Review: Toppara - Zashiki-warashi no hanashi

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.

Review: Lovekami

In the future of a slightly different Japan, the gods (kami) come down from the heavens to live once again amongst the people. However, the gods lack the basic common sense for living in the human world, so Amaterasu proclaims that they should be educated so that they can live alongside humankind. As a result, Souta's school becomes the trial case for the new program, and his school life takes a rather hilarious turn.


Plot 8/10: Really, I'm giving this score mostly because of Tsukuyomi's path and the sheer hilarity of this VN. As a break from my usual dark choices, this eroge was perfect. It's story is light and for the most part cheerful, without turning into a sex-romp like most games geared toward the 'megami-fetish' crowd seem to end up being. It's references to Shinto are fairly accurate, and for those who are interested, it explains some of the oddities that are hard to figure out using wikipedia and whatever random books on the religion end up in your local public library. The heroines and other characters have lively personalities that interact very well with each other, and the individual heroines' stories are interesting in and of themselves, even though there is definitely a level of absurdity to things overall. The protagonist is a hot-headed, dense type, though oddly it doesn't come across as painfully as most such protagonists tend to do. He's definitely an idiot, but he's also an idiot you'll end up liking despite yourself.

Visual 8/10: Hrm... what can I say about this? The appearance of this game overall is fairly good, with the chibis and chibi-cgs being outright hilarious just to look at. In addition, the other CG's, while not the best I've ever seen (considering the VNs I've seen in the past, that isn't an insult at all) are also good looking and definitely grab your attention.

Sound 7/10: In terms of voices, this VN did a very good of fitting VA's to characters, each one seeming to fit into their individual personality and body type quite well. In terms of soundtrack, the funny and cheerful tracks that make up the majority of what's in this game are good but sound exactly like you would expect to hear in any given light and cheerful eroge. The few serious soundtracks were once again somewhat generic but well suited to the scenes they were fitted to.

Overall 7.5/10: Overall, for those looking for a light game to play that isn't a sex-romp, and for those who have a thing for Shinto, foxgirls, and the like, this is a good choice. I can't recommend it to people looking for a serious or tragic experience, because this really isn't that type of game. At the same time, there are no real fight scenes and most of the game is seemingly constructed to make the player laugh until his ribs crack open. From that perspective, I could have probably given this a better score, but I'm reluctant to give that high a score to a game that isn't technically one of the best games I've ever played.


Note: Yeah, I figured I would go ahead and review this, even though I don't normally review the light eroge I play. I originally just wanted to play this to wash the rather nasty taste of Kourin no Machi (no fault of Akabeesoft there, I was just not in the mood for being depressed) out of my mouth, but this game turned out to be enough of a winner that I went ahead and played all four paths.