Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle

[h1]Review with accompanying screenshots and video at Sinical Network[/h1] https://www.sinicalanimenetwork.com/post/2020/02/10/chuusotsu-15th-graduation-the-moving-castle-review I recently received this game for free as a curator connect offer for my group Visual novel, JRPG, Anime. [i]Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle[/i] is a comedy drama which continues the story of a trio of unemployed teenage girls Arue Marisugawa, Koiro Hachisuka and Arara Fujisaki set in a dystopian Japanese setting. Arue continued to practice hard in her manga as an aspiring manga creator and managed to secure a booth at a doujin exhibition called Big Site to showcase her manga works. Her close friends and fellow Chuusotsu (People without any authorization seal which renders them unable to hold any permanent stable employment) Koiro and Arara, decide to accompany and support Arue as her inseparable friends and apartment mates. Along the way, they would encounter two different manga authors and a few minor characters. Having played the prequel [i]Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time, The Moving Castle[/i] continues to feature equally cute artwork, and the same background music as the prequel [i]Time After Time[/i]. Although [i]The Moving Castle[/i] is a much shorter kinetic visual novel where it takes around a couple of hours to read and listen to all the text and voiced dialogue, this title dives immediately into the lives of the three Chuusotsu with plenty of satire and humour about manga and otaku culture, and doesn't explain very much about the first game of how the girls became to be friends. Hence, reading [i]Time After Time[/i] is advised before reading this visual novel. It is still possible to grasp most parts of this visual novel and enjoy it without playing [i]Time After Time[/i], although it would be nice if there was background information at the beginning of the game, or a glossary on specific terms this visual novel uses. This kinetic visual novel is also short where it takes around a couple of hours to read the text and listen to the voiced dialogue, and has only one CG. Although the game description mentions it is a side story that continues the story of the first game, the game feels more like a DLC that immediately continues after the events in [i]Time After Time[/i] by having a very limited amount of new artwork and relatively short playtime compared to [i]Time After Time[/i]. I was also a bit disappointed that one of the supporting characters in this visual novel is no longer voiced as she was in [i]Time After Time[/i] as I feel this character could have brought out the humor more if voiced dialogue for her was present. [i]Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle[/i] may be a very short side-story compared to [i]Time After Time[/i], yet this visual novel has more humour. It has plenty of jokes that carry from the beginning all the way through the end of the visual novel, avoiding unnecessary introductions and background information in the process. As a satire on manga and otaku culture, this visual novel offers humorous dialogue with voice acting, cute and comical artwork, and some interesting take-home messages for readers who like doujin works. At the same time, the price for this visual novel may be a bit high even after discount at 15-20% since the game has a short playing time, limited number of CG and character outfit artwork, and there are no theme songs being featured this time around. Overall, [i]Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle[/i] is a cute and funny comedy drama with an interesting storyline. This game as a side-story continues with the appeal from [i]Time After Time[/i], and explores a different theme with a few new characters, yet it doesn't expand significantly further on the dystopian futuristic setting, any of the main character's background, or the ending in [i]Time After Time[/i]. Hence, I would recommend this game when it is in an attractive bundle offer with [i]Time After Time[/i], or for players who have played [i]Time After Time[/i] and enjoyed it. My review for Chuusotsu! First Graduation: Time After Time is below: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006413390/recommended/630870/ [h1]Visual novel, JRPG, Anime Steam group - Join the group and consider following the group's curator list for more reviews or dramedies[/h1] http://steamcommunity.com/groups/vnislife [h1]Achievements events group - Join the group and consider following the group's curator list for more reviews or games with easy/reasonable achievements[/h1] http://steamcommunity.com/groups/GroupAchievements100

Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle feels more like a side-story to its predecessor Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time. Of course, the message is the same in both games: To never give up on your dreams. Whilst I enjoyed the 1st Graduation a lot more it’s only due to the length as 1.5th Graduation is a lot shorter when it comes to the playing time. Regardless, this visual novel is rather fluffy and successfully catches the reader, once again, by the unique Authorization Seal and the problems that come with being a chuusotsu. That being said, this game might be quite confusing for newcomers as it doesn’t bother to explain the story nor how the seals work in Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time. Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle takes place after the events in Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time but in this entry, Arue finally goes after her dream and plans on attending a doujin event. Of course, her friends Arara and Koiro aren’t missing in this entry as well and are following Arue no matter where she goes to. Anyway, when she decides to visit the doujin event, the main problem is that without a seal, most customers won’t pay attention to her. It comes in handy that so-called illegal fake seals are going around, although Arue decides to stay away from this and uses her determination instead. It’s obvious that the Authorization Seal plays a huge role in Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle as well. It’s more and more evident that this system isn’t perfect at all and this is the reason I especially adore Arue even more. Once again, she never gives up even if she knows that she won’t be successful immediately without a seal, yet she even decides to not cheat despite getting the opportunity to do so. Efforts should pay off in the end and especially dreams are important that can be followed. I mean, I believe the character grows a lot when someone is pursuing their dreams so that makes it even more important to have something to believe in. With this entry, a new character gets introduced to the player. This girl is called Monami and attends the doujin event as well as a mangaka. Now, it’s evident that Arue will befriend with her very fast due to her nature. I can understand why Arue goes along with everyone as she’s so adorable. Anyway, Monami is a rather shy girl, yet very passionate about manga. Therefore, there are a lot of similarities to Arue at the same time and we even get to know her background story. However, I found that this story fell on the rather short side so I wasn’t really able to sympathize with her. Additionally, Arara and Koiro didn’t have a huge impact in this entry besides accompanying Arue which is a shame because I assumed that the whole trio will be in the foreground as well. Due to Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle being quite short, almost the whole game takes place during the doujin event. Now, this game goes deeper into the manga theme than its predecessor and sometimes I found the information a little bit boring because I don’t know a lot about manga in general. That being said, while it might be draggy for those who don’t enjoy manga or anime a lot, I believe most people who play visual novels do love them as well so they might be more familiar with the theme. Regardless, I found the hentai hints very amusing and it’s too adorable how innocent Arue is even though she enjoys the more adult genre. Like the previous entry, Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle is a kinetic novel so there aren’t any choices at all that can affect the outcome of the story. However, I liked the ending in this game as well as it delivers a nice resolution but still leaves enough room for another entry in this series. In the end, I liked that the reader first accompanies Arue during her hardships and then they will see her growing in one or another way, leaving back a cheerful end that manages to make me feel proud of her once again for getting one step closer to her, seemingly impossible to achieve, dream. Another similarity would be the artwork. As already expected, the sprites are gorgeous in this entry as well. However, there were only a few CGs and although they look beautiful as well, I found some of them quite inconsistent once again. I already had this issue with 1st Graduation, that sometimes characters are still recognizable but give off an entirely different vibe than their character sprites. Sometimes, Arue’s eye shape was different so it looked very odd and I knew it was supposed to be her, yet it really bothered and confused me when a CG like this showed up. However, the voice-acting is excellent in this game as well, although only a couple of characters got voiced here. Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle is a nice side-story to its previous entry Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation: Time After Time and makes me feel nostalgic. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this game is a lot shorter and goes more into the manga theme than fans of this genre might assume at first. Whilst the story isn’t really outstanding like the first one, I was delighted to see more of the cast although I am quite disappointed that Arara and Koiro played such a minor role here and are only accompanying her to the doujin event. That being said, Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle introduces a new character, that I am hoping to see more of in the future and will entertain fans of this series during waiting for the next entry. [code]𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34470115/]𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞[/url] 𝐚𝐧𝐝 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/5413792/]𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬[/url] 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬!

I have not had pleasure to play Chuusotsu! 1st Graduation yet, but I have definitely heard about it and saw screenshots. Please, keep this in mind while reading as I might be unaware about some aspects of the story. [h1]ღThe Storyღ[/h1] [i]If I did not know that Chuusotsu! is a primary slice-of-life visual novel, the opening scene would definitely trick me. The writer should try their hand in writing sci-fi, thriller or detective stories, in my humble opinion.[/i] A dark alley. A suspicious man. A cute girl with glasses walking boldly towards him. “Have you brought it?” she asks feverishly. The man cackles and takes out a strange package out of his coat. Is it the beginning of a horror? With the quite intriguing introduction, the story gets off to a good start. Marisugawa Arue is an amateur manga artist with a great goal – to sell even one copy of her new work at the doujin convention. If she does not, a creepy Neckbeard (who is surprisingly a celebrity in the certain community) will lick her feat. Ew! What can Arue do to save her dignity and innocence? Call her mighty chuusotsu friends, of course! Hm, but what about that girl with glasses? Why is she also here? And what is she hiding? And will Arue’s feet stay safe and unlicked?!!! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1987092938 [h1]ღSome Thoughtsღ[/h1] Small note: as I have not read the first game, it took me some time to understand what seals everyone was talking about – I saw info about them before in the description for Time After Time, but seeing and understanding are different things. However, as soon as I got the gist of it, everything became quite logical. If the word can be applied to this story at all… Anyway, speaking of the story and the setting, I definitely liked both. The author created an interesting world where a single seal sets your whole future – and nothing can be changed once you get one. People without a seal are outcasts and considered to be useless. So what can a single fifteen-year-old girl do? Fight and actually make her dreams come true! This is a very inspiring message that applies even to our society. Also, keep in mind that while being a slice-of-life, Chuusotsu! actually explores some serious topics: harassment by people who are more powerful than you, discrimination, fraud, etc. It is not just a mindless spiel about school girls having fun and doing cute things. Yes, there are a lot of light-hearted moments and jokes, but the authors clearly put a lot of love and thought into their project and added a deep point too. To be honest, the main character resonates with me in many ways. I also used to draw comics and pictures when I was younger (though it never worked out in the end as I am talentless), loved and still love noodles and desserts, and obsess over manga and anime – not as much as before as I hardly have any time for it, but still. In addition, we are both extremely shy and introverted. Maybe this is the reason why I like Arue so much and find her criminally adorable. My heart also went out to Monami and her personal story – I even cried at some point. Other girls, as well as the barely-clad AI are also important part of the story and generally amazing people…well, and the hologram, I guess? Ah, yes, and the Goro guy, the Ultimate Neckbeard of the story. Banish him with fire!!! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1987035089 While story and characters are vital for any visual novel, there are also some other features I would like to mention. Here is a short list of pros and cons: ❤️ [u][b]Pros:[/b][/u] [list][*]Writing is easy-to follow and descriptive, and I did not notice any grammar or vocabulary mistakes. To be honest, half of the text can be just used as quotations when you want to add some geeky flourish to your speech – the jokes are hilarious and the otaku flavor is almost palpable; [*]Great artwork and character designs. Even though there are not that many CGs and backgrounds, all of them are neatly drawn and beautiful; [*]The UI is lovely. I honestly adore the small menu with options in particular – you get to it by clicking right mouse button. It is small and cute, and the animation was curious. The overall presentation is very neat and works well with backgrounds and characters; [*]Simple but very fitting music. Voice acting is also top-notch![/list] 💜 [u][b]Cons:[/b][/u] [list][*]I had very strange music distortion when I first launched the game – as if I was listening to a very old radio recording with some noises. The problem was solved by opening the setting menu; so, it was a minor issue, as you can see, and it never repeated later on. It could not affect the gameplay itself, of course, but the sound was so unpleasant that I honestly thought of turning off the music completely before I accidentally found the solution; [*]Rather short – just about 4 hours; [*]There is no gallery to check your collected CGs after a playthrough. So take these sweet screenshots while you can![/list] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1986997627 [h1]ღMy Verdictღ[/h1] Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle is a short story about a girl who was not afraid of following her dreams. She found support in her friends and belief, never straining from the chosen path despite doubts, regrets and fears. Even though people saw her nothing more than an outcast, Arue still moved on and tried inspiring other people and sharing her love for manga with them. This visual novel made me feel a lot of various emotions and I read it until the end even though it is now about 3 a.m. for me. I just could not really stop when the events started to unfold one after another. I think there was just enough of anything: jokes, cute girls doing cute things, nerdy stuff, tears, inspiration, adoration and hate, and many, many other things that make you love the story. I wholeheartedly recommend reading Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation if you are looking for a good plot with some serious but not too dark topics and a lot of bright colors that bring you hope for the better future. And remember – there was no brainwashing! No brainwashing at all! [code][h1] You can find more reviews on [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34470115/]our Curator Page.[/url] Check it out, all right?[/h1][/code]

The Moving Castle is, as the title implies, not quite a sequel and more like an expansion of the original Chuusotsu game, perhaps setting the stage for a proper second game. As such, it's a much shorter affair (about 3-4 hours), still in kinetic form. At the same time, I felt the shorter length is welcomed since I'm not a fun of monstrously long works and the characters really help carrying the events. The story this time follows Arue and her newfound friends through the process of creating a doujin manga for a futuristic Comiket-like event, again, all tinted in the same dystopian and (this time around) EXTREMELY dark background of the world they are living in. This time another character is added to the roster, a cute meganekko (my weak spot) called Mogami that's just great and it would be a shame if she doesn't show up in the sequel. You heard me devs! Give more meganekko love! Ahem, keeping it serious, the story takes a moment to call out on the prepotence of artists, criticism over the merciless doujin and commercial battleground involving game, manga and other materials creation in Japan and combines it with the even heavier background provided by this very close and bleak future where people are controlled like sheep through nanomachines. Either way, it truly surprised me how many interesting questions the Chuusotsu series poses under a seemingly carefree and cute slice of life VN so props to the devs for sticking to the theme and definitely looking forward to see a second part! If you already checked the first, no harm in checking this 1.5 extra story even though it kind of leaves you wanting more. (Of everything, especially Monami!) Props to Fruitbat for bringing this one, it's always cool to see VNs outside of the companies/brands and from smaller devs. Lastly, not many technical comments this time around. The game, just like its predecessor, runs on a toaster.

The Moving Castle feels a lot more like a short little Extra Story like the ones you sometimes get with an Anime where they just add 2 extra Episodes that didnt air. Since it is named 1.5 though that does make sense. It also is priced lower than the first Game however considering the difference in length, I have to say that this Side Story should only be bought if you already played the first Game and also liked it and want some more of our lovely Chuusotsus. That is because this one costs half the Price to the first one, but only offers around 2 hours of playtime. Everything else is very similar to the first Game. The Menu, Art, Voice Acting and Tranlsation all is exactly the same. If you wouldnt know that this is a different Game you would certainly think that this is just like a DLC to the First Game. Now to the Plot of this Side Story, the Character Monami that gets introduced is very similar to Arue herself and they share a lot of things that they have in common. This makes them a great fit and the overall Concept of Arue participating in a Manga Convention is nicely made. There are also a few funny moments and there is also a nice Rivalry going on and a few interesting Things happen. Overall, if you liked the first Game and dont mind paying the rather high price for an amusing 2 hours playtime then go ahead and buy it. If you think it is too expensive then just wait and buy it later, I do recommend buying it though as it really is a nice addition to the Series. 8/10 Check out my Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34401214/

a short but good Visual Novel. can recommend it. sweet girls. the price is to high for this short game, I would say -50% offer is alright.

[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7520163/]You can find hundreds of other reviews through our Curator page[/url] [h1]"The spin off with a title so weird that I can't work out a way to make a pun about it."[/h1] While it obviously doesn’t have the scope to present a tale as evolved as Time After Time, it uses its limited stretch to appreciate doujin culture. It’s a real love letter of sorts, delving into Arue’s deep-seeded adoration of the genre as well as exploring the motivations and hardships of both the struggling and flourishing writers that she encounters. It still makes time to poke fun at sweaty, obsessive otaku fanatics and provides a heartfelt, somewhat randomised, defence for hentai as an artform. The convention itself is the tale’s highlight, with Arue not only struggling to sell her manga without a seal (therefore being considered the rankest of rank amateurs), but having to deal with a hectic, untameable environment. She hardly thrives within the chaos, but shows a sense of determination weaned from her earlier adventures to try and see it through. Only there’s people out there producing otaku pheromones she simply can’t compete with. And there’s a weird guy out there really working the foot fetish angle. Lessons are learnt, bonds are formed and everything’s neatly concluded. It is what it is and, so long as prospective readers go in expecting a short(er) story designed to tide you over until the next core chapter rather than a main entry (highlighted by the 1.5 in the title rather than a 2, I suspect), then returning fans will find little to complain about. Just so long as you are a returning fan. Newcomers not welcome. [url=http://www.honestgamers.com/14649/pc/chuusotsu-15th-graduation-the-moving-castle/review.html]// Full Review

STORY: Chuusotsu 1.5th Graduation is a side story to the original 1st Graduation, with the same three young female protagonists from the original story, this time with a focus on the lead character's and a brand new character to the series desires to be both manga creator, despite the odds stacked against them. As with the original version, it is a straightforward story with a single predictable ending, with a largely comical and lighthearted mood in nature, with some more serious self-reflection chapters along the way. And as in the original version, it tends to do neither particularly well, in fact managing to be blander and more forgettable than the original. ARTWORK: The characters sprites and drawings are the same as in the original version - ok, but no more than that. They feel monotone and on the unpolished side, no animations and there is relatively few variety of facial expressions. It further suffers from the complete lack of CGs, in contrast with the original story, which at least had a few to complement it. SOUND: There is a decent amount of music included in the game, though nothing new relative to the original. Like in the first game, the sound track is of decent quality and accompanies the mood of the story well, though it is not particularly memorable by any means. Furthermore, there is no option to listen to the songs in the Extras. Voice acting is decent and conveys the characters' emotions and backgrounds well. SUMMARY: Overall, barely passable and expensive for the largely so-so quality of the work, and the short story. I do suggest getting it on sale if interested. 5/10

Overall a good read. Arue and crew come back to join in the usual hijinks. The story is an interesting story looking into the passion of manga (and hentai) artists. Sadly a little to short, but with the .5 it was to be expected. Fans looking for more Chuusotsu will be happy with this addition. If you have not read the first graduation, I highly recommend that one first.

if you enjoyed the first game, you should definitely enjoy this one! It's got more of the stuff that made the first so good, but in a much smaller package. Do not let the length make you think it's not packed full of amazing things though. It's just as heartfelt and emotional of a journey! And Arara remains best girl <3 I marked it as "free", but I did get this because I backed the original game, so I dunno if that exactly qualifies as "free"? I did it just to be safe. ONWARD TO FIGHT THE WORLD DOMINATOR