バディミッション BOND
Developer: Koei Tecmo
VNDB Play Time: 45h
VNDB Link: Buddy Mission Bond | vndb
Character count: estimated 720,000 - 855,000 from VNDB time
Number of weeks to finish: 22 weeks
will need to be read at an elevated ~33k-39k per week pace!
Summary
English translation (from vndb)
Close in on the truth with your partner.
Luke, a police officer aiming to become a hero like his late foster father had dreamed, and Aaron, the “Phantom Thief Beast” whose total damages are said to amount to several hundred billion. A strange encounter will greatly change their fate… This is the story of teamwork—and at times disparity—between dependable partners, the mystery of Luke’s father’s death, and a fiery friendship that confronts an earthshaking conspiracy.
The story is set on Mikagura Island, the metropolis for international show business. To fight against the criminal syndicate “DISCARD” operating in the shadows, four people each with their own intentions come together to form an undercover investigation team. That team’s name is “BOND.” It consists of the police officer Luke (voiced by Ryouhei Kimura), Phantom Thief Beast Aaron (voiced by Takashi Kondo), vivacious ninja of many loves Mokuma (voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa), and cool-headed swindler Chesley (voiced by Daisuke Namikawa). Will you be able to uncover the truth on this island swelled with light and darkness?
The game’s key feature is forming a team of two buddies to investigate and infiltrate. Choose two out of the four team BOND members and switch up partners often while solving the problems that block your path forward. Verifying the traits of each BOND member, and being able to properly investigate with the appropriate members is the key to obtaining information. Depending on the information you obtain, the route when you infiltrate the enemy’s hideout will change. It is important to think about and choose the optimal buddy for the job.
Character designs are handled by Yusuke Murata, who is known for Eyeshield 21, One-Punch Man, and more. The game incorporates comic-like presentations during story and dialogue developments, allowing players to enjoy a digital comic-style story.
真実に迫れ、相棒と共に。
亡き養父の夢を継ぎ、ヒーローを目指す警察官ルークと被害総額・数百億ともいわれる「怪盗ビースト」こと、アーロン。数奇な出会いが2人の運命を大きく変えていく……。頼れる相棒として助け合い、時にはぶつかり合いながら、ルークの父の死の謎、そして世界を揺るがす大きな陰謀に立ち向かう熱き友情の物語。
舞台は世界的なショービジネスの中心地「ミカグラ島」。そこで暗躍する姿なき犯罪組織「DISCARD」に対抗すべく、それぞれの思惑をかかえたワケありの4人が極秘の潜入捜査チームを結成。その名はチーム「BOND」。警察官のルーク、大怪盗ビーストことアーロン、陽気な恋多き忍者のモクマ、冷徹な詐欺師のチェズレイは、光と闇がうごめくこの島で真実を突き止めることができるのか？
最大の特徴は、2人組のバディを組んで捜査・潜入を行うこと。チーム「BOND」の4人の中から2人を選び、何度も相棒を入れ替えながら、行く手を阻む問題の解決に臨む。
捜査では、BONDメンバーの特徴を見極め、適切なメンバーで聞き込みできるかが情報入手の鍵となる。
そして入手した情報に応じて、敵アジトへ潜入時に忍び込むルートに変化が発生。どのキャラクターが捜査や潜入にふさわしいか考えながら、最適なバディを選ぶことが重要になる。
キャラクターデザインは漫画『アイシールド21』『ワンパンマン』などの作画で知られる村田雄介氏が担当。
ゲーム内ではストーリーや会話の展開時にコミック調の表現を取り入れており、デジタルコミックのスタイルでストーリーを楽しむことができます。
Availability
Personal Opinion
Buddy Mission BOND is my favorite thing I’ve read in Japanese; I really can’t endorse it enough. I think it has something for everyone: over-arching mystery plot with lots to speculate about where it always goes just a step further than you expect, lots of interesting characters with various dynamics and fun interactions, cool comic book art style (with character designs by Murata Yuusuke who did the One Punch Man manga apparently? didn’t even know that but makes sense 
), great music and overall production value, various adventure gameplay segments, etc. etc.
It’s long for us, there’s no denying that; however, there’s some flexibility built into the structure of it. The main story is separated into chapters, and as you progress through those you unlock side chapters that are all very fun and interesting, but they aren’t required for the story (at least most of them). So if the pacing did end up being a struggle, people would be able to hold off on or skip reading some of those if they wanted. That said, the side chapters are a very nice aspect of the game that gives you a closer look into character dynamics and other things that just make the main story even more effective, so there are various things to consider.
Anyway TL;DR: Buddy Mission BOND is a fantastic game and I highly recommend it to anyone it sounds even remotely interesting to! It definitely has a few difficulties for our club here so I would understand if turned out to be better suited to being handled elsewhere, but I wanted to present it and see if there’s any interest anyway.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Most dialogue voiced
- Over-arching plot ripe for discussion (with what I feel is the perfect balance between being able to put things together and still having unexpected plot twists)
- Great art in a fun comic book style, high production value all around
- Clearly organized linear story for scheduling
- Lots of interesting language
- No English translation so you get to experience something you wouldn’t be able to if you hadn’t started studying Japanese!
- Demo available if you want to try it out beforehand
Cons
- Only available for Nintendo Switch (and JP store only)
- Ambitious pick - definitely pushing the length limits (though there’s some flexibility with the side stories) and does a lot of interesting language things which can be challenging
- On the more gameplay heavy side if that’s not your thing, somewhat comparable to 999 in the amount I think
- Expensive for a VN, this is a Video Game
- No English translation if you want that to compare to
- Not fully voiced during gameplay sections
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this VN?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
. Should finish it at some point.
I’d not heard of Fatal Twelve, but it sounds right up my alley.
