Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day (PlayStation 3) Review

The short movies in Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day are superb and deserve special mention. The first film, entitled "Possessions," is the brainchild of Shuhei Morita, a name that may be familiar thanks to his directorial work on the anime adaptation of horror megahit Tokyo Ghoul. This short film is by far the best of the four, and even received an Academy Award nomination for best short film. It follows a wandering "tourist" in Samurai garb who finds himself in a place filled with forgotten and mistreated items. These items may actually each have a soul, and he takes the time to save/repair them. The strange CGI art is mixed with Ukiyoe-style and fantastic textures ripped straight out of feudal Japan, making for a spectacular-looking final product.

The second film, "Combustible," is by Katsuhiro Otomo. Katsuhiro. Otomo. Creator of Akira. Honestly, nothing else needs to be said. Otomo-sensei has a penchant for taking part in these types of collaborative works and everything he creates is worth seeing.

The third film belongs to Hiroaki Ando, who may not stand as tall as the others on this project , but his star is certainly rising. He has been responsible for bringing to life one of the hottest new Seinen series in years, developing and directing the adaptations of Ajin. His story, "Gambo," sees a little girl enlist the aid of a great monstrous bear against a great demon that is attacking her village.

The final film, "A Farewell to Weapons," sees a group of soldiers trekking through a war-torn future to try and recover a nuke, when they are suddenly attacked by a mech. This is indeed quite a fitting project for Hajime Katoki, designer on numerous Gundam series, along with working on various other big name mech shows.

Then there is the main event itself - the game element: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day. This is the brainchild of some more heavyweight talent; masters of the quirky and the unique. Yohei Kataoka of Tokyo Jungle fame being one, and the renowned Suda51 of Lollipop Chainsaw and more, is the other. It starts promising, following a group of schoolgirls, including the titular Ranko, as they trek home after a day of learning. Ranko is something of a Hikikomori, living in a series of shipping containers in a giant parking garage, where she plans to one day avenge her mother's death. Her target? Her father.

Suda's signature surrealism is all over this title. Ranko is a lingerie-clad 17-year-old, armed with a giant violin gun and races from left to right across a series of environments, slaughtering any oddball enemy that appears in her way, while being constantly pursued by gigantic amalgamations… or, even more terrifying, gigantic Pomeranians...

The gameplay for all this relies on straightforward simplicity: Ranko can run, slice, jump, hover, and wall jump from left to right, with each stage taking only a minute or two. The levels are occasionally broken up with boss stages that help add some extra interest, changing up the racing of the stage from horizontal to vertical to take on a pair of heavily armed gangsters, while rotating blades rise up from the floor, or even taking on heart-shooting dragons in an R-Type-style encounter.

Anyone who has played a Suda51 game knows what to expect here - a truly original and surreal adventure. While not every moment hits the mark, there are plenty that are genuinely hilarious. The art switches suddenly into an animated manga strip, Ranko appears breaking the fourth wall to apologise for the unnecessary cut-scenes, and plenty more anime and J-Pop tropes are abound. There's something else that Suda51 games tend to be well known for, as well, however, and that's their disappointing length. This one clocks in at around an hour to complete. There are some hidden gift boxes to find to unlock things like concept art, but it doesn't add much time to the game and there is little incentive to replay it.