It’s that time again!

This week, we cover Divi-Dead, a C’s Ware game from 1998, which is scientifically proven to be the greatest year of all time.

Just watching the intro movie (Wait, an intro movie?  Wow… C’s  Ware stepping up) shows you that this game is going to be dark, violent, and chock full of mystery.  Those are themes common in C’s Ware’s more terrible games, but here it’s *GASP* actually effective?!

You play as Ranmaru Hibikiya, a fresh transfer student at an isolated private school.  He was the boy in the opening movie, which he regards as a dream.  He was afflicted by an unknown virus for most of his life, but now he’s over it.

The first person you meet is Kimihito Satake, the body president and dorm director.  Also, you may notice this game has a LOT more color than other C’s Ware games, even Gloria.

The voice acting in this game is… nothing special.  But the sound quality is muffled, and it’s annoying as hell.

Another strange quirk is that there seem to be three POVs.  When people are talking, we get the general script POV with the speaker’s name in brackets followed by their lines.  We go into first person mode when Ranmaru thinks to himself.  Strangely, whenever Ranmaru’s actions are described, it’s sometimes done so from a third person observer POV, so we get something like this:

“I smell a whiff of cologne in the air.”

“Ranmaru sneezes.”

Anyway, Kimihito says to visit the Dean later.  Hey also comments on the hickey on Ranmaru’s neck.  Ranmaru explains it’s a bug bite (probably) but he doesn’t remember when he got it.  He also seems to have memory issues, so there’s a pretty strong chance it IS a hickey and something will be revealed later.  On the way to class, Ranmaru bumps into Yuta Ito.

Just when it seems like we’re getting the hang of Ranmaru’s generic character, he turns surprisingly abrasive and rude starting here.  He’ll complain and curse over little things, then suddenly change to a more docile speech pattern.

Once you get to the main building, you’re told to go to the Dean’s office.  You’re then presented with a list.  I decide to go straight to… the library.  And Ranmaru goes to the library!  How about that!  YOU ACTUALLY GET REAL CHOICES!

It seems most of the books in the library were donated by Ranmaru’s father and uncles, and the Dean is in fact Ranmaru’s uncle.  He adopted Ranmaru and forced him to attend this school… but why?  Well, I’m sure we’ll get to that.

The Dean isn’t in his office, but he left a note telling Ranmaru to wait.  So Ranmaru basically walks all over the building until the Dean finally returns.

Also, the worst typo I’ve ever seen:

Anyway, Ranmaru meets up with Yuta again, and we learn he’s feeding a stray cat that lives near the gym because a girl asked him to.  Swell.  On the way back, Ranmaru bumps into our first girl, Haruka Hojo.

Still no one in the Dean’s office, so I decide to head back to the library.  Ranmaru sees an argument between a man and a girl, so he breaks it up.

The girl takes the opportunity to ditch the guy, leaving Ranmaru alone with P.E. The music during this confrontation vaguely sounds like a creepy version of BlackRose’s theme from .hack.

The real question here is, if the BlackRose theme is ripoff of this track from Divi-Dead, why didn’t .hack rip off more elements?  …like the sex?

Anyway, Ranmaru distracts the teacher (Mr. Sano) long enough to be saved by the school nurse, Aki Hyuga.  Oh, and it turns out Sano teaches art.  Color me surprised.

You’d think the Dean would finally be in after a long scene like that, but nope.  I finally hit the fields, see nothing.  Hit the gym again, no one there.  Hit the fields again just to be sure.  Hit the gym again, and… oh hey, new scene with Aki.  She says to check if the Dean’s car is in the parking lot.  Good idea.  On the way, Ranmaru spots some asshole puking on the side of the library.  He doesn’t want any help or compassion and tells Ranmaru to die.  Okay then.

Once that asshole is out of the way, Ranmaru sees the Dean’s car isn’t in.  Great.  But I make him go straight to the Dean’s office anyway.  Ranmaru is suddenly struck with a headache and sees flashes of… something.

A woman steps out of the Dean’s office and invites him in as his headache worsens.

Ranmaru seems to black out while he’s in the office and has a creepy vision of a little girl.

Ranmaru wakes up and… well, guess what he wakes up to.

…close.

It seems Ranmaru came on to the mysterious woman while he was out.  Either that or it’s just something she made up to use as an excuse to grope a student.

A student knocks and enters the room, returning the scene to non-sexy times.  We finally learn the older woman is named Mayumi Himuro, the Dean’s secretary and acting Dean when he isn’t around.  The student is Azusa Yuki.  Ranmaru seems to recognize her from before, but she’s too young to be the Azusa he knows.

Azusa shows Ranmaru to his new classroom, and we flash back to Ranmaru’s past.  The girl from his past really did look a bit like Azusa.  We learn that Ranmaru’s uncle allowed him to attend school as a sort of reward for recovering from his illness, but Ranmaru also has to do some work for him.  It’ll be Ranmaru’s job to spy on the students and report back to him about any suspicious activity.  So kind of like Love Potion, except Ranmaru seems to actually be competent.

The first thing he learns about Asao Private School is that many students are awarded scholarships, but if any student slips or seems to become a problem, they lose their scholarships and are kicked out.

Ranmaru keeps complaining about the perfume/cologne (I’m pretty sure it’s the same word in Japanese, but the translation is inconsistent; it started out as cologne, then seemed to switch to perfume).

Ranmaru bumps into Haruka, who asks why Ranmaru is wearing his glasses… which is a weird question to ask.  It’s entirely possible they met earlier or Ranmaru has no memory of their encounter.  There’s a respectable chance we’ve got a Fight Club scenario going on here.  It also seems she and Kimihito are dating.  Well, this is a hentai game, so… we’ll see about that.

Anyway, Ranmaru sketches a map, and we’re finally introduced to the map as a method of travel.  Just click on where you want to go and you’ll go there.  Considering how much of a pain it was to go places in Fatal Relations and Love Potion, this is a godsend.

I choose to go to the Promenade, where a janitor steps out of the woods.  Ranmaru hides for no particular reason, and spots Azusa stepping out of the woods after.  One wonders if suspicious stuff happened.

On the roof, we see the student from before (who we now know is named Nishizaki) arguing with Kimihito over something.  There is a lame-ass Taxi Driver reference forced in there for no fucking reason.

At the Girls’ Dorm, a suspicious man steps out.

Back at the tennis courts, Ranmaru asks Azusa about what the deal was with the janitor.  Turns out he was looking for a place to bury her canary.

Ranmaru bumps into Yuta in front of the library and some really ominous danger music starts playing for no fucking reason.  For a few seconds.  Ranmaru asks about the perfume, and Yuta explains it’s really incense given out by the Tea Ceremony Club.

Inside the library, Ranmaru meets another girl.  This time it’s the part-time library worker, Mami Okui.

Ranmaru goes to the Tea Ceremony Club and meets Sachiko Seino, the girl he sorta rescued earlier.

From what Ranmaru can gather, the incense seems to have addictive properties, but there’s no proof.  It also seems to have a calming effect on students.  Sachiko says Ranmaru probably doesn’t need the incense “yet” since he’s only been at the school a day.  She also says that only the Dean and Kimihito asked about the incense, but they haven’t been around since they got samples of the incense.

-Scenario Point 1-

Now let’s talk a bit about endings.  Divi-Dead has three main scenarios.  The main game is pretty much the same except for the last day, where shit goes down.  Until then, the way to determine the scenario is by seven “choices” made in the first three days.  If you select Scenario A points four times or more, you go to Scenario A.  If you select Scenario B points ALL SEVEN TIMES, you go to Scenario B.  And if you fail to do either, you go to Scenario C.  I say “choices” because very few of them are actual choices; several of them are luck-based if you’re not using a guide because they depend on where you go at a certain point.  Case in point: the first Scenario Point in the game is after you visit the Tea Ceremony Club for the first time.  If you go to the second floor right after, you’ll trigger a Scenario A choice, in which Haruka notices you cut your finger, so she licks it.  Erotically.  If you go to the roof right after, you’ll trigger Scenario B, where Ranmaru sees a cat, then sees the Creepy Man.  For the purposes of this playthrough, I will post what my first choice was and occasionally look at my progress via a guide so I can note where the choices are made.  In this case, I went with A: licky licky sexy times.

I should note that ever since the map was made, Ranmaru’s been needing to get his jacket back from Aki.  At this point, she’s still not in her office.

Left with nowhere else to go, Ranmaru returns to the Tea Ceremony Club and leaves his handkerchief to give it “the scent.”  Even though every time he smells it, he sneezes.  Okay.

Ranmaru bumps into Kimihito at the main building and asks how he and Haruka got together.  He explains they met at a seminar last summer, then goes into a creepy half-trance and says in an ominous voice that “a lot has happened since then.”  It also seems Haruka was bullied a lot and maybe still is.

-Scenario Point 2-

Kimihito breaks up a fight, then later he and Haruka have sex in the student body room while Ranmaru either watches a short while or watches a bit longer.  This is the first Scenario Point choice that is ACTUALLY a choice.  In this case, I picked “Spy,” which is Scenario A.  “Stop” is Scenario B, naturally.

FINALLY, Ranmaru manages to pick up his jacket from Aki, then he goes to the Tea Ceremony Club to pick up his handkerchief.  He also meets Miki, Sachiko’s sister.

Mission accomplished.

In the fields, Ranmaru meets a dog that Yuta knows.  Yuta also knows the suspicious man from before.  His name is Shotaro Shijo, and he does some repair work and other stuff for the school.

In the library, we learn that Mayumi is descended from the Anekohji Family, which founded this school.  We also learn that Mami is into some complicated books.  This includes Ulysses, apparently.  I wish I could say I respect that, but… fuck that asshole James Joyce.  Elitist prick.

In front of the Dean’s office, Azusa steps out.  It seems someone unlocked the office, and she decided to step in out of curiosity.

In the second floor of the main building, Ranmaru spots Haruka, and she has an uncontrollable urge to make out with him.  Because she has a vibrator in her and it drives her crazy, I guess.  It seems Kimihito put it in there for whatever reason.

After triggering some random crap, Ranmaru makes it to the cafeteria for dinner, then goes home.  Finally, Day 1 is… not over. FUCK.  Mami’s missing and Azusa wants you to help find her.

The library’s closed, so that crosses that off the list.

-Scenario Point 3-

After the library and cafeteria, if you go to the Wood Field, Ranmaru will be strangled from behind while Miki passes by mumbling to herself.  That’s Scenario A.  I picked Scenario B: if you go to the Main Building, Ranmaru will talk with Sachiko.

Ranmaru bumps into Haruka, Nishizaki, Shotaro, Sachiko, and… a cat… before meeting up with Azusa at the gym.  Azusa checks the dorms while Ranmaru checks the library again and notices the door is open. He finds Mami and Mayumi “playing” with each other.  Ranmaru waits outside and meets up with Mami, tells her Azusa is looking for her, and the two head home.  On the way, Sachiko and Miki show up, and Miki “apologizes” for being rude before running away.  Ranmaru takes Miki home and heads back to his dorm.  Along the way, he picks up a bottle Kimihito drank out of and keeps it for evidence, again proving he’s far more competent at the whole detective thing than whatshisface in Love Potion.

Yuta somehow made his way into Ranmaru’s room and started drinking all of Ranmaru’s booze.  Fuck that guy.

FINALLY, the day is over.  Ranmaru has a creepy dream where someone says something about not having much time left, a contract, and a suspicious vague conversation that ends when Ranmaru suddenly wakes up.

Crap, this day still isn’t over.

Ranmaru goes downstairs to take a hot shower.  He falls asleep there and wakes up to see Haruka standing over him.  Since he’s sleepy and half-drunk, he thinks he’s dreaming.  Which is good for him, since it means he has no inhibitions about betraying Kimihito.  So they kiss and… Ranmaru wakes up with some memory loss.

Day 2.

Ranmaru wakes up late but can’t leave the building because two guys are standing at the exit.  After killing some time, Ranmaru returns and leaves once the two guys have left.  He meets Azusa, who came to pick him up.  They hear two gunshots and investigate.  Azusa makes a beeline for a certain spot in the woods (on an injured leg) and the two see blood stains.  Ranmaru helps her to the main building and the nurse’s office.

-Scenario Point 4-

If you go to the gym, Ranmaru will talk about someone watching them.  This is Scenario A.  Scenario B is if you go to the main building first and meet Sachiko.  If you went straight to the nurse’s office like I did, it’s a point for neither.  It’s really difficult to get that Scenario B without a guide, ain’t it?

Azusa gets dropped off at the nurse’s and Ranmaru heads to the Dean’s office and tells Mayumi about the incident.  Classes pass and the police don’t come.  Azusa also hasn’t returned to classes yet.  Ranmaru falls asleep in class and has a dream of fucking Haruka.

After the dream it’s free rein time again.

Honestly, as good as Divi-Dead is, it just can’t escape that C’s Ware level game design of wandering about aimlessly trying to trigger events, can it?  At least dialogue progresses automatically instead of having to Talk and Look every few sentences.

Ranmaru spots a student going into the woods and follows.  He finds Miki, who tries and fails to apologize for before, then leaves after warning Ranmaru that further through the woods is private property.  Ranmaru starts to feel sick and needs to go to the nurse’s office.  But Aki isn’t in right now, so you know what that means: more wandering!

Ranmaru goes to the Dean’s office to follow up on the incident.  His uncle is finally there, and he gives some false introductions to maintain Ranmaru’s cover.  He explains to Mayumi that Ranmaru is a “distant relative” and he used some pull to get him enrolled, but they are otherwise strangers.  Mayumi seems to buy it.  As for the shooting, the matter is “settled.”  There was an escaped convict on the loose.  Y’know, nothing to be worried about.

Ranmaru finally encounters Aki on the roof and… hot damn is she fine 24/7.

Ranmaru asks her to find out what was in the bottle Kimihito dropped.  She pretty much agrees to do it if Ranmaru helps her clean up her office.

Ranmaru sees Nishizaki at the public restrooms and Ranmaru finds a hidden smoking spot.  He bumps into Sano in Ishii Hall, and Sano pretty much tries to bully him into kissing his ass since he has a lot of pull on student grades.  He leaves saying there’s nothing Ranmaru can do about him unless he happened to be related to the Dean.  Yeah, about that…  Ranmaru sees Haruka and learns she’s in the art club.  So the Art Club room gets added to the places you might have to visit.  Swell.

Ranmaru sees Yuta in the cafeteria, and he talks about someone messing with the dog Saburo, so he apparently kicked the guy’s ass.  I find that hard to believe.  Ranmaru meets Saburo later and notices he has scars, so maybe that was at least half true.  He reminisces about another old dog he used to know and the other Azusa who visited him while he was bedridden.  One day, Azusa didn’t show up and Ranmaru snuck away to try to visit her, but he had a seizure that took months to recover from.  He also lost his memories from the rest of that day.  In the end, he never met Azusa again.

-Scenario Point 5-

If you go to the art room again, well, that’s Haruka, so naturally it’s Scenario A.  If you go to the roof like I did, that’s Scenario B.

We learn Kimihito is in the art club but doesn’t go there often.

Azusa is playing with Saburo at the tennis courts, and we finally catch a glimpse of her crazy awesome sneakers.

Ranmaru visits the Tea Ceremony Club room and asks for the list of members who visited the club for incense and also asks when the incense was stolen (it was stolen a month ago).  He knows it’s a suspicious thing to ask, but he figures there might be no way around it.  After looking through the roster, Ranmaru concludes there are two types of students: Type A, which consistently visits once every 1-2 days, and Type B, which starts visiting with increasing frequency as if they were addicted.  Kimihito is a Type B visitor, but even though he has the strongest scent, his attendance has dropped since one month ago.  It’s pretty blatantly obvious who stole the incense.  And THAT is some real detective work.  Again, I just have to point out how fucking terrible the detective work in Love Potion was.

Ranmaru writes down the list of Type B students and returns the list.

In the library, Ranmaru sees Miki and Mami having an argument.  It seems Miki told Mami that if she doesn’t want to join the Tea Ceremony Club, she should at least have the scent of incense on her.  Mami wants neither because her mysterious sister says it’s bad for her health.  It probably is.

Ranmaru returns to the Dean and offers his report.  The Dean says the incense was analyzed and seemed to be “nothing more than barbiturates” and were non-addictive.  A quick glance at the barbiturate Wikipedia page says they aren’t exactly safe and do have a potential for addiction, so… WTF, Dean.

Anyway, Ranmaru’s report is thus: since the incense isn’t addictive, it seems the problem is with the students themselves, as they feel the need to grasp hold of something help take the edge off the stress they feel in staying enrolled and keeping their scholarships, as well as the strange atmosphere caused by dorm life and the school’s isolation from the rest of the world.

Mayumi asks Ranmaru to come to the library after it closes.  …because she wants help shelving books.  Damn.

Ranmaru passes by the art room and overhears Haruka and Kimihito having a bit of an argument.  Kimihito mentions something about the summer seminar, wanting to rid himself of a curse, and not being able to control himself when he’s around Haruka.

Ranmaru follows Saburo into the forest, but the deeper in he goes, the sicker he gets.  He’s told to go back by a new girl named Yuko Anekohji.  Yep, the same Anekohji family that used to own the school.

To recap, we have the following mysteries to solve: The deal with the incense and its effects, Kimihito and that bottle of medicine he had, Ranmaru’s mysterious illness, what happened with the other Azusa, what happened at the summer seminar with Kimihito and Haruka, the mystery of the Anekohji family and their connection to this area, whatever the hell is going on between Mayumi and Mami, and Ranmaru’s creepy dreams.  That is A LOT to sort through.

In the library, Ranmaru finds one of Mami’s books, “The Land Beyond.”  It’s a work of fiction by famous architect A.S. Leedinger, who also wrote a book on magic.  It seems the book was translated by Kozo Anekohji, the founder of the school.  Okay… what does this have to do with anything?  Well, Leedinger set himself on fire and died, and Kozo Anekohji died when his mansion burned down 18 years ago.  Creepy violent coincidence, but nothing particularly relevant yet.  Outside of the main building, Ranmaru spots Mami, who seems uncharacteristically calm.  Ranmaru tells her about leaving her book in the reading room.

-Scenario Point 6-

I went to the gym, triggering Scenario A.  There, Ranmaru meets Yuko again.  To trigger Scenario B, go to the Tea Ceremony room and talk with Sachiko.

It seems Ranmaru made a promise to both help Aki in her office and help Mayumi shelve books at the library.  This probably means we’ll get our second obvious choice.  But first, wandering.  Sano is having a heated argument with Miki.  It’s broken up when Nishizaki drops a desk from the second floor.  Random.  Ranmaru walks up to Miki and tries to help her.  She has a light fever and Ranmaru tries to help her home.  She also catches a glimpse of Ranmaru without his glasses.

Miki seems to completely change her opinion of Ranmaru just because she saw him without his glasses on.  Come to think of it, Yuta makes a big deal about Ranmaru’s glasses.  Are they really that strange?

-Scenario Point 7-

You have to pick whether to drop by the nurse’s office first or the library first.  Library is Scenario A, Nurse is Scenario B.  I went with nurse because hot damn, Aki.

Ranmaru stops by the nurse’s office and sees Aki on the floor in pain.  She says she’s suffering from a disease similar to Ranmaru’s, but since Ranmaru stopped having seizures, Aki says he has nothing to worry about.  But everyone has their own reaction to the disease, and in Aki’s case, well… sex happens.

Ranmaru falls asleep right after and has a dream about a temple on an island.  Aki comments on it and reveals she’s from a family that has the ability to see into other peoples’ memories.  And… maybe vice versa.  It isn’t entirely clear if that island is from Ranmaru’s memory or Aki’s.

It’s too late to help Mayumi with everything at the library, but he helps close up.  He sees a ghost girl reading a book.  The girl disappears, leaving only Mami behind.  Ghost girl is probably Mami’s “sister.”

Aki tells Ranmaru about the bottle.  It held medicine for emotional stability.  The people who take the medicine tend to be suicidal or unable to control their emotions.  Aki used to take it for her seizures, and Ranmaru recalls that he might have as well.

At the tennis courts, Sachiko reveals she figures Ranmaru is doing work for the Dean since they’re related.  Ranmaru’s not quite in trouble yet, but hey… still plenty of time for that.

Shotaro is waiting at the dorm and tells Ranmaru to go to the Dean’s office.  The Dean says Ranmaru may have to transfer again due to certain unforeseen circumstances that arose right after he showed up.

Back at the dorm, Ranmaru follows Yuta, who seems to be acting suspiciously.

Ranmaru heads to the promenade and follows a sickening stench.  He finds the corpse of Saburo the dog, completely torn apart.  I’m talking body chopped up, eye pulled out, guts and spine spilled on the floor torn apart.  Azusa shows up and says someone needs to bury the corpse.  Ranmaru goes for a shovel and comes back, but Azusa is gone.  Sorta.  She pulls Ranmaru aside and makes him hide so the janitors don’t see them.  Once they’re gone, Ranmaru digs a grave and confronts Azusa.  He seems to be dead certain Azusa is the same Azusa he knows, and he lists his observations as proof.  Azusa confesses that she’s spying on the school, but she counters that she doesn’t believe Ranmaru is the real Ranmaru Hibikiya.  After making Ranmaru promise to stay out of her way, she says her reason for being at the school is to investigate a missing students case.  Kinda exactly like in Love Potion.  It seems the janitors around the campus are all either doubling as security for the school or working undercover with Azusa.

Ranmaru changes his clothes and cleans up at the shower.  He dreams about someone leaving the boys’ dorm and chasing someone away before helping Sachiko.  The dream changes to the island temple and a young Sachiko as a priestess.

Day 3

Ranmaru wakes up at noon.  Might as well just ditch classes.  He heads to the library to finish up his report to his uncle, but it’s closed.  Wandering time!

Ranmaru hits some random places before returning to the library, which is now open.  Mayumi is there in the dark and she’s acting creepy.  She seems to be deeply frightened of something.  Haruka helps Mayumi out and Ranmaru is left behind to work on his report.  After finishing up, he notices Mami giving him a surprise BJ.  Because why not?

Turns out it was a dream.  Miki is there when Ranmaru wakes up.  She was looking for Mami, but she isn’t here.  Also, Azusa was asking about him, so Ranmaru turns in his report to the Dean and looks for Azusa.

It seems Ranmaru’s absence didn’t stand out because so many students came down with a cold.  Azusa says something big might go down tonight, so stay low.  Fine.  Ranmaru heads back to the library reading room and spots the sisters.  Sachiko has the bandage on her finger, just like in Ranmaru’s dream.  Miki lets us know that Sachiko doesn’t enjoy spreading the scent throughout the campus.

After more wandering, Ranmaru bumps into Kimihito, who tells him the Dean is looking for him.  Then he chokes Ranmaru and accuses him of dating Haruka behind his back.  He snaps out of it before too long and drops an 8mm tape.  Ranmaru’s instinct?  “I better throw it away.”  Still not as bad as Love Potion.

Just outside the Dean’s office, Aki says she’ll have to leave for a couple of days.  The Dean explains to Ranmaru that someone assaulted Mayumi last night and the school will be temporarily closed to find the culprit.  He’s also thinking of moving the school.

Ranmaru returns to the dorms and remembers about the tape Kimihito dropped.  He also remembers that Yuta has a tape player in his room.

Also, Yuta threw away a school uniform.  Because it got torn up. Yesterday.  Hoo boy.

Well, the tape is footage of Haruka apparently being raped by a bunch of guys who hate Kimihito.  Yuta says this has happened before, where Haruka was filmed being raped, and the tape sent to her ex-boyfriend.

Ranmaru meets up with Miki and a very strange conversation that probably wasn’t translated properly ensues.  From what I can gather, Miki knows a little something about Ranmaru’s intentions and wants to help, so she offers to let him know everything she knows at his room tonight.

Ranmaru meets up with Azusa at the roof.  They walk down the building together, but Ranmaru notices something coming from the art room.  The two find Haruka being raped by several students, and Ranmaru loses it.  Azusa freaks out, and she’s left in the hall while Ranmaru brings Haruka to the nurse.  Aki brings Haruka to the girls’ dorm, so Ranmaru comes back to Azusa, but he notices Nishizaki walking away.  Azusa says she was given water to drink, and she suddenly starts feeling weird.  Ranmaru brings Azusa to the nurse’s office and places her on the bed.  Then he tries to help by doing very rapey things.  Azusa fights him off, and Aki takes over.

More wandering.  Ranmaru gets back to his room and has a dream about Haruka, who says something about remembering the past, a ceremony, telling him to wake up, and erasing his memory of the dream.  He’s waken up by a banging noise in his ears.  When he wakes up, the power is out.

Ranmaru wanders around looking for Azusa and everyone he sees is acting weird.  They all seem to be going somewhere.  He blacks out and has a dream about the island temple and warnings about “the chant.”  He wakes up to Sachiko, who warns him that “the chant” is like a ringing in his ears, and should he hear it, he should try to calm himself.

Gunshots are heard.  Ranmaru runs towards the sounds and collapses.  He sees Yuko in the middle of a mountain of corpses before blacking out again.

He has a dream about the past.  People around him refer to him as a “divine child,” but his body can’t handle his ever-increasing power despite him being far away from “the gate.”

Ranmaru wakes up with Yuko standing over her.  She explains that everyone she killed tried to kill her.  So it’s okay.  She also says she likes Ranmaru because of the “bliss” he has, whatever that is exactly.  Her mother put up a force field around her home so normal humans can’t enter it.  Also, there’s a gate to another dimension when summoning gods.  That was just kinda thrown in there for no reason.  Yuko tells him to sleep with her while holding hands, but no touching her body anywhere else or she might kill him.  No pressure.

It might be a dream or it might not, but in the middle of the night, Haruka and Yuko fool around with each other.  Well, mostly Haruka to Yuko.  And maybe Ranmaru was involved in taking Yuko’s virginity.  The thing that stands out more is just how terrible the sex dialogue is.  I mean, it’s bad throughout the game, but at this point I’ve had about enough of the liberties taken.  Yuko is very clearly being raped, her voiced line consists of crying and moaning, and the dialogue presented is “I’m sooo hoooooorny!”  The scene continues, Yuko’s voiced line is “No, no, no!” and the dialogue presented is “Ooooohhhh, yeah!!!!!!”  I’m sorry, I know it’s porn, but something like that just makes me lose all respect for whoever’s involved in the translation.  Fuck you.

Ranmaru immediately wakes up, and Yuko (fully dressed) says something about him showing his true face.  But she backs off, apparently because Ranmaru is back to his regular self.  They sleep again, Ranmaru has another dream, and he wakes up in the afternoon.

Day 4

Yuko says she’ll be leaving.  Ranmaru can return to the house since the force field is down, but Yuko won’t be around.  If he can meet her mother, maybe they’ll meet again.  Then after she sends him off, she says “we’ll meet again.”  Make up your damn mind, woman!

Ranmaru sees Kimihito in the woods.  He seems drunk.

Ranmaru continues to campus and enters the Dean’s office.  Since no one’s around, he figures he might as well check out the secret safe.  Inside is Ranmaru’s report and a computer.  There’s a password for the computer, so he leaves it for now.

Miki shows up, apologizes for not showing up last night (something came up) and tells Ranmaru to wait for her tonight.

More wandering.  The official word is that school is closed due to the colds going around, and no one is allowed outside of their rooms.  This results in the campus seeming like a ghost town.

Ranmaru finally finds Azusa smoking behind the public restrooms.  She says last night was a bust; nothing major happened.  Negotiations with some people broke down, and Azusa is going to continue her investigation.

Ranmaru returns to the cottage and finds what seems to be a portrait of Yuko’s mother.  She reminds him of someone but it could be his imagination.

Ranmaru overhears a discussion between Miki and Nishizaki.  Nishizaki mentions “the chant,” “the medicine,” and “the scent.”  Miki says she didn’t spread “the scent,” and Nishizaki mentions “the chant” and “the medicine” having no effect, at least on those who haven’t been bewitched.

Ranmaru spots Yuta near the cottage.  He goes over to Yuta’s dorm and spots a piece of evidence to be revealed to the player at a later time.

At the Tea Ceremony Club, Ranmaru sees Miki and Sachiko having an argument.  He thinks about what kind of special powers the Seino family has, and if there’s any connection with the Anekohji family and their powers.

At the library, Ranmaru takes a look at Mayumi’s research into the Anekohji family.  They have a long history of worshiping the God of Mount Hunting.  They formed a contract with the God, who blessed them with special powers brought forth by repeating “the chant.”  This God also gave the Anekohji special blood that gave birth to “divine children” who would be eternally protected.  Those “divine children” would grow to produce stronger and stronger offspring so long as they knew of “the word.”  However, 200 years ago, a natural disaster destroyed nearly all the peoples of Mount Hunting and the surrounding area.  Hidden in the papers was a newspaper clipping, apparently meant to be a clue.  Before Ranmaru can examine it, Kimihito appears.

Kimihito talks about the summer seminar and how everyone there learned to become bewitched by “the chant” and became magicians, wizards, and witches.  Once he learned that the magic-users tended to die after using their powers, he tried to ignore “the chant,” but he eventually learned to accept the chant and mastered some crazy-ass magic, like the kind currently immobilizing Ranmaru and cracking his bones while Kimihito monologues.  Before he kills Ranmaru, Miki arrives to save the day.

Ranmaru wanders around and his symptoms are getting worse.  He bumps into Azusa, who’s happy because she found all the evidence her superiors needed to put away the crime organization they’ve been tracking.  She’s going to cross Mount Hunting tomorrow to deliver the evidence.  She also says to stay with Mami and keep her safe since she keeps talking about her “big sis,” who died a long time ago (she was a kidnapping victim).  Azusa is convinced Mami developed a second personality.  Ranmaru thinks Mami is being possessed by her dead sister.

Ranmaru returns to his dorm, where Miki is waiting.  In pajamas.

After a quick, pointless, very much appreciated fuck, Miki finally tells all she knows.  The Seino sisters were sent by their grandfather to keep the gate here under control.  It seems someone is trying to open the gate.  To help Ranmaru, Miki teaches him “the word,” which is a state of thinking that should help combat “the chant.”  Those without “the word” are susceptible to “the chant,” and then themselves produce “the chant.”  Finally, if the gate opens (or doesn’t open; it’s difficult to tell what is or isn’t a mistranslation), everyone bewitched by “the chant” will die.

While Ranmaru is thinking about his next move, Mami shows up and says her sister taught her how to become a fairy.  Ooookay…  Suddenly, a loud rumbling is heard coming from the library.  Ranmaru rushes over and sees Kimihito’s corpse.  His head was crushed by a giant chandelier.  Did not see that one coming.  Haruka and Mami enter.

Ranmaru suddenly remembers something from last night.  He confronted Haruka and Mami (possessed by her sister Kasumi), who mentioned a ceremony they would hold tomorrow.  Which meant tonight.  Ranmaru realizes that he would often meet them at night and they would seal his memory of the meeting.

The power goes out again.  Ranmaru realizes it means Mami is performing “the chant.”  He finds Sachiko collapsed on the ground – she tried to keep Mami’s chant under control but was attacked.  Ranmaru runs to Mami and tries to bring her under control.  He crosses wind phantoms that cut up his body, all so he can reach Mami and send her a peaceful image.  But just when he’s about to succeed…

It seems Haruka killed Mami, but more shocking than that, she’s been taking orders from Sano.  Yeah, the bullying art teacher.  It should’ve been obvious considering everyone involved in the art club is a part of it, but he hadn’t shown up for a long time.

Ranmaru has a dream of the past.  He is led to an underground cavern where the ceremony is to be held.  A young Anekohji girl is tattooed and chained to a rock while men rape her.

Ranmaru wakes up.  Nishizaki saved him and brought him to the caverns below the school, where the mummy of Kozo Anekohji rests.  It seems Ranmaru has a sort of healing factor, which is the only reason he hasn’t died from Sano’s attack.  Nishizaki owes Miki a favor, and he betrayed Sano for it.  So it seems he’s one of the good guys for now.

18 years ago, the Anekohjis tried to open the gate and bring the divine child into the world, but before they could succeed, everyone went mad from the chant and died, and the pillar of light spilled out of the gate, causing destruction to the area.  Now, people are trying to do the ceremony right.

As it turns out, the person we know as Nishizaki is just a decoy working for the Nishizaki family.  The real Nishizaki is that asshole Sano, who heard about the project and tried to take control of it for himself.  Sano bewitched a lot of students and opened the gate, but a student died during the ceremony, putting a temporary halt to his ambitions.  Ranmaru’s uncle of course knew about all of this, and he gathered evidence of Sano’s betrayal.  Now, the important thing is to get this evidence across Mount Hunting.

Yuko arrives to rescue Ranmaru, but it seems he’s okay, so she leaves.

Day 5

It’s already night.  Ranmaru’s map is useless, so he has to travel via text menus.  He heads to the Dean’s office and figures out his uncle’s password.  He copies the evidence from his computer and now has to find a way to bring the evidence across.

Ranmaru leaves a note at Yuta’s dorm telling him to meet at the cottage.  Yuta shows up, and Ranmaru reveals he knew about Yuta’s abilities… though it isn’t entirely clear just what he’s basing that on.  Yuta seems to be the same kind of whatever Yuko is, and Yuta fights Ranmaru primarily because he’s pissed at him for sleeping with Yuko.  Ranmaru counters by splashing him with mustard, which just so happens to be Yuta’s weakness somehow.  I shit you not.

Yuta agrees to bring the evidence over, so that’s that.

It’s now time to confront Sano.  Azusa shows up conveniently with her own evidence, which… is somehow still important.  Ranmaru apologizes over not being able to protect Mami… and we immediately go into a sex scene because why not.

At the main courtyard, Ranmaru spots Nishizaki’s bloodied corpse.  The final confrontation with Sano begins.  Ranmaru tries to negotiate with Sano while Azusa has a gun pointed at him.  Sano turns the tables by revealing Azusa has been brainwashed by him and has her shoot Ranmaru.  Then Azusa reveals that Ranmaru isn’t who he says he is since the real Ranmaru died decapitated on his hospital bed five years ago.

Ranmaru distracts Sano by saying the real evidence is being sent across the mountains by… again, we have no idea what the hell Yuta is, and he’s just referred to as “one of them.”  While he’s distracted, Ranmaru sends images of his past to Haruka and snaps her out of her brainwashing… after shooting Ranmaru in the gut again.  Yikes.

Ranmaru blacks out and finally has a one-on-one conversation with the voice in his head.  5 years ago, Ranmaru saw some guys trying to rape Azusa.  So he completely butchered them.  Afterwards, in his hospital bed, Ranmaru was killed, his mind transferred to his killer’s body.  All this time, it was Ranmaru’s personality taking control of another being’s body.  And now he wants control of his body back.  At this point you’re given a choice: give control over, or stay put.

-Scenario 3B-

Ranmaru keeps the body, the pillar of light comes down on the school, and Azusa is happy.  The end.

Now let’s go back and see what happens if you let the demon take control.

-Scenario 3A-

Ranmaru accepts his death.  The end.

That fucking sucked.

Well, both of the Scenario 3 endings were terrible.  We’re still left with loose ends like Haruka (who may or may not have been killed by the Pillar of Light) and that whole ordeal with the Anekohji family and the mysterious girl in Ranmaru’s dreams.

Time to check out Scenario 1.

Instead of helping Aki, Ranmaru helps Mayumi.

The dream he has afterwards is of a train station.  Later that night he has a dream of someone raping Mayumi, then he has another dream of the train station.  The POV is from a student wondering why he was invited to the Dean’s mansion.  He’s chatting to two girls, one of them a smaller one holding a book: “The Land Beyond.”

The rest of the scenario plays pretty much exactly like Scenario 3.

-Scenario 1B-

Exactly the same as Scenario 3B.

-Scenario 1A-

Ranmaru leaves his body, and the original owner takes over.

The owner made a pact to carry Ranmaru’s spirit in exchange for guaranteed safety due to the power of Ranmaru’s chant.  Another deal he made gave him “the word.”

Sano appears and tries to finish Ranmaru off again, but the person in front of him is a far stronger magician, and Sano gets wrecked.  Just as the Magician starts to continue on to the ceremony, Yuko appears and the two fight.  Haruka interrupts the fight and transports herself and Juichi (the true owner of the body) to the caverns below.

18 years ago, Juichi and Shizue Anekohji took part in the ceremony.  They should have died, but they were saved by Haruka’s power (somehow…?), but the two were bewitched by the chant.  Shizue went on to give birth to twins.

In order to complete his contract, Juichi stabs the mummy of Kozo Anekhoji, then turns around and stabs Haruka.  He says it’s for revenge, but it isn’t clear why.

The pillar of light descends on the campus.  Haruka’s body is destroyed.  What becomes of Juichi is unknown.  Before the credits roll, he has one last vision of the girl in white, proclaiming she won.

Well, on to Scenario 2.

Throughout Day 3, some scenes with Sachiko are a bit longer, and Ranmaru has more dreams of the priestess girl at the temple.

When he stays at Yuko’s place, instead of Haruka and Yuko, Ranmaru has a dream of the mysterious girl in white.  She seems to have strong feelings of abandonment and loneliness, and her primary desire is to share her suffering with everyone.  His second dream that night is of a priestess summoning a pillar of light.

When Ranmaru gets knocked out by Haruka and Sano, we see a scene between Shotaro, Sachiko and Miki about Sachiko being prepared to accomplish her mission.

During the final night, there is no sex scene with Azusa.

The final showdown is the same up to the choice.

-Scenario 2A/B-

Ranmaru accepts his death and gives up control to the demon.  (Or not; either way it doesn’t matter).

He awakens later in a sickening heat.  A blindfold is removed, revealing Mayumi in front of him.  Whenever he tries to speak, a woman’s voice comes out.  It seems Ranmaru has reawakened inside Aki’s body.  Aki has been kidnapped, tattoed, and bound, ready for the ceremony.  Said ceremony involves being raped by Sano.  Mayumi cackles like a madwoman, saying everyone can now suffer as she did after she was abandoned.  Yes, it seems Mayumi is the girl in white from Ranmaru’s dreams.  And she’s fucking insane.

The ceremony doesn’t go as planned, however.  Shotaro shows up and explains that the sacrifice was NOT the Divine Child.  That’s because Shotaro is the Divine Child.  He also says that Aki’s body is his true body, and he’s ready to reclaim it.  The Divine Child now resides in Aki’s body.

Mayumi was the sacrifice in the ceremony 18 years ago.  She came in direct contact with a god of chaos… then killed instantly.

Ranmaru awakens in his room.  Yuko says she’s his twin sister.  And he is now in Shotaro’s body, which is his “true” body.  And the room they’re in is a copy of Ranmaru’s room; it’s actually inside The Gate.

Okay.  Let’s sort out this body-fu.  And keep in mind, this is just interpreting the broken-ass translation provided, so what really happens is anyone’s guess.  Unless you read Japanese.

For most of this game, Ranmaru has been controlling the body of Juichi.  Juichi was the original participant in the ceremony 18 years ago.  He was spared by Haruka, who may just be a demon (it still isn’t clear).  Juichi’s chant went out of control, and in order to suppress it, he made a contract to kill Ranmaru’s body and take his soul into himself for safe passage.

Ranmaru’s original body is Shotaro.  I guess it was patched up somehow.

Ranmaru and Yuko are siblings.  Their mother is Aki, the First Divine Child.

Aki explains that the body Ranmaru was in belonged to someone named Uesugi Shuichi.  This confused me until I figured the translation was off and Shuichi = Juichi.

While Ranmaru was attending school, Shotaro was being controlled by Aki, probably while Aki was napping.

And somehow, it’s now safe for Ranmaru to inhabit his original body.

I… think that’s how it went.  There have been threads upon threads of speculation about Divi-Dead not because it’s that confusing and mysterious (I mean, it is, but not to that degree), but because the English translation is that fucking terrible that people have to come up with theories to fill in the gaps and make sense of it.

Whatever the case, Aki tells “Ranmaru” to go see Sachiko on the roof.  It seems Sachiko is someone from Ranmaru’s childhood, and they loved each other.  After all this time, they are finally back together and make love on the fake school roof floating within The Gate.

Phew.

And that’s it for Divi-Dead.  WordPress says my word count is at over 8000.

Overall, this was a damn great game.  The graphics still hold up incredibly well, the music is fitting and helps set the atmosphere perfectly, the story is amazing, and the girls are dead sexy.  If it weren’t for typical C’s Ware “wander around until you trigger a random event” design, it would be the perfect HH-game (that’s hentai horror game).  It’s like a precursor toTsukihime two years before Tsukihime was released, and in many ways, Divi-Dead is superior.

Naturally, the worst aspect of Divi-Dead is its godawful translation.  It gives the jist of things across well enough, but the problem is that the source is complex as fuck, and the translators were just plain too incompetent to deal with it.  You literally can’t trust the characterizations half the time because of how liberal the translation is, and we miss out on a LOT of subtle details that help fill the gaps.  I think the character that suffers the most due to the translation is Yuta, because there’s still a shitload about him I can’t quite figure out.

Sometimes the translation isn’t liberal enough, like when all use of honorifics are removed, but the dialogue revolving around honorific use is left in, removing context.  Outside of liberal translations, there are translations that are just plain wrong.  Sachiko and Miki are given the family name Seino, and often it is commented that their name means something to do with the moon.  In Japanese, their name isn’t Seino, it’s Itsukino.  Also, the use of the term “miko” is translated as “angel,” so it’s confusing as fuck when people just casually mention the Seino sisters come from a family of angels before the supernatural elements are properly introduced.

The translation is most embarrassing when it comes to the sex scenes.  I know, I know – that’s to be expected.  But fucking god.  Almost every time a girl is raped, her cries of resistance get translated as some form of “Yes, yes, more!  I’m so horny!  Do it harder!”  FUCK YOU, TRANSLATORS!  But outside of rape, we get awkward lines like “Yeah, do I make you horny, baby?” “Yeah, pump it!  Pump it real good!” and “Let’s achieve liquid nirvana together!”  Literally every time we switch to an H-scene, it’s like a switch is flipped; regardless of the tone or atmosphere surrounding it, once an H-scene starts, the dialogue turns into a complete joke.

It’s already tricky to tell what’s real and what isn’t in the source material.  It’s fucking terrible when the player also has to figure out which translations are accurate or not.

Simply put: Divi-Dead is a god-tier hentai game that deserves better than the abomination of a translation it got, and the chances of anyone picking it up to give it the treatment it deserves are slim to none.  And that’s a fucking crime.