In comparison to yesterday's two games in which I had already gotten a good ways into, here are two games I'm starting from the very beginning.
Detective Conan: The Blue Jewel's Rondo (DS)
Picked this one up from Play-Asia at the same time I got Digimon Lost Evolution and Tokimeki Girl's Side 3. Unlike the other two, I got this one more on a whim. Since Play-Asia's shipping is pretty expensive for just one game I wanted to get at least three. The main reasons I settled on Conan were 1) It was from an anime I already know and 2) There as a furigana (phonotic pronunciation) included. Simple as that. I've started it up a few times but honestly I never got very far.
Some back story for those who don't know about Conan. Once again, here I suggest you go watch the first 2 episodes if you really want to avoid spoilers. The anime goes by a few titles, Case Closed (For the English Dub), Detective Conan, or Meitantai Conan, should get you there. They change all the names in the english version, but I'll be using the Japanese primarily. Conan is basically about a teenage genius detective named Shinichi Kuno who is the darling of the media and the local police. One day he's out on a quasi-date with his childhood friend Ran. Technically they're there as friends, but this is anime. After a murder on the rollar coaster ride the two were on (I hate it when that happens) Shinichi follows a couple of suspicious men in black and sees something he isn't supposed to. Once of the men sneak up behind him and knock him unconscious. Not wanting to leave any evidence the men feed him some untraceable poison with the intent to kill him and run away. The poisen instead turns him into a little kid. He runs back home and with the help of the mad scientist next door (Oh, like you don't have one), he disguises himself. At this time Ran shows up looking for Shinichi and finds him as a little kid, wearing huge glasses. She thinks he's adorable and asks him his name. He glances at the bookshelf behind him and comes up with his tsudonyme by combining two author's names, Conan Edogawa. The Scientist convinces Ran to take Conan back with him and let him stay with her family for a while. The idea being, Ran's dad is also a detective so Conan should be able to find leads better by staying with him. Conan's real identity is kept a sectet however and as Ran understands it: The Scientist's nephew's parents got into an accident, scientist is told to take care of kid, scientist doesn't know how to handle kids, Scientist is hoping Ran is good with kids and will take him for a bit. Ran's father is a detective on a loosing streak however and now Conan has to take a bit of humble pie himself and help him solve cases without letting anyone know that the little kid is doing the grunt work. The father also doesn't realize and is not only extreamly vain in regards to the cases he's solved, he also only sees Conan "getting in the way". Together the three of them stumble upon a large number of murder mysteries.
Detective Conan is a kid's show that's been airing for more then ten years. It's not because of its great plots or twists, but somehow or another they hit their target market head on. I still enjoy watching a few episodes every now and then, and when I go to Karaoke (I'm in Japan) and sing the intro song, all the Japanese college students instantly know where it's from. For as much as it's simplicity is made fun of, they must be doing something right.
A-nnnnd Begin the Game!
We start off with "Onimaru", who is a guy in a mask who about to kill what looks like a bull-eagle hybrid of sorts. A women is screaming at him to stop. Through their dialog we find out that Onimaru is a cyborg out to avenge the death of the professor who made him and that professor's daughter is trying to convince him that such actions will make him just as bad as the killers. Onimaru gets confused about the real meaning of justice and evil and leaves to go ride around the city on his motorcycle, damanding answers from the wind on those things and on why he was created as a cyborg with an imperfect AI system.
We then get a black cut-in with the explanation of what that was. The popular TV show Cyborg Onimaru, which for a short while was competing with ratings from Masked Yaiba, the show Conan and his elementry classmates always seem to watch. Unfortunently though, because Onimaru got dark and comlex, it lost its mass appeal and instead became a show with a small but loyal fan base.
Cut to reality
A shadowy business man is walking alone at night when he sees Onimaru. He recognizes him and instantly panics. The business mand demands to know who the man in int Onimaru costume is. Then, curiously, when Onimaru dosen't answer, yells something about "having had to do it" and "everyone was better off for it". Onimaru walks over and knocks him unconosious.
Over at the police station one of the police men sees sack laying on the gound. Mumbling about how some people have the nerve to dump garbage right in frount of the police station he walks over to it. Realizing suddenly that there's a person in it, he hurridly helps him out. The policeman then makes the jaringly unprofessional comment, "So, I take it being tied up and stuffed into a bag isn't a normal thing for you?" After staring at the twichy flustered man (the shadowy business man from before) our cop recognizes him from a wanted poster for insider corruption and arrests him. Not before the business man say, "It was Onimaru, I know it sound crazy, but it was Onimaru who caught me!"
Next we cut to Onimaru driving away. A policecar pulls up along the "suspisous motercycle" and tells the driver to pull over. Onimaru ignores them. The policecar driver recognizes Onimaru from the program and appears to be shaken by the sight of him. He calls for backup up but apparently Onimaru slips away and the police are unable to find him.
This scene ends by saying that wound up on the news the next day and after that Onimaru's popularity really did become a threat to Yaiba's.
The next part was Conan and his friends talking and I decided to call it there. This story's not bad but neither does it leave me at the edge of my seat. Kind of like the anime, I guess. It's a good way to pass the time if you have nothing better to do, but I can't really say I'm excited to see what happens. Maybe thing's pick up once I'm actully into the mystery solving part of the game (the game part, in other words), but for now I'll give this a firm yellow. I can keep playing. I can stop. Whichever.
Hetalia Academy Portable (PSP)
Another game based on an Anime I like. This is the first game I picked up upon arriving in Japan for my exchange trip. I got it for about $15 at Book-Off, which is dirt cheap. Book-Off is a used "book" store but it also serves as a second had store for things like video-games, trading cards, and prizes form "Gatcha-Gatcha" machines. The games are sorted first by system and then by genre, so it's especially good for my search for Otome games as well. Although before I understood the sorting system I kept looking in the Gal-Game section by accident. My Japanese friend made fun of me for that.
Hetalia is a gag-based anime about WW2. I know that sounds weird, but anyone who's seen it will agree. I actully want to say you don't need to worry about spoilers for this game. But the sheer number of characters might be easier to handle the slower way their introduced in the anime. The anime depicts the contries of the world as people and has them interact in a simplified and comical version of WW2 history. Our two main characters are stern but caring Germany and friendly but cowardly Italy and their not-quite logical friendship. As the anime progresses through several seasons things move to a more general world history view. We even sometime go into a sort of "non-history" view and just see the countries interact.
This game takes place in the "Academy" setting, which for all intents and purposes seems to take place in current times. The countires are enrolled as students. This is another Otome game, so it's a dating sim.
Let the games begin!
As the main character you come in as the country Seychelles, a brunet girl with her hair in twied in two red ribbons. Prior to this game, Seychelles made no appearances in the anime, so she's a fresh charcter here. She has just transfered to the academy and extreamly worried about being able to make friends. On her way to the main building she runs into Rome. She assumes he's a creepy teacher. Making small talk with Rome she mentions her worry about making friends at her new school. Rome in responce hands her a card and tells her to go to the meeting room. She looks at it but when she looks up to ask what he's talking about, Rome has disappeared.
Shacky, but curious about what's going on, Seychelles goes to the meeting room. Inside she finds England and France, whom she already knows. The other members in the room want to know what Seychelles is doing there. Counting England and France, their numbers total 8, they are the Axis and Ally members from the anime. When she shows them her card they inform her that she's now the newest member of their club, who's purpose is to throw parties to increase closeness. She apparently has no choice in the matter.
The information screen tells us that good parties increase friendship and bad parties hurt it.
The next day Seychelles starts her school life. England comes over with the intention to introduce her to some of the other people, but not only is Seychells apparently uncomfortable being around him, she also seems to be handling that matter perfectly fine on her own. To start off she already meet Hungary and Lichtenstine from the girl's dorm. She then by extension had heard a bit about Austria and Switzerland. As these introdutions are going on she's uncomfortable with England standing there and wounders worridly what he came over for. Greece evently comes over to tell England a teacher called for him and England finally gets to do an intodution. Seychelles then gives the odd introduction, "I'm Seychelles, who played with turtles when she was young".
Now that I know how to way this, I want to work in into a conversation at some point.
Before England leaves he gives Seychelles some more information about the Party club. She in turn is horrifed that he's giving her orders. Somehow this raises her friendship with him.
And that's where I stopped. Well, I also took a screenshot of America in the relationship page. Right now everybody looks uncomfortable in their profile pictures. XD
This game's got me curious to find out what happens. Maybe it's just because Conan wasn't holding my interest very well, but from the little I played, this one gets a green!
Running Ranking
- Digimon Adventure
- Starry Sky Portable -in Spring-
- Hetalia Academy
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Digimon Story: Lost Evolution
- Detective Conan
Tomorrow's "games" are Ugly Duckling Revolution (another Otome game) and the Shin Tenchi Novel, the one book in this set.
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