Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Shiro to Kuro no Alice - Review

 Game: [白と黒のアリス.]
English title: White and black Alice.
Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Otomate/Kogado studio
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-06-8

I know that this is like the umpteenth Alice otome game but I was motivated it to get it
and I was mostly interested in Luna's side but that doesn't mean I won't give Airi a chance.
I also figured Shiro to Kuro is otomates biggest entry this year? I mean compared to other titles 
they don't have much this year except a bunch of FD's and this looks the most interesting to me.
Its also funny otomate came up with this after quinrose's demise and got former staff 
like Hisano to sing the opening theme and the mangaka who did the Alice no kuni manga's
adaptation to make a web comic from this, btw I haven't bothered with that so I am going in blind.

Pro's
- Interesting world.
- Decent volume, not too short nor too long.
- Characters are likeable but depends on taste.
- Art is amazing, music fits the scene.
- A skip to the next choice feature (God Bless).

Cons
- The overall story is scattered, one mistake in playorder ruins it even more.
- Too many interesting tidbits are shoved into unvoiced bonus stories/letters
most likely to prevent routes from getting even longer.
- It would be better if the heroines were voiced, since at times they meet they'd have
normal conversations which is just odd when others around them speak.
- Landmines... Airi's side is full of them.



Airi left and Luna right, look similair? they're twins duh...
System wise its typical VN stuff but there's two heroines Airi and Luna who like at norn9
have three romanceable interests so let's go over them real quick to avoid confusion.
After the prologue and common part of each girl you'll be able to select a route
which is of fairly decent length it never felt that rushed it really takes its time
but honestly there might be a couple of boring moments here and there.
  Since otomate is stupid this time and didn't give us a recommended play order 
I went in blind and uncovered a whole plot behind the scenes on my first play.😅💦💦💦
Oh good joy otomate you even delayed this game but it was too hard
to give us a recommended order or put an enforced playorder?oh well...
Okay each route still has its own fair share of spoilers for you to find out which
is totally normal but its mostly selfcontained character stuff, one thing is for sure
you won't find out everything just doing one route nor is there a real true path its just Snow
having the best story conclusion so it should be done last if you care about that.
 Minette's route is most disconnected from overall plot so best to do first and well Rain was pretty painful early on but made more sense at the end of the route so best to not do him too late in your play order. Nello ahaha he's fine midway but watch out for landmines! definitely not last.
Jack route was super enjoyable so that's why I recommend it for last even if
Snow's black happy end is arguable the best in terms of story completeness.
Feel free to decide your own order but I think this works?
I recommend this order:
Airi: Minette > Rain > Luna: Kanon > Airi: Nello > Luna: Snow / Jack.
 
 White side: Airi - Rain, Minette, Nello.
Black side: Luna - Snow, Jack, Kanon.
Airi is the heroine of white world who is a candidate for the next queen because
her blood will save the country of black, Luna the current queen and heroine of black world 
suffered a coup'de etat after sentencing someone which was seen as too cruel
so for her own safety (and sanity)Luna was forced to flee to the white world 
while Airi is forced to take her place in black world note that despite Airi following
Rain on that rainy day at that point she doesn't want to have anything 
to do with the queen stuff and will actively ask people how to get out, of course Luna 
wants nothing more but to go back to black world but goes along with Snow
turns out they throw some magic and Luna seems to fit right into Airi's place... 
Well they do look alike since they're twins after all.
The two do need time to adjust to their new environment and Luna is really
clueless about seemingly normal stuff, OK you get the basic picture now lol.
 There's also some caste system and blood sucking mechanic like the guys from white side
get a boost if they suck Airi's blood and on the other side Luna needs to suck the guys blood.😓
Of course Luna also gets her blood sucked since ... because uh plot?
Also since the guys are no vampires how do they actually bite? since you know lack of fangs...
Before playing I thought otomate is grasping for straws here 😥 but whatever let me explain
its definitely not just fanservice dialover style like for example when Rain got injured
Airi cut her own finger so he nibbled at it so Rain could regain his strength.
See its important to the story so stop complaining its just fanservice...
here come the blood donation jokes by me making my way through the routes. (just kidding)
Sadly I don't like the idea of biting a guy... let alone bitten by them... so its a miss for me. 


Minor spoiler in the next bit so feel free to glance over this.
 However there was one bit in Snow's route that irked me, anyone sensitive to self harm of cutting
themselves may want to need this warning but Snow's so sweet of stopping a selfish Luna
wanting attention or basically forcing him to drink her blood even if he said no.
The negative bit there might be easy to over look, still I had to mention it because sensitive topic.
end spoiler.


Like with all otome games you don't have to like everyone it all depends on personal taste really.
Minette, the mysterious flirty guy who showers you with affection and definitely not shady(he is).
Rain, the mysterious cold and distant but definitely doesn't mean to be...
Kanon, the sharp-tongued tsunderella.
 Snow, the caringly sweet and gentle type.
Jack, the shy yet cute type of guy who obviously is interested in the protag.
Nello, the two faced guy but totally a good boy atleast you'd think.

The only thing otomate seems to have recycled is some aesthetic from code:realize do note that
I am mainly talking about the text box here so don't misunderstand me.
Other than that everything looks nice and art in general like backgrounds are all pretty.
It seems they had a lot of budget, plenty of side characters and routes do not overlap
with others so all is good! but the mouths do not move, honestly speaking this is no big deal.
It also has its own save/load screen and I do not remember many VN on ps vita
that actually have a unique save/load screen except maybe Karin or some of Rejet's games.
Its nice to see otomate break the mold from the old see-through save screen
but to me it seems a possible english release with pc port is inevitable now.
(I hope it happens... along with Tierblade of course.)
The gorgeous save/load screen.

Well here is the opening movie...certainly has its charm.

The game is relatively short paced, most of the time there's ALMOST no boring moment
except the court and some school scenes but yeah the reason for that is obvious really.
Sometimes it does get longer than I thought it would be, some ends are short yet others are longer..
This only really got on my nerves when I was on Minette's because I wanted to be done, lol.
It is of decent volume routes should be around 6-7 hours or more, I guess
if you count the other ends its a little longer in the route but I never change the speed
of automode since if its any faster I can never read it before it moves on to next line -_-
I think Nello's route was definitely the longest out of all? maybe cuz prologue.
All this depends on reading speed but this should be the average either way nothing felt rushed except
some endings, this visual novel was deceptively long or longer than I had thought it would be.😅

In short...
For those wondering if Airi will be disappointing or dumb as a heroine the answer is I can't truly answer in the common route she has a surprising proactive personality of wanting to go back
but she's a little meek, too pure and too accepting of the guys flaws in the white routes.
One could say she has the worst love interests and she's the average good girl etc.
Some may find Airi generic though... and I guess she is compared to Luna.
Luna on the other hand turned out to be really cute since she doesn't know a lot of normal things
but she's still an oujou-sama and won't hesitate to speak her mind most of the time
but she could be a little selfish or bitchy I guess but its miles better.
There's a fair amount of mystery, just do not do Nello's route first! nor last
or else you'll be left with a bad after taste that probably will ruin it for you.
 Each route is fairly self contained but Nello has a good chunk of a sub plot that runs in the background but who the bad guy is slightly changes depending on route.
Some parts are slow at first but there's enough going on that shows the heroine
 and the boy of your choice get closer which all in all was enjoyable considering length.
The time the two spend together was charming even tho there's not much else going on untill
x character comes in to remind you of stuff, which in some routes ruined the mood but yeah story.
In the end it balances out, for the most part the scenes never really drag still there are a few where I was like oh come on get on with it, I guess each vn may have a couple of boring moments and shirotokuro is no exception. Atleast we get to choose the guys right after the prologues which is a
blessing really, said prologues are there to help decide who you go for but I still think
this game would have benefitted from some sort of restriction for available love interests.

Its also nice Luna has girls to talk to about stuff like guys and more since she
is totally clueless about most stuff which leads to some hilarious scenes.
Sadly with Airi that's not so much the case but she used to do that all the time...
honestly its sad Airi literally gets the worst boys.
People who like alice related things may even enjoy it more, there's more than one
outcome to the routes and variations on some endings depending on choice
either way I can recommend Shiro to Kuro no Alice, its interesting in its own way
but no replacement for Heart no Kuni no Alice., this is probably otomate's biggest release
this year next to chouchou jiken & not counting sequel/FD, they really don't have much new title.
But if I had to be really honest only black side was worth it for me...









Character thoughts below be wary of spoilers.
I won't spoil everything and its not accurate so expect plain wrong 
because vague memory or inability to explain in english.
I felt like have to mention certain matters so tread carefully, thank you very much.
Thus I am heavily recommending to skip the characters section, just hold your spacebar
or use the bar to the right to zoom to the spoiler free final thoughts below.

My play order: (Do not do this...)
Nello > Kanon > Rain > Snow > Minette > Jack.

Nello
CV: Shimono Hiro.
 Nello lived the hard life but its kay, he'll get his happy endings now.
 The march hare, Nello a seemingly friendly merchant and keeps things classy early on 
with the drink me theme where they both drink from this bottle and become small
Nello did it to cheer her up... and thus this start to feel like a healing route then Kanon
notes its unusual for Nello to be nice so that where I first realize somethings off.
There are many suspense moment in which I start to wonder what the hell is going  to happen next.
Also Rain didn't leave a good  impression on mhopefully his route will be better.
Yeah unlike mr: pumpkin no fun allowed Rain, Nello notices what's wrong with Airi 
and that she's depressed while being cooped up  so he tries to help in his own way
 which made the beginning of the route a blast and without this it would be impossible
 to like Nello considering what happen later and trust me it was one hell of a ride
filled with landmines, in the end it makes sense why it is like this but you may like a guide.
There was this Asagi person who smokes the good shit, Asagi's handsome but that it really
at the end of the day Asagi is this creepy mysterious type totally up to no good and Nello works 
for him doing dirty shit, yeah Nello's the assassin whoops did I spoil something? not sorry.
Nello's just a little missguided, he works for Asagi for his sisters sake and kills people 
since Asagi needs his l33t knife skillz, turns out his sister died and Asagi lied to him all this time.
Thus Nello continues to do shit for him, even killing people in the white world for Airi's sake
while wanting her to not notice but sadly she did and she had to be firm to get the truth out of him
which wasn't pretty and turns out moe bunny man uses Airi all along, when did she even fell for him
is it because she felt bad? well I did too but this route is so frustrating.
 Poor Nello just wants to live a peaceful life and believes he'll get it someday...
Atleast Airi was at his side but one wrong choice could end this route early for you. -_-
 Basically Asagi's grand scheme is to misuse the power of alice and recreate wonderland to his liking
but Nello comes around thanks to Airi and kicks Asagi's ass so hard he kicked the bucket.
Overall the route is fine but it felt like they dumped most of the plot that ran in the background
in here which also was resolved rather nicely due to Nello being a kickass bunny.
Atleast I was never really bored which is a very good thing and I was surprised
that the plot was a little meaty too bad I incidently played this first! now I look at Nello from the
corner of my eyes in every route, i'm watching you boi too bad he did jack shit in most other route.
Nello uhm he's complicated and I don't really feel much in the end other than I am glad it worked
out, I can atleast say I liked the route so its not that bad just difficult due to shit happening. 
I prefer the white happy end btw... even if it has the most stupid solution to his actions
from before, black happy end just felt wrong to me but its not that bad.
Don't get me started on black bad end I skipped half of it cuz it was unbearable
since Nello continues to suck Airi's blood while she's the queen and people get
the idea the queen is acting strangely, yeah that right she sure is.
There was also a bad end midway where he kisses Airi and stabs her since he thought 
she betray him or whatever which gave me Geten no hana Ranmaru's tsumi end flashbacks. 😱
Falling in love with you was a mistake...
 Uh so I guess white happy end it is for me but when I look back
I just don't know anymore I know Nello's a good boy but yeah he's shackled by the past
and everything was such a wild ride that I just don't feel too good about it as a whole.
It was just all over the place not to mention a real minefield...
Romance ★★★☆☆(Eh... but its believable in a sense, lol.)
Plot ★★★★☆(Not bad at all... but spoilers.)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆ (Its ok but I couldn't enjoy most of it, its a real minefield.)
 ~

Kanon
CV: Hanae Natsuki.
The feel when Luna the heroine looks prettier than the guy.
 The mad hatter? or atleast I figured he is. Kanon's a tsundere with sweet tooth
but is pretty blunt and sharptongued luckily Luna won't take his shit.
After doing Nello I was even more motivated for Kanon since he had the most helpful presence 
in Nello's route also Luna is gorgeous in most of the CG's (as it should be).
Favorite moments include Kanon fixing up the mascot/teach to sew and another was Youhei 
bumping into the two of them and thinking they be dating making Luna and Kanon fluster.
In truth it was a date but they so hazukashii to admit it... other than that this route 
was relaxing, Luna did go back to BW midway since she was uncertain bout things
there but in the end she had no choice but to go back to WW again.
Kanon story revolves around that Luna's mother Alice Liddle stopped his time/magic
 or something, Kanon gradually fell for Luna but Rain's a jackass who orders him to kill Luna.
Ofcourse he can't do that since Luna's the only one who made his life move again or whatever. 
Like Nero, Kanon was very much tied down by the past... but overall it was lighter.
how to put it? it just was more sincere and not a minefield.
I'm sorry for the plain wrong that is the above its a real simple summary
cuz I didn't really take notes and am going by whatever stood out in my brain.
Honestly speaking Kanon's route was more enjoyable than Nello's mostly
because I was able to understand Kanon's struggles near the end
and wasn't as heavy as mr:march hare other than that Kanon's white happy ending while nice it felt
sorta rushed, idk if it was just me but Kanon's happy ends felt like that compared to others.
 Black  happy end felt better but at the end of the day both outcomes sound good to me.
Overall Kanon's route was great... mayb because I liked it, the ending part just felt off
because I didn't want it to end? he's likeable character in general but story-wise
 it was pretty much centered on his own issue which started with the previous queen
but I felt like they halfed assed the outcome and whipped something up quickly
but I do not mind either outcome like I said above both are fine, Kanon's a real cutiepie.
I found the mad hatter bad end and black bad end to be quite entertaining though.
which I tried to sum those up really quickly below because I felt his section's too short as is.
White bad end: Kanon dies in a struggle with some mooks when he went back to black world
for her sake and so Luna waits forever for him in the white world believing he'd return soon.
Mad Hatter end: Luna gets shot with his own gun, Kanon flips his shit becoming deranged so back
in BW Rath and Nello wonder what the fuck happened to him while Kanon
stabs the strawberries Luna loved so much, gotta say I love his smug look in the CG
and its probably the only one where I found Kanon attractive even if he completely flipped.
I think Kanon's the victim of art inconsistency if anything...
 Black bad end: Kanon returns to her but while Luna waited her mind broke after seeing
the spirit of her mom Alice Liddle whom she loves very much and cries in her arms
 she now thinks she's the one and only queen since the blood inside her took over
or whatever Kanon swears his loyalty and punishes himself for making her go mad like this.
That's right I am the queen...!
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★☆☆(Selfcontained but had some interesting bits here and there..)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆(Kanon a cutie...)
~

Rain
CV: Umehara Yuuichirou.
Black Rabbit, Mr: serious business... or better put grumpy
hench the massive wall of text that are my halfed assed impressions?
So after the previous routes I figure its the best  to do him now before
he'd loose whatever likeability he might've had and he did have something left alright.
TBH the early parts were boring especially court sessions, relationship wise
it felt a little odd early on but the scene with the ribbon was cute I guess.
Like the reason he never tells Airi anything is cuz she's a dumb girl with a slight
mental handicap so Rain's like just do as I tell you no butts just act like the new queen.
 Sorry if this is harsh/offends but all things considered its true, as seen in Nello's she's too accepting.
Problem I also expected him to be uh more moe but alas... deep down he's a super caring
dude but has issues showing it but like I mention below he's trying to know how to handle girls.
Rain will listen to Airi if she orders him to like spare an intruder, yeah he's super loyal
to those with the alice blood inside them and will do anything... but this isn't clear at first.
His ulterior motive include to get rid of he previous queen Luna since she wasn't fit
due to her getting crazy or whatever so they needed a spare who better than Luna's lost twin Airi.
Rain's mostly mr perfect and his bossy/grumpy attitude early on didn't make it much better...
Turns out he doesn't know any better but he's trying atleast he'll protect you
as long as you're a good girl and be the lands queen since your blood will save the country. -_-
Thing is Rain's doesn't know how to handle girls because upbringing, its just explained too late
into the route and by then I was yeah if only I had known sooner but alas.
Now to some parts I did like Rain did realized she wanted to go back home... can't make that happen.
So one day he takes her to the castle library, she's allowed to go there if she wants from now on
 on the condition to not go alone at this point his true colors shined through. Later on
Airi thought it was a bright idea to go to the library at past bedtime she asks the knights
and so they go... then she got separated/lost and was saved by Asagi and Nello on the way back.
Next day she gets back to the castle, the knights be worried but Rain hold Asagi&co responsible
so Airi decides to grow some balls and tell him to buzz off and that he is innocent!
(Well of course I know better but this time Asagi didn't do anything YET so he's in the clear
yeah sorry I saw it coming since I did you know who's route already.)
Too bad Rain only has some scenes here and there early on so here it seemed like
 I was spending more time with Nine one of the castle knights...or Jack than Rain himself. -_-
This just partly caused me to cheer Nine on since Airi got along with him so well and I also
sorta wondered what if Nine/Jack had a route in Airi's scenario... haha ok I'll stop there.
I am not saying this route is bad infact it the opposite since Airi had initiatives, she
 cut her own finger so Rain could drink her blood after he was injured for protecting her.
\o/
 Rain got a chance to redeem himself for doing the crap he usually does, the part that 
got me was when Rain was trying to figure out through books how to understand a maidens heart
like its when I realized despite being mr grumpy he's trying to learn how to deal with women!
Yep the route's pretty decent... to newcomers since if you already know Asagi's crap
some sections will be a snoozefest, sadly Asagi was extremely persistant and by the end
of this route I really really hate Asagi to the point just seeing him pisses me off.(lol)
That aside I'd love to have a route with Nine or something since he did appear to have
some chemistry with Airi... ah it would be a nice alternative take, yes it would but alas.
I guess you could say EARLY ON Rain's route lacked in the usual content since I was trying to
understand him if anything but you can't say there was no romanc since the two did slowly come
to like each other, its sad that in the end its sorta rushed even if the moments they got was super
necessary. Rain was really sweet and gentle but sadly by then it was already near the end so
I feel he deserved more but there just wasn't any time for it, I know there are bonus stories
in between chapters but its a hassle to go back and forth so I probably missed out on a lot.
It just took too long to understand but it was worth it in the end, thanks to me messing up
 the play order most suspense and surprises were ruined except the part where the two
apparently met and promised something in the past which gave us a little bias™.
Atleast overall I can say it was good... but partly I just want to see them
 under more relaxed circumstances because there wasn't much. ^_^;
The way the it ended at white happy end felt odd like I get Rain was hurt
so Airi sees her chance and rushes past the tweedles, the twins switch places
  and Luna&co kick Asagi's ass in favor for a happy return to white world
but why should it be my concern how matters in black world end, right I got myself
one hell of a bishie who won't ever leave my side, the end. 😅
Black happy end is basically Nine saving the day but he doesn't get proper credit plus
a massive deus ex machina to undo all problems that aside black happy end felt more
complete to me than white happy end ever did because Airi remembers the past of Rain
promising him to come get her some day in the future too bad Airi forgot untill now.
The twin sisters both get crowned to be the queens which for my part may as well have been
the best ending of this route for obvious reasons white happy end just felt rushed in comparison.
Don't get me started on black bad end in which she becomes a cruel queen since that thing took over
I like it a little but uh... that Alice blood sure has some edges really its just as bad as
Nello's so in the end the only ending that I liked in Rain's route
or more like actually mattered was black happy end, no doubt about it! OAO.
Romance ★★★☆☆ (One would be lying if they said it wasn't there at all.)
Plot ★★★☆☆(Most of the suspense was ruined by now... but its not bad.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆ (While I don't really like Rain that much he's not unlikeable.)
PS, a happy smiling Rain is precious.
 ~
 Snow
CV: Masuda Toshiki.
White rabbit, unlike Rain he's actually nice and supportive towards Luna
making her realize she really has to stay in the white world even if she doesn't want.
 Snow route actually goes into the rabbit brothers past of how Rain became how he was
since he was more adept than Snow, Idk you get the picture Snow's trying hard in his own way.
Snow also knew Luna ever since she was little... ah gotta have a staple childhood friend
they even made a promise a more  bias™ either way unlike Rain, it was actually
easier to decipher Snow's feelings for Luna if anything he;s an open book.
The scene where Luna went into the conbini to buy water was comedic
since she's trying to show she can do stuff on her own but Luna made a mistake
and got a bottle of alcohol making he others laugh/facepalm or express their worry.
Atleast not everyone was laughing since its actually not that funny
since Luna doesn't know much about the modern world.
Sadly while there are more great scenes, like Snow telling her about flower language but
Asagi had to show up and ruin most of the atmosphere and at this point I was SO done with him.
Also Rain was trying to be cute.. .in wanting to join Luna and the girls for lunch.
In reality Rain's just trying to trigger Luna since he's just checking up on Snow
to see if he's still going along with his plans he even let's Luna see the current state of BW
and tells here if she's a real queen to once again put up with the situation. -_-
Either way like Rain with Airi, Snow doesn't want to hurt Luna and he declines when Luna
request him to suck her blood and leaves. Please wait a second before you read the next bit
has a trigger warning for SELF HARM, that right Luna cuts herself because she's a selfish bitch.
Excuse my language but tbh its the truth...
No worries though Snow comes in since he smelled her blood, bickering aside
Snow eventually gives in since she wants him to get a boost in power that much.
There was no cg with Snow drinking from the wound because obvious reasons but we do
 get a moment where he embraces Luna and tells her softly to never do it again, d'awww.
 Either way if you haven't guessed it Snow's really super sweet even if he's
struggling with personal issues and trying to work something out to make everyone happy.
Snow made up his mind and that the only queen he'll protect is Luna and so did Rain
who is set to kill Luna for the sake of BW and Airi, tl;dr they fight Luna runs into Asagi
and gets tricked but since she's a kickass queen she doesn't stay put.
So Luna walks around wonderland pretending to be a look-a-like and everyone
believes it for a while, she's trying to find out the state of affairs, Snow comes after her eventually
but ''sigh'' Asagi found her before Snow did... Asagi boisting his plans to remake the country
made me grin and roll my eyes hoping Snow would arrive so he could end this farce and he did.
Asagi went out in a hilariously quick way which gave us time to go into other matters
Snow helped Luna remember details of her mother but I am not going into them.
That aside Snow's confession was sweet, if his behavior throughout the route didn't
make its obvious Luna is really special to him sadly Rain is extra evil and the last boss
of this route, Rain reconfirms Snow is a criminal for not followig orders and has no choice
but to kill Snow and Luna but lucky Snow got a boost in power and Snow 1 shots Rain.
In white happy end the two just skedaddle back to white world giving zero fucks about black world
and they just find their own place there, while Snow continues to research stuff
to find a cure to stop Luna from going mad due to her mom's blood  but its not getting far
even if he can't turn her into a queen he still proposes to her and she accepts.
I guess megane Snow was cute, somehow I managed to predict he'd propose which made
it turn into cheese but I still liked this ending if only a little it felt like a give up ending.
 In BW happy end we finally get a cg of Snow drinking Luna's blood for a power up
and uses some magic spell bending shite to his will and give black world the blessing of TWILIGHT
which didn't exist there at all making everyone panic and swear loyalty to Luna that's it no fighting.
Rain skedaddles off as well because shenanigans and all is well with the world, Luna and Airi
get crowned and rule the land together they also have tea,sweets and finally
have a nice talk for once on the flipside so do Rain and Snow.
Other than that its the same as Rain's BW happy end you get the same cg of the crowning
from different perspective other than that it also feels like the best outcome for Snow.
In the White world bad end, Snow dies by Rain's hand but Snow pushes her to white world
where she runs into Asagi, who somehow is still alive at this point Luna has zero fucks to give
 and just goes along with whatever plans he has, since he could make it happen but whatever, R.I.P.
In Black world bad end, they decided to try something dangerous, they sneak into the castle but
Rain kills Snow and Luna and their spirits are wandering through wonderland
haunting them forever more, poor Jack lol other than that spooky bad end the route was great.
That's that then... Snow's route basically solved an issue others didn't. it did feel fulfilling
since something blackworld was missing was returned to the point even Asagi was amazed
but other than that I start to think the story is too scattered over all the route in the game. -_-
Romance ★★★★☆ (Probably the best so far...)
Plot ★★★★☆(Pretty much touched upon matters Rain's route didn't.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆(Snow's such a sweetheart...T~T)

~
Minette
CV: Kimura Ryohei.
 The sneaky chesire cat, he acts like a guide but is never really helpful he's also a little flirty.
While I think Minette was very likeable despite some stuff he's one of those that
try to earn your trust but then you can never fully trust him due to ''plot''
so yeah that aside he's basically a drug dealer.
Honestly now that I sat through and know most of the plot I wonder
what exactly has Minette to do in all this, turns out its not much since I already 
figured his issue would be selfcontained and mostly about his master Misty.
Rain tries  to get Airi to act like a proper queen and shit stressing her and me out
meanwhile here's Minette trying to cheer her up, early on Minette also
asked what she thought of him the answer was kind ofcourse, too early for love.
Then he starts talking bout how he can use his magic with her blood to create medicine.
Don't worry he used it to create a double so Airi doesn't need to suffer at the hands of Rain
who falls for it and now Airi has been freed! W00t! time to have some fun.
Too bad while the parade was fun, Minette had to go home and left Airi all alone...
She had to go back on her own, Nine found her and Rain got mad. x_x
No worries though, Airi manages to tell Rain she's still very confused about everything
and allows Minette to help tutor her(under Nine's watch) since Minette likes her so much. 
Since Nine is no fun, he manages to get Jack to go along into town instead.
Early on its just Minette trying to get Airi to fall for him but its not happening fast enough...
also he wonders why he's starting to act strangely around her, Airi ends up crashing at
Minette's place after a scuffle in town and meets Misty, nothing out of the ordinairy yet
other than Minette hinting those people from before want her for her blood.
Basically its best to do this route first, like a mentioned above it really is selfcontained
and only leaves you with hints at other matters unveiled in the other routes, honestly
on its own Minette's route is pretty boring even though there's enough going on.
TL;DR Airi gets drugged and forced to stay at Misty's place for safety.
Its revealed Minette's fully under Misty's control by some contract, he can't defy her
and the reason he brought her isn't so Airi can be Misty's pretty doll but it can't be helped now
even though Minette is on Airi's side he has no choice but to go along with his master.
Rain notices his lies but leaves shit for now, also poor Minette suffers from domestic violence 
at Misty's hand, see now you get Minette ain't doing this cuz he wants to he just wanna be loved.
Airi becomes a blowup doll while he tries to keep her happy 
in his own way by drugging her hoping she's happy. (ayy lmao)
Anyway Airi's a a doll now that she can't talk due to drugs...(I can't even remember
if she was doing it on purpose or really was high on drugs) half the time it was just listening to
Minette talk to himself and the shit in the house went on for too long making me wish it ended
sooner and it did cuz Minette realized after contemplating his 9 lives that this is wrong 
so he uses his magic and leaves a double at the house,  so they escape and he apologizes.
either way they get even at the castle even Rain forgives him while Jack sobs after hearing everything.
The rest of the route was just as painful, Minette realizes how attached he is to Airi
they both confess and shit, life at the castle proceeds as normal, his route truly
added nothing to the plot and whatever romance there was bored me cuz it was simple
also the constant can you trust him or not? sigh... ofcourse Misty's curse kicked in
so it became a simple matter of cancelling it out by drinking Airi's blood, Misty gets butthurt 
and she also turns out to be an old hag but Minette been feeding her potions to make her look pretty.
Misty takes the form of Rains appearance to get her pet back but Minette stops her
 before she could do any harm to Airi, the real Rain kills the hag and thats the end of it.
Like always you get the choice to go back to white or stay in blackworld
I don't prefer either since in general they both felt weird at first.
The whole situation that white happy seemed like a bad end
and then suddenly lol surprise I'm here playing another magic trick
on you so don't be sad now, btw I am just here cuz I am now the court magician
btw I can't stay forever but you're my 1 and only after that I am just like whatever lol.
In BW happy end, Airi gets to bid fairwell in white world before she returns with her kitty
and they make out under a cherry tree, which was sweet but I still IDK.
Also why did I even bother writing this much? ah who knows... eh his bad ends were pretty sad.
Game over end, Airi trying to drink Minette's blood under the restraint 
was just dowright a pitiful end for the two, no cg just a bloody mess.
White world bad end was painfully sad and too long for its own good, on the flipside
BW bad end was plain terrible since Luna flips out when her position is threatened killing everyone.
Airi has Minette at her side while she takes the throne but the people revolt but Minette
works some magic, its not much different than how he was back with Misty is it?
At the end that bad end Airi just uses him to drink his blood to forget that
things went to hell plus the fact Rain and Snow are no longer there. -_-
Either way boring route, Airi acting like a blowup doll midway through didn't help even if it
worked story wise, if it was me i'd flip and slap him but then again it would've made things worse.
honestly, due to all the crap I can't see their relationship status as anything but platonic, meh.
Atleast the black world's happy end CG was pretty...
Romance ★★★☆☆ (More like romanctic affection overload...)
Plot ★☆☆☆☆(Extremely self-contained on Minette's part, no point doing unless you like him alot
like the whole collar curse sub plot is exclusive to this route, never mentioned elsewhere.)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆ (Barely, midway it turned... stupid.)
 TBH its just cat attachment problems and if had I skipped this route 
I would've missed NOTHING, except for some hints at bigger issues P.S.
 
~
Jack:
CV: Okitsu Kazuyuki.
 Jack!!! from the prerelease info I'd figured I would like him alot but the situation with him
is quite comical really, basically my dick grows hard only for you Luna. (that sounds wrong)
Jack's supposed to be this bad ass ace of hearts but he's actually really shy.
That aside he's so cute, soft spoken and really badass push come to shove.
 His route starts with a flashback of the past of Luna's mother and it doesn't seem to be happy
 Jack-kun notices how unsettled she is and well it all rolled from there...
Jack got invited into the sword-club but he's eh wtf man why me so he forces a duel on him.
So if Jack wins he doesn't need to join but if he loses... uh well it never came to that
since he takes his job seriouslyand ends it in a single draw, sasuga Jack-kun.
So when Luna finally tries to be firm with him to stop calling her queen in white world Jack faints...
TBH dunno if DoM, faint of heart or just head over heels for her at this point.
Minette helps Luna to understand him better and we find out that this poor boy
only wants to be useful to Luna... he's fine with whatever shit he has to do if only its for her so Luna
just sucks his blood since she couldn't contain herself, Luna gets pissed at how submissive he is.
Its funny how the entire class cheered Jack on when the two of them were alone studying, see why
this is comedic now? its so obvious he's so into Luna and to him she's the best queen
there ever was, the whole situation was pretty awkward but cute I guess, no complains.
Watching Luna slowly learn about love and Jack's no we musn't and do you realize
 I am a man attitude was cute but other than that there wasn't much else to it.
The fact I liked Jack from the start might've saved it... all.
 I loved this scene below  because next morning Jack was all like oh noes this sins i've commited!
I will accept capital punishment! Luna was like i-its not like I disliked this or anything!😂😂😂
Minette sorta became a relationship advisor and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.
Luna trying to make a bento for Jack who was busy practicing for a play of sorts
was cute since she never did it before and messed up lots just as she's readu to give
it to him Rain shows up to ruin the mood and calls Jack back to replace him with Nine
who knows Jack more than anything and reassures her he'll come back.
Minette also played a trick on her in which she became small, Luna didn't like it eitherway 
gimme back Jack! no other man can replace him! dun worry Minette takes her to him in secret.
Jack's with Airi who tells him he must like this Luna, Luna on the other hand returns.
The rest of the route was nicely done there was a decent dose of suspense...
and Nine gave me the creeps, I swear Rain called Jack back because he's too close?
Either way Jack found a way to make everything return to normal.
We also see how Luna's mom was a deranged witch and now that one bad end in Kanon route
makes sense, if Luna stays with her she'll just follow her example but its shown
in this route  Jack was ALWAYS there for her at times even if she forgot, he can't
use magic but he tried so hard training with the sword, sad part he's the forgotten childhood 
friend but the way its pulled off I just don't mind this time, Jack's always admired Luna.
My eyes got a little teary at his confession to stay at her side forever and admitting his feels.
Ofc Rain shows up to pick a fight and story wise there was not much else
Jack's route like Kanon was self-contained but had more plot than Minette ever did.
I also don't prefer either of the happy ends, white just ended conveniently there's more effort in black
but in the end he just drank too much blood which enhanced his abilities to extreme levels, he became
too OP so everyone couldn't stop him but it ends in a good way so why even bother explaining
the last bit was super sweet and probably has the best kiss CG in the game?👌👌👌
In the white bad end, Jack yan's it up! puts a chain on her ankle and locks her up
never letting her go while he has her all to himself in his uguu shack(les) of love.😓
Dunno but Jack was so OOC like wtf holy shit! he never acts like that anywhere else then again
he may have had it in him all this time since he always admire her ever since then.
In the black bad end, Luna loses her mind like Kanon's and Jack kills everyone in their way
as she tries to reclaim what is hers while singing the song her mother used to sing to her and Jack
kills Airi in cold blood while Luna watches with her smug face, yeah to the good ends it is.
Romance ★★★★☆ (No complaints... Jack's such a cutie pie.)
Plot ★★★☆☆(Self-contained but does cover some interesting matters.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆(Fun route, except the bad ends but I may've become a little biased tho.)
~






 End of spoiler section.
Now for spoiler free talk of the routes.


 

Route enjoyment:
Jack > Snow >  Kanon > Rain > Nello > Minette.
Ah Nello's route was a mixed bag really... not sure how to explain, I liked him at first but the route
 was such a wild ride I just came out of it like uhm wow whatever it was just not what I expected
this doesn't mean Nello route was bad I just don't know where to put it! so second to last it is.
Kanon's a cutie pie, route was strangely enjoyable really but other than that not much else...
at the end of the day I felt his endings are the most vague/rushed? dunno don't remember much.
As for Rain I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, sadly the early parts were stiff
and he never became the moe bunny I thought he would but he had potential.
Rain only truly made sense near the end where he got to explain his reasons and they
make sense, sadly as a whole it only got good near the end making me wish
we got more relaxed scenes but we didn't and I have to put up with what I did get.
 Snow's route was enjoyable because I was able to understand him much sooner than Rain
and Snow was genuinely sweet and gentle, I mean no offense to Rain  since I knew
Rain tried to be likeable but it just felt off and one of Snow's bad end made it worse
 but I think Luna is super lucky for having Snow, guys like him you won't find often.
 For Minette I liked his character and I understood him but... his route added nothing to
 the big picture it really was the most disconnected, one could wonder why he even had one. -_-
Jack on the other hand made more things about Luna's mom clearer and sadly from my eyes
 the bias for him is stronger than Snow, his route was so immensily enjoyable except bad ends
 that I am going to recommend it for last since its not as heavy as Nello.
 ~
Fav character:
Jack > Snow > Kanon > Rain > Nello > Minette > Ratte > Nine > Tweedle dum&dee > deepest pits of hell, Asagi.
The choice of romantic interest for each side is well thought out, while the thought of a Jack route
 for Airi would be nice it wouldn't work because you'll know once you do Jack's.
That aside the only side characters I liked was Ratte and Nine, in Rain's route Nine's such a good boy
working hard but doesn't get the recognition he deserves but then came Jack's route and Nine
 lost most charm even though it wasn't really his fault, oh well it could work with him 
but... yeah I really don't want to think about going there. As for Ratte he's cute but that's it.
Asagi can burn for all I care, Ratte's an angel and Nine deserves his own route.
Should be obvious I prefer Minette much more as a sub character, romantically please no.
As for Nine I like him a lot and if he had a route his issues could be much more detailed
I don't care if he was creepy at one point in Jack's he's constantly outshadowed
which makes me curious how a route with him would work out.


Final Thoughts.

 Whoo I am done! I think otomate and kogado really did their best for an enjoyable game!
Dunno if this is a jab at quinrose but they tried to make it their own thing
maybe its cuz I never played alice games before but I liked it.
Though honestly its still a hit or miss depending on character I guess...
Okay despite me messing up my playorder it was mostly a good otomege it had a story, great art,
music and most importantly likeable characters though the ranking of that will differ on the player.
What Shiro to Kuro no Alice really needed was an enforced playorder though, like I can not
stress this fact enough, its so easy to ruin the general suspense based on character likeability.
The heroines were decent... Airi derped too much i think it was midway or so in Minette route
and how could she even fall for Nello... to me its Luna >>> Airi by far, Luna was 
super duper cute but also a bitchy tsundere who won't take shit unlike Airi who's just 
a generic otomate template heroine who's too accepting no matter what happened.
I did find Airi's side to be more suspenseful and Luna's more relaxing for the most
part but still has a few moments that'll make you on the edge of your seat I guess so it only 
makes sense to try to balance them out really, if anything Luna's routes were the most fun
but that doesn't mean there's no plot or stuff its just that I enjoyed Luna's side
more despite it being in the modern world.. maybe it was her personality.
Well atleast the posterboys routes were decent this time even if Rain
was hard to understand at first but eh its his personality sadly both Snow and Rain
do have a few issues that will become clear when you do their route, hint 約束
which of course is not fair to the other characters, however in the end its YOUR choice who you pick.
Also its funny how poster boys at Hana Oboro were lacking to me yet here they're great...or almost.
For endings most characters IDC which happy end is better but for Rain
it would be black world happy end? the white world happy end was a rushed end, one ending 
may be lacking compared to the other but for the poster boys the best end would be black happy end.
Haha... but for Snow I did sorta like both? but Snow's black happy end is just so complete.
If I had to be honest I think Rain got the short end of the stick compared to most though.
System wise its a comfy ride except one part and its not a pretty one so let's go into that.
Firstly they add these bonus stories after you finish the chapters but you have to go
back to the main menu if you want to see them, this is cumbersome otomate and you know it. -_-
Secondly like Moshikami you get these letters you get from completing routes
which adds more to it all... I get that this couldn't be told from the get go but
to sit throughout a massive text dump after completing everything? hahaha very funny.
Third and final dislike would be tweedle dum/dee, I love miyata kouki but please don't do these
type of squeeky voices even if you have the range, it was just grating to the point I wanted to mute them.
It can be enjoyable otome game, the story's good but its too scattered&could get messy 
depending on playorder and I didn't have issues with the biting thing since its not that
fanservicey but I still don't like the idea of biting someone or being bitten, the length 
was decent 6-9 hours  on average as not everyone reads fast.
Speaking of Alice adaptations while I am not familiar with everything out there ShirotoKuro
is decent if you ask me but again it is no substitute, it is a little questionable how
the timid heroine gets the psycho's(except Rain) and the tsundere heroine gets the sweet-hearts.
 Score wise its an 7-8/10 it does a lot of things right but also totally wrong so it just drops a bit
and I could whine at minor things but I won't, I feel I mentioned enough,Shiro to Kuro gets
the OK sign from me cuz black side was worth it for me but as a whole saa...

Characters ★★★★☆(At the end of the day everyone played their part well.)
Art  ★★★★☆(No complaints, but there's a little inconsistency.)
Scenario/plot. ★★★☆☆(Scattered but not too bad and of decent volume.)
Music★★★☆☆ (Fitting.)
System  ★★☆☆☆(Comfy... thanks for the skip to the next choice feature I guess but going back
to the menu for substories after you complete a chapter? otomate you so funny, not.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆(I think its an enjoyable game but not perfect... haha what is?)

If anything so far this is the only otomate otome game in 2017 I can recommend
since it doesn't have any old timey stuff that could make you sleepy, unless you have
 a big backlog you should look into it but remember its no substitute for other alice series.
What's next? Tsumikui since I want to know more about certain matters. >_>

1 comment:

  1. Just wanted to thank you for the route order. I just got to the selection and thought Nello would be the obvious safe first route. lol Glad I checked. Thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete