The V5 is certainly a Japanese Tamagotchi translated into English.  Some of the "new" features: characters animations activate when pressing the rightmost button on all growth levels, beep sounds when the tamagotchis leave a mess, playing games with the left and middle buttons, lower beep sounds, more animated scenes and other things are found in previous versions of the Tamagotchis in Japan like the Entama and the Keitai. 

People who are used to play with only the Connections/Connexions may be in for a little surprise or two when they grab a V5.  Makes you wonder why some of these got cut in the first place when they released the Connections.

This is a good thing though as us non-Japanese literate people can finally see and feel the Japanese Tamagotchi experience, an experience that is claimed to be way better than their Connection counterparts.

Bandai also made better use of the screen this time.  This time around, Bandai tried to cram everything into the screen, making the animations and pictures more detailed and easily recognizable than ever. Even a simple game like Tea Time (a game really similar to Flag of V4 Connection fame, but with cups) looks almost different with the Japanese table setup and teapot designs.

Games that are playable during the early stages arre pretty similar to the ones in V4.  Like I mentioned earlier, Tea Time is similar to Flag.  The other game available, Channel Surfing, is a similar but seemingly harder version of V4's Mimic.  V4 owners shouldn't have trouble learning these new games.

Another good thing Bandai included in this version is that in the stats screen, they've included the names of the tamagotchi.  One can now that a specific character is a Belltchi without looking at any character or growth charts online.  It brings a lot of value especially to the first-time tamagotchi users who don't know the difference between a Mametchi and a Kuchipatchi.

More to come as I get more acquainted with the V5s.