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Yumeiro Cast: Treasure Gacha Event

Friday, February 17, 2017 / No Comments
Yumeiro Cast has several event types and this is one of them. In this event, you'll be playing the event songs which you can receive rewards from. There are up to 5 rewards each song can give and you can get a bronze, silver of gold reward for each. Gold rewards guarantee getting gacha ticket while silver and bronze will give a chance for tickets or other rewards.

By playing different difficulties of the event song, you can receive different number of tickets for each reward as well. For instance, a gold reward on a Expert song gives 4 tickets while one on a Hard song gives 3 only and so on.

Likewise, while a gold reward on an Expert guarantees 4 tickets, a silver reward gives the possibility of giving 3 tickets (or other rewards) and a bronze reward gives an even lower possibility of getting 2 tickets.
This is the event details and the UR card. The right half (angel) shows the unidolised version while the left (devil) shows the idolised version. The purple line translates to "Will you forgive the me who lied to you?" which is probably a hint to how he lied about being an angel but is actually a devil...?

As you see, the event duration is from 7 Jan to 15 Jan so I'm a little late on posting this review...
This is the scouting box itself. Each scout takes 10 tickets while a 10-roll will obviously take 10 times more, making it up to 100 tickets. For this event, each box has 100 cards in total and this includes 1 UR and 6 SRs while the rest are Rare and Trainer-Rare cards (known as Coaches).

This guarantees 1 UR in a 100 roll but one will generally get the UR before needing to clear the entire box. When that happens, you can simply hit the red reset button on the top right (above Angel Jin UR illustration) and that will reset the box back to its filled state.
These are the rates for the box. URs start at 1% in a filled box and will increase as the number of cards in the box dwindles. As you can see from the image above, I have drawn a few Rs from this box already.
Each song will give a tremendous amount of tickets for clearing the song and hitting score ranks. A C score will give 10 extra tickets and a S score will give 20 more tickets in addition, for a Hard song.
Comparing to the previous image and the one above, we see that the gold rewards in the bottom half of the page have flipped, each giving 3 tickets for the Hard difficulty.
And if you are lucky, once in a while you might get gold rewards for all of them!
Thankfully my luck for this event wasn't bad at all and I was able to get a copy before hitting the halfway mark every time. That gives me a lot of time to get more copies of the UR too.
 Time to reset the box! 

I managed to secure 6 copies of this UR in this event where one of them was sacrificed to increase the skill level of another UR. As for the remaining 5 copies, one was used to idolized my main card and the other 3 were used to limit break it.

An unidolized UR goes up to level 80 and idolizing increases that limit to 100. However by special practicing that with other duplicates will increase that level limit by 10 each time, up to a total of 30. Each time, one of the arrows on the top right of the screen shown in the image above will light up.

The three buttons at the bottom of the screen reads: Changing cast illustration (between idolized and unidolized), add/remove from favorites, remove member.
I hope this review will inspire more people to join YumeCast because it's a good game and I'm currently addicted to it! But on a more serious note, I do love the high UR rates in scouts, and they have guaranteed UR scouts rather frequently too. Likewise, they have URs in event rewards itself, and while a single copy of the UR is pretty easy to get, a second copy will require investing more time and effort.

I would say... this is a perfect game for those who have a little time to spare and want to get a boost to their ego from a kind RNGesus finally~

~ Reina-rin

「Book Review」Little Busters!: Visual Artbook

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Just as the title reads, there is actually a confirmation by Sekai Project about an English adaptation of this wonderful series however it has been nearly a year since and I highly doubt that the adaptation is fully translation yet. Despite so, I have a friend who is into this series and has purchased this book, so I've taken the chance to do a review on it!
Similar to my book reviews before, I will not be providing images of every page of the book but enough to give a brief idea of what each section of the book contains. As Little Busters does have a H Visual Novel side as well, be warned that some images can be very sexual but there is nothing explicit. Going by that, I will use the less sexualised images for this review too... so if you want to see more, you know what to do!


This book comes with a rather different packaging, rather similar to that of Blu-rays. The images above are the front and back covers of the case and the book is slid out from it. The book itself is in the image below and it looks very much like how a fairytale book would look like.


The book starts with character descriptions and I have taken one of the heroines -- Natsume Rin as an example. The introductions come with a full sized drawing of her and several smaller ones to showcase some of her different outfits, hairstyles and expressions.
Following that is a recap of some of the scenes in the anime series, complete with screencaps. The humorous screencaps are a great addition because it brings back many fun memories of the show itself.
 More screencaps and some frame-by-frame sequence on the right page. There are already hints of fanservice in the book, but there's definitely a lot more to come.
After which comes the next section -- the main part of this book -- the illustrations. While there are a few single page art, most of them spans two pages. As Rin is the main heroine, we get a lot of her be it solo or with other character(s).

Something I like about Little Busters artwork is that it is clean and adequately detailed. It also uses very vibrant colors that create a lively atmosphere, such as the green lush fields in the images above. With regards to the one below of Rin and Sasasegawa Sasami (purple haired), we see that characters in Little Busters!: EX are also featured in there too~

Her overly-shoujo impression of Kengo is awkwardly cute as well... or maybe a little creepy too?
More illustrations on the other heroines. I love how each illustration is so calming to look at~ The colors has a huge role to play in this but I think the crisp anime artstyle is also very important! Enough shading is also given to the characters to complement the setting and lighting.
Baseball is a huge part of the story and we'll definitely have a few shots of that in here.
As given from a series with 18+ routes, this book is definitely rather fanservice-y. We have the three heroines from Little Busters!: EX right off the bat and they are dressed in their swimsuits.
Rin and Noumi for the second fanservice shot and I guess there's something about their shy expressions and the way that they are holding down the hem of their shirts that appeals to males? o.O
More fanservice and we see that they focus a lot on Noumi which isn't that strange, considering that she is one of the more popular heroines in the series and even had a Nendoroid and a whole VN of her route.
And no book will be complete without some alternate outfits. This time round we have a Christmas theme and again, Noumi (sorry for the light glare, it wasn't intentional) and Rin. Yui makes a impromptu appearance at the bottom of the page where I imagine them to be preparing Christmas cakes.
But well, though fanservice is peppered throughout the book, it isn't in all pages. This page is one of my favorites in the whole book. I love the gradient making up the sky and how the Milky Way just stretches across so cleanly. The falling stars tie in perfectly with the theme and the heroine too. Just perfect!
Blues and greens in this book look really beautiful and this is a clear example. Though she didn't leave a deep impression on me in the anime as her route was too short and rushed, this page is another one of my favorites. The effect of the water and the water bubbles, matched with the calming blue and soft rays of light creates the perfect mood to go along with her expression. The artist goes a step further to contrast this with Riki's shocked and worried portrayal in the background. Hn.
Evening glow with sharp rays of sun that light up these besties features. I like how the fence actually has appropriate shading and highlights to complement the light. The stark shadows on the figures also goes to show how bright the evening sun is. Of course, the artist didn't forget about the other side of the fence though I felt that a little more effort could have gone to making the mountains more detailed.
Some bromance to satiate the fangirls. If I'm not wrong these two men in the first image below also had a route together in the Visual Novel :D




Back to the heroines from EX.

And well of course, Rin and Noumi again.
Next up in the Dakimakura section. Here we have the illustration on various covers. I'm pleasantly surprised by how many Rin had. Some of them were rather lewd (still nothing explicit) and I have taken those which I find alright as an example.


Noumi has her own fair share of covers as well but here I'll like to draw attention to Kyousuke because though I knew this existed, it still makes me happy to see an official male Dakimakura being made from a series so orientated to male viewers!
And last but not the least there are more illustrations. I have picked out those that have traditional Japanese outfits (kimono) for this section.




And last but not the least....
A group shot!
~ Reina-rin

「Book Review」Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero: Visual Artbook

Wednesday, February 15, 2017 / No Comments
Follow me through the adventures of the Visual Artbook for Yuyuyu, one of the shows which will be having a second season soon. The front cover of the book features two of the main team of Mahou Shoujo (or rather, Heroes): Yuuki Yuuna and Tougou Mimori.
There are a total of three books for this series. This visual art book, and 2 production notes. I have not gotten my hands on the production notes as they have increased in price grossly. On the other hand this is still affordable -- mainly because of the content. The production notes are 200 pages each and consist of frame by frame animation drawing, genga-style.

But well, enough of moping over that. Let's review what we have first!
I will not be providing clean views of every page in the book but I'll single out a few pages in each section to give a brief overview of what it contains. The first section is a collection of illustrations. It starts out with illustrations that are officially in the promotional videos and posters of the series when season 1 aired.

If it isn't obvious, this is a color-coded character show with five girls as the main team of protagonist with the story centering around Yuuna and Tougou. Pretty much the layman terms for a Mahou Shoujo (magical girl) anime.
After that, we move on to several more lewd illustrations, centering mainly on Tougou's large bosom and swimsuit shots. This isn't something I liked to see with the cast so I mainly skipped through it. Though a point to note is that Karin still hasn't appeared in the book thus far... does it mean she wouldn't have her share of lewd shots~?
Tougou-san with a flower crown is just so precious. Her backstory and storyline is just so disheartening that this beautiful and calming scene just justifies her. And if it isn't obvious yet, the other half is Itsuki in a similar outfit. Putting the pure and cute Itsuki as a companion here really brings out the feminine pose and outfit. 
 That sweet smile... Itsuki majitenshi.
Finally Karin-chan makes her appearance in the book and she's in a maid cosplay! The embarrassed expression suits her very well and brings out that side of her which she tends to hide in the TV series as she tries to show her reliable tough exterior. She feels more human with these embarrassed and shy sides.
After that series of lewd photos and cut-ins, we finally get back to more normal slice-of-life images. Here's to the Hero Club gathered in their club room. The 5 of them have so much chemistry together that it just feels so good to have them all together in an illustration like this!
Next up is more of a goods section but I'm okay with their choices as the goods they feature are more illustration based, such as posters and dakimakura, rather than rubber straps or food items. The one above of them cleaning a pool is a Bath Poster and it comes with the Limited Edition of the PSVita game. I have a copy of the game, and of course the poster -- which is now on my wall, but it's always good to see the exact same illustration in a illustration book.

Then we have the Dakimakura corner...
Yuuna looks so cute in her school uniform. I actually really like her human appearance too, and feel saddened that the fandom is just so infatuated with her Hero form that there is so little goods for her Human form. Nevertheless I am pretty disturbed by how she looks so frightened and nervous in her swimsuit side.

Still... I do hope that Yuuna gets a Dakimakura of her Hero form too. (Yuuna Best girl).
Tougou-san is probably the most popular character in Yuyuyu. She has 2 official Dakimakura -- the one above to match with Yuuna, and the one below added as an extra to a Dengeki G magazine. And thus, fans of Tougou will be able to have both her school uniform, swimsuit and Hero forms to enjoy.
And last but not least, the next and final Dakimakura illustration in this book is that of Miyoshi Karin. Unlike both Yuuna and Tougou, she comes with her school uniform and Hero together and features no swimsuit attire. I'll have very much preferred this for Yuuna, seeing how the illustration for her swimsuit side bugged me to no end, so Karin's fans are very lucky in this aspect too.
The last section of the book is a collection of BUNBUN's illustrations. As some of you may know, BUNBUN illustrated the art in the novels and can be considered a very important person in the franchise. Though honestly, I do find the girls (especially Yuuna) cuter in the anime depiction.
Main team illustrations in their school uniforms (above) and in their Hero outfits (below). The illustration below is also the same one featured on the box of the Limited Edition PSVita game!
And of course, BUNBUN sees it proper to introduce the characters with appropriate drawings to show their different sides and expressions. Eyepatch Fuu appears after Mankai and this is like a shout-out to the dark side of Yuyuyu.
Nogi Sonoko is one of the protagonist in Season 2 so it is only appropriate to mention her here now. In Season 1 however, she was bedridden and never did leave the bed -- the bandaged girl in the illustration. As Season 2 is actually set before Season 1, we get to see Sonoko in her full glory before she became bedridden!
Then we have a brief summary of the TV series, depicting brief explanations of what happened in each episode with some screencaps. Some of the screencaps aren't well-chosen (not what I would consider the main frame of the episode) but most of them makes one recall the climax of the episode itself.
Yuyuyu is set in an alternate world that doesn't really fit into the past or present of our universe. Thus, the furniture and technology varies slightly from what we have currently. Yuyuyu builds on this point by having furniture that fits with modern times, yet also some which don't. They have the settings and arrangement clearly detailed and drawn out in the following section. This can not only inspire aspiring background artists, but also artists which are attempting to draw fanart of the series.


This section features the Vertexes, which are the evil things in the world that the Heroes must defeat. Here, you get to see them in three different views: original concept, lined and finalized, and painted.
A little more about the girls. This features all the different outfits the girls wore in the TV series. Once again, I have Yuuna as an example of what to expect.
 Likewise, the faeries.
We end the main illustration book with an interview with the Seiyuus. This is a short part with lots of photos as you can see in the image below. No worries, there is more than a single page!
The last and final section of the book is an illustration novel, which is a novel in Japanese words with some monochrome and some colored full page illustrations in between some pages. The illustrations come every few pages and while they do not value-add much to the story building, helps to accentuate what is going on and gives the readers a clearer picture of the setting.



Would I buy this book?
As a Yuyuyu fan, it is difficult to resist getting this book because it is filled with many sides of the girls and illustrations that are not featured in the anime or in any other books. Even in the production note books, these will not be in as those strictly follow the anime.

Thus it is useful to get this book, so as to get these extras that one would not find otherwise. And for the official illustrations of goods that are very art-based such as posters and Dakimakura, I finally have a proper source material for the illustration they use.

The novel is a very good addition to the series as well. Although it is fully translated online and can be found via Google easily, there's something magical about possessing a copy where you can flip through anytime you want. The better part is that it is in the original language, therefore adding to the authenticity.

~ Reina-rin