Yo-Jin-Bo

Hello, Black Angel here! I know, you're all so disappointed that it's not sasugasugoi  because she's so much more awesomer than me, but I'm not bad! Anyways, this is my start of being her co-author, so I'll be posting a review for Yo-Jin-Bo, I'll try to make it as spoiler-free as possible. I hope you enjoy it!

          Yo-Jin-Bo was published by the company Two-Five and was actually released in English in North America by the Hirameki International Group, which sadly went bankrupt and withdrew from game production. So yaaay~ no dealing with English patches(for all the people out there who work on English patches, big THANK YOU!). There has been a manga adaption of Yo-Jin-Bo as well as a PS2 game that has been only released in Japan which included two characters (Fuuma Kasumimaru and Harumoto Ohno) that you couldn't capture in the PC version. The title is actually a pun sadly lost in the English language, for Yo-Jin-Bo literally means "Bodyguards" and it's also the names of your three new main bodyguards: Yo, Jin, and Bo!

SUMMARY:

           You play as average school girl Sayori who's part of the history club. On an archaeological dig, you slip into a hole and find a shiny, pretty green pendant which you decide to take home with you. As you get ready to go to bed, you see a faded silhouette of a pretty kimono-wearing girl emitting from the pendant. She then asks for your help and you're slipped into a dream and find out that the girl is Princess Hatsuhime and that you've switched bodies with her! After that, you're just whisked into the adventure of samurais and ninjas, of course, all of whom are hot guys ;).

CHARACTERS:

 Sayori

In simple words, you. They didn't even give her enough thought to give her a last name. Tsk tsk.

 Hatsuhime

CV: Nami Kurokawa

The beautiful princess whom you take place of. She's a lively, spunky, tomboyish girl who speaks her mind and isn't your typical goody-good princess; I almost fell in love with her as much as the guys did LOL.

Tsukuba Muneshige

CV: Jurota Kosugi (Asuba from Naruto! and a bunch of  other awesome roles)

Hatsuhime's personal bodyguard ever since they were young. He's also Hatsuhime's first love. He's kind and extremely loyal and protective of Hatsuhime, and (according to the crew at least) says really bad jokes. I loved his Mickey Mouse impersonation though!

Yozaburou Shiranui

CV: Masakuza Morita (Ichigo from Bleach! <3)

His nickname is Yo and he's part of the Yo-Jin-Bo trio. He really hates being treated like a kid despite him being the youngest. He loves making fun of Jin and is super cute when he gets all strung-up!

Jinnosuke Murasame

CV: Hiroki Takahashi (Eiji Kikumaru from PoT! and Katsuya (Joey) from Yu-Gi-Oh!)

His nickname is Jin and he's also part of the Yo-Jin-Bo trio, as well as my personal favorite <3. His friends always tease him and he's a fiery, aggressive kind of guy (made obvious by his ridiculously red hair) but also has a really soft, kind, funny side to him. He has really bad luck with girls though (which obviously changes when he bumps into you at the festival <3).

Tainojo Tsubaki

CV: Hideo Ishikawa (Itachi Uchiha from Naruto!! Need I say anymore? Well, he's also Jushiro Ukitake from Bleach)

They call him Bo because of the kanji that spell out his name, and he's the last of the trio. He's a bit of an androgynous character because of his hair and clothes and is even hit on by transsexuals, which I find hilarious. He's an eccentric but elegant character. 

Ittousai Tatsunami

CV: Hideki Ogihara

This guy, as Mon-Mon describes him, is a "glasses-wearing sociopath". And that's what I thought at first too, just a creepy guy who wears bandages that look like S&M bondage tape. But hey, who doesn't love a creepy hot guy? And once you get to know him, maybe you won't think he's so creepy after all. Besides, he's a GREAT kisser, totally hot CG scenes right there. He and Jin don't get along at all though, two completely opposite sides of the pole.

 Monzan Kadokura

CV: Tetsu Inada (Kurogane from Tsubasa Chronicles. He's hotness~)

He calls himself Mon-mon, probably to look cute to get girls. He's another one of those perverted monks, because we just couldn't get enough of Miroku from Inuyasha, could we?  He's a nice guy though, with a good heart. And he's really funny.

Harumoto Ohno

CV: Mitsuaki Madono (Kon from Bleach, kind of surprising O.o. Joker from Flame of Recca)

The bad guy of the game who's out to kill you. As I said before, he's one of the two characters you can get in the PS2 version but not the PC version. I probably wouldn't play his route anyhow, but am still curious about his route so I might skim his part on Youtube.

Fuuma Kasumimaru

CV: Kisho Taniyama (As well as a Seiyu, he's part of a band. Pretty sweet huh? He's Len from La Corda D'Oro, Yahiro from Special A, and Natsuki from UtaPri <3)

This guy isn't really much of an important character in the game, but it's a real SHAME that you can't capture him in the PC version, because I'm sure just like Kakashi under that mask is a really hot face. I'm definitely looking up his route on Youtube...

Game Length: Pretty Long

Target Audience: Girls (obviously) but I know guys who also played this game and enjoyed the storyline. I mean, I play dating sims for guys why can't they play dating sims for girls? (Is it weird that i play guy-targeted dating sims? O.o). This isn't a hentai game, so I guess anyone could play it.

Gameplay: What I kind of love about this game is that the time to make the different choices is limited, so if you're playing with a walkthrough, make sure to have it beforehand! You have about ten seconds to choose options, and every time I come across a choice, no matter how many times I've played the game, my heart always starts beating really fast and I get an adrenaline rush, waiting until the last second  to purposely make it dramatic. I know that makes me seem silly, but it's true! There's a LOT of endings for this game. 6 good endings, one for each guy, 6 "sad" endings, also one for each guy, and there's a couple of bad endings. To fully complete the game, you must complete all 12 good and sad endings. You even get a special bonus chapter once you finish the game!

Characters: The characters were amazing, hands down. They were extremely interactive and funny, I was always laughing and giggling at something someone said. Other than the funniness, each character has a different personality of his/her own, and I loved getting to know them and their serious side. I know a lot of otome games where the characters were dull and just there, like the game creators just made good-looking guys with stereotypical personalities, but the characters in this game were totally unique and enjoyable.

Story: The story was great in itself, who doesn't love a good feudal Japan story filled with samurai and ninja? You could argue that it wasn't that original or creative, but the characters more than make up for it. So if you played Hakuoki and was looking for something a bit similar, this is definitely the game for you. I do wonder though, what baffles my mind, is all the modern references they make during the game. Like, this game is supposed to be set in the 1850s, yet they're talking about Pokemon, games, and Mickey Mouse. Like...say what? Haha, I guess this is what makes the game so funny though, it doesn't really bother me. 

CG/Art: The art of the game itself I loved. I especially loved how next to the writing of the story it would show each person's expression and how there were a lot of different expressions for each guy, and each expression matched perfectly with the lines they were speaking. The CGs you collect are sometimes cute, sometimes funny, and sometimes REALLY HOT. Especially in the cases of Yo and Ittosai. One point I didn't like though was that you couldn't download any CGs, which i always like doing when I play otome games. But whatever, you could always just save the image.

Music: Do I really need to say anything for this? I ADORE the opening song and have it on my favorites list on Youtube. The music during the story wasn't annoying or bothering and suited the story nicely, not that I pay much attention to the music because the story just sucks you in and is so captivating.

Difficulty: It's not that bad, the choices are sometimes a bit obvious but what makes this game difficult is that if you don't choose the perfect choices for each choice you have for a character, you can't get a good ending. I was close to pulling my hair out when I figured out I missed Jin's good ending by one choice. Also, if you choose too many bad choices or if you're indecisive with your guys, you could *gulp die. And that's a bad ending, in case you couldn't figure it out. So difficulty isn't that bad as in you don't need specific parameters like with other otome games, but it's not so easy as in all you need to do is make sure your love meter is high.

                                 
                            Yo-Jin-Bo Opening (Uploaded by PantomZwei)

Opening Video: Thank you thank you thank you PhantomZwei for uploading the video on Youtube!!!!!!!

Download Link

http://www.mediafire.com/?qbe3jjdt9uvt3

Check the Installation Guide on this blog (located in Tutorials) on how to install Yo-Jin-Bo!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment below!!!!!