Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day Review

Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day is the fifth and final part of Short Peace, a collection of short movies, or in the case of Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day, a game. Directed by Suda 51, RTLD is all about speed, precision and story comprising of pure insanity. But that’s not all - the game disc also includes all four Short Peace animations: Possessions, Combustible, Gambo and A Farewell To Weapons, all in 1080P. Sound interesting? Sure does…

Ranko Tsukigime is a high school girl and daughter of the founder of Tsukigime Enterprises, at least by day. At night she becomes a deadly assassin - one seemingly being stalked by a green slime/ghost/monster thing. The story gets crazier from there, including Sailor Moon-esque costume changes and fighting a dragon whilst aboard a flying motorcycle. After multiple playthroughs, I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on, but I like it.

Gameplay has you running from left to right, 2D-platformer style, with enemies placed about the place to thwart with your blade. Speed is the aim, as the game encourages you to try and maximise on kills and how quickly you complete levels. Levels have multiple tiers, allowing you to take shortcuts to hidden areas, and offer replay value with hidden items scattered through the levels which can unlock concept art and costumes. The controls are tight and the speed is pleasing. Moving through levels can be done intuitively despite the limited view distance, although some areas and items are easiest to reach and collect by memorising locations.

To keep up the pace, you are constantly being chased. At first it’s the aforementioned green slime/ghost/monster thing, later changing into some abusurd forms. The beast can be pushed back with your limited ammo supply, which refills by defeating enemies; as a result, holding the creature back requires constant progression. This keeps up the pace of the game, pushing you towards the exit, but it’s rarely much of a threat. It’s more often than not easily outrun, to the point where you may forget it’s even there.

 

Several anime-style cutscenes in the game tell the bulk of the story and harkens back to the fact that this is definitely part of an anime collection.The cutscenes each take on a distinct and different artstyle, at one point an odd CGI-style anime, and then more traditional anime styles and stylised choices. They’re all entertaining enough, although the plot is partially lost on me.

Gameplay feels good, the story - although insane - is entertaining and enjoyable, but there is one thing here which doesn’t sit quite right with me. The game took me under an hour to finish on my first try. Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day is short, really, really short; however, depending on what kind of gamer you are, this might not be such a bad thing. The game appealed to that arcade-gamer in me, the one that loves to chase high scores in short, repetitive games. Donkey Kong on NES wasn’t long, but I still played it for many hours. That’s how I feel about Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day; it’s not long, but the replay value is huge, assuming you’re not just interested in the storyline. The gameplay is tight and remains fun after many attempts on the same level, as long as you’re improving.

Audio is pleasing throughout, with Ranko herself shouting Japanese soundbytes when she kills an enemy or celebrates a victorious run. Background music changes from ambient to dubstep-inspired, with several other genres mixed in. Background music, however, ultimately sounds quiet in comparison to the game’s other sound effects and voices.

The Short Peace anime movies are all fairly fantastic, my favour is Possessions, an Academy Award-nominated short film about the spirits of abandoned items in a Japanese forest. Combustible involves a firefighter and a missed opportunity of love. Gambo is a giant white bear who may be an envoy of the Gods, and finally, A Farewell To Weapons is set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, with a small squad of fighters attempting to destroy an automated super-weapon. All the short-movies are really enjoyable, entertaining whilst also being “arty”. Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira and Steamboy fame is just one of the incredibly talented directors in this collection; in total the four movies run just over an hour, and look beautiful in 1080P.

Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day is aimed at the “Otaku” fanbase, those who love both games and anime. I love both, and I really enjoyed this game, but it’s not something that will appeal to everyone.

I recommend it, but only if you enjoy both games and anime. Although, if you know who both Suda 51 and Katsuhiro Otomo are, chances are you may be exactly the sort of person who will appreciate this collection in its entirety.