Today, Ritobito would like to share his thoughts about working on The Shadows of Pygmalion!

Hey, all! Ritobito here, editor of The Shadows of Pygmalion, another excellent title from Propeller, the talented folks also behind Tokyo Babel. Things are just about wrapped up on the localization end, so I thought I’d take some time to talk a bit about the game and my experiences working on it.

Though not always easy, when working on a VN, I find it useful to draw comparisons to (if only superficially) similar existing works. That way, potential players have some idea of what to expect beyond a basic synopsis. Luckily, with Pygmalion, it was fairly easy to find a similar work almost right off the bat in the incredibly popular 2011 anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which clearly influenced Pygmalion in a number of ways. Without going into too much detail, the two share much in common, both involving contracts of a questionable nature, secret worlds beyond the perception of ordinary people, and highly, highly gay magical/”magical” girls fighting for a common (?) goal. Similarities aside, Pygmalion does plenty of its own thangs and, thanks to the spacious nature of the medium, has a lot more time to spin its complex story.

One of the aspects of Pygmalion’s setting I find most fascinating is its concept of “Puppets” — mysterious entities of unknown origin masquerading as humans that have manipulated the course of history throughout civilization. Some act as agent provocateurs, their subtle actions like a butterfly effect across humanity, while others act as the, ahem, puppet masters of sorts, pulling the strings from behind the curtain and possessing immense power.

Pygmalion also touches on real-life recent (and sometimes not-so-recent) events, and the meddling of Puppets that may have sparked said events. It’s not terribly common to see a VN delve into political matters such as these, especially in such a unique manner. I can always dig some good ol’ fashioned conspiracies in a story, and Pygmalion does a bang-up job of making it all sound so plausible. Forget reptilian eyelids — you’ll be seeing ball joints for weeks after playing through this game.

And of course, there is the fact that The Shadows of Pygmalion falls under the category of yuri, and there’s certainly no shortage of gals-being-slightly-more-than-pals. Don’t expect things to get too steamy, as this is an “all-ages” title, but I can promise at least a few really good smooches and heart-warming moments.

Then there’s the game’s production values, which are among the finest I’ve seen in a VN yet, with stunning artwork, excellent music, and an all-star cast of voice actors including Kana Hanazawa (Kanade from Angel Beats!), Mariya Ise (Stocking from Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt), and Satomi Akesaka (Esdeath from Akame ga Kill), just to name a few.

From a localization perspective, The Shadows of Pygmalion was actually one of the more difficult projects I’ve worked on as an editor! Translator fnord did a fantastic job on this game’s dense, and often heavily technical script, and editing said text was often a fun challenge. The end result is something I’m really proud of, and I can’t wait for you all to experience it for yourselves.

The Shadows of Pygmalion is now available for pre-order and you can try the demo right now too! On sale February 24th! Pre-order your copy today for 15% off on MangaGamer.com, or get it on Steam on release day!