LP: Ichiro Shounen Kitan - this is why you shouldn't annoy spirits

Given how much time I spend lurking the LP threads (i.e. probably far too long), I figured it might be good to try to give back. So here's another freeware horror game in the same vein as Ib and The Witch's House from Nekofuroshiki (now part of a team called Ebifuro), Ichiro Shounen Kitan!



Looks cheerful, doesn't it?

I don't think this has been translated into English, so I'll be trying to translate as I go along. (If it has, please tell me: it would probably make things a bit easier. :D; ). From the website:

'The main character, Ichiro Sasaki, is a student at Yasogami Academy who likes conducting table-turning sessions in his spare time. Due to unexpected happenings, Ichiro finds himself cursed and with the Seven Mysteries closing in on him! Will Ichiro be able to defeat the Seven Mysteries...?'

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update (it was a great idea to start just before the beginning of a new term, what are you talking about) and I've never done an LP before so I'm kind of nervous, but we'll see how it goes. \(o)/

A girl who fell from the stairs. Her body was twisted in death.


A hanged third-year boy. His neck stretches and stretches but he can't die.


Mirror, mirror on the wall, take me away somewhere.


The principal hates dogs. He beats them black and blue with a bat.


A steadily-crumbling skeletal model. Where can I find my bones?


Atsuko-san, in the home economics room. Scorched to a tasty crisp with a burner.


Finally, Tsukiko-san up on the rooftop. Who will be possessed and thrown off next?


The Seven Mysteries of Yasogami Academy. Let sleeping dogs lie.


The Seven Mysteries are coming for you. They're coming to kill you.



Aaaand the title.

... These images seem kind of big. Is there any way to shrink them in-forum?

My name is Ichiro Sasaki.

'I'm a high school student at Yasogami Academy who does table-turning in his spare time.

After school today, I was conducting a session in my classroom as always.'


'Spirit, spirit, if you will deign to present yourself, please cross over to the torii.'

Here's our protagonist, Ichiro, and his favourite hobby. Hey!

Nothing happens the first time he speaks, so he repeats himself, and...


'A spirit's here...!'

The coin's moved to the torii symbol. Progress!

He asks if the spirit would be willing to answer a question, and the coin slides to 'yes'.


'They've said 'yes', but what should I ask them...?'


'Ah yeah... I'll try asking about Yasogami Academy's 'Seven Mysteries''

... I think there are probably safer things to ask about, but sure, go on.


'Are you familiar with this school's 'Seven Mysteries'?'

No response. When he asks again, the coin moves:


'S t o p i t ?'

... I think they're trying to tell you something Ichiro.

So he does what anyone would do and tries asking the spirit again. Are they not familiar with them?

And the coin starts moving in circles. Um.


'I-it's moving on its own suddenly...!'



It traces out a message...




Be cursed and die.

... Damn it Ichiro.

'Ichiro!'

Suddenly, someone calls his name, and we pan out to see a girl standing by his desk.


???: Ichiro!

He seems to be spacing out, but she calls his name again, and he finally realises that she's there.


Ichiro: ... Tooko.

What's up? I've been trying to get your attention for a while.

He says that nothing's wrong. Tooko asks whether he was playing with 'this scrap of paper' again, and tells him that it's getting dark outside. (As an irrelevant aside, the way Tooko speaks is traditionally quite masculine. Just a fun note, really).

... Ah!

He doesn't reply, but suddenly starts as he remembers what happened, startling Tooko.


Ichiro: I took my hand off the coin in the middle of the session...

... I get the feeling this is something you're not meant to do.

Ichiro says that he'll be cursed, which is affirmed by another flash of the previous screen: 'be cursed and die'.


Tooko: Ichiro! What's wrong?!

Tooko calls him again, and he snaps out of it. He continues to insist that he's fine, although Tooko seems unconvinced. I don't blame her.

Ah well. I'm done with club activities, so let's go home together.

Ichiro agrees, puts on his hat, and Tooko joins our party.



We can finally move!

Aaand, think I'll end there for the night. \(o)/ (Let's see how long I can keep this pace going...).

From my limited knowledge of Japanese folklore (mostly from horror manga), yeah, you're not supposed to mess those 'spirit-tables' things. Mostly because your attracting possibly not very nice ghosts or spirits. And, if I remember right, taking your hand off is a big no-no, as that releases the spirits to do what ever they want.

So, yeah, this character is pretty screwed.

If you're cursed and you know it clap your hands.
...Or you can run for your life, that works too.

Ooooh! Horror game!
Ib- and Witch House-style horror game!
This is gonna be fun to watch~! So much fun! Too bad it's not in english, I'd play it for myself with all the music...

The pictures really are a bit big though. Can't you make them smaller somehow? I know Imageshack has an auto-resize function...

I don't think the big images are a problem, honestly. Any smaller and the characters would be really hard to read! (Not that I can actually understand Japanese, but it's nice to be able to practice a little.)

Are all the characters' eyes constantly glancing nervously to the right (or their left)?

From what I can glean from Wikipedia, you're meant to thank the spirit and ask it to leave before letting go (at least), so it seems like it's not a good thing to do, yeah. :'D

Also, it seems like I can get Imgur to resize the images, so I'll try to make the following ones a bit smaller. Hopefully not small enough that they can't be read, though.

It does seem kind of like that! Not sure whether it's just the style they were drawn in, though.

Also, unlike Ib and The Witch's House, I think this has more of an RPG-element to it, in that the way you defeat several of the spirits involves engaging them in 'battle' and using items that you've gathered to seal them, instead of focusing on puzzles. Hopefully it'll still be fun. |D

EDIT: It might be worth mentioning that schools and other places having 'Seven Mysteries', which mostly seem to be strange happenings/phenomenon and are usually attributed to spirits, seems to be at least a fairly common trope in Japanese media. Off the top of my head it's at least appeared in Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni and the first Hatoful drama CD, although the explanations for the latter's Seven Mysteries were much more harmless than they usually seem to be (aside from the ones which involved Shuu, who definitely isn't harmless).

Here's our status screen! It's pretty much like any other RPG status screen, really. It also doesn't really mean that much, as we can't properly fight any of the spirits we come across. Ah well.

From this we can tell that Ichiro's title is currently 'cursed youth', and that Tooko's is 'childhood friend'. They're also apparently both healthy. They do have things 'equipped', but they're pretty much just things like Ichiro's hat and watch. Nothing special.


The paper you used to conduct the table-turning session.

Maybe best to leave that alone.

There's nothing of note in the classroom- nothing in the locker, nothing in the bin- so let's go outside.


Ichiro: Now that you mention it, Tooko, how are your photos going?


Tooko: Photos? Ah, you're talking about the photography club.

Apparently she's part of the photography club! ... Which is possibly more than can be said for Ichiro.

No good. I can't seem to get any good shots. I always have my camera on me, but there haven't been any good photo opportunities.

Oh, really.

Nice, Ichiro.

We walk away from the classroom, and Tooko directs us towards the stairs. As we go down them...


Tooko: Hey... wasn't there a noise just now?


1: ...
2: It's just your imagination

I didn't hear anything, but maybe we should try listening first.

It's coming from the second floor...

... And then there is a slight noise.

What is it...? It's like something's crawling this way.

Well, that doesn't sound good. Maybe we should try to move?

But we continue to stand there as the noise continues, until-



Er.

??? appears from the darkness...

What.


Tooko: Wha... what the heck?!

Ichiro doesn't say anything. You're taking this remarkably calmly.

[??? is grinning widely...]



And here's the battle screen! Not that you can do much battling.

Attacking does absolutely nothing, so let's choose the option to talk to Tooko:


[Talk: talk to Tooko]


[An eerie smile spreads across ???'s face...]

Go away.


Ichiro: Tooko... just now you said you had a camera, right?

Y-yeah, I do...

Listen... I want you to use the flash! When this thing flinches, we'll run away.

How do you know it's going to flinch.

We go to Tooko's 'actions' menu, and there's now the option to use the camera flash. Might as well try it, right?

[??? edged closer...]

Tooko uses the flash, and the screen lights up!


Ichiro: Now! Run!

You don't need to tell me twice.



So we're given the option to run towards the first floor or the second floor. As going to the second floor would mean going closer to the monster, the first floor seems like a better bet right now.

[??? is writhing in agony...]

And we run!

Tooko: Pant, pant... wh-what the heck was that just now...

I don't blame you for wondering.

... Bridge Girl.

?

One of the Seven Mysteries of this school.

Tooko still doesn't really seem to know what he's talking about, but now isn't the time. Let's get out of here!

Of course, it isn't as easy as all that.


Ichiro: ... It won't open.

The front door's apparently locked.

Tooko tries to open it too, but to no avail. Now what?


Ichiro: There might still be someone here.

'Let's look for a student, or a teacher, or... anyone, really. ... Come on, Tooko.'

I guess that's the only thing we can do, really.

We examine the vending machine, but apparently neither of them feel like a drink right now. Fair enough.

Further along the corridor, we come across this notice:


[Recruiting! Occult Research club. For details, ask Kiyomaru Endou, class 3-2]

That could be promising.

We head up to the second floor (the other side from where the monster appeared)...



Ichiro! Someone just went up to the third floor!

Let's follow them.

I still think Ichiro's being remarkably calm about this. I guess he's used to occult stuff, at least? Although maybe not like this.

On the third floor, there's a loud thud. It had better not be another monster.

What... what was that noise just now?

Apparently it came from the direction of the library. Let's follow it!


???: Oops... dropped my book.

... Seems like someone just dropped his book.


???: Oh, if it isn't Sasaki-kun. It's quite rare, seeing you here.

And we know him from somewhere.

Maybe he can join us in our spirit-evading escapades! Nothing good ever came of splitting up in horror games, after all.

Jesus Christ, what is this, Ju-On?
Anyways thanks for lp'ing this Shirato~~~I don't think I could have played the game myself.

On another note,

I think --->> would love to meet her....

Possibly an 8-bit RPG high school spinoff. :'D

And, you're welcome! :D I quite like these freeware horror RPGs even though I'm actually pretty bad with horror, why do I do this to myself, and thought it would be nice if I played one that doesn't seem to have been translated yet. I hope people enjoy it.

I also chose it because it doesn't involve getting chased quite as much as The Witch's House, Ib, and Corpse Party seem to, and I'm frankly terrible at running away in these games. Ahaha.

Oh, who's that?

... Endou-senpai.

Ah, so this is the Occult Research club guy!


Tooko: Do you know him, Ichiro?

And you're Sasaki-kun's childhood friend, Suzuki... Tooko-kun, right?

... How do you know that.


Kiyomaru: Nice to meet you. I'm the head of the Occult Research club, Kiyomaru Endou.

Occult? Ah... so you're from that infamously suspicious club.

... You're pretty harsh.


Kiyomaru: Anyway, what's up? Are you looking something up?

'Or have you finally made the decision to join the Occult Research club?'

Apparently he's been trying to recruit Ichiro for a while?

Ichiro says that that isn't the case- they can't go home.

Kiyomaru asks if we did something wrong. Tooko is quick to correct him that no, we literally can't get out. Kiyomaru's a bit dubious, as it isn't 7 pm yet, but-


Tooko: That's not all! We ran into some sort of weird monster, too! What the heck's up with this school?!

Of course, being the head of the Occult Research club, he's more interested in grilling us. I don't think he has any sense of self-preservation at all.

After we've explained to him, he summarises:

... I see. I think I've got the general gist of what happened.

In short, Sasaki-kun, after you'd asked the spirit about the Seven Mysteries... you took your hand off the coin in the middle of a session... and angered the spirit. Then, you ran into one of the Seven Mysteries, the Bridge Girl, on the second floor staircase. You somehow managed to escape, but then you couldn't open the main entrance... Right?

Ichiro confirms this.


Kiyomaru: ... It's possible that space has been warped around us.


Tooko: Space has been warped...? What are you talking about. We're not in a manga or anime, here.

But you are in a horror game. Unfortunately.

In short, for some reason... No, because of Sasaki-kun's table-turning session... we've been transported to the spirit world. How's that explanation?

... Welp.

That's Mr. Toko from a series called "Xolga and Mr. Toko" by Pacthesis :D
I think someone did a playthrough for one of her dating sim games, actually, so you can see what her drawing style is like.
But anyways, yeah. Mr. Toko is basically the "I'm-older-than-you-think" character.
Here have a pic~!

Which is why I mentioned him, hehe. :3

EDIT: Now that I think about it, Lequinni did a lp on them :D

Well, here's another thing I'll be reading. Thanks for the LP and translation, Shirato.

I was thinking Ju-On/Ring when I saw that thing too. xD No wait, my mind went to The Grudge and the girls who climbs down the stairs.

A-Anyway, masochism. Why are we watching this? I dunno, but I'm doing it anyway.

At first I thought it was a giant spider.
Then the screen did a close-up.
This is much worse.

Despite the pixels, it still manages to be really creepy, yeah. :'D And thanks for the information, JuriaAAshen! Sounds like an interesting series.

Moving on masochism and all, Tooko says that she wouldn't expect anything less from the head of the Occult Research club: the supernatural is all he thinks about. I can kind of see where she's getting that impression.

Ichiro asks why Tooko and Kiyomaru got dragged into this, too. Kiyomaru speculates that Tooko was dragged in because she interrupted the table-turning session- in other words, I guess she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has no idea why he's there, though, and starts wondering if it was because of some sort of wavelength before Tooko cuts him off.


Tooko: Geez, who cares about dimensions and wavelengths! I don't get any of that stuff! How do we get out of here?!

That's what I want to know.

Instead of answering, Kiyomaru turns the lights on for us. Okay.


Kiyomaru: To get out of the school, we'll have to correct the warping of space. To do this...

'There's no other way than to face the Seven Mysteries.'

Aaand I might have to pause at that really awkward point for now, because Imgur is refusing to co-operate and upload my pictures properly. :'D Can hopefully continue later.

BRO IS WAY TOO CALM, OK? Why are you so calm, occult guy?

Also, I love how their sprites all look like their in sort of prim ballet positions with arm out, lol. It's so cute and hard to take seriously.

I know. :'D It's possible he's just used to creepy supernatural stuff, but I know I'd be pretty freaked out upon hearing I was stuck in some other dimension with spirits roaming around. (Then again, it seems like they're mostly after Ichiro).

As an aside, does anyone have any good alternatives to Imgur? It's still refusing to co-operate, unfortunately. (I guess I could use my Photobucket account).

I've been using Imageshack.us mainly.
If you have an account it's got a 500 image limit, but other than that it's perfect. If you hit the limit you can just keep uploading stuff without being signed in anyway.
You can upload several things at a time, too! If you can't, check the bottom and press "flash version" (only found that out now).

Screw Imgur. If you're gonna give me an error, don't follow it up with "upload complete" you jerk.

Right, think I'll use Photobucket until Imgur decides to work again. :'D Hopefully it won't cause too many problems, although I don't think it has the same resize options as Imgur does; unfortunately that means that the pictures taken up to the point I changed the sizing will be of a larger size again. Sorry.



Ichiro seems about as enthusiastic as I do about the whole thing.

Tooko calls this absurd. Kiyomaru says that if we've already met the Bridge Girl, it's possible that we'll meet the others, too. Actually, it'll probably be impossible to search the school without running into them. I guess they're out for Ichiro's blood and all.


Kiyomaru: The 'Bridge Girl' who appears on the stairs... The ghoul in the science labs, and the mirror to another world...

'The 'zombie dog' in the principal's office, 'Atsuko-san' in the home economics room, the hanged boy from class 3-2, and 'Tsukiko-san' on the rooftop'.

You'll probably come across these other strange phenomenon amongst the Seven Mysteries. And if you do encounter them, what will you do? You can't just keep running away.

I guess that's true. ... Moreover, isn't class 3-2 your class?


Kiyomaru: There's only one answer: you have to resolve the mysteries. Isn't that so?

Tooko expresses doubt that we can do so, for good reason. Kiyomaru says that there's a precedent for actions which you can take to protect yourself from spirits in ghost stories.

For example, Kuchisake-Onna are vulnerable to the word 'pomade'. You'll suffer misfortune if you continue to remember a purple mirror until you're 20, but if you keep a white crystal in mind, you'll be fine... and so on.

(For some reason, Kuchisake-Onna do seem to have a weakness to the word 'pomade'. It's said that if you say 'pomade' three to six times (I think it varies based on the account), they'll be paralysed and you can escape. The more you know. Also, the thing about the purple mirror seems to be the urban legend that if you continue to remember either a purple mirror or the phrase 'purple mirror' until you're 20, you'll be unlucky or you'll die. I think there was a Japanese horror movie based on that at some point).

Their school's mysteries are no exception. They each have their own weak points that they can exploit.


Tooko: ... Heeh, that's impressive. You know your stuff.

Well, he is the head of the Occult Research club.

He says to ask him if we need any help. Ally get!

Hey, I'm superstitious and into weird supernatural shit. But if I were locked in a school with things trying to kill ANYONE, I'd be FREAKED! Maybe he's in shock, actually?

Imgur works better for me than photobucket, so unfortunately I can't help, except to say, sometimes leave it alone. Load the page with your imgur account logged in, then come back to it in like, 5 minutes. That helps me sometimes. Don't know why.

Ah, okay! I'll check that out. I thought Imageshack didn't use accounts for some reason, but as it does I imagine it wouldn't be too much trouble keeping track of images.

And yeah, Imgur was doing something similar to me too, although in my case it was more or less uploading nothing (a blank white image). :'D Darn.

EDIT: I'll try your suggestion for Imgur. Thanks!

And it's true that Kiyomaru could be in shock, yeah. I'd go for that or he's just that enthusiastic about the supernatural... which must be pretty enthusiastic.

Before we get moving, though, Ichiro has a request:


Ichiro: I'd like you to watch over Tooko for me. Please make sure she stays here.

... Surely there's more strength in numbers? Splitting up in a horror game (or a horror anything, really) is never a good idea.

Tooko says she has to go if Ichiro's going too, but-


Ichiro: No! This is something that I caused. I have to take responsibility for my own actions. I don't want anyone else to be dragged into this.

That's... noble, I guess. Still.

Besides, Endou-senpai knows a lot about the Seven Mysteries and spirits. It's safest this way.

Tooko tries to argue, but Ichiro's having none of it. He asks Kiyomaru to look after her, and says that he'll consider joining the Occult Research club. Kiyomaru seems to become more considerably enthusiastic at this.

Geez... You two aren't listening to a word I say!

They sure aren't.

Finally, we can move again! Let's see what Tooko has to say.

Ichiro... Take care.

She tells us not to die, which you can't exactly ensure in a horror game, but we can try. (Ichiro seems far more confident about this than I am).


Tooko: Oh, yeah! If anything comes up call me on my phone.

'I'll... also call to check up on you.'

We can also talk to Kiyomaru, who functions as as the exposition guy on the Seven Mysteries, hint-giver (about the Seven Mysteries), and save point. How useful.

Here's what he has to say about the Seven Mysteries (spoilered for length):

Note: Although Tsukiko can be a name, the kanji (憑き子)in this case implies that it's referring to a spirit that possesses people, presumably one that's a girl.

And here's what he has to say about their weak points:

Now that we have the exposition out of the way, let's look around the library. Usual rule of RPGs: investigate everything! Unless it's Chrono Trigger, in which case you'll accidentally eat someone's lunch and have it be used against you in a trial.

Searching the bookcases reveals various memos, like this one:


Behind the computer

Most of them seem to be hints of some sort. The rest include 'you will not encounter two simultaneously', 'those who fall from the window...', 'do not get caught by the shadows', and 'the footprints lead to a locker'.

Let's check behind the computer as it suggests:


2-3's blackboard

I guess we can check that later.

For now, might as well finally head outside.



... It's gotten awfully dark.

Looking at the map (helpfully provided in Ichiro's student notebook), we're outside the library right now on the third floor.



First up, 3-4. Nothing really out of the ordinary, although the bin falls over with a loud clang when I walk away from it. For no apparent reason.

There's nothing in 3-3, either. In 3-2 everything seems to be normal at first, until-



... Oh.

Going closer doesn't seem to provoke any response. What's that piece of paper?


Got 'suicide note'...

At least that one was pretty easy to find. I guess that makes two more of them, somewhere.

I make to leave-



NOPE

Thankfully he doesn't follow me out into the corridor. Damn it Kiyomaru I thought the rope only snapped 'occasionally'.

Moving away results in several bloody handprints slamming into the wall nearby.



Okay I get it I'm leaving.

Why am I loving this LP so much? Maybe because you're way to sane and calm yourself to be LPing this. xD

'OK, ok I'm leaving!' is not the appropriate response to bloody appearing handprints so much as nagging.

I really like the dynamic between Ichiro and Tooko so far, surprisingly. They're really cute.

I also want to hold and console hanged boy. 'The tests are TOO OVERWHELMING!' is not a good reason to kill yourself, even in Japan. But still. Quite a few of the Mysteries are highly sympathetic...

By the way, did you already say what the title of this game translates to? I'm curious.

Haha, I'm afraid I'm normally not that good at expressing surprise. :'D Even if jump scares usually get me/I'm really bad with horror-related stuff. (Why? We just don't know).

Most of the Mysteries are sympathetic, yeah (possibly the hanged boy and 'Atsuko' in particular; I get the feeling exam-related suicide unfortunately isn't all too uncommon in certain places). I guess it uses the idea that they weren't originally evil/malevolent, and that it was their strong negative emotions upon death that turned them into what they are. I don't know enough about Japanese horror to know if it's a strong theme, but I think it does show up in it.

As for the title, I'm afraid I'm struggling a bit with how to translate it. |'D 'Kitan' seems to be defined in various places as 'restraint' (the 'holding back on one's opinions' sort), but unless it's 'restrained information'/exercising caution' I'm not sure how much sense that makes. Another less prevalent definition I've found is 'to strongly hate', which I guess fits in with Ichiro being cursed. Sorry for the non-explanation for now, in any case.

No don't apologize, it sort of makes sense! And again, thanks a ton for translating and showing this as it is. I wouldn't be able to see any of it otherwise, and I'm enjoying it. I can't wait to see how this goes.

It seems that the structure of the title, at least, might have come from Hanada Shounen Shi, which was a 1990s manga dealing with the supernatural, although I think it was a comedy instead of a horror. Still stuck on 'kitan', though. ;

More creepy stuff (or stuff of note) around the school! Still no encounters with any of the other Mysteries, but they'll come later.

Oh, and we found a (dirty) mop in the 2nd floor men's bathroom. Nice. (There was also some sort of creepy shadow that blurred past when I checked the mirror, but unfortunately it was too fast to catch).

Let's go back to our classroom:


The paper you used to conduct the table-turning session.

Who opened the window? As for the table-turning paper...


'Be cursed and die be cursed and die be cursed and die-'


The 10 yen coin is moving by itself...

They really hate Ichiro, don't they.


Today's victim: Ichiro Sasaki, class 2-1

'Be cursed and die'

... Yep.

There's a load of bugs in the bin in class 2-2. In class 2-3, we check the blackboard:


From the front of the music room: the fourth of the third on your right

... Huh. But we can't get into the music room right now (or most of the other rooms aside from the classroom), so we'll have to leave it.


The flowers are blooming vividly...

Normally this wouldn't really fit the atmosphere, but all the other flowerpots have been devoid of flowers. Huh.

... On the other hand, maybe it still doesn't fit the atmosphere.

In class 2-4:


A mass of long hair is wrapped around the desk...

Urghh why is it always hair I really don't like hair.

You feel like throwing up just by looking at it...

The toilet in the 1st floor men's bathroom is full of blood.



And some bloody footprints appear after we leave.

In the women's bathroom:


It looks like you can remove the mirror...

Might as well take it?



Mirror get!



Crap.

And the door won't open, whyyy.

Thankfully it isn't too fast, so I manage to kind of get around it and hide in one of the stalls. (All of which are suddenly locked apart from the end one. Why).



If this was Breath of Fire we could escape down the toilet, damnit.

The shadowy... thing continues to pound on the door for a bit, until it finally goes quiet again.


1: Open the door...
2: I don't want to open it...

Honestly, I'm all for option 2. Unfortunately, the choice just comes up again. I guess we can't spend the rest of the game in a toilet stall...

When we go out, it isn't there anymore. Good.

We move along the first floor hallway. In class 1-4, the lights are flashing on and off, and there's a stain on the wall:



Creepy.


What did I do to deserve this...? If only I'd never done table-turning...

The 'I' here is different from the one Ichiro uses. Is he not the first to be stuck here?

Class 1-3:


Flies are swarming around it...



There are some bloody footprints by one of the desks.



... I have no idea.

The front door is unfortunately still locked. Whilst checking the shoeboxes, all of them suddenly fly open fff stop making me jump.

There's something in one of them:


Found 'suicide note'...

2/3!

The shoeboxes all slam closed again as we leave. Arghh.

1. Mirror

DIDN'T OCCULT BOY SAY, 'NO MIRROR AND YOU'RE FINE?' So let's get a mirror! WRONG! ;__;

2. I can't stay in a bathroom all game!

Shit dude, I coudl at this point. This is scaring me worse than the Corpse Party LP! (That one desensitizes you so quick, you just assume you're gonna suffer and accept it.)

3. MT

I can read this one! :D

As long as we don't put the mirror up we'll be okay, though, right?

... Right? :'D Maybe I should have listened to Kiyomaru.

No translation required for MT!

I wonder what it is about this game. Maybe it focuses more on suspense than Corpse Party? I think there are probably more jump scares, at least.

There is always hair.
Why is there always hair.

I know right? I wonder if it's some sort of horror staple or something. It creeps me out either way (as it does in real life).

THIS CANNOT END WELL.

You're right, I think it is suspense/jump scares. Corpse Party also relies hevily on the audio and visual effects. I'd probably be peeing down my legs if I were playing it live. This one gets in my head without that though. xD

I think we were talking about this in Corpse Party too, certain elements are typical of Japanese horror the way idiot teenagers and 'Oh that'll never happen again on the aniversary of it happening!" is classic in American horror. The Japanese freak out about small girls/children, hair, and seem to love dismembering faces. (Eye attacks, tongue-cutting-out, etc.)

That last group is pretty universally horrifying, though. Don't touch my delicate face-meat.