Please make one for katakana and basic kanji too PLEASE.

Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r8lC0TTLAE

Japan produces some pretty cool stuff. Some of the best games of the last few decades have been either first released in Japan or exclusively released in Japan. A lot of the times, nice folks who know the Japanese language will translate Japanese games so that we can enjoy them to their fullest. However, that may take a while, if it ever happens at all. Besides, self-reliance is an underrated thing. Now, if you’re a chowderhead like me, then you only know one language, and that’s ‘murcan. But what if you want to broaden your horizons? You could take a Japanese course at school. But only if your school offers it, and if it’s a college course, you may be spending quite a bit of money on the course and books. You could buy Rosetta Stone, but that could cost you up to $200. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a great learner in the normal classroom setting. I’ve tried games before like My Japanese Coach, but I was bored and frustrated soon after starting. I’ve always wanted to learn Japanese, but have never found a way that works for me.

And now this is starting to sound like an infomercial, and as much as I love me some infomercials, I purchased Learn Japanese to Survive: Hiragana Battle from the Steam store on a whim the day it launched. I didn’t even know this was a thing until the day I bought it, but I saw the $7 price tag and good early reviews and figured I’d give Japanese one last shot. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Hiragana Battle is an educational game. It teaches the player Hiragana, one of the 3 forms of the Japanese language, in the wrapper of a traditional JRPG. Misaki, your Japanese instructor, gives you lessons. You’ll then set out to the world map and fight Hiragana characters by selecting the matching sound they represent.

The story, which isn’t of much importance, goes like this: Noboru, a strange, unkempt man, is summoning Hiragana characters into the real world in hopes of taking over the land. It’s up to you and your friends to fight off the Hiragana Warriors and seal the gates before Noboru gains too much leverage and conquers Japan and all around it. But of course, you don’t know any Japanese at all, so you have hit the books before you’re able to save the world.

Hiragana Battle is made using the RPG Maker engine, an engine I quite like. And the game looks very good, for that sort of style. It does have an aura of being generic, mainly because this is how most of the games made with the RPG Maker engine look, but it’s well-done nonetheless. I never looked at anything in the game and said, “Oh, that’s just ugly.” It’s a good looking game, even if it isn’t the most impressive looking game.

The lessons are nice. Calming music plays in the background as you’re told about each Hiragana character. Unfortunately, you are going to have to break out a notebook and do some old school learning, as Misaki will ask you to practice writing each character. Even though this is by far the least fun part of the game, it's actually very beneficial as you'll more than likely need to recall back to earlier sets of characters later in the game. And although you have the option to revisit an earlier lesson with Misaki, it's a lot easier to be able to flip through a notebook. Throughout my 15-hour playthrough I took several pages of notes which gave me a much needed crutch.

You see, Hiragana Battle doesn't do a great job of mixing up all of the characters throughout the game. You'll go hours and hours without seeing some of the earlier characters and if you don't have a great memory, like myself, then you're going to have to look back in your notebook to see which character is which. There are many characters that look nearly identical with the only difference being the stroke of a final line.

Which brings me to my next qualm with the game: the confusing font. Most of the time, we see Japanese characters typed out. Whether that be on a website or in a game, you usually see the same font. Hiragana Battle includes this font in the game in their menus, but when Misaki teaches you how to write the characters, and when the characters show up in battle, they’re a more stylized version. Often times, they look different than what we read as normal Japanese font, and this can also make things very confusing for beginners. However, it does teach you to recognize the characters in different fonts, so it can be a good thing.

I was able to triumph over all of that and push forward, and soon after, I started recognizing Hiragana characters on Twitter from all the Japanese wrestling posts I see and from the man himself, Mother/Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi. And I kept going forward. And then I started recognizing Japanese words, and that excitement continued to push me through to the end of the game. One of the more interesting things that Hiragana Battle does is, towards the end of the game, it’ll start listing items, weapons, and armor in Japanese only, so you’ll have to be able to read the word in Japanese to understand what you’re buying. There was a side-quest where some dude in Japan really wanted a Manga issue, and I had to go down to the convenience store, look at their items that were only listed in Japanese, and then read and buy the correct item to give him. The feeling I got when I read “manga” in Japanese was euphoric. It was a sign the game was truly working.

Along with the main quest, you’ll have side-quests. Most of these are fetch quests, but all of them teach you new vocabulary. You can also acquire special points from these side quests to help boost the levels of your party members.

Every RPG element about this game is pretty standard and basic. You’re not going to see any new functions. You fight enemies to earn money, you spend that money on better weapons and armor, you level up to get stronger, and you save after every battle. If all of your party members die in Hiragana Battle, it’ll reload to your last save, so make sure that you’re saving every few minutes.

Hiragana Battle isn’t a perfect game by any means. It has issues both on the RPG side and on the teaching side. I would have like to have seen some form of mnemonic teaching in the game, aka helping the player remember by relating the character to something else, like a kangaroo for ru or a pig tail for su. But then again, maybe it’s best to leave that up to the player.

Even with its flaws, Hiragana Battle is well worth the $7 asking price. $7 will teach you all the characters in the Hiragana set, plus grammar and punctuation, vocabulary, and even some common phrases. And it’ll do it in a way that keeps you engaged. It’s about time someone used the grind of RPG’s for an educational purpose. I’m sure it’s been done before, but learning the Japanese language through a traditional JRPG is just about the best combination you can come up with.

The developers, Sleepy Duck Educational Games, have plans for a sequel that will teach the next phase of the Japanese language, which they plan to call Katakana War. It’s good to know that you can invest in Hiragana Battle and be able to continue forth at some point in the same style. I will definitely be buying Katakana War, and if you’re interested in learning Japanese, I highly recommend you pick up Hiragana Battle.

Seems fun and usefull for the basics.

I like how there is no exit button in the title screen...

So, I decided to pick up this game on a whim. I ran across it as I was searching for anything RPG, and the title caught me. As a servicemember living in Japan, with a japanese girlfriend, I decided I would like to try playing a game to help me learn to read/write hiragana. I already speak a liittle, but I can't read a thing living here. So far the game has proven to be very helpful, and I can't believe how much I've learned in so little time!

The lessons are at your own pace, and you get the options for repetition of drawing examples and speaking examples.

The combat is simple, but it reminds me of my old days of playing Golden sun on Gameboy Advance. It engages you enough to keep you thinking, but also quizes you constantly on your knowledge of the written characters. "You can use a cheat sheet to make sure you are memorizing them. I first try to figure them out in my head, then review my notebook to make sure I have it right."

It's a little adventure, and has gear upgrades... What can I say? It's an RPG.

The price of $6.99 seems well worth it for me to learn better japanese.

9/10 after 2 hours of playing. would make 10/10 if added more explosion effects.

This game is AMAZING! If you want to learn Hiragana fast then I 100% advise you to buy this game. Get a notepad and start making notes and you will have mastered Hiragana in ONE WEEK!!!! Absolutely Amazing thanks for making such a Brilliant Game.