FIRST 2 HOURS: BLACK BOOK Initial dive into this atmospheric deck-builder exceeded expectations! Two hours in and already impressed by the authentic Slavic mythology, solid card mechanics, and genuinely creepy atmosphere. Perfect for anyone who likes their card games with a side of folklore horror.
First Impression: A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School!
Haruaki Abe badly wants to be a schoolteacher, but within the first thirty minutes of his first day of work a delinquent welcomes him with "What the hell are you staring at, huh?" and he goes straight home and stays there...for a year! But his second try is going to be different. The school is a quiet academy on Hyakki Island, it uses the traditional sailor uniforms that he loves, and the headmaster is a friend of his family.
Gaku and Haru have been friends since middle school, even though they make a bit of an odd pair. It all started when tall, handsome, charismatic Haru stepped in to beat up a group of delinquents who were about to steal the diminutive bespectacled Gaku’s brand new laptop—the one he’d saved up for ten years to buy. When Gaku returns the favor by hacking into the CCTV and deleting the evidence of Haru’s violence to prevent him from being expelled, the nerdy boy knows that he’s just sealed his own fate.
"So, to sum up Hikaru's story," says one of Hikaru's friends, as they walk to school in a futuristic Japanese city, "last night, Hikaru, a troubled third year in Kitakagami junior high school, was gazing at the starry sky, as he often does..." We see a shoujo protagonist screaming with passion. "No. I thought I heard a voice outside my window," interrupts our grumpy, phone-absorbed protagonist, who is far from his friend's depiction of him.
Sport runs in the veins of the Inomata family. In her time, Taichi's mother played basketball at the same high school her son goes to. Less suited for team efforts, her son has taken up badminton, where the struggle and the glory rest squarely on his shoulders. At the gym, the turmoil of bouncing basketballs, ping pong tables, and a fierce crowd of rhythmic gymnasts resounds every day.
Chizuko is spending the week with her Grandpa. Mom is busy with work stuff, so it’s off to small-town life near the Sea of Japan for the glum middle schooler. She’s a polite kid though, not wanting Grandpa to feel bad when he too needs to jet off, leaving her on her lonesome at the mall. Sigh. Life is pretty dull no matter where you are, after all, so it doesn’t really matter.