Back home, Furukawa Hirozawa skillfully turned on the TV, inserted the game cartridge, and started the game.
Pleasant music began to play from the TV.
It was soothing and warm, like raindrops of time hitting the pages of a book, slowly spreading out.
The game screen was the same.
At first, it was just a blank white, like a piece of blank paper.
Then, colors bloomed within it like flowers, one after another, slowly unfolding and rendering into a painting.
The colors intertwined, like fireworks painted with watercolors.
In the bottom left corner was a boy wrapped in a blanket, and in the bottom right corner was a girl wearing a thick sweater.
This composition immediately pulled Furukawa Hirozawa back to his childhood.
A fairy-tale feeling rushed over him, the same emotion he felt when he first saw the PV for "Blanket Man" on TV.
How should he put it?
The art style of Blanket Man is actually quite unique, reminiscent of a master like Picasso: despite possessing superb painting skills and a mastery of color, it deliberately adopts a childlike approach.
The drawings from childhood, the characters and such, weren't particularly refined, and their skewed, wobbly brushstrokes actually managed to perfectly outline that sense of childlike innocence.
This includes the menu bar that appears in the center of the screen as well.
It's skewed and wobbly, just like something written by a child who has only just learned how to write.
However, it is quite obvious that these were meticulously designed to intentionally create a fairytale-like feeling, while the use of color is extremely deliberate.
Hirozawa Furukawa leaned back a little and squinted his eyes.
He felt that the start screen itself was a very beautiful painting.
Although the art style was a bit strange, it always managed to touch the heart.
"Huh? Pokeni is quite bold with this project," Hirozawa sighed.
***
He didn't know Sempé, and at this point in time, Jimmy Liao from Taiwan hadn't even officially entered the illustration industry yet...
But Pokeni's "Blanket Man" already showed traces of a similar style.
At first glance, it seemed a bit immature, distorted, even giving the illusion that it was drawn by a child.
But upon closer inspection, you'd realize that such an art style was truly rare.
Combined with Shirakawa Atsushi's gentle BGM, it was like a work of art.
The key question was whether a work of art could achieve commercial success, which was hard to say.
He didn't know about others, but Furukawa Hirozawa himself quite liked it.
Recently, the art style of galgames in Japan had become quite homogenized; they were basically all the same: big eyes, a male protagonist with spiky hair, a parallelogram-shaped face, and a heroine with a cat-like face and a pointed chin—the standard Japanese anime style.
Especially after "Sailor Moon" became a huge hit, the girls in many game titles were basically based on its templates—either the Usagi Tsukino template or the Mercury template...
On the contrary, P Corporation has been constantly innovating and forging its own path.
The art style of "Your Name" pushed game titles forward by who knows how many years; it was like a bomb, a sudden clap of thunder on level ground that shook the entire industry.
And ever since "Your Name," there has been another wave of copycats in galgames lately.
Well, this is great—"Blanket Man" from Pokeni has made a further breakthrough, with a game style unlike anything else on the market.
However, are there really many works that can pull off this kind of fairy-tale, dreamy watercolor style?
Hirozawa Furukawa shook his head, feeling a bit worried about the content of the game.
***
The more unique a game's art style, the higher the demands on the producer's ability to maintain control. If it were Master Kohara Tsubaki, Furukawa Hirozawa would support it without reservation.
But Ishino Mika...
Emmm...
It's really hard to say.
To be honest, when Furukawa Hirozawa played Onmyoji, he had a very favorable impression of Ishino Mika as a scriptwriter.
From the writing style to the story structure, one could see Ishino Mika's personality and thoughts reflected in it. Unlike the future "Old Xu," who would bury his head in writing tragic twists, suspense, and reversals, Ishino Mika's approach was more delicate, and the gameplay felt smoother.
It was also closer to the mindset of actual girls.
Furukawa Hirozawa highly praised this aspect; the girls Ishino Mika created had distinct personalities that were heart-fluttering, surpassing Old Xu in terms of delicacy.
It's just hard to know how Blanket Man will turn out.
Emotionally speaking, Furukawa Hirozawa had expectations for Ishino Mika.
***
To be precise, he looked like a humanoid bat.
Except when he spread his arms and legs into the shape of a cross, what was stretched out behind him was a quilt.
And no matter how he shook, he couldn't shake it off.
At first, the male protagonist thought it was a prank by his roommates, using some kind of superglue to stick it to him, but after confirming with them and conducting several experiments, he despairingly discovered—
The quilt had [grown] onto his body.
[Although I really don't want to use the word "grow".
But that's the fact of the matter.
Just thinking about this makes one's scalp tingle and one's whole body tremble.]
In order to get the quilt off, Uesugi Shun and his roommates came up with various methods.
For example, applying some oil to the connection point; if it were really a prank using superglue, it should come off.
Unfortunately, this did nothing but leave the protagonist feeling sticky and greasy.
As a last resort, they had no choice but to use violent methods, so his roommate found a pair of scissors, preparing to cut the quilt open.
However, when the sharp scissors stabbed toward the quilt, Shun Uesugi felt as if he had really been stabbed hard by a knife; his whole body broke out in a cold sweat from the pain, and he couldn't help but cry out.
When everyone looked again, they discovered—
Bright red blood was already flowing from inside the quilt.
Huh...
Playing to this point, Hirozawa Furukawa couldn't help but shiver.
Why does this feel like reading a Junji Ito manga?
He now finally understood a little why Pokeni chose to use such a fairytale style to present this game.
The blood flowing out here felt more like ketchup, and combined with the wobbly character lines, it was just like the color of the rose in The Little Prince.
Furthermore, it wasn't liquid, it was foam-like, so it was bearable.
If it had been presented in any other way, it really would have been unbearable.
It might even have caused an inexplicable sense of dread and nausea.
At least for now, although the premise felt a bit scary, the art style was something Hirozawa Furukawa could accept.
If it were Junji Ito, Furukawa Hirozawa would probably be turning off the TV right about now.
"So what do we do now? Should we go to the hospital and check?"
Even though they initially thought Uesugi Shun's appearance was ridiculous and assumed he was just staging a prank, his roommates no longer dared to laugh at him; they even felt a bit of sympathy for Uesugi.
"That won't work... If I go to the hospital like this, or if I'm discovered, wouldn't I be captured and studied as a test subject?" Uesugi Shun shook his head. "I don't want to become a lab rat."
One of the roommates, feeling distressed, walked over to Uesugi Shun and rubbed his back to comfort him.
"Hahahaha..."
Uesugi Shun burst into loud laughter as he was tickled.
But the moment he laughed, he felt awful.
[Ah~ As much as I don't want to admit it, it's the truth—
This blanket is like my skin; it has grown together with me.]
***
Honestly, even Shun Uesugi felt a bit of sympathy for him.
The male protagonists in P Corporation's galgames really get more miserable with each generation.
Is there some kind of curse on them?
From "Onmyoji" to "The Mermaid's Heart," to "The Entropic Man" and "Your Name," they were at least still human.
By this point, it's hard to even tell if the male protagonist is human anymore.
However...
"You can't just hole up in your dorm room, don't spend all day huddled under your blanket reading books and playing games, or you'll turn into a Blanket Man."
Who is this aimed at?
Hirozawa Furukawa couldn't help but frown.
For some reason, this is the male protagonist he has resonated with the most in history.
His life is a complete reflection of his own.
Unwilling to waste time on dating or making friends, he spends all his time indoors, huddled under his blanket, except when he's at school.
A human living in a shell, eventually becoming a Blanket Man.
Thinking of himself, Hirozawa Furukawa didn't feel so good.
***
Fortunately, it is winter now, so even draped in a quilt, Shun Uesugi doesn't feel stuffy.
He walks along the streets of Tokyo, wrapped in his blanket just like that.
Although people around him occasionally eye him with strange looks, they at most linger for a second or two before going about their own business as if nothing happened.
In a country like Japan, wearing any kind of bizarre outfit seems unable to pique much interest in people, nor will anyone truly treat you like a monster.
There are all kinds of cosplayers.
There are even those who cosplay Cthulhu.
That is truly not acting human at all.
[In this world, no one truly cares about anyone.
The pedestrians coming and going on the streets, the vehicles flowing by like water...
Everyone is indifferent to what happens around them.
And they don't expect anyone to care about them either.
A world like this is just like an ocean.
Everyone is an isolated island.
Perhaps in such a world, even if you were to die, no one would notice, right?]
Just as he was thinking this, the male protagonist unwittingly walked onto a bridge.
The Rainbow Bridge.
P Corporation used vibrant colors to outline the bridge itself, as if a rainbow were straddling the river.
The distorted reflection below looked like spilled watercolors.
The whole game was dreamlike.
In this setting, the male protagonist discovered a young girl standing on one side of the bridge.
The girl had a beautiful profile, high twin tails, and was wearing a white sweater, a short skirt, long white stockings, and a long scarf.
In a fairytale-style game, even with slightly distorted lines, you could tell at a glance that she was beautiful.
It was a pure, flawless beauty, like moonlight shining into the depths of one's heart.
This was also the male protagonist's first impression when he saw her.
However, the next second, Shun Uesugi faltered.
Because the girl wasn't standing inside the bridge's railing; she was standing on the outside of it, with part of her toes hanging over the edge. If she leaned forward just a little, she would plummet down the next second and disappear into the rushing river below.
So, Shun Uesugi shouted aloud, "Don't!"
"Nani?" The girl turned her head, glanced at Uesugi, and a look of disgust welled up in her eyes. "What a pervert. Old man, are you running around the street wrapped in a blanket, or have you just not been caught by the police yet?"
Megumi Hayashibara's voice was truly pleasant, especially when she said "pervert"; that sense of aloof coldness was truly pleasing to the ear.
Hirozawa Furukawa, upon hearing this, didn't feel insulted at all; on the contrary, he really wanted her to scold him a few more times.
"Uncle? I'm only 20, how do I look like an uncle?!"
Uesugi Shun was taken aback, but didn't dwell on it.
Saving her was more important.
He took a few quick strides, ran up, and grabbed her wrist.
"Ah, ow..."
The protagonist let out a pained groan.
When Uesugi Shun went to grab her, the moment his palm touched her wrist, he felt a sharp sting.
Looking down, he saw it was covered in dense, tiny white prickles.
His palm was riddled with tiny beads
"No! You're still so young..." Uesugi reached out and grabbed her hand.
This time, he was pricked until his palm bled.
Though surprised, Uesugi didn't give much thought as to why.
Seeing him holding her hand, the girl had an incredulous expression on her face.
"Does it not hurt? You're bleeding from the thorns."
"You really are a meddlesome nuisance!" The girl struggled twice, but couldn't break free.
"Let go!"
"I told you! I'm not..."
At that moment, they both lost their balance, and their feet suddenly went out from under them.
"Ah~~"
Both of them let out a scream at the same time as they fell from the bridge.
***
"Ah!"
With a splash.
Immediately after, Blanket Man surfaced from the river.
The biting cold wind blew against their wet faces, and the river water was bone-chillingly cold.
The girl clung tightly to his blanket.
Because there was air trapped inside the blanket, it instantly puffed up.
It floated on the river surface just like a life raft.
But the next second, the male protagonist heard a gurgling sound.
"Oh no! My blanket! My blanket is getting soaked!"
It's common knowledge that a quilt becomes heavier after absorbing water.
Shun Uesugi was panicking, "It's over, it's over, I'm going to die, I'm going to die."
The girl hugged his body, wiped her face with her hand, and shouted, "Let go of your blanket! Why are you holding onto it for dear life?!"
"I..." Shun Uesugi was on the verge of tears and yelled, "I can't!"
Hahahaha...
For some reason, even though he sympathized with the male protagonist, Hirozawa Furukawa laughed very loudly.
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