Game – I Doll U Introduction

So I’m doing a series of summaries for the otome game I Doll U. While my last set of summaries was for a sequel, this set is for an entirely new franchise, so I felt an introduction was in order.

Please read this post first, then the main route, then the character routes.

You can visit the official site here. The basic gist of the story is that you play as Aika, a girl who has to temporarily fill in for her idol brother. Otomate is heavily promoting the game, as the main idols have a group CD single and individual character songs. Otome game fans will recognize many of the seiyuu in the game.

Although Otomate (which is a subsidary of Idea Factory!) has a North American branch, I don’t expect an English release, as I’m sure there are hurdles with licensing the songs. If interested, be sure to contact Otomate and/or Idea Factory International through their social media channels, but companies like Aksys Games have released Otomate games as well. Be polite, and be sure to support their current otome game releases so that they will bring over more games.

Please remember this is to supplement the game, not replace the experience. Characters, plot, and visuals all belong to Otomate. This is a fan-work meant to help others enjoy the game.

Support Otomate by buying a copy! This game is playable on any PS Vita system and is available at many online venues in both a standard and limited edition. If you want to know if you will enjoy I Doll U, please wait for my review.

One additional fact: character design was done by Fujiwara Cocoa, the author of Inu x Boku SS and Dear who recently passed away.

Characters:

Amane Aika – The protagonist.

Mikami Ruka – An idol who’s no good with females.
CV: KENN (Fuuto in Brothers Conflict, Gieve in The Heroic Legend of Arslan)

Shidou Reo – An idol who wears cat ears and ends his sentences with “nya”.
CV: Shimono Hiro (Syo in Uta no Prince-sama, Keima in The World God Only Knows)

Kuroyume Tsubasa – An idol who came from the Underworld to control women.
CV: Maeno Tomoaki (Camus in Uta no Prince-sama, Natsume in Brothers Conflict)

Moroboshi Seiya – Social-network idol who often causes problems.
CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa (Yuusuke in Brothers Conflict, Junpei in Kuroko’s Basketball)

Sakigake Itsuki – Friendly, multi-talented idol who is a big charmer.
CV: Morikubo Showtaro (Okita in Hakuoki, Reiji in Uta no Prince-sama)

Amane Manaka – Aika’s younger brother.
CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke (Tomoe in Kamisama Kiss, Soma in Black Butler)

Yonezawa – The manager.
CV: Toriumi Kousuke (Saito in Hakuoki, Cecil in Uta no Prince-sama)

Peter – A retainer of Tsubasa’s.
CV: Umehara Yuuichirou (En in Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!, Mitsuhide in Snow White with the Red Hair)

Gameplay Notes:

Like most otome games, there are multiple endings. A guy’s Happy Ending 1 is seen with a high affection and Aika continues being an idol; Happy Ending 2 is seen when there’s high affection and Aika quits show business. Each guy’s epilogue sequence is seen with either of his happy endings. There’s a bonus route unlocked after all main routes are completed.

There’s also two minigames: a kiss one and a music one.

Translation Notes:

It’s common for entertainers to use a stage name. So Manaka’s stage name is 天音アイカ (Amane Aika), but his sister’s name is written as 天音愛歌 (Amane Aika). All the members’ personal name in Re;Rise are written in katakana. When I write the name is in quotations, I am or the game is referring to the idol persona. Obviously, since the guys all think the heroine is her brother, I only use this when either a) the game puts the name in brackets (Japanese quotation marks) or b) I need to separate the two for story purposes.

Also note that most of the people think she’s a guy, but I’m not going to keep putting “he”; I’ll just refer to Aika as a girl using “she” unless it’s necessary.

Aika refers to herself using “watashi” (私), a generally feminine form of “I”, but her brother uses “boku” (僕), a boyish one. So she has to watch her speech. I’m also going to assume you know Japanese honorifics. If not, please look them up. In addition, Aika calls Manaka “Onii-chan”.

Aika and the guys at times try to claim they’re “otoko doushi” (男同士) with some of the guys. I translated this as “bros”, but it basically means guy friends or male friendship.

Seiya uses a lot of English in his speech, and his Japanese is off — sometimes incredibly off — at times. I tend to use capitals to designate his English.

Tsubasa inserts English words as well, but his speech tends to involve words related to mythology like “Pandemonium” and “Lilith”.

The text hardly ever includes the characters’ English, instead providing only the meaning in Japanese. Sometimes these are not 100% accurate, but this could either be because of the characters’ misunderstandings of Japanese or the scriptwriters’ understanding of English.

Tsubasa calls women “mesu”, a term used for female creatures (animals). But note the kanji is given as 女 (“onna”, “woman”). So he’s putting women on the same level as animals.

Tsubasa is also pretty rude to everyone. He generally uses “kisama” (often translated as “bastard” or other such insult) for “you”.

Tsubasa also gives several different readings for the kanji 花嫁 (hanayome, bride) including hanayome (bride), slave, and ikenie (sacrifice). I go by the reading, but Tsubasa is still suggesting bride (directly or indirectly) no matter which one he actually says.

I also call Peter Tsubasa’s retainer, but he could also be considered part of Tsubasa’s family (like a clan member).

Reo puts -nya or -nyan at the end of his sentences, and even sometimes in the middle of words to emphasize his cat-speech. (“Nyaa” is the sound of a cat.) For instance, compare the standard Japanese to Reo-talk:
「なに！？」  “Nani!?”  “What?!”
「にゃに！？」  “Nyani!?”  “Meowhat?!” (or “Whnyat?”)
He also wears cat ears (nekomimi). Everyone also uses the term to describe the type of personality he’s playing.

While Mikami’s and Shidou’s names would often be adapted as “Luka” and “Leo”, the game chooses “Ruka” and “Reo”.

Itsuki generally calls Aika マイ・ダム (“my dame”), so I keep this even when the line is incorrect from a third person point-of-view: “Itsuki says my dame is wonderful” instead of “Itsuki says his dame is wonderful”.

Aika also thinks Itsuki is a hentai (変態), which you may know to mean “pervert”. It also has a definition of “abnormal”.

Itsuki normally uses “watashi” (私), but he will occasionally use “ore” (俺). Again, both mean “I”, but “ore” is much more masculine while “watashi” is formal. If I had known in advance, I probably would have used “this one” for “watashi” and “I” for “ore” to differentiate the two. “Watashi” is standard, so “this one” would not be a typical adaptation, but there aren’t a lot of good English substitutes for the different Japanese personal pronouns. I don’t feel like going back and redoing all his lines right now, so I just use “ore” when he does.

Remember that tsundere (ツンデレ) is made up of the prickly side (tsuntsun) and sweet side (deredere). So in tsuntsun mode, they’re trying to be tough, cool, standoffish, etc…anything to hide their sweet side.

I call the “lesson studio” the rehearsal room.

Finally, a live (ライブ) is usually translated as a concert or show, but it’s a pretty generic term for a live performance no matter how large or small the performance is or if it’s at a theater/concert hall.

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If you have any other questions, please ask.