#The day when Otome and gacha games become adult oriented!! It will be a great step forward for humanity.

[leripink]

♡ That's no excuse, in fact, it's one of the most recurrent complaints by players... that these games should be for people over 17 at most for the simple reason that they are games that are too adult? And also that it has gacha and that can cause gambling addiction in children (like Roblox haha) and we're also complaining that WHB takes a long time to create chapters and now with this version for under 12s it's going to take even longer??

Talking to a company about this is like talking to an anti-vaccine person…

[rubyleeray]

Several Shades of Sadism Game & Routes Review

This is something a bit different for me but I always look for these before I start a game/route, so I hope this will be informative/helpful to someone else! 

Game Overall - The game overall is really fun and one of my favourites for sure! It operates much like every other Arithmetic game but you can really tell they put a lot more into this one. The addition of the voice actors is really cute and interacting with them multiple times a day made me very giddy (the voice actor for Minami is the same as Yuri from Yuri on Ice!!!). This game has everything I look for when deciding if I love a game and whether or not I recommend it to others. Those being: 1. Good Stories/Plot - Absolutely! There is a great mix and variety of funny and devastating moments with real relevant issues being addressed at times. I looked forward to my 5 tickets every day and there were several occasions where I spent because the cliff hangers were too intense! I just had to know what happened next!

2. Good MC - with the exception of Murayama’s and Minami’s MC - This MC is one of the best I’ve ever played! 

3. Interesting/Hot Guys - Yessss! The art in this game is amazing! Every guy (even the evil dad!) is gorgeous. I will say that the secondary sprites are just blue and pink outlines and that seems like a waste opportunity. 

4. Sex? -  I’m not shallow enough to say this makes or breaks a game for me, but as an adult playing a game with adult love interests, this matters to me. Yes there is sex, but only with some characters in their main story (Event stories differ in that they often feature sex with every character).  I’ll tell you below who has sex in each route description because that’s something that helps influence my spending.

5. Can I have a good time if I don’t spend any money/Will they force me to spend/make me wait weeks to progress? - Absolutely you can have a great time and achieve all endings without spending money! I played 3 full routes before I decided to spend money and the money I spent was on story tickets and an event after ending. As for having to build up free cash/experience/skill points for road blocks - it happens very easily and as long as you do it at least once a day you should never have to wait long to advance past checkpoints. 

TLDR - You need to play this game! It’s so well written and fun! You’ll find the perfect mix of romance, comedy, angst, and sex within this game but the best part is the MC who feels refreshingly modern and truly representative of a young woman of this time. There are other incentives like generous daily logins and frequent events that aren’t impossible to full clear without spending so you really feel valued as a player and a person. I highly suggest starting with Chiaki or Mei and then moving onto the others.The game is alive and well and new routes are still being released. 

Full breakdown of each guy and route spoilers below!

The MC - The MC is what made me fall in love with the game. She is HILARIOUS and she has motivations and dreams of her own. She is still my favourite MC ever despite her behaviour in Minami’s route ( much more on that later). She is just a super funny, goal oriented, mature (for the most part but aren’t we all) woman who speaks her mind and isn’t afraid to put the men in their place. I felt like she was a good representation of a real woman in an otome game. 

In order of release:

Chiaki Kira Route

- Chiaki was my first route! I chose him based on appearance alone really - Tall, dark, handsome - giving off real Jumin Han vibes you know? Chiaki is an adorable lazy idiot who says offensive things but is really sweet. He will also give you lots of attention which is something I look forward to! His route is very similar to Jumin’s in the sense that it centres around his resentment of his father but it’s a good story that really develops a good relationship between Chiaki and the MC. Sex? Unfortunately not but it’s still super cute! In the happy end they have confessed their love and are finally able to give themselves to each other fully. (The ending CG involves Chiaki climbing on top of you telling you he loves you and asking you to not give him blue balls lmao).

Sequel to Chiaki - This is a real fire & ice route. When it’s hot, it’s very hot! But when it’s cold, it’s freezing! This route suffers from the typical MC doesn’t speak up when she’s depressed and being bullied which drives a wedge in her relationship. Chiaki isn’t exactly innocent here, he can be a total dick when times get tough but the route overall is great and the ending CGs are GORGEOUS! Use your gacha tickets on his epilogue... a CG of Chiaki wearing a wedding ring as he licks your wrist? GIRL I’VE GOT THE VAPORS! 

Pick Chiaki if you love attention, romance, and a witty/sassy relationship between love interests. (Think of characters from other games like SLBP’s Nobunaga, MM Jumin + Zen, TCC Claude, Ikemen Nobunaga + Masamune)

Toma Kira Route - Toma was my second route and while Toma is drop dead gorgeous - he is kinda dead inside? His story is a dark one but it is very interesting and the climax is intense! Excellent character development here from both the MC and Love Interest. Sex? Hell ya! Toma does have sex with you towards the end a couple times and they are DETAILED scenes (The happy ending CG has a naked MC and Toma in bed after a night of sex as they are about to have even more sex!). But! He does something super hurtful to the MC during a sensitive time, so you have to have a bit of a thicker skin to play through this. Thankfully, he apologizes and more than makes it up to you! I\ll be honest, I wasn’t enjoying Toma’s route as much as Chiaki’s initially, but his ending retroactively made everything better! 

Pick Toma if you like a challenge, don’t need constant attention, don’t mind a teacher/master relationship, and you enjoy good smut. (I’m still shook from Toma’s sex scenes). (Think of characters from other games like Ayato from 7HAMH, Isuka + Asena from TCC, SLBP’s Kojuro + Masamune, Ikemen Hideyoshi).

Minami Kira Route - Ugh...let me just tell you based on every event and item scenario I got of Minami, I was REALLY looking forward to his route - like a lot a lot. It started off alright, but I quickly realized there wasn’t going to be much of a plot which was really disappointing. Minami is a fun and intelligent yet immature guy. He’s constantly pulling pranks and showering you in false affection. Unfortunately Minami does something completely unforgivable (I’ll write the spoilers at the bottom if you really want to know) and because of this and the combination of the lack of character depth and the worst iteration of the MC in the entire game - I can’t happily recommend his main route. His event routes are fun but his main route is the one of the most disappointed I have ever been in an otome game and I’m not sure how Event Minami and Main Story Minami can be so different. The MC in Minami’s route is completely different than the MC in Toma, Chiaki, and Mei’s routes. She has no ambitions of her own and she never puts Minami in his place even though he deserves it and needs it the most. She’s so scared of hurting his feelings and making him not like her that she becomes a shell of her former self and that was seriously disappointing. Minami’s past was very sad and dark but it wasn’t really fleshed out. It’s confusing. There was so much potential and it feels like it all amounted to nothing. I would have rather seen a route where the MC teaches Minami how shitty it is to treat women like toys and have her fix him, or a route where the MC helps Minami accept and control the darkness and anger within him instead of just pretending to be a happy prankster all the time. Sex? Yes but at this point I was screaming “Don’t do it!” to MC through my screen. It didn’t feel like anything good was going to come from it and surprise, surprise it didn’t. 

Do not pick Minami unless you have the thickest skin and an infinite amount of patience. 

Mei Tarantino Route  - Mei’s route reminds me of why I fell in love with the game in the first place. Mei is the sweetest tsundere there ever was and I’m still smiling about his Happy Ending. His story was wonderful (motivational and inspirational) and the relationship that develops between him and the MC feels natural, believable and is absolutely beautiful. They really support each other through their trials and tribulations and work to achieve both their dreams. There is a tragic past that explains a lot but doesn’t try to justify poor behavior in the present. His route is far superior to Minami’s and has even helped wash the bad taste Minami left right out of my mouth! Mei is everything you want from the perfect Tsundere route. The MC is funny as ever and back to her intelligent strong self. Sex? No but there’s a lot of satisfaction to be found elsewhere in this route. 

Pick Mei. Just pick him. He’s so sweet. He has creative insults but the more creative they are the more you realize he’s falling in love. Plus the red blush on this boy is TO DIE FOR!!! (Think of characters from other games like SLBP’s Mitsunari, DTL’s Takasugi, RB Aito, Ikemen Ieyasu)

Rei Shindo Route - Okay this is seriously one of my favourite routes I have ever played in any otome ever. It is extremely emotional  and the Sweet End is the most beautiful thing - paired with an absolutely BREATHTAKING pair of CGs that I think about on the daily. This route has angst, romance, comedy, and tragedy in HEAPING spoonfuls. I genuinely SOBBED twice.

I can’t write much as I don’t want to give too much away because you genuinely need to experience this route and see how fantastic and touching otome writing can be. Basically, you are roped into a revenge plot by a version of Rei that is far different than the man you have come to know in the other routes. The more time you spend together, the more you find out his reasons and what his end game is. It is A LOT TO TAKE IN but it is so rewarding! Please play it and tell me all of your thoughts and feelings.

Save him for last (if you can wait that long) because I feel like if you start with him, the other routes won’t look as good in comparison - and they don’t deserve that (except you Minami). I will say it’s important that you achieve his Sweet ending. I did not like his Normal ending at all in comparison. It was fine but it was much different and lacked all of the emotional depth of his Sweet End, so in playing Sweet first - I had high expectations of his other end as well but that was unfortunately not the case. Sex? Oh god, forgive me but I really don’t remember! I was so stressed out and emotional during this route that sex was the last thing on my mind!)  

Pick Rei if you have a thick skin and don’t mind being put through an emotional ringer. (Think of characters from other games like SLBP’s Ieyasu, + Saizo, TCC’s Lugar + Yuri, MM’s V + Saeyoung, 7HAMH Soichiro + Ayato, Ikemen Mitsuhide)

Shizuka Kira Route - Okay I loved Shizuka’s route, I really did BUT it is the most hollow of them all. Shizuka is a sweet heart but his story isn’t very exciting or memorable (Save for the sex scenes!). It’s not a bad route by any means! It it full of genuinely funny and romantic moments so I really enjoyed it and him as a love interest, the problem is that it is the most formulaic and predictable so it’s not necessarily a unique story. One of the best parts of Shizuka’s route is the more mature and level headed MC compared to the other brothers’. She was also very in touch with her sexual wants and needs which I really appreciated and found refreshing! The biggest surprise in this route for me was how big of a role Minami had and how amazing he was in it! This is the Minami I want to romance! 

Rintaro Murayama Route - Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I didn’t think I could hate a route more than Minami’s but HERE WE ARE. This route was so so so bad! I’m shocked! I took a week off from thinking about to to see if I was just being dramatic but I’m still just as mad as I was when I finished it.I’m so mad that I went back and CHANGED MY MIND about Minami’s route. That’s how bad this was. The thing about this route is everything is bad. The story makes no sense and they make NO ATTEMPT to make him a desirable love interest! The MC starts off strong and I felt for her inner struggle but then she just becomes flat-out stupid and not the fun loving hilarious witty MC this game has offered us from day 1 #notmymc. Murayama’s motivations make 0 sense and contradict themselves often. He’s supposed to be doing everything he does for his sister but he’s also supposed to not know anything about her these past 10 years?! So then why is he ruining little events that the hotel runs? To get back at his sister’s adopted brothers even though he might need them to be organ donors? What? And then that Happy Ending. No. That “Happy Ending” made everythign the MC did and put up with worth NOTHING. I have no idea how someone approved this. Murayama blackmails you constantly and at one point - late into his route - he starts trying to raping you while recording it. Not only that, he insists he’s going to show the video to her bosses and everyone else at work. Like - enough is enough in general but Murayama’s route was enough by chapter 3. It was like a cycle of dumb that just kept repeating.  

Murayama route is inexcusably bad, don’t play it. 

Sex? Another great part of Shizuka’s route is that it has the most sex and all of it was free sex (I also got to view the CGs for free? I’m not sure if this is a bug that may be fixed by the time you read this). The sex scenes were all INCREDIBLY HOT and I was sweating and taking screenshots while trying to remind myself to breathe. Out of all the Kira Brothers - Shizuka has sex with you the most. I believe it is 3-4 sex scenes vs Toma’s 2. 

Pick Shizuka if you want a romantic route with a plot straight out of a romantic comedy and/or if you like sexxxxxxxy routes. (Think of characters from other games like DTL’s Haru, MM’s Zen, 7HAMH Haruto + Shizuki, Ikemen Shingen).

***Minami route spoiler*** Minami goes on a bender after kissing you where he stays out for days getting drunk and not coming home. One night a random guy brings him home and they accidentally end up in your bedroom instead of Minami’s. Minami flops down onto a chair by your bed and then gives permission for the guy to start raping you - he even says he doesn’t care. Only after the guy has began his rape of you and like the equivalent of 6 story tickets later - does Minami stop and actually do anything about it. This was seriously disappointing and you’d think that would be the end of Minami’s bullshit but it’s not - not even close. I just found it so unforgivable that near the end of the game after you both have fallen in love, that something like this happens and it’s not even vague/implied - it’s full on clothes tearing & body violating and Minami watches the whole thing!!! His apology after doesn’t even make up for it. The writer’s really disappointed me here. It would have been just as hurtful for Minami to say he didn’t care if the MC slept with the guy but for him to sit back and watch her get raped wasn’t something Minami could come back from for me, especially with such a lackluster plot. Minami also never really apologizes or makes up for referring to women as his toys and he treats women really poorly overall. There is a really heart wrenching scene where a woman who was in love with Minami confronts him politely and he screams at her and belittles her and the MC just kinda forgets about it.