[Littlewitch] Quartett! Review

This is the first VN of the summer that I've managed to finish (I know, it's kind of pathetic) and I think the easiest way to describe this VN is that it' short and (sugary) sweet.

Quartett is a musical themed visual novel that is all about teamwork and working hard and persevering together. Underneath these heartwarming values lies some decent background character development that many VNs far longer than this one (Quartett only took me about 10 hours to read total) seem to be lacking.


By zonnikku at 2011-06-12

[Graphics + CG ]\\ Quartett is unique in visual presentation in that it presents everything in manga style and it really moves the flow of dialogue quite well. Another thing to note about this VN is that there are TONS of event CGs. Almost every single event has a unique image for it rather than a static sprite and that was definitely a refreshing change of pace after playing so many VNs with sprites that don't do much of anything.


By zonnikku at 2011-06-12

I played the PC version, so of course there were hentai CGs in the game. They only occurred at the very end of the game, with 2 hentai scenes for each girl total. The scenes themselves weren't too bad, and I felt rather than being tacked on they were actually pretty fitting to the story line (though Shunhua's were a little... ehhh). I also liked that the 2 side characters get there own H-scene which is pretty hard to find (unless you play NTR).

H-scenes aside, the artwork in this game is stunning, as are all littlewitch games. The watercolors and thin lines give off a certain feeling that many VN don't have.



By zonnikku at 2011-06-12


[Story] \\ The story is about the main char named "Phill" who's is discovered to have a hidden talent for playing the violin after playing for a church. He is asked to join a Conservatorium and to instruct a quartet full of girls after their original "leader" Sophie leaves to pursue a more professional career. Thus begins the story of teamwork and fun times. :P

[Sound/Music ] \\ The music in this game is obviously great, it being a music-themed VN and all. I enjoyed not having my ears raped for once by bad electronic bloops that a lot of eroge have these days and instead hearing calming violin and piano pieces. Despite the great music, this game is lacking in variety of music itself. I was hoping there would be more, but I guess this game is a bit short to include so much music. PC version has no voices, so I can't comment on that (but it does downgrade the experience for me a bit, sadly).

[Characters] \\ I really liked the characters in this one, though some of them I think needed more screen time, such as Giselle (the rich girl who has a crush on the main char). This is actually one of the few VN I can say where the main char is the most interesting character. He's hard-headed at times but he's such a lovable guy. Seriously, he not even close to a faceless protagonist, he is full of life and pretty unique himself. Even if you don't like the other characters, it's hard not to like him. I can't say much for the girls, but I did like Juni. She's a genki girl but in a good way (as in, not annoying or off the wall). Shunhua is the shy and quiet girl with glasses (she's a bit lacking in personality, imo) and Charlotte is sort of the tsundere but it's not very apparent near the end that she was ever a tsundere in the first place... XD

2 side characters are Hans and Signina who have their own little back stories which I thought was neat. :3


By zonnikku at 2011-06-12

Overall, I'd say this was a nice short VN to play in my off time. Do give it a play if you want something short to keep you preoccupied, you won't be disappointed. :)

[KEY] MOON. review

Decided it would be interesting to do a couple of subsequent VN posts to hopefully get more people to play them (seriously, I'm amazed at how many people into anime/manga don't even KNOW what a visual novel is).

The one I'll talk about on this blog is MOON., made by some of the staff from KEY (the guys who made Air, Kanon, Clannad, ect).

The story is about a girl named Ikumi Amasawa who wants to learn more about how her mother died, and possibly to avenge her death. She has a hunch that the clues to her mother's death lie within FARGO, a cult that is trying to obtain the "invisible strength", a power said to lie within all humans, but is dormant. She rides on a truck filled with other women to join the cult (though she has no idea just what is in store for her...)

She meets some friends along the way named Yui and Haruka, who both have their own goals (Yui is trying to make amends with her sister, Haruka is trying to get her brother to leave FARGO).

A man calls Ikumi and her friends to step into a room.

Ikumi is assigned to Building A. Yui is assigned to Building B. Haruka is assigned to Building C.

Ikumi goes through mental training 2 rooms. "Minmes" contains both sad and happy memories that she relives. "Elpod" brings back her horrible past and also induces fantasies that make her undergo high mental stress.

That's the basics...

Anyway, I have to say, the descriptions used in this VN really shocked me. Ugh... I seriously cannot unsee some of that stuff now... >_<

I also thought it was a little funny that having sex = high mental stress

Apparently, since Ikumi is a huge slut, she was assigned to Building A. Yui got raped on her birthday, so she got in B, and Haruka is a virgin, so she's C.

How wonderful, lol.

Man, you've gotta love Ikumi though. I especially laughed at the reverse rape scene.

The ending was pretty weird as well (lol MY BRAINS GOT SCOOPED OUT OH NOES I HAVE PIG BRAINS NOW I HAVE COW BRAINS lolol GIANT KILLER MOON).

At least it ends happily, though.

Overall, pretty interesting. Not very long, and there are only 2 good endings.

Rating: 8/10

BLOG REVIVE!

After about a year of not updating this blog, I've decided to start posting a little bit at a time again. Hoping I'll actually have incentive to post this time, but I'm so damn lazy that most of the time I just don't feel like updating. :S

Anyway, this blog will still be about random things such as reviews for food/restaurants, arcades, games, and personal thoughts on different subjects.

I want to say it's more of a place I can vent and let off steam as well as track the things that I've done in the past.

I will try to offer downloadable content, though. Particularly my past translation work on manga (and maybe start new projects).

Food Reviews: Fruit 66 (Apple Berry flavor)

http://www.fruit-66.com/

Bought a tiny 87 cent can of this today. There are currently 4 flavors out, and I decided on apple because apples are probably one of my all-time favorite fruits and it's hard for me to dislike anything apple flavored (fuck yeah, green apple jolly ranchers).

I tried it once I got back home and it tastes just like Manzana Lift (apple-flavored soft drink sold in latin american countries, but also in certain shops in the US).

The people behind fruit 66 have something good going with this drink though, as the drink has absolutely no added sugars and uses sparkling water for the fizz effect. You even get your daily vitamin C and 1 whole serving of fruit per can. So anyone trying to get away from soda pop but still want that fizz and flavor--try fruit 66.

Also, follow them on twitter if you can. More people need to know about healthy alternatives to soft drinks! :D

OH GOD HELP IT HURTS

Nothing much happened today really, except for 1 thing:

Since I really wanna go swimming and get a nice tan for the summer, I had to go out and get a wax again. Pardon my language, but SON OF A BITCH.

I hate doing this every year, but I have to unless I want to look like some hairy gorilla.

I went to a local place and paid about $50 for the works (not really gonna say any more than that). There were a few times where I wanted to die right there, but I manned (womaned?) up and made it through.

If any dudes are reading this, know that you have it easy. Unless you're a swimmer or something. If you ever get a wax, take some advil beforehand (and even that won't be totally effective) or you'll cry and squeal like a baby.

I'll end this post with this video:


Girls Getting A Bikini Wax - Watch more Funny Videos

Acen Craziness

Last night my plane finally arrived in Florida after a connecting flight in Charlotte, North Carolina from the Chicago O'Hare airport. I tried only eating granola bars so I wouldn't be forced to pay $10 for a freaking sandwich, but no matter how many I ate I was still hungry, so I knew that the only way to get rid of the hunger pangs was to spend money on actual food.

Acen was a blast, of course. I went to many different panels and learned lots of things. The game room was a disappointment because all the arcade machines cost money though. :<

I think the most fun I had was at the concerts/raves though. I like to dance a lot so I enjoyed myself there (if I wasn't so tired I would have put more effort into the dancing lol).

I met the nostalgia critic and he signed a bag I bought in the dealers room and I bought tons and tons of manga to read.

I also went to a Japanese marketplace called Mitsuwa and bought some monthly magazines and 2 volumes of Aion along with some Japanese bread. For dinner there I ate a teriyaki tofu burger with cheese curry fries and a yogurt shake. Yum.

I could try to post everything I bought and did at Acen but that would probably take up even more space than I would feel like typing out, so I'll just end this post by saying that I would gladly do this again next year (in fact, I most likely will).

Food Reviews: Quick Milk Magic Straw - Vanilla

So today I went to the local Marsh supermarket in my hometown of Hartford City to stock up on random foodstuffs for my trip to Acen that's coming up in a few days.

Once my dad and I got to the checkout line, I noticed in a bin were these "magic milk straws" that flavor your milk as you drink it with little tiny bead-like things inside the straw.

I found that to be really cool and I liked that it was also low in sugar so I just had to buy some. I opted for the vanilla flavor because vanilla is so underrated. (screw you chocolate milk. Oh, and I'm sorry for betraying you this time strawberry milk)

I didn't drink any milk today, so I figured I'd get my daily calcium by getting out a big plastic cup and fill it up with a little over a cup of milk.

I dipped in the straw and took a sip. Mmm... quite good. The flavor didn't quite kick in too well after the initial sip though. The plain milk kept getting through the straw without being flavored but that's probably because most of the beads lingered at the bottom.

I was disppointed when all the beads went away before I got to finish my milk. I guess I should have gotten a smaller cup.

Still, it was quite delicious. If you see some of these in the store, try them out. It's better for you than getting syrup to flavor your milk. :P