Amairo Chocolate Review

 

Amairo Chocolate released on March 19, 2020 was developed by Cabbage Soft and published by Sekai Project. As the MC you just arrive in a new township named Yunagi Village (which is more like a small city), to attend school and to strike it out on your own at your fathers behest. Upon entering town you find your way walking down the streets of a new city when you run into a girl handing out flyers for a cafe. As you speak with girl you notice something different about her but you can't put your finger on it and after an incident involving some flyers flaying away and you helping her retrieve them, she offers to get you something at the Cafe she works at as thanks.

While helping her collect her flyers you also run into a girl dressed as a shrine maiden who helps you and again you notice something different but not sure what it could be. Upon going with the maid to the Cafe you are introduced to the two that help run the Cafe Nana and Ichika. Like the last two girls you notice something about them but you just kind of go with it but it doesn't take long before you realize what it is that you've been passively sensing...or seeing, the girls all have animal ears and tails.

Through a series of events you are outed as being able to see the girls ears and tails and this begins the main characters decent into the world of beastmen and learning the history of their culture through the interactions of the girls.

In this Visual Novel there are very few choices, in fact there is only really one choice to be made about half way through the game and that choice decides which of the 2 girls you end up with or, if you go the neutral route. Technically there really isn't a bad ending so to speak, and if you go with the neutral ending you unlock a special ending on the main menu...but we'll talk about that one later. The two girls that you are able to end up with is Mikuri the Pomeranian or Chieri the Russian Blue. As you can guess Mikuri is a dog beastmen, and Chieri is a cat or neko beastmen. 

Chieri is the shy type and very reserved. She is younger than the other girls and seems to be a bit more refined to some extent. Her short height, slim figure, and lack of certain womanly characteristics does make her seem even younger than she is. Nana states that Russian Blues have earned a reputation of being, "troublesome" due to some of their personality traits. 

Russian Blue neko's are not very fourth coming on their feelings and tend to hold their emotions in. They also tend to get jealous easily and because they are stubborn and head strong they tend to push themselves harder than others which ends up causing themselves and those around them hardships. 

Chieri comes from a wealthy family in which both her parents are Russian Blue's and run and operate an international business. She doesn't have to worry about money, but she decided to work at the Cafe in order to make her own money to show she is in fact an adult. Russian Blue's eyes are blue at birth but as they reach adulthood their eyes turn Green. Because of her short size, and child like appearance the fact her eyes are still blue makes her feel like no one will see her as an adult and so she pushes herself in both school and work to feel 'grown up'. 

Mikrui is the opposite of Chieri in a great deal of regards. Mikrui is full of energy, open her emotions, always seems happy, and lacks understanding of the 'human world'. Raised in one of the few remaining Beastmen communities that are hidden from humanity she has no real knowledge of the world of humans and this makes her a bit of a handful. 

Her high energy, positive attitude, and 'bouncy' personality can be a bit to handle and at first that is exactly what she is. Like her breed suggests she's hyperactive, and like a dog she is able to pick up on scents, however her ability to use scents to pinpoint people and even use it to measure spices puts her leagues above most beastmen. 

Mikrui is also a shrine maiden in her home community, as such she claims to be able to hear the voices of the Gods. Weather she can or not is not something they can say for certain, but she does have a canny ability to tell when something is going to happen.

Because of the limited amount of choices and the fact that only 2 characters within the story itself are actual love interest this Visual Novel is not as long as many of the others that I play. I do enjoy this VN though but the lack of decision making and the fact that it appears that there should be more than just 2 love interests does make me wonder if there were to be DLC's for this game or if they just didn't want to add the other two girls into the mix.

I won't go into great detail for Chieri and Mikrui in this post due to the fact that I will cover their story more in detail in another post. Overall while I did enjoy this Visual Novel from its graphics which were really well done, to its music which worked well with the overall tone and feel of the VN, I do feel like there is a lot of story left to tell here so I feel as though the story is not complete.

That said I did see where there is a Amairo Chocolate 2 that has been slated to come out here in the West at some point this coming year. The exact time however has not been announced. So I am hopeful that the second part will fill in a lot of the gaps and fill in some of the after story and maybe add the other two girls as possible interests. 

Lastly, the 18+ DLC content is available through Denpasoft but I admit it takes a bit to get it to work but once you get it to work it is well worth it.

KoiKari -Love for Hire- Emi's Route

 

And here we are my fellow fans and readers, the "final" path that you can choose...(or is it?) The last path of the main story that I played through was Segawa Emi. As I stated in the previous post about Hasumi, the choice to choose between these two wasn't something that I felt I could do easily, and yes I know its just a VN and that it doesn't really affect anyone, but still I felt it in my soul. With a heavy dose of reality setting in between Yuki and the choice to be made her I of course had to bare through the struggle and choose Emi's route last. 

Why did I choose her last? Honestly, I have no real good reason other than that of all the girls she was obviously the 'best girl' in the situation. How do you know? Simply put just like in anime usually the first girl that is shown associated with the main character is the best girl...I don't make up the Meta I just follow it. So because of that I had a hard time choosing Emi. It wasn't because of her character or anything I just enjoy against the meta sometimes.

Segawa Emi, a fellow classmate of Yuki though she doesn't know it, is the first of the girls to send Yuki a rental request through the app. Her request? Easy, just be her fake boyfriend. Emi is part of a group of popular girls and because of her inability to not show off she made some comments about her having a boyfriend for a while that sparked her looking to cover her butt.

Emi isn't the type to consider the consequences of of her actions so she makes it a habit to show off at the slightest instigation. Despite her show off attitude, she is a hard worker and does so to make sure her peers don't leave her behind. Emi and Hasumi have been friends since childhood which is why their story arch blends together. She also enjoy karaoke and staying active which gets her the usual comments of how she's so athletic but not very bright by her peers.

Her request of Yuki seems pretty simple, be her boyfriend, go on dates with her and her friends and put on the illusion that they have been together for quite some time and that they are serious. And she pays her per date. Seems easy, but as we all know nothing is as it seems.

Over the course of the Visual Novel Emi and Yuki are placed in several situations where their relationship fake or not, is questioned by the friends around them and even his sister. Emi being a bit single minded tends to dig herself into a whole and it is up the Yuki to save the day and their secret of being fake boyfriend and girlfriend. This continues for quite some time until the moment that Hasumi and Emi confess to Yuki and the choice is made.

After choosing Emi and making your relationship real the somewhat heartbroken Hasumi will leave temporarily only to return later with the drive that she will be there when Emi fails and claim Yuki for herself. This creates some tension but the two girls battle it out in a civil manner for the most part as Emi tries to do what she thinks she needs to to maintain Yuki's love and Hasumi does what she thinks she needs to to pull Yuki in her direction.

The story focuses from here on this on going struggle as well as the eventful moment that Yuki relays to everyone the truth behind his rental gig. It is met with mixed reactions but the ones that take it the hardest are the friends of Emi who feel betrayed by her lying to them over something as simple as having a boyfriend.  Saki, one of Emi's best friends takes it the hardest and this leads to Emi asking for Yuki to help her apologize to Saki about lying to her. Momoko on the other hand accepts it and just reminds Emi that such things are stupid and that she should have trusted them more.

There are a moderate amount of H-Scenes on this route and much like the sisters routes there is several mentions of having sexual intercourse without protection and possible pregnancy...which again never occurs. Now I know I'm beating the dead horse here, but can we get just one time this happens? Is that really asking for too much here? I mean I feel that these VN's sometimes like living with the rose tinted glasses. The H-Scenes are pretty decent though nothing over the top and I feel there are enough to meet the quota within the game.

Overall, Emi's route isn't short and pretty average in time to play through, it is pretty on par with Hasumi's route when it comes to that, and its H-Scenes are about the same as far as the amount there is and how long they can last. The route comes to an end with Yuki and Emi going to the beach along with their friends and family, it is during this trip that Yuki mentions that he has proposed to Emi and they plan on getting married later on. All in all I was happy with the ending all things considered and it was one of the more wholesome endings you could have in the VN. I think the majority of people would be interested in Emi's route...for more than one reason.

Koikari -Love for Hire- Hasumi's Route

 

With Tsubaki and the Izumi Sisters routes done it lead to what I can honestly say was a rough choice in paths. I think the reason why the choice between Emi and Hasumi was rough was because of how they played it off. I mean with Tsubaki and the Izumi sisters it didn't hit you in the feels like these two did. However, all that said I ended up doing Hasumi's route next and honestly it was a hard choice to decide which one to do first because both characters are both loveable in their own way and both are obviously in love with Yuki which makes the choices that much harder.

I feel that compared to the other routes that Hasumi's path got blessed with a great deal of H-Scenes. There is even one or two solo H-Scenes where she is thinking of the main character Yuki and takes care of her own needs which they don't do with the other characters that much if at all. In the pick of routes I can't say this was one of my favorites but it wasn't that bad either. I think they could have done better with the ending but to say it was a bad ending wouldn't be right either.

Tenma Hasumi is a long time class mate that Yuki doesn't remember, which isn't new as he doesn't remember many of his classmates due to his loner mentality and way of going through school. Despite that Hasumi remembers Yuki and remembers his circumstances that led him to be the way that he is now and led him down the path of wanting money. Hasumi understands him a bit better than others because of her extensive knowledge of Yuki and his family situation.

Hasumi has the looks and the personality of a friendly honor student and because of this she is really popular in the school. Her curiosity, lack of fear, and most likely her spoiled upbringing has led to some very interesting tastes which diverge greatly from most girls her age. Due to her poor eating habits she has started to get concerned about her weight as girls her age do. 

While knowing about Yuki and talking to Yuki off and on at school but never enough to get him noticed as he would hate that, she finally runs into Yuki one night as he's returning home from work. After some back and fourth she offers Yuki a large sum of money in return to be her friend openly. At first he's not sure about it and is taken aback by her odd request, but driven by the need for money he takes her up on her offer and thus begins their contract as friends.

The route choosing scene comes after the festival after you navigate your way through the Tsubaki and Izumi sisters choices. The choice is provoked between Emi and Hasumi after the two openly confess their love for Yuki. Upon confessing their love for Yuki you are given a couple of options with one not leading down a good path (guess you could call it a bad ending of sorts).

Hasumi presents Yuki with cash money while Emi who doesn't have much in the way of cash offers Yuki her cash book (like a check book for all intensive purposes), it is here you can choose to accept Hasumi's cash and in affect your accepting her confession as well. Of course when you do this you ultimately will devastate Emi who runs off crying.

Once you accept Hasumi's offer and her confession you start down her route which has its own unique feel due to the fact that she knows for the most part what your doing with the exception of the Izumi sisters. Though eventually Hasumi gets the jest of what your doing and doesn't mind it. 

The story progression from here focuses heavily on Yuki's growing feelings and love for Hasumi as well as the constant battle between Hasumi and Emi. Emi hasn't quite accepted the fact she has lost and still attempts to persuade you to leave Hasumi and get with her instead...note you can't actually do that so sorry to burst your bubble there.

As stated there are actually quiet a few H-Scenes if you have the 18+ DLC content patch, I am not sure why the focused heavily on Hasumi for H-Scenes but they are not bad. I honestly had expected them to use these as a means to justify a story arch where Hasumi becomes pregnant, however I have come to the conclusion that pregnancy for characters like this isn't something you see hardly at all. But in the end there was no such development. 

Hasumi's route isn't short and honestly is about average for this type of VN. While I wasn't overly impressed with the ending (no prego aside) the ending of this route ends with Emi and Hasumi coming to pick Yuki up for their final year of school. While it doesn't really say what happens here it can be safely assumed I guess that they ended up together through the final year of school. I still think the route I had envisioned would be a bit better...I guess that's why I have no VN's with my name on it.

Koikari - Love fore Hire - Izumi Sisters

 

Once I was done with Tsubaki's route the next easiest route to get to would be the Izumi sisters. The Izumi sisters route isn't bad though I feel like there could have been a better ending but I guess that if you think about it though it could be a good set up for a DLC pack. Though I've noticed the majority of the games sadly don't get much in the way of DLC's though. 

I can't say anything really bad about this route other than the fact that there were a couple of H-Scenes they could have used to change the ending slightly as to what I mean by that...we'll save that for later.

Yuki meets up with the sisters after they hire him for his services to act as the big brother. While this is primarily for Chinatsu's sake the younger sister Konatsu who is apparently paying for half of his contract decides to also use his services from time time. While Chinatsu's reasons are interesting they are at least rated PG most of the time with Konatsu basically just wanting Yuki to have his way with her.

Chinatsu being the older sister has always done what she could to take care of her younger sister and dotes on her when she can. However, this has led to a slight 'kink' of seeking to be treated the same way. So she seeks someone that can act as her older brother and dote on her just as much as she does Konatsu. Despite the desire that borders a fetish for wanting an older brother, her archetypal tsuntsun girl way of acting, she tends to have a very disastrous nature. Deep down she wants to be babied and this leads her into seeking out Yuki's service, which as an actual older brother he can pull off quiet well.

Konatsu is at heart a horny pervert who is seemingly always thinking of something dirty when she's quiet...and she tends to be quiet quite often. Konatsu loves her sister and wants her to have the experiences that she has thanks to Chinatsu so she has no problem helping to pay for Yuki's services and even provide them with space and date times to have Yuki give into Chinatsu's needy side. That said, she also has her own wants and needs that she wants Yuki to provide her though those are much more kinky than you'd think.

You can choose their route during the fireworks scene by not going after Tsubaki and instead another choice will come up for you to go with the sisters instead of your own sister to spend time with them. With this choice made you will enter their romantic path. 

You continue to go to prep school which Chinatsu is a student at though her class is before yours, though she'll sometime stay behind and spend time with her friend until you are ready to leave. Yuki also works with Konatsu at the restaurant that happens to also be ran and owned by Tsubaki's cousin. 

A couple of times Chinatsu and Konatsu will find their way to Yuki's apartment where he lives with his sister. Konatsu and Yuki's younger sister will always get into competitions to prove who is the best little sister and some how Chinatsu gets drawn into it as well which makes for some pretty interesting and funny dialogue between the three girls while Yuki just looks on.

Eventually, Konatsu convinces Chinatsu that her feelings for Yuki are more than just that of someone that wants an older brother and eventually this leads to Chinatsu and Yuki entering into a legit relationship. What Yuki doesn't realize at first though was that once he started dating Chinatsu that means he is by proxy dating Konatsu...or at least that is how she see's it. This line of thinking leads to some interesting conversations between the three.

The peek of this story comes however during several H-Scenes (if you have the 18+ patch) when Yuki ends up having sexual relations with both sisters. The first time was with Chinatsu and soon after their first time Konatsu had Yuki go out with her and ended up having sex with him as well. At first Yuki didn't know to think about the situation but later when the three of them are together they end up having a threesome which again boggles Yuki's mind.

The end of this path comes quickly in my opinion and the cliff hanger ending really does deserve to see a DLC. The end comes with Yuki spending time with both sisters and their friend and their friends older brother who like Yuki is a siscon. However, everyone is aware of Chinatsu and Yuki's relationship and accept it but they are unaware of Konatsu's relations with Yuki.

I still enjoyed this romantic route and I think it was one of the ones that had the majority of the comedic scenes in it, I also think the H-Scenes were very well done with this path. If they would just end it a little better I would come more picking this path over Tsubaki's route.

 

Koikari -Love for Hire- Soraji Tsubaki

 

Of all the girls that are in Koikari, I think my personal favorite is Tsubaki's. Now that isn't to say that I don't enjoy the others in fact there is one that I would say is close to Tsubaki's however it is a secret ending so I won't be discussing it in this post. While I do find the others to be pretty good as well I personally feel that Tsubaki's arch is one of the better written one's and ends in a pretty good way that makes you feel like the story is truly complete.

Of course saying that Tsubaki is a girl isn't correct, of the other romantic interests of this Visual Novel she is the oldest of them and in fact she is a teacher that instructs at a prep school, the same school that the protag Yuki attends. 

Tsubaki becomes one of Yuki's clients and pays him to act as her paramour in an attempt to get her cousin and mother off her back about settling down. To keep this story going Yuki will spend time at Tsubaki's house when she knows her cousin will be around and later they go shopping to get some things that will make it appear that Yuki actually stays there at her place to throw her cousin off. 

It is during their time together that Tsubaki soon becomes aware of Yuki's other clients including the Izumi sisters, Emi, and Hasumi. While she understands that Yuki is simply doing a job there are instances where she does seem almost upset at the fact that he's with other girls his own age while being her paramour. 

As time passes and they spend more time together Yuki ends up taking her back to his house which is only a building jump away to spend time with his little sister who isn't aware of his second job, and even if she was aware of it she probably wouldn't approve of it. So in his sisters mind he's two timing Emi and Hasumi as she believes Yuki to be dating Emi and keeping Hasumi on the side as well. Of course she then meets Tsubaki and things get even more complicated and more hilarious as his sister complex put to the test after she thinks poorly of his life choices.

 Tsubaki's romantic route is one of the first ones that become available. During a festival Tsubaki has helped you out by spending time with you and your sister. When you get the festival grounds you meet up with the Izumi twins and spend time together as a group. Eventually however, Tsubaki walks a way in a little bit of a huff after feeling like she was getting the short end of the stick so to speak. Though it wasn't Yuki's intentions to make her feel that way it did happen and Yuki realizes his feelings for Tsubaki and follows after her.

It is at the fireworks festival that they share their first kiss and the discussion of being more than just paramour begins though they still are not ready for that kind of relationship. It will take time and several other incidents before they came come to terms with the feelings they have for one another.

It is shortly after that Tsubaki comes to the conclusion that she doesn't want Yuki to continue his work through the App that linked him to the other girls. And he the through the course of a period of time breaks off his arrangements with each of the girls while maintaining a friendship with them. 

Tsubaki's route ends with Yuki eventually graduating and starting university. Soon after he and Tsubaki are married and they talk about how they have a child on the way. The ending is short and sweet and wraps this route up nicely. 

Unlike some endings I feel this one does a good job of ending it on a high note and one that leaves the player fulfilled. So if older women are your thing then Tsubaki's route is the one you'll want to go down first. Honestly, I have a type like everyone does but I found Tsubaki's interests, attitude, and overall character development to be will done and one that I could see myself with so I related to her more so than the others.

  

KoiKari Love For Hire

 

KoiKari Love for Hire is a Visual Novel created by the developer ASa Project and published by NekoNyan Ltd. and is currently being sold on Steam and other major Visual Novel outlets.

KoiKari focuses on the main character named Yuki, which due to family circumstances has been forced to take care of his younger sister while in high school. Yuki doesn't only go to school but he also works odd jobs and finally landed a job working at a restaurant where he's been the longest so that he could support himself and his sister. During this time he's been putting money up to help pay for his sisters education but she later tells him that she wants him to also focus on putting up funds for his own education in the process.

Yuki who's always been a loner when it came to those other than his sister, decides to take a look at some more jobs and comes across a unique job request that while seemingly shady gives the best returns. It is a service in which clients pay for said person to preform tasks a varying degrees. This simple job will soon lead Yuki on a unique and comedic adventure that will lead him into romance filled last couple of years in school.

 

Emi is in the same class as Yuki but because of his loner status she doesn't really know him. Emi is very active and athletic but isn't as smart as some of her friends. She is a hard worker and tends to push herself more than others. Despite that however she's the type that shows off without thinking of the consequences of her actions and as such she ends up in a great deal of trouble.

Emi is the first to use the app that Yuki has signed up to hire a 'Fake Boyfriend' to help her out of such a situation with the popular girls in school after bragging about having a boyfriend to them. Emi pays Yuki to act as her boyfriend and go on dates with her and her friends to put on the front that they are in a romantic relationship.

Hasumi is childhood friends with Emi and has befriended Yuki on the downlow. She has known about Yuki and his family situation for some time and for Hasumi she has had a crush on Yuki since around middle school. Despite that she's never really came out to him about her feelings and tends hide her true feelings. Hasumi is the daughter of a wealthy family and to the people at her school she's seen as the perfect honor student.

Due to her being raised in wealth she has gained a lack of fear and her tastes in life choices are different than most girls her age. She loves to eat especially cheese and things with cheese on it. While she knows about and speaks with Yuki at school from time to time they are more acquaintances than friends. However, being the last of the girls to ask for Yuki's services she pays Yuki upfront a large sum of money to be her 'friend'.

Yuki also obtains a request from the twins Chinatsu and Konatsu. Chinatsu is the older sister and tends to be a bit fidgety. She is strong willed and hates losing, she's what you would call the stereotypical tsuntsun girl. Chinatsu however has a longing to be babied and treated kindly by an older brotherly figure. Chinsatsu attends the same prep school as Yuki does.

Konatsu is the younger twin sister and is extremely laid back. It is hard to tell what Konatsu is thinking but she always seems extremely sensual. Konatsu however is a closet pervert who's usually thinking something dirty when she's quiet...and she's usually quiet. 

The sisters Chinsatsu and Konatsu both go half and half and pay Yuki at first to act as 'the big brother' to Chinsatsu, but eventually even Konatsu gets involved but for a far different reason.

Tsubaki is an older woman and is a teacher at the prep school that Yuki attends with Chinsatsu. Tsubaki is extremely mature looking and very beautiful in her school suit, however when she gets home she changes into her track suit and lives the lonely gamer lifestyle late into the night. Growing up in her hometown she was extremely serious in her education and because of that she never got any experience with men.

Her mother has been pushing for her to find her a man and to settle down. Tsubaki fed up with the meddling of her parents and family has been pretending to her family that she's playing the field and not ready to settle down. Her mother sends her cousin to check on her and to see about her love life. Getting desperate she uses the app and in turn Yuki becomes her 'fake paramour'.

The game has several choices to make throughout the VN with those that doesn't effect any outcomes usually in blue, and those that will ultimately lead you down a 'finishing' path in pink. While there isn't many choices the ones they do have does make for interesting reading and several funny incidents. This VN focuses heavily on the interactions between the main character Yuki and the different women in his life as well as how those women interact with his sister over time.

Yuki is for his part a siscon and will do anything for his sister and dotes on her a great deal, however because of their living and family conditions his sister has grown up to be extremely smart and mature for her age. I want to go on record and say that as of right now there is no 'Yuki's Sister' Path...for better or worse.

Now I don't want to ruin it for you if you decide to get this VN but I want to tell you that its much better with the 18+ content which you can get for free from NykoNyan's website, and yes it adds several H-Scenes. I will also tell you there are a couple of secret endings as well that make this VN a bit better in my opinion. 

Now it goes without saying that each girl has her path with the exception of the sisters which share the same path, so yes you end up with both of them. 

I highly recommend this game even though it is a bit much at the moment I will go on record and state that it is well worth the money between its interesting storyline, comedy, character development and overall visual appeal and music.