#he does appear to be without hattori. amazing

[leonawriter]

Okay, hold on a moment because I'm going back in time a few days. Or so. Back to the Detective Koshien, because can you believe, I didn't get everything out already.

Also, you can't get me to shut up about Hakuba Saguru.

Here he is, listing off the exact time, right down to the seconds!

Even Shinichi is amazed by this (in an exasperated sort of way). But those of us who know him from Magic Kaito aren't and shouldn't be surprised.

After all-

This is his normal! In fact, he was first introduced on a heist crime scene stating the exact time of his arrival, just like this (which is simply a more condensed, and easier to share, version).

Also...

I mentioned how much of an impact this had on Magic Kaito fics when I first got (back to) this moment when going through the series.

Since his first appearance, that's the only time we really see him use this catchphrase in Magic Kaito - however, he's also mainly chasing the one singular criminal, who he has already asked it of, and who told him "isn't it your job to figure that out?"

One might almost think that it was just an introductory gimmick, but... nope!

Sixteen years in real-world time later, and here he is, saying it agin!

Also, I side with those who say Hakuba's got issues with understanding others' motivations/empathy difficulties. He's heavily autistic coded, so although "Kaito's response of reminding him it's his job was obvious" might be funny, I don't think it does come naturally to him, which is why he has to ask.

Another point I have about this question he asks is that unlike Shinichi and Hattori, he doesn't either make assumptions based on the evidence available and then say those stories as truth, only to sometimes be told "no, you're wrong, it was because [reason]," or always simply have them talk before he needs to ask.

Hakuba asks them. He wants to know why in their words. Without putting words in their mouths. "Why did you feel that you had to do this? What are your reasons?"

Hakuba seems to give them a certain amount of... compassion. They're human first, and what they do with that humanity comes second. Everyone has their reason. No one is born ready and able to kill someone else.

[otome-reviews]

SLBP Genya Fujibayashi Route Review [SPOILERS]

“If you need someone to rely on, make sure I’m the one you come to, okay?”

I did not have high hopes when I first started reading Genya’s route. He’s billed as the slacker of SLBP, which doesn’t appeal to me one bit (strike one). Also, he was released alongside the inimitable Hattori Hanzo (strike two). And finally, he pretty much made MC do all the legwork in his ES (strike three). But hey, minds can change, right?

Some background: back before MC’s ninja clan turned pacifist, she was friends with two boys, Saku(ya) and Gen(ya). Saku was in love with MC, and Gen, the older, earnest, hard working brother, was simply a friend. And then MC’s village quit ninja-ing, had to go into hiding, and the trio disbanded.

...Until now. MC runs into Gen while he’s on duty as Masamune’s body double (!). He kindly offers MC a place to lie low/plot after she learns that Nobunaga betrayed her village, and she takes him up on his offer. It doesn’t take long for MC to realize that Genya’s a little different from how she remembered him. He’s flirty, and kind of a tease (“You’re worried about being next to an amazing guy like me day and night, right?”). He’s lazy (“A life of ease and pleasure, that’s the best way to go”). And his place in Oshu is a shitty, abandoned temple on the outskirts of town that’s falling apart (this actually becomes a convenient plot device late in the story!).

But he’s a nice guy (this is pretty obvious from the get-go), and life with Genya is pretty pleasant for MC! She stumbles into a healing gig after helping one of Gen’s friends out, and it turns out to be super fulfilling. The two of them spend lots of time relaxing under a cherry tree and chatting with the local kids (who adorably remind MC of her/Saku/Gen ^_^). And for all of Gen’s self-proclaimed laziness, it turns out that he’s got her back when it really counts! Case in point: when MC oversleeps one morning, he does all of her medicine deliveries for her, nbd. Not what you’d expect from a guy who sleeps/gambles all day, right?

In fact, one of the biggest repeat “reveals” of this route is that under the uber-slacker facade, Gen is ready to work as hard as it takes to help out those he cares about. As an example, MC realizes at some point that Gen always takes on the more gruesome ninja jobs, so Saku won’t have to, even though he hates the Iga clan (who doesn’t?? haha). In one of my favorite moments in the route, he also puts his life into MC’s hands (literally) in order to help out Masamune, despite having the option of walking away. This kind of roundabout but “secretly hard working” side of Genya is super attractive to me, ngl!

Speaking of attraction, this is definitely a slow burn romance. MC and Genya have years of friendship history together, and it takes both of them time to stop seeing each others as just old friends (it’s maybe a little easier for MC, given Gen’s flirtiness, ^_^). In any case, MC and Gen’s relationship progression is generally chill/low-key until it really counts, kind of like the dude himself. I thought it was really well done! (This given the fact that Gen’s fake slacker personality still doesn’t do it for me, mind you.)

Plot wise, this route starts out very slice-of-life-y, but everything goes crazy pretty fast. For starters, Gen’s job as Masamune’s body double isn’t without its dangers, and MC does get roped into things repeatedly. It’s all worth it though, because Masamune is a super sweet and grateful employer. ^_^ And then, there’s Gen’s bro Sakuya, who’s been tasked with killing MC. Add in some first love angst, the fractious relationship between Gen and Saku, and Hanzo for good measure... let’s just say, things get pretty dramatic. I enjoyed it!

Overall, I thought Genya’s story was an excellent read. You might think the route is pretty chill while reading it, because Gen is a super chill guy, but the writers manage to pack in an impressive amount of character/relationship development and drama into several short chapters! And instead of telling us what Gen is like and what his relationship with others are like, they show us. I might not find Gen to be the sexiest otome guy out there, but I did end up liking him a lot as a person. He’s a good guy, surrounded by good people (hi Oshu clan), and MC’s life has been made tons better by throwing her lot in with this lazy ninja!

Choice quotes:

“Gender matters not at all when it comes to talent.” - Masamune, proving once again why he is dream boyfriend material

“You’ve got a strength about you, one that lets you choose your own way of life and stick with it.” ​

Personality: 9/10 from platonic perspective, 3/10 romantically. Gen is unequivocally a nice guy, but he tries his hardest to hide it! I personally liked him a lot as a character, but tbh his flirty slacker facade is too strong for me to be attracted at all. YMMV! I know a lot of people love him.

Appearance: 8/10. No body double of Masamune’s is gonna be ugly. ;)

MC: 7/10. This MC was alright! She wasn’t as assertive as I typically like my MC’s to be, but she gets things done.

Plot/Payoff: 9/10. 

Personal enjoyment: 8/10. Liked this way more than I thought I would, given the lack of attraction!

[gdwessel]

Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2019 Night 1 - 9/27/2019; Rush, Dragon Lee Fired By CMLL, How This May Affect NJPW; Where Are Kawato & Oka?; Tonight’s NJPW on AXS: Double Header

The three night East Coast tour Fighting Spirit Unleashed began last night. There was a title match on that show, and we begin to say goodbye to Tiger Hattori.

Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2019 - 9/27/2019, Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA

Karl Fredericks d. Alex Coughlin (Elevated Half-Crab, 8:47)

Lance Archer [SZKG] d. Ren Narita (EBD Claw, 7:23) 

Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls [CHAOS] d. TJP [FREE] & Clark Connors (NIcholls > Connors, Mikeybomb, 8:04)

Chase Owens & Jado [Bullet Club] d. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson [FREE] (Owens > Morton, Package Driver, 9:10)

Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & Amazing Red [FREE] d. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Ishii > BUSHI, Vertical Drop Brainbuster, 8:48)

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Rocky Romero [CHAOS] d. Jay White, KENTA & Gedo [Bullet Club] (YOSHI-HASHI > Gedo, Butterfly Lock, 12:28)

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] © d. SHO & YOH [CHAOS] (Tonga > YOH, Gunstun, 16:43) - GOD succeed their 7th defense

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi d. SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] (Tanahashi > Naito, Ground Cobra Twist, 20:26)

Naito doing the job here seems a bit shit but Naito doesn’t have a title match to look like a contender for coming up either. Guerrillas of Destiny continue to hang on to the titles and let’s face it will do so until WK14 where they will be beaten by the eventual World Tag League winners. The tag division is trash and GOD are the face of it now. The match may end up on NJPWWorld on tape delay eventually. Chase Owens pins his trainer Ricky Morton, and the Rock’n’Roll Express lose their NJPW debut match. His partner in the match, Jado is 51 years old today.

In the wee hours of the night, something rather major happened behind the scenes in CMLL.

Firstly, Rush defeated Matt Taven at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor PPV to become the first-ever Mexican ROH World Champion, with his brother Dragon Lee and father La Bestia del Ring (and son, above) in attendance. Rumors had been flying for weeks about Dragon Lee’s status in home promotion CMLL, stemming from Dragon Lee disobeying a directive from CMLL to not work Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles last weekend (Barbaro Cavernario was also booked for BOLA, but did withdraw his participation under that same directive; the reason given, is CMLL is once again considering both Pentagon Jr./Penta el 0M and Rey Fenix as AAA wrestlers once more so they are forbidding wrestlers from working with them). From this, Dragon Lee was pulled from CMLL’s 86th Aniversario, which also ran last night.

Within the hour of Rush winning the ROH title, Rush posted a video on his Twitter announcing both he and La Bestia del Ring were now independent wrestlers, and indeed both KAOZ Lucha and The Crash have announced Rush as working there soon as El Toro Blanco, as CMLL own the Rush trademark. Not long after THAT, CMLL tweeted out that they have fired both Rush and Dragon Lee. Dragon Lee posted on Facebook he was devastated by this, and indeed this really seems to be retaliatory. There are reports he may be working ROH’s TV taping tonight. Dragon Lee was also CMLL’s Welterweight champion at the time of his release.

I will stop right here and say that friend of the show/blog TheCubsFan posted a podcast with Rob Viper late last night summarizing this situation and you should listen to it; it’s only 40 minutes, but packed with information.

But it should go without saying that both Rush and Dragon Lee were pretty integrated in their way with New Japan as well. Dragon Lee especially has been pretty popular in NJPW, and of course his story is very well tied in to that of Hiromu Takahashi, and indeed Hiromu tweeted at Dragon Lee this morning. There are reports he was due to be in the upcoming Super Junior Tag League, presumably paired with another CMLL wrestler. but who knows if that can or will happen now. It’s become very murky politically. NJPW could outright sign Dragon Lee (or whatever he calls himself now -- there are reports of Toro Rojo being a possibility) if all parties agree, but he could also go to WWE, or somewhere else. 

It all kinda depends on how strong the relationship between NJPW and CMLL is at this point and whether NJPW values CMLL or Dragon Lee more. There have been signs of strain between NJPW and its partners, ROH and CMLL; the ROH relationship has been the more obviously strained, especially since G1 Supercard at MSG, where ROH’s contributions were, frankly, absolute shite. However, other than Fantasticamania (which is usually a great payday for the visiting luchadors) and appearances in Best of the Super Juniors and Super J-Cup, there doesn’t seem to be much going on with the CMLL relationship right now. The last couple of excursions ended suddenly and without notice, as when Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu were Raijin & Fujin and then... weren’t (Hirai Kawato, I discuss below). Shota Umino and Ren Narita both are on excursion now, but neither went to CMLL, where before it was assured at least one would. Jushin Thunder Liger appeared at Arena Mexico this summer for a retirement show, but Liger is able to make his own bookings without NJPW’s involvement (which is how Liger was able to wrestle Tyler Breeze at the 2015 NXT Takeover in Brooklyn). Consider that around this time last year, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & BUSHI all made appearances in Arena Mexico. This year, there were no NJPW wrestlers at the CMLL Grand Prix, where usually there is at least one or two, even if it were the likes of Michael Elgin, Satoshi Kojima, or even David Finlay. As NJPW broaden their global profile on their own, there seems to be a gradual withdrawal from their partners. As I said, which do NJPW value more, a continued partnership with CMLL, or Dragon Lee on their roster?

Then there’s the other elephant in the room: the status of Los Ingobernables. Straight up, CMLL own the trademark, and always have. There’s a CMLL trademark on LIJ shirts. The unit started in CMLL, between Rush, La Sombra and La Mascara. La Sombra is now Andrade Cien Almas in WWE, and the other two have been fired for various reasons. Los Ingobernables as a functional thing in CMLL is now dead, unless they want to do the typical lucha promotion business where they just shellac other wrestlers onto a popular gimmick after the original wrestler(s) behind said gimmick leave - indeed, it’s how Rush & Dragon Lee’s brother became the second Mistico. (His status is unknown, assumed not leaving, but who knows. If he does, Caristico can reassume the Mistico identity, which would make the Arena Mexico crowd happy.) There is a possibility that CMLL could keep Los Ingobernables alive with Terrible and some others, but I can guess how well that’s going to go over. 

Los Ingobernables de Japon has to end, at some point. It’s just inevitable. Rush is still in ROH until at least 2020, so there is a possibility that Naito and the boys will reunite with Rush (although the last few times Rush and LIJ members were on the same ROH cards, they deliberately kept them apart, even at meet & greets). If the NJPW and CMLL relationship is starting to disintegrate, a very large part of NJPW’s current identity, and merch money, will be going away soon. Rush being shown the door by itself doesn’t mean LIJ is over just yet. It is not the first time the NJPW branch of a famous stable outlasted its home company. But this could be the harbinger of that unit coming to an end, until LIJ goes into its TEAM2000 phase.

Long story short, shit is wild, and complicated, and political, and who knows what ripples this pebble in the river will produce.

Above, I mentioned Hirai Kawato and his excursion in CMLL as Kawato San. I’ve been teasing a piece for weeks, and, well, here it is. 

Hirai Kawato has not worked a match since 7/28/2019, a Sunday night show at Arena Mexico, teaming with Dark Magic & Misterioso Jr. in a losing effort v. Rey Cometa, Flyer & Dulce Gardenia. Prior to that, on 6/30/2019, Kawato had bested Audaz to win the CMLL World Super Lightweight title vacated by (ironically) Dragon Lee. Since then... nothing. 

Apparently, according to TheCubsFan (him again), Kawato got seriously ill and had to go back to Japan for recovery. There’s been no official word about his status at all, including whether or not he will return to Mexico. It’s a real shame, as his excursion looked to finally be working, evidenced by getting a title, and it looked like they might begin an actual program with Audaz, but such is not to be right now. I hope he is recovering OK, no matter what happens next for him, as it sounded serious enough for him to go home.

Tomoyuki Oka is another one who’s been MIA. Last seen in RevPro UK under the gimmick of Dominator Great O-Kharn, Oka has not wrestled a match since his appearance as the only Japanese talent at the ill-fated New Beginning USA shows, beating Harlem Bravado on 2/2/2019 in Nashville. There is even less info about his whereabouts - his last tweet was on 3/4/2019, advertising the NBUSA shows on NJPWWorld. (FWIW, Kawato’s last tweet was on 7/26, and last Instagram post was on 7/3.) 

I wish I had more, but I simply don’t; I don’t have sources or anything like that. But it’s a little disconcerting when not one but two Young Lions have gone missing in action whilst away. Makes you wonder what the future holds for Shooter and Ren.

(Whilst we’re here - David Finlay is still recovering from injury and surgery. He is still pretty active on social media.)

Ideally I should’ve posted this earlier but there were no posts and we’re here now. After taking last week off, NJPW on AXS returns tonight with a double header of episodes, all taking place from various Destruction shows from a couple of weeks ago. Advertised matches are:

9pm EDT / 8pm CDT - RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. Zack Sabre Jr., Destruction in Beppu, Oita Beppu B-Con Plaza, 9/15/2019 10pm EDT / 9pm CDT - Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Challenge Rights: Kota Ibushi v. KENTA, Destruction in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Arena, 9/16/2019

There will be other matches as these alone are not enough to fill an hour of TV each. It’s also preceded by an all-new WOW Women of Wrestling. Incidentally, it looks like AXS’s new owners Anthem are moving their own wrestling company, Impact, to Tuesdays later this month, so there is some assurance of them not actively messing with NJPW, at least, not yet.

Of course, you are spoiled for choice of watching NJPW tonight, as tonight’s FIghting Spirit Unleashed show from the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC is live on NJPWWorld. Show starts at 7pm EDT. Once again we have a title match tonight, too, although... let’s face it, we know who’s winning this.

- 9/28/2019, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, NY (NJPWWorld)

Ren Narita v. TJP [FREE]

Karl Fredericks v. Lance Archer [SZKG]

Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls [CHAOS] v. Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin

Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH [CHAOS] v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricky Morton [FREE] & Robert Gibson [FREE] v. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & Amazing Red [FREE] v. Jay White, Chase Owens & Gedo [Bullet Club]

NEVER Openweight Championship: KENTA [Bullet Club] © v. YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Kota Ibushi v. SANADA & EVIL [Los Ingobernables]

[inazuma-eleven-translations]

Inazuma Eleven Revival Festival - Review!

WARNING - I will mark SPOILERS for Reloaded and the 2 Ares episodes below!! 

Personal Reflection: I’ve been an Inazuma fan since roughly 2010, but TRULY became obsessive from 2013+ when I saw Kirino and fell in love. Inazuma has a special place in my heart because it’s one of my strongest connections to Japan. I learnt Japanese through watching, reading about, listening to and eventually translating for this anime. To actually get to go to an event which marks the start of a new Inazuma series was a dream come true. Being SURROUNDED by a sea of fans wearing cosplays, badges, scarves, uniforms… To know what we have in common is a love for this dumb sakka series - it felt amazing. It would be an even bigger dream come true to make friends with EVERYONE who also loves this series. I hope IE EXPLODES over the next 3 years and I 100% believe IT WILL. And I will do whatever I can to help the JPN-ENG translators!!

Apologies if I’ve forgotten anything important.

Okay! Let’s go!!

Attendees: There was about 2,000 people at the live event. 

Before the Event: The merch went on sale from 10am, and you didn’t need a ticket to the event to queue to buy it. I arrived at 12ish and the queue looked to be about 2 hours long, so I decided I wasn’t interested in buying anything for once in my life. I’ll post a list of the merch later.

There was an area to trade merch and take photos with the cosplayers.

The doors opened at 2pm and the event began at 3pm.

START

It began with Endou explaining the rules: no filming, photography etc… during the event.

Then a ‘memory reel’ where they showed screens of all previous characters. Endou CHEER Gouenj CHEER Kidou CHEER Kazemaru HUGE CHEER Atsuya and Shirou HUGE CHEER Reize HUGE CHEER Go Raimon HUGE CHEER (and Araceli cries) Kirino and Kariya ENORMOUS CHEER Shindou CHEER Torb SILENCE… then laughter… Alpha, Beta, Gamma CHEER Fei CHEER Galaxy HALF ASS CHEER

Opening Songs 

Preformed by pugcats and King Cream Soda. During the song, the characters came to the audience to dance. There was Endou, Gouenji, Kidou, Fudou, Fubuki, Hiroto, Kabeyama, Asuto and Kazemaru. Unfortunately they never went on the stage so we couldn’t see all of them. Endou high-fived a few people.

Introduction

Hino and Mo appeared. Hino said he’s so happy to see so many people gathered here to celebrate Inazuma Eleven, and the huge crowd is proof Inazuma is Avery loved series. Mo adds it’s been 4 years with nothing yet still so many people are here or watching the live-viewing. They introduce themselves formally - Hino as president of Level 5 and Mo as an employee - and Mo said she will do her best with Japanese today too (Mo, PLEASE your Japanese is AMAZING)…

Hino says this event marks the start of a new Inazuma series.

All-Star Cast Line Up

Guest stars were Nojima Hirofumi (Gouenji Shuuya), Terasaki Yuka (Matsukaze Tenma), Tomatsu Haruka (Nishizono Shinsuke/ Kudou Fuyuka, Hattori Handa) and Kamiya Hiroshi (Haizaki Ryouhei).

Tomatsu’s outfit was really pretty, like a long white dress-shirt and blue jeans. Kamiya wore a black and red jacket that looked really cool. By the way, he seems like a very funny person, so I was surprised he’s playing so many last boss characters.

Before Reloaded, there’s a recap of the story so far. Reize’s opening monologue. Fans went wild.

Hino says this will be the first time the voice actors (minus Nojima) see the completed episode, so they will watch it together on stage with everyone. The sit around their own TV. Tomatsu says it feels like being in a living room. Nojima comments there’s no drinks. Mo and Hino sit with them too. Hino says the reason they made Reloaded is because they had to have a reason to connect the original series to Ares.

WARNING! BELOW HERE CONTAINS SPOILERS! 

Inazuma Reloaded Opening: Remastered Stand Up Tachi Agariyo

Raimon return after the FF. The whole school is so happy to see them. They’re crowded by fans. There’s a scene of Miyasaka hugging Kazemaru and the audience went nuts. Endou is so overwhelmed he runs to the toilet as an excuse. Kidou and Gouenji call him into the clubhouse.

Comment - Their body language is WONDERFUL! It’s so realistic the way Endou can’t sit still, or Kidou leans forward to speak.

Gouenji/ Kidou say next is the world as Endou gets excited over the idea of playing new opponents.

Hibiki arranges an exhibition match against Barcelona Orb - the team came from Spain to Japan for this match. The match starts and Gouenji tries Fire Tornado right away. It fails when the goalkeeper stops it with his finger then throws the ball back to Gouenji. They next try the Inazuma Break, which also fails. Kazemaru, Gouenji and Ichinose perform the Phoenix, but that doesn’t work either. 

It’s shown Hakuren, Zeus, Sun Garden, Teikoku etc are watching the match. This got a huge reaction from the crowd.

Barcelona’s captain the rest f the team start to attack. The captain scores without using special moves. The score becomes over 8 (to zero) and Barcelona’s teammates tell the Captain to give them a taste of their real level. The Captain uses his special move - Diamond (don’t remember the second word, possibly ball) where he carves the ball into a diamond. It’s very beautiful. He scores before Endou can even react. Endou seems reluctant to pick up the ball after that shot, like he’s almost in fear - but that doesn’t last for long.

Raimon lose, exhausted, as Endou lies back and laughs to himself, reflecting on how great soccer is.

Raimon are called into an office to talk. I didn’t catch the guy’s name, but an official looking person tells them that Raimon vs Barcelona proves that Japan’s soccer is not at world level. He wants them to join soccer teams around Japan and strengthen Japan’s soccer as member of the strengthening committee. Endou agrees to it.

Raimon are gathered outside their club house, seemingly worrying. They don’t want to split up. Kurimatsu says it’s okay for the Captain and the others but some f the weaker members don’t feel they have what it takes. Kidou says no matter what happens they will all be connected by their hearts.

Domon and Ichinose are going to America, and the managers see them off at the airport. Aki’s wearing a cute pink hoodie. She’s mad that they’re going to America and tells Ichinose that he should represent Japan. Ichinose says he needs to gather strength in US before returning. He doesn’t know yet if he’ll play for a Japanese team or an American one.

Natsumi, along with the managers, are also given roles as members of the strengthening committee but it’s not revealed what they are. Natsumi has her laptop in any case.

Final scene - Break Trio are on top of the hill talking. Endou still doesn’t fully understand what a strengthening committee member is, and Kidou asks if he was can listening at all. Endou seems to have just heard the word soccer and agreed to it.

They say the next time they meet on the pitch they’ll be rivals. None of the 3 plan on losing. They part ways.

Closing theme: 

Remastered Seishuu Oden showing scenes from the Raimon kids’ school life. E.g., Kazemaru and Makksu in class, the kids eating lunch, Kabeyama doing science, the team playing soccer…

There’s a chat session with the voice actors - their thoughts about the episode. Pretty predictable - it was very interesting and great and the animation and remastered moves were great. It’s commented that the leg movement for Fire Tornado is very different, because Gouenji is longer.

They talk a bit about the Captain of Barcelona Orb and the rest of the team. He’s not good-looking but still kind of cool - that’s the kind of character Hino wanted to make. Mo comments on his ‘bear eyes’.

It’s the new characters’ turn to be introduced. The voice actors Ayumu Murase (Inamori Asuto), Michinari Tatsumi (Kimura Ryouhei) and Hanae Natsuki (Okuiri Hiro) come to the stage.

A picture is shown of Baddap, Haizaki and a character from another anime he plays. They all have grey hair and tanned skin and are Last Boss type roles. Kamiya says Baddap was his first villain role and then his second Inazuma role is Haizaki. He wonders just how does Hino see him since he keeps getting villain roles?

Since the topic of villains comes up, a pic of all previous enemies is shown. Terasaki points to each GO character and says alien (Ozrock), future boy (Saru), ghost (Shuu) and human (Hakuryuu). There’s only one human, compared to the original series.

They go through the new 11 members. Some notable comments were:

Michinari -  Hino says Michinari is a Captain like Shindou from GO with many worries.

Okuiri - He wears glasses like Megane’s but he’s a much more serious character.

Iwate - He and his voice actor look alike to the point it’s scary.

Mo and Hino say they feel like something is missing from this voice actor chat session - oh yes, Endou! Junko has left fans a message that will be played on the screen.

A word from Junko: She really wanted to come but couldn’t. She says she assumes Hino is talking and talking and talking. She gave her own proverb: everyone, please enjoy today’s event!

There’s a break for 30 mins where they showed Outer Code eps Hakuren, Teikoku and Sun Garden. Fans screamed for Shirou, Atsuya, Someoka, Hiroto, Midorikawa, the group of Sun Garden kids, Sakuma, Genda, Fudou and Kazmaru.

Inazuma Ares 1 (note - some scenes may be out of order)

Opening Theme: Teppen Mezasou! It was epic! The start focused on Inakuni Raimon, we see Haizaki’s GORGEOUS school uniform!!! Like a blue blazer ~ Sakuma, Aphrodi, Hiroto etc appear~

It opens with the Inakuni kids playing soccer. Goujin makes a shoot but Norika saves it. She said he’s getting better. Sasuke is watching them. They take a break. Norika says soccer is great: it can let you forget about all your worries. I think it’s Hattori who is surprised that Norika has worries. Asuto and Michinari decide to ask the principal if they can play a practice match against another team. The principal (Fuyukai) says instead the soccer club will be demolished because they have no sponsor)

Workers are demolishing the pitch. Asuto runs to stop them but they forcefully push him away. Eventually Michinari had to hold him back. Later Norika is bandaging him up. She said she understands his worries but he was too reckless. Asuto asks her is she okay with not being able to play soccer? She says, of course not. Kirina runs over saying there’s bad news about Asuto’s Mom.

Asuto runs to hospital. His Mom apologizes and says she can’t stay with him. Asuto is upset to lose not just soccer but his Mom too. His Mom assures him he won’t lose soccer - soccer will be there as long as he needs it.

Kirina wonders if Asuto will be okay as he runs off. They guess he is going to the highest point in the island. Asuto reaches the top of the hill and screams.

The next day the Inakuni kids are called into the office where they ware told if they can win one match they can get a sponsor if they transfer to Raimon. That means leaving the island and moving to Tokyo.

It’s revealed Sasuke is a recent transfer student.

The kids are shown wondering about their decision to go to Tokyo.

Hiura tells his Grandma he’s going and she comments things will get lonely around there. By the way, she calls him Ki-chan.

Hattori rides on top of Iwate’s back as he rides a bike. Hattori wonders if the food will be good in Tokyo. 

Michinari is walking with his father. He feels like his Mom will protest if he goes to Tokyo, but his Dad assures him he’ll talk to her.

Mansaku is at his Dad’s sushi restaurant. His Dad gives him his specialty sushi, and tells him to eat. He says he won’t lose to the food over in Tokyo.

Norika, Hiyori and Okuiri are together that evening. They comment going to Tokyo would be Norika’s first time to ever leave the island.

Raimon vs Seishou. Sasuke makes the First Goal with Fire Tornado. This wakes up the Devil of the Field, Haizaki. He goes wild, scoring again and again. Their are 2 special moves - Overhead Penguin and the Death Zone. Kidou does not appear in this match.

Proverb: Soccer will be there as long as you need it!

Inazuma Ares 2

Haizaki and Seishou are beating Raimon. Agirls are watching the match from a box, making fun of Raimon being from the countryside. Anna tells them to be quiet.

Flashback to 1 week before Raimon vs Seishou.

Inakuni Raimon at outside the clubhouse. Norika tries opening the door but it won’t budge. They comment that Raimon/ Tokyo is very different to their island.

The group of girls come over (perhaps members of the student council? Managers?) with Mikado Anna, who introduces herself as president of the student council. The girls are dismissive of Raimon winning their match against Seishou, but Asuto says they will.

Next the kids meet Ootani Tsukushi (do you remember her? A game only character!) who is very bubbly and friendly. She shows them around the school.

The team get their uniforms and are very excited. Ootani is so excited she’s about to cry. They also get the Inazuma Band - a wristband that measures their exercise levels. It’s also a communication device - the coach can use it to contact them. He does so immediately, summoning them to the field.

They are surprised their Coach is from China. He said he prefers Kung Fu to soccer. He made them a crazy training schedule (think: worse than Kidou from GO). Like 100 laps, 100 push ups etc. He asks them what they have to do? Goujin/ Asuto say train and win their next match. Coach says no - they have to NOT LOSE.

The start with laps through Inazuma Town. 

Back to the match. Haizaki’s still demolishing them.

Flashback to a new scene.

Haizaki is showering. Another boy comes in. You see the infamous goggles and Haizaki calls him by his name, so we know it’s Kidou. We only see the bottom half of his face and legs by the way.

Back to the match. Seishou win. Raimon are disappointed but Asuto says while they’re in Tokyo they should do something fun like go to Sky Tree.

Inakuni Raimon are at Tokyo Sky Tree. Suddenly Asuto starts crying. He wanted to play soccer more. The others start crying too, except for Sasuke who is annoyed they are crying in public.

A man walks over and introduces himself as a member of Island Travel - a famous travel agency. He says he he would like to sponsor Raimon. Asuto is surprised because they lost. The man says that the fact they were able to score even one goal against Seishou and the way they fought their hardest to the very end of the match moved him emotionally. There’s more than just winning and losing. 

Asuto reflects. They may have lost but in the week before the match they trained all over Inazuma Machi, getting to know the local community.

So Raimon get a sponsor. The kids are so happy they start dancing and hugging each other.

Proverb: I can’t fully remember but I THINK it was something like, you’ll make your own future out of the path you choose to walk??

Closing Theme: All of Inakuni Raimon jump out of a scales in different poses. Then we see everyone’s ‘battle’ suits. Asuto - knight Nosaka - mage Hattori - Robin Hood/ Cupid Okuiri - Some kind of wizard Sasuke - Shirtless gladiator (by the way everyone laughed)

2 Questions from fans

Boy: Is it relevant that in the ending theme all of the players are divided into 3 'sets’ to showcase their battle armor? Hino says it might be.

Girl: She was very excited. First she said she loves Mo. Her question is - what’s up with Kudou’s redesign/ why is he coach for Seishou? Hino said, history has changed!

Voice Actor Talk: The VAs were asked to draw their most memorable scene.

Nojima Hirofumi: Gouenji didn’t appear! He is literally like… So… Gouenji didn’t appear??? Why am I here again?? I was looking forward to seeing him! He does add the episodes were very exciting, with no boring parts.

Kamiya Hiroshi: OVERHEAD PENGUIN and Sasuke. He said he wants to know what the balance of Ares is.

Kimura Ryouhei: Sasuke’s Fire Tornado. Mo comments Sasuke shoots Fire Tornado with his right leg but Gouenji used his left.

Hanae Natsuki: The ending theme where Okuiri jumps out of the scales, he makes a cute pose like 'kyaa’ waving his arms and legs. His VA is surprised because it seemed unlike him.

Murase Ayumu: Hattori riding on Iwato’s back

Terasaki Yuuka: Kogarashi Manor is brand new!

Tomatsu Haruka: The scene where everyone cries together! OR ~shower scene~ she drew a questionable picture of Haizaki showering. The way she drew his legs were awkward and looked like something… else lmao.

Mo comments that the pose Haizaki makes while he showers is very strange (head down, hands against the wall)

Terasaki comments that it’s strange Kidou took his goggles off in the shower of all places. She thinks they would be useful to keep shampoo out of his eyes.

Apparently Hino argued with staff over whether or not the shower scene was necessary. Hino felt it was.

Kamiya comments that he was watching the fans react to that scene, he’s like - I heard you! I saw your reaction to that! I know you liked that!

Hino reveals that since Ares is a parallel world he wants to redo the whole series up to FF International. He says he really wants Inazuma to run for a very long time.

Terasaki asks Hino to please make a new GO. Hino said he wants to. But this not an official statement, more like ‘if possible I’d like to do that’. Personal opinion - if IE becomes very popular I would say there’s a 40/60 chance of a new GO.

Future of Anime Preview:

Two picture were shown that showed future plans for the anime. One was young Hiroto and Tatsuya. It’s implied there will be an episode with them as children (personal speculation - possibly all the Sun Garden as kids??). Second was Haizaki getting very worked up over trying to win a stuffed bear from an arcade game (personal speculation - it’s not actually for him, but the girl in the flashback).

Game Info: It will be released on Switch, PS4, IOS and Android.

The showed gameplay: Inakuni Island, Raimon Chuugakkou, Match vs Seishou, Kidou running and tackling, Sasuke’s Fire Tornado. Quality was very high, like Breath of the Wild.

Mo made a comment that the story mode map looked very big and it seemed it would take ages for the character to run far distances. Hino said they are working on that.

Next Walker: March 10th 8PM

Closing Words (that I remember):

Nojima: He said he can’t wait for Gouenji to appear. Why does Gouenji always keep us waiting?

Terasaki said she’s so happy to stand on the stage and play an Inazuma character again.

Mo said it’s an honor to stand on the same stage as Hino as a foreign Inazuma Eleven fan (Mo is from China).

Ending Live: Ryuusei Boy by a two girl idol group (name??). Then pugcats and King Cream Soda joined them to sing Saikyou de Saigo and Maji de Kansha. The voice actors joined in and the character suits too. Confetti exploded. Fans waved their glow sticks and cheered.

[nemuri-no-kid]

It's me, the fic request anon... I hope this doesn't sound rude, but are you going to answer it? It's completely fine if you don't!! I'm just super curious and I keep checking your profile but it never shows!! :) (Sorry I'm being pushy it's been a few weeks now...)

Wait, who’s rude here again? It’s rather me who’s seemingly ignored you. But it wasn’t like that, I swear! But I guess you’d prefer to see an actual answer (finally) instead of excuses, so here you go! (You have some incredible timing though, like I’d post it today anyway - the joy of having cold) I apparently can’t make a simple list and it got ridiculously long, so I’m putting it under Read more. Does tagging people even work under Read more btw? If not then well, I suppose I failed a bit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway. You’re probably already aware of this, but I feel I should point out that Kaito is my dearest boy, and therefore pretty much everything what I’m going to mention here is more or less about him. Contrary to appearances it won’t be only KaiShin, but I admit there’s a lot of that. Also, you won’t find here too many long stories, as I rarely read fics with more than 50k words unless I’d started them before they got so long. I mean, I do have quite a few saved and waiting to be read and I’m sure they’re all amazing, but at the end of the day I usually prefer sleeping than night-reading and yeah. Ok, let’s start:

So, did someone say KaiShin? Because you know, Shinichi is my second dearest boy, and when both of my boys are happy together it’s just the best thing. One of first writers who shown and are keep showing me the joy of reading about these two is @rachello344. Many of Rachel’s fics are only prompts, so they are pretty short and that’s a real shame, but they’re still worth reading! I think my favourite stories are these two and honestly I could read them over and over again - asexual Kaito is good, the fake-but-not-really marriage of these two dorks was the best thing and please write more self-indulgent stuff

@lunarscaped (Luna Darkside)’s oneshots steadily get longer and longer but I definitely don’t mind~ Some of the most memorable to me are Penumbra (a.k.a. only Shinichi could write a romance by accident), Darling, So It Goes (undercover mission and more of oblivious Shinichi) and Ease (just. asfadsfgdga) but really, they’re all good

House of Cards is a beautiful story of Kaito taking care of Shin-chan the Dove written by V. Shalyr (how Ai managed to make that pill will forever remain a mystery though); my other faves are With Each Season (it’s beautifull too), Paper Trail (funny short piece in which Kaito is too good at being bad, somebody stop him), Countdown to Forever (good old taking BO down together) and On Wings of White (aww, these two)

Alaena F. Dragonstar’s Win Some, Lose Some and Shadow of a Smile followed by Echo of a Laugh are all good examples of A+ writing. Boys, it will be fine, you have each other. Check the profile for more good stuff~

All ToukoTai’s fics are good, but Life In Technicolor is good, and then there is this Flower shop AU KaiShin Give A Little which includes Shinichi convincing Kaito to become Kid, and if isn’t that ironic

This Little Thing I Have by teawithmochi is a really nice piece - Conan overthinks his situation, but what are annoying phantom thieves for?

solomonara’s Getting Off Track - did I say something about overthinking? This is real overthinking, boys, come on

Almost Magical by ObsidianAbyss got me by this one scene in the class - Shinichi, if you’re trying to deny you and Kid have a thing, you’re doing it wrong

I love the dialogues in dokidokidk’s The Guy Next Door, they will never be not funny for me, plus it’s a nice idea of AU

Good Soulmate AU KaiShin is not bad, and aceoftwos’s Apple Blossoms is good. Also there are locard’s exchange principle series for even more of these two

Beautiful Carvings written by RavenShira is another really nice Soulmate AU. Misunderstandings are strong in this one - lesson: multiple identities don’t help in finding your soulmate

No Ghosts Need Apply by Cursed Detective is a really nice supernatural story, and Shinichi and Kaito are always a big plus for me, obviously. Kaito is sort of dead - the title may suggest as much - but such trivial detail won’t stop him, haha. And then there is a really nice (Not) Supernatural story. It’s ongoing, Shinichi is not a vampire and honestly, I love this and I need more

purple_mangosteen’s Clair de Lune series mean more KaiShin goodness, and also I’m a sucker for Conan and Kid texting each other

joisbishmyoga - I loved Rolling Snake Eyes for a good application of Kidnichi. Will Conan ever stop being so reckless though? I don’t think so. Pluralverse is about minds of three teenage detectives somehow ending up in Kid’s head, and it’s tight in there. It’s interesting, it’s good, read it. Twist the Knife is really intense and the writing is amazing, but it may not be to everyone’s taste, as rape and trauma happen and well

@kawaiibeyotch (kaitothegreat) writes mainly AoKai fics and they’re wonderful, I simply adore Aoko in these. Some nice examples are Live Life in full Bloom and Hello Incognito - these two are good AUs and have I already mentioned Aoko? There are also few HeiKazu stories which I’ve yet to read but I’m sure they’re worth trying, too

Slip and Fall, Obligation, Pride Goeth Before, Philanthropy, Heavy Silences, Never Here, Never Far and Shades of Grey by blinkblink form sort of a series and I wouldn’t make a better summary to any of them than the author, but it’s Kid and the Kid task force dealing with some actual dangers and criminals, there is action and mystery, and it’s really good written and you totally should read it

Nerves of Steel by Ellen Brand is another must read - Robo-Kaito makes a comeback and things get serious

A Perfect Act, No Little Plans, Both Dark and Deep and Forgiveness and Reunion by Candyland - a set starting from sort of cornering Kid by the police and presenting him an offer he couldn’t refuse followed by good action

@backtodc‘s piece about the Kid task force being actually competent when it comes to other crimes is both funny and brilliant, try it

The Cranes by Acier Glace is just so sweet? No pairings here, it’s just Kid making lots of paper cranes to make you believe in magic and did I say it’s sweet? Because it is

miladyFeather wrote the ridiculous The Adventures of Kudou Shinichi, Fast Food Worker which is ridiculous and I have no regrets sharing this one, even if it’s ridiculous

Now a surprise, as Love-Love Daisakusen by neonquincy1217 is Makoko/Sonoko! Where’s the catch? Well, remember Doito Katsuki? *wink*

When I think of quality SaguKai, I think of @5160763 (OrphanText). There is good KaiShin, too, but both examples I’m putting here happen to be SaguKai, so. Anyway. The way Kaito and Saguru are written, I simply love it. And How we begin is so good? Also, In the language of the birds. I read it while it was being put on Tumblr in small fragments and boy, every new fragment was making me so happy

The Hattori-Kudo Files is a set of few cases solved by Heiji and Conan (who could’ve thought that?), written by MeridianGrimm - I believe the last one isn’t finished, but the others are really interesting! And then there are some nice SaguShin and SaguKai fics, too~

I picked five of Mikauzoran’s fics for different reasons but again, I recommend trying all others as well: The Fifth Detective (Kaito’s reasoning is funny and brilliant, he needs a hug though), The Pit: A Romance and Quietly Starving (SaguKai, these dorks), Healing Heartbreak for the Holidays (SaguKaiShin? That’s even more dorks), and Coming to Terms (KaiRan - usually I prefer it platonic but this one really got me, also interactions with Conan? It was a pleasure to read)

Dressed to Impress by Lisa Telramor is a really nicely written SaguKai oneshot, for all your SaguKai needs

Addy01’s When the travel bug bites is a sweet story about Shinichi travelling the world to find his way in life again and befriending some magician thieves along the way. You made me reread it and I don’t regret anything

In case of Operation: Gift Wrap by Boogum I’ll just copy the author’s summary as it’s explanatory enough: ‘Sera Masumi was used to being mistaken for a boy. She was not used to being mistaken for Kaitou Kid.’

Critique written by Eliryn is a short but really nice piece. “Looks just like the real thing, doesn’t it?”

AngelicSentinel’s the suffering of fools was already amazing as a oneshot, so when more chapters appeared one day I was overjoyed. It’s KaiShin and it’s good. Also, the author is one of the only two (look below) which I trust enough to blindly read their ShinRan fics. Like, I have nothing against ShinRan, and I kind of ship it while being in Canon Mode, but I don’t go and read fics about them at all, so this is quite an achievement. Read their other pieces, too, they’re really worth reading!

Cost of Freedom by @mintchocolateleaves? OMG, Cost of Freedom. Read Cost of Freedom. I love both the plot and the characterizations, it’s amazing, read it. It’s ongoing and you’ll suffer because of that, but read it. And while suffering, try other ongoing fics: The Innocence Game, Law Unto Themselves and various oneshots. Like, I can blindly recommend each and every fic Mint wrote, even ShinRan. Cost of Freedom though

Next, Taliya - I recommend all present and future fics. My faves are Without Fanfare (my heart though), Search and Recovery and Recompense (the kind of Kidnichi enactment I approve and aftermath), A Word of Caution (Ai and Kaito as the main characters? Yes, please) and TMPD Antics (it’s simply hilarious)

lucathia’s 4-6-4-9 is a oneshot about Conan getting disturbing encrypted message and trying to find the sender. Oh, and there was some murder, too

A Snowy Meeting (followed by ongoing Hidden Friendship) by angelwingsonline puts Kaito in DC movies, starting from Quarter of Silence, and lets him befriend and exchange messages with Conan. I love this concept

Ichthyophobia’s Mirror Mirror and Two-faced, Half-faced are really funny - the former has really nice interactions between Shinichi, Kaito and the bad guy, while the latter… Let’s say that Kid fixing Subaru’s face is my aesthetic. And then there is Shaking Hands about Kaito not being really able to do magic anymore but getting help and somehow overcoming it and it’s beautiful. And again, check other fics too~

I liked the idea of Shinichi with grapheme synesthesia working in forensics in Number the Stars by The Sand Assassin. Then there are sweet KaiShin fics: Kaitou the Snowman (Akako, stop) and Dakimakura (it’s just a shirt Conan, you’re making Kid sad)

Yannami’s A Criminal’s Fiasco is a good example of why taking Kaito hostage is a bad idea. Poor criminals

@kkrazy256 (kakashikrazy256) likes making Kaito suffer. A lot. In all possible ways. And I really mean that. If that’s your thing, then check it out. And if it is not, there are the mild ones I like coming back to: Early Snow (this was literally my first fic in this fandom, I’m sentimental ok - also Shinichi and Kaito, come on), Mr Barista (Mystery Train aftermath starring Bourbon and Kid) and Sympathy From the Devil (or how could OVA 10 end if the bad guys weren’t so dramatically bad at being bad). As for the rest, you were warned, haha

In Elirius’s Put on a Smile and Take me Apart Kaito definitely doesn’t cope well with his situation. Somebody help him *sobs*

Hostage situation and platonic KidRan anyone? In that case, Irreplaceable by LostInTheDreams is the thing you need. As for other stories, I can only vouch for these with Kaito, but my boy is suffering a lot. Again

Unfair by Frozen-Infinity, but only if you want your heart to break, my boy is dying and this is unfair

StoryWriter369’s Broken Record makes my heart ache every time because immortal Kaito is not what should ever happen, but I’m doing this to myself from time to time anyway *sobs more*

Hebiaczek’s The fox and hounds is an ongoing story and to be honest I’m not up to date, but what I’ve read was a really amazing writing, and exactly the kind of plot I like the best. Because. The plot.

I loved Externalities by 873.25 and I hope Internalities will be continued. Characters are written so well, and both concepts are really intriguing. Try it and you won’t regret it

And last but definitely not least: kittebasu’s A Study in Scarlette - it’s a must-read. There is a good plot, there is Kaishin and it’s truly amazing, and did I say something at the beginning about not reading long fics? So this one is very long and I still read it, so it really does say somehing

I 100% missed at least few people and I’m totally going to regret it later, but let’s say I’m finished. See you in few weeks Anon, haha

[some-otome-fan]

Nightshade Review: Shinny Your Nobis, It’s Another Ninja Game

I’ve been back on an otome kick again, after a long, long hiatus. I recently finished both OZMAFIA and Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome, but I’ll come back to those later. Might review those, who knows. Not now, though.

Instead, I’ll focus on one game in particular -- my most recent: Nightshade. This one’s done by D3P Otomebu and Red Entertainment, with character design and art by Teita (the same Teita who did the art for Norn9, yes).

I’ll give you fair warning here. Usually I try to 100% a game before spitting out my thoughts on the matter. But Nightshade… Nightshade I didn’t 100%. This might sound cowardly, but I never did any of the bad ends. So in all honestly, I’ve seen only half the endings. So this isn’t the best review I think anyone can get of Nightshade, but I’ve already formed my opinion on it and I don’t really want to read anymore. More on that later, but I thought everyone should know.

To be brief, Nightshade’s a visual novel set in Japan shortly after the Sengoku period, seventeen years after the unification of Japan. Before this, the two main ninja clan factions, Iga and Kōga, warred for decades, until Iga was ultimately destroyed in the Tenshō Iga war. The last surviving Iga ninja were taken into the Kōga clan after that. You play as Ueno Enju (name changeable, but characters will only say her name if she’s named ‘Enju’), daughter of the head of the Kōga clan, the product of Kōga and Iga’s union and a symbol of peace between the two clans. Enju’s been training to be a shinobi for a while now, and the game starts to kick off with you going off on your very first mission with all your close friends. Things, of course, take a turn for the worse, kicking off a struggle for survival amidst a political fight.

While the game itself is fictional, various characters and events are based on actual history. This game also has elements of drama and  tragedy to it, and major character death at points, so if that turns you off, then get out of here. Of course, this is an otome, so even amidst the plot there’s romance. You have the choice of five bachelors to choose from, each with two ends (a happy end and a bad end). Your choices, from left to right, as follow:

Gekkamaru (cv. Wataru Hatano); your loyal bodyguard. He’s been with Enju since birth and tasked with protecting her at all costs.

Kuroyuki (cv. Hiro Shimono); the younger brother of Gekkamaru and a close friend. He’s been out on a mission for eight years. A carefree sort of guy who also grew up with Enju.

Chōjirō (cv. Kōsuke Toriumi); your teacher and cousin. Once an Iga shinobi, he now devotes himself to the Kōga, taking his work very seriously.

Hanzō Hattori (cv. Kenjiro Tsuda); a faithful ninja working under Ieyasu Tokugawa. He’s known as the strongest ninja in the land. Serious and calm.

Goemon Ishikawa (cv. Hikaru Midorikawa); a notorious thief that eludes capture wherever he goes. A playful person who likes to flirt.

Introductions aside, let’s move on to my thoughts on the game, without trying to spoil anything.

 STORY

Nightshade has a decent enough story. It’s not abysmal, it’s not full of plot holes. But on the other hand, I didn’t feel overly engaged. I didn’t think ‘oh wow, what’s going to happen next?!’ too often. It had its moments where it got me, yes (Kuroyuki’s route in the later game is one of these things), but over all, it was straightforward. Without spoiling it, there’s really only two plot lines you can follow, and once you know which plot line you’re down all sense of danger and suspense goes right out the window, because you know exactly what’s happening behind the scenes and who dies where. It makes everything past maybe the first and second routes you do feel a bit more cheap in my opinion.

If you’re looking for a wild ride on the routes, you can find a bit of that in the game, namely in just two routes – going with Goemon and Kuroyuki will give you that kind of ‘Oh shit! What’s going on?!’ feeling, which I found nice to experience.

PROTAGONIST

Another major problem I have with the game is the protagonist. I won’t try to hide it – I really loathe Chizuru from Hakuoki. She is the absolute bottom standard I can see any otome protagonist being; a person with stated special properties who never displays anything of the sort and instead is protected over and over again. I was very hopeful with Enju, who was shown to have been trained and was able to fight (and even overcome opponents in combat), as well as have a special ninjutsu she could use. Unfortunately, in the second part of the game past the common route, Enju started to take a sort of ‘cowering princess’ role at times, protected by her allies and often told to just ‘run for it’. To her merit, she did attempt to fight or block attacks at times, but not as much as I’d have hoped. As well, I’d thought her ninjutsu attack would have had more chances to shine, but sadly, it wasn’t used as often as I wanted it to.

Luckily enough for me, Enju does shine here and there, especially so on Hanzō’s route (spoiler (highlight to see): she gets trained) and a few times in Chōjirō’s route where she holds her own decently enough. There is also a moment near the (happy) end of Gekkamaru’s route where she does something wild and unexpected. Enju as a protagonist isn’t the best around, but she’s miles better than most because she has more resolve to be her own person than other otome protagonists. In short, she didn’t tick me off that much. She was highly tolerable.

ART DIRECTION

The art was the main reason I picked up this game, and it’s of high enough quality to make it a main draw. I liked the style of it, and the costume design (though a bit gaudy at parts) was decent and at least fun to look at. There was a breath of life in the game, in the way the characters “animated”, I felt. They blink and move their mouths while they talk, and the action sequences were laid out in a way that you could easily visualize what was happening while the shinobi fought. Some CG looked a bit strange at times, but I could easily overlook it.

SOUND DIRECTION

Nightshade is fully voiced (aside from Enju, who doesn’t have a voice), and the cast they chose does their job pretty well. The main five boys all have pretty top tier VA’s, too, all with a long history of roles. I even recognized a few right off the bat, which is a pretty amazing feat for me since I have a hard time recognizing voices easily. The voices fit well, and the emotion (as far as I can tell, since I’m not a native speaker) seems well acted. As for the general music of the game – I’m ashamed to say I didn’t pay much attention to it! But from what I recall, it was pleasant and didn’t feel out of place. Very traditional and thematically appropriate. And non-intrusive.

TECHNICAL

The technical side of things is 50/50 for me. There was very few spelling/grammatical errors in the script (kudo to the editing/testing teams – you aced it) or any issues with text wrapping, which I was very VERY pleased about. Nothing’s worse than having the text go out of the box when you read it. However, I did find that my game crashed numerous times over the course of playing. It would freeze and shut down. I wasn’t sure if this was just an issue on my side or not, but I felt it worth mentioning regardless. I found myself having to quicksave very often when playing, too. And I noticed that if you quicksave while a character is in the middle of talking, the game freezes until they finish their dialogue. Again, I’m not certain if this is on my side or if it’s a universal problem, but it got very irritating. Another issue was the fact that I couldn’t resize the game window. This might seem trivial, but for people like me who like that customization, it was disappointing. There is a skip mode in game, both forced and read only, but there are times when the game will make you click through a conversation you’ve already read regardless, simply because you’re on a different route (and there are little to no differences in the script during those scenes, either.)

Let’s move on to the part everyone likes to discuss: the boys.

I’m going to go ahead and say this outright: I didn’t have a best boy for this game. If I had to choose, I liked Hanzō’s route best, but I feel that’s because it made Enju useful and not because I liked the romance, per say. On the other hand, none of the boys were objectively bad, either. They had their merits, but they just weren’t overly captivating to me or appealing.

Chōjirō was the first route I went through (on accident), and it hit me like a rock as my first route. I remember thinking, “Is this how the rest will go?!” (spoiler (highlight to see): not all of them would, however). I felt weird about the ‘dating your actual cousin’ bit for a while there, but they make it kind of work. He’s not the overall cutest and if I had to pick someone to be at the bottom of the pile, it would be him, but he can stand his own in the attraction department regardless.

Gekkamaru was, in contrast, the last route I did. I instantly took a shining to him because of how often he comes through for you in other routes. There’s some turmoil near the end of his route but it really does feel forced and slightly unnecessary to me. Regardless, Gekkamaru was a cutie, though the romance in his route felt underwhelming for some reason. I might’ve gotten my hopes up too high. Oh well.

Moving onto his brother, Kuroyuki. This one was definitely a cutie, and at first I felt like he was in the same league as Gekkamaru – a bro who would pull through for you no matter what. And that’s what he appears as – he’s shaped a friend, basically. If we’re going to go a bit spoilery (highlight to see), they really got my guard down with Kuroyuki, and for that I’m impressed. The wool isn’t easily pulled over my eyes like that. Back out to non spoilerville, he’s the lonely sort that I couldn’t help but stick with. I was satisfied with his route, fortunately enough.

Onto Hanzō . I was iffy about him at first because in contrast to the other bachelors, you barely see anything of Hanzō at all in the common route unless you actively seek him out. But he’s a good option in the end, though I really felt like the romance was out of place. There were a few times where he felt more father-like than a bachelor, and for a sweet minute there I thought maybe the game would swerve and he’d adopt Enju. Of course not. It’s not a creepy romance, but it just felt kinda … out of nowhere for a bit there. Still, he’s a good choice. And a good route.

Finally, Goemon. Goemon in and of himself is a spoiler for the first few chapters of the game. If you bother to look at the relationship panel in the options, you’ll see you-know-who with ‘Goemon’ as his name, instantly allieviating any tension of “who IS Goemon??”. He’s a good boy, and like I said, a veritable flirt. His route’s also full of ‘wha—‘ moments, too, since he’s all about the trickery and outsmarting people. Definitely the ‘wild ride’ of the game.

[[[[SPOILER (highlight to see)]]]]

Basically, if you want tragedy and heartache, go Gekkamaru or Chōjirō . Gekkamaru’s for the people who like an open book, whereas Chōjirō is better for those who want to tear down a person’s walls to get to the lonely insides. These two routes will be the harder ones to swallow because they’re on the same plotline, and involve misery.

Otherwise, you’ve got Kuroyuki, Hanzō and Goemon left to play with, which are routes that are much less heavy. Goemon is a route for those who want to have a fun time with very little trauma and, like I said, a bit of a wild ride and a play on expectations. Kuroyuki’s route is less wild but surprises you with a sudden realization partway through. It also has some yandere vibes, but he’s not complete asshole yandere, so it’s not as bad. Otherwise, Hanzō’s route is the most vanilla, and has the best character growth for Enju, too. A good middle ground.

[[[[[[END SPOILER]]]]]]

 END THOUGHTS

My thoughts on the game on the whole are, without a doubt, very much neutral. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t dread reading it. I didn’t go “man I can’t wait until this route is over so I can stop for the night’ anywhere. But on the reverse side of that, I wasn’t enthralled with it, either. I didn’t have many times where I was excited to read Nightshade. There were also very few times where I went ‘I wonder what’s going to happen next?!’, either. It was a pleasant little read, but it wouldn’t make it onto my favorites list. It didn’t make a big impression on me. It was what it was. Honestly, I felt like I could only really bother to go through each guy’s route once. Any more and I might actually start to dislike it. It had that kind of balance for me. Which is why I didn’t 100% it – I couldn’t be bothered to put in the work, because I had no real interest to squeeze every little detail I could out of the game.

However, I would definitely say that as far as translated/English otome games go, Nightshade is up there on the ‘this is fine to read’ list as opposed to other options out there. I’d much rather see someone read this than one of those ported mobile games that have been coming to steam lately.

Honestly, I get a sort of Hakuoki vibe from this game, even though I probably shouldn’t. It feels like the people who enjoyed Hakuoki might enjoy Nightshade, since the themes and setting are similar enough, as well as the sadder moments.But it’s been such a long while since I played the original Hakuoki, things might’ve changed. Take it with a grain of salt.

I wouldn’t recommend this to people looking for complicated plots or enriching stories, and certainly not to people who like more comfy feel-good types of stories with lots of fluffy romance scenes.  It is what it is, and that’s a game that’s kinda mediocre but doesn’t have anything I can outright ‘hate’.  I wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first game, but because of how straightforward it is (two ends per route, not a lot of deviations in the routes, available relationship chart you can see and track), I can easily see someone who’s read one or two games picking this up without being that intimidated.

Overall, I’d rate it a 6/10 or a 7/10.And I’d definitely wait for a price drop; $40 CAD seems a bit much for this game as it is. $30? Maybe. $20? Nominal.

But if you’re intent on getting it, here’s the Steam link. Happy playing, pals. Have a good one.