RenAi Blogger Is Hinano’s Neo Venezia
Originally I was trying to rig up a poll and ask you “which RenAi Blogger characters did you end up with the first time”? But I changed my mind after giving the game a full, complete play through.
If you haven’t had the chance, an avid AVG gamer will devour this simple, multi-pathing romance adventure in an hour; it should take just 10 minutes or so to get to your first ending as a normal person. Download it at Hinano’s today!
What’s so charming to me about this game is that, believe it or not, is a true to life guide to the life of a weeaboo in Manhattan, looking through Hinano’s eyes. For one, if you are Chinese, for example, you would do your anime craves differently. And I don’t know anyone from NYU who’d hike up to Bryant Park for lulz. But hey, Chase is in otaku paradise.
But having visited many of the places she mentioned in the game, there’s a sense of familiarity and fear at the same time. If I ran into JP and Hinano I will so get lampooned… You think Author’s had it bad?
In all seriousness, in a small and tidy package Hinano and her crew has put together a very solid and thoughtful story that both paints a new look to the various things she ranted about on her blog and gave them life. At the same time she did a great job expressing her online voice (and…probably some offline voice too) in the different characterizations and personalities in the game. The whole thing may be a little contrived but it felt very natural, almost to a degree of innocence.
If Akari was a weeaboo, this is the kind of experience I expect her to deliver if I sign up for a tour?
And the game is cute. The same way a doujinshi is cute, almost. In a non-ero way. Including Impz. I have to say Natsuko is my favorite however :pedobear:
Glossing over the roughness of the production, I think it’s a good use of an hour of your time. Especially if you run around in Manhattan. If you don’t, it’s a good tourist manual (in a very loose sense).
Lastly–JP and Hinano should’ve tried to tie in all those commercial endorsement. I bet some Japanese organization in the city would love to promote her game because it does a good job promoting the different cultural establishments in the city. I wonder who you’d talk to in order to make that happen…
More than endorsement I think I’d be afraid of some lawsuit for “using trademarks and logos” without permission (even if it’s from a touristic photo lol)
I won’t lie, I did say during the beta testing, “Why is he going all the way up to Bryant Park when there’s a Cafe Zaiya at Astor Place?
(The answer then being “Because he needs to meet Jen eventually and because he’s an Ohio transplant living with too many other men in a 1BR in the UES”)
[…] 19) “DARNIT, HINANO, I KNEW YOU WERE A MYSPACE/FACEBOOK/LIVEJOURNAL STALKER…” 20) “If I ran into JP and Hinano I will so get lampooned…” 21) “I would’ve had more fun if I put Chase through a little more […]
I’ll only play it when they release a patch that has me as a primary character, and I ruin every scene I’m in.
I’ll play it when Shiki Tohno is the main character.
You know, Link, I think that’s pretty easy to do.
Hinano: it’s not like you’re making any money. Worse they could do is stop you, really…
It was pretty charming, now that I think about it. Simple, short and sweet.
http://ani-nouto.animeblogger.net/2008/08/05/omo-on-the-weaboo-city-chronicles/
Heh. Heh. Heh.
[…] down the [unfamiliar] streets of NY, this also became a tour guide of some sorts, being Hinano’s Neo Venezia, as Omo puts it. And, for people like me who has never attended a single anime con all her life, […]