Yakuza, Doctors, Nerds, oh boy!
Maker: Mirai
Platform: Win PC
Genre: Adventure, 18+
Voice: Full Voice
Art: Tami Joe
Scenario: ?
Release Date: 11.09.2007
Patch: http://www.mirai-soft.com/support/d_jingi.html
Official Site: ***Not sure I can post this***
Trial Version: Yes
Cast: Ryu Nayuta: Yuichi Nakamura, Yoshiyuki Aso: Kousuke Toriumi, Keigo Amane: Daisuke Kishio, Ichirou Mutou: Hiroyuki Yoshino, Jin Haitani: Ken Narita, Lethe: Daisuke Kishio, Taisei Kitagawa: Keiji Fujiwara, Saki Koizumi: Touko Sagara*
*I don't think this is her real name.
Overview:
I loved it. Jingi Naki Otome was really good but could be improved on because this time some of the plot lines seemed as though they were left dangling or seemed very abrupt and thus not very convincing. The characters were neat and it was easy to sympathize with them. It was interesting to see more comedy in an otome game. I think they could have wrote the comedy scenes better, but oh well. It was nice to spend some time laughing instead of crying because the poor heroine's life is so horrible and everyone around you is dying!
Plot:
Saki Koizumi is a normal, everyday kind of high school student. That is, until one day a member of the mob follows her home and tries to kidnap her-no, he's not trying to kidnap her, he wants to take her home with him (kidnap her?!) and he does. There she finds out she is the late mob boss's daughter and that the mob expects her to take his place?!
Mirai always has great storylines that really makes one sympathize with the characters. I agree with Tatsumi (author of the second guide, see below) that it seemed that some of the storylines were rather abrupt as compared to other Mirai titles. An example would be: all of a sudden Saki falls in love with the character for no reason and the game's over. There were no clues Saki was falling in love and no real reasons. She just did because she decided it and that was that. There were a few endings like that, but there were also the ones that were so good they made me cry (two of the endings made me cry this time).
Game Play:
I think game play is pretty the standard otome/bl game setup. The story goes along and the player makes decisions as to where the story should head next. There are no mini games in this game. It's a pretty straightforward adventure game.
Settings:
I think Mirai has the best game settings of all the BL/Otome games that I've played. Their "Jump/F3" setting is the best! It jumps straight to the next decision branch. It's really fast! The only thing I think it missing is a "back to last decision branch" function...but well, you can pretty much set all the normal setting (like volume, individual character volume, etc. etc.) I did think that the slow text setting was a bit too fast.
Graphics:
I love Tami Joe's art and I think the characters pretty much always look like themselves in this one. In the past, Joe Tami's characters were a little inconsistent, like sometimes they looked like someone else...but not this time! Yay! Well, one character does look different-but that character is supposed to! Her characters are so gorgeous and I love her use of color!
The backgrounds are again gorgeous and full of color. They are detailed and interesting.
Sound:
I think the voice acting was really good, but what blew me away was Mutou-sensei's voice actor, Hiroyuki Yoshino. I've never heard the "lazy character" voice done so well and convincingly! If it wasn't for Yoshino-san, then Mutou's whole plot line would have been pretty unconvincing and silly. The other voice actors did well, too. I'd say the voice acting was 100%+ in this game. It was pretty impressive.
I didn't notice anything too amazing in the BGMs to tell you the truth. They are nicer than average, but well, I wouldn't buy the soundtrack or anything. Oh, and when you install the patch that weird repetitive sound issue is resolved.
Value:
This one seemed a bit shorter than what I expected. I think maybe some of that was because I've learned more about how to play these types of games and have become a better player, though. There was a lot more repetition in this game as compared to the release prior...but most of endings are long so each play through feels like a totally different game. It's not all cookie cutter...but some of it might, kind of sort of, barely be able to be considered that way, which was a bit surprising.
Walkthroughs:
I don't know of any walkthroughs in English. These are the Japanese guides I used:
http://otome.girly.jp/jingi_otome/menu.html
http://tatumiti.blog88.fc2.com/blog-entry-694.html#more
Notes:
This is only available as an 18+ game. As of this writing, there aren't any add on disks.
Some of the scenes were a bit disturbing (mostly the writing/story, not really the art). I suppose this is only normal when basically a shoujo manga person plays one of their first couple of 18+ otome games. I guess it's the same disconnect a young reader would get when they read their first fully adult romance novel; bad stuff happens and not all people are good. Even good people with good intentions sometimes do bad things. So if you are uncomfortable with such things, I recommend that you not try for the bad routes…and most of Aso's routes.
Conclusion:
I really did love this game and I do recommend it…to anyone over 18! I can't wait until Mirai's next...or until I can get a hold of some of the earlier games.