Title: Hoshi no Oujyo: Uchuu Ishiki ni Mezameta Yoshi.tsune
Maker: Mirai
Platform: Win PC
Genre: Adventure, All Ages
Voice: Full Voice
Art: Tami Joe
Scenario: ?
Release Date: 03.23.2007
Patch: http://www.mirai-soft.com/support/d_gikei.html
Official Site: http://www.mirai-soft.com/gikei/intro-gikei.html
Trial Version: Yes
Cast: Sakurako: Sei Kakino*, Benkei: Kousuke Toriumi, Tsugunobu: Tomokazu Sugita, Tadanobu: Kenichi Suzumura, Kisanta: Kouyki Miyata, Ise: Takehito Koyasu, Yoritomo: Ken Narita, Kichiji: Noriaki Sugiyama, Goshirakawa Houou: Daisuke Kishio, Shanaou: Susumu Chiba, Mongaku: Shou Morikami*
*This is probably a false name. I couldn't find out the real name.
Overview: This is my favorite otome game...and the first one I fully completed! It was pretty hard to get all the endings...but part of that was my lack of experience with these kinds of games. The plot lines are really detailed and each of the different endings have lots of different scenes, so you don't get too bored replaying the game while attempting to finish all the endings 
There are 38 total endings and lots of twists It was very romantic and touching...yesh, I cried for Ise-tama ToT
Plot: Sakurako's twin brother, Shanao, is killed in front of her eyes by assassins from the Heike. Sakurako is also stabbed, but miraculously survives the attack. She decides to take revenge on the Heike, only she's a girl and...girls don't do that. That doesn't stop her, though. She and her loyal childhood friend, Kisanta, come up with the idea that Sakurako should pretend to be Shanao. They travel to the temple where Shanao was supposed to go. There Sakurako learns how to use the sword from the rather eccentric god, Arahabaki. A messenger from Hidehara of Fujiwara called Kichiji arrives and escorts Kisanta and Sakurako to Hiraizumi. Along the way Sakurako decides "Shanao" should become an adult and receive an adult name, "Yoshi.tsune." In the Hidehara's care Sakurako studies warfare with the Satou brothers, Tadanobu and Tsugunobu. Time passes quickly and she decides to join her brother Yoritomo in his fight against the Heiki. Kisanta, Tadanobu, Tsugunobu, Benkei (who she met on a short trip to Kyoto), and Ise (a former thief and...???) accompany her, but only Kisanta and Hidehara know of Yoshi.tsune's true identity as a girl. Will she be able to fool her brother, Yoritomo? And what about the former emperor, Goshirakawa? Will she live? Die? Lead them to death? Fall in love?!
Gameplay: The game play options are great and really facilitate speedy passes through the game. In particular, the F3 button was my friend It takes you to the next decision selection in a blink (It's not fast forward, though the game has that option, too. F3 moves directly from decision branch to decision branch)! I can't find that function in some of the other games, so 
Every game needs this function, imho. Another great feature of Mirai games is you can use the space bar to click to the next text message. You can also use the Return key or the right mouse button. It's so much easier to use space bar. You'll miss it in any adventure game you play afterward, I guarantee. Mirai has keyboard shortcuts for almost all their controls. Again, this is very nice. The shortcuts seem to be consistent through most of their games (I haven't played all, but so far in the two I've played they are the same).
Settings: The setting options were great also. You can change the window mode, message speed, auto play speed, display font, font anti-aliasing, skip modes, effects, cursor appearance/disappearance, and volume for each character :)
Graphics: The art is really beautiful in this game. The colors are brilliant and the characters are gorgeous. Only, sometimes the character illustrations aren't consistent. I noticed this mostly with the CGs of the Satou brothers, Tsugunobu and Tadanobu. Sometimes Tadanobu looked bishie and sometimes he looked...well, you wouldn't pick this one from a crowd. Tsugunobu looked horse-faced instead of Tsugunobu-faced at times. Sometimes Goshirakawa looked like he gained a lot of weight or like he dumped a whole thing of starch on them and his clothes were wearing him...uh...but that was only a few times and most of the time the art was drop-dead gorgeous :)
I also really liked the backgrounds. They were so pretty, it wasn't boring when there weren't any characters showing. The color contrasts were great and sakura trees are really beautiful. Try looking in the grey clouds to find ominous tidings of what's to come.
The font was easy to read. This may sound stupid, but in a game where you have to read everything, it's nice to have a plain easy to read font. Some games chose strange fonts that are hard to read or they don't have antialiasing and it's all jaggy :P
Sound: It's full voice :D Need I say more? The seiyuu are great in this game, though I have to admit some were better than others. I found some scenes a bit...awkward, but very rarely.
As for the BGMs, they were beautiful, and Japanese themed. I would say they were better than the average girl's game BGM (I know that now, but I didn't then!). They're pleasant to listen to, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a soundtrack or anything for it.
Value: This game has great replay value. There are 36 different endings, all of them quite different very different; this isn't a cookie cutter game. It took me about 1 week of vacations to play through. So it took maybe about 70 hours and then I had to give in and look up a cheat to get the two last endings :P
Walkthroughs: There are no English walkthroughs that I know of. You can purchase the official walkthrough from Amazon.co.jp. NOTE: The official walkthrough is 18+, the game doesn't have to be.
Notes: It was interesting to read that all the endings to the game are actually real myths about Minamoto no Kurou Yoshi.tsune. The clothes aren't historically accurate, though...
This game itself is for all ages, bu there is an add on disk that you can buy that adds 18+ (adult) scenarios and endings to the game. If you are thinking about playing the add on disk, it might be better to buy them both together and start off with both installed...as otherwise you will have to replay a lot of storylines...
Conclusion: This game has the most touching bittersweet endings ever! Who would have thought I'd cry because of a game!? Really romantic! I actually want to play this game over after I've forgotten more of the story. The characters are very nicely done and the writing is such that you actually care for them. I really think this was worth my money and I highly recommend it :) It's also my favorite game out of all the ones I've played so far.
Hmm...I wanted to add this review to the game's page on GameSpot, but the information for this one and Hoshi no Oujyo or Oujo 2 are mixed up and I'm not sure which should be which :*( I guess I'll have to ask about the mix up and post the review after the pages are sorted out. I should have looked first :P
Spoilers>
I totally fell for Tadanobu and Ise, can you tell? *squee* Ise has some really sad endings, though. The one in the snow made me cry buckets. There's not a lot of gore in the game at all, but there's a lot of people dying in the game, but well, they are on the battlefield and all.
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