...Should I put this is here as well? This might be a little redundant. Nah everyone does this shit so might as well. Do people in this forum even sleep or do anything else besides dwelling here? Alright...Let me get some sweet tea first.
Ok 3,2,1...
Yo community!
Back with a vengeance to provide you with a short first impression of this VN. First of all let me say that this will be bias as hell for the following reasons. The first one is because I love Syroh’s art. I felt that back in Softhouse Seal the art of Syroh was a bit underused in favor of other guys like 2-G (Which by the way I don’t blame them since 2-G is easily in my top 10 CG drawers of the industry) which is a shame. That is why when I heard that he was going to be the animator of a new brand called Madosoft, I immediately knew that that brand was going to be my favorite newcomer brand. The second reason is because this brand gives me a vibe like Clochette. And that is always a good thing in my book. Now unto the impression.
If you played Namaiki Deration like me then you might be a little familiar with what the brand tries to be, which is a harem school comedy. But that is where all the semblances finish. I played both demos released by Madosoft and I can comfortably say that Yakimochi improves in every single aspect. Better comedy, better scenario, more likable characters and more solid art. And also the overall size of the game is bigger and more complete. The characters of course fill clichés and niches in eroge and I understand that might be a bad thing. But I think the execution of each of them more than makes of for it. So that is why I believe this game is like the Empire Strikes Back. A major improvement in every aspect without changing the vibe and the mood of the brand. Also the focus on the jealousy of the characters is great thing to have. A stupidly simple concept that I find baffling that no other game exists that this is the main focus. I love that heroines in eroges get jealous of each other.
The premise of the game is the following one: Takumi came back from England because her sister “withdrew from society”. He decided to stay again. In the first day of school, he encountered her childhood friend from the past and her sempai from middle school. A short amount of days passed and Tanya, the “host” where he stayed in England, came to Japan to follow Takumi. Hilarity ensures as the girls try to win the heart of Takumi. Will they make it? Of course but it is up to you on who wins.
Now let’s make a short review of each major character from my least favorite to my top. Note that all the heroines have
1. Takumi: The protagonist. Denser than lead (archetypical donkan).Gets in situations that might be misunderstood. Good heart and cares for those that are close to him. I wish he was a little more dimensional but he fulfills perhaps his only goal well. To be a foil to the heroines.
2. Tanya: Takumi’s friend from the UK that host him there. Stoner-dere (patent pending). What does that term mean? She talks like a stoner, has hair of a stoner, likes to get cuddly and physical, has eternal munchies but still gets dere with Takumi. She is a very good runner despite her size (her height you pervs). She is my least favorite heroine not because I dislike her (I actually like her a lot) but because I like the other heroines more. She is the least jealous of the girls.
3. Sana: I am going to quote a character from the game to describe her. A “yandere Bro-con imouto”. She REALLY loves her brother you guys. She is the funniest Bro-con sister that I have seen in a while. Kudos to her seiyuu because she really voice her well. (By the way going in a tangent, all the seiyuus in this game really match the personality of the character). Anything else…A yeah. She REALLY loves her brother you guys. That is why she is the most jealous character of the game. Also I think she does gymnastics but the demos didn’t touch too much upon this.
4. Kohane: Takumi’s childhood friend that reunited with him after 10 years. Tsundere. Sorry guys, I admit it. I am always a sucker for the tsundere…Damn you Misaka Mikoto! But she has twists in her character that make me like her more than the average tsundere. She cooks like a pro. I think she doesn’t belong to any club in the school (I don’t either and for me that’s a plus). But more importantly she is extremely delusional. She is always having these delusions in her mind that to me are just so damn funny. In her mind Takumi is like her prince and she is like a wife, princess, etc. Takumi also doesn’t know she is the “Kohane” from her childhood. The second least jealous character of the game (But still significantly higher than Tanya in my opinion).
5. Mutsuki: Where to start? She is the sempai of Takumi from his middle years. Kudere. Treats Takumi like ass and I love that because honestly fuck that guy for being so dense goddammit! She is a genius painter in her school. She is also secretly the mangaka of a magazine and Takumi is the only one that knows this hence why they know each other for a while. She is the second most jealous character of the game. When nobody is watching she is deredere for Takumi! Some people might say that is why she is my favorite character and to them I will tell them Yes…But not only because of that but also because she is voiced by Hikaru Isshiki. She is my 2nd favorite seiyuu ever and she is great in everything she voices and oh my good she is the shit. She voiced my favorite character in Little Busters (Yuiko Kurugaya) , she voiced my favorite character in Cou (Kagome), she voiced my favorite character in Grisaia (Yumiko Sakaki) and fuck yes she is fucking voicing my fucking favorite character in this fucking game!!!
So yeah this game is really cool and from what I have seen in websites, it’s the most reserved game of the month. This is for me is extremely pleasant and surprising because it’s competing this month with games from Age (Fuck yeah Total Eclipse), Studio Ryokucha, Giga, Chuable (10th anniversary game) , onomatope and unicorn-a. So I hope this convinces you to give the game a try and I will see you in the next Somerefresco review!
Tl;dr: This game is really cool and Syroh’s art finally has been appreciated!
P.S: Here take this because...free market.
Nintendo Power