Toppara is about a guy who lost his parents and his family fortune after his house's zashiki-warashi (who was also his childhood friend) left. Because of this, he has become embittered and generally pessimistic about life, blaming both youkai and humans in general for his troubles. One day, he wakes up to find a beautiful youkai woman standing over him, a kage-onna, ending his solitude and forcing him to reawaken from his sleep.
Plot 7/10: The various paths of this VN, each centering around any one of the eight heroines (seven of which are non-human, for you youkai fetishists out there) are not terribly complex or surprising. However, this is one of those cases where the game doesn't really need to be surprising to entertain. How the protagonist awakens from his self-pitying trance in each path is the main theme, with the heroines providing the means either through him helping solve their problems or through them doing their best to help him. By the time you get to the true path, Midori's path, you won't be surprised at all by what happens, but that doesn't really seem to matter... this is the kind of eroge where you just sit back and relax, enjoying the ride. I particularly enjoyed Touko's (Tamamo no Mae) path, for the interesting insight into the way religion was used as a political tool in the Meiji era, in addition to Touko being an excellent heroine. The endings for each path tended to be a mixed bag, most of them being short and lacking in detail, but overall this sort of hazy way of ending things, as generic as it is, doesn't get in the way of enjoying the game itself.
Visuals 7/10: Definitely not the best game I've ever played when it comes to visuals, with the CG's tending to be lacking in detail on a closer look. However, the character models for the rest of the game were done well-enough that I felt no strong reason to complain. To be honest, I wish they'd put some more effort and detail into the major scenes (though the scenes toward the end of Mikage's path are excellent, in contrast to the ones on some of the other paths).
Sound 6/10: Most of the soundtrack for the game was pleasant, if generic. If I have a complaint it is the tendency of the game to misuse those at times, especially the few tension-causing bgms. Sadly, this is not a great example of using what they have well...
Overall 6.5/10: My overall is mostly drawn from a technical outlook, rather than how much I enjoyed it in this case. If I went from my personal enjoyment meter, it would probably be a good 8/10. However, this game's appeal is rather narrow, focused on your slice-of-life fans and youkai fetishists, and maybe drawing in some borderline nakige lovers. Personally, I think this is a solid choice for a light VN to play if you run out of things to try, but I wouldn't choose it over say... Clannad. This game is a good example of the generic slice-of-life eroge out there, being a little better than the average, but I don't think it will make it to the top of very many lists.
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