Jisei series

Jisei series
developer	sakevisual
Publisher	sakevisual, Ratalaika Games
Designer	Ayu Sakata
First title	Jisei (2010)
Last title	Yousei (2013)
Platform (s)	Microsoft Windows , Mac OS X , Linux , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch
Genre (s)	Visual novel

The Jisei series is a visual novel video game series. The series was developed and published by the US studio sakevisual and is to consist of five parts. The games are part of the so-called Green Tea Line , a collection of commercial games from Sakevisual. Appeared already Jisei - The First Case (dt. Jisei - The first case ), Kansei - The Second Turn (dt. Kansei - The second round ) and Yousei - The Third Investigation (dt. Yousei - The third determination ). Kansei immediately follows on from Jisei , while Yousei plays a week after the events of the two predecessors. The fourth part, Shinsei , is currently in development.

action

Jisei

A young teenager with no name and no home has the unique ability to see the death of any person whose corpse he touches. One day he falls asleep in a cafe and when he wakes up he doesn't feel particularly well. He goes to the toilets and discovers a dead woman on the floor with a knife in her chest. Since he can see the last few minutes of a dead person after touching them, he is touching them. He learns that she was not stabbed, but suffocated. Jennifer Bergstrom sees the boy touching the woman and now believes he is the murderer. A police detective, who happens to be in the café, decides to question everyone in order to find the perpetrator; Chance , Jennifer , Kizaki and the boy without a name. While the boy tries to prove his innocence by also questioning those present and searching the café for clues, he discovers duct tape in the garbage can of the men's toilet. After gathering all the clues, he tells Detective Gurski about it and identifies the perpetrator. It turns out that Jennifer Bergstrom smothered victim Sara Blackmoore. Sara also worked for Biodev Imaging and stole data for Jennifer from Auten Engineering, a competitor of Biodev. But Sara decided to betray Jennifer and leave the data to a third party who offered her more money. When Jennifer is confronted with this, she tries to escape, but the others stop her and she confesses. Detective Gurski handcuffs her and leads her outside. Kizaki, who now claims his real name is Naoki, wants the boy without a name to help him find out who that third party is. In the end, Naoki's twin sister and boss Aki shows up and offers the boy to work with them. Still, she insists that they didn't need his help, he needed hers.

In the epilogue it turns out that chance also plays a double role. She calls someone and tells them that she couldn't get the USB stick that the person wanted. Then she claims to have found someone the person was looking for, presumably referring to the protagonist.

Kansei

One day after the events in Jisei, the nameless and homeless teenager is again embroiled in a murder case when the owner of a well-known company dies under mysterious circumstances. This time, however, he is forced to work with a group of children, all of whom have skills as peculiar as his. In the course of the plot, the nameless protagonist is given the name Kangai , but his real name remains a mystery for the time being. He drives Aki, Naoki and Li Mei to the house of William Auten, the chairman of Auten Engineering. There they meet Mr. Oten's assistant Sophia Millerson, as well as the detective Mikolaj Gurski, who was invited because he had solved the murder case the previous day. Kangai also meets reporter Marissa Klein, Mr. Auten's nephew Liam and IT employee Kevin Nealy. When Kangai and the others are asked to join William Auten in the office and Mr. Auten sees Kangai through a camera, he seems to recognize him and wants to throw him out of the house. He's afraid of him and doesn't want to see him anymore. When William Auten is suddenly found dead in his office, Kangai has to solve the case. While searching for clues, Li Mei learns that she, Aki, and Naoki work for the government, are on probation, and Detective Gurski is their probation officer. Kangai finds an SD card in a box in Mr. Autens Museum. Shortly thereafter, it is discovered that Kevin poisoned Mr. Auten. Kevin captures Li Mei and threatens her with a knife. Suddenly Detective Gurski comes into the room, he calls Kangai Alex . Together they manage to take Kevin by surprise and arrest him. The day after, Detective Gurski comes by to tell Alex and the others that Kevin confessed and Liam has disappeared.

In the epilogue you see Liam who got some things for Chance. Judging from their conversation, Liam and Chance could be siblings or half-siblings. After Liam hands over the things, which Chance has wanted for years, she lets him go. She tells him to enjoy the rest of his wretched life. After all, there wouldn't be much left of it.

Yousei

A week after the Kansei events, Aki, Naoki, Li Mei and Kangai go to Edgewater University to see Dr. To meet Johansen. They enroll using Aki's tricks and are shown around by a student named Shawn. In Kangai and Naoki's room they meet their roommate Aaron, who loves to take photos. When Kangai was later named after Dr. Johansen searches, he is accused by students Jupiter, David and Nathan of stealing data. The theft was recorded on video; there is a person who resembles Kangai. Detective Gurski is called to the university, but suddenly Chance arrives, who has brought lunch for her boyfriend, and defends Kangai. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Johansen found dead in the bell tower, his body crushed by the bell. When Kangai gets a drop of blood in his face, he lives through the death of the victim. He passes out and when he wakes up again, Li Mei tells him that the "Kansei" - as the abilities are called - is strengthened by contact with blood. Then the two meet Jupiter, who tells them that she has analyzed the video material and that the perpetrator is about ten centimeters taller than Kangai, so he is innocent. Li Mei and Kangai decide to have something to eat in the cafeteria, where they meet Chance and Shawn. It turns out that Shawn is her boyfriend. After Dr. Johansen's death is public, Detective Gurski hires Kangai to find the killer. Kangai questions all the students and finds out that David is Chance's ex-boyfriend and that he is now with Jupiter. Kangai finds out that Nathan is Dr. Johansen killed because he wanted to destroy all his data. After William Auten died, Dr. Johansen's fear. Nathan tries to escape, but Aki and Naoki are able to stop him. Then he is arrested by Detective Gurski. While Nathan protests loudly, he says that he was after the "Dragonborn". Chance had told him if he could see Dr. Johansen's work would save, he could have the "Dragon's Blood". Kangai pursues Chance to face them. She tells him that she killed him from the start, but that he is supposedly too important. When Kangai asks what this "dragon's blood" is, she replies that it is his blood. Although in his case it was more like “tiger blood”. She also tells him that all those years ago, Kangai gave his sister "dragon's blood" and that she developed a special ability. She throws him a crumpled piece of paper before saying goodbye. When Kangai holds her, he feels a pain run through his body - which indicates that a "Kansei" has a chance - and he falls to the ground. Kangai can only watch as Chance drive off with Shawn in a red car.

Kangai later tells the others about the incident. Jupiter therefore offers you the data of Dr. Johansen, but Detective Gurski takes the USB stick away from them before they can see it. In another end it is resolved that this data is the so-called "dragon's blood". William Auten and his partner wanted to artificially breed children with this "dragon's blood". The test subjects all died except for one: Chie Mizutani. Aki and Naoki's mother died in childbirth, but the two got the "dragon's blood" and developed supernatural powers. Kangai also shows the others the crumpled paper from Chance, which is an invitation to the Yamazaki Ryokan resort. Kangai says that this is where "they" solved their first case, by which he probably means his sister.

A woman can be heard in the epilogue talking to Detective Gurski. He tells her that he has the data from Dr. Johansen has. Gurski didn't want Aki and Naoki to know the truth about their mother. He also tells her that their games can't last forever because they received an invitation to Yamazaki. She replies that the "dragon" is finally playing its move earlier than she expected. When Gurski asks what she wants to do about it, she replies that she wants to let it happen. It is time that the "dragon" and the "tiger" finally meet.

characters

• Kangai : the protagonist of the series. A teenager with the ability to see the death of any person whose corpse he touches. It seems like he has the unnatural bad luck of constantly discovering dead bodies. He doesn't like to reveal too much information about himself, but it seems like he has been traveling from one city to another for several years. In Kansei he is given the name Kangai, but his real name is Alexander.
• Mikolaj Gurski : A police detective in Edgewater town. He is often sarcastic and has not fallen on his mouth. He's easy going and knows more than he admits.

Jisei

• Chance Jackson : The waitress in the cafe where Sara was murdered. She is also a student at Edgewater University.
• Jennifer Bergstrom : A busy businesswoman who works for Biodev Imaging.
• Kizaki Suitani aka Naoki Mizutani : A shy student. He is part of a special detective agency and has a photographic memory. He is often the (very quiet) voice of reason.
• Sara Blackmoore : She is the victim. She worked for Biodev Imaging.

Kansei

• Naoki Mizutani : A shy student. He is part of a special detective agency and has a photographic memory. He is often the (very quiet) voice of reason.
• Aki Mizutani : Naoki's twin sister and head of a detective agency for children with special skills. She can talk directly into anyone's mind.
• Li Mei : A young girl who lives with Aki and Naoki. Nobody seems to want to talk about her or what she does. She absorbs the emotions of everyone around her.
• Kevin Nealy : A recent college graduate currently working as IT for Auten Engineering. It doesn't seem like he's interested in anything but money, but he does anything for that.
• Sophia Millerson : Mr. Auten's personal assistant. Sophia manages his day-to-day business and also talks to the press when Mr. Auten doesn't want to speak to anyone. She knows everything there is to know about his company.
• Liam Auten : Mr. Auten's party addicted nephew. He's been in more trouble recently than just going to parties. Rumor has it that he argued with his uncle about it.
• Marissa Klein : A bright reporter for a magazine who does everything for her next exclusive. She enjoys poking her nose into other people's businesses. She is also the last person to see the late Mr. Auten alive.

Yousei

• Aaron Vanich : A student at Edgewater University. He loves taking photos with his camera.
• David Sawicki : Another student, he seems to like football. He's Chance's ex-boyfriend.
• Nathan Holm : A school friend of David's. He often fools around with him.
• Shawn Mug : The smart and friendly contact person for university students. He is Chance's friend.
• Jupiter Celedon : She is a Latin American student currently attending Edgewater University.
• Dr. Johansen : He's a professor who recently returned to Edgewater University.
• Schulz : She's the one who heads Aki and Naoki's work program. Kangai used to work for her too. She is only mentioned in the game, but is most likely the woman in the epilogue.

Game mechanics

The games are interactive stories and the player can influence the course of dialogues or the story with the help of decisions. In the game, the player has the option of examining the current location to find clues. It is also possible to talk to people for clues. All hints are recorded in a notebook so that the player can keep track. Since Yousei there has been - in addition to the notebook - the possibility of receiving information from characters via a mobile phone. During the game you unlock new pieces of music and production sketches that can be viewed in the main menu. There is also the option of skipping read texts in order to fast-forward to a section of the plot that has not yet been read. All games have multiple endings, but there is always an ending that is considered “true” and gives a clue to the next part.

development

The games were created with Ren'Py , an engine specializing in such games. Many well-known American voice actors were involved in the games, including Kira Buckland and Micah Solusod . Jisei's opening is Calling To The One by Aural Wave . The graphics are by M. Beatriz Garcia, who also drew graphics for the visual novels Ripples by sakevisual and The Flower Shop by Winter Wolves .

For the second part, some voice actors returned to their roles from the first part, including Kira Buckland and Micah Solusod . The opening of Kansei is Escape by Aural Wave, who were also responsible for the opening of the predecessor. Aural Wave recorded an opening for Yousei as well , it is called Redemption . However, the opening video was removed from the game due to technical problems.

M. Beatriz Garcia is also responsible for the cover design of the individual titles. On the cover of the game Jisei , the nameless protagonist is depicted, drawing a trail of blood with his finger. Detective Gurski graces the cover for the successor, Kansei ; he is shown with a pistol in hand, there are two bullet holes in the picture. On the Yousei cover, the two twins Aki and Naoki Mizutani are shown holding hands, three red rays are drawn in the black background. A third, unknown hand is intermingled with the twins' hands.

The first three parts of the Jisei series were also released on Desura in 2014 . The three games were also part of the “Let's Build a Doujin Bundle” on Groupees in August 2013. The translator Marcel Weyers , who has already translated the free publications from sakevisual into German, will translate the series into German. In August 2017, Jisei and Kansei appeared on itch.io with a modern engine and some improvements . In the first week after the release, all proceeds were donated to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund.

In 2020, the Spanish studio Ratalaika Games ported the first part of the series for consoles. Jisei: The First Case HD was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in July 2020 . In addition to the high-resolution graphics, translations into French, Spanish and Portuguese were added to the existing German translations.

Rod

role	game
	Jisei	Kansei	Yousei	Shinsei
Plot, programming	Ayu Sakata
Character design, graphics	M. Beatriz Garcia
music	Marc Conrad Tabula
Opening song	Aural wave
Background graphics	Sandra Lane
Proofreader	Dennis Elliot		Darien A. Lee
Beta tester			Sarah Galbraith, Jané Peens, Marcel Weyers , Elsa Whitney

synchronization

figure	game
	Jisei	Kansei	Yousei	Shinsei
Detective Mikolaj Gurski	Chris Niosi
Chance Jackson	Kira Buckland
Jennifer Bergstrom	Morgan Barnhart
Naoki Mizutani (Kizaki Suitani)	Micah Solusod
Aki Mizutani	Apphia Yu
Li Mei		Cherami Leigh
Kevin Nealy		Zach Holzman
Liam Auten		Matt Alan
Marissa Klein		Melissa D. Johnson
Sophia Millerson		Karen Hayman
William Auten		Robert Bruce Elliott
Girl (Kangai's sister)		Mindy Owen
Aaron Vanich			Edwyn Tiong
David Sawicki			Clifford Chapin
Nathan Holm			Chris Cason
Shawn mug			Kevin M. Connolly
Jupiter Celedon			Erica Mendez
Mrs Schulz)			Karen Kahler
Telephone representative			Greg Nugent
School staff			James Goins

reception

The three games published so far received mostly positive reception.

Jisei scored a 90/100 rating on Gamertell. Jenni Lada wrote about the game (freely translated): “[Jisei] seems incredibly professional and more like the work of a big developer than a fairly new, independent development team. The characters' graphics are wonderful, the narration appropriate, the story interesting, and the game mechanics well executed. ”Mania.com similarly described the game, calling it“ a compelling visual novel from a promising new group. ” / 5 stars and noted (loosely translated): "Jisei has beautiful graphics and a really good story, but it's a bit short given the length and the general lack of things to do." Gamezebo also criticized the short playing time and said (loosely translated): "It seems like everything is over too quickly and most will feel ripped off."

Kansei scored a 93/100 rating on Gamertell. Jenni Lada wrote about the game (freely translated): "[Kansei] is a great improvement over Jisei regarding interactivity and action with a story that is still amazing and offers additional twists to discover." Kansei was of VNs Now! also voted best English visual novel 2011.

Yousei was recognized by IndieGameMagazine and called it "Sakevisual's best release so far". From VNs Now! received Yousei 10.8 points. It was called "still one of the best English-language visual novels of the year" and it was "more than worth the money". Furthermore, in 2013 Yousei won three awards in the “Best Of” of VNs Now! ; the award “Best Director” went to Ayu Sakata , “Best Female Voice Actress” to Apphia Yu and “Best Male Voice Actor” to Clifford Chapin. Gamertell gave it a B rating, Jessica Moen described the game as follows (loosely translated): "What made Yousei so entertaining was the cool voice acting, the realistic characters, the great story, the multiple endings and the replayability."

Name meaning

• Jisei (in Japanese as 辞世 ) literally means “to die”.
• Kansei (in Japanese as als ) literally means "sensitivity". It alludes to the fact that some of the characters in the series have certain supernatural , cognitive abilities. In the game itself, these skills are also referred to as "Kansei".
• Yousei (in the Japanese name as 妖精 ) is now translated as “fairy”, but originally represented a spirit that has no Japanese roots. One of the fairy-like creatures was a spirit that could raise the dead. Sakevisual chose the title because it was a perfect fit for the Jisei series and the hero Kangai.

Offshoot

sakevisual has set out to publish short and free side stories to the Jisei series in the future , which revolve around smaller investigations and not murder cases. Furthermore, these offshoots should not be connected to the main story and possibly be illustrated with chibis . The working title is Kangai's Big Little Adventures . In addition, sakevisual has indicated that there could be a crossover between the Jisei series and The Flower Shop by Winter Wolves in the future. Again, it shouldn't be about solving murder cases, but about other things. The working title for this project is Jisei in Fairbrook .

Web links

• Jisei official website at www.sakevisual.com
• Kansei's official website at www.sakevisual.com
• Yousei's official website at www.sakevisual.com
• Official website of sakevisual

Individual evidence

1. ↑ sakevisual Facebook. Retrieved August 28, 2011 . 
2. ↑ About Jisei. Retrieved August 27, 2011 . 
3. ^ Aural Wave - Calling To The One. In: YouTube . May 27, 2010, accessed August 28, 2011 . 
4. ↑ About Kansei. Retrieved August 28, 2011 . 
5. ^ Aural Wave Escape. In: YouTube . July 11, 2011, accessed August 28, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Jisei Windows, Mac, Linux game Desura. (No longer available online.) In: Desura . Archived from the original on January 30, 2014 ; Retrieved March 25, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Jisei by Sakevisual. In: itch.io . August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Kansei by Sakevisual. In: itch.io . August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Jisei: The First Case HD. In: Ratalaika Games. Retrieved July 22, 2020 (English). 
10. ↑ Jenni Lada: Gamertell Review: Jisei for PC, Mac and Linux. June 22, 2010, accessed August 28, 2011 . 
11. ↑ Thomas Zoth: Jisei Visual Novel Game Review. (No longer available online.) June 9, 2010, archived from the original on September 28, 2011 ; accessed on August 28, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ Jisei - The First Case: Someone's Been J-Popped. Can You Discover the Killer? Gambatte! (Indie Game Review). 2011, accessed on May 13, 2013 . 
13. ↑ Mike Rose: Jisei Review. (No longer available online.) July 25, 2010, archived from the original on April 6, 2012 ; accessed on May 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ Jenni Lada: Review: Kansei for Windows, Mac, Linux. July 20, 2011, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
15. ^ Visual Novel of the Year. (No longer available online.) 2012, archived from the original on April 11, 2013 ; accessed on May 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ Kim Berkley, 'Yousei: The Third Investigation Review' - Memento Mori. (No longer available online.) February 8, 2013, archived from the original on May 21, 2013 ; accessed on May 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
17. ↑ Yousei: The Third Investigation Review. (No longer available online.) 2013, archived from the original on April 12, 2013 ; accessed on May 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
18. ↑ Best Ofs - VNs Now! (No longer available online.) 2013, archived from the original on April 11, 2013 ; accessed on March 25, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ Jessica Moen: Yousei for the PC. February 24, 2013, accessed May 13, 2013 . 
20. ↑ Ayu Sakata: Kansei We're not dead yet! August 30, 2010, accessed March 26, 2014 . 
21. ↑ Ayu Sakata: Happy Lunar New Year! The Dragon is Coming. January 23, 2012, accessed March 26, 2014 . 
22. ↑ Ayu Sakata: Hello, 2013 ~. January 1, 2013, accessed March 26, 2014 . 
23. ^ Ayu Sakata: On Finishing Things and Crossovers. November 14, 2012, accessed March 26, 2014 .