Amusement Park

Rating:
Summary: Some Clarifications
Review: Just so you know I have as yet not watched this dvd so I just copied the last review's score. I'm mainly clarifying some details. This DVD is not originally anime play they are the manufacterors. This DVD was probably a PC or console game before it arrived on DVD. DVD video games are a realitivly new thing in Japan and a few games are now making it to the US. They traditionally are story's with still shots and branching plots much like some really early PC games in the US but in Japan they never grew out of them. They intentionally make games that can be played on very old PCs becauese the market for PC games in Japan is very small. The result often is few bells and whisles. You get a manga like experience with voice acting and different ending depending on your choices. This specific game would fall into the shounen catagory which means it is aimed at guys. The quality for these games range from great to bad. Many get made into Anime's because of their popularity in Japan. Those who want to know Phantom has been made into one. Here's to hopeing for many more.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good interactive anime DVD. Some may like it better.
Review: Made by Anime Play, the same people who gave us PHANTOM OF INFERNO. I actually liked that one better, one reason probably being that PHANTOM was an action-oriented story, this one's romance-themed. As a male anime fan I tend to veer more twords action stories. Girls may like this one better, even though the main character is a guy.

First, the story: you are Ryoya, a 23-year-old whose mother died when he was a young boy and whose father passed away recently, leaving him to inherit Fantasy Garden, the amusement park his father owned. Now Ryoya and his employees are ready to get the park back into booming bussness. The main focus of the story, however, really isn't on running the amusement park, but rather on character relationships. There are five employees in particular (all female,) whom are at the center of the story, and you can form a serious relationship with anyone of them. There is Nanasa Miduki, who volunteered as a park guide, but who for some reason seems painfully shy around Ryoya. Chikane Tateno, a brash, outspoken girl and friend to Nanasa. Fuka Kiyozumi, co-manager of the park and a hard, dedicated worker. Natsuki Kirisiro, childhood friend of Ryoya, who has a childlike personality and is rather clumsy. Then there is Chihaya Nonohara, another childhood friend of Ryoya and Natsuki, she is the daughter of a hospidal director. She was studying to become a doctor herself but took time off of college to work at the park. (She's the girl who appears on the DVD cover in the green dress holding the balloon.) Anyway, things seem to be going fine at first, until Ryoya, who hasn't been sick since he was very young, suddenly starts getting dizziness, migrane headaches and nausia and passes out. A check up at the hospidal at first reveals nothing abnormal, but then the symptoms continue and later he learns that he has a life-threatening illness and the chances of saving him are slim...

Some complaints I had with P.O.I. was that the animation was mostly still images and the only language was Japanese, with subtitles. This one, unfortunately, is the same way. Someone please tell these guys that moving animation is more interesting to watch than still images, and that a good portion of us American anime fans like being able to watch anime in English.

Other complaints: in this DVD, unlike P.O.I, you never actually here the main character's voice, you only see what he says in subtitles whenever he "speaks". Also, P.O.I. was much less linear than this disk. The story of P.O.I. followed one course for about the first third of the way, up until the main character (who is an amnesiac,) gets his memory back, then the story can go in wildly different directions. This one pretty much follows one storyline, the only real varient being which girl you end up with, or if you blow it and don't end up with anyone. Addmitedly, there's one subplot you can witness, if you go out with one particular lady, where you find out about a secret about a little girl who hangs out at the park. This side story is fun to watch, but it dosen't seem to really add anything to the main story. And, perhaps in relation to the linearness of this story, there are fewer choices to make. In P.O.I. the fewest number of desisions you'd have to make if playing through one story from begininng to end were 8. Here the number of choices you'll have to make in any one story range from 1 to 3.

I'm hoping I don't discourage anyone from buying this. The character designs are quite cute, the voice acting (for all the characters besides Ryoya,) is great and I fell in love with each of the characters. I also enjoyed playing through each of the stories and ending up with each of the girls.

In short, this isn't as good as PHANTOM OF INFERNO, particularly if you prefer action stories, but it's still a great buy for people who like romance stories and serious anime fans.