Di Gi Communication Game Review
Old-school otaku store simulator!
PRODUCTION INFO
Di Gi Charat began as a manga in 1998, written by Koge-Donbo and published by Broccoli. It was serialised in the magazine From GAMERS, and the Gamers store adapted the characters as their mascots. It has since received several manga, anime, game, and CD drama adaptions. Di Gi Communication is one of the games, which was released on Gameboy Advance on October 25th, 2002. It was released by Broccoli and it actually managed to get a sequel on the GBA as well.
STORY
Okay, I know what you're all thinking. "This title is so old and obscure as far as video games go... It's never even been released outside of Japan! Why in the heck are you reviewing this?" Initially, my only reason for reviewing this was just because I played it as a kid and I really liked it; I still like it today! But upon further thought, I realised that Di Gi Charat in general has a very otaku theme to it. Old-school, but otaku nonetheless.
Now I am whole-heartedly hoping that I was not the only foreigner to Japan who loved Di Gi Charat as a kid, and that there are still some 90's otaku kids out there who remember it. At my age at the time, I didn't realise just how deep this franchise went as far as otaku things go, but it totally makes sense now! For anyone baffled by my mad ramblings (all of you), allow for me to explain: Di Gi Charat takes place in Akihabara, a Tokyo district famous for its otaku culture and electronic devices. A lot of foreign anime fans tend to think Japan must be otaku heaven just because that's where anime and the like comes from, but that's wrong; Akihabara is the true promised land for otaku.
So it's great and all that Di Gi Charat takes place in our beloved "Akiba", but there's more. One of the most well-known places in Akihabara is the store Gamers. Gamers created Di Gi Charat. In fact, Dejiko's face is still on a huge billboard sitting atop the Gamers store in Akihabara, and all of the characters in Di Gi Charat are Gamers' mascots... not just in real life, but in the anime and game as well.
The story goes that Dejiko, Puchiko, and Gema are aliens who crash-landed in Tokyo. With nowhere to stay and no money, they found work at the Gamers store in Akihabara. The manager also decided to let thme stay at Gamers in a room upstairs in exchange for their hard work. Shortly after this was established, Dejiko met her rival, Rabi~en~Rose, whose true name is Usada Hikaru (a play on Utada Hikaru), who also just got hired at Gamers.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Despite its otaku nature, this is a very casual game that anyone can play. You simulate being the manager of Gamers for a year, assigning different jobs to Dejiko, Puchiko, and Rabi~en~Rose, stocking different items as they are released, making sure your employees have the right equipment they need, et cetera. The game is mostly text-based, with little interaction besides making decisions and punching in answers. It's a very simple design, but it somehow still manages to target an otaku audience, what with all the art and music to unlock.
GAMEPLAY
Since this game is mainly text-based, there isn't a lot of gameplay. You are mostly controlling what you stock, when you stock it, which shifts Dejiko, Puchiko, and Rabi~en~Rose have, what equipment they will be using for their shifts, when you have bargain sales, and you also upgrade your store to carry more items. You do this for a year, trying to make more money than you started with. Each week you will have a different cutscene where you can interact with the characters slightly. For example, Rabi~en~Rose may be requesting for all of you to go sakura viewing in spring, or Dejiko might ask what TV show you've been watching... These answers affect which images and music you unlock, and when you type in a certain thing, it may come up again later. The most fun aspect of the game is obviously simulating the management of a store that stocks otaku merchandise, though. I'd love to do that in real life! It'd be an otaku dream come true for me!
There is a couple more mechanics worth mentioning, such as how there are mini-games sometimes where you have to do things like gather money from customers by playing breakout, or gather customers themselves and bring them to your store before another person breaks your chain of customers... They can be fun, but I find them to be pretty hard and I just enjoy the regular money management game. Dejiko, Puchiko, and Rabi~en~Rose can all level up on specific areas of work they do in the store. For example, if Dejiko is on cashier for a while, she'll level up. Then she'll be better at doing cashier in the future, but if you put her on cleaning duty, her level will be different, because she has a different level for cleaning duty. You can also buy items to help the girls with their different jobs.
Finally, I need to mention... You need at least basic Japanese language skills in order to play this game, since this is a text-based game that is completely in Japanese and has never been translated.
OPINIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
I loved this game in my early teens, and it's a really great one for newcomers to the Japanese language who want to put their studies to use. There is Kanji in it, but it's mostly Hiragana and Katakana, plus the Kanji in the game is very simple, so it's just awesome for practising reading Japanese. In fact, that's how I originally stumbled across it as a kid. That and I just loved Di Gi Charat in general. It's also a good source of information, in case you are a newer otaku and you are curious how otaku were like back in the 90's to 2000's! It could be just my being old, but it's got a nostalgic feel for me in that regard... and I hadn't even been to Akihabara at that age. At the very least, this is a well-done store simulator with lots of content and it's really fun. I'd actually be really happy if they redid this game for 3DS or something... it'd throw Bookstore Dream out the window, but there is a slim chance of a remake ever happening, sadly.
RATING
★8/10★
