Beat Blades Haruka

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Revision as of 04:47, 3 May 2016 by 67.10.98.172 (talk)

Beat Blades Haruka is an Eroge released by AliceSoft in 2008, and the last in the Dice Training series along with Darcrows and Beat Angel Escalayer. It was adapted into a 3-episode H-OVA in 2009 by Milky.

The main character is Takamaru Ikusabe, a horny teenager who discovers that he is next in line to lead a secret society of ninja called the Crescent Moons that have existed since ancient times and are dedicated to fighting a dark and sinister cult called the Noroi Faction. The most powerful of these ninja are women known as Blades, of whom mysterious transfer student Haruka Takamori is the last surviving member. The Noroi Faction have reappeared in modern times by means of a time-jumping ritual with the intent of resurrecting their god and Haruka is the best hope the Crescent Moons have of stopping them but there's a catch: the source of a Blade's power is sexual stimulation provided by the leader, who is known as the Dragonian. Takamaru finds himself in a race against time to prevent Noroi's resurrection, but with the help of Haruka and his childhood friend Narika, he is confident that he is up to the task.

An action/adventure Eroge that incorporates Raising Sim elements, Haruka is a relatively lighthearted addition to the genre that strikes a balance of comedy, action, and Slice of Life. It was selected by MangaGamer as the first localization in an ongoing partnership with AliceSoft and released to western audiences in 2016.

Tropes used in Beat Blades Haruka include:
  • Adaptation Decay: With only three episodes the OVA was, sadly, unable to adapt much of the game itself.
  • Alternate Character Reading: The Blades, read as 閃忍 or "flashing ninja".
  • And the Adventure Continues...: The OVA leaves out a good portion of the game's story, ending just after Subaru gets rescued with at least three major antagonists still remaining.
  • Anti-Grinding: Towards the end of the game, the enemies just keep piling on, making it difficult to grind while keeping up your peace points, which are necessary to view some of the endings.
  • Autobots Rock Out: With added reed flutes!
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: The three Blades' elemental powers are easily identifiable by their clothes.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Narika (red eyes, pink hair, and a mostly red and white color scheme) and Subaru (blue eyes and hair)
  • Despair Gambit: The Noroi Faction aims to bring about Noroi's resurrection by spreading despair and corruption, which manifests as "Sinergy".
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: The Blades are the elite fighting force of the Jougenshuu and are the only ones the player actually controls. It pays to have a name.
  • Emergency Weapon: All of your heroines have an attack that requires no energy to use. However, it's incredibly inaccurate and only ever does one damage even if it does hit, so if you ever run out of energy, you're pretty much screwed.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Hagane Itou
  • Faux Action Girl: Haruka in the OVA. Whenever she gets into a fight, it generally ends with her getting raped and having to be bailed out by Narika.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: Haruka uses lightning based attacks, Narika uses fire and Subaru uses ice.
  • Fish Out Of Temporal Water: Downplayed, as Haruka and Subaru are quickly brought up to speed on culture by the modern day Crescent Moons so it doesn't really become an issue.
  • The Four Gods: The castles of the Tetra Sealers are named after the holy beasts, with the exception being Castle Infinity, Noroi's personal stronghold.
  • Fragile Speedster: Narika invokes this trope initially, with a high starting Reflex stat and a very low Barrier.
  • Freudian Excuse: The Tetra Sealers all have some form of tragic backstory that drove them to support Noroi in spite of the fact that Takamaru sees good in them.
    • Orochimaru was a poor, homeless boy who was forced to steal to survive and crippled by an irate landlord for a crime he did not commit.
    • Itou Hagane was a boy named Shuhei who was forced to watch as his sister was sold into slavery by his uncaring parents. Later, once he took up swordplay, his master tried to murder him because he was afraid Shuhei would surpass him.
    • Ensai Mukuroi was a painter who was forced to paint pictures for a feudal lord who threatened to kill his family and everyone in his village. In the end, he was betrayed by the lord, the villagers, and everyone else.
    • The sole exception is Kikyo-dayu, who joined the Noroi Faction to satisfy her own desires and Even Evil Has Standards is looked down on by the other Tetra Sealers.
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: The main characters are nominally ninjas, but they operate more on Magical Girl tropes than anything else. Justified in that highly visible fights (and victories) help keep the morale of the citizenry up.
  • Hot Chick with a Sword: No prize for guessing who.
  • In the Name of the Moon: All the time. Lampshaded in the OVA after Narika gets too carried away.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja/Spiritual Successor: Basically, it's Beat Angel Escalayer with ninjas instead of aliens, a more polished battle system, and more heroines to manage.
  • Intimate Healing: Sex is required to charge power and raise vital stats.
  • Multiple Endings
  • New Game+: Clearing the game once unlocks two new routes and adds different enemies and CGs, which are required for One Hundred Percent Completion.
  • The Punishment: If the player loses a non-boss battle, the battle leader gets raped by the enemy. This, however, gives them a stat boost at the incredibly steep cost of one love point.
  • Recurring Riff: The opening theme, Like the Wind and Flame, is a fairly popular track for Alicesoft to rearrange and re-release, having been on at least three of their separate albums.
  • Tanuki: Gokudarou Danuki is one.
  • Time Travel: The Noroi Faction used a magical ritual to jump through time to the present day, bringing Haruka and Subaru with them.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Minazuki and Soukaku.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair}: Narika (pink) and Subaru (blue).
  • You Lose At Zero Trust