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There aren't a lot of "firsts" I can say I've done. Like being the first of my friends to graduate college or maybe the first person in my family to do naked skydiving or something. I'm often behind in the current animoos or hot manga. I lead a rather boring life, sadly, outside of playing video games. About the only firsts I have are the first to clear a Fatal Frame or pay off my first house completely in Animal Crossing.
So I can easily say that this little gem we're looking at today was one of the best firsts I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Resident Fatal Game, which was lovingly drawn by the uberly talented Ruth Halloran, is the first Choose-Your-Own-Adventure doujinshi I've ever personally read. That happens to have achievements.
Yes, folks. This CYOA has ACHIEVEMENTS.
Holla.
Yeah, I picked it up mostly because I am a whore for Fatal Frame stuff, and can I just stop here to complain that there is a serious lack of stuff for this series here? Come on, fans, make with the sellable fan art and stuff. I mean, its nice to be cornering the market on jewelry replicas for the necklaces in the games on my etsy (shamelesspluggoeshere), but is it too much to ask to have a Miku body pillow or something?
Anyway.
Ms. Halloran was also sharing a booth with an awesome lady who had a Fanime swimsuit book with anime ladies in bikinis and stuff, and on the back she drew me a pic of a bikini'd Miku. Man. Awesome people, these artists. I picked this up first for the awesome name and the cover, but when she told me it was a CYOA, I couldn't give mer my money fast enough.
Then she told me it was about yokai and yuurei. Well hot dog, this little 24-ish page beauty is packed to the GILLS with yuurei and yokai that you'd be familiar with if you're a nut for this stuff. Like I am. Must be called a yokai fetish or something.
Did I mention it has achievements?
They're listed on the inside cover, and are provided to You!Reader when you encounter a monster/yokai/yuurei. Whether or not you survived the encounter is irrelevant. More on survivability later.
You also are provided an inventory, which changes depending on your choice and actions as you progress.
The flavor text in this book is hilarious, as you'll note here.
Also, if you've never read a CYOA, the intro cleanly gives you some insight:
For the record, I cleared all the "endings" and deaths in maybe 15 minutes cuz I'm a fast reader and I couldn't stop reading. I can't tell you how much FUN this book was.
The video game angle in the book is really clever. From the font choice to even the little details like how IMPORTANT THINGS may be all in caps to grab your attention like flashing red and blue lights in your rearview, this takes all those little text based, rpg-esque games you should have played when you were young and brings them to you in crisp black & white & tone like a classic manga.
There ain't no MP here, son. MP is for plebs.
Basic story is thus: you know that FRIEND you have? The one that you hate but somehow you keep them around? The Karen or the Bryan? Whelp, DumbAss McGee heads out to Japan for a weaboo culture tour and hasn't been heard from internetly in weeks, so you jump a plane to track him down at an old, condemned inn in some remote village, probably part of downtown Sugisawa Village. Its full of yuurei and yokai, from the memorable kappa and onryo, to the lesser known tsukumo-gami and aka name, to even more recent ones like split-mouth woman. Each encounter adds to your achievements, as well as giving a small descriptive blurb on the creature. Most of this info can be found with a little google-fu, but I do have a great book called Yokai Attack! which actually great primer for the stranger denizens of the Japanese supernatural racket.
It goes without saying if you chose poorly, you end up with
…but again, if you've never read a CYOA, pretty much 80% of your options will end up with you dead or wishing you were. I'm not even kidding. Do yourself a favor and pick a few up if you haven't already. Because the mind is a terrible thing to waste. And also money.
There are, besides dying, 2 "actual" endings to the book/game. A good and a bad ending. They're equally amazing, so I won't spoil it but its worth mentioning that one ending's achievement is Cage of Emotion and involves one of the greatest actor of all time.
I'm lying about that part but WHICH PART is up to you.
The linework is nice and strong with good use of tone and lots of life. There's a lot more curves than hard straight lines, which works to give each illustration a sort of organic, softer look. Squishy, in a good way.
I'm not sure how many copies Ms. Halloran had made up of this book, but if you can get one, it is not only a MUST-READ, its a MUST-BUY-IT-WITH-YOUR-MONEY. I am all for supporting local artists and just fan artists in general. This pretty much hits all of the best points of anything: its horror based, its educational, its the first doujin book to have achievements, its a CYOA, and handmade with love and blood and guts.
HIGHLY ULTRA RECOMMENDED.
In fact I give it 10 out of 10 Miku Hinasaki in bikinis.
I'm sorry. I'm just really into Zero girls in bikinis. :x
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Home Sweet HoLY SHIT WHAT.
--Dio (10/17/15)
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