Sunrider: First Arrival Review

Considering the influence space operas and mecha anime have had on Western culture, I am legitimately surprised it doesn’t make up a large portion of the English Visual Novel community. Some would argue, truthfully, that the majority of EVN audience now is female, so their projects skew towards them. However, if I remember my youth correctly, girls loved Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop and Gundam Wing (I was more of a UC fan boy) just as much, if not more, than the fan boys I ran with at the time. And while those series set a ridiculously high bar for anyone to follow, it remains one of the most imaginative fields an author can write about.

So, considering my love for the subgenres, it will come as no surprise to you that I was excited by the announcements last year of new mecha and space drama EVNs to join the Rising Angels and Touhou Mecha series. That excitement tempered some when I saw some of the planned merchandise for Love in Space’s Sunrider. The group has down more explicit work in the past and it was clear once the body pillows rolled out that the game was going to have its share of fanservice, which I probably should’ve figured considering this is moe girls fighting in space. Now, that in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. While I am more prudish than many others in this community, I don’t mind boobs as long as they don’t take away from the larger story. With that in mind, let’s take a look at Sunrider: First Arrival and see if it reaches for the stars…or the skirts…

Oh and I’ll be discussing a few things that are spoilers. You have been warned.

Touhou Mecha Chapters 1 & 2 Review

Last year I talked about a little kinetic novel called Touhou Mecha. The fangame earned my attention with its animated mech battles and obviously love of the source material. Its weaknesses were also obvious and that version of the game earned its 5/10. But the story doesn’t end there.

Since that time Dai-Sukima Dan, the team behind the project, has been hard at work not only refining Chapter 1 but developing Chapter 2. Because of their efforts, my first review is obsolete. I will be keeping it up for a few more days but this review will cover both chapters that have been released as one title.

And boy has DSD managed to make this old-school mecha anime fan happy.

Hate Plus Review

Well it’s been a year. A full year since Christine Love broke into my office, tied me to a chair and made me play Analogue: A Hate Story. I didn’t want to my friends; really! It was all done by force and any concurrent fandom is clearly Stockholm syndrome. I’m just glad I have a Y chromosome…mainly because I’d make an incredibly ugly chick. But also because my respect and admiration for young Miss Love could be construed in a way that would make my rock solid defense of Stockholm syndrome suspect if I was a chick.

…not working on anyone huh? Yeah I kinda figured.

Along with being on my Most Wanted EVNs of 2013 list, Analogue: A Hate Story also won my EVN of the Year for 2012. I said in January that the game didn’t have an easy task in front of it, as it couldn’t mirror its predecessor, but at the same time if Love tried to do the same things she did in Analogue, then it would falter. What we get in Hate Plus not only executes its own story well, it brings the overarching tale to a mostly peaceful end.