Otome Game Review – Uta no Prince sama♪

Alternative Titles:うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪, The Prince of ☆ Songs♪ (lol)

Company: Broccoli

Release Date: 24.06.10

Platform: PSP

Genre: AVG, Gakuen, Idols, MUSIC GAME~~

Artist: 倉花千夏 – Kurahana Chinatsu (chara design)

Official Site: http://utapri.com/

Plot: Nanami Haruka (Name Change Possible) has always been alone and the only friend she ever had was music. Her daily routine is to wake up and watch her favourite idol HAYATO’s TV show. She takes an exam for Saotome Gakuen which is a school for students who want to be an idol or a songwriter. She passes and there pairs up with someone to win at the final exam and debut together. But there’s one problem, dating is forbidden at the school and whoever gets found out is expelled unless they break up.

———————————————————————————————————

Ittoki Otoya

(CV: Terashima Takuma)

A Class. Straight with his feelings.

On the way to school on the first day, he saves Haruka from some guy who was touching her. Hilarious thing is that Haruka is like, ‘OMG! People actually think I’m a girl!’. Yeah, so from the beginning you can see how lonely our heroine is. Well, it’s a nice break from those girls that just piss you off when you’re playing.

Friendly with every0ne and in the centre of attention for most of the times. When Haruka becomes his partner for the exams, she’s similar to Kimi no Todoke’s Sadako as she’s like ‘This bright guy is talking to me. I’m going to cause so much trouble.

Shares rooms with Tokiya in S class and some kind of rivalry with him as well. At a recording session, the teachers note that Tokiya isway better in technique for singing so Otoya asks for a re-test. With the help of Haruka, he manages to win the re-test as he had more emotion in his song. Wow, so typical.

They have a water polo match against the S class, where the losers have to cross-dress for the day. Man, compared to everyone else, Otoya is really … Well, let’s say he doesn’t look as good as a girl as some other cross-dressers. Namely the teacher.

He asks Haruka out on a date and they both arrive an hour before the time planned. Wow. Am I supposed to think that’s cute? Anyway, Haruka wants to go on the Ferris wheel and similar to most guys, Otoya is too ashamed to say that he’s afraid of heights. Sigh, seen that too many times. Anyway he tells her of how he’s an orphan and that his mum died 15 years ago in a plane crash, and how he doesn’t who his dad is but someone pays for his school fees every year. Well, as he gets carried on, he calls Haruka by her name and when he asks her to call him by his name, on her attempt she forgets to breathe and gets dizzy. Why?

At the school festival, they decide to have a concert and prepare for it together. Otoya wants to do a duet with Haruka so she arranges a little differently so she can play piano as he sings. Man, Haruka must be REALLY good at music or maybe it’s simply Otoya is bad. Anyway, once the concert finished, Haruka somehow managed to call him by his name. Well, that was hard…So Otoya gets really happy and hugs her and tries to kiss her but she runs away from him. Nice, at least that cracked me up!

Haruka feels sorry for rejecting him like that but he seems fine with it. Now Otoya knows his feelings he wants to know why the school principal banned dating and with the help of everyone in class they try to find out. Haruka doesn’t understand why Otoya’s so curious about the principal (Shining Saotome – great name) and he tells her of how the principal looked really similar to the guy who was paying his school fees and everything. His mother’s favourite idol was also the principal (yeah, he was once the #1 in Japan) and considering that Shining’s best single is about love, Otoya doesn’t get why they aren’t allowed love in his school.

At the Christmas, during Shining’s speech of how love isn’t allowed, Otoya barges in and says ‘I REFUSE!!’ and runs off with Haruka. Wow, that’s just embarrassing. He confesses to Haruka there and says that he can’t live without Haruka etc, and that he will change the school rules and show that love is needed to be an idol. Sigh (Face Slap Kyon style).

So now the whole school knows about them. =.= But Otoya says he won’t leave school so Shining bets with that if they can pass his ‘tests’ he will think about not expelling them. As it seems like Otoya is the only one doing the exams, Haruka asks to be given some tests as well so she’s told to do extra work. Man, in the whole route, I can say that this part made me love Haruka the most. She’s already done half of the work and is like ‘let’s finish it by tomorrow’. Yeah, and then ‘ It’s fine. Humans won’t die just because they didn’t sleep for 30 hours’. Okay, that make me think she’s cute. So in the end she did a month’s worth of work in a week. Wow. So now she’s allowed to meet Otoya. … Who is currently climbing the school. His exam is to climb the school wall which has 3 floors without a life rope and dodge random falling objects. Lol, his other exams was to hitchhike from Hokkaido, fight a bear. Nice. Haruka wants him to stop but then that spoils everything so she tells Otoya that she will be waiting at the top. EXAM PASSED!

Otoya causes too much trouble. The two get an invite to Hayato’s TV show and when Hayato talks to Haruka during the show, Otoya is like, ‘Don’t touch her! She’s mine!!’. And the two get more haters at school. So before the exams someone hides Otoya’s outfit. Lol.Nice. But there’s always Tokiya to go and find it for him. Well, it’s the exams soon and as they are writing the final exam song, Otoyahugs her from behind and thanks her for everything. Really. I would say that’s not enough for all that she did. Anyway, with the power of love (ノ*゜▽゜*)  they win the final exam together.

Great Love Ending (direct translation – 大恋愛)

Why does this remind me of Macross? Watashi no Uta wo Kike~~!

Shining lets them stay with each other and he tells them about his past. Seems like he also had a woman he loved but when he was about to debut, his agency told him to break up as no-one would love an idol with a girlfriend. An idol’s lover is the fans. So he chose his dream over love and the woman left him without saying anything and she died in a plane crash 15 years ago. So he didn’t want his students to face the same problem so he banned love in his school. But as Otoya and Haruka managed to get through his tests he now wants to bet on them and believes that they won’t make the same mistake he did.

As a prize he gives them a holiday as when they become pro, they won’t have much time with each other. He tells her on the way that he was given courage from the first time he had met her. On the way to the entrance exams of Saotome Gakuen he saw Haruka who was attempting to go up the hill to the school and was slipping over a lot of times but she hadn’t given up. Wait, if you’re gentlemen, ever thought of helping her? |(－∇－)| So yeah, romantic moment at the beach. *yawn.

Love Ending

Shining says that he has no other choice but to let them be together with each other as they had won the exams. One day, Otoya gives her a letter that says ‘letter of contract’ in which it says ‘I, Ittoki Otoya will love you, Nanami Haruka forever and I will always sing your songs’. And they kiss. But that’s not enough for Otoya so they play a duet together. Wait, isn’t it supposed to be the opposite way?

Friend Ending

At the Christmas Party, instead of creating a racket, all Otoya does is dance with Haruka. Nice. While he’s getting drinks, Tokiya comes over to Haruka and suggests that she should come over to S class. Well, Shining hears about it and makes both Otoya and Haruka go to S class and she has to make a song for the both of them. Well, for some reason they win the final exam together and the two guys startfighting over who Haruka is going to write a song for. So along comes Shining again and says they should make a unit and they do ‘because whatever Shining says is final. So 3P end. … Sure it’s a ‘friend’ ending?

———————————————————————————————————

Hijirikawa Masato

(CV: Suzumura Kenichi!)

Right. He’s basically some rich guy and so he finds it his duty to escort Haruka during one of Shining’s games – carry your partner bridal style and collect items. Feel sorry for Otoya. His partner ended up being Shining so he was carried bridal style while Shining jumped off the roof and ran through walls. The race isn’t easy considering that random obstacles jump out of walls and Haruka ends up getting a small cut on her hand. And Masato creates a large fuss because of it and treats her hand. Man, who cares. Though my love for Shining increased. Final obstacle for the race is a yes or no question.

Q. It’s been hidden well but Shining Saotome isn’t human. Yes or no.

And Masato is: This is a hard question. It’s obvious that Shining is superior to an average human. Yet … he’s most likely human. I think. … But he could be a new race of human created by new technology or aliens… But you can’t reject the idea that he’s Satan who got resurrected…

And he goes to the door that says ‘Yes’. And a trap door almost causes them to fall. When Haruka asks Masato why he thought Saotome wasn’t human, he’s like ‘We shouldn’t classify Shining as human. Just simply think of him as some other specie’. And they win the race. Great.

Ren (rich guy in S class) seems to be the rival for Masato mainly because although Masato is the successor for his dad’s company, Ren has 2 brothers so there’s no way he will get to be the owner. But Masato is also jealous of Ren because he doesn’t have the family watching and controlling everything that he’s doing. Sigh, really. Who cares? Well, I guess I feel sorry for Ren as he’s being beaten by someone who’s younger than him. Sucks to be him. The rivalry thing simply gets ridiculous as Ren tries to beat him at everything.

For cross-dressing, everyone is surprised at how pretty Masato is. I have to say that the art really sucks at showing that. I guess he looks better than what Otoya and Tokiya looked like but really… Pretty? Look at Kaoru from Hakuouki. THAT is one pretty guy. I can think of loads as well but I’m not really into that kind of thing. Sure I’m fine with genderbend but traps.. O.o

Okay, now back to the route. One day Masato comes in when Haruka is playing the piano and suddenly hugs her which obviously leaves her confused. He asks her about the song she was playing and she reveals that she used to be a street musician and would be playing songs that she composed on the streets. Not many people actually listened to her but one person last winter complimented her but as she caught a cold soon after she doesn’t remember her/his face anymore.

At the school concert they decide to do Romeo and Juliet and at the dying scene, Masato seriously tries to kiss her but this is stopped by Shining who tells them that he will expel them if they really go through with it. Lol. Anyway, Masato’s dad came to watch the concert and is like ‘you waste my money for this! Stop wasting your time!! What a pathetic thing to be interested in being’. Get the idea? The disapproving parent. One in every game. Well, after this Masato goes emo and avoids Haruka which leads to her getting emo cause she just started realizing her feelings for him and thinks everything is her fault. Man, you are hilarious.

She goes to his room to ask him face to face what she did but he’s not there and Ren is there instead as they’re room-mates. Being the typical naive heroine, she has no idea what’s going on when he pushes her down on the bed. And in walks Masato. Sigh, I’ve seen this too many times. Well, Masato runs off and she follows him. Owned Ren! Anyway, he’s like

‘You also prefer HIM more right? The one who doesn’t have the control of the family!’

‘No… That’s not’

‘What’s not? You were having fun with him right?’

‘I went there to find you…’

‘oh. Really. Then you don’t mind if I do this do you? I mean, you came to meet me right?’

And she gets pushed against the wall and her ribbon pulled off. Lol, this was REALLY surprising. Never expected it but Suzumura Kenichi voice for such a scene is just O.o . As expected Haruka’s is extremely scared and is like, ‘you’re not the real Masato…’ (ANOTHER TYPICAL LINE – and always succeeds to piss the guy off) He’s like ‘What you know about me!!! Why you so scared? I know you like me so why can’t I do this to you?!’ And he tries to kiss but she turns her head away. Sigh. Hilarious. But this makes her start crying and he returns to normal. WHY!! OH WHY!! NO!!!!!!!! He tells of how they’re not supposed to be together because of how he already has his life planned for him. So they start acting colder towards each other.

What the hell is this supposed to be?

But Christmas makes everyone high so they can’t lie about their feelings anymore. Masato tells her of how he doesn’t want to be under the control of his dad anymore and that he wants to be able to choose what he wants. Seems like he found this sheet of A4 in his dad’s room which says ‘Step by step instructions of Masato’s life’ (not really. Just something like that). He got pissed off about how he was simply a tool of his dad and ran out of his house that day. And happened to come across Haruka playing in the streets. No-one took notice of her but the fact that she kept playing made him feel better and for some reason Masato joined in with the singing to which Haruka suggested he become an idol. So Haruka is the cause of Masato joining Saotome Gakuen and going against his dad.

Everything is great until Masato’s grand-dad, the one who helped him go against his dad, dies. So Dad comes along and wants totake Masato out of a ‘rubbish excuse of a school’. Too bad for him, he did two fatal things (lol), he ignored Shining while he was lecturing Masato and he insulted Shining’s school. So Shining orders some black clothed people to drag Dad out and tells him that he will only expel Masato if he doesn’t win the exam at the end of school. But that’s not good enough and Masato has to go to the Hijirikawa house as his dad orders him to and so he’s missing a week before the exam. But of course, Masato makes it in time! AND!! WINS… No shit.

Great Love Ending (wait should I call this ‘TRUE’ Ending?)

Dad is amazed at Masato’s singing and says he will pay for everything and give Shining Agency amazing facilities as long as they make Masato a star. Turns out he was a loving dad. *Yawn* Shining has no other choice but to let the two be together because of the power of money. Lol.

Well, because of money and the help of Dad, Masato is really popular so the two don’t really have time with each other anymore. So when they have three days’ rest, it’s quite easy to guess what they’ll be doing. *wink (sigh. Typical) Though Haruka is as hilarious as usual.

Love Ending

Shining basically just tells them to keep quiet about the fact they’re lovers until Masato’s popular enough. On the way home after the exam, he simply kisses her and they promise to be together forever (or something cheesy like that). Boring

Friend Ending

At the Christmas party Ren offers to dance with her but Masato comes along and says that she’s too good of a song writer to be wasted for Ren and for some reason it turns into a fist fight (which Shining allows cause it’s funny). Well, Shining has to stop them because damaging the face is bad for Idols and when Haruka tries to run over to Shining he’s like:

‘STOP! You stay there as you are the prize. As it is a draw we must divide the prize equally!!’ or something like that. Sorry, translating Shining is practically impossible.

And Ren + Masato both promise ‘Forever Obedience’ to her. Lol. What the hell? Well, they end up doing things as a three from then.

———————————————————————————————————

Shinomiya Natsuki

(CV: Taniyama Kishou)

Um, 17 year old Viola player though used to be at pro level with violin. Likes cute things and for some reason has super human strength. You get an Oda Nobunaga of Sengoku BASARA effect when you remove his glasses (in other words…  The sky goes dark, clouds form, the earth shakes, you can see this aura coming out of him and it’s like Hulk when he gets pissed – doesn’t talk properly).

He loves cute things so no surprise that he likes Haruka as well. More like, he gets told to choose a partner for the exams and hegoesstraight up to Haruka and when she accepts him he suddenly hugs her. Wow, Haruka is really funny in a stupid way. Don’t think I’m praising her.

Also the only guy who absolutely loves his ‘rival’. He finds Sho as cute as Haruka and is always like ‘SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-CHANNNNNNNNN!!’. I find it hard to like Sho but people vary I guess. Somehow reminds me of mini-con from Working. Never mind.

I guess he’s supposed to be the retarded guy who doesn’t know what effect his actions have. He can’t cook but he decides to have a picnic with Haruka and obviously she can’t reject his cooking. So she faints. And he’s like ‘you have to be careful as everyone will worry about you if you faint’. Doesn’t realize it’s his skill at cooking that caused things. Well, he falls in love with Haruka REALLY quickly. And even she isn’t sure about her feelings for him.

He confesses to her on the roof at the school festival but Haruka, who remembers Shining’s words about the ban of love, pushes him away. What a mistake. This causes Natsuki’s glasses to fall off but there’s no Sengoku BASARA effect. What there is, is that suddenly Natsuki pushes her against the fence and tells her of how ‘Natsuki is gone now because you rejected him. I am Satsuki, his alter ego’. Sorry, when I was playing this I had to go “HALLELUYAH!!’. Not that I really am a fan of gundam. So now, Natsuki’s doesn’t come out and instead Satsuki is the one who is on the surface. Seems like the reason why you get a Basara effect is because the degrees in the glasses act as a lid to keep Satsuki inside. Satsuki is basically all of Natsuki’s anger and whatever.

Everyone is worried about how Natsuki isn’t coming out anymore (more like Sho gets kicked out of his room because of Satsuki) and this makes Haruka feel REALLY bad. But being the good student that she is, she tells Satsuki to continue joining practice lessons as she wants to know what kind of song would be best for Natsuki. Satsuki agrees to the lessons with the condition that she doesn’t run out of the room no matter what he is going to do with her. By now I got used to people pushing Haruka down that I wasn’t surprised at what Satsuki was doing. Shame that a teacher came in between. More like, how stupid can Haruka be?

Well, Satsuki gets closer with Haruka and he tells her why Natsuki has 2 different personalities. So… Natsuki used to have this violin teacher as a kid and he loved her way too much. He gave her a song that he wrote (remember that’s he’s pro at music) but she published that song as her own and got really popular. That would have been fine but she simply left him without saying anything and Natsuki took too much damage because of it. And Satsuki was created as a way to keep Natsuki sane.

So now Haruka feels bad for both Satsuki and Natsuki. What does she think she is? A saint? Anyway, at Christmas, she tries to drag Natsuki out somehow (sorry, wasn’t concentrating here) and when he comes out she confesses to him. Aww?

Satsuki and Natsuki come to terms with each other (aren’t they the same person? Never mind) and soon they are swapping bodies really casually – as in there’s no Basara anymore. Shame. But the fact that they swap bodies damages the body and soon Natsuki faints. While Haruka is looking after him, Satsuki comes out and tells her that he’s leaving now as all he wanted to do was protect Natsuki (sounds similar to Bleach now…) and that now Haruka can do that instead. Well, Haruka doesn’t want either of them to be sad but Satsuki is like ‘I don’t understand why you’re so nice to me considering what I did to you. Well, I guess it’s true that both me and Natsuki are one andthe same. I began to fall in love with you as well’… Or something like that. And once he hugs Haruka one last time he disappears.

Natsuki learns of this from Haruka and he also got a letter from Sho that was from Satsuki. He tells him that Satsuki isn’t needed because of Haruka and so Natsuki decides to win the exam not only for him but for Satsuki as well.

Great Love Ending (I don’t think there was any fake or true endings in this game so going with GREAT LOVE)

Well they win. Obviously. Natsuki takes Haruka to the roof where he tells her of how embarrassed he was about being so weak that he relied on Satsuki for everything and disappeared because of how Haruka rejected him. Sigh. And he confesses to her once more but this time Haruka accepts his feelings and confesses hers as well.

Shining allows them to stay together (do I have to repeat this every time?) because of how Haruka is the only way we can guarantee that Natsuki won’t go crazy. As they both work at Shining Agency now they live next door to each other so are practically always together.

Haruka is cooking with Natsuki (where she does all the cooking and he washes up) when suddenly Natsuki turns into Satsuki! Seems like Satsuki is now a ‘wild’ part of Natsuki so they are the same person. He came out because both of them ‘want’ Haruka so Satsuki takes the lead or something. Well, isn’t this 3P in a way?

Love Ending

He confesses once more on the roof.  … And they kiss. Sorry, that’s REALLY all. And I don’t like the CG. Make it pretty like Kazuki Yone blood sucking scenes. =.=

Friend Ending

Satsuki faints at the Christmas Party and for now Haruka has to take Sho as a partner for the exams. They work together on a duet song while adding alternations to match it to Natsuki’s style. But Natsuki’s doesn’t come back for a while and the exams are in coming. But obviously he’s coming back and he arrives about a few hours before the exam. IT’s hilarious. Haruka and Sho are like

‘NATSUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!! NATSUKIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!’

And Natsuki is like

“hai, boku desu yo~~~!!’

Well, they win the exam and decide to take a picnic together. Sho is like, ‘let’s stay together as a three the whole time’ and suddenly Satsuki shows up saying

Satsuki  – ‘Make that into a four. Don’t forget about me’

Sho – ‘What the hell you doing here Satsuki! Stop coming out!’

Satsuki  – ‘Who cares. It’s not like she only belongs to you right, midget? Let me have some fun as well’

Haruka –  ‘Uh, Where’s Natsuki?’

Satsuki  – ‘Don’t worry, I’ll give him back soon. Well, when I’m satisfied’

Sho  – ‘Oi, leave her you … エロ魔王! She doesn’t like it!’

Satsuki  – ‘Doesn’t like it? Aren’t you mistaking that for liking it? Or…

Satsuki – ‘Do you also want to be attacked by me?

———————————————————————————————————

Ichinose Tokiya

(CV: Miyano Mamoru)

S Class. Perfectionist. Cold (i guess…)

Looks exactly like HAYATO who is Haruka’s favourite idol but ends up that Hayato is his twin brother. To shut up all the annoying Hayato fans asking for his brothers signature, all Tokiya needs to do is to start singing and then everyone shuts up. Lol. Only thing he’s aiming for is to win the exam at the end of year so Haruka feels pressure from him. Has a complex that everyone looks at Hayato rather than him. Sigh, brothers.

He’s cold to Haruka for the most of the beginning and that kind of gives him a couple of rabid fan girls. He’s cold to his fricking partner and hardly practices with her so he practically ignores anyone else. I guess all tsun is supposed to be cool as well… not really sure. Well, I like it at least. He’s antisocial and doesn’t participate during the sports day and sits there reading a book. He gives the book to Haruka when it’s his turn and the fangirls start bullying Haruka for reading a book during sports day and she ends up getting locked up in thestorage room. Wow, typical place. Anyway, Tokiya finds her and somehow gets locked in as well. Haruka’s about to cry because she thought no one would notice but Tokiya says he only came for the book. They sit down together and wait for someone to come and start making a song together on a toy piano (in a storage room?). The ground starts shaking for some reason and Tokiya saves her from a falling bookshelf. I saw the CG for this in Dengeki girl’s style before and it looked like he was pushing her down. Shame. Well, turns out Shining had destroyed the walls of the storage room by some off method. …

Hayato comes to the school and Tokiya gets chosen as the guide. Haruka gets instructions to run around the school and bring stuff to

adds 'Nyaa~' at the end of phrases. Creepy. And he's popular

certain rooms at certain times for some reason. She gets to meet Hayato who offers to sing a song that she wrote. While Haruka is unsure of what to do, seems like the one singing is actually Tokiya. Hayato tells Haruka to get on better terms with Tokiya as ‘although he’s tsun, he just doesn’t know how to be dere’ (changed words so that I can understand better).They also lose the swimming competition so the 3 class S guys also have to cross-dress. No comment about Tokiya. He simplylooks awful but it was cute how he forced Haruka to give him advice about how to be pretty as he’s a perfectionist. So much that when he has a fever he doesn’t rest and says that it’s a chance to get used to singing when he’s sick. But Haruka forces him to restbecause she actually has some sense. Great. Funny thing is that you have three choices to do once he gets ill. ‘Let him be’, ‘tell him to get changed’ or ‘strip him’. Lol, that’s what it said in Dengeki but the real ones like get him a change of clothes or something. Shame. As Tokiya’s starting to sleep, he for some reason speaks in the way that Hayato does and is extremely nice to Haruka.

Well, he gets well and thanks Haruka and all. … And everything returns to normal. Huh? As nothing really changed even Shining comes along and says that the two aren’t really working together properly so he kidnaps Haruka and tells Tokiya that to get his beloved partner back he has to beat him. Which is impossible. Well, Tokiya fights Shining but Haruka tells him to stop as there’s no way to win and

They wasted one CG on this... Right.

Tokiya simply says to trust him. All’s well that ends well and she gets saved. Kinda skipped that part so not really sure what happened. orz.Haruka and Tokiya prepare for a concert for the school festival but Tokiya doesn’t turn up at the real thing so Haruka is left there all alone. For some reason, I find that Haruka + loneliness really match. Anyway, Tokiya comes along hours late and finds Haruka still sitting at the piano. He tells her how he’s sorry (no, shit.) but Haruka’s like, it’s not finished yet as he still has a chance to sing on stage. … so he does and hugs Haruka from behind apologising. I really don’t think that’s enough. He fricking left her alone. Anyway, he tells her the reason why he was late was because … HES ACTUALLY HAYATO!! That was also the reason why he missed out loads of practices. He was chosen to act out the role of ‘Hayato’ and that was a breakthrough in the entertainment industry as it was a unique personality. No shit, I mean, he’s like, ‘OHAYAHHO~!’ and adds ‘Nyaaa~!!’ to the end of his sentences. It freaked me out.

So, by now Haruka realises that she’s in love with Tokiya but overhears Tokiya telling a teacher that although he loves Haruka, he will

... Whats with his face?

give her up as he has to follow his dream. Sorry that sounds retarded. I don’t know how to say it… Anyway, at the Christmas party, the mood is too great so that on the way back to the dormitory she accidentally confesses to him. He tells her that he loves her as well but if he follows love it wastes all the things that Shining and everybody did for him. Seems like Tokiya was sick of being Hayato and he wanted to debut using his own skills and Shining offered him a place in his school so he can debut as Tokiya if he wins the final exam. Haruka doesn’t know what to do but Tokiya says that he will love her until the day ends and that from tomorrow he will keep a distance from her. So yeah, they kiss etc but once the day finishes they are both strangers again. Confusing.So now they’re practically strangers and only meet to write and practise songs. And as Haruka has to hide her feelings she writes crap songs compared to before. Tokiya notes this and tells her to re-write loads of times and once again she spends ages without

sleep or food. One day after he tells her to redo it again, she starts crying for some reason. And Tokiya walks in… HAHAHA! YOU MADE A GIRL CRY! Well, he doesn’t know what to do and Haruka tells him that she’s okay. But as she’s trying to leave she gets dizzy and Tokiya hugs her. And then kisses her. WHAT THE HELL WAS HARUKA TRYING HARD FOR THEN!? Well, he lets her rest and the next morning tells her to forget about yesterday. Sigh. Can I go and slap this guy? Haruka says that she understands that they’re forbidden to be together so she has to give up and Shining comes out saying ‘ YOU are Verrrrrrrry good. Now keep trying your best and remember LOVE IS FORBIDEN!’ and leaves. Didn’t really have to mention that. Once he leaves, Tokiya realizes that the situation is the same as with Hayato. He has to follow rules that make him give up what he really wants. He had entered Saotome Gakuen so that he can once more do what he wants. So now that he realizes he asks Haruka if she wouldn’t mind following him even if it might cause them trouble. And obviously she says she will be with him forever.

Yeah, he caused trouble. So… He had a music station TV program as Hayato and while it’s on TV, he tells everyone about how Hayato is a character and that he was forced to do it and he will quit now. What an idiot. He gets in trouble at school too but once Tokiya reasons with Shining he’s allowed to stay at school and not get expelled.

Great Love Ending

He wins the competition and Shining lets them be together as Tokiya says he will become crap of he’s not with Haruka. Not surprised.

One year past and Tokiya is top idol and he’s been extremely busy. Tokiya invites her to his house as its one year anniversary of the first time she stayed over with him (when he was ill). He escorts her round his house and for some reason they end up in a bathtub (just sitting, with clothes okay?) looking at the view. Haruka gets embarrassed and as she tries to stand up she presses the shower button which makes her soaking wet. Sigh. She has no other choice but to wear one of Tokiya shirts until it dries (KARE SHIRT! – if you know what that is. In jap: 彼シャツ). He carries her bridal style to the bed and is like, we have the whole night together so what do you want to do. *wink.

Love Ending

He wins competition and after the competition they are writing a new song in the recoding room when Shining comes in. He lets them be together as they have been hiding their relationship well and leaves the room going HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHH~! Tokiya is surprised that Shining let them be together so easily and thought he might have to fight him again like before. He says he understands why Shining forbid dating as dating will only hurt you but they’re fine because they love each other.

Friend Ending

At the Christmas party, Tokiya comes a little late so for some reason, Otoya is hitting on Haruka. Tokiya invites Haruka to a Hayato screening but some reason Otoya is there as well and when Tokiya says that he can’t let Otoya know that he’s Hayato, Otoya overhears so he has no choice but to take him to the screening. But for some reason, by a misunderstanding, Otoya also gets dragged onto stageand is forced to be Hayato’s back dancer (though he quite enjoyed it). He gets chosen by the producer and was offered a job as the rival of Hayato. So the two are kind of like a unit. If Hayato goes on one show, Otoya comes along. Haruka is the song writer for both of them but Tokiya is like ‘I won’t let Otoya have you because I am the only one allowed to sing your songs. So Tokiya doesn’t debut as Tokiya but remains as Hayato. Shame.

———————————————————————————————————

Jinguuji Ren

(CV: Suwabe Junichi)

Man, I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I played this game after Tokimeki GS 3. Never expected to hear Aniki’s voice like this.

Rich guy in class S and plays the saxophone. Flirts with all girls – Haruka included when he first saw her. Her reaction is the typical ‘I’m causing trouble for having him talk to me…’ thing. After writing the other guys routes I just realized it’s similar to that manga by the same person as ‘watashi ni xxx shinasai’. Forgot the title. The girl is the same. Kimi ni Todoke is also like that but do girls really like seeing those kinds of pathetic heroines? I mean, they’re all shoujo manga.

Anyway, Ren becomes an asshole straight after he finds out Haruka is his partner. He can’t be bothered to practice for the exam and says that he didn’t even want to be an idol and that the only reason he’s at Saotome Gakuen is because he was forced by his brother. But Haruka being a good girl says she will wait in the practice room for him until he comes cause she finds it a waste of talent if Ren doesn’t become an idol. Haruka should have just given up on Ren. He’s a pathetic waste of time. =.=

Well, Shining makes Ren go against Masato in a TV program for advertising the school and Haruka is left running around on her own mainly because Ren starts going crazy about beating Masato. Seriously, it’s amazing to have such a big complex for Masato and be considered gay for him. Anyway, Haruka falls into a hole that Ren’s butler (who is in class A) dug up and as the hole was meant for Masato, it’s impossible for her to get out. She starts having these negative thoughts about a news line headline ‘Girl dies of starvation from being left in a hole’ and is like ‘No-one’s going to find me anymore.. T.T’. But obviously, Ren comes to save her. Nice. She’s like ‘What are you doing? You are getting dirty because of me. I’m not worth that much’. Well, he tells her it’s against his rules to ignore damsels in distress, etc.

Ren invites Haruka on a date (to which she’s like I didn’t make a reservation though… O.O) and there he tells her about his complex for Masato. He’s jealous of Masato who has the value of the first-born, something he can never have. He also says that the only reason he’s at Saotome is because the family wants to use him as a ‘Jinguuji’ only idol and that it’s only for profit. But Haruka says that what’s important is Ren himself and that it has nothing to do with his family which surprises Ren as that exactly what Masato had told him when they still friends as kids.

Man, I have to say this again but Shining is awesome. Let’s see, his way of getting Ren and Masato as friends again – Tie the two with a 1m handcuff and chain Haruka onto a rocket.Basically the two have to press some button 2m away from each other within a couple of hours or the rocket will fly off to the moon. Lol. Though knowing Shining it might actually happen. If they can’t do that they simply have to defeat Shining which is near to impossible. Haruka is like ‘… Don’t mind me. Thank you for what you’ve done for me until now’ but the two guys decide to work together to fight Shining. And I forgot what happened but Haruka was saved.

For the school festival, for once, Ren is actually quite excited to do something as he wants to stand out. They decide to do a fashion show with Ren as the only model and Haruka composing the music. This was hilarious. The cg is of Ren’s final pose and that just cracked me up especially with the ‘KYAAAAAAAAAA’ from the audience and Haruka’s ‘Oh My GOD~~~!’ thing. What the hell? Anyway, after the school festival, Haruka catches Ren kissing this random girl and does the typical thing of running away from the spot with Ren going ‘O.o’.

Now that there’s nothing interesting to do anymore, Ren returns to being a cold asshole but the problem is that Haruka already likes him. When she asks him about the girl who he kissed he’s like ‘Why you interested? Nothing to do with you’ and cuts the conversation. Asshole. Well, his brother (the one who sent Ren to the school) was there at the fashion show and notices Haruka’s talent so he offers to send her over to America so that she can study and he will hire her as a songwriter for the Jinguuji company as well. Haruka’s not sure what she wants to do but she misunderstands Ren’s ‘It’s your choice.’ as a ‘You’re in the way. Just go to America and stop causing me trouble’. See? What a retard. Anyway, she plans to leave on the day after the Christmas Party so Ren who hears about it decides to hold a special party just for the two of them. He apologizes for being an asshole and that if he had wanted to tell her something but wasn’t brave enough to. Once Haruka understands that he still needs her for the examination she rejects the offer for America saying that she wants to properly graduate with Ren before anything else.

From then on Ren starts practicing with her for the exam and he tells her about how he now actually has a reason to graduate but will only tell her when they win. Haruka who is really happy about being able to work along Ren kind of confesses to him accidentally towhich Ren is like ‘Sorry, I’m afraid that I can’t accept your feelings’. Asshole. So he knows her feelings but that’s not enough. Wow. By now playing his route was simply annoying. =(

The brother of Ren sends over a job offer to Haruka for a CM song. Wow, nice bro. She rejected his offer last minute and he still gives her a chance of a debut. Well, Haruka tries her best but every time she sends over a sample, she gets a NG that by now the deadline is coming and she stops eating and sleeping as a way of saving time. Obviously she faints from stress and when she wakes up, she finds Ren looking after her. Nice guy. … and then he had to say ‘Don’t expect me to help you. You have to be able to do this yourself. It’s your job not mine’. Does he REALLY need to lower his impression that much? While I was face palming at how annoying he is, turns out he went to his brother (who he hates) to ask him to trust Haruka and to lengthen the deadline. He also says he will work with the company as their special idol with the exam song once he graduates. Nice. Now if only he said that face to face to her.

Great Love Ending

He wins the exam. Do I have to repeat this? Forgot why Shining lets them stay together. Anyway, it turns out his brother has been looking out for Ren the whole time and the only reason he sent him to Saotome was so he can be free from the complex he has of the company.

Ren confesses to Haruka right after the exam and turns out the reason why he didn’t accept her feelings then was cause he wasn’t good enough and he didn’t help her out for her job because he didn’t want to see her relying on someone else as that will ruin her or something like that? Not sure. Don’t think that this short apology was good enough for everything Haruka had been through but I’m fine cause I get to hear Suwabe Junichi’s voice. Lol.

The next weekend … Well, um, he invites her over to his room and apparently Masato (his room-mate) isn’t there. And he pushes her onto the bed and is like ‘I can’t wait anymore and that he wants her’. POINT: In ANIKI voice

Love Ending

They win + Ren makes up with his brother. Ren tells Haruka that he wants to tell her something and drags her into some storage room where he confesses to her. Shining allows them as he knows what Ren is like with girls.

Friend Ending

Haruka rejects the offer of going to America because she still wants to stay in Japan with Ren. At the Christmas party Ren dances with Haruka but as he notices the girls staring at him he decides to start playing the saxophone. But seems like one of the teachers asked Masato to play piano as well and they have an equal audience. And a pissed off Ren plays louder to which Masato plays louder as well and yeah, this continues.

Shining is like ‘OHHHH!!! THIS WILL SELL~! HEY HEY! YOU JUST BECOME A UNIT!! It’s like ‘fire’ and ‘water’, ‘passionate’ and ‘tranquil’! MISTER JINGUUJI’s passionate saxophone and MISTER HIJIRIKAWA’s cool piano combines perfectly!! Hmmm, the songwriter will be YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU (points to Haruka).

… DOES SHINING HAVE TO TALK SO WEIRDLY!! THINK ABOUT THE PERSON TRANSLATING!!

Although they both don’t want to, no-one can go against Shining in the industry so that’s what happens. Amazingly, the two return to being friends again and they solve each other’s complexes.

They win the exam and they start fighting over who gets to take Haruka on a date to which she simply says ‘Let’s go as a three!’. O.o And then at the date they start fighting over who has the best date plan. Sigh.

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Kurusu Sho

(CV: Shimono Hiro)

Okay, the shota in the game and also happens to be the oresama as well. Wasn’t a single bit interested in him but well, had to play him I guess. This guy’s route confirmed the thing about how the guys who at first appearance look happy and cheerful always have something wrong with them once you choose to go through their route. Is this supposed to be gap moe? It just really puts me off playing their routes. I chose the routes for a cheerful (?) one not one where its really depressing.

Just annoying throughout the whole game. Calls himself ‘uta no prince’ (so that’s where the title comes from…) and considering that Haruka has never actually had a friend she takes up the role of his ‘servant’… Once he learns of how she’s never had friends, even he feels bad for doing that to her. No shit.

Well, I kind of skimmed through his route mainly as there really isn’t anything special about it. Though what happens to him after crossdressing is hilarious. Somehow, Natsuki gets his hands on Sho’s crossdressing photos and decides that he wants to show it off to everyone and sends it off to a magazine. So Sho became popular as the ‘mysterious tsundere bishoujo’ or something and debuts as a crossdressing model before even becoming an idol. But as he finds that he has to spend more time with Haruka, he quits his job. Boring.

（＿´ω｀）Is this the only way to show heart disease?

Basically his route is about how he actually has heart cancer (?) or some kind of illness and he’s will only survive for another couple of years. Throw in a little brother that absolutely loves Sho and you can already see what the story is going to be. Sho asks Haruka to act as his girlfriend so his bro stops being worried and they actually start going out in the end. Right? Boring.

Great Love Ending

After winning the competition, he goes to America for surgery. … Then he comes back. Sorry, that’s about it.

Love Ending

He takes the surgery. … And that’s about it.

Friend Ending

Haruka talks to Natsuki about Sho’s illness and how when he’s with her his heart beats too fast and it’s bad for him. So Natsuki offers to work as a three with her and Haruka being naiive thinks its an amazing idea. Sho secretly asks her out on a date but finds Natsuki there as well so they go as a three. They meet some gangster looking guys who start talking with Haruka who’s too stupid to think of running away. Natsuki walks towards them but somehow trips and lands head first. … So Sho (who is some karate expert) beats them up instead.

Then they realize that Natsuki’s glasses got cracked so they use one of the gangsters sunglasses instead. … More like comedy than a 3P ending.

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Aijima Cecil

(CV: Toriumi Kousuke)

Okay, Warning before reading.

THIS IS THE MOST ‘WHAT THE F*CK’ ROUTE THAT MOST REGULAR PEOPLE WILL COME ACROSS

(and there’s little CG)

Really. Even Takuyo who enjoys mixing things up together would have to try quite hard to get the weirdness of this route. There’s little CG cause the content is hilarious. Sorry. But if you aren’t normal just enjoy.

On the way to school on the first day, Haruka passes everyone in A + S class and she also saves a cat that was stuck on a lamp post. She doesn’t get a partner in this route even when she’s in class S and also doesn’t have a roommate so she basically doesn’t have friends at all. But lucky for her, the cat she saved on the first day comes by from time to time and she names him ‘Kupple’ (in jap it’s クップル – how am I supposed to translate that?).

One day on her way home she ends up Shining’s special house and she finds Shining trying to summon the goddess of Music, MUSE. Wait, it gets worse. He fails at the summoning and accidentally brings out Satan who takes over Shining’s body. Satan notices that Haruka has a bit of MUSE’s spirit in her so he tries to attack her but Haruka gets pushed away by Kupple.

Kupple kisses her (uhh, that’s what it said at least. A cat kissed her) and suddenly… HE TURNED INTO A HUMAN!! He attacks Satan for a moment and pulls Haruka up and they run away.

Okay… Turns out Kupple is actually a prince from some Arabic country who follows music as a religion and is famous for making the best instruments in the world that are said to contain a ‘spirit’. His real name is Cecil and he was turned into a cat by his uncle who thought he was in the way for the throne. He was wandering around in Japan and was saved by Haruka when he was caught on top of a lamp post. And that was how he fell in love with Haruka. So basically, he’s in love with her from the start of the game. No wonder he appears in front of her in everyone else’s route to give ‘advice’.

Now that Satan got summoned, the first thing he is going to do is to remove music from this world and the only way to stop it is to seal him altogether. The only way to do that is to collect the 6 sheets of music and sing this magical song and Haruka is the only one who can go against Satan because of the spirit of MUSE in her. To make matters worse, she is cursed so that she is only awake one day each month so basically in 12 days she’s gone through a year.

The next day (which is basically the next month) she wakes up to Kupple talking to her. So now she sees things. Turns out that Cecil can’t turn into a human unless he kisses her and that the reason why she can understand what he says is because they created a contract the first time Cecil became human. They decide to go to school to find the sacred sheets of music and find Otoya who is currently under the control of Satan. (lol – and talks exactly like Shining) Otoya grabs hold of Haruka and starts comparing the life of a Cicada with the life of idols. Really, what the hell? Cecil’s seems to think that the life of Cicada is some sort of forbidden curse that will depress the people who hear it… Right.

Well, Cecil and Haruka cast magic on Otoya to remove Satan and he promises to learn the legendary guitar score so he can help with the sealing of Satan.

The next day / month whatever. Haruka finds a love letter which has a Shining style confession but its signed by Tokiya. Obviously a trap but Haruka who feels she needs to save everyone goes anyway to meet Tokiya alone. Well, she finds Hayato instead and starts fangirling when he tells her about how he was in love her since he first met her.  But Cecil comes along and says that Haruka is hisTAMASHI NO KOIBITO and tells Hayato to f*ck off. And this leads to a tokimeki contest with Haruka going rabid at whatever Hayato is doing but giving not much of a reaction at Cecil.

Magic again and that’s about it for Tokiya. Haruka sort of reminds me of Touma from Index considering the fact that she has to save everyone and also lectures whoever she meets.

Sigh. Next character to go is Masato. His one was hilarious.

At school, theres this poltergeist and its kind of throwing things around at Haruka but as usual Cecil comes to save her. He gets injured but sings to heal it. What is this? Some fantasy game?

Anyway they find Masato and he kind of traps them by sending chains flying towards them. And then he starts pulling off Haruka’s sleaves and showing off skin much to Cecil’s dismay. More like, Cecil acts like its the end of the world. Well, when Masato decides to do the ‘AMAZING FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE PANTS MEKURI’. What the hell. Well, Haruka asks the point of doing something a primary school kid would do but Masato’s like ‘the point is that I didn’t do it in primary so that’s why I’m doing it now’. Well, this caused Cecil to go into berserk mode and he rips through the chains (REALLY, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!). They save Masato as well who after hearing what he did offers to commit seppuku as he caused a sin that cannot be forgiven or something?

Saving Ren and the rest wasn’t that funny and as they had no extra CG so I will be skipping them. One morning Haruka wakes up to Cecil hugging her. Man, this was the cutest CG in the game. (I think). And he gives a classic reaction after it but it wasn’t that funny compared

Got too used to being a cat

to Masato’s above. SEPPUKU!!!

By now, the two are in love. It was cute in the beginning. Until they started kissing at everything and about 1/3 of the text was them kissing. And the other 2/3 were some kind of fantasy story. They realise that when they seal Satan, Cecil will have to leave Japan as the only way to make sure Satan wont appear again is to fully seal him in his own country. Also, the factthat the citizens
should’ve realised that Cecil has disappeared will mean that they will come and look for him. With the help of the music by the other guys, everything should have been easy except they forgot one thing. Satan overtook the body of Shining who can’t be classified as human. So what to do? Obviously. They sing. Yay, Satan is gone! And Nay, Cecil has to leave.

But poor Cecil, cause Shining took a liking of him and tells him that he will use his authority to prevent people from finding him so Cecil should just become a student. And now poor Shining, all of his attempts goes to waste once Cecil sings on TV. Great.

On the way to the final exam, the two were too busy kissing that they wasted time and some men in black give chase. With the help of the teachers they manage to get to the music hall safely and Cecil vows his eternal love for Haruka and goes on stage.

Great Love Ending

Okay, once the results come out and the two are celebrating their victory, the men in black come in and Haruka stands between them and Cecil. And guess what happens? MUSE, the goddess of music, talks through Haruka and the MIB start bowing at her.

… And now she’s in Cecil’s country and has the job of… a goddess. LOL. REALLY. A GODDESS!! SEE? WTF? They still work for Shining’s agency (lol, guess Shining is the only one brave enough to employ a goddess) and Haruka sends the songs she writes over to japan. Shining didn’t want to leave Cecil (cause he’s tooamazing talent) and he sent over the best technology there is to Haruka’s shrine.  Her job as a goddess is that she’s supposed to go and meet people and at them. Even I could do that! (lol)

Well, Cecil tells her to rest and turns the lights off. And basically starts touching her. O.o and carries her bridal style to the sofa. And this continues until some guy comes to call her as its time for her to be bowed at. Well, Cecil’s like ‘We still have tonight’.

Love Ending

Cecil goes to his country to be king and Haruka sends him off at the airport. Only thing that changes is that she now works for Shining Agency now and instead of kissing Cecil, she kisses this locket he gave her. =.= how sad. Well, she gets post from him and when shes about to close the door, in comes Cecil. Turns out he finished all the duties of a king (that quickly?) and he’s here to fulfill his dream of being with Haruka. She tells him about how she kisses the locket and he’s jealous about it that he kisses her himself. That’s about it. No goddess mode. Shame.

Friend Ending

I doubted the fact that there would actually be a friend ending. I mean, it wouldn’t be with the girl best friend cause in Cecil’s route she was all alone so was actually looking forward to it. … Maybe.

The ending is with Shining!! So its Haruka x Cecil + Shining as Shining is ‘interested’ with Cecil.

At thesealing of Satan, suddenly they hear the voice of God and Satan gets destroyed.  So no need for Cecil to go back to his country and he gets scouted by Shining. Haruka also has the goddess in her but nothing special this time.

Has Cecil being Cecil and machinegunning ‘I love you’ to Haruka and Shining trying to get Cecil to debut. But as Cecil is busy he rejects Shining. Lol, the only one who can go against Shining. He’s like ‘Lets continue Haruka. It doesn’t matter who is watching. Our love is too strong. Etc.’ Despite the fact that he’s getting ignored, Shining is like

‘AMAZING! RANK A TSUNDERE! MAN, I AM MORE INTERESTED IN YOU NOW. I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME’

In the end, Shining decides to simply carry Cecil out as he wont do it himself. Carry as in jump out of the 7th floor window.

But Cecil’s like: I will never let you go. We will be together forever

so she’s carried away as well.

Happy ending… right?

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Right, favorite characters: I would have to say that my favourite ROUTES would be Masato + Natsuki’s and maybe Tokiya and Cecil after that. I didn’t really like Natsuki as a character but man, Satsuki was great. The problem is that the casting is REALLY good. I guess they got people who can sing but more on that later. My favourite character overall might be Shining. He’s hilarious but the fact that he’s voiced by WAKAMOTO NORIO is simply amazing. Really.

Art… Do I have to say anything about it? The character designs are brilliant (same person as Lamento, Togainu no Chi though diff name) and I wish the artist did the whole of the art. I prefer her style of art than anime style. The only time the artist properly had a background was the CG with Otoya climbing up the school. Let’s just say I’m really disappointed in what they did with the art and am hoping for better stuff with the fandisks

System: Easy to use. Though you can’t play back from the CG section but in gameplay there’s a button that lets you go to the next selection thing. Also a chapter playback thing.

Music: No wonder it’s a game about music. The soundtrack is brilliant. Theres one song for each class singing together (A class – Otoya, Masato, Natsuki + S Class – Tokiya, Ren, Sho) and each character has a song each. My favourites are Masato’s by far and then Natsuki. Sorry, I’m a fan of Suzumura Kenichi singing and Taniyama is a fricking pro. About Sho… His song in direct translation is ‘Oresama Love Song’. Sounds worse or at the same level as my lil brothers racket. Its damaging to the ears.

Mini Games: 4 types – Rhythm, Knowledge (one eg. Which of the following is not written by Shakespeare: Uta no Prince-sama + Romeo and Juliet), Lyrics and finally song playing. The song playing game I have to say is one of the best systems I’ve played for Rhythm games and I play a lot.

Overall: THE ART IS SHOCKINGLY DISAPPOINTING!! Game play is sort of comedy considering you have a character that can drag the Statue of Liberty to Japan, jump from the 13th floor, crack open a stone statue of himself and appear. Well, thats what makes him awesome. Haruka was okay except she was annoying in Ren’s route by being too much of a wall flower. Well, I’m actually looking forward for the fandisk as you can go for the teachers (Cross dresser voiced by Nakamura Shuuichi + CV of SANO!!!) and also for Shining (lol)

*Planning to edit this post and add new (hopefully better) CG when the remake comes out. 

How much better is THIS art compared to the CG?