November 2017 Eroge Releases

A little blue bird told me that this is the promised month. Purple Software’s much-anticipated Aoi Tori comes out this month, following their success with Amatsutsumi last year. SMEE is back with their antics in Making＊Lovers, while CRYSTALiA debuts with the sword-wielding Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha. If you just want to be a lucky sukebe, look no further than AkabeiSoft3’s Maho×Roba -Witches spiritual home-.

Your bluebird makes me want to play Duck Hunt. At the very least I’ll be laughing at anyone who likes or was looking forward to those annoying birds this month. The rest of the month is the usual mixed bag with an overall quality that is higher than the norm lately. Since I’m American I’ll be giving thanks for a decent enough month that there are some games I actually want to play.

Making＊Lovers

Company: SMEE
Game site: Making＊Lovers
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
Kazuma believes very strongly that falling in love is not about the end result, but rather the romanticism in the courtship process. There must be a fated meeting, followed by a series of chance encounters and an exchange of contacts. Then follows an informal outing on a day off and finally, a proper date once they have become close enough. Even though he is made fun of because of his ideals, he stands firm that this is how love should be.

Of course picking up girls off the street and arranged marriages are out of the question. Even getting introduced or receiving help from others is absolutely unacceptable. However, his way of thinking changed quickly with the words of a certain girl.

Ah, how we all wish that falling in love was that simple. Following these romantic ideals is why our dear protagonist is a virgin, but lucky for him he is an eroge protagonist and bishoujos will just fall into his lap. SMEE never disappoints and the trial was quite entertaining as usual. Aside from the usual ‘perfect housewife’ imouto Ako, I’m also quite interested in the JK model Reina and amused at how utterly apathetic the protagonist is towards her (at the beginning at least). Great cast of characters, in a slightly more mature setting. As mature as SMEE can get.

I happen to believe very strongly that giving a protagonist a learning disability in which they only acknowledge a suspension bridge as a setting does not justify what is essentially writing toasty corner collisions as fated meetings. A more interesting approach would have been a contrast between perceived fate and feelings but no that would take five extra seconds of thinking, who could be bothered with that? I swear the modern eroge seems to think all nonsense can be justified when it is done from the perspective of the protagonist. After all eroge protagonists aren’t really characters as much as objects that act as a catalyst. In this case all I request is the protagonist to be normal. Get rid of his downright creepy delusions and let whatever happens happen in as organic a way possible and I’d have no complaints. I would even be fine with him finding fate or romance or whatever in his daily experiences. Taking matters to an unnecessary extreme is what annoys me. Still, I cannot be more sick of generic eroge so I am little interested.

Azayaka na Irodori no Naka de, Kimi Rashiku

Company: プレカノ (PreKano)
Game site: あざやかな彩りの中で、君らしく
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
The protagonist transferred into a boarding school, sharing a room with a boy who was in his grade. His roommate was the son of a famous Kabuki actor and also performs as a promising onnagata (female-role actor). However, he found out his secret by accident: he was actually a girl.

From that moment on, their relationship changed completely. However, he was not the type to take advantage of such a situation, but instead he wanted to help protect her secret.

Well, the easiest way to act like a girl is to be a girl. Why has no one ever thought of that before? The girl Yuuki is the only heroine in this short story, so if you like the character design or Aji Sanma as the CV, then by all means check it out.

I remember there being a manga about something similar a long time ago, so I’m rather surprised it took so long for eroge. That said the game itself is just a generic “Keeping secret brings them together” type story. Yet again being writers being lazy when it comes to essentially forcing the protagonist to be with a heroine or heroines. Of course since he’s a good person it can’t be helped that the entire world keeps pushing them together. Personally I’m a little interested in the theme though, something new goes a long way these days.

PV

Abnormal Lovers

Company: とるてそふと (Torte Soft)
Game site: あぶのーまるらば～ず
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the first title by Torte Soft, part of the Nexton brand. Hinata lives with his mother Mayoi and his older sister Akeno, while training as a cook at the family’s Café Carroll. Even though his childhood friend Mimi causes a ruckus every day, he leads a peaceful and happy life while aiming to become a full-fledged cook.

However, his mother got in an accident one day and he had to take over running the family business until she recovered. The popular grade A student Seri, childhood friend Mimi and quiet classmate Yukana all came to live and work at the coffee shop for varying reasons. He was wondering if everything will turn out alright when the three girls, along with his older sister Akeno, made advances on him starting from that very first night. Moreover, it was an abnormal type of love!

There’s also an Android version which is released on the same day. You know you’ve played enough eroge when you see heroines with stalking habits, smell fetishes, S&M tendencies and constant delusions, and don’t bat an eye. It’s perfectly normal to me! Each story is written by a different writer, with Mikuriya Mikuri maybe being the best of the bunch. Not much plot to see here, just a lot of ‘plot’ (aside from Yukana).

Character game in the truest sense of the word. Quite literally nothing here except for the characters. Like them or leave them decides it all. I would have preferred a better story to bring out the most in the characters but that’s probably asking for too much anymore. 

Maho×Roba -Witches spiritual home-

Company: あかべぇそふとすりぃ (AkabeiSoft3)
Game site: まほ×ろば -Witches spiritual home-
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
After an unexpected turn of events, Naru became the temporary manager of a girls’ dormitory. However, all the girls living there are magicians: shy daydreamer Konatsu, sharp-tongued ventriloquist Kuon, cool and vain Shizuru, and the ever-energetic moodmaker Teru.

With the magic academy’s principal Enis and genius magician Mikage in tow, his normal life gradually turns into one that is extraordinary. His bonds with the girls grow stronger, marked by many ecchi incidents that could only happen from living together.

This is a love story woven together by magic. Would you, too, like to live together with magic girls?

I’m actually rather surprised to see AkabeiSoft3 make this kind of fluffy game. I was mainly interested in this game due to the art (mainly Nanaroba Hana), but I’m not sure if the appeal of the characters is enough to put up with the story that seems like a marathon of clichés from the 90’s. I was honestly surprised that there were so many different ways to meet a girl as a ‘lucky sukebe’. Moreover, two of them are so oblivious to it that it doesn’t faze them. But ignoring that, I do find the girls cute, especially Konatsu and Kuon (sorry for stepping on Ichikawa-san!). Hau~ omochikaeri~!

So of course Mr. Protagonist arbitrarily becomes the manager of a dorm full of girls, because why wouldn’t he right? Let us call this lazy means to surround the protagonist in girls strike one. Follow this up with another arbitrary inclusion of magic, because what lazy writing would be complete without having the means for deus ex machina right? So this will be strike two, one to go before the garbage bin Akabeisoft number 3. Last up the silly excess ecchi. Is this really worth a strike in an eroge? I mean it is kind of inline with the whole point of the game right? However while making fun of old methods to setup “Fated meetings” and such, like ya know toasty corner collision incidents, overdoing it just makes it the whole thing pointless. The various incidents are given some comedy and purpose to the story and characters by nature of a certain sense of rarity. Breaking the status quo provides the impetus to evolve the characters relationships. So I’m going to count this as strike three, into the garbage bin with you Harry Pervert.

Yurameku Kokoro ni Michita Sekai de, Kimi no Yume to Yokubou wa Kanau ka

Company: CUBE
Game site: ゆらめく心に満ちた世界で、君の夢と欲望は叶うか
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
Starting this fall, Aoi will be attending a boarding school located on a distant Southern island where his father once taught at. Since all the preparations were ready, it was decided that he would move in to the school dormitory during the summer break. The island is only accessible by boat, and he was caught in a storm on the way there, but he somehow made it.

Even though it was the summer break, there were still three girls who remained in the dormitory: the mischievous free spirit Sumire, the kind and cheerful Tsukino, and the cool and outwardly dependable Konoha. Moreover, his imouto Tomoe, who loves to dote on and also be doted upon by him, followed him to the island to prevent him from attending the school.

The days on the island were full of fun and excitement. They showed him around the island, swam in the sea, did some preparation studying, and spent time in the library on rainy days. Every day was full of things to do.

However, the summer break doesn’t seem to be ending. When Aoi became aware of this, he set out to search for the island’s secret….

The never-ending summer vacation theme reminds me of Natsunagi. The motif works only if it gets resolved well and the events don’t get boring, meaning the writing has to hold up. From the trial, I’m not so sure it does. The characters are your standard chara-ge staples, including the mysterious sisters Kuro and Shiro (with their peculiar habit of speaking together). Maybe I’ll check it out if I have time. There’s an imouto after all.

Cube seems to have broken out of their niche involving sisters, so I guess that is a good thing. Problem lies with since Natsu no Ame their writing has been well, crap. The games they have made since revolve not so much around characters, but catering to character concepts. As in it is not so much about liking the individual character designs, but rather that liking the concept of the heroines as sisters to the protagonist. As this seems to have worked well enough to keep the company afloat I am not so sure about the new direction since as Micchi said, the writing is much more important.

I have always hoped for Cube to get their writing back together as I like their art. Not because it is amazing from a technical standpoint, but rather from an expressive one. Technically it is not the most amazing but remains clean and simple, the subtlety of pastels without the overly sugary and childish feeling. But what has always struck me is how good they are at conveying the emotion of the given situation through very subtle expression. Mostly because it is rarely seen when most artists focus entirely on the technical aspect to make things look all shiny. At least this is the case for Kanekiyo Miwa. Kantoku on the other hand is one of the worst professional artists I have seen. As they don’t know what they are doing even from pure technical standpoint. Let alone when it comes to expression it feels like looking at sock puppet zombies. So there is an interesting contrast in Cube’s art.

So in conclusion, yay for using their good artist. I only wish their writing staff could follow suit. Let all the terrible writers who rely on gimmicks like the word “Imouto” stick with Kantoku so we can easily sift the good and bad with a glance.

Just because you said that, watch their next game be about imoutos.

So, like their last what, three games? I wouldn’t be surprised. But as long as there is only one little sister and the story is good I’d be fine with it.

Aoi Tori

Company: パープルソフトウェア (Purple Software)
Game site: アオイトリ
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
Located in the mountains is the girls-only mission-type boarding school Kirihara Gakuen. Males are forbidden from entry here, with the sole exception being Ritsu, who also serves as the priest for the school’s students. He possesses the ability to force ‘happiness’ on those he touches, especially those with whom he had sex. He is targeted by demons for his power, and thus he has never taken a step outside of the school since he was born.

Ritsu was embraced by the girls at the school, the “Angels”. He vowed above all to make others happy, to atone for his sin of killing a girl in the past. It was a daily life where he could barely keep his sanity as he switched constantly between purity and immorality. However, the story begins with the appearance of Mary, a vampire who had travelled for one hundred years, and the voice of a demon that whispered from a phone which had snuck into the school along with her.

Does the power of ‘miracles’ really make people happy? What’s the worth in being born into this world? This is the story of life, bound by a prayer.

Aoi Tori takes place in the same setting as Purple Software’s previous game Amatsutsumi, in fact it was written to be its contrasting work. The themes are pretty similar as well, but it may seem darker than its predecessor (and it’s set in winter). The seiyuu cast is stellar, with Kusuhara Yui, Akino Hana, Tachibana Mao and Suzuya Maya all on board (plus Ogura Yui as the demon-in-the-phone). I’m most interested in the ponkotsu vampire mascot Maia Mary and do-M kouhai/maid Akari. You have to play through Mary, Sayo and Risa’s routes before unlocking Akari’s. Then there is a final route. The story should be among the better ones this month, with many erotic H scenes (especially for those that love oppai). Be ready; the first H scene comes in the first minute!

Now Purple soft and I have always had a love-hate relationship. As a developer they have had a lot of good ideas in their stories, just well, failed to deliver on them. Mostly due to their writing. Much like rail and liar soft, same issue. No matter how interesting a game is when the writing becomes tedious or just not entertaining there isn’t much to care about.

So that said I have to say, what in the nine hells are they thinking this time? This plot feels like it came from some nukige with overly cute characters. The story is to put it lightly, all over the place. There appears to be an emphasis on trying to be as dark and dramatic as possible but just, no. First off the happiness thing is pointless, if it wasn’t for the touching and sex, fine he wants to do good to make up for his past, that is acceptable. But cheapening that whole theme for no good reason is the mark of a writer who doesn’t know how to hold their pen the right side up. Add onto that the attempt at creating a sad sack of vampire for no reason other than they can.

The whole thing is just a nukige so treat it as such. Either play it for the H scenes while holding ctrl through this sad excuse for a story or just skip and pretend bluebirds don’t exist. I like cardinals better anyway.

Scenario movie (spoilers)

Konya Dake Demo Tomete Kudasai

Company: ヘクセンハウス (Hexenhaus)
Game site: 今夜だけでも泊めて下さい
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
With nothing else better to do, the protagonist spends every day alternating between home and work like a machine. One day while heading home after doing overtime, he noticed a post on a social network site looking for a place to stay for the night. Even though he thought it thought it was obviously shady, he longed to experience just a little bit of thrill in his life void of stimulation.

He made contact with the person that wrote the post and headed to the meeting spot with both nervousness and anticipation. To his surprise, two girls who looked like high school students were waiting there. After confirming that they were the author of the post, he was about to lead them immediately to his place when they offered to give him a pre-payment first. They headed to a nearby park and he had sex with these two girls who he had just met. Afterwards, he brought them to his house and they fell asleep right away.

When he woke up the next morning, they paid him for the night and left while saying that they’ll see him again. Even though he was confused at how casual their meeting and departure had been, he wondered if he just happened to be lucky and thought it might not be such a bad experience. This was the beginning of a strange relationship with the two girls.

This is a low-priced nukige offering from Hexenhaus. What a lucky bastard. If you tried to do this in real life, you’ll probably end up in a white van.

Nukige, need I say more? At least this one is self aware though. I would rather they be direct about it than hypocritical like Aoi Tori.

Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody ~Afureru Omoi o Shirabe ni Nosete~

Company: ensemble
Game site: 想いを捧げる乙女のメロディー ～あふれる想いを調べにのせて～
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Otomelo, with after stories for all the heroines. There’ll be guest appearances from other characters in the similar music-themed Otokana series.

I can’t say no to more Mia and Kotone. But what about Koume???

Fandisk. Dunno why, this game was stupid as I recall.

Bokura no Sekai ni Shukufuku o

Company: かわうそソフト (Kawauso Soft)
Game site: 僕らの世界に祝福を
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the first title by Kawauso Soft. Kazuki took in a puppy that was on the verge of freezing to death on a cold rainy day in the middle of winter. He also let in a stray black kitty that often came to play with him. He welcomed both of them into his room and gave them food and warmth. Before he knew it, he fell asleep to the faint sound of raindrops and the whir of the heater.

When he woke up the next morning, there were two naked girls by his side. It appeared that the animals had turned into humans and wanted to repay him for his kindness.

Their repayment mainly comes in the form of sex. The bar isn’t really set too high for first time scenario writer Naitou Jiyuu, so I’m not expecting too much here as well. Just remember to always treat your pets well; you don’t know when they’ll become more than a companion.

If we exclude fandisks that is three nukige in a row, on a roll of easy commentary. That said if you are going to make such a game the art is paramount, so should probably focus on that a bit more next time. If there is a next time for them that is.

Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu

Company: SAMOYED SMILE
Game site: 夜巡る、ボクらの迷子教室
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
Haruki fulfilled his wish of becoming a teacher, but he soon became disillusioned after his ideals were shattered after witnessing first-hand the corruption at his first post at a private school. Ever since then, he has half-assed his job, having lost his ambition.

One day, his father Hidetsugu, who he broke off relations with, had a request for him from his hospital bed. He was the principal of the Fujiwara night school and he wanted Haruki to become a teacher for the remaining students and help them graduate before the school closes next year. In return, he would receive his father’s vast inheritance. While this alone should be enough to convince him to accept, Haruki thought that it would be a great opportunity to recover what he had lost.

Fujiwara is no ordinary night school; it is a school for drop-outs. Moreover, it is a place full of memories of his late mother. There were three students, as well as one of their daughters. While they aim to graduate from step one, Haruki hopes to finally be able to attain what he had wanted from his career.

This is not your standard school eroge. It’s much more heavier with all the characters, including the protagonist, having their own faults and problems. Other themes include familial relations, and misfortune and hope. I wouldn’t expect a true happy end here. Also, did they really have to put Riko in there? She’s really the token loli in every sense.

I always like more adult themed stories. It is so hard not to be sick of the high school romance settings when easily 90% of all eroge fall under that umbrella. That said they aren’t straying too far from the high school comfort zone with this one. Still this will be one of those games where the writing defines the quality. If they can make it worth reading all is well and this will be a good game. If not well it won’t even be able to aspire to mediocrity.

On that note I could not agree with Micchi more, the loli is completely unneeded. She obviously exists to be the token loli just to have one for the pedo crowd.

Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha

Company: CRYSTALiA
Game site: 絆きらめく恋いろは
Release date: November 24, 2017
Comments:
This is the debut work for CRYSTALiA, the newest AMUSE CRAFT brand. Touki is a second-year student at Murakumo Academy who is training as a katana smith. He attracts a lot of attention since his ancestor was a famous katana smith, but due to a certain reason, he spent all his time playing with machines instead.

The appearance one day of the ‘goddess’ Ayase, who claimed to be the guardian deity of his family home, was the trigger for many fated meetings:

The black-haired transfer student Saya, who he met on a moonlit night.
His childhood friend Tsubaki, who is the school’s strongest swordswoman.
His kind kouhai Shion, who has a habit of breaking her weapons.
The full-of-curiosity ojousama Freesia, who is an aspiring blacksmith.

These meetings rekindled his passion for swordsmithing, and his special bonds with the girls grew stronger by way of the swords which he crafted for them.

Pretty art and decent characters, but I don’t have any interest in swords at all.

This is just painfully stupid in such a pointless way. Much like those really silly modern knight school games. It is just standard game in a high school setting with a gimmick about swords to try and stand out as unique. Try harder. Even if you wanted to make a theme about swords at least change it to a historical or fantasy setting. There is no point in a modern high school and swords. The whole sword smith bit could be replaced by anything such as oh I dunno, painting? Looking at you Canvas. Which sums it up really, it is Canvas with a senseless and out of place gimmick instead of painting. Don’t expect much from the story other than a whole heap of cringe.

At least the protagonist isn’t a magic buffer.

So, what you are saying is, at least the protagonist isn’t from Aoi Tori?

Micchi’s Top 5 for This Month

1. Making*Lovers
2. Aoi Tori
3. Maho×Roba -Witches spiritual home-
4. Yurameku Kokoro ni Michita Sekai de, Kimi no Yume to Yokubou wa Kanau ka
5. Abnormal Lovers

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu
2. Making＊Lovers
3. Azayaka na Irodori no Naka de, Kimi Rashiku

I wish it was still summer.

I wish it didn’t still feel like summer.