週刊ファミ通 ２０２４年４月１８日号 - Weekly Famitsu, Paramormasight
This is a magazine issue I’ve wanted to have for a while, I love Paranormasight as a game and Famitsu is one of my favorite publications when it comes to video games. Call me weird, but I think that the graphic design of the magazine goes HARD and it’s so aesthetic, so it was fun to hold this magazine in the hand when it came in first ^^
The publication date of the magazine in fact is 4.4.2024, this issue was priced at 640 yen (€3.96 by today’s prices). The magazine is weekly, and the issues are 170 pages long.
Highlights from some of the things in the table of contents:
Page 8: ファミ通TOP３０ (Top 30 hottest games according to the Famitsu readers!)
Page 13: とっておきのとっておきインディー２０２４ (The best of the best of 2024 indie games)
Page 68: パラノマサイト FILE23 本所七不思議
Page 154: 新作ゲームクロスレビュー
Page 164: ファミ通エンタメ部
Top 30 hype of upcoming games from a year ago!
Now, some of the games are out already, the ranking looked the following way back then though:
For the people that are into Japanese gaming scene, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Japanese people love their Monster Hunters and Monster Hunter Wilds is the most anticipated game. Top 2 is Paper Mario TTYD remake (still haven’t finished it!), top 3 is Pragmata, a game that’s been teased to come out forever ago, but got indefinitely delayed since.
Other two highlights include SaGa: Emerald Beyond at #4 and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes at #5. The full list can be seen below!
(Happy to see SMTVV at 22 and 24 respectively, this game was GREAT)
とっておきのとっておきインディー, the best indies of 2024!
Was really positively surprised by this section, as it involved both Japanese and non-Japanese game developers side by side.
On the Japanese side of the equation, the “titles of the week” included things like ぐらぐらおでん, Pricolage -IDOLIZED- and ファミレスを享受せよ
Western “titles of the week” involve stuff like Spell Disk, Supermarket Simulator or Cats and the Other Lives
This section goes on for a while, but a thing that caught me by surprise the most was an article about a game called “He Fucked the Girl Out of Me”, a 2022 western Gameboy visual novel game by Taylor McCue, photo below. The article on it is interesting, because my understanding of queer issues in Japan is that this is a topic that’s underdiscussed in the society and the author of the article is trying to make justice to the topic by educating readers on transgender issues and sex work, which is something I find really worthwhile and interesting?
Well, this is how an article from this section looke like ^^
パラノマサイト FILE23 本所七不思議
Known in the western territories as “PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo”, it’s so good I’m telling you something something xddd
Here’s the meat and bones of this issue: a 26 page special feature for one year anniversary of Paramormasight coming out. This feature might be doing more marketing to the game than the entire marketing team of Square Enix when the game originally came out.
A part of the issue is devoted on the timeline of things that have added to the brand of Paranormasight after the original came out, Line stickers, soundtrack release, when it got the Golden Joystick, collaborations for the game and events where the developers have talked about the game. It’s adorable to see the game finally get the recognition after the release!
There is a part that compares the in-game locations of the game to the real-life locations they were being based on and how to arrive at them, if you wanted to do a Paranormasight-themed scavenger hunt!
A release of some beta artworks from the development of the characters in the game, would be cool to see it in an actual artbook format!
And interviews, behind the scenes, talks with staff members, it’s a very sweet section!
新作ゲームクロスレビュー
Ah, the famous Famitsu game reviews xddd
One of the reviewers who I will be the first to call “completely out of touch” if they don’t agree with my rating and “absolutely blessed” if they give 40/40 to things like Pokemon Black or Final Fantasy XIII-2 xddddd
This issue covers games that came out between April 8-14, 2024 in Japan, and it seems that the editors have a tossup between Alone in the Dark and 犬神ディフェンダーズ (Soul Dog TG) as the game of the week ^^
ファミ通エンタメ部 - Famitsu Entertainment Club
That’s another one of the time capsule sections: it turns out that in the first week of April 2024, there was huge hype for a manga called 夜行堂綺譚, it’s available on Comic Walker to read, so feel free to give it a shot!
In terms of movies - パスト ライブス (Past Lives), oh my lord, what a film has it ebeen - one of my favorites from 2023, give it a shot ^^
A few food highlights, rotating food from the convenience stores that you will never be able to eat again, because it got rotated away ^^
Interesting tidbit
As often is the case with Japanese magazines, this issue of Famitsu is printed on three different paper types, all within the same issue. The regular paper is glossy and nice to touch, while the 町内会, your friendly neighborhood section, is printed on something more resembling of scrap paper. Famitsu doesn’t do posters inside of it, but this issue has a special B5-sized card on thicker paper for Paranormasight that you can tear out and maybe put on a wall. Fun times xddd
One thing I really love about magazines is that there’s always more than it meets the eye, and if I wanted to cover all of the stories of interest, this post would’ve taken me hours, or maybe even days, but as a quick roundup - did you find it fun?
If you were curious about anything Famitsu - related, or this specific issue, let me know, and I can try to take a pic of that section, translate something or let you know what I think of a specific thing!
I hope you liked it!