In any creative work involving a cast of more than one female character — particularly if said work is of Japanese origin — there is one question that is, to some people, seemingly of greater importance than any other.
I am, of course, talking about Who Is Best Girl, an eternally raging debate that no-one can ever agree on, and which you’re probably some sort of despicable idiot if you ever declare your opinion on as being some sort of universal truth.
With that in mind, then, I thought it a good time to look at Gal*Gun 2’s extended cast outside of its main heroines, and pick a few favourites from the mix! Join me! STANDARD DISCLAIMER: If you have different personal Best Girls… well, that’s great. Let me know who they are! This is not a definitive list by any means.
Rize and Roze
This pair of twin girls are a good example of the sort of humour that pervades the Gal*Gun series — they’re both apparently from another dimension, but this appears to be no big deal whatsoever. Either no-one knows or no-one cares — least of all the girls themselves, apparently, despite the fact that in coming to our world, they lost their mastery over the elemental powers.
Of the two, Roze is older and seemingly more “mature”, but in some ways she is also the most innocent. When presented with the opportunity for some alone time with the protagonist, she appears a little confused on what she is expected to do, while her sister quite happily jumps right in there.
Rize is also much more comfortable in her own body; while attempting to stare at Roze’s breasts or up her skirt causes her to be embarrassed and regard the situation as “shameful”, Rize is pretty much up for whatever — although it’s clear that she also wants to consider her sister’s feelings, as she often suggests that the protagonist should get together with Roze as she’s “almost as pretty” as Rize.
A nice little touch in these two characters is the fact that the coloured tips of their ponytails correspond to the elements they supposedly had mastery of back in their home world. Roze’s red tips signify fire, while Rize’s blue tips signify ice.
Maria Natsuki
Maria represents a trope that seemingly both I and Inti Creates are rather fond of: the English-speaker who is largely fluent in Japanese, but whose accent is absolutely atrocious.
For those of you who have played the excellent Azure Striker Gunvolt series, you will doubtless be familiar with the character Ghauri, who speaks almost exclusively in rhymes and has a similarly peculiar accent to his Japanese dialogue. Maria doesn’t quite go that far in that she doesn’t rap at the player-protagonist, but she does have a habit of inserting English phrases into her Japanese utterances seemingly at random — a quirk which the localised subtitles represent as her inserting random Japanese phrases into her English utterances. Makes sense!
This… habit of hers continues into her pleasured moans and cries in Doki-Doki mode, where she tends to favour words beginning with “Ex” when she gets… well, excited. These range from “Exciting!” during the start of a rendezvous to “Exorcist!” and “Extraterrestrial!” as things heat up a bit. I’m also not quite sure whether to slap or hug whoever was responsible for slipping a Xenoblade reference into her localised dialogue.
Maria also has probably the least flattering lingerie in the game, featuring gigantic lime-green granny pants. Respect. Big pants need love too.
Midori Hanba
I don’t just like Midori because she shares a name with the site mascot! She’s a charmer, a gamer girl and the first girl I Doki Doki Moded with in Gal*Gun 2, so she’ll always be a bit special to me.
Midori is super-cute because she is both short and an unabashed nerd. These are both things that appeal greatly to me, as will doubtless be apparent if you’ve ever met my wife. Not only does Midori have Tetris hairclips, she also talks in silly gaming references, up to and including referring to “entering a blocked scene” when you win her over and stand close enough for her to think about planting a kiss on your lips.
Interestingly, and on a side node, she’s one of numerous girls throughout the Gal*Gun 2 cast who wear full tights under their skirt rather than the more commonly seen knee socks or thigh-highs. I have the distinct sense someone on Gal*Gun 2’s development team has a thing for pantyhose and feet, and I salute them for incorporating their fetish so obviously into their work — particularly as said fetishes are rather popular among the fanart community generally.
Junko Hitotsubashi
Junko is adorable because, as you quickly discover shortly after meeting her, her personality doesn’t quite fit her looks at all. To be more specific, as the game puts it, she looks dignified but is actually a crybaby.
This is a fun subversion of the normal “sporty girl” trope, since in slice-of-life anime and similar popular media, sporty girls such as Junko are often represented as confident and assertive. Junko, meanwhile, is quite the opposite, being extremely hesitant to express herself and never quite sure how to respond to the situations in which she finds herself.
It’s worth noting, as well, that her voice actress does a wonderful job of making her sound constantly on the verge of tears, even when she’s saying something relatively straightforward and innocent. You need to hear it to believe it.
Ringo Kotobuki
I bring up Ringo for a couple of reasons: firstly because I have a lot of time for any budding thespians, but also because she’s a great example of how the incidental interactions between you and the extended cast in Gal*Gun 2 allow you to get to know other people’s reputation as well as how they are with you face-to-face.
Take Ringo’s commentary on first-year Rion Harusame here, for example. Spend some time with Rion and you might think she’s a perfectly lovely young woman, but read her biography and hear what other people have to say about her and you’ll learn that she has a bit of a bitchy, manipulative streak, particularly with regard to certain specific peers. This knowledge doesn’t necessarily add anything to the game itself directly, but it helps the cast feel more like an ensemble than just a collection of individual characters.
Ringo’s also kind of adorable for acknowledging the fact that you grow close to all the girls in the cast by filling them up with candy. She seems a little concerned with how you might perceive her, despite her not being in the slightest bit big or fat, but is extremely appreciative if you toss her a few boxes of Golden Packy. Those ones are never going to see the club snack stash, I imagine.
Yuri Tsurugi
Yuri quickly became a favourite of mine for a few reasons. Firstly, there’s just something about her appearance I found very appealing — I’m a big fan of high-tied ponytails such as that which she has, for starters — and also there was an endearing kind of formality about the way she addresses you.
She also randomly let out an obvious but nonetheless pun on her name by noting that she “constantly finds herself in the good favour of other girls” — a reference to the fact that the word yuri is used to refer to popular media (and hentai) involving girl-girl same sex relationships.
I think one of the things I found so pleasant about Yuri was how earnest she sounds in her confessions of attraction to you, however. She actually looks almost pained as she wistfully sighs how you are “so handsome” and how “your gaze… it’s lovely”. The girl knows how to make a man’s heart flutter, I can tell you that now. Doki-doki indeed.
Suzume Asano
And the last girl for today is Suzume Asano, who you might make the mistake of assuming is a typical red-haired, twintailed tsundere from her appearance. But no. She’s a total train nerd.
There’s something rather delightful about her being so passionate about a hobby not typically associated with femininity — and more to the point, the fact that she’s invested in it to such a degree that she actively puts people off from trying to get close to her. I’m sure we’ve all been there with one hobby or another over the years. (Looks around… hey wait, where are you goi–)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, her Doki-Doki mode scenes are a mess of train puns, with her excitedly screaming that “something’s billowing out” as you blast Mini-Kuronas out of her erogenous zones, “train” your eyes on her and give her the “ride” of her life. Yes, really.
So there you have it: a selection of great girls from Gal*Gun 2’s extended cast. None of these girls have direct relevance to the plot, but they’re all there for you to interact with, and they all have unique personalities, voices and quirks for you to discover. And that’s as much a part of the Gal*Gun 2 experience as working your way through the story and completing the action stages is.
Now, I think I have a few more dates in me before the evening’s over. Don’t wait up.
More about Gal*Gun 2
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