Their latest work is Kira Star　（きら☆ããŸ), an oh-so-clever word play on Lucky Star (らき☆ããŸ). The fun thing about TMA releases is that they like to reenact scenes from the original, often inducing a great deal of unintended hilarity.

Now obviously no self-respecting (lol, I kid) AV actress would star in such a production, so don’t expect too much. (Or rather, don’t expect anything at all. Please.)

Obliterating your source of moé in 3…2…1…

It begins.

FUNGA~~!

The new Super Sentai

Kagamin?

Tsukasa?

Who? ＿|￣|O

Lucky Kira Star!

Awesome blue screen effects

Why can’t they just, you know, find a real shrine to film on-location?

It’s the 1990s all over again

The reflections are all wrong.

3-nen B-gumi? Kuroi-sensei!

Who killed Akira-sama and replaced her with this?

This shot takes on a whole new meaning…

BTW chocolate coronets suck

This is what playing too much MMORPG does to you!

“How did I end up in this sad mess?”

Discussion over the consumption of vaguely phallic object

A seashell. Supposedly.

…

At this point, we are just 7 minutes into the video. I am bored. This sad excuse for a parody makes me want to claw my eyes out and stuff them into my ears.

I glance at the timer on Media Player Classic and suddenly it hits me…

WTF!?

Three hours!? This is madness! (And not Sparta.) I promptly decide to finish up with the remaining screenshots by skipping through the video so that I may be spared from having to actually sit through the uninspired monotonous droning that will forever haunt my enjoyment of Lucky Star.

Shiraishi looks 100% like his animated self

There are no train stations near TMA’s studio either

I’m pretty sure TMA made a Marimite AV once…

Lady, you have a piece of paper stuck to your face

“Thiiiiiiiis big”

I’m hungry

What’s in the bag? Hint: It ain’t candies!

*shudders* kowai yo! T_T

Wait I forgot. Is this supposed to be Konata?

This does not work on so many levels

I wonder if the mole is real

This is now about 1 hour into the video. The “parody” segment ends here. I leave it to you to imagine what the remaining 2 hours are about. There’s also some behind-the-scenes footage right at the end.

Oh hey, it’s Kyon-kun!

Final verdict: Suzumiya Hahiru was about twenty times more entertaining and only half as wince-inducing. A much better deal I’d say. If you’re still interested in checking out Kira Star for yourself (and risk permanent psychological trauma), a 1.8 GB torrent is available. You have been warned.

ICHIGO PANTSU RABU!

Of course that’s all a huge lie and the game is really about Asa-senpai and how hawt she looks with long hair. :3

The game starts off pretty normally. You meet your other childhood friend, Sakura Yae, whom you somehow forgot to mention in the previous games. She’s pretty cute, but I have a thing against Aoi Nishimata‘s design in general.

“Rin-kun, how could you forget about me for the past two games?”

So, ignoring the huuuuge plot hole and the fact that Sakura wants to jump your bones too, let’s talk about RiaRia’s unique point compared to the previous two games. In Tick! Tack! you have to gauge your dialogue options against a clock that shows you Nerine’s current status, which brought some uniqueness to an otherwise plain AVG. RiaRia takes this a step further by introducing a completely new gameplay system.

Well, to explain this requires a tiny spoiler. It shouldn’t detract from the game since it happens right at the start of the whole story.

Due to a magic accident, Kaede loses consciousness. Her memories have been mixed up and she is unable to wake up until they have been restored. Rin and company enter her mind to unravel each memory and to fix the erroneous memories.

Usually two or three memories are available for you to enter at a time. You are free to select which one to enter first, although sometimes you may need to unlock certain paths before others. Memories come in three categories: childhood, middle school (with Asa-senpai!) and high school (present).

After entering a particular memory, Rin and the rest all play the roles of themselves (or how they appear to be in Kaede’s confused memories.) So depending on how screwed up that particular memory is, hilarity ensues to various degrees.

MEIN EYES!

Just like that. This just goes to show what Kaede spends her free time thinking about.

So anyway, how do you repair the memories? This is where the fun comes in.

No, you do not journey through different dimensions collecting feathers. Instead, you look for keywords in the game. A keyword is a piece of information about an event or a person familiar to Kaede. You gain them automatically after progressing through certain parts of the game.

At certain key conjunctions, you will be plunged into the “Really Zone”. This is like the Twilight Zone except less creepy. Basically, when Kaede (in her memories) says something that is factually wrong (such as Itsuki being a girl), you have to correct her by throwing her the right keyword from your collection. The keyword will jolt that memory back to normal. Or as “normal” as Kaede gets.

“Rin-kun, I think I’m pregnant…”

Not only do you have to use the appropriate keyword at the right Really Zone, you also have to select the statement that you are correcting. Each Really Zone spans several lines of dialogue and you have to scroll to the correct one before using your keyword.

“REALLY?”

After selecting your keyword, this is where the cheesy “REALLY?” sound clip comes in. Now you know why the game is called “Really? Really!”. Doesn’t this remind you of that detective game?

If you chose the wrong keyword or the wrong line, Kaede DIES!!! Okay not really. You only lose the game after four mistakes. (Or was it five?)

If you know that you don’t have the required keyword yet, you can escape from the current Really Zone and come back later.

“Oh yeah, it was a safe night.”

Once you have corrected the mistaken memory, a lot of changes may take place. For example, if you corrected a misconception about a certain hawt character’s hair length, then this change will be applied to all the memories where that character appears in.

Because the memories are often (read: almost always) linked, if you hit a dead end in a memory, it means that you should probably try another one first.

Above is how unlocked memories look like. Yeah, you collect cards instead of feathers. :P You can click on a card to playback the memory in its corrected form. You view the memories from Kaede’s perspective this time and Rin’s lines are voiced! (But not by Kyon.)

So basically, that’s what RiaRia is all about. Pretty cool concept.

NEKO NEKO WAI WAI

As you may have guessed, the story focuses on Kaede and Rin’s past, especially the cause of Kaede’s oyashiro mode. Because of the unique gameplay system, the story is not told in a linear format, so some scenes may be confusing if you do not know the context.

I can’t say for sure, but I imagine that RiaRia’s story would be really hard to follow if you have not played at least Shuffle! and preferably Tick! Tack! too. Knowing the right time to throw your keywords requires you to understand the background story of the franchise pretty well. Even if you use a walkthrough, the fact that the game jumps around to different time periods means that it’s difficult to follow the story if you don’t know anything about Shuffle!.

NEKO NEKO NEKO WAI WAI WAI

Also because of the new system, there are no alternative endings to the game. (Except the bad ending after you used up all your Really Zone tries.) Some dialogue options will affect the CGs you get, but that’s really inconsequential since you just need three short reloads to get a 100% CG collection.

There are ero-scenes for Asa, Kaede, Sakura, Nadeshiko, Primula and Mayumi. They ALL take place in the same path. All but two of them in Kaede’s mind. This proves that Kaede is a closet nymphomaniac.

Art-wise, RiaRia is pretty darn good. I just love Hiro Suzuhira‘s art. Kaede is still fugly as usual. The Asa CGs are godly.

RiaRia uses pretty much the same sound tracks as Shuffle!, with some additions. The OP theme by YURIA and the song played at the story’s climax are pretty awesome, though.

PANTSU!

So all in all, the game is pretty darn awesome thanks to the game system which is actually pretty fun. This has been one of the rare times where I didn’t feel compelled to use a walkthrough and actually tried to figure out the right options on my own. :)

BTW I don’t recommend this game to people new to the franchise or not very comfortable with reading Japanese. The game can often become very confusing if you miss anything important. Try playing Shuffle! first.

Now I’ve ran out of things to say, but I still have a lot of pictures left. Everyone loves pictures, right?

SPINNING THUNDER KICK!

P.S. Am I the only person who thinks that the title “Shuffle!” would have been soooo appropriate for this game?

涼宮ハヒルの憂鬱 (suzumiya hahiru no yuuutsu)
é¦å‚ç¾åˆ (Yuri Kousaka) as Hahiru.
Click on for more screenshots. Mostly safe for work, I think.

Meet Kyon. WTF?

OMG!

“There’s something stucked on your face.”

CLOSE

UP

tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun

Yes, this is really (supposed to be) Kyon

And that guy is in high school? How many times did he get retained?

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Pssst. That’s Ryouko!

“Here’s the plan: you hold her down while I…”

“watashi wa omoun dakedo…“

Dear Japan: some things only work in anime…

“I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister.”

Yuki lawl

lawl

lawl

For some reason, there isn’t any sex with “Ryouko”.
Maybe because she’s fugly

“Here’s some porn. Go fap and stop disturbing me.”

That’s Mikuru… I mean “Miruku”.

Miruku Asahina. Got milk?

Totally not loli enough

“Mi-Mi-Miruku Beam!”

“Wow. Haruhi porn! Let me click on that torrent.”

“So smoooooth.”

As you can probably imagine, this is where Mikuru Miruku gets raped

Pantsu! Pantsu! Pantsu!

Ryouko is…

…a nutcase

Awesome setting, note the fluorescent light tubes

“No one messes around with my sex toy!”

Awesome effects

Hollywood-level A++++ SUPER ZOMFG

＿|￣|O

How the FUCK is this Mikuru Miruku!?

Oh wait, she has proof

…Itsuki. Really

…Sealed Dimension. Really

……

“MOE!!!“

“MOE NANDAYO! PONI- TE-RU GA!!!“

Bad acting, awful casting, crappy budget. But it was funny, sometimes intentionally too. Just enough to make me wonder what an official live action adaptation of Haruhi would be like.

P.S. You can torrent Hahiru from #moe if you dare…

Animation is OVA quality and significantly better. Soundtrack seems to be the same, except for the new theme song. (Crap BTW.) The episode starts with the Meister Otomes gathering in space to destroy an incoming asteroid and ends off with a mysterious attack on the academy by an unknown invader. In between, we have neko ramen, teenage quarrels, Shizuru in swimsuit, and a taiyaki thrown in for good measure.

In the year AD 2101…

…War was beginning.

Doesn’t this remind you of a certain meme?”

Her mother was hotter

Lens flare!

Arinko, save us!

…from the Engrish!

More Shizuru-oneesama please!

Please don’t feed the Fat Taiyaki Fangirl.

kuroitani is now nekogamisan? The old name was cooler

“I want one thiiiis long.”

“Is there actually cat meat in this ramen?”

Her robed form never ceases to amaze…

Brooms are multi-purpose weapons of self defence

Mai has more airtime in this episode than in the entire TV series

Still alive

Her too

This episode needs more Nao and more Shizuru.

P.S. I can’t believe that her name is actually Lena and not Rena. WTF!

OP Screencaps!

The new OP is “Sentimental Generation” (せんちめんたる　じぇねれ～しょん) by Ami Tokito, whom I have not heard of before. It’s quite nice and catchy, though a bit slower Scramble. The ED is “Kono Namida ga Aru kara Tsugi no Ippo to Naru” (My next step comes only because these tears exist – このæ¶ãŒã‚るから次の一歩となる) also by her.

On a side note, Yuuka Nanri (of FictionJunction YUUKA fame) no longer voices Karen Ichijou (supposedly due to scheduling issues). Kind of sad. Also, that whatshisface guy who follows Kenji around seems to have a switch of seiyuu too. Other than that the cast remains the same as far as I can tell.

The next episode will be the long-awaited survival game episode. Final-fricking-ly. Itoko is going to pwn. <3

Speaking of which, volume 12 of School Rumble will be out this month! Hurray!!! Also looking forward to the rest of the new series starting this and next week. ^^

*wub*

The start of the anime seems to be different from that of the game. As far as I remember, the game started with Saber pledging her allegiance to the player, which only takes place at the end of episode 2 of the anime. Then again, my knowledge of F/SN sucks and I’m really more of a Ayako fanboy. (Saber is fine too :P)

Are you my master?

The story is about seven mages fighting one another to obtain the Holy Grail. The mages do not know the identities of one another. They summon Servants (which come in different varieties like Archer and Lancer) to fight for them. Ok, that’s about I all can tell from two episodes of raw anime. Wahahaha.

Ayako-sama~~~

So anyway, the main character is a mage failure who’s only good at one spell. He witnesses a fight between two Servants and gets targetted for termination because mages do not want their existence to be known. With his sheer determination, and probably his Main Character’s Secret Hidden Superpower(tm), he accidentally summons Saber, said to be the most powerful of all Servant classes.

ZOMG Chikane flashbacks~!

Anyway, Ayako Kawasumi rocks. That is all.

On another note, I picked up Newtype Feb today. Sadly, Negima Vol.13 will only be coming in on Wednesday. Damn. Suzuka, though it has the same release date as Negima, will only reach here in a few weeks. Sigh.

Lots of spoilers ahead.

Asa-senpai runs away to the place where Rin confessed to her because she wants to see the place again before its too late. Rin finds her and asks her again to use magic so as to drain the magical powers that are bottling up in her human body and slowly killing her.

Asa-senpai~

Asa refuses once again, but this time Rin has a plan…

Blackmailing 101

He takes out a pen knife and slits his own wrist.

Remember kids: Mr. Razor crosses the road to get attention
but he goes down the street to do something

Shuffle! now lacks neither nudity nor blood and gore. Yay! Technically since he slits his wrist sideways by sliding the razor across, he shouldn’t be losing so much blood. It will at most leave a scar. The correct way to kill yourself is to press the razor downwards so that it digs into the flesh in a 45-degrees angle… But nevermind that.

Asa-senpai, pinch!

Asa watches Rin slowly lose consciousness. Rin contiunes to persuade her to use magic on his final breath…

Best. Scene. Ever.

She finally does so to save Rin. Her unbottled magical powers causes instant hair growth (?). And they live happily ever after.

From nekomimi to meganekko

All the girls, including Primula, still continue to like him. So even though Rin has chosen Asa, the most beautiful girls in school still lust after him and prepare bentou etc for him. Which means that the only difference between the ending and the beginning of Shuffle! is that Asa now has long hair! (Oh wait, Ama is going to help her cut it soon… nevermind)

Still, I love the ending. ^_^

God kills a cat every time you commit incest.

Please think of the kitties. ;_;

P.S. Bring your own arson kit kthxbye.
P.S.S. The new ending is nice though, yocuza* is spared.

It’s futile Aisia. Your power is far too weak

However, there’s still a hope for my prediction to not come true, as Sakura mentions here that Aisia’s magical power is too n00b to revive the tree with on her own.

Aisia attempts to think. Realizes that she lacks a brain

After listening to Sakura’s explanation on why magic isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Aisia is a little confused, but she sort of accepts Sakura’s words and it seems like we won’t get the ending I predicted after all…

Hey wait a minute! Sakura, you tricked me!

But suddenly, one of the few moments of realizations in her entire miserable life takes place and she realizes that her beliefs are not wrong. She sticks it to Sakura and runs out of the house. This part makes me feel very conflicted. Although I am very happy with Aisia for putting that stupid pedo jailbait in her place, I am also very certain that if Aisia successfully manages to revive the sakura tree, it will become the plot focus and Kotori will be marginalized once again.

Oh crap

On the other hand, it seems very likely based on the preview for episode 22 and the Newtype spoilers for 23 that the revival of the sakura tree itself may be the thing that will cause Kotori to come back into the game. It which case it could be a killer blow to Kotori’s chance, because the only plot device that is supposed to bring her back into the race is also going to marginalize her for the grand finale between Aisia, Sakura, Nemu and Jun’ichi.

This looks like it will be a tough road for Kotori ahead.

Of course, this forecast is based on the assumption that Nemu will once again fall sick due to the revival of the magic sakura tree. If she doesn’t, then the focus for the climax could very well be on Kotori, Jun’ichi and Nemu instead. I believe that the spoilers for episode 24 should be enough to reveal the final ending. We’ll just have to wait for the next issue of Newtype.

Oh man, I really got to stop analyzing the D.C.S.S. story.

Actually, it’s because I am quite upset with the latest episode. I believe that I have finally figured out where the producers are taking the series towards. And let’s just say that I have started saving up for a plane ticket…

Basically, Aisia doesn’t understand Sakura’s words. She goes around asking people about what happened two years ago, but no one tells her. Kotori accidentally reveals that she used to have mind-reading abilities due to the magic sakura tree and why she thinks that it’s impossible for her feelings to be realized. (ことりちゃん！もっと自信を持ってくれよ！) Aisia somehow manages to misunderstand Kotori’s words and end up with the conclusion that Sakura destroyed the tree because her own feelings were not answered by Jun’ichi. She tries to revive the tree once again, convinced that this time it will succeed in bringing happiness to everyone.

Aisia attempts to think. Realizes that she lacks a brain.

Jun’ichi: Why did you tell Aisia to buzz off?
Sakura: I don’t like her. She has bigger bust size than me.

I will say this now: Mikkun > Nemu

Aisia: Wouldn’t it be great if I could read minds?
Kotori: Wouldn’t it be great if you had one?

I believe that Kotori is going to be sacrificed (metaphorically) due to the above plot developments caused by the convenient deus ex machina, that is to say that little bitch Aisia.

Aisia, I know you support Kotori and I want to thank you for that. But could you please STFU and stop creating opportunities for the story to end at the current status quo. I can see it now… Little bitch Aisia causes magic sakura tree to revive and endangers Nemu’s life once more. Kotori and others once again get shoved aside by a few hundred yards while the climax plays out between Jun’ichi, Nemu, Sakura and Aisia.