Hiragana Battle is an interesting proposition, since it tries to facilitate the learning of hiragana through the repetition of battles typical of JRPGs. The exercise works, although one can regret a too rigid division: the hiraganas being traditionally separated by consonant group, some are absent from the rotation when one progresses in the game, to the point where those in n-, m- or h- can go out of memory. The addition of vocabulary is a pretty good idea, but it lacks application, so there is no requirement to learn them until the last dungeon. Mechanically, the title is a JRPG boiled down to its major platitudes, but you don't necessarily want more from such a game. The characters have the classic traits of the genre, even if you have to appreciate the fact that the main character is a reasonable and assertive woman, flanked by her two less valiant or intelligent male friends. Beyond the assets that are clearly recognisable as those of RPG Maker, the title commits a few faults of pacing and level-design: the fights can be quite long with the animations and the enemy pools are fixed, which prevents a real diversity of learning. Nevertheless, Hiragana Battle is clearly a welcome addition for those who are put off by the dry learning that usually takes place for Japanese alphabets, especially as the vocabulary snippets provide a bit of freshness.