I HDLoaded it into my PS2 and it works fine. And yes i'm sporting a North American PS2.
At first I couldn't move on, but then i remembered how in Japan the O button is what they use for forward where as here we use the X button. When the countdown to continue is running, be sure to hit that O button or else it will take you back to the title screen.
With the exception of the names and other minor text, the rest is all in Japanese, so I won't be doing the mission mode anytime soon. There are pictures while the characters are talking, I have no idea what they are saying, but i'm sure it has nothing to do with the game play. There are pictures and stories to unlock into a gallery called Extra.
The learning curve for this is a piece of cake. Just about every special attack is like doing a fireball or double fireball. I started off using the caster, kinda slow character but not too bad after awhile. I use Rider most of the time, Lancer is pretty good too. quick and powerful attacks for them both are present. On stock setting the game is a piece of cake, never toyed around with the options although I'm sure on the most part it's probably in English, i really do need to increase the difficulty. Even though the tutorial mode was all in Japanese, it was easy for me to complete the desired tasks cause the text would have arrows with these symbols. With a little trial and error i was granted a success when i pulled off what i was suppose to do.
The music tracks has a very generic sound to it, as it stays true to remaining in the background while the characters repeat their war cries as they attack and get busted up.