VN - Ren'Py - My Bully Is My Lover [Ch.1 Ep.4] [NiiChan]

Easily one of my favorite games out there. Has hot LIs, great renders, great animations, an interesting story and most importantly it's one of the few games I've played that evokes emotions other then horniness

I really love that you can just choose to run off with Emma and give her the life she deserved. The fact it's not intended to be a huge separate story just makes it more impressive that the dev gave us that route.

I would easily rate this 9.5/10.
it has its unique story(albeit it is full of cliches) which is full of melodrama and cliffhangers. I like how detailed each character's backstory is and how much effort has been put into the writing.
The writing and the story are the main highlights of this game. I mean it is such a well written script that goes way beyond what we see in regular VNs.
The story takes us on a journey well beyond the mundane and deep into the characters' heart and soul. I like it very much about this game.
Renders are good and the animation is like what we see in lot of the VNs. however, it feels a bit confusing with lot of characters without any defined relationship with the MC. And WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS LANDLORD, LANDLADY AND ROOMMATE SHIT WHEN IT IS CLEARLY GIVEN THAT THE MC IS THEIR BIOLOGICAL SON AND HAS A REAL SISTER, I am just sick of it. I mean with all the things going on, it feels cheap to even have this kind of option. It would have been okay if this was some cheap fap-only game. That's the only issue why i haven't given it a 10.

Definitely lost the thread the longer it went. Not just with too many LIs but with the plot becoming a mess and the writing getting more and more and more verbose until it sounds like some hybrid between a teenage girl's diary and an undergraduate's poorly written philosophy paper. Everyone sounds increasingly the same and they all are apt to just go on these long monologues or soliloquys for no reason and the actual content of their speeches barely even makes sense.

The visuals are fine. The animations are rudimentary but nice too. But in Chapter 1, it went from a fun, cute AVN to a chore.

I ignored this AVN for a long time. I assumed by the title, it was going to be a loser cuckfest but I took a chance and read some reviews and then decided to give it a try. Let me just say, it is NOT a cuckfest.

There is a lot to unpack as I am reviewing Ch1 Ep4 and I can't believe the amount of story content there is. There is not a lot of adult content, but the amount of story is crazy. Who ever is writing this, is pretty good. Some of the stoylines really tug at the emotional heart strings. The back story of Emy and the MC was just freaking awesome and the production and images were all spot on. Just that one story, IMO, is worth the download. Of course, if you don't give a crap about story and just want h content, you will probably want to just skip this AVN. Having said this, I have to say, there are several times there is just too much story.

Sometimes, when stories get too long, they can be cumbersome and plot holes start to appear. This is no exception. The whole underlying story is a bit off and does not entirely flow. I get Aine's Mom's motivation, but the way she goes about trying to get it, doesn't really make a lot of sense. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't expand on this, but it just seems to me she could have gone a whole different direction and been a lot more effective then what she chose to do. Then there is the plan concocted by the MC's mother. Again, it's just an odd approach that seems really farfetched.

To their credit, the Dev goes all in on this approach and it works to a degree. The character interactions and the individual story lines are really well done and very well written. It's too bad the underlying story is thin and unbelievable because there is some really fantastic writing here.

Anyway, if you like great writing and are not looking for a fuckfest, give this a try. You will not be disappointed.

It is one of the best VN with a unique fantasy that also includes some cliches, you can even call it too cliche (Emma's ending no offense to Emma simps).
This VN doesn't lose on its story, not to mention THE ANIMATION, THE MODELS (characters), THE STORYBUILDING (i mean the dev has another game that is in this universe, which is also really good btw, dev is actual 5head for that), its peak VN, it touches the most overrated genres (fantasy) or its own title even??
But what separates this game from other fantasy VN is its storyline which is rich with cliffhangers and even more cliffhangers AND EVEN MORE CLIFFHANGERS that grab your attention leaving you wanting more. Continue making bangers dev, and hopefully, this game will be available soon on Steam.

Beautiful renders, page-turning story, great cinematics and animations, incredible music, funny, interesting, mysterious, drama, all in this game, absolutely love it, cant ask for anything better, definitely top 5 AVNs

Edited review.

Started off well and cute, but very quickly devolved into too many LIs and the plot got really convoluted. I think that's a bit of the "anime type story" that the intro suggests, so maybe it's just not my cup of tea (I think others who rate this 5 stars will certainly argue as much), but even though I'm not an otaku I've seen a few anime and generally liked their stories much more than this (ofc this is just an AVN by a solo dev, not a multimillion dollar project). The villain in the story is too cartoonish and the setup to what will ultimately be the great reveal is too convoluted while also being pretty predictable.

Renders are typical HS1 quality. OK and cute, but a bit underwhelming for today's standards. They don't take away from the experience, but I also can't give a star for them

There's very little porn, so I can't give it an extra star for that either.

Exposition is a bit too basic. There's a lot of editing that could be done here. I suggest watching this: In Praise of Great Exposition

Choices are a combination of being too obvious and not consequential. Someone waves "hi" at you and you have a chance of replying to get +1 RP or do nothing and have no consequences. These days, I tend to prefer a system in which everything is a choice and either alternative will influence a relationship, like Paragon and Renegade points (or Love and Corruption, for example). I think developers shy away from having too many choices because they think this grows the # of scenes they have to create exponentially, but I don't think that's right. That would only happen if every choice created a different scene, but if scenes are dependent on cumulative score rather than specific boolean variables, they can still be pretty manageable. The result is at most you get 3 scene variations (one if you're above a certain Love threshold, another if you're above a certain Corruption threshold, and another if you're below both thresholds). But any of those 3 scene choices could also not exist at all so, say, if you're above a Love threshold you get a scene, otherwise you get zilch. So rather than "scenes per each choice variable", think of the scenes you want first and then create "scenes per threshold check".

SPOILERS below

I think I know where people are coming from on the "great writing" which is the fact that the bully turns lover, MC overcomes his perceived limitations to rise above the challenge, etc. etc. but none of that stuff actually happens _in_ the story. We start by already seeing MC transformed, the bully is a nice person, etc. We're just told these things happened and we're supposed to care, but if we're not shown them, it's hard to really care. See https://blog.reedsy.com/show-dont-tell/

Anyway, the setup is very interesting but the execution left a little bit to be desired. Dialogue and writing improvements could take this from 2/5 to 3.5-4/5. Render and animation improvements could further take it to a solid 4.5/5

I think this setup with cute HS1 girls with cat ears has been done many times before and I don't think this is the best rendition of that fantasy, unfortunately.

Just amazing. Love Emma solo ending. Love the dynamic between MC and the girls. The animations are smooth and sexy. The story is good enough for me to care about the LIs. My favorite moment is properly when everyone confront each other about how they all fell for one guy, and it's hilirious.

My Bully Is My Lover [Ch1 Ep3 Part 2]

What a great game.

• Writing is top notch. It goes from heartbreakingly sad to funny.
• Animations are really good too, way beyond the standard HS.
• Amazing OST. Don't play this with sounds off.
• Characters have great depth and you get to really know them, their struggles and motivations.

One of the best harem games we have.

Great game! I've been playing this since a friend recommended it. I love how the story from the earlier versions connects to the current one. Can't wait to see what the next update brings, especially with the moon's story.

The game hits the nail spot on when it comes to triggering emotions. Each and every character has such a good backstory and arc that it becomes tough to choose your favorite. Not just the main LI's but even other characters are well written.

Prime example of a game that gets better the further it goes on. The early parts of the game are poor but the further it progresses the more the writing, visual quality and sex scenes improve. The most recent updates have had some of the better storytelling that I have seen in the current crop of updating AVNs.

What stops the game getting 5 stars is the poor beginning, character models that are lagging behind the competition at the top, instead sitting more in the average range and some story elements being out of place enough in the world to make a serious story come across as goofy.

This is one of the top games to watch and for now 4 stars is deserved.

This game is a fucking masterpiece. The story, the plot, the characters, are amazing. It's a bit confusing at times especially since there are characters that weren't really introduced so I assume that the entire game is part of an extended universe type of situation, but the story more than makes up for it. The build-up and pacing is awesome, I have never been more blown away by a game like this before. This made me cry more than once and I love it. I love this game. To any of you reading this. DO NOT HESITATE TO PLAY THIS GAME!!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTE CLASS!!!

I honestly didn't know where the plot was going for the first 3 hours of this game. Sometimes, the game's plot simmers in a nice hotpot of cute and fun moments. Then, suddenly, it decides to slingshot you back into the main plot OR it takes a long ass break to tell you the entire backstory of a character that has been only mentioned in name for over 2 chapters.

9 love interests is way too much, in my opinion. The entirety of the "prologue", which is over 7 episodes, focuses primarily on 3 girls. There's Aine - your bully, Gwen - this delinquent girl you hung out with, and Emma - your childhood friend. The 6 other girls aren't really main girls, in my eyes. Hell, your "sister", Sky, doesn't get any scenes for over 7-8 episodes. I was going insane at how little content she even had. Freya is just the token playful loli character. Klara is just your mom - and it's like she's mostly on business ventures half the time, so she's barely characterized other than being the sole active connection to the dev's other game, Sicae. Moon has potential as an interesting character, but it's rarely capitalized upon. Naomi is just your damn repairwoman, so she doesn't even make sense in context of the plot. Finally, Lily is literally just there. They introduce her so damn early, but she is barely ever involved with the plot besides being your coworker.

By the time you catch up to current updates, there will only be a substantial amount of sex scenes for like 2-3 girls. There are like 10 episodes total. 7 for the prologue, and 3 for chapter 1. Total time reading through everything (light skimming here and there for me) will be like probably 9-10 hours.

Everything I love about the game: Renders are good, MC doesn't look awful, girls look really cute, animations are great, sound effects are there, music can be extremely corny sometimes.

The story can be super dull or annoying at some points. I started out really liking it. Now, I only half-like it. The mafia family plot stuff is pretty good, but it takes a back seat so often to what's the equivalent to a shitload of filler. MC sounds and acts like a real moron sometimes. The appeal is there for an anime MC, since the dev is adamant on how anime-like the story wants to be. But I just found some things he does so illogical and scummy.

I really question why the dev didn't just focus on literally the three main girls of the game (at least judging by how much content/screentime is dedicated to them???): Aine, Gwen, Emma. It's super confusing at times, because Aine gets her backstory passed by word of mouth early on, but no real flashback episode, like what the dev does with all the other girls. The game is literally called "My Bully Is My Lover".

That being said, I do think Aine, Gwen, and Emma are the peak of this game's story. Especially Emma's story with the MC - to the point that you can even have an ending with her alone. When any of those three are on screen, this game feels a little bit more bearable. Other than that, you have 6 pretty bland or dull characters that don't have enough characterization to validate feeling much during their more emotional moments.

Overall it's a solid 3. As much as I complained in this review, I love a lot of parts in the game. It's just the game is so spread thin when it comes to characterization and plot significance. You can pull this number of love interests off, other games have proven it. But if you don't involve them into the main plot and give the more significance, they literally become nothing characters who just exist in the background and will make no sense in the long-term. The game wants to be a deep underlying mafia family drama, but the story rarely moves and it just suffers from pointlessly introducing and connecting characters from another game.

10/10
i not really good at English but after playing this game i have to write a review for it. The story emotional that make me cried at ep 5, the characters also interesting and unique that i love every single one of them (i love Sky and Gwen most).

Underrated.

The story along with the girls is written at the highest level. The narrative is smooth and not boring. The main character's problems are made intriguing.

Emma's story is peak

10/10 must play

Imust say I was reluctant to start this VN , boy was I wrong .

I got to world of adult VN approx 1 year ago so in last year I played near 100 of them
this one is certainly on top 5%

maybe not as emotional as My new Family or Lep of Faith but still very good.
And the story itself is very fresh and original, not like many others that just recycle usual stereotypes.
Maybe retrospective parts are too detailed for my taste.
But I understand that it is Author's way to say a story and I respect that and maybe at the end I will acquire a taste for it.
Some reviewers find fault with "cheese and corny" but is real life real without "cheese and corny" ? I don't think so.
So at the end I have to prise NiiChans work
I can't wait for future updates !!!

honestly i dont know how can someone rate this story anything less then 5stars, i actually cried more than i came, if you can believe that. what a masterpiece. hope this get the proper ending it deserves.

As someone who has just started dipping their toes into the AVN genre, I have seen MBiML recommended in a plethora of forum posts and threads, which built up my expectations for it tremendously. Imagine my surprise when the first hour of this game was one of the worst hours I had spent playing an AVN - so much so that I felt compelled to write my first ever review. Full disclaimer: I've only played the first 3 chapters of this game, so maybe it gets better later, but I for one could not be assed to stick around to find out, because it's not the plot or pacing that put me off, it's the atrocious writing.

Unlike other AVNs that are notorious for being poorly written to the point of being intentionally bad, MBiML's writing is touted as its strong suit, which completely befuddles me. MBiML's MC is written to be someone who struggles with a difficult past who ultimately moves on from it to help the girls that he encounters - that is to say, a good guy you should root for and empathise with. I honestly could not do that because of how off-putting he is.

The first issue I have is with this scene: in his first sex scene with Gwen, it happens because she falls asleep in his arms hugging him front to front, which arouses him and causes him to take out his penis. She's obviously shocked when she wakes up, and he says she has to 'take responsibility' for it, which she does (and they bang). What responsibility? This is essentially sexual harassment, but the game frames it as though it is the woman's fault. I'm not opposed to and can enjoy games that include questionable content (like rape), but I don't like it when the narrative reshapes it to justify the perpetrators actions or even absolve them from blame, especially if the MC is someone you are meant to root for.

I also dislike the way the MC speaks and 'helps' the girls he encounters. The way he speaks is reminiscent of older (bad) TV shows where the men in it try to 'help' or 'educate' in a patronising and condescending manner. There is a scene in the diner he works at in which he 'teaches' the two other girls working there (Lily and Freya?) customer service which I just could not stomach due to how cringy it was. He speaks as if he knows better (which I guess is true in this case), but I abhor the air of superiority he presents his opinions (because they are not facts!!!) with. This is not an isolated incident, just the one that has had the greatest impression on me. I do wonder if it's simply the case that English is not the writer's first language, in which I can concede I have been very harsh about in this point, though my lack of enjoyment will remain unchanged.

All in all, I think I can grind through a boring plot or lacklustre pacing, but the cardinal sin is poor writing, because unlike the other two, writing betrays the innermost thoughts of a writer and provides the strongest connection to how they view a specific interaction, and by extension, specific topics. Again, whereas I would be more understanding and lenient if this game is intended to be satirical, I think it's meant to be the exact opposite. If you're not a stickler for writing, maybe this game does have a good story (as I've been told), but I could not last long enough.

Honestly, I have no idea what to make of this one.

I almost ignored this game because of its title, as I assumed that it was about an abusive relationship. Curiosity led me to click on it, and my initial reaction was “an anti-revenge game? About healing? Why the fuck would I want that?” For that very reason, I challenged myself to play it, and I’m glad I did.

As a sex game, it’s good. Not enough first person, but that’s always a complaint of mine. The girls are excellent, well fleshed-out characters, and also hot. Some of the sex scene writing is outstanding.

As an emotional story, it’s a lot of things at once. There are narrative problems, there are some lines that are bad, but overall it’s a well written story...

This is probably the most emotional game I’ve ever played, but not all of it seems good. The characters feel relatable, in a way that cuts me. I don't know if I'm just particularly sensitive right now, but I used a fucking box of tissues, especially in Emma's side ending. And I’m not sure if this has been cathartic or just masochistic, but that’s my problem. I’m honestly not sure if I’m reviewing the game or myself here. (And yes, I am getting professional help, no need to worry.)

It should have started with the week that the protagonist met Aine, at least from his perspective. That is the basis for the whole story, and it should definitely have come first. It took a really long time to even learn that they knew each other a little before he asked her out. And that significantly changes his perspective. Because he had seen the good side of her, as well as the bad, it would substantially color the way he looked back on her between high school and their reconnection.

I want to at least see the full lyrics for “In Your Arms Again.” C’mon.

Also, Sicae lets you name the protagonist in the scene replays, but MBiML doesn’t, which is annoying as fuck.

“Haunted by memories of a girl who made life unbearable, you've journeyed through both literal and metaphorical realms of heaven and hell”

Click to expand...

It wasn’t unbearable, as he kept going back – he literally bore it. And he didn’t journey through literal realms of Heaven and Hell, just the figurative ones.

I’m giving this 5 stars, because I don’t know what the fuck else to do. (How’s that for a review?)