Twitter, November 12th, 2020, 7:00pm GMT – Following a series of questions from fans & streamers about how to pronounce the name of the main character of the indie VN Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Ethan Fox has taken the unorthodox step of asking fans to weigh in on the discussion.
“Recently,” Ethan explains, “due to the release of the game’s third chapter, and as the first game hit the frontpage of Newgrounds, we saw an influx of new players and several streamers who have raised this question:
Is it Akwilla, or Akeela?”
“It’s a strange situation,” Ethan continues. “When we started work on the game, we kinda used the two pronunciations interchangeably, and as the game is a VN, and isn’t fully voiced, we didn’t really ever decide one way or the other.”
“It’s honestly surprised us just how much people have jumped on this. It’s gone from being a small misunderstanding to a kind of ‘good-natured schism’ within the community. There are very much two camps, and they’ve expressed their opinions vociferously, leading us to adopt the terms Team Akwilla and Team Akeela.”
“On the one hand, Aquila, spoken as Akwilla, is latin for Eagle, and this was actually the source of the name. However, it’s been raised that ‘Neena Akeela Leegal Ee-gal’ rolls off the tongue.”
“Internally, we like both names; but we wanted to see what the fans prefer, so… NAME WAR!”
Fans will be asked to take a stance on the discussion on Twitter and in the NALE Discord, with Discord users being given an exclusive role for their team.
Additionally, fans can express their preference via a set of shirts that are available on the NALE merch store, over on Teepublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/nale
NALE’s third chapter was released to fan acclaim on itch.io a week ago, and currently has a flawless 5-star rating in 15 reviews.
The trailer for the game can be seen at: https://youtu.be/TOp2Mhfr49M
“NALE” is a hybrid of visual novel and graphic adventure game. Players investigate crime scenes, search for clues and interview witnesses from a top-down perspective, before going to court and representing their client in a manner inspired by the Ace Attorney and Danganronpa games.
Veteran voice actor Rachael Messer (Azur Lane, Goblin Slayer, Forgotten Anne) provides the voice of Nina Aquila, the protagonist.
Chapter II and Chapter III are currently part of an introductory sale, while Chapter I is free forever.
A presskit for Chapter III (with visual assets) can be found HERE.
About Chapter III
The chapter’s story begins with a tragic accident that soon escalates into a power-play for the soul of mountain racing, with Nina and Dylan caught in the middle. Players will investigate this over the course of an adventure with more than four hours of exciting story & gameplay.
This follows on from Chapter II, itself a parody of collect-and-battle anime such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Gundam Build Fighters, that incorporated a card-battling-themed minigame.
About Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle
Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle is a successful series of anime-themed Visual Novel/Graphic Adventure games, distributed via itch.io. As Nina, players assume the role of a defense attorney in a succession of cases, each based upon a popular anime genre, while investigating a larger story of corruption & capital crime.
Veteran voice actor Rachael Messer (Azur Lane, Goblin Slayer, Forgotten Anne) provides the voice of Nina Aquila, the protagonist.
NALE’s first three chapters currently have 5-star ratings in over 150 reviews, and have frequently topped the charts on itch.io for various categories, and placed in the top 10 for the “visual novel” category, rubbing shoulders with genre staples such as Doki Doki Literature Club.
Currently 3 chapters are available, and future chapters are planned. Chapter I is completely free, and can be played right now at…
https://ethan-fox.itch.io/nale
About Rachael Messer
Rachael is an industry veteran, recently voicing Enterprise in Funimation’s Azur Lane dub. She has a long history of dub roles in both anime & videogames, including Paladins, Warframe, Akashic Records, Princess Principal, Knight’s & Magic, A Centaur’s Life, Infinite Dendogram and the upcoming System Shock.
Ethan originally contacted Rachael after hearing her performance as the protagonist in Forgotten Anne, by Square-Enix, believing her voice would be perfect for the role of Nina.
About Ethan Fox
Ethan Fox is an indie videogame developer, based in the UK, and came to the Visual Novel space from a Kindle novel author background.
Ethan’s games draw upon his past experiences living in Japan, as well as a lifelong love of anime & manga. This season, he is watching Tonikaku Kawaii and The Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.
He conceived of NALE as a way to create a narrative experience that has plotting, pacing and direction similar to that of watching an anime show, as well as serving as a homage to his favourite anime genres. His ambition is to see NALE realised as a fully-fledged anime production.
Useful Links
- NALE on itch.io: https://ethan-fox.itch.io/
- NALE on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaAquilaGame
- Rachael Messer: https://www.rachaelmesser.com/