Usually with games like this I write a first-person piece, make up some story, and call it a day. But this game genuinely put me off doing that. If I wrote it that way, I’d end up sounding like a rapist myself. That said, even though this one looks like plain nukige, it’s the same as that earlier title from the same label — “even a nukige can have something under the surface.” So let’s focus on what’s under the surface. Games rarely touch on this kind of criminal motive / psychology stuff. The protagonist is a guy living alone in the big city. He goes to school, works part-time, and supports himself. Now and then he tutors his distant relative’s younger cousin; at school he’s polished, polite, well-mannered — by any measure, a “fine young man of the new era.” Then one day his little sister from back home shows up. She says she’s planning to take the entrance exam for a school in his city and needs a place to stay over winter break, so she wants to crash at his place. The moment he hears this, he gets angry. Every trace of the “fine young man” evaporates. He even calls home and asks why the hell they had to send this burden his way. The same thought repeats in his head: “I hate my little sister more than anything!”

Nekoneko Soft games always leave me not knowing what to say. First off, they usually have a solid scenario, most of the time by Kataoka Tomo. I won’t deny he can tell a story, and most of it is told in an approachable, faintly sorrowful way that slowly gets you tearing up. It’s mostly positive stuff — cherish the people around you, love life and its little beauties, that kind of thing. But the other annoying thing about Nekoneko Soft is the art. They always go to this guy Akino Takehiko, and the characters he draws… sometimes they clear the bar, and sometimes they’re genuinely ugly. I looked at his doujinshi and honestly they weren’t bad, so why does it come out so rough once it’s in a game? Some of the heroines end up with those pork-kidney faces, looking like Zhao Benshan. Painfully awkward. So I kept going back and forth, and I did play some Nekoneko Soft games plus stuff from their sub-brands. The story side is generally fine; the art style is just a bit rough. Probably the coloring’s fault. Anyway, Nekoneko Soft has a new game out. They actually put out a new title this year called Ramune 2, but I didn’t play it. I mean Ruri no Kasane: Imouto Monogatari, which came out last month. Honestly I don’t get the title, especially the “kasane” part. No idea if it means “overlapping” like I think it does. Not that it matters, since the subtitle already tells you everything: imouto monogatari. A story about a little sister.

I don’t watch porn anymore, but back in high school I watched it every day. Watch enough and you start thinking about it—you even start arguing with other fans about what makes a good one. The standard was always whether it got you going hard enough. Maybe I’m a bit of a deviant, but while everyone else was chasing pretty actresses with huge tits and great bodies, I was hunting for specific scenarios: humiliation, getting gangbanged by a bunch of Black guys, being dumped out in the middle of nowhere for all kinds of play, getting raped in the middle of the street, etc., etc. But over time I gradually realized I was being an idiot. The stuff I liked was way too fake—either there wasn’t enough struggling, or the acting was just completely unconvincing. Honestly it was less convincing than the rape scenes in Chinese TV dramas. Watch too much and it gets old, because it’s still just porn they filmed—if it were realistic enough it’d be a crime. After thinking it over, I figured those older-sister-takes-your-virginity plots were better. At least they aren’t that fake, right… Thinking about how I got into porn always brings up Wu Lao’er.

Honestly, Natsuiro Recipe (なついろレシピ) wasn’t the game I was most looking forward to this month. I’d originally planned to play Pure X Connect and Sumire first, but Natsuiro Recipe leaked early, so I had no choice but to play it first—and what a surprise it turned out to be.

11月のアルカディア was one of March’s new releases. I’d figured there was nothing worth playing that month, then I saw the OP — looked like a mystery/plot-driven thing — so I tried the demo. And surprise, the protagonist actually has a CV. No idea who it is, but he sounds a bit like Yuuichi Nakamura. Going on the principle that “if an eroge bothers to voice its male lead, the story probably isn’t a total trainwreck,” I dove in without hesitation. And sure enough, it didn’t let me down. This is the first thing since Paper no Ue no Mahoutsukai that I can praise without a single reservation.