I played/stumbled through the first few episodes last night (I just got to the Excelion). The game works like Sakura Taisen, but without the time-limited conversation selections. You walk up to people to initiate conversation. You can pick a general topic from a list (that seems to grow over time), but don't have mid-conversation choices (at least so far). You cycle through cutscenes (real-time, and from the OVA), exploration on-foot, mini-games/training, conversations, and combat. There's opening and ending credits (with the songs from the OVA) for each episode (which you can skip) along with the mid-episode eyecatch. I presume the OP will change as the "show" progresses. The game runs in a high-res mode, so the text is very sharp. Noriko's facial expressions are great, and there's tons of speech! It seems like I'll be able to get through the game without knowing a huge amount of Japanese. There seems to be some sort of inventory system that I'll need to figure out. There's also a place to configure/upgrade(?) your special attacks. I got the first one (Inazuma Kiiiiik) after the duel on Earth. The game is available for $65 at http://www.ncsx.com. It seems to be worthy for Gunbuster fans!