I'll probably have to say Louis Howard from Midnight Cinderella: Ikémen Royal Romances because I played that game when I was in high school before and during the pandemic…Louis Howard still has my heart! I probably chose Chevalier Michel in Ikémen Prince: Beauty and Her Beast because he reminds me of Louis…I still need to revisit Chevalier and finish his route…I just have a thing for the loud blondes which these men aren't but I also have a thing for the icy blondes that melt into a ray of sunshine once they get to know you and you soften them up…His backstory made me realize why he is the way he is…I have a soft spot for the quite misunderstood characters as well. Go figure! Also, he’s a duke and I played this game a few months after season one of Bridgerton was released and became an international cultural phenomenon. Even now, I only read romances with dukes…It’s like purposefully watching Asian dramas with a billionaire CEO!

bonus: if you have a least favorite, i’d love to know why for that too!

Hello! I'm a fan of a visual novel horror dating sim game called "Boyfriend to Death," it was made back in 2016, and while doing some research, I found a song in the game that I really liked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx8GdNRyd2E&list=

This song plays after you get an ending called "He'll keep you forever," in Strade's route. I really enjoy it, and wanted to find the original artist. It really reminds me of a distorted version of "Doll" from the IB ost.

In the game under credits, there's a "music link" button inside. Clicking on it links to http://electricpuke.tumblr.com/btdmusic but it won't let me access without a password. I tried searching for a password, but to no avail. I even tried looking in the description and comments of the video I linked to, but no one says anything that relates to who actually made the song.

During a different reddit thread, I found someone talking about one of the songs 7 years ago. It's called "Down the Drain," genre listed as "industrial." https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/569710 So that only makes me believe that it has to be a song from Newgrounds someplace.

If you recognize this song, please let me know!

Are there any otome games where the English localization is so bad it makes you wish you speak another language?

I recently started playing the English version of Collar x Malice that I picked up during a 50% sale, and… I ended up getting the Japanese version again, even though my Japanese isn’t that great.

I’ve heard the English localizations of Birushana, Taisho Alice, and Charade Maniacs are also pretty rough. What other games should people avoid in English if possible?

I remember it being announced last year (?), but I don’t recall seeing any updates or recent news on it. Was it scrapped?

I've recently made a post here asking what people loved about Otome games (I've read all the comments thanks in advance for sharing your love for Otome 🩷).

Someone said it could be better for me to made a recommendation post. First I thought that wouldn't really help me, since I've played games with different tropes and settings, but then to realize that I've had a huge problem with pacing, and it was pointed out that most of my games were from Otomate, that apparently is known for being kinda slow in that sense, which I didn't know.

I'm kinda having a problem getting into the Otome Games I've played probably because the common route is way too long and the story building is kinda slow. Also, the gameplay in terms of choice making is kinda simple (but these are my first ever visual novels so maybe that's just the case for most of them and I just didn't know).

The games that I've played were Collar X malice (played 2 routes) and Birushana (didn't finish Noritsune Route) but I wasn't really able to enjoy them as much as I do with some shoujosei manga/anime.

I also own Bustafellows, but I haven't played it yet (in the other post I said I had Piofiore, but I've mixed those two for some reason, I actually have Bustafellows, my bad).

Just for more insight, when it comes to manga/anime, I tend to enjoy action and historical (like Basara and Akatsuki no Yona) that's why I went for Birushana, but it honestly didn't click.

I also enjoy, in manhwa, the quite common arranged marriage/forced to live together thing as in Wild Eyes and Tempest night (both 18+ and TW).

I've been as well enjoying Isekai lately I've watched all my next life as a villainess anime and recently read some other non villainess Isekai recently (I don't dare to share the name here lmao)

Platforms I can play: Nintendo switch, PC, PS Vita, PSP, PS3, PS2 and DSi. If you have recommends from other platforms, that's fine as well.

No need to be localized because I'm learning Japanese. I would like a voiced FL as well for language learning purposes and it maybe could help me engaging with the story, but again, it's not a must!

Thank you so much in advance for helping us new girls to get into the hobby 🩷

Edit: just adding that don't mind the game price and I don't really mind if it's plot focused or romance focused.

What the title says, I'm thinking of buying them, I've already played the game. What I'm worried about that though if theres no transcript to read from. I'm very beginner level Japanese and can only read Japanese, not listen and understand it. Those who have bought it either back in 2013 or more recently, did yours come with any kind of summary or transcript?

Additionally if anyone knows any translations of the cds already online, show me!! I want to see. I've been looking but it seems only the game was fan-translated...

Talk about all other off-topic games with dating or romance elements here. Being able to romance a character is a must.

All games must have the option to select a female (including trans MtF) protagonist/MC.

Many of these men have been Banished in a BBB all because of their tragic fashion choices. So these examples came from all of you! 😆

Memed: Kent (Amnesia), Enomoto (Collar X Malice), Allan (Cupid Parasite), St. Germain (Code Realize), Nicola (Piofiore), Scien (Virche)

And there are so many others!

What’s with all the clocks?

Why the crow’s-nest hair … Does the man even own a comb?

How many mismatched patterns does one shirt need?

Is that a skirt or shorts? Skorts?

Is he even capable of buttoning up or wearing a jacket properly?

Who told him those colors go together?

How often does he trip and fall over his own long hair?

How much do clothes cost in the Matrix?

He’s going to work like that?!

The 70s called … they want their shag rug back 😆

^(Disclamer: I am not in any way affiliated with Zenmarket!)

Hey guys,

thought it might be of interest to you, that Zenmarket is currently offering 75% off international shipping untill November 11th. I'm aware this comes a bit late, so it may be not of use to everyone, sorry!

The offer is eligible only for parcels of value of >= 24.111¥ | Max discount 3.000¥

___________________________________________________________________________________________

To anyone, who've always wanted to order something from Japan, but chickened out every time due to so many unclarities, especially when ordering from the EU: here an experience report from me, who tried it in August this year for the first time.

^(Disclamer 2: this was initially written in German for friends of mine and I'm too lazy to write it completetely anew in English, so if there's any weirdness, blame DeepL xD - I've proofread, but might've missed something.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

❤️ Feel free to ask if something isn't clear! ❤️

After a bit of research, I chose ZenMarket, but I can imagine that other proxies work in a similar way.

What I should perhaps also mention right at the beginning - everything I ordered was from Mercari - a platform for private sales, similar to Ebay. ZenMarket has a kind of collab/integration with them, so that you can browse Mercari items directly on the ZenMarket site and add them to your shopping cart.

In theory, you can also ask ZenMarket to purchase items for you from elsewhere by sending them links, or even ask them to help you find something specific, if you struggle to find it yourself.

But I didn't test any of that this time.

‎‎‎‏‏‎ ‎

1. [Looking for desired items]

Well, as mentioned above, you can search for desired items on directly ZenMarket's site.

Theoretically, you can enter any search term in English, but I've found that it works better with Japanese search terms - the automatic translation used there is only so-so.

Aside from that, it's your regular online shopping. Look for what you like and add it to the cart.

‏‏‎ ‎

2. [Payment and exchange rates]

Once you've found everything you want and added it to your shopping cart, you have to provide Zenmarket with money, which they then use to shop on your behalf.

They accept Paypal, but I topped up the balance with my Visa credit card instead, because it has a better conversion rate.

When topping up, you can choose in which currency they request the money from your bank. I chose to top up directly in yen, as my bank offers a more favorable exchange rate, than ZenMarket. Check with your bank for the info on exchange rates!

ZenMarket charges a fee of 3.5% of the charge amount (not the top-up amount!) for the top-up. This means that if you want to increase your balance by ¥10.000, for example, you will be charged ¥10.363, and not ¥10.350.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

3. [Shipment and Storage in Japan + Customer service]

Once the money has been topped up, ZenMarket buys the stuff for you. They charge a processing fee of 500¥ (~3€) per purchase order. It can therefore be worth looking out for offers that sell several items at the same time, as this still counts as one purchase order.

The ordered items are then delivered one by one to the ZenMarket warehouse in Osaka. In my case, the delivery times were 2-7 days between the status “Item purchased” and the status “Item arrived at our warehouse”.

⚡This is why the PSA is a bit late! Keep this in mind! :( ⚡

For Mercari items, shipping within Japan is free. If you order from a different site and shipping costs are incurred there, then of course you have to pay them yourself.

Once the items have arrived in Osaka, you can normally take your time - storage for up to 60 days is free, i.e. you can look around during this time and possibly make further purchases.

ZenMarket also informs you of the weight of each individual item, as soon as they have them. You will need this info to calculate the parcel size later on.

If there are any problems - in my case, for example, international shipping was not allowed for one of the items - they get in touch with you and try to solve the problem as customer-friendly as possible.

The customer service speaks English perfectly and they are super nice and forthcoming ♥

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

4. [Assembling a parcel | Parcel dimensions | Shipment method]

If you are sure that you have everything you want, you can assemble the parcel. Once the parcel is packed, then it is considered “ready for dispatch” - if you then want to have it repacked again because you want to add something else, it costs a 1000¥ fee. Hence the note above about “taking your time” 😉

In the same step, ZenMarket wants to know which shipping method you would like to use to send the package.

This is important for them so that they can take the correct parcel dimensions when packing. They have a shipping cost calculator for this purpose - it's really intuitive, don't worry!

It is important to bear in mind that the packaging material also weighs quite a bit - in my case it was 265g. Since the smallest shipping method Avia Small only allows shipments up to 2kg, this is not really negligible ^^

They are NOT skimping on the packaging material!

Here, for example, all the well-compressed packaging material next to all the contents 🙈

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

5. [Shipment fees | VAT | Customs]

Finally, when everything is packed and the package dimensions are now clear, you have to pay the shipping costs. In the same step, you can also (optionally) pay the VAT at the same time - as there has been a free trade agreement between the EU and JP since 2019, they can process this for you in advance. Important: this only applies to parcels with value under 150€. Here’s more on the topic.

If you decide against it, you still have to pay the tax, but then you have to deal with your local customs and talking about the German customs I really can't recommend that xD.

💰 This is the step when the current shipping offer applies btw! 💰

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

6. [Shipment duration]

As soon as the shipping costs have been paid, it gets to roll - the parcel is picked up from the Osaka warehouse a few days later and then shipped according to the shipping method of your choice.

The delivery times may vary massively - if you opt for seaway freight, it can take up to 3-4 months.

According to ZenMarket, the expected duration for my airfreight parcel was up to 45 days.

In reality, I paid the shipping costs on a weekend, the following Monday it was picked up in Osaka, and already on Thursday it arrived at customs in Frankfurt. On Saturday it was at my doorstep, so the total time from paying the shipment fee to the delivery was a litte less than 1 week.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

7. [Extra cost total]

How much did the fun cost?

It certainly wasn't cheap. Apart from the actual purchase, I had the following fees:

• 1,044¥ top-up fee
• 5,000¥ handling fee (500¥ per 10 items)
• 2,950¥ shipping
• 3,160¥ VAT

Total: 12,154¥ or about 75€

In addition, 1,000¥ repacking fee and the lost 15% discount on shipping costs for the 1st package (because it was co

nsidered the 2nd package after repacking), but I'll chalk that up to a lesson xD

The feeling of holding almost 1kg of plastic waste, which was carted halfway around the world, in your hands: PRICELESS

https://preview.redd.it/7fojqfxiciyd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9eb371bf3762b8a0febf44bf648e637ec2b3ea15

tl;dr demo playtime per player was very short (12 minutes) but not that it matters because the demo is available across various Nintendo eShop regions; managed to secure the acrylic stand preorder bonus.

I was about to ignore the in-store game demo playing as I have work for the day, and the demo is already out, but Stella Worth made an announcement that anyone making a preorder on the day of the game demo event at their store and paying for it in full would be getting a bonus acrylic standee of the character of their choice. Also, if you already preordered in-store, you could pay for the preorder in full and receive the bonus.

Since I have not preordered yet, I decided that it was time, and that I should try and squeeze in some game demo playing time. The previous one I attended was for Mistonia no Kibou so I braced myself yet again for a long queue to get a numbered ticket.

At 11 AM, the store staff started handing over the numbered ticket.

I ended up not going for this timeslot as I had work during that time; I handed the stub back to the onee-san so that someone else could play

I took this chance to get some errands done, so by the time I came back for the game preorder queue, the staff started announcing that each one of us in the line could only order one (1) unit of the game for every transaction. If any of us wanted to preorder more, we needed to go back at the end of the line, wait for our turn at the register, then pay for another order.

Once noon hit, the doors to Stella Worth opened, and we were guided to line up [once again] to the cash registers.

(If you didn't know already, queuing/lining up for something is Japan's national pastime)

Some of the people who queued ahead of me (I was fifth in line) did not know which set to order (Stella Set or just the one with the bromide bonus) nor did they know the difference, so it took some time for them to sort it out. Curiously, a lot of them got the Fin acrylic stand for their bonus.

Distracted myself by taking photos of the posters that HuneX/Dramatic Create posted on the walls of the small corner where the demo would be played

Once I got to the register, I placed in my order and ended up getting an Eltcreed acrylic stand.

🥹

When I was about to leave, one of the Stella Worth staff members announced that the Fin acrylic stand got sold out. The people left in the queue did not budge, which probably meant that all the Fin fangirls who were ahead of me secured their stuff 😂

After work, I came back to the store, and as soon as I told the HuneX/Dramatic Create staff that I wanted to play the demo, I was told that the next timeslot had an opening, and that I was free to play if I wanted to. I informed them that I would be happy to do so, and I sat at my designated seat.

One of the good things about this in-store game demo is that it's less claustrophobic than the Mistonia one; Mistonia had designated four seats for the players, which I guess is a way to maximize the space and the number of players wanting to try the game.

In contrast, HuneX/Dramatic Create decided to set up two seats, side by side on a long table, for anyone who wants to play the FD; they may have gone with this setup knowing that with the demo available online, they won't need a lot of seats.

Once I started playing, I switched the language of the game to English and tapped away instead of hearing the voiced parts in full except when Eltcreed started speaking. Biased and simping for my boi obv I was in a hurry to make the most out of my 12 minutes (they had an actual countdown timer on the desk), so when I saw that I had 30 seconds left, I switched it back to Japanese, then waited for the timer to go out, signaling the end of my turn.

Once I was done, I got a business card-sized sticker for my trouble and was asked to do a survey for the demo I just played.

Sticker on the front, survey QR code at the back

Overall Impression:

As mentioned in my previous in-person game demo report for Mistonia, this definitely was a situation where the devs went with the email instead of a meeting (since game is available on the eShop) but added an incentive to get you to come to the meeting. 😂

I honestly would not have gone to this game demo if:

1. I was still not on the fence over preordering the game (good timing?)
2. I did not have work on this day (I did have work)
3. I did not have to pick up my Olympia Soiree Special Stella set preorder (it was out on the 31st)

All three of the above reasons were enough for me to make a side trip to Stella Worth before going to work and I am glad that I manage to secure Eltcreed's acrylic stand. I do not know if any of the acrylic stands ran out while I was away, but I would think that it did. Too bad they didn't announce the characters whose acrylic stands got sold out on Twitter and would only be told about it at the store itself.

Having said that, it makes me wonder if doing in-person game demos will be the "norm" for the domestic fans going forward? If it is, then I think that the company doing the demo should do what HuneX/Dramatic Create did, which is to encourage the fans and the curious ones to preorder on the day of the demo for an exclusive physical store bonus to make it worth their while.

I am unsure if I will be attending any future in-person game demo playing, but if I do, I'll make a similar report as always.

Parting shot[s]:

More deco

The sticker and the posters

So harrison was my first choice and I liked his route a lot. And his route is well, very chill. But Elbert route is unhinged. About premium stories, Harry s are childplay, while Elbert one are wild ngl. I didn t even expected him to be that wild. Someone was right when they said this game is horny af:))). In a way I like the balance, how Harry route is mild while Elbie is "oooohhhh that s a spicy boy". Thx for listening to my nonsense, but this is what I feel after finishing elbie route.

I don't care if you spoil the ending for me, PLEASE DO. I heard a character named Liu Bian >!dies but some say he comes back then others say they play a different storyline for them to be alive & shi,!< it's giving me the shits because I can't find any info & the game isn't in English. Does the game have different endings? I'm so confused, I wanna play it but I don't have any info & can barely find any translations😭

!IS DEATH PERMANENT IN IT? Or does everyone come back?!<

This is probably the third time I've reposted, I hope I did it right.. Please tell me if I did or not, I don't mind posting a 4th time 🥲

I just got Hamefura on switch and I was wondering if I have to watch the anime or read the manga/light novel first before playing?

Free Download: https://p6ik.itch.io/yamedomo

🔪 You too can become a Yandere today! (* This is a romantic comedy otome novel game)

🔪 Windows, Mac, Linux, Browser, and Android versions are available!

🔪 MTL (English translations are machine translations...🙇)

Yandere(Lv.1) vs LI

Warning:

• MTL (English translations are machine translations)

Story:

You suddenly, really suddenly, realized last night that you were in love with him. But he and you are just friends(?). Wouldn't confessing to him make things awkward between them? Wouldn't he pretend it never happened? You think like that. And you find that very sad.... So you decided to mess everything up. That's right, you decided to become a Yandere overnight!

Features

• 3 Loves, 6 Endings, 6 CGs, 6 Extras, 10k Words
• All playtime: about 30 min
• Customizable Name and Pronouns
• Menu button to skip or return to the choices
• Open dyslexia, Atkinson Hyperlegible

I hope you enjoy it~~!! よろしくお願いします！

Tosuke Iwasaki is a rich inventor/businessman who studies electricity with the dream of lighting up Japan. He’s voiced by Yoshimosa Hosoya, who also played Scien (Virche Evermore) and Shu (Bustafellows).

I’ll just say it – I LOVED this route. The game doesn’t seem to have garnered much attention on the sub, likely due to the *ahem* horrible translation errors, but I gave it a chance since I have a higher tolerance for bad translation. I can’t say much about the entirety of the game so far, as this is my 1st route, but I greatly enjoyed it, so I wanted to leave a review! If anyone else has read Tosuke’s route, please share the brain rot with me. I added spoilers in parts where I was more specific on the details of the route, but if you’re someone who doesn’t plan to play the game, I recommend that you read them. If you do not plan to play it then whether you get spoiled or not should have no effect, but if you do get spoiled, you might find yourself more interested in the game. Regardless, it’s up to you!

Brief summary of the prologue – Meiji Tokyo Renka starts with Mei (MC) participating in a magic show only to find herself eventually traveling back in time to the Meiji era. The culprit? A magician who goes by the name of “Charlie”. He promises that she’ll have the choice to return to her era in 30 days time. Mei has lost the majority of her memories of the modern time and finds it difficult to integrate herself in the culture of her newfound setting.

Spoilers to the route’s premise/Tosuke’s first meeting with Mei – >!Distracted by the view on the other side, Mei accidentally steps into the middle of a road and almost gets run over by a car. The driver, furious, demands her to immediately leave the road, yet due to her sprained ankle, Mei is unable to move. Hearing the ruckus, Tosuke steps out of the car, notices Mei’s sprained ankle, and offers money to pay for a rickshaw fare so she doesn’t have to walk home. Hesitantly, Mei accepts the offer and mentions she thinks 1,000 yen will do. Well, bad idea, since yen’s value has deflated over the years, and 1,000 yen in the Meiji era has the value of >$100,000 now. Surprised yet simultaneously amused, Tosuke hands her the money. Seeing his reaction, Mei realizes something’s off and attempts to return the money, but Tosuke refuses and leaves in a hurry. Eventually, Mei discovers the true value of the thousand yen and decides to find Tosuke to return the money. In the process, she becomes an apprentice Geisha/drinks pourer to have a place to rest and eat in.!<

Now, onto Tosuke himself. I won’t go too into detail, since an LI’s character is always a spoiler in and of itself, but I think he can best be described like so – he’s polite, but in an imposing way. And he’s imposing not because he feels pressure to be polite, but because, I believe, being pushy is in his core. It’s more like his politeness is a mask he learnt to wear out of discipline. Remove the mask, and, I bet, he would be unbearable to deal with.

What’s fascinating is that you can notice this as early as his first meeting with Mei – Tosuke is pretty ignorant of Mei’s wishes. He’s “politely” imposing. There are a several times throughout the route where Mei says, “No, it’s not that./No, you’re misunderstanding.” and he just outright ignores her because it is in his favor to do so. Later on in the route, this is also present, where he just interprets her actions in whatever way is more pleasing to him lol.

I think this line at their first meeting sums him up best – “Then (. . .) Iwasaki-san quickly extended his hand. Just as I was debating whether to take that hand, he grabbed mine.”

There’s also a contrast between the way he presents himself at the start of the route and after The Scene™. Prior to it, in every scene he meets with Mei, he acts, in one way or another, as her savior. It could perhaps even be said that up until The Scene™ Tosuke is idolized, not by Mei but by the game itself. This creates a bit of a power imbalance between the two of them, but I think it’s very well-thought out. Tosuke uses his politeness as a way to distance himself from everyone around him, including Mei (even in her first meeting she describes him as ‘expressionless’, up until she ruins the typical script of how a conversation should appropriately go, then suddenly, his face gains color). It’s only after he becomes more honest, crude, and less ‘princely’ that he actually turns into someone who is approachable. He’s still polite but in a frank way. Probably what I loved the most at the beginning of the route were the very few parts where he would just directly insult Mei (“You’re typically naïve but sometimes what you say has some insight.”) It was so occasional and much less direct than what I’m paraphrasing but so hilarious that it would make me laugh, simply because it seemed so out of his typical character at the beginning.

Anyway, it’s very obvious he fell for her first. And as the route progresses, he gradually becomes more and more desperate, until he is so frustrated that he just outright asks Mei, >!“Do you deem me as someone for whom it is not worth fluttering your eyelashes for [as a geisha]?” It’s a very frank and kind of rude way of asking, so!< you can tell he drops his ‘polite’ demeanor (which happens every time he is stressed in the route). And when Mei denies this saying, “No, that’s not it.” I swear it’s like you can feel his face light up through the screen because he’s suddenly overjoyed and more relaxed, and so realizing there’s still hope, he immediately tries to make a (very subtle) advance on her. Also I’m genuinely convinced he thinks he’s hot when he eats chocolate haha. It’s like every time he’s trying to seduce her he’s eating it. Or maybe he does it out of happiness? Who knows.

Actually, I really loved the huge burst of confidence he’d get whenever Mei displayed even the slightest possible sign she liked him (or was starting to like him). He immediately enters his ‘cocky smile sprite’ mode lmfao (“Did you miss me?”). He’s delulu like the rest of us, and I respect that. It’s literally this meme:

https://imgur.com/a/jiluE0d

It’s hilarious watching him go from :( to :D and :^)

I like that the game wrote him as a smart character but not in a “everyone in the game calls him smart so he must be” sort of way, but in a way that he genuinely makes some good connections. I don’t mean to imply there’s some sort of mind-blowing twist he hides behind his back; there’s not really anything he thinks or schemes in the route that is shocking (which makes sense, considering it is lighthearted, and Mei isn’t his business opponent). However, there were moments when he made good points, and I was left kind of surprised. What’s nice is that sometimes (especially early on in the route) he changes the course of things in a way that is hardly noticeable, and the game itself doesn’t blatantly point it out either. Basically, he’s written as a businessman through-and-through but in a way that is show, not tell. I wasn’t left thinking, “This guy’s a genius.” but I also didn’t have any moments in the route that made me feel like, if the character wasn’t labeled as “intelligent,” their logic would fail because, realistically, it makes no sense, and the only thing that made it work was the character’s “intelligence” armor. That’s a sign of good writing in my eyes, when you can agree that a character is intelligent without some mind-blowing scheme or plot-twist but simply through their conversation and subtle actions. I’m sure that if the game was localized, this would also show in his speech and diction, but it got through nonetheless.

I can’t get into the specifics, but I thought that the romance development was perfect. I honestly haven’t played such a route in a while, where, as I played it, I felt completely content with the pace at which the relationship between the two characters was blooming. Typically the romance feels too rushed to me and unnatural to me, but I am also notably a slow burn fan. Still, I wouldn’t describe Tosuke’s route as slow-burn. The relationship between Tosuke and Mei can be better described as her >!being unable to admit her feelings to him due to the nature of her circumstances and him actively pursuing her despite not knowing why that is. Actively throughout the route he gets frustrated as a result. There’s also, of course, the fact that Mei is unwilling to trust him for reasons he is responsible for.!< It’s very entertaining and simultaneously ironic watching the contrast between this and their customer-vendor relationship. AND THE DOKI-DOKI SCENES?? SO GOOD. The ballroom? The boat? The couch? The street? The teahouse? AHH

###THE VOICE ACTING

Yoshimasa Hosoya fans, you’d love this route. Unfortunately, there’s not many English-localized Otomes in which he voices an LI. The only two I can think of are Bustafellows (Shu) and Virche Evermore (Scien), and for both of those characters, he uses a deeper voice. In fact, generally in anime Yoshimasa seems to voice “masculine” characters. Tosuke’s voice, however, is more high-pitched, but not in a forced way – it’s closer to Yoshimasa’s natural voice. My first thought when I heard Tosuke’s voice was, “This guy’s voice is very normal but in a good way.” I really think there couldn’t have been a better VA for him. His voice is masked with a note of pretentiousness (I honestly don’t know how to explain it; it’s just there), and when Tosuke gets stressed the mask drops, his voice becomes slightly deeper and loses the note. It’s genuinely admirable. If you want to hear it for yourself, you can take a look at episode 6 of the anime, particularly the scene after his speech, since he speaks less assertively there. There’s also a voice preview the game site offers, but I think voice 5 is the best one to listen to, since the others are more emotionally-charged or spoilery.

###The Bad and the Ugly

So obviously, the translation. It was likely done using primarily MTLs, though I do think there was someone somewhat overlooking the text. But when I say somewhat, I really do mean somewhat. Wrong use of pronouns, awkward phrasing, wrong verb tenses, tautology/redundant use of adjectives, missing words, sentences that make little sense, etc. At times there were line breaks or missing quotation marks. I remember twice just going to settings, changing the language to Japanese and checking through the translation on multiple MTLs to understand what a sentence meant. It’s bad, very bad. However, something interesting I noticed was that, at least in my experience, the more I played the game, the more I began adapting to the awkward translations – I would naturally replace the awkward translation in my mind. It felt a bit like learning a new language, haha. I didn’t and wouldn’t have realized this, but since I have a habit of redoing scenes I liked moments after finishing them, I reread certain lines multiple times to find myself realize I didn’t notice a mistake. I definitely do think having some basic knowledge of Japanese would be helpful if you’re planning to play the game.

Do I think the game is not worth playing as a result? Well, seeing as I finished an entire route – no. But I also completely understand why someone would refuse to play the game because of it. I don’t know what the rest of the routes are going to be like, but if they’re half as good as this one, I’ll consider the game worth my money. At the very least, it’s cheaper than your average switch Otome. I’ll see if I’ll recommend buying the game for others after finishing it, but as I’ve mentioned, if it continues to be half as good, I think it will definitely be worth buying on sale.

Enough about the translation, onto the actual route – honestly, my biggest problem is that it was too good lol. I’m not prepared to play the others because I know I finished my favorite one and the rest aren’t going to keep up 😭. I feel like I’ll need to take a week-long break from the game because I don’t want to be unfair to the other love interests lmfao, gotta give them a chance and all. The game has quite a lot of story content AND bonus content, but I was still left wanting more, and I think this is mostly because the endings were short and abrupt. There's not much of seeing what happens after the confession, so those that prefer the romance after one will be disappointed. I have a preference to romance prior to the confession and I was still left wanting more.

Besides that, loved the route and am *loving the game so far! Might make an extra post on the game later, but it's probably going to be on several or all rather than just one

Hey guys, happy Friday!

Last week we got the tag off of SIX GAMES!!! AMAZING JOB, ALL OF YOU!!! This week there's three new games that need the tag flagged and no new games that need the tag added.

Please flag the tag on any/all of the games on the first two lists if you haven't already, and please add the tag to the games on the last list if you haven't already.

Thanks everyone, and have an awesome week!

Newly found games that need the tag flagged:

Sandy Tetra!! (NSFW)

东方异域见闻 ~ Touhou Dystopian

The rabbit and Tamaki are Taking a break!2

Previously posted games that still need the tag flagged:

Deep Secret (NSFW)

Combat Kart

Railway Fugitive

Apex Heroines

Girl X Island (NSFW)

Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs The Thrilling Steamy Maze Kiwami

Puzzle GO!

The Meridian Under the Heaven: Valhalla (NSFW)

战姬军团

Cyber Horny (NSFW)

Sakura Hime 4 (NSFW)

GuanLan Magic

Dreamy Duels ~ Tales of Heroes in Gensoukyo

與妹有約 Promise with My Sister

Run for the Bus

灵梦的激急击鸡祭 Reimu's Fighting Chicken Festival

Together with Oneesan～Yuina's Sweet Encouragement～ (NSFW)

Find Cats 喵星寻猫

Fetish Club (NSFW)

FightGirl

Myth Matrix

Box Bakery

Beauty Solitaire

Touhou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part III

KannaSchool

Just Futanari 2 (NSFW)

Beauty Riddle

SIGMA WAR NOTES

Yixin

Auto Battle Girl

STARVEIL PROTOCOL A.A.A.

Quest Girl

Beauty VS Zombie

Cyber Freeuse Fantasy (NSFW)

UFO

Hentai Dice Sudoku (NSFW)

Find Cats 3 旅行猫咪

VR Harem Life ~ Your Room Became a Hang-Out for Girls!? ~ (NSFW)

东方梦无垠 ~ the Unreachable Oneiroborder

TOKAI Girl -Block Breaking RPG- (NSFW)

勾八公主狂想曲（J8 Princess Rhapsody）(NSFW)

MarqueeCandle

Sexuality with girlfriends : Kello&Cammy (NSFW)

Fantasy Aquarium

Run Run My Bride!

Where Foxes 狐狸在哪里

BarGirls

Mahjong, Sex & Girls (NSFW)

Lower? higher!: buy or bye 

Your wife oh

Waifu

Whiskers on Time's Corner

Esper Agent

BERSERK WORLD

Countdown

Shrine of Haunts

Foxyball

ADD THE TAG:

A Heart of Butterblue

BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2

Feel free to post anything that you wish to discuss!