Shin chan is a very popular series in Japan and its spawned a successful anime series during the 1990s, which are still in production today. While it’s more prominent in Japan, you will still see its reach in the US in online circles. Like many people my age, I was introduced to Shin chan through the Funimation dub on Adult Swim. While it’s very different, I still enjoyed it at the time and used it to look up the original. As I get older, I don’t follow Shin chan as much, but I still have a fondness for it. A fondness Neos Corporation is taping into with Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town.
Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a successor to Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation—The Endless Seven-Day Journey. Both games were made with the My Summer Vacation series in mind. They both had input from that series’ creator, Kaz Ayabe, and you can feel the inspiration. While the inspiration is there, Shiro and the Coal Town differentiates itself in many ways. The open-world nature is swapped for a closed-linear experience with different gameplay elements thrown in throughout. The result is a Shin chan experience that had me smiling a lot but also fell short in more ways than one.
Reach A New Town in Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town
In Shiro and the Coal Town, you play as Shinnosuke (Shin), who just arrived in the Akita Prefecture. Your dad Hiroshi just got a job assignment near Akita, so you are moving to a small village in the countryside called Unbent Village. You spend your days enjoying the summer, fishing, farming, catching bugs, making friends, and helping out. At the end of each day, you have dinner with your family and can enjoy the night as you wish. It’s up to you to live each day to the fullest, but something happens.
One morning, the dog Shiro comes home covered in soot. You have no idea how he got so dirty, but he wants to show you something. After following him into the forest, he finds a clearing that has a mysterious train. You follow Shiro onto the train and end up in a very different town, greeted by a mysterious girl named Sumi. The city is called Coal Town, and it’s seen better days. All the workers are just trying to make ends meet in the mines but not doing so well. Sumi believes you can help save the city, which kicks off Shin’s newest adventure.
Living the Countryside Life
You decide how Shin spends his day in Shiro and Coal Town. You start the game by learning how to catch bugs and fish while helping the people in the village. Not long after that, you unlock Coal Town, which has its list of things to do. You only have a set amount of time each day, so you must split your time accordingly. Unlike its Summer Vacation contemporary, you have no set timer during the day. Time progresses when you go from one location to another, so if you stay in one area, time won’t progress until you leave.
The day is separated into three sections: morning, afternoon, and night. Morning and afternoon aren’t too different, but your explorations are limited when night hits. Most of Unbent Village is cut off, and you can’t go to Coal Town. However, the time progression system is very forgiving. I never felt in a rush and had more than enough time to do what I wanted. There is also no calendar system, so you have no time limits for anything.
There is a lot to do across Unbent Village and Coal Town. One thing you will be doing in both is collecting items to fill out your encyclopedia. In the village, one member is writing a book about the local wildlife and geography, and it’s up to you to help her finish it. You can do this by fishing, catching bugs, growing plants, or foraging for wild herbs and minerals. The more you help her, the more likely she’ll give you some monetary reward.
While not mandatory, it is fun to fill out, and the occasional rewards help too. With no continuous countdown, I had no trouble stopping to collect every fish, bug, or item on the ground I saw. I even took time out of my day to farm and water plants after I unlocked the ability to do so. I even found myself fully completing the book naturally as I played more.
Filling out the book means helping one village member, but there are many people to help across both locations. Aside from the main story, you’ll be accepting multiple requests. Be sure to talk to everyone; even though people with requests have markers over them, it’s still good to see what everyone has to say. Many of these requests will even help you in different ways, such as upgrading items in your inventory, rewarding you with money or rare items, or even upgrading your farm. Some even give you extra things to talk about and dinner, which can make the end of the day a bit sweeter. I enjoyed helping everyone I could and found myself nearly done with all the open requests when I beat the game.
Some New Features
Coal Town has a few exclusive features. After you unlock it, you quickly discover the diner run by Ms. Yosoi. The diner isn’t doing well, but Yosoi thinks you can help. The more requests you complete, the more recipes you unlock, which boosts sales for the diner. When the restaurant starts getting customers, you start taking their orders. Get them the correct order, and a nice payday is yours. The more recipes you unlock, the more customers you get, so always watch for requests.
After spending some time in Coal Town, you unlock trolley races. This is a racing minigame where you work to get more points than your opponent. You unlock better trolleys and items by completing requests, so don’t forget to help people. This is also the best way to grind for late-game materials, so I spent a reasonable amount of time here. The trolley races are a fun distraction, although I wish they were more in-depth. While I still had fun with them, I think there could be more here.
Coal Town Adventures
A significant difference between Shiro and the Coal Town and a Summer Vacation game is its linearity. The game has no calendar system, so it follows a story instead. The core story kicks off after Shin enters Coal Town for the first time. Right away, you meet Yuri, an inventor who needs your help. She wants to save the town and thinks you can help her make something that does. While assisting her, you meet Chuck Discardson, the current head of the town, who is saving it his way. Is he helping?
I enjoyed Shiro and Coal Town’s story for the most part. It is pretty straightforward but feels like something from the anime. I liked the characters more and wished I could do more with them. Most are pretty surface-level but still fun to talk to, and established characters feel like extensions of themselves. I liked the story overall, even if I wasn’t in a rush to progress. Since it’s more story, the game also doesn’t want to rush you. I could stop the story and finish all open requests with nothing saying I couldn’t. I could relax and continue the story anytime, which was ideal for play.
Beauty in the Countryside
I can give nothing but praise for the art of Shiro and Coal Town. The backgrounds are beautiful. They are hand-drawn and look like something I would hang on my wall. All the characters are cel-shaded 3D models that layer flawlessly onto the painting-like backgrounds. They feel like they were plucked out of the anime and transferred perfectly. It does feel like playing through an episode, and I can’t emphasize that enough. The music also added to the serene feeling as I left the game on to vibe out. The music and visuals are blissful, and I can’t praise them enough.
A Different Bug
At the time of writing, the PC version of Shiro and the Coal Town has a very odd save bug. The game currently does not detect saves when you launch it. When I first saw this, I was concerned that the game wasn’t saving, but I soon discovered it was. After you start the game, it detects the latest cloud game from a fresh install. The only way to find your actual saves is to open one of the save files and return to the main menu. Then, the accurate saves will be there.
It wasn’t game-breaking for me, but it was tedious. First, I started the game and made a save file after the introduction. After that, I deleted the game and reinstalled it. Then, I had to start the game, open the file I had made to circumvent this problem, and finally go back to the main menu to start playing. If this sounds too tedious, I can’t recommend the PC version until it gets patched.
End of Day
Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a delight to play. It feels like playing a Shin chan episode, so I can’t recommend it to fans enough. A serene experience where you can play at your own pace and not feel the rush of the clock. Minigames galore that I wish had more going for them, but they are still a fun distraction.
A fine enough story that doesn’t overstay its welcome that you can tackle whenever. While I wish the game did more, the beautiful backgrounds and music make up for the price of admission alone. Sadly, I can’t recommend the PC version now due to a bug that I hope will be patched soon. Even if I wanted the game to do more, Shiro and the Coal Town is still a delight, and I can recommend it to series and genre fans.
To learn more about Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town’s development, Final Weapon conducted an interview with game producer Akira Nagashima head of the game’s launch. Nagashima discussed inspiration for the game, along with details regarding Kaz Ayabe’s involvement during development.
Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town launches on October 24 for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in the west.
Disclaimer: Neos Corporation provided Final Weapon with a Steam copy of Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town for review purposes.
