Fujoshi Subscription Box FUJOBOX Now On Indiegogo

7 / 6 / 1612 / 8 / 16

[Update 8/12/16] – I have gotten a number of messages regarding the Fujobox campaign, and I would like to clarify that I am in no way affiliated with the creators, nor did I personally back this campaign. It seems they relaunched the a “part 2” after the first fundraiser was unsuccessful, and were due to send out the first Fujobox in November 2016. However, backers have heard nothing from the creators since the campaign was funded on September 6th, 2016. I would exercise extreme caution before donating money to anything related to Fujobox. This post will be updated in the future if any developments occur.

I’ve sampled many a Japanese subscription service over the years, with themes ranging from candy to cute and nerdy merchandise. One demographic distinctly lacking in a subscription box that caters to them, however, is fujoshi, or boys love/yaoi fans. Until now! The FUJOBOX (short for “fujoshi box”) recently launched an Indiegogo campaign to set up a subscription service for fujoshi and fudanshi (male BL/yaoi fans), and are looking to bring all kinds of awesome merchandise from series ranging from Free! to Super Lovers to fans worldwide.

Sunday Spotlight: Monstrous Lovers on Indiegogo

5 / 2 / 165 / 2 / 16

Sunday Spotlight has turned out to be a great way to feature fundraising campaigns I wouldn’t have the chance to cover otherwise, so this week (despite it already being Monday in Australia) I’d like to turn your attention toward a BL visual novel on Indiegogo called Monstrous Lovers!

Monstrous Lovers is about a government employee whose job is to ensure the peaceful coexistence between monsters and humans, which of course leads to him falling in love with one of four different monster boys. The game will be made available in both English and Spanish and even include Spanish voiceovers, something you don’t see too often in indie visual novels!

Unfortunately, the Indiegogo campaign finished its initial fundraising period without reaching its goal, so the developers have opted to extend it so that this rad-looking game can get the funding it needs to be made. If you’re a fan of BL or romance visual novels, be sure head over to the Indiegogo page to check out the demo and help this game get over the finish line!

Help BL Game Seiyuu Danshi on Kickstarter!

2 / 18 / 16

Kickstarter has seen a lot of visual novels, and even a few otome games, but BL games have not seen a lot of activity in the crowdfunding department. Luckily for fans of the genre, there’s a new indie BL game in town, Seiyuu Danshi, and they have already met their first Kickstarter goal! But that doesn’t mean they can’t use more help, which is why the developer, Meyaoi Games, asked me to share it with you today.

What I love about Seiyuu Danshi is that it’s a a BL visual novel/dating sim that actually puts the “sim” in dating simulation! You control an up-and-coming voice actor and have the ability to choose what training he goes to, what he should do in his spare time, and even what he wears on dates. These mechanics are very reminiscent of one of my favorite otome game series, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side, but as far as I know have never been coupled with an 18+ BL game (it even has a system called “foreplay mode”). You can check out a demo of the first two weeks of the game, but take it from me, the production quality of Seiyuu Danshi is top notch!

Even if you’re prepared to back Seiyuu Danshi on the premise alone, I highly recommend playing the demo for amusing tidbits like the screenshot above. Meyaoi Games is just a team of two sisters, but the care they put into the current build of the game and the special Kickstarter demo really shows! By bringing the game to Kickstarter, however, they will be able to hire additional team members to assist with updating the art, music, and more.

As mentioned previously, the Kickstarter has already reached a number of its goals, including a stretch goal for voice acting, but there are a lot of interesting stretch goals that it still has room to reach in the remaining month. You can get a digital copy of the game for just $20, so if you need more BL in your life, go check out the demo and show them your support!

Break Chance Memento Holiday Giveaway!

12 / 21 / 1512 / 21 / 15

I am super excited to announce that my second giveaway this month is in partnership with indie game developer Cyanide Tea to give one lucky winner a digital copy of their latest game, Break Chance Memento! This thrilling visual novel features time travel, explorations of family bonds, a brutal serial killer, and even the potential for gay romance to blossom. If that sounds intriguing, you can download the demo for PC, Mac, and Linux over at their itch.io page, and read on for more information on how to score a copy!

To enter, simply complete one or more actions in the Gleam widget below by December 28th at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. The more actions you complete, the more chances you have to win! One random winner will receive download copies of the game for PC, Mac, and Linux redeemable through itch.io. Good luck and happy holidays from Chic Pixel!

Break Chance Memento Giveaway

BL Game Kickstarter Witch Boy Magical Piece Needs Your Help!

10 / 8 / 1510 / 8 / 15

It’s amazing to see how Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms are enabling games such as visual novels to go directly to their audience for funding! The latest in exciting Kickstarters is the boys’ love (BL) visual novel Witch Boy Magical Piece from Sekai Project, which is looking to fund the game’s localization through crowdfunding. With only 10 days left on the clock and still a ways to go to reach its $57,000 goal, I’m going to tell you why this game is awesome and deserves more support!

Demo Impressions: No, Thank You!!! (MangaGamer)

11 / 12 / 149 / 29 / 15

Back in July, MangaGamer announced that they would be releasing two very exciting titles in English – the boys’ love game No, Thank You!!! and otome game OZMAFIA!!. While neither has a firm release date yet (though it looks like they’re aiming for sometime in 2015), No, Thank You!!! now has a rather beefy (pun intended) demo to help gather buzz and allow fans to try before they buy.

The trial edition can be downloaded from the MangaGamer website (the product listing page is very NSFW, so beware before you click) or this blog post if you have trouble creating an account on their site. While the game is for PCs, the game’s translator Haro has posted a tutorial on how to run the game on a Mac (which I myself have done). The demo covers the game’s opening scenario as well as one sex scene for each of the main characters, and will probably take about an hour or so to complete depending on how fast you click through it.

In No, Thank You!!!, you play as the amnesiac protagonist Haru, who takes up a job at an upper-class bar after saving the bar’s owner from being hit by a car (which, subsequently, is how he lost his memories). During his first night on the job, you’re introduced to the five main characters and get a glimpse of the game’s overarching narrative before the game offers you the choice to of whose butt you wish to grab, which then leads into a sex scene with that character taken from later in the game.

The main reason I wanted to check out this demo was to see how the localization fared, and I’m happy to report that I wasn’t disappointed! Haru’s internal monologues are often quite humorous and all of the text flowed really well.

Another pleasant surprise was the fact that text you’ve already read appears in blue – a simple addition, but one that’s really helpful in visual novels when completing multiple character paths. I’m surprised not all companies do this!

Of course, one of No, Thank You!!!‘s big claims to fame is the option to toggle the men’s hair on and off at any time in the game. I’ve never seen a BL game do this before, but it’s great that they’re able to cater to different tastes! I hope more games follow suit in the future.

This doesn’t really sound like sexy fun times to me…

In the interest of being honest, I think it’s important that I also mention a few issues I have with the game so far. Haru is an extremely outgoing protagonist that takes control in all of the sexual encounters in the demo, making him a traditional seme, and nearly all of the sex scenes have some element that makes them not completely consensual. This continues the trend seen in the bar scenes where Haru constantly invades the other characters’ personal space. He often proclaims that he’s engaging in “sexual harassment,” which is a term often used jokingly in Japanese media (and is similarly used for humorous effect here), but personally, I don’t really find a character that is constantly “harassing” everyone to be all that appealing.

Similarly, I would much prefer to see sex scenes where both parties are really enjoying the encounter, rather than the one-sided slant all but Hiroyuki’s takes in the demo. I’m sure the full game sees Haru’s relationship with each character develop to the point where everyone is clearly having fun when they do have sex, but I didn’t really like the way pleasure was depicted as repressed/resentful in the scenes in the demo.

Regardless, I very much want to support the release of more BL games in English, so I will happily pay $39.95 for the game when it does come out. If my impressions have you on the fence, I highly recommend you check out the demo yourself! I would love to hear everyone else’s thoughts.

Japan Envy: Animate Girls Festival 2014 and Real Otome Game

11 / 7 / 149 / 29 / 15

While the rest of the world struggles to grasp how to market niche media to woman (and whether it’s a viable market in the first place), Japan continues to be leagues ahead in catering towards fans who want something a little different than the usual mainstream anime/video game fare. New otome games are released nearly every week, and the success of anime like Free! shows that there is definitely a large market outside the straight male demographic that is more than willing to spend oodles of money on series that make the effort to appeal to them.

As such, it’s no surprise to see events like the Animate Girls Festival, a two day celebration of everything from otome games to BL manga. Taking place on November 8th and 9th in Ikebukuro Sunshine City, the festival is now five years old, and is even hosting a special “Real Otome Game” for attendees to celebrate the occasion!

While there are a variety of events held on the main stage, such as voice actor appearances from series such as Photograph Journey and World Trigger, a Sailor Moon Crystal special event, and even a fashion show from the anime/manga-inspired label Super Groupies, the main draw of AGF is undoubtedly the company booths and wide variety of exclusive merchandise they bring. There’s no way I could possibly cover everything in one post, but here are a few (personal) highlights:

Perhaps one of the biggest figure-related announcements will be the Makoto figma, which Hobbystock plans to unveil at AGF. Fans are hoping to see the preliminary sculpt for Rin’s Altair figure as well, but since there’s been no word on it so far, we’re unlikely to see it at this event. [UPDATE: Turns out Rin was unveiled after all!]

Mink may not be the most popular DRAMAtical Murder character, but his new drama CD will be debuting at the event. You’ve got to admit, the cover art is nice! Nitro+Chiral has a number of other merchandise from their BL games that they’ll be bringing to the event, as well:

I’m most intrigued by these gorgeous tights inspired by Aoba, the protagonist of DRAMAtical Murder! I love the blue to teal gradient. They totally look like something I would actually wear.

There are also these AGF-exclusive merchandise sets that feature the characters of DRAMAtical Murder dressed up as their AllMate familiars. Be sure to head over to Nitro+Chiral’s AGF 2014 site to see the full adorable series!

Broccoli will be touting a new line of themed Uta no Prince-sama merchandise called Shining Circus, which seems to be catering especially to fans who like vests. I’m certainly not complaining! They’ll be selling everything from clear file folders to phone straps and pouches that will likely go for insane prices on the aftermarket following the event. If UtaPri is your thing, you can drool over all the exclusive items on their website.

In addition to more merchandise than you can throw your wallet at, Animate Girls Festival will be holding a “Real Otome Game” in honor of their 5th anniversary! What is a Real Otome Game, exactly? According to their site, attendees can participate in the game, titled Koi suru AGF (Love AGF), by purchasing a game book for 550 yen at the event. By reading through the book and going to different locations depending on how you want the story to progress, you’ll be able to “fall in love” with one of the three characters pictured above, each with two different endings!

While I can’t imagine how busy it will be if there are actual actors playing the men in the game, this sounds like a really fun idea in the vein of the otome game scenario reenactments that were at Tokyo Game Show this year. Hopefully attendees will be able to take photos so us poor souls outside of Japan can see what it’s like! I know I’ll be scouring the AGF2014 hashtag on Twitter throughout the weekend so I can live vicariously through everyone there…