Gathering your Emotions and Putting it on Paper: Review of [151030]Koi x Shinai Kanojo

Foreword: I hope to have done all the apologies and notifications on the previous post that I’ve made, and bring you the most recent title I finished, Koikake. At this point, I’d like to introduce you to some humor as I did NOT know where the “kake” came from (since the words read out loud is “Koi Shin Ai Kanojo”), then realized the “x” in between and took literally 5 minutes to realize that Japanese call the x-symbol “Kakeru”.

Man, I felt like an idiot.

Well, with me being an idiot and an asshole (?) aside, let’s get to the review! For the most part, I thought this game was pretty plain, boring even to an extent… but only partially. The thing that really kept me going was the absolutely gorgeous music and cute characters, but I finished several hours of the game’s worth in a single sitting because it had so much impact, which I’ll explain a bit further down below.

Furthermore, I warn readers early in advance that this game will contain HEAVY and MAJOR spoilers! PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW if you do not want to be spoiled! 

And without further ado, let’s get into the review in quite a while! Here’s Koikake!
(…Shit. I was hoping I could get another review for a 2016 title and this one’s from 2015 T_T)

Title: 恋ｘシンアイ彼女 (Koi “kakeru” shinai kanojo) [Lit Trans: Romance “cross” New Love Girlfriend]
Producers: Us:Track
Release Date: October 30, 2015
VNDB Link: https://vndb.org/v17516
Getchu Link: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=857308
Game Type: Slice of Life Romance Novel

Summary: Koutarou is a very introverted guy. Instead of playing sports or actively seeking new relationships, he would rather write his novels and stay inside. Naturally, he loves reading books and is actually quite fluent with writing novels, which even won him prizes when he was younger.

Koutarou has a dark past, however, since he still drags on his first love, which ended pretty bitterly in his opinion, when he gave a letter to the girl, who transferred the next day without telling him. Because of this, he often has humorous “allergies” to cheesy things such as romance or love.

But enough about his past; what matters is now, right? Because the past only makes up our memories; the present and future is what we make of it.

Carpe Diem, amiright?

Story Length: Moderately Long (30 hours)
Complete Story Clearing Difficulty: Easy
Comments: The story has four routes in total, but seem to separate into two “splits” consisting of Ayane + Sena in one split and Yui + Rinka in another. I personally didn’t really like how these splits were pretty conspicuous, but did appreciate that across routes within a split, there was something similar between the heroines (e.g. Love Triangle for the former and the Destruction of the Old School Facilities in the latter).

Love… isn’t something you “do”. Review of [140627]Koi ga sakukoro sakura doki

Foreword: Sorry for not being active on this site for a while! Sakusaku (which is this game) completely caught my attention, so I was pouring the last 3-4 days into completing this title instead.

In reminiscence, sakusaku was actually a pretty good title, but it’s far from a kamige. It also falls short of my expectations, so I’m unfortunately glad (?) that I didn’t pre-order the game (although I did miss out on Izumi Tsubasu’s signature *screaming in agony*)

I’ll probably include my personal analysis of the mysterious scenario writer: “Minase Mirai” as well, and as always, include boatloads of CGs because you know…

Izumi Tsubasu is a goddess.

P.S. Oh, I actually found this “manga” while on the web. It’s already translated and leads up to the pool scene of An’s route, so if you guys want to get a quick glimpse of the story without actually playing it, here you go

P.P.S. Starting with this 99th post (holy crap, the next one is my 100th! O_O), I’ve decided to also include in a “Protagonist Rating”. Hopefully, this doesn’t make anything more confusing…

Title: 恋がさくころ桜どき (Koi ga sakukoro sakura doki) [Lit. Trans: The cherry blossoms when love blossoms]
Producers: Palette
Release Date: June 27, 2014
VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v10304
Getchu Link: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=742762
Game Type: “Pure-love” Romance Novel with fantasy themes

Summary: Yuma is a student who is extremely popular in school. This is because as he works in the infirmary, he consults various girls with their love problems. In return, his looks and cool attitude also attract girls to hold affection for him.

Despite this, Yuma is not interested in love. In the various consultations he did, he slowly became desensitized and finally came to a point where he says “Love is stupid”.

However, this will change when a “bounty” is placed on him, and whoever finds him a girlfriend will receive 21000 en (~210 USD). While Yuma originally ignores this prank, his “bounty” rises again and again, and even involves his younger sister.

This is the start of Yuma and various characters including a self-proclaimed love fairy who lives with Yuuma and his family, and invites him to “fall in love”.

Do you like Rain…? Review of [140328]Hikoukigumo no Mukogawa

Foreword: First off, a formal apology to my friend gangrelion for being so late with the Clover Days review. I picked up this game exactly 4 days ago and was absolutely hooked from the beginning, and couldn’t find the time to finish the review as I promised. Sorry!

But yep! Finished in four days, we have a splendid game for a change! Considering how I was always hitting a kusoge for the past month, this is a great change.

Just because I feel lazy to explain it on the respective sections, Hikoukigumo means “contrail” according to Google, which is the phenomenon that makes the stream of clouds behind a plane. This occurs due to a high amount of moisture in the atmosphere, and allows some people (including our protagonist) to predict rain when he sees it.

Title: ひこうき雲の向こう側 (Hikoukigumo no Mukogawa) [Lit. Trans: The other side of the plane cloud]
Producers: Flat
Release Date: March 28, 2014
VNDB Link: http://vndb.org/v13711
Getchu Link: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=786032
Game Type: Pure Love Romance Novel with symbolism relating to rain and contrails

Summary: Kouji drew a picture when he was younger: a picture of a girl who was smiling with a hikoukigumo clear in the background. This picture was so beautiful, that it encouraged a very popular girl named Satou Risa to come and confess to him.

Kouji is surprised by this confession, and doesn’t know how to reply. Finally asking for a week to think about his decision, he then constantly worries about how to answer this student council president who is smart, good-looking, kind, and overall “too good for him”.

… This isn’t my story… Kouji mutters as he looks away from Risa, who also turns away to hide her tears.

Little did he know that this event would make him more close with people who are like him: They want to love, but do not know about it. They say likes flock together, but are they really the same? With his new environment, Kouji will learn more about himself, and hopefully romance.

The girl who confessed to Kouji and started this story: Risa

Story Length: Slightly Long (30 hours)
Complete Story Clearing Difficulty: Slightly Difficult
Comments: A fairly long story which wasn’t that bad to go through. Game difficulty is considered “difficult” because even as you get to heroine routes, there are choices that give you different choices which seem to make an impact on the CGs you are given…