Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (押忍！闘え！応援団 )

Title: Osu! Tatakae! Ōendan
Released Date: June 1, 2010
Platform: NDS

My de-stressor. (*^▽^*)

A rhythm game by iNis, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is a very addicting and enjoyable one. It is about Ouendan, an all-male cheer squad helping the characters who are in a pinch by cheering them through music. Ouendan can cheer anyone in need regardless of time period, and place. The scenarios of each character are shown briefly at the beginning of each story in manga-form. Players will find it amusing or may even relate to them since the stories are often told in a simple and comical way. Some characters may appear on another scene as a background character and what not.

While one can easily get used to the set up of Ouendan, the only drawback is the language. The situations are heavily based on Japanese culture. Not to mention the songs are all from popular Japanese songs. It is in the native language so for those who are not familiar with it will have a difficult time deciphering what is being said in the game.

Despite the language barrier, anyone can still enjoy playing this. There are translations of the game on the internet that you’d want to read before playing. The stories may be in manga-form but still, you can get the basic idea just by looking at the images. Once you get the hang of the basics, you’ll find it even more entertaining than it initially looks.

The biggest advantage of this game is its songs. The music is all in the top list from topnotch singers, for instance, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Morning Musume, L’Arc en Ciel among others. Honestly, I am not familiar with any of the 15 songs here other than Ready! Steady! Go! by Laruku. But thanks to Ouendan, I am able to discover good titles such as Loop & Loop by Asian Kung-Fu Generation (my fave now (≡^∇^≡)).

You will have to use the touchpad and stylus many times during your playthrough. What and how you will click will be explained in the tutorial at the start of the game. There are 4 levels: easy, normal, hard, and insane. You start with easy and normal levels with Tanaka Hajime and Ippongi Ryuta as the lead squad leaders, respectively. All levels have same characters and 15 set of songs.

One word for the game: fun.  With its beautiful set of songs to amusing characters, I can never get enough of Ouendan. I’m looking forward to playing the sequel Moero! Nekketsu, and its English ‘soul’ sequel, Elite Beat Agents.