This Week in Games
Square Enix Ringing In Final Fantasy IX's 25th Anniversary
by Jean-Karlo Lemus,
Welcome back, folks! To anyone who went to Anime Expo, I hope you guys had a fun time! To the rest of us, how about that new My Dress-Up Darling season? I'm excited over the Kamen Rider news; Kamen Rider Zeztz looks great! I appreciate the minimalist design, and while the Driver being positioned along the chest, like a sash, instead of the waist makes him look strangely exposed, I like that the red sash (along with his black-and-green color scheme) evokes the original Kamen Rider's red scarf. Best of all: Zeztz is getting broadcast in America. Well done, Toei! It only took five years of Tsuburaya eating your lunch with their Ultraman broadcasts on YouTube to catch on!
Square Enix Releases 25th Anniversary Video For Final Fantasy IX
This past week saw Final Fantasy IX's 25th anniversary. Square Enix has been working pretty hard on the whole thing, it seems, and they capped off all of their efforts with a cute anniversary video featuring cutscenes from the game, set to a vocal arrangement of the game's theme, Melodies of Life - Timeless Tale.
This one hits hard (and I've never even finished Final Fantasy IX!). The video also includes a link to Square Enix's store, where they have all sorts of Final Fantasy IX-themed merch, including keychains of the main cast, acrylic standees, a vinyl album with songs from the game—and, most importantly, an adorable picture book starring the game's titular Black Mage (and all-around Best Boy™), Vivi Ornitier. Notably, this picture book (illustrated by character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, who worked in FF9) serves as a prequel to the game, chronicling Vivi's early years as his dear old Grandpa Quan raises him before he sets off on his life-changing adventure. Pictures of the book have been floating around; they're adorable—even if it's obvious that Quan was once planning to eat Vivi.
The game itself was also plenty of fun. Working with a combination of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy Tactics's systems, characters learned new abilities and spells by equipping new weapons. However, a character wouldn't permanently "learn" a skill until they had maxed out its AP requirement while it was equipped. There was, therefore, an incentive to hold onto older gear in case you still needed to learn something useful. (There was also a fun item synthesis system where you could make new gear out of old gear, making everything useful.) Characters also had fun interactions during battle; for example, if you had Vivi and Steiner in the party together (and why wouldn't you, they're adorable together), Steiner could channel Vivi's magics through his sword for magic slashes. There was also the Trance system, where characters would transform into new forms that expanded their abilities.
Square Enix has been pretty cagey with regards to this anniversary. At one point, an animated adaptation of Final Fantasy IX was in talks, but we haven't heard anything of it since. There have been a lot of rumors regarding a remake of the game; I'd be ecstatic for one, but I can understand folks being rather trepidatious about it. Folks like the Final Fantasy VII remakes, but we also don't want to see Final Fantasy IX get overloaded with cruft. Normally, I'm very dismissive of the idea of "Just give us the same thing, but better-looking!"... but when it comes to Final Fantasy IX, that would be the right way to go. I'd hate to see Final Fantasy IX's charm get lost in the sauce, as it were. Less can be more!
Final Fantasy IX is available on most platforms at the moment, and goes on sale pretty often. It's a fantastic experience, worth playing through while we await further word on Square's upcoming plans for the game during its anniversary.
Aksys Games Announces Otome Game Trio To Come Stateside
Aksys Games is a relatively small publisher, but it has been responsible for numerous visual novel releases in the US. For one, they handled the Zero Escape series. This past week, they also announced a trio of otome games! Let's give a look-see at these upcoming titles.
First up is Otome Daoshi -Fighting for Love-. The game stars Kayu, a young woman training as a Taoist priestess. You'll navigate a web of intrigue involving a gaggle of fighters from across the nation as they do battle in a tournament--as well as the mysterious figure who crashes the tournament and attacks the crowd. Otome Daoshi features a cute medieval-Chinese aesthetic, albeit a bit more whimsical than The Apothecary Diaries. I dig it. Kayu's hair buns are cute. Look forward to it on the Switch this Spring 2026.
Up next is Mistonia's Hope: The Lost Delight , a much more fantastical story. This one stars Aprose, a girl whose life was upended by a prestigious family that swore to protect the land. Working undercover in their mansion as a maid, Aprose will get close to the noblemen known as Rowan's heroes. Mistonia's Hope will release this November 13 with a physical special edition version available for the Switch via Aksys's website, including a copy of the game's soundtrack.
Finally, we have Illusion of Itehari, which had previously been announced this past April. Aksys Games has finally given a release date for this title: September 18. This one will also have a special edition released on Aksys' online store featuring the game's soundtrack. Illusion of Itehari tells the story of the innocent, adventure-seeking Hinagiku and the sweeping intrigue she finds herself caught in when a mysterious man reveals to her that the floating city she's spent her whole life in may not be what it seems.
Aksys is keeping busy with the otome releases; hopefully, these keep otome fans well-fed until next year!
Shangri-La Frontier Gets Mobile Game
A few years ago, I covered the Shangri-La Frontier manga for ANN's seasonal Manga Preview Guide. The execution didn't grab me, but the concept is fascinating: a die-hard fan of kusoge (literally "shitty games") finally plays a good game, but he can't shake off his ingrained tenacity borne of hours upon hours of playing the worst games ever made, so he ends up being a supreme munchkin by grinding out the starting area until he unlocks all of the best hidden secrets. Additionally, he's trolling the game by going around in skivvies and (what appears to be) a giant shoebill mask. Again, the balance was just a little off for me, but I see the appeal, so I understand how this manga (and its later anime adaptation) caught on with fans. And of course, it gets a video game adaptation.
It's a mobile game produced by Netmarble. Shangri-La Frontier: The Seven Colossi touts a "one-handed" control scheme that also allows you to swap between characters. Gacha mechanics haven't been revealed yet, but they're guaranteed. There is a large 3D world that you can explore, Genshin Impact-style, but beyond that, little else is known. We don't quite have a release date either, only that Shangri-La Frontier: The Seven Colossi is scheduled for release on iOS and Android. Currently, Japanese and Korean releases have been announced; there's no word yet on an American release.
I miss the days when we'd see weird game adaptations like an Inuyasha RPG on the Nintendo DS or the Yuyu Hakusho tactics game on GameBoy Advance. A lot of these games had problems, but they were trying something. Anime fans deserve better than Skinner boxes for their anime stuff. We complain about the overabundance of arena fighters for anime adaptations, but even that's a step above just a gacha. Not to say a gacha game can't expand upon the lore of a series, but we know why you're making it a mobile game. We've seen this puppet show before; we've seen the strings.
Earth Defense Force Producer Unleashes Neo-Showa-Era Cyborg Schoolgirls in Full Metal Schoolgirl
I know I can come off as a bit hoity-toity sometimes, going on about the history of Xevious or stuff like that. But I do like me some good ol' grindhouse stuff—I've just never had a chance to play No More Heroes (I never had a Wii!). When you show me cybernetic school girls gunning down evil businessmen in showers of Hammer Horror-level red goo, my interest will be piqued.
I wanna take a moment to point out a neat moment in this trailer: the bit of narration at the end of the song ("Ryoko and Akemi are cyborgs known as machine-girls!") is a straight-up Kamen Rider reference. The older Showa-era series would usually have those narrations at the end of the intros, summarizing the story of the main heroes ("Takeshi Hongo is the cyborg known as Kamen Rider!"). Fittingly, Full Metal Schoolgirl takes place in an alternate timeline where the Showa Era continued long into 2089 (for those keeping track: that's the 164th year of Showa). The Bubble Economy is ongoing, courtesy of corporations maintaining a 24/7 work culture. Karoshi is no escape from labor: people are even turned into cyborg businessmen called the Working Dead to continue their shift after their hearts stop. Protagonists Ryoko and Akemi, schoolgirls both (Ryoko seems kinda buttoned-up, while Akemi looks like a gyaru), turn themselves into weaponized Machine Girl cyborgs to take down the evil Meternal Jobs and its CEO, Kyohei Fukoku, to avenge their fathers. As Automaton Media points out, "Kyohei Fukoku" is a take on Japan's national slogan during the Meiji era.
All of this controlled madness comes to us from Nobuyuki Okajima, best known as the producer of Earth Defense Force. You might also know him as the producer of the Oneechanbara series. Full Metal Schoolgirl similarly carries those wild sensibilities, if the buckets of blood spurts didn't clue you in. Your tech support is a scientist woman in a lab coat/bikini combo who's a bit too excited at the notion of working on your machine-girl body—her name is "Professor Hakase," which is like calling someone "Dr. Doctor." You can also strap all kinds of wild weapons on your arms—like chainsaws and chainguns. Full Metal Schoolgirl will play as a rogue-like: Ryoko and Akemi livestream their attempts at slaughtering their way up Meternal Jobs's 100-floor building, earning materials from their efforts (and money from their audiences), which you can use to upgrade their abilities.
The concept for the game had me interested—but the Kamen Rider reference in the intro has me hooked. This game is being made with the devs' tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. It's been a while since I've seen such a wild high-concept title (it does seem like Suda51 and Swery are the only other guys who dabble in this territory). I'm excited for Full Metal Schoolgirl, my day has been massively improved by learning that this game exists. Best of all, it's due out this October 13 on PS5, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Let's wrap up with some quick tidbits
That'll do it for this week. The weather has unfortunately taken a turn for the worse for many people, with folks dealing with either triple-digit weather or the wild floods in Texas. I'm hoping everyone can keep safe and unharmed. In the meantime, a fun project has been slid in my direction—I hope folks look forward to seeing it near the end of the month. Keep safe as best you can! Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.
This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at .
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