If I were Cardan Greenbriar and being a drunken fool saved my ass from Balekin's murder spree at the coronation AND got said ass in the hands of Jude Duarte I would take it as a divine sign to keep drinking clearly it's working for me
And a little compilation of art i made for AkaBoku day from 2023 - 2025 🥺Bokuto wears sport shoes cause they gonna toss and hit the volleyball as a promise to be together til death do them apart
A very cozy and homey game, despite some of the horrors that we end up encountering.
Ratings: Visuals: 4/5 | Audio: 4/5 | Story: 3/5
Visuals
The art was very pretty throughout the game. Character design was unique with uniting factors from characters of the same world (that is to say, you can definitely tell which world someone came from just by looking at them).
The backgrounds, especially in the fairy world, were gorgeeooouusss. In the same way that character design was unique across the board, the world designs were all unique as well - rightfully so.
The visuals were, however, a little static. Not enough to bother me to a large degree, but since I bounce around games all the time, I noticed that CE is more still-frame than other games out there. Not a make or break kind of thing, but noticeable.
Audio
The soundtrack was so cute! I feel very at home when I hear the soundtrack and the little bell sounds of the door are very endearing. I took some breaks between routes to cleanse my palette so to speak, and hearing the Cafe Enchante soundtrack again always felt like home!
I’m a sucker for the cafe jazz type of music, though, and that’s what a lot of the soundtrack is.
I also adored the VA choices for the game. A lot of voices I recognize from anime! (I am a VA enthusiast, as one may come to find)
Story
Okay, so actually I loved the storyline here, despite it being rated at 3/5. The worldbuilding was incredible, considering we built four different worlds and explored that pasts and current predicaments all in one game.
While I disagreed with some of the choices made in the routes (Mister Rindo), I still think that it was an overall well-written story. The characters were all lovable in their own rights. I think the romance did not capture me as much as I wanted it to… Considering how I like every single character better as a side character in other routes than the main character and other route.
In conclusion, did I hate the game? No, absolutely not. I was smiling like a dork at a lot of the endings. But I do have a few bones to pick that ended up yoinking some stars away…
Gameplay
One more caveat to this game is that we lack a skip function. So every time I went back for a new route, I had to do the relatively lengthy common route over again.
I set it on autoplay and let it go in the background while I did other things, so it wasn’t awful but it certainly wasn’t my favorite.
Well, it was a long story that could be boiled down to not being very long at all. As your close friend Keiji likes to ask for things, the facts are as follows:
Who: you - and this man you’ve seen once in your life and haven’t been able to get out of your head
What: lunch
When: Saturday afternoon, dressed to the nines for no other reason than that you could
Where: Onigiri Miya’s new location, which just opened up about a month ago
Why: because last time you came here, the guy behind the cashier was so stinking cute that you did a deep-dive on his social media; you haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since
So, yes. You were picking up onigiri 50% because you genuinely wanted some for lunch and 50% to gawk at the guy behind the counter (who you’d found out was the owner after you looked through the store’s instagram).
What had happened was this:
“Onigiri Miya, how can I help you?”
“Hi, can I place a to-go order?”
“Of course! What can I get for you?”
“Two tuna mayo and two salmon please?”
“Two orders of tuna mayo and two of salmon. When do you think you’ll be here to get it?”
“Ten minutes?” You lock eyes with Yukie. She nods absently, more lost in thought about the food than anything else.
The voice on the line confirms your arrival time, then adds another question. “Have you tried our yaki onigiri?”
“Oh.” Another glance at Yukie. She licks her lips in delight but shakes her head. “I haven’t, but maybe I will next time,” you tell the phone.
“No problem, ojou-san. See you in ten minutes.”
Your eyes flick to the phone. Yukie’s eyes do too. “Thank you,” you stutter to the phone and hang up.
Yukie laughs after you end the call. “Was he trying to hit on you? ‘Ojou-san,’ he said.”
“Anything to sell a product, I guess. He picked probably the most expensive thing to try to sell me.”
“It does sound good,” she muses. “But I’ve been thinking about those tuna mayo ones all day.”
And that was how it started.
It turns out that the voice on the line - and it had to be him because you came so close to closing that there was no one else left - was cute. Loose black t-shirt, cap on his head, tattoos on both forearms… Exactly your type, to be precise. You tried to make small talk with him, some generic discussion about closing shifts.
Your interaction was short, yet memorable.
Clearly.
Because you’re back again.
You walk in, immediately noticing that there are more staff today. This is reasonable and expected; weekend lunch hour is a much different scene than a weekday at closing. You see your guy - Owner-san himself - sitting in the corner of the restaurant. Trying not to stare too long, you walk up to the register. Pretending to look at the menu, you order exactly the same thing you did last time: two salmon onigiri.
(Admittedly, you did consider a yaki onigiri, and probably would have ordered it if Owner-san had been taking your order)
Owner-san walks back behind the counter as the girl at the register rings you up, but she turns around before you have a chance to hand her your cash. Noticing this, Owner-san holds out a hand. “Paying in cash today?”
“Please,” you say, handing him your payment.
He takes the bills from your hands, shuffling through the register. You take the time to observe him slyly while he’s too occupied to notice.
“Sorry, we’re a bit short on change today. There’s going to be a lot of coins.”
“That’s okay!” you tell him. “Don’t worry about it.” You hold your hands out, and he drops the change into your waiting hands. Your fingers brush as the money transfers hands.
“It’ll be right out,” he tells you.
You nod, taking a seat at a nearby table and filing your change back into your wallet and coin purse. As you wait, you watch everyone behind the counter. Owner-san has pulled his apron back on, purposefully striding behind the counter, issuing orders and division of labor for the day.
Idly, you wonder if he’s taking on the role of competent and controlled leader to impress you. Then you shake your head to reduce the size of your overinflated ego. It's a new restaurant; of course he has to train his staff!
Instead, you pull out your phone.
You: Guess where I am
Yukie: ?
You: Onigiri Miya
Yukie: To look at your husband?
Yukie: When’s the wedding?
You: Let me ask him when he brings my food out
You: Maybe a summer wedding
Yukie: Damn, girl. It’s SPRING
You: And? We touched hands when he gave me my change, so obviously we’re in love
Yukie: If I’m not maid of honor, I’m rioting
You: Do you think Bo would wear a bridesmaid dress if I asked
You’re interrupted by a figure entering your peripheral vision. It’s Owner-san, holding a little bag with your lunch. “Enjoy,” he says as he hands it off - no fingers brushing this time.
You’re not even mad, though. In fact, you're too distracted by the sharpie scrawl on the side of the paper bag, right next to the restaurant's logo.
Screaming crying throwing up at tsuda ken just… in my ears (I’m playing an otome game with headphones on and I haven’t done so with this particular game until now)
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
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