In Atarashi Games' Panty Explosion ($20) players take on the roles of psychic Japanese schoolgirls and battle nightmarish demons, ghosts, government agents and even each other.  Like the typical 'magical girl' manga or anime, Panty Explosion mixes the mundane and the macabre, the petty trials and tribulations of high school life and the life or death struggle against supernatural monsters.  The rules encourage teamwork and creativity while focusing on friendship and storytelling.  Anime and manga fans with an interest in immersive role-playing will be able to bring the experiences they have gained watching and reading their favorite magical girl sagas to this game.

Atarashi's second game, which has just been released, is Classroom Death Match ($20), a clever reworking of the Battle Royale/Lord of the Flies genre.  In this nightmare RPG students have been abducted by the Japanese government to participate in the Classroom Death Match -- and in a switch from normal RPG procedures, players are assigned pre-made characters forcing them to often act against type as they have to make the most out of being the tough guy basketball player, the geeky teacher's pet, the tall girl nobody pays attention to, or the bullying leader of the girl gang.  CDM is not a game for the faint of heart, it does involve simulated combat and death, but it also doesn't shirk the ethical dilemmas of an extreme Battle Royale situation.

As you might expect from a company that is as plugged into the major trends in the world of anime and manga as is Atarashi Games, its next release will be a yaoi RPG.