Steveo Reviews the Worst Gaming Products of 2015

6.   Seiteki Kaiju Katsugeki

DaiDai Toy Group

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While I do not own a Seiteki Kaiju Katsugeki dice tower, I did use one during a pickup game of Otokonoko Bansho Club run by Warren Mannor at DenaliCon this year. After character creation, Warren had his Seiteki Kaiju Katsugeki dice tower brought in and lifted onto the table, saying we'd be required to use it to make all of our in-game rolls. (side note - I enjoyed playing Otokonoko Bansho Club, a game about cross-dressing mathletes at an interdimensional high school, very much and I I look forward to the English Translation's official release later in 2016).

At almost five feet tall, Seiteki Kaiju's motorized animations and kaiju sounds are impressive. There was some giggling at the motorized penis nipples, and more than one player expected to be bitten when dropping their dice in its mouth (the mouth is not animated, it does not bite).

Unlike traditional dice towers, where your dice exit the Seiteki Kaiju tower is as important to your roll as the numbers on the dice. That's actually where I started to run into problems. If, like me, your entire grasp of Japanese culture is based on Maison Ikkoku you'll have a hard time understanding the confusing and sometimes contradictory outcomes Seiteki Kaiju generates. On one roll, my dice came out of the kaiju's knee - that result, a success accomplished in a shameful manner, had to be incorporated into my character's turn. It would've been helpful if I were clearer on why that was my result (my character, Tadao-chan, dropped his chalk while solving his math equation, but he accidentally flashed the judges his panties while picking it up).

I liked Otokonoko Bansho Club very much, but the Seiteki Kaiju Katsugeki as a bit much for me to get my head around without having a grasp of the culture involved. As it stands, my lack of knowledge about the intricacies of Japanese social norms was a definite handicap.

I give the Seiteki Kaiju Katsugeki one honban out of a possible five. It's for a pretty niche audience outside of Japan.