#kasumi utako

[dailyfigures]

Kasumigaoka Utaha ; How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend ☆ Max Factory

[oh-those-ocean-eyes]

[matsuosushi]

[yuukibutterfly]

CLAMP + Hair Color

[recentanimenews]

Kana Hanazawa Voices The Lead in TV Anime Adaptation of Level-5's "Layton" Game

Japanese video game company Level-5 announced today on December 29 that a TV anime based on its popular adventure game series Professor Layton, titled Layton Mystery Tanteisha ~Katrie no Nazotoki File~ (Layton Detective Agency ~Katrielle's Mystery Solving File~), is set to premiere in Japan in April 2018. The game series was previously adapted into an anime feature film, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva in December 2009, and this is the first TV anime adaptation. 

  The TV series features Professor Layton's daughter Katrielle Layton as the protagonist. She first appeared in the game series' latest title Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy released in July 2017. Instead of 24-year-old actress Kasumi Arimura in the game, 28-year-old popular anime voice actress Kana Hanazawa (Kuroneko in Oreimo, Hinata Kawamoto in March comes like a lion) is newly cast as the protagonist character

  Hanazawa says, "It is an honor for me to be involved in the 'Layton' series' first TV anime. I'm already

looking forward to seeing what kind of mystery I can find with Katrie! I would like to sincerely play Katrie

as a cheerful, positive and lovely character, so I'll do my best!!!!!!" 

    TV anime "Layton Mystery Tanteisha ~Katrie no Nazotoki File~" Main Staff:

   Creative Director/Original Story, Series Composition: Akihiro Hino (Inazuma Eleven, Time Bokan 24)

 Director: Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!)

 Original Character Designer: Takuzou Nagano

 Anime Character Designer: Utako Takada

 Anime Production: Liden Films (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Love and Lies)

    Main Visual

【新情報】「レイトン」シリーズが『レイトン ミステリー探偵社 ～カトリーのナゾトキファイル～』として2018年春地上波TVアニメでの放送が決定！主人公カトリーの声優は花澤香菜さんです！「ちゃお」でのまんが連載や、タカラトミーより玩具発売も！詳細はこちら→https://t.co/BVYtjt8dGm #レイトン http://pic.twitter.com/sj1QdPQXSP

— レイトンシリーズ公式 (@L5_layton) 2017年12月28日

  Kana Hanazawa

    Source: Level-5 news release

  ©LEVEL-5 Inc.

©2017 LEVEL-5 Inc.

©LEVEL-5/Layton Mystery Agency

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[hilmihisham]

#90 : Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata flat #9

(Woah, the episode number just quite matched this post number haha..)

Well, actually I’m still in the middle of constructing my post on last week’s episode of Saekano-flat (Episode #8) but it just doesn’t seems to naturally roll off from the top of my head onto the keyboard and by this time, I’m still sort of in thinking process that the Episode #9 just came out.. I could use this week’s episode as a warm-up to my Episode #8 posts - I never really seriously do this kind of text post before (review of an episode - sort of like a ‘bedah buku’ style with a bit of a blogging twist) so I guess this can be a good start for that.. 

This week’s episode is sort of high pace kinda story (the first time I watched it, I thought I’ve only gone through half of the episode when the ED theme played), I think this might be a good time to start this kinda post since I’m still thinking that Episode #9 doesn’t really have much to say about. It’s pretty much concise and straight to the point (kinda). I think I can handle this haha

..and yeah, after a whole fluffy scenes of Episode #8, we got thrown a curveball this week.. What a turnaround, I should say..

Long short story, Tomoya is in a pinch!

Continuing from after he had convinced the main heroine (#KatouBestGirl lol) to stay in Blessing Software for his next project, apparently that wasn’t the case for the other members.

Early in the episode, we were shown that Tomoya had at least some improvement in making a proposal for his project - unlike in Season 1 where his proposal got rejected straight out. From there to getting a score of 75 by Utaha, I say that’s a good improvement - I mean compared to Tomoya, she has a lot more experience about the industry. She was a best-selling light novel author before she even join the circle in the first season while Tomoya had just trying to make a baby step into the industry. 

Of course, she wasn’t too happy when the game is about “showing everyone the appeal of the heroine” which is none other than Megumi. We know how she views Tomoya as - she had given hint about it numerous times only for dense Tomoya didn’t picked up any of it (I feel like he’d talked about it but I think Tomoya did knew about it but didn’t react due to wanting the keep the balance of the circle as it is). But that’s not the reason why she can’t work with him..

Much to Tomoya surprise (and to anyone that didn’t expect the curveball), both she and Eriri had been scouted earlier by Kosaka Akane from a rival circle for her big new project Final Fantasy (ahem) Fields Chronicle. While she wasn’t too eager to join that project, more than anything she wanted to team up once more with Eriri in the same project (given that Eriri was the one who Kosaka Akane wanted the most in her project).

Given the short 5 seconds scene after that, I supposed Eriri had agreed to join the other project but it’s all to look forward to in the next episodes..

So what went wrong? Well, the other half of the episode subtlety explain how Tomoya - although seen as somewhat improved a bit as a producer - still lacking the more essential part of it by showing us how Kosaka Akane trying to scout both Eriri and Utaha. 

Done. Proposal accepted :P (Well I guess this is why we always heard stories about overworking in the industry in Japan..)

Ahaha but in all seriousness, this is what Tomoya failed to do as a producer - ask (and force). 

And to make things worse for him, Eriri’s “slump”. He do ask Eriri to provide their webpage with promo art for the game in January but the story is now in February and she haven’t even finished it yet. What he lacking the most is the force behind his request, as pointed out by Utaha.

Forget the affection both Eriri and Utaha had for Tomoya to join his circle, above all, both of them are “creator” in the first place. And that’s what creator do - forcing themselves to do the things that they do day by day to be better than the day before. 

Earlier in Season 2, Tomoya bravely pointed out the mistakes that Utaha had done in constructing the story for their game and Eriri gone out of her way and holed herself in a room to try to make the best illustration that she can for the game. Just take my 2 cents as a comic artist that hasn’t been but we all need that sort of push to be better than before, to improve ourselves. 

And Tomoya, as a producer and overseer of the project, failed to give that push to them.

Because of that, he might lost Eriri as his illustrator and along the way, would also lost Utaha as his writer.

Eriri’s slump turns out to be a bigger issue than what Tomoya had thought.

For someone with artblock, waiting out is not a solution. The very thing that we need to do is to grab hold of a pencil and sketch out whatever and realign ourselves by force back into the groove - where we can just draw whatever we thought of. Nothing can be done if we did nothing. 

I think, in Tomoya defense, he couldn’t ask for more simply because he felt inferior towards the two. Well, even before starting their first game, Kasumi Utako and Kashiwagi Eri are both already well recognised as the author of best-selling light novel and renowned doujin artist. For someone as him just starting to get into the industry, he might think his project is smaller compared to whatever other project that both of them is currently involved in. Kouhai asking their senpai to follow instruction is not an easy thing to do, y’know..

..and that’s how Tomoya is in a pinch he is right now.

I never read the original light novel version of Saekano before (I really wanna but there’s no one picking it up for translation, and my Japanese is still elementary) so to be honest, I’m kinda surprised of this curveball. I mean, they given us the lovely Episode #8 last week and then all of a sudden, this happened. 

To give a sneak peek of my thoughts of Episode #8 as I’m still trying to finish up (don’t wanna jinx it but hopefully I can finish that up), I think last week’s episode is the best on so far. I might be a bit bias as Megumi is definitely my favorite character in this series but from a character development standpoint, that episode is the writer Fumiaki Maruto showing off what he’s really capable of doing. In short sentence, I think Katou Megumi is the most colorful character out of all.

Well, all of that later (hopefully)..

[janathanwick-blog]

Figurine Nendoroid Utaha Kasumigaoka (Utako Kasumi) – Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata : Kasumigaoka Utaha - Good Smile Company, Nendoroid

[the-only-thing-is-hitsuzen-blog]

CLAMP in WONDERLAND II

Dando continuidade ao CLAMP in Wonderland, a seguinda animação musical traz os personagens dos trabalhos da CLAMP entre 1995 e 2006. MyAnimeList.net

Fansub: #Mirai Formato: MP4 Resolução: 704x400 Uploader: miruku-chan

Abertura: action! - Maaya Sakamoto Encerramento: Oh YEAH! - ROUNDTABLE feat. Nino

Personagens: Akira Ijyuuin (20 Mensou ni Onegai!!; CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Arashi Kishu (Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Ashura (RG Veda; Shining Star; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Chii "Elda" (Chobits; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Chun Hyang (Shin Shunkaden; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Eri Chusonji (CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Fai D. "Yuui" Flourite (Kobato.; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Fay Ryu Kazuhiko (Clover) Freya (Chobits) Fuu "Anemone Hououji, Anais Araujo" Hououji (Magic Knight Rayeath; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Fuuma Monou (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Gingetsu (Clover) Hideki Motosuwa (Chobits) Hikaru (Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Hikaru Shidou (Magic Knight Rayeath; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Hinata "Hina" Asahi (Gohou Drug; Kobato.; Suki. Dakara Suki; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Hokuto Sumeragi (Tokyo Babylon; X) Ichirou "Icchan" Mihara (Chobits; Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer) Ioryogi “Iorogi” (Kobato.) Kakei (Drug & Drop; Gohou Drug) Kakyo Kuzuki (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Kamui Shirou (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Karen Kasumi (Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Karura-Ou (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Kazahaya Kudou (Drug & Drop; Gohou Drug; xxxHOLiC) Kendappa-Ou "Amaterasu" (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Kentarou Higashikunimaru (CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Keroberos "Kero" (Cardcaptor Sakura; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Kimihiro Watanuki (Blood-C; Drug & Drop; Kobato.; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Kohaku (Drug & Drop; Kobato.; Wish) Kotarou Kobayashi (Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer) Kotobuki Sukiyabashi (CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon) Kotoko (Chobits; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Kotori Monou (Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; X) Kujaku (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Kurogane (Kobato.; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Lan "C" (Clover) Maru "Maru-dashi" (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Misaki "Misaki-Chi" Suzuhara (Chobits; Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer; Kobato.) Miyuki (CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Mokona (Magic Knight Rayearth) Mokona "Larg" Modoki (Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Mokona "Soel" Modoki (Kobato.; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Mong Ryong (Shin Shunkaden) Moro "Moro-dashi" (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Nokoru Imonoyama (20 Mensou ni Onegai!!; CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Primera (Magic Knight Rayearth; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Rikuo Himura (Drug & Drop; Gohou Drug; xxxHOLiC) Ryuu-ou "Naga" (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Saiga (Drug & Drop; Gohou Drug) Sakura (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Sakura Kinomoto (Cardcaptor Sakura; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Satsuki Yatoji (Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Seiichiro Aoki (X) Seishirou Sakurazuka (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; Tokyo Babylon; X) Shaoran Li (Cardcaptor Sakura) Shirahime "Yuki-onna" (Shirahimeshou) Shirou Asou (Kobato.; Suki. Dakara Suki) Shizuka Doumeki (xxxHOLiC) Sorata Arisugawa (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X) Souma (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Spinel Sun "Suppie" (Cardcaptor Sakura) Subaru Sumeragi (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; Tokyo Babylon; X) Sumomo "Plum" (Chobits; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Suoh Takamura (20 Mensou ni Onegai!!; CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Suu "Clover" (Clover) Syaoran (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Takeshi Shukaido (CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan; Gakuen Tokukei Duklyon; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Tomoyo Daidouji (Cardcaptor Sakura; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Umi Ryuuzaki (Magic Knight Rayeath; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Utako Ohkawa (20 Mensou ni Onegai!!; CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan) Yasha-ou "Yama" (RG Veda; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE) Yuuko Ichihara (Kobato.; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; xxxHOLiC) Yuzuriha Nekoi (Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan; Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE; X)

Release #Mirai | download RAW h264.1280x720.ACC.MKV | download

[recentanimenews]

Saekano 2 – 10

It’s very rare indeed for an episode to come around that gives you everything you wanted; everything you held out hope would come to pass but didn’t dare expect. And yet, well, here we are.

The completion of Cherry Blessing was an arc closure at an odd time in the run of a season, but the groundwork that was laid thereafter pays off wonderfully here, as Kashiwagi Eri decides to Take Her Talents to Rouge Beach, thus enabling Kasumi Utako to come along for the ride.

We start in the aftermath of that hellish meeting with Akane, still shaken from the abuse they were forced to endure. Utaha is no less honest and upfront as Akane was: she’s steaming mad that she’s being treated as an afterthought; a James Jones, if you will.

But as much as she hates Akane for doing so, she still agrees with the producer that Eriri is many years too early and too green to presume she’s “in a slump.” If Eriri agrees to do Fields Chronicle, Utaha will strive to crush her, even as they collaborate.

Of course she does. Competition, even outside one’s own field, drives a creative like Utaha. She wouldn’t be who she is if she didn’t treat Eriri as a rival; and when such a massive job comes around such as this, her’s is the name she’ll want spoken first in praise of the game.

Eriri laments that Utaha is dumping such a huge decision on her alone, but Utaha points out she’s not the one doing the dumping; that’s Akane. Utaha never had a choice. But if Eriri says yes, she’ll work with her, and not just because she’ll be able to as part of the deal with Akane, but because she believes the two of them can move forward together.

Not long thereafter, Eriri calls Utaha out of the blue, inviting her to join her back at school, where Eriri announces she’s defeated her slump and has her drawing touch back.

She forgot to bring the sketches to prove it to a giddy, over-the-moon Utaha (who curses Eriri for being so damn useless), but Eriri doesn’t need them, and instead proves it by sketching then coloring a gorgeous portrait right before a stunned Utaha.

She is indeed back, and Eriri responds to Utaha’s approval with smiles and laughter, but those turn to bitter tears when Eriri thinks of the reason she can draw again. As much as she wanted it to be because Tomoya wanted her and because of his support and love, she can draw again because of the less-than two minutes Akane spent insulting her.

Akane’s tirade did what it was meant to do, whether Akane meant to do it or not: Rattle Eriri’s cage; rattle it until the latch slips loose and Kashiwagi Eri can be fully released from behind the iron bars of Tomoya’s safe, comfortable doujin group.

That place is no longer conducive to the creative growth required for Eriri to be as amazing as she can be—and as Tomoya said she could be. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but Eriri does so, and Utaha offers a comforting hug in the process. You heard right: Eriri and Utaha hug. 

In return for her empathy, Eriri warns Utaha not to let Akane look down on her. Utaha had seemed thus far to be taking Akane’s words as gospel because she’s so experienced and successful, but Eriri, staunch Kasumi Utako fan, offers a different view: Akane “isn’t anything special” if she would so blithely underestimate Utaha’s talent.

That, in turn, elicits tears from Utaha, but she wipes them before bumping fists with Eriri, the first step on their new and exciting journey that is almost asssured to make them a part of video game history.

That leaves Tomoya Aki, whom I half-expected to blow his top and throw some kind of temper tantrum at the news that not only would Utaha be backing out of his group, but Eriri would too, betraying them for the second time in their long years together.

But I found that such a half-prediction was selling Tomoya short. He’s not elated by the (off-camera) defections, but he’s a big boy, and he’ll get over it. Hashima Iori, who left rouge en rouge with Izumi for, presumably, the same reason Eriri and Utaha left Blessing (to grow), urges Tomoya not to quit game developing and creating just because he lost his two “golden geese.”

And I totally get why: Eriri and Utaha were just as much training wheels as geese; he’ll now have to test his producer mettle with creatives with other people; people who may not be as hugely talented, and people who won’t be lured into working for him by the feelings they harbor for him!

But there’s another reason Tomoya will be just fine: his harem has been shattered, and with it all the myriad routes he could have chosen to take. Now there is one route, and it leads him up the same sakura-scattered hill, where a familiar figure seems to be waiting for him.

That figure is, naturally, Kato Megumi, the girl who is best suited for Tomoya, and always was; a girl he won’t be stifling creatively, because they work so well together. She’s returned to the short hair that first inspired Tomoya into making a video game about a nice, astonishingly ordinary, boring girl.

Tomoya, in turn, drew Eriri and Utaha into his orbit. Normal as she may sound and appear, without Megumi there’s no Blessing Software, no Cherry Blessing, and no Fields Chronicle offer. She was their heroine, the heroine, and now he’s his. And like any good heroine, she makes the first move, suggesting they go out on a date at once. Sounds good to me!

By: sesameacrylic

[recentanimenews]

Saekano 2 – 09

After the high spirits attained by watching Tomoya and Megumi finally reconcile last week, the angst and despair prevalent in this latest installment of Saekano is presents a stark contrast. It’s a place we know the show is as comfortable with as the goofier comedy, and it’s fairly apparent by the end of the episode that whatever happens, things won’t be the same…or at least they shouldn’t easily revert back there.

After meeting Utaha after her graduation and presenting his proposal, which she reads and gives high marks, Tomoya asks if she’ll be on board for the new game, and Utaha says she can’t. She can’t for precisely the concessions Tomoya offers to persuade her to do it: he will only ask her for as much as she can handle when she has the time.

Essentially, Utaha cannot work for a producer who won’t push her to make sacrifices and challenge herself. Because of Tomoya at its head, Blessing Software is no longer a place where Utaha can feel she’s being the best creative she can be. That realization was probably reached on her own in some form, but it was certainly helped by the meeting she had one month ago.

In that meeting, the famous, ultra-successful and popular Kousaka Akane, who offers to let Utaha write the story for the newest in a 20-year-old line of RPGs, Fields Chronicle. Not only that, Kousaka offered Eriri the job as character designer. In fact, she wanted Eriri more than Utaha. And Tomoya is just now hearing about this.

As Tomoya stews in despair and wonders if this is all really happening, we rewind one month. Utaha talks with Eriri about her slump, and about the same issues with Tomoya she brings up with him a month later.

Ever since her art from the winter villa, she hasn’t been able to draw anything as good, but takes comfort in knowing Tomoya will give her all the time she needs, and forgive and stick with her if she never draws anything again.

Utaha can relate – she once “lost herself to a guy” and it negatively affected her ability to be the best creative she could be, but Eriri won’t admit that’s what’s going on, even as she states Tomoya will never be the asshole producer-type he actually needs to be to get the most out of his creatives.

Then Utaha’s editor tells her about the meeting Kousaka wants with her, and Eriri comes along, not because she’ll be willing to hear anything Kousaka wants to say, but to try to stop Utaha from being drawn into Kousaka’s web and agreeing to the RPG project.

But while Eriri ostensibly came to provide a stronger front against the older, more experienced, and more successful (and therefore seductive) Kousaka, neither she nor Utaha come out of the meeting unscathed.

Kousaka may be drunk when they arrive, but she’s perfectly lucid in her no-nonsense approach. She’s makes it clear it’s Kashiwagi Eri she wants more than anything, and if Kasumi Utako can’t bring her on board, she isn’t needed. Eriri tells Kousaka it’s too big a job and she’s in a bad slump, but Kousaka laughs in her face and calls her trash.

While one could easily dismiss Kousaka as a horrible person, there’s no doubting her passion for her work and the work she spearheads, and it’s clear this is a knock-down, drag-out cage-rattling. Eriri’s piddling excuses are of no consequence to her; no doubt she had the same excuses before she came into her own as an artist.

So I don’t think she’s wrong in trying to get both Eriri and Utaha to give up on silly little small-potatoes doujin work and really push themselves. That being said, it wasn’t fun watching the two get put through the ringer like that.

As for Tomoya? I can’t say I feel bad for the guy. For one thing, it was presumptuous enough to ask a writer and artist of Utaha and Eriri’s caliber to help him make one game. For another, he doesn’t have the proper producer mentality (in part because they’re all friends) to properly push them.

Even if the final two episodes deal with Tomoya getting them back, I’m not sure it will feel like a victory to me. A second game might be an accomplishment for Tomoya and Megumi, but it would be stagnation for the creatives. They’ve already proven themselves. Time to move on to bigger things…as long as that’s what they want, of course.

By: sesameacrylic

[recentanimenews]

Saekano 2 – 07

It’s been two months since Winter Comiket, and Cherry Blessing has done well in both sales and critical reception. But with their first game released, Blessing Software is at a crossroads. Utaha is finishing up her newest novel, while Eriri is still blowing past art deadlines (what she’s painting, we never see).

Tomoya’s rival Iori surmises that Cherry was able to surpass his game in reviews (if not in sales) because both writer and artist grew and surpassed themselves. Now that the trio has been through it all together, the girls are far less careful about how they act at school around Tomoya.

Tomoya, Eri, and Utaha are all getting along swimmingly post-Comiket, but Tomoya has been unable to make any progress whatsoever in making up with Megumi. She gives him a listless “good morning” and doesn’t answer her phone when he calls her.

That ignored call is the beginning of Tomoya starting to actually stop and carefully consider everything Megumi had done for and with him, and the manner in which treated her in return. Because he took her commitment lightly and shut her out at a crucial moment, she’s not picking up now to discuss with him the pros and cons of a new, second game.

Valentine’s Day arrives, and when he brings up the possibility of giving her more work, Eriri simply wants more time to relax, not worry about such things, give him chocolate, take his arm and walk with him.

To her chagrin, he has lunch with Utaha, who also gives him chocolate, and offers to sign her real name (not her pen name) “all over his body”, in a classic Utaha tease that’s probably more sincere than Tomoya is willing to realize.

Utaha also released her latest novel, and plans to start another soon. Since she’s already in university, she won’t be coming to school anymore after today. So Tomoya asks her, almost desperately, if she’d write for him again.

Despite her resentment of Tomoya’s protectiveness with Eriri, she bashfully admits she wants to make another game with her. Eriri, out in the hall making sure Utaha doesn’t make any moves, hears Utaha’s warm tone.

If Tomoya can come up with an idea, it looks like Utako Kasumi and Kashiwagi Eri are all on board. Which leaves Megumi (sorry Hyoudou, you’re not a main!). Tomoya makes an effort to track her down, but she slips out just as school ends. He spots her eating alone in a cafe, texts her a request for a circle meeting, and watches her not ignore it, giving him hope that maybe their friendship hasn’t “run its natural course” quite yet after all.

Then he goes home, and late into the night, he plays Cherry Blessing through. Playing it brings up all of the memories he has of Megumi working tirelessly by his side to make the game such a success, and how little appreciation he showed in his words, actions, or lack thereof. So Tomoya curls up in shame. At last—a glimmer of self-awareness from the guy.

Thinking of her also inspires Tomoya to come up with a title for the upcoming game he’ll aim to release in time for Summer Comiket: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend. Meta! Here’s hoping he can make proper amends—and Megumi is willing to take the fool back.

By: sesameacrylic