Weekly Ramblings 10 – OVERDRIVE Special (Dengeki Stryker, Kira Kira, Deardrops)

So I finally got around to creating that Index By Title i’ve been talking about. If you’re ever wondering whether i’ve written about a particular GSN (game, series or novel!) you should definitely check it out; it’s under the Index tab.

This week i’m going to talk about the Visual Novel developer OVERDRIVE, as i’ve loved most of their VNs but don’t plan on reviewing them in the near future. I’ll cover Dengeki Stryker, Kira Kira and Deardrops, as well as a super secret fourth title that has just had a translation announced. All of the aforementioned titles are entertaining and well worth your time (even if Kira Kira’s translation is quite poorly done), though I haven’t played their other title, Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip To Japan~, so I can’t really talk about that one. There are definitely not two other OVERDRIVE-developed Visual Novels, so don’t go looking for them.

If you’re interested in any of these titles, they’re for sale at the Mangagamer Website.

Dengeki Stryker is OVERDRIVE’s most action-packed production. Featuring a manga superhero come to life and his arch-nemeses from a fictional nation brought into the real world, it tells three main stories, with the first being a stand-alone tale to to introduce the Dengeki Stryker universe and the other two being linked together. Funny, thrilling and filled with the spark of excitement, Dengeki Stryker will appeal to your inner fantasies of charged, super-powered battles mixed with everyday survival in the real world without crossing the line into ridiculousness.

If you haven’t noticed already, my avatar is the main character from Dengeki Stryker. I’m not into superheroes for the most part, but I loved every minute of OVERDRIVE’s Visual Novel; it’s even been given my girlfriend’s seal of approval. It’s not particularly deep or lengthy, but I guarantee that it will keep you entertained. It’s also one of the only Visual Novels i’ve played with animated scenes included, so you should definitely check it out.

I often refer to Kira Kira as my first Visual Novel, and i’m glad I decided to play it when I did. For the first half it’s a generic “let’s form a band and go on a road trip!” tale (and a good one, at that!), with the latter half focusing on slightly heavier events. The poor, orange-haired sod in the above picture is actually the main character, who is forced into female clothing for a significant portion of the game (for a totally legitimate, hilarious reason). There’s a fandisk called Kira Kira: Curtain Call which features brand new characters, with the old ones popping up every now and then. It’s not as good as the original, but it’s probably still worth playing.

While Mangagamer’s translation is of patchy quality at best, Kira Kira will undoubtedly make you smile, laugh and even cry (I certainly did – big, manly tears of fortitude). Being band-themed, it also has an excellent OST, which was what first started me on listening to Japanese Music and spawned The Geek Clinic’s weekly Music Spotlight. I would love to recommend it to everyone, but it’s very slice-of-life-y and not everyone would get caught up in its relaxing, yet entertaining pace. While there are 4 routes (one for each heroine, followed by the true route), there’s only one particular ending that will really get you (though that’s not the say the others aren’t good). There’s also an all-ages version too, so it’s child-friendly!

Deardrops is like Kira Kira’s big sister, or brother, or whatever. Also featuring a band theme, Deardrops feels a little more mature than Kira Kira and also has a bit more depth to its characters. Rather than focusing on a group of newbie musicians, Deadrops features a group of near-prodigies that need to learn to work together to achieve their goals. Retaining both Kira Kira’s humor and ability to make you feel for its characters, Deardrops is still a different experience and certainly worth playing whether you’ve played the former VN or not.

Whereas Kira Kira has a strong guitar focus with its music, Deardrops has incredibly strong vocals and throws a violin into the normal rock mix (which I love, by the way). There’s a route for each of the 4 main heroines, but it’s easy to tell that more work has been put into the main heroine’s stories (Kanade and Riho), as the other two routes (Rimu and Yayoi) are much shorter and less interesting. Still, I really enjoyed playing Deardrops and would not hesitate to recommend it. It’s still slice-of-life-y though, so if you don’t like that Deardrops may not be for you.

Finally, i’m really excited about Mangagamer’s recent announcement that d2b Vs. Deardrops ~Cross the Future~ is getting a translation. It’s a crossover between Kira Kira and Deardrops that i’ve been waiting for since I first played them and looks like it’s going to be really good. I don’t know too much about it, I just wanted an excuse to have the picture on my blog ^_^

That’s all for this week guys. I have my quote book back now, so you can all look forward to quotes that I didn’t randomly come up with. Come to think of it, I don’t actually know if anyone reads them…oh well, I like them enough to keep them going.

“My instincts are ordering me not to pursue this line of though. I tell them to fuck off.” – Rewrite (Tennouji Kotarou)

Advertisement