Well, Konami had something different in mind with the title. Dancing Blade 2 is nothing like The Red Company's acclaimed strategy simulation series. The phrase used to describe the game, "interactive animation," means just that: you basically watch a thirty minute animated movie, selecting at various points from a few paths that affect the flow of the story. There's is no real gameplay to speak of in the game, and it's thus wrong to refer to Dancing Blade 2 in the same field of entertainment which contains such fully interactive products as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario 64. I think it's best to consider the title a sorta choose-your-own path movie, not unlike those choose-your-own-path books of old that captivated us as children (I still have my Transformers choose-your-own-path book - you know, the one where the Dinobots are relaxing by a lake at the outset).
I was trying to justify Konami's having released this thing to the market, and although I was at first cursing the Pikachu which stands above my cubicle, I eventually managed to convince myself that the game is a valid product. Think about it this way. If you loved an animated series, say Pretty Sammy, would you pay $29.99 for a DVD containing four half-hour episodes? Now, what if the animation house behind the series were to release an episode of the series on the Dreamcast instead of DVD, and instead of giving you four episodes, were to give you one episode with a few interactive moments strewn about here and there that change the story each time you play. Would this be a worthy buy? If you were a fan of the series, I'd say yes. And, in fact, Dancing Blade 2 will probably appeal only to fans of this form of animation, or to fans of the Dancing Blade characters themselves. Looking at it like that, it's clear that Konami hasn't committed a sin in releasing this thing; they've just produced a slightly different form of movie-watching experience, and their claiming the title's genre to being interactive animation means that they're not trying to fool you one way or the other.
The notion of Dancing Blade 2 being nothing less than a valid form of alternate movie-viewing is further evidenced by the DVD-like options that are unlocked as you play through the game. Each time you encounter a new animation scene, the scene becomes available for viewing in a scene selection mode, similar to what you get right off the bat in a DVD. Also, passing the game with all the various endings will unlock some still framed, fully voiced story-telling sequences, along with an illustration gallery, character information page, and a directors cut mode that allows you to view the paths towards the five endings as the director of the animation intended it.
So, Dancing Blade 2 is clearly an interactive movie experience, and as such I think it's best to only consider the movie-like aspects of it. In particular, anyone interested in the product ought to be concerned with video playback, animation quality, and voice acting. Thankfully, Dancing Blade 2 fares well in these areas. The Dreamcast's superior video playback capabilities allow the game's main component, the animation, to be displayed in better form over its PlayStation counterpart. It's still not as high as I was hoping; in particular, on S-Video, things appear a bit grainy, a problem I'm certain will disappear as DC video continues to evolve (just in time for Dancing Blade 3, perhaps?). The animation, on both the PS and DC version, though, is of very high quality, probably of slightly higher quality than television animation. The production mixes CG and animated footage, and while the two forms don't blend as seemlessly as I was hoping, it still overall looks good. There seems to be quite a bit of animation contained on the game's two disks; there would have to be, after all, in order to support the game's five different endings and many varying paths. Finally, the voice acting is top notch stuff; then again, as the game is coming out of Japan, where voice actors are held in high regard, this is to be expected.
I've tried to avoid talking about the story of the game, but that's because I don't exactly understand what's going on (still, after three years of trying to speak Japanese - I've gotta find me a Japanese girlfriend). All I know is that the game's poster girl and main female character is called Momo-hime, Momo translating to Peach and Hime translating to Princess (I'm not sure about the last part - I could look it up, but it's funnier if I don't). So, I suppose you could say that the Shinguji Sakura of Dancing Blade is Princess Peach. In fact, the translation of part 1 of the game at gamefaqs.com says that Momo was born from a big peach fruit and is traveling around the world in search of a reason for her existence (Ooh, I know! She's out to find James!). There's apparently some form of demon counter-strike that's been formed in the capital, of which our Peach Princess is a part, and as part 2 takes off, we see an alien ship, no doubt containing demons, land on Earth. You seem to play the role of an unnamed character (pictured to the left). He looks kinda like a girl, but he's actually a 15 year boy with blood type A (awe shucks, my blood type is O). All the decisions you make in the game are manifested in this boy taking action of some sort.
My comprehension of the game would probably be a lot higher if Konami had included the option for Japanese subtitles, as it tends to be a lot easier to understand the Japanese text when you can see the kanji; I suppose I'm just going to have to bear with it and make strives towards increasing my oral Japanese abilities (and, as mentioned, finding a Japanese girlfriend would be a great first step). Still, if you're used to importing untranslated Japanese animation, you'll feel right at home with Dancing Blade 2. Just don't expect a game.
-- Anoop Gantayat, IGNDC