Koihime Musou Review

Title: Koihime † Musou ~Doki ☆ Otome Darake no Sangokushi Engi~
Original title: 恋姫†無双～ドキッ☆乙女だらけの三国志演義～
Alias: Koihime Musou ~A Heart-Throbbing, Maidenly Romance of the Three Kingdoms~
Release date: 2007-01-26
English release date: 2011-02-28
Developer: BaseSon
English publisher: MangaGamer

Now let me tell you that I have absolutely no knowledge of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. I have not read the book or played countless computer games based on that enormous saga. I am confident though, that it doesn’t really matter, because I think that the game I’m about to review “Koihime Musou” is a close to RotTK as “Tears to Tiara” is to “Mabinogion”. Words “Very loosely based on…” come to my mind.

Magical Teacher: My Teacher's a Mage? Review

Title: Magical Teacher Sensei wa Majo?
Original title: まじかるティーチャー　先生は魔女？
Alias: Magical Teacher: My Teacher's a Mage?
Release date: 2006-01-13
English release date: 2012-04-13
Developer: Score
Publisher: MangaGamer

A miko, a nurse, a princess, a nun and a witch come into a bar... I'm scratching my noggin trying to think of a punchline for the joke, but I cannot think of one. Maybe the joke's on MG for releasing the game or on me for trying to play. The life's strange and too short to play sucky games, but you have me to take this burden off your shoulders.

Slave Witch April Review

Title: Reizoku no Majo April ~Injoku no Mahou Choukyou~
Original title: 隷属の魔女エイプリル～淫辱の魔法調教～
Alias: Slave Witch April ~Sexy Magic Training~
Release date: 2011-04-28
English release date: 2012-12-21
Developer: Aconite
English publisher: MangaGamer

“Slave Witch April” is one of the only three visual novels released by a development circle “Aconite”. The last time they updated their website was the same date SWA was released, thus I can make an educated guess that the company croaked it. In that case, I hope that MangaGamer will get the other two nukiges, as at first look they seem to be better than “April”.

Boob Wars: Big Boobs vs Flat Chests Review

Title: Oppai Sensou - Kyonyuu VS Hinnyuu –
Original title: おっぱい戦争 -巨乳VS貧乳-
Alias: Boob Wars: Big Boobs vs Flat Chests
Release date: 2010-08-27
English release date: 2012-10-19
Developer: Softhouse-Seal
English publisher: MangaGamer

This is the second “Softhouse-Seal” title I have played, thus a comparison with “Sexy Demon Transformation!” is inevitable. I will unload a burden of my shoulders and say that I liked “Boob Wars” better of the two. As to why… read on.

Sexy Demon Transformation! Review

Title: Kozukuri Youkai H Henka ~Otome o Okasu Hyoui Gattai~
Original title: 子作り妖怪H変化～乙女を犯す憑依合体～
Alias: Sexy Demon Transformation!
Release date: 2011-02-25
English release date: 2012-09-14
Developer: Softhouse-Seal
English publisher: MangaGamer

My, oh, my... MangaGamer seems to be on the roll in releasing "Softhouse-Seal" titles. Apparently they managed to snag basically the whole S-S catalogue for cheap and are releasing one nukige after another. While I always love a good nukige, I was a bit apprehensive about the possible quality of the titles from this specific circle. Let's see how one of them, called "Sexy Demon Transformation!" in its translated form, will do in my opinion.

Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- Fullvoice ReBORN Review

Title: Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- Fullvoice ReBORN
Original title: 赫炎のインガノック -What a beautiful people- Fullvoice ReBORN
Alias: Inganock of the Brightest Flame Fullvoice ReBORN
Release date: 2007-11-22 (2011-12-22 Fullvoice ReBORN Edition)
English release date: 2009-12-18 (2012-11-20 Fullvoice ReBORN Edition)
Developer: Liar-soft
English publisher: Amaterasu Translations (as a fan-patch of both Regular and Fullvoice ReBORN Edition)

Oh, the fantastic, the unbelievable and the magical - those are the words that characterize the stories of fantasy. The books of that genre are supposed to immerse you in a world very unlike our own and let you forget the mundane and the boring and whatever anyone would say, visual novels are just books in a different medium. Sadly, only rarely can visual novels truly unleash the magic upon you.

Even some of the best novels like “Tsukihime” or “Fate/Stay Night” didn’t manage to tell stories without relying on character routes and romance subplots, but SnI does away with that. In this aspect, “Sekien no Inganock” can be truly called a Visual Novel as it does away with the pretence of being a game and is simply a book about beautiful people.

Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom Review

Title: Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom
Original title: 薄桜鬼 新選組奇譚
Alias: Hakuouki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~
Release date: 2008-09-18
English release date: 2012-02-14 (both as a Standard and a Limited edition)
Developer: IDEA FACTORY & Otomate
English publisher: Aksys Games
Platform: PSP

I can’t claim that I have played many otome games, because that simply wouldn’t be true. Up to now I have only read “The Second Reproduction” and I liked it quite a bit. It stands to reason that I would then try “Hakuouki” – probably the most famous otome game released in the West. Not that there are much hardships to become the most famous, when there are only two games of this ilk released commercially for the gaijin audience (the other one being “Yo-Jin-Bo”, of course).