Dark Hunter

Dark Hunter (ダークハンター) is an adventure game that is the second entry of Shibusawa Kou's "English Dream" series -following the three-part entry, Emit. The purpose behind both projects is to teach Japanese people the English language with the help of a thrilling narrative. Each game has English consultants with a dual language and subtitle option for players. While the English Dream series has been largely forgotten, both titles appeared on Koei's 2003 Winter Thanks Rare Campaign with cheap and forgiving prices.

This game was released as two separate parts, the first part being Strange Dimension School (上 異次元学園) and Demon Forest (下 妖魔の森) is the second. Character designs were made by Atsushi Kamijo with Naoyuki Onda for line cleanup.

Story
A strange set of violent crimes hit Tokyo streets. The young perpetrators state feeling no remorse for their ruthlessness and the cases pile up at an alarming rate. Within the city streets, Mariko experiences a chain of vivid hallucinations after her father's remarriage. Her new mother sends her away to attend Jigen High School, the exile for "special youths" ostracized in society. During one of her daily commutes, she meets two mysterious people: a stoic young man and a beautiful woman. Mariko's encounter with them is tied to her adventures of the academy's true colors.

Gameplay
At the start of the game, the player can choose to view the story from one of three scenarios. Each story focuses on the three main characters' perspective of events. Playing through all three of them is required to see the game's final chapter. The basic structure for a typical story is as follows:


 * Watch - the story is told through a series of fully voiced animated clips. During these sequences, the audio and subtitles can be switched to the player's preferences. After each box of dialogue, the player can access their viewer menu to analyze what was said. For those who grasp English text but cannot comprehend it vocally, they can switch the audio to reiterate in Japanese text. People who are challenged with the opposite issue may additionally access an in-game dictionary to help translate the harder words into comfortable Japanese. If so desired, the game may be read and heard entirely in either of the two languages. Scenes may be stopped and replayed if the player needs it. The option to revisit previously earned scenes throughout the characters' stories is also available.
 * Play - during certain sections of the story, the player will need to interact in move-and-touch mini games. These games test the player's reaction time and serves as a break from the exposition. Crosshatches mark targets that need to be hit by the player's cursor and highlight if the points match. During the short moments of contact, the player needs to press the game's confirmation button. Should the player fail to succeed, an option to retry or go back to the original scene can be made.
 * Choose - every so often, the player has the choice of seeing two different options of dialogue. Although these don't exactly have a big effect on the story, they unlock more words for the game's dictionary.

While the games are short, it is a funner version of the standard English teaching program with a fantasy horror twist. The first title mainly focuses on Mariko's discovery while the second title goes more in depth with her saviors.

Main Characters

 * Mariko Kayano (萱野真 理子)
 * Voiced by: Yuuko Minaguchi (Japanese), Alison Lester (English)
 * Mariko is a sheepish yet polite teenager who feels she doesn't have the power to defy what is set for her. She left Tokyo without protest, though she struggles to understand why she was sent to Jigen High. As she is just fitting in, she encounters Ran and Cher, each telling her that the school's faculty and students are inhabited by parasitic creatures from another dimension. Jigen High is their base of operations. In spite of the creatures attacking her and her school, Mariko is fearful of the truth shattering her sense of mediocrity and tries to stay within a state of denial.


 * Left with the keepsake of Ran's mother, Mariko is surprised to see her teachers revile the blue stone's glow. Realizing that her teachers really are savage creatures, she begins to trust Ran for being honest with her. When imprisoned by the creatures underneath Jigen High, Mariko learns she is the designated host for the creatures' holy Master, the Dark Mother.


 * Ran Mashimo (真下 蘭)
 * Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Michael. G (English)
 * The mysterious young transfer student to Jigen High, Ran claims to have lost all of his human emotions. Though he has a wild appearance, Ran is a talented psychic who is gifted in telepathy, fire manipulation, and psychometry. Not wanting to see another victim, Ran has an innate desire to rescue those who are endangered by the creatures. He is the one who reveals more details about the creatures to Mariko.


 * Ten years ago, his mother developed the X antibody to prevent the creatures from infecting other people. Before she died, she entrusted her sons with two blue pendants. She was secretly a person with clairvoyant powers, but her secret was found out and she was killed by fanatic rioters. His father turned into a raving maniac from the loss and his older brother, Yoku, was his sole protector. To guard his brother from the creatures in their home, Yoku cuts off ties with Ran and tells him to escape. Two years later, Ran hears from a mysterious figure that Yoku was murdered by a man named Shogen Kuji. He spent the following five years hunting Shogen down and dispatching creatures to avenge his loss.


 * Cher Mulligan (シェール・マリガン)
 * Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese), Kimberly Forsythe (English)
 * Posing as a resident in the dorms, Cher is actually a CIA agent from Washington DC. Her mission is to complete three main objectives: demolish all creatures before they further contaminate society, blow up the building, and dispatch Charles Kuroda. She spends the first part of the story learning the school's premise while being lead by a mysterious figure. Cher rescues a traumatized young boy named Satoshi during her adventure and promises to look out for the child.

Creatures
These plant-like creatures take three years to grow into this realm, slowly devouring the internals of their human hosts before emerging as the true master.