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WAS -The Hourglass of Lepidoptera- Kickstarter launched by Sekai Project

Header pic. Originally a WAS wallpaper!1

Sekai Project has launched a Kickstarter for S.R.L’s WAS -The Hourglass of Lepidoptera-, a dystopian visual novel set in an alternate post-war Japan.  As an attempt at “content tourism”, it is in part written as an effort to promote the town and prefecture Tottori:

The setting for WAS is my hometown, Tottori. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous in Japan, and its population continues to decline. Within Japan, Tottori is best known for its sand dunes, but Tottori isn’t just a bunch of villages in the middle of a desert.

Originally released August 2014 in Japan, the VN has a 1280×720 resolution and is partially voiced (during “event” scenes only). Voice licensing being what it is in Japan, the contract will have to be changed to one allowing for foreign release for the English version to retain them. While the (already reached) funding goal for just bringing the novel over is $10,000, there are also stretch goals for re-licensing the partial voicing ($30,000), and buying additional voice-work to fully voice the novel bar the protagonist ($46,000).

Description from Sekai Project’s Kickstarter page:

The keyword for this game is dystopia. The game is set in Post-War Japan, yet this Japan is unfamiliar and strange compared to the one we know from history. Journey with the characters as they meet new people and encounter high drama that will forever change them and uncover the mysteries of the world they inhabit.

In this dystopian world, nothing is what it seems. Though the character seem to be in a land of peace and plenty, we quickly discover that nothing could be further away from the truth. Though WAS might appear to be a bishoujo game, we wish to present a brand-new interpretation of the concept.

Update:

A demo was released just as I was finishing the piece up. Voices are removed and it’s a bit shorter than the Japanese one, but hey. Demoooo~

Zakamutt

Writer of irreverent VNTS commentaries, shadowy Fuwanovel string puller, Swedish, ambivalent toward meatballs. Brave Fuwanovel Skype Group memeber (rip), technically a reviewer, chronic everything staller. I am all these things and more, but mostly I'm really lazy. Loves yuri, reading, chocolate, and quality sugar-free colas. Hates VNs with too many choices and long walks on the beach.

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Jake
9 years ago

Just me or did this feel rather random considering the planned kickstarter of Grisaia….

Zakamutt
Reply to  Jake
9 years ago

Everyone seems to consider Grisaia pretty much certain to be funded to full trilogy level; this might actually be a business move to make people buy the more expensive tiers of this and ultimately spend more money on this and Grisaia’s KS combined. Still, Grisaia’s KS is coming mid or late november, eh…

Jake
Reply to  Jake
9 years ago

Actually I just found out.. That this vn was on prefundia by sekai project before, I just didn’t remember lol. Woah, totally weird lol.

ShadowRipp3r
9 years ago

And already funded. That went fast… Hope the Grisaia kickstarter goes this fast as well.

RedRinger
Reply to  ShadowRipp3r
9 years ago

That was fast :O
Those who dragged the kickstarter was mostly the high buyers. 26 backers of the 150$ option. Impressive, have fun with all that swag lads.

Sanketsu
9 years ago

Just finished the demo version. Seems really interesting. Hope it becomes a success. I would get it on steam and possibly a physical copy.

ReMeDy
ReMeDy
9 years ago

Please tell me Liselotte is a romance option. Can’t stand when visual novels give us unattainable hot attractive mature women, yet feed us only the loli’s instead.

Skeith
Reply to  ReMeDy
9 years ago

I’ve tried asking Sekai Project multiple times if this VN has multiple routes or romance options but they keep giving me bullshit answers as if I’m retarded. “You can make decisions that will alter the ending.” No shit? Really? I had no idea this was a visual novel, sekai. Anyway all the info we have is that there are 3 endings total, INCLUDING bad ends. So to me that just seems like there is only 1 main set route to go with 2 bad ends. It doesn’t seem like each character has their own individual route in this VN sadly.

HC
HC
Reply to  ReMeDy
9 years ago

If you watched the opening, you can see that they introduced three heroines and one boy first. We can assume that those three heroines are the only girls that have their own routes, and the boy as the protagonist of the story.

Liselotte was introduced like a character that was simply “rest of the cast”. She is probably just an important side-character for one of the heroines.