「Aoi no Kanata no 4 Rhythm」 Official Site Opens with just one pic. To show off the flying boots. They are called Anti Graviton Shoes. I want one. [4rhythm.net/]
And this is the newly opened official site for Lump of Sugar’s upcoming game 「Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de」. [lumpofsugar.co.jp/product/sekachu]
Imouto chara Kokoro. Loved by everyone. Mascot character at the dorm.
Honour student Minori. Except she’s a fake and in fact she’s a prankster. (typical)
Cool bishoujo Aira. Except she’s bad with people.
Cute furry senpai Haruka. Expert at maths.
They are such bland and ‘safe’ characters. Apparently there are only SO MANY WAYS you can make a moege and that if you throw in characters that can’t be summarized in 3 words, the Japanese will be furious and they will ditch your game!…….. which is a lie because I see 2ch threads being reported by matomes constantly over how cliche their games had become.
Last I checked, exaggerated one-dimensional characters with one or two defining traits were the essence of moe culture.
Lump of Sugar’s most recent game, Magical Charming was a lump of crap, in the sense that it reminded me more of a dating sim than a moege or a charage (which is Lump of Sugar’s specialty). It contained all of Lump of Sugar’s flaws as a company with none of its positive elements. Hanairo Heptagram also possessed its own problems, in that it tried to imitate the hidden beauty of Tayutama – the original game – without the surprising depth that was displayed by that story. LOS’s big problem is that its games, once works of steady talent – if not works of genius – have become more and more bland as an ironic result of efforts to recapture what made previous games great or attempt a new dynamic. I’m beginning to think that all the efforts on the part of this company are just leading it to its own demise.