UlasanAnime.com – I acquired the all-age, physical edition of Kirakira during the convention season last year. It wasn’t until the holiday break that I managed to make significant progress in the game. Considering it has been available as an iOS game since late 2009 and on PC even earlier, I feel quite behind. I had played it briefly before, but the pace was slow, and while it was interesting, it wasn’t particularly captivating. It felt akin to reading a book, a pleasant way to pass an hour before sleep after a long day.
For a relatively new operation like MangaGamer, I believe Kirakira is the ideal title to promote. It features a meta-layer that will resonate with fans of rock music, perhaps appealing to Japanese men in their 30s or 40s. Furthermore, this meta-layer is appreciated but not essential for enjoying the game. Much like its ostentatious namesake and title graphics, it delves into a sort of serious retrospection about a youth one might not have experienced, presenting a story pieced together like an artifact striving for authenticity.
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This concept reminds me of why This Is Spinal Tap exists. Nevertheless, I genuinely enjoyed Kirakira (how is it properly spelled, anyway?) for the most part, although I’m not quite at 100% completion, sitting at around 70%. However, once you reach one of the proper endings, you likely haven’t missed too much. A substantial portion of my playtime was dedicated to the first chapter, which remains largely consistent across all narrative paths. In fact, the first chapter alone could arguably stand as a complete story in itself.
On a related note, Carpe Fulgar announced that they have surpassed 100,000 sales for Recettear (or over 9,000 if you prefer). Given that only the most successful “indie” games achieve such numbers in Japan, albeit at significantly higher retail prices, I find this achievement quite remarkable. Examining the sales figures for Recettear on one of the more popular Japanese download stores, approximately 1,400 units over the course of a year seems like a respectable number. This is especially true considering the niche audience of Japanese gamers who engage in direct game downloads. I would be surprised if the total Japanese language version of Recettear sold over 10,000 units, even when accounting for event sales, mail order, and digital distribution. This is excellent news for ECS, who likely profited more from this than from the Japanese market for the title. The rest is a matter of finding the sweet spot between supply and demand.
This is intended to be a mini-review of Kirakira, so I’ll conclude with this (excluding route-specific details):
- Mika
- Tomo
- Sarina
- That guy (post-op)
- Chie
- Yuko (Perhaps I’ll play Curtain Call afterward)
- Kirari
- Mai & Miyuki
- Everybody else, and even Shikako-chan, lols.
