya really attractive (and funny) when I started playing the game which made me waver in my decision. Then finally I was like "ah heck it just go by order like I usually do" and did Unoya's route first エヘヘ。*kena slapped*
*ahem* Well, let's just start off by continuing with the rest of Mission 4.
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
I want to play Tsundere S Otome so bad but I'm trying SO HARD not to because I promised myself I won't start a new game until I finished at least half of the games that I've played (less than) halfway through. ><;;
I think I'm gonna do up a list of the current games I'm playing now over the weekend. I've been playing otome games for over a year and yet I've only completed ONE game lol. Short attention span I have.
I'm almost done with Sumire no Tsubomi though. That was the first otome game I played (and the game whose trial version I played made me decide to seriously find out how to get my hands on these awesome shit). And speaking of which, I have no idea why everyone hates Sumire no Tsubomi! I love it so much. The art is good. The music is good. The seiyuus are good. The characters are all equally good-looking and adorable in their own way (some more than others). Sure, there are those raep routes (which I did find little difficult to digest despite my love for the game) but there are a lot of jun-ai routes too! And some of the 専用ルート are just so touching I swear I baaaww-ed my eyes out while playing through them. Also, although the pace may be a little slow in the beginning, I find it absolutely worth it to uncover all the cute scenes later on. If anyone wants to give it a try, I can tell you which are the raep routes so that you won't have to go through them if you don't want to.
But I digress. I'll leave my rants when I do a review on the game later. Yeah. Anyway, I'm hoping to finish off some games before this year ends, namely Crazy Rabbits, Ijiwaru My Master, Starry Sky ~In Spring~ and erm, maybe Jingi Naki Otome??? God damn that game is sure long lol. Oh, and Hoshi no Oujo 2. I'm actually playing it right now. Omg Satomi-kyouju is hawt. I was actually planning to finish off the sub-characters first but I just found Satomi-kyouju too distractingly attractive and decided to restart the game and go for his route hahaha. *is fickle* But apparently I need to finish the routes of two other main characters first before I can see Satomi-kyouju's good and true endings. Bah.
Oh well, the night is short. I should go and try to finish up my lengthy Unoya (Crazy Rabbits) review post. Hopefully I can get it posted by the end of this week. Do check back again!
We start out the scene with a CG of a dead woman lying in a pool of blood. Σ(･ω･ﾉ)ﾉ Well, I must say I was suitably creeped out since I was playing the game in the middle of the night zzz. Then we hear this unidentified voice that undeniably belongs to the person who killed the woman. He was panting, presumably due to the adrenaline rush from having murdered the woman but he didn't sound very panicky that he had committed a crime because all he said was "Well well who knew things would turn out to be like this." and "Aw shucks got my clothes dirtied." Uh... （；￢＿￢）じ～…
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
Mission 3...brings the spotlight back to Unoya. This time it's to break up a relationship between a young guy and a cougar. The iraisha is a 30+++ year-old OL who has a 20+++ year-old boyfriend who apparently likes older women. The older the better. Gee it must suck to lose a younger boyfriend to an older woman. Although I guess it's partly because the cougar is rich and powerful??? Yeah.
Naturally Unoya was not too thrilled about this. Apparently the iraisha is one of their regular clients and every time she comes, it's always because her little boyfriend is cheating on her with some old woman. So when she stepped in, Unoya was all "Oh no I think I'm getting sick. Let me just retire now." hahaha sucks to be him. (^○^) アハハ
Takumi then showed his good buddy support by wishing him good luck lol. To which Unoya grumbled and asked why Takumi never tries to help out with the charming and sweet-talking role. Takumi responded by saying that that's Unoya's specialty hahaha. (≧∇≦)/ ハハハ *raises sansei sign*
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
Mission 2 involves one of the main characters i.e. Inukai Makoto!
Looking at the CG gallery on their official website, followed by the walkthrough, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's an Inukai raep route somewhere. =/ I haven't got down to playing Inukai's route yet. Precisely because I dread doing the second bad route. I know I can always not do it but I read that there'll be a bonus unlocked after completing all the endings, whereby you listen to each character discuss about the story??? (Reminds me of Gin no Kanmuri, Ao no Namida. Oh Ryoooooou-kuuun!!! ♥). And I'm the type who aims to collect all CGs and memories. So...I know I'll just end up doing it even though I know the ending is gonna suck. (After playing through so many bad routes, you'd think I'd have gotten used to it but NO. The sucky endings get stuck in my mind for days. Especially if I like the character LEON-SAMAAA *sobsob*.)
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
In Mission 1, you are suppose to help a wimpy obocchama break up the arranged marriage engagement between him and his fiancee (an annoyingly spoilt ojousama who despises people she deems lower in status than her and treats them like dirt) because he's in love with one of his maids (how romantic, except...not really as it is revealed later on). The plan was to make his fiancee to fall in love with Unoya so that she would break the engagement from her side (the wimpy obocchama couldn't break it off from his side because his fiancee's father is the owner (I think) of the bank who is providing most of the funding for his father's business).
WARNING: SUPER MAJOR CONTENT AND CG SPOILERS AHEAD
Just for the record, I love the OP!!! They showed it 4 times throughout each route at the beginning of each mission and I sat through it every single time. Usually I just skip the OP but this is just too cool to skip. I love how the animation match the beat of the music. ♥
Plot
You play Mochizuki Aoi, who is sadly out of job and lodging and found this crummy piece of paper advertising for a position and decided to take it even though she had no idea what it's about because the pay is good and free lodging is provided. Turns out it's a wakaresaseya i.e. a company that helps to break up relationships (within a week) for a hefty sum of money. It also turns out that her co-workers consists of a cool jiji, a smoking hawt guy and a ikemen, who call themselves Crazy Rabbits.
There are 4 missions in this game. Each time, a client comes in to request Usagiri Jimusho to break up a relationship, such as with an unwanted fiancee or between their cheating boyfriend/spouse with the cheating partner. Each mission lasts for seven days and your relationship with the character you're pursuing develops as you go through these missions.
Main Characters
Unoya Kyousuke: Member of Usagiri Jimusho. Pairs up with Inaba and does the front-end work i.e. making the girls/cougars/guys(!) fall for him by charming and sweet-talking to them. Super confident of his good looks and talent in charming ladies. Finds women a nuisance. Apparently. Well I do find him pretty good looking when I was viewing his profile on the game website and his red and black outfit makes him look hotter. なんか俺様で強引なタイプにも見えるんだけど。
Inaba Takumi: IKEMEN OMG!!! I love this guy to death. *ahem* Also member of Usagiri Jimusho. Pairs up with Unoya and does the back-end work such as collecting information on the target, setting the stage for Unoya to "coincidentally" bump into the target and create opportunities for Unoya to charm the target. This guy is a genius hacker. Emits a cool (cold would be a more accurate description though) aura.
Inukai Makoto: Lawyer. Cho-majime. Kanari OCD. Despises Usagiri Jimusho (I guess he thinks what they do is immoral???) and vows to crush them one day. 鬼畜眼鏡とのイメージがある。 I think it's kind of sad that glasses characters in otome games are (almost) always seen as the kichiku type. And the thing is, it's almost always true. ALMOST. Because Kanade (from Sumire no Tsubomi) wears glasses but he's NOT kichiku! Instead he's a raburii raburii tsundere~ ♥ Anyway, Inukai doesn't look that attractive compared to the previous two. Maybe if his chin was shorter... Also, that blue hair reminds me of Souichiro from Brothers ~Koisuru Oniisama~.
Karasuma Reiji: Owner of a cafe(day)/bar(night) that sells awesome coffee and 3972782 types of cocktails, and is frequently frequented by Crazy Rabbits. Has a rabbit called Hana-chan which acts as a mascot for the cafe. 優しいお兄さんタイプ。 他のキャラより、ちょっと印象が薄いかな。（因幡さんのこと気になりすぎるから？ふふふ。）
Other Characters
Usagiri Ginji: Boss of Usagiri Jimusho. Non-catchable thank god because I have no interest in pursuing an ossan character kthx.
Koizumi Erina: OKAMAAA!!! She (he?) is the owner of an okama bar and also takes on the role of an information provider, selling information to Usagiri Jimusho to aid them in their missions. Oh well, she's pretty at least. XD
Kagamine Kiriko: Boss of a rival wakaresaseya. Unoya's ex-boss (I think). I like the shade of purple they gave for her hair. ^^
(Add on 08/11/2010: I've decided that instead of an overview which doesn't have much added value (hey it rhymes hahaha), I'd add my first impressions of the game in various aspects. It should be quite interesting to compare and see if and how much my views change when I do a concluding post of the game upon completion.)
First Impressions
I have no idea why but the first time I went to the website I got a "military" vibe from the whole thing lol. And the CG gallery further made me think that there is some sort of military spy theme going on. Ha. But maa, at least I got the spying part correct! \:D/
Based on the character profiles, I like Takumi the most. Which is quite out-of-character for me since I always prefer "hotter" type of guys (think Kyo over Yuki from Fruits Basket and Doumyoji over Hanazawa from Hana Yori Dango). But や～～～ん！イケメンはイケメンだもん！にゃはは。 Anyway, yeah, since he catches my attention the most, I plan to start playing his route first.
I hate first posts since it's always so awkward don't you think?
But anyway, the long and short of it is that I've finally decided to open up my own otome gaming blog. I have been stalking some otome gamers' blogs for a while now and reading their reviews makes me want to write my own too. I started playing my first otome game in the second-half of 2009 (so it's been around a year now) and due to reasons such as laziness and procrastination, I've never really gotten around to writing any reviews yet even thought I'm like halfway through quite a few games already.
That said, I'm not actually that heavy of a otome gamer. I tend to drift around and rotate between my multiple interests including j-pop, j-dramas, manga, anime and other games (like the Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series). So I'm widening the scope of this blog to include my manga, anime and other game fandoms. I have another blog for my j-pop and j-drama fandom but that one is pretty much in a coma now so I may just start over on a new blog and create an affiliate link or something. But that's another discussion for another time (and place).
With that, I thank you for wasting your time reading this self-introduction shit. I'm actually in the middle of an otome game now, and since the game is quite short (thanks to the overly-recycled plots and lack of different endings), I should be able to get a few reviews up in the next one or two weeks. So till then. :)
