Visual Novel Archives

#WeeklyGameMusic: Glass Moon (カルタグラ～ツキ狂イノ病～)

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Taro Omiya

In a rare look for this series, this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic is a track from a Japanese (…and adult…and violent) visual novel: Cartagra ~Tsuki kurui no Yamai~ (or in its original Japanese: カルタグラ～ツキ狂イノ病～), developed by Innocent Grey. MANYO’s track, Glass Moon was, as this writer understood it, originally composed with lyrics in mind; however, this writer wasn’t able to find the vocal version. Still, even its instrumentals are great. Take a listen:

Naturally like all Visual Novels, Cartagra read like any other choose-your-own-adventure stories, with graphics, sound, and music to accent the experience. The story is set in 1950s Japan, where ex-police officer Shugo Takashiro is taking on freelance detective jobs. Bit in the dumps, he received a missing person report that immediately catches his interest: it turns out his former girlfriend, Yura Kozuki, whom he had to sadly leave to fight World War 2, has now gone missing. With the help of Kazuna Kozuki, Yura’s twin sister, the two look for clues on what happened to her, only to find a terrifying series of events lurking in the background.

Cartagra is a Japan-only game released for the Playstation 2 and Windows. Fan translations to English does exist, though this writer hasn’t tried them yet.

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#WeeklyGameMusic: 陽の当たる場所 (水平線まで何マイル? -Deep Blue Sky & Pure White Wings-)

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Taro Omiya

#WeeklyGameMusic: New week, new music.

Cover Art — Cover art from https://vndb.org/v972

Note: sadly, the music file has been taken down, and I’m unable to locate another source yet.

With love up in the air, I had to look for something special. And now, I’ve found it…in a obscure Japanese visual novel called Suiheisen Made Nan Mile? – Deep Blue Sky & Pure White Wings –!? Regardless of its hentai origins, this week’s music is incredibly catchy. I’ll forgive you if the moment you’ve played Where the Sun Shines, a lovely tune by Yasuhisa Watanabe, you started dancing.

So, forgive me for the scarce information, but this is what I can gather about Suiheisen Made Nan Mile? through a few Google searches. The game is a regular visual novel that focuses on a simple slice-of-life of an average Japanese high school club. You play as Sorata, an average student and a member in astronomy club. As it turns out, the student council deems the club unworthy (which, unfortunately for the lazy club members, is a logical conclusion), forcing the members to come up with a ridiculous plan to redeem themselves: compete with the aviation club to pilot electric gliders for a world competition. And so, their flight begins…

Unfortunately, I was not able to gather what kind of visual novel Suiheisen Made Nan Mile? is. That is, typically, visual novels can be divided into one of the two categories: choose-your-own-adventure like Katawa Shoujo, or stat building like Long Live the Queen and Hatoful Boyfriend. Given the (very) few reviews out there that mentions that honing in on which girl (and a guy) to date tends to be easy lends me to believe it’s the former type of game, but I can’t be too sure. What I can confirm is that, yes, this is another erotic Japanese game (unlike Long Live the Queen and Hatoful Boyfriend), though a tame one at that. Much like Katawa Shoujo, sex scenes are treated as an end reward rather than a pornographic journey. Additionally, since the settings is set firmly in a non-magical world, there aren’t any tentacle monsters or other bizarre fetishes. Lastly, replaying the game with the same starting choices actually leads to new branches in the story as well, increasing the replay value. This does, yes, include more sex scenes.

Suiheisen Made Nan Mile? – Deep Blue Sky & Pure White Wings – was released on the Playstation Portable and PC. It is, as far as I can tell, a Japan-only game.

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Weekly Game Music: Caravan for 2 Pianos (Flyable Heart)

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. I know I’m a week late, but forgive me on this one: I was moving. In any case, here’s a fun piano tune, Caravan for 2 Pianos from a Japan-only erotic visual novel, Flyable Heart. The playful composition by Ryo Mizutsuki sets the tone for this comical adventure

Flyable Heart protagonist, Syo Katsuragi, successfully transfers to a highly-prestigious high school, Ōtoriryōran Academy. Little does he suspect that a generic Japanese harem adventure awaits him! Upon entering, Syo is unfortunately (or fortunately) tossed into the girls dormitory, as the boys dormitory is crowded. Even worse (or better), his roommate is a robot. To make the best out of this unexpected (or expected) situation, he consults with the academy’s student council and Ryōran association. Which consists mostly of girls (go figure).

As with any visual novel, Flyable Heart plays a lot like a choose-you-own adventure books. The majority of the game is about reading through a story, occasionally interjected by a few choices one can take to veer the outcome. There isn’t much else to it, actually.

Flyable Heart was released on the PC in 2009.
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