Sort of. The game doesn’t go on sale officially until the 29th, but Sofmap and other other shops are getting their stocks (more than 100,000 copies nationwide) today, and all new CDs and game releases are “out” the moment one of the otaku employees sneaks a copy home and uploads it onto Share.

ToHeart2 AnotherDays is a sequel (with new characters) to the popular visual novel ToHeart2, which in turn is a spin-off from the not-as-popular cult favourite ToHeart. It was announced more than a year ago in 2006 and will finally be out on Friday. As you should know, I am a certified Tama-nee fanboy, so this makes me quite :) (And if you didn’t, now you do.)

And the best thing in this game, not counting a new story path for Tama-nee because she obviously bulldozes the competition, is that Maaryan-senpai (with her awesome kick) is now a kouryaku character. Woohoo! This will be awesome! My copy is being delivered to me by magical electronic pixies via the intertubes now.

Money is the root of all evil. Therefore we should spend all our money. Besides Mahoro and Haruhi, here are some nice pieces of polymers that I am probably going to cough up blood for in the near future…

First we have Kaiyodo’s Mikuru. Standing at 23cm in her waitress uniform, Mikuru’s angelic smile can kill a fanboy in less than 4.32 seconds assuming you have not already been vaporized by the heat rays located in her innocent eyes. Forget nuclear weapons, Mikuru is a one-girl weapon of mass moé-fication.
Pro: Mi-Mi-Mikuru Beam!!!
Con: May result in accidental death.

Cost: ï¿¥4,725
Release: Dec 2006

Navel Characters Collection. Six chibi-fied girls from Shuffle!, Tick! Tack! and Soul Link. SAGE-CHAN FTW!!!
Pro: Has SAGE-CHAN!!!
Con: Has Kaede and Sayaka. No Nerine. Not enough SAGE-CHAN!!!

Cost: ï¿¥3,800 for 10 random
Release: Feb 2007

To Heart 2‘s 1/8 Ma-aryan-senpai (Drill Ma-ryan Kick Ver.) from Kotobukiya. I can’t stress enough just how cool and awesome this figure is. If you played TH2 on PC, then you would know what I mean. Seriously, you can’t miss this and still call yourself a TH2 fan. Moeyo has a pre-release review of it here.
Pro: Best. Pose. Ever.
Con: PVC may possibly bend out of shape more easily due to the pose.

Cost: ï¿¥4,410
Release: Feb 2007

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu Figumate from Konami. More chibi-fied cuteness. Take a look at the Negima Figumates to get an idea on how they will look like.
Pro: HARUHI! WITCH YUKI! RYOKO! TSURUYA! MIKURU! (everything)
Con: Witch Yuki and Waitress Mikuru are “rare”, which means I’m probably never getting them.

Cost: ï¿¥4,200 for 10 random (your first born for a rare)
Release: March 2007

Also, I need to seriously start to consider how to pay for the DVDs I preordered on Amazon JP. The temptation to preorder things is so great when you are not required to pay up until they are released…

Oh well.

Continue reading for more details.

Everything here has been translated from this magazine scan. I’m not sure which magazine this is from, but it’s definitely not Comptiq or G’s Magazine, which are basically the only ones I can get in this country. :|

• The second game will feature the sub heroines of “ToHeart2 XRATED” as the main characters.
• It will switch to a ADV system instead of Leaf’s traditional visual novel display

The five girls shown in the scan are Ma-ryan-senpai, Yocchi, Charu (Konomi’s friends), Nanako-chan (girl who appeared in Lucy’s path) and Harumi (new character).

The game is slated for this winter. Yay!

And in a related announcement according to Moon Phase Zakki, Aquaplus has confirmed that the new To Heart 2 OVA will consist of a total of 3 volumes, with the first volume coming out this winter. Let’s hope it finally does justice to the game.

Some people were wondering where the picture of Haruhi in my new banner came from. It’s a doujin art by a circle called 5年目の放課後 (go-nenme no houkago) or as the doujin covers say, “Afterschool of the 5th Year”. It sounds only slightly less weird in Japanese… XD

I really love the cowgirl Haruhi picture. I was planning on using it for the site banner, but the angle and the cropped gun barrel made it difficult to position. I only realized that after I was almost done with photoshopping away the background… gao.

The picture is actually the cover page for his/her latest doujinshi; “t.y.s. 21” stands for “tachiyomi senyou vol.21“. You can see the rest of the doujinshi here, except for vol.1-3 which, according to the site:

……これより古いのは無かったことに。
……Let’s pretend the ones older than vol.4 didn’t exist.

lol. Anyway here’s the original image used in my banner.

And the latest illustration on the website. Apparently it’s goign to be the cover art for vol.23 (coming soon).

Other than Haruhi, 5th Year also has a LOT of cool illustrations from various series. Such as this one from NHK ni Youkoso!

I just absolutely love this picture of Saber for some reason. Maybe it’s the burger. It’s just cool. This was one of the pictures considered for my new banner, but alas it didn’t fit either.

And here’s Sasara from To Heart 2!!!!!!

Of course it can’t be complete without Maaryan-senpai!!!!!!~!

5th Year also seems to have a thing for Yuki Kotonomiya from Suigetsu and Manaka Komaki from To Heart 2. Although I’m not much of a Manaka fanboy, this picture is nice.

Just about the only complaint I have with 5th Year’s art is the complete lack of Tama-nee. ._. You can take a look at the rest of the illustrations on je-pu-pu ‘s listing for 5th Year.

P.S. I am sooo buying the issue with the Haruhi cover.

That’s the SOS-dan XL-size T-shirt from COSPA, the School Days Secret Live DVD (which I’ve already released on torrent just two posts down), a Tamaki doujinshi and… the Comiket 70 CD-ROM Catalog!!! Woot.

That said, it just so happens that I bought the exact same doujinshi when I was in Tokyo last month. So now I have two copies of it. Well, twice the Tama-nee I guess. :3 (Or does anyone want to buy it off me? lol)

The worst part is he bought a copy of Tony’s Caladblog for a little over 1000 yen but it wasn’t for me. ;_;

Clash of the titans. *roar*

In one corner, we have To Heart 2 XRATED, a PC port of a popular PS2 visual novel from the fine folks at Leaf who brought us Comic Party and the original To Heart. This release adds adult content, new characters and two minigames to the overall experience, but it is otherwise identical to the PS2 version. The stories have their highs and lows and the characters range from “feh” to “ZOMG! <3”. To its advantage, an anime adaption came out earlier this season, bringing more recognition to the franchise. Also, me love Tamaki for long time. To its disadvantage, the anime sucked donkey ass. Also, visual novels aren’t the most exciting/popular games in the world, even Japan.

In the other corner, we have the Xbox 360, a next-gen console evolved from the original Xbox, Microsoft’s first step towards regaining US dominance over the console market, 20 years since Atari lost it to Japan and shamed the 50 great states of America. This release adds better HDTV support, wireless controllers, improved Xbox Live, Halo 3 and customizable face plates (ZOMG!) to the overall experience, but it is otherwise identical to the original Xbox. Xbox 360 chose to abandon black in favour of iPod white and slimmed itself down slightly at the cost of a huge ugly ass external power adaptor. To its advantage, the original Xbox sold more poorly than PSOnes in Japan, so there’s nowhere to go but up. Also, Dead or Alive 4 might be released soon. To its disadvantage, the original Xbox sold more poorly than PSOnes in Japan. Also, PS3 (the mere mention of which can make a grown Japanese man jump for joy) is just on the horizon.

And the winner is…

To Heart 2 XRATED!

To Heart queue to the left of the yellow divider and 360 queue to the right.

Only in Japan, folks. The otaku have spoken.

Before people start flaming, I do realize that two samples don’t give the most accurate scientific results in the world. But hey, it’s supposed to be funny. ;)

Original source image.

It’s very loosely related to the original To Heart, one of the games which Leaf is best known for. Other flagship titles by Leaf include Comic Party, Utawarerumono and Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu.

Typical gameplay screen

A visual novel refers to a specific sub-genre of AVGs where the text is superimposed over the art instead of occupying the bottom half of the screen. Leaf was the first to employ such a system and it continues to be part of Leaf’s unique style. As far as I can tell, this arrangement has no real advantage over the textbox used by most games on the market, so you can say that it’s purely a personal preference whether you like it or not. It does obstruct the art, but you can hide the text anytime. And I suppose such a system allows the script to be, as the name suggests, closer to an actual novel (albeit one with a lot of dialogue). Other companies have also released visual novels subsequently, although it remains a minority sub-genre. Crescendo was quite a memorable non-Leaf visual novel for me.

Location selection

Gameplay is limited to the typical dialogue and location selection. As with most games, each location is marked by a chibi avatar of the character whose event you trigger if you go there. Pretty much standard fare.

The semi-loli imouto-kei osananajimi character, Konomi Yuzuhara

There are many girls to choose from and each one of course has her own backstory. Unlike games like Air or Shuffle!, there is almost completely no supernatural elements in the game so the stories revolve mainly around your daily school life with the girl and her sad-and-tragic past / dark secret / promise to go to Toudai together / whatever. Nothing that will be out-of-place in a normal high school romance drama.

The maid-(robot-)maniac best-friend sidekick character, Yuuji Kousaka

Well, other than that one maid robot in the game. The single difference between the To Heart universe and ours is the existence of maid robots. But we all know that it was all just an excuse to have Multi in the original game. For continuity’s sake, TH2 makes occasional references to maid robots and even has one as a minor character.

Character-wise, almost every stereotype is well-covered here. Please note that I have only completed the paths for Tamaki and Yuma.

Konomi is your neighbour and childhood friend and a bit too loli for my taste. She’s also whiny and noisy, often mistaken for cuteness. She’s supposedly the heroine for this game, but whatever.

Hands down the best girl in the game, Tamaki Kousaka

Tamaki is the goddess and she owns my heart and soul. <3 She’s also your childhood friend (or rather, the childhood bully) and the elder sister of Yuuji. She’s older than the main character by one year. She recently transfered to your school after spending seven years in an all-girls boarding school located in some remote mountain area that is two hours of bus ride away from the nearest town (I kid you not). The main character calls her “Tama-nee”.

Karin is some weirdo girl who tricks you into joining her “Mystery Club” (which has only two members. Including you) and possibily attempt to seduce you during those quiet club meetings when you are all alone with her in some old PE storeroom cum clubroom. Actually, I won’t know since I didn’t play her path. Her hair is a mystery best left unexplained.

Sango and Ruri are the obligatory twin loli-sister combo. Get two for the price of one. Well, three actually if you include the maid robot. Beh. The twins also speak with an annoying kansai accent. (My personal opinion. There are probably people who like it. You weirdoes)

The main character’s stubborn archrival, Yuma Tonami

Yuma is your sworn enemy at school. She challenges you to everything and loses everytime, but she never admits defeat. (これで勝ったとは思うなよーっ！) She also wears spectacles occasionally to please the meganekko crowd. My second most favourite character in the game, though quite a distant second from Tama-nee.

Lucy is the mysterious-type girl with a funky foreign name and she “talks” to animals. I’m somewhat interested in her story, but I’m not sure if I want to play through the game again.

The clumsy iinchou character, Manaka Komaki

Manaka is clumsy and shy in a really annoying way. I hate that. But most people seem to like her. Another mystery for Karin.

Sasara is a new character introduced in the PC version. She’s the president of the student council and is one year older than you. She’s cool (in the tsuntsun way).

Yuuki is some mysterious girl you meet in school at night. Whatever.

Tama-nee forever!

The ero-scenes added in the PC version are drawn in a noticeably different (arguably better) CG style from the rest. There is only one scene per girl (Himeyuri twins count as one) and they are all fully-voiced.

One interesting bit to note about the game is that it retains the PS2 original cast (credited under pseudonyms), which means that Hitomi Habatame (Mikoto from School Rumble, Yuuna from Maburaho, Aruceid from Tsukihime) still voices Yuma…… Mikoto/Aruceid fans, you know why you should play this game. <_<

I made Tama-nee cry… ;_;

As I mentioned, I’ve only played through Tamaki and Yuma’s paths. Despite the fact that pretty much nothing happens throughout the game in good old To Heart fashion, the script is somehow quite well-packed. I would even go a step further and say that it’s quite well-written too. But that’s probably just my inner Tamaki fanboy speaking since I really loved the confession scene for her path. <3

Of course, if you’ve completed the game a few times and find that the other girls don’t interest you (like me), there’re two minigames that can keep you entertained… for a little bit.

Super Sweets Scramble

Super Sweets Scramble is vertical scroller. You can choose to play as any of the girls whose ending you have unlocked in the main game (except Konomi, who is unlocked right from the start). Each of them has a different special attack so I suppose this is somewhat of an incentive for you to play through all the endings… or you could download a complete saved game.

Tama-nee forever!

The rounds are time-based and you try to rack up the highest score within a round. Essentially there’s not much game content since you replay the same stage over and over again. Gets old sort of fast.

Dokidoki Panic Library

Dokidoki Panic Library is an average match-those-colours puzzle game. Nothing much to say.

Tama-nee forever!

Objectively speaking, To Heart 2 offers nothing new or creative and belongs to a subgenre that has been done to death. Well, I really only got this game for Tama-nee, so I’m quite satisfied with it. If you read through my character introduction and find that none of the girls seemed interesting, then you should probably stay away from this game. There isn’t much of a story to keep you entertained if you don’t like the characters.

And to end off my horribly-biased review:

TAMA-NEE FOREVER!!!

The average peer progress is about 42% right now. Looks like I can look forward to playing this game in maybe two days. TAMAKI 4EVA!

But before that, I have to spend another day tomorrow “learning” about grid computing. ＿|ï¿£|O

I’ve been busy for the last few days. Wasted the better parts of yesterday and today buying and configuring my new PC. Spent more than expected as usual. It’s not particularly good, but at least the dual PCI-e slots allow for easy upgrading unlike my old AGP rig. Specs are MSI K8N SLI-F, AMD 64 3500+, 1 GB Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM, XFX GeForce 6600GT and Creative Audigy ZS 2. And being the harddrive whore that I am…

Almost reaching one terabyte～âª

And my new desktop…

Guess who’s waiting for the PC version of ToHeart2?～âª

Seven more days till ToHeart2… mmmm.
Three more days till JLPT… ＿|ï¿£|O