Kyoukai no Shirayuki was my most anticipated game of the year, so I’m really excited to finally share it with you! As a dark otome game loosely based on aspects of Snow White with art by Kinako (Gatchaman Crowds), it ticks all the boxes for me. But since I can be incredibly slow to actually finish things, I thought it would be fun to share my first impressions of the game after finishing Saji Kakeya’s route!
Level-5 announced that it is venturing into the realm of otome games with Otome Yūsha, or Otome Hero, slated to release on iOS and Android this winter! The game is being builded as an otome RPG, with players will take on the role of a female hero accompanied by 24 male warriors of various fantasy races known as “slayers.” It is planned to be the beginning of a cross-media franchise, which will include books and an anime! 
According to the official website, players can choose three slayers to go into battle, and while battles will be automated, you will be able to support the slayers with items and skills. By choosing a favorite character, you will also be able to read through their story, which of course involves some romance!
Perhaps the biggest draw of Otome Hero for otome game fans is that the character designs are all done by Kurahana Chinatsu, who is most famous for her work Uta no Prince-sama. You can see her designs in action in the official trailer, featuring animation by A-1 Pictures (which also worked on the Uta no Prince-sama anime):
While the game has only been announced for Japan so far, Level-5 has submitted trademarks for both Otomé HERO and Otmé HERO in Europe, suggesting an English release may be in the future. Here’s hoping!
I don’t normally advocate for people to sign video game-related petitions, because frankly they’re often rather silly requests, but Tei Kamiya’s Change.org petition to have Kenka Bancho Otome localized is not only a worthy cause, it’s also not entirely impossible. Developer Spike Chunsoft has mentioned on multiple occasions that they will consider localizing the game if there’s enough interest, so it’s time to make our voices heard!
I had no idea going into this year’s Anime Expo that Aksys Games would announce not one, but four otome games localizations, but here we are! With Idea Factory International’s silence after releasing Amnesia: Memories, it wasn’t clear if and when we would see more Otomate games in English, but luckily Aksys Games has shown they value this market by showering fans with game announcements. And I couldn’t be happier!
[Update] Period Cube and Collar x Malice are available on Amazon!
Scheduled to release in 2017 for PS Vita in North America are Period Cube, Bad Apple Wars, Collar x Malice. In addition, the Code: Realize fan disc will also be getting an English release. Since Aksys Games already brought over Code: Realize last year, it makes sense that they would release the fan disc (not quite a sequel, but rather extra content for fans of the original game), but all of these other titles came as a complete surprise!
[Update] Apparently Aksys Games also stated during their Anime Expo 2016 panel that they are trying to release Hakuouki: Sweet School Life, the Hakuoki AU spinoff game set in a Japanese high school, as well.
Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ is one of my favorite recent otome games, and while the cast is full of great characters, I have a soft spot for the goofy inventor Impey Barbicane. My affection for him is largely due to his voice actor, Showtaro Morikubo, recently becoming a favorite of mine when I fell in love with his portrayal of Makishima in Yowamushi Pedal, but I will admit that personality-wise, I’m slightly more partial to suave yet sassy characters like Lupin (sorry Impey!). Regardless, I was beyond thrilled when I found out that flowermiko had purchased me a copy of Impey’s new character CD to review for the site!
It’s been ages since I did a haul post! Today I’d like to share some items I ordered from Amazon Japan via Tenso. Ever since I started using the Tenso forwarding service last year, I’ve been completely hooked on ordering obscure items from Amazon Japan! But since the cost can add up very quickly, I have to save my purchases for special orders. But enough talk, here’s what I got!
I’ve recently become rather obsessed with Morikubo Showtaro, who is the voice behind one of my favorite anime characters in recent years, Makishima Yuusuke from Yowamushi Pedal. After I found he also voiced Impey from otome game Code: Realize, who also happens to be another personal favorite, I decided it would be my personal mission to seek out other things he’s been involved in.
My latest acquisition is this drama CD from the Nade Nade CD series, which features none other than Morikubo Showtaro. I don’t actually know much about this series aside from the fact that it doesn’t actually feature guys playing with cats – rather, the “nade nade” refers to the listener being comforted by the character in a similar manner to a cat being petted. I’m still game for that!
(Note that CDs can generally be shipped internationally from Amazon Japan without a forwarding service, but some are restricted to Japan only or only available through third party sellers that don’t ship outside of Japan. What a pain!)
Next we have an otome game, because I can never have too many games in my backlog! Musketeer is, as the title suggests, based on The Three Musketeers, except in this version d’Artagnan is a girl. Of course, that means lots of opportunities to romance handsome dudes! I just couldn’t resist the gorgeous art, and second hand copies only cost about $15.
I’m pretty sure I can’t do a haul post without including at least one Pokémon item! Well, this time around I have a whopping three Pokémon items, the first of which being this Pokémon Time melamine plate that is only available through Pokémon Centers. I have a small nerdy melamine plate collection going, and they happen to make great backdrops for photos, and I just couldn’t resist this adorable pattern! More Pokémon Time merchandise, please!
Next is this drop dead adorable plush Sylveon keychain from the PokéNeco Dolce series. I think this series pretty much perfectly hits all of my favorite aesthetic notes: pink, frilly, and cute! For such a small plush, this has really amazing detail. Here’s a closer look:
Those lashes! That striped bow detail! I die!
Finally, after extensive pining, I added just one more item from the PokéNeko Dolce series to my Amazon Japan Tenso order: this masking tape set. I just love using masking tape to decorate my notebooks and letters, so I can pretty much never have too many! I didn’t expect one of the tapes to be thicker than the other, but it was a welcome surprise since I don’t have any other tapes in the same size.
Well, there you have it, my latest Amazon Japan (via Tenso) haul! Let me know if you like these kind of haul posts so I know to do more in the future!
It seems like May is turning out to be an interesting month for surprise game localization announcments! First, we got Kuma Tomo coming out as Teddy Together in Europe, and now we have a very stealth announcement for an upcoming otome game release, Taisho Alice!
The news was unceremoniously unveiled back on May 7th by way of a Facebook post from publisher E2 Gaming, who announced they had secured the rights to a new theme song by Mardelas for the game. The post included an image with a brief description of Taisho Alice, and E2 confirmed in the comments that they were indeed localizing the game. They later elaborated in another Facebook comment that they are currently looking at a PC release, though the game is also slated to release on Vita next month in Japan.