LOVELY x CATION

Review of final - Introduction. An endearing and lovely (pun intended) eroge, which doesn’t stand out particularly in originality but that slowly grew on me. Albeit the presentation may be familiar to many other dating sim it contains some dissimilar features which turns it into a very enjoyable experience. It is perfect for anyone who is seeking a cozy romance with multiple wholesome interactions with no real sinking drama. I was very pleased and didn’t feel my time wasted, but before I delve into the the qualities and flaws, I will digress a bit on the version I am playing, a MTL translation. Which is currently the only way to play it in english (unofficially), so if you desire, feel free to skip the next paragraph where I delve on the grade of the machine translation (which won’t really impact the overall score) but also the mechanics of the sandbox. - Translation and gameplay mechanics. The translation patch is the usual abominable MTL, so expect phrases that 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 the machine translation, 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. Edit: After tinkering around the stat grinding, I discovered that you can actually receive hints on which activity you should practice for your heroine by checking the status and then the status item list. In addition if you are completely clueless or tired of sandbox managing you can downright cheat; after completing the game (Or by directly unlocking the extra in the menu) you can do one single powerful activity to fill all the gauges. - Story… but mainly characters. Set aside the mechanics, let’s discuss the flesh of Lovely x Cation: the story. 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 candidates 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 defined character. From an asocial and reclusive young man, you see him grow, trying to become 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 shut in Aya, the stoic but elegant nurse/teacher Sera and the popular Yuni. All the heroines are different and separate, in multiple manners not only just in character traits, but backstory and design. The first three are your usual classmate students, nothing new in this kind of genre. Instead the two remaining LIs are uncommon for your average Japanese dating sim; being not only older than the protagonist but also teachers. Therefore their role insists on the taboo of a student and a superior instructor, which is an unusual welcoming addition. Alas sadly not all girls’paths are equal in quality, Misasa’s and Aya’s romance stood out to me as the best routes, close also Yuuki, they maintained their sweet writing momentum. 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, 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 adored just as much (and sometimes even more) 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. Focused only her solitary hobbies, playing games at the arcade and visiting the aquarium. The relationship between the two begins as a comical banter of silent gazes and random encounters till it ends in a wholesome union sprinkled with a bit of drama near the conclusion. Her path is filled with adorable bantering and personal reflections. Previously I was going to superficially write off Amagase Yuuni, the standout redhead classmate, since I didn’t enjoy her as much and was going to describe her as the typical standard romance option. But after replaying her story again, I was completely wrong. She is truly a well crafted “standard main LI”, her energy and optimism is contagious. The fact that she follows you everywhere in the sandbox mechanic can result to hilarious events and it’s actually cool that she was the one to confess first. Then Sera, the nurse teacher, in her arc the vn explores a bit the taboo aspect. It’s well done and unique, I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but I recognize the quality. The narrative here is about breaking boundaries, trying to melt her ice queen demeanor and fight off her fears of getting attached to someone. She is probably the one who has the most character development out of all the LIs. At last I left Yuni, for a reason, I found her plotline overall… irritating. The story is all about pretending to be fake lovers so she can be freed of all the harassers and our protagonist was chosen for the role of fake boyfriend… You already know how it will end, with both of them falling in love. Even if the idea is fair on paper, it is executed so frustratingly with a tedious pace. Where you are just waiting for their love to blossom but it ends more in a weird sex friendship with constant teasing till the end confession. This going and forth is honestly annoying, similar to a cliffhanger of serial romcom where there is no progress. This exasperation reaches in an assault scene from the protagonist. Angered that when the school ends, he will never be with her. It can even culminate in a bitter bad ending if you choose the wrong option. Such scene felt very out of place, not what I was expecting for a game that advertises itself as a wholesome romance, but still, even if I disliked it, the route has still some solid moments, maybe I’ll replay it later, to view if I changed my mind. To sum up if I had to rate them it would be: Misasa=Aya>Yuuki>Sera>>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, till maybe a dramatic resolution near the end. Now I am not complaining about it, since it’s the main advertisement of the visuals novel and you should expect that, but if you are desiring for something more substantial such as long story arcs with tension you’ll remain disappointed, it’s a cozy game first and all, but I won’t lie that I was left aching for more. - Art, music and other considerations. 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 visual novels, here they are the same. Although I really appreciate the LIs designs, they have different body structures, hairstyles, faces and (yeaaah) breasts. They do not 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 the soundtrack will probably not 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 Yuni 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 voice actor 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! Instead if you are left desiring for more interactions with your fictional girls, Lovely x Cation came prepared with multiple after story episodes. These are great if you want more of the sweet hangouts or wanted just to know what happened after the end. - About the anime. Now I will mention the Hentai 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 original work 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. - Conclusion. And with this closure, I recommend it. If you are searching for a light hearted albeit short dating simulator with quality art and adorable love interests, this is for you. Just don’t expect something intricate or mind blowing, it is but sweet hangouts stories. I really enjoyed it, despite the MTL or the small hindering obstacles across the road, and I wish other visual novels of Hibiki works received even a serviceable translation, since currently the cheap MTL translation of SugoiVNs are crashing the entire game with its script, turning their visual novels completely unavailable for anyone who doesn’t know Japanese.

TL;DR - 6.6/10 - Unique story pacing, teachers heroine, but ambiguous mini game. Art - 7 / 10 Averagely good. No particular problem, but nothing notable. Sound - 6 / 10 This game has that system where you can input your own name as the protagonist, and if you do, there will be different lines and voices that differs from if you use the default name. And even if you use the default name, the voice will always sound awkward. This is generally true for every game that has this kind of system. Though other than that, everything is good for me. Character - 8 / 10 It's quite rare (if any) to see a teacher as target heroine. In this game, you even got 2 of them! You can see character developments on each route, although not that much. Story - 8 / 10 The routes are written quite uniquely. It feels like they're testing the water and challenging the common story pacing, where the story have problem, climax / resolution, and lastly ending. This game is not like that. Each route has different pacing, including the common story pacing that I just mentioned. Though as you might have guess, the different story pacing was kind of lacking in my opinion. Though some might like it. Translation & Mechanic - 4 / 10 To be honest here, the game would be really enjoyable if the translation also covers the after school mini game. Also, the mini game was quite ambiguous or hard to grasp of the intention, especially when it's not translated. So you're left with using any walkthrough 100% of the time. Even now I still don't know the purpose of those bonus, like VIT LOV or one other thing that I forgot because I mostly ignore them. Also, the machine translation was not AI (I think). You can grasp the meaning, but some were hard to understand unless you proceed few lines after that.