Title: リアル妹がいる大泉くんのばあい
Developer: ALcot Honeycomb
Release Date: 28th May 2010
Age Rating: 18+
Length: ~10 Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
Ooizumi Ryou is your typical imouto-loving otaku – he and his friend Akira regularly meet up to buy and discuss eroge and talk about their favourite 2D imoutos. The irony is that Ryou has a real-life younger sister Shiori with whom he has a strained relationship so he escapes his harsh reality by embracing the kind, perfect imoutos in games.
The imouto character in his current game, Mai, is his new favourite – she’s sweet and caring, despite the game being a kusoge because she has no route! Ryou finds himself despreately replaying the game until he finds some hidden choices, that let him spend more time with Mai. The next day, he awakes to a kind voice gently trying to wake him up. Ryou opens his eyes and finds Mai in his room – she’s escaped from the game to come and spend time with her “older brother”. Just how will this change the relationship between Shiori and Ryou, and what will happen to Mai?
Thoughts
ALcot Honeycomb are a pretty interesting subsidary – their focus on middle priced games is pretty unique and, while I have had mixed experiences with the games I’ve played by them, I appreciate them for trying something new. That being said, Real Imouto ga Iru Ooizumi-kun no Baai (or Riaimo for short) is considered to be one of their better titles. So did it live up to its reputation as a great imouto-ge?
First thing’s first, this game is utterly hilarious – the banter between the protagonist Ryou and his best friend Akira was top-tier. Both are degenerate 2D imouto-loving otaku so you can imagine what they get up to. The common route in particular had great comedy and character interactions in general.
Mai
Moving onto heroines and I’ll start with 2D imouto Mai – she’s sweet, kind, great at cooking, and just generally the “perfect” imouto. It’s probably the most basic answer but she’s honestly super likable and utterly adorable. I was a little disappointed in her route/story arc and wished the game did more with her but understand that Shiori was the game’s main focus. She deserves the world and more.
Miki
Miki is Shiori’s best friend and is Akira’s younger sister so she fits into the game’s theme by being the “sister of your best friend” I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Miki’s place in the common route but her route was terrible – particularly with regard to the romance and H scenes. Let’s just say she’s very pushy. Would’ve been better if she stayed a side character.
Shiori
Shiori is the final, and main, heroine of the game. She is Ryou’s younger sister and the two were close as children but grew apart as they aged. She’s a tsundere, with heavy emphasis on the tsun part. Her route is pretty decent as far as imouto routes typically go and, while I was initially a little disappointed in the latter end of her route, I’ve come to appreciate the more grounded (or I guess realistic – even though this is an eroge) approach taken. It was still a little rushed at times though but her dere side almost made up for this.
The artwork for this title was handled by Kazami Haruki and Takoyaki. Both have worked with ALcot Honeycomb on other titles. I thought the artwork in Riaimo was fine – it could perhaps be a little inconsistent at times but was overall pretty cute.
The BGM in this game was decent, if a little forgettable. There wasn’t a huge number of tracks but this game is on the shorter side so it was fine. Both vocal songs are also enjoyable but not really something I’d listen to on repeat.
Conclusion
My Score: 7/10
Riaimo is a game that is kinda carried by the fact the common route and character interactions are excellent. Sadly most of the heroine routes are a little underwhelming because the game has a heavy focus on Shiori so if you’re not interested in her I wouldn’t really recommend this game.
That being said, if you like Shiori’s design and like imoutos then this is still a decent pick-up, especially with the game’s middle price tag.
After playing this I actually wanted, no needed more from Orgel (the writer for this game) so went and bought Shinigami no Kiss wa Wakare no Aji. It’s high on my priority list once I get through those monthly releases so hopefully it’s also good! I will also say here that the route he wrote in Purely (which I still need to write up a review for, whoops) was surprisingly good – he’s definitely a creator I will be keeping my eye on.
Thanks for reading~
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