Girlfriend of Steel

Yes, I am slow. This game has been out since ages ago. And I just played it just 2 days ago. It also happened to be my first visual novel. I fail.

This is basically a rather simple visual novel. The player does not have to make much decisions, so the game feels much like watching an Evangelion OVA instead. Still, the storyline is rather interesting, and it kept me playing this game till the end.

In the game, a new transfer student, Mana Kirishima is introduced in the story. Mana is a character who looks somewhat like Rei, with roughly the same character design, just that she has a different hair and eye colors. Upon appearing, she sticks to Shinji like super glue. And that gets that ego-inflated orange haired tsundere, Asuka, all fired up. Mana’s relationship with Shinji, however, is not as close as we think. Mana has a dark past which she conceals from Shinji, and coincidently happens to be a child pilot of another type of robot, which is somewhat similar to what Shinji is. She was supposed to spy on Shinji and Evangelion Unit 01, but with her other friends who are child pilots running away in the robots from the organisation they were from, she gets into trouble and is hunted down desperately by the organisation.There are 3 endings to this game. One focusing of Mana, one on Asuka and the last one on Kaji (Wtf?!? How come?). So far, I only have only completed the game with Mana’s ending. Hopefully, I would have the time to complete the other 2 endings too.

Too bad the game’s focus is mainly on Mana and Asuka. Rei is around, but not featured much. Shinji isn’t as much of a wimp in this game as he is in the anime, but I still harbor a great dislike for his character. Maybe the Rebuild of Evangelion might change my opinion of him? We’ll see.

I kind of like Mana as a character. I think she almost as hawt as Rei. One thing I did not like about her however, was that she was actually two-timing Shinji, and hugged her other child pilot friend just before the N2 mine was dropped. No matter how much of a fag and a wimp Shinji is, he should not deserve such actions. Instead, Mana should have just made a clean cut from him and dumped him once her real identity was revealed, if she really loved her other friend.

Overall, I would say that this game is quite worth the time. The game play is rather short, and I completed the entire thing in about 2-3 hours. Despite the short time spent on Girlfriend of Steel, I actually enjoyed every moment of it. I must say that it’s quite amazing, since the graphics were only average and the game has been released since 1998. Chances are I would probably buy this game’s limited edition release for collection’s sake, if I actually manage to find a copy. Damn, I’m such a sucker for Evangelion.

Now, for me to find Girlfriend of Steel 2 and spend more hours on it. And not do my assignments.