That’s right, bitches. I’m releasing this one day early.

It all began one dreary November evening when I read a comment of CCY’s (“make ccy make a visual novel, the visual novel”) and opened Ren’Py. I began scripting and I never looked back.

Okay, that’s a lie. I’ve looked back many times. But never mind that. Now, I present to you the first major point release in my visual novel project CCY-senpai wa 17sai, henceforth referred to as simply “CCY17″ for convenience. This new version, in addition to the traditional expansion of the story, is packing character art, an improved background for the classrooms, several more bad ends, and music!

This version also heralds the arrival of the official CCY17 website:

http://not.dotq.org/ccy

There, you can find a changelog for this new version, download links, and more!

Now, I am asking three things of you:

1. Give me feedback. Lots of it. Whatever you can think of. Tell me what worked for you, what made you laugh. What didn’t work for you. Was the “Nice Ideeea” too annoying? Was “Ano Ko wo Rape” too long? Etc.

2. Spread the word. Tweet this announcement, post about it on your blogs, tell your friends, whatever. The more people know about the project, the more people play the game, the more feedback I get, the more motivated I am to deliver the next version sooner.

3. Donate. If you have a couple bucks to throw around, please consider helping me pay Sixten for his art. The game will always be free and I am not trying to make a profit—just to sink a portion of my costs.

That’s it—go download the game now.

Knock yourselves out, boys and girls!

Credits and special thanks abound in game and on the website, but I’d like to make some hollers here: Sixten and Choux, for their masterful art; lelangir, for his audio contributions; everyone who goaded me into releasing a day early (you know who you are); and everyone who has donated thus far (again, you know who you are).

A final note: I am still looking for community contributions to the project. Stray ideas, sounds, musics, and so on are more than welcome.

A Wonderful Sisterhood, Part 1

“What’s your deal?” Touko asked Yumi, irritated.

“Please, Touko! I have something wonderful I’d like to show you.”

“I can’t believe you’re asking me to skip Drama Club practice.” Touko furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head in amazement. The angelic Yumi, encouraging delinquency?

“This is more important, just this once,” pleaded Yumi. “Will you come with me?”

“Alright, alright! But this wasn’t my idea.”

“Hurray! You’re awesome, Touko!”

Touko grimaced, but her grimace was quickly replaced with surprise as Yumi produced her magical mechanical pencil.

“We don’t need a map where we’re going,” said Yumi, and she drew an X on the ground. A bright blue portal appeared out of nowhere. Touko thought that she could hear the sound of the waves and gulls crying, and them Yumi grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the inter-dimensional doorway.

They tumbled out of the portal in a different city, on a different planet, sometime in the early 24th century.

“What is this place?” asked Touko, incredulity written across her face.

“It’s a wonderful place,” answered Yumi, with a wink that added the words, “that doesn’t really answer your question, but that’s okay!”

The girls stood on a wooden walkway looking out over cerulean waters that turned to an aquamarine on the horizon, beneath a pale pink sky. The sun was just rising over the water, and a few streamy clouds raced across the sky, chased by seagulls. The soothing sounds of a pair of mandolins played across the scenery.

A white railing stood between the girls and the water; a pair of white stairs led down in the direction of the open waters. A spiral staircase led up to a balcony of sorts, one that ran all the way around the building the girls were standing by. The wall of the building that faced the sunrise was mostly comprised of a metal shade.

As the sky grew bluer, and as Touko opened her mouth to chastise Yumi for dragging the two of them into some unknown dimension that—while it was very pretty—had nothing to do with the duties of a Lillian girl, this shade opened.

“Ehhh?” A girl with long pink hair, sporting a white nekomimi hat and blue pajamas, stood behind a counter of sorts, her mouth wide open.

“Akari!” squealed Yumi.

“Yumi!” responded Akari, a smile replacing her previous shocked face. She disappeared from behind the counter. The click of a lock and five seconds later, she was on the walkway with Yumi and Touko, shaking Yumi’s hand. “It’s been so long!”

“Hahaha,” laughed Yumi.

“And who is this?” asked Akari.

“She’s Touko, an underclassman and good friend of mine.”

“Then she’s a good friend of mine, too!” exclaimed Akari, shaking Touko’s hand next. Touko found herself almost swept away by the pink-haired girl’s ebullience, but she broke free and scowled at Yumi.

“You know people here?!”

“Of course!” answered Yumi. “The people here are so nice! It’s easy to make lots of friends.”

“brrrrrrr” shivered Akari, rubbing her exposed arms as a breeze passed by. “It’s cold; I’m going to go change. Please, come in, I’ll set out some food!”

Yumi accepted the offer with a gracious nod, took Touko’s wrist once more, and the two of them followed Akari into the building.

“This doesn’t look like a home,” commented Touko as she walked in and saw the the office-like space, replete with desk, phone, and work calendar.

“There’s a kitchen in that other room there,” said Yumi, “and a bedroom upstairs.”

Akari disappeared into that upstairs bedroom, dashing up the staircase.

“This friend of yours is pretty inelegant,” observed Touko disdainfully. “She doesn’t walk very slowly.”

“Oh, Touko, she’s just happy.”

Moments later Akari had descended from her room, clad in a flowing white-and-blue dress.

“That’s one weird outfit,” muttered Touko.

“I’m sure she finds our school uniforms odd,” smiled Yumi. “That’s her company’s uniform, the uniform of the Aria Company. Actually, I’ve always wanted to try wearing it once…”

“I have some spares,” said Akari, smiling disarmingly, “would you like to try them on?”

“PLEASE!” exclaimed Yumi excitedly. Touko cocked an eyebrow.

“They’re upstairs, help yourselves. I’m going to get breakfast ready.”

Yumi dragged Touko up to Akari’s bedroom and opened the closet.

“Look, look! There are so many of them!”

“I won’t change,” grumbled Touko.

“I know you think they’re cute,” laughed Yumi. Touko blushed slightly, glaring at her senpai. “Well, I’m going to change now… please don’t stare at me so intensely.” Yumi said it jokingly, but Touko flushed even further. She stomped over to a window and gazed out at the sparkling waters.

“Ta-da!” exclaimed Yumi after a couple minutes. Touko turned around to see Yumi dressed in a uniform identical to Akari’s. She couldn’t deny that it looked good on her.

“Try it on,” encouraged Yumi.

“F-fine,” Touko said.

A few minutes later, the two Lillian girls descended in Aria garb to find four plates of freshly-baked cheese tarts on the table.

“Four?” Touko asked.

“Yes!” answered Akari. “President Aria is always hungry in the mornings.”

“What is that th-thing?!” exclaimed Touko after Akari pointed to the gluttonous white blob stuck in a highchair.

“He’s not a thing, he’s President Aria,” objected Yumi. “The gondolier companies here always choose a cat with aquamarine eyes as their mascot and symbolic president, you see.”

“That’s a cat?”

“Martian cat,” shrugged Yumi.

“Yumi was also very confused when she first came here and met President Aria,” giggled Akari. “Well, sit down, sit down. I’ll pour the tea in a second.” The two Lillian girls seated themselves opposite President Aria as Akari disappeared back into the kitchen. She reemerged immediately with a pot of tea.

“So, what are your plans for today?” Akari asked, pouring the steaming beverage.

つづく

[canned introduction] Maria-sama ga Miteru: a show about disgustingly rich girls attending a private school that at once shields them from the harshness of reality and subjects them to the darkest, most horrific thing a girl could go through: romantic friendship with other girls! [/canned introduction]

As DiGiKerot pointed out, there’s a lot wrong with this new season of Maria-sama ga Miteru. This isn’t limited to the OP song change, or to the running in the OP sequence. This episode sees the *gasp* introduction of apparently heterosexual men! In my Hanadera Academy? Obviously it’s more likely than I thought—I would have said the chances were 0%.

Spiral power? “Your sexy lesbian is a sexy lesbian that can pierce the gay man’s gayness?” I don’t even know!

Anyway, this episode sees us approximately one year after the events in episode one of season one. The school festival is coming up, and Lillian Jougakuen’s Yamayurikai is once more holding a play. Once more, the boys from sister gay school Hanadera Gakuen are participating. Once more, there’s some tall, dark, and bishoujo girl bitch who hates men and wants out. Once more, Yumi is given the task of making everything work out.

By the way, Kanako. You want Yumi to remain an angel?

Protip: People die when they’re killed.

Crazy Sachiko, in classic Crazy Sachiko style, informs the actors that the girls and boys will be switching roles. Well, she’s gotten better about gender issues in the last year (remember her moaning about how evil men were?), but this kind of blunt trolling isn’t very attractive. At first Yumi is displeased with her onee-sama’s decision, but then she decides to take it like a good little walking vagina when said onee-sama melts her with her eyes.

Shirukii is also on board with Sachiko’s “meaningful” expressions.

“Rape is imminent.”

In between the Yamayurikai practicing the play and Shimako training her new dog, Yumi has some flashbacks of when she became Crazy Sachiko’s petite soeur. We get some nice piano version of Pastel Pure that almost makes up for the new OP, and… Yoshino suggests that Yumi have a nice anniversary with her onee-sama. I’m starting to see eye-to-eye with IcyStorm here; Yoshino rocks. “Nice anniversary?” Roses, chocolates, a fancy dinner, and a hotel room.

The fanfiction writes itself!

In any event, Crazy Sachiko clearly remembers what day is coming up. She’s got her rape mask on.

Later on, Yumi and Touko are having some problems with their relationship. Thankfully Yumi has learned the lessons taught by Rainy Blue and confronts Touko directly, making a big fuss in front of the Yamayurikai’s sex chapel.

As the school watches in horror, Yumi trills “Ano (Tou)ko wo Rape.”

Now that Maria-sama ga Miteru is current again, I should really do some YFR fic of it, huh?

The stage was set. The metools painted a rainbow over Lillian’s entryway and the Yamayurikai took to the sky in kaiawase formation. Who will profit? Who will get sexxings? Who will make my next blog post funny? So many questions, and a whole another week until episode two…

(The emo girl was emo, but such is the lot in life for those who fall in love with DEAD PEOPLE WHO WERE KILLED. OH EM GEE.)

Fuck Yesssssssssss

Toward the end of the episode, we are informed that Rosa Gigantea is coming back for the school festival. The possibilities are endless. Personally, I’m hoping for the “Sei surprise-sexes Yumi while Yumi is waiting for Sachiko to meet her for their after-festival anniversary-celebratory make-out session” route. Other lovely possibilities include a threesome, an overly-dramatic scene with humongous sexual tension, and a tennis match.

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Maria-sama ga Miteru: a show about disgustingly rich girls attending a private school that at once shields them from the harshness of reality and subjects them to the darkest, most horrific thing a girl could go through: romantic friendship with other girls! Maybe I’m a lesbian, by Yuki Seto, on sale at doujin markets near you.

I don’t like the new OP song but that’s just because I’m a stickler for tradition. When Undine came on in Episode 26 of Aria the Natural, I came fucktons of omobuckets. When they got rid of Pastel Pure, I cried more rivers than Noe can throw chickens into. Other thoughts on the OP include, but are not limited to:

• “the cake is lie!”
• “magical girl lyrical fukuzawa?!”
• “needs moar Rosa Gigantea (and not the Shimako variety)”
• “FUCK YES FUCK YES FUCK YES”
• “キター！”

Fuck yes fuck yes Crazy Sachiko is back!!

The second best character Of All Time is Ogasawara Sachiko, AKA “Crazy Sachiko” as dubbed by my senpai and hero, Lovely Kitsune. I say second best because Fukuzawa Yumi (ribbons, funny faces) is younger, and thusly a more acceptable lust-target. Fuck yeah lolis.

Back to Sachiko… why is she so awesome? Nobody knows. All anyone knows is that she just is.

I mean, shit man. She has a “Sa” in her name (さ). Look at that mother-fucker right there. Where have you seen that before? I’ll tell you the fuck where. Remember this guy? Shit yeah you remember that guy. Coincidence? I think not. Sa-chan does not forgive and Sa-chan does not forget. Sa-chan is a psychobitch; expect to not go on dates with her. Did I mention she likes tea? Fuck.

It’s like a damn waterfall down there when I think of her, SHIT.

- question for the peanut gallery: if one can “come harder than omo,” can one “come down more gracefully than IcyStorm” (who orgasms while watching anime approximately once per episode per open IM window yet still functions in society)? -

Sorry for getting derailed. At least “Sachiko” is a better name than “Darry” and all that. Oh and her nose is more sexual. But I digress… back to the episode.

Waitaminute…

I’m going to go download a different version of the episode once my eyes stop being the new waterfall.

ef ~a tale of melodies~ Episode 6 was hands-down the best episode of anime in the fourth quarter of 2008. But that’s not what made it catch an invitation to this dinner. The day I wasted at work making the below, on the other hand, is.

This is, without a doubt, the least appropriate thing I have ever created. It’s Too Soon™ it’s not nice, it’s an insult to one of the best episodes of anime of 2008… and it’s deliciously funny.

All Hail Krauser-san!

Oh, did I mention: spoilers for episode 6 of ef ~a tale of melodies~?

By the by, it’s sooo much better than ef ~a tale of memories~. See this MAL blog post for more info.

And how appropriate is that? By dropping, I am referring to the ceasing of following a show that is airing. Like, the “Dropped” list on MyAnimeList. Funnily enough, this first set of shows I’m dropping only has an overlap of one show with the list of shows I said I would flame to hell and drop.

Here’s the list:

4. Casshern Sins – even Megaman would have been better. I know, I know—Owen called it fiber of the anime diet—but still, it’s kind of…lame? CJ says that she’s sick of its pretentiousness, but Episode 4 (that is, the last episode that I dropped) didn’t give off any pretentiousness. It just sucked. Sophita was a nutcase and Casshern’s jug of emo has gone sour. There’s no fun in Casshern Sins and there’s no deeper meaning that I can discern, either. And this isn’t me being a dick. This is me scratching my head.

They throw a lot of philosophical shit at us, but it’s totally boring. And the center of the whole thing—Casshern—is so confused and empty that he isn’t even a subject worth studying. All we really get are the feelings of others—mostly robots, so lol@feelings—regarding death. Maaaaaaybe there’s something deep in contemplating death, but whatever it is it’s not interesting to me.

Also, lol @ John Lichman:

Casshern Sins: Rewatching Ep 1. I think this is the stand-out for Fall 08. So far, this and Detroit Metal City OVAs are the year’s best.

No, dipfag, no—even if Casshern were as good as DMC, Aria the Origination owns this year. But I guess it’s possible that Mr. Lichman just doesn’t understand Aria because he’s a Republican. I’m noticing a trend—they tend not to understand things.

3. Kemeko DX is being dropped for obvious reasons. Or at least, they should be obvious. If they’re not, you’re TheBigN and your taste buds have been ravaged by one bad show too many.

2. Kurogane no Linebarrels is absolute trash, as DiGiKerot so carefully explains to us with his masterful weekly comics. I expected this show to be trash; I hoped I’d be able to sit through it. Just as planned, it was trash. Thankfully, I’m not broken enough to keep watching it.

1. Kuroshitsuji – I think that these two tweets explain my feelings for this show with incredibly concision:

Kuroshitsuji doesn’t accomplish a whole lot. It’s not going anywhere, and if I’m going to be watching slice-of-life I’d rather be observing the antics of good people than those of rich evil people. I don’t sense Kuroshitsuji heading for a “Ciel is evil and greedy so good people take his shit and give it to the needy” end, so I’m dropping it. I’ll admit that the show is nice eye-candy for shotacons but that’s not really my thing. Really.

Why the sudden dropping of shows? I have a disgustingly heavy load this season. Before this dropping, I was watching 28 currently airing shows. That’s like, the same kind of load I was taking on back two years ago when I was a depressed brat. Guess what? I’ve been mildly down for a couple months. Recently, I’ve been getting back into a groove with my fiction writing and some art, and, as such, have begun dispelling some of my worries and doubts. Along with this improvement, I’m finding less time for shit.

Less time for shit means less time for shit anime, and less time for shit anime means it’s time to drop the above-mentioned shows.

It also means it’s time to drop ChäoS;HEAd. But I won’t yet. I’ll give it another episode to win me over. I really shouldn’t—it’s like a mixture of NHK ni Youkoso and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and, much as how baby+baby=baby, shit+shit=shit—but I will. I’m doing it for CCY-senpai, and for my unfounded faith in all things otaku.

Anyway. There’ll be another wave, I’m sure. I’m trying to hang in there for a number of shows—Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, for one, and Yozakura Quartet, for another, but I’m sure they’ll come swooping down like so many disgusting brown-white smears.

This is the greatest and best song in the world. . . tribute.

Long time ago, me…

and my brother Kyle here…

we was hitchhikin’ down a long and lonesome road.

All of a sudden,

there shined a shiny demon…
in the middle…
of the road.

And he said:
“Play the best song in the world,
or I’ll eat your souls.”

Well me and Kyle,… we looked at each other,

and we each said…

“Okay.”

And we played the first thing that came to our heads,

Just so happened to be,

The Best Song in the World,

it was The Best Song in the World.

Look into my eyes and it’s easy to see
One and one make two,
two and one make three,
It was destiny.

These lyrics are so passé.

Once every hundred-thousand years or so,
When the sun doth shine

and the moon doth glow

and the grass doth grow oooh…

Needless to say,
the beast was stunned.

Whip-crack went his whippet tail,
And the beast was done.

He asked us:

“(snort) BE you angels?”

And we said,
“Nay.”

“We are but men!”

Rock!!
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahn,
Ohhh, whoah, ah-whoah-oh!

This is not “The Greatest Song in the World,” no.

This is just a tribute.

If you’re wondering what an AMB is, wonder no longer—Akari was curious as well, so I explained it to her.

	What’s an “AMB,” Mr. Lolikit?
	Objection!
	Hahi~! Umm… so, Mr. lolikit, what’s an “AMB?”
	An AMB is like an AMV, minus the video, and presented on a blog. You could call it an Anime Music Blog-post, I suppose.
	Suteki~
	Desho?

Yep, it’s pretty suteki alright. Baka-Raptor told me to ask myself, “what would Lovely Kitsune do?” I can’t just make fun of this excellent show known as Mouryou no Hako. I doubt even Lovely Kitsune could. But Lovely Kitsune also doesn’t blog anything seriously. What would Lovely Kitsune do?

He’d write gimmick posts.

LET’S GET A LITTLE SACHIKO X YUMI ACTION GOING HERE

LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI
LOLIYURI

LUNCH IN THE ROSE GARDEN?!?!?!!oneoneeleven

It’s been ages since I last blogged trainwreck yuri. How many ages, you ask? Too many (this doesn’t count, because any yuri involving Chikane is automatically excellent). And damn is it good to be back.

I’M REMINDED OF AGONY—SO WHERE’S THE SHELL-MATCHING?

This show isn’t necessarily bad, actually. I just need something to make fun of right now, and Hyakko is too obvious. Toradora! has already been served justice, of course. Now, I’ve not ready any other blogs’ posts on Mouryou no Hako, aside from taking one glancing blow of a look at some post that accused someone of accusing the show of sucking. In other words, I have no idea what the “community sentiment” is. CJ Blackwing told me to watch this and mellow_bunny told me to blog this. That’s all there is to it.

KANAKO BEAM

As for any “real” thoughts I have regarding this show, well. I really did laugh a little when I saw Kanako reading on their date (and immediately remembered Lovely Kitsune’s post, and immediately needed to follow mellow_bunny’s advice). I really was amused by our heroine’s reactions to things and her gradual spiral downward into the sea of oblivion insanity. On the other hand, the show did pique my curiosity: I’m interested to find out what the hell is up with the talking heads in boxes, and stuff. Looks like yuri subplot isn’t over yet because the ED is an endless ring of naked girls, so maybe it’s not actually a subplot.

halo thar, MY NAME IS MR. COCKBLOCK

On the other hand, I absolutely cannot bring myself to care about our heroine (or her fuck buddy). Neither displays any substantial character prior to existing as nothing but insane lesbians. Neither is especially sympathetic, nor is either unsympathetic enough for me to care. They’re just sorta there, dancing under the moonlight.

And I guess that’s okay. Just, not the makings of an awesome yuri.

Buuuut it looks like we’ll be seeing more of this detective guy, and it looks like he might be more of a main character ultimately than our moon-crossed crazies, so things might turn out alright. The show also has a chance to become fucking awesome. Check out this line of events:

1. our heroine cooperates with Detective’s investigation
2. Kanako’s servant/brother/whoever Mr. Cockblock is knows Kanako’s secrets
3. Mr. Cockblock, in order to protect Kanako’s honor, kills our heroine
4. Mr. Cockblock and Detective have hot buttsex

PLEASE BE GENTLE—T-TOO ROUGH!!

The many faces of Kusumoto.

I CAME A LITTLE, THEN I REMEMBERED YAMI TO BOUSHI TO HON NO TABIBITO. I CAME AGAIN.

HERDING LILIES IS DANGEROUS WORK, BUT ONE LILY FOLLOWS ANOTHER LILY

Would I recommend this show to the casual viewer? Too early to tell. The possibilities seem endless. This could be a really interesting detective story or a really bad story about unrequited love, suicide, paranoia, and rebirth as your lover (again, Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito parallels). There are other directions it could go, too. /me shrugs

I’ll have fun blogging this until I stop having fun with it, I suppose.

Any other shows I should be blogging regularly? Let me know in the comments.