AlarmMon (Alarm Clock)

AlarmMon (Alarm Clock)
     Having trouble jump starting your brain in the morning?  Do you have a tendency of just slapping the snooze button and ignoring the alarm all together?  This alarm application finds a way to deal with that issue.

     I really like the concept behind the application which is an alarm that requires you to complete a mini game in order to shut it off.  In doing this you prove that you are at least awake enough to perform a simple task.  By getting your conscious mind working a bit, it makes it easier for you to wake up.  The app has potential, but only if you use it correctly.

     The app allows you to create multiple alarms for multiple times of the day or days of the week.  In creating a new alarm you can choose the mini game, the time of day, the day or days of the week it goes off (For reoccurring alarms), whether you want sound or vibration (or both), assign an MP3, choose whether to allow Snooze or not, choose a colour and add a memo.

     The app has tons of mini games to choose from and you can try them out before assigning them to an alarm.  You will need to download the mini games as there are only 2 installed with the basic app.  However, many of the mini games are free.  The ones that cost money are mostly the ones for pop music groups/celebrities.  These special celebrity mini games can be obtained either through in app purchase or saving up your points.  Users get points for every time they complete a mini game after an alarm goes off.  However, there is of course a daily limit for this (I believe it is 6 points a day).  Visiting the Shop allows you to see the mini games that cost points or money.  It also has a charging button to get free points (Though I found this does not work.  I followed the steps but no points were given).

     Different mini games may offer different sounds for the alarm.  Of course users can also assign their own MP3 sounds.  I found the sound without MP3 is just the same sound one might hear when they get a message on their phone.  it repeats over and over every few seconds, but it may be pretty easy to miss.  One MP3 I noticed was quite noisy and I feared using this might startle someone awake which isn't really good for your heart.  However, for those who sleep through alarms easily, this might be more practical.  For light sleepers like myself, it may just induce a heart attack.

     Once you unlock your phone (If it is locked) after the alarm goes off, the mini game begins.  The games are quite cute and simple and could easily be used for children or adults.  They feature simple tasks such as kissing someone until it wakes them up, dodging punches and punching back (Boxing style, not a street brawl), finding characters hidden in an area, repeating a pattern, etc.

     When you complete the mini game and the alarm turns off (It continues until the mini game is completed), you are taken to a page that gives you your local weather, an ad (Unless you remove the ads) and some recent news feed stuff.  however, for me, the weather did not work.  I had it turned on in the settings and gave it access in my phone settings.  I troubleshot this a lot turning settings on and off, looking up information, closing, opening the app, uninstalling, reinstalling...  It just would not work.  This is disappointing to me and certainly affects the point value I give to this application as far as rating it goes.

     The app also has a Quick Alarm function that will choose a random mini game for you.  it is a great way to set up an alarm for a short nap (Say an hour).

     There are other options the application gives you for further customisation as well.  The last icon tab on the bottom of the app (Circle with 3 dots) will take you to a place to customise your profile, check your point history, read the FAQ, check to see if you have coupons and most importantly, it gives you access to Alarm Functions.

     In the alarm functions are users can toggle notifications, delete alarms and alarm history, sync alarms, choose whether or not to display the weather in Fahrenheit, display time in 24 or 12 hours, manually set time, gradually increase sound (Dangerous, it gets loud very quickly), turn off alarms without playing mini games (Thus making the entire purpose of the application pointless), turn on Low Power Mode (uses device settings for sound volume, vibrate, etc), toggle the Snore Checker (uses your microphone to see if you snore... eats up battery) redownload previous purchases (Associated with your account) or turn on sleep inducing music to help you sleep.

     Users can click the calendar icon on the main area of the app to see what alarms they have previously had.  It tells them how long it took them to complete as well as when it went off and what game they chose.


     The app does have ads but users can choose to pay to turn them off.  The annoying part about this is that the ad removal is temporary, even though you pay for it.  You can pay to remove ads for 30 days (0.99USD) or one year (8.99USD).  The ads are a banner toward the bottom of the app that is always there, a large square ad on the weather/news screen after an alarm, and an occasional pop up ad after an alarm is completed.  It honestly seems like a lot of ads for an alarm app.  I also feel that a one time ad removal payment would be a better option.

     One more issue is that if anything interferes with the alarm, it will not go off.  This means if a phone call, message, notification, etc happens at exactly when the alarm is meant to go off, the alarm does not go off.  Also opening the app at precisely the time the alarm is meant to go off can override the alarm.

     Due to the ads and lack of some functionality the app is supposed to have that simply does not work, I can't give this full marks.  It is a cute application though.  If users make sure to use the sound (not just vibrate), remove the snooze option and choose to sit up to play the mini game (This makes it easier to wake up.  Playing while continuing to lay comfortably can make you simply fall back asleep), I believe this app could be a very helpful tool for waking up in the morning.
Rating: 3/5

• Free
• Seller: Malang Studio Co. Ltd
• Category: Lifestyle
• Size: 68.1 MB
• Languages: English, Arabic, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
• Copyright: © malang studio

Rated 4+

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+

Weather Apps

Weather Apps
     So, this review will be for 3 different weather apps in one post.  I downloaded all of these while looking for a cute weather app.  I wanted to see if any of them would be able to replace the default weather app I usually use.

かりんの天気予報 (Karin Weather Forecast)
     I thought this app would be similar to an app that is no longer available called Moe Weather.  I was never able to use the app but it had a character read the local weather for you.  I can't really compare the two since I never used the Moe one but that was what inspired me to download this app.

     The Karin character featured in the app is cute.  However, there is nowhere in this app to set your location.  I assume it uses your current GPS and only uses locations in Japan.  Since I am not in Japan... this did not work.  It doesn't even give you the Japanese weather if you're curious to know what the weather is in Japan.  I can only assume you have to be in Japan for the app to work at all.

     There is a scroll bar on the side to make Karin smaller or bigger so you can see the map behind her.  She reacts when you tap on her but she does not make any noises.  Putting your finger on the screen and dragging it around will result in her following your finger movement with her head.  Users can also select an outfit for her from the settings menu in the top right.  The options are a Gothic Lolita costume, and two uniforms in pink or blue.

     The translation for the options menu is as follows:
Sound options
On Off
Bookmark startup location (Meaning to remember the location you initially access the app in rather than changing based on current location)
On Off
Change Clothes
3 options available...

     The top left toggle on the main screen is whether or not to show the temperature.  The right side of the board shows the current date.

     This visuals of the app are fine but the app not working outside of Japan or having any languages available aside from Japanese are a problem.  I would not recommend wasting time downloading this application for weather.

Rating: 1/5

• Free
• Seller: Satoru Umezawa
• Category: Weather
• Size: 41.9 MB
• Languages: Japanese
• Copyright: © 2018 dailyanime.news

Rated 12+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity

Boo Weather: Pomeranian Puppy
     For those who have not heard of Boo, Boo is a Pomeranian dog who's photos have circulated all over the internet.  It is a cute and happy looking dog with a round headed teddy bear Asian fusion cut.  The images in this application of of this specific dog.  They are randomly generated for each location and cycled every hour (Like the Yahoo Weather app).
 
     When you start the app cute text pops up saying 'Boo: The world's cutest dog'.  Seems a bit presumptuous off the bat.  However, the app itself is easy to understand and fairly user friendly.

     This works just like the Yahoo Weather app.  Swiping left and right cycles through locations you have added.  To add new locations there is a +City icon that allows users to add more cities to the list.

     Tapping the Boo head button at the bottom brings up an option to pay 2.99USD to remove the ads from the app.  The share button is pretty self explanatory.  The settings app allows users to change the temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius or visa-versa.

     Within the Settings users can also opt to get notifications when new Boo images are added, Help/FAQ/etc, the Booweather website and the ability to pay to remove ads again.

     On the main screen when checking the weather, aside from the dog image in the background you will see the city name, temperature, the day's high/low and what the weather condition is (Snow, overcast, fog, etc).  Swiping up will allow access to more information.

     In the swipe up section wind, humidity, UV index, visibility, 7 day forecast, radar, hour by hour forecast, sunrise and sunset time as well as some other information... and several ads.

     The popup asking users to rate the app is quite aggressive.  Upon opening the app I got the popup 3 times in under 5 minutes.  Of course I'd assume adding my rating to the app page would stop these.

     The app is alright... basically a dog themed version of the Yahoo Weather app.  The ads can sometimes get in the way, but not terribly often. That being said it is a solid application and does what it is supposed to.

Rating: 3.5/5

• Free
• Seller: Weather Creative Inc.
• Category: Weather
• Size: 78 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © 2017 Weather Creative Inc.

Rated 4+

Weather Kitty: Forecast & Cats
     This is a cat themed weather app that is essentially identical to the Boo weather app I just reviewed above, at least in functionality.  However, there is some minor difference in the options.

Like the Boo app the main screen shows the city, temperature, etc, along with a random cat image.  Some of the cat images are cuter than others.

     Swiping left and right changes the location, and more locations can be added with the button at the bottom of the screen.

     In the Settings menu there are the same options as the Boo app but there is no link to the BooWeather website.  Instead there is a link to the featured animal shelter.  Clicking this gives you some information on the shelter and a link to the website for that shelter.

     Swiping up is how you get to the more detailed weather information where you can find the forecast over the next several days and so on.

     The buttons at the bottom of the main screen have the added bin icon to remove ads as well as a Kittens button.

     Unlike the Boo Weather app the ad removal here is a bit different.  To remove the ads users have to sign up for a Meow Prime Plan.  these are subscription packages that range from one month to 6 months to a lifetime subscription plan.  The subscription removes the ads but also gives you access to all of the Kitten themes.

     Kitten themes can be accessed by tapping the Kitten button at the bottom of the main app page.  All users have access to the Default theme which is what the app has upon downloading.  There is a free theme called Crazy Cat Art as well.  There are several other themes but users need to have Meow Prime in order to download and use them.  These themes include Yoga Cats, Sphynx, Holiday Kitties, Kitty Love and many more.  Users can even create their own theme by uploading their own cat images (Requires Meow Prime).  The themes will change the images available for the main page backgrounds.

     The app is cute and does what it is intended to do.  The functionality is simple and it has an easy user interface.  I think the fact that you can upload your own images is a great feature, though I'm not sure I'd wish to pay for it.

Rating: 3.5/5

• Free
• Seller: Weather Creative Inc.
• Category: Weather
• Size: 124.5 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © 2015 Weather Creative Inc.

Rated 4+

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+

Jimi-Kare : My Quiet Boyfriend

Jimi-Kare : My Quiet Boyfriend
     I actually didn't think I was going to like this when I downloaded.  I noted that the graphics looked cute but generally any app with 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' in the title tends to be fairly unimpressive to me.  However, I actually enjoyed this one... But somehow I feel guilty for liking it...

     First off, you play a girl who is in high school.  You're classmates with your shy childhood friend who is a male who has seen his share of bullying for being a cry baby.  As a child you used to defend him, though that was several years back.  You don't really interact with him much nowadays until the two of you were chosen for a school contest.  As you'll be asked to perform on stage together and need to be charismatic and fashionable, you decide you need to make some adjustments to your old friend.

     This is the basis for the game... each chapter is you making another minor adjustment to how the poor guy looks or acts.  First his hair, lose the glasses, change how he wears his uniform, etc.  But this is where I take a bit of issue.  I feel so sorry for this poor guy.  The female character that represents the player's character is the worst.  She is bossy, demanding, doesn't seem to care about the poor guy's feelings and seems to care more about this contest than she does about him.  She is basically a terrible friend.

     Now I said I feel bad for the poor male character who stars in this app story... But more so in the beginning of the app than the ends... There are four possible endings one can get while playing through.  Most chapters don't split off or has choices but there are 2 choices that will happen toward the end that determine which path you will go down.  Though I feel for this guy and secretly wish he would just tell this girl to leave him alone, depending on the ending you get... things can actually get pretty dark and this guy gets a bit hard to... sympathise with.  Especially the dark ending... Which is actually part of my guilt... I liked this ending too much considering morally I really should not have...

     The game play is pretty simple.  You read through the story bits, 3 per chapter, and in between you tap speech bubbles.  The speech bubbles are how you get experience.  The experience fills the meter in the top left which is how you inch your way to new bits of story.

     There are two types of bubbles.  As your little mini shy friend wanders around the screen he murmurs sad things.  If you tap those speech bubbles you get 1 experience point for each one.  They pop up about once per 10 seconds.  You can tap the cheer button at the bottom of the room he is in to create positive bubbles.  Tapping these gives you 2 experience points.  Each chapter requires more and more experience to complete.  The room can hold 12 bubbles at once.  If you let them stack up this high, no more can be added till you pop them.  They will continue to fill up even if the app is closed.

     Aside from bubble popping, experience can be earned through the scratch card at the top centre of the screen.  You can have up to 5 tries at once.  It takes 10 minutes to refill one try.  The scratch card has 6 scratch spots.  But after each scratch the scratched spots are no longer visible and the options shuffle.  So you can't open all the slots on a single scratch card.  You can earn 3 experience points, 30 experience points or a detox drink item.  I find the top middle spot to be particularly lucky... But that's just me.

     There are a few consumable items in the app.  You can choose to spend money on them but you really don't need to.  You can play for free and still beat the app with every ending in under a week.  The money you spend earns you Gems, which are in game currency only available through purchases.  120 Yen grants you 20 gems.  Bigger purchases are also available.  The items are:

•  Detox Drink which can be purchased for 3 gems (This can also be obtained through finishing chapters, the scratch card or completing achievements) and grants you 20 experience.
• Fever Time which is 8 gems (Can also be obtained through completing achievements) and makes poppable bubbles appear faster for 10 seconds.
• Mutter Booster which is 120 yen and increases the amount of negative murmur bubbles allowed from 12 to 24.
• Double Exp which costs 120 yen and doubles the experience earned from each bubble tapped... which honestly isn't a great boost.

     The boyfriend character changes in appearance as you progress through the story.  Some versions are only obtainable through certain story paths.  If you want to collect them all you need to finish with each ending.  If you want to double check which you've collected you can do so by tapping the Collection button at the bottom of the app.  You can also view the still images you unlocked through your play throughs from this area.  There are 14 stills and 10 unlockable Nao chibis.

     The in game achievements can be found in the Quest area.  There are 35 achievements to unlock for extra experience or consumable items.

     There are a lot of things I like about this application.  The graphics are very well done and certainly keep me coming back.  I am addicted to unlockables so the fact that there are different graphics I need to keep playing through to unlock has a certain appeal for me.  I like the story even though I hate the female character so much.  I have a habit of skipping dialogue through some games like this but this one actually kept me reading.  And here I thought I didn't care about teen drama... Who knew?  Even the murmur bubbles and cheer bubbles can change depending on how the story is progressing.  It is this attention to detail I greatly appreciate.

     On the downsides the low amount of experience you get from bubble tapping can be a real grind... Tedious screen tapping has never been my favourite thing to do.  There is an ad banner on the screen but it isn't in the way.  Occasionally an ad popup will occur or a popup will occur to ask if you'd like to watch an ad for 20 experience but these aren't too often.

     All in all I think this is a pretty decent app.  Simple, attractive and fun to read.

Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Seller: SEEC INC.
• Category: Games
• Size: 57.7 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © SEEC INC.

Rated 9+ For the Following:  Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence