Collar x malice review
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| Published by: Idea factory/otomate ENG: Aksys games Available for Psvita |
Hello hello,it's time for new review and this time is Collar x malice. When collar x malice was published in Japan I wasn't that interest in it. I don't know why this didn't speak to me at the first time. Later I saw Aksys games were going to translate it in English and I thought that maybe I should try it then.
Collar x malice is police themed game where our heroine Ichika is policewoman in Shinjuku. In Shinjuku have been many violent crimes and those crimes are known as "X-day".
One day unknown person attacked Ichika. She regained consciousness and noticed mysterious collar on her neck. Later she end up to help group of former police officers (Detective Agency) who try solve X-day crimes.
Routes
There might be some spoilers!
Okazaki Kei
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| Seiyuu: Kaji Yuki |
Like always I ended up to look at some recommendations for routes. I started from Okazaki Kei who is SP officer. His job was to project Yanagi and other people from detective agency.
First I thought Kei is going to be this mysterious boy in the game,but he ended up to be cute airhead. I really liked his personality and found it funny how sleeping was serious business for him.
It was a really sad how Kei tried to find "right person" to project so he could have "meaningful death". When Ichika got angry at him I found some "fighting" scenes kinda hilarious,because it ended to look like they were like "old married couple".
There was some romance in the route, but not that much. Some of the romance moments felt kinda weird, but at same time I was screaming inside because Kaji. (pleasedon'tjudgeme xDDD)
When I finished final chapter first I thought that I got the bad ending,because of CG before the end credits. But well it ended up to be good ending,yay me. After good ending I wanted to check the Tragic love ending and it was mistake.. xD but I got nice CG after plaing it lol.
I think it was good to start from this route. You get to know some basic things from X-day crimes and also get to know some characters. Even though this route was good start for the game,the last chapter felt rushed. Everything happened so suddenly and in the end I was like "...oh it ended..oh okay..what?". But yeah I really liked Kei and his route. Don't know why,but I kinda wished that in Kei route would be some twisted moments,but there wasn't :'D .
Enomoto Mineo
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| Seiyuu: Soma Saito |
Mineo is former member of Shinjuku station's field ops, but currently he was part of Yanagi's detective agency.
From the beginning I really liked Mineo. He is kind,but sometimes a little bit silly and awkward. I really loved Mineo's personality, even though sometimes I cringed a little bit. He sometimes was really awkward but I still found it very cute. Most off the time Mineo was silly, but there were moments when he was a really cool too.
I have to say I got a little bit bored in the investigation parts. Sometimes it was really hard to focus what was going on. But I still though Mineo's case was interesting from some parts. Mostly from his personal perspective. But I liked those silly/awkward lovely-dovey moments more.
There was a lot comedy moments in the route and I laughed so much. Sometimes I felt bad for Mineo how everyone made those "wife and husband" jokes :'D. I don't have much to say about this route but it was cute and funny.
Sasazuka Takeru
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| Seiyuu: Namikawa Daisuke |
Takeru is hacker who worked for the Cyber crimes division at HQ. Now he have been part of Yanagi's detective agency. He also has lived in America.
When I started to play Takeru's route I was like "Welcome to you're garbage route". Takeru was a little bit annoying sometimes but at the same time I found him a really cute. Well we can say that Takeru is tsundere who has big sweet tooth and he a really like donuts and usually doesn't share those to any one. But I found it cute when he wanted to share some donuts with Ichika(it was more like giving reward for a dog :'D ). I couldn't stop laughing how much he hated macha flavored donuts and then he started list other things what he doesn't like eat,oh boy xD .
In this route you investigated cases where was cyber bullying and bomb explosion at school. I found those cases interesting in their own way. It was a little sad to find out who were criminal for the bomb case. I didn't expect it at all. During the route there was some flashbacks from Takeru's trauma. First I wasn't sure what his trauma was because there were only flashbacks about his mother. Later there was incidence which made Takeru act weird. After this Takeru told to Ichika about his past what happened to his mother and how he doesn't like a guns.
First I thought am not going to like Takeru's route. Like I said he was annoying from the start,but I ended up to fall in love with this donuts loving tsundere. He was almost all the time saying that you're idiot cat or idiot in general :'D. Well Takeru didn't trust Ichika first and challenged her to show that she was smarter what she were first. But a little by little Takeru started to show his feelings to Ichika even though she didn't notice it first. Because she though that Takeru was treating her like a pet.
But after finishing this route I felt a little bit empty. I wanted to get more those cute tsundere moments with Takeru ( ´•̥̥̥ u •̥̥̥` ) .
Second last route was Shiraishi. He is working as a profiler and is also director of the Field ops department.
When I started to play Shiraishi's route I had the feeling that his route was going to be a big roller coaster. And oh boy how right I was. Shiraishi is always smiling and he like to tease people. He doesn't show his feelings easily and sometimes doesn't understand what some emotions means.
First I found Shiraishi a really annoying, but later I started to like him. He teased Ichika a lot and sometimes Ichika didn't even understand him. Even I got confused sometimes :'D This route really was a big roller coaster,first Shiraishi teased Ichika a lot and said mean things and then suddenly he was a really awkward and wasn't sure why he had some feelings for Ichika.
In this route Ichika and Shiraishi investigated school murder cases. Those cases were interesting and I really wanted to know the true behind it. Later it was kinda easy to expect who where behind those murders. While I was playing this route and got some cute CG I knew that something bad was going to happen and everything can't be this nice, because Shiraishi's appearance give the vibe. When I was playing chapters 5 and 6 I was just waiting for the horrible moments. And when that happend the truth behind Shiraishi was like hit to the face. Even though you can kind of expect it BUT still it felt so sad for me.
When I got the GOOD ending I was a little bit shocked and looked at the CG like "noooo...NO...this can't happen please don't end it like this?!". I cried like a little baby for the good ending and felt so empty after finishing it. To be honest am not sure if it was that good,but well yeah they got their happy ending. After crying like a baby I went to look at the "Tragic ending" because must get all CG. AND....OH BOY OH BOY. That was something! To be honest Takeru's tragic ending didn't feel that tragic at all after playing Shiraishi's lol. But anyway I still kinda liked Shiraishi even though his personality wasn't the best. To be honest I have mixed feelings,at the same time I found him a really annoying, but he was also sometimes a really cute and just wanted to project him and say "everything is okay".
And now the final route!
Yanagi is former officer from Investigations section 1. He is kinda "a quiet person" or I guess more mature than other characters. For me Yanagi felt more like " a big brother" character than love interest. I really liked Yanagi as a character but somehow this "like" wasn't same like I had with other characters. I wouldn't say I felt that he was boring. It's just he didn't give the same feeling like other boys :'D.
But anyway in the route you investigated all investigations and also tried figure out why Adonis wanted to do all those X-day crimes. There were also some stuff from Ichika/Yanagi's past and how they had met before. I was kind of surprised who Zero was,but at the same time it wasn't big shock for me. There was some cute romance moments but sometimes those felt kinda meh.
I feel really stupid because I don't have much to say about Yanagi's route even though it's "the final route" where you get to know all the truth behind Adonis.
I guess after Shiraishi route I waited for bigger wtf moment in this route. But to be honest there a really wasn't any. Or I just didn't realize it lol. I really wanted there would be something shocking in this route,but there a really wasn't. This route wasn't boring or the best route ever,it was okay.
But I still liked the happy ending and it left a good feeling for me.
When I started to play Takeru's route I was like "Welcome to you're garbage route". Takeru was a little bit annoying sometimes but at the same time I found him a really cute. Well we can say that Takeru is tsundere who has big sweet tooth and he a really like donuts and usually doesn't share those to any one. But I found it cute when he wanted to share some donuts with Ichika(it was more like giving reward for a dog :'D ). I couldn't stop laughing how much he hated macha flavored donuts and then he started list other things what he doesn't like eat,oh boy xD .
In this route you investigated cases where was cyber bullying and bomb explosion at school. I found those cases interesting in their own way. It was a little sad to find out who were criminal for the bomb case. I didn't expect it at all. During the route there was some flashbacks from Takeru's trauma. First I wasn't sure what his trauma was because there were only flashbacks about his mother. Later there was incidence which made Takeru act weird. After this Takeru told to Ichika about his past what happened to his mother and how he doesn't like a guns.
First I thought am not going to like Takeru's route. Like I said he was annoying from the start,but I ended up to fall in love with this donuts loving tsundere. He was almost all the time saying that you're idiot cat or idiot in general :'D. Well Takeru didn't trust Ichika first and challenged her to show that she was smarter what she were first. But a little by little Takeru started to show his feelings to Ichika even though she didn't notice it first. Because she though that Takeru was treating her like a pet.
But after finishing this route I felt a little bit empty. I wanted to get more those cute tsundere moments with Takeru ( ´•̥̥̥ u •̥̥̥` ) .
Kageyuki Shiraishi
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| Seiyuu: Ryohei Kimura |
Second last route was Shiraishi. He is working as a profiler and is also director of the Field ops department.
When I started to play Shiraishi's route I had the feeling that his route was going to be a big roller coaster. And oh boy how right I was. Shiraishi is always smiling and he like to tease people. He doesn't show his feelings easily and sometimes doesn't understand what some emotions means.
First I found Shiraishi a really annoying, but later I started to like him. He teased Ichika a lot and sometimes Ichika didn't even understand him. Even I got confused sometimes :'D This route really was a big roller coaster,first Shiraishi teased Ichika a lot and said mean things and then suddenly he was a really awkward and wasn't sure why he had some feelings for Ichika.
In this route Ichika and Shiraishi investigated school murder cases. Those cases were interesting and I really wanted to know the true behind it. Later it was kinda easy to expect who where behind those murders. While I was playing this route and got some cute CG I knew that something bad was going to happen and everything can't be this nice, because Shiraishi's appearance give the vibe. When I was playing chapters 5 and 6 I was just waiting for the horrible moments. And when that happend the truth behind Shiraishi was like hit to the face. Even though you can kind of expect it BUT still it felt so sad for me.
When I got the GOOD ending I was a little bit shocked and looked at the CG like "noooo...NO...this can't happen please don't end it like this?!". I cried like a little baby for the good ending and felt so empty after finishing it. To be honest am not sure if it was that good,but well yeah they got their happy ending. After crying like a baby I went to look at the "Tragic ending" because must get all CG. AND....OH BOY OH BOY. That was something! To be honest Takeru's tragic ending didn't feel that tragic at all after playing Shiraishi's lol. But anyway I still kinda liked Shiraishi even though his personality wasn't the best. To be honest I have mixed feelings,at the same time I found him a really annoying, but he was also sometimes a really cute and just wanted to project him and say "everything is okay".
Aiji Yanagi
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| Seiyuu: Morita Masakazu |
Yanagi is former officer from Investigations section 1. He is kinda "a quiet person" or I guess more mature than other characters. For me Yanagi felt more like " a big brother" character than love interest. I really liked Yanagi as a character but somehow this "like" wasn't same like I had with other characters. I wouldn't say I felt that he was boring. It's just he didn't give the same feeling like other boys :'D.
But anyway in the route you investigated all investigations and also tried figure out why Adonis wanted to do all those X-day crimes. There were also some stuff from Ichika/Yanagi's past and how they had met before. I was kind of surprised who Zero was,but at the same time it wasn't big shock for me. There was some cute romance moments but sometimes those felt kinda meh.
I feel really stupid because I don't have much to say about Yanagi's route even though it's "the final route" where you get to know all the truth behind Adonis.
I guess after Shiraishi route I waited for bigger wtf moment in this route. But to be honest there a really wasn't any. Or I just didn't realize it lol. I really wanted there would be something shocking in this route,but there a really wasn't. This route wasn't boring or the best route ever,it was okay.
But I still liked the happy ending and it left a good feeling for me.
Final thoughts:
In general I enjoyed to play Collar x malice. First I was a little bit unsure if I like this game or not. But in the end I really liked the story + all the boys and some side characters. Sometimes I cried a little bit inside when there was some mistake translations or wrong names put to who were talking at the moment. Pppft but well what you can expect from aksys translations because this wasn't first the time. *sigh* But well you can also ignore those little mistakes...I guess.
OST in the game where good,I really liked how some of sound tracks give the dark atmosphere for Adonis moments or if there were something bad happening. I really disliked those "censored voices" which where on adonis/X-day moments. I guess it was too creepy for me :'D. For the first time I didn't like OP or END songs for the game.
Game system in CxM was nice,I liked the phone scenes and trigger scenes where nice extra for some investigation moments.
Story for the game was interesting and I liked almost all routes. The final route was kind of disappointing. There really wasn't any shocking moments for me. I guess the reason for it was that you already knew all the cases and there really wasn't anything new to learn. Well only the Zero part.
Also some investigation parts felt kind of boring and sometimes I didn't focus that much one those case. Even though I probably should have lol.
I really liked all boys in Collar x malice. And "the best boy" category winner was Takeru. To be honest I was a little bit surprised that I ended to like Takeru the most. Because first I thought it's going to be Shiraishi or Okazaki. But well this donuts eating tsundere trash won my heart lol.
But if I should put my fav ones in order it would be ---> Takeru,Shiraishi,Okazaki,Enomoto and Yanagi.
Shortly good game and would recommend it to others. Now I really want buy FD for this game. Not sure if I should buy it in Japanese or wait for ENG version (IF there will be a translation for it,who knows).
And again thanks for reading this short review. I hope you guys enjoyed to read this and if there is something you want ask/comment feel free!
~ Sparkletokiya
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