Overall score: 8/10

Genre:

Drama, action, mech, spider moe

Plot summary:

Armors possessed by souls – Tsurugi. Those who clad themselves in the world’s strongest weapon are called Musha, and they earn the power to fly through the sky and cut through steel.

In the far eastern island country of Yamato governed by the Rokuhara Shogunate is a rumor of a Musha clad in a silver Tsurugi. Musha Ginseigou continues indiscriminate massacres. The fear of the devil who slaughters everyone slowly spreads throughout the country.

One Musha stands up to Ginseigou. The man who clads himself in a bloody-red Tsurugi follows after Ginseigou and slays evil governors and serial killers on the way. But he does not take on the name of justice. It is because the Tsurugi he wears is Muramasa, a cursed Tsurugi that once turned Yamato into hell.

–This is not a story of a hero. Ones who aspire to be a hero are unnecessary.

*Play time: 50+ hours total

Story: 8/10

The story is mostly dark and heavy with occasional serious comedy. There are lots of actions too as expected from Nitro+. The story revolves around one central theme and different routes show different aspects of the theme.
First, the good things. The story has a good tempo, in that it keeps the story interesting and constantly makes you want to know what happens next. The consistent theme throughout the game makes the writer’s intent clear and I like how it never deviated away from it. There were lots of meaningful characters and I liked the protag, especially in the ******** route.
Next, the bad things. The writing had a really bad tempo, in that it was waaaaay overly descriptive. I think saying that he’s like Nasu (F/SN) is a good description. This game could’ve been written in half the length if he tried. The game was too long, too (longer =/= better). Also, the puzzles and the search choices were annoying and they just took away from the awesome storytelling.
One thing I noticed was that the on-ground battles were so much better written than the in-air battles. It makes me wonder why the writer gave mechs flying abilities and a premise that mechs fight in the air…

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics were cool. Most of the CGs were concentrated in the action scenes (since most scenes were actions anyway), and there are lots of Tsurugi (mech) CGs. The drawing is good, and the CGs match the game. However, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in some of the mech CGs since a lot of the colors blend together. The standing sprites are good, but I wish there was more variation to it. Also, I think the movie cut-ins were unnecessary.

Music: 8/10

The BGMs were beautiful and they really added value to the game. The softer BGMs were especially good, and I love 輪舞 and 森奥の風. The battle BGMs are awesome as well, but I got a bit tired of them since the same ones were played over and over again (and it didn’t help that there were action scenes one after another). The vocal songs are decent, but not anything I want to listen by themselves.

System: 3/10

Options available from title are Tsurugi (mech) viewer, movie viewer, music mode, CG mode, and recollection mode. I’m happy with these extras and there isn’t anything else I want.
From in-game, there are moniter options, voice volume, SE volume, BGM volume, game speed, message speed, and auto mode settings. The in-game settings have minimal functions, and I would’ve liked a bit more options I could change, especially to speed the game up.
Maybe it was my computer, but the game ran slow and heavy. The skip functions in the game were ridiculously slow that it was annoying. And unskippable ending scroll was annoying after the first end.

Ero: 2/10

The art is good, but the text and the situation really ruined it for me. There is a total of 10 Hscenes, with 1 scene for each girl except for one (who has 2 scenes). Almost half of them were rape (not by the protag), and I hated these scenes. The only good thing about it was that they were short. The normal Hscenes were short too, and most of them were forced by one partner and weren’t enjoyable either.

Overall: 8/10

The game is good. It has a consistent theme, intense battles, decent comedy, and a very detailed world. However… Even though I don’t know what it is, something about it is keeping me from calling it a masterpiece. It may be because of lack of a “grand finale” feeling after playing the game…

Recommended for: People who like themed story, people who like dark stories, people who like action, and people who like descriptive narratives.
Not recommended for: People who want moe, people who don’t like depressing stories, people who don’t want to read long stories, and people who want happy endings.

……
…Since this is too short a post, I’ll post a few more of my favorite videos from nico.

Konnyaku mad (amv): http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1723758

Sister Angel PV: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13576

Greensvale no mori no naka, OP + omake movie (watch the omake): http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8112

Most exciting fight to watch imo (Don vs Takayama): http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1291376

I don’t need great specs, so if anyone knows of good cheap laptops, please tell me!
So far, this is the best (price) I’ve found.

Overall score: 7.5/10

Genre:

Ero, more ero, even more ero… and slice of life

Plot summary:

The only son of the world-famous Honda zaibatsu, Honda Rei.
His mother, a genius scientist, and his father, an international actor, are running all over the world, but he leads a peaceful life at the school with his sister-in-law, beautiful college student who’s watching over them, and their childhood friends. The school they go to is a super glamorous school, and most of the students there are sons and daughters of wealthy people.
But there are children from common families that attend there as scholarship students.
One day, Rei saves one of these students, Kusunoki Miu, and gets much closer to her.
Then, a turning point in his life arrives.
A traditional event at their school is unlike a normal school festival because included in it is a dance event involving all of the school. And the main stars of the dance are the “prince” and the “princess”, the MVP of that school year.
They not only receive the honor, but the legend also has it that the two would become engaged and live happily ever after.
Rei is chosen as the prince as a matter of course.
But the selection of the princess is a different matter.
The chairman of the school tells him that he is in charge of selecting the princess.
Who will he choose as the princess…?
We invite you to this glamorous, erotic, and moe dance!

*Play time: About 20 hours total

Story: 3/10

Let’s face it. This is a nukige (ero/sex-oriented game), so there isn’t much story. The story goes between slice of life and ero, and the actual story isn’t deep at all. The balance of ero and everything else is good (unlike Wanko where the Hscenes attack you at once) and they are spread out throughout the game, but you still get an Hscene every 10 minutes. The protag is perfect, except in Hscenes when his personality changes.
First, let’s go over the negatives of the story. All the heroines are in love with him from the start of the game, so there’s not really any development. The heroine routes are bland, short, and simple. The sub-heroine routes are much much much shorter, and they exist only for the Hscenes. Actually, it’s so short that it’s kinda funny.
However, this is a nukige, so you shouldn’t be playing this for the story or expect anything much from it. Seeing this as a nukige, the story does show decent slice of life and lots of moe to compliment the ero pretty well.
Still, the story is almost nonexistent.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphic is awesome (the artist also did Kanojo*Kanojo*Kanojo). The art and the coloring are wonderful, and the CGs are just beautiful. About 90% of the CGs are ero-related, but that’s to be expected from an ero-oriented game. The standing sprites are very nice as well, and the deformed characters are pretty cute, too (done by a different artist). The only complaint I have is Kyouka’s character design. Big boobs are good, but man, those are just too big…

Music: 6/10

The music’s good. They’re classy, and do set up the mood nicely. But none of them are memorable, so I really don’t have much to comment…
The opening vocal song is surprisingly decent.

System: 5/10

From the title screen, you can go to CG mode, recollection mode, music mode, and OP movie playback. In-game options include window mode, on/off for different kinds of effects, right-click function, SE/BGM/voice volumes, option to keep voice after mouse click, and font. There is one really annoying thing where you can’t right click out of a CG in CG mode until you see all of the differences in the CG (some have 10 or more and can get really annoying). Everything else is fine, though.

Imouto: 8/10

The imouto (younger sister) in this game is awesome. She only appears as a tsun tsun b*tch in other routes, but the dere dere in her route is a must-see. It’s great how an embarrassed imouto tries to seduce the protag because she loves him so much. She tries to act tsuntsun, but is so weak again surprise and straightforward affection from the protag. Since she’s so tsuntsun all the time, the moment she turns honest is so great. The route is just full of love, love, love, and you’ll vomit sugar because it’s so sweet. IMOUTO MOE!!!

Ero: 8/10

Finally a game that scores really high in the ero category! The game has a lot of awesome Hscenes. There are 6-9 scenes for each of the 5 heroines, 3 harem scenes, and one Hscene (without actual intercourse) for each subcharacter (I see a fandisc coming a mile away). Most scenes are pretty normal, but there are stuff like anal, video taping, SM, etc… Some are just freaking weird, like having sex while the girl is captured by a snake. Anyway… The protag’s personality changes during the Hscene and he loves to tease girls during the Hscenes. He also apparantly has a magical dick that lets him keep going and going and going (he will usually cum 3-8 times during an Hscene). If you plan to whack off once for every time the protag cums, I suggest you take viagra or play one Hscene over a course of a week.
The girls are really moe, and the art is the best part about the scenes. The text is good, too.
However, there were a few things I did not like. First, I didn’t like the protag during the Hscenes. Wish he was nicer, but that may just be my preference. Second, like any nukige, things are so convenient during the Hscenes. I mean, how can nobody hear you or see you when you have sex in a restaurant? Lastly, the Hscenes started too early. I know this game is all about ero, but still, I don’t like how most of the heroines at least gave him a blowjob during the common route (before he started going out with one girl).
If you can ignore all the convenient stuff, the Hscenes in this game are great.

Overall: 7.5/10

Since this is a nukige, this score is almost purely based off of the ero . Buy this game for the ero, and not for anything else since everything beside the ero is supplementary. It’s the kind of game you will never buy if it was an all-ages version.
Recommended for: People who want ero, people who want moe, people who want pretty pictures, and people who want ero. Oh, did I mention this game is for people who want ero?
Not recommended for: People who want a good story, people who want to connect to the protag, and people who hate convenient plot.

Overall score: 5/10

Genre:

Action, drama

Plot summary:

This game contains several side stories from Muv-Luv Alternative and Unlimited, plus some extra stuff.
The whole game contains:

• Muv-Luv Unlimited “THE DAY AFTER”
• Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles “CHICKEN DIVERS”
• Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles “RAIN DANCERS
• CG mode
• Radio Total Eclipse Expedition
• Special Videos (PVs, commercials, etc)
• Wallpaper
• Extras (trial and april fools joke archive)
• Omake Hscene

*Play time: About 5-10 hours total.

Story: 7/10

Overall, it was waaaay too short, but the actions were freaking awesome. I’ll write a short review for each of the 3 main stories.

The Day After: 4-5 hours
It’s a story of a certain group of people in the world after what happened in the end of Muv-Luv Unlimited (spoiler: after Alternative V and Operation Babylon).
This story is the main content of this game. The story was interesting, but it had really bad tempo and too much talking until the final battle scene. The action scene was awesome, and there was a LOT of vulgar language. One thing I hated was how it cut out the end… I wanted to see all that happened after she left. The story stopped at a good place, but it was also a cliffhanger. AND DAMN, NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR MORE.

Chicken divers: <1 hour
It's a story of orbital divers during the Sadogashima Hive attack.
The story concentrates on his mentality during the orbit until landing. It's nice, but way too short and lacking in action. It's also sad because I knew their fate already.

Rain dancers: <1 hour
It's a story about a girl fighting to take back her homeland.
There's couple talking scenes and one small fight scene. Again, it was to short, and I think there was too much quoting with references I did not get. Kicking BETA in the face was awesome, though.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics are nice. Mechs are cool and girls are decent (Mel is awesome, though). Expect the same art level as in Muv-Luv Alternative. There aren’t many CGs, but I guess that’s to be expected from a game of this length. What makes it great is the effect usage with the CGs and age does a really good job with this.

Music: 8/10

The music is the same as in Alternative. There’s no new BGMs and they just reused the old ones, but I think it was a good choice since the music in Alternative was pure awesomeness. However, there’s no music mode so I can’t readily enjoy them. And I didn’t like the vocal song or the OP video…

System: 3/10

The system is just like in Alternative, but it’s slightly better because there’s a CG mode now. That’s the only thing from the title screen. From in-game, you can change text speed, font, volumes, keep voice until next voice, and window mode.
The old faults remain such as not being able to right click out of text log or when looking at individual CGs in CG mode. Some scenes force you to be on auto-read when I didn’t see any need for it.

Effect: 10/10

Effects are equal to, if not better than in Alternative. It’s just, wow.
I’ll just copypaste what I have for Muv-Luv Alternative because I’m lazy it says exactly what I want to say:
“The effects are awesome. The effect move character sprites all over the screen and it makes it seem closer to a movie than standstill pictures. The effects really come to life in the fighting scenes. The effects in cockpit are great as well. It helps that the screen is wider than normal eroge. It’s hard to describe, but you’ll see once you actually play the game. It even makes fate/stay night look boring in comparison. I don’t think any other game has as good an effect as Alternative. Again, the only downside is that some scenes force you to be on slow autoread.”

Ero: 0/10

WHAT THE F*CK. I mean, what the f*cking f*ck.
There is only one Hscene in the entire game, and it was just an extra added in. It was absolutely not needed at all. I just don’t see why they chose to personify a BETA instead of using some other girl in the game (Mel Hscene would’ve been so awesome). The girl wasn’t hot and the scene itself was just abnormal. It’s not useful at all, and it makes me wonder why they even put the scene in there.

Overall: 5/10

It’s a good game, but the stories are just too short and I hate how THE DAY AFTER leaves you hanging. This game feels more like a fandisc even though it has full eroge price. I have to cut some points because I just don’t think the game was worth the price (It’s probably a 7 or 8 if it was much cheaper or longer).

Recommended for: People who want action, people who want military stuff, people who like mechs, and people who like side stories and extra stuff.
Not recommended for: People who want long stories, people who want their money’s worth, people who don’t want bad tempo, and people who want the story to have a definite end.

Overall score: 7/10

Genre:

RPG, comedy

Plot summary:

A perverted adventurer called Darks reached the very end of an underground dungeon called “the Forest of the Demon King” and lost against the Demon King (well, queen, technically). Since she saved him from dying, he decides to serve the slightly kind Demon King.
He has 2 goals.
To establish his position in the Demon Army and serve the Demon King.
And to fight off the women who come attacking him because he serves the Demon King, and violate them instead (his sexual propensity is slightly twisted).
The main protagonist, Darks, now enters the dungeon he used to attack to defend against the attacking adventurers.

Play time: 10-30 hours, depending on your play style.

Story: 3/10

What story?
…Okay, that’s too short. Basically, you try to climb the ranks in the Demon Army. The initial setting is great because it gets you interested and makes you want to obtain higher ranking. However, you soon find out that it does almost nothing storywise, and the story progresses in a boring way. The first half of the story concentrates on defeating characters who come after him, and the turn in the story in the later half isn’t that exciting. The problem is that the text is too short and never goes too much into detail, and the characters are so shallow that you don’t remember half the names that are being referred to. However, this is what you expect from Softhouse Chara games (light story without much depth), so I wasn’t too disappointed because I was ready for it. The text does have decent comedy.

Gameplay: 7/10

This is a 3D dungeon-crawling RPG (imagine Rance6 or Wizardry). Go follow the getchu link above for some screenshots of the game to see what it’s like. You basically buy equipments, hire monsters, select missions, and crawl the dungeon to complete missions. The battles are turn based and everyone beside you is controlled by the AI.
The game really sucks you in at the beginning because it’s so fun to try different things and build up your equipment/army/skills. It’s also hard at the beginning because the enemies in the first dungeon are almost impossible to beat with what you have initially. You have to complete missions that don’t require fighting, build up stuff, and go on from there. That’s the fun part. But then, it starts getting repetitive really fast because the missions are all similar and you get so strong that battles begin to be just clicking and no thinking.
There are many player-unfriendly features in this game. First, there are too many dungeons. They’re all similar, so there’s no point in having so many floors of dungeons, and it gets painful trying to uncover the map of new floors later in the game. Second, the mapping feature is really bad. The map doesn’t show treasure chests, hidden doors, signs on floor, or traps EVEN IF you’ve discovered them. And it really sucks that map data doesn’t get carried over to the next game (if you do decide to play another run…). Which leads to the next point that the game doesn’t encourage a second playthrough that much like in previous Softhouse Chara games. The only thing you can carry over are monsters, and you can’t carry over money, items, map data, or anything else. And the game only has one ending with no character routes, so you can complete it in one playthrough. There’s nothing for perfectionist (like item completion list or such), so there’s no motivation to keep playing.
Even with all the downside, it was fun enough to keep me playing nonstop until the ending.

Graphics: 5/10

Graphics is good. The character sprites in dungeon look decent, and the standing sprites look okay. The CGs have good art with nice coloring (although 90% of the CGs are HCGs…). The only bad thing is that some characters have really bad character designs, so it makes everything about them look bad.

Music: 5/10

Town/living quarter BGMs are very upbeat while dungeon BGMs are more on the exciting side. They do help build the atmosphere, but nothing more. None of the BGMs will catch your attention or stay in your memory. The OP song was surprisingly good for Softhouse Chara game, but it’s still only decent at best. And the game has no omake movie like the previous games… Too bad the person who made it left the company. The omake movie was one of the best parts of Softhouse Chara games.

System: 4/10

The extras accessible from the title screen open up AFTER you beat the game once, but by that point, you most likely will no longer be booting the game. But from the title screen, you can pick music mode, CG mode, Hscene recollection mode, omake (joke) scenarios, and hints for the game (yes, this comes out AFTER you beat the game). In-game options include window mode, text speed, effect speed, right click function, 3D dungeon gamma, and volumes. I wish there were options to cut off effects and voices, and a function to really speed up battles would have helped (ctrl doesn’t help much).
The biggest problem in the game is that it takes too many clicks to do everything. An example would be saving: save, choose slot, save here, yes I want to overwrite data.

Ero: 3/10

The Hscenes are just what you expect from Softhouse Chara. Half are happy rape (if there is such a thing…) and other half is normal sex. Most scenes are very, very short with 1 CG. The main girls have tons of Hscenes (although most tend to be really short) while other girls have one to few Hscenes each. Since the scenes are short, they can’t really get that good. The text isn’t that interesting and it’s a bummer since the CGs are pretty good.

Overall: 7/10

This game had good potential, but it was missing too much stuff to make it an awesome game. It’s good at first to keep you busy for a night, then forces you to grind through the second half because you’ve started the game, then there’s no motivation to go on a second run after you finish it once. It’s a good game to play if you want to pass time.
Recommended for: People who want simple gameplay, people who want a light story, and people who want initial challenge.
Not recommended for: People who want an awesome story, people who want ero, and people who like deep characters.

Overall score: 9.5/10

Genre:

Action, comedy, drama, slice of life

Plot summary:

We spent the days among a casual group of friends, not knowing how precious these days were.
The second-year student of the Kawakami Academy, Naoe Yamato, had valuable friends.
Four boys and three girls. They’ve grown up together, doing silly things since they were small.
Many things happened, but they’re all still friends. It’s a comfortable atmosphere.
Two new members join the group, and their world gets even more rowdy.
All the girls in the group know martial arts and have samurai blood.
Don’t lose against the gallant girls, boys.
April, 2009. The story begins to move…

*Play time: About 30-40 hours?

Characters:

(from left to right in the pic above)
Yukie (Mayucchi): Reserved, kind girl. She wants to make friends really bad.
Miyako: Quiet, cool type. Only cares about the group members. Loves Yamato.
Momoyo: Honest and strong. Older sister type. Teases everyone.
Kazuko (Wanko): Energetic girl who always trains. Doggy type.
Chris: Serious, stubborn girl. A big tsundere.

Story: 9/10

The game is about a group of friends and their school life, with more in-depth story in each of the girl’s route. However, this isn’t an ordinary group of people since the girls are all fighters. The school isn’t ordinary either since battles and fights are permitted, so there’s a lot of action scenes in this game.
The story of this game is awesome. The game will give you laughs, tears, and everything else. It has a very good tempo, and the atmosphere within the game is great. The characters come alive, and every one of them is well-made. All the routes are good with hot battles in each one of them. The best thing in this game is the comedy, and the abundant parodies make the comedy top-notch. The game is really, really long, but the atmosphere is so good that you still want more even after you’re done playing the game.
The only complaint about the story is nothing to write home about and no part of it blows you away. And the battle scenes could have been better.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are really good. There are more than enough CGs with 90 CGs in the game without counting minor differences within CGs. The standing sprites are well done, with lots of variations for the main characters. Together with the effects, it really brings out the best in this game. I think the art matches the story, and the CGs are placed effectively as well.

Music: 7/10

There are a lot of BGMs in this game (around 50). All the songs were quite good, and none of them got too quiet or loud during the game. There are quite a few really good and memorable songs in there. The only downside is that the vocal songs aren’t that good.

System: 10/10

The perfect Giga system is in place. There’s nothing more you can ask for.
From the title screen, you have tutorial, CG mode, music mode, Hscene recollection, after story, and event selection mode. In-game, you can pretty much change everything. Some things you can change are window mode, text speed, text colors, joypad and key config, volumes, voice on/off for each character, not to stop voice with mouse click, and effect speed.
One complaint I have is that the event mode doesn’t cover all the events. Although, this can be solved by saving during the actual game…

Ero: 7/10

The Hscenes are surprisingly(?) good. Each heroine gets at least 3 scenes, the sub-heroines get 1 scene, and there are a few threesome scenes for a total of 20 scenes in the game. Most of the scenes consist of more than one round and Yamato’s (the protag) ability to ejaculate many, many times is amazing. The scenes are pretty long with good text. The CGs and the voice acting are great as well. Most of the scenes are pretty normal, so don’t expect toys or weird stuff.

Voice: 10/10

This game has an amazing cast of voice actors. I will list what other game/anime each voice actor has been in, and that should be enough to explain how awesome the cast is:
Heroines:
Momoyo: Sakaki (Azumanga), Rider (F/SN), Tsugumi (Ever17)
Kazuko (Wanko): Nagamine (Seinarukana), Seira (Chaos Head)
Miyako: Oumi (Saya no Uta), Shirayuki (Sispuri), Putina (Osadai)
Yukie: Riannon (Tears to Tiara), Ririko (Sharin), Mikuru (Haruhi)
Chris: Tama-Nee (To Heart2), Hinagiku (Hayate), Akiha (Tsukihime)
Male characters:
Capt (leader): Ishida (Bamboo Blade), Ein (Katahane)
Gakuto (buff guy): Trunks (DBZ), Mao (Code Geass), Dororo (Keroro Gunsou)
Moro (gloomy guy): Hidemi (Host Club), Shin (Gundam Seed Destiny)
Cookie (robot): Shinji (Eva), Maou (G-Sen), Lulouche (Code Geass)
Tadakatsu (Tsundere): Archer (F/SN), Greed (FMA)
Ikurou (pervert): Tomoki (Cross Channel), Inuyasha, L (Death Note)
Suguru (otaku): Kamille (Z Gundam), Lumiale (Angelique)
Kuki (rich guy): Tomoya (Clannad), Alto (Macross), Graham (Gundam 00)
Jun (bald lolicon): Kyon (Haruhi), Yuuichi (Kanon), Reiji (Kojika)
Kyojin (teacher): Nero (Tsukihime), Kotomine (F/SN)
Maro (weird teacher): Koizumi (Haruhi), Battler (Umineko), Yukito (Air)
Prime Minister: Houzuki (Sharin), Hiroshi (Kazokei), Cell (DBZ)
Frank (Chris’s dad): Char (Gundam), Shanks (One Piece), Gilbert (Gundam Seed Destiny)
Female sub-characters:
Chika (classmate): Sachi (Sharin), Mayu (ONE)
Mayo (loli classmate): Sayaka (Paniponi), Akira (Yosuga no Sora)
Umeko (teacher): Tsunade (Naruto), Sailor Neptune, Reccoa (Z gundam)
Koyuki (weird girl): Taeko (Swan Song), Aoba (Kazokei), Tama (Muv-Luv)
Margit (army girl): Haru (G-Senjou), Kia (Inganock)
Kokoro: Akane (Muv-Luv), Len (Melty Blood), Miyako (Hidamari Sketch)

There’s more, but I’ll stop here. If the cast from this game doesn’t get a 10/10, I don’t know what game does.

Overall: 9.5/10

This is a great game where everything about it is above average. The comedy is great and the atmosphere is top-notch. The cast of voice actors is amazing, and the parodies created from the cast is funny as well (if you can understand at least some of it).
Recommended for: People who like comedy, people who like school life eroge, people who want ero, and eroge beginners.
Not recommended for: People who don’t want parodies in comedy, people who don’t watch anime or play games, and people who want a deep story.

Overall score: 8/10

Genre:

Music, band, drama, comedy.

Plot summary:

Suganuma Shouichi is a violinist who demonstrated his talent at a young age and had lots of expectations put on him in a foreign orchestra. That is, until he lost his place in the orchestra because of a certain incident…
Shouichi felt that his life as a musician ended, so he even gave up his beloved violin and returned to Japan in disappointment. But since he gave up his instrument and left the orchestra without his parents’ permission, he angered them and was cut off from the family. He had nowhere to go, and he lived without aim.

That’s when he was invited to live and work at a club with live music, and there, he comes into contact with a “world” he never knew about.

In different places, he meets clumsy people who have continued to claim each of their “lifestyle and music”. By cooperating with them, their separate lives intertwine and become bonds that guide them to the future.

How will the people that have destined meeting with Shouichi grow as individuals and as a band after they overcome trials and their pasts…?

*Play time: About 20-30 hours

Story: 8/10

The story is about a band, just like in Kira Kira. This is both good and bad. It’s bad because you keep on comparing the game to Kira Kira which sets a pretty high bar. It’s good because you kind of know what you’re getting. But in some ways, it was too similar to Kira Kira and felt like a rehash. The game has the atmosphere of the first half of Kira Kira throughout the game, so if that’s what you like, you’ll love this game. I personally liked the first half of Kira Kira better, so I liked it.
Enough comparison and onto the game itself. The story doesn’t have much depressing or serious stuff, and usually keeps an uptempo atmosphere. I liked how the stories didn’t seem to drag on and one problem came after another. I loved the protag in the game because he’s awesome. I think it’s hard not to like him. I also liked the atmosphere in the band and the band members (Eiji is awesome). There were some exciting scenes during performances, but the forced slow, slow, slow autoplay really killed the experience for me whenever it came up. Another bad thing was how convenient EVERYTHING is. Every problem that came up followed the general route of “oh, no, here’s a problem” -> “solve it with music!” And that isn’t the only convenient thing about it. A lot, lot more convenient things happen that can’t be explained by pure luck and it would sometimes get annoying because everything is going too perfect and the most unlikely convenient things would occur.
If you’re going to play this game completely, leave the Riho route for last because it seems all the efforts were put into Riho route (or if you’re gonna play just one route, play Riho route). In contrast, Yayoi and Rimu routes were so short that it felt like an added extra or something out of a fandisc.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are good. So much better compared to art in Green Green and such. I think the artstyle and the coloring fits the game nicely. I think there’s enough CGs which were used at the right times. Overall, there’s nothing bad about the graphics.

Music: 9/10

Both the music and the songs in this game are great. First, the BGMs are really good. They really helped create the atmosphere of the game, and some BGMs are really memorable. Some are good enough where I can just sit and listen to them.
The songs are also good, but I have to say they’re not as good as the ones in Kira Kira. I haven’t heard the full versions of the songs, but I think they’re a bit weaker overall. Still, some songs such as “No music, no future” and “Noisy Sweethome” are good.

System: 4/10

From the title screen, the game has song mode, music mode, CG mode, and Hscene recollection mode. These are unlocked after beating a route. From in-game, you can change text speed, effect speed, auto mode speed, and what to do with right click. The BGM/voice/SE volumes can be changed, with on/off for each character voices. It also lets you choose if you can let the voice keep going even after the mouse click (I love this function). There are 100 save slots which is more than enough, with 3 quick save/load (I never used them). The system is pretty standard. I like how you can save/load from the same screen, but I wanted a function to turn off confirmation when saving/loading. It took too many mouse clicks (5) to save/load (menu -> save&load -> save -> Yes -> OK). I also wanted the song mode to have full versions of songs, and have repeat or continuous play function because the game would go silent after the song you select ends (can’t have it playing in background for music).
Oh, and I didn’t like how it went into auto-read mode on live (performance) scenes… It went waaaay too slow for me.

Ero: 3/10

There were two scenes for each of the heroines (one girl only had one, but she did it twice in one scene so it’s technically two), with no sub-character Hscenes. So, there aren’t many Hscenes in the whole game. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but the scenes aren’t that good anyway, so it might be good that there were so few scenes. The scenes weren’t really out of place, but it definitely could’ve worked without them. As for the scenes themselves, they was decent at best. The art is decent and the text was decent, but the scenes were too short and some of the voices weren’t good.

Overall: 8/10

This game is like the first half of Kira Kira. It’s a story of a band and how they become more and more famous. The atmosphere is great and since they use music to solve pretty much everything, it’s good if you can stand that. The songs don’t stand up to the expectations created by Kira Kira, but they’re still good nonetheless.

Recommended for: People who liked the first half of Kira Kira, people who like awesome protagonists, people who like music centered eroge, and people who like a good atmosphere.
Not recommended for: People who hate convenient plot, people who don’t want problems solved in the same way, people who want ero, and people who want deep stories.