After going into the presentation file and replacing “Anime Expo” with “Otakon”, the presenter was ready to start the presentation. The presentation started with an overview of what bishoujo games were and how JAST USA started in 1997 with importing J-Pop CDs. Next, the releases for the past year were reviewed and this segued into the announcement that Family Project is finally available and shipping now.

The presentation then moved onto future releases, with Cat Girl Alliance entering beta and scheduled for release this fall, Raidy II scheduled for release this winter, and it was noted that the project to bring out Cleavage was frozen due to the Japanese company losing the uncensored artwork. As for some of the games for which they don’t have a date yet, the Moero Downhill Night series of games are expected to be out soon. According to the presentation, the staff who worked on the CG animation for Initial D also worked on the CG animation in this game. Lastly, the presentation covered the Yukkuri Panic series of games, which will each be released in a combo pack consisting of a short bishoujo game and a short arcade game.

However, just like the Anime Expo panel, the panel presentation stops at a “One More Thing” screen, and then proceeds to talk about the previously announced partnership between Nitro+ and JAST USA. After showing the trailers for Zanma Taisei Demonbane and Jingai Makyo, the presenter noted that there’s a third game whose license hasn’t been finalized yet. The main presentation closed out with a statement from JAST USA that they’re really happy about the feedback from fans about which games they want. Furthermore, they claim that Nitro+ is happy to be represented by JAST USA in the US and that there is an American comic book for Saya no Uta in progress. Nitro+ is also supposedly really interested in getting Saya no Uta (which they consider their pet project) made into a Hollywood movie.

After the main presentation, a raffle was held for some items. Apparently a copy of Family Project and a male “stress relief toy” were both won by female audience members.

The question and answer segment, which wasn’t done at Anime Expo due to time constraints, brought forth some interesting information. The first question was about why JAST USA doesn’t try to get their games run through the ESRB. They explained that since they know they’re going to get an Adults Only (AO) rating anyway, the wait and headache involved with getting games cleared by the ESRB was too much of a hassle. When asked about running their games on Macs, the reply was that their games run great on Intel Macs through the use of VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop and that they also run well through the CrossOver series of products from CodeWeavers.

When asked about Raidy III, JAST USA says that they let the original publishers know that they are interested and that if the game gets released in Japan, they will be able to get it. Although the panelists couldn’t asnwer directly in response to a question about the budget of games Japan-side, they did talk about how some companies are small with only a few employees and some companies are gigantic, like Nitro+. Furthermore, it was noted that bishoujo game companies for the most part make their own game engines. Then, perhaps in response to recent events in the Japanese eroge industry, it was noted that one of the things JAST USA had to learn was to find game companies that are open-minded about the world who wants their games to be played by Americans. There are issues now with some companies who want to be left alone and don’t see the US as a market.

When asked about whether there was a market for non-adult visual novels, the response was that before the deal with Nitro+, JAST USA wouldn’t have been quite sure about the possibility of an all-ages visual novel market, and that there’s a downside to being an adult game publisher. However, with Nitro+ games, they would consider everything, as long as Nitro+ is interested. For example, Nitro+ is most likely going to want to see good sales numbers on Demonbane before they would consider bringing over CHAOS;HEAD. A later question revealed that CHAOS;HEAD is one of Nitro+’s crown jewels and that the rights lie with Nitro+ and another company (most likely 5pb.). Therefore, it would be tough to get this game.

When asked about otome games, the reply was that there is a market, but what can be released will depend on what JAST USA can get and what they think will be good. As for combo packages of figures and software, it was noted that this was a nice idea, but hard to implement. For example, most of the Nitro+ figures are out of print. However, JAST USA would be interested in doing what it can to do another print run of an Ignis figure.

As for rereleasing Phantom of Inferno, it was noted that the original Nitro+ game had no voices and that an unvoiced game in “this day and age” might not work too well.

Lastly, when asked about acquiring boys love (BL) games from Nitro+ CHiRAL, it was noted that sales results for the two BL games JAST USA has brought haven’t been very peachy. They’re open to the idea of BL games, and suggested perhaps to do a preorder campaign where if there’s enough preorders, they will get the game.

After the panel was over, conversations let loose the rumor that the third game from Nitro+, which is in negotiations right now, is apparently not a visual novel. This would yield a few possibilities:

• the two minigames from Sabbath Nabe
• a 3D mecha sequel to Zanma Taisei Demonbane called Kishin Hishou Demonbane
• a Mario Kart clone based on Demonbane characters called Azathoth D
• a 2D fighting game featuring heroines from Nitro+ games (and Saber) called NITRO+ROYALE

UPDATE: The Nitro+ flap from the JAST USA Dating-Sim Game Catalog that shipped with Family Project apparently has the NITRO+ROYALE title image as the background.

Shortly after the announcement of a collaboration between JAST USA and Nitro+ release games in English, the fan translation patches and scripts of Nitro+ games on TLWiki were taken down mysteriously without comment. The removed material included full translation patches for Chaos;Head and Saya no Uta, as well as partial translations for Demonbane and Sumaga. It appeared to be a gesture on the part of the people who worked on these translations to JAST USA. As of a few days ago, there has also been a message on the top page of TLWiki proclaiming:

ALL NITRO+ SCRIPTS TAKEN OFF OF THE SITE WERE REMOVED AFTER RECEIVING THE CONSENT OF ALL STAFF MEMBERS INVOLVED WITH THEIR TRANSLATION AND EDITING. TLWIKI WILL NEVER DELETE ANY SCRIPT WITHOUT THE STAFF’S EXPRESS CONSENT.

Today, the post on the gemot indicated that the fan translators are trying out working with JAST USA and have stated that by doing so, they hope to increase the speed of releases, to make sure true fans are working on the projects, and to bring over more Nitro+ games. They will be giving their current scripts over to JAST USA and will help with finishing up translations.

We were also able to reach Peter Payne, owner of JAST USA, afterwards for comments on the matter. When asked about what brought about this collaboration with fan translators, Mr. Payne replied:

In addition to the quality of their titles, part of what attracted us to the games of Nitro+ is the great passion many fans already feel for their games. We’re open to having any talented translators help us with the game translations, regardless of their place in the fan community. Bottom line, anyone who wants to help and can do a smooth, professional translation will be considered.

When asked about whether this would have an effect on the release date of their upcoming Nitro+ products, he said:

Possibly, we’re still trying to make a guess about this. We need to talk with the programmers in Japan and find out what their schedule is like.

We also asked him about whether the completed fan translations — Chaos;Head and Saya no Uta — would be brought over as well in addition to the two currently announced titles, and he had this to say:

We certainly would like to bring these games out to fans, and will try to get them added to the release schedule. Nitro+ is especially interested in the prospect of getting Saya no Uta out to fans (actually there will be an American comic of the story made). We can’t say any more at this point although we are open to taking any positive step that will get these games out into the hands of fans.

Lastly, Mr. Payne commented on the removal of the projects from TLWiki by saying:

We didn’t ask that the projects be taken down, but it’s a good idea to be proactive since the Nitro+ staff likely would have soon.

CHAOS;HEAD is a sci-fi visual novel about the ability to create delusions and had recently received a mostly complete fan-translated English patch. This game has spawned an animated series, novelizations and several manga series, as well as a port to the XBOX 360 featuring improved image resolution (1280×720 versus 800×600), new scenarios and new music. The XBOX 360 is still rated 18+, but does not feature sex scenes. It looks like the finished translation for NOAH will require both the XBOX 360 game as well as the original PC game at this point.

Her schedule for this convention was pretty packed with two Q&As, two autograph sessions, a concert, and much more. The concert was very popular, and everybody who attended got involved, jumping with glowsticks provided by Momoi’s official fanclub’s members. 14 of the fanclub members were in front of the stage doing ‘calls’, a combination of shouting and moving with glowsticks, and the audience copied. Momoi was impressed that everybody was so into the concert. She even performed an old song, “Popotan” (ぽぽたん), because one of the people she met during the convention was cosplaying as Mii, whom Momoi did the voice for. Other songs she performed included “LOVE.EXE” from the PS2 version of Baldr Force EXE and “Tenbatsu! Angel Rabbie” (天罰！エンジェルラビィ) from Magical Twirler Angel Rabbie (まじかるトワラー・エンジェルラビィ☆).

The Q&As were interesting too. Perhaps the highlight of it was when someone asked if she was able to get boyfriends when she was young. Everybody in the room was laughing by the end of the question, and laughing again soon after Momoi started her answer. She started her response with, 「いっぱい彼氏いたか？いっぱいいたか？いないよ！！」, “Did I have many boyfriends? Did I have many? I had none!!” After the laughter died down, she went on to explain that she can do what she’s doing today because of that. But she had lots of boyfriends in her mind. And even became the boyfriend when she was playing galge (ed: orz). She also did an Utamaru voice for everybody at the second Q&A session, from the Da Capo series.

In addition to all of this, she managed to find time for us to have a private interview about visual novels. It was quite interesting, and is included below. Also, we have included links to where you can get her music. We would like to thank Momoi, her staff, and the Anime North staff for all their hard work.

Also, a minor note. On the episode of the weekly internet radio show Chou! Momo-i (超!モモーイ) that was published while she was at the convention, she mentioned that the previous weekend she attended KSL Live World 2008. It was a live show from Key Sounds Label, which primarily publishes songs for games from the game company Key. It sounds like she’s a fan of them too.

encubed: Do you play visual novels?
Momoi: Yes, I do. Recently, I’ve been playing a game called CHAOS;HEAD

e:Do you have a favorite game or brand?
M: I don’t really have one. It’s not like I’ve a fan of any particular studio. I don’t really have a preference for major or minor games.

e: Have you watched the anime versions of these games? Like SchoolDays.
M: I have watched some.
e: What do you think of them?
M: The game had various endings, but the anime only has one final episode, so I thought about how difficult it must be while watching it.

e: How did you become a singer for these game theme songs?
M: I was walking in Akihabara in 2001 and saw a huge gathering of people. As I wondered what it could be, I saw they were doing a PC game demonstration at a computer shop. Then, I thought, “Oh, PC game music is something people will listen to – something popular”. That was around the time when music downloading techniques were developed. I thought, “I always wanted to have a musical profession.” There was a time when I knew I wanted to do songs, but I didn’t know which genre to choose. I felt this was a genre suited for Akihabara and anime. Bishoujo game songs. As if it was fate, the next thing I knew, I was given the chance to sing a PC game song. That made me think about trying to write these songs too.

e: Would you like to make games too?
M: I would like to, but from what I’ve seen the creators have a hard time, so I think making a game is hard. They all just tell me they haven’t slept. However, I have always thought I want to work on game music.

e: What is your favorite bishoujo game song?
M: I like Tokimeki Memorial (ときめきメモリアル) songs, like “Motto! MOTTO! Tokimeki” (もっと！モット！ときめき). I remember attending one of Mami Kingetsu’s (金月真美) concerts. But I like my songs the most. I make songs thinking that, like this is the best.

e: Omakase! Trouble Tenshi (おまかせ！トラブル天使) is scheduled to come out next year.¹
M: Ah, it’s finally coming out? I was wondering when
e: Though the release date hasn’t been announced yet, it’ll be next year.
M: I see.
e: But the previous game, Prism Ark, was released in 2006. Recently, have bishoujo game makers been asking you to sing for them?
M: Recently? For bishoujo games, it takes an extremely long time from recording until the game is released. A recording from a year ago is only now being released. What was it, that song I sang and wrote. CROWD’s X Change (ed: X Change Alternative 2 -キミノヒトミニウツルキミ-). That was recorded a year ago, and is being released soon. That’s the most fun thing, something being released.

e: Is the feeling when working on theme songs versus CD-only songs different?
M: Probably when I work on theme songs, I think about whether or not it will fit the game or not. However, recently I’ve been told not to worry about that too much.

e: Do you want to voice more game characters? Your voice roles have been primarily anime characters.
M: Recording for games is quite different than for anime. I think both are interesting.

e: Do you have any message to English-speaking fans of these games?
M: Do many English-speaking people play these games? Japanese is hard, isn’t it.
e: English versions…
M: Games that have English versions? Tales of the Abyss in places like America is talked about a lot. Just earlier at the autograph session, a person brought a printout of it. I would like to visit Canada or America again. If I do come, let’s have fun. Let’s have fun at my concert!
e: Unofficial English versions exist too.
M: Ah, like fansubs?
e: But for games.
M: Games too?
e: Like Tsukihime (月姫).
M: Really!? Amazing!
e: How about to those bishoujo game fans?
M: This is partly for myself as well, but I want to do more game voices. How would I do business in North America? I might perform a role in another game. When I do, please play it. Huh? I wonder if that’s okay. Something like that. Is it okay? I feel like it would be better to say something more interesting. I want to see a game made by an American person! American or Canadian. I want to do a voice for it!
e: Games made by fans exist too.
M: Really? I’d like to try one. It seems like something else that would be different from the ones in Japan.

e: Thank you very much. And thank you for the concert too.

Links:

Official blog (Japanese)
Profile and discography at Right Gauge (Japanese)
Official website at Right Gauge (Japanese)
Official website at avex (Japanese)
North American iTunes store

2008-06-12 update: Momoi appeared at Connichi in 2007, not early 2008. Thanks Akira fan.

2008-07-11 note: Omakase! Trouble Tenshi (おまかせ！トラブル天使) has been cancelled acording to Getchu. News from Namidame News.