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By Hemisphere, 31 January, 2010 12:40 PM

This one’s gonna be about my impressions on Kiss to Maou, Yumina FD and Shapeshifter. Finished Sarasa’s route and currently in Lyce’s in Kiss to Maou, finished Yumina FD, AND completed both Nhatya’s and Ahes’ routes!

And when I say the lamest Maou ever, he totally is. Sheesh. Kiss to Maou to Darjeeling is Marmalade’s latest offering, and it’s got the most uninteresting typical harem lead there is. Basically the whole game’s about the lead (who is so dull that I already forgot his name) who decides to take a rest in an underground coffin only to wake up, go back to his dormitory room, find out that the student council president’s waiting for him there, calls him “Maou”, and promptly stabs him later when he refuses to believe her. Yeah, it’s just one of those days, it can happen to anyone.

Don’t try to make sense of the plot, because I sure as hell didn’t. First and foremost is that this is a character game, much like Lyrical Lyric, so unless you like the gorgeous ladies (or the trap), don’t bother picking up Kiss to Maou. The “Maou” element in the story is pretty much a convenient plot device, much like Lyrical Lyric’s “Tuner” concept; and much like the “Tuner” concept, the “Maou” concept barely gets used in an interesting manner. Which was too bad because I expected more from the whole thing, seeing as it’s about a MAOU and all: see the Maous of Eushully’s games, now those dudes don’t fuck around. Well, they do, in order to gain mana mostly BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT THE POINT IS Kiss to Maou fails the Maou aspect too, so if you were intrigued by that, then know early on that this game hardly makes use of the Maou thing to its full potential – or, for that matter, barely any potential at all.

But hey, if you want some sweet fuckans with some gorgeous heroines, then Kiss to Maou delivers! Somewhat. While the sexy action’s all got nice CG working out for them, some of the CGs are pretty lazy.

Next is Yumina’s fandisc, Yumina FD -ForeverDreams-. There’s not really much to it. Did you wish you could enjoy the company of those goofy classmate in Yumina via more events and? Then you get more events! Wanted to put them in your party too? There you go! Want some new interesting and delishuz chaarcters? No problem? Want these characters in your party too? FUCK OFF! Which is a damn shame, because I know I’d like to see more of Rumine, Eru and Lily, really…

Chapter 1 might just be all about the election rematch, but once that’s done, get your butt ready for GRINDANS, GRINDANS, GRINDANS AND MORE DUNGEON GRINDANS in Chapter 3 onwards. Did you really think that just because its a fandisc, that this one would take up less time? HA! Still grindtastic like the original! And just like Yumina, the events with the various characters had me laughing pretty hard. GO DO-M NO AYUMU! And the Graham Aker reference, among other things, is awesome.

Lastly, Shapeshifter. The progression for Shapeshifter is similar to Owarinaki Natsu, in that you follow a common route (with subtle dialogue differences depending on which options you choose) up to an event, after which you follow your chosen heroine’s route up to her ending. You’ve got around 5 to 7 chapters for the common route, I forgot exactly, but they didn’t seem that long to me. Then again Itsusora didn’t seem that long to me either when I was going after my beloved San-nee back then, so…your mileage will definitely vary. The plot for Shapeshifter isn’t as dramatic or melancholy as Owarinaki Natsu was, though it contains more humor and definitely tons more action. Me, I liked seeing the action as well as the love comedy; thanks to phi-age’s cinematic presentation, the action easily comes to life unlike in other eroges. Plus, hey, it’s bishoujos with weapons, what else could make me happier?

All the characters are pretty likable, and I know that I went nuts with Nhatya just from what I’ve seen of her in the two trials that phi-age released back then, but maaaaan. I wasn’t expecting Ahes to be that…that…moe. She is just way too awesome; her weapons, her clothes, and more particularly her attitudes and behavior. WAIFU 発見! Plus, her seiyuu is the same one who voiced Ai in Owarinaki Natsu, and hearing her voice a kuudere is hilarious (as she voiced a tsundere in Owarinaki Natsu) as well as downright ridiculously irresistibly adorable! Of course, it’s a given that I still have dibs on Nhatya!

Next on the list: Kagura Gakuenki, Seirei Tenshou and Yunibaru! Till next time, SARABA AND ADIEU!

Comments (14)

By Hemisphere, 21 September, 2009 8:42 PM

I tell you, the wait for October 30 is going to be total murder on the people who’ve played the trial for Osananjimi wa Daitouryou. SO LET’S TAKE IT SLOW!

You may remember Madou Souhei Kleinhasa, Triangle’s upcoming titles, as well as the grief it gave me when it trialblocked me. WELL FUCK THAT. WHEN IT COMES TO MAHOU SENSHIS AND BISHOUJOS, NOTHING’S GONNA STAND IN MY WAY!

;_; Oh the joy in my heart, MY LOVE FOR MAHOU SHOUJOS/SENSHIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS except for the long and boring wait for October 2 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. But I have titles in my backlog to keep me occupied anyways so all’s good! So for Kleinhasa’s summary, just take something like World War I (or II, depending on what you know), and put in stuff like unstoppable tentacles monsters which are unkillable by normal weaponry on the side of the baddies. Bullets and warheads coated with magic, however, can apparently harm them, so the good guys (that’s your side) go and research on how to effectively kill these monsters with magic imbued with modern weaponry. A lot of gibberish then came up about magic types and Etheroids which bored the crap out of me, but suffice to say that from their research they were able to come up with power armors fueled by magic from bishoujos who can tap into magic! SEE THAT’S THE ONLY PART THAT I’M REALLY INTERESTED IN, though I’ll admit that the technological blah-blah was a good way to provide some ample background on how things worked (too bad my brain felt it was a proper exchange to forget this information in favor of bishoujos).

You play the role of a guy who gets transferred into the 502nd Brigade, essentially the one brigade in charge of all the bishoujos in magic-powered suits (though at the beginning there’s only one suit and bishoujo). He also finds out that the bishoujo is their ace who’s killed over 200 monsters, only the whole military would rather keep the existence of their squadron because…I forgot exactly why, but something about over-reliance and how these things were just experimental after all, and some other stuff. There’s also a lot of ladies in it, so, FUN! Then shit happens, you enter your first combat with Roze (the girl in the white suit), and after it all you find out that you have the ability to emit or “give” magic as evidenced by you being able to BLOW THE FUCK out of one of the monsters during the encounter. You’re also able to read the magic wavelengths of “Byakuya”, Roze’s suit, so you’re assigned to be her combat support. Oh and your name is Franz Fersna…however the fuck it’s romanized in case you might have an idea HOW its romanized just so you know.

The trial ends right after the second bishoujo joins up, who is a cocky tsundere in need of WARM WARM DICKINGS a total attitude adjustment, and before the two girls go off in their suits in combat. I’m not sure if it’ll be exactly the same in the final game, but in the trial, I was able to spare my girls from tentacle rape by always picking the first option. You can choose to submit the girls to horrible tentacle rape if you want by picking the second option then the first, as the second then second option will usually end with them captured and fucked to death. Which is a fate that I do not want my bishoujos submitted to!

It’s up to you to either kick the monster’s ass and keep the girls far far away from tentacle molestation, let them get tentacle raped a bit but then save them just in the nick of time, or totally let them get raped and then get the game over screen. Knowing how these games go, keeping the girls safe will endear them to you while subjecting them to tentacle fucking will reward you with raunchy scenes but reduce their affinity to you storywise. At least, that’s how I’m guessing it’ll go. ROZE AND RURUN MUCH LOVE!

Seriously, I don’t know why Triangle’s art just has so much of a hold on me. BUT THEY DO, OKAY. It’s like their bishoujos strike some nerve in my brain that renders me defenseless and unable to put up any resistance the moment I lay my eyes on them.

Next title is Marmalade’s Kiss to Maou to Darjeeling. Like I said before, Marmalade may not be masters in the art of coming up with masterpieces in terms of story, but I love the characters that they come up with. I love Tsukimiya Kaede and Seihouin Erika (of Miraroma), Arietta, Takami Rin and Daidouji Ryoujo (of Lyrical Lyric), so I came into this title with the expectation of liking one character SO HUGGY MUGGY MUCH after I finish it. And I did! MUCH LOVE TO SARASA HNGH. While the main lead’s buddies as well as Yuuna, Tsubasa, Lycerisious and Sarasa are pretty likable right off the bat, Marmalade’s still stuck using the same archetypes they used in Lyrical Lyric.The noisy blabbermouth gossip girl of the class is an archetype that I really didn’t end up liking the first time I saw it in Lyrical Lyric in the form of Ryouko, and I still have yet to grow any affection to it as my instant apathy for Kozue made apparent the instant she appeared and blabbed the fuck out of my headphones. And Choko-sensei? No thanks.

For the story, it’s your usual high school comedy/romance sprinkled with some magical elements through the “Maou” element in the story, though the trial doesn’t really shed light on that part much. A series of incidents lead Keiichi to sleep inside a coffin buried in an underground catacomb (HE WAS REALLY REALLY SLEEPY) and before he knows it, the resident idol of the school is all in his room after dark, serving herself up to him openly. She strip herself but then he says that he doesn’t like that so he tells her to put his clothes in. So she does, and then she adds that he’s pretty kinky wanting to do it with their clothes on, then asks if he’d rip her stockings apart just for that purpose! He still refuses so at this point she gets annoyed by his constant self-cockblocking decides to prove just exactly why she’s doing such a thing and stabs him just to show him that he’s the Maou, and as he blacks out she swears an oath to offer herself to him completely. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF YES SARASA I WILL MAKE FULL USE OF YOUR SELFLESS DEVOTION, COME HERE FOR SOME SWEET LOVING BABY So yeah, as you’ve probably surmised at this point the lead isn’t exactly the kind that I really like.

I’m on it just for Sarasa. Maybe a bit of Tsubasa, as she’s voiced by Taguchi Hiroko, which prompts something within me to squeal and fangasm whenever she’s a capturable heroine in a title. Probably some Lycerisious too!

AND NOW, FOR THE MAIN EVENT…

THE REASON WHY THIS POST IS TITLED AS SUCH IS AS FOLLOWS:

I’m not even going to bother trying to come up with a fucking write up for this, it’s so hilariously crazy, the lead’s fucking AWESOME, and everyone’s just so HNGHHHHH MOEEEEEE that-FUCK IT JUST GET IT, PLAY IT, AND ANGUISH AFTER YOU FINISH IT AS OCT. 30 IS SO FAR AWAY. SHARE THE PAIN.

Comments (9)

By Hemisphere, 15 September, 2009 10:31 PM

You know the drill. I’m here to talk about more titles which grabbed my interest despite others having covered them 800 years earlier. I KNOW I’M LATE TO THE PARTY, PEOPLE, AND I’M NOT PARTICULARLY PLEASED WITH IT, BUT LIFE MUST GO ON, insert dramatics here, etc.

First on the list is Momoiro Guardian. Zak keeps telling me that it’s just AliceSoft filler but clearly he underestimates my total adoration over everything and anything that is remotely related to mahou shoujos/senshis. Coupled with my absolute lack of standards when picking titles, and I’ve got a DO WANT title right here. MMMMMMMMMM MMM MMM! WHY YES I’D LIKE AN ORDER OF KAEDE AND RENA WITH A SHIZUKU ON THE SIDE TOO!

Would I even have to elaborate as to why this title would be such a delightful little morsel for me? No. Just look at the gallery down below and see for yourself.

Then there’s Mahou Shoujo no Taisetsu na Koto. Featuring a trap as a lead, and a talking cat as the sidekick, it’s about mahou shoujos in a magical school and…that’s as far as I got in the trial before my eroge ADD acted up and made me check out other titles in getchu. But let’s see. Does it have…moelishuz heroines? Check. Henshin forms? Check. A heroine who is mostly likely into S&M? Check. Footjob? Check. FFFFFFFFFF I’M SO ALL OVER THIS! RURI, PATTY AND MINAMI DO WANT.

I find it funny that some of the girls look like the ones from SkyFish’s latest, Primary Magical Trouble Scramble, which just has me l…fuck. I knew I forgot something, I haven’t played that title yet! FUCK IT MUST PLAY SKYFISH’S LATEST.

Third is Palette’s Mashiiro Symphony, and from first impressions the art is done by the same person behind feng’s Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka and Aozora ni Mieru Oka, which takes some time for me to get used to. There’s not really enough CGs for me to warrant posting a gallery for, so I’d suggest you check out the site instead – and read up on the story and character backgrounds while you’re there! Because I’m not gonna bother with that. It’s a romance ADV set in high school as is the standard fare, and while I’m all for checking it out, I know that it’s not gonna be breaking any new grounds or standards that these things follow.

Next is Marmalade’s upcoming title – Kiss to Maou to Darjeeling. It’s about kisses, and a Maou, and…something about either tea or a region in West Bengal, India? I’m damned sure that it’s about romance and comedy in high school, though, so there you go. Now Marmalade may not be the best when it comes to story – AND I CAN ASSURE YOU FIRSTHAND THAT THEY’RE NOT, OKAY – but they’re awesome when it comes to fan pandering and giving you characters that really grow on you. Well, mostly. There’s Tsukimiya Kaede from Miraroma, Arietta-hime and Takami Rin from Lyrical Lyric (and that iinchou who’s so into BL yet ended up being so popular that she got her own route in Lyrical DS) as well as Daidouji Ryoko. Deeeeeeeeeelishuz bishoujos, these characters – so as far as I’m concerned, their next title is okay by me. I’m sure they’ll have a pseudo-Takami Rin in Kiss to Maou to Darjeeling (and from the looks of the char and story synopsis, there is! <3) judging by how popular she ended up being, so they’d definitely try and come up with another character just like her to please the fans.

As for Hidamari Basket, it’s eufonie’s second title since…Colorful Aquarium, three years ago. Wow. Talk about really working on their next one. This one’s just MADE for imoutocons, because that’s what the story is all about. Imouto gets back after hardcore studying only to declare herself as oniichan’s lover. HOW TOUCHING, AWWWWWWWW. It’s a “heartful love comedy”, and you know what that means – another romance and comedy set in high school, as is the standard fare. And while Kasuga has me going “SHE’S TOTALLY IMOUTO ADORABLE!”, Mayu has me raging hard in my pants. Totally.

GIVE IT TO ME BABY YEAH!

And then there’s…ALcot’s latest. It’s inevitable: when something THIS CRAZY comes along, you know your only option is to pick it up (when it comes out that is). MY GIRLFRIEND IS THE MOTHERFUCKING PRESIDENT! This is just motherfucking crazy. The trailer alone had me laughing pretty hard. GIVE THIS A LOOK AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!

Goddammit ALcot, I’m not even done with Triptych and Engage Links and Kurenai no Tsuki and then you come up with this. How the fuck am I supposed to finish them now? ;_;

Comments (5)

By Hemisphere, 1 August, 2008 1:12 AM

Craving for that certain yamato nadeshiko moe? Whether it be Miraroma, or Lyrical DS. Come in to Tsukimiya Kaede, for all your moe needs.

Tsukimiya Kaede, alias Yome One, is still one of the best bishoujos around, especially in the yamato nadeshiko category. Sure, she may not be as well-characterized as much as, say, Chihaya Kousaka (both of them, incidentally, are voiced by the same seiyuu Hiroko Taguchi), but hey, she’s still quite a memorable character for me. Actually, both of these characters are great! They both have long flowing black hair, a demure and lovely attitude, though Chihaya’s more frank and self-confident than Kaede, and they have their own respective strengths which they are very good at. Kaede has her absolutely awesome cooking skills, and Chihaya has her drawing skills…or so I think. We were never treated to any of Chihaya’s drawings in Natsuzora Kanata, so I can’t say for sure. Maybe Chihaya’s deadly skills with a knife are her advantage?  I guess there’s also her baking skills…

When it comes to cooking, no one can beat Kaede. She can cook food so good it makes you want to just throw everything aside and ravage her on the table right there and then have seconds. And by seconds, I mean her.

Anyways! Just managed to bring up the total count of afterstories finished in Lyrical DS to 3 (wow, that’s a lot </sarcasm>). Arietta-hime’s afterstory was rather cute, and I can see how she and Takuto can be considered as a bakappuru. Then, just when I was about to start on Nanao’s, my finger wandered and I ended up playing through…guess who’s. So now I’m not only hung over on my Chihaya, there’s also my Kaede!

Okay, I was planning to play through Ryouko’s “route” now, but I think I’ll be going back to Kaede’s afterstory again. What?! I can’t help it! I’m very weak to these kinds of characters, just like how I’m vulnerable to henshin heroines.

As an side, just how many fandiscs am I preoccupied with at the moment? I think there’s MagusTale Infinity, Lyrical DS, Seinarukana Special Fandisc, Ina Koi! Fandisc – and that’s all I remember at the moment.

Comments (8)

By Hemisphere, 3 June, 2008 11:05 PM

I fucking hate you, Lyrical DS. For reasons completely unrelated to the game. After talking to a friend about how the afterstories and the crossover were done in this one, I suddenly had a thought…what if Yuzusoft comes out with something similar to what Marmalade did with Lyrical DS? That is, afterstories of each of their heroines? What if they finally gave us a definitive good ending to Chihaya? Also a crossover scenario involving the cast of Braban!, E×E and Natsuzora Kanata? What if Chihaya Kousaka, Sasara Shichijo, Hibarigaoka Yuki, Nakanoshima Tae, Mikage Sumi, Mio Kifune, and Kono Natsuki were placed in the same room?!!

…Frankly I’d die from the sheer moe of it all. I’ll go quietly in the night, and my last words would be “…もうダメだ…萌え過ぎる…”. I hope they mark my grave properly should that happen. Thank you, Lyrical DS, for giving me such an idea.

Lyrical DS, right. Let’s see. So far I’ve played through only two afterstories, those two being Tsukimiya Kaede’s and Takami Rin’s. I checked out the crossover scenario out of sheer curiosity, but decided to save and go back to checking out the rest of Rin’s story instead. I also checked out Arietta-hime’s story, and got to the part where Takuto is informed of her being sick, but I thought that I’d rather die from cuteness some other day instead. And went back to Rin’s story, again. Because Takami Rin is just that good. Hahaha, a cooldere who’s into teasing her lover whether it be suggestive or not, as well as being possessive and jealous – and that’s seriously an understatement. She’s also someone who tends to be quite on the dominating side, which just adds to her awesome character. And she’s also quite kinky. Being voiced by Hitomi Nabatame definitely helps add to her charm!

As a fandisc, it’s definitely in your best interests to finish the endings of all the characters whose afterstories are found in the game, as well as have an idea of what Konneko, Miraroma and Lyrical Lyric are all about, before you decide to play this one. Otherwise your reaction will just be a loud and resounding “huh”, as the whole point of playing a fandisc flies in right over your head while you sit there with your mouth agape wondering as to what is going on while events pass you by. It’s not the best of stuff, but it does give me a warm, fuzzy nostalgic feeling as I’m reacquainted with my favorite heroines, particularly when I was playing through Tsukimiya Kaede’s afterstory. I have to say, though, that while I was expecting some humor in Lyrical DS, the hilarity present in it is barely comparable to the humor that I got from SkyFish’s Shirogane no Soleil afterstories, namely ShiroSol and Private Valkyr Academy. Thank you, Hagaru Valkyr/Brunhilde, your antics still crack me up even up to now – and that’s quite something, since those two games weren’t even fully voiced nor did they have a lot of CGs!

Lyrical DS’s afterstories are a bit on the short side, though I’ve played only two of them so I can’t say for sure if all of them are that short. Depending on your reading skills, you could probably finish one scenario in an hour or less, except for the crossover one which seems to contain quite a lot of hijinks. And a lot of repeating character voices, which is not so much a bother as it is unintentionally hilarious thanks to my familiarty with some of the seiyuus. After I finish Rin’s and Arietta’s stories, I might go back and finish up Ina Koi! and MagusTale before going back to Lyrical DS again. Not that it’s bad, it’s just that I have to prioritize my backlog. And to keep myself away from the Yuzusoft idea. For my sanity’s sake.