Tag: eroge

To Heart ~Remember my Memories~

To Heart ~Remember my Memories~

I love the [To Heart->] anime. I love that anime so much, that I really wished nothing will get wrong about the new series which is called To Heart ~Remember my Memories~.

Alas, I was wrong.

Being an anime-only fan of To Heart, I can already expect that I may not deserve to say bad things about To Heart ~Remember my Memories~ (hereby named as To Heart R for clarity), clearly because I haven’t even played the entire game nor understood it fully. For the bishoujo game players, To Heart R is a big treat. They get to see the new stories that happen after the original game. To Heart R is not a direct sequel of To Heart, and because of this, I am trying hard to separate them.

Technically, it’s an absolute shame. The art and animation levels are more of a stock market from the first 2/3 of this series. Sometimes good, sometimes horrible. I know that the producers of this anime are trying to make an accurate art rendition of To Heart using the original game’s character designs, and that’s fine with me. However, the massive and radical differences of the designs between each episode really make me sick. The same character in ep. 1 may not ever look the same in other episodes. Thankfully, the latter part of the series have gotten it right, which makes you wonder why they didn’t do it that way from the first time through. Yup, even before Mahou Sensei Negima, anime like To Heart R is already suffering from varying sakuga levels.

The story is, for me, something up for debate. On one hand, it was nice that they had a full forward story approach, as opposed to the filler-ish nature of the first series. On the other hand, one can argue that the series has been too focused on Multi. Multi’s plotlines run deep through every single episode of To Heart R, in that you may think they are really leaving Akari behind, despite her being the main girl. For fans of the iconic HMX-12 robot, To Heart R is a dream come true. For non-fans of Multi, To Heart R became too unfair to the other characters.

The biggest complaint I had with To Heart R is of one character itself, and that’s Hiroyuki. This is really the biggest disappointment that made me want to ask if his attitude is really that way in the original game. To Heart R’s Hiroyuki is the most insensitive, indecisive, and inconsistent bishoujo male lead I’ve ever seen. It’s an extreme reverse to To Heart’s Hiroyuki, the bored but kind male lead. There is a reason for the girls to love Hiroyuki of the original To Heart, because he is really kind and helpful to all of them. To Heart R’s Hiroyuki, yea sure he’s kind too, but I really can’t see it that way. For one, his “cruelty level” to a person is proportional to how close the person is to him. It means that he is somewhat mean to Masashi and Shiho, and to the worst extent, he is really mean to Akari. He is also hot-headed, and shouts a lot, especially when things don’t go his way. He is impolite to the elders he talks to throughout this series.

I really wonder how the To Heart R Hiroyuki made 3 girls in love with him. Yes folks, 3 people confessed to him in this series, as opposed to 0 in the first. And I really hate how he handled their broken hearts. We all know Akari is the main girl, and Hiroyuki is destined to be with Akari. But those 2 other poor girls got the no answer while Hiroyuki is still confused about his priorities, and Akari is being jealous. Therefore, the 2 busted girls didn’t have the chance to to make themselves worthy of Hiroyuki’s affection at all.

I want to say something good this time about To Heart R. Well, the OP and ED are really good. The OP reminds me of classic bishoujo game music, while the ED is a new rendition of a popular To Heart song. There are also multiple cameos of characters from the new bishoujo game To Heart 2, which I liked very much. The voice cast is almost the same as the first series, which is one of the best ingredient of this anime. Back in 1999, many of those seiyuu are already relatively popular. In 2004, the same seiyuu cast made To Heart R one of the most spectacular lineup of voice talents in recent history. I never thought I could see [Yui Horie->horie-yui] and Ayako Kawasumi together in an anime again.

I really want to say many more things about To Heart R, but you may be bored about this absolutely biased rant. Sorry that I am biased towards the original To Heart anime, but that’s my true and honest opinion. To Heart R is actually an ok anime, but because of so many reasons, I can’t find myself to liking it.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Cardmaster Peach

Taken from Comic Party Revolution 9:

Surrender to my moe~ness, or die.

Taken from Comic Party Revolution 8:

mada mada dane

Taken from Comic Party Revolution 5:

Watch out [Sakura-hime->sakura-cosplays-again], there’s another girl referencing your original hoe~moe~ character this season!

Kinda nice, I’ve been waiting for this for years since the original [Comic Party->] anime never featured Mizuki in a cosplay. It even has a henshin (transformation) sequence!

To Heart 2: Last Review

FINAL THOUGHTS
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I’m finished!!! Finally, after almost a month, I finished the Konomi scenario in To Heart 2! I never thought I would.

Anyway, my big hurdle was really the language barrier. Not being able to read the Japanese text, I rely and listen closely at what the voice overs are saying in their dialogue. Technically so many details may be wrong in the entirety of the feature, but as a whole all the things that happened in the scenario gives Konomi her necessary character development.

We see her as a fun, klutzy girl who seems always positive but has her share of down times too. She definitely loves her onee-san Tamaki. She is also somewhat superstitious, and likes to buy and give Takaki some charms and stuff like that. She’s definitely a girl, and seeing her cry after her junior school graduation develops her characteristics of vulnerability as a girl. And of course, her “eheee~” habit makes her as cute-sounding as she is cute-looking.

Of course, the other characters which had their share of character development in this scenario are the siblings Yuji and Tamaki. They are very comic siblings. How they punch each other with words or rather physically ups the comic humor a bit in the game. And Yuji serves as the crossover king, citing references to many of the other Leaf games including no less than the first To Heart.

Which brings me to this subject, a possible major flaw in the structure of To Heart 2. How come that all those girls do not remotely know each other? I know that Yuma and Manaka are friends, but that’s just about it. Other than that, no rapport is seen between the other girls. Why is that? I would have wanted some kind of love triangle plot, or some petty fight issues between the girls. I haven’t played the original To Heart game, but why do the To Heart girls know each other in [both->to-heart] [anime->to-heart-remember-my-memories] series? In fact, they know each other too well you’d think they’re friends already. Is this an anime-only thing? Will we see rapport among the To Heart 2 characters when the anime arrives? I’ll have to see about that. In any case, it is sad that the To Heart 2 girls have little or no relation to each other in this game.

That said, it really seems to be a straight-forward game. Follow one girl, discard the rest. But if you stray away from her scenario, you get the generic bad ending. Seemingly as simple as that. I guess what really matters here is the story rather than the gameplay. You could see yourself idling away with not pushing any buttons for a period of time, since the choices and place directions are few and far between. It isn’t too hard to stray away from a girl’s scenario either. Just pick the choices that attune to the character, and also go to places where you can possibly meet her. To Heart 2 is an easy game.

On to the technical aspects. For a visual novel or bishoujo game, the event CG is rather good. Only in rare instances did I see the character drawings to be inconsistent. If I’m right, there are a total of 227 event CGs in the game. Character and background CGs blend along well. There are a few special graphical effects seen though, like zooming in the characters, but there are lots of screen fading styles employed (if anyone is ever interested in those). The music is great too. Just recently I realized that many tracks in To Heart 2 are actually revivals or remixes of To Heart PSE tracks! This recreates even more the original To Heart feel, but unfortunately I have a “heard first” tendency, so I rather like the To Heart 2 versions more.

By the way, I am playing the Playstation 2 version of To Heart 2. Actually, there will be a PC port of the game soon, possibly featuring new characters and scenarios to the game. I’m thinking that I may update some parts of this project to include some new events in the PC Konomi scenario in the game, if they will exist (and if I get the game of course).

My many thanks to the people who supported this project. To the people to posted a comment, and also to the game players I (annoyed) asked to help me on this project. Thank you very much!

Well, until the anime or the PC version comes, I officially declare this project… COMPLETE!

Air TV

Air

The days which are wrapped in the scene of summer and to pass gently
An encounter with the girls repeated in the sunlight
Summer continues to where as well
She is waiting in the air…

One of the best bishoujo game based anime ever made. And for good reason.

Made by [Key->], which also made [Kanon->] (a historical landmark in bishoujo games), Air continues on the tradition of a visual novel, where the player makes some game choices, and the rest is reading and enjoying the visuals and sound. Air is one of the most popular bishoujo game titles. In fact, it’s one of the longest during its time, and gamers are pulled into this world with magnificent settings, lovable characters and incredibly good storytelling. The original concept and story of this title is very dramatic. People who don’t know too much about bishoujo games would immediately classify them as adult-only games (because of certain content), but as I’ve said so many times, some of their stories can even rival those of actual literary novels. Air wins because of its intricate character development and storytelling. Basically, to see is to believe, so I won’t even spoil one bit of the story to you. Besides, you’ll probably be initially attracted to it anyway because of the incredible visuals.

And hell are the visuals so incredible. DVD format is seemingly not enough because the original HDTV broadcasts of this anime are really crisp and amazing. CG-like visuals, backgrounds, and character animation that pays attention to detail. And the simple beauty of all the characters really shine in this anime. It’s one of the best animations to come out on TV, that even OVAs and movies are having a hard time to compete with. What’s better is that there is no noticeable quality loss in any episode. This anime helped Kyoto Animation’s reputation as a powerful animation company in terms of having that wow-factor.

And not only the visuals, the direction of this anime is superb. Usually animators are having a hard time translating a game like this into anime. One reason is that some games have too many multiple paths and endings. Furthermore, to compress an entire visual novel into 13-26 episodes is a hard job. I guess it’s kinda lucky that Air’s story in the game takes a little bit more linear approach. The animators capitalized on that, and in effect, the anime stayed very true to its original game roots. It’s like having a direct manga-to-anime translation, only that it is a game-to-anime one. Fans are quite happy with that, especially when you have amazingly nice scenes to animate. Air has so many funny, happy and dramatic scenes that lifted all of human emotions.

The music is the same. This is quite a surprise, mostly because it wasn’t done before. Air the anime uses the original game soundtrack, and nothing else. It further recreates the feel of the game that way. The songs here, which are made by I’ve Sound, are some of the best I have heard from them, and it clearly complements the story through its lyrics. The seiyuu are composed of some prolific ones and some of my favorites. They make the characters come to life with their excellent voice acting.

The only thing bad about this is that it has to end someday, and seemingly 13 episodes (and 2 more upcoming in a few months) are not enough. But if you had watched it, it would be one of eternal memories. How good is Air? Well, let’s compare it to the real, actual air. It’s there, you breathe it, but you take it for granted. Like that, Air is one anime that may probably be ignored by some, but is actually something special.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Popotan

Popotan

My…

On the surface it may be just a very boring bishoujo game-based anime full of nekkid bodies of the megane-ko onee-chan, a spunky girl-next-door, and a Komugi-chan-type cute little girl. Oh, also add in a cool/quiet Maid-san and a white pet-creature. Yup, Popotan addresses the needs of almost any type of moe~ complexed boys. On the surface you might find nothing but skin skin skin. It’s the most fanservice-ful anime around, but with very little ecchi to complement that. But despite all the ‘naked truths’ in the surface, I am impressed with the story structure.

The three sisters, a maid, and a pet travel across time and space… along with their house. They go to stay on that specific area for a few days, then ‘magically’ disappear again to another time and/or place. The main dilemma? They meet people, make friends with them, but because they are always ‘travelling’, they leave their newfound friends behind too quickly. Aside from that dilemma, they are trying to search for ‘someone’ as they travel, and they ask the ‘popotan’ (popotan~=tanpopo=dandelions) if the person is in that particular area. Yup, they can talk to flowers, and they also have some magical powers but they were never used too much in the anime. Anyway, the plot thickens when they start returning to the places they’ve already been to, but in a future time. The friends who were left behind, what would be their reaction to their abysmal return? And when they find that ‘person’, can they find the answers they were looking for? All of these combine to provide a very coherent plot full of drama. Yup, behind all the comedy lies beautiful drama. If Kokoro Library were ecchi it would be Popotan. That’s saying how nice the execution of this anime is.

The screencaps show only one of the sisters, Mai (the sisters together are ridiculously named Ai, Mai, and Mii, ring a bell?), because she’s the only one worth mentioning. She has the best personality in this anime, and she has the best stories (not to mention multiple episode counts dedicated to her). I like spunky girl-next-door types in anime (Mako from Da Capo also comes into mind), because they feature a more realistic female character viewpoint. Many other anime girls are very stereotyped and cliche.

So in summary, you would be in for a pleasant surprise when you watch Popotan. It is not as shallow an anime as you may think in the surface.

ANIMEME ALERT!
The opening video of this anime included a rather cute dance by Mai and Mii, which spawned the [Caramelldansen->http://bluemist.animeblogger.net/archives/animeme-caramelldansen/] meme.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

To Heart

To Heart

Best bishoujo-game based anime series… EVER! That is just my opinion, but watch it and you’ll see how absolutely well-executed this anime is.

Ok, it’s a typical bishoujo story. One main guy, one main girl, many other girls. Classic bishoujo harem… NO WAY! Even with the cliched setup, it breaks all other bishoujo rules. Unlike all other animes of the same kind, To Heart focuses on the main girl, Akari, instead of the main guy Hiroyuki. By looking at it from a girl’s viewpoint, the anime becomes suddenly shoujo in style. Moreover, the anime has a slow-paced slice-of-life theme. Think Haibane Renmei and Kokoro Library. It’s not a disadvantage, it is the most unique setup for a bishoujo game based anime isn’t it? The art and animation is absolutely OVA-style, even though it’s an 13-episode anime series. It astounds me to look at how many frames of animation they did for this, the characters’ movement is very fluid, and is also absolutely beautiful (a definite for a bishoujo game based anime). Plus, the soundtrack/BGM is the best I have EVER heard.

Okay the main guy is quite dorky, just like the rest of the bunch like him, but this dork has a very kind attitude. He may appear boring but he has that ‘something’ that attracts girls to like him (not romantically, but as a friend). Many episodes of To Heart focus on one girl and how Hiroyuki managed to touch her heart by being her friend. Do not count Akari out though, she is very instrumental and influential to Hiroyuki. Sometimes she makes the move to talk to Hiroyuki and let him understand other girls’ feelings and dilemmas. Even the supporting characters Shiho and Masashi as well. This is an anime that is not so much of a romance or love. It’s all about ‘friendship’, and slice-of-life. This makes it so interesting to watch.

Enough talk, this anime has been licensed recently. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a ‘heart’ for great anime like these.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Wind -a breath of heart-

Wind -a breath of heart-

This is so convoluted it’s scary.
I was expecting this anime to be the hit bishoujo game conversion of the year. It might not be what I expected, it does have its merits. Firstly, it broke typicalities by focusing the plot not on the promise-type girl, 1st pic), but on the city they live in, Kazunecity. In their city each person has some kind of magical power. The story thickens when the main character starts to discover the history of Kazunecity, as well as some shocking surprises that lead up to this. This city is actually related to the mysterious-type girl (2nd and 3rd pic), as she kind of protects the city and the magical powers of it. You may think she battles monsters with that sword, but not quite, and the way she protects the city with it is very shocking too. Unfortunately, even with this beautiful plot, the 12-minute/episode, 13 episode format clearly is not enough, and it is evident near the end. So many scenes and events were seemingly cut, you may think there are DVD-only episodes (yes there are, YAY!). So my final stand is still pending because I have to watch the rest.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

Hanihani: Operation Sanctuary

Hanihani: Operation Sanctuary

This is so typical it’s scary.
We have a bunch of bishoujo girl types here, like a childhood friend-type (1st pic), then a fallen-angel type (2nd-3rd pic), then a nosy cousin, a shy flower-lover, a small sensei (ala Sensei no Ojikan), and a sensei doctor. Have I forgotten anyone else? They are so forgettable. Anyway do we have a plot? At least we have some kind of conspiracy about the male lead himself. It’s a quite simple story about the side-effects of time travel, but since the rest of the series seems so ‘normal’ adding up this little sci-fi at the end doesn’t really match. In any case, this is typical bishoujo anime. Not bad, not too good either.

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This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature

To Heart 2 Review (Part 7)

Review Coverage: April 25 to 27, True and Alternate Ending

The end is here!

April 25
The entire Sunday has passed with Konomi still in the house. At night, she’s about to go home, but first she tries to confess to Takaki. Well not quite yet.

April 26
Konomi picks Takaki up again in his house in the morning. After class, they go home together again. She seems to have a problem with some sort of practice. Takaki volunteers to help her, so that made her happy. Along they way, she tries to confess again, but she fails again.

April 27
This is the final fateful day. After class, we see Takaki, Konomi, Tamaki and Yuji together. The boys react on how how the weather is. Konomi suggests that they eat ice cream. Everyone agrees and so they go to the cafe. While Tamaki and Konomi gets to buy everyone the ice cream, Konomi’s two friends arrive! It seems that they know about the sleepover events, and so they tease Takaki again about Konomi. On Konomi’s back, Takaki reacts rather badly, saying that she’s really just no more than a childhood friend, or a little sister. Actually, Konomi hears the conversation. She starts getting nervous, and was about to cry, and so she fled and went home. Takaki tries to follow her, but she first gets stopped by Tamaki. Tamaki now becomes his second conscience. So she tries to let Takaki realize his true feelings for Konomi. Is she just a childhood friend to him? Or a potential lover? Tamaki gave Takaki two choices:

I see her as a girl.

I see her as just a childhood friend.

The To Heart 2 game player now has a choice that leads to two different endings.

It’s better for you to go to the page instead of me summarizing the two endings, so anyway go to each ending to find out!

To Heart 2: True Ending

To Heart 2: Alternate Ending

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