.The game is about a little girl named Jitter who wants to see her grandmother. However, this is not going to be an easy task, as her grandmother lives far away, and the girl's parents died before the beginning of the game. Did we mention that the game takes place in Europe during World War II? And that Jitter is Jewish?
The game is strong on story, and it's not a particularly cheery one. We seriously suggest bringing some tissues with you.
Not to be confused with Reisen Udongein Inaba
Reisen provides examples of:
- Actual Pacifist: Jitter.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Florica.
- Adventurer Outfit: She wears the Safari variant, minus the pith helmet.
- Adventures in Comaland: In chapter 7, an injured and feverish Jitter dreams that she's a knight on a quest to rescue the king's daughter. By the end of the chapter, she has to be talked out of staying "between the worlds" and going back to face reality.
- Big Damn Heroes: In chapter 9, nearly everyone Jitter met throughout her journey shows up to help her escape from the guards.
- Bittersweet Ending: The ending where Jitter gets shot is either this or
Esoteric Happy Ending. - Cerebus Callback: In chapter 5, Karl gives Jitter a grenade as a gift. She then tries to use it to save Karl from execution. But, since it's a toy grenade, it doesn't work. In chapter 6, Florica gives Jitter a grenade as a gift. At the end of the chapter, Jitter throws the grenade away, thinking it's a toy. It isn't.
- Cool Big Sis: Florica, who even offers to adopt Jitter and take her on adventures.
- Culture Clash: Upon her arrival to Milan, Jitter is astonished to see that women can wear trousers and make careers. Apparently, she comes from Orthodox Jewish community, who really weren't big on feminism.
- Cunning Linguist: Jitter (rather inexplicably) knows Ancient Greek and Italian.
- Despair Event Horizon: Karl's death, for Jitter. She gets over it, though.
- The Determinator: Jitter in the ending when she gets shot. She keeps going towards her grandmother's house, badly wounded, leaving bloody trail on the snow, until she's finally dead.
- Downer Beginning: The series start in a Polish concentration camp. It's difficult to be any more of a downer.
- Driven to Suicide: Captain.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: And how.
- Engrish: The English translation is far from perfect. However, the emotional impact of the story still manages to get through.
- Foreign Language Title
- Friend to All Living Things: Jitter. And even to some non-living ones. It does help her on her quest.
- Gaiden Game: Two of them: a one-shot crossover with the "Find the Escape-Men" series and an ongoing multi-part series starring Jitter as a young Roman noblewoman in the days surrounding the Ides of March.
- Ghost Amnesia: Gilbert in chapter 2.
- Good Is Not Nice: Christian, the owner of a restaurant. He spoke rudely to Jitter at first, but he gave her a job, paid her more than he should have and invited her to return again.
- Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: The Crow.
- Heel–Face Turn: Captain's brother in the good ending.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Jitter and Karl, and again with Florica.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Jitter doesn't want to leave her dreamworld and has to be talked out of it by Karl.
- Maybe Ever After: The good ending; Jitter and her grandmother move to America to start a new life together, but the narration points out that the future is still uncertain, and Jitter must keep persevering no matter what hardships she may encounter.
- Monster Clown: Averted with Karl.
- Multiple Endings: Two of them. Which one you get depends on whether or not you shoot Jitter at the start of chapter 10.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Jitter's Star of David necklace.
- Parental Abandonment: Jitter's parents were destroyed in the concentration camp.
- Plucky Girl: Jitter.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The Captain. He never tries very hard to keep Jitter prisoner, and he's well aware that the Germans will probably lose the war. The only reason he signed up was because being a soldier gives his life a purpose that he couldn't find as a civilian.
- The Quest: And what a quest this is.
- Revenge: The motif behind Captain's brother actions.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Jitter.
- Third Time's The Charm: Jitter has to pole vault over water three times throughout the series. It's only on the third try that she doesn't come up short and get soaked.
- Title Drop: In chapter 10, "reisen" is the solution to one of the last puzzles.
- Thanking the Viewer: At the end of each chapter.
- Together in Death: Jitter and her parents after she is shot in one of the endings.
- Unfinished Business: Gilbert the Ghost.
- War Is Hell: For everybody.
