Japanese Reading Report: 03 August 2025

- 英雄伝説 空の軌跡FC
- タコピーの原罪 (第6話)
- 白蝶記 (1-67ページ)
- まったく最近の探偵ときたら (第1-2話)
- Wizardry Variants Daphne
英雄伝説 空の軌跡FC
I didn't do very much in this game aside from cleaning up some of the final bits within Ruan. I guess I just ended up too busy with other things to sit down and play this much at all.
タコピーの原罪
A pretty good final episode to a pretty special series. I think I had the timeline slightly muddled in my mind in my reflection last week, but Takopi returns to the end-point of the original timeline, talks to Azuma, and then waits and waits for Shizuka to visit him. After their reunion and reconciliation Takopi finally figures out a way to save Marina and Shizuka and uses the happy camera to go back one last time.
白蝶記
I started reading this. To be honest, reading this on
the train probably contributed to my neglect of Trails,
even though I'm in no rush to finish this at all.
This story is set in Hokkaido (just like Takopi and Erased,
what's with Hokkaido and "punished children" stories? Is it
just that cold up there?). A group of three children
living at an orphanage are sharing their pain to get through
it all. The main character, Asahi, is sort of the leader. He
feels some amount of responsibility for the other two. Itsuki
is a shy bookworm boy and the same age as Asahi (I think). Hisaki
is a younger female friend who adds an innocent element to
the trio. She's very loyal to Asahi, always trying to find
ways to spend time with the two boys, and I worry something
bad will happen to her, so I think the writing is working so
far.
The story starts with Asahi being released from a small
shed outside the main orphanage used to punish him. One of
his guardians, Ogura, makes it clear that this punishment is
not officially endorsed, and also that Asahi and Itsuki have
endured it for quite a long time. After some character
setup the first story beat happens; Asahi receives a letter
from his mother(????)
So far I've read a little bit beyond that. Asahi has responded
to his mum's letter, asking for more details about her life, and
telling her that he has friends in here that he wishes not to
leave behind.
I sort of get the impression that there will be something
supernatural about the story, though there haven't been many
hints towards that, yet. Hisaki mentioned that Asahi helped
her when he first arrived, but he has no memory of it. I
wonder if he'll be a creature or something.
まったく最近の探偵ときたら
I watched two episodes of this anime. I plan to keep
watching, I just haven't had much energy for things
this week.
This is a gag anime about a middle-aged detective who
used to be a famous young detective (think Akechi from
Persona 5, or like an older Detective Conan) and his
new, young female detective partner. The young partner, Mashiro,
is definitely the core of the comedy. She's seemingly
capable of any physical feat, and also not afraid to
bend the law to achieve any client needs. In one episode
she defeated a small Japanese crime family, and in
the next episode she defused a bomb threat by kicking
the bomb into a sports stadium. The episode about capturing
a ghost was also pretty funny.
Wizardry Variants Daphne
I played a little bit of this, and it has Japanese
support, so I might as well write
about it. I've never played a Wizardry game, but I've
known about the series as one that has had
moderate success in Japan. I like 3D dungeon RPGs, and
I've heard that Wizardry are some of the hardest
there are. It's sort of a weird combination for a
free-to-play gacha game. I read some steam reviews
before really settling on the game (who knows
how long I'll stick with it either way) and some
reviews basically said the gacha element can be
ignored, so that works for me.
The game starts with your character's death. After
being slain by a demon, your body decomposes, your
loot is... looted, and you turn to bones. And then
you wake up. Between your death and resurrection
the abyss you were traversing has left and
returned to the world. You meet the ghost of a
young woman, Lulunarde, who claims to have been
a legendary adventurer who also died in the abyss.
After discovering that you have the ability to
reverse time with your right hand (possibly the
same curse that brought you back to life), you
escape the abyss, kill some would-be bandits,
steal their masks to hide your own undead face,
and return to civilisation.
From there the story is basically about returning
to the abyssal dungeon to search for a royal envoy,
including the king himself, who were possibly captured
by a powerful demon lord. There are some side quests,
you build your party with gacha (but they give
enough resources to start out for free), and then
the loop is basically just exploring one big
dungeon.
One point of weirdness for me is that your envoy
isn't just you and the party, it's also one supporting
fighter (fair enough, he's in the party and contributes
in his own ways) and then two not-so-supporting
knights. They'll talk during new discoveries, but
they never help at all. Kinda lazy.