I talked about this a few years ago on Twitter when I got a hold of a sealed copy for myself for stupid money, but I feel the English dub for Sotsugyou II, released as just plain old Graduation for Windows PCs, is a sorely underappreciated one; to say it's aged like a fine wine would be something of a misnomer when I myself would reckon it has a rather timeless quality to it. The introduction here that plays as soon as you finish filling out your name and whatnot summarizes just about everything you could ever want to know. In less than two minutes, it's got:
- Shortened, vaguely Anglicized names and backgrounds for all of the girls, surely out of the old "gamers will tremble in fear of anything Asian-sounding, even the weebs" mentality of yore, despite their Japanese profiles with their actual names still being displayed on screen, clear as day.
- Incessant microphone clipping. That's not the fault of whoever captured the footage; the game really was recorded and mixed that badly!
- A very timely Cagney & Lacey reference in 1997, followed immediately by an Agatha Christie shoutout.
- Lois Griffin herself as one of the girls with at most a 5% vocal difference in cadence.
- One of the most sedate-sounding heroines money can buy in a galge, localized or otherwise.
- I cannot stress this enough, one of the girls you're trying to help graduate in this game is Lois Griffin.
Truly, there's a little something for everyone, I reckon, and I'm confident you'll find that something for yourself when you watch it!
