Anime culture has spread across the globe, with anime, manga, and merchandise available from Moscow to Melbourne. However, one aspect of anime culture that hasn’t had much success in the export market is eroge. There’s various reasons for that, mostly due to legal concerns and the fact that few companies care to expend resources localizing a product into English when it probably isn’t going to sell well. However, many of my favorite character designs come from h-games and I’m certainly a fan of anime pornography so I’ve been interested in trying out eroge for a while. I’ve played a few that were localized by JAST USA, but I wanted to play something a bit more hardcore. I found out about Zanjibaru while reading Mou Yamete!, and as it features cute fighter girls, demons, tentacles, and maggot birthing, I figured I’d give it a shot.
I bought my copy of the game from ErogeShop. The box has some nice artwork, and it contains the DVD and a short black-and-white instruction manual.
The game’s art and scenario were done by Akito Tamiya, who I think is the sole member of the circle Gin no Hoshitei. I bought several of his doujinshi after being introduced to his work, and I like his art style a lot. The game itself was developed by Amolphas and released a year ago, in October 2009. Zanjibaru is Amolphas’s only game and it doesn’t look like they currently have any additional games in the pipeline. Tamiya appears to have contributed to the planning and production of Kai-soft’s game Walpurgis (no relation to Bible Black), which is a much brighter-looking game and seems to feature cutesy, moe-type magical girls. There’s still tentacle rape, though, so I might check it out sometime.
Characters
Yae Mizushira
A young girl who has recently transferred to Ashihara Academy, she is an exceptionally skilled demon hunter and magic user. She can also summon a shikigami named Oshirasama, a flying white serpent that can vary his size from tiny to over a meter in width and can also transform into a sword. Having suffered debilitating and disfiguring injuries, her father has withdrawn from public life, leaving Yae as the head of the prominent and once-powerful Mizushira family. Whimsical, outwardly cheerful, and more than a bit naive, she is currently struggling with balancing her own life, her responsibilities as a demon hunter, and the pressure of restoring her family’s prestige, and at times she is prone to bouts of depression and feelings of inadequacy.
Shino
Yae’s maid, she has taken care of the younger girl for as long as Yae can remember. Besides her skill at cooking, washing, and grooming Yae, she is also exceptionally skilled with all types of small arms and rocket launchers. She is also Yae’s chauffeur and is proficient at tactical driving. Shion is fanatically loyal to her mistress and lives only to serve her, but her calm, gentle nature hides a multitude of secrets.
Miku Kusaka
Yae’s childhood friend, current classmate at Ashihara Academy, and her apprentice. She yearns to become a full-fledged demon hunter but is hindered by her deficient magical ability. She is headstrong, sullen, and more than a bit jealous of her friend Yae. One fateful night, a vengeful, ancient spirit named Himiko possesses her body, sparking the events of the story.
Kyoko Kusaka
A young woman and Miku’s cousin, Kyoko wanted to become a teacher after finishing college but failed the teacher’s license examination. Instead, she became a freelance demon hunter and is currently working undercover at Ashihara as the school’s nurse. While she can be sharp-tongued and teasing, she is warm, brave, and considerate. Much more of a realist than an idealist, her matter-of-fact nature conceals a history of professional disappointment and personal tragedy. While she possesses some magical talent, particularly over fire, she more often tussles with a katana and a machine pistol. She also makes a really lousy cup of coffee.
Crow
An inscrutable, soft-spoken young girl with a mysterious background. Yae and Shino are acquainted with her but know nothing about her other than that she seems to have some magical ability. She has a peculiar awareness of the events going on in Tokyo, and as time goes on, she reveals more about herself and her past.
Yuugo Kanzaki
A young man in his mid-twenties, Yuugo is an investigator and paramilitary soldier with the public safety agency tasked with defending Japan against the demon hordes. He was a former college classmate of Kyoko’s and is a good friend of hers, though no more than that. His gruff and plainspoken nature conceals a warm and compassionate core. Unlike Kyoko, his coffee is delicious.
Shiei Higura
A student at Ashihara Academy and the heir to the leadership of the Higura family, a very prominent and ancient clan of demon hunters. His expertise with magic is exceeded only by his extraordinary self-confidence. Unbelievably arrogant and brash, he is the obvious villain of the story.
Gameplay and Technical Aspects
Zanjibaru is a visual novel, and so there is not very much interaction by the player. Occasionally the player will have to select a story branch to progress down, but the wrong choice quickly and invariably leads to a bad ending. There’s only one true ending and only one way to get there. The remainder of gameplay involves listening to the voiceovers and reading text. Somewhat unusually, Zanjibaru doesn’t feature a character that the player assumes the role of; the player strictly follows along as the story develops. And while Yae is nominally the central character, the game frequently switches its point of view, revealing the thoughts and emotions of that particular character.
Like most visual novels, Zanjibaru’s graphics comprise a series of static images, although creative usage of panning and zooming give the impression of animation. You’ll be seeing a lot of the same pictures over and over again, which I think is the norm for these sorts of games, though I don’t have a ton of experience playing visual novels so I can’t say for sure.
There’s a sparse selection of musical tracks but it’s actually very good. The title theme stands out in particular; it begins with a haunting woodwind and zither melody before soaring into a majestic and triumphant refrain, and it appears from time to time throughout the game.
All of the dialogue spoken by the major characters is voiced, and the acting is also very effective. The seiyuu do a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life, giving each of them distinctive personalities and even idiosyncrasies. As this game is a hentai game, the actresses also do a very good job of conveying their characters’ displeasure during the various sex scenes. They stammer and plead in panicked tones, they scream, and express the pain and distress their characters are going through. There’s not enough moaning, though, and I notice that that’s a common problem in all forms of voiced hentai; personally, I’d like to hear more moaning and a little less talking in hentai.
Plot
(Note: I do not speak or read Japanese. I cannot read a single Japanese character in any of its alphabets. I don’t believe there is any English-language plot summary or wiki of Zanjibaru on the web, so I’m working entirely on my own on this writeup. I used an auto-translator to play the game, and as such my summary of the plot may be incorrect, perhaps wildly so in some cases. I’m generally sticking to what was written in the game, but there are some key points that I may have missed – particularly those involving ancient Japanese history and mythology – and there are other aspects of the story that I have had to use my creativity to interpret. Nonetheless, I think this synopsis is reasonably accurate. Also, this writeup contains spoilers for the entire game, so if you want to skip down to a discussion of the porn, click here.)
This brings the setting to one day in the year Showa 108, or 2033, and a school called Ashihara Academy in Tokyo. The weather is dreary and gray; blue skies are a rarity due to the magical energies that have been unleashed in this world.
Attending this school are two girls named Yae Mizushira and Miku Kusaka. Yae and Miku are childhood friends, and Yae has recently arrived in Tokyo to attend the same school as Miku. They hang out after school, and on their way to Yae’s apartment, they run into Shiei Higura, another student at Ashikaga Academy. Higura is a noted demon hunter family, with a lineage that extends far back to the 12th century, during the Kamakura period. In modern times, House Higura serves as the advising body to the government in planning the national strategy against the demons.
Shiei teases Yae about her family’s current status, as the Mizushira clan has fallen into decline since Yae’s father retired as a demon hunter. He mockingly asks, “Would it not be wise for your family to become officially subordinate to my family?” The words pierce Yae deeply, for she can sense the truth within his barbs. Troubled, Yae returns home, where she meets Shino. The mistress of the Mizushira clan and her servant chat for a while, and then Yae leaves that night to meet up with Miku.
In a subway station under Tokyo, the two young girls are preparing themselves for their night’s work. Ethereal lights dance as Miku casts a barrier spell while Yae looks on, evaluating her protege’s ability. Suddenly, Yae senses another presence and whirls around. From the shadows, a monster appears, mindless and hideous. Miku laughs and launches a spell, but it keeps moving. Miku wipes her brow; the effort of maintaining the barrier while casting offensive magic has strained her power, but she knows she must impress her teacher. She can’t ask for help; not this time. She tries to quell the nervousness building up in her, but in that moment of hesitation, the monster is upon her. Miku screams but suddenly, a blaze of blue light streaks from Yae, incinerating the creature.
Miku tries to laugh off her performance, but as Yae extends a hand to help her up, she slaps it away. Realizing what she’s just done, Yae hurriedly gets up, stammering an excuse, and moves towards the exit. Troubled, Yae follows her.
Shino and Yae drop Miku off at her home. Miku’s parents are there and they immediately guess that the evening hasn’t gone well for their daughter. Miku’s father – who had once attempted to become a demon hunter himself – attempts to dissuade Miku from irrationally trying to better Yae, but Miku reacts angrily and retreats to her room. In solitude, Miku reflects upon the unfairness of it all – how her friend is now the chief of a proud family, possesses extraordinary spiritual power, even how she has her own maid and her own residence. The thoughts stir themselves into a whirlwind of envy, filling her with spite.
Meanwhile, Shino asks Yae how things have gone, and Yae glumly admits that Miku did not do well and is unlikely to become a demon hunter. Shino asks when she will inform Miku of her judgment, but Yae sighs and remains silent. Little does she understand how costly that mistake will be.
Understanding her mistress’s hesitation, Shino doesn’t pry further and drives to a deserted underpass. She and Yae then get out and enter the damp, dark corridor. Yae senses no demons, but knows there is something disturbing in there. Continuing further, they come across a bizarre sight; a torii gate, mounted upside-down on the ceiling. Yae begins a dance to purify the area, but is attacked by a demon. After a brief fight, they subdue it and torture it for information, but it commits suicide before revealing anything.
The next day after school, Miku tells Yae that she has to go to the nurse’s office and that she’d like her to come along. Confused, Yae agrees, wondering whether Miku is sick or injured. Arriving, Yae is surprised when Miku greets the nurse as “Kyoko-chan.” Kyoko greets Miku warmly but then scolds her when Miku complains about having to run this errand. Miku introduces Yae to the nurse, who is Miku’s cousin. Kyoko wonders how Yae doesn’t know her, since she’s seen her at the school assembly before. Yae then realizes she’s seen her; wearing a labcoat over a midriff-baring top and shorts, Kyoko is a distinctive-looking woman. Kyoko laughs and says that since Yae has never met her before, she must be a healthy girl. Miku tells Yae, “Kyoko-chan likes saying mean things because she likes to see people twist. Don’t listen to her.” Kyoko gives her younger cousin an evil look and Miku hurriedly leaves. Kyoko laughs again and tells Yae to visit her any time.
Later, at night, Miku returns alone to the subway station. Her heart is filled with doubt, insecurity, and insincerity, but she shuts them down and proceeds. It doesn’t take long for her to come across a demon. She unleashes a bolt of lightning, crackling through the still air of the underground tube. It strikes perfectly, and she follows up her attack with a fireball which strikes true. The monster reels and collapses, pus leaking from the charred corpses’s wounds. Miku’s eyes widen … she’s done it! She’s defeated a demon without her mentor’s assistance! She exults in her victory. However, her ecstasy is short-lived as tentacles burst from the corpse and wrap around her. She screams as they lift her into the air, but to no avail. However, then she hears a woman’s voice. The monster turns and notices another human approaching. The monster attacks but is swiftly defeated. Kyoko frees the young girl from the dead demon’s grasp and is stunned to see that it’s her younger cousin. Amazed at Miku’s foolishness, Kyoko slaps Miku upside the head and tells her that she’s not cut out to be a demon hunter. Crushed, Miku flees home.
The next morning, a grisly scene is discovered in the gym of Yae’s school: a massacre has occurred and dead bodies are sprawled everywhere. Across the floor, a giant pentagram is scrawled in blood. Police and emergency personnel descend upon the school. Arriving at her school, Yae absent-mindedly wonders if some celebrity has shown up to perform a show. She quickly hears what has happened from a classmate and returns home as the police cordon off the building.
Kyoko returns home late that night and cracks open a cold, well-earned beer. It’s been a hard day for her as she’s been appointed to deal with both the media and a legion of terrified parents who now wish to transfer their children to safer schools. And worse, her investigation of the murder scene indicates that the act was supernatural in nature. However, just as she’s beginning to relax, she gets a phone call from her aunt, who says that Miku has disappeared. Miku’s mother is about to call the police but then Kyoko stops her; remembering the previous night, she has a suspicion as to where Miku is. Hanging up, Kyoko changes into a leather teddy and stockings and loads her gun.
As Kyoko suspects, Miku is at the school. She spied on Shiei during the afternoon, suspecting that he was up to no good. She is startled by Kyoko, who tells her to go home. Miku is obstinate, however, and Kyoko relents. Kyoko opens up a window and they sneak into the building.
Chalk outlines of bodies are the only trace of the bloody scene from the morning. And the giant pentagram. Miku wonders what could have caused this, and Kyoko makes her guess, but then they are startled to hear another voice, high above. “Unfortunately, it has failed. It seems that this wasn’t enough.” Shocked, they look up and see Shiei Higura, lit by the moonlight and a smile on his lips. “It’s very greedy,” he continues, “The preparations took a long time. This is quite troublesome.”
Confused by his words, Miku angrily asks why he murdered these people. Shiei is mildly offended. “Murder? This was not murder. They all sacrificed themselves for the resurrection of the great one.” As he laughs, Kyoko unsheathes her sword. She orders Miku to flee and call Yae while she attacks Shiei. Miku runs away but immediately sees demons swarming around the school. Hiding, she taps out an e-mail to her friend but before she can send it, she is seized and carried off.
Kyoko and Shiei trade attacks, but finally Shiei’s spells break Kyoko’s defenses and she falls to the floor, paralyzed. And then she sees Miku being dragged back in by a group of demons, who then rape her. While everyone is watching the spectacle unfold, Kyoko notices that the paralysis spell is wearing off and she manages to send Yae the message. Now she just has to hope that Yae gets there in time.
Then Kyoko notices strange energies swirling above the pentagram. And then she sees her cousin suspended in the air. Miku is nude but her body is now covered with strange red tattoos. Strange clothes materialize around her. Hanging from her neck is a large green magatama talisman. The girl slowly opens her eyes. They are cold, empty. Shiei reverently greets her.
“You have returned … Himiko-sama.”
Meanwhile, Yae and Shino are out driving. Yae has also received a phone call from Miku’s mother and so they are searching for her classmate. But then she gets Miku’s e-mail, and after changing into her combat uniform, they head towards the school.
Miku has been completely possessed by the ancient spirit, and there is no trace of the schoolgirl in Himiko’s voice. “Why have you revived me?” she asks. Shiei responds that the power of the Yata no Karasu – which his family venerates – has grown weak and that he is ready to give his allegiance to Himiko. Himiko muses that Shiei’s demeanor resembles that of a snake’s. Satisfied, she says, “Behold, my people. I am Himiko, priestess of the Yamata-no-Orochi, king of those who dwell in darkness.” She begins to dance and a giant gate materializes. “Open, entrance to the realm of the dead,” she says. Two demons emerge from the gate, and Kyoko can sense that their strength is far beyond anything she has encountered before. Himiko greets them by name. “Hishigi and Shinari, you shall be my right and left arm once more.” They swear their fealty to their mistress.
Kyoko tests her limbs and finds that the paralysis spell has faded. This is her chance; she grasps her sword and charges the demons guarding the door. She cuts them down with ease and tries to open the door, but it won’t budge. She throws herself at it, but it’s been sealed by some sort of spell. Himiko quietly calls out, “It’s useless. Give it up.” Himiko’s demons advance on Kyoko. Sensing that the end is near, she laughs, and Himiko is impressed by her bravery. Kyoko whips out her pistol and fills the air with bullets. However, she is overpowered and knocked out.
Yae and Shino arrive at the school and rather than going through the window, Shino destroys the door with a rocket launcher. Yae and Shiei battle and Yae gets the upper hand and subdues Shiei. She then closes the gate with a spell of her own. Weakened, she does not notice Shiei’s henchman – a small, hunchbacked man with an evil smile. His name is Jimushi, and strong, sticky silk threads fly from him and restrain Yae and Shino. Shiei tells him to keep Shino tied up while he deals with Yae. Shiei removes a battered-looking sword and approaches Yae. Yae tries to summon Oshirasama, but she cannot; the sword is magical and prevents Oshirasama from taking action. Shiei reveals that the sword is the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, one of the three sacred treasures of Japan. Yae tries to talk sense into Shiei but Shiei abruptly silences her with a kiss. Shiei and Jimushi then leave, just as abruptly. Shaken by the encounter and its unusual end, Yae, Shino, and Kyoko return home.
Kyoko then reveals that she’s working as a freelance demon hunter and took a job as a school nurse to covertly monitor Shiei Higura. They go over that evening’s events, but knowing so little about Shiei’s intentions, they aren’t able to come up with any plans.
The next morning, Yae seems slightly feverish. She attends school as usual, and upon returning home, Shino tells her that Crow called that day and asked to meet. They drive out to pick her up.
Crow directs them to an underground passageway, which leads to a parking lot. They are met by a government official; he has shaggy hair and a small beard, and appears to be in his mid-twenties. He introduces himself as Yuugo Kanzaki, the chief investigator of the Public Security Investigation Agency. Yae realizes that this is who Crow is working for and asks where they are. Kanzaki solemnly responds, “A top-secret base.” Yae is startled but Kanzaki laughs and says that they are on the grounds of the Ministry of Justice.
They go into the building and up to a conference room, and Yae is surprised to see a young woman in a tight-fitting bike suit. Kyoko waves and greets Yae. Kyoko reveals that she is working for Kanzaki’s agency to determine Shiei’s intentions. Crow brings out a map and shows where the disturbances have occurred. Kanzaki introduces a disheveled, shifty-eyed man named Hagiwara, whom he says is a freelance journalist who occassionally helps the agency – for a price. Hagiwara produces a photograph which appears to show Miku at the Nakameguro train station, which startles Yae.
The briefing concludes and Shino agrees to drive Crow back to her residence. It turns out that Crow is living with a woman named Kei, who was once a demon hunter but now runs a bar in Shinbashi. Yae and Shino chat with Kei for a while, who then tells Yae that her power may be the equal of Shiei, but she wonders if her heart is as stout. They leave Kei’s bar and investigate a couple of other locations on Crow’s map, finding upside-down torii in both places. Perturbed, Shino observes that Yae does not look well so they decide to continue their investigation the next day.
Meanwhile, Yae and Shino are not the only girls who are working late. Himiko is busy as well. Casting a spell, she summons a golem from the earth. She calls him Homura and though he looks human, he does not live. Rising, he says that he is honored to be able to serve Himiko once more.
The next day at school, one of Yae’s classmates says that she thinks she saw Miku at Nakameguro Station. Shocked, Yae leaves that night for the subway station alone, believing that Miku’s present fate is her responsibility. Discovering that Yae has disappeared, Shino immediately calls Kyoko, and they and Kanzaki immediately converge on the railway station.
At the station, Yae observes numerous people shuffling mindlessly towards the tracks. Then she realizes they are dead, and some external force is animating their bodies. Then a train arrives, and the zombies embark. Yae is uncertain what to do, but then she sees Miku aboard the train, and she immediately jumps aboard. Kyoko and Shino arrive, but too late; the train is already moving. Kanzaki and Kyoko get back on their motorcycle and charge down the tracks. Pulling parallel to it, Kyoko shoots out a window and leaps aboard.
Inside the train, Yae is hurling spell after spell at the undead, who have finally noticed her. Kyoko joins her, blasting the zombies, and in a brief moment of respite, Yae asks if Kyoko knows where the train is going. Kyoko guesses that they are on the Hibiya line. They fight their way to the operator’s car, where Kyoko slides into the driver’s seat.
Yae asks, “Umm, sensei, do you know how to drive a train?” Kyoko enthusiastically responds, “Leave this to me.” Yae sighs, relieved, until Kyoko continues, “I once got the high score in Densha de Go-Go.” Kyoko wails, certain that she is going to die, but Kyoko’s arcade game experience amazingly pays off and she is able to stop the train. The two girls jump off the train and flee down the darkened subway tunnel.
After walking for a long time, Yae detects the a magical barrier nearby. They go to investigate and find a vast chamber. In the middle of it there is a pond of blood, and floating on the blood is a huge, amorphous shape, pulsing and throbbing.
As they marvel at the sight, Yae murmurs, “A huge … snake.” Kyoko is startled and asks, “What about a snake?” In a trance, Yae sighs, “It returns … from underground.” Kyoko hears footsteps and quickly pulls Yae into a hiding place. Snapping out of her trance, Yae and Kyoko watch a group of undead shuffle into the chamber. They look on in horror as the dead enter the pool and melt away, their liquified flesh and blood merging with the huge mass.
Suddenly, a string of spider silk lashes out and binds Kyoko’s arm. She unsheathes her sword with her other arm and slashes it away. Jimushi emerges, and Kyoko is shocked to learn he’s still alive. It seems that she has some history with him. Without ceremony, Kyoko leaps at him, slashing at his neck. He evades the attack, smiling, and huge projections erupt from his body until he’s fully transformed into a monstrous spider. After a brief battle, Kyoko casts a spell that temporarily blinds Jimushi and the two girls flee back into the tunnel. Battling through another wave of zombies, they finally hear a welcome sound: Kanzaki’s motorcycle charging down the railway. Riding triple, they reunite with Shino, who collapses the tunnel behind them with a shoulder-fired rocket.
They return to the agency headquarters to talk about what happened. Along the way, Kanzaki gruffly confronts Yae, telling her that she acted precipitously. Yae leaves in a huff, and Kyoko then confronts Kanzaki, demanding, “Why are you bullying my cute student?”
Back in the conference room, Crow goes over their actions that night. Yae has a question for Crow: she points out that Crow obviously has advanced magical abilities, as she’s able to both track aberrant energy anomalies all across Tokyo and she was able to monitor Yae and Kyoko’s movements in the subway tubes despite not actually being there. Yae curiously asks, “Why do you need me?” Crow does not directly answer the question; she reveals that her power is presently limited, and asks for patience. She promises to reveal more at a later date. Yae is satisfied and recounts what they saw – the zombies, the train, the huge floating mass of flesh. She presents a talisman that she recovered and hands it to Crow, asking if she knows what it is. Crow examines it and says she does indeed recognize it: it’s a talisman meant to resurrect the Yamata-no-Orochi, the ancient eight-headed snake king slain by the storm god Susano-o in Japanese mythology.
Yae is shocked, and then is even more shocked to see that nobody is surprised by this news. She realizes that everybody knew already, and becomes angry at having been left in the dark. Sensing that Yae is on the verge of saying something regrettable, Crow reasonably points out that this is a good opportunity for Yae to restore House Mizushira’s prestige, which mollifies Yae. After the briefing concludes, everyone heads home to rest, but on her way out, Crow stops Yae. Yae is surprised when Crow blushes and apologizes for being so vague. Yae assures the smaller girl that she holds no resentment and thanks Crow for her candor. Shino drives Crow and Yae to Kei’s bar but suddenly, Yae collapses. Panicked, Shino examines the young girl and finds her feverish, and that her hands are like ice.
The next day, Yae awakens to find that her fever has already passed. The girls pass the day leisurely, shopping and then going to Kei’s bar that night. Disregarding her age, Yae orders a Cassis Orange. Kyoko warns her not to drink it too quickly, and Yae agrees.
Three drinks later, Yae is alternating between cheerfulness and belligerent aggression. Kei compliments the young girl on her ability to drink. The conversation switches to Kyoko’s love life, and she adamantly insists that Kanzaki is nothing more than a friend. She then tells the story of Takaaki Shindo, a college classmate of hers. He became a policeman, and eventually Kyoko and Shindo became engaged. Yae apologizes for prying, but Kyoko is in a mood to talk, and continues. She reveals how her fiance somehow became ensnared in a biological research program, and as Kanzaki and Kyoko moved to arrest its leader, they found Takaaki, his brain destroyed and his body degenerating into organic slag. Kyoko then shot her fiance dead. Finishing her story, Kyoko muses that it’s almost been two years since. Yae asks if the person who led that program was Jimushi, and Kyoko remarks on her astuteness.
Yae then orders a Tequila Sunrise. Later that night, Kanzaki arrives at the bar and expresses surprise at seeing Yae, who is now completely wasted. She loudly complains about the pressure that she faces as the head of her house, and that her dream is to go to college, go to mixed parties, and maybe meet a nice guy. Kanzaki soberly tells her that it is absurd to ignore reality to pursue a dream. Scarcely listening, Yae spies Kyoko’s drink, brusquely announces, “Sensei, I accept this,” and tosses it back. Yae wheezes, hissing, “What the hell was that?!” and Kyoko chides her, saying, “You idiot, nobody chugs scotch straight!” Yae blinks once, twice and then passes out.
Elsewhere, Shino is meeting with Hagiwara, the journalist, although he is not working as a reporter this evening. Instead, he brings a package to Shino, who unwraps it, revealing a rifle. She admires it and pronounces it satisfactory. Shino lacks magical ability and uses guns, including those that can’t be bought in the regular market. Hagiwara expresses surprise that Shino is able to carry his merchandise with little effort. Smiling, Shino says that she’ll show him a secret. Turning around and unbuttoning her blouse, she slides it from her shoulders, revealing several talismans plastered to her body. She says that these talismans augment her physical ability, giving her strength several times that of an ordinary person. Disturbed, Hagiwara thanks Shino for a good transaction and leaves, but as he goes, he wonders; did it look like there were scales on Shino’s back, between her shoulderblades?
The next day, Yae wakes up to find herself in Kanzaki’s apartment. In her underwear. She is shocked and confused but Kanzaki gruffly tells her that she passed out drunk so he brought her to his home. Yae thanks him and Shino picks her up that morning.
That evening, Shino and Yae pick up Crow and head towards Tokyo Bay with Kanzaki and Kyoko following. They encounter numerous demons, which they beat back with a volley of magic and high explosives. The team splits up, and Kanzaki notices a shadow standing on the road. He immediately opens fire. The shots miss and a voice calls out, “Attacking without even introducing yourself … humans in this age have no courtesy.” The man steps into the light and reveals himself to be Homura, the man revived by Himiko. Kanzaki immediately senses that something is wrong and floors the accelerator, speeding away. Meanwhile, Crow, Yae, and Shino encounter Himiko. Yae is conflicted, as she still sees Miku rather than Himiko, but then they do battle and Yae is surprised by Himiko’s strength. Crow then unveils her power … but it’s not enough. Himiko easily defends herself and then throws Crow’s onslaught back. Lording over the defeated girls, she exults, “Good-bye, Crow.” However, Kyoko charges in at that moment, and Shino takes advantage of the distraction to blast Himiko with an anti-materiel rifle. Yae panics but Himiko is uninjured. Homura arrives at that time and sensing a stalemate, Himiko leaves with her minion.
Back in her lair, Homura tells Himiko that she should rest. Himiko agrees and falls asleep. She sees a single door leading to a white room, and inside the room is Miku. Himiko taunts the girl, saying that she looks like a terrified mouse. While clearly afraid, Miku seems curiously accepting of her situation, and she tries to learn more about Himiko, but the priestess halts the conversation.
Miku’s eyes open and she sees Homura near her. She realizes that while Himiko sleeps, she can control her body. Miku cheerfully asks Homura, “I can’t run away, can I?” Miku feels Homura’s hand and is shocked by its coldness. She asks if Shiei is there and Homura answers affirmatively and asks, “Are you acquainted with him?”
Miku’s mouth twists. “You might say that, he’s the one who gave Himiko my body.”
Homura is quiet for a moment and then asks for Miku’s name. Miku answers and Homura asks, “Answer honestly, what sort of man is Shiei Higura?”
Pondering, Miku says, “He’s a person who thinks he can do anything. I was scared of him at first. There’s … there’s something hidden behind his eyes.” Homura thinks about Miku’s words for a while, unable to suppress his unease.
The next day, the whole team visits Kei’s bar to check on Crow. Crow seems to be fine, and she’s been thinking about their situation. She says that Himiko may be seeking revenge for her tribe’s defeat by resurrecting the Yamata-no-Orochi. However, the snake god cannot be completely revived with a part of its body still alive, and as it turns out, one of its necks exists in the world as Yae’s shikigami, Oshirasama. Crow also says that the magatama jewel that is handed down to the head of the Mizushira family is the Yasakani no Magatama, another of the three sacred treasures. Kyoko asks where the magatama is now, and Yae says that it’s stored at the family compound in Shiga, in a shrine warded by magical spells. Oshirasama then emerges, saying that he has no memory of the past, but he sees that Crow is in fact the incarnation of the Yata no Karasu, the magical three-legged crow and messenger of heaven. All eyes flash to the young girl, who admits that is indeed what she is, but her memories are fragmented and cloudy now.
During the night, Shiei pays his father a visit. He asks his father about an offering he made to appease the crow, so long ago – the ritual sacrifice of his own daughter. His father is angry that he’s brought up such a painful memory, but Shiei smugly says that the ceremony was a failure. As his father looks at him in horror and realization, Shiei says, “The Yamata-no-Orochi returns. The crow’s age is ended.” The last thing the older man sees is his son’s smile.
The next night, Yae’s father is resting uneasily in the Mizushira family’s compound. He has lived with regrets of his family’s downfall and his own injuries, and he suffers constant, unending pain. However, the door slides open and a visitor arrives. Yae’s father does not recognize him at first, but he welcomes him anyway.
The team then gathers at Kei’s bar to discuss their next move. Hagiwara shows up and he shows them a grisly photograph; a picture taken inside the Higura compound of the elder Higura’s headless corpse. Yae then suddenly succumbs to another fever spell and collapses. Crow then understands what is wrong with Yae; when Shiei kissed Yae, he cast a curse upon her, a venomous curse that will slowly destroy her mind and body before killing her. Panicked, Shino asks if there’s any way to break the curse, and Crow can only speculate that killing Shiei may lift it.
Elsewhere, Himiko enters Miku’s room in her mind, and Miku tries to ask her about Himiko’s life, her first life. Himiko is irritated at first, but quickly relents. “People in your time live in warm houses, full of light at night … it was not so for my people,” she says. “Even finding food was troubling.” Himiko is distant for just a moment, but then cuts off the conversation and Miku awakes. Homura greets her and says that there is food.
Happily, Miku asks, “Did you buy it from a convenience store?” Homura is confused and asks what money is. Miku explains it badly and Homura thinks for a moment, and marvels at how people seem to not worry about sustenance.
“You live in a good time,” he says, impressed by the way people live now.
Miku asks, “Have you eaten?”
“Did you not notice? I am dead … there is no need for me to eat.” Miku and Homura continue chatting, and even though Miku is a prisoner, there is understanding, even warmth between the captive girl and the dead man.
The next day, Yae and Shino arrive at the Higura compound, where Kanzaki and his men are investigating the murder of Shiei’s father. Yae detects and destroys a magic barrier leading down into a secret chamber. They find Shiei there, smiling, a sword in one hand and his father’s head in the other. Shiei greets them, saying, “Look, here is a present for the crow.” Crow is shocked, and the whole group is surprised to see Shiei’s face morph into a mask of hatred. Kanzaki attempts to arrest Shiei, who simply laughs and dismisses his demands to drop his sword and surrender. Suddenly, Kanzaki draws his pistol and fires two shots at Shiei. On cue, Shino and the other agents present take aim and fire. However, the bullets simply stop in midair. Furious, Yae hurls a bolt of magical energy, but Shiei laughs. “Don’t try so hard, it’ll only make the curse work more quickly.” Yae promises to stop him no matter the cost, but then Shiei reminds her of his offer, made seemingly so long ago.
“Yae, I gave you the chance to become my subordinate. I’ll hear your answer now.”
Yae’s anger still burns hot and she spits back, “You must be joking, I’d rather die first!”
Shiei shrugs and says, “I thought you’d say that. You’ve chosen the harder path, then.” His smile returns. “But tell me … is this what your father would wish?”
Yae unleashes her rage, but her wild assault doesn’t even faze Shiei, and he turns to leave down another passageway. “Are you running away?!” she demands. Shiei looks back and smoothly says, “Quit talking nonsense. I simply came here to say hello to the crow. I will return … soon.”
He smiles one last time. “Oh, and about your father … if you’re worried about him, you may want to speak to him yourself.”
The following day, Kanzaki, Yae, and Shino arrive at an electrical power plant. The resurrection of the Yamata-no-Orochi requires a great deal of energy, and it seems that the demons can harness electricity and convert it into the type of energy needed for its revival. It is infested by demons, and they leap into a pitched firefight. However, during the fray Yae and Kanzaki fall down an elevator shaft. Shino is horrified but is unable to pursue them.
Down in the basement of the building, Kanzaki finds Yae to be feverish and near death; the curse is progressing. He calls Shion’s cell phone and assures her that they are fine, and tells her to get outside; he will remain with Yae until she recovers, hopeful that no demons will come across them in the meantime. Yae says that she doesn’t sense any evil nearby, but is unable to move. Kanzaki comforts her as she describes the curse to him and reveals that she is scared for herself but most of all, she is angry at Shiei, angry that she might lose to him, angry at the comments and insinuations he has made against her father. She expresses a degree of envy of Kanzaki, who always seems to be able to compartmentalize his worries, but he admits that he too was unable to control his emotions when Kyoko’s fiance was killed. They reach a new level of respect for each other, and Yae says that she is glad to have him by her side. They chat quietly for a while more, and then when Yae is feeling better, they find an emergency exit and after another scrap with a pair of demons, they leave.
Later that night at Kei’s bar, Crow says that she intends to go south to the Kumano Shrine in Wakayama; her shrine was located there and she feels that there may be something remaining that will restore her memories. There is also a second reason; the team needs to find a way to neutralize Shiei’s sacred sword, which prevents Yae from calling on Oshirasama. Crow’s intuition leads her to think that she might find something like that there.
Yae and Shino are also headed south, towards Shiga, her home. Arriving at the compound, Yae is surprised at how nervous she is. Steeling herself, she quietly enters her father’s room. She is glad to see that her father seems as well as he usually is, given his current health, but then he surprises her by forbidding her to return to Tokyo. He wishes to withdraw the family to Shiga for their safety. Yae leaves her father, her heart full of questions and suspicion.
The next day, Shino is in some pain. She shrugs off her maid blouse to change her clothes, but then Kyoko slides open the screen door and sees the talismans plastered to Shino’s shoulders and back. For the first time in her life, Shino is furious at Yae, but quickly composes herself and the two girls then act as if nothing unusual just happened. Yae leaves, but is perturbed by what she’s just discovered. She finds one of the family’s household staff outside, and she asks her a few questions, which the employee answers blandly. Acting on her intuition, Yae suddenly unsheathes a knife and lunges at the woman. As the blade slices through her flesh, she vanishes into a clump of talisman papers. Scrawled on the paper are the same characters Yae saw back in the Yamata-no-Orochi’s underground chamber, and Yae now knows for certain that Shiei has invaded the compound and subverted the staff. Knowing that she can no longer trust anyone there, Yae goes to the family shrine and takes the magatama for herself.
Meanwhile, Kyoko and Crow have borrowed Kanzaki’s motorcycle and are speeding south. They stop to call Yae, who can’t bring herself to tell them about her father’s odd behavior. They continue their journey, with Crow resentfully telling Kyoko, “My ass hurts.” Arriving, they enter the forest around the shrine. Amid the cedar trees, they find the shrine, warded by magic. Crow nullifies it and is filled with a sense of wonder, and looking at her surroundings, she says, “… I’m back.” They enter the shrine and find the Yata no Kagami, the sacred mirror, and the Amanokagoyumi, an ancient bow. A light bursts from the mirror when Crow touches it, startling Kyoko. Crow suddenly says, “I remember, Kyoko … I remember everything.” However, Crow freezes, as does Kyoko, and they notice how quiet the forest has become. Leaving the shrine, they encounter Hishigi and Shinari, Himiko’s henchmen. They battle each other, but finally the girls get the upper hand and using the Amanokagoyumi, destroy both demons. Their mission complete, they decide to head towards Shiga to meet up with Yae.
Yae and Shino are alone and talking with each other. Suddenly, Yae asks, “Shino … what is your last name?” Yae wonders, because she’s never heard Shino talk about her family before. Shino pauses for a moment, but then senses that this is a day to tell the truth. “Ah … I had a father and a mother … and a younger sister, who was six years younger than me.” Yae’s eyes widen as Shino goes on. “However, my mother passed away in my childhood. Since we were so young, my sister was cared for by relatives. I remained to work in the household.” Yae starts to say something but Shino asks her not to press. Yae accedes, as she now knows.
Returning home, Yae is summoned by her father, and she knows that this is when she will have to confront him. He asks whether she has the magatama, and when she affirms that she does, he asks her to leave it there. Yae then sharply asks why, and then declares that she is the head of the Mizushira family. Instead of answering, Yae’s father laughs as his body transforms into a hideous snake-like demon, and he demands the magatama once more. Petrified, Yae refuses again, and her father raises a taloned hand and lunges forward. However, Shino leaps in front of Yae and blocks the attack. Yae looks on in heightened horror as Shino’s body begins changing: her legs fuse into a giant tail, claws emerge from her fingers, and scales glisten. Shino throws back Yae’s father, but then she suddenly screams. As she tries to make sense of what just happened, Yae hears a most unwelcome voice.
“Well, this is a strange development. Even I did not expect this,” Shiei says, emerging from an interior room. Gloating, Shiei offers to explain, and Yae can only nod. “Why did your father experience such a transformation?” he asks.
Yae stammers, “… the curse … that you put on me.”
Shiei nods happily. “Indeed. Next question. Why did the maid transform?”
Yae is silent for a moment, but she knows the answer. “She … she shares my blood …”
Shino looks at Yae and says, “It is as you say. My mother was part of a family that had served the Mizushira family for generations. But then, that man raped my mother …” she says, looking at the gray, faceless demon that was Yae’s father. “My sister was born with extraordinary talent, and so my father recognized her as the eldest daughter of House Mizushira.” Across the room, Shiei yawns but Shino continues. “However, I legally have no father. So I decided to serve the heir of the house. I promised Mother that I would protect my sister.” Shino’s voice breaks as she says, “But I think my task ends here,” and looking at Yae, she says, “I’m becoming a demon … and when I do, I will harm you.” She lifts a talon to her neck. “Yae-sama … I pray for good fortune for you.” Screaming, Yae lunges forward, stopping Shino from opening her throat.
Shiei sighs. “Enough. I’m getting tired of watching this drama play. Shino … do what needs to be done.” He brandishes his sword and Shino and Yae’s father both scream. Shino’s eyes change, her irises disappearing, and as Yae stares, Shino lunges at her and rips the magatama away from her.
Shiei smiles and says, “Very good, Shino. Bring it to me.” Hissing, Shino obediently returns to Shiei.
“What did you do to Shino?” Yae demands.
Shiei says, “The Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi has the power to command snakes. This woman has completely become a snake.” With the magatama in hand, Shiei exults. “I have two of the treasures now. Very well then. The Orochi revives on the night of the next new moon.” He scornfully looks at Yae’s father. “Useless. The daughter is much more useful,” he sighs.
Yae’s father has lost his grip on his sanity. “Foolishness … I am the head of the Mizu-” he gibbers, and then his words trail off into a mad shriek. Shiei looks at him. “Don’t you understand? You are not the leader of the Mizushira family. You are nothing more than a monster now.” Then Shiei smiles.
“But still … there is a way to punish those who have taken everything from you. To do that … kill Yae.”
Shiei leaves with Shino slithering behind him. Yae’s father turns to his daughter and as he rises, he knocks over a candle, igniting the mats on the floor. The fire swiftly spreads through the room. Yae looks at her father and asks, “Father, did you know that Shiei replaced everyone here with shikigami?” Raving, her father shouts, “Of course! It was all to retrieve the magatama!” He continues to rant, screaming that he is willing to sacrifice all to restore himself. Eyes narrowing, Yae says, “Then … you who cast aside the blood of the Mizushira family … you are not my father.” Straightening, she says, “In accordance with the rule of the blood, I must purify this evil.”
Yae calls upon Oshirasama and her father orders the spirit to help him, but Oshirasama coolly responds, “I serve only the head of the Mizushira family.” Snapping, her father charges Yae, but then Yae whispers, “Please, Oshirasama …” The snake transforms into a sword, and Yae stabs her father. She rips the sword from his body and whirls around, slashing his neck. His airway torn open, he collapses, clawed hands scratching at his throat, unable to look at his daughter. Yae plaintively says, “Good-bye, father …” but her voice is lost in the crackle of the flames swirling around her.
Meanwhile, Kyoko, Crow, and Kanzaki are all headed towards Shiga. They arrive to find the compound an inferno. Crow uses her magical powers to ascertain Yae’s location, and Kanzaki charges in. He finds her in a catatonic state; having killed her father, having gained and lost a sister as well as her best friend, and still facing her own impending death, her spirit has finally been broken. He screams at her, pleading with her to leave, and reminds her of their conversation back in the power plant. She remembers then, and snaps out of her moroseness. They flee back outside into the night air. Doing a head count, Kyoko confirms that Crow is fine and asks Yae where Shino is, but the look on the younger girl’s face is all the answer that she needs.
They gather at an inn and try to cheer up Yae, who has slid back into deep depression. Kyoko delivers a meal to her room, and Crow says that she’s recovered her memories and found a weapon that can destroy Shiei’s sword and the magic it contains. As Yae looks on impassively, Crow also reveals that Shiei had a twin sister named Shion, who was killed as an offering to the crow. However, during the ceremony, Shiei instead ensnared his sister’s soul, trapping it within his sword as she died. Yae then snaps, angrily lashing out at everyone before leaving the inn. Crow begins to go after her, but Kyoko stops her and says, “Leave it to him” as Kanzaki heads out.
Kanzaki meets with Yae and they talk for a while, but Yae refuses to emerge from her shell, so Kanzaki gives up. Yae walks along mindlessly until she literally walks off of a cliff. She manages to pull herself up to safe footing, and looking around, she cries, lamenting the unfairness of it all. Hours later, exhausted, she looks around again, and notices that she’s been here before, with Shino. Oshirasama emerges and asks, “Do you remember, Yae?” Startled, Yae says that she does, and they speak idly for a while. Then Oshirasama apologizes, and Yae, startled, asks what for. Oshirasama then says that he witnessed what her father had done, but could not say anything because of a spell cast upon him. Oshirasama then encourages Yae to move forward. He apologizes again, saying, “A short time ago, you walked right off of this cliff. I could have stopped you, but if you did not know your own true feelings, you would not have acted to save yourself.” Oshirasama fades away, and Yae stands up, saying to nobody, “Let’s go back.”
Elsewhere, Himiko is exulting that she has recovered the magatama. In her mind, Miku asks, “Hey, what do you need that for?” Irritated, Himiko says, “You already know. We will revive the Yamata-no-Orochi.” Miku thinks about that for a while and then says … “Umm, what do you want, Himiko?” Himiko is surprised by the question, and Miku tries to convince her that history will just repeat itself if Himiko’s plan succeeds, and that revenge is a poor reason to go through with her intention. Himiko angrily terminates the conversation, and Miku awakens next to Homura. She asks the dead man what will happen to him if the Yamata-no-Orochi is revived, and he says that nothing will change for him, and that he only exists to serve Himiko. When his service is complete, he supposes that he will return to the earth. Miku asks him what he wants, and Homura wonders why she’s asking that. She voices her suspicion that Himiko is being pulled along by Shiei, and Homura is unable to disagree.
The next day, Yae awakens in a car. Kanzaki is driving her and Crow back to Tokyo, and Yae notices that although their lane is clear, traffic going in the other direction is packed. She recalls the morning news, which spoke of a massive demon incursion in the Tokyo area. They stop at a convenience store and watching the television there, they learn of a massive magic barrier that has been erected over the city. Yae realizes that she can break the barrier, but she will need a supply of energy to do so. Arriving at Yokosuka, they find such a source: a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
The team sails to Tokyo Bay, where Yae shatters the barrier. They enter the city, finding it laid waste, and visit Kei’s bar. Hagiwara is there and asks about Shino. Seeing that she is not with them, he hands over a package that he meant to deliver to her, and they then head towards the underground chamber that houses the Yamata-no-Orochi. However, they find it defended by Homura. Yae, Crow, and Kyoko get past him and enter the subway while Kanzaki and other troops keep the golem busy. He and his men fire a torrent of bullets and explosives at him, finally blinding him and then putting him down.
Deep underground, Himiko and Shiei gaze in awe at the embryonic god. Himiko begins chanting the spell that will complete the resurrection. Then it begins pulsating, and its eyes move, and seven sinuous necks slide out above the pool of blood. Shiei kneels before Himiko and offers congratulations, saying that the revival could not be performed without Himiko. Himiko’s eyes narrow and she spitefully looks down at the high schooler and asks what he’s really plotting. Shiei smiles and says that while Himiko wants to exact revenge for her defeat so many centuries ago, his goals do not coincide with hers. He says he desires to destroy everything, not just the descendants of those who had battled Himiko. Himiko tries to resist but she has been drained by her exertions, and Shiei mounts upon one of the Yamata-no-Orochi’s necks. He smiles at the priestess and says, “I must thank you, this is true. But now your role has ended.” He nods at a hunchbacked man who has arrived unnoticed. “Do with her as as you please,” he tells Jimushi. The Yamata-no-Orochi then crashes through the ground and emerges. Everyone in Tokyo looks in horror; the god of snakes has returned to the earth.
At the subway entrance, Homura awakens, sensing the danger to Himiko, but Kanzaki finally manages to kill the golem once and for all. Jimushi senses the golem’s death and gleefully informs Himiko, who finally realizes what she really desires. As Jimushi moves towards the priestess, shots ring out as Kyoko enters. Jimushi dodges them and sees Kyoko, exclaiming, “You cannot forget me, can you? How delightful!” He quickly morphs into his spider form and taunts the girls by pointing towards Shino, who approaches Yae, fangs glistening. Kyoko slashes at Jimushi but can’t cut through his chitinous body. Jimushi’s counterattack knocks Kyoko’s sword away and he quickly lashes her arm to a wall with spider silk. He licks her face, mocking her, and then brutally beats her. As he closes for the kill, however, he doesn’t notice her reaching for something with her free arm. Kyoko then shoves her arm into his mouth, releasing a small battle, and chants a quick spell that ignites it into a powerful fireball. Jimushi dies screaming as he burns from the inside.
Meanwhile, Yae is battling Shino. She dodges the half-demon’s claws, but following a leap of intuition, allows Shino to alash her and then sink her fangs into her flesh as Yae calls to her elder sister. Shino pauses for just a moment, and Oshirasama takes the opportunity to link his spirit with hers. As one of the heads of the snake god, Oshirasama has the ability to restore Shino’s condition, and he does so. Shino tearfully asks if he can do the same for Yae, but Oshirasama reiterates that only the one who cursed Yae can undo it. Shino collapses, unconscious, but human once more.
The girls find Himiko, who offers to teleport them to the surface. The first thing they see is the Yamata-no-Orochi, and they are astonished by its size. Crow says that the only way to destroy it is to destroy the Yasakani no Magatama, which is now its heart. And the only way to do that is to shoot it with an arrow launched from the Amanokagoyumi. Himiko offers to help, casting a spell that shuts down the energy flowing into the god, and with her power depleted, her spirit slips from Miku’s body and into the afterlife, where she leaps into Homura’s eternal embrace.
Atop the Yamato-no-Orochi, Shiei witnesses his glory. “Do you hear that, Shion?” he says, as the city burns around him. The snake god rampages through Tokyo, belching flame and collapsing buildings. But then he pauses; he senses that the energy lines have been cut. Who did that, he wonders?
The team surrounds the body of Miku; the tattoos have disappeared and she has her body back now. That is one problem solved, but there is still the snake god to deal with. Crow offers to merge with Yae, giving her the powers of the Yata no Karasu. A light flashes from the Yata no Kagami, and suddenly, Crow has disappeared, and Yae now has her red eyes. Her hair has fused into a pair of majestic wings. Kanzaki hands her the Amanokagoyumi and on black wings, she soars into the roiled sky. Kyoko is glad to see Shino, and she hands her a long, heavy package, which Shino thanks her for.
Crow tells Yae that if the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi is destroyed first, Shiei will lose control over the Yamata-no-Orochi. Yae locates the god near Tokyo Bay. Crow then surges her power into the form of an arrow and Yae looses her first shot. The energies from the projectile blow off one of the god’s heads. Angrily, Shiei looks at the girl, who shouts, “Remember my promise?” Yae tries to follow up with another attack but the snake god’s furious response forces her back. Then she sees an opening and her second arrow destroys another of its heads. But then she notices the warships floating in the bay; the Yamata-no-Orochi is going after them. She tries to attract the god’s attention to save the people aboard and Shiei seizes the opportunity to blast her with a spell. Spitting blood, Yae realizes that Crow’s power will only suffice for one more shot. However, Oshirasama appears and tells her to wait. He then flies towards the Yamata-no-Orochi and fuses with it, becoming its eighth head. Then Yae hears his voice: “Yae, I’ll hold the Yamata-no-Orochi … shoot now.” Yae hesitates, for she cannot bring herself to kill Oshirasama. However, her sentimentality lasts only a moment, and her final shot goes through the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, blows through Shiei’s arm, and strikes the Yamata-no-Orochi. However, Yae is horrified to see that it doesn’t stop the god. Falling to the ground, she despairs, but then Crow says, “Yae … it’s all right.” Crow’s soul separates from Yae, manifesting as a black crow. Yae hears her say, “Thank you, Yae. You’ve risked your life and done all that you can. Now I shall be the last arrow.” Swirling brilliance engulfs the crow, blinding, elongating, until it becomes a lance of light that streaks forth through the Yamata-no-Orochi and through the Yasakani no Magatama, its heart. With one last crash, the snake god collapses, finally defeated.
Soon, the first rays of morning dance in the sky, and Yae awakens. Shiei is there, clutching his broken sword, and all that remains for him is to carry out a small measure of revenge. Yae looks into his mad eyes and exults.
“I win. There’s no way for your dream to come true.”
Shiei hisses, “This is no victory for you. You’ll die here, now.” He raises his sword, but then he whispers, ” … Shion?” He can’t move the sword, and suddenly, the still air is riven by the pure crack of a single rifle bullet. It slams into Shiei’s chest, but no blood spurts forth; instead, talisman papers fly from the wound. With a shocked, uncomprehending look on his face, Shiei’s body collapses into a mass of more paper, and his existence is blown from the world by the morning wind. Yae thinks to herself, “As always, Shino has the last word,” and she smiles as consciousness slips away from her.
Yae awakens once more, and is glad to see everyone is safe, especially Shino. Yae asks about Crow, but none of them can answer her. However, a star shimmers, and then a girl appears. It’s Crow, who smiles and thanks Yae again. She says that her task now is to lead the souls of the departed to the afterlife. Oshirasama twines around Crow, and Crow will take Himiko and Homura too. The girl says, “The time I spent as Crow … I was very happy.” She continues, “But I’ve been in this world for too long, so I will rest for a while. Until the next time we meet …” She transforms into a crow once more, accompanied by the spirits of Oshirasama, Himiko, and Homura. A black feather drops from the sky, and they hear a voice. “Tell Kei that I love her.” Yae marvels at the beauty of the world, and the wonder of a new day.
Epilogue
Some time later, Kei is still cleaning up her bar. She plays with a black feather and thinks on the past. But who is that at the door now?
Kyoko and Miku are hanging out in the older girl’s apartment. Kyoko is unemployed now, having completed her work at the school, and is trying to get a new job. She’s been interviewing and is hopeful that something will turn up. Miku is in junior college, studying English. Miku teases her cousin about her single status, but Kyoko responds back sharply but humorously and Miku flees in a nervous huff. Kyoko sighs; some things never change.
Shino is sweeping in front of the apartment. She still lives with Yae, who is now studying history at a university. Kanzaki arrives to pick up Yae, but Yae is flustered and stammers that she’s forgotten her bag, so she runs back into the apartment. Shino and Kanzaki chat for a while, and Shino muses that she’s given up her role as Yae’s protector to the man before her. Now she is simply Yae’s elder sister. However, Yae is taking a while so Shino goes back inside to check on her, and she finds her trying to brush her hair out. Shino laughs; taking the brush from her little sister, she does the task for her. Life is better for the Mizushira family now, as well; their prestige has been restored and as there are still lesser demons about, there is still a role for Yae in public life. But for now, she is simply a student and a young girl with her own life. Yae goes out, waves goodbye to Shino, and gets behind Kanzaki on his motorcycle. Shino watches them for a while, smiling.
Far above, a single black crow soars across a limitless blue sky.
Ah, the ero content, the reason why we play these games. Oddly, if you’re playing to get the true ending, you won’t actually see a lot of sex; there are only four mandatory sex scenes, three involving Miku getting raped and the last of which is a tender, consensual scene.
However, that’s not to say there isn’t a lot of sex in Zanjibaru; quite the opposite, actually. To get a sex scene, you have to select the wrong option when presented with a story progression option – and you’ll know right away when you’ve taken the wrong turn because you’ll get a sex scene – and they’re all really rape scenes since almost none of them are consensual – and then you get a game over. Before the game ends, however, you’re given another choice; the first choice typically has the heroine either pathetically pleading for her life or just meekly submitting and the rape goes relatively easy on her, and the other choice – which generally has the heroine remaining defiant – results in a variation of the scene where the heroine is brutalized in a much more painful manner and is generally implied to be killed or enslaved as a result. If you like extreme body deformation and massive tentacle penetration, that’s the option you want to roll with. There’s not really any guro – none of the girls die on-screen and the only real gore that’s shown in the game is a pixelated scene of Shino curb-stomping a demon with her combat boots – but the text describes what is happening to the characters in vivid detail. You’ll have to use your imagination if you want a visual.
There’s a word in Japanese called “getemono,” and it refers to very unusual, perhaps even repulsive tastes. It seems that the most common usage of this term is to describe cuisine, particularly taboo or disgusting foods. In eroge, however, it refers to things like bestiality and tentacles. On Zanjibaru’s Erogescape page, getemono is the most common descriptor of the game’s content, and that’s only appropriate, because while there are a large number of sex scenes, all of the rape is committed by monsters, and they are typically very peculiar in nature. For example, depending on which choices the player makes, Kyoko has her arms broken whlie being raped by zombies, becomes a breeding machine for giant maggots, gets milked, is electrocuted to death and revived and raped some more, is repeatedly penetrated by an operating pile driver, and gets skewered ass-to-mouth by a taloned tentacle. Getemono indeed. The other girls don’t fare much better, with tentacles and body distortion in abundance.
So yeah, this sort of thing is probably not going to appeal to some people, or probably most people. It’s all skippable if you make the correct choices, as mentioned, but none of it is pleasant or straightforward, so exercise caution if you intend to play this game or look up the pictures.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Evaluation
Without much in the way of gameplay, a visual novel has to feature engaging characters and an interesting plot, and Zanjibaru does a very good job in both respects. The characters resemble stock stereotypes – Yae is the naive young girl, Shino is the maid, Kyoko is the older sister, and Crow is the loli – but they never devolve into the expected moe archetypes. Indeed, Yae, Shino, Kyoko, and Crow are all intelligent, strong female characters. Yae threatens to slide into the helpless anime girl stereotype but happily recovers before completely doing so. And also thankfully, Crow never becomes a tsundere, despite possessing most of the identifiers of such; she starts out taciturn and enigmatic, but develops an appealing sense of humor.
Despite featuring a large female cast, there is no yuri in the game, which is a loss in one sense since the characters are attractive, but I think it’s to the game’s ultimate benefit as it seems much less exploitative that way. I admire that the game’s creators made that decision; it shows that they were more interested in telling the story and developing the characters on their own terms rather than trying to fit them into common archetypes.
Negatively, the relationship between Kanzaki and Yae seems contrived and a bit artificial, and its inclusion seems more perfunctory than essential to the development of the characters. Fortunately, Kanzaki is a reasonably likeable individual as he is much more the strong, silent type than the typical easily-flustered male invertebrate that one sees in a lot of anime. Yae also becomes a bit overwrought towards the end of the game; her attitude is understandable given the circumstances but still, her hysterics militate against me having full sympathy for her.
And of course, as a fan of tentacles and maggot birthing, I do very much like the rape scenes, particularly Kyoko’s, who has the best time, in my opinion. The art style and subject matter are what initially attracted me to the game, and I’m happy to say that it doesn’t disappoint in the least. I’m not a fan at all of stomach deformation or visible pregnancy (despite what I just wrote) and I suppose I could’ve done without those, but even so, it’s great stuff. Admittedly, Zanjibaru’s hardcore themes makes playing it sort of an unusual experience; it’s almost like playing two different games because the hentai scenes are separated from the core story and the juxtaposition of female characters who are strong and brave in normal circumstances but scream and plead for mercy in other situations can be a bit jarring.
I enjoyed playing Zanjibaru a lot. It has a compelling plot, appealing characters, and good ero scenes. Zanjibaru was a pretty long game – I’d guess it took me somewhere between thirty and forty hours to complete it, and that was without intentionally losing to view the sex scenes, but I think the time was well worth it. I’ve been a game player most of my life but Zanjibaru is the only game I’ve played to completion this year, despite owning a reasonably powerful PC, an Xbox 360, and a stack of unplayed games at least a meter high. As I mentioned, the unusual sex scenes may turn off some people, but I think that people who enjoy visual novels and like strong female characters with their tentacle rape may have fun with Zanjibaru.
Speecheless……….gonna try to get the artbook of this masterpiece.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe there is an artbook for Zanjibaru, which is a real shame, since I like the art a lot. I don’t think it was a very high-profile game in Japan; I looked all over the place for a plot summary (even trying to figure out how to write “plot summary” in Japanese so I could search Google.co.jp) and couldn’t find one, which helped to motivate me to write one myself.
Some of the screens reminds me of Samurai Girls’ design and art, especially the first 2 under “characters”.
Sadly I don’t think I have the patience to use a translator alongside an eroge since I too don’t understand Japanese. There are quite a few I’ve actually downloaded in hopes of playing them one day, be it for the fapmaterialart or storyline. But I can never be bothered. I have enough games that I can actually understand on my huge backlog of things to do, I may never get to them.
I’m curious though, how long did it take you to play this eroge? How long does it take you to play eroges in general? What program do you use to translate? (I remember reading a while back on hongfire about some program but I forget its name)
You’re right about character designs from eroges. There are quite a few good ones that have had PVC incarnations already, my favourite designs are from nitro+.
PS: That creature in the last screen looks awfully like your larvae thing, if I remember correctly (forgot which post you put the picture of it in).
Yeah, Yae’s got that traditional clothes/modern clothes mashup thing going on. Speaking of Samurai Girls, someone ought to tell me if that series ever gets good cuz I’m not really sure if I’ve got the fortitude and inclination to keep with it.
Playing through it definitely was a new experience, since I was spending a lot of time looking at the translation window rather than the game. And installing h-games is an adventure in themselves; every time I install an h-game, I have to google for the procedure because I can never remember all the steps I need to take.
Zanjibaru took me about 30-40 hours in total. I played through it twice; the first time over the summer, and then I played through it again about a week ago to take notes on the plot. I have very little experience with h-games, but I’d guess the Lightning Warrior Raidy games took me maybe 15 hours each (most of which was just grinding mobs in the maze) and X-change took like … maybe 5 hours. I’ve also played Cosplay Fetish Academy and that took like maybe 5 to 10 hours; it wasn’t too memorable so I don’t remember much about it. I’m using Translation Aggregator to do the translation.
The Mothra larva! Man, have I ever showed that here? I don’t know if I’ve ever shown off the one I’ve got. I’ve got to do that, maybe I’ll do a doll post with it one of these days, because if there’s one thing that the internet doesn’t have enough of, it’s doll porn.
I understand about 40% of spoken Japanese, but need translation in English for verbs, tenses, and most nouns.
Written Japanese is still hopeless, as I still have yet to memorize katakana, hiragana, or any kanji. Although I can recognize the kanji of people’s names if I see them long enough. That’s got to count for something. Especially when I’m translating using Translator Aggregator available at hongfire forums, and I don’t want to “mistakenly” translate the name and mess up the process either.
There are also games like Seinranukana (Eien no Aselia’s sequel) that do kanji word puns and a lot of the names for the characters “mean” something else if you analyze the kanji composition. Lightly entertaining and it can serve as an inside glimpse into the character of the individuals in question.
I’ve used machine translation help before, but it takes too long. The immersion value just isn’t there, because I can’t play in full screen and I’m spending more time reading the translation window than looking at the CGI.
I decided it was a better use of my time not to spoil myself with low quality machine translation and just either wait for an English translation or improve my Japanese reading ability.
The primary reason I read visual novels isn’t because of the H scenes. It’s the story, plot, character development, and worth of literature in VNs. Often that’s why I prefer longer VNs, which require a concurrently more dedicated translation effort.
For a shorter look at what visual novels can do concerning emotions and story writing, look up Planetarium and download the English translation. I believe it was free release by Key as a sort of advertisement for their kinetic/crying games, after a time.
I pretty much play visual novels for the tentacle rape. A great game will have great tentacle rape. There’s a few games that I’m interested in playing that look really promising in that respect, but it’s tough finding the time to play video games, not to mention possibly doing a review and plot writeup.
Wow, read through the whole thing, and I’m glad I did. Just going off your story summary, quite a few scenes just had me going “YEAH!” or laughing a bit. Such as the maid carrying a rocket launcher around everywhere (then finding out why), commandeering a nuclear aircraft carrier, Kyoko using the bow (for whatever reason, as soon as I saw her first CG, I knew she was destined to be an archer), and so on. Overall, it seems like a fairly cool story and it certainly makes me a bit more interested in Japanese mythology.
The art style is fairly unique; it reminds me very slightly of Urushihara Satoshi’s art, while maintaining a more realistic look (I like his art, but at the same time it always looks deformed to me.) While at the same time, it’s very crisp and even colorful. I like the art a lot, and the H-scenes work surprisingly well with the style.
Onto the H-scenes, what you describe really doesn’t surprise me; that seems to be the trend with games in this genre. Either there’s an equal amount of good H-scenes with the bad (such as Raidy) or they take the more realistic approach that the main characters aren’t going to be having sex every 5 minutes while a crisis is going on, but bad monsters are still going to rape the shit out of you. I really like all the HCG you posted, and definitely find myself drawing most towards Crow and Kyoko. Though I have to say since I came into this game expecting a maggot birthing scene, after Shiei kissed Yae, I expected it to happen to her. As far as the scenes go, while I don’t necessarily prefer the hardcore stuff, I’ve come to appreciate it (only thing I won’t ever consider when it comes to hentai is scat and yaoi/shota.) I’m really not big on guro either, so I’m glad to see that they didn’t go that route. I played Gore Screaming Show just because I was curious about the guro, and it wasn’t too bad, but on some scenes, the entire screen was just about censored. That’s a game I really wish was translated though, because the atmosphere was amazing and everything I’ve read said the game had an amazing story. I actually mentioned it though because that’s one game where most of the H-scenes take place if you stray towards a bad route; there are good routes for each of the heroines, but they also have 1-2 bad endings, I think. Finally, the option to select your demise on H-scenes is brilliant.
I actually think that the way they told the story is a nice change of pace; it shows that they really are out to tell a story, versus having you select a route and try to see yourself as the main character. Having one true end definitely helps with the option to tell it from this perspective.
I enjoyed reading the review, and I’m definitely going to find a CG pack since I’m too lazy to play through the game with a translator myself. I commend you for that, and I hope you choose to do an eroge review every now and then.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, I enjoyed writing it but I was pretty sure that almost nobody was gonna read it XD
I hadn’t thought about that but yeah, now that you mention it, I do see a resemblance in the way they draw their faces and bodies. What I like most about his art is that he does the whacko themes; his doujinshi are pretty much the same way and I really wish I could somehow transcribe the script from his two Nanoha doujinshi so I could run them through the auto-translator (or that someone would do a translation or scanlation).
Yae does get a birthing scene XD Though it’s not quite as graphic, I think. I’ve heard Zanjibaru described as having lighter versions of some of the stuff Black Cyc’s games cover, and so I looked up some of their games. And yeah, uhh, that stuff is pretty extreme. I’m not actually sure if I’ve seen the CGs from Gore Screaming Show, but I’ve seen them from Gun Katana and Extravaganza and I liberally deleted the ones that had the scat and the snuff stuff, which isn’t really my thing. Bad endings aren’t really my thing either, and in fact the major motivation I had for completing Zanjibaru was to determine whether the game had a happy ending or not. I still kinda want to try the Majutai games but I can’t seem to get them to work with the auto-translator.
Yeah, I like Kyoko best too, and while I’m usually not a big fan of lolis, I found myself liking Crow a lot while playing through the game. I really wish I could put a voice clip up on the review, since she has the most distinctive voice in the game. Unfortunately I kept getting some weird crackling every time I tried to record it, so I’ll have to try to sort that out first. Yae is pretty good too, though she goes through some mood swings, and Shino doesn’t actually get very many scenes.
I just noticed that I didn’t post any of the stomach inflation/body distortion pictures up in the review. I probably should just to show off what they’re like, but stomach inflation and body distortion is not really my thing. It’s kinda a shame though, cuz the text and the voice acting is really good when you pick that option.
I was surprised by how complicated the story was, and I was sorta surprised that I didn’t really miss the sex scenes too much, since I was playing through it to complete the game. I’m thinking I’ll try to do more eroge reviews in the future, but since they’re so expensive, it’ll probably have to be ones that I really like. I’m thinking maybe something like Beat Blades Haruka might work, but there’s a lot of information on that game out there already and I might stick to the more obscure games.
I’m sure some people will read it, but the majority (of those that visit this site) probably won’t. :p
I think the major similarity is the giant eyes. Though it’s not a bad thing, I really like the eyes, whereas everything else about Satoshi’s art just seemed kinda weird to me. Still good every now and then, and not bad for a game (like the Growlanser series), but for hentai, no thanks.
Ah, glad to see that I wasn’t too off. Yeah, if GSS is anywhere near as graphic as Black Cyc’s other releases, then I could definitely make that comparison. A lot of the scenes were fairly tame, in the sense that everyone kept their body parts, but it was there was still a fair share of gang bangs, rape, etc. Then the bad ending scenes were straight guro; I think the tamest was of a chick spread out in chains, I think, in one CG… then suddenly Goa (or Gore, easily one of the best characters in a VN, despite my not understanding a word) bites the chick’s head off.
I’m not the biggest fan of loli, but I do enjoy it every now and then. Not the disturbingly young stuff, but characters such as Crow. Shame that you couldn’t get a voice sample; maybe I’ll see if I could find something on Youtube. I managed to find a ton of GSS videos there a second ago, so I really wouldn’t be surprised.
Stomach inflation is by no means my favorite fetish, and I don’t even particularly care for it. However, I’ve found that I’ve enjoyed it in several instances, such as the Bible Black/Discipline game, and a couple video episodes of various hentai series. Still not something I’d prefer, and if done wrong it’s absolutely disgusting, but I don’t mind it.
When I first played Fate, I had no idea what to expect; everyone just said it was one of the best VN they had ever played. I got into it easily enough, but I found myself thinking “okay, there’s going to be an H scene right about now…” So it was a bit of a disappointment in that aspect, but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then I played Clannad (don’t know if it was before or after) and it wasn’t until halfway through the game that I googled it to see if there were H-scenes. Was only mildly disappointed in this case, as I really would have loved to see one with some of the characters, but the game was strong enough without them.
They certainly are expensive, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that the only eroge I own is Sengoku Rance (actually, I bought a game with Tony’s art on a whim when I picked up Rance.) I usually play the game a bit first, and then decide if I want to buy it. Most of the officially English translated games are fairly terrible unfortunately, so I generally don’t bother with them. I do want to buy Yume Miru Kusuri because I’ve heard that it actually has an amazing story, but it’s a low priority at the moment. I will eventually pick up a copy of Clannad, Fate/Stay Night, and some other games that I really enjoyed, just to show support. I’m also definitely going to pick up Big Bang Age, and I’m very happy to say that it’s only $50 on ErogeShop; since Rance was over $100, I just figured that all AliceSoft games retailed for around that much, but apparently it sold for 2999 yen or something when it retailed; definitely well worth the $50 even if there’s slightly less to do than in Rance (probably a bigger campaign to begin with, but only 2 routes as far as I can tell.)
Speaking of weird things about Urushihara’s art, I’ve noticed that sometimes his characters look very cross-eyed when they’re looking straight ahead. It’s kinda an old-school look I guess.
Yipes, that is wacky. It always makes me sad when an anime character I like dies. I don’t mind at all if the character gets roughed up (actually, I like that) but death makes me very sad. That sounds so wacky that I was compelled to look at the CGs. It’s too bad, that blonde girl was pretty cute. I hope she was tasty at least. And man do those girls pop. The Zanjibaru girls go through similar treatment but I guess their skin and guts are a lot more elastic than the typical hentai heroine.
Yeah, I’m not much of a loli fan either, though I guess it’s not a dealbreaker for me. I did take a look at the CGs for Walpurgis, the new game that Tamiya Akito worked on, and while it has cute loli characters (though some of them have pretty large breasts, so I guess they are young-looking adults), man those girls get worked over hard. There was a ton of body distortion going on there. It looks sorta like Zanjibaru crossed with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, which actually sounds pretty cool to me.
I ought to buy more h-games, Zanjibaru’s the only Japanese one I have. I’ve got several from JAST and I’ll be getting Demonbane whenever they roll it out, and I think I’m gonna get Sengoku Rance just to say I have it. I don’t really know if it affects anything in the long run, but I like having a happy conscience.
Yeah, when I was going through it, the blonde girl was the first I choose (if I remember correctly you actually get an option that will set you on their path, but you can still go off it by other options, or something), though the red haired girl goes all slutty and actually looks pretty good at one point. I also like Yuka, but I was never able to select the right choices to get onto her route; when randomly selecting, it seems like it was easiest to either end up with an okay (I guess?) ending wit hte red haired chick, or a very, very bad ending.
That they do. I haven’t looked at the CG for awhile, but I do remember a lot of exploded guts. Definitely not my thing, but I really do hope the game is translated at one point; as I said, it’s the only game I’ve managed to play through to an end a couple of times, even though I’ve never understood a word. I’d recommend looking up the intro on Youtube, it’s fairly well done and will give you an idea of the rest of the music in the game, all of which I remember really liking.
Actually, while loli isn’t my favorite thing in the world, unless it’s disturbingly distorted/young, I don’t mind it. I just generally prefer other things. Every now and then, I do find a lolish character that I really like, though; it’s the reason I own two loli books that I got from Mandarake. I really tried to hold off from ordering them, but the cover art on both were just excellent ( ボクã®å®¶ã®ã‚¯ãƒ«ãƒªæ§˜ and Chocolat.) If you look up the covers, I think you’ll see that it wasn’t so much that they’re loli that drew me to them, but the unusual hair color (and I guess I do have a thing for small boobs and pigtails… which are admittedly loli traits.) I don’t remember if the first book was entirely loli, but the second was wasn’t really my thing after the first chapter (which features the cover girl.)
I will buy more sooner or later. Right now I’m cutting back on expenses. I’ll still probably buy a dakimakura or two over the next few months (excluding what I already have special ordered) and maybe some figures, but I’m cutting back almost everything. Once it’s safe for me to start spending again, however, I’ll probably cut out most of the figures (buying only those I must have), buy any dakimakura I must have, and then put the rest towards eroge.
The story sounds very interesting even a bit complicated, judging from your summary your translator seems to be very good or you have very good combination skills.
Very nice of you to give us such a good and detailed insight of the story.
the CG with the fine lineart looks very nice, Crow and Kyoko are very pretty girls.
I think I wouldn’t play the game because it appears to hardcore for me
Im more the consensual type when it comes to such scenes ;D
Im not very experienced with playing such games I only played figu@mate and Hinatabokko
copy and paste the kanji stuff into the translator was a pain arse, but I loved to play figu@mate.
Hinataboko was translated even though story was very very simple it was so comfortable that everything was in english.
lately I tried to play Mashiro Symphony, but the agth + Atlas combination really sucked at translating,
I would probably play more such visual novel /eroge games if they were translated.
Yeah, this is probably a game that the tentacle fans will enjoy the most XD I tried to stick to the translation as much as I could but some of this is guesswork. There were a lot of things – like Shiei’s family history and why Himiko was working with him – that I didn’t really understand.
You’ve got to have a certain level of dedication – or craziness – to play through an h-game or visual novel without any knowledge of Japanese. I always prefer it if there’s a translation already available, which is why I’m thankful that companies like JAST and MangaGamers are around; I just wish they’d do some more hardcore stuff.
I’m with Fabienne on this as well. I’m usually okay with some tentacle sex, but when it involves extreme violence, it’s no longer fapping material to me.
I’d like to know what auto translator you’re using!
This stuff definitely qualifies as extreme violence XD I shoulda put up the picture of Kyoko and Crow getting mounted on poles, that looked really, really painful. The voice actresses are fantastic in that scene too, especially Crow’s. Man I wish I could get those voice clips up, I even had save games prepared so I could get them recorded. Hmm … I wonder if I can record them on my other computer?
I’m using Translation Aggregator, which provides output from ATLAS and a bunch of web-based translation services like Google and Babelfish. I’m also using a dictionary which provides some words that are commonly used in h-games, and I used a romaji converter for stuff that the translation services don’t handle well (for example, the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi means “Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven” according to Wikipedia, but it’s also named the Kusanagi which means “Grass-cutting Sword” which doesn’t always translate well, and I was wondering what the heck Shiei was doing with a “lawnmower sword” before I realized what the game was talking about). Altogether, it works pretty well, even if you are completely clueless regarding Japanese.
Is there any way you could upload some of those saves?
Or is this not like most eros where you can use completed saves to go back through sections?
Looking over these samples this may be the most stunning cast of girls I’ve ever seen.
Yes, I have no interest in the plot and just want to get to the h-scenes :p(with audio).
Well, actually you review caught my interest and I might actually play the game through if it were in English or I understood Japanese. But I’m not using Atlas and Google. I tried that for Triangle’s Madou Souhei Kleinhasa, and it was a PAIN.
On that note, you may want to check it out or at least a CG rip of it. Within the tentacle theme and top notch art. If you’re familiar with g-e’s site, Just add that url in front of this /g/162337/a8298f41cc/
(Don’t want to risk my post getting auto censored for having outside links).
Forgive my scattered ramblings, I’ve been up for a day and a half when I wrote this.
If you want a completed save game file, you can click here … hit the go button on your browser’s URL field if it throws back an error. You can replay all the H-scenes (both the less-painful and more-painful scenes) and view the CGs with it. I saved the game at particular plot points rather than right when the characters were about to get raped but if you want that file, I can upload it.
Yeah, I really like the character designs, particularly Kyoko, and they’re the main reason I went through all the trouble of using an auto-translator and writing up a really long plot summary. They’re all interesting characters too; they don’t really fall much into the usual moe tropes. I wish I could say the same about the characters in Walpurgis.
Kleinhasa has some fantastic art indeed. Were you able to get it to work? I heard that it had some odd regional protection so I never tried to play it but the art is so nice that I’d like to give it a try.
Thanks for speedy reply and save state 🙂
Walpurgis does have nice art. When I saw it being mentioned as loli I didn’t check it, but just did. I think we disagree on what loli is 😉 It’s quite nice.
I just used the version of Kleinhasa on hongfire.
I didn’t have anything weird happen. But then I sometimes have odd problems/ lack of common problems, because I’m using a cooperate version of XP. I used PowerIso as my disc emu.
I’m actually pretty new to h-games in general, while I was looking around I was also quite impressed with
Natsukagura (å¤ç¥žæ¥½)
Onikagura (鬼神楽)
Tsukikagura (月神楽)
All from Studio e・go.
You’re welcome! Yeah, I liked Walpurgis’s art as well. I guess most of the character aren’t loli, Isuka and Konata are the ones I remember that are more loli, and I guess Arie is in some of the artwork. Arie also seems to have some thematic similarities to Shana, which might also be part of the reason I think of her as loli.
Ah, k, I never actually tried it myself. Maybe I’ll give it a go then, the art was really nice. And I liked how the blonde girl packed a minigun.
The artwork for those games is nice indeed. I don’t think I’m familiar with them – I could swear I’ve seen images with that sort of style but I don’t know who the artist is. Thanks for the information. I’m also not really familiar with h-games; I’ve tried out a couple before but Zanjibaru’s only the third one I’ve seriously tried to play to completion (the first two being Beat Blades Haruka and Sengoku Rance).
Mmm…Did I get the HCG of this? Mmm…not rininging any bells…*checks folder* Appears not!
Too much stuff released on an almost daily basis I guess to catch it all…*jaunts off to correct this mistake*
A good idea, it’s quality stuff. Check out Walpurgis too, it’s equally quality.
Thanks for the excellent write up. I would have liked to have seen some more h scene pics, but I’ll manage.
More ero! How can I turn down such a request? I tossed six more pics up there, including one with some body distortion, which is actually pretty mild compared to most of the inflation and distortion pictures in the game.
Ha excellent!
>> Shashin
The CGs give the impression that the game is all about exploded guts. I’ve read a review of the game that says that isn’t necessarily so but I was really feeling sorry for those girls while looking through the pictures. I do recall someone was trying to get JAST to localize Black Cyc’s games on their forum, but I’m guessing that nothing ever came of that. It’s still nice that they’re bringing over Demonbane, though; I’m looking forward to it (and particularly to interacting with Leica/Metatron, since she’s one of my favorite figures).
The comments on the intro video are hilarious. “wtf 0:58.”
I view loli the same way; it’s not really my thing but it’s not as big a deal-breaker for me as, say, cat ears and a tail are. Or scat and guro, though the last two h-games I played had both in abundance (well, not so much guro as body deformation in Zanjibaru’s case, I suppose). Looking at the pictures of Walpurgis, I’d like to give it a whirl, even though the art is mostly loli type.
I like the cover art on Boku no ie no Kururi-sama. And it’s funny how this is one of the very, very few times I like the censoring on a hentai item.
I’m telling myself right now that I’m gonna chop down my camera expenditures (though I gotta send a flash back to the retailer, and the retailer is in Hong Kong … sigh), which have comprised a huge chunk of my discretionary spending output the last few months. I’m also getting some new stuff for my big-ass doll (I guess I ought to put up some pictures of her new bondage harness one of these days) and I think I need to pay for a few more figure preorders soon, if I’m understanding their release dates correctly. So many expenses, and all of them are strictly hobby-related.
Yeah, though the exploding guts accounts for a large amount of the CG, I only recall stumbling onto a couple scenes while I was playing the game, while a lot of it was spent just listening to the voices, music, and of course the normal H-scenes. I doubt JAST would ever touch anything that hardcore; then again, I might be surprised, they do have games such as Virgin Roster, where the entire point is to do nothing but rape a bunch of “18+ year old” virgins. Then there are the games that have undeniably loli characters (which the US seems to clamp down a bit harder on than previously), yet they’re 18+, no matter the circumstances in the game. Still, rape and under-aged characters, and hell, even body distortion/enemas/etc, are a world of difference from body mutilation.
Yeah, there are at least 4-5 videos of the opening up on Youtube, and I’m surprised they all haven’t been taken down yet. I could see if the OP didn’t feature any nudity of any sort, but it certainly does.
I’d say my only real deal breakers are scat and guro. I’ll try just about everything else.
Yeah, cover art is like 90% of the reason I buy books when I do, and as soon as I saw that on Mandarake, I added it to my cart. The girl is insanely cute, and I agree that the censoring is wonderful. I don’t even remember what was inside the actual book (I’m pretty sure there was some pretty strong loli in there), but I still remember the cover.
My Hobby Search order is set to bill today, I think, or probably Monday in Japan. I have a back ordered DVD on AmiAmi that it’s looking like I won’t get, a dakimakura I have to pay for on SMJ (waiting for new credit card statement), and three more on preorder for December. Then it’s a largely stripped down Hobby Search order for the next few months (but it looks like Tomoe is a November purchase.)
I kinda wonder what the most commercially-viable form of hentai is. My bet would be on consensual schoolgirl yuri <.< I'm guessing tentacles would be pretty far down on that list, which would be a shame, if true. Yeah, I buy a ton of stuff just because of the cover. Funny story about that (and I may have already talked about this, I repeat myself sometimes); so I found some books by KTC (who've done a bunch of tentacle and other hentai manga), including one that had my favorite Beat Blades Haruka character and a cover done by one of my favorite artists. The cover was so nice that I spent a month trying to figure out how to get it, and finally I just got SMJ to buy it for me. Then after this considerable effort to get it, I find out it's a novel, not a manga. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I wrote a whole post about that adventure. The day after I talk about expenditures, I found out that I've damaged my second-favorite figure, and I cannot find the busted part. So I looked through YJA for a replacement figure and bought it through SMJ. I've gotta be nuts.
I’d imagine something along those lines, however, it’s interesting to see that the hentai industry in America actually started out with some pretty graphic stuff (for the time.) Granted I don’t know how popular they were, and the industry was probably around long before they came, but the first titles I remember seeing were La Blue Girl, and later Sexy Magical Girl Ai. Ai being one of my favorite hentai titles to date… the scene is episodes 3/4 is still one of my favorites, and probably the only body distortion/painful painful rape that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I also know that Bible Black had quite a bit of popularity. Then there’s Dragon Pink and Wordsworth; I know Dragon Pink came out in the mid 90s, and I may have even seen it before La Blue Girl. Quite a bit more normal, but with the fantasy setting, I think there was some monster/human-catgirl sex; I know there was some in Wordsworth (another one of my favorites, if only for the succubus.)
Yeah, I know how that is. Buying based entirely on the cover can be a dangerous prospect. I know I purchased at least one doujinshi with an amazing cover, only to find futanari on the inside (despite the thought of a girl fucking a girl, this has never appealed to me) or even one case of scat, I believe. Then there’s the previously mentioned artbook (can’t even really call it that, as most of it was words) for the yuri game/series.
Craziness indeed, though which figure would that be? And speaking of busted figures, I finally had the heart to take Kenshin entirely out of her box and survey the damage (before I had just pulled the protective lay off and noticed the broken arm.) The arm is indeed broken, but as long as I’m careful with glue, it shouldn’t be too bad, as it’s at the shoulder and it’s one area of her body that has some clothing. One little piece of hair broke off, but I have it and it’s not that noticeable, so I could probably fix it or not.. And the paint has come off in a few areas, leaving small blue lines in a few places, like that one figure review you did a few months ago (can’t remember which.) It’s still a beautiful figure, and I might try to find some paint when I buy some hobby glue, but I don’t want to further ruin it.
I think La Blue Girl was the first hentai flick I ever heard of, and it made a huge impression on me, which is sorta weird since I’ve never actually watched the whole thing (I’ve just seen clips).
That scene in episode 3/4 of Mahou Shoujo Ai is classic XD One of the best tentacle scenes in all of anime … one of the best scenes in hentai, period. I’m still unhappy that it seems that we’ll never see episode 5 uncensored.
It was Volks’s Senhime. The one I’ve got also had additional damage to her hair that occurred while she was in the mail, and I was pretty clumsy with the repair, and she doesn’t seem to fit in her stand all that well, so I guess I don’t mind getting a replacement, since it is such a great figure. Hopefully the new one will arrive intact and sound. I wish you the best of luck getting Kenshin fixed up; it can be kinda nerve-wracking the first time you try to make repairs but you get used to it.
Yeah, I remember when I was young and using Limewire; I downloaded a lot of porn/hentai there. One of my favorite scenes was titled something like “Girl Must Come Before Full Moon” or something. I downloaded it and was quite happy; then I later found out it was from La Blue Girl. And I had brought the Words Word Wikipedia page up, and apparently the US licensor didn’t pay the Japanese company, so they lost the rights. A bit funny considering you just mentioned something along those lines in the eroge industry.
Definitely one of my favorite scenes, and probably the only scene from a hentai that I could name off the top of my head without a thought as one of my favorites; I could name a few others that were either good or recent, but I couldn’t name many favorites (which seems really odd; you’d think my favorites would be memorable, but I’m drawing a blank.) The combination of tentacles, a beautiful heroine, and that little something special… just made it a great scene. It’s a shame, truly;
Ah, that sucks. Glad you managed to snag a replacement, though. I’m honestly not too worried about Kenshin right now; I know I’ll eventually want to fix her up nice and worry about it then, but right now since I don’t have a single figure on display due to my space constraints, it’s a bit less of a bother. I’m sure I’ll be a mess when I actually try to glue her arm back on.
Wow, I am in awe of that summary. Because it retains some of the tension and drama of the original narrative, I found your summary to be an engaging read. You have all my respect for cranking out such an ambitious post. How long did this take you to write??
I downloaded the HCG last night.1453 images, and not a H-scene involving a human male to be found. I am impressed. Come to think of it, the lack of a central male protagonist is probably for the best for the integrity of the narrative. With a male protagonist comes the expectation for him to screw the entire female cast, and in many cases COUGHf/snCOUGH, the context simply isn’t there for the couple to get lovey-dovey, which causes some awkward plot contrivances. Tentacle rape, on the other hand, doesn’t have to worry about that — I mean, what else is a demon going to do after defeating a heroine? The character inconsistencies during the rape scenes are a drawback, but then again, we haven’t been raped by tentacles ourselves, and judging from the HCGs, it certainly looks painful enough for any heroine to beg for mercy. TL;DR: ALL HAIL TENTACLE RAPE.
Thanks! Man, how long did it take … I was writing it while I was playing through the game for the second time, and my second playthrough probably took about 20 hours. And then it took maybe fifteen hours to edit and format it, and maybe another five hours to pull the images and figure out a way to do the HTML (I shoulda just gone with tables, every time I try to do it the high-tech CSS way with divs, it takes me way longer than it should).
Writing the summary gives me a much greater appreciation for the stuff that fansubbers do. Not that I speak or read Japanese or anything, but I had to make some choices as to whether I wanted to go for the literal translation (when I was certain that the auto-translator was 100% correct) or whether I wanted to go with something that would flow better in English. Plus there were a few situations where it seemed like there was no direct English translation, so I had to make my best guess as to what they were actually saying.
The CGs are epic XD There actually is one sex scene involving a human male, but it’s buried in the beginning, among all the normal event CGs. That’s how insignificant it is.
ALL HAIL TENTACLE RAPE. Now testify!
>> Shashin
Man, what are my favorite scenes … I guess the Nazi rape machine scene from Urotsukidoji would be up there (though not the aftermath, I didn’t like that much), Square of the Moon had a pretty good one with a golf club, the third episode of Renketsu Houshiki had a very nice (and consensual) gangbang scene, the opening part of Mahou Shoujo Ai San … there’s a bunch I can think of.
Ah, yeah, out of sight, out of mind is how I’d think about it. I’ve got a Saber figure (by Alter, of all companies) that needs massive repair to her feet since she snapped her mounting pegs clear off of her base, but I’ve had her in my drawer for a couple of years and I never remember to pull her out to try to get her on her feet again.
Holy crap that’s one detailed eroge review! O_O I think writing a review that long would drive me bonkers! Nice job!
Thanks! Yeah, I put a lot of effort into this one, since I really like this game and I had a great deal of trouble finding any information on it, either in English or Japanese. I hope it’s helpful to anyone interested in this game and what it’s about.
wow the details of characters are very detailed and the story looks awesome, not just because it’s eroge means there shouldn’t be good story and this eroge proves it.
Indeed! I was pretty impressed with how the story unfolded. And I was impressed with the sex scenes. For an eroge, I guess I’d put more emphasis on the latter but having a good plot really elevates the game.
this one in specific i’ve never seen, still i can see why its nsfw . cool article lol
Great!! you should make more eroge reviews =)
I should! They’re kinda tough to do since they can take a while to play, not to mention that I am still completely illiterate in Japanese. However, I might do another one soon, if this one game I’m playing on and off turns out to be good.
Finished the game yet? =)
I haven’t actually started on this one yet. I decided to start playing lots of eroge games. As I could not find any eng-sub versions of Zanjibaru, I thought I’d download Koihime Musou. I think I’m halfways, and heck that’s a long game! It wasn’t as good as I hoped for, and got kind of boring. I should had read on a review of it before I played it! I’m not thinking about finishing the game, so I’ll DL Zanjibaru right away =)
*Should had listened to Tier* >_<
I got a recently started blog by the way! =)
perhaps you’d like to make a quick visit? ^^
It looks nice! XD Congrats on kicking it off, running a blog is a ton of fun. A ton of work too, if you get really into it, but I definitely enjoy it.
Unfortunately not, I got the lead girl raped by a gigantic spider but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
… That sentence sounds really terrible, now that I think about it. God, what a perverted hobby this is.
I enjoyed Zanjibaru but I should note that it is all text and almost no gameplay. One of these days I’d like to play an eroge that has a complex game system (other than Sengoku Rance) but most of the ones I play are either VNs or simplistic games like Lightning Warrior Raidy or Beat Blades Haruka.
One of the very best CG sets for sure and probably one of the best from Akito Tamiya in general, always love his stuff. I’m sad this seemed to be a one shot from this random company, but at least Akito Tamiya keeps busy and still seems to stick with tentacles.
I’d definitely love to get those artbooks of his stuff you have sometime.
Yeah, I was surprised to see Amolphas’s website disappear, and I guess they’re gone for good now. It was good to see him do the artwork for a recent game by Atelier Kaguya … I forget the name but it had Erena in the title, though no relation at all to the Valkyria game. I still need to put in an order for some C81 doujinshi and I’ll have to check what he’s done recently.
Do you ever take commissions for scanning? lol. Maybe you owned them by the time I commissioned someone in Japan for this, but I finally got the Aojiru Works and Inyouchuu Etsu artbooks out there, floating around now. Mainly put them up on imouto.org. The guy didn’t ask for much so I just commissioned him to scan them, can’t do that myself… but it would’ve been great to own them myself. Maybe someday. I imagine the Etsu artbook is rare as hell already though since it was just a pre-order bonus item I believe.
I really hope Tinkerbell or whomever puts out an Aojiru Works 2. I am sure there is still tons of his material/special works to work with for that. The first one only covered Hanamaru, Inyouchuu, and that other game I always forget the name of. But there’s still tons of low-res phone cards and other images from his Shoku/Hanamaru 2/Kowaku era, which I think has some of his best art easily. Posting these for whatever reasons (hey maybe you’ve seen them in some books or something), but here’s some rare images from Inyouchuu I haven’t seen in decent quality, I really want a huge version of the first one since I love Ouka (the Shoku bonus scene is da bomb for me, Meioki and the two twins at once? fuuuuuuck!), haha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
If these Akito Tamiya artbooks/doujinshi’s you have are all pretty original and have material not floating around the net I’m even more interested in tracking them down heh.
Anyways thanks for the replies, not everyone does that for sure on a lot of blogs! Always great to meet a big Inyouchuu fan though. I run MeiohSubs with a friend and might try to make a fansite sometime this year, haha (further proof how obsessed I am). Thumbs up for the Shinobi avatar. *nods*
Unfortunately not; I don’t want to damage my books so I don’t scan them in their entirety. As anachronistic as it might sound, I still much prefer to own physical goods than digital media. Amazon and Netflix and Apple and other digital content providers are going to have to drag me by my knucklebones into the 21st century.
Most of the doujinshi I own have been scanned, I think. Though I don’t think I’ve seen Dystopia around, which is sort of curious. That’s too bad since it’s got a couple of nice illustrations of Dizzy and Fate Testarossa in it.
On a random tangent, I’m hoping Mouryou no Nie gets an anime adaptation at some point, though to be honest, centipedes kinda give me the creeps and I wonder what such a scene would look like animated. In the meantime, Kuroinu looks like it’s going to be amazing.
Understandable heh, if I owned those books I’d probably say the same.
“Though I don’t think I’ve seen Dystopia around, which is sort of curious.”
Which is exactly the one I really want, haha. Looks amazing. Is Grindcore out there?
More Tinkerbell/Aojiru h-anime adaptations would certainly be amazing. Hell, I guess PoRo could pull it off since Kowaku was so shocking and surprising, especially coming from them. Though I still think MS-Pictures got it down perfectly with Shoku, to me it seems to be the most “true” to the game, character design and content wise, everything. With the best bonus episode in existence. It’s too bad they lost a producer and probably got another studio to do Etsu, that was a real disappointment and so damn low budget… if you watched them blindly you’d probably think that came before Shoku and hell even Amour’s series based off the first game, lol.
Sorry for the onslaught of questions, but is the Asagi PVC figure already looking kind of rare? Wonder if I can grab it for an affordable price.
Yeah, Grindcore and In Search of Sanity are both out there. Great books, particularly since I like seeing Fate getting poked by tentacles. I wish I knew what was going on in each book, though.
I was amazed that PoRo kept Kowaku no Toki fairly hardcore. I think maybe they could’ve gone even further with it (a more vigorous performance by the voice actress would’ve helped) but after they’ve done a number of fairly straightforward incest and happy sex shows, it was a real surprise. Inyouchuu Etsu was definitely a disappointment. I didn’t dislike it – there aren’t many tentacle shows that I dislike – but it should’ve been a lot better. It’d be great if more of Tinkerbell’s stuff got anime adaptations, and I was also thinking that Ail-soft’s games would also make for fantastic shows. I think they did Shin Kyouhaku, which was a pretty good anime, but they’ve got some tentacle-themed games like Majutai which also have a lot of potential.
Yeah, that Asagi figure is definitely rare. I’m kicking myself for not picking it up when it came out because it seems to be running well over $200 nowadays. Hopefully they’ll re-release it some time, and hopefully Ingrid will get a figure, too.
Majutai is definitely greatness. I think I’d really like to see the Venus Blood series get animated, those have been fantastic for awhile now and seem to be all about monster impreg, epic… haha.
I guess getchu has a page up for Kowaku ep2, and someone told me the title seems to suggest it’ll probably be about Ai now, the young Mikoto look-a-like I believe. Hmm… I think I would’ve rather seen the pink haired girl get an episode (assuming this is the last episode since PoRo only does 2 usually from what I know), though really I would’ve preferred just more Yukino / her mother and bull action, lol.
Maybe the VA’s could’ve put in a more intense effort like you said, I think it’s awkward the episode has like no music at all though. But I guess I don’t mind since I can just play it alongside my nasty dark dubstep that goes well with it!
Damn shame to hear about the Asagi figure, haha. I want it! There’s some cool custom ones now too with her suit painted gray/white (matching her new look in the upcoming game I guess), looks awesome. Can’t beat the original though!
Yeah, I was somewhat surprised to hear that Ai was going to be the star of the next episode rather than the pink-haired girl … uhh, Momoko Momono I think her name is. I’m not certain about that, though. I would’ve liked more Yukino as well, since loli isn’t really my thing. I don’t hate it or anything, but it’s not something I’m interested in by itself. I was sorta hoping we’d get more explanation as to why Yukino’s all messed up – and more scenes of Yukino getting messed up – but as long as we aren’t getting any amputation sequences, it’s all good.
I didn’t notice that Kowaku no Toki doesn’t have music but now that you mention it, that does seem really strange. I did think that the episode seemed peculiarly quiet when I watched it, though the lack of music didn’t register in my mind. That’s kinda too bad since there have been a lot of H-shows that have had music that I liked (I even wrote a post about it somewhere here). Pixy’s got a bunch of shows that have had great ending themes.
The white version of Asagi was a limited edition one that I think Lilith might’ve sold through their online store. They seem to be ramping up merchandising a little bit – they’ve got some dakimakura covers out of Asagi and Murasaki and I think one of the girls from Prison Battleship – so hopefully they make some new figures, too.
True dat about no amputation scenes, lol. Kowaku’s still one of Aojiru’s nastiest for sure, even for my tastes. Not to mention when the twins die… DELETED! I’m hit or miss with loli, but more on the fence and can say I like “teens” I guess, petite slim girls. Lilia and Ai (Mahou Shoujo) are probably good examples, and well Ouka/Kikuka from Shoku and Aojiru’s games are my favorites! Plus you can kind of argue they definitely aren’t as young as the triplets in the first Inyouchuu, lol.
I agree about music, especially coming from PoRo I typically think they have really good music. Sometimes I even wish I could find OST’s or something, but who knows if they even release that stuff by itself. I believe the first episode of Etsu was awkwardly quiet as well and lacked music in most of it.
I’d still love for them to make a figure of Lilia. That got six episodes, but it seems to be all about Asagi when it comes to merchandise.
I’d managed to block out those amputation scenes from my mind, so much so that I’d completely forgotten all about them when I wrote the post about Yukino Hongou. That’s definitely not amongst my fetishes most of the time. Though I don’t mind admitting that I do dig Subaru’s (from Beat Blades Haruka) one-armed look.
Asagi seems to be their lead girl for sure, but Lilia would be a great choice for a figure, too. I think Lily would as well, though I don’t particularly like the archetypical tsundere personality, and if they ever make an Ingrid figure, it’d be nice if they made one of Cerberus too so fans can stage the scene that should’ve closed out that show.
Since you already finish the game and you been through the whole scene. There’s something I wanted to ask.
Besides Stomach Inflation, Body Distortion and Hardcore Insertion is there any chances this game would have a Guro content.
I’m curious about the comment in this site “http://exhentai.org/g/565823/ff0e33569c/”, one of them said on image 969 Yae was mutilated apart in pieces in the end of black screen perhaps, a sound effect of gushing blood and flesh. But still I don’t believe on that.
So I wanted to know what’s written on that scene, what really happened to her in the end.
Well it’s just that Yae is my favorite character, even thought I haven’t played the game I can see her attractiveness how graceful and cute she is, I haven’t decide who would be the second but I doubt it’s Crow I guess, I really into Lolis.
I guess it’s pretty late to me that I posted at here, I hope you can answer me.
Nah, there’s no guro in the game; as I remember it, the only bloody, gory scene is when Shion stomps on a monster, and even that scene has mosaic censoring, so you don’t actually see any bloody stuff.
I loaded up the game and looked through that scene. There doesn’t seem to be anything that states she is ripped apart or even killed; she spends most of the scene apologizing and expressing remorse for failing her friends (the pillar scene with Kyoko and Crow precedes the scene with Yae). The sounds are fairly ambiguous; there’s some squishy noises, which are sort of generic-sounding. The sequence – and I’m using an auto-translator to read this so I could be completely off – seems to say she gets gangbanged by those giants and it closes out with her screaming for mercy (this is written in the text, not voiced).
That’s quite a relief to me, thanks for the reply. Now I can start playing the game without worries. Actually it would be great if they’re include a RPG mechanics in this game.
You are welcome! I should note that while the characters don’t appear to die during the sequences (except for one particular scene where I think Kyoko is strangled), it is specifically said that their health rapidly deteriorates during their mistreatment. In the particular scene, there seems to be something about broken bones; I don’t know if that’s a literal assessment of her state, but it’s pretty obvious that she is in poor condition either way.
Yeah. The scene where the Zombies banged her in the train, and the worst part is while she’s already suffered, they’re also try to break her arm mercilessly.
There’s also a disturbing scene I saw of Yae where she’s giving birth of a slug. I don’t know if her body turns out to be a giant Invertebrate or it’s just a shell body “http://imgh.us/h013ga.png”. I really wanted to understand what really happened, that bastard sadist looking scientist doing some horrible modification to my lovely Yae.
I’m trying to translate it on English using AGTH and ATLAS V14 but, it seem it can’t able to capture the text in this game.
Yeah, that subway scene was kinda brutal. Though arousing in a sense. The slug scene is pretty cool, too XD
Hmm, I didn’t have any difficulty using AGTH to hook the text (sort of unusual, actually, since I’ve had to use ITH to play a lot of newer games). Is it launching the game properly but not capturing text? As I recall, you have to select one of the KiriKiri options to hook the game dialogue.
Thanks again it’s working now. Although the name of characters can’t seem to be capture, but I guess it’s not that pretty necessary.
I played again the birthing scene of Yae in the subway. [“-I thought that half of her body where fully remove, but it was just swollen and covered by another body.-“]. Well that’s a relief and I do like the milking part.
Actually if she turns something, it suppose to be not grotesque, but it should be still remain to her image and shape of feminine human form transforming into a Monster Girl. Which makes her look hot and special in my opinion.
Anyway what kind of translator engine your using. Mine is ATLAS, and what is the purpose use Translator Aggregator.
Translation Aggregator is a utility that displays the translation text from several different translation services, including ATLAS, if you have it installed. It looks like this; the nice thing about it is that it can also display the hooked text and give you a dictionary translation for each word, which is helpful if you’re trying to learn the language or if you see something unusual (like a reference to Ron Paul) in one of the translations. This way, you can look at the sentence word by word and get a better idea of what’s being said.
I have a question. What option did you use from an Online Translator like Google to Auto copy the text and Translate? And I can’t seem find the Dictionary setup from Translation Aggregator.
It’s the little rectangular clipboard icon next to the name of each translation service; you click that and it will automatically translate. The icon next to “Original Text” toggles whether it automatically grabs text from the clipboard or not.
Thanks, this is really a big help to me. Sorry if I been to much bother to you. You never know how I being paranoid for knowing every detail of each characters bad end scene. It feels pretty much a same when I tried Cyclet’s first game Kasshoku No Sei Senshi Aisha. I feel sorry and desperate for the female protagonist [“She so Brave and Pure”] and I’m somehow pissed and I feel that I wanted to do the same torture for those bastards.
Anyway since I notice that your really into tentacle fetish, you might as well try these games.
[Escude] Metamoru Fantasy SP
[Escude] Jewels Ocean
[Soft Circle Courreges] Kakku No Kyoukai “-Hallucination-”
[Valkyrai] Princess Knight Catue
[Front Wing] Jiburiru ~The Devil Angel~
[OLE] Iron Maiden
[Eluku] Fairy Fighting
Actually there’s a lot, but most of them I forgot sorry. I hope you would like these games I suggest. This is my least I can repay your help.
Thanks XD Nah, it definitely hasn’t been a bother and it’s funny that you mention being paranoid, because one of the big reasons I played through the game is because I read elsewhere that there was no good ending and I was curious as to whether that was the case (I would have been very bummed out if that were the case and I was pleased to find out that there is in fact a happy end). I’m a big enough dork to admit that I enjoy these sorts of games where the girls go through a rough time, but I like happy endings … I’m not really a fan of bad endings or “mind-break” endings or anything like that.
Thanks very much for the recommendations; I know a few of those games through their anime adaptations, and I’m always down for more tentacle games, particularly since sometimes it seems like there isn’t as much tentacle stuff out there as there used to be (particularly compared to say, NTR, which has become curiously fashionable in recent times).
I was hoping to play this wonderful masterpiece but unfortunately i don’t know how to play .exe fills can anyone clue me in.