Yo-Jin-Bo: The Bodyguards

I have this annoying habit of reading random blog posts even though my mind is already set on making a blog entry. It's like facing a blank page with the icon blinking, ready for me to type, but then I click several links from my blog roll call, read, and -- oh look, buttons!

Anyway, to (finally) get on the topic at hand, I got this game last month since I've been desperately trying to find an English patch of the La Storia della Arcana Famiglia otome game. It's like I was in a trance; and, failing miserably, my boyfriend eased my despair by showing me a list of available otome games that have English translations! (★^O^★)

There were a lot but some had really bad art and most of the really good stuff were still in Japanese versions.  ?(;´?`?) All that left me were very limited otome games to choose from, and finally I chose Yo-Jin-Bo as a start *( ^ . ^ )*

I'm too lazy to write a plot summary for the game so here's a copy paste entry from Wikipedia:

The story focuses on the main character Sayori, who is a modern high school girl. She finds a mysterious pendant while out helping with an archeological dig (she's in the high school history club, and so is forced to attend), and later has a strange dream - it seems that the scene is from about a hundred and fifty years ago, during the last days of the samurai, and she sees Hatsuhime, princess of the Mochizuke clan, assassinated!

It gets even more strange when the scene changes, and Sayori realizes that she's in Hatsuhime's body; that she has somehow seen how things were, and the situation has somehow "reset", giving her the chance to avert the princess's terrible fate.

First off, Hatsuhime is one interesting tomboy princess. She sounds a bit stuck up and domineering, but hilariously so. I can't begin to understand why she grew up to be that way when she should be raised as a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko. I thought I was going to dislike her a lot, but thinking about her antics still make me laugh even now.

Secondly, I seriously think the game developers of this game have an awesome sense of humor. I really love how they mashed up the days of the samurai and modern knowledge, and most modern references made me ROFL. One example is this hilarious conversation sometime in the game which threw me into fits of laughter:

There are more of those than game references. Julie Andrews and Mickey Mouse for examples. And no, those weren't just from the English translation either. My nihongo may not be perfect since I only self-studied, but I can distinguish (somewhat) what the Japanese voice actors are saying. XD

And so to the part where most (if not all) fangirls deem most important: introducing the bishie guys (in order of how I played them). Character descriptions copy-pasted from Wiki (because I'm so lazy).

Yozaburou Shiranui - voiced by Masakazu Morita. Usually just called Yo. He is one of the bodyguards hired to save Hatsuhime, and is the youngest of the group. He resents being treated like a child, and is from a ninja family.

Jinnosuke Murasame - voiced by Hiroki Takahashi. A fiery character with red hair and something of a rough - but good natured - temperament, he's one of the bodyguards hired to save Hatsuhime. He is also the first of such bodyguards you meet, as Hatsuhime bumps right into him at the festival, before the conspiracy and assassination attempt. He is exceptionally awkward around women, though Ittousai is even more awkward.

Tsubaki Tainojo - voiced by Hideo Ishikawa. His nickname "Bo" comes from an alternate way to read "Tsubaki". He is rather androgynous (bishonen, actually), and is from a samurai family. He seems rather elegant, and is interested in the paranormal.

Ittousai Tatsunami - voiced by Hideki Ogihara. A suspicious person who wears glasses all the time; he is hired as a bodyguard but is seen by the others as nothing but an assassin or a sociopath. He also has a body covered with scars from old sword wounds. Apparently, Jin has also tried to kill him before, but Ittousai survived the attempt. He also wears his glasses even when bathing.

Monzan Kadokura - voiced by Tetsu Inada. A Buddhist priest, who seems to like the company of women. He is very strong, however, and knows many things and has even medical knowledge to the extent that he can stitch a wound back together perfectly. He gives himself the nickname "Mon-Mon", and tries to sound cute. This usually means he isn't taken seriously.

Tsukuba Munashige - voiced by Jurota Kosugi. Hatsuhime's servant, and loyal samurai and clan vassal. He has a penchant for making terrible jokes and bad impressions, which he sometimes uses to try to cheer Hatsuhime/Sayori up. Unfortunately, his impressions can get himself into trouble, as well.

You don't actually get to play routes on different characters, rather the game goes on an elimination process until you're left choosing between two bodyguards to escort you/the protagonist. Unlike Hakuoki, the elimination process runs on the same story line and you wouldn't know if you're on the right track of your desired guy. As for me, I used a guide to see all of the endings, teehee.

I found all of the characters really amusing. Despite their different personalities, each of them had a quirk of their own. At first, I had been eyeing Jin from the start because he had the most cute, sweet, and humorous dialogues. He also has the most unique character ending so I guess the game is a little biased on him (not to mention that he's dead center on the game cover). XD

However, the character that I loved most came as a surprise. I seriously thought that Jin was number one for me in this game, but someone stole the spotlight (for me at least, lol). I was kind of ignoring him since I rated his bishie factor as so-so and he's easily forgettable, but uwaaa~ his character shone when I got to know of his character background. （*´▽｀*）

I'm talking about... *drum roll* Ittousai! (teehee) Spoilers on why I like him: he's really not that bishie, I admit, and his character (good) ending wasn't unique and it was similar to Muneshige's somewhat. But what really struck me was that he had the most character development compared to the rest of the guys despite the story of the game being shallow and/or short.

My heart was kind of aching when he told his story during the time when you were down to just two bodyguards. By that time, his calling of the protagonist as "woman" (onna) seemed like an endearment. I nearly bawled out on his bad ending; when he cried out "Why are you running away from me? People I care about always run away from me..." made me want to ease his pain and hug him then and there.｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡

There are 12 endings in all with 2 for each character: one good and one bad. Both are easy to get  by simply choosing the last correct 'decision' which comes when your down with one bodyguard at your side. What's harder to achieve is how to get your desired guy to be the "last man standing." 

The game's mechanics can be a little confusing and frustrating since it's like a process of elimination. Unlike Hakuoki where the game's story and dialogues somewhat differ from the others when you choose a certain answer, YoJinBo somehow retains the events and dialogues altogether until you arrive at A Fork in the Road where your entire party splits into three groups. Additionally, these three groups also have the same course of events and dialogue with each pair of guys you go with.

What can be challenging is how you answer the prompts correctly. The entire game has the same set of questions, but answering is a bit tricky since you only get a limited time of answering. I tried to think too hard on what to answer, ran out of time, and the game just decided for me, lolwtf. Luckily that was my first play through.

Another thing is that whenever you answer a prompt, you don't get a hint on which character you're going to end up with. Unlike Hakuoki where the character's images pop up when you answer correctly, YoJinBo proceeds to its next set of events. All you can do is pray and hope for the best. Or you could use a guide like me, mwahahaha. ψ(｀∇´)ψ

I say frustrating because the story wasn't given much thought, and I find it disappointing because the game has so much potential. Dialogues basically change when you change characters and their respective endings; course of events remain the same no matter which guy you end up with. By the third time I played through going after Bo's ending/s, I was bored to death and all I did was press the skip button until the decision prompts.

It makes me sad that the quality of the game's overall story line wasn't that great. There's a lot of plot holes that need to be answered (i.e. where and when these guys met up to begin with, Club YoJinBo what?, etc). Like I said, it has a lot of potential. At least the funny parts were indeed funny and I had a lot of great laughs so I don't feel like my time was wasted. Next otome game, onegaishimasu! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ