"A simple and crude pseudo-RPG. But still enjoyable!"

* Introduction -
As far as I can tell, it's originally based on a TV animation of the same name, and it was released in the US as well. Fans of the anime might know this better than myself, as I personally have never seen the series. This is a simple RPG to pick up and play, even for non-Japanese speakers, if one has experience playing some import titles.

* Gameplay - [7/10]
I say this is a pseudo RPG, because there are no experience raising of any kind, and money isn't part of the game either. Although your characters have 3 basic stats - attack/defense/agility, the only real way to raise them is to equip your characters with an item. And each character can only equip one item at a time, whether it'd be a weapon to raise your attack strength, or armor to raise your defense.

The items you get are simply given to you, picked up, or "bought". I say bought in quotes because you talk to a shopowner, and the transaction takes place, but of course, since the game doesn't keep track of money, it's more like you simply getting the item by talking to the shopowners.

Since there's no stat raising of any kind, if you can avoid a battle, you can do so without really worrying about losing out on exp and/or money. And believe me, there are stages where it's better off for you to fight the least amount possible and save your energy for the boss.

Instead of one long continuous story like a traditional RPG, the game is mission-based. You fulfill a certain amount of things to move on to the next mission, and the new mission may lead you to a spot you haven't been before.

All that said, the battles are actually the real fun part of the game. It's not the typical "select attack to attack the enemy... " system. The battle is a sort of a card battle system. In essence, each of your characters get a group of cards, and you use them to fight against your enemy. Depending on what group of cards you use, you can attack, defend, raise your stats for the duration of the fight, and you can also combine cards with your other characters to unleash a combination attack. It's simple, but fun.

* Story - [?/10]
My Japanese is only good enough to understand bits of events at a time, so I can't say too much about the overall storyline, except that it seems to progress nicely, and it's easy enough to understand generally what's happening.

If you've seen the anime, than you'd probably have a much better idea of what's going on.

* Graphics/Sound - [6/10]
Clean 2D graphics, but it's not much more than that. The graphics get more interesting during battle scenes. Every time somebody does something during the battle, a short anime clip plays. And the clips are interesting, and not long enough to annoy you, either. I must say, one of the main characters (a girl) has a penchant to disply her panties for whatever she does. Perhaps this is why the game got the 18+ rating, but it's far milder than what most of you probably have in mind for 18+ material. More like 13+ rating at most, I'd say.

The sound is nothing spectacular. In fact, it gets repetitive and annoying after awhile.

* Play Time/Replayability - [7/10]
I've been playing it on and off for a couple weeks, but I can see a hardcore gamer finishing it in a weekend. Though there isn't multiple ways or scenarios to increase the replayability of the game, I can see myself having another go at it years down the line as the battle system alone was fun enough.

Having picked up a tattered version of this title up for a few hundred yen, I can't complain about getting my money's worth.

* Final Score - [7/10]
If you can pick it up for not too much, I'd say give it a go. I wouldn't say it's a gem, but definitely not a dud either. Fans of the anime might also consider picking it up.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/06