Definitely one of the more inconsistent Doom megawads I've ever played, but damn do some of these maps have such great soul. Most of the best are very unique, typically prioritizing aesthetic charm over combat refinement. This is something that's sure to be divisive among people that play a lot of classic Doom WADs, but I personally think it's a very nice change of pace. I played this with the Final Doomer weaponset, which is very unique and adds to the mapset's strange charm. Apparently there's a sequel in development, which hopefully will up the refinement to create a generally more balanced experience. And that's really one of the best things I can say about this megawad: that despite all my issues with some of its maps, I'm still very excited for more of Japan's unique flavor of Doom.

played with Final Doomer+

Had some fun with this one but it feels very inconsistent. Would've liked a bit more of a cohesive theme throughout the maps instead of just jumping between space and hell randomly. Difficulty as well has some annoying bumps, you could have a really hard map sandwhiched between two normal ones. Everyone seems to love map 11 but it kinda hurt my eyes to be honest. Gave up on map 28 because I'm not really a fan of the massive slaughter type maps myself.

Probably my least favorite Final Doomer weaponset so far. Both shotguns and the machine gun shooting slow projectiles makes them really hard to consistently hit enemies with, and the rocket launcher was really annoying getting blinded by. The katana is amazing and maybe overpowered a bit overpowered though, so I suppose it evens out!

Playing Community Project WADs that don't follow strict rulebooks or stylesheets is kinda like buying a bag of Revels; the fun comes from sticking your hand in, feeling the shape of the chocolate, and popping it into your mouth for a taste. Sometimes you get something really sweet and delicious! Sometimes you get coffee... Sometimes you fuck up your teeth on a Malteser you weren't ready for!! Sometimes you surreptitiously pop a suspected peanut into your mouth, only to find out it's toffee - you thought you didn't like the toffees, but this one was pretty good? Huh?! These mapping grab-bags are a good way to surprise yourself and try things you weren't expecting, even if some chocolates/maps feel like defective products that fell off the production line somewhere along the way.

Don't worry - the analogy is over now. This is a decent mapset! My biggest wad-wide complaint about it is that it's just... a bunch of Doom maps. The title screen would have you believe Doomguy and Cyberdemon were gonna be heading to Hakone and Fuji and Tokyo and all sorts of iconic Japanese locales, but only a handful of maps even acknowledge the country's existence. Fair enough, I guess - American wadders aren't expected to put cheeseburgers and war crimes in their slaughter maps - but c'moooon! Don't you wanna hear an Imp say "yoyoiiii~" or slash a pinkie with a katana? The "omg japan so wacky lol" magic that we all eyeroll-but-secretly-love is present in just a handful of these maps (mostly Nanka Kurashiki's work) and I wish it had been sprinkled more liberally on the maps that are, for all intents and purposes, just re-laid Plutonia pieces.

Before I sign off here, MAP11 probably needs to be singled out for special praise. If you don't want to play all 32 maps in this pack but are curious about what it can achieve, just open-palm slam 'NEXTMAP MAP11' into your console and get straight to the good stuff. A great example of a map that conforms to almost zero of the "Doom rules" but somehow manages to build an incredibly fun, funny and memorable experience. I love when people get artsy with this game.