In today’s update: To Heart 2 xrated hits the streets with a splash, FlyingShine’s Jokyoushi scenario writer goes AWOL, eroge singers hold a post-Comiket concert, and there is only ONE figure released (unless you count the mutant).

In today’s update: To Heart 2 xrated hits the streets with a splash, FlyingShine’s Jokyoushi scenario writer goes AWOL, eroge singers hold a post-Comiket concert, and there is only ONE figure released (unless you count the mutant).

Media Side

• Coming from a company called Broccoli this is an item suspiciously devoid of nutritional value: Akihabara Special Baked Chocolat[sic] Sable, with Dejiko on top. Each package comes with a Digi Charat trading figure inside!
• Another Friday morning, another episode of To Heart 2 web radio. Is it just me, or are they fast running out of curry variations?

Ero Side

• To Heart 2 xrated went on sale last night at midnight after being snuck in the night before, and Akiba Blog wasted no time in scooping the event (nor did the fools over at Tech Gian, apparently). With lines equivalent to those for the October 28th Fate / Hollow Ataraxia release it’s looking to be a very merry Christmas indeed for eroge retailers.
• This week’s Galkko feature is BaseSon’s Harukoi*Otome. [sample CG]
• Horizont’s not dead, but its official site still isn’t talking much. We deserve to know more about this game, dammit.
• [DENPA] Those longing for a taste of classic Kotoko can get it from the sample of Pajamas Soft’s January 27th release, Prism Ark Special Sound Package・Green.
• The 15th installment of Game Style’s Heroine to Talk continues with its second Quilt interview.
• Soft On Demand’s Nanase Ren OVA went on sale last weekend, and Galkko wraps things up with a final bit of “alternate story” and some more screenshots.
• In a move I’ve been expecting for some time now, FlyingShine postpones the release of Jokyoushi indefinitely. It was announced around the same time as Kurai Mirai 3, which recieved a successful launch on November 25th; the Jokyoushi site was never updated in synch, however, with no online or print media presence and only a splash image at the official site for months. Now we know why: according to the posted apology, the game’s scenario writer has gone AWOL. The announcement goes as far as asking for information as to his whereabouts.

  This situation sheds further light on the inner workings of a typical eroge company, which based on recent conversations I’ve come to realize is not nearly as tightly-knit an organization as Satou and Yamazaki’s conspiracy in Welcome to the NHK would have us think. While some companies are certainly composed of a loyal core of creators (Type Moon being the first example that springs to mind), many of them farm out creative tasks to contracted talent brought on for a single job only. This obviously poses a problem in the sort of “weakest link” scenario that seems to have occured here.

• We’ve Got Movie Sign!!
  • Giant Panda’s Futari wa Hitotsu no Koigokoro
  • Tarte’s School Panic!
• Sample CG
  • UnisonShift’s Nanatsuiro★Drops
  • Atelier D’s Nurse no Obenkyou
  • LiLiM’s Houou Ikusahime Maimu
  • Kiss’s Custom Reido III Plus [official site]
• Wallpapers
  • Kadokawa’s Fragments Blue
  • Supple’s Ryoujoku Rensa
• Comiket Corner
  • Hiquality Soft’s Yotsu no Ha represents
  • Chuable Soft represents
  • August represents
  • Moon Stone represents
  • If you’re bored (and not utterly exhausted) after the first day of Comiket, why not head down to dressTOKYO and catch the Bishoujo Game-kei Live PC Songs 14th? Check the links in the article for individual artists to be performing.

Hobby Side

• I failed to scoop this a couple of days ago, but apparently for those of us who missed the last chance to preorder a Kotobukiya Tama-nee PVC from To Heart 2, we are now screwed. ;_;
• Get with the program, Hobby Channel. Clayz Matsuri was two weeks ago, and the blogs are way, way ahead of you.
• No new figure announcements today, nothing on sale, aside from this Chara-ani Hazuki re-release. Whew. Unless you’re hankering after a sexy Metaluna Mutant, that is. MST3K, where art thou…

Now that I’ve got that whole moe thing off my chest for awhile I’m hoping to move on to other projects; given the season I’d especially like to finish the How to Comiket guide begun last summer. Here’s hoping I can push it out the door before the 29th…

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