Hey y'all. Welcome back to my impressions of KoiChoco. Just like with my previous posts, I'm not documenting my full playthrough but instead staggering my play in four hour sessions. I've mostly been discussing my thoughts on what happened in the last two hours. Let's Jam!!!
Be Careful What You Wish For
I asked for sex in one of my previous sessions because of how often this run skirted around and teased it in goofy ways. I ran a six hour session this time because the plot mostly took a back seat and the game went "places" with said sex being the main orderve. I finally see exactly why there's an all-ages official release for the PSP and a fan patch for the HD Remake that made it all-ages. The official relationship and sex parts related to getting the girl (in this route) were an amusing farce!!! I have no shame in saying they were not at all what I expected; the juiciest parts spanned across four scenes that each took me at least 20 minutes to get through. I promise, I didn't delay completion on my own volition; I currently can't tell if they were attempting to arouse me, hurt me or make me die laughing. There was also a possible Spongebob reference thrown in of all things. I'll leave that there as I pick my jaw up from the floor another time; it became unhinged while I wrote this paragraph.
Getting the Band Back Together
You don't get to see the full journey here as Yuuki and Isara attempt to convince all of the club members to return to their duties. I think the chibi sprites used for this map were adorable and some of the best Isara illustrations can be found throughout. They're sadly a little bit too risque for my desire to tempt the Hive gods here, but nonetheless were very well done. Her exposition about each member's responses was personally not the best way to handle such an event, but the 25 km trek was still a fun diversion between the sex while still moving the main plot forward.
I didn't screenshot it (thought I had) but there was a fourth wall break about halfway through in which Yuuki directly spoke to the player and disclosed information he only could have obtained from other routes that I hadn't played yet. He begged me not to switch routes to find out his secrets. This finally confirmed that he knew he was in a game all along and made me giddy. I knew he was in on the joke.
Of course Hazuki (the teacher) would call at the end and request that Yuuki came over. It turned out she really doesn't live that far from him (according to the map), hence why it wasn't that big of a deal for Yuuki and her to "date" at her apartment like was shown hours earlier. They don't dive too far into that element on this route but I really want to see more of it now. Also, her sprite has a joke in it: of course she would be eating a rice cracker.
The Monkeys Return (and Are Finally Loved Now)
These girls originally left the club because they hated how much attention Isara was getting from Yuuki. They were not in love with him or anything like that, Bbbbaakkkkaaa!!!! How they were brought back was a series of gags that all ended with a tearjerker of a punchline that I will be doing a runthrough of here.
They were first shown peaking into the clubroom, making actual monkey sounds. The moment Yuuki said hello, they scattered. Then, while Yuuki was catching up with the other members in the club, these two kept popping in and out from the edges of the screen. To get them to finally come in, Non-chan started what I could only describe as word hot potato where she made a monotone statement about the most boring subject she could think of that the next club member would take a single word from and monotone about that word in relation to her statement and each other member would follow suit only to have them finally come in and finish the chain. This will always be one of my favorite types of word humor, and Yuuki's inner monologue topped it off nicely.
Then, these two saw Isara, broke down into tears and ugly cried while embracing her. There was no music, some of the dialogue was completely incomprehensible and Isara immediately forgave and forgot. "I always wanted to be your friend" was her response to everything they had done.
Chisato Returns to the Shokken (I Have Some Words)
I am mixed on how the script writers resolved Chisato's return to the club here. It fit her character and was tonally consistent with everything related to her that was brought up prior but was still contrived as all hell. Isara and Yuuki went on a date, they ended up in a love hotel, "shenanigans" happened, and then they miraculously bumped into both Mifuyu and Chisato on their way back.
There's a local saying: "Heaven hath no fury like a woman scorned" and it very much fit how Chisato was presented in this moment. Mifuyu mostly was angry because the former was, so her feelings didn't matter that much in this particular instance. Prepare yourself for the most wonderful and elegant storyboarding one could ever see.
Chisato walked up to Yuuki and knocked him on his ass. Isara leaped to his aide and was almost Isekaied by a man that wasn't paying attention. At the hospital, surgery was recommended by her "quack" of a doctor (her words, not mine). Now, she might be crippled for life (according to the current "plot").
While Yuuki was worried about his girlfriend, Chisato snuck over and apologized. The backing insert song played while she just cried and made up with him. It was very well constructed and mad props to the writers for not making this seem forced. Despite how absurd the methods were to reach this point (and I barely even covered them above), this part was handled very tenderly.
Maybe Plot Armor?
I ended my session right after this scene. There's hope that Isara will be fine in the future but for now, she may be temporary written out of the story. The President provided this piece of information that wasn't publicly available and for the next few days, Isara will be taking a break from school and work while she heals from her injuries. Immediately afterwards, Mike, the other main Keitoku, pulled Yuuki aside and there was a noticeable contradiction made about her. I don't know where the story's going now, but it felt like it was on vacation for a bit.
BONUS: Don't Hide the Text Box Here
This game is one of those where every single scene in which multiple students exist on screen, there's a chance of something hidden behind the text box. This was one of those times. So far, it's the only illustration that looked exactly like this and occurred right at the end of this session so I'll give you a taste for free: the black haired smiling girl on the left with her jacket down has no panties on whatsoever. 😂
Current Questions and Concerns
I hope there's no more sex for awhile and Mike has some great news. The contradiction made is important to me for the time being: she was Chisato's classmate and close friend while Yuuki only barely knew her. This time, he called her his close friend which triggered some alarm bells for me. I'm thinking he's about to crack because one of the long running background gags has been how mentally unstable he may be. Chisato, she's definitely messed up in the head. His friendship with her is not a healthy one, and he's already questioned his sanity a few times.
It is 100% possible that either the original writers or the translators made a continuity error here, and I could just be giving them too much credit. I'll still leave that as an option but remain hopeful. I will also be continuing to see where it will go next.
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts here, and I'll be continuing to post in the future as I go. What were your thoughts? Are you also playing this? Leave your comments below, vote and reblog. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful night.