Lights, camera, action! A hilarious comedy about the entertainment industry and the colorful characters that populate it.
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This was refreshing to see from an otome because a lot of otomes I have read and played have had a supernatural/magic element in them (I know there is a lot of otomes that do not but it is just what I have played) so to see one that does not have that was refreshing. All the routes were enjoyable but it felt like something was missing in the routes. Most routes were short enough though that they did not feel like padded out so that was a plus.
I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one! I really needed something lighthearted when I got this one and it delivered! It also had me laughing hysterically the whole time. I normally don’t like “pretend” romances but it didn’t bother me here, for whatever reason! Sometimes the plot points are a bit silly but I knew that going into this one so I wasn’t too annoyed. I’m not sure I can pick a favorite LI cause they really are all so different! I know for sure that Sena is my least favorite but he still really charmed me toward the end of his route! I have a little bit of a bias toward Kazuma cause I’m also a beautician, plus I am a MAJOR sucker for the childhood friends to lovers trope. The music is also a BOP, the extra features after completing each route were really cute and fun, and the artwork is really lovely! I really liked the protagonist too; I felt like the writers did a good job of balancing her shyness while not being a pushover.
feeding my delusions
This review contains spoilers
An enjoyable common route deceives you into liking every LI until you enter the guy's route and it becomes a trash fire with last minute character revelations that changes up the dynamics of the relationship, not to mention some really asinine drama.
Special mention to the amazing art, its clean and with pleasant colors.
I enjoyed Yukito and Harumi's routes. The others can go burn in a trashfire. Asagi in particular was offendingly either boring or wtf am I reading. The main mystery is solved by way of 7 minute of an info dump on one route and promptly conveniently forgotten in the others (as it gets in the way of the romance) until maybe a 1 line acknowledgment later.
Great common route, Yukito and Harumi are best boys, even though Harumi's route also suffers the 'dumb drama' syndrome.
Special mention to the amazing art, its clean and with pleasant colors.
I enjoyed Yukito and Harumi's routes. The others can go burn in a trashfire. Asagi in particular was offendingly either boring or wtf am I reading. The main mystery is solved by way of 7 minute of an info dump on one route and promptly conveniently forgotten in the others (as it gets in the way of the romance) until maybe a 1 line acknowledgment later.
Great common route, Yukito and Harumi are best boys, even though Harumi's route also suffers the 'dumb drama' syndrome.
My happiest surprise of 2023 so far! I was in the mood for a lighthearted romantic comedy and this game delivered. Even though I’ve only played a route and a half, it’s easily become one of my favorite otomes with charming upbeat characters and story. Even though it’s not the most original game in the world, it presents the story in some very fun ways. Pretend Time!
This review contains spoilers
i finally finshed the game! took me longer than expected because of a certain route...
first things first, my play order was: kazuma -> riku -> harumi -> yukito -> teacher (doesn't deserve to be named tbh)
and now actual ranking of how much i liked each route (and/or the guy): harumi = yukito > kazuma > the random trashcan in the outside area > riku > (...) > teacher
okay, before i talk about the guys i want to express my love for the MC! chiyuki is very pretty and she's overall amazing personality wise too, for the most part. the only times were i'd have issues with her is because of the fact that her personality changes correspondingly to a route, so the trashier the guy is, the more lenient chiyuki gets. (cause otherwise there would not be any possibility for a relationship with some of them ngl...). but i still love her a lot, i was just sad that she would let them get away with some of the stuff they did to her...
also i love that this game doesn't villainize its female characters! they are always met with understanding and all of them are befriend-able by chiyuki! i especially loved kirari! (and seemingly so does chiyuki based on the additional scene :D)
ok so now the actual plot: chiyuki is a collage studant who wants to become a screenwriter. she also wants to find out who is her father. she becomes her teacher's assistant and thanks to that she gets opportunity to talk to sons of the potential suspects. (you probably can see how this can go wrong, right?)
now onto the guys starting with...! (i'll go in play order)
kazuma - he's a cheerful guy who happens to be MC's best friend. playing through his route made me discover how much i actually like golden retriever-like characters hahah you open the box, and who do you see? kazuma. you watch the only animated part in the whole game, and who is it? kazuma. so with how much this game seemingly loves him you would believe they give him time and effort. you would think. kazuma's route is for sure the messiest when it comes to plot. at least you don't have to worry at any time that he's your brother... it seems the writers started throwing darts and a board and any plot point it landed on they gave to kazuma... questionable. if you want to save yourself a headache, play the GOOD ending and then stop. HAPPY ending? what happy ending... he definitely has great CGs but he's a make-up artist, and there's not a single CG of him putting make-up on chiyuki! (that's just disappointing...) this is the route where i realized that the pretend in the title doesn't just apply to the fake dating trope but also to the personalities of the characters.
riku - ah, mr. trash himself. i guess that's what makes him popular (explore trash in fiction so you don't have to date trash irl.. quite smart!). firstly - the plot magically forgets that he can be your brother (it remembers at the very end of the game). his CGs are beautiful! and what a waste it is... honestly, this route is more like riku getting a babysitter for himself, rather than falling in love. at least in the teacher's route, you get payed for your babysitting activities. he also randomly sends you off on a date with yukito and then proceeds to get mad at you because you went (huh?) i took the most screenshots playing this route because i couldn't believe my eyes with what i'm reading. he asks chiyuki to pretend date him, she says she will think about it, and then he just forces her to do it anyway (what a gentleman!) he even blackmails her (what a gentleman!) then the game suddenly treats it as if both riku and chiyuki can gain from this arrangement (questionable) (why is the game gaslighting me) honestly i could keep talking but it only gets worse from this point onward so i'll spare my complaining. bad route, boo! (beautiful cgs! woo!)
harumi - god i love him. he's so cute! so precious! probably the closest to my type irl too. and ohhh i loved his voice!
oh and you already learn during the prologue that he is, in fact, not your brother.
harumi is an otaku, and here i mean - otaku by western standards, he's obsessed with anime. also i LOVE chiyuki in his route, here's quote that i think is too funny:
harumi: (talks about people he looks up to)
chiyuki: "(your neck must be stiff from looking up to all those people.)"
amazing.
every once in a while he will give you the tsundere treatment too... "it's not like i care about you!" cute! and his cgs! ahhh! so lovely!! in comparison with others, his route is definitely not as much of a rollercoaster but! i think his personality is well enough to carry it.
yukito - here comes yukito! who i thought i would hate but... he did steal my heart! chiyuki in his route is also amazing, first thing she does is slap his hand off after he becomes too touchy with her (good for her!) the game tries to convince you yukito is a womanizer but... yeah that's a lie. something that i noticed while playing other routes is how useful yukito was. i called him a genius on multiple occasions. he just somehow always knows what to say, and he never tried to steal chiyuki away from anyone. and in comparison i'd say, aside from kazuma, he probably likes her for the longest too. chiyuki is very assertive in his route, i'm very glad i played him as last because this is exactly what i needed! the dialogue has to be my favorite during this route too. it's also a route with kirari! i honestly wished that maybe there would be a branch here where you could just have (at least) a friendship-route with kirari.
here's something i didn't like:
1."i'm glad your not my sister too" as he grabs your face (why is it so icky lmao) (i couldn't help but laugh)
2.why did they dye his hair...
and that's it. i wish he would have more closer cgs with chiyuki but! you can't have everything. (and his cgs are still very good!)
and now for the reason why it took me so long to finish this game... drum roll..........
teacher - eh. he's creepy. the age gap made me uncomfortable then you add the fact that he is her teacher and superior (she works as an assistant!) and finally... they incest bait you. i wish i was kidding. and they still express romantic feelings while thinking they are siblings... (what is happening) they talk about it as if the only thing stopping them is the society (make it stop...) another problem... he tells chiyuki and one point but BEFORE he tells her, he acts flirty with her. huh. but he believes that she's his sister!!! shouldn't he at least try to stay away from her like that??? what!! and then he kisses her in her sleep after telling her. amazing. thankfully this route is rather short. but i suffered every second of it anyway.
i only played it for that completion... oh well. i did it.
final thoughts: it's a good rom-com. it's not too serious. it keeps forgetting the main plot (learning who chiyuki's father is). do i recommend playing it? sure. but is this going to change your life? not really.
first things first, my play order was: kazuma -> riku -> harumi -> yukito -> teacher (doesn't deserve to be named tbh)
and now actual ranking of how much i liked each route (and/or the guy): harumi = yukito > kazuma > the random trashcan in the outside area > riku > (...) > teacher
okay, before i talk about the guys i want to express my love for the MC! chiyuki is very pretty and she's overall amazing personality wise too, for the most part. the only times were i'd have issues with her is because of the fact that her personality changes correspondingly to a route, so the trashier the guy is, the more lenient chiyuki gets. (cause otherwise there would not be any possibility for a relationship with some of them ngl...). but i still love her a lot, i was just sad that she would let them get away with some of the stuff they did to her...
also i love that this game doesn't villainize its female characters! they are always met with understanding and all of them are befriend-able by chiyuki! i especially loved kirari! (and seemingly so does chiyuki based on the additional scene :D)
ok so now the actual plot: chiyuki is a collage studant who wants to become a screenwriter. she also wants to find out who is her father. she becomes her teacher's assistant and thanks to that she gets opportunity to talk to sons of the potential suspects. (you probably can see how this can go wrong, right?)
now onto the guys starting with...! (i'll go in play order)
kazuma - he's a cheerful guy who happens to be MC's best friend. playing through his route made me discover how much i actually like golden retriever-like characters hahah you open the box, and who do you see? kazuma. you watch the only animated part in the whole game, and who is it? kazuma. so with how much this game seemingly loves him you would believe they give him time and effort. you would think. kazuma's route is for sure the messiest when it comes to plot. at least you don't have to worry at any time that he's your brother... it seems the writers started throwing darts and a board and any plot point it landed on they gave to kazuma... questionable. if you want to save yourself a headache, play the GOOD ending and then stop. HAPPY ending? what happy ending... he definitely has great CGs but he's a make-up artist, and there's not a single CG of him putting make-up on chiyuki! (that's just disappointing...) this is the route where i realized that the pretend in the title doesn't just apply to the fake dating trope but also to the personalities of the characters.
riku - ah, mr. trash himself. i guess that's what makes him popular (explore trash in fiction so you don't have to date trash irl.. quite smart!). firstly - the plot magically forgets that he can be your brother (it remembers at the very end of the game). his CGs are beautiful! and what a waste it is... honestly, this route is more like riku getting a babysitter for himself, rather than falling in love. at least in the teacher's route, you get payed for your babysitting activities. he also randomly sends you off on a date with yukito and then proceeds to get mad at you because you went (huh?) i took the most screenshots playing this route because i couldn't believe my eyes with what i'm reading. he asks chiyuki to pretend date him, she says she will think about it, and then he just forces her to do it anyway (what a gentleman!) he even blackmails her (what a gentleman!) then the game suddenly treats it as if both riku and chiyuki can gain from this arrangement (questionable) (why is the game gaslighting me) honestly i could keep talking but it only gets worse from this point onward so i'll spare my complaining. bad route, boo! (beautiful cgs! woo!)
harumi - god i love him. he's so cute! so precious! probably the closest to my type irl too. and ohhh i loved his voice!
oh and you already learn during the prologue that he is, in fact, not your brother.
harumi is an otaku, and here i mean - otaku by western standards, he's obsessed with anime. also i LOVE chiyuki in his route, here's quote that i think is too funny:
harumi: (talks about people he looks up to)
chiyuki: "(your neck must be stiff from looking up to all those people.)"
amazing.
every once in a while he will give you the tsundere treatment too... "it's not like i care about you!" cute! and his cgs! ahhh! so lovely!! in comparison with others, his route is definitely not as much of a rollercoaster but! i think his personality is well enough to carry it.
yukito - here comes yukito! who i thought i would hate but... he did steal my heart! chiyuki in his route is also amazing, first thing she does is slap his hand off after he becomes too touchy with her (good for her!) the game tries to convince you yukito is a womanizer but... yeah that's a lie. something that i noticed while playing other routes is how useful yukito was. i called him a genius on multiple occasions. he just somehow always knows what to say, and he never tried to steal chiyuki away from anyone. and in comparison i'd say, aside from kazuma, he probably likes her for the longest too. chiyuki is very assertive in his route, i'm very glad i played him as last because this is exactly what i needed! the dialogue has to be my favorite during this route too. it's also a route with kirari! i honestly wished that maybe there would be a branch here where you could just have (at least) a friendship-route with kirari.
here's something i didn't like:
1."i'm glad your not my sister too" as he grabs your face (why is it so icky lmao) (i couldn't help but laugh)
2.why did they dye his hair...
and that's it. i wish he would have more closer cgs with chiyuki but! you can't have everything. (and his cgs are still very good!)
and now for the reason why it took me so long to finish this game... drum roll..........
teacher - eh. he's creepy. the age gap made me uncomfortable then you add the fact that he is her teacher and superior (she works as an assistant!) and finally... they incest bait you. i wish i was kidding. and they still express romantic feelings while thinking they are siblings... (what is happening) they talk about it as if the only thing stopping them is the society (make it stop...) another problem... he tells chiyuki and one point but BEFORE he tells her, he acts flirty with her. huh. but he believes that she's his sister!!! shouldn't he at least try to stay away from her like that??? what!! and then he kisses her in her sleep after telling her. amazing. thankfully this route is rather short. but i suffered every second of it anyway.
i only played it for that completion... oh well. i did it.
final thoughts: it's a good rom-com. it's not too serious. it keeps forgetting the main plot (learning who chiyuki's father is). do i recommend playing it? sure. but is this going to change your life? not really.