Generally speaking, Japanese doujin games come in all shapes and sizes, but apart from the ones with no story that you just play, most of the story-driven ones are short, have mediocre artists, so-so music, and amateur voice acting. Story is usually the only thing they can win on, since it’s relatively easy to throw together. Good artists, good voice actors, and good composers don’t exactly grow on trees. Put simply, most doujin game circles don’t have much money, so they can only afford small-scale projects. If they actually had cash, they’d just set up a proper company and sell real games instead of operating as some awkward in-between doujin circle. But there are exceptions to everything. I’ve played some genuinely impressive doujin games, and even doujin galge can be surprisingly luxurious—like Unmanto’s Hakoniwa no Gakuen. First off, the character art for Hakoniwa no Gakuen is by Kuwabara Riko. That alone is enough to sell it, and on top of that there’s an absurdly stacked voice cast: Hidaka Rina, Tokui Sora, Kakihara Tetsuya, Numakura Manami… Everything’s in place—all it needs is a halfway decent script and this game could stand alongside proper company releases. But… reality is cruel, and the story ruins the whole thing.