Amaterasu started working on MuvLuv and MuvLuv Alternative in early 2010 and released a full translation patch for MuvLuv at the end of July. Meanwhile, MangaGamer brought âge to Anime Expo 2010 to let them have a glimpse at the Western fandom in an attempt to persuade them to pursue expanding their properties overseas. In fall, Amaterasu started working on MuvLuv Alternative. Eventually, the translation group announced in January of this year that they were pursuing an official release of the MuvLuv series. After a leaked MuvLuv Alternative patch in late March, the group decided to “‘go silent’ for a short while” until the most recent announcement. They stated that going silent let them “avoid drama” as well as helped keep the Liar-soft negotiations a secret.

According to the group’s statement, they found out roughly a month after they instituted the silence policy that MangaGamer was unable to secure rights for the MuvLuv series and was offered Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Negotiations for the latter were said to be in progress during MangaGamer’s Anime Expo 2011 panel.

As part of Amaterasu’s announcement, they have stated their new policy towards working for official translations, stating they are more than happy to work on official translations of games they like for free as long as they can be shown “concrete evidence” that “a deal has actually been made [with the Japanese company].” They also state that they do intend to back out of deals if their finished translation isn’t released in a timely manner.

In light of this news, we asked MangaGamer for their thoughts on the matter as well as how this would affect their future game releases. In response, they sent us an official statement regarding the matter in English as well as one in Japanese. In their statement, they express disappointment in Amaterasu’s actions and concern about the state of current and title negotiations. They also hinted at current market issues in Japan as a possible cause for delay. Both statements are reproduced below:

We at MangaGamer are extremely disappointed by this turn of events given how we have been trying our best to extend a hand to fan translators to help bring great games to western audiences. We are doubly disappointed as what we discussed with Amaterasu in regards to the negotiation progress was said in confidence as a sign of trust.

To get facts straight, though:
1) For the time being there are major hurdles in negotiations for titles in the MuvLuv franchise, and this turn of events will definitely cause the companies involved in the Kima ga Nozomu Eien production committee to take a very serious look at whether they wish to continue negotiations that have been months in the making for a western release.

2) We had also approached Liarsoft in good faith, hoping to demonstrate that there was a viable fan base for their games in the west, and that said fans were willing to work with them instead of against them. With the market situation in Japan, they have been hesitant about making a decision. Since negotiations here are at a much earlier stage than Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, we are unable to assess how Amaterasu’s actions will affect their decision and their opinion of the western market.

Since not all the fan-translators we have worked with have taken such rash action, we continue to hold hope that we can still work with them in future. However, we do wish both fans and fan-translators would show more patience and more commitment to seeing games officially released than has been shown here today. Most VN companies in Japan are devoting 100% of their resources to surviving in a market where domestic sales have plummeted by 30%, and the western market is only showing slow growth.

We are committed to developing the market for Visual Novels in the west, even though it means diverting resources away from operations in Japan. Regardless of what happens, we will continue our efforts to negotiate with companies that fans have a strong interest in. We intend to see all negotiations through to the end, so long as the Japanese companies see there is an opportunity for licensing their games and are willing to continue talks.

私共はファン翻訳者と協力して素晴らしいゲームを英語圏のファン
に届るのを目
標としているのにこのようなことになり、非常に残念です。Amaterasuのグルー
プを信用して内密に交渉内容をお話したのですが我々としては裏切られた形にな
ります。

ですが、事実だけを述べますと
①マブラブの英訳権はすでに非常に困難にあり、この事実を知った先方の捉え方
によっては我々が数ヶ月かけて進めていた「君の望む永遠」の交渉に悪影響が出
るとも限りません。

②ライアーソフトにも英語圏のリリースについて話を持ちかけていました。ファ
ン翻訳者の協力も含めて話しをしていますが、現状日本のマーケットに集中した
いということでまだ承諾を得られていません。また、こちらは「君が望む永遠」
ほどの深い交渉を進めていた訳ではないので海外のユーザーに対してどういった
印象を持つのかは分かりません。

ファン翻訳者すべてがこのような暴挙に出たということではないので、
将来的にはまだ協力して行きたいと考えています。
ですが、ファンにもファン翻訳者にも辛抱強く協力して頂くことが不可欠になり
ます。日本のほとんどのメーカーは縮小傾向にある国内のマーケットにリソース
を注力していますし、海外のマーケットはまだまだ成長過程にあります。

我々はそんなメーカーの貴重なリソースをお借りしつつ、海外のマーケットを開
いていくことを目標としています。この先も海外ファンから要望の高いメーカー
に対して交渉を続けていきますし、日本のメーカーがちゃんとした形でタイトル
をリリース出来ることを望んでいます。

EDIT: Amaterasu leader Ixrec clarifies over Twitter that they were more upset with the dearth of information concerning the agreement as well as receiving “blatantly false” information.

yirba: Is Dengeki Stryker confirmed as a MangaGamer release?
bamboo: Yes, we’ll be selling Dengeki Stryker on MangaGamer so please look forward to it!

bamboo: We won’t be able to make it for AX, but we are making this game for everyone overseas…
(At this point, showed off the cover art for Go Go Nippon.)
bamboo: Go Go Nippon!
bamboo: So choose 1 of the two heroines and visit all the places in japan
bamboo: A bit erotic ^^
bamboo: The game itself is complete so hopefully i can show it in action soon
bamboo: Iphone application is strict as (censored by JustinTV) so even if its a bit erotic, it gets rejected
bamboo: For those who have difficulty coming to Japan, we made this game to kind of experience what its like here

hamusumo: How much is the planned game time of Go Go Nippon?
bamboo: The game is kind of like a guidebook, so it’s not that long, but I’ll let you know when I actually play it throughly
bamboo: Maybe we can make patches that does this in that in the future =P
bamboo: Yes we’ll be selling it online at a cheap price

(Below are the front and back covers for Go Go Nippon, from screen captures taken from the stream)

drmchsr0: Say, are Kamen Rider questions valid now? :3c
bamboo: I dunno much about Kamen Rider but if its something i can answer. lol

(no question)
bamboo: Hoping well continue to make games for everyone who is interested in japan but can’t come here
bamboo: We’ll be holding a panel at AX to have sort of a meeting with everyone
bamboo: We’ll be answering question along with Tororo Dancho from Circus and tell you some updates from Japan

asceai: Will the Japanese text work for people without Japanese OS/locale in the release?
bamboo: We will be testing the Japanese part for Go Go Nippon but its not final yet

hikari_sc: has companies in japan recovered from the earthquake, how is the scheduling of games like ef coming along?
bamboo: There was a big impact from the earthquake and directly affected us
bamboo: You can say the recent slow release of MangaGamer is mostly because of the quake
bamboo: Sales in Japan has gone down too

drmchsr0: Oh wait, here’s a serious one. How is Bill 156 and Ishihara’s recent comments gonna affect the future of Overdrive and MangaGamer? D:
bamboo: Isihara’s comment and bill has little to do with MangaGamer

yirba: Will we possibly see the MangaGamer mascot (Comko) in games? :-P
bamboo: No plan to including our mascot in a game at the moment
bamboo: I did see the image on 4chan with our mascot being naked and was laughing with everyone

hikari_sc: When do you think Japanese developers will start making games with internationalization in mind (ie: writing it in such a way so it can easily be ported to other languages)
bamboo: There are some developers who are interested, but it all depends on the demand and what they consider a success in oversea sales
bamboo: We need to make a good basis for business for that, for us to succeed in such circumstance
bamboo: We actually have Dengeki Stryker and Go Go Nippon with the oversea fans in mind

furbysbadday: Might we see more Higurashi?
timpkmn89: Alongside Furbys comment, will we ever specifically see Higurashi Rei, the series epilogue?
bamboo: If there is a high demand for Higurashi Rei, yes

(no question)
bamboo: i would like to study English too, so someone show me a cute English speaking girl, btw

snowballer: How’s the progress with âge going?
bamboo: Negotiation with âge is going steadily

miragecg: Have you contact with “old” eroge maker (like Mink for example)
bamboo: Sorry I don’t have much connection with Mink
bamboo: I only know developers that started in the early 2000s

drmchsr0: How do you view 999’s success in the US? Are you planning to do something like that in the future?
bamboo: In relation to 999, since we are releasing Kara no Shoujo, we are looking forward to see how much that will sell

swiftnissity: Whats happening with the comics section of the website, its empty right now.
bamboo: The comic section of MangaGamer should be opening soon
bamboo: I’m personally not in charge of it, but we are planning that and the video(anime) section

hikari_sc: what motivated you to get into eroge development? Was it difficult to start a company? What do your friends and family think about your job?
bamboo: I was originally a creator for Playstation game, but I was tricked into joining a bishoujo game company!
bamboo: My friends and family are like, do what you like
bamboo: Since I sing songs and stuff as well as make games, I’m in a bit dif situation
bamboo: It takes a lot of work to make a company, but i was able to make a living for the past 10 years by doing so
bamboo: I was happy to see a fan who said he liked Kira Kira when i was about to get on a Taxi at AX btw

miragecg: Are you planning to coming to European Convention (like Japan expo in Paris France)
bamboo: We participated at the Japan Expo several years ago, but since it wasn’t truly an English speaking environment, I’m iffy about it
bamboo: So we are concentrating in the American market for now
bamboo: I personally love USA too

thedoddler: There are a few new guest companies coming to AX this year that do not currently have games in English (like Clochette). Is it possible that these guests may get English language versions of their games at some point in the future?
bamboo: There is a possibility that companies like Clochette will release game for us, but
bamboo: We are just taking guest companies to AX to show them how the American market is like
bamboo: So it’s like a future investment to show them around and get them interested

bearhunterx: A lot of unofficial translations are getting picked up for official releases lately(Demonbane, ef, School Days, Kara no Shojo). Does the threat of an unofficial release floating around make negotiations with companies easier?
bamboo: It depends on the companies. and since the translation quality varies, we have to check it thoroughly anyway
bamboo: and of course the Japanese companies are suspicious about the unofficial translations
bamboo: and since the priority for the Japanese releases come first, the oversea market become secondary
bamboo: reminder. MangaGamer is still in the red…
bamboo: so please purchase our games
bamboo: and if you can, try to help us by boycotting illegal download sites

swiftnissity: Are we able to know which is Mangagamer’s worst selling game? Since Koihime Musou was supposedly their best selling game.
bamboo: Koihime is our number 1 selling game with Shuffle coming close
bamboo: Worst selling game is a secret =P

hikari_sc: What plans do MangaGamer have against piracy?
bamboo: Kill them all j/k

hikari_sc: What is your most memorable moment in an eroge? Who is your favorite girl in all the games you have played so far?
bamboo: my favorite heroine in a bishoujo game is Multi from To Heart

omonomono: Totally random topic: I bought Good Smile Company’s B.G.M. Nendoroid Petit set volume 0. Is there going to be volume 1? I would love a GSC Kirarin figure that’s slightly bigger lol. Or other characters from the game.
bamboo: I would personally like to release vol.1 of the Petiet Nendoroids, but it depends on if GSC says yes

swiftnissity: Has MangaGamer considered releasing updated re-releases (D.C > D.C.P.C for example) or are they out of the question?
bamboo: If there is a high demand for D.C.P.C, we can… but at the moment not really
bamboo: It is costly for us to localize one title and if it fails, it hurts us bad…

miragecg: Are you planning to make overdrive titles goodies (like figure and such) available to sale for us westerner via MG Website?
bamboo: We don’t have any plans to sell overdrive goods overseas
bamboo: Because of customs, we have difficulty sending made in China merchandise to the US too

dave1278: Given the current sales count for Koihime Musou is there a chance of getting Shin Koihime Musou (with or without voice)? ie are Baseson happy with the current sales to continue?
bamboo: We don’t have a plan to release Shin Koihime Musou at the moment, but since the sales were good, I’m sure we’ll start talking about it sooner or later
bamboo: About the voice acting issue: since the voice actor agency are hard headed, they demand a lot and thus there are some games without voices

(no question)
bamboo: Evangelion’s Shinji (Ogata Megumi) is voice acting for Dengeki Stryker
bamboo: She’s a really awesome person so respect her!

swiftnissity: Any plans to work with Baseson~Spice~? (The bl branch of Baseson)
bamboo: We don’t have any plans for BL titles because i don’t really know how well it will sell…

zalas: Over here, when people think games, they think gameplay. What do you think about bringing out more games with gameplay?
bamboo: About games with gameplay, it is difficult because porting it is a lot of work, and the game company needs to be really interested and has to help us
bamboo: I personally would like to make a bishoujo game like Fallout 3… if i had such money

tdavis0079: Oh yeah, speaking of Nakano, Go! Go! Nippon 2 needs a trip to Nakano Broadway. Such an awesome place.
bamboo: Yeah, we would certainly add Nakano Broadway in the next version
bamboo: We are planning to update it with patches, maybe $5 a patch?
bamboo: Try to think of it as a DLC pack for X-box or the likes

drmchsr0: Are there any plans to negotiate with Illusion?
bamboo: Doesn’t Illusion have a English page of their own? Not really sure but…
(some discussion of Rapelay by the commenters at this point)

jjjlmx: Are there plans for more Overdrive music theme games?
bamboo: Yes OVERDRIVE is planning to make music related game in the future for sure
bamboo: As long as I’m still interested in playing music

bearhunterx: Do Overdrive games have a better profit margin, since you don’t have to negotiate with other companies?
bamboo: The profit margin for our game is still the same….
bamboo: OVERDRIVE is an experimental release, using a lot of our resource

drmchsr0: Is MangaGamer gonna sell VN OSTs?
bamboo: Is there a high demand for Soundtrack releases?
bamboo: We are worried about piracy
bamboo: Since it would probably be uploaded on an illegal site as soon as it goes up.
(At this point, a bunch of discussion on demand for OSTs by the chatters)
bamboo: Thanks for the comments though, really happy to know that American fans care about my songs.
bamboo: I’m really against piracy so i would appreciate if you tell your friends who download from those sites that it is hurting us btw

nuriohin: Are there any plans for Limited Editions of OVERDRIVE’s titles?
bamboo: We’ll see how Da Capo LE sells before releasing other Limited Editions for now

amorim: Are there any updates about ef?
bamboo: Minori told me we should have something to look at soon
bamboo: Sorry about the delay (although i have no control over it)
bamboo: Minori is taking everything seriously

y10nrdy: It’s the general consensus that the only thing MangaGamer is lacking is hard copy versions of the games. Are there any plans to release packaged editions of your upcoming releases?
bamboo: We are negotiating about future hard copies, but ideally would like to release all our games in package form
bamboo: The most difficult thing is though, is how we are going to sell it
bamboo: Since there isn’t really a concrete selling route other than conventions

bamboo: Ok, that is all for today
bamboo: We will be using this site again in the future, and hopefully you can visit us again
bamboo: We will try to make the announcement early next time
bamboo: Thanks for joining us at such a late time
bamboo: It is a small market right now, but i would love to expand it so please continue to support us
bamboo: See you at AX for those who are going to be there, and if not see you here again!
bamboo: Thank you~

This translation patch is only designed to work on the 18+ DVD version of the game; other versions of the title are not compatible with this patch.  Unlimited is unlocked only after completing Sumika and Meiya’s routes in Extra.  There are some minor issues with the patch mentioned in the readme, with the first of these being that some, but not all, images with Japanese text could not be edited to English text.  The reason for this is that the rUGP engine was not fully reversed and therefore Amaterasu could not access some images to edit them.  One other minor thing is that a handful of lines in Unlimited are voiced only in the game, and the translation of some of these lines may also be found in the readme.

Muv-Luv was originally released by âge back in 2002, and the sequel Muv-Luv Alternative was released in 2006.   Extra is a romantic comedy, following the protagonist Shirogane Takeru who is a typical high school student.  This takes place in the same world as âge’s Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, also known as Rumbling Hearts with FUNimation’s English release of the anime adaptation.  In Unlimited, the characters find themselves in a parallel world with the story becoming significantly more serious and the genre changes to military/Sci-Fi.  This more serious tone continues in Alternative, taking place in the world of Unlimited.

Amaterasu translations originally announced their intentions to translate both Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative in February.  The series was the runner up in Amaterasu’s final poll last year, behind only Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu which was supported by gg and other fansubbing groups.

The major players had their booths as usual. One of the islands was mostly occupied by CIRCUS, who had various t-shirts, key chains, posters, CDs and fabrics for sale. Singers Aina Kase and rino also signed their CDs at the booth, while artists Yuki Takano and Yuka Kayura drew custom sketches for customers. OVERDRIVE had a booth on the other island, selling the all-ages and physically packaged version of KIRA KIRA along with other merchandise like CDs. Love+, d2b’s latest album (and not to be confused with the Nintendo DS game) was prominently featured, but there were also copies of a Touhou album by bamboo for sale. Illustrator Shinji Katakura was present, doing commissioned sketches, and singer UR@N was around signing CDs. BaseSon/NEXTON also had their little area selling Koihime Musou related merchandise.

What’s interesting this year, however, are the other companies MangaGamer brought. HOBIBOX, who was here last year, had a corner of an island, selling hardcore electronic music as well as 07th Expansion games. The head of SHOT MUSIC was there, selling their latest release, SUPER SHOT2, which was a remix album of songs from bishoujo games that was released one week before Anime Expo. The first six chapters of Umineko were available for purchase, and there was a prominent sign encouraging buyers to visit Witch Hunt for the game’s translation patches. The eight main arcs of Higurashi in Japanese were also available for purchase, as well as a packaged version of MangaGamer’s released of the question arcs to Higurashi.

Collectible card game publisher Bushiroad also had a booth with MangaGamer for the first two days, and had an area where they taught beginners how to play their games. Bushiroad publishes such CCGs as Weiβ Schwarz and Chaos TCG, which feature characters from bishoujo games.PRODUCTION PENCIL also had a booth, selling their PENCIL LIVE 2010 t-shirts as well as wallscrolls and posters of games from their brands Lillian and PajamasSoft.

The highly anticipated âge was selling Minami Kuribayashi CDs (one featuring songs from âge and one featuring the more mainstream songs from anime) at their booth along with models of mecha from their Muv Luv series. Their artists were also available to do customized sketches. Front Wing’s booth for days 3 and 4 had some merchandise for sale, but it was dominated by the presence of their artists. Akio Watanabe was quite busy during the day, working on sketches for people. Apparently, only a handful of sketches were done each day. The most popular sketches seemed to be of Komugi from Soultaker/Nurse Witch Komugi-chan and the characters from Bakemonogatari, with Hitagi Senjougahara beating out Komugi Nakahara (Soultaker version) in popularity. 0verflow of School Days fame also had a booth, where they sold pillow paraphernalia from their latest Cross Days and displayed on a netbook their English build of the trial version of Summer Days that was released as an April Fool’s joke a few years back. Lastly, there were representatives from at least two other major game companies present, although probably not in an official capacity.

The major crowd grabber was obviously the series of mini-concerts they held. MangaGamer erected a miniature stage for the concerts, enough for a couple of people to stand on, just like last year. Each of the first three days, there were two performances, one held at 1:00pm and one held at 4:00pm. Each concert had three vocalists perform approximately five songs each. Aina Kase performed in all the concerts, and the other three switched up. UR@N dressed up in traditional Japanese attire, Aina dressed up in a pop idol outfit with her zettai ryouiki, rino dressed up in a more sedated attire and Minami sported either the waitress uniform from Sky Temple (a family restaurant in the âge game universe) or the school uniform. Of course, each concert was accompanied by a sizeable crowd, with glowstick users in the front. Parts of the concerts were broadcasted live, either through Nico Nico Douga or Ustream.

On the last day, instead of a concert, tororo-dancho gathered together some unsold items and held an event to sell them, each item coming with complementary Subway sandwich, Pepsi and a t-shirt. Finally, around the time the exhibition floor closed for the last time, several dealers came by and bought up a lot of MangaGamer’s remaining stock, including a large pile of KIRA KIRA discs.

The panel started a little late as the previous panel was a bit slow to clear the room. Before the panel, various sound tests were going on, including bamboo testing out the sound system by shouting out “moe!” Bamboo opened the panel using his English and then proceeded to name his nephew as translator (first of six interpreters in some weird musical chairs dance who attempted to translate for the panel). The main panelists were then presented — CIRCUS head tororo-dancho, CIRCUS illustrator Yuka Kayura, OVERDRIVE illustrator Shinji Katakura and finally OVERDRIVE president bamboo. MangaGamer translator John Pickett, also known as kouryuu on the web, started the main part of the panel from his script by introducing the panelists in my detail. However, as we heard from him later, the panel had already derailed from the script at that point.

Introducing himself as being from Saitama, near Tokyo, tororo-dancho said that he was producer, songwriter and president of CIRCUS. He also looked over and said that “John is very nervous” to much laughter. Next to be introduced was producer and musician bamboo, who represented OVERDRIVE and has made games such as the old Green Green as well as KIRA KIRA, Edelweiss and Dear Drops. He also sang the ending song for Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu to which someone shouted “Hideyoshi!” Unfortunately, both introductions were not translated into English, although there were English slides on the display.

Next up were the illustrator introductions. Yuka Kayura introduced herself as an illustrator from CIRCUS and said that some people remember that it’s her fourth year being at Anime Expo. She is also working on the currently-serialized Da Capo II manga adaptation and was the character designer for Otome from the original game. Shinji Katakura, no longer in ninja garb like he was last year (or during the first day of this year’s Anime Expo), then introduced himself as an illustrator from OVERDRIVE, having made games together with bamboo by illustrating them. At that point, bamboo said, pointing to Katakura, “we are yaoi!” Immediately afterwards, though, he corrected that “it’s joke!”

With the round of introductions done, the panel moved on to what bishoujo games were. However, after surveying the audience to see that a majority had already played bishoujo games, they decided to sum up the definition as being about “moe”, with bamboo asking the audience to shout “moe!” along with him. He then went on to discuss the situation with bishoujo games in Japan. He stated that there has been a big boom in these games, but they are being blamed for crime. He then stated that it was not the point of his company to cause violence or problems like that but rather for everyone around the world to enjoy their games, which are a little cute and sometimes a little erotic. Katakura interrupted him, though, saying that sometimes it’s cool to be the source of crime, like the Mafia. Tororo-dancho then continued by saying that many people discuss bishoujo games when a crime occurs, but they never discuss bishoujo games when something positive happens, like people getting moved emotionally.

Following a discussion on games in general, the panel then started introducing games released by MangaGamer from the different companies. First up was CIRCUS, with their Da Capo and Suika. The former was described as a romantic tale and the romantic things that you can find in everyday life. It was also the tenth-year anniversary of the company last November and the company focuses on making “pure love” games. The anniversary line took about three interpreters to translate correctly. Next was OVERDRIVE. Since kouryuu worked on these himself, he proceeded to introduce them. Edelweiss was touted as more of a “sexy” comedy than a romantic comedy, referring people to Green Green as being a similar title. KIRA KIRA was next, described as a game about a bunch of friends getting together and making a band and succeeding beyond all odds. He then said that it reminded him of shows like BECK and K-ON! and there were a lot of things in the game that were emotionally moving. Lastly, he stated that this is now the fourth year that OVERDRIVE has been in operation. Afterwards, bamboo wrapped up by mentioning the five games that they have released in Japan and then stated that he has apparently made more music CDs than games. Shinji Katakura backed him up by saying he has drawn more album art than game package art.

BaseSon was next to be introduced, as kouryuu talked about Koihime Musou and how it was based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms and that you are the only male with a face in the game, nudging the audience with that hint. He also said that this is the first game to feature real battles that must be won before the game can progress. After BaseSon, kouryuu started introducing Navel. Of course, he felt that no introduction for SHUFFLE! was needed. It was apparently the most popular game MangaGamer offers. An animated adaptation is available from FUNimation but kouryuu says that MangaGamer has something that FUNimation doesn’t have — the chance to end up with those girls. Next to be introduced was Soul Link, a survival game with lots of bad endings. Finally, a message was delivered from Navel’s president: “if you buy a lot, we’re going to put out a lot more of it.”

After summarizing their current releases, the panel then proceeded to invite a representative from the company âge as a special guest onto the panel. Kouki Yoshimune, scenario writer, mecha designer and director behind âge’s top hits Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and MuvLuv introduced himself using a very good impersonation of a foreigner trying to speak Japanese. He did eventually revert to his typical fluent Japanese. The âge representative was asked on the spot about whether they’d be interested in releasing their games with MangaGamer. His reply was a non-commital “if we have reason to, we will do it.”

Following this, the panel moved on to MangaGamer’s upcoming lineup. First, a July 29 release date was set for the final chapter of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, according to kouryuu and the script, although the slides had a different date. The panel stated that the previous chapter revealed all the mystery as to who was causing the incidents in Hinamizawa, whereas the final chapter delves more into that person’s character (although the panel leaked the gender of said character unintentionally). Next, Da Capo Innocent Finale was announced. Previously, it was said that the voice actor royalties were too high for the game, but it appears that MangaGamer has managed to finish negotiations for it somehow. The game will be an all-ages release, and kouryuu told people to find someone who’s not 18 to buy it. Kotori is the main character in this game, according to tororo-dancho, and the game covers the events before and after her wedding. Next up was Da Capo II. Tororo-dancho commented that he’s sure that a lot of people have probably watched it on YouTube or something, and that it is essentially a sequel to Da Capo but more like a powered up version. The reason he gives is that in Da Capo, you only have a little sister, whereas in Da Capo II you have a big sister (named Otome) in addition to a little sister. Yuka Kayura then commented that she had been doing sketches all day and that Otome was requested a lot. She’s very happy that Otome is loved by a lot of people and is thankful.

Following the Da Capo games, kouryuu talked about recent progress with Koihime Musou. He apologized for the delays involved in the release and stated that it was very difficult to make sure everything was consistent and that everything ended up in a high quality release. Areas of difficulty included terms for the attack names, Chinese places, formation names and nicknames used in previous translations of the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He states it’ll probably be out soon, but that he cannot give a date. Lastly, he announced OVERDRIVE’s Dear Drops as MangaGamer’s latest acquisition. This would be the second band-based main game released by OVERDRIVE in Japan. When asked about how it is different from KIRA KIRA, bamboo stated that the exposition is a lot more powered up, with live recordings used for the sounds in the game, adding that “of course, including the H-scenes!” Using that as a segue, bamboo moved on to talk about their latest project, Dengeki Strikers using as much hyperbole as possible.

In the final stretch before a question and answer section, MangaGamer broached the idea of an original game about studying abroad in Japan, since a lot of people haven’t gone to Japan yet (according to an impromptu poll of the audience). They hoped people would check out the game when it comes out and if it’s successful, more of its kind would be produced.

When asked about the currently empty comics section, it was stated that there will soon be some comics up — “H ones”, as bamboo put it succinctly. MangaGamer has apparently lined up a contract with a publisher for this. The next question asked the artists whether they would insert cameos of themselves or friends into the background art, since no one normally looks at them. The âge representative noted that they do insert cameos of characters from their previous games into their recent games, since their games are kind of related. Katakura said that he has also done the same and bamboo noted that he has heard before that someone has scribbled “Gundam” in the background before. He also notes that it is a very dangerous thing to do, since if Sunrise found out, the company would be in big trouble and could become bankrupt. It was compared to randomly inserting Mickey Mouse somewhere and trying to not get sued. Kayura stated that she couldn’t say out loud, but that she has and it’s a secret. The third question asked kouryuu about why he hinted at TYPE-MOON with his last hint on Twitter, to which kouryuu replied “you mean Azrael?” He then stated that by the time of the second hint, there were already a sizable number of people guessing TYPE-MOON, and that once he saw that a character in Azrael could see “death”, he decided to go with it. The last question asked if there are any plans to release Saishuu Shiken Kujira and why isn’t it as popular as their other games. As readers may remember, the trial version was translated by insani a while back, and this translated trial version was actually shown to CIRCUS back in 2007 during Anime Expo. Apparently, there is one good reason Kujira isn’t as well known, tororo-dancho affirmed — it is because people don’t like girls who don’t wear school uniforms. Thus, he stated that releasing this game would depend on a lot of other factors; they wish to release what’s popular first, and hinted that maybe this game will come up if MangaGamer becomes more successful.

As time was running out, Q&A was stopped short for the mini concert, held on the left side of the panel. First up was Aina Kase, and after introducing her self, she asked if everyone knew what “zettai ryouiki” was. She then commented that she loved zettai ryouiki and over-knee socks and got the audience to say “zettai ryouki” with her. Commenting on her success on getting the audience to say that phrase, she started singing. Her set consisted of “Kimi ni Tsuzuku Kiseki” and “Growing”. As soon as the first song started, a bunch of ardent fans with glowsticks ran up to the right side of the panel room and started wotagei-ing along. (Everytime a song stopped, they quickly ran back to their seats, and there seemed to be a slightly different set of people each time.) After the first song, she asked the audience if they knew what those guys where doing, stating that it was “wotagei” and that in Akihabara, it’s really common for otaku to clap and jump around with glowsticks. She concluded by saying that if people get a chance to visit Japan or if an artist from Japan comes to give a concert, that people should cheer them on using wotagei.

After Aina was UR@N. She ran out on stage in classical Japanese attire and introduced herself, stating that she came all the way from Japan to meet everyone and that it was her first time in the USA. UR@N then opened with the song “traveler”. After the song, she said that she did the vocals for the rock band in the game KIRA KIRA and that since it’s a rock band, she wanted everyone to stand up for the next song, which was the opening song of the game. At that point, the wotagei crowd ran up to the stage to cheer her on during the song.

With UR@N’s performance finished, rino (CooRie) was introduced next. She noted that it’s been four years since she has come to Anime Expo (she was a guest of honor back in 2006). She then introduced herself as a vocalist, composer and lyricist for the Da Capo series. She apparently also sang a song for Kimi ga Nozomu Eien under the MEGUMI name. She states that her career was built by and changed by bishoujo games and that she’s very thankful and want to sing with a lot of thanks to all the companies who supported her. Finally, she would like to take home to Japan everyone’s smiles. Her set consisted of the opening theme to the just-announced Da Capo Innocent Finale titled “IF: Kono Sekai de” and the ending theme to Da Capo Second Season titled “Akatsuki ni Saku Uta”. By the time the first song started, the glowstickers had already returned to their normal wotagei positions on the right side of the room.

Last up to sing was Minami Kuribayashi, who introduced herself as a singer and songwriter for anime songs in Japan. She also noted that she does voice acting as well. For Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, she sang the opening song and voice acted a role in the game. She also wore the school uniform from that game for the performance. Her set consisted of the opening song entitled “Rumbling Hearts” and the opening song to Chrono Crusade called “Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line”. The last song drew a lot of people from the audience to wotagei along.

After the performances were finished, the panel concluded with a prize raffle. When the prizes ran out, the audience demanded to have the cardboard box holding the prizes to be signed and raffled, followed by the box holding the raffle tickets. The panel finally wrapped up and asked the audience to buy more goods at their booth the next day and that they are talking to other game makers to localize their games in order to please everyone. At the very end, there was another “moe” chant.

UPDATE: Slightly more detail added to Yoshimune’s introduction and we’ve been informed that the final arc of Higurashi comes out on July 15 instead of July 29, and that the main MangaGamer webpage has the correct release date.