For those who haven’t noticed yet, we’ve recently moved the blog over to http://blog.mangagamer.org/ This is where we’ll be posting all of our new posts from now on. This means our blog and our forums will now be on the same server, as well as allowing us to make our own tweaks to the blog’s design. See you guys over there!

All those maids waiting for your orders.

Hey everybody!

Look what arrived just in time for convention season. We’ll be bringing these beauties, along with all our other hard copy releases, to Sakura-con 2012 in Seattle, WA from 6-8 April for your purchasing pleasure. We’ll also have our famous Oppai mousepads on hand, and they’re absolutely FREE when you purchase a game. Check back soon to find out our table number and location (the con are being a tad slow about getting back to us).

PS: It’s gonna be cash-only, so make sure to hit the cash machines before you hit the dealer room.

Shameless subliminal self-promotion!

As I sit here, eating pizza from last night, I think to myself, “Why didn’t I write this sooner?”

If you haven’t already noticed (and made your bank manager very happy at the same time), DEARDROPS is now on sale! This means that I should have written this Tester’s Corner about two weeks ago. Oops…

Your mission, should you choose to accept it (*groan*), is to reach the top of the music business while keeping your sanity, your chastity, and your wits about you. I think you might just manage the first one, the second is right out considering this is an eroge, and the third…well, Shoichi gets drunk quite a lot…

Overdrive manages to one-up Kira☆Kira (in the band-related games at least) by having four heroines to choose from this time! Riho is the spunky girl who knows exactly what she wants, and isn’t afraid to take it, Yayoi’s the completely average girl with beyond-average guitar playing skills, and Rimu’s the bands drummer who’s never afraid to tell it like it is. There’s also Kanade, the  moeblob childhood friend who seems to exist just to tap that market segment. (Apparently they eat this stuff up in Japan but it didn’t appeal to me.)

Riho’s route takes centre stage (*more groaning*) and deals with the trials and tribulations DEARDROPS encounter as a band, and it’s the ‘main’ route, if you will. She’s a great change from your usual heroine as well, because she actually has confidence and drive. This is a girl who knows what she wants to do and isn’t afraid to go for broke, and I have to say I really felt for her during her route.

Next up was Yayoi’s route, and this is the first of the game’s sad parts: Yayoi and Rimu’s routes are each less than a quarter(!) of Riho’s route in length. I’ll provide tissues on request, because I was pretty sad when I found that out too. Anyhow, Yayoi’s story is much lighter and focused on her troubles with being the only normal member of the misfit band and is both sweet and touching at times yet also firmly cements her title of ‘Guitar Princess’.

Rimu was next (hoho), and in a rather strange turn of events, didn’t end up with an entirely comical route. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I learnt that Rimu was a much deeper person than the Common Route led me to believe…the ending will also bring you to tears (and possibly leave you reaching for the insulin).

And thus we draw to a close on this Tester’s Corner for DEARDROPS. I’d like to thank you all for reading and wish you luck with your conquests in DEARDROPS!

Kanade: But what about my route?

Me:  (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Kanade:

DEARDROPS!

This is the third title I have tested for MangaGamer and I have to say that this one is definitely my favorite thus far. I’m so excited for its release. I do hope everyone enjoys it just as much as I did.Here is the load screen. Visually, it isn’t anything extravagant, but holy crap will the instrumental of Melody of Hope (希望の旋律) begin to happily blare in your ears. This is the same song that Kouryuu translated last year and is available on the download page, as well as MG’s YouTube. This song, unfortunately, was never played in the actual visual novel itself, but it’s pretty catchy and mesmerizing all the same — especially the violin solo. Once you complete the game, there’s an option to listen to all of the music and skim through the CG/HCG if you so wish to (which you probably should).

The game begins with you playing as Suganuma Shoichi, a retired violinist who returns to Japan after a recent accident in Germany that ruined his career. He quickly meets up with his childhood friend, Kanade Sakurai, and the rest of her immediate family at her family-owned and run Live House, where he’s given a place to stay in exchange for working part-time.

Live House 696 that Kanade and her family owns.

This seems simple enough, but in this (somewhat) foreign environment, he quickly meets and befriends an unusual set of individuals that guide him into a life of worshiping and honoring music without regret or restraint. It doesn’t take long for this group of misfits and delinquents to form the band DEARDROPS.

Unfortunately, for those of you expecting H-scenes every five minutes (like in Harem Party or We Love Master), then this really isn’t the game for you. All in all, there are only five or six ero scenes in the entire game. Despite that, all of the ero scenes are wonderfully done and tasteful.

Like all visual novels, you do have the option to end up with each of the four main girls: Kanade, Riho, Yayoi, and Rimu. I’ll let you figure out where that decision point can be found, but you’ll definitely enjoy getting there and going through the individual routes.

I will admit that my favorite aspect of this game was that each character has a lovely back story: no matter how short or long it may have been, it really brought out their unique personalities in a very natural and fluid kind of way. You’ll be taken on an epic emotional roller coaster when Gonda’s story is explained. I won’t tell you when it happens, but I cried so hard!

Something like this.

Overall, DEADROPS is a wonderful title for VN lovers to play who are looking for a fun, exciting, music-filled game who crave a little drama and a whole lot of plot!

First up, the Tuna Salad…

Imagine if you will, you were given a game to test and then, half a month later, a certain MMO (*cough* TOR *cough*) that you had been waiting for came out…Would you dedicate yourself to finishing your testing duties first before wasting away at yet another MMO or would you man up and chase that internet dragon to the ends of the galaxy?

Suffice it to say, about a week left before the scheduled end of the beta, I wasn’t through with the demo portion of the game yet, and that’s saying something since I also beta’d the demo half a year earlier…Oh and I had a Winter Break in there at some point…

If you must know, I finished testing a day early…

Barring Kara no Shoujo, which is on the alpha-omega tier of literary masterpieces, Deardrops has got to be the best VN I’ve played in a very long time. Usually, being forced to finish testing an entire game over the course of four days is terrible as there’s always disparaging bits of fluff that distract from the main story, but for Deardrops, the fluff is downright fun. In fact, I would argue that first-time players should start by getting the fluff out of the way before moving onto the main canonical story because that’s when things get serious and fluff after srs bsns is no fun.

I highly recommend that everyone starts with Rimu’s route because Rimu is awesome and if you’ve somehow made it through the common route without discovering this, you’re a terrible person and should fall off a cliff. Quite unfortunately, this means that Rimu’s route is one of the fluff stories and is quite short compared to the rest, but it’s Rimu, you can’t be expecting something profound from Rimu. It’s an all around feel-good route to start with.

Next up is Yayoi, the Queen of Plain. Most certainly not as fun as Rimu, Yayoi has her own set of charms that I will admit, grew on me as her quick and “plain” story went on. Barring any significant spoilers, let’s just say she had an accident that put her title as the Guitar Princess in jeopardy.

Next is none other than Kanade. Watching her fidget and blush her way to stardom is downright cute, especially when you consider that she’s not actually part of Deardrops. If I had to classify her story, I would say she serves as the foil for Deardrops, an alternate ending to the canonical story that I would have liked to see in a future spin off. Plus, her story involves the Deardrops Strip Club Watching Tour, which was hilarious for all the wrong reasons…

Finally, that leaves us with Riho, the firebrand of the crowd. Her route is the canonical story of Deardrops and rightfully so. Her story is without a doubt, the most enticing one in the whole series and the one you carry with you when you finally finish Deardrops. That’s why I say save Riho’s story for the end, not only is it the longest, but after you finish, you won’t be able to see some characters in the same light and it’ll spoil some of the other routes, should you not have already played them. Riho’s route features some of the best music in the game and served as the sole reason why I ending up importing all of the Deardrops albums…Yeah, that wasn’t cheap…

I, like many people, just figured Riho to  be a bitch at the beginning. Honestly, at the end she still is, but there’s a method to her madness and that madness just so happens to be the very essence of Deardrops. Now, with it all finally over, I can’t help but feel a little empty inside, with only my ipod set to Anytime, Anywhere to remind me of those four epic, sleepless days of Deardrops…

“Music you were destined to encounter, with friends you were destined to meet—”A violinist, entrusted with great hopes for his future, but sealed off from that path.A lone diva, more devoted to singing than anyone else.A guitarist, lacking the courage to take the first step towards her ideals.A bassist, unable to face his past mistakes, but who can’t leave music either.A drummer, finding it impossible to enjoy performing with others.Each led by rock’n roll to meet, confront each other, and form new bonds in this tale about the prime of their lives.

First off is Kanade. She’s quite the shy, reserved childhood friend who’s been with Shoichi the longest, and knows him best. It’s thanks to her that he finds a place to live and work after events in Germany force him back to Japan. She has incredible talent as a singer, but fierce stage fright continues to keep her from considering singing as a career. For now her dream is to succeed the live house her father currently runs and see it produce a band that becomes famous. But is it really alright for her to leave her talents wasted and live a life supporting everyone else aside from herself?Kanade is voiced by Aoba Ringo, a seasoned eroge voice actress with over 200 different titles to her name. Though many of her performances have been with very erotic brands such as CLOCK UP, Liquid, Alicesoft, and others, those in the west are probably more likely to recognize her from her anime roles. Two of her anime roles include Batai from Shin Koihime Musou, and Hinata Ibuki from A Bridge to the Starry Skies both of which are available for free on Crunchyroll.

The next girl you’ll meet is Riho. Some people (like Gonda) might call her a bitch, but she’s actually just brutally honest with what she thinks about herself, others, and the world around her. She is devoted, driven, and refuses any comprise. She thinks absolutely nothing of those who aren’t equally striving towards their goal, which is why she very rarely has anything good to say about most people. Despite all of that though, she is simply honest, and does give credit where its due and earned. However, her refusal to compromise also leads to a short temper, and it’s not uncommon for her to haul off and smack someone who deserves it in her opinion. As driven as she is, her goal is very clearly that of becoming a professional vocalist. Her voice is good, and she certainly puts in a lot of hard work training and maintaining it, but she absolutely no skill in writing lyrics. However, the band she’s currently a member of isn’t committed and capable enough for her She wants to quit it since she doesn’t see it going anywhere, but their leader doesn’t want to let her go either. Though it’s hard to find Riho’s VA credited for many eroge, PS3 owners might be able to recognize her from Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles. As for fans of anime, you might recognize her from Queen’s Blade, Gosick, Nabari no Ou, or Himawari.

Some of Riho’s favorite artists are Madonna and Kimura Kaela.

The next one who comes to you is Yayoi. Yayoi is probably one of the most normal characters you meet, though she’s also rarely strong enough to stop the others from going out of control. But if something comes up that needs a smart, level head, she’s often the one they rely on. You first meet her when you’re looking for someone to teach you the guitar, and that is what separates her from most normal girls: her zealous passion for guitars. She loves everything about and every inch of every guitar, and can’t stand those who don’t give their guitars the care they deserve. She’s nearly at the end of her years at the academy and facing the ever looming trouble of entrance exams and trying to plan her future just like everyone else her age. Yayoi is voiced by Tamiyasu Tomoe, another VA with nearly 200 different roles to her name. In addition to voicing three different roles in Little Busters (Natsume Rin, Naoe Riki, and Sasasegawa Sasami), she voiced various roles in Circus’ RPG Academy series, Akabeisoft’s World Love Order,  and many other brands and games as well.

Some of Yayoi’s favorite artists are TOTO, Jimmy Page, and Kenta (From STAR GENERATION), though lately she’s been enjoying 9mm Parabellum Bullet as well.The last girl you meet is Rimu. “Free spirit” barely even begins to describe her behavior. She tends to go where she wants, when she wants and do what she pleases, how she pleases, with complete indifference to others. It’s no surprise people often liken her to a cat. Though her father taught her to play the drums from an early age, the great talent leaves her far above most others her age. As a result she’s  grown sick of playing together with others, and finds her talents going to waste. It isn’t until her mother’s remarriage that she’s brought together with you and the others. Like Riho, Rimu’s VA is not one you’ll often find credited in eroge, but anime fans may recognize her from Kaichou ha Maid-sama, OreImo, Baka to Test, and Kara no Kyoukai: Garden of Sinners.

Some of Rimu’s favorite artists include: SOULTOUL, Simon Phillips, JOE, and Aoyama Jun.

For every hot teacher you’ve ever had (and I didn’t have any – the pain of living in the midwest) or wish you’ve had, Magical Teacher is here to combine cosplay with sexy teacher time.

Like most nukige, you’ve got a tasting menu approach to the girls: the gym teacher (nope, not a lesbian, she wants your cock), the science teacher, the nurse, your great-aunt the headmistress, your loli-looking yet legal cousin, and so on. And that’s just in regular mode. In magical mode you get a full new set of costumes and desires to unlock. What are they? Well, that’s for another post…

As you may imagine, though, Magical Teacher is good for fans of eroge who are a bit turned off or sick of seeing hymen blood in every scene. Because most of the characters are experienced women, you get to benefit from a girl who knows exactly how to please you. And for the teacher who’s not experienced, she gives you a whole new lesson:

That said, most of the sexytime in this game is nice and consensual and vanilla. But watch out, because just when your guard’s down you get hit with what we like to call “Surprise! WTF!?” but we’ll leave it to our beta testers to decide whether or not to spoil the surprises.

So, the countdown begins. Live the out the forbidden fantasies from your high school years with Magical Teacher, coming soon from MangaGamer!