D3 has posted a video of Ojaru-Maru: Ojaru to Okeiko Aiueo DS that is sure to make you want to learn basic kana, even if you have already done so. It's been a long time since we've been praised so profusely for minor successes, and we could use the encouragement. In addition to some extraordinarily, adorably enthusiastic praise from voiceover, you can see the actual game at work, in both educational and noneducational capacities. The most basic kana training game involves drawing hiragana and then being shown an item whose name contains that sound, as in i / ichigo (strawberry). The next game involves filling in missing syllables from words. The demonstration (which, charmingly, was created just by pointing a camera at a DS) then goes on to show really easy-looking minigames.
The video is accessible by clicking the orange rectangle on the game's homepage. Check it out to feel happy about hiragana, D3 Publisher, and yourself.
