Even a Replica can Fall in Love is a essentially a manga about a doppleganger or tulpa situation, pairing existential questioning with romantic connotations. While happy, perhaps even joyful and loving, moments can appear, they’re always tinged with trauma and the specter of what could happen if an individual disappears. As a result, it can feel like the situations involving Sunao Aikawa, her replica Second (that eventually goes by Nao), and their classmate Shuuya Sanada are always a moment away from tearing at your heartstrings in the first volume of this series.

Editor’s Note: There will be some minor spoilers for the first volume of the Even a Replica can Fall in Love manga below.

The story begins with a brief explanation and refresher. Sunao has been able to summon up a replica of herself since she was a child, ever since she first did so this tulpa could make up with her friend Ritsuko for her after a fight. When she does, that entity has all of her memories up to that moment. Sunao only calls her “Second” and does nothing for her quality of life or benefit despite the double needing to eat and sleep. She even doesn’t believe Second has feelings. And so her replica doesn’t get to sleep in a bed, have breakfast, keep any money, or basically own anything. 

This replica eventually refers to herself as Nao, and she considers her whole life to be in service to the person who spawned her. While Sunao’s actions suggest she’s nothing and Nao seems to have internalized that, she clearly is her own individual with her own personality. But even though she may want to do things, like create her own novels or enjoy certain activities, she feels she isn’t able to. Especially since Sunao could decide to be rid of her and make her not exist with no notice. So right away, it’s really sad to see this vivacious young woman who does enjoy life and have her own sense of self consider herself to be… nothing. 

Things start to change when a classmate named Shuuya Sanada returns after an injury kept him out of school for a while recovering. He shows an interest in Nao on the days when she’s filling in for Sunao. He even joins the literature club she’s in, becoming its third member. She’s clearly fascinated with him and even feels bad that she never visited him in the hospital. So much so that we see she’s starting to want to see him and get excited about the prospect.

That, of course, is in jeopardy after Sunao returns to school. She criticizes Nao for her actions toward Shuuya and tells her to watch out. To the point where Nao tries to pass it off to him as her being temperamental some days and saying he should only talk to her when she has her hair up. And after a critical couple events in the volume, we see Sunao isn’t above “punishing” her replica by sending her away. So just when we see Nao getting to live and enjoy things a bit, she’s reminded of her nature. 

But there are hints of another side to it all too. The fact that Sunao is so readily and often relying on a replica is a serious sign of depression. She’s avoiding life and staying in her room, in bed, instead of getting out and facing things. During one of her altercations with her second, we get hints that this sort of life is damaging to her and not making her mental health situation any better. 

Even a Replica can Fall in Love feels like a manga and series designed to constantly make you feel sorry for its characters and hope for the best for them. Nao is a second and replica, and it seems her self esteem is so low that she can’t even dare to imagine actually living her own life. Sunao seems incredibly depressed, and she’s using her double and even abusing her to avoid life. Shuuya seems perplexed and interested in Nao, but perhaps like he’s treated poorly by Sunao on days when she actually shows up. It’s the start of a potentially tragic love story. 

Volume 1 of Even a Replica can Fall in Love is available via Yen Press, and volume 2 of the manga will appear on June 23, 2026. The company also handles the original light novel adaptation. An anime version is in development and expected to debut in 2026. 

The post Even a Replica Can Fall in Love Manga Is Heartbreaking  appeared first on Siliconera.

We enjoyed Fairy Tail: Dungeons when the roguelike launched on the PC in 2024, but somehow the deckbuilder game is even better on the Switch in 2026. Part of this is a universal thing. Ginolabo kept working on the manga and anime-inspired adventure. The new update is massive, free, and everywhere. But the console accessibility combined with Switch 2 compatibility somehow helps make it even more appealing. 

As a refresher, Fairy Tail: Dungeons features an original story. Gates to an underground labyrinth are appearing below guild halls, with people falling into them and disappearing. In the case of Fairy Tail, it’s Gildarts Clive is gone, and Natsu and Happy get sucked in when they’re investigating. They meet Labi, who appears to be another cat-shaped Exceed and is looking for his missing friend Arthur. Arthur is attempting to seal a dragon to protect everyone. So Natsu and other members of the guild will need to survive the ever-changing labyrinth and its dangers while holding Tome of Remembrance pieces to find out what’s going on. 

Part of the nature of the labyrinth is that characters lose their abilities when they enter and must regain magic via collecting cards, with Cana Alberona retaining her Magic Card ability and helping with that. You also pick Amulets when you go in, and can collect items to use in (or rarely out of) battles. Labi’s lantern can protect players for X number of moves on a floor so they can gather Lacrima to power up abilities in the skill tree, explore spaces, face enemies, buy from merchants, rest to do things like regain health or enchant cards, and prepare for the boss fight when turns expire. Once you get past the base labyrinth, you unlock the labyrinth deaths with stricter requirements, Tomes are collected, and you need to prioritize character synergies with their different movesets. 

So first of all, Fairy Tail: Dungeons works flawlessly on the Switch. The sprite-based character designs really stand out on the screen and become the focus. The UI’s always been designed in such a way that it works and looks fine on a smaller screen. It’s also an ideal pick-up-and-play game for a quick run or two, which helps. It suits the nature of the system in every respect, which is appreciated. But most importantly is the fact that it is appearing alongside the major January 2026 update that added content both in the main campaign and post-game. 

Said major element is huge. People who are just getting the game or didn’t beat it yet could choose a Casual Mode to ease into it if they’re having trouble and unlock Gildarts, Laxus, and Mirajane for the party and runs. There are over 170 Magic Cards for new strategies, so you can build on what you’re doing, and can enhance ones if you keep getting doubles beyond the existing Enhancements at campsites. For more experienced players, there are Labyrinth and Grand Clash new difficulties and Gajeel and Juvia in the post-game. There are more references to the original manga and anime via new bosses and Hiro Mashima’s past works like Rave Master. (I happened upon the August battle form addition myself.)It’s a lot in a good way. The pixel art is especially impeccable for the new characters and opponents.

It’s a situation in which Fairy Tail: Dungeons started out as a solid roguelike when it launched, and the Switch port appearing alongside and with all the additions in the free update makes the game even better. Pretty much every major character we could want is playable now. There’s even more endgame content, for those of us who are near the end or almost through it. People just getting started have new elements that will bolster what was already there. Plus it fits so well on Nintendo’s system. It’s just great.

Fairy Tail: Dungeons is available for the Switch and PC. 

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Back when the Switch 2 came out, I looked at some Snakebyte accessories that appeared at launch. They were fine. You know, standard bags and extra charging options. They weren’t exciting or colorful, but they were practical items for a system at an affordable price. Now that we’re a bit more into the thick of things, I’ve been using the Snakebyte Switch 2 Ergo Grip S2 for the Joy-Con 2 controllers and Gamepad Pro S2 controller and they’re a bit more exciting. Especially since I hit a point at which there are more multiplayer options or situations when I will play for hours at a time.

Both of these items are docked Switch 2 sorts of controller options. So if you’re playing in handheld mode primarily, these probably aren’t for you. That’s totally fine! I could see the Ergo Grip S2 maybe being helpful if you switch to tabletop mode for a while and want to use the Joy-Con 2 controllers like that instead of separated whiel playing the Switch 2. 

Speaking of which, the Ergo Grip S2 is the Snakebyte Switch 2 accessory I played with the most, since I always have my Joy-Con 2 controllers on-hand. But that’s primarily because of its usefulness for certain situations. It’s handy for if you’re going to play away from home and perhaps are taking the dock or plan to go with tabletop mode. It relies on the same sort of magnet system as the console to quickly pop them onto the grip. It has an over six foot long cable for charging purposes, in case you want to play while it is connected to a dock or charging cable. There are also gaps so you can see battery life indicator lights while using the grip, so you can tell if charging is needed. It’s comfortable and I sort of feel like a budget version of the $40 official Nintendo option, considering Snakebyte is selling it for $20.

Like that being Snakebyte’s budget option approach to one Nintendo Switch 2 peripheral, I kind of feel like the Gamepad Pro RGB S2 is a budget alternative in some ways for the official Pro Controller. That’s $89.99 after all, and this is $50. It isn’t an exact double, of course. There’s no HD Rumble 2 as an example, and it requires a Bluetooth dongle. It does feature two additional programmable back buttons, and there are locks on M1 and M2 to keep them from being triggered accidentally. Similar locks are present on the triggers. The RGB lighting is there, for those who like that type of thing. But I think the most valuable parts are the Hall Effect sensors on the joysticks and the fact it has its own firmware. Considering we saw third-party docks stop working on the Switch 2 after a firmware update, it’s reassuring. 

Basically, both the Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2 and Gamepad Pro RGB S2 are something of economy options for folks who might not want to pay for the official Nintendo Joy-Con 2 grip or Pro Controller. They might not have all the same features, especially in the case of the controller. But what is here is stable and strong, especially when they’re at least $20 cheaper. 

The Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2 and Gamepad Pro RGB S2 are available now. 

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The D.N.Angel manga release ended up a bit troubled outside Japan. See, it started out as a Tokyopop series. So when that company cut it off, physical copies ended at volume 13. Viz Media then had it on its app for a while digitally! …But again, nothing appeared past 14. Now we’re in a situation when it is Yen Press to the rescue, as it announced D.N.Angel New Editionat Sakura Con 2025. It’s a well-deserved return, with a lavish omnibus volume that inspires me with hope that this time around, Yukiru Sugisaki’s series will get the treatment it deserves.

So the first thing to know going in to this is that D.N.Angel New Editionisn’t just the first volume of the manga. We’re getting all of volume one, all of volume two, and much of volume three. (That’s Chapters 1-8, to be specific.) It’s also a little larger than the original release, as it’s over eight inches by almost six inches, rather than seven and a half by five. So it’s bigger in two ways. It does allow a little better look at the linework and shading, so it’s a nice perk.

The bump in quality for the cover and a pull-out insert also feels like a fun tribute to the 28-year-old series. The front cover has Daisuke Niwa in a suit and a falling card in his right hand, with Wiz on his shoulder. The pull-out immediately after the front cover is a “clean” version of it without the cover details. There’s a glossy finish to it, which I appreciate, and someone could pull it out to use as a mini-poster.

Yen Press also noted that when it’d prepare the D.N.Angel New Editionvolumes, there would be color pages of the manga throughout. I sort of expected this to only apply to the first few pages of the introduction and the final pages, due to a social media  post showing some of pages at launch. But there’s more to it here, which I appreciated. The first three pages, including a full-color spread of Daisuke. Ahead of each chapter, there are some minimalistic color renditions of the pages. So before chapter 2 starts, we see Dark. They’re very well handled and in some cases feature some really intricate coloring. The image of Daisuke in a scarf at sunset as snow is starting to fall ahead of chapter 7 is a perfect example of the quality of those color illustrations. 

It almost feels like Yen Press is trying to make up for lost time with the D.N.Angel New Edition manga release. It’s a great size tome that covers multiple volumes. The print quality is well-done, especially with the color images ahead of chapters. The pull-out of the cover art is a nice touch. After what we went through waiting for a proper physical run of it outside Japan, it feels like it is finally getting the release it deserves.

Volume 1 of the D.N.Angel New Editionmanga is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 2 on February 24, 2026.

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Cling to Darkness was about an hour and a half of dread and emotional twists, only for one's last impression of it to be a frenetic rock track as the credits play. Though odd, it matches the peculiar (used both positively and negatively) experience that I just had. Though I can appreciate Lizardry’s innovation in the over-saturated market of indie horror adventure, its somewhat counter-intuitive gameplay drowns out the potential.

In Cling to Darkness, you play as Satsuki, a young girl undergoing a ritual. This ritual requires her to put on a blindfold and collect five talismans while relying solely on her sense of hearing. A mysterious monster known as Ashioto-san stalks her the entire time, and she absolutely cannot let Ashioto-san touch her.

When reading the description for Cling to Darkness, I expected something like Death Forest or Aka Manto—a horror game with an implacable monster stalker and a bare-bones narrative to justify your presence in whatever haunted locale you’re in. But I was surprised when Cling to Darkness actually had a story. Satsuki comes off as an unreliable narrator, which makes you doubt her story and have to piece together her past from dialogue.

Contrary to the game's instructions when you first boot this up, I highly recommend playing with visual aides off and not blindfolding yourself. As mentioned earlier, the story wants to be deeper than the run-of-the-mill horror, but the game doesn’t mute or lower the volume of the sound effects during conversations. Many times, they distracted me at key points of dialogue, causing me to miss something since I couldn't read the subtitle before clicking for the next line.

It’s also funny that I had to do that. Again, you're meant to play it blindfolded, but the game doesn't have an auto option for the story. I often didn't know when a character had finished speaking and so needed me to click to proceed. How did the playtesters not complain aabout this? This was way more stressful than the actual horror bit. The game wasn't that scary since Ashioto-san sounds like a kid running at the pool, and it's easy enough to beat.

The story also doesn't match the game's length. It's only 90 minutes long, which isn't enough time to know or care about Satsuki. That's even with Anya Floris, who voices Satsuki in the English version, acting her heart out. My first impression when I finished the game was that the ending was similar to the Death Note American live-action's. It ends on a confusing note ("Wait, did Satsuki pee herself?") and the last impression is a complete tonal shift from what you had just gone through that it only leaves you with more questions.

I would have liked more time with Satsuki to care about her and her plight. In saying that, though, more of the repetitive gameplay would have further dragged down the experience. Cling to Darkness is a game with a good idea, but its execution (from basic QoL to the story and gameplay) just needed some more forethought.

Cling to Darkness is readily available on the Windows PC via Steam.

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