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Last year in Japan, a collection of four animated short films released packaged together as a collection called Short Peace. Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day is billed as the fifth piece of media from that collection, and it marks the team-up of designers who have created some strange projects.
I have personally been interested in Short Peace for some time and was excited to see its presence at Bandai Namco’s recent event. The collection is similar to another grouping of animated films titled Memories – a must watch for fans of anime or animation in general. Both Memories and Short Peace contain shorts from director Katsuhiro Otomo, best known for creating and directing the film Akira – a film I am a big fan of.
I mention Otomo‘s name here to represent the caliber of talent being brought together for Short Peace, which Bandai Namco says will be making its way to North America, though it didn’t have any specific details. You can check out a trailer for Short Peace below.
Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day comes from the mind of Suda 51 and is developed by the minds behind the bizarre Tokyo Jungle. The studio received the story and overview of the game from Suda 51 and openly admit they have no idea what the story is really about or what it means. “Suda 51 games don’t make sense,” game director Kataoka Yohei says.
The game follows the titular Ranko Tsukigime, the daughter of a parking garage mogul in Japan. In the game’s opening cutscene, Ranko is seen spurning her friends invitations to go out and have fun so she can pursue her mission: she must kill her father as revenge for the death of her mother.
In Short Peace, each of the films represents an era of Japan. Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day is meant to represent present-day Japan, albeit with the strange tone typically accompanying games with Suda 51’s name on them.
The game itself is a fast-paced 2D platformer. Its gameplay is reminiscent of classic Sonic as Ranko moves as fast as she can from left to right, gaining speed by running over specially marked conveyor belts. She has a sword she uses to take out enemies, and they explode into objects representative of modern Japanese culture. If you don’t keep up the pace, a collection of green arms appears behind you reaching out to grab you. It’s bizarre, but I enjoyed the fast-paced combat and platforming.
The designers behind the game call Longest Day a short experimental game promising it will be strange and crazy. I’m excited to play more of the game, but not quite as excited as I am to enjoy the full Short Peace package of films and video games, in its entirety.
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