Hinoue Itaru joins Muffin Soft to Release Haruka Drive!

Key News Blog Discussion
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Earlier today, Hinoue Itaru along with new company Muffin Soft, announced via Twitter that she will be working on the upcoming game Haruka Drive! Muffin Soft is a new visual novel company currently consisting of Tamasawa Tsubura and Morisaki Ryouto as scenario writers, and Hinoue Itaru as the artist. Tamasawa Tsubura and Morisaki Ryouto have been writing for Eroge ever since Studio Mebius was around, so this team of three are quite nostalgic in that sense. Currently we have a story synopsis, event CGs, character descriptions up on Muffin Soft’s website. The characters announced so far include our protagonist Murakami Yuuya, along with Midou Haruka, Serina Lala Angelico who appears to be our main heroine, Nana Melius and Rīn Castina. There are more characters to be announced in the near future! The theme of the story is based on fantasy novels, and the world within them, and is said to be an adventure of “Love, Courage and Hope!”. The formation of Muffin Soft is pretty exciting, as we have an experienced team of three who are creating a new visual novel, as well as new art from Hinoue Itaru! New information on the game as well as Muffin Soft’s work will be updated on their Twitter page and website, which you can check out with the links down below! Muffin Soft’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/muffin_soft Muffin Soft’s Website (JP): http://muffin-soft.jp I am so happy to see Hinoue Itaru drawing for a new game, Muffin feels like an old-school Eroge company and her art has certainly improved! What are your opinions on Hinoue Itaru’s new work, will you be supporting the release of Haruka Drive? Let us know what you think!
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://kazamatsuri.org/hinoue-itaru-joins-muffin-soft-release-haruka-drive/
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#2

is that kagari

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#3

Welp

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#4

The blonde girl looks like she’s an oujo-sama. Immediate best girl. From the looks of it, it seems like this is where Hinoue is putting all the effort instead of that Mangagamer title.

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#5

The girl with the brown hair seems much like Kotori and the third girl has the same atmosphere than Chihaya with her facial expression in the PV.

See the girls of Rewrite again gies a good feeling.

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#6

Oh, I thought she quit the VN scene entirely. Didn’t think she’d just simply look for another place to work for.

#7

Well from what I understood, she felt underused and unappreciated at Key. She wanted to explore new things.

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#8

I’m excited for H-Drive its looking promising and i love the character development by from Itaru with her new art-style p.s. Serina chan

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#10

She was burnt out for sure, but she loves drawing fantasy above all else so it is great seeing her design characters freely following what she is most passionate about!

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#16

I’m interested to see what happens at all…and to poke at it to see what kind of cake it is and if it is still a cake…but perhaps Summer Pockets potentially never getting released overseas is too fresh in my mind and the other project that Hinoue Itaru is a part of is still so far away. Slow and steady wins the race?

It’s very nice that an artist wants to try new things and keep designing and drawing for the audience that they care so much for though.

EDIT: I’m not trying to sound negative or to ruin good moments, memories, or to get hopes down in any way, but there is still such a massive “who knows” feeling.

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#17

Nice, her art certainly improved. I wish to see a re-release of AIR in that style… amazing.

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#18

No it’s the girl from Holy Breaker.

You know…

Kagari?

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#19

The voice samples for the cast members were posted! There are currently 9 Female Characters that have been introduced and seem to have a sprite!

https://t.co/fyPO5swPbf

6 CG’s have also been posted, and I must say that the CG art is beautiful! I’m looking forward to this title a lot!
muffin-soft.jp/eventcg/

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#20

The Opening PV has been released!

And 3 new CG’s have been released!
https://muffin-soft.jp/eventcg/

#21

Hmm… I might actually fish out some cash to get this, as opposed to Koropokkur in Love. No hard feelings, just not a big fan of the stor-, ar-… eh, just don’t like it in general.

#22

Haruka Drive! has officially been released!

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FD2C17BD-BD81-457F-98CA-D8E3C589E2DC.jpeg900×400 118 KB

I believe it’s only being sold in stories, so find out more on the official website!

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#23

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It really bugs me how this girl look like Saya, which is not really even Hinoue’s design… They have like almost exact same color of hair and eyes.

Other things I noticed…
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Inoue comes back. Oh my gosh…

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They tilt their head almost the exact same way. Just close Shiona’s mouth and they will look the same but with different color palette.

This ‘Harmonia art style’ is probably getting worse… I don’t even know…

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Key Character Design Discussion
#24

I merged all of the faces to create the ultimate Hinoni.
Hinoni

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#25

Looks exactly like every other character she’s drawn since Harmonia.

#26

It’s a real shame. I love the art of Harmonia a lot but it seems really extreme when all of the characters look exactly the same. And that’s not even factoring in the other game she drew for by mangagamer…