Chuusotsu! 1.5th Graduation: The Moving Castle

The Moving Castle is, as the title implies, not quite a sequel and more like an expansion of the original Chuusotsu game, perhaps setting the stage for a proper second game. As such, it's a much shorter affair (about 3-4 hours), still in kinetic form. At the same time, I felt the shorter length is welcomed since I'm not a fun of monstrously long works and the characters really help carrying the events. The story this time follows Arue and her newfound friends through the process of creating a doujin manga for a futuristic Comiket-like event, again, all tinted in the same dystopian and (this time around) EXTREMELY dark background of the world they are living in. This time another character is added to the roster, a cute meganekko (my weak spot) called Mogami that's just great and it would be a shame if she doesn't show up in the sequel. You heard me devs! Give more meganekko love! Ahem, keeping it serious, the story takes a moment to call out on the prepotence of artists, criticism over the merciless doujin and commercial battleground involving game, manga and other materials creation in Japan and combines it with the even heavier background provided by this very close and bleak f…

STORY: Chuusotsu 1.5th Graduation is a side story to the original 1st Graduation, with the same three young female protagonists from the original story, this time with a focus on the lead character's and a brand new character to the series desires to be both manga creator, despite the odds stacked against them. As with the original version, it is a straightforward story with a single predictable ending, with a largely comical and lighthearted mood in nature, with some more serious self-reflection chapters along the way. And as in the original version, it tends to do neither particularly well, in fact managing to be blander and more forgettable than the original. ARTWORK: The characters sprites and drawings are the same as in the original version - ok, but no more than that. They feel monotone and on the unpolished side, no animations and there is relatively few variety of facial expressions. It further suffers from the complete lack of CGs, in contrast with the original story, which at least had a few to complement it. SOUND: There is a decent amount of music included in the game, though nothing new relative to the original. Like in the first game, the sound track is of dece…

Short, fun follow up to the original Chuusotsu with many of the same themes and messages, but not conveyed as thoroughly or cleverly. Still, if you like the first game, give this one a try. 5/10

short but sweet fandisc, great fun if you liked the base game

Maybe it'll be surprising, but I enjoyed 1.5 a bit more than the original game. Yes, it's shorter and isn't that deep, but it was a consistently fun ride. Made me realize how much I ended up caring about the cast, so it's going to be pretty painful to hope for a continuation... (←no news since 2020)

Still enjoyed it but... my blind faith in the creator is on hold after this. The first story's appeal and depth, the internal conflict and intricate interplay of personalities ... are mostly collapsed here into fairly static interactions and externalized conflict. Arara, the true protagonist - is mostly sidelined. Her attitude provided a nice counterbalance to Arue's incessant whining and self-pity in the first story, but now instead she is paired with Thicc Glasses Girl in a loop of fragility and emotional validation which does not really advance a plotline, focusing instead on rhetorical exploration of the artist's dilemma. In that department, I prefer Koiro, the original warrior poet, with her quotable doses of clear, eloquent and bright stoicism. The powerful opposition and depth that Kokoro provided is replaced with a contemptible character who is far better suited for comic relief than as the linchpin of of motivation and conflict. Well, I'd still recommend it if you liked the first one - you get to spend more time with the characters but it is less memorable time in my opinion. Oh, I forgot to mention: the translation is also compromised. It is heavily edited, excluding so…