Mahōtsukai no Yoru

Mahōtsukai no Yoru (魔法使いの夜, lit. A Magician's Night), officially subtitled as Witch on the Holy Night, is a Japanese visual novel developed by Type-Moon and released on April 12, 2012 for Windows PCs. It is rated for all ages. The gameplay follows a linear plot line which requires no player interaction as the game's duration is spent on observing the images and reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents the story's narrative and dialogue.

Plot

Near the end of the Shōwa era in the late 1980s, an old mansion is rumored to be the home of a witch. After moving into the mansion, Aoko Aozaki begins to learn sorcery from a young mage, Alice Kuonji, the rumored witch of the mansion. Unexpectedly, a young boy named Sōjūrō Shizuki is drawn to the mansion and comes to reside with them as well.

Characters

Main characters

Aoko Aozaki (蒼崎青子, Aozaki Aoko)

The protagonist of the story and a high school student who has just begun to learn sorcery after moving into an old mansion where a witch was rumored to live. At school, she is the student council president. Aoko first appeared as a minor character in Tsukihime,^[1] and has appeared in several other Type-Moon games and media including Melty Blood^[2] and Fate/Extra.^[3]

Alice Kuonji (久遠寺有珠, Kuonji Arisu)

A natural born witch, the daughter of the elder son of the wealthy Kuonji family and a witch he fell in love with, who lives alone in a mansion. She is emotionally detached and self-abusive, thus she does not form relationships easily, but gradually comes to accept Aoko as a friend. She has been acquainted with the Aozaki family for over ten years and serves as Aoko's partner and teacher.

Sōjūrō Shizuki (静希草十郎, Shizuki Sōjūrō)

A young man from a rural location who is still adjusting to living in the city and as a normal high school student. He is quiet and reserved, but warm-hearted and stable in contrast to Aoko and Alice. He winds up living at the Kuonji mansion as well, despite Alice's attempts to drive him away by ignoring him, and Alice develops uncertain feelings toward him. In actuality, Sōjūrō is an incredibly powerful assassin trained from birth to not think of himself as human, but merely a weapon. He has no concept of good or evil and lacks any sense of self.

Supporting characters

Tobimaru Tsukiji (槻司鳶丸, Tsukiji Tobimaru)

The popular vice-president of the Student Council, a classmate of Aoko who becomes Sojuro's best friend. He and Aoko when they were close friends as children, though they both deny having any feelings for one another. His family life is apparently complicated and he is known to casually smoke and spend nights out. Tobimaru happens to have unrequited feelings for Kojika Kumari.

Kojika Kumari (久万梨金鹿, Kumari Kojika)

The treasurer of the Student Council, a friend and classmate of Aoko who possesses a cool-mannered and realistic personality. She is very responsible as a result of being in charge of a household of brothers, but she dislikes how the men in her life look down on her. Though her father disapproves of her desire to attend college, Kojika still works hard to save money to attend anyways.

Hōsuke Kinomi (木乃美芳助, Kinomi Hōsuke)

A classmate of Sojuro, Hosuke is a cheerful young man whose primary interests are the attractive girls in class and becoming rich someday. He often tries to organize the male students in class, though his cunning often fails and the girls wind up pitying him instead. He is also Sojuro's co-worker at their part-time job.

Tōko Aozaki (蒼崎橙子, Aozaki Tōko)

Aoko's older sister, regarded as a genius magus in the Aozaki family, who believed that their magical lineage was dying out. She and Aoko don't get along particularly well. Alice enjoys Touko's company because she is a person who can truly understand Alice, though Alice does little to stop Aoko and Touko from fighting. Touko has appeared in Kara no Kyōkai as a supporting character.

Lugh Beowulf (ルゥ ベオウルフ, Ruu Beoworufu)

The antagonist of the story, an ageless nature spirit whose true form is a golden werewolf, though he appears as a fair-haired young boy. His existence is similar to the True Ancestors that appeared in Tsukihime. Other werewolves once revered him as the werewolf who would revive their race, but was ostracized and later sold to Touko Aozaki when it became apparent he was not a true werewolf. He is badly injured in mortal combat with Sōjūrō, who destroys his heart with two concentrated blows. As Lugh is immortal, he easily regenerates, but the horrific nature of the wound, the pain he suffered from the injury and subsequent regeneration, and Sōjurō's bizarre nature cause Lugh to become catatonic with fear and be emotionally reduced to the child he appears to be.

May Riddell Archelot (メイ・リデル・アーシェロット, Mei Rideru Āsherotto)

An idol singer who has travelled around the world, May is also a mage with an eccentric personality. She is acquainted with Sojuro by unknown means and is known by the church. As a mage, her ability is considerable enough to cause trouble for Lugh.

Ritsuka Suse (周瀬律架, Suse Ritsuka)

A member of the Mage's Association, though she has only been part of the organization for a year after leaving the Church. It is believed that Ritsuka is apprenticed to the Aozaki family to act as a watchdog, which is why Aoko is suspicious of Ritsuka's intentions.

Yuika Suse (周瀬唯架, Suse Yuika)

Ritsuka's twin sister, a member of the church well-known in town as a pious nun. She possesses a genetic condition that results in heightened senses and is skilled in rougher acts as well.

Eiri Fumizuka (文柄詠梨, Fumizuka Eiri)

A member of the Church. Despite his gentle personality, his advice is often critical and harsh. He was once apprenticed to the Aozaki family and happens to be Touko's old lover. Because he was strong enough to kill a witch, Touko remains vigilant around him.

Development and release

Kinoko Nasu was inspired in late 1995 by the first episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion to write a novel, something he had been thinking of doing since he was in high school. Nasu originally wrote Mahōtsukai no Yoru on the spur of the moment as a roughly 400-page novel in winter 1996. He tried to enter it into several writing competitions, but was ultimately unsuccessful, leaving the work merely being passed around by his friends. Later, Nasu planned to submit it to Fujimi Shobo, but had difficulty keeping the page count under 350 pages, and left the novel unreleased. After forming Type-Moon with Takashi Takeuchi and releasing several projects under it, Takeuchi suggested remaking Mahōtsukai no Yoru so it could be released before their next planned project Girls' Work.^[4]

In April 2008, a game version of Mahōtsukai no Yoru was announced.^[5] Unlike Type-Moon's previous games, Mahōtsukai no Yoru is not an adult game, and features Hirokazu Koyama as the lead artist in place of Takeuchi. The game was set to be released sometime in 2009, but after several delays, the game received a September 2010 release date.^[6] In September, however, Type-Moon announced that the release date has been pushed back to winter 2011, and later to sometime in 2011.^[7] A free game demo was made available on December 15, 2011, and the full game was released on April 12, 2012 for Windows PCs. Mahōtsukai no Yoru's ending theme song is "Hoshi ga Matataku Konna Yoru ni" (星が瞬くこんな夜に) by Supercell.^[8] The game's original soundtrack was released on May 9, 2012.^[9] Two visual novel sequels are planned by Type-Moon.^[10]

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)