CHiRAL MOBiLE: False Alkanet and World's end Nightmare.
Recently I’ve been really interested in two Nitro+CHiRAL works many people might not be too familiar with, Itsuwari no Alkanet (False Alkanet) and World’s end Nightmare! They were released exclusively for CHiRAL MOBiLE, a subscription based app that could only be accessed by those who owned a Japanese cellphone. The app launched in 2010, but ended its service only two years later in 2012. Members paid a monthly fee of 300 yen to use the app, which gave them access to wallpapers, new illustrations and these two (visual) novels.
Itsuwari no Alkanet
Itsuwari no Alkanet, also known as "False Alkanet" in English speaking fandoms, is the first game Nitro+Chiral released on this app. The common route was released in June 2010 and every following month a new character's route was added to the game. The original opening movie of this game can still be found on Nico Nico. Itsuwari no Alkanet also got its own drama CD and the plot seems to be based on the events that happen in the novel.
Synopsis Kei Takatori found himself standing in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Glittering buildings, paved roads, everything was completely different than what he was used to. The story takes place in the Taisho period, during the political crisis which would become the end of Japan’s oligarchy, causing the rise of democracy. The Takatori family’s sucessor is the aspiring Pianist Yuto, whose skills keep improving along with his plans to study abroad. Everything looks favorable, but things are about to get complicated. In this game, you meet Kei's father suddenly re-appeared in his life after a long absence, Kei's talented brother, a free-spirited uncle, and a serious butler.
Characters (from left to right)
Kei Takatori The protagonist of this story, and also Yuto's half-brother. He has one-sided romantic feelings for Yuto, which he doesn't know what to do about.
Yuto Takatori The half-brother of Kei Takatori. He wear glasses and looks very smart. An excellent pianist who wants to be taken seriously.
Sakae Tachibana The man who tricked the Takatori household chief so he could take over their business, yet somehow not a bad guy. Easy-going and elusive. His next target seems to be Kurae.
Kazuki Kurae Butler of the Takatori family. He takes care of the mansion and the two sons of the Takatori family. He cares a lot about them. Him and Tachibana are on bad terms.
All three characters mentioned above had their own routes. Unfortunately even after looking at several Japanese blogs for a couple of hours, I have not been able to find super many details about the story of every route. The drama CD is still available on multiple Japanese second-hand websites, so I might purchase it one day and listen to it. I also found some art the artist tweeted a long time ago, which you can see below!
World's end Nightmare In December 2010, Nitro+CHiRAL added another title to their CHiRAL MOBiLE library. A visual novel written by Toriko Nanashino and illustrated by Mimori Sinov. Serialization began in December and the series ended with a total of 30 episodes. The genre is dark fantasy and the story focuses on a man called ‘’It’’.
Synopsis ''A poor soul who doesn't know love. I will give you another chance.'' The protagonist wakes up in a strange world, guided by an unknown voice. A square blue sky, a thorny garden and a towering castle in a deep forest. A fairy tale-like world, clearly different from reality. He is aware that he died before coming here, however, he is unsure who brought him to this world after he died. People who are brought to this world are forced to participate in a compulsory game, in which everyone has to prove what true love is. If you lose this game, your soul will be turned into something they call "furniture". A beautiful boy, a red shadow, a white shadow, and a masked man all participate in this game.
Characters (from left to right)
It "…I'm not good at that kind of love, I don't understand the meaning." The main character of this game. He died and came to this world, also called "the end". In order to escape this place, he will have to challenge Faceless. He can't seem to recall why he died and is not very interested in others.
Faceless "I want you to prove true love " The god who created “the end”, also called the king and judge. He is the greatest being that exists in "the end". He forces It to participate in the game. Although he is a god, he has no dignity and sometimes gets ridiculed by other inhabitants. Cheerful and friendly, but also selfish. He is very unpredictable and emotional.
Siegfried "… The more time you spend here, the better you will understand each other." The oldest inhabitant of "the end". Characterized by a melancholic appearance. His motto is "If you spend time together, it will lead to love." Intelligent, rational and calm. His human emotions have vanished a long time ago, but he is still kind to others.
Ky "Generally, love doesn't have to be romantic'' Beautiful enough to often be mistaken for a girl, but he has a sharp tongue. He is not interested in romance and grew bored of this world because he has lived there for a very long time. Outspoken, confident and sometimes naughty. He pays attention to people he likes and easily speaks his mind.
Barron "If you do it, you might start feeling emotions right?" A forceful woman-loving older man. One of the "players" of the game. "Love doesn't need time" is his motto, and in his quote above he's referring to having sex "doing it". Although he looks the oldest, he is the newest inhabitant of “the end”. Rough, crude and forceful, but he always follows the rules.
Finding information about World’s end Nightmare was somehow even more difficult than Itsuwari no Alkanet because that game at least has a drama CD, but it seems like it had 30 chapters and only one route (which was probably the character called Faceless). I also found some artwork the official artist drew to celebrate its first anniversary.
You might recognize the art of both of these games if you purchased the third volume of the Nitro+Chiral 10 Years Archive, which was released in 2016. It also features some illustrations of the other Nitro+Chiral games which used to be content only members of the app could see. You can find some scans here!
I was personally not able to play any of these games because I unfortunately didn't own a Japanese phone in 2010-2012, but there are still some Japanese blogs which talk about these games. You can still find older information about them in BL game magazine Cool-B as well, so luckily not all information about these games has been lost forever.
Some of the Japanese sources I used can be found here: Ｘ Ｘ Ｘ