Amairo Chocolate 2 (あまいろショコラータ 2) Review

A lot of visual novels try to stir up buzz by making themselves “contrasty,” though this kind of contrast isn’t the same as what an Osaka black shark otaku sees on Twitter — close enough, though. Basically: some games look like moe-bait on the surface but are secretly pitch black inside, while others look like an empty nukige but end up preaching some profound truth…

This game isn’t just superficially “contrasty,” but it’s contrasty enough.

I’m talking about Amairo Chocolata 2 (あまいろショコラータ 2). The previous game even got a Chinese release on Steam under the name 巧克甜恋 — so the Chinese name for this one should probably be 巧克甜恋 2, right? But I haven’t seen any news about a Chinese localization for this one.

I remember my verdict on the first game: a clumsy imitation of “Nekomiko.” It even got someone to personally attack me on my blog — though after reading it for a while I still couldn’t figure out his logic. If you’re curious, you can click here to gawk.

From every angle this game’s methods were way too similar to “Nekomiko” — same kemonomimi, same café/dessert shop, same lack of any core content, just a hand-wavy setting to justify the animal-eared girls, and like “Nekomiko” it’s very short. The difference is that they hired two more famous artists, though the results aren’t even as good as Japanese Cao Lu — at least she has Emote, which doubles the H-factor.

Anyway, the game isn’t all that bad, and today I’m not talking about the first one but the second.

Honestly, I was pretty surprised to hear a sequel existed — what reason does this junk have to get a second game? Did the first one sell well? Doesn’t look like it to me; a bunch of people skipped the first game entirely and went straight to praising Sakura no Kumo. I can’t be bothered to look up sales figures, but judging from the first game, the sequel’s playbook is pretty obvious: add a few new characters, add a few new HCGs, keep selling flesh and selling sexy art, and call it a day.

But I was wrong.

First off, for a sequel it actually expanded the worldbuilding from the first game, opened a branch of the original shop, and even introduced two new characters (dog-eared heroines) to set up a “Japanese-style sweets shop” that competes with the first game’s “Western-style sweets shop.” The game spends nearly ten-plus hours on the love-hate rivalry between the two shops — it put me to sleep, but the game really is telling a story with a straight face. It also talks about a lot of “kemonomimi”-related magic lore — useless for the game’s themes, but you can really tell the writer wanted to construct a grand worldview.

But why build a worldview for a nukige?!

Yet that’s exactly what this game does. I can barely even recount the long, tedious common route — everyone plays this to see the sexy art, but the game earnestly tells a story instead, and it made my dick go soft; not a single lewd CG…

Could this game be a “contrast” work? Looks like moe-nukige but is actually a serious narrative piece? With a thought-provoking ending at the end?

Just as I was thinking that, the game bluntly threw up choices, and after picking one I entered a character route. After yet another sleep-inducing, formulaic, cringey little romance drama, the HCGs appeared…

I have to say, the HCGs in this game are insane — the sheer breadth of fetishes covered makes even me feel it’s excessive. I think some of you have probably seen that CG with the dog collar. And it’s not over — the game also has a “harem ending,” even more explicit.

By this point the game’s back-and-forth had left me dazed:

Just when I think it’s a moe-nukige, it starts telling me stories, life lessons, and morals.

Just when I think it’s a story-driven game, it suddenly blasts me in the face with extreme-fetish sexy art, leaving me at a loss.

This game takes “contrast” to the extreme. I saw Japanese otaku complaining that the sexy art was too much to handle and even disgusting — that was exactly how I felt. We came for the sexy art from the start, but the game kept withholding it; and when we finally got it, it turned out to be this lewd.

Did the sexy art being too lewd cause the Chinese localization to be abandoned? No way, right?

If you like this moe art style and want to try this game, be mentally prepared: the lewd art in this game may be more extreme than you imagine. Don’t let it warp your worldview — you can look at some ryona-type images first as a vaccine.

But at the end of the day, honestly, I don’t think this game measures up to Japanese Cao Lu’s “Nekomiko,” for three reasons:

1. Nekomiko has E-Mote.

2. Nekomiko is cheap enough.

3. Nekomiko doesn’t have an artist as sloppy as 梱枝りこ.

I noticed the blonde dog sister character in this game still doesn’t have a personal route. Considering there might be a third game, when that happens remember to add Emote, lower the price (ideally to 6 bucks), and also fire 梱枝りこ and keep しらたま alone (most of the art in this one is by her anyway). Then this series might actually become a Steam hit, and maybe even put up a fight against “Nekomiko.”