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Manga Review

Mao-Chan Vol. 1 – Manga Review

Mao-chan is the other, other Akamatsu Ken property that sort of comes after the popularity of Love Hina and Negima. And I think there’s a reason it’s not as popular…

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Manga Review

Afro Samurai Vol. 1 – Manga Review

Wherein the Afro Samurai kills everyone. Yes, EVERYONE!

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Manga Review

Honey and Clover Vol. 1 – Manga Review

After trying Honey and Clover out in Anime and Movie forms, I finally went to the roots and read the manga version. Not surprisingly, it’s awesome. I should’ve read this a long time ago.

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Manga Review

Love Com Vols. 4 & 5 – Manga Review

Continuing my library binge of manga, here’s my review of Lovely Complex volumes 4 and 5. The bad news: Otani can’t come up with a new name besides “Jumbo-gal” to call Risa, and Risa can’t come up with something other than “Shrimp” to call Otani.

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Review Visual Novel

RenAi Blogger (Sim JPMeyer)

Alright! Hinano finally released her JPMeyer sim RenAi game, appropriately called “RenAi Blogger.”

The game features multiple heroines, multiple endings, and other stuff you would expect in any other RenAi game. This includes a trap, a loli, and a meganekko or two. Probably the best part of the game is its length; it took me maybe an hour to find all the good endings and a few bad ones. Some people might complain about the game being too short, but I kind of like the brevity.

The girls in the game are all existing female anime bloggers. Well, in the game they aren’t all bloggers. That would make the scenarios kind of redundant. They’re probably just loosely based on real people as a base. I sorta just went through all of the girls’ scenarios as they appeared, more or less. CJ to Natsuko to Jen to Hinano. Man, that sounds weird.

I will say that the game is pretty well made. I didn’t encounter any bugs besides the thing flipping out when I skipped the movie (I only did this the second time I opened the program). Besides that, the branching logic seems pretty solid. Oh man, I better stop reviewing the coding and start reviewing the actual content, huh?

Okay, so I had a few issues with the main character. He’s a transfer from Ohio State? The one university that’s the mortal enemy of my Michigan Wolverines? Okay, fine, whatever. I can get past that part. Main character is transferring to NYU, so he can’t be all bad.

I won’t criticize the art since I can’t draw worth a damn myself. To her credit, Hinano’s art has gotten much better since the Anime Nano Podcast days. That’s a complement, Hinano! I thought it was funny that all the backgrounds are from photos taken in NYC. How cool would it be to have a cameo in the game at Artist’s Alley or something?

The game is easy enough. Picking the obvious choices will usually net you the girl. If only it was this easy in real life… The only time I got tripped up is when I took Natsuko’s stuff to her house and was branded a pedobear. Oh, and the other time when I confessed to her on the train. But wait, when I didn’t confess to her on the train, she confessed to me! What a double standard! Ah well, as long as I eventually found the good end. Thanks Hinano, for training me on how to legally navigate my way through the situation, if something similar ever presented itself. And I hope it never will… Natsuko also wins for having the best lol line given during her scenario (as seen above).

So overall, the game is a fun use of an hour or so of your time. It’s definitely worth it to find Hinano so you can see her go tsundere on JPMeyer the protagonist. But I’m kind of disappointed that there wasn’t a rival for the protagonist. A slick, podcasting co-host, if you will. Nah, that would’ve made the game too complicated.

Hinano deserves some major props for completing this project. If there was a donate link or something, I’d be happy to chip in for a sequel. If you’re reading this and you haven’t already played it, go grab it from here.

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Manga Review

Love Com Vol. 3 – Manga Review

My local library has a ton of manga, so I decided to go on a bit of a Love*Com marathon of sorts. Here’s volume 3!

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Manga Review

My Dearest Devil Princess Vol. 2 – Manga Review

Note to self: holy water makes devils’ clothes disintegrate. Another note to self: get some holy water.

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Manga Review

Me and the Devil Blues Vol. 1: Manga Review

If there’s one plot device that I’m always a sucker for, it would be the Faustian deal. Who doesn’t love watching people sell their souls to the devil?

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Manga Review

Love Com Vol. 2 – Manga Review

The adventures of short-lad and jumbo-gal continue in Love*Com Volume 2!

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Light Novel Poll Review

Maid Machinegun: Light Novel Review

I’m kind of disappointed that this novel didn’t make some a pun with the word “maid.” How about something like “Maid in Akihabara?” Oh, wait, that’s an actual TV show…