I’ve been slacking off quite a lot from posting about otome games lately, and I took this time to think of what my otome game posting plans really are. I’ve become lazy to continue on with the Otome Games Digest, because it’s a drag thinking of what to write about the other games I’m not wholeheartedly interested in. Instead of posting otome games news snippets in digest form, I just decided to dedicate a separate post for otome games which peak my interest enough to merit such an attention. This is also a much better ‘hook’ than the Otome Games Digest, given that the title itself hints on what game I’ll be talking about. They might be noise posts for some readers who subscribe to the blog, but whatever, so long as I’m having fun sharing about them, then that’s all that matters

The first game I’ll be talking about after the big otome game posting break I took, is no other than Vampire Knight for the DS. This is actually old news already, since it was announced way back August, but since the mention of this news tidbit never fails to elicit chuckles from the people I talked to about it, I decided to post about it still. Most people would already know about the basic premise of Vampire Knight, which I also mentioned in this VK anime announcement post almost a year ago.

And yes, that vampire emo angst fest manga/anime is gonna have its DS game adaptation, to be released this coming December. It’s said to be a “bloody love-sim game”, where you play as Yuuki Cross, the ever confused girl torn between Zero and Kaname~ With this, VK fans not only get the chance to help Yuuki decide which guy she should end up with, they’d also be able to have the guy they want all to themselves (and their own fantasies)! This love-sim game should no longer come a surprise since Yuuki has been acting like a sissy otome game heroine throughout most of the manga’s run. So yeah, becoming an otome game heroine just makes her fulfill her HONTOU no JIBUN

Related posts:

1. A Koushien-esque Cross Game Blogging Ambition Once Forgotten
2. A Tale of Friendship, Love, LULZ, and ToraDora
3. I Can Only Pimp So Much About Cross Game

I finally finished the Renai Blogger game last last Sunday and I really enjoyed it to bits~! Not just because I was so moe in the game, mind you. A lot of things happened these past two weeks and so it took me this long before finishing the review. Sorry for the people who have been anticipating this post for so long

I was caught by surprise when Hinano announced the release of this game last August 2. I mean, it’s been 4 months already?! And I honestly didn’t think Hinano would release it this soon. More props to her for all the hard work, sweat and tears poured for this well-made doujin game. I also thought Hinano was gonna email us girls about singing a song for the ending credits or something, but I guess that plan didn’t go through. I’m glad it turned out that way too, so my voice will still remain a mystery or something lol.

Impz is such a flirt ROFLMAO

This game was quite an educational material, I should say. Aside from allowing me to learn how much my hair grew in the span of 4 months (since the ‘sample design’ I gave Hinano before was based on my new hair-cut that time, now it has grown and become more hideous than ever), this game also gave light to Impzy’s real identity (which, sadly, many people who are not so into the ins-and-outs of the blogosphere weren’t aware of till this game came out. Poor scarred people ). With Chase walking down the [unfamiliar] streets of NY, this also became a tour guide of some sorts, being Hinano’s Neo Venezia, as Omo puts it. And, for people like me who has never attended a single anime con all her life, the game brought me as close to an anime convention as I can get (at least, until the time I finally get to attend one). Then we also get to know Hinano and bits and pieces of her life, together with the rest of the bloggers. Too bad I didn’t get the NY jokes T__T;

It was a refreshing change playing a game that’s 100% guilt-free compared to other PC dating-sim / point-and-click games I played before *ahem*, though it was totally awkward seeing yourself in the most unthinkable and mushy of situations, in the parts where my game character appeared I had to wait till my brothers weren’t looking before I finished my own route coz it was embarrassing (or is it just me? >.>). Just for the record, my PC is in our living room, and right beside me is my brother’s laptop, and my 2nd brother’s PC. So yeah, no privacy for me until they all get to sleep and leave me in my own world downstairs.

First thing I noticed when I finally got myself to play the game is the cute icon, which briefly reminded me of this trap “cute.exe” executable program sent by a ‘friend’ before, you know, the one which pops this random terrifying image which only foolish scaredy bunnies like me fall for. So anyways, the game started, and what greeted me was this funky genki OP music which easily grew on me.

After being spoiled by all the game reviews I read before playing the game, I tried my best to be rid of any biases in deciding whose route I’m gonna get first, and the impromptu order turned out to be: CJ, Natsuko, Jen (no I don’t want to say ‘myself’ because it doesn’t sound right), and Hinano. I also tried forgetting the spoilers I’ve seen in the reviews, so that the game will still have that element of surprise, at the very least.

The overall thoughts I have on the girls’ routes is similar to that of Kuro’s, it was too short. All except Hinano were really easy to get (tsk!), the type of naïve girls who’d easily fall prey to “experienced” players (Chase can easily fit this bill, actually :P) I mean, giving your email address to someone you only met?! Way to go, loli Nyachan! Then I got into thinking that this is usually the case with one-shot mangas, with lightning speed romance developments, and eventually found the overall ‘chase’ to be fun and sweet, albeit short :3

I have some minor complaints though. I got confused with saving and loading somewhere along the way and ended up overwriting one of my saves. Thank goodness that this wasn’t a complicated game or I would’ve really banged my head against the wall. That, and I think I somewhat got spoiled by dating-sim / adventure games I played which offer the history / log feature and I was actually looking for that feature so I could look up the past cheesy dialogues

On CJ’s route

Since CJ was readily up for grabs right beside Chase during his first day in campus, I decided to go after her first. I mean, love is like a race after all, and you have to take hold of those chances whenever they come, amirite? I was actually expecting her to be more tsuntsun at first, like she’d purposefully ignore me and be hard to get, much to my surprise that she already had the hawts for Chase during their first meeting and readily accepted the invitation to go to the con! O_O But hey, this is just a game, so who am I to take this so seriously.

I don’t really know whether I should address Chase in the first person or second person POV, so pardon the confusing POV switch from time to time =.=;

Chase catches a glimpse of BL, for the first time in his life.

So I decided to tag along with CJ throughout her otaku adventures, where she drags me into the depths of her BL fandom. She was going all ‘minaide hazukashii~’ on Chase when she was checking out some BL stuff, but she was purposefully doing it, I tell you. Otherwise if she didn’t want her BL secret to be found out she shouldn’t even have dragged him to that place in the first place I just wonder about the real reaction of guys the moment they find out that a certain girl is into BL. Guys would typically squirm, of course, feel disgusted, or whatnot. And I guess their overall impression of the girl will depend on how normal she is in other aspects of her life. Or that’ll depend on the guy’s tolerance to FYGs. Bah, I’m talking too much.

Happy ending?

The events that followed in CJ’s route was pretty fun as well. The tsundere moments during the volleyball practice, the cosplay event and the Caramel Dansen. The ending was sweet and happy, for CJ that is, since I sort of lament Chase’s life after having been dragged into her yaoi world. Then the next thing we know, Chase will lose his sanity and find the beauty of BL after having been brainwashed by CJ and turn into a homo/bi O_O! And is it just me or does this ending remind me of Impz and 13sugars’ current relationship? Impz getting dragged into watching Junjou Romantica, for one

On Natsuko’s route

My grandmother got married at the age of 16, and had 11 kids. Whaddya say ’bout that?

So what can I say about NyaChan, the loli girl who basically flirts with the stranger that is Chase, during their first meeting. Asking for his email address right then and there is too much of an invitation, my dear. She basically tempted Chase into being a pedophile, then later on ditches him as a pedo when he finally gets lured by her loliness and confesses his BURNING LOLICON LOVE. That, or he gets killed by her mom after being a gentlemen. Tsk. Talk about not taking responsibility of your own actions. She’s one little nasty schemy bitch T__T

Unlike the other girls’ routes which were pretty much straightforward and would readily give you a hint of the good and bad choices, Nyachan’s route was the most tricky, at least for me. I mean, how would I know that helping out a 16 year old girl will get me into custody?! I immediately confessed during the train scene, got ditched, and got consoled by Impz (ROFLMAO).

Rants aside, I found Nyachan’s route to be the cutest. The “wait you wait for me~” really got me good. It’s quite a clichĂ©d line but it made me go “awww~”. That, and Sixten’s ‘revelation’ of the secret forehead-kissing event CG probably helped as well.

On Hinano’s route

LOL @ doujin reference

I might be repeating what other people have said about Hinano’s path, but whatever. Just like everyone else, I found Hinano’s path to be the most enjoyable, most ROFL-inducing (I was laughing at the Gakuen Heaven and other BL mangas/doujins in the Kinokuniya background pic), most difficult route to get, and most developed story among the other girls. Some people might argue that the story was still relatively short, but for Chase to have endured all that time with the tsundere Hinano actually says something about his TRUE LUV. Hinano serves as the ultimate example of the ‘bitch’ (meant in a positive way, a totally empowered woman) that Sherry Argov describes in her book Why Men Love Bitches

It was kinda sad seeing Hinano’s experience in the con, in the artist alley and all I bet if the Otakon-table-hording issue came out any sooner, we would’ve seen a glimpse of Hinano’s RAEG featuring this issue at hand

Now I don’t know how accurate Hinano’s route is, vis-à-vis her real life, but if it was, JP has my full respect. It would’ve been more awesome if JP really had an actual cameo appearance in the game with one of the bad endings with Chase, but it’d be too much work, as JP has already said beforehand

On Jen’s route

I saved my thoughts for the last chunk of this post, not because it’s the best, but because it’s the most personal route of all. It’s that special

First off, I’d have to say that I like my :3 expressions throughout the game. I chatted with Hinano a few times and I never thought she’d incorporate my love for that emoticon in this one Real cute~! I’m just wondering why Hinano made me have a darker complexion than the rest of the girls, aside from adding colors to the pale cast (lol)? Perhaps it’s because Hinano thinks I’m a Filipina, a morena, or something. Sorry to disappoint you people with fetishes for dark-skinned women, but I’m not that dark because I am borne from the chinky-eyed yellow race

After having finished my route in the game, I completely understood how people (like Shin, >Kuro, and CCY) would find it bland, compared to the other ones. My route lacked the otaku fandom excitement of CJ, Natsuko and Hinano’s, and I only have myself to blame. Then again, at least that way, all my shameful otaku secrets weren’t revealed mwahahaha

I had a really hard time comparing my real-life persona to a certain character archetype. If I had not chatted with Hinano after the survey she did to get to know us girls, she probably would’ve made me a Mikuru, because that’s the impression she had of me. And I was like NooOoOooo, Mikuru kinshi! D: In the end, Hinano portrayed me as a real sweet yet tough, though quite an aggressive girl O_O! I mean, making the first move in kissing?! Not in a million lightyears I’d say.

OOC or not, it was fun seeing how my game persona turned out to be, considering that this is who I am in Hinano’s eyes. This also made me wonder how the readers of this blog actually perceive me as o.O I doubt my blog posts shows my multi-faceted self (or does it?), and as the quadrants in the Johari window also shows, there are certain aspects we have that are known to others but that we don’t know of, or vice versa. So yeah, feel free to share your thoughts on your perceived persona of yours truly, so I can understand myself better as well.

Aside from my game personality I also had a hard time picturing my open-otaku self, cosplaying and all that. I’ve never been to any con, never cosplayed, and never will, not unless someone sponsors for me or someone I know will be my cosplay buddy. I’m shy and cowardly when it comes to these things, so you can just see how reluctant my game persona was to participate in the more energetic otaku activities, not that I can do so wearing my yukata.

Moving on, as I was playing my route in the game, I didn’t have the slightest clue as to when I gave Chase my email-address, and how he was able to contact me regarding the NYAF too. I know I’m forgetful IRL, but for sure I’m not careless enough to give away my email-address in a whim o_o; But anyways, let’s just say ‘fate’ made that happen or something lol.

The hamster-ness of my route was real nifty too, and I never thought that Hinano will buy the idea of making Seleria my pet hamster in the game When I showed Seleria her hamster-self in the game, she initially thought she became a cat (‘catster’ according to her) because the hamster was too fat

Then, Chase contacted me through email about NYAF, and being the friendly girl that I am *cough*, I happily agreed. And the rest was history~ or something.

sekuharaaa!!!

Before I knew it, Chase had fallen head over heels for me rofl. I really went “awww” with the impulsive hug scene, and found it sweet. But honestly, if that happened to me in real life, I would’ve been scared out of my wits (and probably smack the guy on his face) and scream “SEKUHARAAAAAAAA!!” :O Then came the kokuhaku scene, where I gave my answer in the most unimaginable way possible. And voila! Happy ending desu~

Just for the lulz, I also checked out the bad endings in my route. It was rather hard making Chase ignore myself on gtalk for the sake of this, but I had to. Then I felt that my game persona was rather mean for blocking Chase on gtalk after that incident Well I do that to _some_ people but not for that reason lolz.

Afterthoughts

Lastly, before I end this post (and before it gets any longer than 2,500+ words), I’d like to once again thank Hinano for this sweet, fun, blogosphere-educational (lol) game, and for giving me a face in this faceless internet It’s a great “introductory game” for those who haven’t played any dating-sim / visual novels all their life. Now you can say goodbye to your renai game n00b days~! And, to those who voted for me in the polls way back the game’s conception, I don’t know what your true intentions are, but thank you nonetheless. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been part of this whole new renai blogger world. A big thanks to those who managed to read till the end of this post as well *gives a virtual cookie reward*

Related posts:

1. I Can Only Pimp So Much About Cross Game
2. Cross Game Commercial Break: Nomo’s Picture Drawing Song~!
3. A Koushien-esque Cross Game Blogging Ambition Once Forgotten

This feature is getting more and more irregular as the weeks go by, and I just hope I can keep up with this despite my laziness I’ll be sure to post about the real meaty news I see, I’ll just be more ’selective’ if ever my schedule gets all clogged or I get lazier orz.

Game Updates

PC
	Garnet Cradle: Story, Character, and Gallery page(s) of the official site have been updated. Lijakaca already gave the heads up about this game’s story as well as its characters, so you can just enjoy the yummy pics in the official site’s gallery page, albeit only a handful for now. The premise reminds me of Fushigi Yuugi, but Garnet Cradle can easily top it off as the real EPIC WIN (in terms of the gorgeous character designs, and interesting plot)
PS2
	Junjou Romantica: Junjou Romantica homepage officially opens (since the last time the site was just an empty space). Game intro, story, and character page(s) are up, the other ones are still ‘Under Constraction’ (lulz Engrish XD) So you have the 3 Junjou Romantica ‘arcs’ here, and it’s said that you get to play each and everyone of them o_o;;; The question is, how do you get to do that? Do you choose who you are in each of these arcs, or whether you’re the seme or the uke, or whatnot? Oh and the release date for this game has been moved to November 27, 2008.
	Real Rode: Real Rode release date has been set! It’s gonna be on the 4th of December The character page in the site has also been updated, so you can go check out the character info and listen to them sexy voices. This game boasts of a stellar seiyuu cast, more info of which can be found in Lijakaca’s blog post about it (man those SDs and the screenshot of the actual ‘battle’ makes me want to play this more, it looks real fun! T__T) Yura-sama’s artwork for this game was enough to pique my interest, and after finding out that this game features an otaku game-freak heroine who already has a boyfriend (who apparently doesn’t know about her otaku identity :P), I was hooked and never set my eyes off it ever since. I always like games with a mix of otome romance and RPG-ish elements, and unlike previous “RPG” otome games, the gameplay for this one seems pretty exciting.
DS
	Shugo Chara! Amu no Nijiiro Chara Change: It hasn’t been a year since the first Shugo Chara game was released on DS, and now it already gets a sequel. Whoo boy! This game seems to be toying on the idea of having Amu chara-nari with just about any Shugo Chara, which reminded me of this votation that got recently concluded in Nakayoshi, about other chara-nari combinations the readers dream of seeing. If this game is gonna feature an Amu x Yoru chara-nari, that’d be soo cool Oh and Daiya is in this game now too, though I wonder if she’ll just go back to being an egg not long after you chara-nari with her o_o
	Comic Garden: Prepare to faint as you hear the voice of the hotties in Comic Garden! Character pages now include sample character voices, with more event CGs too. Miyano Mamoru surprised me the most, I should say. His voice is
 different, it’s deep and husky and so un-Mamo-like o_o Oh, and kamiya Hiroshi surprised me too, since I got used to his Kouichi or Natsume voice… I haven’t watched Sayonara Zetsubou sensei so I had no idea how versatile his voice was. More game info (and piccies~) in Messe-san-o’s Comic Garden page as well as girl-style’s. And I soo can’t believe this is _just_ a DS game. The graphics are soo gooodd.
	Marl Oukoku no Ningyou Hime (Rhapsody): Official homepage is up (where you can go view the PV of the game) as well as girl-style’s page dedicated to the game. You can also view the PV here: Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10
	Mori no Cafeteria: Here comes yet another food-making simulation game for the DS, or rather a cafeteria management sim game in this game, in the name of Manga no Cafeteria. I stil have no concrete idea as to what thsi game is about, but it’s sure gonna be cute, sweet, and yummy~ On sale this coming December 2008.
Mobile
	Otome Himitsu no Ouoku: Another mobile game gaijins like you and me can only drool at T__T The story of the game seems to be more bland compared to Love Maji (it lacks the lulz aspects and the voice too), but it does have a charm of its own. Set in feudal era Japan, you play as a royal princess in this game, who succeeds the royal throne as you turn 16. You can’t rule over the land as a solo queen of course, so you have to find yourself a suitable husband, aka the future king of your land. All you have to do is choose among select-few husband-to-be candidates. Ah, this girl sure has love life easy~ And omg, is that a shota trap I see among the characters?! I’ve been fooled! T__T
	Nijiiro no Oujisama: This might be a bit late of a news, but I don’t think I’ve seen any mention about this game in English sites (or I just haven’t searched enough). It’s a mobile game (darn it!) released last year, way back September 2007, whose story I don’t care much about because the art says it all for me. The art of the game is by the character designer of Code Geass, so it looks really awesome +__+ I demand a port! with voice! T__T You can take a look at the PV here, and lament with me. Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10
	Love Recipe ~Koi no Essence~: And yes, this one is another mobile game to ease us otome game gaijin fans. You can’t possibly go wrong with a game entitled “Love☆Recipe ~Love’s Essence~”, right? This game has a mix of dating-sim and sweets-making simulation part, and the characters have awesome seiyuus too. Yuichi Nakamura (yet again!), Hikaru Midorikawa, Daisuke Hirakawa, Daisuke Ono, and Tomokazu Sugita, among others. Sigh, Japan, you make me saddd.

That’s all for this week (and last week)’s game updates. Looks like I didn’t have Misc game updates this time, because I’m really biased for most of the games I mentioned (Real Rode and Comic Garden should’ve been placed there since they were but site update announcements, but oh well~ :P)

Yoshi, now I’m off to finish my route and also Hinano’s in the Renai blogger lool.

No related posts.

This is now more than a week delayed due to my blogging break last week, and my procrastination blues. A chunk load of updates happened when I was gone, and more otome game sites have also been popping like mushrooms as of late. So yeah, go check out their sites if you want the meaty in-depth otome games info. I’m too lazy to write reviews of the games I’ve played In the meantime, I’ll just continue on providing otome games updates ^^

Main Announcements

PC
	Da Capo Girl’s Symphony: Da Capo OP movie available for download (or viewing in youtube). w00t w00t!! Oh and for those of you who are planning to buy this game, take note that the limited edition is going to be sold at an earlier date: September 26, as opposed to the normal version’s release on October 24. OP movie can also be viewed here: Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10
	Asaki Yumemishi: Countdown to release date has ended; some wallpapers and the game trial version are up for grabs in the download section.
PS2
	Junjou Romantica: Junjou Romantica homepage is up! Boy does this game look smexily steamy. Slated to be released on PS2 this coming October 30.
	VitaminX Y and Z: Ok, so after the hit game VitaminX (whose premise is somewhat like Gokusen, with more rich bostad hotties, bishies, and a pseudo-transvestite too), there’s going to be two mini game sequels, entitled VitaminY and VitaminZ respectively (gee what a creative way of naming!)

DS
	Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi: Official homepage opens, where the Shinsengumi members gladly invite you in.
	Hoshizora no Comic Garden:This game is looking better than ever. Character page has been added, with profiles and sample screenshots. Release date has been pushed back to September 11, which made some fans sad, but hey if that’s all for the game’s betterment then why not And holy–! This is one seiyuu star-studded game! We have Mamoru Miyano, Hikaru Midorikawa, Toshihiko Seki, Tetsuya Kakihara, and Hiroshi Kamiya :3

Misc Updates

DS
	HaruToki Yume no Ukihashi: Lots of site updates: New Story page has been updated, system page has been added, as well as sample voices in the events.
	Marl Oukoku no Ningyou Hime (Rhapsody): Just a little heads up on the new stuff in the DS adaptation of Rhapsody. More mascots and allies! W00t!
PSP
	Hoshigari Empusa: I’ve been quietly anticipating this game, and much to my sadness that the release date of the PSP version has been pushed back to Winter T-T This is quite a fun-looking otome game, one of the rare multi-player otome games out there, with a reallyyy interesting cast of characters (character-wise and seiyuu-wise). Both the guys and the girls look PURE WIN

No related posts.

I am back from my trip, and it’s been no less than fun fun fun I had such a great time staying at the hamster’s den, not simply because she and her entire family were such kind hosts (smothered us–me and my officemate/ travel buddy, the hamster’s buddy as well–with love, foodies especially <3), but because we got to spend time together with the hamster chef, her sister, and the rest of the hamster's buddies (including our duck chef BeLe :P)--quality bonding time playing Wii until the wee hours of the morning~

Hanging out someplace in Davao City in the morning, playing Wii at home at night. That's basically our "leisure lifestyle" throughout the trip, with the scrumptious snacks and meals in between *yum yum*

Nodame Cantabile Wii-ing on the big screen~ Our very own orchestra

As I was saying, one of the main highlights of our Wii-ing activity was playing Nodame Cantabile Dream Orchestra (on the Big Screen at that), which I’ve been dreaming of for months, ever since I knew about its existence. I’m just glad that our very own hamster chef, her buddies, and her sister, were all game enough to try out this fun-loaded yet crazy game. All of us acted as though we were in the shoes of the orchestra members, mimicking the moves of the conductor, violinist, pianist, timpanist, flute player, etc The piano was probably the one I hate most among all the instruments, it had the most unnatural “feel” of them all

BeLe is undoubtedly the best among us all, he completed one of the songs almost perfectly (he was playing the timpani if I remember correctly), no “bad” marks, completed the 100++ combo possible Awesome. It would’ve been more fun if I brought two of my wii-motes & nunchucks, then four of us could’ve played at a time (Seleria already had two of ‘em). Still, it was loads of fun! Here’s to more wii-ing, with the officemates this time around

P.S. Pardon my current “trip lag”, I’m still pretty hung-up from the trip, in a good (and somewhat bad for the blog?) kind of way. Once I get to catch up with the animes I missed throughout the days I was gone, I’ll get back to anime blogging again. Though I somewhat feel like skipping summer and moving on to fall (where TONS of great-looking stuff abound), but I guess I’ll go and get my lazy butt to catch up with the summer stuff. Or should I skip through summer and marathon Nodame Cantabile instead? I fail for not having watched the anime, and now the second season is coming!!

No related posts.

‘Nuff said.

Related posts:

1. The Final Countdown Before the JLPT1 Doomsday

There aren’t much otome games updates this week, and sad to say that one of the great-looking games I’m going to mention here is a voiced cellphone game which only the lucky people in Japan can get to play (it’s free too!) So *ahem* anyways, on with this otome games news updates!

Main Announcements

PS2
	Hakuoki Official Site opens! The game is reminiscent of Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi, with a similar setting (feudal era Japan, samurai antiquity and all that) and premise (I’m only judging this from the ’surface’). The primary advantage of this game is Kazukiyone’s godly awesome artwork. That alone would be enough to get you hooked on this! All the more if there are also steamy scenes like in Hiiro no Kakera And I like the heroine, she looks feisty! Oh and just for the record, I bought the first Hiiro no Kakera artbook even if I haven’t played the game because I loved Kazukiyone’s artwork so much
Mobile game
	THIS is the cellphone game I was talking about, entitled Love Maji, the game I could only look at from afar, not until I get to Japan and have my own DoCoMo phone or something. Just the pic on the main page is enough to pique my interest on this. More so when I found out that Yuichi Nakamura and Takahiro Sakurai’s smexy voice(s) are gonna be in this!! This all the more makes me a sad rabbit The game itself looks great, total entertainment lulz. In this game, you (as the heroine) study in this Magic School, and one day, you receive an anonymous love letter, just when you where summoned to the the Student Council room. There you meet the Student Council President who [regrettably] turns out to be a freaky perv who’s head over heels for you (and no he’s not the one who gave the love letter). Because of his BURNING LOVE, he casts you a charm spell so you’ll get attracted to him, but it turns out to be total epic fail because the spell made you irresistible to men instead! So all the hawt guys basically flock to you and you’re left confused as to who to choose among the hotties! But more than that, there’s one mission you have to fulfill, and that is, to find out who it was that gave you the love letter, by gathering items to make the spell wear off, so you can finally find TRU LUV. (lolz I can’t believe I typed all that )

Misc Updates

PC
	Da Capo Girl’s Symphony: Sample voice(s) have been added to the character page. Tatsuhisa Suzuki’s voice as Ryouhei Shinomiya is smexy, more sexy than his role as Tezuka in Toshokan Sensou +__+
PS2
	Kanuchi Shiroki Tsubasa no Shou: Trailer is up! You can also view it here: Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10

No related posts.

Thanks to litewolf of the My NeoRomance Forum for the suggestions in improving this horribly disorganized Otome Games Digests of mine

I’ll be separating the “site updates” announcements since they’re somewhat misc stuff. I’ll also be dividing these sections according to the platform of the game I’m babbling about, as suggested by litewolf. I felt like adding thumbnails to some of the news items too, because eyecandies are <3 Feel free to contact us for suggestions on how to improve this section.

Main Announcements

PC
	Official site of Da Capo Girl’s Symphony is Up! There’s one event CG for every character, and this pic is probably the one I like most atm
	The new otome game maker SPICA makes its debut with Garnet Cradle, the first otome game produced by CARNELIAN. Correction to my previous post, it seems that another person is doing the character designs for this one and not CARNELIAN herself. Nonetheless, it looks really promising.
PSP (port)
	Solfege, a musical rhapsody game about women’s friendship and love (sounds yuri to me :roll:), originally a PC game released by KOGADO, gets ported to the PSP, to be released this coming December 18, 2008. Yuri games are borderline bishoujo / otome game, so don’t be surprised if you find me talking about such games in the near future. Back to Solfege. I’m usually drawn to visual novels with a musical twist, especially those by Kogado, a gaming company which boasts quite a number of musical visual novels in their game lineup: Angelic Concert, Angelic Serenade, Symphonic Rain, Dear Pianissimo, Palais de Royal (while this game is not a musical visual novel per se, it has a music simulation aspect), and now Solfege, yet another wonderful non-eroge game by Kogado <3
DS (port)
	HaruToki Yume no Ukihashi Site updates: The [New Story] page is up, as well as “How to Enjoy [HaruToki] on the DS” page. It’s the first I’ve seen screenshots of this DS game, and are my eyes fooling me or am I seeing all three of the HaruToki heroines in this game?! Now that’s what I call really interesting. Three heroines, with 3x as much bishies too! I’m not sure how the game system will work given the three heroines in this game. You’ll most likely choose to play as one of the heroines, but will you be able to end up with a Hachiyou from a different HaruToki series, i.e. Nozomi x Tenma?

Misc Updates

PC
	Sangoku Koi Senki: Staffroom and Character Page updated. I’m not that excited about this, not until I see more pics and info about seiyuus and/or the game system.
	Crimson Empire: Story Page is up! Looks like another winner from QuinRose. Strong heroines = great. Slated to be released on Windows this coming Winter 2008.
	Asaki Yumemishi: Gallery page has been updated with more yummy pics, and some sample voice too. And in case someone wants to see the PV of this: Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10
PS2
	pPoi! Hito Natsu no Keikan?! site updates: Gallery, Theme songs, movie page has been added. Unlike other games out there, *cough* Fushigi Yuugi *cough* the character designs of pPoi seems to be faithful to its manga counterpart. From what I’ve seen in the PV, it seems that they’re adapting the “emoticon-association” feature of FullHouse Kiss, where you get to associate a certain mood with the reply you choose. Fans of the manga must be looking forward to this, and unfortunately I’m not one of them. Here’s the trailer for those who want to see: Show ▼ WPvideo 1.10
	I’m not sure if anyone would still want to hear site updates of games already released, but here goes. For HaruToki 4: Character page has been updated, and more sample voices has been added to the gallery.
	Kanuchi Shiroki Tsubasa no Shou: System page updated. Those SDs look cute, reminds me of the SDs in Mermaid Prism.

No related posts.

• Zettai Meikyuu Grimm Updates! Official homepage is Up (Pre-opening only), and the game is tentively scheduled to be released on 2009. All I can say is, it’s looking good~ From Karin Entertainment’s usual gothic style to this fairy tale, I wonder what surprise(s) awaits us in this game!
• Da Capo game company goes from CIRCUS to Sanctuary, the brand name for their new otome game branch. Their teaser site opens, and wow… that D.C. Girls Symphony homepage pic has successfully piqued my interest for this game.
• Another Harvest Moon-like farming / love-sim game is coming to the DS, Bako Hitsuji Mura. And omgz the protagonist is a bi! You can marry the male or female bachelors in the village. See this list of eligible bachelors? Ok, I’m kidding. I’m pretty sure you can choose your gender before starting the game (though all the screenshots I’m seeing feature the male lead). And wooh boy, this game seems to be so much more exciting than Harvest Moon with all the rivalries (not only romance-wise) in the village.
• Marl Oukoku no Ningyou Hime, also known as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure in the North American release of this Musical RPG PSX game, is going to the DS! I played (and finished) this game on the PSX about 4 years ago, and I loved it. It’s a fun fairy-tale musical RPG which I’ll heartily recommend to people (especially girls) who want a fun and light-hearted RPG game. The graphics in the PSX seem outdated for its time, but on the DS, it’s just great.
• QuinRose is as it again! Another Alice sequel is in the works, it seems, Joker no Kuni no Alice, announced in this month’s Cool-B.
• First was Junjou Romantica, now Monochrome Factor will also have its own game. Also from Cool-B. w00t?
• And it seems that an otome game with Carnelian goodness is in the works! Entitled “Garnet Cradle” I only got this info from the Cool-B site, so no pics for now. Would love to devour see them!
• Love Drops, an otome eroge by Sugar Beans which first came out on the PC and then on the PS2, will be coming to the DS. Given that this is a console game, it’s safe to say that you won’t find raep and such H-scenes in this version, unlike the PC game which Hinano reviewed.
• Ideaf continues to bring us more game adaptation of shoujo mangas, with the 2nd DS game of Ikeyamada Go’s smutty soccer manga “Uwasa no Midori-kun” (I know this news is a bit late but oh well). I demand a Skip Beat DS game next time!!
• And in case you want to see more info on the Hime Hibi (Princess Days) PSP game, check out Girls-Style’s HimeHibi site I only finished the main guy’s ending in the PS2 game, it’s fun but fairly forgettable, IMO.

And, I sort of forgot to include these news in my previous otome games update post:

• Otomate is making yet another game, Kanuki Shiroki Tsubasa no Shou (?). The artwork is beautiful, but nothing else about it catches my eye atm. So until I see more screenshots for this (especially of the game system), this will be on my lower priority “watch list”.
• True Fortune – from the same producer of KimiKiss, adapting elements from its game system as well. It’s the Fujoshi’s KimiKiss, according to 2ch-ers, and I wonder how true that is.
• A Will O’ Wisp Sequel (Will O’ Wisp Easter no Kiseki) is in the works.
• Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi is soon to be released on DS. While I haven’t played any of the Bakumatsu Renka series of games, the praises lijakaca gave it really piqued my interest.

That was a looong list. Perhaps I’m gonna make this a bi-weekly thing instead, depending on the number of updates I see.

No related posts.

Ok, so how do we start. I guess I’ll just focus on recent otome games news with these digest posts since that’s actually my aim. I might be mentioning about interesting stuff released in the past, like the PS2 game Dear My Sun, the otome counterpart of Princess Maker where you get to raise one of two bishie twins, and Last Escort, the [serious] host club game for girls. Ok enough of that first and let’s get onto the actual meat of this post!

Among the long list of upcoming (or recently released) otome games, these are the ones I’ve been keenly keeping an eye on since it was announced:

• Fushigi Yuugi Suzaku Ibun (PS2) – released last May, which I’m gonna go try out hopefully by next week. Features the original cast of FY characters, with different looks (ugh) and seiyuus.
• HaruToki 4 (PS2 / Wii) – the latest installment to HaruToki, released on both PS2 and the Wii. This has got to be the most different (and beautiful) amongst the HaruToki games, featuring a completely different world, an ancient Chinese kind of fantasy realm. I’m gonna check this out to see how much the RPG system in this game improved, and of course the additional Wii-mote enabled functionalities in the Wii version.
• Real Rode (PS2) – set to be released within the year, featuring a fangurl [game] otaku heroine who gets sucked into the world of the RPG game “Rode”. I’ve read somewhere that the protagonist already has a boyfriend, a rare case in these games. These little tidbits and the beautiful and lustrous artwork of Yura-sama (whose previous work include the popular diet-game Love Revolution) were enough to make me anticipate this.
• Asaki Yumemishi (Win) – the title reminds me of a certain Tale of Genji manga by Waki Yamato, and I initially thought this was going to be a Tale of Genji alternate universe of some sort. The story doesn’t seem to reflect that, but the setting certainly has that “Tale of Genji” / feudal era Japan feel. Seems like a fantasy adventure game with an onmyouji heroine who fights alongside the guys!
• drastic killer (PS2) – I never looked into this game, until now. And this PV was enough to get me hooked. The protagonist is a vampire in her past [and present] life, so your aim is to attract the bishies so you can perform what they call “love steal” (basically sucking the life force out of the bishies, which they find to be a *ahem* pleasant experience). A fantasy otome adventure game with mystery and supernatural elements, a heroine who doesn’t seem pathetic, and smut stuff to boot! (I just got myself hyped up for this game lol)

Other News

• Hana Yori Dango gets its own DS game, to be released on July 10, 2008.
• Hiiro no Kakera 3 (set to be released on August 7) official site is up.
• The popular otome game Heart no Kuni no Alice, whose OAV is set to be released this November, will be coming to the PS2 console as well.
• As if that wasn’t enough, Hear no Kuni no Alice maker QuinRose is coming up with yet another game entitled “Crimson Empire”, slated to be released on Windows.
• An otome game of Da Capo (for windows) is also in the works, entitled D.C. Girls Symphony, whose plot oddly reminds me of Love Revolution. Doesn’t seem anything special to me atm.
• Hoshizora no Comic Garden also joins in the growing list of otome games for the DS, whose protagonist is an aspiring mangaka. You can either play in “adventure mode” or in “comic mode”, where you get to do serious mangaka stuff while pursuing the guys
• Himehibi and Panic Palette, both from the game maker TAKUYO, gets ported to the PSP.
• Neo Angelique gets its own PSP game as well.
• HaruToki on the other hand, goes DS. I’m still waiting for HaruToki 3 to go portable.
• For a change, we actually have a Sangokushi adaptation catered to fangurls this time around. Only that it’s a game and not an anime (unlike those in the summer lineup). Slated to be released for Windows within the year, with no definite schedule yet.
• Karin Entertainment, who also brought us Animamundi and Princess Nightmare, has a new game in the works entitled “Zettai Meikyuu Grimm” whose concept, as the title suggests, involves the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales. Knowing Karin Entertainment, it’s probably gonna be gothic-themed yet again.
• And last but not the least, if you haven’t been keeping up with Junjou Romantica news, there’s a PS2 game coming up for this popular BL anime/manga series. PS2 = no harcore buttsecks, so I might just take a look at it and see.

And that’s it. Whew. My next posts might be a lot less lengthier than this one, depending on the number of updates I see. Till next time~!

No related posts.