Okay, this will be my first blog entry, and my not-really-first-but-let-just-call-it-that-way attempt of reviewing a visual novel. I'm still inexperienced, so please forgive me if I made any mistake
The first VN I will be doing review is Tokyo School Life, a visual novel made by M2 Co., Ltd., and published by Dogenzaka Lab on Steam in February. This VN somehow slipped under my radar for some reasons, and it was not until about 5 days after released that I noticed its existence. Seem like my radar need a remodel
WARNING: SPOILER! (Can't be helped)
WARNING: 100% PERSONAL OPINION!
Story
This is the story of your trip as an exchange student in Tokyo and the three girls you meet there. Although you don't make the greatest first impression, you quickly settle into the kind of everyday life you've seen in anime and manga -- filled with laughs and tears. By the time you have to head home two months from now, you might find that you've fallen for one of your new friends... (Source: Steam Store)
Not much to say about the story, it's pretty much the same as Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~, but it will focus more on the story, rather than "promoting tourist destination".
Character
1. You (yeah, I mean you, the player, not Kogasaka You) (you can name him!)
An exchange student that, presumably come from the US (the game did not tell you exactly where he came from, but he talked about "buying anime in North America" and "eating raw cookie dough from a tube" so I just took my guess). Unlike the retarded caveman in Go! Go! Nippon! who surprised at convenience store and vending machine, he has quite a lots of knowledge about Japan culture. He is an otaku, and learned about Kanji mostly from reading manga/watching anime (damn it!), and also from a neighbor guy who he called "Sensei". He came to Japan, hoping to get to know about Akiba, yakuza culture,...and get a Nadeshiko girlfriend.
One thing really bugged me about him is the fact that he know nothing about some really 101 stuff like "itadakimasu", "gochirousama", tanabata...despite knowing a ton of other things like dougi (karate uniform), tanzaku paper, sumi (ink), Takeshita doori... He even thought that Go-Home Club is a real club. Seriously guy, how many manga/anime did you read/watch?!
2. Minazuki Sakura
Your classmate, and also housemate. A "Nadeshiko" girl that actually is a closet otaku. She is a light-eater, soft-spoken person, with a weak body due to her illness. She is also a fan of Samurai Maiden like the protagonist, thus making him her first ever otaku friend (she has to keep the Nadeshiko-image at school). She takes charge of writing calligraphy in Tanabata festival.
3. Yayoi Karin
2nd member of Tomoe Dorm - where the protagonist is living in. Energetic, and somewhat of a tsundere, she tried to kick him out of the house at first, due to the not-really-good first encounter between him and her - a nice crash resulted in he groping on Karin's boobs. Despite acting all tough and protective, she actually really loves cute stuff, and ready to throw money away to get them. Outside of school, she is known as the new idol Yayoi Karin-chan, a rising star that has a good amount of fan.
As a descendant of Kogasaka Chinami and Isshiki Akane (nope, joking ), she is a super-mayo-lover, that put a ton of mayo on everything (mayonnaise pizza, anyone?), and also a big-eater. She is weak at studying, and really afraid of ghost.
4. Hazuki Aoi
3rd member of Tomoe Dorm, Aoi is the tomboy who in charge of everything in the house - from cooking, washing to cleaning. A good-in-nature mother-like girl who always takes good care of people in the dorm. She loves cooking and practising non-violence karate. Despite the boy-ish appearance, she is a puppy at heart that love people patting her head (LOL!).
Route
1. Common Route
There is pretty much nothing to talk about, just the everyday icha icha between the protagonist and 3 heroines. The choices will require you to save the game a lot, since quite a few of them are unclear. The game will give you a recognizable sound after you made a choice so you know what the hell did you just do (a loud one for affection choice, quieter one for neutral, and no sound for "I dont want you, get out" choice).
2. Sakura Route
Sakura route talks about her attempt of drawing a doujinshi based on her favorite character in Samurai Maiden - Takamori Saigou, and her fight against the illness she has. Her route is supposedly the main drama route of the game. However, in my opinion, her route is the worst out of three. They used a really weird way of telling story, by jumping from event to event, "highlight" only some "comedic" moment between Sakura and the protagonist, making the sleepiness keeps winning over me. The speed got pushed up a little bit when
Just when the I finally got some excitement back, the game nicely gave me ANOTHER segment of painfully boring talk. I pretty much gave up at this point, and despite trying really hard with the drama near the end, I just couldn't feel anything for the character. The ending is, well, no surprise at all, I guess (don't want to spoil anymore)
Another thing though. I'm not sure if it's just me, but Sakura route really makes me feel like the protagonist "bought" Sakura with money. He is an exchange student, she is also just a high school student, and guess what was the first present he gave her? A FREAKING 500$ POCKET WATCH!
3. Karin Route
Mainly about Karin's road of becoming an international idol (wow!) and her struggle with choosing a performing style - Should she go for the cool style of her favorite idol, or the cute style that she has always wanted? (Obvious answer is obvious). It's a really nice and relax route to read, without too much of drama this and that. Man, if only they released her character song, I would be sooo happy. Her ending is also the nicest out of the three, imo. My only problem with this route is the protagonist - playing on the beach for too long and end up hallucinating about Karin's voice everywhere he goes, everything he does. His dere gauge is totally over the top!
4. Aoi Route
Aoi does not practise karate just because she feels like it.
Containing some nice action scenes, as you can expect from the route of a karate practitioner, you will get to know about her will of proving to people that a non-violence karate is not impossible. Though I have to say, they got a bit overkill with this route: I feel like watching not a karate girl but Haimura Moroha chanting his world destruction spell Come on writer, get realistic a little won't you?
Graphic
Really nice with the E-mote system. Character's movement doesn't seem too unnatural like some other E-mote VNs. The artwork is pretty good, though I do have some problem with the character proportion (looks really weird from time to time, especially Aoi). Oh, and they even use real image for some BG too!
Music
Not much to talk about since I'm not a pro in this field, but yeah, at least it's not boring
Conclusion
Tokyo School Life is a short charage that shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to finish. If you want to enjoy some light-hearted romcom to relax after work/school, this is a good choice for you. That said, I won't recommend buying this game at full price - 15$ is kinda not worth it. Just wait for a sale off, then take it home!
Moonstone is not an unfamiliar name for visual novel players. Everyone should know about them by now, with all of those successes they got from Imouto Paradise - the heaven for siscon, Princess Evangile - the popular title which English version was just released months ago, and Gi--nah, who cares about that thing. And, at the end of this month, on June 26th, Moonstone Honey - their newest branch company, will release their debut title - Ojousama to Himitsu no Otome. Of course, I'm really interested curious about this title, for an obvious reason that I will talk about later. Now, toward the game we go!
SYNOPSIS
The first game by the new label Moonstone Honey will center around Yuuri Shinohara, a crossdressing yet kind boy who is attending an all-girls school. Since he’s the future heir of a famous fashion brand for women’s clothing he is expected to know a lot about the subject. But he’s actually weak around women and doesn’t really understand them, making it impossible for him to inherit the fashion brand.
And so his family suggested (read: forced) him to attend a high class all-girls school, called Magnolia Academy. But even though he tried to live a quiet school life, for some reason several girls tend to gather around him…
CHARACTER
1. Shinohara Yuuri
Protagonist. A shy boy that was forced into an all-girls school against his will. Same as every trap protagonist ever, he really disliked the idea of cross-dressing at first, but gradually "understand the joy of being a girl".
2. Himekouji Haruka
"Ahaha, arigatou."
Yuuri's next-seated classmate, and his first friend at school. A friendly and energetic girl who seems to be pretty popular among the students.
3. Kamimori Airi
"Don't be so tense like that. We are going to live under the same roof from now on after all."
The friendly and somewhat playful dorm-leader, in charge of 2nd year students. She has never interacted with boys before and really want to know the feeling of talking, kissing and doing ecchi things with them. Yup, that's what she said.
4. Shirayuki Yumina
"Yes...I will try my best...to stop crying..."
Yuuri's 1st year kouhai. An extremely shy girl, with the way-too-soft voice that seem to have a lot of love respect toward Yuuri. She is a crybaby and pretty clumsy. Despite that, she is still very popular at school, although she herself knows nothing about that.
5. Saionji Saya
"It's fine, just do as I say. Got it?"
A genius 3rd year student, who rarely come to class but still manage to stay on top of the school. She is respected by every students and even teachers. When she is in good mood, she loves to drink tea in the courtyard.
STORY
The game started, as Shinohara Yuuri - in a girl's school uniform - after talking with the school guard, stepped his first step into his new school - Magnolia Girl Academy. While walking toward the staff room, he started thinking about what led him into this situation...
10 days ago. A sudden phone call from his mother totally wrecked his life. He was told to transfer to the new school - Magnolia Girl Academy - to cure his shyness toward girl (since he wouldn't be able to inherit his mother's fashion company like this), and also "get a girlfriend" why he was at it. He was hesitated at first, but decided to just yolo, for himself, and for the future of the company.
However, there was one problem remain: how could he get into an all-girls school? Of course, this was when his older sister Akira - a pro in makeup - came in! After a short while, she successfully transformed Yuuri into a super cute girl, making him almost fell for himself!
".....Eeeeeh!?"
...And that's what happened.
Done with the transfer procedure, he headed toward his class. After the awkward introduction, he went to his seat, and the next-seated girl - Himekouji Haruka - right away started a conversation with him. Having his shyness in the way, he had a hard time talking with her, especially when she "aggressively" invited him for lunch, then guiding him around school hand-in-hand after school. It's fine, right? It's absolutely normal for two girls to walk around school while holding hand, right!?
Evening. Just when he was about to go to sleep, he heard a knock on the door. After some commotions due to him being in the middle of changing clothes, the girl walked in, introducing herself. She was Kamimori Airi - the dorm's leader. She simply just wanted to check out the newest member of the dorm, and tell him about the dorm's cleaning up duty, which unfortunately fell right onto his room this week. They talked for a bit, then called it a night.
Next day, after school. While walking along the hallway, suddenly, Yuuri heard a crashing sound, and a girl's scream. He then hurried to where the sound came from...
"Uwaa...I'm soaked~..."
There, he found a little girl, soaked in water, with an empty bucket lying on the floor. As he tried to help her, she stared at him with a weirdly red face while murmuring "So beautiful...". She then panickingly ran off, after learned his name.
That evening, she came to his room. She introduced herself as Shirayuki Yumina - a first year student - and wanted to thank him about earlier - while keeping coughing all the time. Just as Yuuri tried to ask about her health condition, she panicked again and ran back to her room. However, it's not Yumina, but Yuuri himself that he should be worried about, as he ended up getting the cold from Yumina and stuck on his bed for the next day.
Evening, Yumina visited him. After apologizing for a while, she offered to help him with wiping his body. Despite worrying about his disguise, he couldn't fight back against her teary eyes, and accepted her offer. And the yuri night began.
"I don't know why, but my face became hot when I wiped your back..."
Later in the night, Haruka and Airi also visited him, and thus, meeting Yumina and having a short chat with her before everyone went back to their own rooms.
Next day, he completely recovered, and was invited by Airi to take a bath together after cleaning up the dorm. And once again, he failed to deny the invitation. They talked about a lot of lewd things, and surprisingly, his disguise somehow stayed undiscovered.
Weekend. Coming back from home after reported his status to his older sister, Yuuri spotted a strange girl drinking tea in the courtyard under the moonlight. He joined after her invitation, and learned that she was Saionji Saya - a 3rd year student.
Lunch time next day, he talked with Haruka, Airi and Yumina about Saya, as he just had another tea time with her in the morning. Spotting Saya in the crowd, he invited her to have lunch together with the group. During the meal, the group told him about one of the unique tradition of the school - Engage - where 2 students exchange their rings and become a couple.
"Ehem...In Magnolia, there is a tradition called Engage."
He thought to himself: In the future, maybe I will also be joining this event as well? However, is it fine for a boy like me, to "engage" with a girl in a normally girl-to-girl event like this?
The End (of the trial).
.
.
.
.
Wow. Nice work Moonstone Honey. You did a really good job on copying almost everything from Princess Evangile. The same "boy-in-ojousama-only-school" setting, the same "onee-sama" system, the same exchanging item (changed from rosary to ring) system, and they even have an event called "Best Engage", which is pretty much "Chants de Noel" in Princess Evangile. The character design is also a big copycat, which Haruka is pretty much Rise's clone, with almost same appearance and personality. Seriously, Moonstone Honey? This is your debut title, can't you at least make something a bit unique by yourself? You think that people won't notice the similarities between your game and the game that you were promoting all over twitter 3 months ago? Too naive.
Let's talk about the story. Different from Princess Evangile, this game seems to be a H-based moege. The trial is pretty short, so I may be wrong, but I just couldn't smell any kind of drama from the game. Along with heroines's personality, chances are you will be filled with nothing but ichaicha for the rest of the game. I mean, I couldn't even be able to find any SFW CG for Airi, both in the trial and on their main page. And she clearly wanted the D, right off the bat. Yumina also seems to be unknowingly on heat every time she speaks with Yuuri. Geh.
Btw, it's just my impression, but the story in the trial just feels a bit disconnected somehow...
GRAPHIC
They brought the damn skirt design from Princess Evangile, changed the color and threw it in here.
They brought the damn Rise's character desi---Oh, I did talk about this earlier, right?
They unnecessary sexualized Yumina and Haruka's pajamas. I don't know that much about girl's clothes, but I'm sure that's not how they work! I mean, look at them! Look at Yumina's pant!
"I'm coming in. Hmm? If I'm not wrong, you are..."
That said, the art is still nice in general though.
MUSIC
Unnecessary usage of sad music when Yuuri got a cold. Come on guys, it's just a common cold! Do you really need to insert the music that sounds like he just found out about his testicular cancer like that?
Other than that, the BGM is fine. Or should I say, normal, not good not bad.
VOICE
I have nothing to complain about character's voices, though I do think that Yumina's voice is a bit too soft, making her sound a bit...weird.
CONCLUSION
Princess Evangile was a big success for Moonstone, but Ojousama to Himitsu no Otome - or should I say, "Princess Evangile 2" was a big mistake for Moonstone Honey. Normally, this game should be able to get away as a decent fap material. However, under the big shadow of Princess Evangile, I don't think this game will have a chance to see the light of the day.
Captmalone reacted to Satsuki for a blog entry, "Nippon, here I come!" - Random Review - Tokyo School Life