And very becoming her dress was. It was white velvet, without any other garniture than rich white lace worked with pearls across her bosom, and the same round the armlets of her dress. Across her brow she wore a band of red velvet, on the centre of which shone a magnificent Cupid in mosaic, the tints of whose wings were of the most lovely azure, and the colour of his chubby cheeks the clearest pink. On the one arm which her position required her to expose she wore three magnificent bracelets, each of different stones. Beneath her on the sofa, and over the cushion and head of it, was spread a crimson silk mantle or shawl, which went under her whole body and concealed her feet. Dressed as she was and looking as she did, so beautiful and yet so motionless, with the pure brilliancy of her white dress brought out and strengthened by the colour beneath it, with that lovely head, and those large, bold, bright, staring eyes, it was impossible that either man or woman should do other than look at her.
Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope
As I said earlier, at first I didn’t like Kagu. I thought she was really bratty, and a spotlight hog. And when the main character of the game is a puppy with a magic paintbrush whose mother is the goddess of the sun, it should be pretty difficult to hog the spotlight. And, as I also mentioned, my opinion of her mellowed after she realized that her magic powers weren’t a bad thing she had to hide from the public, and decided to become a Miko (some sort of magical priestess thing). My opinion of her has changed yet again. This time I feel very sorry for her, after meeting a fan. (Again, apologies for the mediocre screen shots.)
There’s nothing wrong with telling a girl, especially a famous child actress, she looks cute. But then this fan went and turned it into creepy country:
“Maybe I’ll get lucky and a demon will attack me.” Ewww. She’s a little girl, City Dweller.
Kagu agrees with me. Look at her reaction, and her express. It's what I was thinking too.
While I don’t have any screen shots, there were some really wonderful things that happened in Yakushi Village. This is a place where you encourage people – and animals -- who seem restless to move. They give you praise, which is the game’s equivalent of experience points. Yakushi was founded by Dr. Red Beard. A better name for him would be Dr. Red Mustache, since he has giant red whiskers, but that’s neither here nor there.
One of the families which moved to Yakushi Village did so because their daughter, Ayame, was sick. So sick even the great Red Beard couldn’t cure her. In an earlier quest, Chibi and Kuni revived her spirit by getting someone to put on an inspirational fireworks display. But Ayame sickened again.
Fortunately, Kagu knew Dr. Red Beard’s cousin, who, due to his blue mustache, is known as Dr. Blue Beard. It’s a sign that the game creators have never heard of Gilles De Rais. His medicine, with his cousin, is enough to cure Ayame, and this is celebrated with another moving fireworks display. My favorite animation was when Ayame’s mother started crying tears of joy.
Then, to cap off time in the village, I got swindled by a tanuki disguised like a merchant. For those who don’t know what it is, a tanuki is either a) a raccoon-dog; b) some sort of mischievous spirit; c) the cool suit that Mario got in Super Mario Brothers 3. So I was cheated out of money by a raccoon dog. I suppose I should be angry, but that is too awesome for me to stay mad.
And later in this play session, I got to use my lightning powers like a defibrillator, and simultaneously help a ghost pass on to the next world.
The game can be really interesting when you’re not fighting monsters. Not that the combat is bad, but the imagery in the rest of the game is amazing.
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