However, today I bring to you a new review! It is (yet again) another otome game. This time I bring to you the Honeybee famous game, Starry Sky~Spring~. I will do a through review including some information about the different versions! So, here we go!
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| Wanna star gaze together? |
Starry☆Sky~Spring~
PC (2009) PSP (2010) iPhone (2012)
Honeybee
Dating Sim / Visual Novel
First of all, Starry Sky is a visual novel / dating sim created by the company called Honeybee. The overall synopsis of the game is about a girl [you can choose the name but for the sake of the review] named Yahisa Tsukiko. The series is split up into four seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. In each game you get to go through different aspects of Tsukiko's school life ranging from childhood friends, to clubs, and dealing with teachers. Sounds pretty generic right? One of the kickers for this game is that Tsukiko attends a school which just became co-ed. She is the only female student in the school. The one thing I really enjoyed about the game is not the story but the characters. Each male character in the game (the main ones) are based off of a Western zodiac sign. For example in Spring you have Capricorn, Pisces, and Cancer. Note none of the signs really correspond to their correct seasons!
STORY
The story to this game is rather generic. The new term starts at Seigatsu Acadamy, a school that specializes in Astronomy (Generally each student has a specialty but for this game the four characters are in the same field). Yahisa Tsukiko is the only female in a former all-boys school. Her childhood friends, Nanami Kanata and Tohzuki Suzuya, try their best to protect her from the all male school population.
However at the beginning of the new term a new student is introduced in homeroom. His name is Tomoe Yoh who is a transfer student from France (he is also a hafu being Japanese/French♥ Hafu represent!)
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| Kanata has the worlds best facial expressions XD |
The game basically covers the first three months of the school term (so March, April, and May). Depending on the route you choose, the story slightly changes but it generally stays the same until the ending (the ending depends on which guy you chose to pursue). With Yoh being blunt with his feelings for Tsukiko, it causes both Kanata and Suzuya to realize their own feelings for her. Will the three boys be able to get along or is Tsukiko going to have to play referee the whole school year? You have to play to find out :P The game really concentrates on the relationship Tsukiko builds with the three boys and how the boys try their best to get along for Tsukiko's sake. It's pretty funny watching the shenanigans that occur throughout the story, especially with Kanata and Yoh!
Each guys story is done well. The dept they go into each character (the men at least) is nice. You get to know them a lot better as the game goes on (though how well depends on the route). It really sucks you in as you play. At first I was like "eh typical otome game" but I was wrong XD Each guy is just that great. The best thing though (that helps at least) is the fact they are personifications of the Western Zodiac. Each guy really does act like their signs is funny XD
Overall the story is good (a little generic but the guys break that mode). However it does drag a little. There are some points that are like "HURRY UP ALREADY!" but is a good amount of interesting story so thats always a good thing! The guys antics will help you through the boring parts (especially if when you fall for one of the guys like I did lol) so don't fret :D and plus, the endings are a real treat!
CHARACTERS
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| From left to right: Tomoe Yoh, Nanami Kanata, and Tohzuki Suzuya |
土萌 羊(Tomoe Yoh): Capricorn. At first he comes off as a little bratty and selfish but he is actually really sweet. He does not get along with Kanata and loves Suzuya's food. Yoh is fond of onigiri.
七海 哉太 (Namami Kanata): Pisces (My sign :D). He is rather brash but overall is a sweet guy. Kanata gets into fights a lot to protect Tsukiko despite having poor health. Because of this he tends to skip class a lot and faints. He is also kind of stubborn and can be emotional.
東月 錫也 (Tohzuki Suzuya): Cancer. He is the mother of the group. Suzuya is gentle and a caring guy who is an excellent cook. However, Suzuya often hides his feelings especially those he harbors for Tsukiko. He also gets jealous easily but tries to hide it to the best of his abilities. Suzuya is the most level headed out of the three guys.
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| Yahisa Tsukiko |
GAMEPLAY
The game is played just like any other visual novel; you pick the answer you want and the story continues. Nothing special there.
What makes things a lot easier is that you can save at anytime (which I noticed with visual novel type games is that you can do this XD). So when you are prompt with a choice you can save and just in case you mess up, you can reload and do it over again! I love that! I abused the crap out of that playing the first time.... *coughs*
In the Planetarium section (basically the omake section), you can access the CG collection and special scenes. You can reload the scenes and start playing from where they start. It comes in handy especially when you are trying to get the other endings!
Also you can fast forward through scenes you have already seen. This is SO helpful, especially if you are trying to get the endings (broken record time XD)
As I mentioned there are multiple endings (duh). In the PC version there are two (normal and good) and in the PSP version there are three (normal, good, and true). The good and true endings are really good for each guy (though I am biased. I liked Kanata's the best orz) so achieving each ending is really worth it :3
This game is entirely in Japanese (which can be a downer if you know no Japanese). However the menu is in English so that is a total bonus! You can get through the game without knowing any Japanese but you wont know 100% of what is going on... However people are in luck! There is an English fan-made patch out to help people play the game. I haven't tried it out myself but judging from people's comments it seems to be pretty good! It is only for the PC version though... but it is better than nothing! At least you can get a full understanding of the game.
ART
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| Spring time at Seigatsu Academy |
The artist is a woman named Kazuaki. She is Honeybee's main character designer. She actually got into huge trouble almost two years ago for supposedly stealing copyrighted stock photos and using them as her own or something (it was really silly). She didn't go to jail or anything since it couldn't be proven. Instead both Honeybee and Kazuaki publicly apologized on their websites. She does pretty nice character signs and promotional artwork (like the one above. It's actually the cover of both limited editions for the PC and PSP consecutively.) As the series goes on though her art gets a lot better. It's nice to watch an artist progress as time goes on :D
MUSIC
The opening song is really good. The song is sung by Midorikawa Hikaru (Yoh's voice actor). It's really cute and easy going. It really captures the season it belongs to. The PSP version has the same opeing (The video is slightly different) and the ending song is done by the famous Itou Kanako. The ending song is okay (she sings it in English) but I really enjoy the opening song that much more.
The background music gets really repetitive. It's okay but gets kind of annoying after playing for a couple of hours. Each guy has their own theme song (Kanata's one is rough sounding... Yoh and Suzuya's ones are more gentle LOL). Overall though the music wasn't a real "wow" factor. I only really enjoyed the op and ed songs (Though the op more than the ed XD)
VOICE ACTING
This is just porn for the ears. ALL the guys are voiced by really famous seiyuu. Yoh is voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru (mentioned above), Kanata is by Sugita Tomokazu, and Suzuya is by Ono Daisuke. They each really bring the character to life. I was amazed that Midorikawa could speak French well! Each voice actor really brings the guys to life. If it wasn't for them I probably would not have enjoyed the game as much as I did!
...NEED MORE?
As I mentioned earlier, Starry☆Sky~Spring~ has two ports; PSP and iPhone. The PSP version has a bunch of added content such as an actual ending theme, a new ending, events, and CG to collect. You also get a bonus scenario to listen to and a wallpaper for your PSP once you finish. I am not 100% sure about the iPhone version... It is pretty expensive (It's $16.99 on iTunes). I'll wait to buy it when I have extra money...
There is also a part two that came out; Starry☆Sky~After Spring~. As of now it is only out for the PC but sometime next year it will be out for the PSP. When it comes out on the PSP I will play it and then write a review for it ^^
As a lot of games now days are getting anime adaptations, Starry Sky is no different. There is a 26 episode anime out. It is okay but if you want the whole story I suggest playing the games instead. You get kind of cheated out of something. Each guy only has two episodes (that are like 10 minutes each since it was a web anime) so its a little disappointing. Though for certain characters (I wont say till I get to their games) it expands more on the guy. For example, with Yoh you get to meet his parents and know why and how he comes to Japan. With Kanata you get to know more about his illness and why he is the way he is. And lastely with Suzuya you get to see how him and Kanata became friends with Tsukiko and more about his personality. However since each episode is so short you don't get THAT much from it. If you play the game and then watch the anime you will see :P
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| THEY ARE TOO CUTE!!! I NEED ALL OF THEM D< |
Honeybee also released "Sleepy Time Boyfriend" alarm clock apps for iDevices not to long go (well two years ago in Japan, last year in America). They are cheap at only $2.99 and are pretty decent. Only downside is that there is NO voicing and it is completely in Japanese. Its not hard to use though so even if you don't read Japanese you can enjoy it. I currently have a couple of them and I plan to buy all of them (I am a loser like that...)
And I just realized there is also a calculator app on iTunes for dirt cheap. It's only $0.99!! It's just a calculator with the guys on it (sperated by seasons). I'm planning on buying it once I get another iTunes card. It is really cute :D
Recommend?
If you are looking for a new game to play and like the whole shojou thing, I would totally recommend it. The story can be a little slow (okay really slow at times) but do not let that discourage you. After the amount of effort put into it you will not be let down! Despite the music lacking the voice acting really boosts the charm of this game (along with the guys naturally).
Even though I really enjoyed the game, after taking everything into consideration, I would give this game a 3.5/5. It has a decent story and the characters are really loveable but the repetitious music and slow moving story really brings down the score.
I hope my readers give this game a chance :D It is a little rough along the edges but as of now this is one of Japan's most popular otome game series out there! I promise you the guys are totally worth it v(^_~)
Down below is a link to the main Starry Sky~Spring~ site!
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