Today, we at MangaGamer are proud to announce the Limited Edition of ef -the fairy tale of the two, slated for release this winter!

This Limited Edition will feature both ef -the first tale and ef -the latter tale for the special price of $59.95! In addition to featuring both games, this Limited Edition of ef will also include a special Uncle Yuuko sticker in honor of minori’s call for Western support in our upcoming eden* and Supipara endeavor! Of course, the best part will be the 120pg artbook specially arranged for this English Limited Edition release!

Copies are indeed limited, so pre-order your copy today!

Today we’re proud to present the first set of side characters filling out the broad cast of Cartagra!

Hatsune

Orphaned at a young age, Hatsune has been living at the Yukishiro for most of her life. Though she can be clumsy, she takes her job as a serving girl very seriously and is especially passionate about taking care of Shugo for some reason. Hatsune doesn’t leave the Yukishiro much, and she feels like she owes Madam Ujaku a debt for taking her in, so she’s come to think that the only place she belongs is the Yukishiro. She’ll make her debut as a prostitute there soon, and she seems ready, but there might be something she needs to tell Shugo first…

Hatsune is voiced by Miyabi Himeno, who reprises her role in Kara no Shojo and also plays Toyama Midori in Yoakemae yori ruri-iro na and Saya in Saya no Uta.

Aoki Toji

Toji is Shugo’s partner in crime–literally. A high ranking member of a yakuza-like syndicate in Ueno called the “Hand of Death,” Toji has had a sort of partnership with Shugo since his days as a police detective. Even after Shugo quits the force, the two remain close friends, and Toji still looks out for Shugo when he gets in over his head with his detective work. Contrary to her intimidating appearance, Toji’s really rather sweet, and it’s clear that she really cares about Shugo. When he starts looking into Yura’s disappearance, she comes to him to warn him that the “Hand of Death” is also searching for a girl who looks just like Yura…

Toji is voiced by Morii Kanon, who reprises her role in Kara no Shojo 2.

Takashiro Nana

Nana is Shugo’s little sister, though she hardly acts the part. Taking after her brother, she does some detective work of her own as a hobby, and immediately takes an interest in the bizarre serial murders plaguing Ueno, to Shugo’s chagrin. Nana’s intelligence, memory, and deductive skills are quite impressive, though the dangerous things she says and does make Shugo worry about her future. While Shugo’s working the Kozuki Yura case, Nana looks into the murders, dropping by every so often to share her findings and thoughts with him.

Nana is voiced by Isshiki Hikaru, a prolific voice actress who’s played Kurugaya Yuiko in Little Busters!, Kannei in Koihime Musou, Urr Schlichte in Harem Party, and countless other roles. She also plays Nana’s older sister, Natsume, in Kara no Shojo.

Ujaku

The proprietress of the Yukishiro, Ujaku is a retired prostitute who now manages both a brothel and a considerable information network that Shugo occasionally makes use of for his detective work. Ujaku has a very caring personality, and thinks of many of her prostitutes as her own children.

Ujaku is played by Okuda Kaori, who plays Tachibana Seira in the Baldr Sky series and Emma in Togainu no Chi.

Today we’re proud to present the last set of side characters filling out the broad cast of Cartagra!

Rin

A prostitute at the Yukishiro, Rin is an energetic, cheerful girl who loves to tease Shugo. Shugo is of the opinion that men who live or work at brothels shouldn’t sleep with the girls there, so he’s constantly brushing off Rin’s advances, much to her delight, since she loves to see his flustered face.

Rin is played by Yoshizawa Yua, who has played Nishizono Mio in Little Busters!, Kousonsan in Koihime Musou, and Shiraki Aeka in Yume Miru Kusuri. She also appears in Kara no Shojo as Hazuki Kyoko.

Ayasaki Takako

Takako is Nana’s classmate, who met Shugo back when he was a police officer. The heiress to a wealthy family, Takako greatly enjoys the company of the Takashiro siblings, who don’t treat her specially because of her social status. As she’s looked up to Shugo since she knew him when she was young, she comes to him for advice about a personal problem of hers.

Takako is played by Imuraya Honoka, who has appeared as Ryofu in Koihime Musou and Kirishima Rain in the Baldr Sky series.

Otoha

Otoha is another Yukishiro prostitute. She’s the same age as Rin, and the two of them are close friends. She takes her work very seriously, and can be a little harsh when chastising the younger girls at the Yukishiro, like Hatsune.

Otoha is played by Hokuto Minami, who was Son Shoukou in Koihime Musou, Omi Atsumi in Guilty ~TheSiN~, and Takayashiki Aoba in Kazoku Keikaku, among many other roles.

Arishima Kazuma

Inspector Arishima was Shugo’s superior officer during the war and after it during his days as a police detective. Now he comes to his former subordinate to bring him work and pick his brain about difficult cases. Shugo has a hard time turning down requests from Arishima because of the history between them.

Arishima is voiced by Shima Kazunari, but you might know him as Nakata George, or Kotomine Kirei from Fate/stay night.

Today we’re proud to announce the addition of HuniePop by English developer HuniePot to our catalog! 

HuniePop is a unique RPG experience for PC, Mac and Linux. It’s a gameplay first approach that’s part dating sim, part puzzle game, with RPG-like systems and a visual novel style presentation. It’s an independent effort by a western developer (though our team is all around the world) for a western audience with the goal of breathing some new life into a genre that is greatly underrepresented both in the western market and the independent games scene.

Thanks to the great success of its early kickstarter, this puzzle game/dating sim will also feature full (English) voice acting!

Though HuniePop has been greenlit for release on Steam, the version featured on our website will be a DRM free copy of the adult version. We’ll also be providing Steam Keys for the game to everyone who orders through our website.

Celebrate Halloween with a tale of horror and mystery involving missing people, murder, and terrors that wait in the shadows!

Today we are releasing a patch for Cartagra (v1.02) which addresses some issues users have been having.

1) Fixed an issue where the game would close after being launched for some users. (patch 1.01)

2) Fixed an issue where background crowd sounds would not stop playing when they’re supposed to during the in-game date February 7th.

All new downloads of the game will have the patch already installed after this point. You can download the patch online for the PC version by clicking here. Mac and Linux users will (unfortunately) need to re-download the game.

Today, we’re proud to present a few words on Cartagra from Shiro!

Murder mysteries have always been something that has intrigued me. The endless twists and turns of a well written murder story will get your blood boiling and your mind racing. Cartagra definitely delivers in both of these aspects. The story, regardless of route taken, is fantastic and will have you wondering what is going to happen next. Another pleasant surprise was how unpredictable Cartagra was. Personally speaking, I find stories that take the time to surprise you are the ones that are the most worthwhile. Cartagra definitely fits the bill here, and I was astounded by the amount of detail that went into each route and the amount of love that was put into all the characters.

Speaking of the characters, they are all extremely likeable, and in some cases relatable. Kazuna was a personal favorite for me. Her cheerful personality and naivety reminded me a good deal of myself, and this had me rooting for her whenever she appeared in the story. I wanted so badly for her to achieve her dreams, and in some ways I cared more about that then the murder mystery being solved. That just goes to show how much you can fall in love with the characters you get attached to. Kazuna aside, the full cast was great and did nothing but add texture and life to an already great story. I actually found myself tearing up over lives lost and also feeling satisfied when I established good relationships with the other characters, sexually or otherwise.

The protagonist deserves a mention, as well. He is lifelike, sarcastic, and none of his interactions with the fellow cast of characters seems forced or uninteresting. On the contrary, I found myself laughing quite a few times. His story is just as intriguing as the murders that are happening around him, and that will keep the player moving through the story without feeling like they are completing a chore. At the end of the day, someone is playing Cartagra for the leisure and fun of being part of a story, and nothing is more of a turnoff than a boring main character. Luckily, Cartagra does not let you down at all in this aspect.

The music in Cartagra is also quite phenomenal. You will find yourself getting used to the same played tracks, but they are implemented so well you will hardly notice. The lighthearted scenes in Cartagra have beautiful instrumental pieces that will help make you forget the gruesome scenes you may have encountered only seconds before. In contrast, the more creepy moments of the game are accompanied hand in hand with haunting tracks that will get your skin crawling. It is an experience I greatly enjoyed, albeit scared the daylights out of me at times.

All in all, Cartagra was a great experience. The gore was a bit much as times, but was necessary for the picture Cartagra was trying to paint: a riveting tragedy. Even though there were times I was shaken, I appreciated the course I took to feel the way I did. I would have no qualms playing it through multiple times to notice little things I may have missed previously, and I would not be surprised in the least if fellow players found themselves at the same conclusion.

Today we’re proud to announce that the demo for No, Thank You!!!  (our first BL title!) is now available for download! 

If you’re a fan of guy on guy, you’ll love this exciting new title on our lineup! Join Haru as he hits on the other guys working at the bar, sótano, hoping to find a little fun and naughty with the men who took him in after he rescued the owner! But what happens when sexy fun and games go farther?

As Haru delves deeper into the men he works with, he learns there’s much more to both them and the bar than meets eye. What dark secrets are waiting to be uncovered?

Enjoy a glimpse at some of the fun and action in our trial version!

Today we’re proud to present some comments from the creators of Royal Guard Melissa!

Hello Konnichiwa. I’m the chairman of Hentai Industries, Alamar Cinkokusai. Sorry to keep you waiting, all you monster rape fans of the world! Our second low-price monster rape game, Royal Guard Melissa, brought to you by Amamiya Tsumugi, a top-class creator in the eroge industry, along with an exciting setting and illustrations, is finally on sale!

Under normal circumstances, we hoped to release this title a little sooner, but one of the largest reasons it was pushed back is because I, myself, am not very good with English, so I feel a bit of regret over that. Why is this you ask? Well actually, Ruby Stryker and all of our other releases so far have been operating on a different engine from their Japanese versions, so we had to reprogram them while them looking over at the English text provided by the translation staff which took an overwhelming amount of time compared to our usual programming. However, our next scheduled release, Amber Breaker (Jacky&assault’s third episode in the Jewel Star series), will be using an engine close to the present one, so we hope to deliver it quickly as soon as the English translation is finished.

Now, this next part doesn’t relate to the game, but since some of you might be curious why we Japanese still aren’t very good with English after spending 6-10 years learning it, let me tell you the reason.

First of all, though it looks like we’ve been studying English for several years, we only study it in school for four hours a week, and the rest of our time is spent learning solely in Japanese. Plus, the studies are targeted purely towards raising our grades on the exams, so once the tests are over we no longer have any use for it, so we completely forget everything we learned.

One other reason, is that unless we’re dealing with  highly unique genre or a leaded edge field of study, nearly everything is available in Japanese translation. There are even physicists who have won the Nobel Prize that never understood English and studied solely in Japanese. In the end, most Japanese just don’t need English at all, so we end up being poor with English.

Furthermore, when it comes to otaku, most of us aren’t very interested in non-Japanese media with the exception of a few movies or games. And even those games get translated into Japanese if they’re popular. If otaku media like eroge starts seeing a flood of announcements in English instead of Japanese, perhaps myself and other Japanese might start taking more interest in learning English.

Now, that’s enough off-topic discussion, and I have an important announcement.

The Warrior Princes Asuka series will finally be concluded in the next episode!

We’ve included a few preview CG for it in Melissa, but here’s one to sample.

It seems like our Illustrator, Amamiya Tsumugi, has awakened to something new, so after this title, we’ll be releasing a series of titles full of his unique fetishism in quick succession.

Notably, he is without a doubt the leading man behind eroge containing vore, something many believed to be in low demand in Japan. In fact, prior to his arrival there were hardly any eroge featuring vore, but over the past few years the term “vore” has steadily gained recognition amongst core fans. 

This is a bit of a tangent, but since “vore” was popularized as genre without a proper translation in the Japanese language, Japan now uses “vore”. However, since we didn’t know the word “vore” prior to such works becoming a genre of their own, our production team called them “swallowing” games for a time.

Last but not least, if any of you incurable perverts need more erotic, fetishy, and really crazy works from Amamiya Tsumugi, we hope you’ll visit our site and let us know.Never forget that voices of our fans are great encouragement for us perverted developers.

Alamar Chinkokusai

—

I’m Kairo Honda, the scenario writer for Royal Guard Melissa.

Melissa is a character with honest and genuine love and fealty towards Princess Asuka. Yet can her heart continue to remain true after the intense assault from these monsters? 

Those were the thoughts I constantly kept in mind as I wrote the text for this game. I hope you enjoy watching the lewd sight of Melissa succumbing to pleasure even as she thinks of her Princess!

-Kairo Honda

As a further chapter to Warrior Princess Asuka, Asuka’s personal knight and captain, Melissa, is modified and assaulted in this game. It was with great enthusiasm that I drew the sight of monsters pounding away at her body after being made into a futanari, as well as her fall from Gaurd Captain into a simple woman of lust.

-Amamiya Tsumugi

It snows so much throughout this story; you wonder why no one has died of frostbite alone.

Wait, SHE’S A VRIGIN TOO?!

*Cough* I mean, today’s Babbles are brought to you by NekoBabbles!

Cartagra ~Affliction of the Soul~, is the prequel to the beautiful visual novel Kara No Shoujo. (If you haven’t played Kara No Shoujo, PLAY KARA NO SHOUJO.)

Cartagra opens up with the snow-drifting title screen that seems to pull you into the story with its background music. With fantastic CG, storyline, and timing of the soundtracks, this is one story that leaves you with cliffhangers up until you unlock its True Ending.

Crows eating dead crows. That’s called recycling!

Story –

Takashiro Shugo is a private detective who is given the task of finding a missing girl named Kozuki Yura. As he travels to his client’s house, he notices continuous news articles about “Bizarre Murders” happening around his hometown. Although it starts out as a simple missing person’s search, he begins to realize that the two cases have more in common than he originally thought. The twin sister, Kozuki Kazuna. The brothel, Yukishiro. The Mafia, Hand of Death. Even Takashiro Shugo’s own past is called into question. It is a murder mystery fit to be released on Halloween if you want to turn off all the lights to deter strangers from coming to your house and begging for candy.

Toji is my wifu. I have replaced Riho from Deardrops on my desktop wallpaper.

Characters –

If there is a female character present on the screen, there will most likely be a penis inserted into her. I mean come on, you live in a brothel-

Oh sorry, you wanted actual quality? You have your usual archetypes: the admirer, the “just friends”, the sister, the bad girl, the cute one, the crazy one, and “the one”. As you go through each route, you learn more about the background and life of each character, setting yourself up to be with them at the end- or die a horrific, horrific death. I mean, seriously, this visual novel really calls into question whether it is really worth it to open yourself up to commitment or just die. Women. Sheesh. Is it worth it, really?

Does your character have personality? Surprisingly, he does most things based on logic so you are not annoyed at him as you play through the game. As you click, you are given a few more clues than he is, but this does not give you an overwhelming advantage over him in piecing together the mystery. Even as you make your own suspect list, the process of how everything connects is revealed wonderfully and worth your time to work your way up to its True Ending.

The gore in this game is as delicious as the food.

CG/ Play Value –

From the moment you open the game to when you are forced to stop because you realize you can’t be starving yourself, the game does a fantastic job of setting the mood and focus of the characters. Once you reach a Good Ending in the game, the gallery of CG opens up and it is HUGE. You could take any one of those pictures and turn it into your desktop background as they are great quality and enhance the game’s play value. This game has a few possible endings; each ending should be played as it unlocks a certain set of CG to add to your enormous collection. Different endings also give you different clues to add to the mystery, so you are never playing for the simple act of completion. The cleverness of this game is that if you reach an ending that isn’t the True Ending, the game will hint that there is more for you to uncover, spurring you to go back and choose differently.

Skeptical girls are skeptical.

Overall –

Play this game. Enjoy Halloween in your dark house as you slowly undress these girls- I mean solve this horrific mystery. As a nod to Kara No Shoujo, this game delivers.

This game had a 2 episodes OVA that came out in 2009? WHAAAAAA?????!!!!

TL;DR

1. Play this game.

2. All girls have smooth, pale skin. (Wait, are you 18?!!)

3. Here is a fun drinking game: Take a shot every time you read the word “wry” as you play through this visual novel. (Disclaimer: You must be 21 to drink. I am also not responsible for your alcohol poisoning.)

Today we’re proud to announce the release of Royal Guard Melissa!

We at MangaGamer are proud to announce that Secret Sorrow of the Siblings is now available for pre-order!

For every fan of incest out there, we’re proud to announce this new title from Appetite will be available on November 28th!

If the idea of NTRing your own brother with your cute sister and training her to be your personal sexy slut gets your jimmies rustling, then this game is sure to leave you satisfied!

Pre-order your copy today to get 10% off!

For my second beta test with Mangagamer, I played through Royal Guard Melissa. This is a short, dark, nukige. After a brief exposition about the scenario at the very beginning of the game, the rest of the game consists entirely of h-scenes. And none of those h-scenes are consensual. There is a total of one choice presented throughout the entire game, and it only affects the scene immediately following.

The gist of the game is that Melissa, the royal guard for Princess Asuka from the previous game in this series, has been forced into being Girudea’s sex slave. (Girudea can be seen in the screenshot above as the one receiving a blowjob.) One day Melissa tries to resist by killing Girudea, but she fails, and she’s punished by being turned into a futa and forced to have sex with several different monsters.

As you might expect from such a scenario, one of the monsters has tentacles.

As the game progresses, she goes from initially hating Girudea to, at the end, having her mind broken and constantly begging for more sex.

Melissa even ends up forcing herself onto princess Asuka, who she had originally been trying to protect. But does it count as yuri if one of them is a futa?

The voice acting in the game was surprisingly good for this kind of title, even if it is mostly just grunts and moans. You could really feel a lot of emotion behind it, which I think is important in eroge. I liked the artwork, except for the nipples looking kind of weird. If you’re looking for a quick nukige and into any of tentacles, futanari, or lactation, then this is probably the game for you. If you want any kind of plot or high quality writing, look elsewhere.

Today we’re proud to present another Tester’s Corner for Cartagra from wavedash!

I’m not a big fan of horror or gore; never have been, and probably never will. So I was a bit apprehensive going into Cartagra. The closest thing to horror I’ve seen in a visual novel would probably be Chaos;Head (excuse me, ChäoS;HEAd) and Saya no Uta. As an aside, this means that I have not (yet) played Kara no Shoujo.

I was quite relieved to find that Cartagra is probably best classified as a mystery thriller. At the same time, I was also highly disturbed by the gore that *was* present, particularly when said gore involves eyes. Just thinking about it makes me squeamish. Damn you, Innocent Grey.

Anyway, Cartagra is a fantastic visual novel. The story is magnificent, both in premise and in execution. Because of this, I will avoid any remotely detrimental spoilers. The plot revolves around events that occur and factions that come to power in 1950’s urban Japan. Serial killings, bizarre cannibalism, and mysterious cultists are just a few elements introduced early in the game. Everything is connected, and I mean *everything*. There’s a fine line between plot twist and ass pull, and Cartagra walks it gracefully. Our protagonist Shugo, a former police detective, is hired to find a runaway girl, but finds himself more and more involved in the Ueno serial killings as he seeks to untangle the mess of connections.

Here, I’ll introduce some of the people affected by the Ueno serial killings. This is just a fraction of the many characters in Cartagra, mostly just the ones whom I find worth talking about in a spoiler-free setting.

Rin is a prostitute who works at the Yukishiro, the brothel at which Shugo lives. Despite her profession, she’s quite interested in Shugo, and makes a hobby of playfully teasing him. However, the unwritten rules of the red-light district dictate that guests who rent rooms in brothels are not to involve themselves with the prostitutes who work there.

Hatsune is one of Rin’s coworkers. However, while Rin serves men, Hatsune serves meals. She is a prostitute-in-training, currently working as a servant or maid of sorts for the Yukishiro. Although she is equally attached to Shugo, her personality could not be further from Rin’s. Hatsune is a gentle angel of love and purity and hope and cute.

The proprietress of the Yukishiro is Madame Ujaku, a former prostitute turned manager. Though she has no children of her own, she sees her employees as her daughters, and makes sure to take care of them, perhaps empathizing with their troubles from personal experience.

Ujaku’s seiyuu Kaori Okuda, real name Dodo Asako, is one of the Two Great Voices of Cartagra (or TGVoC, I’m sure it’ll catch on). She is perhaps “best” known for minor roles in Baldr Sky and Ikusa Megami Zero; without a doubt a crying shame, because her work as Madame Ujaku is top-notch. Kaori Okuda conveys Ujaku’s emotions extremely passionately. Whether it’s solemn reminiscing, blazing fury, or wistful love, she can do it all. But above all, Kaori Okuda’s usual gentle, soothing tone draws a sharp contrast to Madame Ujaku’s power and appearance, revealing her true personality: a nurturing mother.

Shugo’s little sister Nana also plays a vital role in the events that transpire in Ueno. Nana seems to aspire to become a detective like her brother. Her intellect, curiosity, and boldness prove to be both invaluable to Shugo’s investigation and dangerous to herself and those close to her. The full extent of that danger is explored her route.

Toji is an acquaintance of Shugo’s from back when he was a police detective. Toji has access to a wide information network due to her position as a high-ranking official in an underground yakuza-like organization known as the Hand of Death, one-armedness notwithstanding. She is normally cool-headed and blunt, but has a soft spot for her new friend, Kazuna.

At the center of the tragedies that take place in Cartagra is the main heroine, our dear Kazuna. An aspiring stage actress, she assists Shugo in his search for her missing sister Yura. Kazuna is a kindhearted, outgoing girl, though she isn’t the sharpest blade in the knife drawer. But what she lacks in wits, she more than makes up for in enthusiasm and determination. She also provides comic relief, much needed in a game as heavy as Cartagra.

Also, Kazuna is best girl.

Kazuna also happens to be the second half of the Two Great Voices of Cartagra. She is credited as Yuzuki Akishiro; her real name is Yasuda Mio. She is probably best known for voicing Tsukuba You in Nitro+’s Saya no Uta. Yuzuki Akishiro’s voice as Kazuna is the epitome of liveliness. I don’t mean that just in the “genki” way. I also mean that Kazuna feels very *alive*. In terms of just intonation, she sounds similar to Touyama Nao (namely Haruna from Kantai Collection). But Yuzuki Akishiro trumps Touyama Nao in one particular department: being delightfully emotive, a perfect fit the hyperactive actress.

Cartagra has one main, true ending. Branching off from this route will yield an alternate ending; I hesitate to call them “bad” endings because not only does that imply that there are endings that could be considered “good” in a traditional sense, but also because there is variation in “goodness” and “badness” among those endings. These alternate routes will reveal bits and pieces of the whole mystery and/or depict Shugo in a romantic (or… less than romantic) relationship. The alternate endings are no doubt weaker than the true ending, but if you take Cartagra as a whole, it’s certainly worth playing through them. They aren’t terribly long, anyway.

On a technical level, MangaGamer’s localization of Cartagra is nothing short of fantastic. The translation is excellent, as you’ll hopefully agree from these screenshots and the demo. The translators who worked on Cartagra not only have a firm grasp of Japanese, but also English, making the game enjoyable to read not just for its story, but also its prose. In addition, the game is not constrained to using monospaced fonts, as most fan translations are, making the text much easier on the eyes.

Please trust me when I say that this only covers the tip of the iceberg. In retrospect, this isn’t a great review, because there’s so many things that I can’t tell someone who presumably has not played Cartagra, but hopefully will.

Just kidding! The true mastermind behind the serial killings is—

Belucre here, and I’m pleased to present a tester’s corner for Cartagra.

A series of grotesque murders and his own dark secrets from the past collide in inconceivable ways for the private detective, Takashiro Shugo, when he agrees to participate what appears to be a simple investigation for a missing person.

At the request of the illustrious Kozuki family, Shugo takes on the task of locating their daughter, Yura, who has been missing for the past decade. However, as his investigation deepens, more and more layers of unsettling details of the case are brought to light: Yura’s isolation and imprisonment by her own family, the rumors of a sinister family curse, and Shugo’s own past romance with Yura. He is aided by Kazuna, Yura’s younger sister, an aspiring actress who is desperate to find her missing sibling at any cost.

Simultaneously, several women have been murdered in increasingly horrific and bizarre ways, their bodies symbolically mutilated in accordance to a religious prophecy. Shugo’s current residence, the Yukishiro brothel, is meant to be a place of relaxation, but a heavy atmosphere of restless unease has descended upon his home, as a few of the girls begin to disappear. Shugo is also given the task of delving into these arcane crimes, and oddly enough, his two cases appear to intersect…

The general premise I’ve just given, however, is barely the start. Realizing how truly deep and depraved the truth is of the murders is not where the plot ends: there are layers upon layers of more questions revealed with each seemingly sound conclusion, as well as the individual character routes, with their own devastating revelations and contributions to the overarching story.

Without needing to be said, the story is dark exploration of human psychology, spurned love, and religious insanity. But it is not without some hope, showing that there is peace in the wake of grief, justice in spite of prejudice, and the possibility of romance overcoming all odds. It is masterfully written, even haunting at times.

Even the most minor characters have stories to tell, with their own heartwarming or tragic endings. From Nana, Shugo’s younger sister, with a passionate, almost fanatical obsession with her brother, to sweet Hatsune, whose timid demeanor hides alarming feelings.

And although I would hesitate to call it a direct prequel, several characters in Cartagra have their stories continued in Kara no Shoujo. In this title, we see where it all began: Kazuna is introduced when her career as an actress is just starting to flourish, and Hatsune’s humble beginnings at Yukishiro are explored in great depth.

The music is just exquisite, either somber to convey the weight of the victims’ tragedies, or chillingly sinister at the most crucial moments of heightened suspense. Likewise, the artwork may feel slightly dated, but by no means is it anything but beautiful, even at the darkest moments.

It is without hesitation that I give a complete recommendation of Cartagra, an eroge the caliber of which I never could’ve dreamed would be translated for Western audiences.

In this frozen landscape, can love blossom, even in the dead of winter? Is there an end to the bloodshed, and would you risk everything to stop it? Or would you rather pursue a quieter path and escape with your life, even at the cost of human lives?

Just like in Cartagra, there is no simple answer.

Hi! Cafe here. Space Pirate Sara is the third Lilith game MangaGamer will be releasing and the second title I’ve translated for them.

You may recall that I first worked on Armored Warrior Iris. I guess the biggest difference between Sara and Iris is that Sara has more focus on the plot and a few less h-scenes as a result. On the other hand, the h-scenes are fairly long in Sara to make up for this. Sara’s plot is also far more involved than Iris’s was, and the game is longer, too.

The cast actually features four girls in total that have h-scenes. Sara, of course, her rival Sylia, and the twins, Karin and Cecil. I guess you could consider this something of a rarity because the twins are the main antagonists in the game.

What could be under their dresses?

So how about some credits? The art was done by a rather famous eromanga artist known as Seura Isago. Sara is the one and only eroge he’s worked on. Fans of his work should definitely check this out.

The scenario was written by Lilith mainstays Sonodamasaki (Taimanin Yukikaze, Kangoku Senkan series, Armored Warrior Iris, etc.), Kurisu (Taima Seikou Alice, Ma Furu Yoru no Rin, etc.), and Matsumoto Ryuu (Tentacle and Witches, Mizugi no Shimobe-kun, etc.).

The music was also done by Mizoguchi Tetsuya who has worked on a number of other classic Lilith titles.

What’s going on here?

I can safely say that I enjoyed the h-scenes in Sara more than Iris overall, even if there are less of them. I also think the art’s a bit better, personally. Anyway, fans with a penchant for Lilith’s typical kinky ero, but also looking for a bit more story shouldn’t be disappointed.