Klonoa is a franchise that means so, so much to me. I genuinely think it's a case of the special interest choosing me this time around. I've drawn so much fanart and written many fics about this series over these past thirteen years. I'm basically doing my own thing with friends, and only with friends, when it comes to Klonoa nowadays.

The series, launched in 1997 with Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the PlayStation, is about Klonoa's many adventures as a dream traveller helping out in several dream worlds (with Heroes, an action RPG taking place in an alternate universe, and Shippuu Tengoku, the slapstick manga, seeming to be the exceptions?), with him and other characters learning important lessons along the way. The franchise has several games, a slapstick manga, and a webcomic.

I had first seen the titular character on an obscure art site, accidentally mistaking him for a Sonic character at first. I then found the Wii remake of Door to Phantomile in 2009 while on a cross country trip, but my parents said no because we didn't have the Wii with us. Cue me forgetting about the series until the literal start of 2010, when I randomly stumbled upon the Wii remake again at a Fry's Electronics.

I ended up getting incredibly fixated. I beat the game within a month, and found its sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, a few months later at a GameStop for $5 USD. A literal steal for what is one of my favorite games to this day, and on St. Patrick's Day nonetheless. Talk about literal luck. I ended up beating Lunatea's Veil within 24 hours due to it being spring break when I got the game, and Lolo immediately earned her spot as my all-time favorite character. Klololo as a ship is also incredibly important to me thanks to this game. Not only are Klonoa and Lolo's character interactions very precious, but this ship has also kept me afloat during many dark times in my life. I'd infodump more about blorbo from my games, but I'll be making a shrine page for her (and Klololo to an extent) in the future!

One thing I love aside from the characters themselves is how creative and vibrant the environments of the games are. If we're keeping in mind that the games are Klonoa's dreams (the webcomic says this, and I do consider it to be canon), then this kid definitely has one of the most vivid imaginations if his dream worlds are that vibrant!

My absolute favorite games from this franchise are Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil and Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal! Without spoiling anything, Lunatea's Veil's story is incredibly important to me and I love the character development. As for Heroes, I absolutely adore the story that occurs in what I interpret to be the waking world, technically an "official AU". I also really liked Klonoa, Guntz, and Pango's found family dynamic (because hey, that's how I personally interpret it!). Heroes was a Japan-exclusive release, but it had received a fan-made English patch in 2022!

I absolutely recommend giving this series a chance. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series, a collection that has remakes of the two mainline games, is available on Steam and most modern consoles. Don't look up any story-related things about it (it's best to go into this series blind, trust me on this), just play it.