Hatsumira -from the future undying-

I have two problems with this visual novel. The first is the fact that my controller doesn't seem to work correctly, no matter what I change the inputs to. No matter what, only clicking down on the right joystick or pressing L1 will advance the text. Changing the inputs in the settings menu doesn't actually change anything. I tried by changing a bunch of different buttons and applied it, but nothing changed in the game itself. The input configuration menu is merely decoration that doesn't actually work. The second issue I have is the localization. Why does a Japanese military man sound like a character out of Oliver Twist? He sounds like some sort of cockney orphan thief who shouts "Oi Guvnah!!" Here's a line from the visual novel... "Bollocks! The enemy's trying to hit your camp-- they've gone after the box kickers and the slop jockeys!" I THINK this means the people who move supplies and the cooks. The VN is full of weird phrases like this, as this is how the MC always talks.... the JAPANESE MC. I'm not sure who had the idea to localize the game this way, but it's absolutely terrible. I cringe every time this guy says something.

This is an isekai story, which is pretty rare in VNs, unlike in anime. In short, it's about a kamikaze pilot during (presumably) WW2 who, before dying, gets transported into a different, fantasy world, where he promises to fight another war before going to back his own world. I'd like to start with the good stuff this time. The absolute best thing about the games is the strong character lineup. Every main character is fantastic, except for one and even the side characters are good enough that you genuinely care about them. The side characters aren't exactly deep or memorable, but they just have a certain charm you have to see for yourself to truly understand. Ichiro's wyvern fleet deserve a huge shoutout, they're fleshed out a lot more than you'd expect and each member gets a lot of attention. The main character also deserves a huge shoutout. He's genuinely one of the best main characters you can ask for. He has his own set of values, but never undermines anyone else's. He uses his brain and he's confident, but he also understands himself and his own shortcomings as well, never saying what he does is the right thing, but the thing he believes in. He's also pretty funny and charismatic. He also avoided the Kirito effect, he always relies on his allies when he can and inlcudes them in his plan if necessary, which is almost always the case. Now, for the main characters, they all fall into a certain cliché trope, but they are also their own thing. Not at first. In fact, pretty much all of them have a lukewarm first impression. The dragon is too proud and haughty, the dog is simply proud and strong, the mermaid is super horny and a typical airhead, the undead is just outright annoying. However, they all grow to be something more sooner or later while still keeping their own quirks which is a good thing. The story is good, but the quality heavily varies in the respective routes. You are forced to do Yukikaze, the dragon princess' route first and by far, that's the best one and a pretty good one in general. However this causes a problem, because it sets the bar too high and none of the other routes are as good. Not to say they are bad, especially Ailah's route comes fairly close in quality, followed by Meltyna's which has some serious faults, but still a competent route. Meltyna's route is almost ruined by a very cliché plotpoint which I can't mention, but it felt unnecessary and very annoying. The black sheep was definitely Reah. Not only her character was the weakest, but her route was unsatisfying and outright boring. The worldbuilding is great. The different races are all explored in detail, going deep into their customs, quirks and living places. This is especially important, because a lot of stories neglect worldbuilding. I said a lot of good stuff, but now I need to talk about the bad points. The worst part of the game is in my opinion are the villains. They suck. Most of them. Miska, Sirius and Setsuna are the worst ones by far. Miska is supposed to be a comic relief, but none of her "funny" banter with Damon worked (Damon was actually a decent villain). Sirius had no real character whatsoever, he basically had no will of his own. Setsuna was handled the worst way possible, but I can't mention more without serious spoilers. Like I already mentioned, the routes quality vary, but even Meltyna's route is decent at worst, even if it has a huge low point. But pretty much anything involving Reah is mediocre at best. It's not like she's lacking backstory or anything major like that, but her story just didn't resonate with me and her character is super weak compared to the other main characters. This is a personal negative: Carmine deserved a route. I won't tolerate any opinion that says otherwise. I'd go as far that she should've had a route instead of Reah, though I understand having 2 dragon routes would've been unfair for the race balance. Even so, Carmine not having a route is a big loss in my opinion. The music is kinda mediocre, but that's just a question of taste. Now I have to mention, that the MC has a weird british/australian dialect in the localized version which might or might not work for you. I personally find it funny, so I'm fine with it. The male lulucarions (dogs) and dwarves have their own dialect, though in the case of the lulucarions it does conflict with some more serious scenes. When they keep talking like they're stoned or something when a serious talk is happening is a bit jarring, though I understand they kinda had to keep it that way so that they will remain consistent. It's not a huge deal. Overall, this was a great experience. It knows when to be serious, showing the horrors of war, when to be funny and just to kick back and despite its shortcomings, it's a VN I can easily recommend.

Lets be clear we dont see many " Isekai " Vns get localised that often. tho some may be announced at acen in May. Other than Harem kingdom this is the 2nd Isekai VN to get localised in English. Hope we get more plot/story related VNs like this. Edit 2: After reading for 8 hours, i still stand by what i initially said about liking this VN. The use of British dialect by the protag is still one of the main issue. However i still feel that it doesn't get in the way of hampering the overall experience like some others are making it out to be. If you keep an open approach to the protag without going too deep into "him being from Japan so he should not use or say this " then you will have a much better experience from him. That said the Localisation is a bit more complex in this VN. The TL team has clearly decided to adopt a "in character" approach when it comes to it. Like the use of " Cat speak " etc in the sentences i personally find it alright but some may think that it is overly done. on steam you can only give a green or a red rating as there is no middle tier. so till now this VN is a solid 6 - 6.5 / 10 mainly because of localisation choices adopted by the team. otherwise this was an easy 8. Definitely not a red The protag is depicted as a very experienced Fighter Pilot from Japan. and he uses that to his advantage during the massive fights and battle sequences that this VN has. It has many many event CGs especially during the battles, thats why even tho it has 720p default resolution, it's 6GB in size. and offers easily over 35+ hours of read time, Edit 1: A bit of Advice to Frontwing : When you Localize your VN for International market please be aware that using " regional specific names or instances" does not help. International ≠ UK Only. People from other countries wont get the references. Please keep this in mind moving forward. This VN easily has over a dozen side characters all voiced some even have H scenes. its not heavy on H content as compared to its massive length, and is more focused on Characters and battles. Anyways these are my thoughts and info on this VN so far i may update this review if i find something that needs editing or changing. Free Restoration patch link can be found in the discussions or on Frontwing twitter.

The localization of the game is questionable at best and distractful at nauseum, especially for the MC. I looked hella forward to this VN since its original JP announcement with its Grisaia cross promotions back in the day but it really killed the mood when I had to relate a ye olde Japanese man's dialogue to British mannerisms... *I've only read the early portions at this point before getting burnt out by the "translation" portions, so if anyone has any points that may change my opinion to a more positive light, I'm all for it.

補丁取得困難 遊戲的文本是英文 購買前先想一下 只有4個可供略的女角 分其在地4章

Most unusual VN I've ever read. That obviously is not bad thing, but it was difficult for me to give my final assessment. First of all it's isekai VN that is definitely rare for genre. While it has some really cool ideas and twists there are some really questionable moments in the story. Like how about dragons that are carrying big air guns or like zombies that only human race uses in the war. And overall setting is very complicated. There are demi-human races, magic, old legacy artifacts, technologies and even god appears at some moment. I can recommend this vn if you liked other frontwing VNs specifically Grisaia. So if you are fan of Grisaia like me I recommend to play this VN (or read Grisaia and then play it). Similar things to Grisaia: 1. Of course it is art style (It's basically the same author). 2. Main character is edgy military man. 3. Humor is very similar to the one there is in Grisaia, I personally like it. 4. It's pretty long and each main girl is completely different and described. I enjoyed the story and to summary things up I just point out the minuses and pluses that I personally noticed and give my final assessment: +Artstyle and music. +A lot of memorable secondary characters and their stories +Unique setting +Main girls routes especially Yukikaze and Aliah are very enjoyable +Routes are very different and unique +Yukikaze gives me so much vibe of Senjougahara (Monogatari series) -Some very dumb concepts like zombies and necromancers and dragons with guns -A few of interesting characters are forgotten as the story progresses but some pop up again in other routes I rate this VN as 7/10 (read if you like grisaia series).

I really just wanna counter some negative reviews this game will get due to its quirky localization. A gripe at best, the localization can actually get quite funny and characters' speaking quirks tend to die down when things get more dramatic. Some choices I don't understand, like the dogs speaking somewhere between fratboys and valley girls, but others I do understand. The main character talking like an old British boxer is not only kinda funny, it's a good way to date him as a character from the 40's, helping justify his casual sexism and lack of modern inhibitions ultimately kinda making him feel like an endearing Indiana Jones-like man-out-of-time character. All while taking nothing from his own commentary on his Japanese origin which comes up a lot. As for the content of the game and its story, it's a decent fantasy war story with both well delivered comedic segments in-between some good attempts at really compelling battles and horrors of war. Some misfires, but ultimately an interesting take on a bit of a WW2 allegory which both criticizes the mindsets and actions of the Axis powers, while also coming down on the action of the US as well (midgame spoiler) [spoiler] such as the use of nukes and the air raids/firebombing of civilians cities [/spoiler]. So a uniquely holistic anti-war look at something of a WW2 allegory in that unique Japanese way, but through the lens of isekai fantasy, so a bit of having your heavy handed "War Is Bad" cake and eating your Dragon Girl Waifu too. (She is good though)

This game is not bad but its not good either. You get one choice and only one at the end of the game, stay or leave. The story is okay and so is the characters. But i found this to be a very boring experience. One thing is sure tho the adult patch is not worth it. Update. After doing new game seems you got 4 girls to choose from so all in all i guess there is 5 choices in total, 4 girls and leave and stay.

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At the time of writing this review I have completed all 4 Chapters and Yukikaze's Route with over 40 hours of play time so I feel that I have enough time to understand the good and the bad that the VN has to offer and judge it fairly. For those that are to impatient to read the in-depth longer review (which is *SPOILER FREE*) here is a TL;DR: Overall a 8/10. As long as the localization of Ichiro Mimori (Japanese man given a cockney accent [think of it like a British/Australian accent]) doesn't bother you so much that you won't give it a chance then it is 100% worth a shot. It isn't perfect but the few flaws it has is majorly out weighted by all the good and amazing things this wonderful VN brings to the table so please give it a chance. (P.S. for all the people worried about furry scenes [all males of the species in this world are non-human looking other than being bipedal] don't worry! There are only 2 scenes that you would have to worry about and of course that is only if you get the X-Rated patch that Frontwing link to on their twitter. both are not very long [especially the one since its not really a scene its a flashback] and the first one has no important story elements to it so it can be skipped without worry) To start off let's deal with everyone biggest complaint about the VN first and talk about the localization. Mainly our protagonist Ichiro but some other characters as well to a lesser degree. For anyone who isn't aware already our protagonist Ichiro Mimori is given a Cockney accent (for those unaware you can think of it as a British/Australian accent) which is a bit jarring considering he is a Japanese solider. Some (like myself) was of course surprised when we first heard (or read I guess since our protag doesn't have an actual voice) but I never considered it an error or flaw in the writing or translation of the localization team. Imagine Frontwing when deciding to localize this VN ordered the localization team that Ichiro MUST only say Japanese phrases and the like. Sure that immediately makes him more believable and less jarring as a character but it also lessens our understand of a bunch of things, mainly about Ichiro himself but also any situation he might be involved in. Now an immediate counterpoint to this is that people don't understand half the things he says anyways with his current accent, cue the infamous like everyone loves to throw as an example. "Bollocks! The enemy's trying to hit your camp-- they've gone after the box kickers and the slop jockeys!" Now lets realize that we are (hopefully) all adults here as the creators of the series intended their audience to be. Sure as a separated quote you might think "what the Bollocks is box kicker and slopjockey?" but using our brain given to us at a young age that was trained to problem solve, you can EASILY understand what Ichiro is talking about in this sentence when you are in the moment reading the novel. (in this case, before this line was said Ichiro and a solider were talking about the transportation of supplies and the food rations of the platoon in that area. using that brain I mentioned before you can understand that "Box kicker" is meant for the people transporting supplies and "slopjockey" is the cooks. I hope that you would know what "slop" is before reading this VN in your life.) My point here is that even though it obviously isn't a word you either know or use, you can still understand it just by using the context clues you are given. (sorry if I sound like a teacher) The problem with Ichiro sticking strickly to Japanese jargon is that (guess what) WE ARE NOT JAPANESE. weather or not you are from a country that teaches English as your first language or not. The point of the localization is that it is pointed at ENGLISH SPEAKERS! so overbearingly pushing Japanese phases and jargon might not bother the hardcore weebs and VN readers, anyone who attempts to try this that maybe only recently, lightily, or even for the first time is reading a VN or taking in Japanese culture is either going to turn away or have a lackluster experience due to the difficulty of understanding another country's culture and ways of speaking. Now this does not mean that I am saying this was the 100% best choice they could have gone with but I want you to understand that as a company they made this decision (to give Ichiro his accent) to be accessible to the majority of English speakers while also giving Ichiro a very defined personality that you can EASILY identify from his first interactions. Personally I actually love that he talks the way he does. it gives him character and really helps him stand out from the rest of the cast as his own character and not some blank slate protag that you can put yourself into to feel like a badass or hero. Sorry that I dragged this one topic out to long but since it was the biggest issue that I have seen people having I wanted to make sure that I got my point across without holding anything back. One more thing as I have said at the start but there are also some other minor characters that have speech quirks like Ichiro but to a lesser degree. as long as you can get past Ichiro they should not pose much trouble for you to deal with and you may even like how they talk! The 2nd and last point/argument against Hatsumira (that I will talk about in the review) is the game play or lack thereof. If you have played other Frontwing games you probably aren't surprised or even care of the lack of choices that the game gives. since their staple seems to be a well written story that they are trying to tell and then giving you a choice only at the end (in Grisaia for example you only had choices for who's route you wanted to do and then the good and bad ending at the end of said route [of course there were a few choices in the common route before but nothing groundbreaking for the story]) This VN in particular seems to follow that trend. While personally I am fine without making choices that effect the story (after all I understand and am here to read the story that Frontwing has made for us not to take control of Ichiro and start hacking and slashing Wisla soldiers) some people seem to think that VN=Game. While of course they are heavily similar they are not literally the same. If you want to play a game you play a game. A Visual Novel main purpose, regardless of how many choices it has or if it has game play. Is to tell a story to the reader. How it accomplishes this is up to the developer. If you disagree with this decision by Frontwing then that's fine, But under no circumstances should you harass or attack someone who disagrees with YOU on that point and vice versa. I think that's enough ragging on Hatsumira for now. (I only have a few minor and meaningless complains anyways that aren't worth discussing) So then, what is GOOD about Hatsumira? Since this review has already dragged on (and I quite literally ran out of space and had to chance this last part of the review) I will try to keep it short and talk about 3 main points. Characters, Art , Story. 1. Characters: While there are a few bad eggs (none rotten just not good) the vast majority of the cast is great. they all have a unique personality that while they may share traits with other characters, none are exactly the same and you will end up caring for the majority of them. 2. Art: What else to say other than to thank Akio Watanabe and Fumio for the outstanding artwork yet again. Absolutely no complaints here. 3. Story: While this is no groundbreaking work in storytelling, I wouldn't dare call it horrible in any way. it has its highs and lows and a small gripe I have is after introducing new characters they are almost cast aside and forgot after their introduction story is over. they make small appearances in the next chapter only to not return till their dedicated route. to be fair they aren't important to main story. TL;DR: Story works fine, characters are great, art is fantastic