Anime Studio Simulator Reviews

Dang it the dedication and work my team put in for LAB OF THE HAREM KING man it just did not work out the people hated it ahhh man and here we thought we could get a season 2 all the hard work of my team I felt really sad at the end of my 1st anime run such a shame I so hoped LAB OF THE HAREM KING would work out I had 5 star animation really good char dev but the ppl spoke they gave me rude remarkes and crushed the dreams of a season 2 ahhhh RIP LAB OF THE HAREM KING RIP.

This game taught my three braincells a lot of things, I don't know what else to say about it. Just play it, y'all.

It is decent. But I don't think it is great. Visual novels tend to have better stories, characters etc. But don't have quite this level of decision making. But as a game, it doesn't have enough decision making to make it a good game. Overall, I would say it is okay, but maybe only about 5.5/10. It has some good elements, but most of it is rather bland.

Instead of a normal business simulation game such as ‘xxx tycoon’, Anime Studio Simulator, albeit sounding like what it names, actually possesses more similarities to a small visual novel game. The player interaction is limited to setting tasks at the beginning of every week of the three months the game spans across, as well as several multiple-choice decision points randomly occur. The story is interesting as for depicting how an anime is developed by a small group of people who have little experience but full of passion towards success in the anime industry. I really appreciate the way it presents unexpected accidents such as accidentally mixing up the final storyboards with the draft right before the tight deadline. These make the story more true as blunders are inevitable during our daily tasks. It's always encouraging to find out that the characters finally manage to figure out the way to overcome the problems. The whole team never crumbles in the face of setbacks, which distinguishes this game from others consist of merely a series of success especially when you cheat in games. The game is ideal for those who don't expect too much on the strategic management aspect of the game. Strategies are certainly required for achieving a perfect ending but generally, however you manage the studio, there are always situations out of your control according to the storyline. So, be prepared for frustrations and disappointment if you bought this game in the hope of expanding your studio into an empire business. That would never happen as your goal is to successfully bring only ONE anime into production.

First things first, the art is nice. The soundtrack is OK. Nothing much to say about them to be honest. I played this game mostly hoping for a good simulation VN in the same vein as Kairosoft, Hanako games and the like. I'm a huge fan of simulation games! But for its name, it fails the 'simulation' aspect of its name and I believe is incredibly misleading. My issue is with its gameplay and story. The simulation aspect is just too simple, make sure that nobody else is stressed or it's game over. Once you get into the groove of things and RNGesus events don't mess you up, you'll be able to make that awesome anime. Even the 'story' is not engaging enough and I do not feel compelled to see these characters 'succeed' in their adventure. The part where they messed up the storyboards and the studio not clarifying with them doesn't feel realistic. And to be honest, I finished this game under 2 hours with all achievements to properly gauge its replay value. And it's just...well...lackluster. I cannot recommend this sadly. Maybe if it had different title and didn't have simulation on the title I wouldn't have come to this with different expectations.

If I had reviewed Anime Studio Simulator before I achieved the highest anime success (the 'Acclaimed Anime Expert' achievement), I would have given it a thumbs down. It is too easy to fail, because you have relatively little control over the characters stress and happiness levels during the week after making your task choices at the beginning of the week. Funding is also a constant issue and you will not be able to complete a decent anime without money. Even if you complete an anime, it is difficult to produce a high quality anime (as in get enough stars for each production category) and this seems to come back to funding... Thankfully someone has written a great in-depth guide to the game and outlines each character's strengths. This helped me to effectively strategise. I liked that it was a visual novel / simulator. As a visual novel it was really fun, because the choices I made actually had an impact on the characters and the story. As a simulator, it gave me a chance to manage the team through choices of member tasks, upgrades, and outsourcing options at the beginning of each week. I liked the art style and the background music didn't get annoying either. The characters are all likeable too. For these reasons I recommend the game. I bought this game on sale.

The characters are flat, story doesn't really hold my attention, and unless it's been updated since I last played, there's a few bugs that make the game more difficult in addition to the already poor balancing. Even with a low price tag it's not worth it imo, I only got 100% achievements so that I could feel satisfied and then immediately texted people about how relieved I was to be done with it lmfao.

While the concept of this game is great, the way it is executed could use some work. As far as the storyline goes, there are minimal choices that you can make, and much of the storyline is the same or similar regardless of what genre of anime you choose. The plot appears to be fairly linear, and I have yet to find any choices that really cause the story to branch off. Furthermore, I would say that the music is average, and the characters, while drawn quite well, seem to fall a bit flat at times. However, if there is one good thing about this game, it would be that it is surprisingly difficult. Many factors throughout the story influence the characters in ways that you cannot control, and you can easily find a team member quitting or yourself bankrupt. Admittedly, I have yet to reach the "good" ending; I have reached a "bad" one only once, and have failed part of the way through at least three times. It can be infuriating at times, but it also guarantees more gameplay for those who are determined to unlock all achievements. A fair warning, however: going back through the story after you've either beaten the game or failed part of the way through quickly becomes boring. There is an option to fast forward through the "dialogue" and skip straight to the "choices", but it leaves very little gameplay. In conclusion, I would not recommend this game. While it's difficulty could be seen as a plus, the lack of choices, the seemingly linear storyline, the average characters and soundtrack, and the lack of replay value do little for the game's value. If, despite all this, you still want to purchase this game, I would highly recommend waiting until it goes on sale.

This is a short visual novel with stats management where Yukari decides to pursue her dreams to produce an anime after graduating from high school and waiting for her university term to start. With her best friend Mayumi, two sisters Yuuko and Sumiko, Shunsuke and the initial investment in capital given by Yukari's grandmother, the team embark on a 12-week project that will put Yukari and her team's (and the player's) decision making and efforts to the test. The game has plenty of save slots to replay a particular section of the game, 9 shown stats and 2 hidden stats which affect the quality and outcome of the anime production and the ending of the game and the option to skip and fast-forward already read sections. The game will require some familiarity with the expected activity Yukari and each team member can perform as it is fixed at each week as well as the possible bonuses and penalties given to each decision Yukari makes during various events. Certain random events will appear at different parts of the 12-week playthrough and certain decisions made can have variable effects. Soundtracks and overall game presentation are decent. Recommended when at discount as it takes less than 10 hours to try to produce 3 different genre of anime and attempt to reach the best ending in the game over 3 or more separate playthroughs.

It's just no fun. Even if you're really into VN it's mediocre at best. The anime studio management part is just very basic and not really comparable to a real sim. Basically it's checking stress meters and telling your "employees" to relax from the two more or less interchangable tasks they can perform once their meter gets too high. That's it. It's full of plot conveniences (you need a writer? well guess who you just ran into on the streets infront of your favourite café) and holes (you constantly worry about budget, but I guess going out for dinner once a week with your group and spending tons on anime CD/figurines for "research" isn't a part of that). The main cast is so flat and boring that I don't even care to know how one dimensional their anime would have been. Given that it doesn't even have voice acting (and at times not even background music) it's not really worth the money at this point in time.