9 R.I.P Sequel - Review

I've had my fill of spooky season with this...

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rips/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v52276

Release date: 25-9-2025 

 

I was a bit surprised when a sequel was announced for 9rip.

I mostly wanted to get this for Koyou but I will admit my memory of the OG

is already waning, thankfully there was a recap and plenty of callbacks!

As per usual I tried not to set my expectations too high and the only thing I am

disappointed by was the short length of the god after, I enjoyed mostly everything else. 

 

Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours

this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.

If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself. 

 

Pro's

- Wraps up the story and concludes the saga for relatively well.

- Heaven afters are of decent length.

 

Grey area

- Focuses more on the heaven side than the god side.

-  Art mostly good but... you can notice the usual otomate shenanigans here or there.

 

Con's

- God afters except one are way too short.

 

Storywise it really varied whether an after story was interesting

and ultimately may come down to preference but that's just my opinion. 

 Each character has an after story for the heaven end and the god end.

With 9 routes, I realized by route 7 that not everyone was as relevant to the main

storybeats and the ones that executes them well (heaven side) were Seiya and Minami.

A lot of the others just didn't feel very... relevant or had some random plot. 

As for the OP I think it suited the heaven side more, its kinda funny but it is what it is. 

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System.

This doesn't really follow the usual after story/continuation template

where you just select a character and get their story. Here you start a new game

and then via choices at the start get to the routes. It only takes a minute, you get a brief recap

at the start of the after too which was really helpful.

Actually its really similar to how you end up on routes in the original. 

 

My first route was blind and I decided to do Kureha. After that I used guides.

There are bad ends or... premature endings in some of the heaven routes.

I managed to avoid those first time thru Kureha's so I when I looked up a guide I was

a bit shocked choices actually seemed to matter. Always trust Koyou!

God after's have only one ending so you can enjoy that without worry.

 

They probably could have removed the map selection part as it felt pretty useless

there were times with more than one location but if there's only 1 spot why bother? /shrug.

Turns out some points are missable, 9 in total which unlock locations in a special mode

where Sayaka sends you all over town to find the perfect hiding place. 

Thankfully Choro's guide listed the locations you could recover

but if you miss them its nothing to worry out, the special mode

does NOT even have a CG just a fun scene for your efforts.

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Pacing was not too slow but it felt like there wasn't much time for anything especially

during god afters like it sure did try to deliver something but some didn't satisfy me.

The heaven afters felt like they were a bit more fleshed out and I enjoyed it the most.

With some like Hibiki I wasn't interested in the plot and new side character(s). 

 

In terms of length each god after was like 1/2 hours & heaven 4 so its 6 hours per character

you can probably already see what the problem is here so I will shut up about this.

I could probably have finished this sooner but that is no good for my menhera(mental health). 

 

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The heaven side feels like where most of the effort got put into and for some

it felt like it fleshed out more stuff. Others such as Kureha or Hibiki felt like a remix. 

I did think some had better outcomes but i'm gonna be real they just turned a less than

good end into a happy one.😅 I realized they didn't have all that much material to work with

and only a few of them were actually interesting, mainly Seiya,Minami and to some extend Koyou.

Wasn't sure if it was the writing but it kinda dipped and peaked for some of the heaven afters.

There were some new characters introduced, I couldn't care about most of them. 

Now I understand in the original heaven ends some things are up in the air so what

we get here is that the majority of the time is spend trying to make something of it.

 

God After's
Okay gonna remind everyone that over half the cast is dead

and Misa basically acts like an ankle bracelet for them, this shit is tragic.

Going to heaven doesn't sound like a bad deal for some. Its actually expanded

upon why certain things happened. So, no its not just random R.i.P bozo. 

Characters like Koyou, some demon or the ayakashi's got off better than certain others.

Shucks but it'll keep you warm for a minute.

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Uh yea have some mini character babbles.

Kureha's heaven after did have a unsettling vibe at times which is in line with the original.

I couldn't help but want to pray things would end up relatively well...

I wasn't convinced by his god after and for some reason prefer his heaven side.

I don't think there was nearly enough time to have much of substance and wish they just

focused their energy in one place. Now its like you get a burger but its divided in half.

There's moments that I like but before I knew it, it was over. Sad. 

For Hibiki... i'm mostly indifferent for his heaven after and I like slept through half

of it only to jolt right awake in time for the end and I loved the 深 ending so much! 

Hibiki's god after was kinda meh, shucks for Minami tho... he just keeps taking L's just like me.

I'm once again not completely sold here but what sort of better outcome would there be

for Hibiki and Misa when all's said and done? so at the end of the day it was OK at best.

 Like its definitely an after story but the majority of the time is spend reminiscing. 

This tells me, we don't know what to do with this but enjoy! also R.i.P.

Koyou: In a surprising way I actually ended up invested into his heaven after.

Dunno if good or bad, it scratched that supernatural itch. There was no Reika, since

she was already dealt with at this point! in exchange we got some weirdo spirit that likes

 collecting dolls, among other things thanks I guess. Koyou's god after was decent and for

once it felt like a proper after story...but even this felt like it was over in a flash...

Sena: Heaven after went on for too long about his past with S-crown, I sleep.

I loved his god after for some reason because it hit all the right tragic notes.😭

I don't even like Sena that much so that gotta say something. 

Seiya: I loved his heaven after cuz I got some vibes from the kdrama tomorrow so of course

I was eating that shit up though that was just at the beginning. Seiya's character can 

also be very entertaining so this was easy entertainment. They struck gold here amidst a sea

of bronze and silver. God after was more like the rest... 2ish hours of fluff whatever R.i.P. 💀

Minami: His heaven after was enjoyable, maybe it was because much like Seiya

there weren't many new side characters though Meimei did take some spotlight

but he never overstayed his welcome so I was fine with the creepy shinigami.

His god after was hilarious though but as per usual... over in a flash.

Koharu: I thought his heaven after was a little boring something happened

that wasn't on my bingo card. I have 99 problems and this isn't one of them. Very bakamitai.

Koharu is kinda dumb but a real man gotta be a lil stupid, I still love him but basically:

 If you can't handle him at his worst, you don't deserve him at his best.💀👍

His god after much like Sena hit like a truck and I thought it was one of the better ones

like I fully understood now why Misa ends up like that because they took the time to explain it.

I find it hilarious how with both Sena and Koharu I didn't like their heaven side much.😅

Yukimaro had a calm heaven after and it was pretty chill but it didn't have much

going for it and I thought it was pretty much a nothing burger.

OK maybe that's too harsh maybe a bun with cheese on it?

His god after was pretty good but uh not like they could have done a lot with that.

I liked how heartwarming it was, in these trying times I accept it with all my heart.💖

Touka only had one after, for his god ending. It wasn't paced like the others and was

a heaven after in disguise. Also suffers from truth route syndrome, but honestly

I didn't really like Touka that much, he actually made me uncomfy the more

time we spend with him  but of course Misa likes him so uh yea it is what it is.

Imma be real, this game turned me into a Minami enjoyer. 

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me with over half of the LI's whenever a route ends.

Honestly while I am not satisfied with most god afters, an attempt was made and I accept it.

Though the heaven afters was where the meat of the game was.

Not sure if my expectations were wrong but was it wrong to expect more of the former?

I wasn't completely sold on the highlighted moments thing, since it leaves a lot

open to imagination but I wouldn't say it was awful either, just not my thing. 

They focused more on supernatural side of things because heaven afters

were far longer than the god afters which was really short.

Whether or not 9rip sequel is worth it depends on how much you liked the original

and if you want more content with Misa and ALL the guys.

---

It was nice they provided an opportunity to follow up on some things

or spend more time with specific characters, I could appreciate it for some

but after sitting through 1 character and a half I was like, damn have I really cleared

almost 2 characters already?! at this point I hadn't even touched Koyou my best boi.

Its only after I cleared my 7th route Koharu that some things that happened in other god afters

actually made sense. I guess you could figure it out but its nice there was an explanation.

--- 

Kinda sad one after or route can seem really short but I think its only normal

that with like 9 LI's you aren't gonna spend a lot of time with all of them. 

Overall if you do all it'll take you 50ish hours. That's still a good deal.

Much like the original nothing overstayed its welcome but I got tired by the time of 9th route.

I got the feeling the director wasn't especially focused on more romance focused

scenario maybe it not their thing and that's why everything felt so brief.

If I had to choose between no sequel at all or what we got, I'm still grateful we even got this.

7/10  

Its a little difficult to recommend if you only like one character but if you

really dig supernatural stuff and like the majority of the cast its actually OK.

To that end this is only something I could recommend if you liked over half the cast

but who knows maybe you didn't and still end up with a new favorite! 

 

This game will likely be localized and I will be disappointed if it doesn't.

Though with iffy I am not sure anymore, seems they're just bringing over

random games now while hoping its better received in ENG than Japan.

 

Gonna sneak in this edit but: 9rips sold out on release and charted in famitsu

but there's barely any reviews for it, now having played it... there's not much to even

write about but it seems oddly quiet compared to how they raised the pitchforks at MonoChi. 

 

My play order: Kureha > Hibiki > Koyou > Sena > Seiya > Minami > Koharu > Yukimaro > Touka.

Like with the previous game I decided to keep the pairs together and go from there. There's no

restrictions and you can mostly do whatever but I recommend Koharu and Touka for last. 

 

Character rambles after the jump there's spoilers in there as well as some of my fav CG's

so stop reading here if you don't want any of that.

Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail - review

Couldn't take a screenshot of the title screen so uh have the keyart!

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5, PC, xbone.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 27-6-2024.

 

I have been playing FFXIV for quite some time but never wrote a review on it.

This post is mostly about the new expansion dawntrail and it isn't much about the previous.

There aren't any major plot spoilers in this post but anything could count as

a spoiler to some so whatever I guess this is just a blog post and I am writing my own

personal thoughts as a review of a game I played, if you don't like it then close the tab/browser.

Pro's

- Decent enough plot.

- Great character development for Krile and Erenville.

- The first four zones are beautiful.

Con's

- Levels are simply given to you and I personally don't feel like I earned the lvl 100.

- Recycles too much old tunes and enemy models as well, its like i've seen/heard this before.

- I get Wuk Lamat is a main character but she steals too much of the spotlight...

 

 The expansions features a slight graphic update with better textures and models

gotta admit I was a little nervous, my WoL turned out okay but there may have

been those the update wasn't too kind of. The developers were kind enough to

give players a free fantasia to edit the character again. Which is a good thing.

Not really great at taking screenshots but thought this was a nice spot in the game.

 

More rambles after the jump but if you want the short of it, I think Dawntrail is decent

however don't expect too much out of the story and just enjoy it for what it is not for what it is not.

 

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.

 

Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because

I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting

and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they

got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!

I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good

to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind

I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!

 

Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...

The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter

in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...

Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests

are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better

if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.

 

Pro's

- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.

- Art, cg's are very well done.

- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.

- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.

- Great heroine, she takes initiative.

 

Con's

 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀

- High amount of bad ends.

The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.

There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who

you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.

Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.

 

First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can

go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't

the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!

so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast

and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions

and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.

On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense

to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route

they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.

I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.

 

The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying

and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.

 

This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood

a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if

they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse

showed another side of a character. 

 

System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters

name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD

Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?

The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...

this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.

 

Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it

than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.

The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations

so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.

9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think

that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be

the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!

Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change

depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side

but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery

that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.

This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game

the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time

I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long

as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.

9/10

I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts

and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:

Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.

 

Recommended play order:

It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:

[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.

You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that

Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can

either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best

done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements

same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could

change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.

There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all

anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.

I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind

as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.

So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!

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Bustafellows - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Extend.
Platform: PC/Switch.
Official Site:https://pqube.co.uk/bustafellows/(ENG)

and https://joqrextend.co.jp/extend/bustafellows/(JP)

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25197
Release date: 2021-07-30.

Bustafellows is an otome game that shares its setting with sidekicks! which I remember
as being alright sadly that game is PS Vita only and as of now hasn't been brought over or ported.

Good thing is you don't need to play that game to enjoy Bustafellows!
I am playing the ENG version as I bought it together with CupiPara but this has just been
backlogged till now. Due to the developers not wishing spoilers to be spread on the internet
which I am sure is only about livetweeting and preventing it being up on youtube/twitch in full
and TBH they have that right so I will be doing my best to try respecting that.

Pro's
- Interesting story, very easy to get hooked! great cast of chara's.
- Voiced heroine!
- Gorgeous artwork, outstanding visual scene direction.
- BGM fits the scenes/mood.

Con's
- At times there would be vocal lines but no text displayed, especially in movies.

- Some grammatical errors, text breaking out of the box.

- Not being able to save during non-timed choices.

 

 

The protagonist Teuta is a journalist who can for a short period of time
leap into the past of someone else. The story takes place in new sieg
and she tries to save a lawyer named Limbo.

Regarding the time-leap thing, I think it was well done and reminded me of harukanaru 3.

I liked how they actually went into some cause&effect & is it right to just go and  change things

at some point and it didn't turn into some gag or question chara's intelligence like in kuro no kiseki 2.

So imho Bustafellows did the time leaping thing right! it also doesn't happen too much either

so I think it sits on the fine line of yea its some kind of cheat ability but its not overused

which is why it was ten-times more bearable to me than in kuro 2.

As a heroine though, Teuta was a real treat! its rare to have such a proactive protagonist

that is already an adult but not quite have had a chance of romance untill now.

I think out of the older heroines she was surprisingly real so it was easy to relate to her!

Teuta didn't feel like she was immature or anything to me. She was well-written.

The only thing that is hilarious about her is the lack of cooking skills.......

I did like how Teuta had a sprite that showed her from the guys POV at times!

its even better than just a small icon next to the text, really makes her feel part of the story.

From the start I found it easy to get hooked and unable to put down the game!

the scenes were interesting and the pacing was pretty good and that was just chapter 1.

I think they had a very solid foundation here that you'd definitely be interested

to see what would happen next and honestly you probably don't want any spoilers either

with these type of games so like psychedelica its best to stay spoiler free and enjoy on your own!

 

I think my favourite character would be Crow, Limbo is okay and definitely husbando material

but Helvetica and Mozu kind of rubbed me the wrong way so i'd definitely had to

wait for their routes to get a better picture of their character(s) and well Shu.. uh maybe not?

To my surprise I ended up liking Shu a lot more than my initial impression as well as Mozu

its just Helvetica that ended up being my least liked! ah some things aren't meant to be. 

The characters all had nice chemistry with each other but romance was not really

the focus not at first atleast. Without the epilogues I definitly it was lacking.

The length was alright, its neither too short nor too long for me to get bored!

The system was pretty standard, text skipping is slow but there's a skip to the next choice option!

only problem is not being able to save during choices, like I'd understand during the few

timed ones but there were more non-timed choices where you should be able to save but can't.

 

Now for some of my dislikes...  I will be honest, for the majority of the common route this didn't

really feel much like an otome game but more like a crime drama with handsome guys.

At the very least it was interesting and I felt motivated to continue! The other thing

was how this game seems to have an obsession with the back of characters heads like

I'd prefer the face and see no reason to show the back of their heads. At first I thought

its part of some aesthetic and in some scenes I understood why they did it but there were

moments I was like idk why're they showing their back??? weird.

The UI while looking neat at a glance, was kind of clunky like i said above

you couldn't save during choices. Also I didn't understand why the epilogue just didn't

play normally I almost restarted the route and skipped out on some juicy epilogue romance.

Font was nice but I didn't understand why the text errors in Mozu and Crow's route hadn't

been fixed yet, sure human errors happen but a line breaking from text? that's pretty major

especially considering this game already had a patch. The localization is still pretty great 

but even after patches, there were a few misses and I think the final scene

in the game lacking subtitles is definitely a huge miss.

Let's not talk about the Fondue is a dessert incident... (its not, its a main-dish)

Still don't get me wrong with these few gripes I still think this was an excellent visual novel

and even if you don't usually play otome games I would still recommend it!

Granted I think this type of otome may still not be for everyone and it will depend

what you're in the mood for, this game wasn't exactly light-hearted as some routes especially

those recommended for later but I think the game as a whole, the themes do kind of lean on

the dark/heavy side and are definitely not seen in the run-of-the-mill otome game.

So if you don't mind that and want a mystery otome game/VN with a decent plot, fun

characters and good production values go for it!

 8.5/10

 

Since this is a mystery type otome game I will be following the recommended

play order of Limbo > Shu > Helvetica > Mozu > Scarecrow > True.

Even if all are self-contained and you can do whatever, this order does make

the most sense so I will recommend the same order of play.

There will be route babbles after the jump! there won't be any spoilers due to the developers wishes

and its just a small blurb of whether I liked their route or not without context.

The CG's shared in this post are also sample CG's from the official japanese/english websites.
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Limbo.
CV: KENN.

  Ah Limbo, honestly I found him to be very likeable, perhaps the easiest to come to like out of 

the whole gang. The story in his route suited his position as a lawyer and there were some

nice twist and turns. Romance wise it was okay, the epilogue was a nice way to wrap it up too!

without the epilogue I would definitely be found wanting cuz the romance in the route itself

which was barely enough. Oh well it was still pretty good for being the poster boi!

I didn't find him particularly evil as he still has morals but I guess

he does fall into the if evil why sexy category.😅

Ido wonder why Limbo had like the most bad ends while the others all had like one...
~

Shu.
CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa.

 AT FIRST I wasn't really that interested in doing Shu's route but it was interesting to say the least!

maybe a little bit more mature? hmm idk romance wise there were some cute moments throughout.

Anyway I ended up liking the story AND the romance more than the one I did prior!

for some reason this route did feel a bit short but maybe that is because I no longer have to

sit through the whole common route which leads me to see how short the routes really are.

In so far I do think the pacing has been pretty good and honestly I had a hard time

putting the game down so it wasn't boring at all! How did I went from being

meh about Shu to oh no! he's cute?! I dig it. Nobody knows except my kokoro.
~

Helvetica.
CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki.

 Another guy I didn't exactly like, in fact most of the time he made me feel uncomfortable.

Helvetica is a plastic surgeon and a bit flirty, the part that is unlikable for me is

that despite being able to put himself in others shoes often just comes across as rude.

So I was atleast hoping the route would make me understand him better... and it did

its just that romance wise it wasn't my thing! like it was amusing to watch but I just

didn't like the constant teasing which just turned Teuta into a tsunderella.

I didn't mind Helvetica's teasing at times but I think they went overboard... which just turned me off.

I think the only thing which was great for me was his backstory and I can sympatize with him

cuz before this route I just wanted to spit fire at him and now i'm like oh no baby~

its just that despite i'm able to care, its not like Helvetica is my worst boy or anything? hmph!

The romance only really became bearable for me in the epilogue... its better late than never!

Idk if this even makes sense but I am just not really feeling the romance

in this game but I do enjoy seeing Teuta end up with them.

~

Mozu.
CV: Jun Fukuyama.

A coroner, he is pretty logical/theoretical... at times Mozu did really make me laugh

cuz his most of the jokes are unintended but I think Mozu knew at times what he was saying

its just that other people may be like uhm at his sense of humor. Mozu is oddly relatable.

Romance wise there wasn't much time for any and his route is pretty heavy from the get-go

buuuuuuut there was definitely chemistry between Mozu and Teuta so it was still nice to see

them grow closer! it did feel more slowburn compared to some of the others

but in the end I thought that the romance was a little lacking, yea its there but not by much!

The epilogue also had a reveal which literally made me go like oh my god?! why now...

at the very least it ended alright but it pretty much ruined the mood which is sad

and let me tell you, this route was already heavy, romance wise it was thin and stretched

which may have been appropiate? but idk I sure wanted some more time

with Mozu since the epilogue was just barely enough.
~

Scarecrow.
CV: Shirai Yuusuke.

 The boss of the underworld... who also just happens to be a complete clown

and is shy as a button. Crow was always fun to see tbh even when it not his route.

Overall Crow's route was interesting even if it started like are you guys seriously

going to do that? in terms of  story/romance it felt satisfying more so than other routes.

If I had to be super honest, despite me enjoying it, it did feel a bit all over the place...

also I was led to believe this route was heavy but idk that wasn't the case it actually felt

quite light in comparison to some of the stuff in Helvetica or Mozu.

The epilogue was icing on the cake and perfect way to finish it...

I do have some questions but eh if there was never a sequel or a FD i'd be satisfied with this one.
~ 

 

True end.

Well this was it, if you had any remaining questions about stuff this answers it all!

It was pretty fast paced and intense, saying anything else will ruin the suspense

so i'll just say it was a good way to wrap up the game.

There are also various side stories that add some more depth to side characters

or a little reference to sidekicks! as well as a another mini route which

are all a treat if you can't get enough of bustafellows.

TBH this route felt like being held at gunpoint while the reveals keep coming

with little time to actually process all that by the end I  was literally like ...MAN.

Also there was something that bothered me which has nothing to do with said plot, its

this game claiming fondue is a dessert??? i'm pretty sure fondue is a main-dish not a dessert.

A quick google search confirmed as much but yea that combined with a few remaining

errors basically sealed the deal and I wish this game had a little bit more care put into it.

I really dislike the final scene in the game doesn't even have subtitles... which just removed

any context from the last moments cuz I couldn't translate what was being said fast enough.

Oh I guess Teuta's powers were never really explained but I figured just like the heroine

from sidekicks! is that she is more or less just born with it and that's it.

~

 

Fav route:

Crow > Shu > Limbo > Mozu > Helvetica.

 

Fav character:

Crow > Mozu > Limbo > Shu > Helvetica.

Final thoughts!

Couldn't find a better picture of that artwork so have the limited edition cover instead!

 Honestly I thought Bustafellows was a pretty good otome game!

Teuta was amazing and she had spunk, was pro-active and voiced,  she is easily

among my list of favorite otome game heroines. Most of the guys were likeable

and if they weren't their routes sealed the deal, like for example in the case of Shu. I love

seeing the cast interact with each other too!  I also like the difference in swimsuits or the name

of the cat being different everytime, it all felt like flag checker to signal you are on this guy's route!

This game also had some pretty high production values and the cg's were all great.

Music was on point too and fit the mood/vibes. Story was interesting and I had

a hard time putting the game down at times. The only bad part is that the personal routes

are all self-contained to the guys own issues which lead to some plot threads being put

on-hold and forgotten till the truth route but eh plenty of otome games do this too

so this did not surprise me at all at this point. The localization was fine, font was easy to read

but there were some errors especially in Mozu's route and Crow had text breaking out

or the fondue incident like seriously that's a main-course not a dessert.

This game has been out for a year and i'm surprised they didn't even fix that...

 I get that its an oversight but this is stuff you'd expect from aksys

no amount of no spoilers past ch1 is going to save you from hiding this!

The final scene in the game has no subtitles... which IMO is a huge oversight.

Other gripes would be the not being able to save during a choice, there weren't 

enough timed choices that would make it valid not to be able to save during normal choices.

The obsessions with the back of the heads was lame, sure it made sense in some scenes

but there were plenty I was like why am I looking at the back of Teuta's head?????

I guess its more of a you are there as a reader or aesthetic kind of thing huh.

Finally I disliked how the capablanca stuff was copy&pasted in all of the routes, the plot thread

was never mentioned again there anyway, being forced to sit through it every route was tiresome.

8.5/10

Anyway gripes aside Bustafellows gets my recommendation if you're up for a mystery themed

otome game with a voiced heroine and don't mind it having some heavy topics

while it also not disrespects your time in terms of what it has to offer.

Sadly not all routes felt as well rounded and the heavy stuff outweighed it all 

like the case with Mozu, but that's just my opinion. Here's to the sequel!

Next game? idk yet but i'm not feeling otomates upcoming tsuitsui like don't get me wrong

but it feels generic as hell, from the plot outline to the CG's! which remind me of some PS2 era otome game. I hope to be proven wrong and that game actually turns out alright but hmm... not a good look.

Cupid Parasite - Review

 Genre:VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.

Official Site: http://ideafintl.com/cupid-parasite/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25912

Release date: 2021-11-02.

 

So after I beat xenoblade 3, which left me kind of depressed I wondered what game/vn

would be best to play next... which lead me to cupid parasite cuz honestly I was in the mood

for something that I know is light-hearted/fun and probably doesn't take it self too serious! I couldn't finish the game before kuro 2 so this kind of became a backburner game I played inbetween

other games. Due to this being out in english, I actually decided to play it and support 

instead of just buying it in JPN. The localization was fine and they even patched

any lingering issues that were found. Of course I did spot a few minor mistakes

anyone could make when typing, its nothing too big that would ruin it in the long run.

Pro's

- Cute and funny story with a pro-active heroine.

- Gorgeous Art and Catchy Tunes!

- Unique individual routes and a really good finale.

 

Con's

- UI is a little busy / too much random/usless text in menu's.

 

I don't got many complaints so let's get those out first!

The UI is a tad busy! which I think is more of a personal issue from my part.

So while the art is really good and I don't have much problems with the background art either

though it is stylish the backgrounds can look kind of flat at times as well.

I don't mind the vibrant colours in fact I like bright happy stuff but there's such a thing

as there being a lot on the screen. The other thing is that while the music is really good

I didn't like it when there were vocal tracks cuz it distracted me from reading

so I just lowered the volume to the point its just a nice background bgm.

The UI is just too busy for people like me and it overwhelmed me...

still I like the style of it all and it being hip and trendy even if its just not my thing.

System wise it was just basic stuff, there are bad/fail ends but it all was pretty simple and easy

to get the normal/best end which didn't have much difference except one being just better.

It does have bad ends but they're not too bad, if you play blind you could get them...

but its not too hard to get the good or best ends due to love catch! although

at times it will take a while before the love catch shows up.

 

Cupid Parasite does remind me of Variable Barricade in some ways yet they're nothing alike.

The only thing that is, is that the love interests are definitely not ready for marriage! yet.

Both games also have a confident/headstrong heroine. So if you're into that or tired

of the meeker ones Cupid Para is definitely something to look into.

For the most part it was a pretty light-hearted but fun read, this is not the game

to look for if you prefer darker stories as it really is like a love comedy.

Can't describe it in any other way! some of the love interests might not work  for everyone though

but really i've played plenty of otome games to know by now that sometimes you'll just

find some character that you just cannot like or leaves the most terrible of first impressions

and Ryuki sorta hit that spot for me, I was like any other love interest please and thank you!

I swear I looked over all the initially available love interests and was like hmm they're all

a better choice than him. I still wanted to do his route of course, just not right of the bat.

All in all Cupid Parasite is a fun and cute otome game, it is also a game that can lift your mood

like if you have a bad day or want to think about something better/fun.

There's not much otome games like it but I think it is one of the better ones out in english

because it doesn't try too hard with its story and manages to keep it light and fun

without it ever trying too hard to be something it isn't.

The heroine Lynette also was an absolute queen I enjoyed seeing her interact with the guys etc.

One thing I will be honest about is that the love interests could definitely be a hit or miss

but don't let that stop you from trying it out. I didn't like any of the guys that much based

on the common route but their route did make things better or put perspective on things!

so characters like Shelby became much more likable and even Gill became bearable.

Ryuki however will remain the king of terrible expressions, even so his route was still 

surprisingly entertaining, even if I don't like him that much he got the OK from me by the end.

The true route this time was one of the better kind but I can understand if some say it needed

just a little more romance as it did focus on the plot and any questions the player could have had.

 However if you're not looking for a rom-com or don't like that genre, Cupid Parasite should be a pass!

but if you're up for that or just for something silly then by all means it gets my recommendation

cuz it is a good time. This game is also great to just play in short bursts/a little at a time

or do a route every now and then! for me it was like that and just did a route inbetween other games.

For the most part it all turned out okay cuz there's no real overarching plot so I wasn't

too confused when I picked it back up cuz every route is mostly self-contained.

There was definitely a plot beneath it all but by the time I got to the routes that delved into it more

I also stopped taking breaks and just did the final three routes one after the other.

Allan's route is really good tho and i'd even recommend the whole game just cuz of him.

I also think due to the love interests being diverse there may be something for everyone

in this game which is good. Honestly I think Cupid-Para was pretty well-rounded!

all things considered this was a good otome game maybe not the best ever but it was pretty good

at what it tried; being a rom-com. The final route does feel more like a fanservicey what if

rather than a typical true route but it does a good job of giving the player another perspective.

9,5/10

Biased score I know! but I did enjoy it and will look back fondly on it.

My play order was Shelby > Gill > Raul > Allan > True.

Raul's route is locked till 2nd play and Allan's locked by him...

dunno if there was a recommended order but I think the following is alright to recommend

due to the restrictions on Raul/Allan the first three routes listed can be done as you like.

If Ryuki really irks you due to his habits then you could skip him... 

or if you want to get to Allan just do Gill and Raul to unlock Allan.

Recommended: Shelby / Ryuki / Gill > Raul > Allan > True.

I'll stop rambling here and there is some more character focused babbles after the jump.

The route babbles they will just be some likes/dislikes, along with fav CG.

    There won't much spoilers except for me rambling of all routes including the hidden one.

Kenka Bancho Otome ~Kanzen Muketsu no My Honey~- Review

 喧嘩番長乙女 ～完全無欠のマイハニー～

Game: [Kenka Bancho Otome] 

Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 

Developer: Red entertainment and published by Spike Chunsoft.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.kenkabancho-otome.com/mh/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v20226

Release date: 2017-07-27

The fandisk of Kenka Bancho Otome... well it must've done pretty well to warrant one!

Since the previous installment was a last minute digital purchase, this suffered the same fate.

I didn't really pay attention to prerelease info or the anime shorts.
 Said anime just turned out to be an advertisement with mash ups from the original game.
When I looked at the official site I honestly found it rather lacklustre...

From what I did gather this FD contains side stories(summer themed) and after stories...

which was honestly all a fan needed to know, Whether this was word it or not... saa let's find out.
  I expected them to be fun and/or sweet but alas most were not as it seemed.
Also they have the first anime ep in the game itself.... dunno if just a preview
for the bluray release but it seems like a waste of space.

Pro's
- Still the same old boys we all know and love.
 - Comedy.
- A fun and to the point side story on da beech.

Con's
- Long loading, slow text skip which is bothersome in side scenario.
- Rintarou's after story is downright terrible.
- The writer still uses the same template for everything maybe its his/her thing.

The game is divided into two sections, first of is the after stories set after the love ends
in the original game, nothing else to it really. Secondly there's a summer camp scenario
which is sort of an AU friend scenario. Characters are grouped together such as
 Totomaru&Konparu, Kirarin&Yuuta or Hikaru&Sakaguchi etc.
Your choices in that scenario determines who you're grouped with at the end of that dunno
 the whole thing was maybe 4 hours at most, not including repeat play for other pair up.
The comedy is still golden and almost never a dull moment one could say its a pointless
scenario with nothing to gain but why would you have a problem with camaraderie? I don't.
I already started snickering less that 10 minutes in, compared to the last vn I played this is g r e a t
but I didn't have much fun doing everything in there for completion's sake
and you have to fight everyone once including minor chara for a trophy and it is here
I realized the loading time is sinfully slow... probably cuz Unity but it ain't rear pheles bad.

In short its an enjoyable FD to fans of the original but I thought the original wrapped most
stuff up nicely, I already said this but it must've done well enough for it to happen!
I guess if you hated the whole now that they know she's a girl and the guy trying to protect her
or stop her from fighting then it will be a partial miss cuz some of the after stories continue
 that line of thinking but they do try to make them come to terms on it that Hinako can hold her own.
The summer camp scenario is like an AU friend route for everyone... so there's that too
and you already know I liked it for what it was no need to go into it. 
All in all its not bad its just that some after stories are either a hit or a miss my favs were  Konparu
and Totomaru... the rest just followed with Rintarou dead last honestly even Houou was better.
The FD is decent but also a little short despite each story having some length
to it but still has that stupid template which in some was more noticeable than others.
When I look back only Totomaru and Konparu's after stories were really
enjoyable to me and the content they had is what I expect of fandisks.
I want to see the characters under relaxed circumstance not
drama about yakuza gangs or a brother yearning for attention. -_-
There's not much else left to say... without being more detailed is there?
8.2/10

Ramblings and possible spoiler and/or CG's after the jump.

Gakuen Club ~Houkago no Himitsu~ - Review

Game: [Gakuen Club]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Operahouse/Dogenzaka Lab.

Platform: Mobile, PC, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://store.steampowered.com/app/505080/Gakuen_Club/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v20958

Release date: 2017-2-19 (English)

No one cares about this... but whatever since there is no otome game that's on my list to import
till june I decided to pick up Opera house's other otomege in english and well I mostly
expected another so-so experience since it used to be a mobage afterall and I wasn't far off.
This was originally called Campus Nightlife but they changed the title back to the original and I agree
its much better but if they wanted a proper english title Academy Club would've been enough.

Pro's
- Characters, do it for them as most stories are worth it.
- Art, Melo's art is as beautiful as always.

Con's
- Overall plot is bland but it works I guess.
- Music's meh, definitely not a selling point.
- Copy Pasta.
- Not many choices and they don't matter much.

While I find Gakuen Club to be much better than Charming Empire because the characters
atleast exist outside of their own route and get properly introduced in the prologue
which overall made a much better introduction but other than that it wasn't much better.
 The heroine Akane Koizumi is a goody two shoes, she enrolls at a school after her father got a
promotion and somehow has to be that woman to stay in the kitched after finding out about the secret club.

Here it comes... all the guys are in this secret after school club to get to first place for their personal
wish granted, they need to be popular and cuz they so handsome all the girls squee at them.
If you were expected fun stuff like ouran highschool host club you'd be disappointed, there's
really not much comedy but I liked a scene in Renji's route were Wataru scolds him
 and the heroine, either way from the first route I did I figured all the guys have a dark secret
of why they're doing this, which you'll only find out in their own route and that is perfectly fine.
Either way I found myself slogging myself through the first route I did in this game(Sakai)
 to the point it took me 3 days when its really not that long maybe its because
I don't like school settings or maybe it was the annoying setting and screaming fangirls
but I am glad said fangirls are relatively tame in all of the routes.

Overall I think Charming Empire was still more enjoyable to me, Gakuen Club did some things
better as all characters actually exist outside of their own route but that's where it end.
Charming Empire had choices every chapter... Gakuen Club only had a few
and well they don't matter much story wise they only determine the end as it works
on some kind of point system, not getting enough will get you a normal end
but it not hard to get them right, so its a comfy system nothing rage worthy.
It took me two routes before I found one I could fully enjoy... maybe its
good that I got the bad ones out of the way without realizing, lol.

TL;DR
 I only recommend Gakuen Club if you're dying for another otome game with a decent translation.
Granted I saw a few errors but I didn't find any issues and compared to the dumpster fire
that was taiali's so called localization atleast Charming Empire and Gakuen Club are definitely
more worth your money!(on a sale) also you really shouldn't think about buying taiali in english
not even as a joke, the whole thing was a scam from the start so many warning flags
yet that company took advantage of the one chance we gave them.
Either way the route I liked the most here was Saku's. it was also imo the most well rounded.

Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri - Review

剣が君を守る

Game: [Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri]

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Rejet.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://rejetweb.jp/kengakimi/momoyo/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18944

Release date: 2016-12-22

Sometimes a FD you didn't ask for is better than no FD at all.
Yes that's how I original felt when Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri was announced.
 KgK may not have needed a FD per se, the vita port additions were perfect but I guess
 that port sold well enough for rejet to give this game as a thank you for supporting. :)
I can say this game was worth my money thats for sure, Rejet mostly used
their budget correctly and otomate could learn a thing or two from this!

  That aside I loved the original, the vita port of KgK may not have been the best
but its definitely the definite version because of added scenes with cg's
and after stories not in the original PC version, however I can't really recommend KgK
to anyone but people with a decent grasp of the language because there is a lot of kanji
If you just started learning you aren't gonna be able to understand it much.
So I can only recommend if you have a high lvl understanding of japanese
and like old timey wafuu settings plus do not mind a slow and long visual novel.
I guess fans of hakuouki or similair otomege could enjoy Ken ga Kimi as well, because samurai boys.

Pro's
- Fills in some gaps in story the original game couldn't explain.
- Art/music.
- Seiyuu did an amazing job.
 - Lengthy compared to the average FD, it will last a while.

Con's
- Not every side story was as interesting as another was.
- Long winded.
 -  101 CG's yet no actual Kiss CG's. (눈_눈)

Like the original, Rejet still has this little fortune thing when you boot up the game and you can also
get side characters this time which sadly makes it even harder to see the character you like the most.

*Whale sound*

In short KgK Momoyo Tsuzuri is basically a collection of side stories, book 1 takes place right after
the common route when the boys have parted with Kayo and are on their way back to edo from Sunpu.
Book 2 and 3 both takes place some time before the gozenjiai(sword competition).
Those two are basically AU's side stories and doesn't really fit into the canon that well.
The individual scenario books for each character are great, some even go further
into certain matters of the original like for example Kei's and Enishi's first chapter.
Each chapter takes roughly one hour to complete give or take depening on your own reading speed.

You also collect bills during the first three books by viewing scenes
from the guys POV they unlock omakes which are really cute.

There is no recommended order for the FD but I feel like its best to start with Book 1 then 2 and
finally 3 since even if AU, its a common story and it just makes more sense this way.
After that feel free to jump into the individual books and from personal experience
its best to do Enishi's book before Saneaki's and Suzukake's before Tsuzuramaru.

Honestly I can't really recommend this FD if you don't want to go deeper into the world of KgK
or didn't like every character since it will take up a lot of time to read everything.
If you do want that then by all means please do because it is worth the investment
but still I have to say the sheer content of this FD is really overwhelming.

Personally Kgk momoyo Tsuzuri gets an 8.5/10 from me, its a great FD but part of me
feels like some of it wasn't really necessary and there are a few forgettable side stories.
Taking in the annoyance of not being able to access the menu where you select the books
you want to read from the main menu is also reflected in the score there's a quick workaround though.
Not everything stood out to me but honestly over half of it did, after playing this
I really understand every character that much better so yes it was a worthwhile investment.

There's more thought at the bottom of the post but in short i'm mostly positive and I recommend
this FD to any Ken ga Kimi fan who doesn't mind investing time into every character's story.
Rating

Plot  ★★★☆☆3.5 (Writing of some side stories varies some are better than others)
Overall enjoyment ★★★★★ (TL;DR a FD with content that is more than I ever ask for)