Chikudenya Toubee

~ CHIKUDENYA TOUBEE ~

Naxat Soft

HuCard

1990

Selecting HuCard as the medium for a digital comic wouldn't seem to be the most prudent move, as it requires the minimization or outright omission of many of the genre's signature elements--no voice acting, fancy anime intros, or sprightly vocal numbers on chip. But I'm not one to care about voice acting, and bless its heart, Chikudenya Toubee does its best to present a sweet opening cinema, and I'll be damned if the music that accompanies said cinema isn't pretty darn cool too.

For all the valiance that went into its design, CT isn't a visual feast. But I really like the dark manner in which it's presented; it's such a bizarre and compelling game.

It definitely isn't for everyone, though. There's an awful lot of Japanese text to button through here, and while the tunes are generally very good, they can become annoying if you find yourself stuck for a while on a single screen. And this is not an easy game to get through, as quite a bit of backtracking, "quiz" passing, and puzzle solving is required.

That's the beautiful image you must construct in the make-a-face "mini-game."

The solution to the numbers puzzle is 2-4-5.

A challenge it will certainly be, but one worth taking up if you've already passed a fair number of Japanese comics, as the dark atmosphere it establishes and strange events it depicts make Chikudenya a memorable title.