Spirit Parade is a commercial otome game with Asian mythological themes currently in development by Lettuce Waltz, aka the duo of artist Rins and writer/programmer Lore. The game will retail for $15 when it’s released, but pre-orders will be open earlier at a discounted price of $10. The game will have 3 routes/capturable characters and more than 20 different endings.
The story centers on Nara (name changeable), a cynical 17-year-old girl who mostly shut herself off from the world after contracting spinal polio at a young age and becoming unable to walk. One night, a festival is going on in town. Instead of going with her family, Nara wanders off alone, not wanting to slow them down. As she goes through the various stalls, things become hazier and gradually Nara finds herself surrounded by people with ears, tails, and horns…then suddenly her clothes and wheelchair disappear! After a run-in with a rambunctious kitsune named Hayato and a scary-looking dragon officer of death named Shuye, Nara finds out that her soul has left her body and been transported to the spirit world, where all the demons and spirits are celebrating a month-long festival. Until the end of this festival, she won’t be able to return home… Will Nara survive long enough in the spirit world to go back in one piece? Will she be able to get over her bitterness borne from the past, or will she be engulfed in hatred and lose sight of what’s truly important?
For a labeled, full-size version of the character line-up, please see here.
NARA. (Dream CV: Okamura Akemi) A resourceful, bright girl who unfortunately has suffered from spinal polio from a young age. As a child, Nara was positive and amiable, so she made friends easily and had few problems. As her spinal polio developed, however, she became overly self-conscious and paranoid. She especially hates to be pitied. While she’s still kind at heart and wants to help and be useful to others, she does not expect the same in return from the world at large. Nara greatly distrusts other people and is suspicious of those who are kind to her. She operates on a one-strike policy, so once someone has wronged her she will antagonize them pretty much forever.
HAYATO. (Dream CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko) He knew the heroine when they were kids, before her polio symptoms showed. Despite being a fox demon, Hayato frequently came to the human world out of curiosity. Being young by demon standards, Hayato is rather immature. He’s also used to fighting for attention from his large family. Hayato has trouble understanding that other people are different from him and is confused whenever others don’t want to do things his way. In this regard, he comes off as being very self-absorbed. It’s not that Hayato only cares about himself. He does want others to enjoy themselves and be comfortable in his presence, it’s just that he has trouble considering things from a different point of view. Hayato prefers spending time outdoors.
SHUYE. (Dream CV: Suwabe Junichi) One of the Heibai Wuchang, Shuye assists the king of the underworld with spirits, making sure everyone is in their right place. In particular, he deals with reaping good souls. Being used to dealing with the dead—who are often unhappy with their current state—he has become very patient and stone-faced no matter what the circumstances. He is a man of routine and prefers to operate in a stable, ordered environment. As a result, he is not very good at dealing with changes or at improvising. He shies away from conflict and is often called gullible or too trusting. After living and working in the court of the dead for so long, Shuye is very knowledgeable about the court, but not very much about what lies outside it.
HAIYUE. (Dream CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) One of the Heibai Wuchang, Haiyue is Shuye’s partner and childhood friend. He is the one tasked with reaping evil souls. Unlike Shuye, Haiyue is flighty and hedonistic. He takes every excuse to skip out on work and spend time in the tea houses above ground, leaving Shuye to deal with the pile-up of work. Despite his sweet, princely smile, Haiyue spouts insulting phrases and has no qualms about manipulating people to dance in the palm of his hand. Though he’s constantly taking advantage of Shuye’s gentle nature, Haiyue is protective and somewhat possessive of his friend. He views the world as black and white, but considers himself as someone who deserves to enjoy it and lord over others. He’s particularly vain about his feathers.
DIAOCHAN. (Dream CV: Ogata Megumi) Renowned as a great beauty in the spirit world, Diaochan is one of the magistrates in the underworld. However, she has seniority over the other magistrates because of her vast information network and smooth social skills. It is nearly impossible to go against Diaochan personally or politically because of the amount of blackmail material she has accrued over the years. She is a childhood friend of Shuye and Haiyue’s and they all still get along, but the other two are careful never to get on her bad side. To Diaochan, beauty is very important. She can often be found fawning over female workers of the underworld and tends to spoil them while acting harshly towards men.
MIKIO. (Dream CV: Nakamura Yuuichi) The older brother of Hayato, Asuka, and Sakuya. He was born from an earlier litter, so they should be showing him deference as the eldest still in the household… However, rather than being a dependable older brother, Mikio is a NEET and a drunkard, always loafing around the house and relying on Asuka and Sakuya to take care of him since he refuses to get a job. He says wise things from time to time, but spoils them by following up with a plea for money or more wine. It seems that he was not always like this, but his siblings can hardly remember a time when he was not a drain on resources. Mikio is good-humored and intelligent, but only when sober (which is hardly ever).
Sakuya (left) and Asuka (right) are Hayato’s twin sisters who were born from the same litter as him. (Dream CV: Matsuoka Yuki) Despite their child-like looks, they are much wiser and more mature than he is. They insist on Hayato showing them deference as his older (by a few seconds) sisters and he has no choice but to listen, given how scary they are. He refers to both of them as “aneki”. Sakuya and Asuka are in charge of the family’s finances. Their family being quite large, this is something of an organizational nightmare, so the two of them have developed into rather stingy people. It’s often said that they resemble yakuza loan sharks more than delicate young ladies… Be prepared to pay a lot of interest if you dare borrow from them!
While they both have similar tastes and sensibilities, Sakuya is more outgoing while Asuka is more reserved. (Sakuya insists that her twin is not shy, only doesn’t like talking to people whom she considers beneath her) Asuka usually whispers insults to Sakuya, who then transmits them to the intended recipient.
Currently a release date has not been set, but please follow our production diary for the latest updates!
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