There are five scenarios to the Mizuiro game (one for each girl), but since that would make the review way too long and since Hiyori's scenario is the *main* Mizuiro story, I'll just be reviewing that. If you've seen the recently released Mizuiro OVA, then you'll need to forget everything you know if you want to play this because the 2-part OVA just tries to merge all of the scenarios into one.

Hiyori must have the second most annoying female voice I've ever heard in anime, but it really grows on you throughout the game and you come to like it more and more. There are voices for all of the other female leads as well. Kiyoka, Asami, Shindo, Yuki, etc. all have their own unique voices that fit their characters so well it's amazing. As expected from a dating sim, the main character doesn't have a voice and you can rarely see him (it's you, after all).

The animation and music of Mizuiro is simply amazing. The musical score beats out just about any anime soundtrack easily and I find myself listening to the songs over and over. From the opening animation theme to the music that plays while Yuki is waking you up every morning, it's all good. It's easy to tell from this game that the Japanese take their bishoujo games VERY seriously!

What was that I just said? A bishoujo game? Yes, that's precisely what Mizuiro is... but it's a very misleading statement. The bishoujo games that are released in English are usually just hentai-fests, not so with Mizuiro. In each scenario there is about one frame of it and it's mozaic'd to hell. If hentai is what you're looking for, look somewhere else. Everything is tucked away for the story.

And what a story it is! For once I finally understand why they called it "Mizuiro" (which means either Aqua or Water Blue). I found myself playing this game for hours at a time, I was just totally engrossed in it. I wanted to play right to the end as soon as I started it, but come on, that's like 15 hours! Unfortunately, there's little in terms of "gaming" in this. Like Xenosaga, it's like a movie that you occasionally get to play. And by play, I mean make a random mouse-click for a choice because none of the choices you make throughout the game really make any difference in the end.