Sable's Grimoire (Update)

I have decided to give a small update to my previous review about the game Sable Grimoire. After completing the last 3 positive routes (though I seriously question 1 of those) which were for the three girls: Eth, Leshia, and Rei (think in my last post I may have put her name down as Rui, I will go back and fix that at some point.)

Before I get too far into the happenings of the three mentioned girls in this review let me start off by saying that the protag in this particular VN does not follow the meta very well, and honestly, while I am glad he doesn't as it helps with a new fresh look for VN's, I think they basically made the protag a self-absorbed, self-serving, conceited, prick that somehow has managed to find himself in an 'almost' harem like position with women from multiple different races. 

Sable is a former shut-in with little in the ways of social interaction unless he has to, he's not physically adept and as far as magic goes he is not very powerful. The only thing that honestly makes Sable an interesting protag in my opinion is his cunning word usage, ability to create new spells, to breakdown spells and glyphs in a way to create those spells, and to comprehend spells in a way to find a way to remove them. I won't deny he also has a very logical way of looking at things and his ability to use his logic to breakdown situations and find hidden meanings in things is uncanny. 

All that said, Sable shows little in the way of any sense of compassion or interest in the opposite sex, which as a shut-in I can somewhat understand that his lack of social interaction and lack of romance has left him with little in the way of feeling any sense of romance towards others but the level at which he goes is beyond that of normal human understanding. In each scenario (with the exception of Jojo's route) he is either oblivious to the feelings of the girl he's talking with or simply does not want to pursue 'romance'. I mean sure Jojo would be an exception to the 'romance' rule I admit, but even in the end of that way he didn't do it because he wanted a romance, maybe a friendship but even that is not for sure.

That said, I will say that the romance options with Leshia, Dracon, and Tix are ones that could lead to further development at some point though with his character who really knows.

While I understand the ending they were shooting for here, I did find it to be a bit of an outlier of the other girl's endings. I get that with the exception of Jojo the other girl's routes were seen more as the 'romantic' interests so to speak. That said I think the ending for Rei was greatly hampered. I won't say it was a 'bad' ending as that has a totally different meaning in this VN, (as in most bad endings in this VN means the protag or another person dies) but I wouldn't call this a good ending either.

Rei's ending is based on the fact that she is struggling with the fact that she has feelings for Sable but lacks the ability to connect with him in order to get those feelings across. On their break, Sable, Eth, and Rei decide to take a camping trip with one another and during that trip both Eth and Rei attempt to be more open about how they feel to Sable. Of course, he doesn't really understand and puts the events behind him. This causes some friction between Sable and Rei but just a slight one. You find out that unlike Sable who is anti-social and prefers to be alone, Rei is the complete opposite of him. She wants to always be around family or friends and to have fun.

The three return to the academy to which Sable gets called for an urgent meeting at the Principle's office. Once he gets there he is told that his choice of friends was not good. That taking up friendships with the lowest two ranked students in the class was going to hinder his progression and his own research which he was being allowed to do. The Principle gave him an ultimatum of either stop being friends with them or he would have them removed. Sable gave him an alternative which was he was teaching them to use 'Terminal' magic and they would be allowed to stay.

With this in mind, Sable began to think about how he would approach this problem, but before he can do so he is thrown into an every growing tangle of deceit and lies that involves Rei, Eth, Dracon, and Tix. Eventually through an event between Sable and Eth, Sable approaches Rei and after an argument, she decides to return home.

At the moment of choice between going after Rei which leads down her final path, you can also choose to remain with Eth and this route leads Sable to explain everything that has happened, all the lies and deceits he tells to Eth. At first, she is taken aback by the Principles words and all the things Sable did to try to protect them, including attempting to remove himself from their side to keep them in the academy. 

Eth decides to help Sable continue to lie to Rei but simply modify it to make it where Rei wouldn't be hurt or figure it out. At first, Sable wasn't sure about going through with it but he not wanting to hurt Rei or her feelings but also not really able to explain how he didn't have any feelings for Rei other than friendship. 

So with that in mind, the lie was deployed, the lie they used you ask? Eth told Rei that Sable and she had been secretly dating for only a little while and when she kissed him in front of her that it was because they were dating. Rei at first was upset but not too long after that she accepted it, with the lie put out there Rei and Eth continued to study and had actually started improving their grades. Of course, the Principle was taken aback by this revelation but he accepted it and moved on.

Sable continued to support the lie even when it is plain to see that Eth, isn't really lying, she has real feelings for him and though the VN ended before he found out we can only assume that due to his personality he will just stick with her as long as he needs to, then who knows maybe he'll grow some balls and a heart and actually love her back. But that isn't my call.

With this I have completed all good endings, therefore I will be moving to after stories for the two that are currently out which is, Sable's Grimoire: A Dragon's Treasure (a story for Sable and Dracon) and Sable's Grimoire: Man and Elf (a story for Sable and Leshia) I will post those at another time.

 Sable's Grimoire

(This review was made possible by a Patreon Subscriber hebeckner78)

*Note: WARNING some material discussed in this review may not be suitable for all persons that read it. This VN has several paths and discussions that deal with subject matter that not all people may OR may not be able to keep a subjective open mind about. Please understand this is a "Media" and should always remain free from censorship.

Sable's Grimoire is a visual novel currently on sale on the Steam Market place that has 16 different endings pending on the choices that you make through the game. There are up to 5 different love interests within the game with the girl named 'Drakan' being the best girl (seeing she is the one in the Logo). 

There are a couple of gameplay mechanics that I find unique and nice to have. The first one is that the VN gives you the option from the beginning to use a 'safe' feature, which allows you to turn on an 'icon' that tells you if a choice you will make will lead you to a bad ending. I can see where this feature comes in handy if your in it for the good endings. Another nice feature is what I am calling the Decision Tree. You can go to the tree and see all the stories you have found so far, as well you can load from a certain question and choose a different option. 

Game mechanics aside, the artwork is a bit dated and done in a form that isn't what I would call Grade A work, but that being said it isn't bad either. I actually think the graphics work well with this particular Visual Novel, as for music, to be honest, I turned the sound off and just had my music playing as I went through the game. It doesn't have any sound other than the music, which again isn't a bad thing.

In the game, you play as the protag named Sable (it's a unisex name) a highschool aged human male that has been accepted into a magical institute and academy that accepts applicants on their skills and academics alone. Because of this policy that means that anyone from any race may join based on their grades. Sable being human is a rarity to some extent as most humans are not able to use magic and rely heavily on the use of magical artifacts or arcane arts that use glyphs to draw power. Neither of Sable's parents is mages and therefore his power lays in his ability to understand the basic magic theory and advanced use of glyphs to produce the magic he wants.

The story of Sable prior to the introduction of going to the academy is discussed throughout the game but the overall point is that Sable at a young age became interested in magic and began to study it intently. This led to him becoming a shut-in and when he was able to use Magic his parents avoided him as they had negative thoughts and feelings about the use of magic. Because of this Sable hid away studying magic and barely seeing or speaking to his parents, which didn't really want much to do with him, to begin with after he found his magic. 

Eventually, he decided to apply to the academy and after making it in he found himself making the move from his home to the academy dorms where he would meet a variety of people of different races. The academy has few students that are human with the majority of the school being filled with demi-humans from all different backgrounds and areas. The game only gives that in the 1st Year Classes there are actually only two humans, Sable and a boy named Narm. 

Before getting to the academy you are introduced to one of the prospective love interests though at the time of this post I have not made it down her route yet. Rui though appearing human is not a human, she is a Rokurokubi but can pass as a normal human. It isn't until later in the story do you find out that she's not a full-fledged human. After getting to the academy and walking around he meets up with Leshia, which is an Elven girl (and another one of the love interests). 

At the time of this post, I have not made it through Leshia's route yet but what few interactions I have had in-game with her makes her character type of that of a tsundere. She is abrasive and because of her being an Elf she tends to view other races with disdain. Elves live many hundreds of years and are content with remaining in the villages they have made out in the forests of the world with little to no interactions with other races. She appears cold and calculating and believes that when it comes to magic that elves have the advantage. Despite that though she does have a softer more relaxed side that doesn't show often.

During the opening ceremony for the first-year students, Sable bumps into a half-dragon half-human girl named Drakan. Because of her, they both miss the opening ceremony. 

Drakan the half-dragon half-human girl with an overly enthusiastic attitude that also likes to use her flames to burn down anything she doesn't particularly like. Drakan appears to be human-like with dragon wings, horns, and a tail, her skin is also a shade or more so reddish in tint. Her ability to use magic is on a different level than most of the other students due to her dragon side. Dragons are an ancient race that has become extremely scarce and tend to go long periods of time without being seen or heard. They tend to isolate themselves and mostly show no emotion. They are overly possessive and once they find something they want they have an obsessive nature to have that particular item. 

Drakan however shows emotions like a human does. Despite her happy go lucky attitude and an overabundance of enthusiasm she is regarded by the other students as an outcast that they don't want to associate with, this is due to the fact that Dragons are in some sense comparable to humanity in the sense that they place power and riches over all other things and because of that they have burned villages, killed many in all other races, and tend to put themselves as superior to all other races. This has led many of the demi-humans to see dragons as a race to be feared. 

Sable and Drakan hit it off pretty well and when it is said and done Sable openly feels that despite her half-dragon side he finds her as a unique and charming individual. Upon being done with lessons and the opening ceremony Sable heads to his dorm to sleep only to find out that his roommate is not what he was expecting.

Tix is a pixie not to be confused with a fairy (in lore the pixies and fairies were close allies but a series of unfortunate events leads to a bitter war and struggle that leads to the two hating one another.) When Sable first meets Tix he is surprised not just by the fact that there is a girl living in his dorm room, but the fact that she appears to be human size as most pixies are much much smaller. Later she explains that she uses muscle enhancement magic to change her size from the standard pixie size (rough 4 inches in height) to human size. 

Tix is an interesting character in her own right and one of the love interests. She is for the most part seems happy and cheerful, she has a bit of a mischievous side and is very adept in spiritual and healing magic. Tix also has a bad temper and though she may try to hide it she usually fails which she then tends to run off. Tix however isn't your normal student in the sense that she's there just to learn magic and to improve her own skills, she is actually there for a different purpose and that is to find a mate. 

All Pixies are female and because of this, they seek out strong males from different humanoid-like races to procreate with. Pixies for the most part try to stick with human males but some have also procreated with other races. Pixies are a weaker physical race and tend to be a 'prey' race that falls victim to magical beasts and predator races, they are also very susceptible to illness and sickness. 

Pixies have many children at one time and can procreate many times. However many Pixies will only have a few that survive. Pixie mothers show little interest in their children's lives until they reach maturity due to the fact that many will perish prior to reaching that age. Once they do reach maturity through the mother's will dedicated themselves to a loving family environment and teach their daughters magic, survival, and show a great deal of love.

Sable knowing little about Pixie culture and the ins and outs of how they view things, in general, tends to make it hard for him to engage with Tix at first. Further, into the game, you will make a choice and that choice will lead you down a path you can get Tix as a lover or will have her leaving the school entirely. 

Sable though never really admitting to it also spends a great deal of his time, mostly at lunch, with the duo of Eth and Rui. Rui the Rokurokubi and Eth the Mandragora are both love interests in the game as well. At the time of this post, these are two of the girls that I have not got to their end yet.

Rui is always hungry and always blowing through her weekly budget on food. However, as a Rokurokubi she requires large sums of food due to her high metabolism. She is a bit of an airhead and tends to only think about food, she isn't very adept at learning as well as she is ranked last in the entire class and yet still maintains the scores to say in the school. Other students of other races tend to view Rui and Rokurokubi as a whole with a sense of weariness. While other races have been hunted and killed by humankind because Rokurokubi look pretty much human they have not been hunted down or killed like the others and tend to blend into human culture. 

Eth is a quiet and shy girl that is classified as a 'prey' race. Her race has at different times been brought to the edge of extinction by several races including humans. Because of this, she at first is shy and scared of Sable. But after getting to know him she considers him a friend. During an event in the game there comes a point where you can make her upset and mad which pushes her away as a love interest. Eth being a plant with human shape and form doesn't require food but instead sunlight and water. She can't move as fast as others due to her root-like legs and feet. She has Sable carry her around a few times to help her get from one place to another quickly.

 There is another girl that you don't end up in a relationship with at least not at the end of the story of this game but it is possible maybe in a different after story it could be possible. Before talking about her, however, I need to make it known that this particular character's path is full of dark and anti-human views. It discusses the issues of human's way of viewing different demi-humans, how they are treated, and the dark horrors that demi-humans have faced while under human domination and control. 

The Jorōgumo girl that Sable calls by her nickname Jojo is a third-year student that acts as a transcriber and librarian. She for the most part is quiet and full of knowledge from the books of the library. She will eat the pages of a book and then transcribe it onto digital media to upload to the network. She appears more human than a spider with her spider-like legs and red eyes being the only viewable spider-like features. She is normally found wearing a metal mask over her mouth and nose. 

Jojo is also the primary caretaker for the underground dorms/prison. The Underground is used for nocturnal demi-humans, or at least that is half of it. It also acts as a safe place for demi-humans that are rescued during the school-mandated 'hunts'. The 'Hunt' is a school-based group that is tasked with helping demi-humans with multiple different problems, however, sometimes they are tasked with capturing or killing demi-humans that are aggressive and have harmed humans or other demi-humans. Because of this those that join in the hunts are referred to as 'Hunters' and they are looked down upon by all demi-humans. Most demi-humans see it as a group created by humans as a way to keep demi-humans inline.

Sable while out one night finds a door leading down to the Underground and he is stopped by Jojo and a girl named Hira. At first, they run him off, but his curiosity led him to discuss things with Jojo. At first, she's hesitant about discussing it with him but eventually she caves and tells him if he really wants to know she will show him but once he knows the truth, he may wish he didn't. From what I have seen you are given the option to not go down that path but I had to because I was curious if Jojo would become a love interest or not.

Sable is taken to the underground and then to a dorm cell where three demi-human females had been placed. A fox girl, bunny girl, and a Harpy. Upon seeing Sable the three girls react differently but their reaction is over the same idea, the three girls are not accepting of humans. The Harpy with multiple lacerations and other physical injury retreats and cowards to the back of the cell unable to say or do much. The Fox girl with multiple old injuries on her body and tail takes a defensive stance ready to lash out in anger. Lastly, the Bunny Girl places herself upon the ground stating she will do whatever the human asks of her, she will be 'good' and do anything. She too is covered in whip marks, cuts, and other injuries. 

Jojo informs Sable that humanity to many demi-humans is the greatest scourge of the world. Humanity over the many hundreds of years has eradicated entire races of demi-humans, they have taken others as slaves. Others are simply mistreated because of humans wanting to ensure that other demi-humans don't attempt to rise up against humanity. These girls were saved during the 'hunt' and brought to the underground for either rehabilitation or to be caged for the rest of their lives. 

Sable thinks long about what he's seen and eventually, he decides to help Jojo with her work in helping the different demi-humans in the Underground to recover. He takes the part of a therapist of sorts and works with different ones that at first have no real problem with humanity but other issues that keep them from attending regular school. Eventually, he does make it work with some of the more extreme cases. It is at this point he begins to realize that Jojo isn't who she said she was and in fact, he finds out she is actually one of the ones that were rescued during a 'hunt' from a group of human mercenaries. 

 Eventually, Jojo shows Sable her body and the damage to her body including her face, and the fact that a couple of her spider legs have been broke or shortened. At first, Sable is beside himself but later he finds out that while there are many scars on her body from the mercenaries that other wounds are self-inflicted. Jojo is of a distinct spider demi-human that she isn't fully aware of, however, she does know their kind. She leads Sable to believe that her losing her family was on the part of the mercenaries. However, eventually, she does tell him the truth, this particular spider race is killing itself off, when the mother lays her eggs she kills the father. As the spider children hatch they begin to kill off the weak ones and consume them. At the end usually of several children, only one will remain. 

Eventually, that child when reaching a certain age will kill off their mother and consume her. Because of this inherent trait, this particular group of spiders is killing off their own race. Jojo has longed to become more human, she wants to live in human society, she wants to be able to do all the things that humans do, but because of her spider appearance, she has always been pushed away. One of the things her race is known for is its speedy recovery time, she attempted multiple times to break or remove the spider appendages from her body only for them to grow back quickly. This obsession with becoming a human has caused her to be mentally unstable. 

She had shown signs of improving but they were false signs. She is a master manipulator and uses lies and deceit to get what she wants. That said though she is also one to do what she needs to do to be seen in a certain way, the only reason why she relapsed into anger was due to stress and malnutrition imposed on herself. Sable after speaking with Hira is given 3 options. Two are bad endings, one is better than bad at least. If you choose that one Sable decides to become Jojo's caretaker and through becoming her friend and helping her he hopes to get her past the mental instability. He spends time helping her in class, and with her duties in the library. He and several other Underground students take turns making sure she eats three good meals a day and ensuring she is resting. 

I still have several endings to get but, overall though this VN is very well thought out and done as far as history and race development go. It isn't overly fast pace nor is it too slow. There are some parts that can get slow but that is to be expected. Sable himself is one of those characters that is a bit less believable to some extent but his character development is solid. His character is based on the idea that he is rational on just about everything which can cause problems with others who focus heavily on emotions. That doesn't mean he doesn't have emotions just means he tends to see things in a rational manner. His power is derived from his pursuit of knowledge and the idea of creating new glyphs and spells, which is something that not many in history can do. 

All in all this VN is a great find and while it does have some dark moments in it and does discuss some heavy subjects which while some people may not appreciate or like, I personally enjoy the discussion of the deep subject matter. I think that anyone with an open mind would enjoy this visual novel to its fullest, good or bad endings alike. 

Why the West (America) is a joke to the East (Japan)

Recently I was talking with a couple of friends of mine online over some different upcoming releasing Anime and Manga. Now personally I don't read Manga that much but that is just my own personal thing and I think everyone should have the right to pursue whatever medium they prefer. During our discussion though we started talking about a couple of upcoming Visual Novels that had some mature content including things such as 'Siscon' and 'Lolicon'. There was also some other mature content we discussed, but the point of the discussion turned to why the Western-based nations mostly the US has such an issue with such media content.

Recently an article posted discussing that Nintendo's CEO and current President when asked about them allowing 'Indy' publishers and developers to put games on their market place and the allowing of 'mature' content the CEO responded like you would have expected. "I will allow this content, it is up to the person to decide on what they wish to see and play, and I don't understand why the US has a problem with this concept."

That's right, even Japan has grown and surpassed the USA when it comes to the concept of personal freedom to the point that they make just about anything and let the individual decide on their own if it is something they want to view or not. Japan underwent a great deal of change after the end of World War II, with the help of the United States, Japan flourished as a powerful Democracy of the East. Even now it has one of the most powerful political Democracy's in the East followed closely by South Korea.

The idea and customs of Japan while modernizing has also maintained and grew its traditional bases. While westernization did see the end to a lot of the traditional values, the Japanese people continued to hang on to many traditions that survive even today. The people of Japan thrive under a combination of tradition and modern values and while Japan does have its own skeletons in the closet so to speak, they still have a wide variety of freedoms and values that we as Americans have seemed to forget about.

There have been continued attacks against Anime and other Japanese based media by politicians here in the United States and most of those politicians have no clue what they are really even talking about and yet they see it as a way to reach out to people who don't fully understand the media or the logic behind it. So the question is what is it that is causing this issue? Well, it is obvious that there is a huge difference in cultures and morals. This leads to a misunderstanding though America likes to think it is 'Progressive' in the sense that it leads the world in freedom that isn't the case anymore. 

In most cases, the United States has actually gone backward for personal freedom over the past couple of decades. Now while we could guess as to what it is that has caused this, I am not going to go political for one side or the other. So let's just go with this, in Japan personal freedom is viewed with more regard than we do here in the United States. When Japan talks about America they do so with guarded words because Japan has and does rely on the US for many things including its defense. That said Japan also regards the US as a nation that is falling behind the times in regards to the use of personal freedom of choice.

Anime, Visual Novels, Manga, Video Games, and many more things that come from Japan all have things in them that some moralists in the US will find distasteful, but such is how things are. You can not squash the freedom to view or read content that you find distasteful to yourself. Media production and art have to remain free or we as a society and culture have failed in our mission to ensure that freedom continues.

That is why America is made fun of because we say we know what freedom is then we censor and judge things that we just don't understand, and honestly we deserve to be made fun of for this very thing.

 Wild Romance

Wild Romance is a Visual Novel developed by Norn / Miel and published by Cherry Kiss Games. This VN isn't new by any sort of the imagination with the production date being Oct. 2016, but even so, that doesn't mean it isn't a good or current Visual Novel. I personally find that many older Visual Novels to be ahead of their time and done quite well, not to say new Visual Novels are bad or anything. I would say that both old school Visual Novels and New Age Visual Novels each have their own appeal.

Wild Romance is for the most part a static and straightforward Visual Novel with no real choices that change the ending. There is only one time that you get to make a choice and it is to decide which of the four love interests you want to spend extra time with towards the end of the Visual Novel. I found that simply saving it at the choice and then reloading there to select the different girls was easier than going to the start and Auto rushing through the story to get back to that choice.

While I admit I prefer the more choice-driven stories like that of I x She Tell and Some Some Love Convenient Store, I don't mind a good static Visual Novel from time to time as long as it is decent. And in this case, this one was pretty good, though I will be the first to say it is a bit short again a lot of static VN's are.  

Wild Romance is the story of Kazuma (the protag) and his return to his hometown, a small village located in one of the more remote regions of Japan away from the large cities and industrial centers. Kazuma had left this village for a while to move and spend time learning and working in Tokyo only to realize that he didn't really feel comfortable living in such a large city. So deciding that he no longer wished to live in the big city he decided to move home. 

Kazuma lived with his grandparents who had taken him in after his parents passed. While living with his grandparents he had been introduced to and spent a great deal of time with four girls that he would grow up with and eventually leave behind when he moved. 

Upon his arrival, he is reintroduced to his lifetime companions and friends each with their own unique personality and interests. Each girl is also a member of one of several Yokai families and serves directly under the Earth God. Each girl has her own talents and yokai race she belongs to and it is said that for the most part the Earth God doesn't particularly like yokai spirits and humans interacting but he's not said much when it comes to Kazuma.

Sumire is the oldest and more mature of the group. She considers herself as the big sister of Kazuma and is soft-spoken and very adept at keeping the other three in check. Despite her demeanor, however, she does have a bit of a devious side that she uses to her advantage every chance she gets so she can spend time with Kazuma. She is a 'Fox Spirit' and it shows with her fox ears and tail. She is a summoner and shadow shifter able to summon a familiar and use her shadow as a form and extension of her self. 

Tsubaki is the second oldest or maybe the same age as Nazuna. She is the type that finds it hard to express her feelings and thoughts. She puts up a strong front of toughness but in all honesty, she is very timid and is quick to anger, though it is hard to tell if she is really mad or just putting on a front for that as well. She tends to be upfront with Kazuma for the most part unless it deals with her feelings, she also tends to be a bit overbearing with the other girls with the exception of Sumire who is always able to put her back in place if needed. Tsubaki is a 'Cat Spirit' or Neko Spirit, which is shown by her tail and cat-like ears. She also hates water and enjoys high places. She is a summoner as well with the ability to summon two guardian spirits that are animal spirits.

Nazuna is around the same age and the middle girl of the group as Tsubaki. She is laid back, chill, and doesn't get overly excited about anything. She is quiet and ends every sentence she speaks with 'yo'. She is meek and could be the complete opposite of Tsubaki as for being aggressive and the opposite of Aoi when it comes to energy. She is however very intelligent and uses this to her advantage over the other girls. Nazuna is a tanuki or 'Japanese Racoon Dog' and uses her magic abilities in a unique way. She creates inventions that she then infuses with her magic to create different tools that can be used to capture, detect, remove, or eliminate evil spirits. 

Aoi is the youngest of the four girls or at least as far as looks and attitude go she seems like a child but is actually around the same age as the other girls and Kazuma. She is hyperactive, energetic, outgoing, loving, and devoted. She eats a lot but never really gains a pound and is always looking for attention from Kazuma. She is treated more childlike by the other girls and at times this special treatment can get on her nerves and makes her feel less like a woman and more like everyone seeks her still as a kid. Aoi is a dog spirit and she acts like a dog most of the time even when not in spirit form. When she gets overly excited she has a problem keeping her human form and her tail will show which ends up getting her a scolding from Sumire. She uses her keen sense of smell, keen hearing, and tracking abilities to help Kazuma and the girls.

Upon returning home and reuniting with the girls he grew up with Kazuma learns of their other nature through an accident at the temple and shrine of the Earth God. The Earth God gets upset at the four girls for them showing their true nature to Kazuma who is a human. The girls explain to Kazuma that the Earth God has taken them under his guidance to eventually make them Goddess's of them when they are able to do so.

Kazuma hearing that the Earth God is going to hand down punishment to the girls for their failures of keeping their true nature away from Kazuma, he demands that instead of punishing them that he be punished instead. The Earth God considers this and then decides to use it as a test. He tells Kazuma that he will let them off the hook if he is willing to commit to helping them maintain peace and order in the area with the other spirits and humans and does exactly what the Earth God wants him to do, if he doesn't he will turn Kazuma into a toad as punishment.

After this each of the girls through some different circumstances each comes out and tells Kazuma that they each have feelings for him, it is Sumire to first state it and she then explains to Kazuma that unlike his human logic that spirits like them don't see things the same way. She makes a comment about how he needs to love all of them equally as each of them loves him. It takes him a little while to understand that but he does eventually understand and decides that he will need to do just that. As each girl confesses to him he spends some 'intimate' moments with them and I guess makes 'women' out of them.

Through trial and error and a sorted amount of events, Kazuma eventually is able to convince the Earth God that humans and Yokai can live together and that some humans can even interact with them. After the deeds performed by Kazuma, the Earth God makes his decision to accept Kazuma and to approve of his relationship with the four girls. He then states that at the end of Kazuma's natural human life he will be reborn as a spirit like the girls and that he will become the next Earth God. 

This visual novel is for the most part PG and doesn't show much in the way of mature content, there are some scenes that show some breasts but the nips are removed...because apparently, that is the only part of the breasts that make it 'mature'.  H-scenes are nonexistent at least from what I can tell, there is no 18 patch that I have found yet, but I have seen others say there is one. I will continue to search for it and do an update if I find it. 

I did enjoy this visual novel though and though it was short and static, I can say that it is a nice change of pace and one that I needed. Like some people enjoy reading books, I enjoy reading and see Visual Novels. I know it is old and there is most likely no chance there is any more to this story that I have found yet but I would like to think there is more to their story or at least some additions. I recommend this to those that are wanting to read a straight through VN that is nice and cute in its own respects.

S3: Love Convenient Store (Adela After Story)

 S3: Love Convenient Store (Adela's After Story)

Adela's Afterstory is the first installment of a total of 3 to be released DLC's that deal with the girl's Afterstory. The second has been released in its native language with an English version in the works, but due to COVID, the time frame of the English Version has been pushed back. The second DLC is Yena's Afterstory, which leads me to believe that Soohee's is in the pipeline for future production. Each DLC is described to be equally as long as the girl's paths in the main game itself. Adela's DLC cost me $4 which isn't bad for a DLC.

Adela's story takes place after the events of the main story in which Adela has committed to a new contract with Seven Stars and recently thanks to some help from the inside (a plot twist I won't release here...sorry.) Adela has joined two other girls from the agency to create a small group that has started to tour. Because of this though her time with the protag has greatly been reduced and other than the protag and the other two girls no one is aware that Adela and the protag are actually dating.

With her dream of stardom coming true she takes every concert performance she can arrange with the other two girls and hopes to increase their viewability. Soohee decides to create a fan club site for Adela and thanks to the protag taking her weekday shifts she is able to travel to all the events Adela is partaking in and taking pictures. The game reverts back to its business options by making you start over with your shop and work your way up in earning money and upgrading certain aspects of the store. Instead of buying gifts for Adela though you obtain items you purchase to support the fan club which earns Adela fans. 

Time continues to pass and the relationship begins to strain, the continued lack of being able to be with one another pushes both of them into a depression and uncertain way of thinking. The protag does his best to keep Adela on track to achieve her dream by holding his emotions in, he doesn't want to tell her that he wants her to stay with him and not travel any more but to do so would be asking her to give up her dreams to be with him, and that is something he can not do either.

Adela is also feeling the pressure as she wants to spend more time with the protag and goes so far as to change her clothes and hide her appearance to ensure no one knows it's her. Eventually, after some ins and outs with the group, she's in she decides to skip a full day of work and spend it with the protag at a hotel just the two of them. 

After spending time with one another in the hotel pool they leave to find some diner and after spending the day out walking around after eating they make their way back to the hotel where she notices someone taking pictures. To be sure no one sees her she makes off with the protag in tow. It is at this time she decides that she has to go back to the agency and hope they didn't see him and her together. She goes back to the agency but before she does the stress and emotional decay from being forced apart because of her dream is causing her to push herself to her limits, all the while the protag is fighting with his own emotions and deals with bottling them up over time which is causing him a great deal of grief. 

Prior to the start of a performance, the agency announces that Adela will be taking time off due to illness, but the truth of the matter is that she has fled and gone into hiding. Seven Stars turns to the security firm that is located in its building to locate Adela. This means that Yena is placed on alert and sent out to find where Adela could be. At first,
Soohee and the protag don't know where she could be and any attempts to call her on either her primary phone or her second phone she bought just to talk with the protag all goes straight to voicemail.

The protag returns to his apartment where he finds Adela passed out in his apartment. After he wakes her up and asks her what is wrong she breaks down and tries to explain all the emotions she's been feeling. The protag helps her eat something then puts her to bed and then heads out of his apartment to call his mom's boyfriend to ask him something when Yena appears and comes up to him.

They talk about Adela and Yena asks if she is there at his place, he of course tells her that she is. Yena tells him that she will do what she can to stall them from investigating and finding him and her for a time but that is the best she can do for them. If it comes down to it she won't put her job on the line, and she will come for them if ordered. He agrees to this and she leaves him to make his phone call. He calls his mother's boyfriend and former Manger of the store to talk to him about Adela.

He is informed that she is suffering from stress-induced anxiety and panic attack, if left untreated she will get worse, and eventually, she will not be able to deal or cope with her line of work or people in general.  Taking this to heart the protag asks him what he should do to which the only advice he can give him is to get her to a hospital and get her medication to help her for the time being until she makes a choice between the profession or walking away. 

Over the next day or so the protag and Adela spend time together and he helps her get her meds, they share their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and desires with one another including the fact that Adela is starting to question her own desire to be a performer and idol because of how she has to hide the fact that they are dating. After this long story scene, you are given two choices each with different endings, "Good For Everyone" and "A Normal Life".

Now straight up to me personally both endings are both nice so I don't feel either ending was bad. I see what the author was trying to do though, honestly, I also struggled with how I felt about how Adela should handle the situation as I obviously wanted their relationship to work out but also understanding the protags thoughts and feelings on Adela achieving her dreams. So I think both these endings are well done and cater to those who really were divided on what would be the best choice for her and the protag to do.

In 'A Normal Life', while out with one another Adela makes a choice and decision about their future. She removes her mask and having the protag wrap his arms around her she takes a selfie with the two in the picture and posts it to her social media site with the tag, 'Me and my Boyfriend'. As part of her contract with Seven Stars, she is not allowed to be in a relationship, and therefore because she herself went public, she is released from her contract, effectively being fired from her agency. 

She then decides to help the protag with his store and enters a normal life with her and her boyfriend no longer seeking to be an idol of sorts she still gets other agencies wanting her for small contracts and for other shows. She however never signs another contract and simply implies that her dreams have changed from being an idol to simply spending her life with the man she loves, the protag.

In 'Good for Everyone', she and the protag sit down and discuss their situation frankly, and in the end, she comes to a conclusion. With the incident taken care of about her leaving the group for a short time and with the Security Firm putting to rest any investigation into who she was with, Adela decides to go into contract negotiations with Seven Stars and tells them what she wants for them to continue her contract. It was a long-drawn-out fight but in the end, she wins what she wants. 

She signs a new four-year contract with Seven Stars, she will not be forced to do as much touring and is allowed to live outside the agency. Furthermore, she is allowed to spend time and live with her boyfriend if she so decides to. The Agency allows her to have a boyfriend and will not interfere with her love life. This ends with the protag and Adela talking about what she will do when her four years are over with. She says that by then she will almost be out of the idol market and instead will focus on being a singer-songwriter but she won't have to be contracted to do that. In the end, she is able to keep her job, keep her boyfriend, and they are able to plan for the future. 

I have seen people say that Adela is 'Best Girl' and after reading the Afterstory I tend to agree that they made her the 'Best Girl'. While I think Soohee would have been a better 'Best Girl' I can see the appeal for Adela to be it instead. So despite my own thoughts, I can understand their choice here. This DLC is well crafted and done, with emotional twists and new secrets that make it a very good DLC. It makes me want to see what comes next with Yena's Afterstory and to see what they will eventually do with Soohee's after story. 

If you have S3: Love Convenient Store main game I highly recommend the 5$ and get this DLC.  

 Some Some Store: Love Convenient Store (Adela)

The final possible girl you can end up with but certainly not the least important is Adela. Of the three different girls, Adela is classified as the more 'medium' difficulty one to get but I believe that is because, in the end, she is actually the best girl as she seems to have the most attention and in-depth story of all three. 

While her story is a bit drawn out, there is a great deal of information that is loaded into her story, not just for her character but for several other characters as well which actually makes other events in the other two girls stories make more sense as well as giving more depth to the Protag and his family situation.

Adela is an interesting character as she combines Korean with English in an attempt to make her own style. She is edgy and dedicated to her art. She is employed as an Idol Training through an Agency. Because she is a Trainee she has a strict set of rules and regulations she has to attend do, which is well spelled out in her contract. 

Apparently, she has been a trainee for quite some time with no real break to speak of but despite that, she is always positive that she will make it as an Idol in due time. She works in an agency (called Seven Stars) that is in the same building as the security firm that Yena works for. She is outgoing, kind, and somewhat wild. This lends to her idol personality and is one of her more attractive sides. 

Adela and the Protag hit it off after a couple of chance encounters at the store that the Protag works at. Eventually, she explains to the protag how her contract is set up. She can't be in a relationship, she has to watch her weight, she works from 10am to 10pm daily with Sunday being her only day off. She participates in dance lessons, singing lessons, and work out routines to maintain her figure. 

Over time the two find themselves falling more and more in love with one another and this only serves to cause them pain. At first, it was just meeting one another at the store or at the protags apartment. The protag however wants their relationship to go further and when he asks Adela she at first hesitates. She explains to him that they can only date in secret and that she will be busier and busier as she works towards her goal of being an Idol. 

It is at this point as well that she ends up working at the Store for a short time as her company attempts to produce a new reality show, but it flops before it really gets started. The amount of time that they spend apart takes a toll on both of them, even after they both agreed that no matter what happens they will always care for one another, but the distance and short amount of time between them pushing them into a mixed bag of emotions and depression.

Eventually, to spend more time with one another Adela will leave the agency and sneak off to be with the protag for a little while before returning as if she had been there the whole time. At first, this works very well, she even is able to pull a fast one on the company and pull a longer stay at the protags place. 

During one such outing however their luck runs out, one of Adela's former managers who recently had been let go from the company spotted them together and took some pictures. He then sent the pictures to Seven Stars and was going to blackmail them into giving him a hefty sum of money to keep the pics out of the press. The company hires Yena's security firm to find not only the man that took the pictures but also the man she is with.

Yena finds the man that took the pics and turned him in, but she played her part in making sure that the protag was never found out. However she knew that her group knew who he was, but for some reason all his information had been removed and covered up by the Security Firm, even the higher ups at the Seven Star didn't act as if they cared any further who the man she was with even was.

Adela meets up with her former manager and asks him why he did what he did, the man who had been paid by Seven Stars to keep his mouth shut only told her that after he had lost his job he needed the money, he didn't like doing what he did but it was his last options. She told him that she planned on remaining with the protag and if she had too she would out herself to be with him. Take back the man simply nodded and said no more.

 

At the end of this playthrough, however, the protag and Adela agree that she needs to continue on for another stent with her agency in the hopes of making her dreams come true. This is the protags hope that her dreams will come true even if that means they limit their own time with one another. Adela moves into her own apartment after living with her sister for a while, this freedom allows her to spend her days off with the protag even though those are far and few in between. 

The strain of this relationship is noted to be one of the more heartwrenching ones of this game. Honestly, Soohee's story is pretty emotional though it is because of her fragile state. Yena's emotional parts come in the form of you having to tell Soohee that you love Yena, and the result of that is her looking at you differently and treating you differently. In Adela's case, it is the fact that they are obvious in love, but because of her contract and her dream of being an Idol, they have to put their own personal desires aside, mostly the protag.

All in all this game was a nice change of pace for me as it added more than just the branch and choice of most VN's. This one reminded me greatly of the old classic dating sims and the story was done very well. If I had to pick one of the three myself...I honestly don't know if I could, they each are unique and offer their own special thing to the relationship.

 Some Some Store: Love Convenient Store (Yena)

In this second installment of 3S Love Convenient Store, I will be going over Yena's story. Yena was not an easy one to get her ending on and to be honest I actually found out the game stops at 302 days after trying to get her. The first time you play through 3S the app will give you a statement that is extremely true. Soo is easy to get her ending, Adela who I have yet to get is classified as 'medium' and Yena's is the hardest. At first, I wasn't sure what all that meant but after playing through her story I can now see why it was hard. 

The first thing to remember is that the app in-game will give you hints and help you see your progress with each of the girls. I will tell you upfront if you are doing Yena's route do not focus on Adele because she will bog down your ability to reach Yena's end before time running out. 

Yena's route is heavily dependent on Soo's route. In fact, you will have to balance between using your limited funds to spend time with Soo and buying her gifts to get her so far in the story every so often to keep Yena's story opening up. You will also have to pay money to gift Yena and to do some of her story missions. This can put you at odds with your pocketbook and of course focusing on both girls takes a great deal of more time than it would if you focused on just one.

Yena is an interesting character and her unique characteristics make her route that more interesting. Yena is very quiet and observant, she is a workout junky and spends hours either running or working out in the gym or at home. She works at a security firm as a bodyguard for those that can afford their services. She is easy to anger and not very bright when it comes to certain things, (the protag tricks her several times with false information that is close to the truth) she is also one of the best friends of Soo. Yena is dedicated to Soo and her well-being almost too much so which hits the protag strangely. 

As you progress through Soo's route you will need to keep up with Yena's route as well, there will be times you will notice that her route options 'disappear' but that is because it is waiting for you to do another one of Soo's goals to open up the next one.

During your playthrough, you will hear more information as to what it is that Yena is actually doing and how she became a secret bodyguard to Soo even though Soo doesn't realize that is what she is doing, at least not at first but over time she does figure it out.

During a party at Soo's house is where things get a bit wild and also explains why Soo's route is important to the development of Yena's route. The party winds down with Yena passing out on the floor after drinking too much, and Soo and the protag set on her bed watching streamers for a bit when 'Store Kitty' scratches the protag. During this interesting event, the protag and Soo end up face to face laying on her bed close enough to kiss. They come close but do not actually kiss and soon after this incident, the protag leaves to head home.

Yena pulls up to our protag on her motorcycle and in a drunken fit asks him what he was doing and she seemed pretty mad. The protag not understanding what was going on attempted to at least chastise her for riding her motorcycle while intoxicated. However, this only lasted for a few seconds before Yena grabs him by the collar and forcing him against a wall kisses him with aggression.

Our protag is slightly startled by this reaction and after she leaves he realizes why she was upset. She had come to terms that she had feelings for him just like Soo did, and seeing them almost kiss while she was there was more than she could handle. Though unlike Soo Yena didn't show emotions well and didn't know how to handle them any better. 

This one event leads to the two to meet later and agree to date secretly which at first seems odd to the protag and the two conditions to them dating at first also catches him off guard. She says her two conditions are he can not tell anyone they are dating, especially Soo. And the second is he can not be alone with Soo at any time and he must limit his interaction with her when he can.

These two rules are what prompted him to figure out what is really going on. He comes to the conclusion that Yena is protecting and watching Soo for her company and that she is effectively using him to help her obtain her goal. He decides that he is ok with that as it allows him time with her and helps him better understand her.

Eventually, Soo finds out what Yena has been doing and it throws their friendship into question. She leaves the store and after a heart, to heart a few moments Yena leaves the store as well. Eventually, after days passed the protag decides after talking to Adela that it's time for him to tell Soo the truth. He meets her at her place, I won't lie here either, I actually felt really guilty and bad when I made the protag tell Soo that he was interested in Yena and that they were secretly dating. Soo countered with the fact she was using him and he admitted he knew that was the case.

Soo eventually asked him if there was any way that they could be together...and again I felt really guilty by saying "no". With that Soo asked the protag to leave her apartment. The dynamic between Soo and the protag changes drastically and the tension is bad, but what is worse is that Yena is nowhere to be found for days. 

Days go by and the protag goes to the normal places he would meet up with Yena only to see she is not there. However, while he was running through the park he gets a call from Soo asking where he was. When he lets her know, she and Adela show up pulling Yena with them. The two force Yena to admit her feelings and tell the protag everything she needs to. She tells him some of it then asks him to come to her place so she can tell him the rest without fear of Adela and Soo hearing her. 

After getting back to her place talking turns into physical activity which leads to what you think...though sadly there are no H-Scenes in this one. I was bummed too. But at the end of the story, the three friends of Soo, Adela, and Yena remain together with the addition of Yena's boyfriend the protag. Soo remains working at the store though she no longer really talks to the protag other than when it is about work, she has shut him pretty much out of any other interactions with her. Adela resigns her contract with her agency and remains a decent part of their friendship dynamic.

Yena's route is one of the more difficult to play through on several levels, I can honestly say the emotional part of it was a bit more than I had first thought it would be with me honestly feeling bad for Soo who is a fragile girl to begin with and the sudden shock of finding out that the guy she fell for actually loves her best friend that is kind of using him hit really hard. I can say that for a Koren-based game I wasn't expecting the sudden change in dynamic so this is a surprising new development that really made this storyline interesting.

I still have Adela's story to go and I am interested to see what her story has in store...I am hoping that I don't have to go through the pain of shooting down Soo again...that was not what I was expecting. But sometimes that is the best part of these VN's.