#Tears to Tiara

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

[bowloflentils]

I just posted my latest video about Leaf, an adult PC developer that not only created many popular franchises (To Heart, White Album, Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara, etc) but who also pioneered the visual novel genre as we know it today.

[food4dogs]

I managed to get hold of a secondhand set of the Tears to Tiara anime! 😀

We started watching and are really enjoying the story - lots of Celtic mythology. ☘️

[polkiuu]

2023 Dive Into Aquaplus

After having been into Utawarerumono for well over a decade, and having one foot into Tears to Tiara for the longest of time as well, I decided to finally take the plunge this year to try a variety of Aquaplus' very colorful catalogue.

I got into Utawarerumono a long, long time ago, back when the 2006 anime adaption of it was still airing. At the time, my like of it was mostly superficial. I was still a kid, and I just liked the aesthetics of it. I only started watching it because the name was long and nonsense to me who didn't know a lick of JP at the time. But it stuck with me as it was one of the first few anime I had started watching as it was airing in Japan and subbed. It also introduced me to Suara, who my love for has been anything but superficial.

If it weren't for the 2015 anime adaption of Utawarerumono Itsuwari no Kamen, it may have just stayed as a memory of aesthetics. A few episodes into its airing, I had a strong urge to buy the game, and so I asked for it for Christmas. I was never the same since.

While waiting for the release of Utawarerumono Futari no Hakuoro later in 2016, I got my hands on Tears to Tiara 2 to try and fill the void. I had previously seen the Tears to Tiara anime back in 2009 while it was airing, as I had immediately recognized the art as being similar to Utawarerumono. Looking it up I learned it was from the same company, and Amazuyu had also worked on some of the designs for it as well.

Unfortunately, the game was incredibly difficult for someone like me who is terrible at strategy games, and the writing didn't manage to hook me early on, so I ended up putting the game on hold indefinitely about 10 hours in. At some point in 2017 I picked up the remake of the first game, Tears to Tiara Kakan no Daichi, and really loved it. It still wouldn't be until this year though that I fully threw myself into the Tears to Tiara franchise.

Fast forward to 2023, through various Utaware phases and burnouts, and the release of Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten along with the 3rd anniversary event in the Utawarerumono Lost Frag mobile game re-igniting my mood for the series at the tail end of 2022, I finally decide that this year is the time to make due on my desire to play more Aquaplus titles.

Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord

Seven years after my first attempt, I finally went back to this in January and finally completed it. My issues from my first attempt never really went away, however the writing managed to hook me around chapter 5, and I had a lot more enjoyment with the OST and various small things now that I had actually experienced the first game, and not just the anime. The uses of Until and Tears to Tiara 凱歌 will live in my head rent free until the end of time.

Tarte became not only my favorite TtT character, but maybe even my #1 Aquaplus favorite. ああっ女神さまっ…

This game got me to start paying attention to Honjou Tatami.

The nostalgia for the first TtT game wrecked me hard and I ended up replaying it right after.

Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi

我が友よ

My Tears to Tiara mood was unstoppable, and so I finally bought its fandisc.

Tears to Tiara Gaiden - Avalon no Nazo

Nothing could have prepared me for the Lidia content in this game or the dragon stage straight from the ninth level of hell.

I still haven't recovered from the ending and the double whammy of realizing what the start of the OP is. The bastards really did it twice.

After this I went on a spree and bought all the LEs and the novels and manga... it is criminal how little supplementary material the games have, and how 2 has none. I have nothing to go on now but copium and offering my life to Marui Takeshi.

Tears to Tiara Gaiden 2 and Tears to Tiara 3 when.

Next, I played my first dating sim in 8~9 years, and a more obscure one at that.

Routes

You don't know what you're getting into until you've already beaten this game.

One of the more unique things I've experienced, to the point I don't know how to talk about it without spoiling it, and it is definitely a game best played blind. Quite possibly the most unique script-writing I've seen. The way the two scenario writers duties were split is one of the best uses of multiple writers that I've seen in a game.

The voice acting in this game is a masterpiece.

One thing I really love about both Routes and Tears to Tiara is the kind outlook on life they have.

I started this just before the Dungeon Travelers 2 series re-release and still have not touched those.

Next, I somehow ended up on one of their most famous.

White Album 2 ~Introductory Chapter~

Short, but emotionally loaded. After All ~Tsudzuru Omoi~ changed me as a person.

I started this one just a few days before the first White Album game's re-release because of course I did.

White Album 2 ~Closing Chapter~

One very charged, and very long work. I had to sit on it for quite a while after. I also binged all its supplemental material.

I haven't had a love/hate relationship with something this strong since, well, Inuyasha. You have issues, Maruto.

Kazusa Normal was a great route.

WHITE ALBUMの季節はまだまだこれからだよ。

White Album ~Tsuzurareru Fuyu no Omoide~

A little underwhelming, honestly. The way the gameplay and routes are structured makes the writing very fragmented. Had some nice moments, but overall I enjoyed the writing of Sayoko's route most, as it feels most coherent, likely due to it being added into the 2010 remake.

Despite the fragmented writing, I did like many of the heroines quite a bit.

White Album has been stuck in my head for months, and now the season for it is upon us...

And what would be most fitting to follow it up with another winter-related game, if not...

Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu

It might be time to lay off the depresso games for a bit, as I had a hard time getting into this one. In a weird way it reminded me a lot of how screwed up my own mentality was when I was younger, and it's not something I cared to remember. I suppose it gets points for realistically depicting the unstable nature of the adolescent mind.

It had some interesting underlying themes, and I don't dislike the message of it, but I was unable to feel any investment in the heroines. I may have liked it more if the characters were a little more fleshed out.

I've only just beaten it, so I need to sit on my thoughts for it a little longer.

And then a special mention to none other than:

Utawarerumono Lost Frag

I finally picked this back up in November 2022, during it's 3rd anniversary event when they added Raikou. It's not every day you get an entire event dedicated to your only OTP in the series.

I got especially into it after my TtT marathon, and I've read most events, various character stories and a little of the main story. I always wanted to give it another chance, and I'm glad to have finally found something to pull me back into it. I really enjoy what it offers, from the expansions of various Utaware lore, to doing things only a social game really can. The event writing is out of this world.

It gave me 2 of the top 3 things I wanted to see for 7 years from the series now and I can only pray it delivers on the last someday.

Final thoughts

I've had a lot of Aquaplus vocal tracks in my library for many years, and its fun to go through their backlog and realize what songs are from what, and which ones I had that I didn't even realize were from Aquaplus games. And since I've followed Suara since 2006, making the connection between her discography and where her non-utaware songs are from has been a blast so far.

I look forward to diving further in in 2024. I want to give their other famous series like Dungeon Travelers and ToHeart a shot. Comic Party is still waiting on my shelf, as well.

Going through different time periods with their artists is a really fun adventure from an artist's perspective. It's fun to see where they've improved, what habits they've kept, the areas where they adjust things to be more modern, and how their painting evolves. For a long time I only knew Amazuyu by name, but now it's fun to glance at an artwork and be like "Oh, so and so drew this around xxxx year."

I want to see another game with Tatami as the main artist...

I also recently realized the only things I've finished since March have been various Aquaplus fanarts (I have drawn other things, just not finished...) Something unlocked in my brain and I'm enjoying drawing again to an extent, and for that I'm glad.

[everynendo]

076 Nendoroid Riannon

[obscureanimeoftheday]

Obscure Anime of The Day:

Tears to Tiara

Aired: 2009

Genres/Themes: action, adventure, fantasy

[movies-tv-more]

TV Show Release Dates for February 2, 2024

[ljaesch]

Sentai Filmworks Announces Its February 2024 Anime Releases

Sentai Filmworks has announced its anime releases for February 2024. Title: TEARS TO TIARA Published by: Sentai Filmworks Distributed by: Distribution Solutions Run Time: 650 min. Street Date: 2/6/2024 Format: BD Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles SYNOPSIS: For dozens of generations, the legions of the Divine Empire seemed unstoppable, brutally tearing asunder nation after nation…

[scarletlunarosa]

[ablinktomygames]

Se supone que se casará con la hermana, pero realmente tiene más momentos románticos con él

[maidoftheday]

Today's Maid of the Day: Daphnis from Tears to Tiara II

[etheral-moon]

My momma always said I was a princess.. <3

[venti-death-watch]

callout post for the maker of deep-sea encore but like in the context that that one animatic they made introduced me to no more birthdays by sophie may and now i can’t stop thinking about the second verse with freminet in mind and getting emotional about it

[polkiuu]

utaware/tears to tiara doodles

[everynendo]

079 Nendoroid Arawn

[yume-fanfare]

Do you think they will ask them what they have been doing alone for so many hours

OH MY GOD THAT WOULD BE SO FUNNY. THEY GET THE BIG BROTHER TALK. "young man you are grounded for LIFE"