Unlogical - Demo Impressions

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Licobits.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/unlogical/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v51912

Release date: 22-01-2026

 

So I tried out the demo version of the upcoming otome game Un:logical.

Its Licobits second otome game and like with their first its also being made

by a bunch of old otomate staff. I don't do reviews of demo's

so this is just a first impression post.

 

TBH most of my ramblings are about the admin guy and I think he's really

carrying this otome game right now thanks to his seiyuu. Atleast for me. 

 

At time of writing this otome game is japanese only with no english text. 

 You can download it on the japanese eshop if you're curious enough or to see

if your fav seiyuu can reel you in but the demo is not very long, 2 hours at most.

 

More rambles after the jump. 

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

Olympia Soiree Catharsis - Review

Yosuga isn't even trying to hide the Anaxa agenda on here.

  Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/olympia/catharsis/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v52265

Release date: 11-18-2025

 

I wasn't really sure if I should get this sequel but... I liked Riku a lot so I got it just for him.

I had no real expectations and just decided to keep them low. 

 

If you haven't played the original then I don't suggest starting here

since it builds on the original game and requires investment. 

 

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

- Story wraps up the character's arcs & develops even minor characters without sprites. 

- Art and Music are as good as the prequel.

- Good content value to warrant the 8500k yen price.

 

Grey area

- Those wanting something short and sweet may be in for more than they bargained.

- Convenient writing. Rainbow rain? that is canon for all now.

- Epilogues can feel samey but no one was done dirty. 

 

Con's

- A new character; Nathanael feels like a third wheel that just exists in most routes.

- Some routes much like the prequel have bad CG pacing and/or a lot of them at once.

- Padding and pacing issues galore.

----

 

I loved the OP movie this time a lot more than the OG! has nice gentle feel to it.

Best ending song was pretty decent, the art aesthetic of it was good.

 The bad ending song was OK but the tone felt weird to me

it had a sad-happy vibe? like shit happens, anyway! 

 

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

 

System

Same as original, there's not much changed. 

- Art appeared to be as gorgeous as it mostly was in the OG.

I discovered atleast one CG in Tokisada's route that seemed like they had to meet

their quota more than anything else, most of the other CG's were good so who cares.

- Music is the mostly the same which is nice and familiar. 

- UI is a lot better and you can reach the backlog more easier now.

They also separated the save and load buttons so its an improvement indeed. 

The text was also easy to read, which was a relief for my grandma eyes.

-  Pacing and chapter length felt like it was about the same as the original.

There are a lot of chapters again but the length is 30-45 min to an hour-ish.

It all depends on your reading speed so its just an estimate, someone slow

and taking their time is going to take longer than a fast reader.

- Clearing all routes took me around 75 hours or so my switch says.

The individual route length was roughly 8-10 hours or so 

and Akaza's route was quite a bit longer than the others.

- You don't need a guide if you're after the best ends, cuz of the correct choice

indicator, left side of the compass is where you wanna be for a good time

but to the right always leads to a bad or sad end. Its really easy to get the good end

and its nearly impossible to not get it. The tune for bad choices is indeed a warning.

Bad endings are well bad, I only liked maybe two of them in the whole game and one

focused on Kanan was one of them. Wait what?! why...? because oranges are better when peeled.

🍊🍊🍊

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

 

The prequel was relatively open ended, happy enough but not fleshed out. 

Tenguu island main issues aren't entirely gone and they still tried to keep the same shitty

traditions despite there being noticable improvements so there was still some crap going on.

You can't have a wedding with that so before that happens Olympia and her LI of choice

iron out any issues. Not everyone was happy with what the heroes or so to speak tried

to achieve which tended to lead to a lot of drama. 

--- 

Due to its contents this was not a FD but more of a direct sequel.

Upon starting the story, you're shown a prologue what appears to be a continuation of Akaza's

route but what they did is make certain elements (not all) of Akaza's route canon for all routes.

To put it simply the rainbow rain fell for everyone. (Or did I get the wrong impression?)

Some things from all route canonically happened within two and a half years.

There was also atleast one flashback per route that was about

Himuka revealing himself to Olympia or those he trusts.

The prologue lasted maybe 2ish hours, depending on reading speed. 

Then just go pray to the goddess, in hopes he is not a white.😂

Early on I was still a bit confused on the prologue over how things were implemented.

I find most of the characters competent enough and capable of dealing with things

if they put their minds to it so this didn't seem like an impossible turn of events. 

Looking back at the original, some route had very little issues by the time of their end anyway

so the writers can get away with some of this just to drive the narrative as a whole forward.

I also realized most of the crap that happened in Akaza's route in OG was Tsukuyomi's fault.

So the stuff with the mirrors was likely not as big of a deal for everyone in other routes...

i'm making excuses am I not? and otomate is getting away with it.

Catharsis also had the same route restrictions as the original game, so if you thought

you could jump straight to Akaza its hahahah no you go everyone else first.

Akaza fans live reaction upon finding out his route is locked.

---

I did notice some audio issues, they were mostly in the prologue; in it there were a handful of

dialogue lines where the voice was a bit off; the most obvious was Himuka and there was

one moment where Daifuku sounded off like the voice file was damaged or something.

The rest of the game was fine and I encountered no issues, likely an oversight.

 

There were still a decent amount of flashbacks but they were for the most part used properly. 

 

Other characters such as Hairi and Asuha had there sprite & voice actor changed, this took

a while  to get used to but this is because they're older now, they grow up so fast huh?! 

Though Hairi still had that same foul mouth... tho a little less now.

---

  Overall, I kept my expectations low but it was a pretty good follow up!

I find that its weakness is that it can focus a bit too much on side characters

but most of the drama seems to be intertwined to the character of that route.

Whether old side characters showed up a lot depended on relevance, the new ones

took up the majority of the run time. In some cases like Riku it complimented

what was build thus far. Individual route's plot was still inline with the

characters personal struggles and good at closing off their stories.

Now what I found excellent is that even if the character had no sprite their story continued

i'd say that's excellent worldbuilding but its a shame they are still spriteless.😖

This sequel wasn't the short and sweet type, it had substance. 

Content value was good, the routes in Catharsis didn't feel as short as in 9RiP sequel.

 

Nathan the new white guy wasn't very relevant for most of the game, like he just

exists and instead it focuses more on the current LI's problem or that of side characters.

It isn't till the final route that he feels part of the story and idk if that is good or bad. 

Routes that never went into the truth don't go into that and are relatively self-contained.

I can forgive some of that. They took some liberties with the prologue afterall

but the routes were all follow ups to the ones in the prequel.

I recommend Olympia Soiree Catharsis to anyone that was invested into the characters

and would generally like to see more with them. The game is only difficult to recommend 

to those that lost investment over the years. Or expected something short&sweet

because the routes were long and require time to complete. 

The story also heavily focuses on healing and forgiveness so if you dislike this

or a huge focus on side character drama it could be a skip.

 

TL;DR

I enjoyed Riku's route!!! but struggled with Tokisada's. Yosuga was fine...

and thought Kuroba was pretty good even if I don't like him as a LI.

Disappointment ensued by how little relevance Nathan had in the initial 4 routes

its not till the locked routes the actual story picked up. Some routes weren't actually

 all that interesting, those tended to focus too much on new side characters.

That Baraku guy was such a bonehead problem child, I'm so tired.

Akaza's route felt longer than most but his was the only route that brought resolution.

Atleast with Riku I found some stuff that compliments his character arc. I don't even

remember much about Tokisada's route other than Baraku stomping around. 

 The romance was still good but it was rather plot heavy, I'd say its worth it to get

more contents with your favorite LI but if that LI is Himuka or Akaza you could

suffer trying to get to them since their routes are locked. Other than that this just had

its ups and downs but most of it wasn't too bad. Even if I only liked my favorite

it was still a worthwhile investment, afterall I don't need to like every route.

Unfortunately I think they switched the writers at the end of Akaza's route because

at one point I had to wonder if  I was playing the same game that I had started 70 hours ago.

Thankfully the resolution was still satisfying but man... wew lad.

8/10 

 

As for the recommended play order; the same as the original game is fine, which is

what I used. Its also okay to do any of the initial available LI in whatever order you want. 

My play order: Riku > Tokisada > Yosuga > Kuroba > Himuka > Azaka.

 

Character rambles and shitty text dumps after the jump, I share a few of my fav CG's

but not all of them. Better stop reading here if you don't want spoilers.

Neon Clash Echoes of the Lost - Review

Awww yea! a Yakuza otome game.

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Amulit/Voltage.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://products.voltage.co.jp/neonclash/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47769

Release date: 11-12-2025

 

Got this on a whim because its theme is three kingdoms and I got nostalgic.

Seeing how there were yakuza/mafia themes and me recently going through

the yakuza series did influence my decision somewhat.

Instead of ancient china its a futuristic setting.  I thought I grew out of my

three kingdoms phase which kinda died but this kinda renewed my spirit, even if

I have some grievances with this title it was exciting to play through. 

 

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

- Interesting and engaging plot.

- Diverse cast of characters.

- Eye-catching artworks.

- Great soundtrack.

- Character epilogues are a satisfying conclusion. 

 

Grey Area

- Awkward sounding names.

- Plot focused, can be a bit light on romance but it doesn't forget its an otome. 

 

Con's.

- Font for text was imho not great on switch lite*.

- One bad end contained NTR; its in chapter 2 so use a guide if you want to avoid it(or get it). 

 

---

Neon Clash is a modern take of the classic three kingdoms story.

Its not afraid to bring fantasy and science into the mix.

I did think some things could be explained better but it is what it is 

It was fairly dark, there's violence & splatter but I didn't think it went too far. 

Although I do think it covered a relatively small part of RotK

and it mostly focused on Dong Zhuo being a pain in the neck

and butting heads with Mun aka Cao Cao.

I know from playing similar games that the story goes farther than this

but the story of Neon Clash took its inspiration from the beginnings.

This wasn't a work that could be happy all the time, it was quite grim at times

but even so there was light at the end of tunnel.

---

 The heroine Liu Kroa was cool but also a hot mess, she tried her best and lived in the moment.

She's proactive and had spunk. I liked her friend Meimei as well, they had good chemistry.

Kroa starts out as not wanting to be too involved, though only a matter of time

untill she was. The state of the world they live in was not pretty.

I actually really liked how everyone part of her group became her family.

A lot of shit happens and she does have some self-doubt or think she's not good enough...

but I think its only normal because she is responsible for the people in her group.

At times it was painful to see Kroa realize this but she did try to be better.

She is based on Lui Bei whom... also made a lot of mistakes and this is

woven into her character. Lot's of times I was thinking well that was stupid

but its not like the counterpart made the best of decisions.

Due this I can't be too hard on the writing because they really used RoTK as a basis.

---

 

- The Artstyle was eye-catching and mostly consistent in terms of sprite & CG's.

The background art was also good, it had a nice urban chinese feel! The UI was stylish as well. 

- I bought the japanese version but it had english text! sadly the text was rather tiny

so maybe that is why the english version was delayed? there were some typo's but they

looked like errors anyone could make, they weren't constant. It read well enough

Had they given this one more thorough QA sweep the typo's would be gone.

I wondered why it was delayed but I figured it was either the font or the awkward names

I didn't really encounter any bugs throughout my playthrough. 

Also about the font, the text actually looks fine if I view screenshots of it on my PC

but on my switch lite its just... way too small. I don't think its optimized for it.

- Music fit the tone of the scenes, there were some good jams and I had no real complaints.

---

System

Standard stuff, you make choices over the course of the story

but you're graded at the end of a chapter which gives points.

Choices do matter because if your performance is poor, its straight up bad end in ch6.

With those points you can also buy mini episodes but they are entirely optional.

I didn't read any of the mini episodes as I progressed the main story, I was able

to buy everything from the shop when reaching the truth end.

The unlockable mini episodes were really short, fun random scenes.

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

 Overall this had some high production values, its pretty in line with most console otome's.

The story had me hooked quickly and it was engaging but romance wise... its lacking.

It wasn't a traditional otome game. Neon Clash has a linear plot with some bad ends

along the way. There are character endings but to view them you must clear the main story.

There wasn't much replay value but the game is pretty lengthy being over 45 hours long.

You may or may not need to play it twice depending on how well you did, if you do poorly

getting the true ending may be difficult which means the epilogues are out of reach. 

The bad ends were not great in number so its possible to avoid them.

If your aim is to see the character endings then I suggest you use a guide. 

We need disguises.

Its clear to me that they focused on telling a story without the need to branch out

and focus on individual characters before delving into the truth route. I suppose with a setting

like this it was hard to romance anyone to begin with so the LI's either felt like they were

close friends or colleagues. There simply wasn't any time for it. I thought Hiyok's chapter was sad 

and I almost gave up hope of there being any romance but it wasn't completely hopeless. 

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

I loved the character interactions and there was a decent dose of humor. 

There were some aspects that I couldn't quite take seriously😅

but they knew when to joke around and be dead serious. 

The naming sense could be better though, its easy to find some

counterparts but others were more difficult to figure out. Like I am not entirely sure

who Ji or Wenyu was but I figured the latter was Zhang Liao because he bounced around. 

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

 TL;DR 

 I did enjoy playing through Neon Clash and recommend it to anyone

who like story driven visual novel with a strong protagonist. 

The story and characters were pretty good but... if you come here for romance

it could be a little disappointing due to how story-driven it is.

I wasn't completely sold on the otome game aspect of this game due to its structure

but the character endings were really nice to close it off with! I lost hope for proper

romance during the main story but I felt like I was rewarded when I did Gante's epilogue.

In the main story I enjoyed what little crumbs there were but it was just too little, I got

annoyed at the heroine's evasiveness. 😔 Some scene's made me d'aww but that's about it.

It was still exciting to play through but yea... with the structure of the game you do

sorta romance everyone during the main story to the point Kroa has a harem.😂

But then I remembered this...💀 

It is kinda nice to be free from having to sit through 5 routes to get the full story

so all in all I didn't regret playing it because it was an interesting work.

I know there are VN's where there's a big common route and then really short

individual stuff... but this game skips the replay it 4+ times part so I think

there is a plus side to the game being linear because its not really fun to skip

half the game. Neon clash solves this issue I had with some older games.

8.5/10

The only real downsides for me were some pacing issues and the font!

often I had to take breaks because it takes too much effort to read it like that.

After clearing the game I kinda wanted an ending for Rin and Yulong... but they have none!😞

 

Character rambles after the jump but they're just some thoughts of them because

there aren't really any routes. I'll share some of my fav CG too.

There's not many spoilers but if you want none uh just stop reading I guess? 

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

Olympia Soiree - Review

Before Matsurika no Kei... there was Olympia Soiree. (Wait... that kinda rhymes?!)

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.aksysgames.com/olympia/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v24241

Release date: 09-9-2021 

 

Alright, I was always kinda curious about this one and got this on a discount for 38$.

I generally played pretty slowly since there wasn't anything else I wanted to play.

It was quite long and I kinda missed the time when a route took me almost a week.

 

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

- Interesting setting and characters.

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

- A heroine that quite literally spits fire.

- Monologue haters rejoice cuz there's none!(except extra's)

 

Grey Area

- Character focused and can be repetitive to do all routes. 

 

Con's

- Long common route without choices, felt too rail-roaded.

- 3249432593 flashbacks.

- Clunky UI.

- There are plenty of CG's but the pacing for some was not balanced.

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

 

The OP was alright but not something I watched everytime I started the game. 

I liked the ED themes more for reason. 

The story hooked me easily but this do be one of those games where

I found my fav right away and most other LI didn't quite click with me.😔

The only reason I did all the routes was for story reasons really! maybe its due

to the heroine, who was alright but I did enjoy watching her interact with the LI's. 

I liked her self-concious and grounded personality and she certainly spoke her mind

however I think she was a bit much as well.😅  Olympia can be a firebreathing b!tch

who will take no shit and does as she pleases but atleast she was self aware which is rare.

I do not blame her considering how she lived, she had all the right to be assertive.

There was also a tender side to her and I loved how she confided in Daifuku

this reminded me of trouble magia and it was adorable. I'm glad I didn't sit on this

because it was surprisingly romance driven with some good worldbuiling to boot.

However not every route went into the plot and you will need to do it all to fully get it.

When I looked back on the routes after Himuka's the initial four were

hilariously self-contained only revealing things as necessary.

--- 

The common route is just a long intro, the focus is mostly on Olympia

and explains the way of the world. It wasn't really a bad thing but I can understand 

It could be too long for some. The whole game is about picking a husbando

and you have a whole year but... despite that it happens within 2ish weeks. GIRL. 

The story definitely drove on desperation and at times it could feel unrequited or some

mild angst of this never going to work but... for the most part the romance was believable.

It didn't seem like the story cared about what if she couldn't find a partner. To which I started

to think this game is some propaganda for japanese teens to get babies due aging population. 

The lore sure is rich but most of the routes were more character focused

and a lot of main plot threads are just left hanging in most route.

--- 

 Wasn't really sure what was up with the technology level of the island, I know

there's random stuff that washes up ashore but some stuff was never explained.

I did start to dislike the setting of this game the more routes I did.

I persevered for Himuka/Akaza and to uncover all the secrets the island had buried

but its rough when you already found your best boi which for me was Riku.😔

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

Music/Art/System stuffs:

Music was good, it fit the tone of the scenes. Art was gorgeous for the most part.

 The sprites were great and most CG's were good, the awkward ones were few. 

Most characters had a near equal amount of CG's but they would include variations

into the total amount so it said there were 30 when the unique ones are like 13 or so.

Some routes like Riku also have poor CG pacing so you get a lot of CG at once

near the end, other route had better balance but it stood out to me when I looked back.

I knew some complains about kiss cg's but they had some good variations...

One of Himuka's looked awkward at first but it was fine due to he follow up.

Extra's screen was cute.

 System is standard stuff, there are choices and an indicator but only in

the character route, the common route is devoid of choices.

Heroine had a sprite too which was nice.  There weren't many monologues, the dialogue

flowed well and was easy to read. The translation was very good and it flowed well

and some dialogue was really funny too, any mistakes I found were really minor. 

Each route had two bad ends but I think they're better if you got them unawares

I found that by going back for them after the best end, that they were rather abrupt

some even had characters behave OOC. I only liked 2-3 bad ends out of all. 

 

At first I did find the UI to be kind of clunky, text log is accessed from the corner and

you can't select save or load separately like in other games. You first have to click

on history and then you can save but if you wanted to load to have to press R.

Also what is history? just from its name I thought it was a flowchart...💀

I did get used to the UI but something about it esp the save/load section doesn't

sit right with me. Though with the ability to backlog jump why are there still

quick save/load options? feels like that is a relic from a bygone era.

    It can be nice to quickly see the other choice but there were barely were choices. 

Also when you hide the text to look at a CG it didn't hide the menu's

in the top left&right which seems like a huge oversight to me. 

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

More ramblings about common route:

--- 

I'm not bothered by the length but I was disappointed by the lack of choices in them.

Thankfully its a one time thing! you can start from the end of it on subsequent playthrough's.

 Tho suddenly I realized many otome gamers had fallen here...💀💀💀

After four routes most of it was generally unmemorable too. Like cool setup bro.

 Now what it did well was establishing the setting/lore and characters of the game

however it is 9 chapters long💀.  The average chapter length was maybe 30-45 min to an

hour some were short other longer. (9 common chapters and around 12-14 individual chapters.)

Olympia Soiree was a 50-70ish hour game for me.

---

At the end of the common route there is the choice of which LI to pursue.

 You can only do Riku,Tokisada,Yosuga and Kuroba first. Himuka unlocks after them and Akaza last.

What kept me going was the lore and the cast of characters.

I blasted through the first few chapters on my first day, but I continued

by reading subsequent chapters in the evening so it was pretty slow and chill.

By the time of the 8th common chapter I was like any minute now...

as I get bombarded with more lore upon already existing lore.💀

To make up for it, the final common chapter was rather short but ayyy sure took its time.

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

 

There were too many flashbacks! thankfully the promise one

can be easily skipped  but they even used flashbacks for things that

were said a little while ago and that's just annoying.😠

I don't even mind stuff like callbacks at a later time to what a character says early on

but honestly  if Olympia remembered something just her saying so would be enough

so if they had removed over half of them flashbacks it wouldn't be so annoying.

---

 

Most LI had good routes but my favorite was Riku. 

Tokisada was just not for me, Both Yosuga and Kuroba grew on me then again....

when I really think about it they're also not for me but still great in supporting role.

Akaza was good enough to rank 2nd. Himuka was just OK I just have beef with his route.

Then who's 3rd? Daifuku of course!😊 

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

Overall 

 I think I am rambling a bit much but it was a long VN so it evens out.

Cold and Cruel and HEARTLESS!

Overall Olympia Soiree is pretty decent but in terms of contents its not much

better than say Matsurika, both games got some nasty stuff inside of them. 

This game was pretty long it took me nearly a week to clear a route, I kinda missed this.

Every route was relatively interesting in its own right but damn I think this game

has some of the worst side characters I have ever laid my eyes upon.💀

That ***king Kiwi and Tangerine, ISTG Ryuki! lemme borrow that air freshener!!!! 

😠😠😠

 --- 

Much like Matsurika no Kei the setting of Olympia Soiree also isn't very kind

to the heroine or other people living in the world, in the beginning I found it even

more restrictive. There were no choices untill much later into the game. Though both

games sure did love their lore its just the way they handled things was entirely different.

While wanting to change things was hopeful... its terrifying women couldn't even go to school.

 Both games also kind of force the idea of having kids being a sense of duty for a woman

and to that end it really isn't much better than Matsurika with its old fashioned worldviews. 

Does that make them bad otome games? no not at all! but during my 3rd route I really

wondered why there wasn't a route that was okay with not having kids.

I did think Matsurika had more varied ends than this game, Olympia was definitely stronger

as a heroine than Naaya but not every heroine needs to be the same that would be boring.

Things that aged poorly.

What I liked the most about Olympia; seeing her grow! she can seem immature

but has the ability to self-reflect however I do think they reigned her in a lot which

mostly relates to her power. I can compare Olympia to Cardia... but Cardia was a bit better

in using it to her advantage. Olympia on the other hand felt like she was held bac

 by trauma, she hated her ability but honestly its handled well all things considered! 

--- 

 The beginning of the game already foreshadows the tone so it was not gonna be an

ultra happy game and the setting is sad. I knew the writer was known to

put mysoginistic stuff in their games but I don't think this is a bad thing?

They're are allowed to create worlds with problems whether or not

they overcome them is different matter entirely but it would be nice if it did. 

Though reading stuff about the island like culture/way of life was depressing... 

most of it is told through minor characters. It did make it feel like change had to happen.

Needless to say, its easy to get comfy in the first three routes of the recommened order

because most of the worst stuff only happens in route 4 and beyond. 

--- 

Felt like he gets fatter every route as well...

TL;DR

Well... its still a pretty good otome game its just that I found my

favorite LI right at the start and most of the others weren't for me.😅

It had a great cast of characters so despite the common route being choiceless

it still was interesting going through it! but sadly while some side characters were likable

there were a bunch who were just made to be hated especially in bad ends.

Most route do leave me satisfied but there was a lot left up in the air or not

explained well enough. I brushed it off as Riku being an early game route but even

Tokisada had loose ends, Yosuga felt the most progressive thus far. 

The only other drawbacks were the many flashbacks and clunky UI(but you get used to it).

Also Himuka's route frustrated me when it was over since it screamed the truth is in the next route!

Akaza ended up having the most well-rounded route, its sad but most others

including my fav Riku didn't quite execute all the storybeats well enough. 

I generally did have a good time with it despite some small grievances and in terms

of romance it left me more satisfied than Cafe Enchante but doing all

the routes just felt a bit repetitive, especially if you find your fav early.

8.5/10

I'll recommend Olympia Soiree to those who like assertive heroines that speak

their mind and grow over the course of the story! as well as enjoy more

meaty otome games with decent worldbuilding & don't mind darker themes.

Though if you prefer shorter games and settings that are not problematic then I don't

really recommend this because it does have some of the same issues as Matsurika.

((If Naya and Olympia met though... I think they'd be great friends.

While most of Naya's LI's are safe, Olympia will roast Ruwo till he's burnt for sure.))

 

I am not sure if Matsurika no Kei will ever get localized though

but I don't see why it can't if Olympia Soiree could make it over. 

 

Character babbles after the jump, while they're not summaries its just

commentary/impressions along with as some of my fav CG's.

Its nearly a 5 year old game and its in english so digests are not necessary.

To be safe if you don't want spoilers don't read further. 

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

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 most 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. 

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

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 over, the special mode

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

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

 

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). 

 

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

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.

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

 

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.😅

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.

Mononoke Chigiri - Review

Apparently japan hates this game but I liked it...

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/mononoke/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v52266

Release date: 31-7-2025

 

Honestly I wasn't sure if I should get this but it did catch my attention

and I liked the setting so why the hell not? its also been a while that the otome game

lineup  in japan has been so stacked sadly this game didn't do too well in japan whether

that was because its sandwiched between other titles or the high prices. Mononoke Chigiri

was no heavy hitter with a lot of hype such as over requiemz, its kinda just there. 

 

I had mostly a good time with Mononoke Chigiri so it wasn't that bad buuuut I honestly

just don't care what japan thinks. This was just one of those games I enjoyed more than they

did. Reason my enjoyment is high might be because I was tired after the drama in UtaChro FD

so this game was just comfort food to me. Comfort food isn't necessarily good 

but it can be great and make you feel better. 

 

 Pro's

- Decent but simple story that's not overly complicated with lots of funny situation.

- Great heroine and romance with most LI was satisfying.

- Gorgeous art from sprites and backgrounds to CG's.

- BGM fits the setting and some have really nice relaxing vibe. 

 

Con's

-  Pretty long; the length can be a bit of a double edged sword.

- Some sub characters or enemies have no sprite, it would have more impact if they did.

- Not one but two attractive unromanceable side characters.

 

 I liked the OP, it had the right kind of tone for a game with this setting, really good jam.

The lyrics of the OP already kinda spoil what kind of story its gonna be.

The ED was okay, I didn't skip it this time unlike UtaChro FD

and the animations for it were absolute adorable and feel good. 

 

Art was gorgeous, it was done by Melo, I didn't even recognize it at first

but it really is them. The backgrounds were nice to look at too.

Music was alright it suited the scenes well, it certainly wasn't the worst i've heard.

I loved some of the BGM like one of those was so relaxing it made me melt. 

I'm more wondering where the hell did otomate pull some of these composers from

cuz they seem really randomly picked but it mostly worked out so it wasn't a bad idea.

The UI was clean and it was easy to read the text as well. 

 

Heroine/Plot.

The heroine Fujita Yuma is an onmyoji  and she took her role seriously even if she's just

new to it she is trying. Yuma had her own sprite in the corner, I really miss this in some games.

To compare her to other heroines she's not particularly strong but she is brave and proactive. 

Yuma generally tried her best but she does at times lack self-awareness and can be a ditz. 

Edit 2: thinking about it Yuma was quite capable, does what she wants and not overthink

but she makes mistakes which leads to hilarious situations, I guess this is why

japan dislikes her, an otome heroine braincells should be mostly dormant. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As an overthinker... I appreciate her! I suppose she can come across as irresponsible

or thoughtless for opening a door without knocking but hey this added to the comedy!

The story was pretty simple and she had the goal of sealing the bakeneko whom's seal

was weakening and she befriended a bunch of youkai to help her do just that.

Its not a plot-focused otome game but rather one that focuses on the journey

which is slightly different depending whom you go for, the solution to the problem

was never the same and routes were more or less character focused.

This game didn't suffer from copypasta but I can see it being kind of repetitive.

Needless to say I've found 4 out of 5 routes worth doing.

 

This was not a serious otome game at all since it was a rom-com. 

There were times the story was hilarious, the heroine was sometimes wearing her clown

pants unintendedly in the beginning however the game did know when to be more serious.

There was a common route which sets the stage and introduces the setting and story

but it was quite long, I could see people drop the game because of it

so this might not be for people who prefer shorter or more serious vn's. 

I did love the overall vibe and I wanted to learn more about everything. So it wasn't off

to a bad start. I did think it was bit slow at times and took its sweet time

but it ended up being surprisingly well written in a way that suit the setting A LOT.

I also liked how the perspective would switch to the LI or Hayate&Satoru.

If you really like japanese folklore and youkai, this game is an easy recommendation.

Time for this local grandma to go back to bed!

 

The system was mostly standard VN stuff and each love interest had only two endings

a good end and a bad ending which can be heartbreaking, i'm glad they made

the endings count so its quality over quantity, the good end was pretty satisfying.

 However there was a minigame but you only have to press a few buttons in order.

This kind of interactive game play wasn't that complicated. At first I thought

it was too fast but its an easy to memorize pattern and by route 2 I had it down.

Also you don't have to do it perfectly, completing the minigame

is fine with 5/7 so you don't have to get all seven button presses correct. 

You can retry via the backlog and save before it, imo it wasn't a bad minigame.   

I actually expected this minigame to be used more but it wasn't used as much at all

which was a relief for people that don't like this sort of stuff.

 

Playtime might depend on your reading speed, took me 50 hours for all routes.

I think my speed is normal or slightly slower because I sometimes pause. If you're

a fast reader then this game could feel a bit shorter then I make it out to be.

This game took me a two weeks to get through, I feel more satisfied with

Mononoke Chigiri than I did with Fuyuzono Sacrifice as well.

I didn't full focus on this game and took breaks, I think I could have finished it

sooner but there were times I wasn't ready to jump into the next route.

 

In terms of characters I didn't think I would like Akihito as much as I did

but I absolutely adored him by the end of his route! so that was a pleasant surprise.

I did Chiaki second but... I don't really like him. I got weird vibes and thought he was creepy

but I can't deny he was very much like a fox so it all checked out. He was just too much for me.💀

I generally liked Gaku but he was a bit stiff at times, you can see he means well

especially at the start of the route or where he expressed some of his thoughts.

I think his route accomplished more with the setting and story overall.

Sakichi's route was downright hilarious and a true rom-com, I enjoyed it the most

and may have left the strongest impression on me cuz some stuff you don't see everyday.

I enjoyed Sousuke's route as well and I think it was one of the best routes in the game

next to Sakichi and Akihito, Due being locked its a good route to end the game with. 

 

I do have some complaints but not a lot. Some side characters have portraits, there's

nothing for really minor characters or enemies which made the game lack in impact

especially with their being some fight scenes so you had to use your imagination.

Its hilarious how Hayate and Satoru's were really handsome like

if Mononoke Chigiri got a FD they should definitely have routes. 

The bakaneko I didn't find very threatening except... near the end of a route

and overall the game can get a bit repetitive but the individual characters

were all great and the way the problem was solved each route was unique.

So I can't complain too much. I almost ran out of steam at the final route

but it managed to get its grip on me and I still progressed at a steady pace. 

 

TL;DR 

This game made me love the whole otome genre all over again.

Its had a decent enough basic plot but I thought it was more focused on SoL, interaction

with the LI which lead to all sorts of fun situations, sealing the bakeneko

was merely goal but I think the journey with the LI mattered more here.

There wasn't any extreme content which could be disappointing for some but games

like this can be nice in their own way, there's enough shit happening in the world. 

It was quite long as well especially the first time through, had it been shorter

there would not nearly be enough time so I think the overall length is just right. 

At its core it may be quite a simple story... but it was still enjoyable

like sometimes you just want something that's not too complicated

while chasing 2d men and Mononoke Chigiri really delivered with this. 

I also really love animals and I liked how there were some cute scenes with the guys in

their youkai form, they kept it light and fun it reminded me of beastmaster & prince. 

 Overall pretty decent otome game that shined on building a connection with the LI! 

it takes its time with everything and it took its own setting serious to an extend, it had

a potentially bittersweet setup that became really obvious near the end of some route

but this wasn't a tear jerker, I think you're more likely to cry tears of joy

from laughing over something stupid that just transpired. It was just a cute and funny

otome game but its plot was not its strong point, instead the chara's and interactions shined.

8.2/10 

I recommend it if you like more simple light-hearted otome games focused on japanese folklore.

Its worth a look if you want a more comedic centered otome game. 

However if you prefer shorter otome games, darker/serious stuff or

don't like comedies i'd probably not recommend it.

Edit: If you're not sure about it just wait for a sale. Its not too bad but

if you go in expecting too much it could be disappointing, seeing how it is received

makes me think I am an anomaly that enjoyed this more than others.

 

I'm not sure how much chance this game will be brought over, tho I think there's better picks.

Honestly anything has a chance but they should just pick whatever they think is best.

 ---

 

 

My Play order: Akihito > Chiaki > Gaku > Sakichi > Sousuke.

There was a lock on Sousuke's route so I did him last. None of the initial route

had any big spoilers except maybe Gaku they all hint a little at things

and my own play order flowed surprisingly well. There's apparently an official

order but I don't think it matters too much Akihito and Chiaki share a plot line

so doing one hints at the other. Same for Gaku and Sakichi. I think Sakichi

should be done before Sousuke though but that's my opinion. 

 

Character rambles after the jump so if you don't want spoilers just stop reading here.

I share a few of my fav CG's as well but not all of them.