Hey there, doods! Sorry for the two-week delay; a friend from out of town came over for a few weeks, and we spent a fair bit of time taking turns to beat ‘Soul Resurreccion’ for the PS 3. But enough about excuses; let’s get on with the show! Now, there have only been two comments since my introduction, and as far as choosing a main character goes, it appears we have a tie. However, as my main play through is as the Fujimaru, I think we will go with the girl, and give her the default name of Matsuri Kudo. Moreover, while there is no harem ending, I hear that the girl gets more hot spring scenes! ...Which I’ll have to narrate to you, as I lack any image-capturing technology. My apologies!
Our game begins with a little narration that will seem rather redundant to anyone familiar with the series. Soul Reapers are spiritual guardians that watch over good and evil souls. There are higher and lower classes of good souls, whom all live in Soul Society. The poor people greatly outnumber the nobility, and evil spirits called Hollows semi-frequently attack the homes of the poor people. Boy, it’s a good thing that recent events in North America have little to no effect on the production of manga, isn’t it? “Occupy the Seireitei! They are the one percent!”
Moving on, we now cut to the current captain of Soul Reaper Squad 5 (and Original Character) Seigen Suzunami, his geeky-looking second-in-command Sosuke Aizen, and lazy, research-loving head of Squad 12 Kisuke Urahara. For those that have not seen the series before, that last sentence is equivalent to a giant neon sign with the words “Welcome to the Past of the Bleach Universe!” on it. Squad 5’s in the Rukon District, where the poor people live, because a patrol had sent out a distress signal there. Urahara is wondering why he was dragged along for this, and is told that he is the only person they could get on such short notice that could keep up with them. Urahara retorts that he’s better at creating stuff than training people and helping them fight better, but before he can gripe some more, an unprecedented number of Hollows appear simultaneously: a whole seven of ‘em! The three men rush to the last known location of the patrol, with Urahara wondering where his good friend Yoruichi is when he needs her along the way.
When they arrive, sadly, they find that the Hollows have already killed the five patrol members. At least they lured six of the Hollows into a vacant area to minimize damage and loss of life, so even if we never find out whom they were and what they were like, at least their deaths were not in vain. Urahara wonders why Hollows are operating together, which is quite rare, but Suzunami’s more of a ‘kill evil spirits right in front of us now, ask questions later’ kind of person. In addition, the sooner they take care of the six weaklings in front of them, the sooner they can find out where the seventh Hollow went.
Now, our first battle, and our first message box telling us how to play the game! The six things that a character can choose to do in a turn are:
- Move (moves the character; this must be done before any other command, if at all)
- Attack (hit things with your weapon to kill ‘em)
- Skill (use your spiritual power to kill ‘em)
- Pressure (absorb energy from your surroundings to increase chances of special attacks)
- Equip (use healing and attack items, since nobody can change their weapons or armour)
- Standby (do absolutely nothing, which is a bad idea unless you’re not in range to hit anything)
With that out of the way, let us look at the participants of this battle, shall we?
- Player’s Side
- Suzunami, Speed, LV 14, Shiden LV 01, knows Shock 2
- Aizen, Tech, LV 12, Kyokasuigetsu LV 01
- Urahara, Tech, LV 13, Benihime LV 01, knows Sure Hit
- Hollow’s Side
- Screamer, Tech, LV 9 (3 of these are on the field)
- Screamer, Tech, LV 10
- Screamer, Tech, LV 11
- Frog Head, Tech, LV 13
Okay, so we have three people available to us right now, as hinted at by that opening sprawl. Except for Aizen, our people outmatch every other enemy on the battlefield. We have two Tech types, and one Speed type, which is very good. You see, there is this Rock-Paper-Scissors gimmick in battles, where Speed > Tech > Power > Speed. While it is certainly possible to win a battle against a type you are weak against, the superior type will have a 100% chance of using a special attack in the battle, no matter how high or low their Pressure is. Since all of our opponents are Tech, Suzunami’s just going to blast these guys to bits, while the other two will at least be on even ground throughout the battle. Finally, two of our allies know special abilities, and all of their upgradable weapons are at the base level.
Of course, everything goes off without a hitch. Seigen does roughly 250 HP damage with his special lightning attack every time he fights, when the weaklings have 300 maximum. While everything but the Frog Head chooses to attack Seigen (Froggy goes for low-level Aizen instead), he takes the beatings like a man and survives the battles with 60 HP out of his maximum 478. The Frog Head, the last enemy on the field as of the start of Turn 3, was defeated swiftly thanks to the fact that, by default, Aizen and Suzunami can use a Team Attack, which allows them to use their special attacks simultaneously against an opponent. While it will not be important for a while, I may as well say right now that you later get to choose with whom a character can use Team Attacks.
After the fight, they decide that Aizen should stand guard while the two captains look for the seventh Hollow, who is probably the leader of the gang. Cut to the inside of a shack, where a massive Hollow is about to devour two little kids, who just happen to be younger versions of our main characters. Fujimaru’s willing to do anything to save his sister, but Matsuri tells him not to do anything drastic, since she can hear the Soul Reapers fighting nearby. The Hollow does not like his food having a conversation right in front of him and attacks the girl. Fujimaru panics, while the Hollow’s a little annoyed that he now has to choose between savouring the rarity of devouring twin souls or eating them before they annoy him further. Thankfully, when he senses Urahara and Seigen approaching, he decides to scram rather than risk his life in a fight with them. Before he goes, he tells Fujimaru the following:
“Remember my name! Mad Eater will be back some day to make a snack of your souls!”
...Well, he eats souls, and he seems rather ticked off. Still, I think it is a silly name for such a threat. Anyways, the Soul Reapers come in right after Mad Eater leaves, and Urahara notices the fatal-looking wounds on the girl. Fujimaru demands Seigen’s sword in order to make that Mad Eater pay for what he just did, but Seigen says that it would be wiser not to throw away the life that Fujimaru’s sister just risked her own to protect. There is an image of Fujimaru gripping Seigen’s outfit, and the boy says that if they will not let him get vengeance, they should at least save Matsuri. Urahara wonders if the girl would survive even if an Emergency Relief Team was right there, but Seigen decides to help the boy out and carry the girl to safety. By the way, if you choose Fujimaru as the main character instead of the girl, he gets wounded by Mad Eater instead of Matsuri, and Matsuri pleads with the Reapers to save him instead of first asking for a weapon to get revenge with.
Some time later, our main character hears a graceful woman saying that she looks cute when she is asleep. Right after Seigen asks her if Matsuri will be okay, our heroine awakens and asks what happened to her brother. Looking around, she realises she is in a much better house than the one she was almost killed in. Fujimaru comes in, saying good morning to Lord Seigen and Lady Konoka, the latter being the graceful woman’s real name. Fujumaru then notices his sister has awoken.
Fujimaru: “Well, look at that! Matsuri is awake!”
Matsuri: “Is that all you can say?! Why don’t you try filling me in on what’s going on here?!”
In other words, Fujimaru is our traditional hotblooded yet airheaded guy, while Matsuri’s a Tsundere. We are now presented with three options, and since we must see them all (in any order) to progress, I will just quickly summarize them. Oh, and the positions of ‘Talk to Konoka’ and ‘Talk to Suzunami’ are switched if you are Fujimaru. No, I do not have a perfect memory; I have just been using a Youtube video or two to identify any details I might have accidentally skipped past.
- Talk to Fujimaru: When asked to explain what’s happening, Fujimaru tells Matsuri that Seigen saved her life. In addition, even though they are twins, he still feels like he should be a ‘big brother’ to her, and was quite worried about her.
- Talk to Konoka: Lady Konoka’s full name is Konoka Suzunami, and she’s Seigen’s sister. Konoka healed all of Matsuri’s scars single-handedly, and she is glad that the girl is feeling better. In addition, we are currently in the Suzunami mansion in the Seireitei, where Soul Reapers and the upper-class souls live.
- Talk to Suzunami: Seigen tells us to thank Konoka and our bro, as a captain needs no thanks for doing his duty. Specifically, he’s the Captain of Squad 5 of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. We have been asleep for a whole day, though Matsuri feels like it has been a lot longer than that.
So, our main characters owe their lives to the Suzunamis. It is a miracle that Matsuri was brought from a near-death state to a complete recovery in a single day. Of course, we would never have survived long enough to reach her if not for Fujimaru, who we can always trust. The next day, Urahara stops by and, after remarking at how unbelievable Matsuri’s survival was, witnesses the pair split a large plate of at least 10 apples as a snack. Urahara asks how Konoka was able to heal the girl so fast, but Seigen would prefer that he leave the mystery unexplored. Urahara then suggest that the Suzunamis adopt the parentless twins, which was Konoka’s idea from the start. Even though this is technically prohibited, Seigen decides to go through with his sister’s wishes. The kids are happy with this arrangement, and ask for some more apples. Urahara’s amazed with their hunger, especially since a good appetite in souls is highly connected to strong spiritual power, and proposes that the twins repay Seigen’s kindness (and make living in the Seireitei easier for kids with lower-class backgrounds) by following in his footsteps and becoming Soul Reapers.
Later that night, the twins are mulling over Urahara’s idea. Fujimaru’s having a bit of trouble picturing the two of them fighting Hollows, and asks us if we think we can. Our choices are ‘Sure!’, ‘Maybe...’, and ‘No way.’ You don’t get to see all of the possible options, but since the chapter’s almost over, I’m just going to pick ‘No way.’ rather than hold another vote. Why ‘No way.’, you might ask? Well, I picked ‘Sure!’ as the guy and got typical enthusiastic dialogue, and I’m curious what the opposite response is.
Matsuri: “No way. At least, that’s what I want to say, but...We have to repay Lady Konoka and Lord Seigen for saving us!”
Fujimaru: “You’re right. We HAVE to do it...Yeah, let’s do it!”
Matsuri: “Yeah, let’s be Soul Reapers!”
...So, instead of some motivational speech about how they have to conquer their fear and do what’s right, our argument is that risking our lives is the only way to repay the Suzunamis for saving them? Whatever floats your boat, doods.
Now, we have reached the end of Chapter 1! But before I play Chapter 2, it’s time for more audience participation! You see, Chapter 2 is our introduction to the ‘Free Time’ system, mentioned briefly in my first update. And while the game will be lenient for this introduction and allow us to see all of the scenes, I’d like to know if there are any in particular that you’d like me to talk about in depth. Here are your choices:
- Seigen Suzunami, current Captain of Squad 5
- Konoka Suzunami, Seigen’s nice sister
- Aizen, Seigen’s second-in-command
- Urahara, current Captain of Squad 12
- ...and Kaien Shiba, who we haven’t been officially introduced to yet, but whom plays a rather notable role in the main Bleach continuity. Right now, he’s also a member of Squad 5, but he later switches to Squad 13 and has an important adventure or two...
In later chapters, when you aren’t able to see every single event during Free Time, your votes will be much more important. But for now, think of this as practice for what’s to come. Thanks for reading my liveblog, doods, and have a pleasant day!
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