I touched on this a bit back during the transition to the new server… so you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about since my last post was deleted.
Anyway, I learned in November 2015 that legendary Eroge developer Elf Corporation had closed up shop for good the month before. I planned on doing a tribute to Elf, and dammit, I’m a year late, but I’m doing it. What triggered me to do so? The announcement that there will be a new anime adaptation of their classic game Yu-No this year to coincide with the PS4/PSV remake. I am hyped as fuck (and setting myself up for eventual disaster I’m sure).
So, what’s this tribute going to be? Well, I’ll explore as many Elf titles as I can at a steady pace before the Yu-No anime releases. And when I say titles, I mean anime adaptations. A vast majority of their games were never released in English, official and fan included.
I can’t cover all of them, but here’s what I can promise:
Yu-No OVA (1998)
Yeah, there was a Yu-No OVA in the late ’90s, and it’s appropriate that I start off with this since I’m finishing off with the new anime. But let me tell you… this OVA is god-fucking-awful for a variety of reasons. But despite all the crap, you can see a glimmer of the greatness that is the source material.
Dragon Knight (1989-1997)
The Dragon Knight series was one of their flagships. The first game had an anime adaptation as well as a gaiden episode. The third game was actually released in English as “Knights of Xentar” for reasons I can’t fathom. The fourth game had an outstanding anime adaptation (though with one major flaw), and the game itself was itself a critically acclaimed strategy RPG, so much so that it actually had a non-H release on the Super Famicom and PS1. Dragon Knight 4 is a game I’ve been praying for an English translation for, FOR YEARS.
Dokyusei / End of Summer (1992-1995)
Dokyusei was one of their most popular and influential titles (basically THE blueprint for the typical school-based eroge), and the End of Summer OVA was one of my first forays into hentai. Basically, I have a ton of nostalgia for this title.
Words Worth (1993-2000)
Words Worth is one of my favorite H-anime and one of the very few Elf games I actually managed to play, albeit completely in Japanese with the help of a guide. I’d love to cover the game, but I apparently didn’t transfer it over to Kiria, so SOL on that end. I believe it’s the first Elf game to introduce the concept of two distinct worlds to play through, though I’m still not sure how I feel about some of the plot twists…
Isaku / Kyusaku / Kisaku the Letch (1995-2001)
Honestly, I really don’t want to cover this. It’s not one of my favorites and quite possibly introduced one of the laziest hentai subgenres of all time: blackmail rape. Here’s the plot: In a large building, one man stalks and rapes several girls and records them. Is there more to it than that? Not much.
Koihime (1999)
It’s about a guy that has multiple childhood promises with the daughters of deities. How can you go wrong? The anime adaptation is one of the most solid hentai titles I have the pleasure of owning.
Ashita no Yukinojyo (2001-2002)
I’ve already done a Hentai Hump-Day of this title, but it bears repeating. THIS happens:
Hyakki ~ The Secret of Devil’s Island (2002)
I’m looking forward to watching this in full again. Mostly because it’s so friggin’ forgettable that I damn near forgot everything about it.
Mikagura Detective Agency (2003)
Ho. Lee. Crap. I had no fucking clue that this was both based on a game and developed by Elf. This is one of my guilty pleasure faps, and I hope to learn a bit about the game it’s based on by the time I get to this title. I can tell you right now that it seems to be vaguely inspired by Sakura Taisen in that it’s set in approximately the same era, and the three main heroines share some traits with Sakura, Sumire and Kohran, but that could just be my imagination.
So, right now we’re looking at 8 posts. Depending on the official release, I might be good if I can just manage 1 post per month.