Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club - Won the tournament AND their hearts! ♥
Otome game from Illus Seed.
Ho-ho! And finally, I’ve got to write this review.
I LIKE Asagao Academy a lot. At first sight the game is a banal otome, but after playing several routes, you start to see that it is not.
SUPER HYPER PLUS: IT IS MADE ON THE LEVEL OF COMMERCIAL GAME, BUT IT’S FREE!!!!!! +
First that you notice is the art.
GUI - Well, cool, atmospheric and with hint on that strange asagao flower color scheme. There is CG gallery, music room, bla bla… Wait, what? Scene Picker? What the heck is this? Oh, I see, you can rewind the scenes. Wow… New, interesting and refreshing!(And I imagine, how many programming work had done to do this). Oh, diary. Hmm… Good. +
Characters art is the one of most strong points in the game. They are not copy-pasted looking-alike bishounens, they look fantastic! And I mean like real people. They have different shapes of body, face and eyes. They look like caricature drawn real people. And well it is a huge plus, because I’m tired of these sweetly looking boys in each game I play. +
Backgrounds - oh, original backgrounds are always cool. And there are many of them. +
CGs - 4 for each bachelor(whom are 7) count in mind 4*7=28(Many!)+2 special from hidden routes=30 CGs! +
Then you notice the music.
It is nice, atmospheric and well, it is played at right moments. + (One called “Worry” plays in my head each time I am at school lol.)
After that you notice the sound.
Game is half-voiced(otherwise there will be too many text to voice), and it is what adds game some spiciness. +
The sfx are played always at the right time, which is normal for a novel.
Then you notice the good writing and story.
Story is like real cool, and I like writing. It is not boring, and also not too fast. The feelings of MC is shown perfectly. Great applause to writer! +
There is humour in the story, but also drama and romance, what makes the story dynamic and rather deep. (And through some routes you learn more about MOPS. What is this? I’m not telling you, play the game ahahahahah~)
The route of each boy is colourful and differs from the others.
There are many endings - up to five(or six?) and it is always good plus. And they are hard-achieved, that happens rarely in otomes. +
Also, there are hidden routes, and I like all types of bonuses. +
And the non standard bachelors.
First, it is art. Not sweetly, but all with their own handsomeness.
Second, they are all based on real people. At first I didn’t want to believe it, but then when I browsed the Internet it appeared to be that Normal Boots Club and Hidden Block club exist! And what is amusing, their characters in Asagao Academy look alike the real club members for real! So great applause to the artist! +
And the third, the strongest point of game is non typical reactions of bachelors. Believe me, I’ve played an countless number of otomes, and usually, I’d be able to choose correct answers to get best endings. But not in the case with Asagao Academy. Like I read at one tumblr post,
Sometimes bachelors themselves don’t know, what they want.
And THAT is what makes the guys unpredictable and more similar to real people!!! And that’s why choices are not that easy to make - you don’t know how he will react, and what the consequences will be! In my opinion this is the most awesome thing in AA.
The last but not the least is MC.
Main Character, Hana Mizuno, pink-haired(it is important!) girl, has her dark past and some skeletons in her closet. At first shy girl appeared to have much more deeper story behind her past than it first appeared to be.
Also I like so much that her emotions are like the one of a real person. She has her character, she is not some puppet, what you are controlling with choices, but a person. Each your choice - despite is it good, or bad, shows some part of her personality and sometimes moments from her hard past.
When I only had started to play, I thought: “Well, one more typical main character of otomes and mangas, shy and timid and then - BOOM! ~magic~ and all the boys are hers.” But Hana Mizuno is obviously more than stereotyped MC. It’s just a gut feeling.
In the end, my opinion is that
This is a brilliant game, real masterpiece of huge talents. I wish that more otomes could be made like Asagao Academy: Normal Boots club in future.
Bonus - Favourite route is… I don’t know, first it was PBG, but now it’s Jirard. Yeah, Jirard obviously. He’s so sweet ♥
(Why minus? That is due to some bugs in diary and sometimes story could be more shorter and exciting, but it is good nevertheless.)
I like this fantastic game and strongly suggest you to play it too!
See you near Christmas and New Year due to school. Have a great time!
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