Hi,

I originally bought this game mostly just out of curiosity, though I have pretty muchly like what I have seen. Unfortunately I haven't yet had a chance to run a game yet, so right now all I can really comment on are the game basics.

The rules are 130 pages long and include chapters on "The Basics", "Skills", "Edges & Flaws", "Feng-Shui' & "Psychic" Powers, "Money & Equipment", "Doing Things", "Combat", "Setting Notes", and an Appendix with stuff like Sample Character Creation, a Character Sheet, a sample intro scenario and an index.

In general the game uses something called an"Inverted 20 System" for resolving all action, with all rolls being done with a single twenty sided die.

One of the things I really liked about the rules is the character creation and the use of things like "Luck & Surge Points" and "Edges & Flaws". All characters start with a certain number of Ability Points and its up to the player to to distribute them among the 3 basic physical and 3 basic mental abilities. The game provides tables for all these abilities to help new players relate the numbers to what they represent. For example, a rating of 2 in one of the physical abilities might be typical of an adolescent character, whereas a rating of 5-6 might be more typical of an olympic type athlete, which I found helped me better understand the character and made them more than just a series of numbers.

Characters also start with a certain number of skill points, which the player can allot to a range of different skills. Here the rules also provide tables that relate skill level to real world equivalents (such as 0 signifying that you are untrained in that skill, 3 meaning that you are average and 4 being above average, etc). In addition to this the player can select a small number of edges for their character (such as acute eyesight or hearing, being a marksman, being ambidextrous, or having political, law enforcement, or underworld ties). Similarly, you can also give your character some flaws such as being clumsy, having allergies, or maybe being a compulsive gambler etc. By giving your character flaws you can select additional edges, and together the use of Edges & Flaws seems to be another nice touch that also helps better flesh out your character.

Overall I also really like the layout and look of the rules, and the artwork is nice though very limited, with some images being re-used in several places. It would have been nice if the authors could have included more/different images.

In conclusion, its clear that the game is meant to reflect the setting and feel of the similarly named anime series, and I guess this is one thing that may be an issue for some players. On the one hand the rules can be seen as an homage to the anime series, though its possible that others may instead see it maybe a possible exploitation of other's work. In general, I think I fall into the first category, but I suspect that each player may have to decide for themselves. Overall, my rating is 4 stars.