It's basically just a pop therapy session, and the gameplay, both combat and abstract storytelling, is underwhelming even for RPG Maker standards, but the true route is an amazingly presented & effective emotional experience well worth the price of admission. Mental health is represented in such a poignant and realistic manner, and the characters are all likable and fit into the dichotomy well. And even though the story can be sad at points, there are lots of cute, fun little takeaways from it, like how one of the most powerful abilities in the game is just breathing. The writing really can be concise when it wants to, and not when it decides to waste your time with dream world antics. And again, the presentation was fantastic, particularly in its animation quality and music, so for whatever little complaints I have, it culminates together so well I imagine that it's hard to come away from Omori empty-handed.

Probably the only game that has made me simultaneously contemplate the state of prostitution in Japan and its relation to women’s economic condition, evoke within me genuine pathos for an anthropomorphic cat samurai, laugh profusely at one of the dumbest math jokes I’ve ever seen, and soyface at a Hannibal Lector reference.

"B-but it's a b-barebones RPG M-Maker game with almost no g-gameplay or animation!"

To see such pure unadulterated insanity straight from the mind of a person using whatever means they have to express themself is BASED and VALID! Where else am I going to get a story with a married lesbian couple that’s about dismantling the idol industry?? And the great thing about Towelket is it’s like the furthest thing away from an inoffensive piece of media, you just don’t need to feel bad laughing at its stupid perverted jokes because it isn’t braindead like light novel anime.

Compared to past works, Nekoashi Otome just overflows with confidence in its ability to weave together disparate elements into a cohesive whole, helped by Kanao’s massively improved narrative flow and more subdued tones, with the humor being naturally intertwined with the narrative's inherent hilarity and the characters’ weird dynamics, but even more effective here because the plot is better at maneuvering between surrealist comedy and somewhat sensible drama, and the self-aware theatrical style helps to prevent the mixture from being overbearing. I love how the series sticks with its pre-established characters and its vision of them more as actors with evolving "roles" as not only is it nice seeing familiar faces, but this imbues the series with thematic consistency and intriguing metanarratives to follow, Paripariume’s new developments in particular being most thought-provoking. If anything, I wish it spent more time on certain characters, and it feels disappointingly limited by RPG Maker’s visual capabilities, which can undercut how funny the writing is sometimes, but this is still one of the best Towelket games in my opinion - truly a combination of every strange element that made the series work - the funny/bizarro/wholesome/guro/socially aware/whatever happens if you deep dive into the fused brain of Inio Asano and Chizuko Ueno. I love it.

No English translation yet, unfortunately.

EDIT: There is now an English translation, made by MEEEE!!! Download it here: https://patchy-illusion-team.itch.io/wonder-girl-nekoashi-otome