Category Archives: 2019

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: Within the Depths of Shadow

October 3, 2019 Pete Davison 5 Comments

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The very first release in the Senran Kagura series — one we didn’t get here in the West — focused exclusively on the Hanzou girls’ narrative, which we discussed in detail last time.

It wasn’t until the expanded rerelease Senran Kagura Burst — which we did get in the West, and which forms the basis for Burst Re:Newal — that we got the opportunity to see things from the “other side” by spending some time among the Hebijo girls.

It’s this particular character arc — along with the two optional DLC stories that involve Gessen’s Yumi and Miyabi of “New Hebijo” respectively — that we’ll be exploring in depth today.

Continue reading Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: Within the Depths of Shadow →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: The Pairing of Sword and Shield

September 24, 2019 Pete Davison 5 Comments

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We live in an age where remakes and reboots are very popular. Exactly how that came to be is anyone’s guess — improving technology leading creators to believe they can better realise the original intention of a work, presumably — but regardless of the reasoning, here we are.

Senran Kagura, a series which turned eight years old on Sunday, September 22, 2019 — the Sunday just gone at the time of writing — has been no exception to this, with its most recent “mainline” release in the series being Burst Re:Newal, which first hit Japanese shelves in February of 2018, and followed just under a year later in the West.

Burst Re:Newal, as the name suggests, is a reimagining of the first game in the series — or, more accurately, the expanded second release of that first game, Senran Kagura Burst — and it brings the beginning of the saga to a whole new audience. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal: The Pairing of Sword and Shield →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura: Shinobi Creativity

September 13, 2019 Pete Davison 5 Comments

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Besides being a cracking series of games that are a lot of fun to enjoy in their own right, a very appealing aspect of the Senran Kagura series for a lot of players is how it encourages creativity.

This has taken a number of different forms over the years, beginning with the simple option to dress the various characters up as you see fit — with these custom appearances being reflected in real-time cutscenes during the game — and gradually evolving into a fully-formed “Diorama” feature where you can arrange and pose characters as you see fit.

Let’s take a look at how Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal, the next game we’ll be covering here on MoeGamer, handles this side of things.

Continue reading Senran Kagura: Shinobi Creativity →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash: No Shirt, No Shoes, All Shinobi Shooting

September 9, 2019 Pete Davison 6 Comments

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It’s understandable that some people approached Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash with a certain amount of trepidation prior to its initial release.

After all, here was a series that was supposedly about ninja girls fighting an unseen battle against the otherworldly youma forces, and yet their next game seemed to have them all clad in bikinis having water pistol fights with one another. Sure, the fanservice angle had always been part of the series… but surely, surely we were going a bit off-piste now, right?

Two things. Firstly: Bon Appétit would like a word about going “off-piste”. And secondly: Peach Beach Splash is absolutely a worthy sequel to Estival Versus that sets the series up for what will hopefully be an apocalyptic, climactic finale. In the meantime, though, yes, water guns.

Continue reading Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash: No Shirt, No Shoes, All Shinobi Shooting →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura Bon Appétit: The Fastest Route to the Heart

August 26, 2019 Pete Davison 6 Comments

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When the Senran Kagura series first launched, I’m not sure anyone could have quite predicted the trajectory it would take.

While some fans lament the fact that the series has deviated somewhat from its original course of “cool female ninjas fight youma, also there are breasts and bums”, I can’t say I’m the slightest bit sorry for the existence of games like Senran Kagura Bon Appétit (also known as Dekamori: Senran Kagura in Japan).

It’s a game that bills itself as a “hyper busty cooking battle”, and gives us the opportunity to see that enormous cast of delightful characters in a rather different context to normal. What’s not to like?

Continue reading Senran Kagura Bon Appétit: The Fastest Route to the Heart →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura: An Almost-Comprehensive Look at Gessen’s Use of Classical Music

August 23, 2019 Pete Davison 6 Comments

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The Gessen girls, introduced in Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus on PlayStation Vita and pretty much a fixture ever since, are certainly a distinctive lot.

Taking a rather different approach to being “good” shinobi than Asuka and friends at Hanzou National Academy, the students of Gessen Girls’ Academy learned everything they know about the world from their adoptive “grandfather” Kurokage.

And that includes their musical tastes, which is reflected in the games’ soundtracks; Gessen girls’ themes make extensive use of Western art music. So I thought that might be interesting to take a closer look at.

Continue reading Senran Kagura: An Almost-Comprehensive Look at Gessen’s Use of Classical Music →

Cover Games, Senran Kagura

Senran Kagura: Introduction

August 17, 2019 Pete Davison 10 Comments

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Senran Kagura. Now there’s a series we’re no strangers to here on MoeGamer, but it’s been a long time since it graced the Cover Game feature. With the recent release of Peach Ball at the time of writing, I thought it was about time we fixed that.

This Cover Game feature is, as much as anything, me fulfilling a promise to myself; I absolutely love the Senran Kagura series, yet I’ve been falling very behind with it, so I’ve been promising myself for… probably a couple of years now that I’d get caught up!

Since Estival Versus was the first ever Cover Game feature here on MoeGamer back in April of 2016, we’ve had Peach Beach Splash, Burst Re;Newal, Reflexions and Peach Ball, plus a lovely Limited Run Games packaged release of Bon Appetit, a former digital-only title. And, with the exception of Reflexions and a bit of Bon Appetit, I haven’t played (or covered) any of these yet. This leaves me with a fair amount of work to do, but I’m looking forward to it; I hope you enjoy it too.

Continue reading Senran Kagura: Introduction →

Cover Games, The Expression: Amrilato

The Expression: Amrilato – Konversacio kun SukeraSparo

August 2, 2019 Pete Davison 5 Comments

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One of my favourite aspects of being Someone Who Writes About Games is that you occasionally have the opportunity to sit down with the people who created these experiences and pick their brains… or at least exchange some questions with them via email and interpreter!

For me, there’s always been a certain amount of mystique surrounding both game development and the art of bringing a commercial product to market. I’ve felt this way for as long as I can remember — even to this day. It’s an aspect of what is, I guess, childish innocence that I’m keen to never let go of; video games, visual novels and creative works are exciting, and the people who create them are magicians, and I don’t ever want to forget that.

With all that in mind, I was delighted when MangaGamer, localiser and publisher of The Expression: Amrilato’s Western release, agreed to let me have a chat with the developer SukeraSparo and find out a bit more about where this unusual, fascinating title came from.

Continue reading The Expression: Amrilato – Konversacio kun SukeraSparo →

Cover Games, The Expression: Amrilato

The Expression: Amrilato – Nova Vivo de Rin

July 25, 2019 Pete Davison 4 Comments

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A lot of Japanese popular media tends to place adolescent characters in leading roles. There’s a very good reason for this: adolescence is a point in your life where your understanding of the world and your beliefs are at their most fluid and dynamic.

Many dramatic Japanese stories explore the concept of adolescence as a turning point in one’s life. For most people, adolescence is where they truly establish who they really are, how they see the world and how they choose to live in it.

Most of us don’t have to go through an ordeal quite as turbulent as The Expression: Amrilato’s protagonist Rin as part of this journey of discovery, however…

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Cover Games, The Expression: Amrilato

The Expression: Amrilato – Suddenly Voiceless

July 12, 2019 Pete Davison 4 Comments

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The prospect of learning a new language is a daunting one for many people — particularly English speakers, who tend to take their language’s position as “default” for granted.

What this means, more often than not, is that if you’re not put in a position where you have to learn a new language, chances are you won’t. There are exceptions to this rule, of course — some people learn a new language to improve their career prospects, some learn to broaden the range of language-dependent arts and entertainment they can engage with and some just do it for fun — but for the most part we, as humans, are rather lazy when it comes to this sort of thing.

When The Expression: Amrilato’s protagonist Rin finds herself in a version of her hometown that seems to be all “wrong”, she soon finds herself learning firsthand what being in a position where you have to learn a new language is like.

Continue reading The Expression: Amrilato – Suddenly Voiceless →

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