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.

Sekai Project To Bring Sunrider Space Opera To Steam

The Sekai Project is making big moves into the EVN community. Not only have they added several new Japanese titles to their catalog, but today they announced a partnership with Love in Space to bring their first project, Sunrider: First Arrival, to Steam. Here is the full press release:

Sekai Project and Love in Space are proud to announce “Sunrider: First Arrival” will join Japanese visual novels “fault milestone one,” “WORLD END ECONOMiCA,” and “Narcissu 1st & 2nd” on Sekai Project’s Steam lineup.  After publishing freeware indie visual novel Narcissu on Steam, Sekai Project is no stranger to bringing free visual novels to fans across the world.  This collaboration will bring Sunrider to Steam’s 75 million user base and promote indie visual novels throughout the world.

Sunrider: First Arrival is the first installment of the Sunrider trilogy. Join Captain Kayto Shields of the starship Sunrider and his crew on their adventure through the stars.  Command a squadron of elite mecha pilots in tense turn based battles to find victory.  Exploit every tactical advantage in battles against overwhelming odds.  Interact with the ship’s crew and explore a rich galaxy filled with lore between battles.

Sekai Project is a start-up based in Los Angeles with the single goal of getting greater exposure to indie creators.  Recently raising over $90,000 to localize “WORLD END ECONOMiCA” on Kickstarter, Sekai Project is currently raising funds to localize and improve Japanese indie visual novel “fault milestone one.”  Both projects will be published on Steam upon completion.

Love in Space is an indie visual novel development team based in San Diego. After raising over $44,000 on Kickstarter to bring Sunrider to the world, the team has successfully released the first installment of the Sunrider saga.  The team’s mission is to create a giant space opera visual novel with an epic story and massive space battles.

Sekai Project and Love in Space are excited to collaborate to bring Sunrider to Steam.  Together, they hope fans from across the English speaking world will soon be able to play many more visual novels on Steam and beyond.

 

Sakura Spirit Delayed

As originally announced on MangaGamer, the Sekai Project’s first original English Visual Novel, titled Sakura Spirit, has been delayed. The fantasy ecchi title was originally slated for release a few weeks ago and We have reached out to Raymond Qian, chief executive of the Sekai Project, for details and was told that the creators of the game wanted to add more content to it. For the record, the developer of Sakura Spirit is Winged Cloud: creators of Pyrite Heart and The Guardian’s Spell. Qian has sad he will have more details on a new release date, as well as other projects the Sekai Project is working on at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California later on this week.

We will keep you posted with any new information that comes from AX.

 

ABOUT SAKURA SPIRIT

Rising Judo Star, Gushiken Takahiro, was about to have the match that would make or break his career in two weeks: a championship match where the winner is then signed up to be a young national athlete for Japan. He was very determined to win, in order to fulfill his dreams of finally representing his country for a sport he loves so much.

He was prepared and ready, but that doesn’t stop him from being nervous for his upcoming battle. With the suggestion of his friends and classmates, he goes to a shrine that was rumored to grant any wish or prayer. He poured all the coins from his already full coin bank into the offering box and made his prayer. After praying, he becomes dizzy and nauseous and eventually faints. When he woke up, he was already in an ancient place he didn’t recognize.

While searching for a way back to his village, he stumbles upon two girl wielding swords chasing after two… foxgirls? He questions his brain at first, but then follows them, only to be caught in on their shenanigans as well.

Who are these girls and are they involved on Takahiro’s arrival to this new world? Will he ever get back to his home place and timeline just in time for his match? Or will he be stuck there forever?

 

World End Economica Episode 1 Review

I rarely mention other reviews on this site, but this is the first time, at least for this genre, that reviewers and reality have been so wildly disconnected.  How disconnected? Weeeeelllll –

“I could go on, but I feel like the point has been made. I didn’t enjoy playing World End Economica. There are better stories about the stock market, there are better stories about slowly falling in love with a shy teenage girl, and there are way better stories about life and society beyond Earth.” – Siliconera

“World End Economica has so much going for it: an interesting premise, a protagonist with an actual design and personality (even if it is a little rotten) and the opportunity to capitalize on a business rarely (if ever) explored in video games: stock trading. Unfortunately, it squanders the opportunity to capitalize on these great bullet points and winds up a generic, muddled mess of pacing issues, bland dialogue, and characters too difficult to connect with.” – Destructoid

Yeah. That’s about right.

My job here, thankfully, is a pretty simple one: to tell the truth as I see it. Not everyone agrees with my opinion on what truth is, but in this genre, it has proven to be pretty close to the actual truth. And here, the truth is rather simple: the critics are dead wrong about World End Economica Episode 1.There are a number of factors that lead to that bold declaration, but let’s start off with the pleasantries. World End Economica is a visual novel series that was launched in 2011 in Japan by Isuna Hasekura: the creator of the beloved Spice and Wolf franchise. While the trilogy is complete on the other side of the world, the game is just getting started here thanks to the Sekai Project: who we discovered after their announcement of Sakura Spirit AKA Boobs the Visual Novel. ANYWAY, what follows in the game proper is either a boring slog of stock market information and panty shots if you’re the rest of the media OR if you’re me, you get a journey of self-discovery, ambition and hard life lessons that only come when we feel the most invincible.As usual my fellow critics, there’s no need to worry, I’ll make my case. Oh and mild spoilers for those concerned about that sort of thing.