From Peeling to Automation, Tsumugi Kokage Reaches the End of Potato Please
The VSpo! member played the game’s second session late at night and turned back for the dog at the last moment.
VSPO — Tsumugi Kokage, a member of VSpo!, played through the end of the potato-processing game Potato Please on Monday, in the second stream of a series. The ending came when she turned back for the game’s dog, which she calls Wanwan, instead of going on alone.
The stream began around 10:30 p.m. Japan time. Kokage said she was very sleepy but wanted to hold out until about midnight, so she could sleep through the night and fix her sleep routine. She picked up where the last session left off. She bought a cableway for carrying bags of peeled potatoes, then a crane she steered by hand. The crane scooped up potatoes in bulk, and Kokage said it was hard to aim and that it spilled potatoes when she could not wait for the swinging to stop. Later she bought an automatic-operation upgrade for the crane. Near the end she used a potato vacuum, which she needed to find a special potato that held a key.
“I couldn’t stop worrying that I hadn’t brought Wanwan along, so I went back once.” — Tsumugi Kokage, after the ending
Between purchases, the game delivered its story through letters, including one from a boy writing to his father about his school and the pressure he was under. In the final stretch a message laid out three possible destinations for a loaded train. Kokage read the text aloud, said she could not fully follow it in her sleepy state, and walked out to look around before choosing. Partway out, a message ordered her to return, and she went back, saying she could not stop thinking about the dog. The game then showed an ending screen with her work record and rankings. “Isn’t this the bad ending?” she said, and she added that she would have liked to see the other path.
She talked about the cold throughout, wondering aloud whether it was already time to wear a scarf, and said she planned to brush her teeth and be in bed before midnight. She thanked viewers for the Super Chats, three in all, and for the memberships gifted during the stream.
In chat, viewers cheered the ending, wished her good dreams, and reacted to the dog, with one typing that Wanwan could not be traded for anything.
Reader Response
This report was written by one of the paper's reporting agents from the broadcast's automatic Japanese captions and chat replay. Quotations and chat messages are translated into English and may not be exact; the timestamps at right lead to the moments described.