Review of final
An endearing lovely (pun intended) eroge, which doesn’t stand out particularly in originality but contains some unusual and dissimilar features, which turns it into a very enjoyable experience.
It is perfect for anyone who is seeking a cozy romance with many wholesome interactions with no sinking drama.
I was very pleased and didn’t feel my time wasted, but before I delve into the the qualities and flaws, I have to call out the elephant in the room or maybe the machine translation in the room.
Sadly yes, the visual novel is translated with the usual abominable MTL, so expect phrases which fall in nonsense, pronouns all over the place and cryptic description that require you a master in archeology. It’s the main roadblock to a complete delightful experience, despite the fact that you will eventually get used to, it does not reach levels of dreadful illiteracy. Nevertheless if you can sustain MTL the other threat in the room is the untranslated UI.
The UI here is fundamental for the gameplay, since sex scenes depend from a minigame.
Let me explain, every time you end a story vn segment you get thrown into a semi sandbox where you have to interact with different places to raise your stats, or encounter the heroines there to progress their respective path. Thankfully the game lets you know where the heroine is before hand, so you don’t have to wander aimlessly, but it also pretends from you to manage your stats basing yourself on these activities. These stats are DEX, VIT and LOVE, and they change the likability of the LI and how sexier the H scene will be. So you just have to simply do train activities to raise them, right? Wrong each stat is specific to an heroine’s liking therefore in two different paths I had done the same activities, but in one only DEX was active, while in the other VIT and LOVE were. It may sound headache inducing (which it is a bit) but after a bit of trial and error and online translation you will get through it, hopefully.
Now we can set aside the mechanics and discuss the flesh of Lovely x Cation: the story and characters.
The plot is relatively simple a shut in hikikomori is pushed by his uncle to become a better person starting from getting a girlfriend. In his last school days he will find five possible love interests that will become his lover.
Very plain and straightforward narrative, it doesn’t have a narrative clue with tension or drama but it’s kept linear with the slice of life structure that is aiming.
What it excels although is at crafting the protagonist which is a define character, you seem him grow, trying to get better, such as beating his shyness and actually trying to interact with others.
Although his persona kinda fades away during some later H scenes, such as turning into an aggressive pervert, I think overall it’s well done and he has shining moments of being his own persona rather than a complete self insert character.
Now for the beating heart of the game, the love interests.
There are five: in total: the perfect classmate Yuuki, the sunshine P.E. Teacher Misasa, the cold and shut in Aya, the stoic but elegant nurse/teacher Sera and the popular Yuni.
All the heroines are diverse and separate, in multiple manners not only just in character traits.
As another review mentioned, two of these LIs are uncommon, being not only older than MC but teachers. Therefore their role is playing the taboo of student and superior.
Sadly not all girls’paths are equal in quality, the ones that stand out to me and had some fantastic moments were Misasa’s and Aya’s romance.
Misasa is the P.E. teacher of the school, a ray of sunshine, a bit naïve but genuine and energetic, she is the exact opposite of the asocial protagonist but how their love blossom and collimates in a confession full of pathos is just great, it’s one of the highest moments of Lovely x Cation imo, it also plays with aforementioned teacher/student roleplay where this time, it’s Misasa to step over the line and MC is the one to shy away, thinking he is not worthy. The second route that I like just as much is Aya’s. if Misasa is the opposite, Aya is the reflection of the main character, a cold shut-in, distant socially and humanly with others. The relationship between the two begins as a comical banter of silent gazes and random encounters till it ends in a wholesome conclusion.
If the game was focused only on these two it would be perfect, but it has three other character routes which I didn’t enjoy as much but are still of good quality, aside from Yuni which I found her path to be irritatingly annoying.
Sera is the nurse teacher and is the one where the vn heavily uses for the taboo aspect, it’s well done and unique, I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought, but I recognize originality.
Yuuki is fine, is a classic romance option that you have seen in other eroges, while Yuni is a route that I found irritating par se. Her story is all about pretending to be fake lovers so she can be freed of all the harassers and MC was chosen for this role. You already know now how it will end, with both of them falling in love. Albeit the idea fair on paper, it is executed frustratingly with a tedious pace, where you are just waiting for their love to blossom but it ends more in a sex friendship till the end confession. This going and forth is annoying and it even has an assault scene from the MC to her angered that when the school ends, he will never obtain her. It felt out of place, not what was expecting for a game that advertises as a wholesome romance, but still, even if I disliked it, it has still some solid moments, maybe I’ll replay it later to view if I changed my mind.
Overall If I had to rate them it would be: Misasa>Aya>Sera>Yuuki>Yuni.
With all points adjusted on the bachelorettes, there is to add just one element that the routes all share. Their stories reach their peak before and during the confession, after that the tension is dissipated for the most part and it’s juts random wholesome moments. Now I am not complaining about it overall, since it’s the main advertisement of the game and the one I was also expecting, but if you are desiring for something more such as story arcs or tension you’ll remain disappointed, it’s cozy vn first and all, but I won’t lie that I was left aching for more.
The art design and direction is standard Japanese eroge; with settings that are more akin to a daily Japanese school life, you have seen them countless of times either in anime or other vns, here they are the same.
Although I really appreciate the LIs designs, they have different body structures, hairstyles, faces and (yeaaah) breasts. Unlike other vns where they just use the same body and swap colors or hair, here the characters are not only distinct but their presentation reflects their personality. Sex scenes are also pleasantly diverse and erotic, I don’t have much to say, they have my seal of approve.
The music is serviceable, it’s does the job of establishing a rom-com setting but soundtrack will probably remain etched in your mind.
The voice acting is also the same, some actors are more memorable than others, Misasa’s va is fantastic and I cannot think of anyone else suited for the role, energetic and charming. Instead Yuuki is what you expect from a typical eroge school girl, Aya is also very nicely interpreted with her dithered and distant voice.
I was rather surprised from a side comical character that has like 8 lines in total(?), his va is giving their all, he is so over the top and explosive that it catches me offguard every time he speaks, give an award to that man!
Now I will mention the H anime adaption (it won’t affect at all the review score but I’ll talk about it briefly nonetheless), it’s good… for purely masturbation. If you are expecting a worthy adaptation of the novel to the animation, you’ll remain disappointed. Characters’ traits are butchered to the minimum, the MC lost his temperament and it’s the typical hentai faceless protagonist, there are no arcs, it’s great as an hentai but a disservice, honestly, to the source material.
For example if you watched it first (like me), you’ll have a complete diverse idea on Misasa. Lost in translation is her cheerfulness, warming love and scatterbrained attitude, only her ingenuity is maintained, and paradoxically her teacher distance behavior is added whereas in Sera is absent. So take it what you will, if you expect an extension of the vn you’ll remain bothered but if you came from the anime (always like me) you’ll be happily satisfied to see more development.
Concluding I recommend it, I really enjoyed it despite the MTL or other hindering obstacles across the road, and I wish other visual novels of Hibiki works got on this site, or you know… translated but it is what it is.
I give a 4 star rating, but a 4/5 closer to a three star than a five star, if it had an actual translation it would be still a 4/5 game, meaning a good one, but closer to five star than three.
An endearing lovely (pun intended) eroge, which doesn’t stand out particularly in originality but contains some unusual and dissimilar features, which turns it into a very enjoyable experience.
It is perfect for anyone who is seeking a cozy romance with many wholesome interactions with no sinking drama.
I was very pleased and didn’t feel my time wasted, but before I delve into the the qualities and flaws, I have to call out the elephant in the room or maybe the machine translation in the room.
Sadly yes, the visual novel is translated with the usual abominable MTL, so expect phrases which fall in nonsense, pronouns all over the place and cryptic description that require you a master in archeology. It’s the main roadblock to a complete delightful experience, despite the fact that you will eventually get used to, it does not reach levels of dreadful illiteracy. Nevertheless if you can sustain MTL the other threat in the room is the untranslated UI.
The UI here is fundamental for the gameplay, since sex scenes depend from a minigame.
Let me explain, every time you end a story vn segment you get thrown into a semi sandbox where you have to interact with different places to raise your stats, or encounter the heroines there to progress their respective path. Thankfully the game lets you know where the heroine is before hand, so you don’t have to wander aimlessly, but it also pretends from you to manage your stats basing yourself on these activities. These stats are DEX, VIT and LOVE, and they change the likability of the LI and how sexier the H scene will be. So you just have to simply do train activities to raise them, right? Wrong each stat is specific to an heroine’s liking therefore in two different paths I had done the same activities, but in one only DEX was active, while in the other VIT and LOVE were. It may sound headache inducing (which it is a bit) but after a bit of trial and error and online translation you will get through it, hopefully.
Now we can set aside the mechanics and discuss the flesh of Lovely x Cation: the story and characters.
The plot is relatively simple a shut in hikikomori is pushed by his uncle to become a better person starting from getting a girlfriend. In his last school days he will find five possible love interests that will become his lover.
Very plain and straightforward narrative, it doesn’t have a narrative clue with tension or drama but it’s kept linear with the slice of life structure that is aiming.
What it excels although is at crafting the protagonist which is a define character, you seem him grow, trying to get better, such as beating his shyness and actually trying to interact with others.
Although his persona kinda fades away during some later H scenes, such as turning into an aggressive pervert, I think overall it’s well done and he has shining moments of being his own persona rather than a complete self insert character.
Now for the beating heart of the game, the love interests.
There are five: in total: the perfect classmate Yuuki, the sunshine P.E. Teacher Misasa, the cold and shut in Aya, the stoic but elegant nurse/teacher Sera and the popular Yuni.
All the heroines are diverse and separate, in multiple manners not only just in character traits.
As another review mentioned, two of these LIs are uncommon, being not only older than MC but teachers. Therefore their role is playing the taboo of student and superior.
Sadly not all girls’paths are equal in quality, the ones that stand out to me and had some fantastic moments were Misasa’s and Aya’s romance.
Misasa is the P.E. teacher of the school, a ray of sunshine, a bit naïve but genuine and energetic, she is the exact opposite of the asocial protagonist but how their love blossom and collimates in a confession full of pathos is just great, it’s one of the highest moments of Lovely x Cation imo, it also plays with aforementioned teacher/student roleplay where this time, it’s Misasa to step over the line and MC is the one to shy away, thinking he is not worthy. The second route that I like just as much is Aya’s. if Misasa is the opposite, Aya is the reflection of the main character, a cold shut-in, distant socially and humanly with others. The relationship between the two begins as a comical banter of silent gazes and random encounters till it ends in a wholesome conclusion.
If the game was focused only on these two it would be perfect, but it has three other character routes which I didn’t enjoy as much but are still of good quality, aside from Yuni which I found her path to be irritatingly annoying.
Sera is the nurse teacher and is the one where the vn heavily uses for the taboo aspect, it’s well done and unique, I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought, but I recognize originality.
Yuuki is fine, is a classic romance option that you have seen in other eroges, while Yuni is a route that I found irritating par se. Her story is all about pretending to be fake lovers so she can be freed of all the harassers and MC was chosen for this role. You already know now how it will end, with both of them falling in love. Albeit the idea fair on paper, it is executed frustratingly with a tedious pace, where you are just waiting for their love to blossom but it ends more in a sex friendship till the end confession. This going and forth is annoying and it even has an assault scene from the MC to her angered that when the school ends, he will never obtain her. It felt out of place, not what was expecting for a game that advertises as a wholesome romance, but still, even if I disliked it, it has still some solid moments, maybe I’ll replay it later to view if I changed my mind.
Overall If I had to rate them it would be: Misasa>Aya>Sera>Yuuki>Yuni.
With all points adjusted on the bachelorettes, there is to add just one element that the routes all share. Their stories reach their peak before and during the confession, after that the tension is dissipated for the most part and it’s juts random wholesome moments. Now I am not complaining about it overall, since it’s the main advertisement of the game and the one I was also expecting, but if you are desiring for something more such as story arcs or tension you’ll remain disappointed, it’s cozy vn first and all, but I won’t lie that I was left aching for more.
The art design and direction is standard Japanese eroge; with settings that are more akin to a daily Japanese school life, you have seen them countless of times either in anime or other vns, here they are the same.
Although I really appreciate the LIs designs, they have different body structures, hairstyles, faces and (yeaaah) breasts. Unlike other vns where they just use the same body and swap colors or hair, here the characters are not only distinct but their presentation reflects their personality. Sex scenes are also pleasantly diverse and erotic, I don’t have much to say, they have my seal of approve.
The music is serviceable, it’s does the job of establishing a rom-com setting but soundtrack will probably remain etched in your mind.
The voice acting is also the same, some actors are more memorable than others, Misasa’s va is fantastic and I cannot think of anyone else suited for the role, energetic and charming. Instead Yuuki is what you expect from a typical eroge school girl, Aya is also very nicely interpreted with her dithered and distant voice.
I was rather surprised from a side comical character that has like 8 lines in total(?), his va is giving their all, he is so over the top and explosive that it catches me offguard every time he speaks, give an award to that man!
Now I will mention the H anime adaption (it won’t affect at all the review score but I’ll talk about it briefly nonetheless), it’s good… for purely masturbation. If you are expecting a worthy adaptation of the novel to the animation, you’ll remain disappointed. Characters’ traits are butchered to the minimum, the MC lost his temperament and it’s the typical hentai faceless protagonist, there are no arcs, it’s great as an hentai but a disservice, honestly, to the source material.
For example if you watched it first (like me), you’ll have a complete diverse idea on Misasa. Lost in translation is her cheerfulness, warming love and scatterbrained attitude, only her ingenuity is maintained, and paradoxically her teacher distance behavior is added whereas in Sera is absent. So take it what you will, if you expect an extension of the vn you’ll remain bothered but if you came from the anime (always like me) you’ll be happily satisfied to see more development.
Concluding I recommend it, I really enjoyed it despite the MTL or other hindering obstacles across the road, and I wish other visual novels of Hibiki works got on this site, or you know… translated but it is what it is.
I give a 4 star rating, but a 4/5 closer to a three star than a five star, if it had an actual translation it would be still a 4/5 game, meaning a good one, but closer to five star than three.