MangaGamer - licensing survey 2019
Want some new otome games? This is the time to make it happen!
Mangagamer launched their annual licensing survey (hereâs the tweet about it), so itâs a good opportinity to suggest them titles you would want to see released in English.
You may wonder âCan I suggest anything?â and well, of course you can, BUT at the same time itâs better to focus on titles that have a higher chance of being published overseas, that is:
- games originally released on Windows PC (from what I can see MangaGamer publishes only on PC and [as of now] they donât port games from other platforms)
- try to avoid titles by Rejet and Honeybee. Yeah, it sucks (yes, I also want Ken ga Kimi, but what can we do), but both companies donât seem to be interested in the western market.
- go with titles by developers who are still active in the industry. Rights for games by companies that no longer operate are obviously hard to get.
- games by developers who already have some titles localised should have a higher chance of being published. Otomate can be a good example here, but donât be discouraged if the game of your choice is done by someone else. Maybe they will be even more open to expanding their business.
So having all of this in mind, I did some digging on VNDB and here are some of my suggestions:
The protagonist Kinami Mizuki has been able to see things that others could not since she was a child.
Her mother, who was the only family she had told her to keep it a secret from everybody and Mizuki has kept that promise.
One rainy night while looking out her window Mizuki saw a person walking in the rain without an umbrella.
That person looked exactly like her mother who had died three days ago.
âOn a rainy night, the dead will return.
It was a rumor she had heard while visiting her mothers grave.
While realizing that it couldnât be true she still ran out of the house and started chasing the woman.
But there in front of her was a mysterious young man.
âIâve come to pick you up.â
The young man kneeling in front of her apparently worked for her paternal grandfather.
Led by the young man she was taken to a village far from the city âUgetsuâ.
There she met her grandfather who was stricken with an illness and tasked to take care of the âYorozu Ayakashi-yaâ in his stead.
It is a business that deals with settling the problems of gods and youkai.
When you went through the mirror, you arrived in a topsy-turvy world.
When you came to, you were wandering through a world filled with total darkness.
You did not have any memories. You didnât know anything regarding yourself, not even your own name.
In this world there was no one but you, filling your chest with anxiety and loneliness.
While you were lost in this strange world, you encountered a boy.
The name of this boy with shining golden hair and beautiful blue eyes is âAliceâ.
As soon as âAliceâ saw you, he called you by the name of âArisuâ.
Apparently he had also lost his memories and could not remember anything except for the name âAlice.â
You, not wanting to continue on alone, started wandering through this black world again, taking the unwilling âAliceâ with you.
Before long, you and Alice find a huge mirror made out of crystal.
In this mirror you see a mysterious world full of both Western and Eastern styles. It seems nostalgic to you.
As you and Alice were looking into the mirror, you pass it and enter the Mirror Land.
In the Mirror Land, gender swapped characters from fairy tales await you as their 'Heroineâ.
You, who became the 'Heroineâ of those many fairy tales, will live through slightly mysterious and warped stories together with the slightly warped main characters of those fairy tales.
What will happen at the end of this story?
3) Zettai Kaikyuu Gakuen ~Eden with roses and phantasm~
Japan, year 2020.
The protagonist, Fujieda Neri, lived in the poor district within the âRing Areaâ, which surrounds the Tokyo Bay. She lived a modest, but peaceful lifestyle. However, one day, her father- her only family- had suddenly disappeared.
âGo to Kaikyuu Academy.â
- That was all what was written on the mysterious letter left behind by him.
The private Kaikyuu Academy⌠A prestigious boarding school attended by sons and daughters from privileged families, founded upon the goal of educating them well in order to give them the tools to support future Japan.
Following the letter left by her father, Neri transferred into Kaikyuu Academy, a school where celebrities gather. It is extremely luxurious, however, being grounded upon a social caste system, the academy is dominated by âsocial class discriminationâ.
At the very top of the social hierarchy is the âQueenâ, endowed with incredible political influence, she rules over the students. Superior to everyone else but the Queen are the chosen elites belonging to the privileged class, âThe Roses in Full Bloomâ. The commoner class in which most of the students belong in, âThe Nameless Honeybeesâ. âThe Ignored Stonesâ⌠Even though theyâre fellow students, those in The Ignored Stones are regarded as having the same rights as a servant- theyâre oppressed and enslaved. Finally, there is âThe Resistanceâ, which is an organisation composed of students who oppose the social hierarchy system.
In a society far more disparate than she had ever imagined, Neri finds âloveâ, and gradually, a certain âtruthâ about the academy surfaces. What is this âtruth?â
I am a high school student. This summer, I am visiting a small town in the country. The town is surrounded by mountains and people peacefully coexist with ayakashi (ghosts). I donât remember this place, but I feel like there was something I cherished there. The people I spend my time there all feel somehow important. They are Giou (an ayakashi), Shinonome, Shu, Takatora, and Chihaya. I get involved in a trouble due to appearance of an another mysterious ayakashi. Mysterious phenomenaâŚ. NightmareâŚ. I donât wanna remember that thing, but I have toâŚ. When the moon becomes full, what will happen to meâŚ? Now, my summer startsâŚ.Â
The magician Lapis is the youngest daughter of the distinguished Idocrase family.
Her parentâs and four brothers are all elites with great magical power.
However Lapis only has lower than ordinary magical abilities, she spends everyday at magic school getting ridiculed as the 'Burden of the Idocrase Familyâ.
In order to go to a higher school she challenges a certain test.
The details are to gather the 'Twinkle Gemâ that is created from a strong 'feelingâ in a humans heart.
And so Lapis goes to the human world in high spirits, where a bunch of hard to deal with men are waiting for her.Â
6) Walpurgis no Uta ~Walpurgisgedichte~
Sainoshi, a town surrounded by three mountains including Sainoyama.
Izumi Shioâs peaceful life is completely changed by her off-season transfer.
The beautiful inhuman being who attacks her when sheâs lost in a mansion.
The twin werewolves who save her life.
Her brotherâs secret that comes to light.
âWalpurgisnachtâŚ
Itâs a festival held on April 30 in Central and Northern Europe, to celebrate the boundary between spring and winter. People say itâs the night when the boundary between the dead and the living is weakening.
âŚyes, itâs tonight.â
Walpurgis no Uta
On the boundary between the worlds of the dead and the living, the girl finds a life-risking love.
7) Tsumikui ~Sen no Noroi, Sen no Inori~
Studying like usual,
Talking to friends like usual,
Walking home from school while looking at the starry sky like usual.
The protagonist was suddenly attacked by a man overflowing with killing intent and was chased into an abyss of senseless death.
Fear you canât put words to, and pain.
Then to the ears of the protagonist who is suffering in agony comes the voice of a youth wrapped in mystery â Nagami Ren.
From his kiss came the protagonistâs salvation, and an invitation along a cursed path that cannot be turned back on.
Tlicolity Eyes theme is entertainment industry x love comedy x triangle love.
ââThis is a story a bit ahead in the future.
Approximately 30% of the population have a magical power and are called the âAbility Users.â It is rumored that many of ability users are shining in the world of entertainment.
The heroines of the storyâthe Touchi Sistersâare also one of them, and each of them are struggling in the world of entertainment!
Their ability is a very convenient ability that [temporarily upgrades someone elseâs status].
However, thereâs a secret behind that ability.
Itâs that the side effect called âTlicolity Eyesâ makes the person who gets the effect will took the ability and trick the girls instead!
A triangle relationship [ToriAi] as a side effect to the entertainment world!
Is this throbbing also a side effect? OrâŚ
This is a world where cat people exist, and consider humans as their gods whose wishes must be fullfilled.
Our protagonist is cat princess Tama, whoâs been arranged to marry her cousin Koutarou in a marriage ceremony. The ceremony carried out without incident, until a human came from of the sky surrounded by lightâŚ
Now the Cat Country and Human Country will be forced to face one another after years of peace. What will Tama do?Â
10) Akai Suna Ochiru Tsuki
The heroine is trying to be the best magician and she has to search for a âmasterâ who she finds worthy, but until then she isnât allowed to show her face to others. And of course as any otoge would have, sheâll be dragged into all sorts of schemes and plots of her country.
Also, for those interested, some 18+ titles:
- Princess Britania ~Muse no Houken~
- Yoshiwara Higanbana
- Ai no Uta
- Orfleurs
- Enkan no Memoria
Of course what you choose is entirely up to you :) But please do take a look at the survey. Maybe we will get something nice this year~
pixelskylines
vaporwave
discoholicmusic
titsay
