Feeling like becoming the main character of your own anime?
Personally...I adore it,really.
This game is a lot better than it sounds.It's a pretty original mix of Dating Sim and SRPG(Strategy RPG) with anime flavor,seeing as the game seems to treat itself like an anime series,complete with a catchy theme song,chapters of the story divided in episodes and even a ''next episode'' preview...Anime fans will love that effect.
Then we get a little more in depth into the game.The game contains 8 fairly long ''episodes'' with each of them being divided in 3 acts;The usual format of an episode is 2 ''Adventure'' Phase and one battle phase.
The Adventure Phase are pretty much all the Dating Sim portions of the game.This is where the plots goes on and where you get to occasionally move around New York to trigger events with the many girls.While the game is fairly linear,when you are allowed to run around,you get to pick the girls you want to spend time with.It is pretty important to manage your free time.Since you got so many options in dialogues and events,the replay value is extremely high.One or two playthroughs definitely won't be enough to see everything.And it got at least different 5 endings depending on the girl you pick at the end.
The plot in itself isn't anything revolutionary or dementia;Just a pretty simple ''Monster Of The Week'' story...It focuses more on the development of the lovable cast characters.You can beat the game in about 20 hours.It's not very long but just as long as it needs to be.
The Battling in this game is one mostly relying on strategy but with one thing to set it apart from it's brethren;Instead of gaining EXP like in most RPG,your friendship level with the girls determines the power of your allies and their combination attacks.In short,you got to bond tightly with the game to become more efficient in battle.If you get their friendship level high enough,they even gain new abilities like a Triple Combination Attack,among others.Also,depending on how you dealt with your allies in the Adventure Phases preceding your current battle,their motivation level might increase their stats.All this combined with many available maneuvers makes the battling refreshing and pretty deep,despite the fact that you don't fight a lot.
Well,this game doesn't come without it's weaknesses though;It is pretty lacking when it comes to the game's 3D graphics and even buggy during battles(Not game-breakingly buggy but still...).Also for those hardcore Dating Sim players,the endings might not satisfy that much(This is more personal though)...But you shouldn't let that get to you too much or you might miss one of the best RPGs on Wii!
Pros:
+An original concept,almost unheard of in North America
+An adorable cast of characters
+LIPS system makes the visual novel parts of the game highly interactive
+A catchy,anime feel is attached to this game.
+Great,tactical combat
+Branching dialogues and multiple endings adds replay value
Cons:
-The pacing,while good,can become predictable
-Fairly uninteresting villains
-Graphics feel aged,especially because of frame rate issues.