What’s Coming Down the Pipeline

Edelweiss_02_iwa_naki_m
It’s been a while since our last major update like this, and with both Koihime Musou and Guilty ~The SiN~ now out for your enjoyment, it’s time once again to talk about what’s in store next.

Translation

One of our translators has been making steady progress on production of Baseson’s Harukoi Otome. Translation of the common route, Umi’s route, Yuika’s route, and Kisaya’s route are complete, leaving only three more individual routes to go. And yes, in case you can’t tell by how long the translation of this game is taking, it does indeed rival Koihime Musou for length. In fact, Koihime Musou was originally a spin-off from this very game, much like how Nanoha was a spin-off from Triangle Hearts.

Our other two translators have been hard at work as well. One has finished the translations for Go Go Nippon ~My First Trip~ as well as a very funny game from SCORE and also just finished up a sexy tale of swords and magic from Tactics. Likewise, the other one has finished translations for a dark fantasy from Liquid and is nearly finished with a sexy, magical game from SCORE.

On my end, the re-translation for Edelweiss has been complete for a while now and I’ve moved on to DEARDROPS. After finishing my play-through, I have to say the live scenes are amazingly well done. I’ve translated the lyrics for all of the songs and sent them off, so those of you who buy the game will definitely have them when its released. Each one really ties into the scene its featured in very well, so I hope you enjoy them all. My favorites have been “Anytime, Anywhere” and “My Dear Stardust”, the former of which was listened to by several people during the quakes for encouragement (according to comments on twitter). I’m plugging through, and about 1/3 done with the common route now, but there’s still a way to go before I start on the individual routes.

Editing

As usual, our editor sloanereinja is keeping up on everything we can throw at him and drafting up some posts for this blog, but I’ll let him comment here:

As Kouryuu said, we’ve had a lot coming through the pipeline. So much that it’s hard to keep things straight between working up to four games concurrently (I laugh at those who say there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing – doing two rounds of two sex romps at a time is incredibly draining (and not only in the pervy way), not to mention compiling tester reports for a certain banana girl game and writing the odd blog post and PR bit. That said, even at the busiest and most taxing of times, it’s still a lot of fun to wake up in the morning and tackle the next bit of a story and put that last coat of polish on a product. In fact, it’s been so much fun that it’s hard to believe I’ve already been doing this for a full year!

Testing

As we reported in January, the many updates NNL made to the translation of ef ~the first tale~ and latter tale have all been finished, and have been sent off to minori since that time. Minori had finished script insertion for ef ~the first tale~ and were working to correct issues with the alpha build when they suffered significant damage to their offices following the recent earthquakes. Luckily their staff was alright, but between the damages, the rolling blackouts, and requests to conserve power, they are still trying to get back on their feet. So while they are trying to recover and keep production going to prevent delays on their upcoming new release for Japan, Supipara, they are still putting time in on fixing the ef build. We hope to hear from them soon with a clearer estimate on how much recent events have delayed progress.

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Likewise, Edelweiss was estimated to start testing sometime this month/April, and hopefully there won’t be much of a delay, but right now we’re just glad everyone at OVERDRIVE is safe.

Our original plan was to announce the Da Capo title we’ve been hinting at a little later, since we were hoping to have ef ~the first tale~ in beta by now, but since its the only upcoming title that managed to enter Beta Testing prior to the earthquake and the delays it caused, we will likely be finishing it first, so you might see an official announcement of it within the next couple of weeks.dc_k02a

Hard Copies

We’re pleased to say that the Da Capo hard copies have entered replication and are nearly finished, so they’ll be shipping as planned very soon. If you can’t order online, Hen Da Ne will have copies for sale at various conventions, and we’ll be selling them as well at our Anime Expo and Otakon booths. That said, we’re only doing a single print run of the Da Capo limited edition, so order now if you want the artbook and OST, since there’s barely 1 week left before they ship.

Details regarding the possibilities of future hard copies will likely come after this is released, once we’ve had a chance to talk with Hen Da Ne about how well they’ve done and what to pursue next. Any suggestions?

Other

For OVERDRIVE fans who haven’t gotten around to watching it yet, they’ve put up a Promo Video for their new game, Dengeki Stryker, with OP theme sung by Masaaki Endoh, and Animation by Watanabe Shinichiro (AKA Nabeshin).
You can also listen to and download the OP theme from the game’s website now.

In other news, we have an excellent title that’s nearly finished in terms of localization, which none of us can wait to start discussing. However, it’s currently being held up by copyright issues for a certain part of the game not directly owned by the game company who made it. We’re hard at work trying to negotiate a resolution to this issue so we can bring the game to you all as soon as possible, as well as to bring you additional titles from their library.

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62 Comments

  1. Da Capo-no
    ef-Will be getting
    Dengeki Stryke-No this looks horrible.
    DEARDROPS-the only thing that comes to my mind is middle aged men trying to relive ‘the days’.
    Harukoi Otome-Generic moege with big noses.
    Edelweiss-plot sounds slightly interesting! besides the annoying side characters.
    Innocent gray title- YES

  2. @your gonna be missing out the FujiFruit. Dengeki Strykers looks to be the best game in mangagamer’s upcoming lineup. I mean it’s written by the same guy that wrote Baldr Force and Baldr Sky (Two awesome games) and has an OP sung by Maasaki Endoh, I can’t see this being bad.

  3. Hmmm

    Magical Teacher Sensei wa Majo? = “sexy, magical game from SCORE”

    Harem☆Party = “sexy tale of swords and magic from Tactics”

    Mashou No Nie = “dark fantasy from Liquid”

    “Funny Game from SCORE” = Score has 9 games, MG has released 1, and worked on another leaving 7 possibilities

  4. Lovely new VN coming out. have to start a pt job to get money. 2011 i am losing money haha.

  5. So any word on when the Edelweiss retranslation will be making its way to customers who’ve already bought the game? I played through one and a half routes but had to stop because, frankly, the quality of the current version is awful.

    • Once it goes through beta and is ready for release it’ll be made available to all (past, present, and future) buyers of the game.

      It’s hard to say at the moment though with the quake causing so much damage. We will post an update once it enters beta, and it shouldn’t be long once beta is finished.

  6. wow i am happy to see so many titles
    i hope the secret one is awesome as well

  7. So many titles, I can only pray I have the money for them all down the line

  8. Wow! I never knew there were this many titles down the pipeline! Very nice!

  9. Will probably be getting all of those. Need more moege!

  10. Nice post. Thanks for the update, Kouryuu!

    Is there any news about an European distributor for the hard copies? (Archodia perhaps?)

    • Yeah, I’m interested in this too.

    • Me three!

      Really looking forward to Deardrops and Ef.

    • J-list ships to EU without taxes. If you are in Europe, buy Da Capo from them and you won’t have to worry about paying more than the game’s worth.

      • Shipping without taxes? That sounds a bit… legally dangerous. Very interesting and tempting, though.

      • Erm… no. Hendane! itself doesn’t charge the tax, the governments do on import so you still pay the tax.

        To quote Hendane!: “Please keep in mind that any customs duties that must be payed for importation of our products are entirely the responsibility of the customer’s. We have no control over such fees.”

        So the charges are made, it’s just Hendane! has no control over them, like any imported good.

  11. What I’m really interested in knowing is if MG is planning on translating Shin Koihime since they tl’ed the previous. 1/2 way done with part 1 and wishing that Shin was tl’ed as well.

    • It all depends on how well Koihime Musou sells. Preseumably if we sell enough to get voices, then we’re almost definitely getting SKM.

  12. Wonderful lineup, been waiting to hear news on what’s coming next for a while now.

    Think I’ll be getting the LE of Da Capo. As for the next possible physical copy…Da Capo 2, Suika A.S+, or Shuffle! would be nice, but I think the best decision is to release the next “big” title with a physical copy, limited edition if possible, which should do a lot better than one that most people have payed for already.

  13. I know it’s still a bit off, but a physical copy of ef ~the first tale~ would be amazing.

  14. maker of Baldr sky eh? I heard its awesome mech eroge something.

  15. Hmm, I would suggest Koihime Musou hard copies as it would surely boast the sale numbers but the cost might be too large? I mean we don’t get voices already, would BaseSon allow LE? Anyway, perhaps there can be a way for those who already bought soft copies to get the physical copy without buying the game twice? That would be nice.

    • I second this suggestion! though lack of voices in hard copy would not be very appealing.

      Other than K+M, i would suggest Shuffle! for hard copy.

  16. Edelweiss almost here… again. Good. Been holding off from playing it.
    Deardrops – Undecided. I know virtually nothing about the game with the exception of it putting lots of emphasis on music like Kira Kira.
    EF – will definitely get it.
    Harukoi Otome – undecided. Will have to investigate further.
    Go Go Japan – if it’s cheap, then maybe probably…
    Two games from SCORE – if Cosplay Alien is anything to go by, I’m extremely unimpressed. Unless glowing comments will come, probably won’t be getting them.
    Swords and Magic from Tactics – please, The Unholy One, let it be “Tenshi no Himegoto” and not “Harem☆Party” like someone said.
    Dark fantasy from Liquid – do want. “Suck my…”, er.., “Guerrilla rape party” is the only good nukige in MG’s lineup.
    Another bland title in “Sex and the Ci…”, sorry, I mean “Da Capo” series – sorry… nope…
    A title with copyright issues? – please, Devil, let it be Innocent Grey title.

  17. Can’t wait to play Edelweiss and Deardrops..

  18. very nice stuff, so much to look forward to.

  19. Oh? Taking suggestions on what game should get the hard copy treatment? In that case, how about Shuffle? Navel puts a lot of stuff in their limited editions and seems to be cheaper than other eroge makers who offer less but charge more. Take a look at this guy’s He has other limited edition games like Ef ~The Latter Tale~

    • 1) Why would MangaGamer LEs necessarily end up exactly like the Japanese counterpats?
      2) A lot of goodies from that link are preorder bonuses from three different shops. It looks like he bought three copies, one from each store, to get the different preorder bonuses. The actual LE bonus is just a special package and a Lycee promotional card.
      3) SHUFFLE! Essence+ is 8800 yen list (9240 w/ tax included); ef – the latter tale. is 7800 yen list (8190 w/ tax included)

    • I know zalas just explained this isn’t just one single Japanese limited edition, but even still…

      HOLY MOLY! That’s a lot of stuff!

  20. >Any suggestions?

    Higurashi Kai and reprints of the Question arcs, please!

  21. Harukoi Otome:
    I’ve played the Koihime † Musou demo and the game just wasn’t for me. And since this game looks even less interesting than Koihime, I think I’ll pass this one too.

    ef:
    This is a title I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. I intended to read the fan-translation at first but decided to wait for the official localization after the MangaGamer x NNL x minori deal came into existence. I’ll probably wait until both halves are released before reading it, though.

    Edelweiss:
    I don’t know why, but this game just doesn’t click with me. However, I’ll probably give it a chance if I end up liking the rest of Overdrive’s catalogue. As of right now though, Edelweiss is at the bottom of my priority list.

    Deardrops:
    My only concern with this game is that it will end up being too similar to its predecessor, but aside from that, I’m expecting good things from it even though it wasn’t written by Setoguchi Renya. Oh, and speaking of Setoguchi, I think it’s a shame that the guy left the visual novel industry. Especially considering how much I liked Kira☆Kira and Swan Song.

    Dengeki Stryker:
    There’s not a lot I can say about it since the game isn’t even out in Japan yet, but it does look interesting. Being written by a supposedly revered scenario writer sure has piqued my interest.

    Mystery Game:
    I hope it’s an Innocent Grey title since I’ve been looking for a nice murder mystery visual novel to read and both Cartagra and Kara no Shoujo look pretty good.

    Others:
    I prefer my eroge to be story-driven so I won’t comment on the rest.

    As for suggestions on hard copies, I’ll second einhorn303 and say Higurashi Kai along with a reprint of the Question arcs (already got mine, but I know that a lot of people were asking for a reprint). Also, I know that I’m getting ahead of myself but a Limited Edition of Muv-Luv Alternative would be pretty neat if you end up acquiring the license for it.

  22. I wonder if Sengoku Koihime will tie into Harukoi Otome as well…

  23. As someone who actually prefer digital copies, I probably shouldn’t be making suggestions on future hard copies but… I think a simultaneous hard copy release of Deardrops would be kind of interesting… ^^;

  24. Nice to see Umi’s route done in Harukoi, though I’m still waiting on Riru-Riru.

    Hoping that the new Da Capo title is Plus Communication or some sort. And I’ll probably grab a physical copy at Otakon too.

    • According to the hints posted it’s one of the fandiscs, most likely White Season (a Da Capo 1 fandisc) though the latest hint could also point to Spring Celebration (Da Capo 2’s FD).

      • I’m hoping it’s a DC2 fandisc since we already got a DC1 fandisc. I’m not sure how I’d feel about PC for either since I already bought the originals unless there was like some discount type thing for people owning the original, otherwise I’d be buying a lot of the same stuff twice over.

  25. Would be nice if the Score game was this, but I highly doubt it:

    http://vndb.org/v2885

  26. http://twitter.com/MangaGamer/status/51328530868477952

    SCORE Comedy is in Beta testing.

    Looks like it’ll either be that or ef ~the first tale~ that gets released next. (not counting the DC hard copies).

  27. I hope the ??? title is Majikoi, just so that people won’t be able to say “TLWiki, NNL, Amaterasu, Sekai Project, you guys all suck for working with legit distributors”. Or rather, they’ll be forced to accept that all the well-known fan TL groups do when given the opportunity.

    I also know for a fact that Majikoi has cameo appearances from other intellectual properties.

    • If it was Majikoi, wouldn’t MG (or orig. publisher/producer), have to pull a Koihime since it has a shit load of famous Eroge/Anime Seiyuu?

      Not criticizing MG, just making an observation.

      • I don’t honestly think it’s Majikoi, I just think it would be a good middle-finger to the “stop officially licensing our free translations!!1!!” crowd.

  28. As I’ve just finished playing Koihime Musou (gotten all the endings <3), I'm soooo looking forward to the next BaseSon title you're working on.

    Thanks so much to MangaGamer's staff !!

  29. I hope you guys translate the second Koihime game soon.

  30. Sorry if this has already been asked. I just watched Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works and now I want to play the Fate/Stay Night game. I like the swordfighting and fantasy elements as well as the girls! I know that MangaGamer would like to be able to release the Fate/Stay Night PC game. Should I wait for MangaGamer to possibly release it in the future, or not? Also what are some games available from MangaGamer that you can recommend to me?

    • ummm just letting you kno there’s fan translation patch for that game…
      you can buy japanese copy of the game and apply patch and play

  31. The Higurashi series is very good.

  32. And about the Higurashi Naku Koro Ni Rei saga??????

  33. I’m not sure if you all have enough time but I would SERIOUSLY be grateful if you translated Higurashi Rei, or at least tell us if you plan to translate it or not. Thanks!

  34. When is the re-translation of Edelweiss going to be released?

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