https://vndb.org/v2633

[Main Menu]

Eclipse -Zettai Reido Keikaku Soushitsu Shoujo- is an eroge visual novel developed by CLOCKUP and released on May 14, 2003 before getting an HD remaster in 2018 which contains both the parent story and the fandisc. The story takes place in the distant future where Earth has been constantly bombarded by a series of wars and conflicts for several decades, preventing everyone from living a peaceful life. The main character for this visual novel is namable but by default, his name is Fernandes Katugen who is a scientific researcher and he also plays the role as a lieutenant running a military base on Earth’s moon which is referred to as GYGO.

Monaka: "There! Take that!!"

The visual novel starts off with Fernandes being locked up in a prison cell for illegally selling drugs. During that time, he is met with a familiar and mischievous associate of his named Tisaris Ariass who wants him to serve the Southern military for the purpose of protecting the underground ruins located on the moon that they’ve captured by fending off the Northern rivals. Fernandes refused but he was eventually tricked by Tisaris and he was brought to the GYGO moon facility anyway. From there, he is met with a girl named Aisya who appoints his duties to him as Lieutenant running this lunar military research facility that is involved in researching on what is referred to as the ECLIPSE system, also known as the Extra Control Link In Psychic Synchronization Effect System.

Girl (Aisya): "Recently I thought that it was about time for you to wake up so I came to get you"

This ECLIPSE system is essentially a mechanism that enslaves the consciousness of the subject to become loyal subordinates for the military. It's mentioned that because females tend to have the instinct of being more submissive, the system is more compatible to them relative to males who tend to be more dominant and rebellious. With that being said, there are four girls that have been subjected to this ECLIPSE system and they are the heroines to this visual novel. There’s the cheerful and kind Epica Sakazaki who’s a bit of an airhead with unnaturally huge breasts. There’s Anna Lucille that has more of a tomboyish personality and tends to act aggressively when she’s mad. There’s Monaka who’s the youngest subject out of the four and she tends to be very laid back. And finally there’s Xuen Tie Ying who seems to be the most refined and loyal subject out of all of them. Fernandes has been assigned by the military to order these girls to protect the Southern military research facility which involves piloting a mobile suit called XEN-TRIX to fight against Northern forces.

Aisya: "The data shows that younger women are more likely to tolerate the side effects of the ECLIPSE system"

This visual novel has multiple endings for each of the heroines and they are obtained based on how you interact with them and what choices you make. There are also cases where if you choose the wrong choices, that would lead to a scene where the main character is faced with a tragic situation which results in the “BAD END” as stated in the interface. I would assume that he died and I would end up straight back to the main menu just like any typical visual novel, however that’s not the case for this one. If you end up getting the “BAD END” you would actually end up back to the scene where the main character just realized he was transported to the moon as if nothing happened. Even after reading the entire visual novel and getting all the endings, I’m not entirely sure why/how the main character just somehow magically returned to the GYGO moon facility after presumably getting killed during the “BAD END.” It's as if time just simply rewinded or maybe it was related to the memories of the main character getting tampered by the military which has been mentioned multiple times. In any case, it does seem quite strange.

Unlike most other visual novels, this one actually has 3D animated cutscenes between the dialogue when you’re fighting in battle with the XEN-TRIX mobile suit and I’m quite amazed by it considering that this was made back in the early 2000s. I’m surprised that CLOCKUP back in that day actually had the budget to implement these scenes especially for the fact that this is only their second visual novel they made. Despite this unique characteristic, this visual novel does face the same problem like most other eroges that have voiced female characters but no voiced male characters. Darn…

The story for ECLIPSE was certainly compelling. Apart from this science-fiction themed plot during what I would assume to be world war III, the story also goes in-depth about the backstory for each of the heroines pretty well which also leads to some romantic relationships with the main character. The visual novel also does a good job on character development for the main protagonist. Fernandes started off as some pitiful drug dealer not giving a care in the world until he met the people from the GYGO moon facility which changed him as a person. This reminds me of the story from CLOCKUP’s previous visual novel Kegareta Eiyuu ~Jain Seijo Gari~ which is nice. In my opinion however, I don’t think it's a good idea to heavily rely on past work and recycle some contents for the development of a new visual novel otherwise it wouldn’t feel original. Despite ECLIPSE and Kegareta Eiyuu having completely different stories, they do feel pretty similar to each other where the protagonist went through tragic events in his past life before getting greeted by girls which caused him to change. Even so, I still enjoyed it. As for the H-scenes, they were pretty long but some of the dialogue they contained does contribute to the main story and the backstory for the heroines, especially for Xuen Tie Ying’s route. In that case, I’d recommend you partly skim through the dialogue instead of skipping them entirely so that you wouldn’t miss out on some interesting information.

I tore off the clothing at the tip of the breasts. Just as Epica mentioned, she wasn't wearing a bra which completely exposed her nipples

In terms of the fandisc 2GHz for ECLIPSE, the story for this takes place before the events occurred from the parent story. This fandisc has two stories and they both revolve around the backstory of Fernandes’s lover Luserina who has been subjected to various experiments for the sake of a project which revolves around manipulating the consciousness of the human mind. This is referred to as project E. One part focuses on Luserina’s diary that talks about what she was going through during her times in the research facility and what experiments she’s been subjected to for project E. However, most of this story is pretty much the same as found in the parent visual novel until you get to somewhere between April 12th and 30th.

The other part focuses on a conversation between Muramatsu (Luserina’s colleague) and Tisaris (Luserina’s sister) that further emphasizes the tragic experiments Luserina has been through during project E and how it all ended. The story for this Fan Disc was quite interesting with some plot twists and a little bit of NTR. The dialogue from the H-scenes didn’t contribute much to the main plot so I just skipped most of them. One thing I should point out is the fact that Tisaris in the Fan Disc has not been voiced which is a bit odd since she was voiced in the parent story. Not sure why this was the case but I’ll be willing to set it aside since the story was pretty interesting. Although it's already bad enough that there are no male voice actors.

The alleyway was mostly bright but there seems to be a small dark shadow hanging over between these buildings

To be honest, the storytelling in this visual novel feels more like an improved version of that for Kegerta Eiyuu. It almost seems that CLOCKUP took up the feedback from their previous visual novel and used it to develop a new one. If that really was the case then I truly admire them for that. I highly recommend you play this visual novel, especially if you’re into sci-fiction or even mecha battles containing 3D animated cutscenes. I hope this visual novel gets translated one day for a broader audience to experience it.