It is indeed cool, it's my favorite game series. in the beginning i didn't know about the translations, but i took a huge risk and bought the box set for DC. I wasn't dissapointed and it became my favorite game and series, i didn't even know there was a dating sim in there till later. it's a good rpg, i enjoyed it even though i didn't know what they were saying and was able to figure out things plus it give u a demonstration (with the first choice) of how the battle controls work.
ok, here is a brief explanation of the story... this group of all female spirt warriors are having trouble getting along, so it was ordered that a male take the lead over them. that's where you come in taking command of Captain Ichiro Ohgami. the first game doesn't show the true beginnings, to see what happend before and where the troupe came from you must see the anime (the game series drove that anime to be my favorite for a long while). as for the dating part, this is no hentai, so if thats what floats your boat sorry, your out of luck, nothing here but innocent romance, and flirting. there are multiple endings, one for whichever girl you get to like you the most. and once you finish a game you can carry over what you've achived from that game to the next in the series (only the DC versions). girls might get a kick out of the game to for it's romance. my best friend (female) has gotten to like the anime, and she's just started to play part 4. :blah
ok, enough of that, not sure if everyone would like this game, those who are impaitent because it's in japanese and don't know a single word of it. so i say look for a good deal on just one game in the series and see how you like it, the battle system is different between 1,2 and 3,4 so you will have to make a choice there.