Title: “Shinigami to Shoujo”
Company: Takuyo
Release Date: 28.07.2011
Platform: PSP
Rating: Age 12+
Genre: “a story of illusions” adventure
Cast: Ueda Kana (the heroine), Canna Nobutoshi (Ao), Kawashima Tokuyoshi (Toono Tooya), Suzuki Tatsuhisa (Hinase Mitsuru), Chiba Susumu (Kirishima Nanaki), Nojima Kenji (Chiyo), Sanpei Yuuko (Natsume Yuuki), Nonoka Ai (Miyazawa Kaho) etc.
Recently I started playing Shinigami to Shoujo, a game I’ve been wanting to play for some time now, but didn’t have time/was too distracted with other things to do it earlier. I love games with unique stories, and this one is no exception. I’m loving it so far <333 I like it so much, that I even decided to write about it xD I can’t believe I’m writing a non-Sugita post
The game is split up into chapters. They have a certain theme that is represented by a book. Everything that happens inside a given chapter reflects the contents of that chapter’s book to a certain extent (sometimes it’ll be mainly the theme, sometimes everything will be almost exactly like in the book). There is a book that overlaps with all of the chapters – we’re introduced to it in the prologue, and it’s the title’s “God of Death and a Girl”. In this post I will be covering the game’s prologue and write my thoughts about the game in general and its characters (they’re at the end of this post, so those of you who have already played the game can start from there xD).
To be honest, I’m not really sure where I’m going with this. At first I intended to write a short summary to each chapter followed by my thoughts about the stories included in them. However, as I went along with this it turned into something quite different. This post, for example, is a description of what’s going on, scene by scene. I imagine that chapters 1 to 3 won’t look like this though (I already have them written out roughly, but I’m adding more details to them). I (probably) will be summarizing only the main stories and what the characters involved think about them. I will mention the more important scenes that give us some insight into the characters and I will also include my thoughts about the chapter. My thoughts will be there just for reference, and they are in no way absolute. The game allows us to answer many of the more abstract questions it poses by ourselves, and so they will differ from person to person. I’m also still playing the game, so I don’t intend to answer any of the main plot-related questions, not yet anyway. I intend to write only what was revealed to the player in a given chapter, leaving all the more important questions about the characters for their individual routes and for when they’re actually talked about in the game. Sometimes I will also include random translations and describe certain scenes in much detail, usually whenever I feel that something is important or simply when I like a scene or the way characters are thinking in (most likely, I will write a LOT about Ao, I seem to be unable to stop talking whenever he’s involved haha /kicked). At least that’s the plan for now… I’m not sure how this will turn out in the end, or how far can I keep it up (I do hope I can finish this project, and I really want to do it, because I think it’s an amazing game). Wish me luck!
That said, I intend to write something that can be read both by people who already played through the game, as well as those who would like to play it but can’t due to one reason or another.
Everything written in italics includes my thoughts or additional information about the scene/character, while text in bold indicates the things that I thought are interesting or even just simply cool-sounding (don’t try reading too much into them xD).
I hope you’ll enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing this!
Characters and places introduced in the prologue:
遠野紗夜 (Toono Sayo) – heroine’s default name (it’s possible to change her first name only); written with kanji for “distant”, “field”, “silk gauze” and “night”. Taking the meaning straight from the kanji doesn’t really give us anything coherent, but if read as “too-no sayo”, it gives us “distant evening”. I think it’s a very fitting name for this game’s heroine.
遠野十夜 (Toono Tooya) – surname is the same as in Sayo’s case, kanji for the name are “ten” and “night”. Read as “too-no tooya” would give us “distant ten nights”. He is the heroine’s older brother; a writer. There is a city in Japan called Toono, and a book related to it called “Toono stories” (about Japanese folklore), written by Yanigata Kunio.
宮沢夏帆 (Miyazawa Kaho) – written with “princess/palace”, “swamp”, “summer” and “sail”. Heroine’s best friend and classmate.
There was a Japanese writer named Miyazawa Kenji.
夏目悠希 (Natsume Yuuki) – written with kanji for “summer”, “eye”, “permanence/distant” and “hope”. Heroine’s classmate; he seems to hate her for some reason.
There was a Japanese writer named Natsume Souseki. The story featured in chapter 3 is a play on his famous story “I Am a Cat”.
日生光 (Hinase Mitsuru) – written “day”, “life” and “light”. He is year the heroine’s upperclassman; he says he’s in love with her.
The only thing I can think of in relation to his name is a city in Japan called Hinase. Any other suggestions are welcome!
蒼 (Ao) – it means “blue”. He has no memories and calls himself a “shinigami”.
鳴鐘 (Narikane) – the name of the city this story takes place in. It means “ringing bell”. There is an actual word written this way, but read “nuishou”, it means “to ring a bell in a buddhist temple”.
Continued here.
White Prayer 
