Review: Nie no Machi -Iromusubi-

I finally finished playing the Nie no Machi fandisc! The first game was released in 2018 and I really liked it, so I was very excited when they announced Nie no Machi -Iromusubi-. This review might contain some spoilers for the first game, but I’ll try to not mention too many details.

Most routes are a direct continuation of the ones you played in the first game, though they also added some new original stories! The first time you play this game only one of the new routes is available (開幕/Opening). In this route Hisora is still staying at the inn with everyone who you met in the first game. This route also introduces a new character called Sanjuugo, whose name literally means…35 and that’s because Hisora thought that would be a good name for him (….yeah, don’t even ask). Sanjuugo/35 has two endings, but you can play most of the other endings after finishing his main ending (the one with the CG, you’ll know when you see it...). I of course recommend getting them all because you probably need all endings to unlock the final route.

After finishing this route you unlock many new stories, I summarized the three different categories below:

• Sequels (後日譚): Will Hisora stay at the inn, or will he return to the real world? These are direct continuations of all the good and normal endings of the first game.
• Side Stories (外伝): These stories focus on the side characters, but in most of them you’ll also see some other characters. Akari, Totonoe, Komachi, Kuro and Sata all have their own new stories.
• If (いふ): These are continuations of the first game’s bad endings, though only the ones in which Hisora is still alive of course. In this case that’s both of Naruomi’s bad ends (Akari end, Shiro & Kuro end), Koko’s bad end, Asuku’s bad end and one of Mio’s bad ends (Totonoe ending).

You’re free to play them in whatever order you want, but some of the bad endings and side stories can get pretty dark, so be prepared for that! (but if you played the first game you of course already expected that).

Once you finish all of these two other stories unlock! Especially the final one is pretty long and almost feels like a whole new route. In this route the choices you pick matter because you can get a few different endings, though there’s only 3 choices so it’s pretty easy to figure out.

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Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this fandisc! In my opinion fandiscs are always a bit of a hit or miss, some of the other ones I’ve played felt a bit short and others didn’t add the bad ending continuations I would love to see. However, Iromusubi is a pretty long fandisc, I think it took me at least 38 hours to finish everything, which is comparable to the length of the first game. Iromusubi is also a bit cheaper than the original game too, so I think pricewise it was a good deal.

Apparently they changed the writer for this game, but I didn’t really notice it? Of course Japanese isn’t my first language and it has been 4 years since I finished the first game, so maybe I just don’t remember. The first game had a lot of gory content and the fandisc definitely had a lot of this too. Not every scene had a CG, but sometimes you didn’t even need that because the descriptions were already graphic enough. I’m not complaining though because I’m a big fan of horror VNs! Also that first route which you have to play before you can even access anything else... I certainly didn’t expect that...

I was surprised that one of my favorite endings was actually Mio’s good end, because I don’t think he was my favorite character in the first game. I also really liked the side stories because not only do you learn more about the side characters, they also show a couple of new scenes with Koko, Naruomi and Mio. I do wonder what happened to some of Asuku’s content? The side character in his first game route was Ao, but he’s not mentioned anywhere in the fandisc. Because of this you don’t learn super much new about Asuku’s past either, though they do briefly mention it in his good end continuation. Also the new route you unlock near the end is my guilty pleasure route... but I won’t spoil it right now.

I do recommend playing the fandisc if you enjoyed the original game! You can buy the digital version here, DLsite usually has discount coupons, so I think I got it for 30% off too. If you still want to buy the first game, they also sell a bundle which contains both games here! All pictures in this blog belong to Zombilica and were posted on the official website.

Upcoming BL game: Ōe (Adelta)

Two weeks ago Adelta posted some information about the release date of their newest game, Ōe (大穢)! The R18 visual novel is scheduled to be released fall 2023, though they’re also planning on releasing some other Ōe-related projects like an all-ages TRPG (tabletop role-playing game) version of the game (fall-winter 2023) and a digital format novel (somewhere in 2024).

Story synopsis

It’s the 30th year of the Showa era (1955). Detective Ōsaki travels to an abandoned fishing village located on the remote island of Ōe-jima, south of Tokyo. After receiving a strange request from his client, he attends the commemoration of an actress who passed away three years ago. During his stay on the island a series of strange events happen. The ship that is supposed to pick them up never arrives, no one has heard anything from the event organizer and there seems to be an unexplainable hatred and fear between the people who gathered on the island. Stranded on this ominous island, ten people unravel the mystery of their shared past and the death of the actress "Ōe".

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The game focuses on the ''Closed circle mystery'' element that can often be found in detective fiction, which refers to a situation in which a crime was committed and the culprit is one of the people who was present at the crime scene. The chaotic atmosphere peculiar to post-war Japan will also be noticeable in this story. The genre is ‘’Mystery x Detective x Japanese horror’’, but it won’t have any ghosts or extremely gorey content. This is also the first Adelta game which will have a top protagonist (all of the other guys are bottoms, who are also supposedly ‘’straight’’ lol!).

All nine attendees, who are also all murderers, will have their own routes, although some routes might be shorter than the others (4 full main routes). The servant who dies at the beginning of the game will also have his own route. When one route is cleared, more choices will be added to the game and more routes will unlock. Some newer blog updates also showed that there’s actually a 10th route? Which probably unlocks after clearing all of the other routes. The newest blog update also shows that the writing is almost completely finished, just the final route left...!

Characters
Every character's personality seems to be inspired by the Buddhist fundamental earthly desires (workings of life that are believed to cause one psychological/physical suffering and impede the quest for enlightenment). I looked up the kanji that were used in the image below and added some translations/definitions of each term.

Ōsaki (大崎) - Main character
Detective, calm and collected

Ariake (有明) -  Disregard (Anapatrapya 無愧)
Mortician, helps out others

Shimbashi (新橋) -  Stinginess (Mātsarya 慳)
Screenwriter, prideful, germaphobe

Hinode (日出) -  Wrath (Krodha 忿)
Junior high school student, aphasia

Shijoumae (市場前) -  Shamelessness (Āhrīkya 無慚)
Surgeon, big-hearted, open-minded

Shiodome (汐留) -  Restlesness (Auddhatya 掉挙)
Folkorist, energetic, loud

Funeno (船野) -  Sleepiness (Middha 睡眠)
Servant, timid, a kind-hearted big man

Toyosu (豊洲) -  Regret (Kaukritya 悪作)
Monk, soft, a bit of an airhead

Takeshiba (竹芝) -  Lethargy (Styāna 惛沈)
Magician, cheerful comedian, Kansai dialect

Aomi (青海) -  Envy (Īrṣyā 嫉)
Music teacher, quiet beauty

Side characters
Daiba Shizuma (台場静馬): Client, seems pretty identical to Ōsaki  
Shinagawa Zakuro (品川柘榴): Junior detective, always tired
Shinkiba (新木場): Manager, likes reading books

Image sources: [1] [2] Characters and illustrations belong to Adelta. 

The official Adelta Twitter account frequently posts new updates about the game, so I recommend turning notifications on! You can expect background illustrations, CG previews, lineart, sketches and some other art related to the new game (also possibly some Hashihime/Uuultra C content).

By the way, in a previous blog post it was mentioned that 大穢 will be used to refer to the 18+ BL visual novel version of the game which will be released first, and  大江 for the all-ages TRPG version, though both seem to have the same reading (just a disclaimer why the images still display ‘‘ 大江 ‘‘ instead of ‘‘ 大穢 ‘‘, I think this decision was only made later!).

I’ve played all of Adelta’s other games so naturally I am very excited to play this one, the other games had so many CGs and backgrounds, I’ll be patient and wait until the game’s released in fall! 

New visual novel: Akechi to Iu Otoko ~A Danshaku-tei Satsujin Jiken~

Holicworks announced yet another project they’ve been working on during yesterday’s NicoNico AGF stream! It’s a collaboration with Animate Games and the title of this game is  Akechi to Iu Otoko ~A Danshaku-tei Satsujin Jiken~ ( 明智と謂ふ男～A男爵邸殺人事件～), literally translated ‘’ A Man Called Akechi: The Case of the Murder at Baron A’s Residence’’. This game is a detective murder-mystery story set in the late Taisho/early Showa period. Holicworks’ official twitter account mentioned that it will have Edogawa Ranpo-like mysterious elements and focuses on detectives, soldiers and scholars,

Unlike their previous titles, this game will be all-ages, doesn’t seem to be tagged as ‘’BL’’ either right now, just ‘’novel game’’. During the livestream the director, Mio Kouji, mentioned that the four guys you can see in the picture are the main characters, though so far they’ve only tweeted information about two of them.

Akechi Kogoro ( 明智小五郎 )
The protagonist of this story. A detective and novelist in search of unusual events. He often works together with a soldier called Kada. He lives in the Sendagaya ward of Tokyo.

Kada Ryuujou (賀田 龍驤)
An army soldier who received an order from his superior to search the Baron's residence in Tsurumi. 

Additional info:
Art: Fuga Yuyu
Planning & Scenario: Mio Kouji

Platform: Animate games, PC, smartphone
Release date: Still undecided
Voiced/unvoiced: Fully voiced

BLVN Review: Uultra C

Recently MangaGamer released the English version of Adelta's BL visual novel UuultraC and I was very excited to play it! I really enjoyed Hashihime of the Old Book Town and was interested in seeing what Adelta would create next. This review will mostly be spoiler free!

Sypnosis
UuultraC's story takes place in the second half of Japan's Showa era (the 1970s). It focuses on the Tokusatsu movie genre, in which superheroes fight kaiju. In this world however, kaiju and heroes aren't just characters you see in movies, they also exist in the real world. Kaiju are living among humans and when they cannot control their emotions, some of them transform into their kaiju forms. The hero siren gets set off at any sign of a kaiju attack, alerting the ‘’heroes’’ called Icarus in this game. 

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Unlike most other BL visual novels, this game has 3 different pairings and each episode focuses on one specific pairing. There are no choices, so you can just select an episode an enjoy the story! The second and third chapters are locked until you completely chapter one.The story is the same every time, you just see it from a different character’s perspective each time.

Chapter 1

The first chapter focuses on the protagonist Kagome Shoutarou. His dream is to become an actor like his idol, Sayashi Juurou, who plays one of the most popular heroes on TV: Icarus. Shoutarou is in a relationship with Kozuka Akira, an aspiring manga artist. They live together in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo. Even though Shoutarou wants to become an actor, nobody usually calls him back after the auditions, which is why he currently has all kinds of other unrelated part-time jobs. Akira always disappears when the hero siren goes off and Shoutarou wonders what Akira has been hiding from him...

Chapter 2

This route focuses on Choutsugai Shirou, a camera man who also graduated from law school. He's not just any photographer, he also works for several gossip magazines and isn't afraid to show his own selfish desires. He also hates Icarus because nobody came to save his family when they were attacked by a kaiju in the past. When he was younger he starred in a movie together with Sayashi Juurou and his childhood love "Bell-chan". Choutsugai is convinced Bell-chan is a girl but when they reunite he realizes that "Bell-chan" is actually a man called Isshiki Suzu. Isshiki is a kaiju who pretends to be a fake white icarus. He always shows up when a kaiju is spotted, but his intentions are unknown. He is a kind and caring person who wants to protect Shirou.

Chapter 3

The last chapter focuses on famous Icarus actor, Sayashi Juurou, who is mentioned a lot in the previous chapters. Many people look up to him, but he has many dark secrets. Juurou often meets up with his childhood friend Yomi, who he met after a tragic accident when they were kids. Juurou’s uncle raised both of them together after this incident. Yomi has a lot of part time jobs and seems to be very busy, which Juurou doesn't really like because he just wants to be together with him. Yomi is a very mysterious character, his real age is unknown and he seems to know way too much about certain topics, not suspicious at all of course!....

Personal thoughts
This game really is something else, it is incredibly difficult to summarize the plot because so many things happen! There's also quite some side characters who all have their own stories too and they play a big part in certain routes.

I think most of the main pairings were pretty good, but it did take me some time to understand the plot. You really need to play all three chapters before you know what's really going on. In the end, I think my favorite pairing is probably the one featured in the final route, but I also really liked many of the other characters. I really recommend checking the official website and reading the short story. I also created a list of all the short stories in another blog post.

I did not completely understand the plot of this game until I read all the chapters, the Q&A, the short stories and the information published in the official book, but I do think all questions get answered if you look hard enough. Most of this content hasn't been translated, so if you have any questions feel free to send me a message and I'll check if Kurosawa Rinko gave an explanation..!

The game is not super long (I finished it within 12 hours) but it somehow feels longer because so much happens and it definitely has some replay value as well. I heard this game has over 1800 (!!) CGs which is why it sometimes feels like you’re reading a manga rather than a visual novel. The OST of this game was also amazing, according to the credits Kurosawa Rinko created most of it themselves which is really impressive, considering they’re also the scenario writer and artist.

Definitely completely different than Hashihime but not bad if you're looking for another BL visual novel to play！

BLVN Review: Dystopia no Ou

I finally finished playing PIL/SLASH's new BL visual novel! I'm happy they released the digital version, you can buy it here! This review will mostly be spoiler free, so don’t worry if you still want to play this game. 

This story takes place in a futuristic world, which is governed by a vast network of AI. The poor and the rich deeply divided, almost never crossing each other’s paths. In this world, the entertainment industry is saturated and culture is almost completely weeded out.

Music barely survived and only exists in the form of occasional live concerts.

Our protagonist Kiriku Inga, who grew up in the rich A district, runs away from home to follow his dreams to become the most famous rock star.

Kiriku lives together with his parents in the rich A district, where he lives a completely carefree life without any hardships. His parents are famous engineers who created the AI that governs this futuristic world, Yggdrasil, named after the sacred world tree often mentioned in Norse mythology (This name suddenly starts making a lot more sense after playing the final route...)

Even though Kiriku lives a comfortable life, he decides to leave the A district with the help of his childhood friend Hanza, who lives on the other side of a fence that separates the A and Z districts. Kiriku’s idol is the legendary rockstar ‘’Mere’’ and he dreams to become an even bigger star than him.

Upon arriving in the Z district, Kiriku meets several different characters. One of them is Murasaki Anji, the lead singer of the band Colchicum, and Tobari Rikyou, a medical doctor and director of theTobari hospital. He also reunites with Kachou Suimei, a mechanical engineer who works for Kiriku’s parents, who demands Kiriku returns to the A district.

In the end Kiriku decides to join Hanza’s band Teiji Taisha. The band has two other members as well, the guitarist Amagoi and drummer Kumori, who’s also an office worker (Teiji Taisha literally translates to ‘’Leave the office on time’’, probably an intentional joke because one of them is an office worker).

After this the game splits into four different routes: Hanza, Anji, Suimei and Rikyou. I recommend everyone to play them in this order, because the first two routes focus on the rock band aspect of the story, while the other two routes focus on the secrets of this futuristic world.

Kuwagata Hanza
This route focuses on Kiriku’s childhood friend, Hanza, and their band activities together. You quickly learn that Kiriku’s actually... not the best at playing the guitar. As a kid he was a very talented pianist, but the other band members have to teach him how to play the guitar. It was really funny to see everyone’s reaction to him playing the guitar, Kiriku is often too confident and thinks he’s the best at everything, while everyone else is questioning what the hell he’s doing (lol). Although it is a childhood friend route, it does not only focus on this aspect of their relationship, you also learn a lot about the struggles every individual band member deals with. At some point in the story Kiriku finds out some of the things Hanza has been hiding from him and it is interesting to see their character development.

I think this route was really sweet? The bad end was pretty dark but that’s what we can expect from PIL/SLASH. Overall I quite liked this route and Hanza is a good character!

Murasaki Anji
The vocalist of the popular band Colchicum, who seems to know Kiriku… but Kiriku doesn’t remember him. Although he is not impressed by Kiriku’s guitar skills, he really wants Kiriku to join his band as a pianist. Kiriku however, does not have any plans of leaving Hanza’s band and keeps rejecting Anji’s offers (lol!). I really expected him to join Anji’s band at some point, but he never did. The route focuses on the music industry of the Z district and it has some pretty interesting plot twists I did not expect to see in this route.

In general, I think Anji’s route is not the most serious one, but both Anji and Kiriku are hilarious characters who have a great dynamic together. Kyuuyouzawa Lychee’s humor really shined through in this route. I think after finishing the game this is one of my favorite pairings because all of their scenes together are super funny.

Kachou Suimei
One of the other characters Kiriku was already familiar with before he ran away from home. Even though Suimei works for Kiriku’s parents and is very close to them, he never interacted much with Kiriku. He’s worried about Kiriku’s parents, which is why he often travels to the Z district to tell Kiriku to return home. I expected this route to follow a similar pattern as the first two, however, it quickly became clear that this was not going to happen. This route is a lot more dark than the first two (pretty light hearted) routes. I finally got reminded that I was playing a PIL/SLASH game...! Pretty early on in the route I was surprised by how dark the story suddenly got.

Even though I wasn’t sure what to think of Suimei at first, the plot was really interesting and it kept me interested throughout the entirety of the route. It was hard to close the game because I really wanted to see what was going to happen next, a lot of action in this route! The route did raise some questions, but they were answered in the final route.

Tobari Rikyou
The director of the Tobari hospital, located in the Z district. He is kind and nice to everyone.........right? You can only play this route after finishing the other three. This is probably the most '’controversial’’ route and something that is more expected from PIL/SLASH. I suspected they would finally reveal some big secrets in this route and I was right! The plot of this route is pretty dark. Even though I could sometimes predict what kind of character Rikyou would be, I still think it was interesting to learn more about him. The first half of the route is a bit hard to play through because a lot of stuff happens, but after that I was really interested in the story and I wanted to know what this man was up to, lol!

I am not sure if the good ending is exactly what I wanted, but some of the extra content PIL/SLASH released does add some interesting details to the story. I think this route is not really a ‘’True Route’’ like some other VNs, but it’s probably locked so players don’t accidentally spoil themselves, considering this route focuses a lot on the plot of the world in which this story takes place.

Final thoughts
I wasn't sure what to expect because PIL/SLASH games are definitely not everyone's cup of tea. However, playing Dystopia no Ou was definitely a fun experience! Be aware that the game’s currently only available in Japanese and that it has not been translated.

Another thing I really liked was this game’s OST, composed by Sentive who also created the music for several other BL visual novels (Lucky Dog 1, Paradise, CAGE). Also the CG art is also gorgeous! The artist is Tateishi Ryou who also did the art for Omertà ~Chinmoku no Okite~ and Omertà: Code Tycoon. I did not even recognize their art new style because it looks completely different these days! Apparently the character sprite art was done by another artist, credited as ‘’Thugran’’. 

The game is not super long, I think it took me about 30-35 hours to finish it. In the end I think every route had something interesting and there was not a single character I wasn’t interested in. Kiriku is an amazing protag because he’s hilarious, I think the writers did an amazing job creating this character. He’s probably one of my favorite BL visual novel protagonists now.

I think it is important to know some of the routes are pretty light-hearted and the plot isn’t anything mind-blowing (until you reach the final routes), but I can still recommend it if you’re a fan of BL visual novels!