Comitia 109 haul review 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I got a ton of books at Comitia 109, and am still slowly working my way through them. Here’s a look at another couple of books from the batch.

1 Melissa by Mephisto (circle: Angraecum)

Sadly couldn’t find the circle cut, they must have been listed under a different name. The artist states in the afterword that this is his first stab at an original book.

The title character is a girl magically bonded to an “arsenal” housing millions (or billions, depending on who you ask) of the world’s mightiest weapons. She acts as the key to the arsenal, and is thus able to conjure up any of the weapons at wish.

A being of immense worth, and, at the same time, danger, she is confined to a cell on a prison island, which the protagonist (a newly-hired guard who frames the story with a letter to his mother) catches her trying to escape from.

From there on, things quickly escalate into an all-out battle, as a sorcerer-soldier from a hostile country (?) attempts to abduct Melissa, and she singlehandedly whoops his ass as the guards stand uselessly by.

The art has a dynamic, fairly conventional style, and definitely a little rough around the edges. But not so much as to distract from the story too much. Ultimately, the book reads very much like a prologue. It’s a very, very brief glimpse into Melissa’s universe, and roughs out her character just enough that I might look for a sequel, maybe.  Time shall tell whether we ever see more of her.

But man, that cover. gorgeous.

The artist: Mephisto on the web, pixiv, and Twitter

2 雑貨屋 by Biyora (circle: クレープたべたい) (Zakkaya by Crepe Tabetai)

Circle thumbnail:

雑貨屋 translates into “general store”, and modernly also refers to a store selling assorted trinkets for home decoration etc. The heroine of the book is a gatherer, who scours the ruins of an ancient city in the “forest of stones” for rare artifacts to sell in her store.

The story starts out with a guy pestering her to get him an “iron flower,” seemingly an everyday item that she has run out of stock of. After some convincing, the heroine agrees to make a run and get supplies.

It turns out that the “iron flowers” are actually gears (like the ones on the cover), and the artifacts the heroine is selling are various machine parts such as pipes, screws, and cables. Upon returning to town with her bounty, she briefly encounters a friend who bugs her about bringing back machines, which are evil according to her. Except for windmills and weaving machines, which are necessary for life. This leads to a bit of really witty dialogue, as the heroine calls out her friend for being a hypocrite.

She delivers the gear to the guy, who uses it to fix up a mechanism to draw up a big parabolic antenna. Nobody knows what it is, so they just decide it’s a big iron flower, which the ancients built for purposes of… Hanami (picnics under blooming trees).

And finally, in the last 4 panels, the story takes a 180 degree turn worth of an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Totally took me by surprise, in an awesome way. I was on the fence on whether to spoil it, since most of you won’t get to read it, but decided against it, in case someone sees this who might. If you want to know more about the book, feel free to contact me.

The whole book is drawn in a deceptively simple, comicky style, but there’s a surprising amount of detail crammed into the art, with purposeful, clear lines that convey a lot of confidence. It’s only 8 story pages, and the story is super compact, well structured, and with great, witty dialogue.

The artist: Biyora on Pixiv, Blog

That wraps up the second round of my doujinshi reviews, hope you enjoyed! Lots more to come, let’s see if I can keep up the pace.

Comitia 109 haul review

It's been pretty much exactly a month since Comitia 109, but I haven't really had the time to comb through my spoils from the show. I got a pretty good amount of stuff this time around, as you can see in my Instagram from just after the event:

There's a handful of these that stood out for me (as I said I haven't really had the time to comb through them yet, so there might be other hidden gems), so I'll take some time today to tell you about them.

1. kraken by Torimura (circle: Daiouika)

This was my major new discovery at this year's Comitia. I discovered it in the catalog, decided to check it out, and wasn't disappointed.
The circle thumbnail:

kraken was actually advertised in the "magazine" section of the catalog too:

Igawa's entire body is covered in bandages, and she is shunned by everyone at school. A mundane encounter leads Higuchi to develop an interest in her, and he discovers her secret. A drive for revenge born out of miscommunication leads to a bitter and tragic end. 
The pain of adolescence, and a giant squid... This strange combination turns out to be really good.

Higuchi, a pretty regular guy with a constant group of friends, notices weird, social outcast Igawa after they try to check out the same book about giant squid from the school library. She is being severely heckled by her peers, including the obligatory "die" and "scum" scribbled on her desk, and having her box lunch "accidentally" knocked out of her hands by a fellow student.
They develop a quiet, friendly bond, and she introduces him to her after-school project: Building a mechanical giant squid to destroy the school, their peers, and everything in its way.

The 72-page story is drawn in a deformed, scribbly style with simplified faces and expressive, big eyes. there's a lot of well-placed spot blacks, and purposefully loosely-cut screentones. The story moves at a fairly leisurely pace, and concludes in a destructive inferno that, while not entirely original, feels just right for the book.

Obviously my main impulse for buying this book was the cover. It's amazingly designed with a great 5-color palette, a matte finish in the compact A5 size. I liked it so much that I asked the artist to sell me the display copy when I heard it was sold out. She sold out of it early in the day, apparently she had completely underestimated the demand (not suprising, since it was only her second show, and likely the first time she was featured this heavily in the catalog).
The story pages are a fairly heavy, matte paper as well, and overall it's a very attractive package. I believe it was 500 Yen.

Artist: Torimura on Twitter Pixiv

2. iromonia by usamimiki (circle: R-Panda)

This was a chance find, I just walked by their booth and there it was. Turns out I had already purchased another one of her books, 恐竜肉食少女時代（lit. "The age of girls who eat dinosaur meat"）at Comiket. I guess her style just instantly clicks with me.
R-Panda's circle thumbnail:

iromonia is about a blind little girl who gets picked up by a robot small-time criminal, who offers to take her back to her home town in exchange for her eyeballs (which he intends to sell on the black market).

When she opens her eyes to allow the robot to take out her eyeballs, he is stunned by their beauty, and changes his mind, attempting to leave her be. In the girl's youthful naivete, however, she tags along with him, and with the help of a friend, they set course for her hometown. It's the tried-and-true formula of no-good adult and innocent child sidekick on a roadtrip, and true to form it's not long before things go awry.

I bought this mostly for the art, which is beautiful with lots of detail and parallel hatching, as well as great character designs, especially for the robots. It's about 80 pages for I think? 500 yen. The cover is beautiful with stark contrast of the white-faced girl against black background, and a logo embossed in silver foil. At one point in the story, the book actually goes full color for two pages to illustrate the girl's emotions, and it just blew me away. It even came with a separate little booklet featuring design sketches and comments. I'm amazed at how well this book is put together.

But the art is not the only beautiful thing about iromonia. The story of a 2-bit street thug getting more and more enthralled by the sincerely innocent little girl, and trying to make things right for her, only to realize he has no place in her life, is heartwarming and ultimately heartbreaking. It had me very, very close to tears by the end.

If you can find anything by this artist, I highly recommend checking it out.

Artist: Usamimiki on web and Pixiv

And that's it - my two favorite picks from this year's summer Comitia! Hope you liked them.

Comitia time!

Last week, I wrote about Comiket, Japan's largest doujinshi market.

Believe it or not, this week, a mere two weeks after Comiket, we're having another similar event. It's called Comitia, and unlike Comiket, this one is all about original books and items, no commercially available properties allowed!

This year is the 30th anniversary of the event, and this week's is Comitia #109. It's held in the same venue as Comiket, on a smaller scale, and of course there's going to be a lot of the same people and even books, but it's all original and that's awesome! I actually like this more than I do Comiket.

I'm going to have very little time at Comitia this year, so I decided to actually get the catalog ("Tia Magazine") in advance and try to prepare. Here's what it looks like:

It's a flipbook, this side being a magazine-style layout with a few essays and introductions of a few notable books, and the other side being the actual catalog. By the way, the catalog actually acts as the ticket to the show, and unlike Comiket they do check for that.

The first thing on the catalog side is the floor map, I've translated the categories so you can get an idea of what's on display: (click to enlarge)

(JUNE, by the way, is the "official" term for Boys' Love, or male x male romance books)

After that, an introduction to the event (by way of a manga from artist Kumichou), an overwhelming index list of all participating circles and their booth no., an intro of which editors are available in the review area, ads for books and seminars being held at Comitia, intro to exhibiting companies (they get little booths at the outskirts of the hall), and then of course 150 pages of.... 

Yep, that's all circles get to try and grab your attention! I'm going to put a few hours into this and see if I can figure this out! I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll leave you with this gem I found in the catalog at lunch. Definitely going to have to check this book out.

(ported over from my tumblr)

Comic Market 86

Last weekend, I spent a few hours at the famous Comic Market. It's a huge, confusing event, but it can be a lot of fun, so I decided to write up a little post about what I know, so you can skip some of the figuring-it-out stage if you intend to visit, or just imagine you were there.

Comic Market, abbreviated Comiket or コミケin Japanese, is Japan's biggest comic convention. Calling it a convention, however, might create some confusion for people who are familiar with American or European comic cons... There is no big, elaborate publisher booths, panels, or signings with creators.
In fact, the japanese term for this type of event is 即売会, which loosely translates into "on-the-spot sale meet." 

The entire event is essentially what is known at conventions outside Japan as artist's alley. Exhibitors attend it mainly to sell their doujinshi, amongst some other goods and apparel.

A doujinshi sold at Comiket can be anything from a few copies stapled together, to full blown artbooks, but the vast majority are leaflets of about 30 pages or so, with a full color cover and black & white inside pages, in A5 or B5 size. 

This is my haul from Sunday. The small (A5) books in the upper left, which amazingly have about 80 pages, cost 400 yen, or about $4. The bigger (B5) ones with about 30 pages were still only 500, and the one in the top right, which has full-color insides, was 1,000 Yen. These B5 books are from Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei creator ABe Yoshitoshi, some samples from the insides are up on his Pixiv account if you want to check them out.

There's a lot of on-demand printing services that are very easy to use and dirt cheap. Depending on the paper quality and amount of copies you produce, it's entirely possible to make a beautiful 30+ page book for not much more than 100 Yen per book.

Some relatively unknown creators I talked to mentioned they had done a print run of about 200 copies, while superstar creator Akamatsu Ken of Love Hina and Negima! fame mentioned selling about 8,000 copies before 1pm.

Comiket is held at Tokyo Big Sight, a huge convention hall with an exhibition space of 80,660 square meters (868,217 square foot) For comparison, the dealer floor at San Diego Comic-Con is 460,000 square feet = 42,700sqm. It's held twice a year, typically in August and December

This year's summer Comiket claims to have had 550,000 visitors. I'm not entirely sure how they count that, since there are no tickets (just gigantic open gates), and rumor has it they keep the numbers artificially low to avoid problems with fire protection law and the like. Either way, it was a madhouse.
An official report said there were over 10,000 people camped out overnight for the first day this year. 

But of course it wouldn't be a convention without exhibitors - this year, the official Comiket publicity twitter account reported around 35,000 circles were attending. That's mindblowing, considering that the chance for winning the attendance lottery is supposed to be around 50-70%.

What's a circle, you ask? Circle, in this context, refers to a group of people who share a passion for a subject (such as an anime series or a videogame), enough to band together and produce doujinshi together. 

As you might have heard, the term doujinshi, spelled 同人誌 in Japanese, literally translates into "same people magazine." For years, I just assumed that this referred to a book featuring characters from an established property (thus the "same people"). But then I found out that there's lots and lots of original properties being told in the same format, and they're also called doujinshi. So I put the question to Twitter, and one of my Japanese acquaintances explained that the "same people" doesn't refer to the characters, but the people comprising the circle, who share the same interests. Mind blown!

Each booth, or "space" as it's called at Comiket, comes with a narrow table, and two chairs. Most exhibitors do little to spice up their booth, some add a table cloth, maybe a little standee banner, but nothing too fancy. Obviously, the books are the main attraction here.

There is very little aggressive selling. Very few people will ask you to take a look at their books, and asking someone to buy is actively discouraged.  

Which brings up the question, how the hell do you find anything in this huge place, when there's so little clues?

Obviously it's easier if you know a creator that you want to go visit. They'll have announcement up on their blogs, Twitter, or Pixiv (the Japanese equivalent of Deviantart). A lot will even change their Twitter handle to include the booth number, like so: 安倍吉俊/3日目東A41a,b "Abe Yoshitoshi, 3rd day, East A41a,b." So Abe Yoshitoshi can be found on the 3rd day of the event, in the East hall, A41 a and b. Note that while the event is 3 days, each circle is only represented on one of them.

What if you're not looking for a specific creator, but a genre, for example, say, a Naruto fanbook? The halls are divided by genre, 42 rough categories, and similar books will usually be grouped together. The category for Naruto and other Shounen Jump books will be FC(少年).

So you know the category now, and if you're only there for one category you might as well just go to that area of the event and browse. But say you want to narrow it down a little more. There is a catalog available before the event, sold at book- and anime stores etc. for about 2000 Yen. As you can probably imagine from having seen manga magazines, the catalog is pretty close in dimensions to a phone book. And the insides look like this:

Yeesh. This is a page in the Kancolle section, featuring doujinshi of the popular character Shimakaze. It has the row number (ソ, note that there will be alphabet, hiragana and katakana row numbers), and then a single image for every circle to present their visual style, with the booth number and circle name. That's all the hints you get. If you find one that piques your interest, it can't hurt googling the name and see if they have a twitter or Pixiv account which might feature some more samples of their work.

It's a pretty daunting task.

Here's a look at one of the halls' floor plans:

Notice how the "A" section is hugging the walls, with a broad-ish corridor between it and the rest of the tables? This is where the bigger, well-known circles get to exhibit. They tend to draw larger crowds, so they are positioned in ares where they can form lines (which usually extend out of the huge gates) without blocking the other exhibitors' booths. The ends of the rows are similar, as they also offer more space and a clearer view of the booth.

As you can imagine, a lot of the Shimakaze books on the catalog page above are adult books, which is something that doujinshi are very commonly associated with. And rightly so, this is definitely a big part of Comiket's wares. 

But there is so much more to be found. Obviously there are other, non-adult themed fanfiction doujinshi, but there is also a ton of other content. A small list of things I discovered in my very cursory browsing of this year's Comiket, after I was done checking out the creators I had planned in advance, directly from my twitter updates:

Travel essays, train photos, anti-TPP propaganda leaflets, screenplays... this is #comiket too. UFO magazines. Tons of them for the believers. Restaurant review booklets. Recipe collections. Flute playing instructions. Stickers. Charms. Papercraft. Handmade dolls. Handmade bags, purses and earrings. T-shirts. Rubber stamps. 

The above is from a span of about 20 minutes of my tweets. There is a vast amount of content to be found for all tastes, if you manage to find it in the limited amount of time available: Comiket opens at 10 and closes at 4pm. As I mentioned above, over 10,000 people spend the night in the parking lot overnight and flood the venue all at once, so even entering before noon is literally impossible.
I usually try to be there about 12:30 - 1pm. The crowds are still absolutely crazy, but there's no wait to actually enter the venue, and it's possible to navigate without getting squashed. Popular books start selling out around 2-3pm, at which point the exhibitors pack up and go home, so some research into what you plan to look at is a must. 

Also, there's two areas of the event that I haven't touched upon: The commercial booths and cosplay areas. The commercial booths, 企業ブース in Japanese, are put up by publishers, anime companies and apparel/goods vendors.

Unlike the publisher and TV booths at an american convention, there are no talkshows, meet-and-greets, or any activity other than sales here. All there is are limited edition goods (anything from printed tumblers to the notorious 抱き枕 - long pillows with a print of an anime character on them) to be bought, and people gladly line up for an hour to get to them. Honestly, even going up there isn't worth it. There's too many people, and very little to see.

The cosplay area(s), on the other hand, are a different story. There's tons of really elaborate, great cosplay here, but the thing is that it's separate from the dealer floor (aside from a select few people wandering around in costume, and a few aisles of cosplay photo books and DVDs being sold). The Comiket rules dictate that cosplayers need to change into their costumes on site (there are dressing rooms available), and cosplayers then pose for photographers in a roped-off area outside specifically reserved for that purpose. It's huge, and there's like 20 photographers with huge DSLRs crowding around each scantily clad girl, but I can tell you little else because I haven't really bothered to go in myself. My understanding is that you actually have to get a permit on site to take pictures (a result of Japan's rampant trend of taking unwanted pictures, and extreme protectiveness of ones portrait rights, and generally personal information). So I'll leave that up to someone more in-the-know to describe.

That's it! Pretty much all I know about Comiket! Let me know via Disqus or the Ask me feature in case there's anything you want me to elaborate on. I'll be happy to help!

(ported from my tumblr)

Crimson Shroud hands-on

Level5's (for me) long-awaited 3DS project Guild 01 finally hit the shelves last week, so I am now able to give you some thoughts on the one game that wasn't playable at Level 5 World: Matsuno Yasumi's Crimson Shroud. (see my post on the event for my thoughts on the other games)

I am currently about 7 hours into the game, and am in the third "chapter," I do not know how many there are all in all, but judging from the story it feels like there is quite a bit still ahead. There's also a lot of rooms I cannot enter so far, so I definitely expect some second/third go through extras. I'm biased towards this game by being a long–time Matsuno fan, so proceed with caution.

Matsuno has described Crimson Shroud as his attempt at delivering a game experience akin to traditional table-talk roleplaying games. The game stays very true to this idea: after a short introduction into its world, the game's narrative directly addresses the player, just as a game master would in a session of Dungeons & Dragons. 

In the Weekly Famitsu interview I have translated earlier, Matsuno admitted to having made "drastic" sacrifices when it comes to the game's graphical presentation. This is certainly apparent to the player: The characters are presented as miniatures just like the ones you can purchase for any number of tabletop RPGs — including the fact that they are completely static, and there is no movement aside from the occasional wobble in response to an action taken or damage suffered. Similarly, the environments are disjointed "rooms" with a floor and walls, but no ceiling, offering a spartan backdrop to the action. One thing the game does offer is an equipment change affecting the appearance of the character.

The narrative of Crimson Shroud puts the player in control of Giauque (read "Gee–oak"), an experienced and cool-tempered "chaser," who tracks down persons or objects for a fee. With him are Frea (pronounced similar to "flow"), a versatile mage, and Lippi (Like "Hippie" with an L), a wisecracking former thief wielding a bow.
On a mission to search for a lost monk, they travel into the ruins of the fabled golden palace of Rahab, where they encounter a wide range of traditional fantasy enemies, such as Goblins, Minotaurs, and undead Skeleton Knights. A lot of the monster miniatures look great, I'd love to have these as pieces in a real life game... Fun fact, the underside of the in-game miniatures actually says "Level5," which you only see when they topple over upon defeat!

The story unfolds in the form of long blocks of texts, filling up several screens at a time. The lower screen displays a map of the palace ruins, and the player taps on a room to proceed. Each move brings up an "event," such as a description of the room, some lines of dialogue, and sometimes a flashback narration or battle.

From time to time, the player is given a choice of how to proceed: open a chest or leave it, engage an enemy or try to avoid them, and so on.

Not every battle is optional, however, and gamers who are familiar with Matsuno's previous games will feel right at home with the combat mechanics: A turn–based system with command input for skills, magic, direct weapon attacks, and items. Each turn, the character can execute two commands, one of which must be a skill (ranging from "buffs" for stat bonuses, all the way to magic attacks).

For many of the skills, especially ones negatively affecting the enemy's stats, the game employs another Tabletop RPG stalwart: dice throws with multi–faceted dice, ranging from 4– to 20–sides. Dice throws are also employed to determine factors such as battle-inhibiting fog, darkness, the ability to avoid a battle altogether, additional damage to attacks, and so on. Matsuno has said that dice-throws, executed through dragging on the touchscreen, were originally planned for every action, but partly scrapped for timing purposes. In my eyes, they managed to strike a good balance here: The dice throws are fun, and a failure sometimes frustrating, but the they have yet to get old for me.
The player gets the chance to earn additional dice by racking up an unbroken chain of different-typed magic, awarding a more faceted die for every turn the chain continues (4 sides for 3 turns, 6 for 4, etc... also counting enemy turns!)

As opposed to the majority of RPGs, character stats are not determined by character level, but rather through the equipment used. As anyone who has ever played Matsuno's Tactics games will likely imagine, there is an abundance of different weapons to be found, via enemy drops or in chests to be found every once in a while. The same goes for skills and magic spells, the latter of which are bound to equipment as well. A perk of collecting multiple instances of the same item is that you can then merge them to create a new, more powerful one.

What I like:

• Classic Matsuno atmosphere and story, characters with a history and familiar, engaging enemies.
• Challenging gameplay that doesn't serve every clue on a platter: You need to actively search around, circle back, and act counter–intuitively at times — such as fighting battles that you would rather, and are allowed to, avoid — in order to advance. Hitting a dead end, and then finally finding the path onward by chance and exploration, makes for a rewarding experience.
• Familiar and challenging combat with tons of spells and skills — again with very few hints as to which will be effective, and of course the frustrating inability to change mismatched equipment on the fly. A lot of the enemies are rather tough, and winning a seemingly lost battle on your last standing character, by gambling on a dice throw with your last dice, is incredibly rewarding.
• Great music by Sakimoto Hitoshi and Basiscape, very reminiscent of Vagrant Story, though just a little lighter in tone.

What I don't:

• The graphic presentation is extremely limited, with literally no movement from characters or enemies, and no free-roaming in the environments. The battle screen, as seen in the preview images, is hopelessly cluttered with character names and HP/MP gauges. The graphics themselves are pretty enough, and sometimes even give the illusion of movement through clever camera work, but is evident there was a lot sacrificed here, likely a jarring experience for younger gamers who are used to high-definition games of recent years.
• Long blocks of text without voice overlay or any movement give the game a feel like an illustrated novel, with very little interaction aside from the occasional multiple choice junction. That said, the story itself lives up to expectations, delivering a rich narrative with characters and setting only slowly coming into focus within the limitations of the game.

Overall, I'm enjoying Crimson Shroud, but it's definitely a game that chooses its player... The long narrative sequences (admittedly made even longer by my slower reading speed in Japanese)  make the game feel like an illustrated choose–your–own–adventure novel, and will probably disappoint players looking for a more action–oriented game. Long–time fans will appreciate the narrative, overall mood and battle system, all of which have a distinctively Matsuno feel. (Which, after all, was what Level5 demanded of Matsuno for Guild01)

It feels like although there were severe compromises made presentation-wise, there is enough meat to the story to last me a while, and it'd probably take me forever to try out all the equipment and skill combinations. There's a plethora of battle-influencing factors like surprise battle, skirmish, fog, darkness, what have you, to keep it fresh. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes dark-ish fantasy worlds, and anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to play a round of D&D with Matsuno Yasumi.

In closing, there is a petition page on Facebook to bring Guild01 to US/European markets, and I urge everyone even remotely interested in this game to support it: https://www.facebook.com/pages/GUILD-01-Petition-for-International-release/161540050607683?sk=info

Yasumi Matsuno on Crimson Shroud

Another gaming post today.
Here's a quick translation of an article from this week's Weekly Famitsu, detailing some more about Yasumi Matsuno's new game Crimson Shroud, a part of the Guild01 compilation, in the creator's own words.

edit: you can now access the screenshots asscociated with this article, as well as some more, on the official Guild01 website.
For more info on Guild01, see my original post about the game compilation.


Yasumi Matsuno on Crimson Shroud


The deeper meaning behind the game's title
This game is set in a medieval world rich with magic, which was suddenly given to its inhabitants roughly 1000 years ago. The magic of this game is not a skill that can be studied, but is rather contained within certain items. The people of this world call these items "Gifts," believing they have been brought to them by their god. All of these "Gifts" are said to have originated from a single item, the "Original Gift," which is the origin of all magic. 
The "Original Gift" also bears a power to copy its magic, and thus it spawned many objects, each bearing one type of magic. The protagonists of the game get entangled in a war for the legendary "Original Gift," which is known as the Crimson Shroud.
The illustration attached to this paragraph is taken from the Prologue, and hints at just what kind of item the Crimson Shroud is. It is used here to illustrate the game's world view. (Illustration by Hideo Minaba)


Frea, a girl holding the key to the story
Crimson Shroud's protagonist Giauque is a "chaser," a profession that searches for people upon request. Frea is one of his companions in his journey. She belongs to a people who have distanced themselves from the religious beliefs of the ones around them, and has very different values than the other characters. Her detailed knowledge of the Gifts has a big impact on the adventure.
The illustration included with this paragraph, taken from the game's introduction, shows Frea lying down on a cot, injured. The character in the black helmet pictured in the screenshot has saved her, and the scene leads up to a flashback explaining how she sustained these injuries. This flashback is the main story part of the game.


Details about the game's system
The setting for Crimson Shroud's narrative is an ancient building named "the golden temple of Rahab." Once a magnificent building, it is now mere ruins. The story is told in text-adventure style events, leading u to an exploration part in the golden temple, and, upon reaching a certain locale, an event scene or battle. Along the way, the player has to make decisions on how to proceed, and we have included several options in these events that will only become available after successfully finishing the main story once. The decisions the player makes will also affect the ending of the game.
The battle scenes are executed in an orthodox command input system, but at times a "dice roll" element will decide the outcome of certain actions. Originally, dice rolls were planned to be used for calculating all attack damage and the like, as is the case with conventional "table talk" RPGs. However, this system bogged down the game's tempo too much, so we decided to only use the dice from time to time.
This game focuses on what would be the final dungeon in a traditional RPG, and aims to deliver an experience like playing through the climax of the game right from the start. It does not take an inordinate amount of time to finish this game, so I would like to see players try it without the hesitation involved with tackling an RPG.


Points especially important to me
In the development of this game, a lot of weight was put on what to in- or exclude in order to keep Crimson Shroud compact and lightweight. This is not a matter of personal preference, but rather of Guild01's overall concept, which did not permit for an epic RPG. I'm fairly sure some people will be quite surprised at the decisions we made. (laughs) In particular, we made quite drastic compromises on the graphic parts. In order to fill (Level5 CEO) Hino's order for a "compact" game, we felt it made sense to purposefully compromise on the graphics, which are something that requires a great deal of effort with the constant evolution of gaming hardware.


Things I learned from participating in Guild01
I am not aware of it myself, but a lot of fans have come to expect a certain "Matsuno atmosphere" or "Matsuno games" from my work. When I joined Level5, I had originally been planning for a different, more lighthearted type of game... When it was decided I would be part of Guild01, I actually asked Mr Hino, "Can I just do a puzzle game for this project?" His answer was a clear and simple rejection: "That would not be a Matsuno game."(laughs)
The concept of Guild01 is to publish games that the creators wanted to make. I decided to provide a game that showcases the unique world view that I feel I can provide and that my fans expect from my games. It has been difficult to produce unconventional, provocative games for the Japanese market. I hope that Guild01 will provide an impulse for the sometimes overprotective industry, and make it possible to keep this concept ongoing.
Personally, I am a bit worn out from the "Matsuno atmosphere," and would like to try a more lighthearted subject matter that doesn't reek of blood for my next game. (laughs)

Message to the readers
In this game, we consciously made a lot of compromises, and aimed for a simple, old-fashioned feeling game. However, although it is a "short story," that does not mean the content is thin, I would like to think of it more as something concentrated, like an espresso coffee. I hope the players will appreciate the richness delivered in a deceptively simple package.


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I do not hold the rights to the original content, and will not reproduce the pictures for this reason, however I do feel it would be beneficial for gaming fans all over the world to learn more about this game. (Please don't sue me)

Guild01

Let's talk about video games for a change.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of getting to play with Level 5's newest title Guild01.
It's quite a rare beast, a compilation of 4 smaller games in one cartridge, to be published next year for the Nintendo 3DS. The reasoning given by Level5 President Hino Akihiro was that often game creators would have ideas for a game that, while being something they are invested in and are confident that it would be fun, would not actually make financial sense to realize as a full-blown game.

In a time where a lot of games seem to focus on packing as much content into the cart as possible, the idea of shorter, more compact games is most welcome in my eyes.

A few people have asked me about my impressions and a translation of the game's intro trailer, so here we go.
Please note- this is a rough translation, obviously not anything official, and I am not affiliated in any way with the creators of these games. The official translations may well be vastly different. It's a liberal translation that's intended to be easy to read for English speakers, so please, no nitpicking as to the meaning of the Japanese expressions. All names are in their natural order (family name first, except for Yoot Saito and Suda51, who seem to be known to Westerners under these pseudonyms).


1. Intro trailer/ Greetings from the creators



Suda51 (Kaiho Shoujo)
Hello, this is Suda51 of GhM. The conception of Kaiho Shoujo was the result of a talk I had with Hino Akihiro , about creating a new and exciting game based on an original idea. 
It's a 3D shoot-em-up, and we're 100% commited and excited about it.
The heroine, Oozora Shouko, pilots a robot and "liberates" Japan, which has been occupied 100 years in the future. In the course of the game, Shouko, who is president of Japan, travels all over the country and liberates it. 
It's a very fun and interesting game, and we're excited to have you check it out.

(opening anime)

The future.
The gods who had been protecting this beautiful island have been captured, and the country has fallen apart.
(parliament airship Nagata)
Speaker of the House: President, we have a request for external action.
(Against- 207 In favor- 273)
Shouko: Father...
Shouko: Let's go, Kamui!
Speaker of the House: Godspeed, Madam President.
Shouko: Oozora Shouko, 2nd president of New Japan, engaging!

(2:43) Hirai Yoshiyuki (Rental Bukiya de Omasse)
(note: Bukiya=Arms dealer or manufacturer, Omasse= probably short for Omatase, or "thanks for waiting!")

Hi everyone, this is Hirai of [comedian duo] America Zarigani!
Today I have the pleasure of introducing my new project called "Rental Bukiya de Omasse." 
In this game, the player controls a weaponsmith who lends out his works.
If you lend someone something, of course you're thinking "Please, bring it back in one piece!", right? A weaponsmith is attached to the arms he has poured his lifeblood into. Of course he wants the adventurer to use them. If at all possible, he wants them to return it to him as well. 
"Of course, it's a weapon I forged! Obviously it would be great if the customer would come back as well! That would be fantastic for us all. But, please, bring back my weapon. It's okay if it breaks. But... please just don't lose it."
That's the idea of this game. There's plenty of characters that appear, and there's rich drama to it. You'll find yourself thinking "I'll lend the weapon under these conditions, under those I won't!" 
Please try it out for yourself. There's so much to find if you play around with this game, go ahead and try it! I'm begging you!

(3:52) Yoot Saito (Air Porter) 

To everyone here at Tokyo Big Site today. Hello, my name is Yoot Saito. 
The title of the game I'm contributing to Level5's Guild01 is called Air Porter.
One of my biggest concerns when developing this game was how to produce it in a short amount of time. "Create a game that people can get addicted to" is a rather challenging task. 
I aimed at making a game that people could play without getting too confused. I wanted people to try it out without thinking too much, and get addicted to the gameplay. 
I'm confident players will be immediately drawn in. Please try it out.

(4:31) Matsuno Yasumi (Crimson Shroud)

My name is Matsuno Yasumi, game director at Level5. I am currently working on a game titled Crimson Shroud. It's an adventure game reminiscent of table-talk RPGs, the point-of-origin of RPG games. In a table-talk RPG, a Game Master makes up the story, while players choose between the choices they are presented with, and, from time to time, confront monsters by rolling dice. 
Crimson Shroud sums up this gameplay style in a simple and compact way for the 3DS. 
The entire staff including me is working hard to deliver this game to you. We're hoping you'll enjoy it.

(5:14 promotional video)
A legendary treasure lost...
It is now no more than a fairy tale — That is what everyone thought.
The "Gift" that brought magic to a world where magic did not exist.
A blessing of the gods — or an invitation from the devil?
Crimson Shroud — the die has been cast.


In 2012, Guild01 will redefine what you took for granted.

Now that we got that out of the way...


2. Play impressions

I had the chance to play the first 3 games in the Guild01 compilation at Level5 World, a convention organized and devoted solely to games by Level5, held at Tokyo Big Site on 10/15-16 2011.

Here's my impressions on each of the games:

Kaiho Shoujo

Note: this logo is awesome.

First off, the opening animation (the same as in the trailer above, by animation studio Bones) is gorgeous, and overall the presentation of the entire game was so polished I had no problem imagining it as a stand-alone title.

The player controls a flying Mech (think Gundam or Macross), and is tasked with shooting attacking laser cannons stationed on the ground below, and ultimately destroying three power stations that uphold a protective barrier for the main target.
The Mech hovers rather than jetting around (sometimes it speeds up to cross larger distances), controlled by the 3DS analog stick. You can almost feel the inertia, it was really fun to navigate.
Shots are fired by first marking several (about 10?) targets by sweeping with the touchpen, and then releasing to fire. It enables for gratifying combos, a bit like Child of Eden's main weapon. It's fun as hell.

The verdict: loved it. I love shooters, and this title felt like a full blown product. It's probably limited only in length, and I'd pay for it on its own.

Air Porter

You control hatches that connect several luggage carousels stacked atop each other vertically.
One of the shoulder buttons opens the hatch that leads upwards, the other downwards.
The goal is to single out all suitcases of a certain colour on each carousel, and then load them into the plane, so it can leave on time.
The catch: The hatch opens on all carousels at once, so sometimes you move luggage that you didn't mean to. It's simple as hell, and yet complex and challenging. Sometimes it'll create sudden events like a single piece of suspicious luggage that needs to be singled out and loaded onto a police vehicle.
The trailer also hints on a kind of airplane customizing simulation, and I'm looking forward to see what that does!

The verdict: This feels like a minigame, but has the potential to be an incredible time-eater, just like puzzle games such as Tetris. I spent 15 minutes on the demo and it felt like 2.

Rental Bukiya de Omasse

This is a quirky title... It takes place entirely inside a weaponsmith's workshop, with a grumpy old smith and his young and enthusiastic apprentice. There were some conversation sequences, involving an oddball adventurer who was looking for a sword to turn him into a superhero. He got a short sword forged with love instead.
The actual forging is a kind of rhythm game, where you have to mimic the beat the blacksmith demonstrates in tune with a melody. Once the sword is finished, you hand it to the adventurer and he heads off, and that's where the demo cut off.
The previews in Famitsu hint that you will be able to follow the resulting adventures on "Donainatter," a microblogging site that basically translates into "What became of them?"

The verdict: There was a bit too little content to judge. I get the impression much of this game's appeal will rely on the conversation segments, so if you don't agree with Hirai's sense of humor, it might have a hard time convincing you... The rhythm game, as they go, was pretty fun, and of course the idea of forging a sword is awesome in itself.



Unfortunately I was not able to try out Crimson Shroud. As Matsuno mentioned in the promo video, it will be an approximation of Tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons. There's dice all over the video and even the logo, so you know they'll feature heavily... And that's pretty much all we know so far. Oh, and the team of Matsuno, Minaba Hideo (art duties) and Sakimoto Hitoshi (music), which in itself is something to get excited about.


By the way, only just announced, fans have already created a petition page on Facebook to bring it to US/European markets: https://www.facebook.com/pages/GUILD-01-Petition-for-International-release/161540050607683?sk=info

As mentioned, I am not affiliated with any of the creators or Lv5, and do not own the pictures or video. If they ask me to take it down, I will. (Please don't sue me)
That's it for today, thanks for reading. Now what will I write about next...