Shiravune has announced the release of The Shell (Kara no Shoujo). This will consist of HD Remasters of the three core titles in the Kara no Shoujo series. The first title will be titled The Shell Part I: Inferno and is set to release on 28th July 2023 on Steam and Johren in English and Chinese. The first game has an average rating of 8.02 (very good) on VNDB, features multiple endings, full voice acting, and is well-regarded generally. John Hooper is acting as the localization director and translator for this trilogy. He has confirmed that all three of these releases will feature “complete original translations with a completely different team than the previous MangaGamer releases” and that none of the MangaGamer scripts were used.
Update: A release on the JAST Store has now been announced.
Update 2: Part I has now been released. You can find our review here.
MangaGamer has been involved with a previous English release of this title, so some of the visual novel community will already be familiar with this title. For those who wish to purchase the HD version, it will be priced at $19.99 USD / 1,999 Johren Points with a 20% discount at launch, ending on 4th August 2023 on Steam and 11th August 2023 on Johren.
The text of the official announcement provided by Shiravune follows below:
Shiravune is pleased to announce that the three core games of Innocent Grey’s psychological thriller trilogy Kara no Shoujo will be coming to the West under the title The Shell, beginning with an HD remaster of the original game entitled The Shell Part I: Inferno on July 28, 2023!
Follow the story of Detective Reiji Tosaka as he chases down the mystery of a series of gruesome murders rocking a post-war 1950s Tokyo. The Shell Part I: Inferno is a deeply atmospheric noir-style visual novel in which players will find clues in investigative gameplay sequences and use them to make decisions that meaningfully affect the shocking twistsand turns of the story.
The Shell Part I: Inferno will offer English and Chinese language options and is now available to wishlist on Steam as of today, May 31, 2023.
Intro
March 1956.
In a Tokyo that’s slowly returning to its former glory after losing the war ten years prior, Private Detective Reiji Tokisaka takes on the case of a girl he meets in Inokashira Park.
“I want you to find something… Me. My true self.”
A wave of bizarre and grotesque crimes has been crashing down on the city. The victims, all young women, are being kidnapped and murdered, each corpse only to be discovered with a body part and the uterus removed. Sergeant Uozumi, Tokisaka’s childhood friend and former coworker, asks him to investigate the murders.
Meanwhile, sitting off in a corner of the town of Hoya is Oba Girls’ Academy, the school Tokisaka’s younger sister goes to and where two students have recently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The vice principal of this academy, Tokio Saeki, implores Tokisaka to find them.
Having taken on all three of these cases, and with Vice Principal Tokio’s approval, Tokisaka enters Oba Girls’ Academy as a teacher in order to dig up information about the students.
It’s there that he meets her again. Toko Kuchiki, the girl who asked him to look for her true self, with a voice as light and as clear as a bell and a casual way of speaking that doesn’t match it.
“Heya. Figured I’d be seeing you soon, Detective.”
More and more victims turn up as the days pass, and the investigation he thought would be oh-so-easy stalls. For some reason, the number of disappearances and unidentified bodies don’t add up.
And the newest victim is—
The secrets of a case from six years prior may just be the key to the current unending cycle of tragedy, and the thing that cracks this woeful world’s shell may be one girl’s smile.
Characters
Reiji Tokisaka
Voice: Waruta Higeuchi
Occupation: Private detective
Hobby: Reading (mainly history books)
Our protagonist is a private detective whose office is located in Shinjuku. He specializes in violent crime cases, like murders. After the war, Shugo Takashiro, the protagonist of Cartagra, asked Tokisaka if he wouldn’t become a police officer and make use of his talents. Tokisaka accepted and eventually became his partner, but that came to an end six years ago when a certain incident spurred Tokisaka to leave the force. Since then, he has rebuilt his life, becoming a detective just like his friend Shugo.
“It’s easy to see why the killer did the crime if you think about it long enough.”
Yukari Tokisaka
Voice: Rino Kawashima
Occupation: A member of the Oba Girls’ Academy Art Club
Hobby: Observing and raising insects
Yukari is Reiji’s younger sister who he has a bit of an age gap with. Since he can’t do household chores to save his life, Yukari naturally came to do them all herself. She’s a brave but gentle and modest young woman who faithfully supports her brother. Being of a scholarly mindset, she is quite knowledgeable about insects. However, the bugs she raises in her room occasionally make a run for it, and sometimes she serves them up as dishes without warning…
“I just want to be there to pick you up whenever you fall. That’s all that matters to me…”
Toko Kuchiki
Voice: Aji Sanma
Occupation: A member of the Oba Girls’ Academy Art Club
Hobby: Sketching, moonlit walks
Toko acts like an adult, but is in fact an odd creature, neither really an adult nor a child. Her casual mode of speech seems to contradict her appearance as a refined young woman, and she always manages to stand apart from the crowd, never letting others dictate how she acts. Feeling an inexpressible sense of uneasiness with her current “existence,” she hires Tokisaka to “find her true self.”
“I want you to find something… Me. My true self.”
Tōko Mizuhara
Voice: Mimi Yoshida
Occupation: A member of the Oba Girls’ Academy Art Club
Hobby: Illustrating picture books.
Toko’s best friend, she sees in her the vision of an ideal lady. Tōko, coming from a poorer family compared to the other students of the prestigious Oba Girls’ Academy, has a strong inferiority complex. Due to this, she despises the other students, her mother, and even herself. She would rather Tokisaka, who’s suddenly shown up in their lives and has started building a rapport with Toko, keep his distance from Toko.
“…Please stay away from Toko.”
Tsuzuriko Yosomiya
Voice: Aoi Hinata
Occupation: A student of Oba Girls’ Academy and an author
Hobby: Making dojinshi
Tsuzuriko is very cheerful and sprightly. She may seem like the totally opposite of Yukari, but they actually get along very well and think of each other as best friends. She’s made her writing debut in literary magazines and has contributed articles to some less classy rags as well, which she of course keeps secret from the Academy. She was unwillingly given the nickname “Tojiko” by Tokisaka after he decided that “Tsuzuriko” was too hard to pronounce.
“I specialize in mystery nove— Hey, who’re you calling Tojiko?!”
Kyoko Hazuki
Voice: Kaname Yuzuki
Occupation: Owner of the Moon World café
Hobby: Making sweets
Kyoko is a widow whose café Moon World is located near Kichijoji Station. She’s known Tokisaka for a long time, and they count each other as true friends and confidants, intimately familiar with each other’s lives. As they have both lost someone dear to them, they often act as mutual advisors as well. Her cafe has a lot of regular customers and seems to be profitable.
“One Kyoko’s Special Blend, coming right up.”
Hatsune Amemiya
Voice: Himeno Miyabi
Occupation: Server at the Moon World café
Hobby: Cooking (still learning)
Hatsune is a young woman who used to work at the brothel Yukishiro over in Ueno. Due to the incident that happened in Ueno and public pressure, the brothel was demolished some years prior. After it was destroyed, the madam adopted her and gave her the last name “Amemiya.” Now she lives and works at Moon World.
“Oh, umm, you can call me Hatsune. I’m still not used to the new surname.”
Natsume
Voice: Hikaru Isshiki
Occupation: Coroner
Hobby: Dissection
Natsume is eccentric in both looks and character, but the skills she displays as a coroner for the police are top-notch. She’s worked with Tokisaka since his detective days and still gives him information and advice when his investigation requires it. She is fond of Tokisaka… but since she asks for a certain something for that information, Tokisaka avoids her unless absolutely necessary. She claims she was born and raised in Kyoto, but her accent isn’t exactly consistent.
“Way ta pour salt in the wound. An’ I tried so hard, too…”
Maris Stella
Voice: Yuzuki Akishiro
Occupation: Curator
Hobby: Sleeping
Maris works at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum as a curator. She’s half-Japanese, as is clear from her blond hair and blue eyes, and she rarely says more than a few words at a time. She’s an excellent curator who is exceedingly knowledgeable about art. She comes off as quite mysterious, but could it be that she’s actually a bit scatterbrained?
“…Reiji… detective?”
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
