Search - Amusement Park on DVD

Pretty good interactive anime DVD. Some may like it better.

P. Krug | portland, oregon United States | 05/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Made by Anime Play, the same people who gave us PHANTOM OF INFERNO. I actually liked that one better, one reason probably being that PHANTOM was an action-oriented story, this one's romance-themed. As a male anime fan I tend to veer more twords action stories. Girls may like this one better, even though the main character is a guy. First, the story: you are Ryoya, a 23-year-old whose mother died when he was a young boy and whose father passed away recently, leaving him to inherit Fantasy Garden, the amusement park his father owned. Now Ryoya and his employees are ready to get the park back into booming bussness. The main focus of the story, however, really isn't on running the amusement park, but rather on character relationships. There are five employees in particular (all female,) whom are at the center of the story, and you can form a serious relationship with anyone of them. There is Nanasa Miduki, who volunteered as a park guide, but who for some reason seems painfully shy around Ryoya. Chikane Tateno, a brash, outspoken girl and friend to Nanasa. Fuka Kiyozumi, co-manager of the park and a hard, dedicated worker. Natsuki Kirisiro, childhood friend of Ryoya, who has a childlike personality and is rather clumsy. Then there is Chihaya Nonohara, another childhood friend of Ryoya and Natsuki, she is the daughter of a hospidal director. She was studying to become a doctor herself but took time off of college to work at the park. (She's the girl who appears on the DVD cover in the green dress holding the balloon.) Anyway, things seem to be going fine at first, until Ryoya, who hasn't been sick since he was very young, suddenly starts getting dizziness, migrane headaches and nausia and passes out. A check up at the hospidal at first reveals nothing abnormal, but then the symptoms continue and later he learns that he has a life-threatening illness and the chances of saving him are slim...Some complaints I had with P.O.I. was that the animation was mostly still images and the only language was Japanese, with subtitles. This one, unfortunately, is the same way. Someone please tell these guys that moving animation is more interesting to watch than still images, and that a good portion of us American anime fans like being able to watch anime in English. Other complaints: in this DVD, unlike P.O.I, you never actually here the main character's voice, you only see what he says in subtitles whenever he "speaks". Also, P.O.I. was much less linear than this disk. The story of P.O.I. followed one course for about the first third of the way, up until the main character (who is an amnesiac,) gets his memory back, then the story can go in wildly different directions. This one pretty much follows one storyline, the only real varient being which girl you end up with, or if you blow it and don't end up with anyone. Addmitedly, there's one subplot you can witness, if you go out with one particular lady, where you find out about a secret about a little girl who hangs out at the park. This side story is fun to watch, but it dosen't seem to really add anything to the main story. And, perhaps in relation to the linearness of this story, there are fewer choices to make. In P.O.I. the fewest number of desisions you'd have to make if playing through one story from begininng to end were 8. Here the number of choices you'll have to make in any one story range from 1 to 3.I'm hoping I don't discourage anyone from buying this. The character designs are quite cute, the voice acting (for all the characters besides Ryoya,) is great and I fell in love with each of the characters. I also enjoyed playing through each of the stories and ending up with each of the girls. In short, this isn't as good as PHANTOM OF INFERNO, particularly if you prefer action stories, but it's still a great buy for people who like romance stories and serious anime fans."

Some Clarifications

J. Gerry | Simi Valley, California United States | 10/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just so you know I have as yet not watched this dvd so I just copied the last review's score. I'm mainly clarifying some details. This DVD is not originally anime play they are the manufacterors. This DVD was probably a PC or console game before it arrived on DVD. DVD video games are a realitivly new thing in Japan and a few games are now making it to the US. They traditionally are story's with still shots and branching plots much like some really early PC games in the US but in Japan they never grew out of them. They intentionally make games that can be played on very old PCs becauese the market for PC games in Japan is very small. The result often is few bells and whisles. You get a manga like experience with voice acting and different ending depending on your choices. This specific game would fall into the shounen catagory which means it is aimed at guys. The quality for these games range from great to bad. Many get made into Anime's because of their popularity in Japan. Those who want to know Phantom has been made into one. Here's to hopeing for many more."

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Formal Treehouse | Grand Rapids, MI | 03/22/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This one's worth neither the money nor the tedium of trudging through it. Without giving too much away, the story and endings are nearly identical no matter which girl you pursue, and you won't make more than 3 choices, spread over about 5 or so hours. My first time through, I made only one choice (Which girl I was going to talk to on the first morning), and that was all it took to get her good ending, several hours of reading later. Moreover, there is one choice your character will just disregard if you don't pick what he wants.

There are some good points. Some of the girls' stories are interesting, Ayane's in particular, and most of the voice actors perform adequately, except Natsuki, whose nasally whining made her path extremely difficult to sit through. You can also skip chunks of dialog line by line, which is essential.

I say this because the stories and choices are far too similar from girl to girl. Your character's not voiced, so you spend most of your time listening to the same music tracks and reading repetetive dialog. You're the boss of the park, but you don't seem to do a lot. It really outlines the limitations of the visual novel. Others, like Phantom of Inferno, had animated segments, and Hourglass of Summer had frequent audio and visual effects to immerse you in the experience. This one has nothing but a so-so story.

Don't be fooled by the "M" rating, either, those looking for hentai. Just a couple of mildly suggestive pictures you can input a code to see. None are included in the story, which is very PG."

Disappointing

Michael B. Morrison | Burbank, CA United States | 06/11/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I had high hopes for this interactive DVD (having fun with girls in an amusement park is my idea of a cool date) but this title really falls short. There are limited selections in the storyline (maximum of 3 per story) and after you've gotten through the first story all the rest are almost identical except with a different girl. I kept trying all the girls hoping to find a story that was different but it didn't happen. I now feel as though I've watched this title 5 times and have no desire to replay it any more.

On the plus side, the girls are well drawn and very cute (although shown in stills only) and the voices are done well.

Also, the title is rated "M" for over 17. There must be some mistake because there is really nothing in the title that racy. You get to kiss all the girls, and there are a couple of scenes where a girl falls down and gives you a view of their underwear, but that's it! No nudity, no sex, nothing beyong kissing at all. This deserves a "PG" rating only.

I would only recommend this if you have an amusement park fetish."