Ninja Shadow

So, I'm a glutton for punishment. Remember how much Shall We Date? Love Tangle annoys me (and continues to annoy me?)? Well, I'd also downloaded their Ninja Shadow. And...well, it's not that bad. Don't get me wrong: it isn't great. The translation/wording is often very comically clunky and the plot lines are sometimes pretty scanty / sketchy and resolved too quickly, but I don't want to burn it with fire.

In this one, you play Saori. She's the twin sister of Kaname, who was supposed to travel to Nagasaki to become part of a vigilante group in order to earn help for their village, which has fallen on hard times. Does that make much sense? Probably not, but let's go with it. On their way there, Kaname is killed because he's too much of a good guy to leave a treacherous situation alone -- basically, this corrupt pig-like merchant named Suegetsu (which I'm spelling from memory, so that might be wrong) is burning down a village and Kaname dies trying to save people. How Saori doesn't also die is a bit of a mystery, but hey. That's the set up. So she cuts off her hair and puts on her brother's clothes and travels to Nagasaki pretending to be her brother so she can a) get revenge on the man who killed him and b) save her village by pretending to be a ninja assassin and joining the vigilante. She wields a sickle and chain and does already have some mad skillz because she'd trained with her brother.

Plus sides: she's dedicated, loyal, plucky, fairly fearless, and not afraid to kill people. Hmm. That sounds like it should be a bad thing, doesn't it? Well, here it's good. Also, similar to Love Tangle, the mechanics of the game are pretty easy. You earn story tickets over time (every 3 hours? Better than the 5 a day thing anyway). It's fairly generous with jade (in game currency) and koban (game cash) and there's a daily free gacha. To earn "talent" to pass challenges you work in the Meiko Salon (which is actually a real thing within the game, so at least it make sense, unlike the cooking game in Love Tangle) and sell different products to earn points for each character. This also unlocks special side stories, so at least you get a bonus there. You do have to unlock "love challenges" but it can be done the free route quite easily OR you can easily save up enough jade to at least unlock some of them the premium way. I haven't yet spent any money on the game, though I might at some point just because I feel it's decent (unlike Love Tangle wherein I will never give them money for that, even if it is the same company).

It really seemed like the game was trying to push the Makoto (he's the blue-haired leader) route or the Asagi (he's the priest) one on you, so I chose...Shintaro. He's a dojo instructor and, when partnered up with Saori/Kaname, teachers her swordsmanship. He's a man's man. A manly man. He has no idea what to do with girls though, so it's a good thing he thinks she's a guy...

Can you guess what those two bumps are? Um...yeah. At one point during training, shy Shintaro finally realises that Saori is a girl...and let me tell you... he's shocked, man, shocked. This is beyond his realm of expertise, but he's willing to learn.

They complete a number of missions together, growing closer all the time. They ultimately have to come up against the evil merchant. Once Shintaro has figured out that she's a girl -- it takes a lot longer for him than anyone else...the others seem to figure it out but keep her secret -- he's protective of her BUT (and this is the nice part) he doesn't try to keep her away from obtaining the justice she seeks. No coddling in the vigilante.

It's actually a pretty nice story and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would because Shintaro didn't appear on first glance to at all be my type. He's very adorkably awkward and they are cute together. The romance didn't seem too rushed either and didn't come out of nowhere.

Then they had a launch event for Kunihiro, so I figured, eh, why not? He's a blue-haired dancing traveling priest type of guy and he's not in the vigilante. And I'll get some bonus stuff if I do his route. Let's go!

Well, let me tell you...early on you figure out that this route is NOT going to be like the Shintaro route. For one thing, Kunihiro knew her brother and immediately recognises that Saori is a girl. Boy, does he. And Saori definitely knows that he's a dude...she goes searching for him up in the woods early on in the story and finds him bathing...

Well, hello there, Kunihiro. You've got no nipples, but you sure do
have a six pack. And a saucy attitude for a priest.

Let's just say that, where Shintaro had to work up his courage to even hold her hand, Kunihiro has no problems in that respect whatsoever. It was kind of refreshing, actually. After doing a few routes in Love Tangle where the research-y storyline all feels quite similar between routes, there's definitely a difference in Ninja Shadow. And Saori as well -- she reacts differently to Kunihiro than to Shintaro. Her growth is different. The relationship is different. Here she (and Kunihiro) are bolder on the feelings front. A lot bolder. But hey, lookit those abs...

There is, of course, danger in this route as well and intrigue and all of that. The romance is much more straightforward and there's some shmexytimes (but not in too graphic a way-- the CGs are sweet). All in all, another satisfying route though I have to say I preferred Shintaro's sweetness to Kunihiro's...um...hotness. He's a little much for me.

After that, I went on to Eduard, the blonde Dutchman who works as a translator and as a vigilante. Even though blonde is totally not my type. But there was something oddly sweet about him. And from the very first time they meet, you feel like Eduard knows something is up with Saori/Kaname. Either that or he's an equal opportunity kind of guy. One thing I find rather comic...they keep making such a point out of Eduard's blonde hair marking him as a foreigner and oh, isn't that unusual etc. etc. People literally stare at him when they are out in public. But, uh...Saori's got blonde-ish hair too. And the other dudes have everything from bright red to blue to purple. So it feels kinda funny when they keep remarking on Eduard's hair. I realise it's to help differentiate the characters, but, seriously...

Hmmmm, thinks Saori...does he know I'm a girl or is this just a weird
foreigner's way of greeting people?

I'm almost but not quite done with his route now and it's generally been pretty good. Eduard keeps Saori on her toes, constantly complimenting her in ways that she feels she shouldn't accept since she's supposed to be her brother. But he's getting to her and she's definitely getting to him. And Eduard has secrets too...

Edit: So getting close to the end with Eduard and Saori actually straight up confessed that she loves him (he's in sort-of hiding and there's some shady stuff going on and she searches him out because she's concerned) but the interesting thing is that she didn't also tell him, hey, by the way, I'm a girl... The story didn't really go into how he reacted to her confession other than that it seemed like it made him happy so it kinda makes you wonder what he's gonna do when she outs herself? Though the next scene is Asagi basically confronting her and saying he's pretty sure she's a girl...

Edit 2: Yep, Eduard had her figured out from the beginning it turns out. I kind of suspected that. The story ended pretty sweetly and I can say overall that I enjoyed this one. Go, enigmatic Dutch man FTW!

Ritsu's fairly beefcake but the boy apparently can't figure out how to wear clothes. That's his sleeve hanging down there on the right. I'm guessing they wanted to show off his biceps but it just makes me want to ask him if he needs help.

I started on Ritsu after that. He's the green-haired tabloid salesman that isn't in the vigilante. Two chapters in and I was thinking eh, meh, is he gonna be one of those guys?...but now I'm in the final chapter and I've come around. He's on a mission of uncovering the truth and also wants to uncover the vigilante...because, apparently, they offed his brother when his brother found out their identities. It's a rule imposed by the Edo Vigilante, who originated the whole vigilante code and are, I suppose, a bit more strict about it than Makoto (the leader of the Nagasaki Vigilante) wants to be. Because, hey, harsh, man. It is kinda crappy that they have to kill innocents.

Anyway, that provides the tension in the story. Will he figure it out? Won't he? Will Saori be ordered to kill him? Can their love survive her multiple deceptions? Etc. Etc. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it'll all work out in the end...

Edit 3: Finished up Ritsu and it ended pretty well. Overall I'd say I liked him and the story and it wrapped things up okay (and pretty much the way I expected it to go -- Ritsu winds up joining the Vigilante too...after all, what else was gonna happen? They'd go on the run?) It kinda glossed over the whole dead brother thing, though. You'd think he'd have at least asked Makoto about it...and I found it similar to Eduard's route in that, once they are together, Saori goes around blushing even more than normal and can't handle his attention without freezing up. What happened to the girl who got naked in a meadow with Kunihiro and wasn't fussed?

And...a launch event for Yoshiyuki (try saying that three times fast, I dare you) popped up, so I started that. I'd actually been waiting for him as he had appeared in another route (I think Kunihiro's?) as someone who was an old friend -- but not a childhood friend, thankfully...though that distinction doesn't really mean a lot when all these characters are so young anyway. Kids! They're all kids! Get off my lawn!

He's the pirate-y looking one who turns out to be...kind of a pirate. Sort of. And he comes on pretty strong, but in a nice way. He met Saori back on a ninja mission at some point and he already loves her, apparently. Though I find it really odd that he hasn't asked her a) why she is pretending to be a man or b) why she is going by her brother's name when it seems he knew both of them or even c) why she's in Nagasaki anyway. And I'm in Chapter 4? Maybe 5? You'd think it would have come up...or even some throwaway line like, "Hey, I went to visit you in your village, you know, because I love you and all that, but you weren't there."

But so far I'd say I'm liking him. I like that they banter together and he's a nice guy and upfront and seems to care for her. I suppose you could say him not asking her is him being kind and un-pushy. And he's buff pirate man without guyliner. He doesn't need it. We'll see how it goes.