Archive for the Yuri Visual Novel Category


Okazu Staff Reviews Studio Élan’s Dandelion Set

October 6th, 2024

In pink and white, a girl sniffs white daisies with yellow centers next to words in pink that read "Élan Garden Variety." Below, in white letters on a yellow bar, it reads"Dandelion Set."Studio Élan has announced a 4-story collection of short Yuri VNs as part of their own internal Yuri Game Jam, titled Garden Variety: Dandelion Set. Each of these stories are developed by a different team working with Studio Élan. All four of these games are playable on desktop. Individual games may be playable on Android or IOS. The idea of not having to log in, download, signing in, etc, piqued my interest – and short stories appealed. So, I reached out to our Okazu Staff members and we agree to each take one VN.

Today, Okazu presents 4 short reviews for the 4 short VNs of Studio Élan’s Garden Variety: Dandelion Set on itch.io!

 

Connect Rain! (v1.03 Gameplay Update) - Upwards, Rain! The Post Office ... Upwards, Rain!, Eleanor Walker

This was a sweet little game with an adorable twist at the end and I enjoyed it enough that I’d like to see more stories from this world/a sequel which explores the MCs’ relationship a little more. The characters are well thought out, I particularly enjoyed a certain one who only appears on screen towards the end and isn’t as black and white as she first seems. One minor character casually uses they/them pronouns which I thought was a nice touch as well. My only slightly minor gripe is that the puzzle solving could get a little repetitive, but that might just me not being very good at puzzles. Especially recommended if you’re an animal lover.

Overall – 7

 

On Wings Bringing SleepOn Wings Bringing Sleep | vndb, Matt Marcus

In a dark fantasy world, the fae, known as the Folk, live a secluded life in the forest. In ages past they had preyed upon humans, but after a human found a way to slay their immortal adversaries and avenge her loved ones’ deaths, a peace pact was formed. One day, a young Folk named Morgaine, shunned due to her inability to use magic, meets a beautiful human girl on the edge of the woods. I can imagine you can see where this is going.

If “dark fantasy” doesn’t give you enough of a hint as the tone of what the story includes, the developer includes a content warning for “implied domestic abuse, explicit violence, animal death, and toxic lesbianism”. If that doesn’t push you away, there are the bones of a good story here, if not a tad cliché. Morgaine’s magic struggles may make you think that ableism could be a central theme, but the story breaks a different way. To say any more about the story will spoil it, but I do like that our main character has an ex, and that the history of their relationship isn’t exactly what you’d expect. One thing I found odd was a recurring element of food being used more or less as magic recreational drugs, which makes a couple scenes that are intended as romantic feel unintentionally twisted. There are no interactive elements here, which could have allowed for some interesting narrative branching paths. I think there is some potential to expand this into a fuller game. It’s not going to blow your mind, but it certainly held my interest for the hour or so I played it.

Overall – 7

 

Yuri PaddleComments - Yuri Paddle: An Anime Convention Murder Mystery by Studio Élan, reviewed by Christian LeBlanc

I really wanted to like Yuri Paddle, because it has some good things going for it: murder mystery at a realistic-feeling, poorly-managed anime convention? Check! Compellingly charming artwork with a monochromatic pink color scheme? Check! Snappy, fresh-sounding dialogue with references to contemporary anime and manga touchstones and fandom/online culture? Also check!

Where the game falls apart for me is the characters. At one point, the manager of the convention talks the protagonist into temporarily ignoring a crime for the sake of the success of the convention, even though it could mean putting their guests and attendees in mortal danger. So while a panelist we meet is written as every negative, miserable person online who lives only to fight with people, I couldn’t help rooting for her, especially since she was directing her hostility at our protagonist.

For a murder mystery, we don’t even have a suspect, until the main character accuses someone in the middle of a conversation and the game just…ends. If the developers had had more time, then I think the story was meant to continue on from there and introduce us to multiple suspects, but as it was, it just felt jarring.

In spite of my negative impressions, I’d really like it if you could play this game yourself because you may have a completely different experience. The premise is solid, and the snappy banter and immensely enjoyable artwork may be more than enough for you to overrule my objections.

Overall – 4

 

Witch You Want | vndbWitch You Want, reviewed by Erica Friedman

It was a cute, fluffy Yuri romance. You are a young witch who suddenly finds herself in need of a job and the worst-rated potion shop in town (1 stars on Whelp!) needs help. What could go wrong?

We help Mirabelle, the bewitching store owner, who is flighty as a rescue kitten and as flaky as pretty much most of the witchy shop owners I have ever encountered (Which is actually quite a lot, now that I think about it. ^_^;) Can we help her rescue her reputation and save the shop? Well.. sure. And we fall for her, because it is a Yuri romance. This was the only weak area of the story. We think she’s hot from the beginning, but there isn’t any real time for us to bond. On the other hand, this is so short it now is the third VN I’ve made it all the way through, so yay for that!

Game play is in the form of relatively simple puzzles to build the potions and  and while they were not complicated, I still managed to screw up my last go. Luckily that didn’t affect the outcome. Recommended if you need some fun Yuri fluff.

Overall – 8





Akaiito HD Remaster, Guest Review by KatGrrrl

April 17th, 2024

Akaiito HD Remaster is a 2023 remaster of the 2004 visual novel Akaiito, which was originally released on Playstation 2. The remaster is available on Nintendo Switch and Windows and features English and Chinese translations for the first time. Akaiito tells the story of Hatou Kei, a high school girl who has recently lost her mother and travels to a rural village to check out her fathers house that she has inherited. During her 4 day stay, Kei encounters a pair of oni who are after her blood, as well as many allies who try to protect her, all while she learns and remembers more about her past.

Firstly, the technical aspects of this remaster. On Windows, the game forces a 1920×1080 resolution and can’t be changed, meaning you can’t play on anything with a smaller resolution without external tinkering. This also means the game forces a 16:9 aspect ratio, despite the entire game being 4:3. The controller mapping is set solely for a Switch controller, so with an Xbox controller or similar, A and B are swapped, which is very confusing. It seems the Switch version was priority here, with little changes being made for the Windows version. There’s a bug with selecting choices ingame, if you select the second option at a set of choices, then at the next set of choices the second option will be highlighted instead of the first, if you select the second option with moving it will instead choose the first option, making it easy to select the wrong option without knowing. Sometimes audio lines just don’t play. I also found at least 1 CG that wasn’t in the CG library for some reason.

This remaster includes Japanese, English and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) languages in all versions, easily changeable in the main menu. The English translation here is rough. It’s filled with typos and grammatical errors and at many times difficult to read. In particular is many accidental misgenderings, such as ‘him’ instead of ‘her’ and ‘man’ instead of ‘woman’, which gives off the vibe of a machine translation. There’s no text scaling for English chapter and ending titles, so they frequently get cut off as they are much longer than their Japanese counterparts. The tips page is always sorted by kana, even in English. Overall, this translation achieves the bare minimum, it’s readable but it’s clear to me that little to no editing or adaptation was done here.

The gameplay of Akaiito is more involved than a lot of visual novels, with 32 endings, 5 of which are true endings. There is no main route or ending, instead 5 character routes that branch off early, each telling different stories. The choices you make influence which route and ending you get and unlike other novels, I generally found it to be fair and intuitive. The inclusion of a flow chart was especially appreciated. That said, I did not like the seal system, where upon getting some endings you unlock other routes. It does not make any logical sense, it’s like if you did something in the present that changed the past, though luckily getting all the seals isn’t too difficult. Akaiito is fully voiced, with excellent voice acting all round. The art is beautiful with a large amount of CGs, characters designs are distinct and fit their characters perfectly. The music is a particular standout, capturing the atmosphere brilliantly, and remains stuck in my head many days afterwards. Despite there being 5 true endings, there is only one ending theme unfortunately, can’t have everything I suppose.

Japanese folklore is very present in the story of Akaiito, as well as themes of death, family and love. At the start of the story we learn Kei’s mother has recently passed away. Whilst Kei acts tough, traveling to a rural village on her own, she is sometimes reminded of her mother and shows that she is still struggling. These moments are small but help the character feel grounded and really stuck with me. Ultimately, each true route shows Kei overcoming this struggle by either finding new family, or re-finding old ones. The driving force for this arc is a millennium old struggle against a power hungry god. As a villain, he and his motivations aren’t particularly interesting, but adequately provides tension to fuel the story. Kei finds herself in the midst of this as she has inherited from her father, the Nie no Chi, a special and powerful blood that can revive the sealed away god. Kei is routinely attacked by a pair of blood-sucking oni, and depending on the route, it is the girl who saves her that Kei starts to form a strong bond with. How strong this bond is depends on your choices, fail and you will get one of the many truly tragic endings, which can often see Kei sacrificing her life to save the ones she loves. Akaiito really utilises the potential of the medium here to tell such heartrending endings you wouldn’t normally see. Overall, this storyline is where Akaiito truly shines, Kei’s journey of discovery, of herself and her past, as well her future and how the choices you and Kei make impact that. But there’s still one big elephant in the room I haven’t talked about.

So, the Yuri. The game’s title, ‘Akai Ito’, is Japanese for the ‘Red Thread of Fate’, an East Asian belief of an invisible red thread around the finger of those destined to be true lovers. The Yuri in Akaiito is light. Despite that, many of the character routes in Akaiito are undoubtedly romantic ones, though not particularly overt.

Starting with the least romantic route is Tsuzura’s, because well, she’s a young child. This route was the weakest for me, Kei learns little of her past and her future is vague. I find it hard to place Kei’s relationship to Tsuzura, Kei doesn’t take on a particularly sisterly or parental role and it’s obviously not romantic, she cares for Tsuzura and that’s about it. In general, I did not care for Tsuzura. Nozomi’s route is the shortest and focuses more on her than Kei. I liked how it takes an otherwise uninteresting antagonist and completely changes how not only we the audience see her, but also how she sees herself. This route was ambiguously romantic, but given its short length I didn’t really find that an issue.

Uzuki’s route is likely the first route you’ll finish and largely focuses on her opening up and becoming friends with Kei. My favourite aspect of Uzuki’s character was her moral conflict, she’s an oni slayer who slays all oni, but Kei’s defence of Yumei makes things awkward. Thanks to Kei, Uzuki comes to realise that not all oni are evil, and in fact many oni have similar goals as her. As for her relationship with Kei, Uzuki is distant at first, but eventually starts to share intimate moments such as sharing a futon and Uzuki dressing Kei in a yukata, and by the end Kei has fallen in love with Uzuki. Frustratingly, the story ends before we get to see Kei confess her feelings or what the future looks like for the two of them.

In Sakuya’s route we learn of both her past and her past relation to Kei. There are few scenes where Sakuya sucks Kei’s blood (with consent) in order to gain its power, it’s very intimate albeit non-sexual. There are a couple moments in this route where Kei says she loves Sakuya but in a “I love you but not like that way” way, and I’d be fine with this if Kei later properly expressed her love, but unfortunately that never happens. Sakuya gets to confess her love for Kei, but bizarrely not in the true route.

The true route does have them living happily together which is nice, and they’re very clearly in love, so I find it annoying how the game gets so close to and then weasels its way out of having them say it. This and Uzuki’s route show the biggest issue I have with Akaiito in the current day, with how it’s not afraid of depicting romantic love between girls but it is often afraid of describing it as romantic love. Yumei’s route is by far my favourite and you could also say it’s the truest route, as she and Kei are the ones wrapped by the Akai Ito in the game’s cover art. This route sees Kei learn the most of her past and her frequently choosing to have Yumei drink her blood in intimate scenes like in Sakuya’s route. Kei refuses to leave Yumei’s side as she uncovers the truth of her past and in the process falls in love with Yumei. The epilogue to this route sees Kei and Yumei living together, going food shopping in a scene that just screams ‘domestic lesbians’! In a way, it’s a simple ending, but an unambiguous and non-frustrating kind of simple that elevates this route above the rest for me, as ultimately, I can’t help but feel satisfied with this ending.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 5 intimate blood-sucking, onsens, Sakuya-san
Yuri – 3

Overall – 8

Overall, though Akaiito shows its age and the remaster leaves a lot to be desired, the story is absolutely worth a read even if the Yuri is on the light side.

KatGrrrl finds herself getting more addicted to Yuri by the day. Socials at linktr.ee/katgrrrl.





Black Rose Revue: Act 1, Guest Review by Ashley

January 17th, 2024

In classic 1970' shoujo manga black and white art style, we see a woman with short hair in a men's tuxedo, a woman with long black hair in a stylish "villainess"-esque dress and a woman with pale hair in a white dress between them on the sofa. The words "You Are Cordially Invited To The Black Rose Revue" are prominent in the middle of the image.Chihiro Sato is the rising star of The Black Rose Review. She has proven herself so skilled in her recent major role alongside top otokoyaku Rika Ikeda that she has now been picked for the staring role in the next production. But this rapid assent brings with it the problems of antagonistic seniors and a mysterious E.M. who keeps sending Chihiro bouquets of roses.

So far only act one of Phantom of the Black Rose Revue is available on itch.io and it does everything a good opening should do.

The game wastes no time introducing us to the cast. Everyone has at least one scene that gives us their deal or mystery. It truly is the very start of this story so we really only have the very first threads of characterization to chew on, with the exception of Chihiro, who is already a rising star, not a student. This is a choice that elevates her instantly compared to other similar characters like Kageki Shoujo‘s Sarasa Watanabe, Revue Starlight‘s Karen Aijou or the characters from Awajima Hyakkei.

Chihiro already has a role in the Black Rose Revue and so the focus is on how she can further her career; rather than if she is suited for it at all. A refreshing change from the usual when it comes to stories about performers. The adult world of working in the theatre is not a distant haze that Chihiro is striving for, but a world that she is trying to live in.

With that, what a world indeed for Phantom of the Black Rose Revue to take place in! What this preview does best in the short time it takes to play it is provide us with a monochromatic optical feast. The character designs homages to Riyoko Ikeda right down to the powerful reaction sprites lovingly spelled with sharp highlights. But the stark black and white look of manga goes far beyond the characters and into the backgrounds. The backgrounds are drawn in the same style as the character designs allowing both to mesh together into a single image far better than games with a team more than triple the six people credited for the team here. Combined with lively sprite direction it makes the visual elements of this visual novel far more important than many others. I often found myself taking the time to just look at an animation or transition over and over because of the incredible synergy Phantom of the Black Rose Revue is capable of.

It is this effort to keep the different visual elements of the game congruent with each other that stands out the most in this brief demo. When the finished game is available to buy we can be certain that it will have a unique and complete sense of style, something that very few games manage to achieve.

No ratings yet, as this is only the beginning of the story.

Phantom of the Black Rose Revue can be downloaded on Windows, MacOS and Linux at name your own price on Yamino’s itch.io page.





77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation, Guest Review by Patricia B.

January 18th, 2023

Title image of 77 Oleander Avenue, Ghost House Investigation, written out in white letters. The image is dark and moody, showing a brown-skinned woman with red short curly hair, hunched over herself, blood visible on her white tank top. A wine bottle label shows a woman in a red dress. A broken window in the background.Welcome to our first Guest Review Wednesday of 2023! I’m extremely pleased to welcome back Guest Reviwer, Patricia B. on her own account and also because she is here to tell us all about a Visual Novel of note. Thank you Patricia, the floor is yours!

My name is Patricia Baxter (she/her). I am a bisexual autistic writer who has previously written articles concerning how media represents different marginalized communities. You can find more of my work through my personal website “Autistic Observations”.

July 22nd, 2022.  Tabby, a paranormal investigator, wakes up in a dilapidated and abandoned house without her phone, wallet, keys, or memory of how even she got there.  She quickly realizes that she is not alone in the house, upon meeting a ghost named Evie who is significantly better at being adorable than she is at scaring people.  Tabby soon sets up a plan: find her lost items, remember why she woke up at 77 Oleander Avenue, learn more about Evie, and perhaps even uncover the truth behind the house’s final residents: the Larkspur family.  That is if she can survive the night.

77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation is a visual novel that reminded me just how much I love video games and the unique forms of storytelling that can only be experienced through the medium.  Runa Liore Winters pulled no punches in crafting a horror game that is deeply unsettling to experience, even upon re-exploration.  The writing, visuals, and audio design, all work in tandem to create a place that may have been a house once but was never really home.  The sound design deserves especially high praise, both for its soundtrack and sound effects, which not only allow the player to empathize with the experiences of the protagonists but also feel the house’s hostility surround them through their headphones.  Furthermore, the interactive and cyclical nature of video games helps add to the terror of being trapped in a haunted house.  

At its core, 77 Oleander Avenue is a queer horror game both in terms of its protagonists and central themes.  Tabby and Evie are two delightful lesbians who are the type of endearingly charming people I would be more than happy to befriend in reality and still clearly human in their complexities and personal baggage.  Additionally, the game posits important questions about queerness and how it impacts how we are remembered after we are gone.  In a world deeply entrenched in cissexist and heteronormative ways of viewing people, historical accounts of queer people tend to be ignored at “best” or have their lives entirely rewritten at worst.  It has only been recently through the efforts of the LGBTQ+ community, that we are beginning to uncover those lost histories.  Tabby considers this question as she explores the house, and we see the effects of this erasure as we learn more about Evie’s past.

For all my praise for this game, it is still one where I insist upon reading the content warnings the developer helpfully provides before fully diving in, as the game is full of scenes that may be deeply triggering for queer players and/or those who grew up in abusive households with strict religious upbringings.  I personally found it was better to play the game over three days, one for each level of the house, as this was an effective way of tackling the game’s heavy content without emotionally exhausting myself.

Overall, 77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation is an exquisite example of the type of stories we can only tell in video games, and one of the greatest examples of queer horror I have ever experienced.  And yes, you can pet and name the (metal inanimate) dog.

You can purchase the game either on Steam or itch.io.

Visual Art: 9 (the game relies more on photography than the digital art typically associated with indie games in the genre, so YMMV on how well that works for you)

Music & Sound Design: 10
Story: 10
Characters: 10 (Tabby & Evie feel like real people, as do the other characters for better and for worse)
Service: 0 (violence is there for discomfort, not salaciousness)
LGBTQ+: 10 

Overall: 10

Thank you so much, Patricia!  This sounds like an intriguing visual novel that I am sure folks here will be interested in.





Perfect Gold Visual Novel, Guest Review by Eleanor W.

June 9th, 2021

Welcome back to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! Today we welcome back Eleanor, who has graciously offered to cover a new Yuri Visual Novel. You all know the rules – please give her a warm welcome and take it away, Eleanor, you have the mic. ^_^

It’s nice to be back. This time I’m reviewing Perfect Gold, a Yuri visual novel from Filipino developers Yangyang Mobile. Quite the contrast from my last Okazu review, which took me all the way to London to review the British Museum manga exhibition. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @st_owly. I mostly post about anime and manga, but also some silly stuff too, especially on Twitter.

“In this short, coming-of-age yuri visual novel, play as Marion LaRue and Audrey Clary as they explore the magical city of Castlecoast and get a second chance at love and friendship.” – Description of the game on Steam.

I don’t remember exactly how I ended up backing the Perfect Gold Kickstarter, I probably saw it, thought “that looks cute” and backed it. It’s also really nice to have a visual novel that isn’t 18+, and is instead just completely adorable. Now that it’s been released, I’m very glad I did support it, and I’m going to keep an eye on the developer to see what they do next.

The gameplay alternates between the points of view of the two main characters, Audrey LaRue, an enthusiastic country girl who’s come to the big city of Castlecoast to study at the prestigious LeFay Academy, a school of magic and alchemy. Marion’s rival/love interest is Audrey Clary, aka “Princess”, a girl from a noble family who’s expected to be top of the class, follow her parents into the alchemy business, and to marry a suitable boy her parents have picked out once she’s graduated from the Academy. That is, until Marion comes along and changes all of that.

The game is set in a medieval Europe-ish inspired world with alchemy and magic, but also has some modern concepts like magazines and photography. Background art of the various areas is neatly done, the music is Celtic folk inspired and perfectly pleasant to listen to. The characters are very nicely designed and their facial expressions are lively and interesting, particularly Marion’s. I especially enjoyed her surprised/embarrassed face. The voice acting is polished and each character is distinct. My only (very minor) gripe, being British myself, is Audrey’s posh British accent isn’t quite right, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the game too much.

Playing through the game, I found the story in the first half a bit slow, but towards the end I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. The story utilises a lot of flashbacks to show how the relationship between Audrey and Marion evolved to what it is in the present, and the way the characters react to certain situations certainly seems believable for teenagers who aren’t quite sure how love works yet. Audrey’s inner conflict between what’s expected of her by her family and what she wants to do is especially well done and the highlight of the game for me.

The other thing I really liked about the game is that LGBT+ people and same sex relationships seem completely normal to most people (apart from the rich alchemist families). One of the professors at the academy uses they/them pronouns, and it isn’t commented on at all by anyone, other people just use “them” perfectly naturally to talk about the character. Another minor character calls Marion and Audrey a cute couple with no judgement attached.

For an evening’s escapism and something cute to make you squee, it’s worth getting. It’s currently £5.79 on Steam ($7.19 through June 14th, $7.99 normally) for just the game, or you can get a deluxe bundle pack with the soundtrack and a digital art book for £14.79. ($19.69 on sale, $23.99 normally.)

Ratings:

Art – 8. Nothing revolutionary but perfectly pleasant and well put together with nicely styled character designs.
Story – 7. Took a while to get going, but a very cute first love story once it did.
Characters – 9. The characters were my favourite part of this game. Marion and Audrey were realistic awkward teenagers, and having been an awkward closeted teenager myself once upon a time I found them very relatable. The other minor/side characters were well written and helped the story flow along nicely too.
Service (level of salaciousness) 2. Marion’s big sister Simone makes an appearance towards the end, and she gave me a lot of “oooh tall pretty goddess lady” vibes, but there’s not even any cleavage anywhere and the most you see on screen is a kiss between Marion and Audrey. I would have no problems whatsoever letting a young teenager play this.
Yuri/LGBT+ – 9. Major points for casual non binary inclusion and homophobia not really being a thing in this world.

Overall – 8. A cute way to spend an evening.

Erica here: Thank you very much Eleanor, for the lovely review. How excellent that the game is on sale right, so people can  enjoy it even more. Happy Yuri VNing  for Pride month.^_^