S TEAM, August 22nd, 2021, 9am GMT – Tanuki-sama Studios is happy to announce that its recent crowdfunding initiative to support Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One has reached its target just 3 days after opening for donations..

This follows-on from yesterday’s announcement that the campaign had hit 60% in its first 48 hours.

Given the speed, TSS have recommended that fans who did not donate in time consider a donation to the British Red Cross appeal for Afghanistan.

“Our community are amazing,” says Ethan Fox, of Tanuki-sama Studios, “we planned for 7 weeks of crowdfunding. We can scarcely believe that they’ve propelled us to the target in just 3 days. I’ve got to hand it to them; people asked for this feature in feedback to the initial release in July. Now we’re going to do our part, and make sure these new character images are the best they can be.”

TSS has been developing the Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle series since 2018, on a micro-budget funded out of their own pocket, supplemented with revenue from sales of the game’s episodic releases. In that time, the game has reached fans across the globe, winning “Best of November 2020” on Newgrounds and maintaining a 5-star rating in over 200 reviews on itchio, and a positive rating on Steam.

This is the first time they have turned to their community for crowdfunding.

The initiative has been created in response to player feedback. The game uses a hybrid approach to character artwork, with the 3 most prominent characters using large “bust images” for their appearance, and all other characters using smaller face images. Players have requested that additional characters should be “levelled up” to use these large “bust images” for their in-game artwork.

TSS has picked two characters that are both fan-favourites and prominent “speaking roles” in the story, and has asked players from the community to help crowdfund part of the budget for this artwork.

TSS has requested players contribute to a modest goal of $500 prior to September 30th, and are pleased to announce that 100% of this goal has been raised within 72 hours.

More info about the crowdfunding initiative can be found here: https://twitter.com/NinaAquilaGame/status/1428434799409106956

This new artwork will be bundled with the v5 update to the game (the present release is v4), which is also intended to include a native Linux version, optimised for use on Steam Deck.

The game is presently available here for Windows platform: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1547290/Nina_Aquila_Legal_Eagle_Season_One/

Press review codes available on request (email tanukisamastudios AT gmail DOT com)

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About Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One

This new release collects together and enhances all existing chapters of the popular ongoing indie graphic adventure/visual novel hybrid videogame series, Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle — a courtroom drama game which takes place in a world where all anime genres exist at once.

The collection includes ~10 hours of content, in which players take on the role of Nina Aquila, a rookie defense attorney, as she represents clients accused of capital crimes. In it’s three-faceted gameplay, players will INVESTIGATE crimes (examining crime scenes and speaking to witnesses), PARTICIPATE in activities relevant to their case (such as illegal street racing) and finally, step into court and DEFEND their client in the manner of a courtroom drama visual novel.

  • In Chapter 1, players defend a cosplayer accused of arson, due to her cosplaying as a fire mage
  • In Chapter 2, players defend a client accused of murdering the world champion at Dragon Fantasy Arena (a card-game similar in concept to Yu-Gi-Oh) on the eve of the national tournament
  • In Chapter 3, players defend three street racers, accused of causing the death of a fourth, in a homage to the classic mountain-road racing anime Initial D

NALE has previously appeared on services such as Newgrounds & itch.io in an episodic format (starting in winter 2018), where the releases have garnered praise, with Chapter I receiving “Best of November 2020” on Newgrounds and a 5-star review score on itch.io from over 200 user reviews.

This new collected release is significantly enhanced over the original episodic releases. Enhancements include a wide variety of audio-visual and feature improvements, including new character art, more & higher quality speech samples, reworked video sequences, Steam Achievements, an unlockable explorer mode and many more! This is the definitive NALE experience for both existing and new fans alike.

Veteran anime & gaming voice actor Rachael Messer (Azur Lane, Goblin Slayer, Forgotten Anne) provides the voice of Nina Aquila, the protagonist.

The game has an RRP of $8.99, with a free demo.

About Rachael Messer

Rachael is an industry veteran, recently voicing Enterprise in Funimation’s Azur Lane dub. She has a long history of dub roles in both anime & videogames, including Paladins, Warframe, Akashic Records, Princess Principal, Knight’s & Magic, A Centaur’s Life, Infinite Dendogram and the remake of System Shock.

Ethan originally contacted Rachael after hearing her performance as the protagonist in Forgotten Anne, by Square-Enix, believing her voice would be perfect for the role.

About Tanuki-sama Studios

Tanuki-sama Studios is an indie videogame developer, based in the UK, owned and managed by the solo developer Ethan Fox, who came to the Visual Novel space from a Kindle author background.

Ethan’s games draw upon his past experiences living in Japan, as well as a lifelong love of anime & manga. This season, he is watching Fruits Basket and To Your Eternity.

NALE was conceived as a way to create a narrative experience that has plotting, pacing and direction similar to that of watching an anime show, as well as serving as a homage to multiple anime genres. TSS’s ambition is to see NALE realised as a fully-fledged anime production.

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