Couples ver. 0.34 review
The first item of business to address is that "Couples" is a Kinetic Novel. There are occasional instances where the reader has to make a decision, but the choices don't really have any consequence. An example would be an afternoon spent at a museum and the reader gets to choose whether to view paintings or some other museum-type display - late medieval suits of plate armor are prominently shown. The choices have no impact on the story progression or character development of any of the cast of characters. It's right there on the tin; it's a kinetic novel and the reader is just there to read the story provided by the author. This is NOT an interactive adventure or choose your own adventure sort of situation - it says it right there in the tags, guys, it's a kinetic novel.
The Cast:
There are four main characters in our story. The MC (can be named by the reader) is a physician who has seemingly just completed his medical training and has moved to the City (unnamed) to take on his first real job as a staff doctor at a metropolitan hospital. This is not a medical drama and the only effect his work has on the story is how it affects his time and impinges on his relationships with the other three main characters. He is gainfully employed in a steady job which provides sufficient income so that there is no real concern about money in the household. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd place his age at about 27. Honestly, a young doctor is the sort of person any mother would want her daughter to attach herself to. He is smart, financially secure, and a bit diffident or undemanding in his relations with the girls in the story.
Claire is the girlfriend (later fiancée) of the MC. She is a few years younger than the MC and best friends from secondary school (read high school for American readers) with Amy. Claire is an actress by profession, mostly commercials and background work. I'd place her age as no older than 23. She is the brunette and just a little too heavyset to really make it as a leading lady or glamorous actress. Interestingly, she also develops into a model (an actress/model, rather than model/actress) for print advertising and catalogue work. She is not a runway model and recognizes that she doesn't have the "model build" (not willowy enough or leggy enough) to really make it to the heights of the modelling business. She deals with her agents, mostly off page, and doesn't often involve the MC or their roommates in her acting/modelling affairs. It is unclear if Claire has attended University, although she is articulate and well-spoken with a propensity to read for pleasure. Claire is no dummy, but she is not what I would consider driven to succeed in her chosen field. During the course of the story thus far, Claire seems to be temporizing in her career. She takes advantage of opportunities presented to her and tries to further the career but without any real driving ambition. As an example, Claire works as an actress and does modelling yet does not perform any sort of exercise to tone her figure - something I suspect is very rare among women in her line of work. I get the impression that she really wants to be a stay at home housewife and mother when she grows up. She invariably prepares all the meals for the household, does the grocery shopping, and does the housework. She fulfills the traditional role of "mother" for the household.
Amy is the obligatory redhead in the story. She is presented as the best friend of Claire from when they were in secondary school, high school for American readers. Given her relationship with Claire, I assume she must be in her final year of undergraduate studies at University. For a bit of spending money, she works part-time as a bartender at a local dance club. Usually this means one night a week on the weekend. Her working schedule is mostly dependent upon whether the author, Neverlucky, wants her present for the weekend or not. While she worked consistently in the early going of the story, the frequency of her work schedule has fallen off in lately. She describes herself as bi-sexual, but has only had one boyfriend in her past. The one time boyfriend is described as not being in the same league as the MC in terms of equipment. When we meet Amy, she is in a lesbian relationship with Katie with whom she shares a room in the University dorms. Amy is an extrovert, bordering on being brash. She is the party animal of the cast and often instigates the group activities of our cast - preferably attending the dance club where she works (Claire aids and abets in the focus on the dance club) or poker night, played without cash. She is also a fitness freak who drags our rather diffident MC to the gym on a fairly regular basis, say, two or three times a week. She is presented as an active individual wo will open a book if required by her coursework but doesn't really enjoy being alone or engaging in solitary activities like reading for pleasure or even playing a solo video game. Over the course of the story, she does develop a bit as a character. Early in VN, Amy says she'll prepare breakfast for the MC saying, "I can offer you cereal, cereal, or cereal." The MC considers his options briefly, replying "I think I'll go with cereal." Much later in the story, Amy prepares a very creditable breakfast of bacon and eggs for MC. So, yes, Amy does progress as a character although we never learn what her major field of study at University might be and what her plans might include after her inevitable graduation.
Katie is a petite blonde of Swedish extraction. She is a died in the wool introvert and is described as being shy by Amy. When we meet Katie, she is the lesbian roommate of Amy who has never had a boyfriend in her past. At the start of the story, Katie has recently turned 18 and is in her first year at University. How she managed to hook up with Amy is unknown and not really important to the story. She is a very sweet girl and very polite. She will always say something like, "Thank you for including me in the group activity", addressed to the MC and Claire. She is the baby of the household and yet manages to manipulate her roommates to a certain extent simply by being sweet and cute. In her relationship with Amy, the redhead is definitely the dominent member of the pair yet Katie manages to get her way much, if not most, of the time. This extends to the MC and Claire. An example is Katie's dislike of spicy foods, resulting in the other three having bland Mexican food in order to accommodate Katie's preference. It's an interesting and realistic dynamic, Katie makes her wishes known and the others comply because she is so cute and sweet. The author should be praised for including Katie's efforts to manipulate the other members of the household in this way. Speaking of praise, Katie wants to be somebody's "good girl" yet Amy doesn't seem to twig to this and Katie is left hanging. At one point, she told Amy to call her a good girl, saying, "You have to say it." Amy, somewhat obliviously, manages to get words out but not in a praising manner. Nobody goes on to call Katie a "good girl" for the remainder of the story to date. It's a real wasted opportunity as she so desperately wants to please and be praised.
Models:
Neverlucky has used the same three models in at least one previous AVN called "A Knight's Tale" which started in 2019 and concluded after something like three dozen installments. Obviously, the dev knows the models and how to present them. While I previously stated that Claire (the brunette) is a bit hefty for her chosen field, the story does manage to admit to the fact that she does not fit the expected body-type of a model. As an actress, well, her looks are acceptable but not stunning. I would consider Claire to be a Mediterranean type; dark hair, eyes, and darkish complexion. Claire is the tallest, bustiest, and has the widest and largest ass of the trio. Amy is the freckle-faced redhead with a very attractive fit figure of middling height. Generally, one would think of her as being of Irish descent with a pale complexion marked by freckles and green eyes. Amy's figure could be considered compact. No one is going to accuse her of being waif-like, yet she certainly doesn't have the heft of Claire's figure. Little Katie is the smallest of the trio in every regard. Oddly, her waist is surprisingly wide compared to the other two girls. That is to say that there is very little shape to her torso when seen from the front. Claire comes the closest to an hourglass figure, Katie is shaped more like a brick. Amy is quite taken with Katie's cute little ass, mentioning it to the MC whenever the opportunity presents itself. Like the other two, Katie is not unattractive but falls well short of being a knockout. In each case, the models would be classified as reasonably attractive women/girls one might encounter in your local grocery store without finding your knees quaking from their ineffable beauty. I'd say they represent a good choice for a slice of life style AVN. The very fact that they not stunning in appearance makes them more realistic and lends credulity to the story.
Story:
There is no big quest or adventure being undertaken in this story. We begin by following the MC through his daily life: wake up, perform his toilette, have breakfast, go to work, finish work and come home to change his shirt, eat dinner prepared by the girlfriend (Claire), maybe help with the dishes, maybe watch TV or stream a movie, maybe read a book, maybe bang the girlfriend, set the alarm clock, go to sleep, wake up, etc. Friday night is established as Date Night and MC and Claire try to go out for dinner, or maybe a movie at the cinema, but invariably wind up having rather loud (on Claire's part, at least) sex before going to sleep without having set the alarm clock. I should mention that the MC and Claire are demonstrably affectionate with each other with frequent hugs and kisses. MC walks into the kitchen after having changed his shirt after work and Claire comes into his arms and kisses him, sort of affection. They lead a routine, but pleasant life as the MC adjusts to working a regular job and Claire tries to get bookings as an actress or model.
Shortly after having moved into their apartment, Claire invited Amy (her best friend from high school) to come for dinner and to bring along her girlfriend/roommate, Katie. It seems Amy and Katie may soon find themselves among the homeless as their dorm is going to be closed for some sort emergency repair or renovation. The result is that Amy and Katie move into the otherwise empty room in the MC's apartment. This marks the start of the household, two couples sharing an apartment. Make no mistake, it may the home for two couples but the apartment is the MC's and Claire's. It is said that Amy and Katie rent the otherwise empty room but no financial transaction is ever mentioned or depicted. They largely function as a single household. When practicable, Claire prepares breakfast for whatever household members are up and almost without fail prepares the evening meal for everyone. Mealtimes are spent at the kitchen table, much as I recall from my childhood sixty years ago with the MC and Claire performing the parental role of asking the girls (Amy and Katie) about their day and their plans for the evening and perhaps the coming tomorrow. Claire does all of the grocery shopping and meal planning. She is the mother figure of the household.
Eventually, Amy comes across a magazine article describing people engaging in an almost open relationship where a couple enters into a partner swapping relationship with another couple. The two couples already know and like one another and it is said that both couples find their lives enriched by the partner swapping. Claire seems intrigued by the idea wen it is described by Amy (Big Surprise!?) and asks to borrow the magazine for her own research. Not much surprise what happens from there. At first, the two couples dedicate Saturday nights for the partner swapping. Due to scheduling conflicts regarding Saturday nights, they decide to extend the "open" relationship deal to the rest of the week whenever circumstances and mutual desires allow.
The most recent event to affect the household was when Claire turned up pregnant! This was surprising to the reader as Claire has always been on birth control (the pill, I assume) since before the story started. The following week in the VN the MC manned up, bought a ring, and proposed. So, how will the presence of a squalling infant affect the couples in the future? Only time and Neverlucky will tell.
So, What is it worth?
This is a very long VN. I set the quick controls to "auto" and it took hours and hours to read through from the beginning to the end of ver. 0.34. While I certainly didn't devote my every waking hour to reading "Couples," it was spaced over days of real-life time. I'm retired. I have hours to spend reading an AVN, others may not. It is not that the VN is a slow burn. Sex scenes appear with regularity from the very beginning. The reader is not suffering from a lack of such scenes. However, many have complained about the slow pace of the stuff that comes between the sex scenes. There is no sense of alacrity about the scenes of the household's dinner and mealtime conversations. In other words, F95 readers object to the real world content that represent regular life for the characters. One reason may be due to the repeated use of the same renders (sometimes with the same dialogue) throughout the story. I swear, none of the three ladies owns more than four sets of clothes. We see them wearing the same clothes day after day after day. I understand that this means fewer renders being created by Neverlucky, but jeesh it becomes boring. Open your wife's closet and see how many different outfits it contains. Chances are real good it's a bit more than four.
Structurally, it is important to establish the daily rhythm of the MC's and later the two couples' lives. The Saturday night events need the routine daily life to be juxtaposed against. Even the running gag of the girls (Amy & Katie) listening to the bed creak and Claire's "AH!!" or "YES!!!" from the neighboring bedroom becomes part of the routine. Hearing Amy shriek, "FUCK ME! FUCK ME!" is best appreciated by comparison to the routine existence that fills the rest of the week. There is a balance that needs to be struck. Perhaps the routine can be established with fewer days before the girls move into the apartment. Later in the story, we skip days at a time - even weeks at a time as Claire's pregnancy advances. Could we fully appreciate the Saturday night events with less time and effort expended on the routine, mundane events and conversations during the intervening weeks? Well, I obviously think so... but how much to cut? How much of the mundane is required to establish the routine, yet pleasant, life led by the two couples?
I'd like to see more comfortable affection depicted between the MC and the two girls. As an example, when Amy and the MC go to the gym why not show them walking together with Amy's arm companionably around the MC's waist while his arm is draped across her back with his hand at her waist. Not a big deal, but show them liking each other and happy to be with each other. Earlier in the story, before Amy gets used to shrieking "FUCK ME!!" on a Saturday night, they could be depicted walking side by side into the gym without so much as touching each other. The idea is that everyone becomes more comfortable with each other. I refer to the MC because probably 85% of the story is told from his point of view. Similarly, think of the scene where the MC comes home from work saying, "I'm home!" why not have Katie greet him with a hug saying, "Welcome back." Are consumers of AVN's so conditioned that they think any little display of affection results in sex? Is that why characters eschew casual, comfortable hugs? In a VN where so much time is devoted to the commonplace and mundane, shouldn't simple affection receive its fair due?
I'd like to see the MC tell Katie she's a good girl. Picture Katie gleefully swallowing the MC's ejaculate and he says, "Good girl" perhaps leaning down giving her a kiss on the forehead. Katie would both beam with pleasure and melt. Isn't that worth depicting? He could even go so far as to begin calling her "my good girl." Wouldn't that just make Katie's day or week? Why have we readers been denied the pleasure of seeing Katie like that? When it's finally time to sleep, "Good girls get to cuddle." I mean, it practically writes itself. It's not some sort of subversion of the two couples concept to have the MC provide for Katie's needs beyond merely being better than Amy's strap-on. But, perhaps that's not the story Neverlucky wants to tell.
Enough of what could have been.
One factor I always consider in reviewing a VN is the English language usage. Compared to most offerings available on F95, "Couples" has very good to stellar language usage. I don't know if Neverlucky is a native speaker of English or if he simply has a very good translator. It really doesn't matter as the results are excellent. I would still suggest getting another native English speaker to proofread the script(s). It's very hard to proofread your own work for spelling, typos, and proper word choices. Dialogue should still sound like dialogue rather than necessarily complete sentences - not even English teachers always converse in full sentences. There are errors in the VN, some are merely typos while others are a bit more. However, given the sheer volume of dialogue and on-screen text, relatively few.
The VN seriously needs to be trimmed. The question is by how much. I haven't spent enough time going through it to make any meaningful decision. Fortunately, it's not my job. Sometimes, I guess, it sucks to be Neverlucky as he will be the one who has to decide. "Couples" has an interesting concept. It is almost a harem-type situation, but it's definitely not a harem. While I strongly believe the routine and mundane elements of the story are required, there's just too much of it. I guess I'd call it a three-star. It's almost a cop-out on my part, but that's where I land.
The first item of business to address is that "Couples" is a Kinetic Novel. There are occasional instances where the reader has to make a decision, but the choices don't really have any consequence. An example would be an afternoon spent at a museum and the reader gets to choose whether to view paintings or some other museum-type display - late medieval suits of plate armor are prominently shown. The choices have no impact on the story progression or character development of any of the cast of characters. It's right there on the tin; it's a kinetic novel and the reader is just there to read the story provided by the author. This is NOT an interactive adventure or choose your own adventure sort of situation - it says it right there in the tags, guys, it's a kinetic novel.
The Cast:
There are four main characters in our story. The MC (can be named by the reader) is a physician who has seemingly just completed his medical training and has moved to the City (unnamed) to take on his first real job as a staff doctor at a metropolitan hospital. This is not a medical drama and the only effect his work has on the story is how it affects his time and impinges on his relationships with the other three main characters. He is gainfully employed in a steady job which provides sufficient income so that there is no real concern about money in the household. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd place his age at about 27. Honestly, a young doctor is the sort of person any mother would want her daughter to attach herself to. He is smart, financially secure, and a bit diffident or undemanding in his relations with the girls in the story.
Claire is the girlfriend (later fiancée) of the MC. She is a few years younger than the MC and best friends from secondary school (read high school for American readers) with Amy. Claire is an actress by profession, mostly commercials and background work. I'd place her age as no older than 23. She is the brunette and just a little too heavyset to really make it as a leading lady or glamorous actress. Interestingly, she also develops into a model (an actress/model, rather than model/actress) for print advertising and catalogue work. She is not a runway model and recognizes that she doesn't have the "model build" (not willowy enough or leggy enough) to really make it to the heights of the modelling business. She deals with her agents, mostly off page, and doesn't often involve the MC or their roommates in her acting/modelling affairs. It is unclear if Claire has attended University, although she is articulate and well-spoken with a propensity to read for pleasure. Claire is no dummy, but she is not what I would consider driven to succeed in her chosen field. During the course of the story thus far, Claire seems to be temporizing in her career. She takes advantage of opportunities presented to her and tries to further the career but without any real driving ambition. As an example, Claire works as an actress and does modelling yet does not perform any sort of exercise to tone her figure - something I suspect is very rare among women in her line of work. I get the impression that she really wants to be a stay at home housewife and mother when she grows up. She invariably prepares all the meals for the household, does the grocery shopping, and does the housework. She fulfills the traditional role of "mother" for the household.
Amy is the obligatory redhead in the story. She is presented as the best friend of Claire from when they were in secondary school, high school for American readers. Given her relationship with Claire, I assume she must be in her final year of undergraduate studies at University. For a bit of spending money, she works part-time as a bartender at a local dance club. Usually this means one night a week on the weekend. Her working schedule is mostly dependent upon whether the author, Neverlucky, wants her present for the weekend or not. While she worked consistently in the early going of the story, the frequency of her work schedule has fallen off in lately. She describes herself as bi-sexual, but has only had one boyfriend in her past. The one time boyfriend is described as not being in the same league as the MC in terms of equipment. When we meet Amy, she is in a lesbian relationship with Katie with whom she shares a room in the University dorms. Amy is an extrovert, bordering on being brash. She is the party animal of the cast and often instigates the group activities of our cast - preferably attending the dance club where she works (Claire aids and abets in the focus on the dance club) or poker night, played without cash. She is also a fitness freak who drags our rather diffident MC to the gym on a fairly regular basis, say, two or three times a week. She is presented as an active individual wo will open a book if required by her coursework but doesn't really enjoy being alone or engaging in solitary activities like reading for pleasure or even playing a solo video game. Over the course of the story, she does develop a bit as a character. Early in VN, Amy says she'll prepare breakfast for the MC saying, "I can offer you cereal, cereal, or cereal." The MC considers his options briefly, replying "I think I'll go with cereal." Much later in the story, Amy prepares a very creditable breakfast of bacon and eggs for MC. So, yes, Amy does progress as a character although we never learn what her major field of study at University might be and what her plans might include after her inevitable graduation.
Katie is a petite blonde of Swedish extraction. She is a died in the wool introvert and is described as being shy by Amy. When we meet Katie, she is the lesbian roommate of Amy who has never had a boyfriend in her past. At the start of the story, Katie has recently turned 18 and is in her first year at University. How she managed to hook up with Amy is unknown and not really important to the story. She is a very sweet girl and very polite. She will always say something like, "Thank you for including me in the group activity", addressed to the MC and Claire. She is the baby of the household and yet manages to manipulate her roommates to a certain extent simply by being sweet and cute. In her relationship with Amy, the redhead is definitely the dominent member of the pair yet Katie manages to get her way much, if not most, of the time. This extends to the MC and Claire. An example is Katie's dislike of spicy foods, resulting in the other three having bland Mexican food in order to accommodate Katie's preference. It's an interesting and realistic dynamic, Katie makes her wishes known and the others comply because she is so cute and sweet. The author should be praised for including Katie's efforts to manipulate the other members of the household in this way. Speaking of praise, Katie wants to be somebody's "good girl" yet Amy doesn't seem to twig to this and Katie is left hanging. At one point, she told Amy to call her a good girl, saying, "You have to say it." Amy, somewhat obliviously, manages to get words out but not in a praising manner. Nobody goes on to call Katie a "good girl" for the remainder of the story to date. It's a real wasted opportunity as she so desperately wants to please and be praised.
Models:
Neverlucky has used the same three models in at least one previous AVN called "A Knight's Tale" which started in 2019 and concluded after something like three dozen installments. Obviously, the dev knows the models and how to present them. While I previously stated that Claire (the brunette) is a bit hefty for her chosen field, the story does manage to admit to the fact that she does not fit the expected body-type of a model. As an actress, well, her looks are acceptable but not stunning. I would consider Claire to be a Mediterranean type; dark hair, eyes, and darkish complexion. Claire is the tallest, bustiest, and has the widest and largest ass of the trio. Amy is the freckle-faced redhead with a very attractive fit figure of middling height. Generally, one would think of her as being of Irish descent with a pale complexion marked by freckles and green eyes. Amy's figure could be considered compact. No one is going to accuse her of being waif-like, yet she certainly doesn't have the heft of Claire's figure. Little Katie is the smallest of the trio in every regard. Oddly, her waist is surprisingly wide compared to the other two girls. That is to say that there is very little shape to her torso when seen from the front. Claire comes the closest to an hourglass figure, Katie is shaped more like a brick. Amy is quite taken with Katie's cute little ass, mentioning it to the MC whenever the opportunity presents itself. Like the other two, Katie is not unattractive but falls well short of being a knockout. In each case, the models would be classified as reasonably attractive women/girls one might encounter in your local grocery store without finding your knees quaking from their ineffable beauty. I'd say they represent a good choice for a slice of life style AVN. The very fact that they not stunning in appearance makes them more realistic and lends credulity to the story.
Story:
There is no big quest or adventure being undertaken in this story. We begin by following the MC through his daily life: wake up, perform his toilette, have breakfast, go to work, finish work and come home to change his shirt, eat dinner prepared by the girlfriend (Claire), maybe help with the dishes, maybe watch TV or stream a movie, maybe read a book, maybe bang the girlfriend, set the alarm clock, go to sleep, wake up, etc. Friday night is established as Date Night and MC and Claire try to go out for dinner, or maybe a movie at the cinema, but invariably wind up having rather loud (on Claire's part, at least) sex before going to sleep without having set the alarm clock. I should mention that the MC and Claire are demonstrably affectionate with each other with frequent hugs and kisses. MC walks into the kitchen after having changed his shirt after work and Claire comes into his arms and kisses him, sort of affection. They lead a routine, but pleasant life as the MC adjusts to working a regular job and Claire tries to get bookings as an actress or model.
Shortly after having moved into their apartment, Claire invited Amy (her best friend from high school) to come for dinner and to bring along her girlfriend/roommate, Katie. It seems Amy and Katie may soon find themselves among the homeless as their dorm is going to be closed for some sort emergency repair or renovation. The result is that Amy and Katie move into the otherwise empty room in the MC's apartment. This marks the start of the household, two couples sharing an apartment. Make no mistake, it may the home for two couples but the apartment is the MC's and Claire's. It is said that Amy and Katie rent the otherwise empty room but no financial transaction is ever mentioned or depicted. They largely function as a single household. When practicable, Claire prepares breakfast for whatever household members are up and almost without fail prepares the evening meal for everyone. Mealtimes are spent at the kitchen table, much as I recall from my childhood sixty years ago with the MC and Claire performing the parental role of asking the girls (Amy and Katie) about their day and their plans for the evening and perhaps the coming tomorrow. Claire does all of the grocery shopping and meal planning. She is the mother figure of the household.
Eventually, Amy comes across a magazine article describing people engaging in an almost open relationship where a couple enters into a partner swapping relationship with another couple. The two couples already know and like one another and it is said that both couples find their lives enriched by the partner swapping. Claire seems intrigued by the idea wen it is described by Amy (Big Surprise!?) and asks to borrow the magazine for her own research. Not much surprise what happens from there. At first, the two couples dedicate Saturday nights for the partner swapping. Due to scheduling conflicts regarding Saturday nights, they decide to extend the "open" relationship deal to the rest of the week whenever circumstances and mutual desires allow.
The most recent event to affect the household was when Claire turned up pregnant! This was surprising to the reader as Claire has always been on birth control (the pill, I assume) since before the story started. The following week in the VN the MC manned up, bought a ring, and proposed. So, how will the presence of a squalling infant affect the couples in the future? Only time and Neverlucky will tell.
So, What is it worth?
This is a very long VN. I set the quick controls to "auto" and it took hours and hours to read through from the beginning to the end of ver. 0.34. While I certainly didn't devote my every waking hour to reading "Couples," it was spaced over days of real-life time. I'm retired. I have hours to spend reading an AVN, others may not. It is not that the VN is a slow burn. Sex scenes appear with regularity from the very beginning. The reader is not suffering from a lack of such scenes. However, many have complained about the slow pace of the stuff that comes between the sex scenes. There is no sense of alacrity about the scenes of the household's dinner and mealtime conversations. In other words, F95 readers object to the real world content that represent regular life for the characters. One reason may be due to the repeated use of the same renders (sometimes with the same dialogue) throughout the story. I swear, none of the three ladies owns more than four sets of clothes. We see them wearing the same clothes day after day after day. I understand that this means fewer renders being created by Neverlucky, but jeesh it becomes boring. Open your wife's closet and see how many different outfits it contains. Chances are real good it's a bit more than four.
Structurally, it is important to establish the daily rhythm of the MC's and later the two couples' lives. The Saturday night events need the routine daily life to be juxtaposed against. Even the running gag of the girls (Amy & Katie) listening to the bed creak and Claire's "AH!!" or "YES!!!" from the neighboring bedroom becomes part of the routine. Hearing Amy shriek, "FUCK ME! FUCK ME!" is best appreciated by comparison to the routine existence that fills the rest of the week. There is a balance that needs to be struck. Perhaps the routine can be established with fewer days before the girls move into the apartment. Later in the story, we skip days at a time - even weeks at a time as Claire's pregnancy advances. Could we fully appreciate the Saturday night events with less time and effort expended on the routine, mundane events and conversations during the intervening weeks? Well, I obviously think so... but how much to cut? How much of the mundane is required to establish the routine, yet pleasant, life led by the two couples?
I'd like to see more comfortable affection depicted between the MC and the two girls. As an example, when Amy and the MC go to the gym why not show them walking together with Amy's arm companionably around the MC's waist while his arm is draped across her back with his hand at her waist. Not a big deal, but show them liking each other and happy to be with each other. Earlier in the story, before Amy gets used to shrieking "FUCK ME!!" on a Saturday night, they could be depicted walking side by side into the gym without so much as touching each other. The idea is that everyone becomes more comfortable with each other. I refer to the MC because probably 85% of the story is told from his point of view. Similarly, think of the scene where the MC comes home from work saying, "I'm home!" why not have Katie greet him with a hug saying, "Welcome back." Are consumers of AVN's so conditioned that they think any little display of affection results in sex? Is that why characters eschew casual, comfortable hugs? In a VN where so much time is devoted to the commonplace and mundane, shouldn't simple affection receive its fair due?
I'd like to see the MC tell Katie she's a good girl. Picture Katie gleefully swallowing the MC's ejaculate and he says, "Good girl" perhaps leaning down giving her a kiss on the forehead. Katie would both beam with pleasure and melt. Isn't that worth depicting? He could even go so far as to begin calling her "my good girl." Wouldn't that just make Katie's day or week? Why have we readers been denied the pleasure of seeing Katie like that? When it's finally time to sleep, "Good girls get to cuddle." I mean, it practically writes itself. It's not some sort of subversion of the two couples concept to have the MC provide for Katie's needs beyond merely being better than Amy's strap-on. But, perhaps that's not the story Neverlucky wants to tell.
Enough of what could have been.
One factor I always consider in reviewing a VN is the English language usage. Compared to most offerings available on F95, "Couples" has very good to stellar language usage. I don't know if Neverlucky is a native speaker of English or if he simply has a very good translator. It really doesn't matter as the results are excellent. I would still suggest getting another native English speaker to proofread the script(s). It's very hard to proofread your own work for spelling, typos, and proper word choices. Dialogue should still sound like dialogue rather than necessarily complete sentences - not even English teachers always converse in full sentences. There are errors in the VN, some are merely typos while others are a bit more. However, given the sheer volume of dialogue and on-screen text, relatively few.
The VN seriously needs to be trimmed. The question is by how much. I haven't spent enough time going through it to make any meaningful decision. Fortunately, it's not my job. Sometimes, I guess, it sucks to be Neverlucky as he will be the one who has to decide. "Couples" has an interesting concept. It is almost a harem-type situation, but it's definitely not a harem. While I strongly believe the routine and mundane elements of the story are required, there's just too much of it. I guess I'd call it a three-star. It's almost a cop-out on my part, but that's where I land.
