[Review] Dies irae: Song to the Witch

Dies irae: Song to the Witch is the second light novel spinoff to Dies irae (the first one being Wolfsrudel, which I have yet to read) and was written by Fujii Sanda, with insert illustrations by Minatogawa Kazuomi, the artist for the Dies irae manga adaptation. As clearly implied by G Yuusuke’s beautiful cover art, the novel features Rusalka and Beatrice as its two main heroines, and chronicles their exploits in the United States of 1962, where they face off against a mysterious new foe: the powerful witch known as Marilyn Monroe.

[Review] Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Bansenjin

https://vndb.org/v16131
JP title: 相州戦神館學園 万仙陣

That awkward moment when you keep calling the first game “Senshinkan” and then a sequel comes out and forces you to type out Hachimyoujin to differentiate between the two. I don’t like typing out Hachimyoujin. Anyway, so Bansenjin is the sequel/fandisc to the first Senshinkan game. It adds an entirely new storyline, some cool new characters, and – of course – a healthy dose of fanservice, ranging from pleasantly heartwarming to absolutely ridiculous (in a good way, of course).

[Review] Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin

https://vndb.org/v12455
JP title: 相州戦神館學園 八命陣

Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin (which we will refer to as Senshinkan for brevity) is Light’s big 2014 chuuni title and also the then-latest work of Dies irae / Kajiri Kamui Kagura author Takashi Masada, so you can probably imagine the excitement surrounding it. The game breaks with Dies irae’s “Shinza” setting and comfortably takes place in its own universe, with its own rules… and I gotta say, while the game never quite reaches Dies irae’s cosmos-shattering levels of grandeur, I still had quite a bit of fun playing through it. Read on to find out why!

[Review] Dies irae – Interview with Kaziklu Bey

我が初恋よ、枯れ落ちろ
https://vndb.org/v18685

Dies irae is back, and in a way I never would have predicted: with a prequel / side story / fandisc-like thing focusing on Wilhelm Ehrenburg (aka Kaziklu Bey) during the early days of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden. He meets a mysterious young lady by the name of Claudia Jerusalem (voiced by Noto Mamiko), and the two get entangled in… well, all sorts of things. You might be wondering why Wilhelm, of all people, would be starring in a “love” story, and how Claudia even comes into the picture, but in the end… I thought things worked out in a way that satisfied the Dies fan in me.

[Review] Kajiri Kamui Kagura

我々の出逢い、我々の定め。
思えばあの瞬間に、総ては決まっていたのかもしれません。
春が来れば、この雪も消え去るように。
狂い咲く、刹那の徒花が散りゆくように…

Okay, so here we are, another Masada VN to review in the sunny month of Masada May. Yeah, I just made that up.

[Review] Dies irae – Amantes amentes

https://vndb.org/v548

You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to write this review, but finally, here I am. Ironically coming straight after a post about one of the worst samples the medium has to offer, this review will now take an in-depth look at the other end of the spectrum. That is, the ‘not-shit’ end. There are so many things I want to say it’s probably gonna be a nightmare to organize it all without spoiling too much, so, as you may imagine, I’m already feeling sorry for my future self who will have to write all that. Anyway, you can probably already guess the outcome of the review — no sane man would attempt to translate this many excerpts of a VN he doesn’t adore –, nonetheless, do hear me out.

では…

今宵のグランギニョルを始めよう！