Category Archives: Waifu Wednesday

Wednesday is the day when we celebrate the many and varied waifus of video gaming! Whether they’re adorable cuties, badass butt-kickers or a little of both, this is the place where we explore the amazing female characters of Japanese gaming and beyond.

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Isabelle

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At the time of writing, everyone and their dog (no, uh, no pun intended) is playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Switch.

I am not, because I’ve never really “got” Animal Crossing for one reason or another. I tried both Wild World on DS and New Leaf on 3DS and found myself tiring of both quite quickly… though I must confess I’ve always liked the gentle, relaxed atmosphere — and the creative aspects of New Horizons are rather appealing, so I’m not ruling out giving it a shot at some point in the future!

In the meantime, however, despite my general ambivalence towards the series from a gameplay perspective, I do understand the widespread love for Isabelle. So let’s give her some time in the spotlight!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Leila

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The Final Fantasy series has, over the years, played host to some of the most well-known and beloved female characters of all time.

And this isn’t a recent thing, either; if you believe the fan theory that the White Mage in the original Final Fantasy is female (a theory which I can’t help but feel Square Enix leaned into somewhat with the sprite design in the remakes for PS1, GBA and PSP) they’ve been there since the very beginning.

And even if you don’t subscribe to that theory, Final Fantasy II certainly brought us some fine leading ladies, such as today’s spotlight character, Leila. Let’s take a closer look!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Veola

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One of my favourite characters in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is Veola, the seemingly rather standoffish owner of the magic shop in Kavoc.

Veola’s sidequest is technically optional, but like most of the “shopkeeper quests” throughout Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, it’s hard not to get swept along in the soap opera of her life — and how she relates to the other people around her, including protagonist Klein, his party members, bartender Norman and numerous others.

So let’s take a closer look at this rather closed-off young woman and figure her out a bit. Some spoilers ahead!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Lita Blanchimont

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With the Atelier MegaFeature well under way, it’s probably about time we took a look at some of the wonderful female characters in the series for Waifu Wednesday, isn’t it?

And where better to begin than with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana’s main female protagonist, Lita Blanchimont? While Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana eschews the series’ traditional focus on a playable female protagonist, Lita nonetheless plays a very important role in the game’s main narrative, and is one of several ways we come to understand some of the broader lore of the Atelier Iris series.

Let’s take a closer look, then. There may be some mild spoilers ahead!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Hatsune Miku

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With this week marking the release of a new Hatsune Miku game on Nintendo Switch — and it apparently dominating the sales charts somewhat — I thought it was high time we celebrated the world’s most famous Vocaloid.

Miku is an impressive cultural icon in that she transcends context and medium; she’s a genuine superstar who crosses boundaries, brings people together and inspires a considerable amount of passion from creators and fans alike.

Where did she come from? How did this phenomenon come about? Let’s take a closer look.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Kurokishi

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I may well be writing myself into a corner with this one, but after this week’s discussion of beat ’em ups on The MoeGamer Podcast, I spent some time with Denjin Makai. And I’m in love. Or possibly just lust.

Denjin Makai, for the unfamiliar, is a beat ’em up from Winky Soft and Banpresto that originally hit the Japanese arcades in 1994. It got a port to Super Famicom under the name Ghost Chaser Densei, but neither the arcade version nor this port ever came West in any capacity.

Which is a shame, because Denjin Makai is superb — as is its sequel Guardians, which likewise didn’t make it over here — and Kurokishi is super-hot. Let’s see what we can find out.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Alis Landale

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We tend to think of the world of video game protagonists being a boys’ club until Lara Croft came along in 1996… but female protagonists have been around for quite a while longer than that.

1987, for example, gave the world Alis Landale, protagonist of Sega’s first Phantasy Star game. Alis wasn’t a damsel in distress, she wasn’t a secondary character, she wasn’t a love interest — she was the lead. She had a mission, and she was damn well going to make sure she carried it out, come hell, high water or Dark Falz.

Being the protagonist of a 1980s 8-bit role-playing game, we don’t really learn a lot about Alis the person within the game of Phantasy Star itself. We can, however, look at the context in which she appeared, and the various ways she was presented. So let’s do that!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Honoka

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It’s another Dead or Alive girl this week — and, like her friend Marie Rose, she’s a relatively recent addition to the overall cast, having first shown up in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

And also like Marie Rose, she’s proven to be a popular character since her first appearance, often appearing in collaborative, crossover events with other games and series such as Senran Kagura — and, of course, Koei Tecmo’s own Warriors All-Stars.

If you’ve been following Dead or Alive’s Byzantine narrative over the years, you’ll also know that she’s quite important to the overall series lore, too…

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Marie Rose

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First appearing in 2013 as part of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate’s arcade release, Marie Rose has gone on to be an incredibly popular part of Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s long-running series of fighters.

Marie Rose was presumably introduced in order to attract people to the arcade version of the game — the first time the series had hit arcades for 13 years — but subsequently found herself coming home in the form of downloadable content for Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Since then, she has been a regular fixture in the series — and popular enough to appear in several spin-offs and collaborations, including Warriors All-Stars and Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash. So let’s put everyone’s favourite wicked lil’ servant under the spotlight today!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Katrielle Layton

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It’s interesting to see the trajectory that Level-5’s Layton series has taken over the years.

While remaining true to its roots as an interactive puzzle book with a narrative tying things together, each individual installment has experimented with the formula somewhat, even going so far as to replace the iconic protagonist Professor Hershel Layton with other leads in more recent installments.

Which, of course, leads us to Katrielle Layton, Hershel’s daughter and a wonderfully appealing character in her own right. Let’s take a closer look!

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