May 2018 Eroge Releases

You can feel that spring and magic are in the air. It’s the season when spirits offer to be your cupid, your childhood friend returns to live with you, and you stumble into a secret gathering of witches. Navel also makes their first non-Tsuriotsu game in a while (Kimi to Mezameru Ikutsu no Houhou) and Tinkle Position affirms its position as an imouto-ge specialist (Onii-chan, Asa Made Gyutte Shite!).

May is really not my month. Nothing much worth reading as there is little more than basic charage, and charage that try to cash in on a popular trend. A few games may be worth playing for their common routes, but don’t expect to be entertained for more than a few short hours.

Onii-chan, Asa Made Zutto Gyutte Shite!

Company: Tinkle Position
Game site: お兄ちゃん、朝までずっとギュッてして！
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
The protagonist suffered from severe asthma when he was small, so it came to be that his four imoutos would take turns sleeping together with him. One day, his researcher parents ordered him to take part in a demonstration experiment for increasing immunity through hugging. Every day, he must hug his imouto lovingly for at least ten seconds before sleeping. Won’t you affectionately embrace your overprotective imoutos before heading to bed together?

Of course, I will hug and treasure my imoutos who share mutual feelings with me! There’s a ‘hug click’ system where you can control how tightly you embrace her. It doesn’t really have any effect on the story. Each imouto also has their favourite type of hugs. Good thing I am a master hugger and will be able to satisfy their needs. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite among the four, although the classic imouto Sora or reliable imouto Kohaku (voiced by Fujisaki Usa) are both good choices! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

I have an iron maiden ready and waiting to hug these brats all they want.

Shamrock no Hanakotoba

Company: DOLCE
Game site: シャムロックの花言葉
Release date: May 25, 2018 Delayed to June 29, 2018
Comments:
Kouko heard an unbelievable rumour that her friend Nanaka was doing compensated dating and questioned her about it, but Nanaka brushed her off and run away. Worried about her friend, she started to search for her and ended up participating in the same activity as well. She hated it at first, but it was difficult to obtain information about this shady community unless she had first-hand experience. What she found inside was that Nanaka had become obsessed with the man who had also defiled her, and she decided to sell her own body to save her friend. It would be a negative cycle that would also entangle friends Matsuri and Aki…

Sounds like a dark nukige. That is the worst plan ever.

Well… that’s dark. Not terribly believable either. Can’t imagine someone sitting there and thinking “Well since my friend is a prostitute I’ll become one too.” as most people realize that is not a good thing. I mean sure kids are dumb, and can be convinced to do a lot of things through peer pressure, but I think if this seemed like a good idea to someone they would have been darwin’d by forgetting how to breathe at a much earlier point in time.

Kimi to Tsunagaru Koi Flag

Company: みらーじゅそふと (Mirage Soft)
Game site: 君とつながる恋フラグ
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
This is the first game by Mirage Soft. Due to a past trauma, Yuuto doesn’t have any close relationships with others and before long, he didn’t engage in any relations with girls. Then the tsukumogami Kikyou, who had been sent by the goddess of fate appeared before him, appeared before him.

“Let me be your cupid”

Realizing that she wouldn’t back down from her request and won’t leave until her task is done, he asked her to just go out with him instead, thinking that it would trouble her enough to concede. However, she did not have any problems with it and so they became a couple. Since they were now in a relationship, she could not return to the realm of the gods. The only way for her to return would be to form a new relationship which is deeper than the one that they had just created. That’s when he realized that only trouble lies ahead in his future.

It’s pretty much the Studio Ryokucha staff, although the story is written by first-timer Sukokan. I expect it to be a standard chara-ge with the common route being the best part. The trial was too short to get a good feel of the characters, although I know I like the pure and positive imouto Haruka already. She reminds me of Natsukoi‘s Ayaka a lot. Oh wait, they’re voiced by the same seiyuu!!

Konosuba the eroge. Next.

Kimi to Mezameru Ikutsu no Houhou

Company: Navel
Game site: 君と目覚める幾つかの方法
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
This is the 15th anniversary work by Navel. In the near future, androids known as automata have become commonplace in Japan, whether it be as friends or lovers, or working as labourers. Sousuke is an automata technician who runs the INa Motors shop, which he had inherited from his father.

One day, there was an automata girl collapsed in front of his shop. He thought that she had been illegally abandoned by her owner to avoid paying the disposal costs and was about to salvage parts when he realized that she was actually a human who had been dressed up to look like an automata. She had lost both legs and was fitted with automata parts instead of prosthetics.

He took the mysterious girl Hatsune in and was caught up in a major incident where limbs were being severed for sale on the black market. His childhood friend and policewoman Maika and prosthetist Mikoto helped him, but the situation becomes increasingly convoluted when an automata appears seeking to take Hatsune’s life.

Finally a game from Navel that isn’t Tsuriotsu, but the writer isn’t Higashinosuke but rather Kazuki Fumi, who most recently worked on Palette’s nine. The most startling part of the story is the group that severs limbs for sale, and are seemingly after Hatsune since she is an important person in the matter. If they are able to tackle this side of the story well, instead of merely using it as a tragic backstory for Hatsune, then I could see it being as popular of a title.

Ummm, yes. Nice to see Navel is still run by a bunch of crazed chimps on drugs that spend their days sword fighting each other with fountain pens where transcribing the ensuing mess becomes their next story. I don’t think anyone else no matter how bad the nukige story they come up with is able to produce such a menagerie of pure unrelated chaos. Girl with limbs hacked off by some psycho who wanted to turn her into their doll or whatever sure. That would be fine and could even be developed into an interesting and touching story about her trauma and helping her overcome it and want to live. Basically everything else though is nonsense and needs to be trashed. Who in their right mind would buy limbs being sold? Like organs are fine. People need those. Limbs? There are functional prosthetics, why would they need limbs..? I mean the very core of everything here is that you can have robo limbs. Assuming they come up with some nonsense to void robo limbs and make magical girl mecha feet special means the very concept of androids is voided. The two kind of go hand in hand ya know. To sum it up this is basically an incredibly poorly written Chobits meets Deus ex Human revolution.

On top of that the characters make everyone feel out of place. Why even have that whole random murderbot and cop drama bit. If you want to do such a thing then focus on it. Have the protagonist be a detective who finds her while investigating a case. Which then needs to give Hatsune a point. So maybe an attempt to use genetic modification along with muderbot limbs to make useful tools that can appropriately think and adapt beyond their programming. Doesn’t have to be good just ya know coherent and somewhat sensible. I can suspend disbelief, just not sanity. Pick an idea, stick to it, and match the characters to your story. I won’t ask you to write well, have good art, or even good story, just make some sense.

I suppose what I find most insulting is how it is a 15 year anniversary work. Try harder for something like that guys. In the end, all I can say is well, it’s a Navel game. Which, ever since they tried to do anything more than a basic charage means it’s going to be garbage if you care about what you read. If however all you care about are the characters and are willing to hold down that trusty ctrl key for most of the game, play it for Mikoto.

Shunkyoku no Tyrhhia ~What a beautiful dawn~

Company: ライアーソフト (Liar-soft)
Game site: 瞬旭のティルヒア ～What a beautiful dawn～
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. It was the third year of the Bunkyu era and the skies of Edo were dark. In the short ten years after Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy, Edo had been thoroughly transformed into a n ‘Engine City’ due to the arrival of steam engine technology from the strange land of Kadath via the West.

The young Shingyoto-ryuu swordsman Hachirou was given a secret order one day to pick up a package from Nobutomo, a great swordsman admired by both his older brother and uncle, in Shimoda and deliver it to Kyoto. It was a large box that resembled an ‘iron maiden’. While he was perplexed by its looks, he was more astonished when a doll-like petite girl came out from it.

The latest in Liar-soft’s steampunk series, with a return of Gahkthun‘s Tesla. I don’t have much else to say about it since it just doesn’t appeal to me.

My usual complaints about Liarsoft are about their writing letting down the characters and stories. In this case however the whole thing is rather uninteresting. There’s little to no real feeling of investment or necessity in the setting, the characters and their story feels just kind of arbitrary, there for the sake of being there. In other words the whole thing is strangely bland for a liar game. Better luck next time I guess.

Kimi to Hajimeru Dasanteki na Rabukome

Company: Campus
Game site: 二人と始める打算的なラブコメ
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
Kazuma has lived a tough life of poverty thanks to the debts accumulated by his carefree parents. After their deaths, he transferred to Mahoshi Gakuen in the middle of the year, determined and armed with a plan to become rich. He would use his pretty looks to target Shirayuki, the daughter of one of the richest families in Japan. However, she had absolutely no interest in him, having heard the same pick-up lines from many others before and wary of anyone outside of her family.

There was also one other person that Shirayuki trusted: her personal servant Nono, who also happened to be Kazuma’s childhood friend. Nono offered to help him with his plan. Why did she offer her assistance and will he be able to achieve his goal?

I know it’s a low-priced title, but just give me the kouhai!! Perfect around the house and yet mischievous… you can’t say no to Nono!!

Kazuma no Gotoku. Well it is simple enough so not really much to complain about or praise so my thoughts can be summed up as; No, no.

Kanojo to Ore no Koisome Dousei

Company: とこはな (Tokohana)
Game site: 彼女と俺の恋染同棲
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
This is the first title by Tokohana. Akira and Miyabi are childhood friends who used to play together often. Since their parents knew each other, their families regularly went out together. However, they’ve drifted apart in the years since she moved away.

Then one day, he was welcomed home by Miyabi when he came back from school. She had returned to transfer into his school, but she didn’t have a place to live in yet, so his parents offered her a place at their home. But since they were currently away for work, Akira will be living alone with her.

Miyabi smiled and said that she didn’t have any problem with it being just the two of them. While he had some reservations, he also wanted to be with her, so he agreed to try it out in the meantime and see how it goes. Thus begins their life together full of excitement and nervousness.

As the title suggests, the game’s theme is ‘living together’, specifically with a girl who’s had feelings for you since you were kids. And of course, there’s no adults in sight since they’ve been conveniently taken care of. So you can enjoy all the icharabu you want! Miyabi’s an ideal Yamato Nadeshiko, so this should be perfect for many that are just looking for some lovey-dovey moments.

Very simple romance game. I would prefer if the parents were at least partially there to give it more depth but it’s an eroge so parents are little more than ancient mythological creatures.

Yakusoku no Natsu, Mahoroba no Yume

Company: ういんどみる (Windmill)
Game site: 約束の夏、まほろばの夢
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
Ryouta and his childhood friends Nagisa, Serina and Himari have strange powers which only they themselves know about: the ability to manipulate feelings, the ability to talk from the heart, the ability to see the future, and the ability to see through lies.

One day before summer vacation, Ryouta came upon a strange girl dancing at his small town’s local shrine. Rinka came from the city and he felt a mysterious connection with her as she was the first person other than his friends that his powers worked on.

When the summer vacation began, they were led all around the town by Rinka under the guise of ‘sightseeing’ even though there’s nothing around to see. Before they knew it, they left the unanswered questions behind and just played around together – a summer full of love and mysteries.

One interesting thing to note is that Windmill has done away with using E-mote for this game, so it’s like a return to their older titles. The character relations seem decent in the trial, so we’ll see if they can keep it up through a whole game.

I approve of tossing the shiny but useless E-mote system. Focus on what matters instead. Only problem is, like I said, “Focus on what matters”. The pointless powers and running all over pointlessly are not good means to guide characters and their relationships. Such a cheap vessel to sail your story on is not what you should do after tossing out your very limited toybox of gimmicks. So in summary they dropped E-mote and replaced it with nothing. 

Koisuru Kokoro to Mahou no Kotoba

Company: Hearts
Game site: 恋するココロと魔法のコトバ
Release date: May 25, 2018
Comments:
Narumi is a second-year student at Asanoha Gakuen. One day, he headed to the Garden Club room to return something left behind by his classmate Kazane, but he inadvertently stepped on a magic circle that was drawn on the floor and summoned the spring spirit Haruharu. Since he had now found out that the Garden Club was actually a secret gathering for witches at the school, he was pressured to join the club to keep their secret. It’s the start of their time together which is slightly magical and warm like the spring sunlight.

Hearts continues their light magical chara-ge with Koikoro, with each route written by a different writer. Haruharu doesn’t seem to be related to AstralAir‘s Yukiyuki. I’ll probably end up playing it for the colourful Shiromochi Sakura art and cute kouhai Mikana (voiced by Akino Hana). Hau~ omochikaeri~!

There are few things in this world I hate more than magical girls. Ok sure these are “Witches” but honestly it is close enough for me to hate them on principle. Story wise well its a charage, so not much point to any of the setting or characters other than easy deus ex machina magic. Don’t expect much from the game itself if you want more than heroine diabetes.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Onii-chan, Asa Made Zutto Gyutto Shite!
2. Koisuru Kokoro to Mahou no Kotoba
3. Kimi to Hajimeru Dasanteki na Rabukome

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Kanojo to Ore no Koisome Dousei
2. Kimi to Tsunagaru Koi Flag
3. Kimi to Hajimeru Dasanteki na Rabukome

Remember to hug your imoutos every day!

I will invest in a pair of robo arm clamps to hug them all they want.