Date A Live Rinne Utopia

Got the limited edition of Date A Live Rinne Utopia for PS3.

It took a while for the item to arrive this time -.-;

I guess it’s because I preordered it late, like a week before the release date.

I was debating whether to get the limited edition or just the normal edition. I’m actually not a big limited edition collector since they come in different sizes and are not as uniform as normal edition when it comes to putting them into the shelf etc.

In the end I picked limited edition because it supposedly includes a ‘mini light-novel’. I do read Date A Live light novels so might as well collect it, I thought.

It turns out to be… well, the cover is how it would be like if this PS3 game were another light novel entry to the series instead:

The first few pages are colored character introductions that are ‘more comprehensive’ and have more arts than the one in instruction booklet.

Then there are some Tsunako’s rough sketches. These are interesting because you can see the earlier designs of the original characters Rinne and the mysterious spirit, and the game’s original and limited edition’s cover arts (pretty big changes, although I don’t mind the older versions as well).

There’s also a rough sketch of… adult Kotori? I hope this is not a spoiler to the game… ^^;

Then it’s 50+ pages of short light novel, which only has 1 slip-in illustration, 2 pages of afterword and 4 4-komas. The 4-komas are very funny, lol (two are related to ‘debugging’ the game).

Good deal? I guess so… I also haven’t listened to the limited edition and first print bonus drama CDs. It might be difficult to understand without subtitles though… -.-”

I played the game and it’s a standard visual novel using the recent standard ‘Motion Portrait’ technology for the characters. I’m pretty sure the character arts are done by Tsunako, which imo are very well done (I think I start liking Yoshino more after I started this game).

I gotta say, the cover of this game, which is also used in the main menu, is very simple and yet also very beautiful.

The game seems to take place between vol.4 and vol.5 of the light novel. I guess it’s similar to Code Geass Lost Colors visual novel for PSP and PS2 in many ways, such that it’s ‘canon’ however it will end with every single trace removed. And the plot device they might use. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure I won’t be majorly surprised when the time comes.

I died early in the game though… picked a wrong choice -.-“”

I guess I’ll try to get Touka’s ending first (pretty standard huh…). It seems that you can’t date all the girls yet in first playthrough (only Touka, Origami and Yoshino). It also feels weird to date Origami, since the ones you need to date are the spirits.

I have never been so excited to play a visual novel before (but then again, I also ate Code Geass Lost Colors for breakfast… ^^;). I guess it’s because you can expect the series to have a visual novel and then it DOES happen. Also, after reading walls and walls of text of light novels (and multiple dictionary trips), seeing the series in visual novel is kind of fresh, I guess.

Not only that, the story is by the author himself and the art is by Tsunako who illustrates the original light novels. So it really doesn’t feel like some cash-in.

I’m pretty sure Tsunako is rising to success now (like Tetsuya Nomura level and I think even surpassing Tony Taka), with two successful series (Hyperdimension Neptune and Date A Live) and one upcoming one (Fairy Fencer F):

Anything Tsunako illustrates will sell well, imo.

I think I should start completing Neptune 1 with the Vita remake on the horizon, lol… (still, what a combo system… -.-“)