[Littm]

Okay, nevermind again about ~special fandisk~ and ~le~ differences, because, i will play ~le~ this week (err, of course, should master japanese more...). But, if you're interested, here is a some kind of summary, features and endings overview of ~special fandisk~ and it can be really helpful for others who want to know more about this. Enjoy (thanks to jupiterstar, taken from it) :

Spoiler for click:

There's a lot of extra/alternate stories in this game for diehard fans of Kiminozo and those who follow Age in general. I, unfortunately, am not one those diehard fans as there are some elements and characters they added in there from other series that I didn't know about. There was more than enough to keep me entertained.

The game contains a re-telling of the first chapter of Kiminozo where you're given choices that weren't available in the original game which ultimately prevented "something" from happening and allowed you to choose different routes, a "what if" scenario as they advertise. You ultimately have 4 alternate routes to pick, Haruka, Mitsuki, Akane, and Manami. When you finish all 4 stories, an "extra" chapter is revealed. This extra chapter is a parody of Kiminozo and Muv-Luv, titled "Muv-Nozo" and has the cast of Kiminozo telling their story with heavy influences from Muv-Luv. In addition, as you finish each of the endings, interviews with the voice actors/actresses are unlocked.

There's also a collection of 10 short stories which they call "Another Episode Collection." 9 of these stories are told from the perspective of characters other than Takayuki. They're the game version of the stories originally posted on Age's web site under each character's description. The last one is an extension of the radio drama that was included in the Dramatheater Vol. 4 CD. They bundle in a bonus mini-game/puzzle with Ayu rearranging things at the Sky Temple restaurant, a remake of the one with Age Maniax and to top of this CD, they throw in two dramas, encoded in MP3 format -- one is a short 10 minute story, the other is a full episode of Kiminozo radio.

Included with the disc is a Rumbling Angel card of Haruka's parents, a bunch of ads, and the manual. Included on the disc are sound files for your cell phone (cell phones in the US can't really do that) where the different characters announce that you have a call, and such. There's also a collection of really high resolution wallpapers.

The game isn't as long as the original, obviously, but was longer than I had expected. The first chapter with Haruka took me almost 8-10 hours (same as original). From there, the difference between the main storyline and alternate routes took me about 2-3 hours a piece. I managed to finish all of the "Another Episode Collection" in 2-3 hours

The game engine is improved from the original and they use some of the scrolling and panning features.

The music is the same as from the original game. The endings to Mitsuki and Akane use songs from their character single. Haruka's has a new song, "The Courage From Just A Word" which I love (it's not out on a CD though, unfortunately). The ending to "True Lies" also has a song, but I'm not sure whether it's original or from Muv-Luv/Akane Maniax. There are new pictures in the game, but a lot of it is taken from the original.

Overall, I enjoyed all the stories, many of which provided some more background stories to what was in the whole game. I love the radio dramas and if I were only in Japan, I could listen to it every week... While a lot of Kiminozo is based on off-color sexual humor, it's kept in check. I could have done *without* the sex scenes though, especially Akane's biologically correct one.

Rating: 4/4

The interviews had the 5 main characters in this game, Takayuki, Haruka, Mitsuki, Akane, and Manami give some thoughts after they finished recording in the studio. One of the questions the girls were asked was that if they were a guy, who would they date. All of them except for Tomo-rin (Mitsuki) picked Haruka and consensus was that Mitsuki was too brutish, Akane was too young, and Minami said she still has a negative impression of Manami [I would too!].

The radio drama MP3s are:

すかいてんぷるメイプル支店 (Sky Temple Maple Branch): Before the store opens, the store owner, Joy, has two of his employees, Mitsuki and Haruka sample some phallic-shaped pudding. As they're slurping it up without spoons, Joy and Takayuki are peeping and Joy gets horny observing. The second half occurs after the store closes and Joy asks each of them for ideas to show customers their appreciation. They come up with various food items to give them [yawn...boring].

君のぞらじお出張版 (Kiminozo Radio Business Trip Version): The 45 minute long program first starts off with Joymax as a teacher teaching his students, Haruka, Mitsuki, Takayuki, and Akane english conversation. He has Akane say "sex," Haruka moan "oh, man," [that's what it sound like to me] and Mitsuki say "penis." To end the scene, Akane fires her Antenna Beam to get rid of Joy. The next portion introduces Tomomi Uehara, the voice of Akane, as the special guest. The first half of the conversation, about 20 minutes, is devoted to the seiyuu talking about their first impressions of each other. Interesting enough, Tomomi thinks Minami as a "dark aura." I kinda got that sense too from Minami's interviews. The next section has the seiyuu doing silly inpromptu songs. Ironically, Haruka is the only one who's shy about singing. [While I don't like her singing that much, Akane, to me still has a very unique voice].

The "Another Episode Collection" consists of stories originally from the character descriptions on Age's web page that they put into the game.

桜散る丘で（前編） (At the Hill Where Sakura Leaves Fall, First Part): Tells, from Haruka's point of view, the first time she finds out about Takayuki's special place atop the hill and also when she first tells Mitsuki that she likes him.

桜散る丘で（後編） (At the Hill Where Sakura Leaves Fall, Last Part): Similar story as the first, except this time, it's told from Mitsuki's point of view and her thoughts about helping her hook up with Takayuki.

風に揺れる水面 (The Water That Ripples in the Wind): From Mitsuki's point of view, it tells about the day that Takayuki said that she would look nice having short hair. She ponders about it as she's taking a shower after practice and ultimately realizes that she has some feelings for him too, even if it means betraying Haruka.

いつか、きっと。。。 (Someday, Certainly...): At a swim meet, young Akane watches Mitsuki win and tells about how she wants to one day be in Mitsuki's shoes.

胸の奥の忘れ物 (The Forgotten Item in My Heart): Manami is packing up to leave for her relatives. She only has limited space, so a lot of items are left behind. At first, she leaves behind a picture of Takayuki. However, she turns around having just closed the door to retrieve the picture.

まけないもんっ！ (I Won't Give Up): MayuMayu is being a klutz at work and has thoughts about how she can't do anything right and might get fired. She confidence returns after helping feed a stray cat. [I'm impressed that MayuMayu has more complex thoughts than what she projects].

大空寺降臨 (The Coming of Daikuji's): The story tells about how Ayu was told by her dad to work at the Sky Temple to mingle with normal people and her first day on the job having to deal with the fat otaku owner (store manager?) and Takayuki [She speaks to her father in an extremely polite tone, something I've never heard before].

君のためにできること (What I Can Do For You): After Haruka's accident, Shinji observes Mitsuki's downfall as she starts losing motivation in swimming and in life.

がんばろう (I'll Do My Best): Hotaru wants to do something special for the graduates of the nursing academy and decides to make dolls in their likeness. She thinks that she doesn't have any help, but her roomie, Hoshino makes some for her and tells her that she doesn't have to do everything herself.

True Lies: The first half of this story is the same as the last track in Dramatheater Vol. 4 where Takuyuki finds out that he and the other girls (except for Ayu) are "antenna people" denoted by some hair that sticks up. Ayu attacks them and using their "antennas" they fire off laser beams to fight. Sumika has a cameo in this game version, but the dialogue is pretty much the same regardless. The drama extends with Joji (Akane Maniax, I believe) and some Muv-Luv characters that I'm not too familiar with. To my surprise, Umeda, one of the characters I haven't seen before, is voice by Yuji Ueda, also the voice of Keitaro in Love Hina. Everything is linked to Love Hina, isn't it?

So finally, the four endings are as follows:

Haruka - When Mitsuki is nagging Takayuki to buy her a gift, a choice shows up where you can choose to go with the original route, at which point it shows the original intro to the game and ends. The other option is if you brush her off and head to where Haruka is. Takayuki makes it before Haruka gets run over and gives her the book. They spend the rest of the day hanging out. They also go to the museum, where they see the original "Mayaru" painting. Three years later, Takayuki is at Hakuryo University with Haruka and Shinji. Mitsuki is looking forward to the Olympics in Athens this year.

Mitsuki - Takayuki rejects Haruka when she confesses to him on the hill. A little later, Haruka tells Takayuki that she knows that Mitsuki and Takayuki have feelings for each other and wants to help. Takayuki accepts her support. At a swim meet, Takayuki meets Akane but doesn't know who she is and doesn't bother pursuing her. On the day they originally took the picture on the hill (day of the summer festival), Haruka invites Takayuki and Mitsuki to the festival. However, Haruka doesn't show up saying she's sick, leaving Takayuki and Mitsuki alone. They bump into Akane who tells them a conflicting story, so they know something is wrong and find Haruka on the hill and her plan is revealed. Three years later, all of them are attending Hakuryo University.

Akane - Takayuki rejects Haruka and doesn't accept her help in trying to hook up with Mitsuki. At the swim meet from Mitsuki's route, Takayuki starts hanging out with Akane (but doesn't know who she is). Akane tells her about her sister's love problems and Takayuki gives advice without knowing he's the person in question. Takayuki finally finds out on the day of the festival that Akane is Haruka's sister. Aftewards, Haruka finds out about their relationship when Akane announces it to the world after she finishes a swimming competition. Three years later, Mitsuki is the only one not at Hakuryo University, but she's still involved in swimming and competes with her at a meet.

Manami (I kinda rushed through this one) - Takayuki sees Manami at a store and decides to say "hi" rather than just ignore her as in the other three routes. Takayuki wants to get closer, but Manami is terribly shy even though she also loves Takayuki. Takayuki gets hurt running after her and gets hurt. Manami, feeling a bit guilty, comes to his house and helps out with housework as he's a bit incapacitated. Things seem okay until Manami's grandmother, who she lives with, passes away. Manami is forced to move to her relatives in Hokkaido (I think, but regardless, far away). She wants to stay at Takayuki's, but he says she can't be so childish. Three years later, Takayuki moves out of his apartment and flies to where Manami is to attend college there.

After finishing all 4 stories, an "Extra" appears in the menu. The "extra" story starts off on Aug. 6th, where Takayuki wakes up to find Mitsuki sleeping next to him. Haruka comes into the house to see them and knocks the lights out of Takayuki. At school, Mitsuki is a new transfer student and is already trying to get close to Takayuki. Both Mitsuki and Haruka demand your attention and you're given a choice (it also tells you the result):

1) Eat Haruka's Lunch (Bad Ending)
2) Eat Mitsuki's Lunch (Bad Ending)
3) Run Away

Choose 3. After school, Haruka gets run over by Dr. Kozuki in her busted down yellow sports car. Takayuki returns to find that the hospital bed is in his room and Akane there waiting. Akane draws graffiti on Haruka's face. Haruka wakes up and freaks out, thinking it's been 3 years and also about her face. Takayuki wakes up from this dream...or was it...