#i love otome games so you can guess how much i like this interactive story shit

[hummingbird-games]

2023 In Review (Indie Games)

Last year's! | 2021

I apologize in advance for how long this might be. As a reminder, I don't bash games here so even if I hated something with every fiber of my being...I ain't sharing. As a second reminder, my more in depth reviews and live blogging has moved to Gem's Game Gems so I don't clutter the HBG's main blog. Okay. ON WITH THE REVIEW!!

DEMOS

Diffraction (Demo)- A rainy day otome indeed. I love the quiet gentleness of this game, the two romance options, and the fact that our MC is a photographer and struggling with her art and stack of life "failures" (because...SAME!!)

Alaris - I was asleep and now I am awake: I came late for the advertised fae and dragon lore, stayed seated and waiting for Fenir zjgjdf. Oh, and I guess the mystery surrounding our MC's abilities LOL.

The Summit Library - When I say I was maaaaaad when I realized I blew through chapter 1 and would have to go back to waiting for more content??? LOL, I was very miffed. Anyhoo, check out this title for the gorgeous art, another intriguing mystery (like what is *up* with the magic in the poor library?? who or what is to blame?? 👀) and of course the lovely characters we've been introduced to thus far.

Of Sense and Soul - I'm a regency romance girl. Like after you strip away the other stuff, I am but a poor woman with simple needs: a good ass love story 🤧💛 It's about the yearning and the slow burn and the will they/won't they/PLEASEEE they...I've never been so charmed by a demo, and the full game is going to be amazing I just know it!

Made Marion - This project is a game I've been keeping tabs on for a hot minute but hadn't taken the time to sit and properly enjoy the demo. I'M SO GLAD I DID!!! It's in early access now, so I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to carve out some time to play, but guysss Velvet Cupcake is doing the Thing?!? No idea which love interest I'll go for first, but I had a fun time meeting the Nottingham peeps in the demo.

Herotome (Super Demo) - Oh gosh. Oh gosh oh gosh oh my GOSHHH. Where do I even began?? (Really the question is where the hell do I end because this is one of those projects I talk about a lot/think about a lot and surprisingly haven't run out of things to say zkjfksjd). Another game I've been following for a while, it 100% lives up to the superhero genre in its aesthetic, the characters you interact with, the music and sound design, and of course the slowly unfurling story. Jade and Mia had come out as my top faves, Warden is still there, like hovering in the backgroud, shhhh but I have a special place in my heart for Griffin too (that conversation we have with her?? I have so many screenshots just so I can go back and reread and sear the words in my brain. Like a weirdo. Yup.)

Celestial Crowns - Stats building, celestial royalty, dating sim where you fuck around and find out your choices directly affect your MC's personality?? I'm sat. I supported the Kickstarter and now I try to practice patience for the full game's release siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighh.

OTOME/JOSEI JAM

Please note this is a SUPER abridged list for my sanity and I fell a little more in love with these 2 jams with each entry I played...

Intertwine - As embarrassing as it sounds, I've never given much thought to the "red string" thing, and I consume more than enough romance media LOL!! But Van is suuuuuch a beautiful man, the UI for this game is so interactive and lovely, the music is ALSO lovely, just lovely-love all the way around teehee. (Also this game encourages replayabillity so like, do with that info what you will.)

Spring Boy [Demo] - I believe this game is going through a complete rehaul, so my thoughts and feelings refer to the original jam entry I played. The art is bright and cute and it's a super super short demo, but I was intrigued by the other student we meet on our mission to plead with our professor about our bombed exam lol!

Assignment Due: Project Blue - IRl group projects??? Suck absolute ass. Group projects with a guy name Asher?? Suddenly it's my new favorite thing in the world 😁

Cryptid Campaign Manager [DEMO] - Remember the last time I looked over a cryptid dating sim??? Remember how I was SUCH a fool?? Good thing I didn't make that mistake again!! The prologue is such a tease but you get an idea of what the full game is gonna be like, and I'm excited to see where my career involving love (and politics) goes!

Heart Cage [Demo] - Yoooooo I stay my ass far far far away from yanderes (could never get into the trope or the character type). WELP. Guess I just needed to keep searching because I really downloaded this off a whim--well, the whim being one of my fellow dev peers playing and rating-- and proceeded to get sucked in 🤧I thought being a detective would be the highlight, but I guuuueeesssss I was more into the romance options than I thought. Oops.

Evernight - I tried to explain what this game meant to me on the side blog, but words failed me. I still don't know what to say other than I loved it?? Which is like ummm I say I love everything, and yeah I'm easy to please BUT Y'ALLLLLL if you play no other game, play this one. Please. Date a werewolf. Or a vampire. Or a fae. Plz. Also figuring out the mystery of your MC's abilities and past is just delightful, ugh.

Bright Oak (demo) - Anotha one I wrote about on the side blog!!! Play this one!!! The writing is lush and atmospheric and the characters are all delightful and it's another game with a mystery to untangle!

The Faithfulness of the Universe- This one gets the award for most unique all around entry that I played. Theeeeee prettiest pixel art to bless my eyeballs, and this tasty mystery concerning Fate and witch Faustina's future (or lack thereof 👀) and what it all means. As a player I very much want to know what it all means!

A Cup For All Seasons - Another game that needs its flowers y'all. It's short but super healing and super cozy and the voice acting and music really tie the gaming experience together???

The Working Woman's Guide to Burning Bridges - DEMO - It's the way I played the demo twice and I've been thinking about it ever since 😭😭😭🙃 obviously life happens and things come up, plus this was a demo. But. BUT!!! I am on my hands and knees prayinnggg the team gets together again to finish the game. I love playing as a stressed, lowkey bitter hot mess who doesn't have her life together 😂somehow the fictional version is soooo much more entertaining!!!

Keyframes (Spring Demo) - After the game College Craze, this is legit THE college, slice of life visual novel of my dreams. I cannot wait for the updated demo next year, and the Kickstarter whenever that rolls around. And now that the developer is on Tumblr, I've definitely been stalking the account and reading each new post like it's my day/night/weekend job 🤧

Hello Counsel 💋 - Okay I take it back, Evernight is like a 20/10 but Hello Counsel is like an 100/10 👁️👄👁️ This game is necessary for my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health, alright? The banter ✅ the character designs ✅ the music ✅ the sizzling chemistry between Poise and Salem ✅ I wish this game had more buzz because IT'S SO GOOD!!! (also the dev, Miseri, is who I wanna be when I grow up. I've made it through almost their whole backlog of games and there are no misses and EVERY game is different from the rest and it makes it hard for a toodler dev--ME--to cope LOL)

Candied Hearts - Isekaied into a candy themed game?? Sign me TF UP!!! (Peppermint I love you dearly, you must understand.)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

The Knight's Dilemma - I don't even know how I originally stumbled upon this??? I just know it had been in my backlog for a hot minute and I was intrigued enough to save it way back when. Y'ALL WHY DIDN'T I PLAY SOONER SKJFHFJFH! There's a couple different endings, I loved the voice direction, AND it's such a simple concept of a game that was just executed beautifully.

Trouble Comes Twice - If I had to make a top 5 list of romance VNs, guess who makes the list?? Guess. Guess guess guess. Have you guessed yet??? LOL! I have been in love with TCT since it's development days and with each passing month, waiting in anticipation, playing the Pateron beta builds, screaming on the main blog about every single thought I had about Jace and Hazel (shoutout to Jace for helping me figure out *me*) Lol if you're curious about said thoughts, those posts are on this blog and not the side blog.

Aelfric the Wondrous - 10/10 would love to forget my first play through JUST to have that experience fresh again 😭😭💛Cute and funny and a wonderful parody type game all around.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 - Goodness, there's no excuse for why this took me years to finish but anyhoo, I finished, I loved it, I recommend it! It's romantic and achingly authentic and the art is soooo gorgeous I literally can't stand it 😭

The Things You Do For Love - Unhinged yandere manages to entertain and garner sympathy and laughter from Gemini. And that poly ending is chef's kiss too????

Band Camp Boyfriend - There are a handful of games I found and loved before I began my game development journey, and this is one of them. BCB is so dear to me, because of the story and characters but also because of the Dynamic Duo creators and their team behind the scenes. I was never a band kid I was a chorus kid but just as the band geeks loved this game to pieces, us normal folks do too!! Even the boys who I didn't like I STILL managed to find joy in playing their routes (still have a few more to finish at the time of this posting lol, GOTTA GET THE FINAL ROUTE YO). Anyway, this game more than delivered for me and I hope more people keep discovering it!!

Belle Automata: Chronicle I [RELEASED] - While only Chronicle 1 is out at the time of this posting, I already know that the 2nd and 3rd parts are going to be just as amazing???? I wrote about this one on the side blog, so here's my copypaste that still rings true:  

I love TNP (The Nightmare Prince) but Victor’s route hit the sweet spot for me. Maybe it’s the slow(er) burn nature of this route, maybe it’s the reserved nature of Victor and watching him slowly start to care (AND NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE FEELINGS TEEHEE) for me.

A Date with Death - I wrote about this on the side blog--again--. The demo. And then right after finishing a route. And then again where I was fully awake and still managed to sound deranged. No copypaste for that, I shall be nice. But yeah!! Another game where I was screaming at the sky about how much I love it and how I'll never know peace as long as I live.

Our Life: Baxter DLC - I need to offer an official apology to both Cove and Derek because falling head over heels, down the stairs, crashing into the parking lot, falling again but down a manhole for Baxter's infuriating ass was NOT on my 2023 bingo board??? HELLO???? I bought his DLC just to complete my OL collection. Was not expecting to love it this much. Was not expecting to be called to write fanfic and abandon all responsibilities to do this. WHILE DOWN WITH COVID TOO. Allow me to play the song of my people. *Send in the Clowns plays*

Our Cinderella - (this is so funny I'm taking about a side game before the main game LOLOLOLOL) Guys. Guysss. You guyyyysss 🥹if you're looking for a cozy, hilarious, equally oddly and wonderfully sweet short game, this is the one!! You may have your personal favorite Iggy ship (like me) but all the pairings are so amazing and just make sense lol!

Wylde Flowers - This is the only non visual novel game on here but it gets the spotlight because I did NOT spend 90+ hours on this game to gatekeep this beauty. No. It the coziest, the funniest, the funnest, the most addictive Switch game (after Teacup) I've ever played.

Fully Released (& still on 1st playthrough)

Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin - Life kicked my butt and then sat on me SO while I finally got my grubby hands on the full copy, I still have only played the entirety of the demo. But. We will return to this in 2024 and hopefully I'll have a full review for the next wrap up!

Our Wonderland - I looked back at the side blog and I can't believe it was only THIS year that I started OW??? Because I'd known of the game and the dev for longer than that??? So basically what I'm saying is that I was chicken shit for longer than I've been in love with this world that Developer Carrot has created kjzhhshggj. But OMG to get me, who is scared oh so easily to get hella invested in this clearly labeled horror game??????????????? And even with shit gets super absurd and hella disturbing, I cannot stop playing. At the time of this post, I'm only in Act 4, hence the category above, but it's only because I play each act in a sitting and lose track of space and time and myself. That's a compliment btw.

...

Okie!! That's 2023 in a nutshell! I played a looooot of really good games this year and while I would have liked to talk about them all, I think this list provides a nice overview.

Let me know if we share any favorites!

- Gemini 💛

[yandere-sins]

For me love and deep space was one of those ones where I had to warm up to it. Though it took me like 10 minutes lol. Aside from the stunning visuals I’d say the characters are pretty interesting. I personally like Xavier. At first I didn’t really consider him cause he was advertised as the cute princely type of guy. But then I got whiplash from reading his stories from the things that came out of his mouth because I wasn’t expecting it from someone like him. Like he’s actually playful/mischievous and bold with what he says though at times, but I guess if you’ve been around a for a few centuries waiting for your beloved and she finally is in front of you I can imagine how pent up he would be.

Interesting! To me it was mostly curiosity since it's praised for it's realistic art style and I wanted to see what is new on the otome game front. And overall, while I actually think there's a little too much to do in game, I do like it overall. I am just somewhat disappointed in the the presentation of the characters, given I didn't deep dive into the story yet though I am well-spoilered already, just slowly working my way through it, but they all felt very uncomfortable to interact with in the beginning. Sure it gets better the more you advance in their level and everything, but they weren't really captivating or inviting me to keep being interested in them. That's probably why I mostly switched from Zayne to Rafayel by now in terms of combat and reading his stories. I still love Zayne but damn, he is sooo hard to like. At least with Raf and Xavier you somewhat feel liked by them. And I say that while having an affection level of 34 with Zayne. I don't think I'll completely drop him, but yeah. He was my biggest disappointment so far.

However, I agree with someone commenting on my post that their personalities are good for yanderefication and your comment about being pent up is exactly the direction I see them going lol!

[otomedetective]

Aromanticism and Otome Games

I am an aromantic who loves otome games. It may seem incredibly contradictory, especially since the common perception of otomes is that they are wish-fulfillment games for people to insert themselves into a story where they date attractive men. There's definitely nothing wrong with playing them in that way, and many people get a lot of enjoyment out of them, but that isn't the only way to play an otome game. In fact, many otome game players prefer not to self-insert at all and I’m one of them!

My personal experience being aromantic means I do not feel romantic attraction to anyone, and I do not desire or need a romantic relationship to feel fulfilled in life. I’m perfectly happy with my platonic bonds and my perpetual singleness! That’s how I experience it, but there are many different ways to be aromantic, and there’s no one universal experience that defines how all aromantic people live their lives. Some are repulsed by romance and its overbearing presence in nearly all forms of media, and others are comfortable seeing other people experience romance despite not experiencing it themselves (though these, of course, are not the only two groups). I personally lean more towards the latter category. I love romance stories! 

For me, playing an otome game is like watching a romance movie where I get to decide who the heroine ends up with. It's like a shipper's dream! I don’t self-insert because I am not comfortable putting myself in romantic situations, but by observing a fictional couple, I can safely explore the romantic plots and experiences that interest me. And let me tell you, I love a good romance plot. Especially one with drama.

A comparison I like to make when people don’t seem to get it is that I also really, really love murder mysteries and tragedies, but I do NOT want to actually experience them myself. What I want for a character and what I want for myself are two completely separate things, so there’s really no contradiction! 

In fact, playing otome games was a big part of my aromantic journey in the first place. I never had crushes as a kid that weren’t forced or peer pressured. When people talk about the characters in their childhood shows that they had crushes on, I can never relate. To me, there were only interesting characters and stories. I’ve never really wanted anything more than that. 

So when my second-ever relationship ended and I was wondering whether I really felt romantic attraction at all, I decided to try otome games. 

I chose Collar x Malice as my first game because, as I mentioned earlier, I am a huge fan of mysteries and tragedies, and the premise intrigued me. Then, throughout my exploration of various otome games (and as I quickly became hooked on them) I tried some games with less developed heroines, specifically made for self-inserting, and found that I couldn’t handle them. Separating myself from the heroine helped me enjoy the games more as I realized that I didn’t actually want to be in these romantic situations myself, but only wanted to enjoy the story.

So what was the point of this whole post? I guess just to share my own personal experiences as an aromantic otome-lover and address the contradiction. Otome games aren’t necessarily mainstream-popular, but they certainly have their dedicated fans, and I’ve really enjoyed the interactions I’ve had so far with these fandom spaces. 

Sure, the primary focus of the games may be pretty boys who you can date, but otome games can also be so much more than that! It’s a genre I’m glad I decided to try. 

I’m happy to be an aro along for the ride to read some good stories, puzzle out the right route choices, and look at some aesthetically pleasing character designs along the way! :)

[chasing-storm-s]

Routes I've done for Ikemen Sengoku, Ikemen Vampire, Ikemen Villains, and Koihana Bakumeiroku. To be updated from time to time.

IkeSen Routes completed:

Masamune: romantic | dramatic | eternal (fav guy and fav routes)

Shingen: romantic | dramatic (not my type but damn I'd be lying if I say I didn't fall for him in his routes)

Nobunaga: romantic | dramatic (rather have you as an older brother figure, but you sure can be fun). sign me up for a late-night konpeito heist.

Sasuke: Romantic & Dramatic (routes SUPER fun. Guy's also super fun). Preferance: dramatic. Side story for both full love bonus is awesome!

Mitsunari: Romantic (the incomparable angel)

Keiji: Romantic (feeling: complicated. Sometimes I hate him, other times I like him well enough. His route is different but in a good way I guess?)

Kenshin: Romantic, Dramatic. (was worried but I think I like MC in his route. Ngl did fall for him despite his yandere-ing. Although, it's probably because I expected worse). Prefer his romantic cause we get to see them all plotting to bring him back, Mai as the Goddess of War. Ah, that was such a cool scene.

Motonari: Dramatic | Romantic (boy is he wild. But nope, not my thing - looks hot tho). I surprised myself by finishing both his routes this early hahah. Liked him much better on my 2nd gameplay but gosh will I always dislike that first couple of chapters.

Hideyoshi: Romantic | Dramatic (an extremely much needed break after the prev 3 guys. Worried I would dislike his route. But I love it. Him too. Very much. Fav parts: MC saying she will not send him a letter & her threatening Mitsuhide)

Ieyasu: Dramatic | Romantic Annnd that's my first Ieyasu route completed (dramatic). Enjoyed it more than I expected since Tsunderes aren't my thing, I was worried that I would've dislike his route but it turns out alright. I am a little sad that there weren't much of Sasuke fanboying moments but yeah overall things are still fine. Not sure yet how it goes in my ranking of routes I've done tho. Romatic: i've left it too long between reading and writing this.. so I'm sorry but I really forgot how things go. BUT. I think I enjoyed dramatic more.

Yoshimoto: Romantic (very dramatic. And it's not even the dramatic route. I love it.)

Yukimura: Dramatic | Dramatic (sometimes, you need to get yourself an awkward, tactless, yet super sweet guy who'll chase after you and call you dummy. Not fav LI but my 2nd fav route to play).

Mitsuhide: romantic. ohoho. I am warming up to this guy.

Kanetsugu: dramatic | romantic. His smile. His SMILE. I melt every time. Both routes were awesome! But I'll pick dramatic over romantic cause of that one Azuchi mother hen-ing scene 😂

Kennyo: Dramatic. That was pretty good actually.

IkeVamp Routes completed:

Leonardo: romantic | dramatic (is he the sweetest guy ever or is there someone who competes for this position?)

Vlad: dramatic (quite the bittersweet route. I love him)

Jean: romantic (boy be breaking my heart with his story. Extra love given to this man.)

Napoleon: dramatic. A lovely, lighter, more humorous read (compared to previous two).

Isaac: dramatic & romantic (adorable 100%. Need I say more?)

Dazai: romantic (thoughts tbc)

Faust: dramatic. Welp, this is one dramatic, red-flagged guy. Kidnapping, threats, dubious consent (?). Then again, it's pretty much expected/we've been warned. I donno but I was quite excited about playing his route but now that I've finished it.. I donno. I thought I would've enjoyed it more maybe? (This is why expectations are dangerous). I like the drama esp that beginning and learning about his softer sides especially with his interactions with the orphanage children (I love these scenes) but, I'm feeling like there's something.. missing. Maybe it's just me these past month because it has been a very busy, full of change month for me outside of my otome games. Im just here trying to divide my braincell for everything 🙃 . I'll replay his route once I'm properly settled in.

Arthur: Romantic. I love his route, how complicated things are between him and his past and him and Emma. With their very rocky start, how the comes to be be friends and their feelings, all to aware that both could not hope to fall in love with the other. Despite the complications, things aren't messy (I'm not refering to how Arthur himself's a mess). I think the route's written quite well, and it really does messes with your feelings (I like routes that gives me strong feelings, good and bad)

Theo: Romantic. Love how he's so insistent at going to the future for MC. I haven't seen any in Sengoku (not incl sasuke cause he future person) or other Vampire suitors yet that offers to do so. Overall, I enjoyed his route. I wish there were more..

Shakespeare: Dramatic. It's awesome.

Charles: Romantic. Ugly-crying almost the whole time. Is it my hormones? Is it purely Charles? I'll never truly know. But I love his route, though I'll never forgive cybird for that one chapter for toying with my emotions like that.

Vincent: Dramatic. Pretty lovely. It has that pure, gentle feeling like the man himself. Oh but I didn't think I would hate Shakespeare as much as I did in this route. Well, it's for the plot after all.

Comte: it was a fun ride. Got so many new dresses 😌

Interlude: very enjoyable. Nice seeing lots of friendship/family dynamics and more of everyone

IkeVill routes completed:

William Rex: Mad love - I like the story. Warming up to the game and concepts. Guy wise, it's kinda hard to get a proper sense of him through translation apps but I might put him on my like-as-friends or neutral acquaintance group.

Liam Evans: Both Ends - my fav being Blind End. best boy 😭 the sweetest man I could ever ask for. But oh the pain, the hurt, the tragic backstories. The amount of times I cried.

Harrison Gray: Blind Love - did a speed run through so can't remember much right now since I am updating this like after finishing a whole different route later. But. I remember thinking that it gives the most adventurous feeling between the others I've played.

Elbert Greetia: Mad Love - Quite enjoyed the route, though El's back story was disturbing. Love the whole El, Al, and Kate relationship side of things.

Koihana Bakumeiroku

Hijikata - First route I've ever finished and well, there were parts I was confused about but did figured out in other routes I have not finished playing yet (Kido and Katsu). I liked it.

[innocentignorance]

Otome Review: Collar x Malice - Unlimited

So in Collar x Malice - Unlimited, sequel to Collar x Malice ,you get learn what it’s like to actually have a relationship with the guy of your dreams without anyone trying to actively kill you or whatever. I think this is actually a really nice take. Usually in otome games there is this huge drama or life threatening situation going on during which the heroine meets and falls in love with the love interests. Then after the drama is over so is the story usually.  In this game it basically tells what happens in that “Happily Ever After” that comes after playing the first game. Although you can still get Normal or Bad endings. Which is nice because, you know, such is life. So the story in this one is generally not as complicated as the first one since you basically solved everything and I can’t really write an overall summary since all the routes are very different and there is no common route. Also warning: may contain spoilers for the first game but I tried to keep it spoiler free for this one since you can’t play this game without playing the first one anyway.

There are also many side stories where you get some insights into some side characters, get to know them a bit better. There is also a story that is kinda the continuation of a bad ending of one of the routes in the first game. Which was honestly quite interesting and also really bittersweet.

There isn’t a lot that I have to warn you about in this game since the traumas that the characters have are not mentioned as heavily as the first game and you should really have played the first game in order to know what’s going on here. One warning that I should maybe make is that there is a bit more sexual content in this one so if you are maybe a delicate person who blushes at the mere mention of “sex” or kissing, consider yourself warned. So yeah. Warning :Suggestive Themes (Maybe??). 

Because I guess some people consider it steamy when they see their 2D boyfriend shirtless and hear him very vaguely reference sex. I am sorry if anyone is offended by this, I am just extremely salty about the fact that otome games portray love as something super pure and beautiful, and in order for love to be this way sex cannot happen, or it cannot be enjoyed. Like the heroine can never come out and say that she enjoys sex with her partner. Ugh. (I just want some R rated otome games. Usually I can go get my fill of smut between my beloved characters but this game surprisingly has very little fanfiction. I am so disappointed, I have no words.)

Anyway. Onto the routes!

Love Interests

Mineo Enomoto

This guy’s after story was really funny and sweet. Although it’s not my cup of tea, since he’s a bit too innocent and oblivious. But he actually got a bit smarter in this game AND he took off that eyepatch. Like, thank fuck, man. You use guns n shit and depth perception is a thing. So even though Mineo is a bit innocent for me, I think he actually makes good match for the heroine since she’s very much the same. They are both young and quite inexperienced but they are figuring it all out together which I think is beautiful. 

Takeru Sasazuka

God I love him so fucking much. Ehem. So Takeru’s route was very entertaining. In the first game he always had the “I couldn’t care less” attitude towards everyone especially in the beginning. He still has that harsh exterior going on but damn if it isn’t sweet inside. I honestly may be a little biased on this one since I love his character trope. But he goes through a genuine character development that was, I think, quite well-written since you don’t actually realize it all that much until a character points it out. His route was honestly a bit more realistic compared to the others in regards to how relationships work. They aren’t all sunshine and giggles. Overall, I love him. Could’ve been more “steamy” scenes or sexual interactions in general even if it was just implying . Still not too unhappy with the fanservice in this route. At least got to see him shirtless. Which is more than what we got in some other routes sobs

Kei Okazaki

So after going through even more trauma in the first game, my man’s honestly on his way to fixing his fucked up mentality. However, he’s not quite there yet. In Kei’s route you get to see how it is to have your work can kinda get in the way of your relationship. They’re trying to have a relationship between their jobs and Kei’s lingering issues and of course with some misunderstandings along the way but they manage to tackle it in the end. Of course nothing is perfect which is, in my opinion, a good thing since perfect relationships do not exist. There was also a lot of implications of sexual activity in this one because our boi here is one horny bastard. Honestly, I love him. If only he wasn’t trying to sugar coat his mental issues and stuff with that adorable but sometimes annoying smile of his. like no Kei this much jealousy is not normal stfu

Kageyuki Shiraishi

...

...

...

This bitch After going through so much fucking shit in the first game, here we are going through even more shit in this wonderful fandisk! Honestly if you were thirsting after him at any point, you’re out of luck cause our poor boi is in no condition to fuck. Dw he’s not injured or anything. Kageyuki’s route is the one with least fanservice of them all because he committed war crimes or some shit and no one trusts him now (understandably), except of course our protagonist, even though he turned himself in. Which is great and all but this only leads to a lot of yearning and heartbreak for both sides for the entire route. This route was also the most eventful route of them all, with life threatening situations and psychopaths from the past. Story wise, I think it was great. It just was not what you would expect from a fandisk content where you would expect to be witnessing the happily ever after of your OTPs. But in real life your actions have consequences and the power of love doesn’t fix shit. So yeah. Realism wins. Kind of.

Aiji Yanagi

Daddy? Sorry I can honestly say I really loved Aiji’s route. There wasn’t any drama between him and the protagonist and overall the route had a relatively mature take on relationships. They also addressed some things that weren’t really addressed in the other route like the LI’s and the protagonist’s families. It was quite satisfying which is not very surprising since Aiji has always been the most mature among the LIs in this game. But damn, my boi definitely lacks xp in the romance department like don’t give me all that shy shit bro you’re almost thirty fuckin act like it but it wasn’t exaggerated so not really an issue. The parts with his family were also really wholesome in the end although at first you’re like “throw these bitches out the airlock they are not touching my baby.” This is also the route with most fanservice, I think. In the other routes you could pretend that they weren’t doing anything *looks left and right and whispers* ‘sexual’ even with all the implications if you chose to be real ignorant but in this one I think it was a bit more obvious like we get a glimpse of inner boob y’all that’s like seeing an entire dick in a regular game but not too obvious. Overall, I recommend :D

[reaperbabegaming]

BELLE AUTOMATA CHRONICLE 1 - GAME REVIEW

Reviews can contain a few spoilers. Heavy, in-depth spoilers will have a warning.

Dev Team - Jellyfish Parade Romance Routes - 2 (GxB) Rating - Teen Available On - Itch.io and Steam Price - $19.99

Overall Rating 5/5

*This review is solely based on Chronicle 1

SUMMARY (RETRIEVED FROM ITCH.IO)

Aureve is an android, content with a life of weaving silk tapestries alongside her master--but when he dies, his family sells her off due to her being a rogue: a self-aware android.

Thrown into a new home of refuge for rogues, the newly freed Aureve must find her place amongst them and answer the question once and for all: how does one weave a new identity when the strings to the old have been cut?

Inspired by lore from the likes of Cupid and Psyche, The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio and other beloved tales, Belle Automata is the journey of an android reinventing herself. Join Aureve and the others as they forge their own paths dealing with love, self-acceptance, and grief for a life left behind.

REAPER REVIEW

I remember backing the first Kickstarter for Chronicle 1, knowing then and there that it was going to be a good game…and I was not disappointed! 

Fun fact: Belle Automata was the first game I ever backed and it’s all been downhill for my wallet from there.

I was immediately pulled in by the art, not only of the Love Interests (LIs) but also by the Main Character (MC) herself, Aureve, whom you can rename but I loved it so much that I left it (plus if you don’t change it the voice lines will say her name). Then add on the idea of rogue androids and finding your new self when you’ve lost everything you ever knew, this story became personal. I was there to help Aureve find the best her that she could be. 

But what’s an otome without the LIs? 

CAST

Romances for Chronicle 1

The Nightmare Prince (He/Him) - If scary name then why so adorable? My obligatory protecc character.

Victor (He/Him) - What can I say? I like an android with a hard exterior but soft heart.

Others/Future Romances

Zaffre (He/Him) - The flamboyant best friend (for this run), but is there more behind his smile?

Diego (He/Him) - Sweet, gentle, quiet Diego…he knows all.

Roman (He/Him) - The big bro that everyone lowkey wishes they had.

Klaus (He/Him) - A great doctor…if not a little scatterbrained at times.

One thing I enjoyed about Belle Automata was how it is being broken into Chronicles, so while we are introduced to all of the potential LIs in this chronicle (C1), we can’t romance them until later. I like this approach because it allows me to pick between 2 romances rather than 6 and I can love them in their own stories. This also allows the supporting cast to play different roles based on who you’re romancing. 

For example, in my Victor playthrough, I became very close friends with Zaffre and the occasional companionship with the Nightmare Prince and Diego, while Roman and Klaus interacted with me in some pivotal moments. I was able to appreciate every character as they were rather than potential romances, something I think I miss when all romances are available in games. This also made me want to romance Zaffre in Chronicle 2 even though I had no inclination to do so beforehand. 

It’s also clear how much effort the dev team put into this game when it comes to sensitive topics that the characters face, as well as making a game with a full POC cast with various skin tones. These things are very important to the team and that shines through in the game.

*Heavy spoilers ahead*

Now, I don’t know how I missed this but there are in fact 6 possible endings, and oh man was I in shambles upon getting the neutral ending. Although looking back it was still quite sweet and could still lead to a sweet ending between the two…BUT I WANTED THE KISS! 

There are about 14 decisions after you enter the romance route and I guess I made 1 too many incorrect choices. I’m not sure what the range of correct answers you need to get for each ending but a lovely community member posted a guide on Steam which I will link here (which I followed after getting my fated ending because I love doing the first runs with no help. No matter how much it hurt my soul). 

*End of heavy spoilers*

To my fellow otome players who like choice indicators or plus/minus systems after your choices to see how you’re doing…this game might annoy you especially with Victor cuz a lot of his responses could be to either or so it felt to me. But don’t let that discourage you cuz again GUIDE. 

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE:

Aureve is the literal best MC I’ve come across and if you don’t love her…I have some questions.

100,000+ words of dialogue.

About 7-10 hours of gameplay.

There’s full voice acting! And I don’t mean pages of Narrator and a few character lines. It is easily 90% character voiced lines.

6 endings possible.

The community comes to the rescue with the Perfect Ending Guides (thank you!!!)

There is currently a Kickstarter going on to fund Chronicle 2 and 3 and you can bet I put my money where my mouth is because I need more of these characters. I mean after romancing Victor or the Nightmare Prince just imagine seeing them as side characters to other romances! You could see multiple different facets of your favorite LI! 

Steam and Itch.io game links :)

Who are you looking forward to romancing?

[baileyjane3769]

Original Copy is on Quotev, for a better viewing experience and chapter by chapter reading head on over to my Quotev page @BobbyWolf3769 or click the link here. I am also on Wattpad and Neobook.

***

When a game is over and all hidden things have been found, what is there left to do? Move on. That's what you would have liked to have done after finishing the disappointing secret ending of a popular otome game. But when the story is over, and all things were said and done, you find yourself trapped in that very game. Faced with the task to keep everyone alive, can you make it to the end without falling in love?

Long read ahead

Chapter Three

Familiar Faces

It would be more correct to say that Yuki Kobayashi was her default name. The name you gave her was Yui, a name you would give to characters when you couldn’t think of an original one. To describe her plainly, she was warm. With big, silver doe eyes that were filled with kindness and a gentle smile that could welcome anyone. Lean and tall, she had long black hair that cascaded down her shoulders, a radiant beauty, who still had her hand on your shoulder.

You flinched back after coming to your senses, causing Yuki to also quickly retract her hand. “Sorry about that,” she started with an apologetic smile. “You just seemed so lost in thought, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Her eyes did a quick once over on your face before stopping at the bandage on your forehead. Eyes widening, she asked, “Oh, no! How did that happen?” 

Unconsciously, you reached up and touched the bandage. “Oh, that. I sort of fell from my bed and hit my head on my nightstand. It doesn't hurt that much anymore, but uhm, do you know where Kibou High School is?” You stammered out the question, using this opportunity to figure out your location. “I go there, but since my fall I have been having a hard time remembering things.” 

She gleamed with excitement saying, “I go there too!” She paused, giving her own outfit a once over before bashfully continuing. “Which you might have guessed from my uniform, heh,” clearing her throat, she bowed her head respectfully before saying. “I’m Kobayashi Yuki, nice to meet you!” 

Not used to the formal customs in Japan, you also rushed to bow slightly and introduced yourself as well. “L/n Y/n, nice to meet you too, Kobayashi-san.” You did your best to smile politely, but you suspected that you were still a bit dazed from both culture shock and the shock of meeting the main character of this game. “So you said you go to the same school, right?” you asked. This was your way of trying to make normal conversation, if you were to save everyone then you figure getting close, but not too close, to Yuki was the best way to go about it. “It could be my lack of memory right now, but I don’t remember seeing you around before. Are you new?” 

“Yeah! Oh, well sort of. I actually used to live here but my family moved a few years ago. As you can guess, we moved back just recently and today is my first day of school.” Yuki cheerfully said, starting to walk in the direction you presumed to be school. “It has been so fun catching up with old friends and seeing what has changed around the town. Oh, do you mind if we pick up a friend of mine? He goes to the same school as us and has been my best friend for ages now. We used to walk to school all the time, do you know him? Akui Minato?” 

Of course you know him. He is the man behind the string of murders that you will have to put a stop to in the near future. He is the reason why you think it is a bad idea to get overly close to Yuki, which is a shame because she seems like such a nice person. “Hm? I think the name sounds familiar. I’m sorry, I haven’t really been myself since the fall.” You were just glad that the head injury gave you an excuse to why you won’t be remembering people, you weren’t too sure how the you of this world might have interacted with the people here. “But, uhm, no. I don’t mind picking him up along the way.” 

Yuki’s face seemed to light up at the notion. “Great! I just know you two will get along splendidly.” She said, making an effort to speed up her walking pace. “Come along then, his house is just up ahead.” 

You could feel your heart in your throat at the notion of meeting Akui already, to you this whole situation felt like it was moving so fast. Just this morning you thought that everything was normal, but now you feel like your brain is doing backflips trying to comprehend it all. Although your head injury wasn’t hurting before, a slight throbbing pain began to develop. The day just started and already you want to go back to sleep and pretend that this was all a dream. A beautiful dream, if the scenery around you had any part of it.

You still couldn’t get over how breathtaking the suburban area of Yamamomiji was. On one side of you was a tree lined road that had bright red maple leaves cascading down it, and on the other side were several closely packed houses with foliage weaving through them. Some looked modern while others had a more traditional look to them, a perfect little suburban town. The calming walk and Yuki’s light attempts at making conversation almost made you forget about the impending first meeting with the secret antagonist of this story. You say almost because just a few paces ahead of you was a honey eyed boy, standing in his driveway.

“Minato-kun! Sorry I’m late, but I made a new friend along the way.” Yuki excitedly exclaimed. Her declaring you as a friend brought a small smile to your face. You were glad her openly friendly personality stayed true to how she acted in the game. 

“Ah, yes. L/n-san, I heard about your accident. I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Akui said sincerely. Or was it faux sincerity? 

With the knowledge of his obsession towards Yuki, you wonder if his friendly personality was actually a mask used to hide his obsession for her. Did he start off feeling apathetic towards others, or did he grow to hate certain individuals based on how they interacted with Yuki? These were questions that you would need to find the answers for if you want to watch out for his hatred being directed at you. It was one thing to keep him from hurting others, and an entirely different thing if he was trying to hurt you.

“L/n-san?” Yuki calling your name snapped you out of your daze, pulling you back into the conversation. She looked concerned.

“Sorry about that. I guess I was just a bit dazed,” you responded. Massaging your temples, you try to rid yourself of a growing headache. “So, uh, Akui-san. I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time remembering you.” 

Akui smiled understandingly. “That’s totally understandable. You and I have a class or two together in the past, but we didn’t really talk. Everybody knows that you had a bad fall though, one of the many perks of a small town,” he said with light sarcasm. “Everyone knows everything.” 

You inwardly winced at his statement. ‘So much for laying low,’ you thought. The idea of multiple people talking about you, good intentions or not, made your stomach twist in knots. You just hoped that they would leave you alone. 

“So Yuki-chan,” Akui started to say. By now your little group started to walk again. “How did you and L/n-san meet?” 

At the mention of her name, Yuki perked up. Smiling widely, she said. “L/n-san was lost so I offered to help her! As luck would have it, we go to the same school.” She had a slight skip to her step, long hair bobbing along with her.

“Pfft!” Akui’s almost failed attempt to mask a laugh interjected the conversation. “You sure are confident for a girl who just got here barely a week ago.” He humorously stated, turning to face you. “Careful, L/n-san, you would have gotten so lost if you followed this girl's directions.” You felt awkward chuckling along with him, but did so anyway.

Yuki gasped, playfully offended. “Minato-kun!” She slightly shoved his arm. “For your information I spent those few days refamiliarizing myself with the area, which includes where school is at.” Crossing her arms, she turned her nose up. “I am basically a pro now.” Her childish antics were endearing enough to course a giggle out of you. Watching the two of them interact, as normal friends would, make you feel slightly better, even if one of the two was actually a secret yandere. “You smiled!”

Startled by Yuki’s sudden proclamation, you stopped laughing. “W-what?” 

“You smiled,” she repeated with a proud smile of her own. “You just seemed so dejected this whole time, I’m glad to have cheered you a bit.” You could feel your face heat up slightly, you didn’t know that you were acting so sad-like. Now you just feel embarrassed.

“School is just up ahead, let's not dawdle here,” Akui interrupted. “Come on then, shall we?” He was smiling as he said this, but you couldn’t help the creeping feeling of unsettlement take hold of you. He was not happy with the cheerful interaction between Yuki and yourself.

“Oh, you’re right. L/n, what’s your homeroom?” Yuki asked, putting you on the spot. The three of you were at the gated entrance now and Yuki pulled out her phone to look at the time. “We still have eight minutes, so we can walk with you there if we hurry.” 

“Oh, uhm yeah, sure. It’s-uhm, it was uhh…” Suffice to say, you had no idea where your home room was. Was your homeroom something that you could forget? Would it make sense if you did? School only just started, so maybe. “I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to remember.” You admitted defeatedly. What else were you supposed to say?

“Aw, that’s okay,” Yuki started to say. “We can go to the front office and ask for your schedule.”

***

And so you did. The three of you managed to grab your class schedule and made it to your homeroom, class 2-A, just barely before school officially started. Which was good, in a way, because now none of your curious classmates could come up and ask you questions. It was obvious that they had questions, from the moment you stepped in with the new girl all eyes have been on you. 

You shared the same homeroom as Yuki, while Akui was in the class next door, 2-B. This meant that the two of you would have the same classes for the year. Quite convenient for your mission. This also means that you share a class with Fukumoto Akihiko, the first of the love interests to die, Makino Himari, the first rival to die, and Suzuki Kaito, a disposable character who dies in every route because he likes Yuki.

The rest of the characters who are to die are in different classrooms. For right now, this early on in the plot, that won’t be a problem. In the timeline set in place, Makino dies first. She, and another group of girls, are the secondary ‘villainesses’ of the story. The group consists of four girls who are there to bully and harass the player, Makino is the worst one during the first week of school as she tended to take things too far which lead to her being killed. You presume Akui didn’t like the fact that his object of obsession was being tormented. To save her you are gonna have to figure out a way to prevent Makino from bullying Yuki, but how will you go about it?

‘Let me take a step back for a second,’ you thought as you took out a piece of notebook paper. Your homeroom teacher was going over morning announcements, afterwards she will introduce Yuki. ‘I need to figure out an exact time frame in which each character has their moments that lead Akui to want to kill them. For starters I don’t even know what route I am on and I won’t know till next week, when the prologue is over. This is important to know because, depending on the route, certain individuals will be at risk. Like how Makino dies in the prologue, the love interests only die during the secret ending, Suzuki dies in every route, but there are certain individuals who only die in certain routes. For now they aren’t important.

To save as many people as possible then the route that would be most beneficial to me would be Ryōta’s route. During that route Makino, Suzuki, and another boy by the name of Akira, are the people that will die. Compared to the four and five victims of the other two routes, a smaller number makes it easier for me to save them all. That is, to say, if this world is even following a set route or if it changes based on the actions and choices of the main character, Yuki. If I can prevent all love interests from falling in love with her then Akui will have no reason to kill them, the bullies are another story. They bully Yuki because they are jealous of the attention that she receives as the new girl in town, as well as the fact that some of them like Akihiko and Fuyuhiko. They stay away from Ryōta since they think he is bad news so that is why only Makino dies in his route, she dies in the prologue.

Is there some way for me to change their minds? Can I even convince them to leave Yuki alone? There is too much to think about right now, let’s just think about this one step at a time. I am currently in the prologue and the only person I need to worry about right now is Makino, the rest can wait till later. The bullying starts today, after school when Yuki is going around to look at the different clubs. As the week progresses, Yuki will meet all of the love interests and the bullying from Makino will also drastically progress until Thursday. Makino disappears halfway through the school day and her body is found that evening when a member of the art club discovers her corpse, hanging in a janitor's closet. It was made to look like a suicide but after further examination, detectives concluded that she was in fact murdered. If I can’t prevent her from bullying Yuki, am I just gonna have to follow her? Oh boy, I hope not.’

“L/n-san?” An unfamiliar woman's voice called out to you.

Jumping in your seat, you quickly responded. “Yes?” It was the teacher.

“L/n-san, are you doing okay? This was the third time I called your name.” You were so engrossed in your thoughts and conspiring that you didn’t even notice the teacher was trying to get your attention. You could feel the stares of all your classmates on you now. They all spoke in hushed whispers but you could still hear what the students closest to you were saying.

“That’s L/n-san, right?”

“Yeah, didn’t she have a bad fall?”

“I heard she has amnesia.”

“Poor girl.”

Fidgeting in your seat, your face began to burn with embarrassment. ‘Great,’ you thought. ‘Just great.’

***

A/n: I think I want to schedule my updates on Saturdays, at least for here on quotev. Oh, I forgot to mention I can be found on tumbler, wattpad, and now neobook. On Wattpad I am BobbyWolf_45, tumbler I am baileyjane3769, and on Neobook I am Bobby Wolf. I am only on those platforms so if you see my story anywhere else then please report it for copyright infringement. I didn't give permission to anyone else to publish my story. Enough of the serious talk, I absolutely love my characters. Yuki is so bright and friendly but she is no push over, as you will see in later chapters. Akui on the surface seems to be cool and friendly but deep down we all know that this man is a killer. My poor reader is so on edge around him and everyone around her chalks her space-head ness to her having mild amnesia when she really has so much to think about, the poor girl. I wonder how long she can keep up the front around Akui before he starts to get suspicious? Maybe he is already suspicious, I guess we'll see as the story progresses. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I enjoyed making. See you in the next update.

[immagrosscandy]

okay. i'm doing this.

i just finished the valentine's day event and i have a LOT to say-

so this might get a little long, so if you want to read and share your opinion about it, i'd love to hear what you have to say

first,

i'm getting reeeeally annoyed that JC treats its audience as if it's stupid. not only with sidequests like this one, but in the main story too.

"i'm talking with this character about what love means to them! so that i can win the valentine's day event and get a ride with my special someone!" everytime you finish a task mc repeats these words. EVERY single time and it's becomes annoying.

i'm sure the audience can remember what the main task is and the prize we're getting. what are they doing this anyway?

second,

the amount of 8-hour tasks. that must be completed with all 5 starts.

why. why so many.

let me guess, so that players pay real money on your game so that they can finish it more quickly instead of waiting 3 or 4 hours for the energy like i do?

(unless you're using cheats, if only i could do it but for some reason it never works xd)

please JC PLEASE. your previous quests weren't as long as this one! they were fun and entertaining, they didn't take you that much time to finish

why suddenly there's this amount of long tasks to do?

third,

everyone, literally everyone drools for MC

at first i thought it was funny, like the romantic event in 2020: it seemed like everyone were enchanted by some love potion and suddenly they were all in love with MC

but then this thing repeats again and again and again and-

No. Please JC stop with it.

Not everyone will like MC that way, maybe they just see them as friends! But everyone being in love with our characters is illogical and dumb, comically dumb.

there are certain characters that actually fancy MC in the main story, like Penny and Barnaby for example. but not everyone will be like them.

like... think about it. 8 characters being in love with the same person! what is this an otome game!? even an otome game takes its time to develop a relationship between you and ur loved one, just saying...

there's something else,

what if you spent all your romantic task with only one character? for example me, i will always choose Talbott. My MC has a history with him, so then why would other characters ask me to take them with me to a ride I haven't even won?

why won't you ask them about their opinion, they tell you about it, and done? if you never interacted with them in a romantic way, they wouldn't get all lovey dovey with you, only the person you've been dating.

and something else that annoys me is that every character is different in their own way, because they're all different people. They have diferent likes and dislikes.

maybe they don't romantically like you, they might just be cool with you, as friends.

so how about this? a sidequest where you and your loved one start getting to know eachother? maybe they doesn't see you that way and you have to work on it in order for them to like you back.

but that would require actual effort and time in your work, right JC?

something easier is "everyone loves MC", problem solved! enjoy this cheap sidequest we made for you

and then we have,

the final scene.

it's something important that we must have a cute scene with our character and their loved one holding hands, kissing or hugging. that's why we're playing the sidequest after all

the animation is cute, sometimes it's a bit chessy for my taste but i can enjoy it nonetheless.

so why do i have a problem with it? because of everything else that ruins the whole experience.

the dialogue is lazy, the game becomes tedious to play, boring to watch, you're not having fun anymore, you're just finishing a task.

and honestly? the whole sidequest just screams "we're lazy writers and we don't care about the product we're making"

it's... it really makes me angry.

now, how do we end this?

JC gets lazier and lazier everyday. they care about romantic sidequests more than the actual plot. and that's insulting.

some say that dating has ruined hogwarts mystery, and i have to agree because of this: it's nice that a company introduces dating to their game, but they have to remember that the actual plot is their priority.

Does JC have the ability to make actually good dating sidequests? Yes.

The Celestial Ball is the crown of sidequests of how naturally fits in the story of the game and the world of Harry Potter, a time to hand out with the characters, see them in cool outfits, and invite our favorite character in a romantic and non-romantic way.

The First Date is also really good, showing how awkward a first date can be. The dialogue is excelent, and we get two really good scenes with the person we wanna date. The Library scene? *chef kiss*

JC can give us good content, but they just... won't.

so yeah.

i'm mad, i'm disappointed in this game... it can be really good but the creators don't put actual work in it. at least they won't do it anymore.

i'm so sick of these dating sodequests. as someone who likes romance, i feel like things could have been done properly

why am i enduring the game? well i've been playing the game for 3 years. at least I wanna see how it ends. like its gonna be a dissappintment for sure, but i must see it with my own eyes xd

so what's my advice?

Don't play Hogwarts Mystery.

Just don't, the characters might look cool, the story might look great... but don't be fooled, it's all a lie 😭

so yeah that's all

Good night Tri-state area

[fushiomi]

Here’s a video on how to reach Liber/Eng staff about the termination of the English server:

[Video ID: Player is in the A3! app, the songs “Insert the Sunshine” and “Slowly Flowing”, both OST from the game, are playing. The player click on the profile icon, (the content isn’t important). They click on their bio and write “Hi” with a kaomoji on the side, then they write a letter “i” and hesitate before deleting it and click off. They exist their bio and leave the profile page. They instead click on the “Support” button which leads them to a page titled “A3! for Appstore inquires”, there’s a hyperlink that reads “For feedback regarding the ceasing of operations”, and below that in smaller writing it reads “Frequently asked questions (FAQs)”. There are four options viable to the viewer, “I want to play on another device”, “I have received my purchased Gems”, “I can’t login. / I got error 904/905/906.” The player clicks on the hyperlink that leads them to a page to give feedback, it has a green banner and says “For feedback edgar ceasing of operations. Below it reads: “Players that have any opinions or feedback on regarding ceasing of operations can do so here. A disclaimer is below that reads “*Although feedback from users will be reviewed, we cannot respond to individual users”. Green text above a box is present after scrolling, it reads “Please input your feedback here.” The user types in “don’t please ahaha you’re (stylized as ur) so sexy” with a winky emoji, they then access their emoji keyboard and place a broken heart. They can clarify “Actually write something serious though (written tho) with a kaomoji of a smiling person, then press done (two exclamation points) don’t spam and remember to be kind (two exclamation points)”. They then click off the page and settings, the video ends with them on the main page of the game. End ID]

Bellow the readmore is what I ended up (actually) submitting, if you want to copy and paste it, please make a few changes! But ultimately what I felt like was needed to highlight:

- Marketing issues and comparisons between other games that handled international marketing.

- The sudden nature of the announcement and how it impacted the player base.

- The fact the game does have a fanbase and has a market (leads back to the point of bad marketing), and that the success in Japan is an example that the game does have ability to be a hit.

- Other options that don’t include terminating the server (such as a temporary hiatus).

—

Other ideas: Events to connect with the fanbase (example: art contests where winners get “X” amount of gems), twitter events (“Y” amount of retweets in “Z” days will give “X” reward”), subtitles of the stage play so international fans have more content to interact with, etc.

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this while still drowsy from crying and sleep medication, so if you’re able to, please help us write something better than… this.

“Hello, I hope this review/feedback finds you well.

As you can imagine, this is about the ceasing operations of the A3! English/International servers, and the opinions and ideas I (as well as other players) have.

I’ve been observing the way the player base has reacted to the news and, not so surprisingly, the reaction has been pretty negative. A lot of players feel overwhelmed with the sudden news, many disappointed at – what feels like – the sidedness of the decision. While we are all thankful for the amazing localization of the game, we can’t help but feel deeply saddened and, in more extreme cases, betrayed at the decision. The game has garnered quite a community, notably in social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, as it became quite a vital and comfort game for many.

Alongside seeing the way the player base has reacted, I looked at the graphics and economical side of things and noticed how players in the server have been lowering. Which, alongside the pandemic and loss of profit Cybrid and Liber have been experiencing as of the last two years, is what I imagine is impulsing the decision to halt activities.

With all of that in mind, I personally still think that terminating content to the English server is a bad idea — in the long run, that is.

The last two years have been quite a financial struggle for many, and to decide to end the game due to loss of profit seems hasty. While I understand it’s not possible to continue operations, I think halting operations until further notice would be a better idea.

Instead of completely pulling the plug, halting operations while focusing on marketing would honestly work better.

The marketing of the game has been, for lack of a better word, quite messy. I think there were lot of missed opportunities, marketing the game as found family and card game — where you accompany a group of people to achieve their dreams — would have been a better strategy than saying it was an otome game - which is what led to a lot of player joining and then leaving due to the lack of romance wh the characters. A good example of marketing, in my opinion, would be the Obey Me! franchise or games such as Cookie Run.

I’m saying all of this, but what I mean is, if the team behind it focused more on the advertisement on social media’s such as twitter and ads on youtube where the nature of found family and the true nature of Mankai (a company where family and brotherly love blooms) the game would find and flourish in the demographic, since it’s not unheard of players wanting a game like that — especially in the west.

Basically, what I’m saying is that I think the idea of terminating operations on the English server is a bad idea especially when there is an obvious marker for it, and A3! really does fit it. Personally, I think halting the events and focusing on marketing the game further — truly pushing the game with ad’s (which could include in game CG’s where we see how the boys grow and connect as a family) where the nature of A3! is shown clearly, A3! English server could absolutely bloom into something amazing.

A3! is about not giving up, even when things get tough, and to try and reach an audience – which is why, I guess, seeing you guys give up on it seems… sad and like a truly missed opportunity.

As someone who’s been with the game since launch, the game has so much potential, so please, please give it another try. Focus on the marketing, push it with ads on youtube and instagram, put the boys’ face out there and make the focus of the story known.

Look into the way games such as Obey Me!, the idol games (mostly female based), and other successful asian/japanese games have marketed themselves and try to adapt it into A3!. An example, instagram ads where you can see parts of a CG (let’s say the Muku and Yuki from Act 1) where Muku comforts Yuki, the voice lines there as you hear the game music and subtitles playing. Be honest about the gameplay, it’s not the most exciting, but market it as fun, add more rewards for when you train the actor — more gems or maybe trophies if you train “X” amount of times in a day instead of just a training card. You can even make more Eng server exclusive cards to insensitive Japanese players to also engage with the English server.

I feel like there are so many ways to go about it that don’t include shutting down the game, because shutting down the game truly feels like the easiest way out… but it doesn’t mean it’s the best way.

Anyway, I hope nothing in this feels malicious, I'm simply passionate about it as someone who’s invested hours and hours, almost 700 days of their life, onto this, A3! and the Mankai company feels like a part of my life, and as many others feel as well, I don’t want to let go. Not when I know there’s so many events and games, gachas and character, left for us as international players to experience.”

[broxklynn]

The End Of My Candy Love

Warning!

Alright, so. This post will contain a lot. First of all, it's gonna be really sloppy. I'm very emotional person and I easily get attached to games, movies and stuff. I know it's a bit weird, but yeah, I'm a weird person. Anyway, that's why there's a warning: there's gonna be a lot of sloppiness, grammar mistakes (at least I think so, specially since english isn't my native languange) and it's probably going to be long. So, if you're intrested in reading my thoughts about everything - good luck.

First Adventure

I first heard about "My Candy Love" in 2015, six years ago. So, I was basically a baby (I'm pretty young). And I started playing a year after, I got totally obssesed with Lysander and I fell in love, seriously, haha. I was into writing back then, but I couldn't find any ideas on "what to write?" and MCL gave me just that - inspiration (that's most likely why I'm just a romance freak).

My Story

You know, I was a child so I couldn't really pay for AP, but I always found some kind of way to get them. But then I got my phone I just used money from that, geez, I was nuts. The old AP system was so iconic, looking for Nathaniel, finding Kiki, I'm gonna miss it.

Anyway, I got along with Castiel pretty well (which suprises me 'cause I found about walkthroughs in 2017, like year after, so maybe it was because I was a brat?), but I adored Lysander. Oh, I also loved Ken (I was so sad when he went away) and Nathaniel. After I met Armin, I liked him too.

Again, being a child and playing a game like this I came across all diffrent kinds of emotions. I was laughing, crying, dying from embaressment (this thing with Nath and locker room, aaa) and getting seriously mad (Deborah's arc, Priya, Charlotte). I remember impatiently waiting for new episode to come out or crying my eyes out during Lysander's amnesia plot. Jesus. I loved the way Castiel was teasing Candy, I loved this cute-clumsy Kentin, I loved the old Nathaniel, I loved Armin and most of all - I loved my precious Lysander. I adored the interactions between characters, how funny or cringy they were and how much fun I had. I even like this secret-dating plot even when it got on my nerves. I still remember staying up late to watch videos like "lysander illustrations" and stuff. I also really enjoyed reading MCL manga and I spent hours trying to translate it from Spanish to English or my native languange (funfact: I still haven't finished it! I don't know where to find those mangas) or trying to draw something from the game up ending up terribly failing. Anyway, I was crying during the prom thing, my Candy was so grown-up, I got emotional, haha. So, 40 episode came in. I was pretty excited 'because, me, being extremely naive (I got to say, I've never had a problem with Beemoov before, I started playing MCL in 2016 and Eldarya in 2017, so there were no major issues with them, only the price of PA, I think) thought that my Lysander is going to propose (I was a child, ok?) and maybe, there's going to be a second season with us living together. Haha, how naive I was. Whole episode 40, really got me tearing up, I was a wreck, seriously (When Kentin couldn't take Candy's bra off I lost it or this whole ananas thing in Castiel's route, omg). But I finished it feeling happy. I truly enjoyed spending my time on this game. But, then this whole university thing came out. And the fact, that Lysander, Armin and Kentin won't be with us foe the next season. I spent entire vacation crying (I was a kiddo, ok?) and being mad at everyone. I felt like I got robbed. It was horrible.

"A New Chapter"

I was one of these people who just couldn't accept the change. Not in the world. Never. They stole my Lysander, Kentin and Armin from me and changed AP system to some kind of bullshit. God, I was mad. Really mad. Seeing Castiel was quite nice, but I didn't fill the void of my baby. But, oh, my, God. When I saw Nathaniel I just couldn't believe. I said I was mad? Then I was furious. I really liked the old Nathaniel, he had his own vibe, his backstory, his character and it was just, damn, amazing. But they changed him completely, for what? They wanted the second Castiel? Yeah, they got it. Priya as a love interest was quite a good move, tho. I even though I didn't like her (in highschool or in university) I liked the idea of adding a female interest. But the thing that hurted me, was the fact that Lysander was taking care of the farm. Like, no! He didn't want that. He didn't like the countryside. He had such a potential to become a author and Beemoov didn't let him. God, that broke my heart. Anyway, I didn't spent a single penny on MCLUL, but I have to say - I kinda enjoyed it. You know, it was the guily-pleasure kind of thing. I didn't like it as much as I liked highschool, but there were some good or funny moments. I loved Rayan's kiss scene. I adored Chani. Or Hyun making us watch "Toy Story". Nathaniel's ulgy green hair or all these crazy threesomes. I liked it. Kinda. I hated Nath tho. The ending, hm, it was okay, I guess? I do feel sort of nostalgic thinking about it 'cause I got some nice memories from it, in the end. But yeah, going on.

Love Life

Oh. My. Lord. I was so sceptical about it. Like, I was sure that, at this point they're going to do "My Candy Love Mid-Life Crises" next or some other shit. But in the end, I "kinda" like it. It wasn't good like highschool or fresh like university, but I was nice to see new chapters with our annoying-cringy Candy, that I love (btw, I started playing other otome games and I realized that Candy wasn't that bad). Meeting Eric was nice, even tho, this whole cheating plot really got me ragging. Like, damn, Beemoov, seriously? And if you going this, why not with old LIs? Just kidding. Anyway, I truly enjoyed meeting Dan and Eric, the two of them were quite a characters. I won't forget them, hah. I was happy with single ending, 'cause I think about it as a "open ending" when my Candy can go back to my baby and everything's going to be alright.

Regrets & Complaints

Now, now. Where do I start? AP system was a freaking nightmare. Replacing old Nathaniel with some kind of weird Castiel was a nightmare. Removing Lysander, Nathaniel, Armin and Kentin was a nightmare. Not finishing plots was a nightmare. And why in the whole Love Life I haven't seen Amber once? Why Alexy never mentioned Evan like they're not brothers? Why Castiel doesn't care that I was dating his bestfriend? And why, in the world, after changing the system finding Kiki is so damn easy? Why AP is so expensive? So many questions!

All The Good Times

But, I got to say. I will never forget this bitchy Castiel, cookie-monster Ken following us around. Or cute Nathaniel. Castiel buying Candy some kind of weird McDonald's. Or Lysander's parents exposing him having crush on Candy. Or seeing Kentin kissing Amber (ew). This super akward-funny sex ed lesson. Deborah's arc and losing my shit over it. Or Thomas (this weird child) stalking my Candy and her LI in the park. And Lysander asking us how to hide a body, aaa. Or Armin telling us he loves us. Or Kentin. And Cookie ripping this huge teddybear apart. Or the water fight in Kentin’s spin off. And crushing on Alexy and later on finding out he’s gay. Or spin-the-bottle game and Lysander getting jealous. Or Dake, being a creep for entire game straight. Or guessing what was guy's surnames. And for sure, I will never forget this demonic Kiki dog.

What it worth it?

In the end, yes. Have I ever told you that I want to become a professional writer? Silly dream, I know, but writing is a huge passion of mine, and well, my first story was based off My Candy Love (it is cringy as hell, but I feel kinda nostalgic thinking about it). All these years spending on playing game that I wasn't supposed to be playing was amazing. It was one of the best experiences I had in life and I will never, ever forget that.

What now?

Well, Beemoov is working on a new game and I'm kinda optimistic. I know, it's really naive of me, but I want to believe that they won't f*ck this up, this time. And going back to Sweet Amoris, well, I truly missed this place! And the teachers... And Kiki. I wonder, when it will be released and will Beemoov finally open up about telling us surnames and ages of love interests. Anyway, I want to believe they learnt from their mistakes.

In the end. Thank you, My Candy Love, for creating so many memories. I will be forever grateful. 

(I just re-read this post and it seems like I have really love-hate relationship with this game)

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

What will be in my bag? Pre-ordered Manga. Straight and Lez edition.

Here’s a list of English-released manga I’ve currently got on pre-order, and manga series I ordered before but won’t be continuing with the series.

As a note: Some of these titles have been released but I have not received them yet due to a issues with covid backlog effected how things are released.  I personally find that if you pre-order it tends to get you manga quicker.  It seems there is more pressure to keep up with the new release schedule than chip away at the backlog.

I’m starting with the stuff I’ve already read some of and confirmed enjoyment, then stuff I’m shooting in the dark for, and finally series I have tried recently and have discontinued.

Heteros

My Androgynous Boyfriend

Story & Art by: Tamekou      Publisher: Seven Seas

It is rare for straight shit to end up in my library but My Androgynous boyfriend is an exception that will surprise no-one since it’s pretty queer adjacent.  This story is mostly a couple being lovey-dovey between jokes about sexuality and gender but (so far) isn’t problematic at all.  The female lead is quite enjoyable as she’s well-balanced and has agency throughout. There’s even ace representation! It’s very low-stakes, wholesome, and sweet so far. (Volume 3 is set to release in November.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

Yuri/Lesbian

Even Though We’re Adults

Story & Art by: Takako Shimura  Publisher: Seven Seas

Takako is also the creator of Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering son.  I have dipped by toe in to both those series.  I overall find their writing kinda meandering and tepid (might just be me) but technically pretty solid.  I am hopeful for this series since it features adults....if the title didn’t make it obvious.  I was intrigued by the one character being married but the man finding out about the affair quickly and reacting more realistically and interestingly than the average male love interest in a Yuri.  I also found myself relating at bit to Akari’s angst about being unlucky with relationships with women.  I also do enjoy the artwork! This one is the most likely of my followed series to be dropped at some point. (Volume 2 of this manga was set to release in June this year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

For more click the jump!

Kase-san and Yamada

Story & Art by: Hiromi Takashima  Publisher: Seven Seas

This is a series I keep going back to.  While it is the very typical low-stakes bubbly, cutesy School age Yuri...it is a very good version of that.  Just warm bubble bath vibes. (Volume 7 is set to release in February of next year.  I think it was originally supposed to be released this May but was bumped back.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

NOW ONTO THE SERIES I HAVEN’T READ BUT I’M TAKING A CHANCE ON!

Adachi and Shimaura

Art: Moke Yuzuhara Story: Hitoma Iruma  Publisher: Yen Press

This, as I understand it, is a slow-burn romance about two delinquent girls.  I have heard good things about the novel and the anime series!  However I prefer manga to novels and don’t have a funimation account so I went to snag it in manga form. (Volume 1 was set to release in February this year and 2 in September)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

The Girl I want is so handsome!

Story & Art by:Yuama     Publisher: Seven Seas

The premise is a young lady has a crush on a handsome older girl who’s oblivious to her advances.  When she tries to confess she instead gets roped into being the club manager of the basketball team that her crush is a part of.  So it feels like it may end up cycling through 2 jokes and be so deep in the stereotypical manga bullshit you can easily-predict its beats volumes in advance. HOWEVER that is also a premise that is similar to Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun which is legitimately a hilarious series. Also I fucking love butch/stud/masc-presenting women/AFAB people.  So I’m willing to risk “The same Anime bullshit” for good jokes and a cute lezzy romance with a beautiful butch.  (Volume 1 is set to release of December of this year.)

My Excitement Level: Pretty nervous actually.  I hope it works out!

Monologue Woven for You

Story & Art by: Syu Yasaka     Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gives up on a career in theater gets tangled in a relationship with a woman passionately pursuing theater.  Since it is set between college age women, and appears to be about more personal and mature themes I am interested. (Volume 1 I BELIEVE is supposed to be released in February of next year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

Mizuno and Chayama (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Yuhta Nishio     Publisher: Yen Press

Two daughters of feuding families meet in secret.  This is by the same author of After Hours.  I read a bit of After Hours and found it fine but boring since it seemed without conflict.  Conflict doesn’t seem to be in short supply with a story like this!  While I enjoy the sugary-sweet high school lesbian romances...those are not in short-supply. So I am always hungry for something darker, meatier, more mature. (Volume 1 is set to release next February) 

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

5 Seconds Before The Witch Falls In Love

Story & Art by:  Zeniko Sumiya     Publisher: Seven Seas

It appears to be a playful fantasy about a Witch and Witch-hunter who’s antagonism turns romantic.  This may end up one note and stupid...but I’m always hear for queer romances set in high-fantasy and I haven’t read a Yuri where rivals turns to lovers. (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Low-key

Catch These Hands! (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Murata     Publisher: Yen Press 

A former delinquent runs into her high school rival.  After losing a fight to her she agrees to her terms...her terms being to go out on a date with her.  I mean the title alone makes me want to pick it up!  It may run afoul of bad anime humor, but I’m hoping with the fact that it’s full of gay adult delinquents that it’ll be a little different.  (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Medium-key

Series I have discontinued:

I’m in love with the Villainess

Art by: Aonoshimo  Story by:  Inori   Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gets reborn into her favorite Otome game but she wants to romance the villiain!  I had heard a ton of great things about the novel but I picked up the manga version. (If the novel is totally different I can’t speak to it.)  For me, the writing is ham-handed, the jokes flop 90% of the time, and the fact the lead’s only personality trait seems to be ~obsessed with a bully~ really dampens this title.  Her advances are so aggressive and unwanted I honestly started feeling bad for a spoiled rich bully.  I will say it’s saving grace is the fact that the lead is masochistically into the villainess’ tsundere abusiveness. For me I hate tsundere romances if framed like, “I like you DESPITE your insults.” It is only tolerable if it’s instead, “I like you cause you tell it like it is. I’m a dirty little pig. Please step on this bad little piggy!”

Our Teachers are Dating

Story & Art by: Pikachi Ohi      Publisher: Seven Seas

Well one reason I stopped the series is that cover you see up there.  The sex in this series is fade to black but FOR SOME REASON the 3rd cover has them both butt naked.  But on a less superficial note, the story is about two teachers who start dating.  And while cute at points, I was just underwhelmed.  I think a part of it, is the fact that this behaves like a stereotypical high school romance...and while set in a high school...these are grown ass women not 15 year olds.  So I have less patience with the, “Gosh when will I get to kiss my girlfriend?” bullshit.  I mean, I would hesitate to call it bad...but it’s just not a good version of it’s brand of bullshit.

Breath of Flowers

Story & Art by: Caly                       Publisher: Tokyopop

Absolute train-wreck, this is hands down the worst Yuri I have ever bought.  The story is nonsensical and all over the place.  There is a love rival who’s trying to break the two of them up so she can get with Gwyn...but then switches mid-gear to put in a lot of effort to bring them together intentionally...but she also still wants to hook up with Gwyn...it’s very ????????????  The main conflict of Gwyn is hiding their gender so they can play basketball on the boy’s team (not well explained) is built up hugely and resolved with a hand flick.  There is a melodramatic moment where a school nurse says more or less, “GIVE IT UP YOU’LL NEVER BE A BOY!” And it’s like “OH SHIT! The fact that Gwyn is on the basketball team is cause he’s a transboy trying to live life as a boy! Oh gosh it makes so much more sense now!”  But the author seems to not even know that trans people exist cause the story bumbles along as if that scene never happened.  The closest we get is at the end Gwyn is like, “Look I’m learning to do make-up on myself to make you happy lawl!” Which is I GUESS supposed to be, “NO NO DON’T WORRY ALL OF GWYN’S GENDER STUFF WAS JUST THERE TO MAKE THE MAIN CHARACTER SEXUALLY CONFUSED WHEN SHE DISCOVERS GWYN’S TRUE GENDER!  HER TRUE GENDER IS 100% CIS WOMAN CAUSE SHE DID MAKE-UP ONCE! IT’S FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!” Like whaaaaaaaaat?  And it ends on a very random scene which doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the story.  Ugh just very bad do not interact!

A White Rose in Bloom

Story & Art by: Asumiko Nakamura    Publisher: Seven Seas

At an all girls catholic school a young woman falls for a mysterious foreign student.  I grabbed this cause it’s gay and I overall like Asumiko Nakamura’s work (she also does Doukyusei, double mints, and others.)  However I was just not grabbed with this title.  I just felt like I wasn’t getting what was making the MC pants on head obsessed with Steph.  Also the lead’s mother tells her that she’s getting divorced and therefore will no longer have money to pay for the university and she’s framed like a super bad person for this.  Like I get why the MC (a teenager) would think that something like that is THE END OF THE WORLD! But I remember them really framing the mom like a selfish bitch for this...when like...it’s well established that her mom and dad’s relationship has been toxic for YEARS and that they TRIED SO HARD to fix it.  OH WELL!  This might be good but it just didn’t grab me in the 1st volume.

I’ll make a post on the BL titles later! Take care and Stay Rotten!

[benichi]

Favorite Otome Games 2020

It’s that time of the year again, and even a year like 2020 eventually comes to an end. I know that this has been a difficult time for all of us and the only thing we can hope for is that what’s to come will be better. Quick shoutout to all of us for making it through 2020 and a big thanks to all of you for sticking with me. As with everyone this year has left it’s marks on me as well. I wanted to be much more productive than I ultimately was, especially knowing that this blog brings comfort to a lot of you. I tried my best and while it wasn’t as much as I wanted it to be I still hope that my posts brought you joy.

Here’s to 2021 which, especially in the Otome department, at least seems to be off to a good start. But before that let’s look at what this year had to offer.

Piofiore: Fated Memories (Switch)

Honestly I though that Collar x Malice Unlimited would take the spot of my favorite Switch Otoge. But the initial sloppy release simply left a bitter taste in my mouth. So even if there is a patch now I can’t in good conscience give it that title. Instead I chose Piofiore which I ended up liking a lot more than I initially expected. Here you can read my full (Spoiler free) [Review].

Taisho x Alice - Episode 2 (PC)

Taisho x Alice makes the cut yet again. Just like how Episode 1 was among my favorites last year Episode 2 delivered as well. Much like Piofiore this is an Otoge which deals with some very heavy topics and takes a lot of twists and turns. I guess you could say that this year the “problematic” games really delivered lol. In case you’re intrigued I’ll leave you the link to my (as always Spoiler free) [Review].

Obey me! One Master to Rule them all (Mobile)

I know this game came out December 2019 but pssst. Also I only started playing in January. In all honesty I do like Obey Me!, but it mostly made it into the list because I simply didn’t play a lot of (new) mobile Otoge this year.

In the traditional sense it’s not even an “Otome Game” (but hey: they did put it in the title on the android/app store now so what do I know psh). Which is why I’d like to point out that in my opinion this is a “feel good” game that’s a lot of fun (mostly) due to it’s characters and their interactions. But sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and not think too hardly, especially about the main story. The first season in particular has one big brain fart moment that, if I had know won’t get adressed again, might have made me drop the game. But here we are lol.

My point is I find Obey Me! entertaining, it always manages to make me laugh but you shouldn’t take it too seriously or you may be disappointed. Basically just enjoy the moment, for the most part the game’s a mix of comedy & romance and in those aspects it performs well.

-

& That’s it for this year. Usually I love to include indie titles but I didn’t get around to playing any this time. I wish all of you and your loved ones a good start into 2021! Stay safe.

[someoneintheshadow456]

So this post about gay fanfic made me think about something I noticed in all the het romance media I consume, especially otome game.

What matter the most is my enjoyment here, not my morals. Even tho my morals WILL influence my enjoyment. And the thing is that I am tired that in het romance depiction, the guy is the one with power.

It doesn't need to be in a boss-employee relationship. I talk more about interaction and also sex. In otome game I am very tired to be pushed in a position of submission, where all the love interests will be more experienced than the heroine who's just there to be rescued. It's less annoying to watch but so frustrating to play.

Even in how MLM relationship are depicted, at least in yaoi, there's a hierarchy of power.

What I want to see is more sub men and more dom women. If it's how it's called. I really don't know anymore with top bottom, Dom and sub, but I guess you can get to me there

I also am tired that sex in general have to be so raw and savage, I really want to see gentleness even with it and it's even better when it's from a character who actually dominate the other.

So all this rambling for... Yeah. It's like this post about how people are tired of how heterosexuality is depicted. It is.

But what I am more tired of is the role mirroring heterosexuality even used in fanfiction (seme/uke) which force characters into box. Even if I say that I want to see more men dominated and more women dominating, what I really want to see is relationship which blur this power dynamic in their intimate life.

When I read I don't really think about my gender. I don't try to identify with characters in particular in relation to me. I just judge on how it's interesting or not which make me able to read a lot of various things, even if work where I personally relate will have a special place in my heart to me.

I don't really understand why people try to push themselves so much in the work they consume at this point. To me fiction, when you aren't playing a video game with a self insert option at least, is to forget the world and myself and totally observe the life of make believe people.

But well I am not them and they aren't me. We consume fiction for different reasons.

But all in all, I really want to see intimacy and sex depicted differently than a constant power dynamic set in tone depending on who's the one being fucked or not.

These are all really good points, especially the whole one about a lot of MLM stories trying to look straight (one partner is very clearly “the girl”), but that wasn’t the main issue I had with that post.

It was the fact that so many women can’t read any story with women in them without thinking of gender dynamics, and this being seen as normal. This is actually far from normal and something that needs therapy and introspection, and it’s very often a sign of radfem brainwashing.

We do need better written romances without sub/Dom dynamics. But the bigger problem here is that so many women are primed to see their own gender as nothing but perennial victims, so they can’t see a woman do anything without seeing her as helpless.

It’s not normal to have such a bleak view of your own gender, it shouldn’t be seen as okay.

[alyazirr]

So let me talk about the Dame Event story for a hot minute here

Another long one sorry,

In my last text wall rant that I was sleep deprived as hell writing I went over the events pretty much as a whole as well as just explaining that the event dissapointed me, now I’ve had some time to digest the story as a whole and really think on it I’d like to dive into the story and what really got under my skin.

Let me just preface this by saying clearly that we as the fandom were absolutely baited with this event, many players are members of the LGBT+ community and I myself identify as bi. This entire event and how it was handled in my opinion was not done well and has left many feeling like they used the premise as a quick cash grab from that part of the fandom – I absolutely believe this to be the case.

Now the story, the first issue I had was the reason the boys had to dress up as ‘dames’ to begin with. The idea that this queen we have never met have no reason to care about and wasn’t even given 3 lines of characterisation just shows up and demands that everyone dress like ladies because ‘down with all demon men’ is incredibly concerning to me. Diavolo the prince seemingly got out of her requests, he is after all royalty himself but I think a lot of the time we forget just how high ranking in society the brothers are. This ‘I hate all men’ attitude is incredibly childish and a toxic mindset that has literally set the feminist movement back for years. It’s equally concerning that I’ve seen fans take this ‘queen’ and raise her up as this absolute bad bitch who is awesome and death to all men when she is in fact just a bitch in my eyes.

The reason why they need to dress up aside Lucifer’s handling that they all have to ‘act like dames’ had me flashing back to visions of ‘ladies finishing schools’ and a stepford wife type situation. The way their personalities had to be obliterated in the process to fit Lucifer’s notion of ‘the perfect lady like behaviour’ is incredibly demeaning to me. As a fashion major I’ve read and researched my fair amount on the psychology of clothing and how it can both confine or embolden us. I hoped that the dames event would be handled better, Asmo is obviously our number one candidate to cross-dress and throw ‘gendered’ clothing out the window and I love him for it but I have to agree with Mammon’s wording that he ‘doesn’t mind dressing up but doesn’t like the performance with it’. The ‘perfect personality’ that had them all walking the same, eating the same and using the same etiquette stripped them of any individuality and just had me thinking back on how women were ‘expected’ to act in society and still are to a degree and it was pretty uncomfortable and I’m not surprised that by the end of it even Asmo who loves any excuse to steal the show and dress up was exhausted by all the ‘etiquette’ he was forced through by Lucifer to seemingly appease some queen.

There was no need for the etiquette, Satan is arguably one of the most refined brothers having many friends in high places, artists, directors and so on. He’s well connected and established and he clearly knows how to handle himself with dignity, asking him to abide by all these rules was overkill when he could’ve put on a dress and acted completely acceptably all by himself. Not that there were even many interactions with the brothers to begin with. Typically there is always a brief moment of affection with each brother but this event was just ‘Beel can’t walk in high heels, neither can Satan pick one to cheer on and screw the other one’. I hate how any interaction was boiled down to ‘praise’ or ‘you aren’t trying hard enough to act like this dignified lady’.

Clothing is an extension of our personalities it is part of who we are and how we are perceived. It is COMPLETELY valid for people to wear whatever they want, for women to dress more ‘masculine’ and men to dress more ‘feminine’ but there is nothing wrong with men dressing like the ‘societal men’ and women dressing as the ‘societal women’ if that is what empowers them and has them most at ease. Satan was clearly not comfortable in heels and Beel really struggled, clothing should be enjoyable not a trial to get past with pain and brute force. It is also incredibly important to point out that it is canon that Levi and Asmo do cross dress and therefore enjoy it it’s not like these boys aren’t down for it but it should be THEIR CHOICE and what makes THEM COMFORTABLE. Not the same old ‘Diavolo said so and god help you if you don’t’.

Honestly the whole putting them in dresses came across with a strong element of fetishization which I didn’t like, the mc only able to babble on about how beautiful they looked, stare or say the ‘wanted to see the boys as dames more’. In concept this event could have been EVERYTHING and in the end it was a let down that borders on uncomfortable. I don’t appreciate the undertone that if they want to wear a pretty dress then they HAVE to act like a dignified lady. As I touched on the choice should have been theirs, it should’ve been an empowering situation and not a constricting one. Lucifer actually had me holding my head in my hands in anger with how he was acting in this event and you don’t even end up with the very typical ‘romantic event ending’ with him. You just tell him he looks great and he totally brushes you off. Not even mentioning the fact that as soon as they arrive at the demon castle the ‘bomber’ has been stopped and the queen is suddenly ok with everyone just being themselves because ‘haha I don’t hate you demon men you can dress like men from next year 😊’. So as Levi said literally what was the point in all that work when they just defaulted to acting like themselves anyway. It would’ve been completely understandable if Lucifer had lectured them on behaving at the event, Mammon not trying to steal something, Beel not eating everything etc but wasn’t.

All I wanted was 2 crumbs of attention from Solomon in this event and despite the SSR card he basically may as well not even be there. Not to mention I was super excited to see what Mammon and Satan looked like but I guess I’ll have to draw that out myself. What was the point solmare, seriously what was the point.

I guess we confirmed that Mammon is literally the only one we can trust since he runs to your aid screw the queen which was the only moment I really enjoyed. 

Basically this event has me feeling several kinds of fucked up and it’s clear to me that the devs are just pushing out events to sell cards and grab cash off the audience. I love this game I really do, I’ve played more otomes than I care to admit and this is honestly one of the best I’ve come across main story wise but if they keep pumping out there half assed events to grab cash off players then I’m sorry but it’s gonna turn the majority of players off. People will be willing to spend that £10 on your in game currency to support you when you put out a quality product you worked hard on, I’ve been playing this for a year now and I still love the boys and the half main story line I’ve got through. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I would far rather wait much longer on events and enjoy a good fleshed out well written event instead of these lazy cash grabs that honestly have ended up really missing the mark and with the angel and now this event really rubbing me the wrong way.

[lady-griffin]

Manga vs. Anime: My Next Life as a Villainess

I would like to be clear,I have greatly enjoyed the anime so far and find it to be very charming. Also, because we are only three episodes into the anime, I want to hold out on any strong opinions as of now.

That being said, the anime has felt rushed and hurried along in my opinion.

Which has been disappointing – as some of my favorite parts from the Manga didn’t receive as much attention, as I feel like they deserved. 

I wouldn’t mind the hurried pace of the anime, if I felt like it lent itself more to the comedic timing. But so far, the Manga’s comedic timing has had more of a punch to it. 

Though, to be fair, it’s only been three episodes and it’s very possible they’ve rushed through the childhood bits to focus on the harem’s time at the Magic Academy and when the Otome Game begins. 

However, according to Wikipedia there are only 12 episodes.

So, the anime is presumably going to cover 15 Manga Chapters in the next 9 episodes. Which is certainly possible, especially since the first 7 chapters of the manga were depicted in 3 episodes.

Given, how I’ve felt about the first three episodes in comparison to the first 7 chapters, I am slightly concerned for the next 9 episodes.

I just feel like the manga explains the premise of certain scenes better than the anime has so far and adds more context to form a larger picture. 

Particularly with Katarina’s rationale.

In the Manga, we get a far more depth look into why Katarina believes simply not bullying the heroine will not be enough. 

As Katarina could be accused of being the ringleader of the bullies as she was the ringleader in the game. Or Geordo, who in the game is described as a ‘black-hearted prince’ might falsely accuse her of bullying, so he can be with the heroine.

We also get to see Katarina saying that she actually has difficulty imagining her Geordo exiling or killing her, but she quickly dismisses the reality of her situation; by believing that Geordo falling in love with the heroine will change him and he might soon view his current fiancée (her) as a nuisance to him.

Katarina is dense, don’t get me wrong – but her rationale does give credence to her reasoning and actions – if that makes sense.

So, I am disappointed with that.

Though, maybe, I’m just more than a bit salty that Katarina’s 15th Birthday Party didn’t get the attention I thought it deserved. 

I think particularly in the dancing with the guys and even more specifically with Geordo.

Geordo and Katarina’s dance in the anime does make sense, but I think the manga really gave it a bit more depth…context…detail?

But, while I don’t think her birthday party deserves an entire episode by itself, it being squeezed in the last few minutes of the most recent episode, was not ideal. 

That best describes it, I think. The anime feels like it’s trying to squeeze a lot in the last minute, so to speak.

However,

The manga is not without its own faults and the anime has added its own elements that have improved the story.

We are introduced to Katarina and get to see her and Geordo interact, before she regains her memories 

Keith’s backstory is elaborated on - He ended up hurting his brothers because he wanted to protect a bird and her babies from them.

Seeing Katarina break down Keith’s door from his perspective and seeing the light pouring into the room bit by bit, as the door and his loneliness crumble away, was sheer perfection

Geordo observing (from a distance) Katarina and Alan becoming friends and establishing, what I presume might be more jealousy between Geordo and Alan than the manga presented. 

Geordo and Alan setting up their party and Geordo clearly being aware of Alan’s feelings before Alan is.

Geordo also stating that he has no intention of letting Katarina go as his fiancée.

Geordo saying that predicting what Katarina will do next is basically the one thing he’s not good at

Sophia being invited to the party and we get to see her clear concern and fear

Nicol’s route in the game is made a lot clearer than it was in manga

Nicol dealing with people insulting his sister (we do see this later in the manga, with a flashback).

Katarina gets a slight Ojou laugh when she leaves Keith and Mary to go to the bathroom (the manga did have Ho Ho Ho next to her in the very same scene)

The scene where Katarina jumps out of the tree, scaring away Sophia bullies is a lot clearer than it was in the manga

Sophia mentions a romance book between two women she read – that line alone adds more credence to the girls also falling for Katarina and it’s not just being "really good friendships”

Overall, more Alan and Nicol in the story. Or at the very least, more Alan. 

The manga also has scenes and details that are not needed for the flow of the story, so those getting cut aren’t a problem. 

I would much rather have an extra scene or two of the harem rather than learn Katarina has to take 5 maids with her to school, and so on.

But I also wanted more of Katarina’s Birthday Party Scene as well...so there’s that.

Basically, I just wish some of my favorite scenes in the manga were translated to the anime and given the attention, I feel like they deserved. 

But I am curious, if those who have only really seen the anime feel like the pacing is rushed.

Because, honestly the fact that one gets to set their own pace when reading a manga might be the sole cause for my issues with the pacing. 

And that’s true of any written work being translated onto screen. What my mind focuses on, might not be the intention of the author or might not be interpreted by others in the same way.

For instance, I’ve personally read the end of chapter 7 with a twinge of sadness to it.

Because, as much as Katarina has been preparing herself for the game’s potential endings, I don’t think she will ever be prepared for the heartbreak she’ll experience, if they were to come true.

Again, that’s just how I read it. 

I may have also thought that an animated version of Chapter 7′s ending could’ve been an easy improvement upon what we got from the Manga. Basically, what I just presented to you above (as I omitted several panels from the Manga). 

But we’re way off topic now. 

Obviously, this isn’t a new problem for manga readers – I just haven’t read all that much Manga in comparison to all the anime I’ve watched. And in some cases of Manga vs Anime, I’ve personally felt the anime improved upon it or they were evenly matched.

So, I guess, since fell in love with manga instantly more so than I did with the first episode, I just want the anime to bring its all to this story.

I also hope the anime can slow down in its pacing, now that we’ve gotten to the main story.

[ikemen-bully]

The Heroine’s Importance

I already posted this on my main blog but now that I have blog exclusively for otome game I rather keep it there.

Back then when Utapri and Hakuouki were the notorious reverse harems of their time, their heroines were as hated as the anime was loved. A weird phenomenon since they’re… the heroine of those shows.

Haruka Nanami was even the driving force of the show. In Utapri, which was an anime about music, she was the one with the idea that the boys should come together and become idols. She’s the reason why STARISH exists in the first place.

For Hakuouki, the case was a bit different. It was a historic anime where the warriors of the Shinsengumi were changed into bishonen (a bit in the similar fashion that Ikemen Sengoku is today) and even if it followed some real events, a plot about human experimentation and oni was also included.

In this story Chizuru Yukimura wasn’t the responsible of the Shinsengumi, but we could see the story through her eyes and assisted the evolution of the story through her.

Both did their job as the heroine. The story was enjoyable.

To me it was weird to try to dissociate the quality the anime with the quality of their heroine. If the heroine was this awful, how her presence didn’t ruin the anime for those who hated her?

Well obviously because of the boys, who were kind of the point of those anime. After all they were put forward, especially in Hakuouki, for a reason.

Still it was unfair to judge them so cruelly, so today in fandom, this behaviour is criticized.

Now we even get positivity for the heroine, such as putting them on an equal foot as the boys! Which is great!

But is it true?

I thought about doing this post because I thought of a short-lived trend in anime which revealed a certain behaviour in both the creators of those anime and their fandom.

“The heroine matter as much as the boys”

The anime which started this trend in my eyes was Amnesia.

In this story the heroine wakes up without her memories and her soul linked to a fairy, Orion, which collided with her and made her lose her memories this way.

It had an original concept, stunning visual, wonderful OST (an opening by Yanagi Nagi!), it looked mysterious and I was very curious about it.

To my dismay, the anime was boring to say the least. And it wasn’t because it was a reverse harem so it was to be expected. Utapri and Hakuouki had their flaws but they weren’t outright uninteresting.

The problem that was the most noticeable was the heroine which didn’t even have a name or a personality.

So as the anime can make you guess, the heroine has amnesia. She’s lost at the beginning of the anime, making this premise interesting. After all when a character has amnesia, one of the points of the story is to make them recover their memories.

Which means that the heroine will be a very important character, even more since everything is from her POV! Right? Right?

The heroine doesn’t evolve throughout the story. She’s merely there for the boys to be in love with her past self, the one before she had amnesia and even if she cares for them (as a heroine always has to do) she doesn’t really love any and just adapts to the one she’s supposed to love in the animated route.

I can’t say that the heroine of Amnesia is badly written since she’s barely written at all. She’s there to support the boys and forgive anything which happens to her. For example being harassed or get sequestrated in a cage :

Even in this situation where the love interest keep her in a cage, she care more about how much he does that to “protect her” :

.Except to protect herself from direct danger (and even like this she needs Orion to tell her to be careful because she can’t think for herself), she doesn’t care about her own well being as much as a normal human being would.

Brothers conflict have a simpler plot where the heroine’s father marries a woman who has 13 sons, making her their only step sister.

Different conflict with the brothers will arise and it’s already challenging to try to develop the characters when there’s 13 of them. With only 12 episodes, not all of them will fall in love with Ema? the heroine, but enough of them will, to make it as confusing as possible.

In this anime we meet the same kind of heroine as Amnesia, where the heroine doesn’t have much personality for herself. Or at least, the only noticeable personality traits of Ema is to love having a family which she will repeat at any given opportunity.

I really hated the guys in this anime for how egotistical they were as soon as they fall in love. Once again the heroine doesn’t crush on anyone, making them all forceful toward her.

Despite this, the heroine would somewhat express that she doesn’t want her relationship with them to turn romantic.

If anything the heroine’s main presence will be about how uncomfortable she is that her brothers try to seduce her.

But again, what matters the most is that they love her, not that she doesn’t return those feelings back and she even gets depressed over it :

A revelation is made about the heroine which will make her depressed about the whole situation, especially that her brothers fight over her.

But it won’t be used to develop her as a character or to make them aware of it. It’ll be used for a romantic moment with one of her love interest, who will kiss her even if he know how much it disturb her :

The heroine is kissed multiple times by attractive guys yes, but who she doesn’t love and explicitly rejects at the end of the anime.

And even if she gets kissed, the heroine is just worried about the situation of the family, not how herself is treated by them. She never says, “what about me? Why are you kissing me when all I want is for you to stop?” or anything similar. She cares about them more than she cares about herself.

And even though she’s supposedly uncomfortable by their behaviour, she doesn’t seem like that most of the time, just enthusiastic about having a family as usual.

At the end of the anime, a lot of people were upset that the heroine didn’t choose anyone. Why would she have to when we see how the guys act?

The behaviour of the boys

A thing that we can notice in all of this is that sometimes, the guys can be really awful to the heroine but as she doesn’t care about herself, she won’t hold any mistreatment toward her person against any of them. For example at the end of brothers conflict even when she reject one of the guys, “no” doesnt mean “no”.

But why are they authorized to be egoistic and possessive without any consequences? In brothers conflict, one of the guys even tries to rape her in her sleep and blame her for that :

But again despite this, I’ve never seen hate against this character, while, like it always happen, a lot of hatred is directed to Ema.

The guys are never hated for their actions because everything they do is depicted as being romantic (even if it definitely aren’t like the scene above) and it’s motivated by their love or their pain anyway.

“Love make them go crazy” because, after all, they can’t help it, they love the heroine so much that some accidents are bound to happen, like trying to undress her in her sleep or keeping her in a cage for her own good :

It’s just an accident! They can’t help it!

But sometime it can perfectly be a conscious choice but again, not shown as being cruel.

The last anime which has this tendency to not develop their main character at all was Diabolik Lovers, where Yui Komori gets stuck with 6 sadistic vampire who abuse her daily.

We enter in the kink theory here, and being masochist and finding the idea of bitten hot isn’t a problem. The problem is that in the story, Yui is blocked in this place and she obviously doesn’t enjoy to be the playthings of those men :

Each time she is bitten she expresses that she wants it to stop. But they don’t care. Because in Diabolik Lovers, Yui isn’t their love interest but their prey.

Again we have the same problem as the other heroines where she has no real personality beside caring about the boys above herself. In this case it’s even worse because the guys are predators who will hurt Yui without any second thoughts, but she acts like they are acquaintances . Despite all the abuse she goes through at their hands she goes to them to casually start a discussion which will always end up with her being abused :

The last time she interacted with him let’s see what happened :

Once again there’s a priorities on her interacting with the boys rather than making her behavior have any sense.

What is weird with this anime, in particular, is how much the heroine is blamed for not fighting back…while she can’t. They overpower her anyway.

But the guys aren’t hated for acting this way in the first place. Isn’t it odd? Yui is victim blamed and even if she suffers, we’re never shown the real impact that such daily abuse would have on her. She even worries about them at the littlest injury they can have :

While they’re the one hurting her :

Or if they ever care about her wound it’s because someone else did it to her and they feel entitled to her body, so they want to fight the other person :

Despite the statement that they’re equal, in anime such as these it’s not the case because the guys are given excuses for their bad behavior, while the heroine has to deal with it and put them above herself.

Still, they’re supposed to be equal so despite everything the heroine can end up to be liked… but in this context it is weird.

In the case of Yui who cares about her abuser no matter what, she gets praised for caring about the guys :

She cares about them without real explanation because all the interaction with her in the anime lead to abuse at some point. It can be the Stockholm Syndrome but it’s not depicted as anything else other than your usual heroine caring about the people around her, even if they abuse her.

As such, people tend to praise her for what she’s designed to do : putting them above her.

She even gets shipped with those who torment her and the self destructive attitude she has to help them no matter how much they hurt her is glorified.

If she is loved, if she matters, why should she be paired with those who hurt her the most?

They don’t lash out to her because they’re upset, it’s a behaviour that they consciously do like above with the cage. You can’t possibly “accidentally” put someone in a cage because you’re “protective”.

But at the end even if the heroine “matters as much as the boys” there’s a priority on them being healed by her rather than her own well being. Even if Yui gets traumatized, it doesn’t matter as much as the trauma of the guys and her neglecting herself for one of her abusers who won’t even care about her happiness, since all they want is to have her.

In the same way, it doesn’t matter that the heroine of Amnesia has been drugged and kept in a cage : Toma, the love interest, does it for her own good since she’s getting harassed and we have to be sad about how much he becomes insane for her sake. We shouldn’t worry how horrific the situation is for the heroine but try to understand him.

For Ema, we have to care about how much the guys have fallen for her and how much it puts a toll on them that she doesn’t reply to those feelings. It doesn’t matter that she shown no desire to be with any of them since the beginning, even when she finally rejects them, they can kiss her because they matter the most.

And in fandom space, her importance is still limited to her catering to the boys, and even if it’s supposed to be mutual love, they never care about her feelings to the point of respecting her.

It doesn’t matter what they do to her, she has to care for them despite anything. Those heroines are written as such, and the fandom accepts them this way too.

She doesn’t matter as much as they do, because if she was, her feelings would matter and she wouldn’t be written as being “caring” at the expense of herself.

You can say that since she’s the heroine, it’s normal that she cares about the boys, since the point of reverse harem is to have attractive boys first. And I would agree with that if it wasn’t so exaggerated.

Now not all reverse harems are written this way. There’s actually reverse harems where the heroine matters as much as the guys.

For example in Dance with Devils, Ritsuka, the heroine, constantly searches to know the truth which is hidden from her. It can seem foolish since it mostly puts her in danger though.

But to this, she also get rightly upset when one of the guys try to seduce her and something literally inexistent in reverse harem, she can even slap him for his misconduct! :

She can even get depressed about how manipulated she ends up to be. For this reason, she end up lashing out at one of the guys :

Her emotions matter and you have to remember that Dance with Devils was out around the same time than the second season of Diabolik Lovers :

The heroine of the anime above never had the right to be sad about their situation, their feelings weren’t pushed forward. They have no right to be sad or upset, just kind and caring and nothing else.

At the end of the anime, Ritsuka even received hate for the choice because it was about herself, not about her love interest.

Amnesia, Brothers Conflict and Diabolik Lovers heroine’s exist only to care for the boys while at least the ones of Dance with Devils exist to have the guys attracted to her but also to pursue her own goals.

As such, it’s a mistake to say that all the heroines matter as much as the boys because it can be factually wrong in the way they’ve been created.

I don’t like that the heroines are automatically hated for being the heroine, but I don’t think it’s fair to praise them just for this reasons either.

They all have been written with different level of writing and for differents purpose, one of them being only there for the guys and not the other way around.  For this reason, they should be judged differently, and people should accept that others will not like all of them.

Reverse Harem heroines are all different because the anime they are in have been done with different sake in mind. Reverse harem are like any other type of anime : with good and bad anime, good and bad protagonist.

And it would be better to accept this diversity than trying to frame all the heroine as the same.

Hopefully now the heroine’s tend to not be written that way anymore and tend to matter as much as the guys in the anime too.