Death - Fatal love with Tender Reaper

Death - Fatal Love with Tender Reaper
     A young woman falls in love with a grim reaper.  Cute graphics, a story translated from Japanese (Not very well) and a whole lot of pop up ads.

     This is one of those application games that has very little actual game play involved.  It is very similar to an app I reviewed a while back called Zombie Boy.  This one is a lot shorter, with fewer options and story, however.

     The little reaper wanders around your bedroom.  You can tap him to hear little conversation snippets.  Now and then a cat will wander across the screen giving you an option to watch a 30 second ad video to get a free item.  You can choose to ignore it but I suggest watching the video.  This is because using the Move feature will earn you 20 souls at a time.  Then you have to wait for it to reset to get more.  Using the Bonus Stage item you get from the cat can earn you between 100-150 (On average) souls at a time, depending on how fast you are.

     The Move and Bonus Stage is how you gather souls to feed your reaper.  Don't waste time tapping them one at a time, use your finger to quickly swipe across them on the screen.  This will especially come in handy on the Bonus Stage when you are timed to gather as many as you can.

     Feeding souls to the reaper will level him up.  He will go through different forms as you feed him more and more souls.  Each new form comes with a new story piece and a change in the look of the reaper.  You don't get a CG image until the end of a story play through.  There are 5 CGs total.  One for the intro, one for each of the three possible endings and one for the true ending which you earn after you get every other end.

     The story pieces are somewhat interesting but the English is pretty rough and broken.

     There is one part of the game I think is really cute and that is that petting the cat will allow your reaper to level up faster.  There are a lot of stories that suggest grim reapers and demons like cats.  I support this lore.  The cat petting button in the top right has 3 charges, then it needs to replenish over time.  You can always watch the reaper pet the cat in the Death's Diary page.  This area allows you to see the reaper forms you have unlocked and read the story so far.

     The reapers you get through out the game are as follows: Baby Reaper, Newbie Reaper, Soul Reaper, Sickle Reaper, Growing Up Reaper, Promoted Reaper, Mask Reaper *Which is the one on the icon), Reaper-Looking, Almost Reaper, The Reaper, Minister, A Human Child.

     Some of the different forms depend on the choice you make when you are given your 'wish'.  Wishing to stay with the reaper will grant you the Human Child ending.  Wishing for world piece grants the Minister ending and the billionaire one provides The Reaper ending.  Once you finish an ending it resets to the beginning and you can play through for another ending.

     The billionaire choice will change the souls into stacks of money.

     Now... about those ad popups.  There is the cat that allows you to watch an ad for an item, and I am not opposed to this.  However, I have played the app for less than a 3 minute segment and gotten more than 5 popup ads in that time.  Here are some of the things that can prompt a popup ad in this app.  Using the last cat petting charge, feeding your reaper the last of your souls you collected, clicking Move, using an item, closing the Death Diary or Memiors, closing basically any window within the app.  There is also an ad banner at the bottom of the app.  This just feels like way too many ads for a game that isn't even that impressive and doesn't have a great deal of content.

     Users can choose to pay for items in the app to gain more souls, but  considering how easy and fast this app is to complete for free, there isn't really a point.  A better paid feature would be to remove the ads, but there is no such feature, sadly.  The items are the same ones you get for watching the cat's ad.  they cost 0.99USD, 3.99USD or 19.99USD.  I feel bad for anyone who pays 20 USD on this app... honestly.  Please don't do that.

     The app is cute, the story is ok (Would be better with decent translations), the ads are obnoxious but it is an ok app overall.  I would give this a slightly higher rating if not for the ads but... I found them to be incredibly frustrating.
Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: Agali Inc.
• Category: Games
• Size: 28.8 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © Agali Inc.

Rated 4+

Villain Rush

Villain Rush
     Want to play a single player card game fighting application that forces you to spend more time watching ads than making in game choices?  Then this is the app for you.

     That introduction may seem a bit negative but it is absolutely accurate.  The artwork is good, the maps are a fun and slightly educational element.  The story plot is... a bit weak and confusing but the one true takeaway from playing this app for me was the outrageous amounts of ads you need to watch to do... well... most anything.

     You may think that paying a fee to remove ads would improve the situation, and to a degree it would.  But paying to remove the ads only removes the ads that appear immediately after a defeat (AKA Kaizin Death).  There is no way to get rid of the ads required to be watched in order to perform most actions.  But let us forget the ad problem briefly and focus on the rest of the app.

     You control Kaizins, these are cards who work together to defeat enemies in the parts of the world that particular Kaizin is assigned to.  Kaizins can not be changed as far as location goes, and collecting them is purely luck based through a sort of Gacha style system.

     The unlocked Kaizins can be viewed from the Lair part of the app.  Users can view where each kaizin is assigned, their rarity and the full card art.  Kaizins can be upgraded (The upgrades are so minor it seems a waste to even spend stones on them) and evolved but this takes a great deal of Kaizin Stones and these stones are rare drops.  The easiest way to obtain them is to Rebirth, which resets everything causing you to start all over with some rollover boosts.

     Ideally one wants to rebirth when they get stuck and can't proceed any further without a rebirth.  You want to defeat as many countries as many times as possible.  To do this we have to look at the World map.
   
     The World map is divided into continents, each which a set group of countries the Kaizins can fight in.  They fight lots of enemies from bootleg Superman to bootleg Power Ranger.  Every time they defeat one they go to the next stage.  But every 10 stages has a boss.  They will not automatically fight the bosses (Though the in between stages they will auto fight).  You must engage the boss fights manually.  There is a Boss Auto button but this costs gems and only lasts for a small amount of time.  The more useful button is the Boss Fight All one in the top left of the World map.  It will allow all the boss battles to start at once.  if you want all the boss battles on all continents to be chosen you will need to watch an ad.

     Any fighting is actually very stunted unless you use boosts.  How do you use boosts?  Well, you can either pay for them or watch 30 second ads for each individual boost.  The boosts last for 15 minutes each.  ATK Booster and the ATK SPD Booster are the most important ones as these will make battling easier and faster.  Otherwise users will need to manually tap the Kaizins in a battle to force them to attack the enemy.  But the speed boost will cause them to attack as soon as possible after each attack's cool down without forcing the user to be watching the entire battle.  This means several boss battles can be fought at once more easily.

     The application has a lot of areas to draw a user's focus such as weapon, armour and accessory upgrades, There is also drawing new Kaizins, upgrading your deputy and lair, levelling your Great Leader (Who gives you extra boosts when you level them up, which also takes Kaizin Stones), raids, adventures, and so on.  It's all a bit over complicated.  Plus the constant ads you have to watch to boost, to revive kaizins, or after Kaizins die gets frustrating.

     At the end of the day the app is attractive and the basic concept is fine as well as the main game play.  However, I think they added too much unneeded content and there are way too many ads.  You will honestly spend as much time watching ads as doing anything else in this app.  I just didn't enjoy this and don't recommend it unless you really like watching ads.  I am giving this a two of five because it does work, it is playable... it just isn't really enjoyable.
Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: DAERI SOFT
• Category: Games
• Size: 187.7 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese, Korean
• Copyright: © Volantestudio

Rated 12+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity

Karin's Weight Diary

Karin's Weight Diary
     This is an anime girl themed weight diary that gives dietary tips, tracks your weight and allows you to keep a calendar chart of when you exercised, overate, had sweets, etc.

     I have been trying out a few diet apps because I am almost constantly trying to maintain a decent weight through diet and exercise, but it really helps to have something keeping me motivated.  I thought the app looked cute so I gave it a try.  I found that it didn't really keep me motivated and using it seemed like more of a hassle really.  However, I will share some details about how the app works, what I didn't like, what I did like and how to get around one part of the app that most people are finding difficult, but I figured out how to make it work...

     First off, this app is very attractive as far as graphics go.  It is bright and colourful with little stamps for your calendar tracking, two costume options for your diet cheer coach, Karin, and even the ability to make Karin gain and lose weight along with you.  So there is a visual appeal.  But there aren't really any fancy animations or fun interactive visuals to partake in.  Well, aside from tapping the screen makes Karin's head slightly move in that direction and tapping her makes he head jiggle a bit.

     As for sounds, there is no music but it does turn off any music other apps may have been playing when you start the app up (IE Pandora, etc).  It has sort of bleep bloop sounds when you tap certain things but these can be turned off in the options.

     The app was clearly originally intended to be in Japanese and some of the translation is questionable or has unusual choices in grammar or wording.  That being said, it is pretty clear to understand what certain phrases intend to say.

     Now onto the functionality and using the app.  The first thing users will want to do is to go over to the Settings page and enter in their information so that the app can track their weight changes.  Here you can choose between English and Japanese language settings, toggle sounds, enter height and weight and set a weight goal.  users can also choose whether or not Karin will diet with them or not under the Mode setting.

     Diet Together will allow the graphic of Karin to become thicker when users gain weight or to look thick prior to them reaching their goal.  If Karin is dieting she will have a sports kit on complete with shorts and a polo top.

     Rather than to have Karin dieting with the users, they can change the mode to Cheering Mode.  This makes Karin wear a cheering uniform to help motivate the user to do their best.  Her pompoms will move around on the main screen in this mode  She will also perform a couple cheer stances.

     This next bit is important... One would assume that after they enter their information into the settings they should tap the Initialize Data button.  As such many users are complaining that after entering in this information that Karin will not retain it and the app won't work.  Do not press this button.  After entering in the information, simply switch back to the Home screen.  If you press the button the app will not start using the information you have entered.  This is clearly an issue in the app's code.  However, simply not pressing the button seems to work just fine.

     On the Home screen users can see Karin in the costume that is associated with the mode they have chosen.  They can also see their height, current weight, target weight, how much weight they have left to use and a spot for BMI that doesn't seem to work.  Tapping on Karin will cause her to display a speech bubble with some sort of dietary information such as tips and facts associated with certain foods or how to stay fit.  Unfortunately sometimes these facts can be quite wordy which causes the speech bubble to expand past the edge of the screen making it impossible to read all of the text.

     On the right side of the home screen users can record their current weight each day so Karin can keep track of how much has been gained or lost and keep a record of the fluctuations.  Tapping the Record Weight button makes a piggy appear with arrows pointing left or right that can be tapped to adjust the weight.  Users can also tap the Report buttons with the happy or sad faces.  If they have done something good such as exercise, walking, eating smaller meals or fasting, they can hit the happy report button.  If they did something that will negatively affect their weight loss such as eating or drinking too much, not getting enough sleep or snacking, they can hit the sad face report button.  A sticker associated with their report will be added to that calendar day.  Multiple stickers can be added to each day.

     The Graph button takes you to the screen that keeps track of any weight fluctuations on a line graph.  It can be viewed in latest, week, month or year mode.

     The Calendar button is where you can see any stickers you've added to a particular day.  This allows users to track how much good or bad habits have been performed.  tapping a particular day allows for that day to be edited.  Here more stickers can be added or if one was added on accident, it can be removed.

     That covers all the parts of the app.  The app does have an ad banner across the bottom of the app but no popups occur so that is a plus.  I generally don't mind ad banners so long as they do not interfere with the functionality of the app.

     In case you may be wondering what happens after you meet your goal... nothing happens.  It doesn't even stop tracking your goal.  There is no happy sound, animation, or congratulatory message...  It is all a bit anticlimactic...

     In summary, the app is cute, but some of the functionality either doesn't work or needs to be worked around to work properly.  Watching Karin get fat even if you only gain .1 LBS tends to do less motivating than demotivating.  I didn't find the app helped me diet and it didn't motivate me to continue using it.  I don't think I would recommend the app to anyone who is serious about dieting or losing weight.

Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: Satoru Umezawa
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Size: 62.4 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Copyright: © 2018 dailyanime.news

Rated 4+

Rush - スピードトランプカードゲーム

Rush - スピードトランプカードゲーム 

      This is a fun card game for people who have a little time to waste on something.  Each set only takes a couple minutes to play.  The game is in Japanese, but you won't really need to be able to read it to play.  I will add basic translations here for anything important.

     "スピードトランプカードゲーム" basically means a "speed game for playing cards".  That pretty much explains everything about the game of Speed.  If you've never played this card game before, the rules are simple.  it is a two or more player card game where the goal is to use up all your cards while the other player/s still has cards left in their hand.  There are no turns, people place cards immediately once they are playable.  You have to be fast to play your cards first, thus the name of the game being Speed.  For more basic rules on how to play this card game you can read the Wikipedia article here.

     You are playing the game against a female teenage anime character.  She isn't really interactive and basically serves as a background.  She does have slight expression changes and bobs her head around a bit.  Win or lose, you don't get any real benefits here.  There is nothing to unlock or characters to switch to.

     You do gain levels, the more wins you have under your belt and the app does keep trap of how many times you've lost.  That being said, your opponent is not particularly fast so winning is fairly easy.  The game is won as best two out of three.

     As for functionality, the game functions are simple and consist of tapping "Rush" and dragging cards to the appropriate piles.  There is a Settings function that allows you to lower or raise the sound or music as well.  There is also a Share button that will take a screen shot of the game and upload it to the place of your choosing.  

     The Question Mark button is a basic "How to Play" explanation for people who have never played Rush.  Again, if you have never played the card game and need this in English, please refer to the Wiki link I supplied above.

     The only other thing is once in a while you will get a pop up that is in Japanese.  this is just asking if you wish to review the app.  You can see this to the left.  It basically says: "Thank you!  If you enjoyed this game, please review it." The buttons at the bottom are Do Not, Do it Later and Do It, in that order from left to right.

     It is cute but a bit too basic for any real praise. Being a single player game with a slow NPC just feels a bit like playing Solitaire, but... faster.  I wish there were things you could unlock like other characters, outfits, graphics, etc.  The ad position at the top is also a bit inconvenient as it completely covers your level number, which is frustrating.  It's still fun to play but it is a bit lacklustre. I'm giving it a bit of a low rating just because I feel it doesn't have enough to it.

Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: Aine LLC
• Category: Games
• Size: 100 MB
• Languages: Japanese
• Copyright: © 2018 Aine LLC

Rated 4+

Zombie Boy

Zombie Boy
     Ever wish you could be an insane scientist woman, growing your own zombie boyfriend inside an old dilapidated mansion your uncle owns? Who hasn't, right?  Ok, so it seems a bit far fetched, but that is the premise of this game, so bear with me.

     As I played through this game, I have to say I found it a bit boring and tedious.  The plot seemed thin at best and there's not much playable content involved.  That being said the graphics are quite nice and the audio is fitting... if only one could turn it off.  I'll get to that in a moment.

     The game gives you a brief, vague bit of context when you start it.  You are a woman, you are trying to get your boyfriend back, and you have a tiny bat who is apparently... your experimental... boyfriend.

     The creature which is apparently a zombie needs to be fed in order to 'grow'.  To get food you have to click the 'Go Hunt' button.  Usually around 23 small boys will appear that can be tapped to collect.  The longer you wait after collecting them, the more appear.  Then go back and tap the 'Meal' button to give the food to the boyfriend.

     There are only two types of boys to hunt, you can see one example to the left.  Basically you hunt once, feed the boyfriend, close the app, open it later and do it again.

     You can also tap 'Convo' to communicate with your little zombie.  This was originally not in English, so some of the dialogue may be a bit odd.  Also, you will get new messages each time your zombie boy grows (Meaning the Zombie Gauge fills completely, and the zombie features change).

     The 'Diary' feature shows you every form of zombie you have unlocked through feeding and growing your zombie.  Clicking on these allows you to browse all the text conversations available with that form.  It will also tell you the percentage of chat text unlocked from that form.  Getting 100 percent doesn't actually do anything special.

     Also in the diary you can see the endings you have unlocked.  there are three all together.  The game is over when you get the last ending which is the 'True' ending.  this ending actually explains a lot more about what is going on in this story.  Though even with this information, it doesn't feel like a really deep and meaningful plot.

     The last part of the diary features the secret content which is just images of different zombie forms.  You can unlock an image by using 150 zombie food to unlock it.  Considering how many times you have to hunt to get that, and all you get is one image, it doesn't feel worth it.  Though the best part of this app is the art, so maybe it is.

     I want to briefly hit on the Settings button because there is an issue I have with it.  Here you can turn the sound effects or music off or change how loud they are.  The music works fine but if you turn the sound effects off, it plays them at the loudest volume.  In fact you can't actually turn them off at all.  You can turn them to a volume of 1, but that's it.  The off function seems to be poorly coded, so it doesn't work right.

     The Zombie Gauge can be viewed above your zombie boy.  When this is full he changes, adding a new set of conversation text and a new look.  Once you get your ending, restarting will take you down a slightly different path of zombie growth.

     You can also click the social network buttons on the gauge to post about the app on LINE or Twitter.

     Here is some of the art from the game...

     Another issue I have is that when the zombie boy becomes the white haired fellow, the woman you play says he is 'old and fat'... How is that character old and fat?  He is skinny as a pole!  Just seems needlessly rude...

     All in all the app is visually nice, and the music and sounds are good (Excluding the fact you can not turn the sounds off properly).  The idea is interesting but the story and conversation doesn't feel well written and the game isn't really fun to play.  The only fun part comes from unlocking new things and reading new story details as you progress.  The app also has a lot of ads that pop up randomly and often crash the app, which is a huge issue.  I won't be able to rate this very high due to all the issues and the lack of things to do in the app.

Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: Chiharu Nakajima
• Category: Games
• Size: 35.9 MB
• Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
• Copyright: © KaraponGames

Rated 9+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes and Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence

Survey Mini

Survey Mini
     This app promises to reward its users with free money in the form of gift cards for the simple act of completing surveys. Does it work?... Well, sort of?
     Let's start with the basic parts of the app.  Once you create your account which is linked to your email you can start taking surveys... but you probably wont have any. The main start up screen which you can see to the right is where surveys will be listed when you have them.
     The app tracks where you go in order to choose the appropriate surveys.  Some users may find this off putting.  A lot of people don't like their location being tracked.  If that is an issue, don't get this app.  It wont work any other way.  Also, if you never go out this wont work for you.  I get a survey once out of every 10 or so times I leave the house.
     When you get a survey click it and fill out the questions.  These are usually 'did you find the staff friendly', 'did you by more than expected' and so on. It takes about a minute for each survey.
     At the end of the survey you will get either points or a coupon.  you will not know which of these you will get before completing the survey.  Also, it should be noted that the first question is always whether or not you visited the location (The store/cinema/restaurant/etc), even if you answer 'no' and the survey ends, you still get credit.
     The coupons or discounts that some surveys give you are useless in my experience.  They are usually things like a free popcorn at the cinema or a free appetizer at a restaurant.  To use them you need to click them while at the location, then they generate a bar-code for the cashier to scan which is supposed to give you the discount.  In my experience these have never worked.  It always just gives the cashier an error and wastes everyone's time.
     To look at the coupons you have you can click the 'Wallet' button at the bottom of your screen.  Each item has an expiry date, not that it matters since they never seem to work.  Stick to the 'Redeem Points' option instead.
     The best thing to get at the end of a survey are the points.  You usually get 100 points at the end of a survey.  Some surveys will give you 200 points.  These points accumulate and you can spend them on gift cards.  I know this works because I've done it successfully.
     The gift card list changes a lot so what is or is not available changes a lot.  When I turned in my points I got a Burger King 10 USD gift card even though I would never eat there.  I gave it to someone as a gift.  They used it and it worked!
     The gift cards do get mailed to your home physically.  I was expecting a digital code but apparently that isn't an option (Or at least wasn't when I did it).
     I would highly recommend not spending points on the 'offers' category at the top (Which costs 4,000 points).  These are the same offers you get from finishing surveys and are a complete waste of points.  The 10 and 25 USD gift cards are where you want to spend your points.  Though it may take a great deal of time to gain this many points.  It took me a year to get enough for the 10 USD gift card.
     The only other part of this app is the button on the top left.  It shows you your account email, how many surveys you have completed, your current amount of points, location settings, privacy policy and support.
     I have tried contacting support on several occasions and they don't seem to have any ability to assist the users.  I don't even think customer support even knows this app exists because they had no idea what I was talking about when I said I was using the Survey Mini app.
     I suppose it must be said that this is a free app and you can earn real money by using it.  However, I'm not sure the payoff is entirely worth the hassle.  Paired with the fact that the 'offers' don't work and the customer support system is useless... I can't really rate the app highly.  It works, but not very well.
Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Category: Lifestyle
• Size: 59.2 MB
• Languages: English
• Seller: Service Management Group, Inc. SMG
• © 2018 Service Management Group, Inc

Rated 4+

すくすく時計

Suku Suku Clock (すくすく時計)App for iPhone
     This is an analog style clock application featuring a cute little round group of characters.  They are not real creatures... but some sort of... pig, rabbit, hamster... demon... bubble... thing.
     There are three little creatures you can switch between.  A green one with horns, a pink one with horns, as well as a blue one with a funny hat.
     The application is incredibly simple to navigate.  Once it's done loading you will begin on the clock screen with the green character slowly spinning around as the seconds go by.  In case you couldn't figure it out, the characters on the clock represent numbers.  The top number is zero/zed, not twelve.
     If you wish to switch to the pink characters, simply click the button in the upper right corner.
     Everything will be the same but the character and background colour.  To switch back to green press the left upper button.  The right upper button will move you along to blue.  You may freely switch back and forth between all of the characters.
     There are no sounds.  No alarms to set.  There are no extra features, animations, Easter eggs...  It is just a simple analog clock application.
     Below you can see the green, pink and blue character screens.

     I have not experienced any issues with the application.  No bugs, forced shut downs, etc.  My only concern is that it is perhaps a bit 'too' simplistic.  Though it is a free application.  If you are a fan of the Sukusuku characters then you may very much enjoy this application.  Otherwise I think there may be more functional clock applications that you may choose to download, that are of the same price (free).

     On the bright side, if you are learning Japanese or have a small child learning to count.  The characters rather than numbers could be very educational.
Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Released: Jun 06, 2012
• Version: 1.0
• Size: 0.8 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: YUKI KATO
• © Project Higasinakano

Rated 4+

Photo Amie

Photo Amie App for iPhone
     All alone in that photo?  Need a friend?  A girlfriend, perhaps?  Photo Amie is here to be of assistance   Just slap a character on any photo you have already stored on your device.  Show off your cartoon friendship to the world with Photo Amie.  A free application for iOS.
     You will see the launch screen to the right when you start up the application.  The whole process of using this app is actually quite simple.  However, I shall elaborate, nonetheless.
     There is no sound for this application.  The graphic of one of the characters in that particular pose and outfit is the only free graphic available to use.  Using additional outfits or poses will cost money, and may be purchased through the application.
     There are 4 buttons at the bottom of the app screen.  The plus and X should be faded upon load up.  You may press the camera function to choose a photo from your gallery to use.  Alternatively you may press the gear cog icon to  access the settings.
     You may notice right away that this application can access the files in your device storage, however does not have access to your camera.  This is not a problem, don't fret.  If you go into the settings option you can have the application access your camera, rather than the storage.  I will explain later.
     Once you have selected a photo from your storage, it will load on the screen with this pink haired girl stuck onto the center of the photo by default.  You will also see a rather unattractive blue time/date stamp in the lower right corner of said photo.
     Using the pinch and drag methods you can resize and drag her around the photo to place her where you wish.  You can not flip or tilt the character.
     You may notice that the plus sign and X icon are now available for use.  The plus sign will save your project to your device as it when you press it.  The X will trash the project.  Both will immediately relocate you to the title screen.
     Other than moving the single character around the photo, there are no options in edit mode.  Rather disappointing, to be honest.
     Let's cover the settings menu now.  This is of course back at the main screen.  You can see the initial settings menu in the screen shot to the right.
     This is a list of characters available to place in your photos.  There are 9 characters in all.  The free one is actually named Ai, and not Amie.  Which I found a bit confusing.  There 'is' a character named "Ami" with braids but she is not free to use.
     Despite the fact that you can not use them in the application without paying, you 'can' view the characters and their available costumes and facial expressions.  Simply click the name of the character you wish to see.  You will then see the screen to the left of this part of this blog entry.  The top selections are costumes, the bottom, expressions.  Some characters share outfits, others have more original looks.
     It is difficult to see the emotions because the images are so faded before you pay.  Each character has 6 different emotions.
     Even though Ai is free for the free application, you only have one available costume and expression.  Though you can view her additional looks in the options, here.
     If you have already purchased more characters, you can choose which one to use here.  Though I would prefer being able to do that in the photo edit mode function.
     The graphics are very nice.  I especially like that the characters have shadows.
     Back on the character select part of the options menu, scroll down, below the character list.  You will see another option."Misc, Purchases".
     From this part of the options you are able to toggle the "Background".  This is where you decide whether the app should use photos from your storage to place the character over, or access your camera to allow you to take a photo specifically to use with this application.
     You can also toggle the "Mirror Picture" which will turn the character the other direction.  If she faces left usually, she will now face right.  I do wish this were an option within the edit mode, and not from the main screen's settings function.  Seems terribly inconvenient, doesn't it?
     Remember that ugly blue time stamp?  You can turn that off from here as well.  Or, if it's already off, you may wish to turn it on.  Though I don't know why.  It looks awful.
     Lastly, you may purchase images from this part of the application.  The images being the additional characters and costumes.  Fortunately they come all in one lump sum, rather than being sold individually.  I am very glad for that.  For one payment of 1.99USD you can unlock all of the extra characters, costumes & expressions.
     I like the concept of the application.  It reminds me a bit of the My Girl's Camera series of applications.  Though they allowed more free content than this does.  Still, it's a nice application.  If you enjoy adding cartoon characters to your photos this could be a great application for you.  However, if you want more variety, there are better free applications that do the same thing (It just wont have the same characters).
Rating: 2.8/5

• Free
• Category: Photo & Video
• Updated: Mar 26, 2012
• Version: 1.02
• Size: 8.3 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Seller: Toshiyuki Nakamura
• © 2012 IRLAB

Rated 4+