Welcome to another funny by Bee. This time with probably the biggest letdown I’ve read in a while: Wagahime, the latest game from Minatosoft. To say that this game has disappointed me would be an understatement: it’s absolutely atrocious, and I can’t believe the Majikoi writer, someone who I regard with respect, was able to come up with this absolute garbage of a game and plot. One word to describe this game: shallow.
Anyways, I’ll briefly explain the “plot” and go from there; The story revolves around an enigmatic protagonist living with his adoptive father and step-sister in the serene mountains. They all live in this fantasy world in which every single living being has something called “Kengen,” which is like a special ability reserved for each person. Note that this only applies to inhabitants of the continent of Haikun. Anyways, the protagonist has trained with his adoptive father and sister to use his kengen and fight for himself, apparently all so he could eventually form this pact with a “god” that lives in a nearby cave to his home (how convenient) so he can become stronger. After a shitty fight, he’s able to make a pact with the God, who eventually becomes the constant sidekick in the story (albeit a comedic one) and will share the protagonist’s journey throughout the routes. Once this is done, the protagonist sets on a journey to the outside world in search of a wife, which is his adoptive father’s only request to him.
About the main heroines and “fuckable” girls, I’ll name them and give a brief description and thoughts:
Noah Grandstar: Daughter of Raniel Grandstar, previous Emperor of the Empire, and current Empress. She’s the serious, head-in-the-clouds kind of girl, very innocent, hardworking, and super OP in the battlefield (she uses this super mega epic sword to rape everyone she fights, which is cool as fuck). I find her speaking quirks super cute and nice because I’m into the keigo / ware trope with women. Her art is also pretty cute, and she has plenty of H scenes for me to find her charming. Her story, however, leaves much to be desired. It would’ve been nice for her to actually go through with her evil father’s plan to go absoutely apeshit on the Republic and Rancage, only to have “the power of friendship” prevent this timeline from happening. Because why have war and a serious plot when we can have stupid slice of life and shitty nothingburgers for 10 hours straight instead? Her kengen is also absolutely broken, but she barely uses it throughout the story. If it’s too OP, then don’t create it in the first place, writer-kun. It follows the same logic as Alexandra’s kengen (time manipulation: she can stop and rewind time).
Foru: Old woman trope insert. She’s a keeper of the peace in the Empire’s capital along with her girl squad. She’s the one who hosts the protagonist and his sister in the Empire route. I actually found her to be boring at first, but eventually I found that her charm resided in the fact that she’s the most “normal” out of all the girls: she works, goes back home, does her stuff, and prepares for another day. She’s given up on getting a partner, and I thought her route, if developed more, could’ve been a certain favourite of mine. But alas, this game was not meant to be.
Escudo: Escudo (shield in Spanish) is Noah’s bodyguard. She’s the quiet, serious type. Super shy, and cute. Nothing much to say about her since her route was short, but I can kind of get why she’d top the popularity poll of the game’s girls in Japan and got her own fandisk because of it.
Pantera: MILF insert. Not a memorable character. In fact, I found her infuriating. However, her excuse to fuck the protag is actually well-grounded in a real scenario, and it’s one of the better points of her optional plotline.
Namito: Optional plotline. A whore that you get to bed once and later you can choose to bond with her more or not. Personally I didn’t find her side story very interesting, but she’s a very cute girl, and one of the sweetest characters out there in the game. A very welcome addition compared to others.
Ursula: Tanned tomboy insert. She’s another head in the clouds character, very one-dimensional, didn’t enjoy her too much. She’s hot as fuck, though.
Erin: Main girl of the Republic route. You get to fuck both her and her “sister” (not really her sister, but they treat each other as such) Faybrise. Her scenes are hot, and she’s the “teasing onee-chan” kind of character, but not super doting either. I think her teasing personality is super nice, and definitely a very welcome addition to the cast. She’s that kind of woman that openly teases the protag, and I appreciated that (though later when she becomes more dere, she’s way more shy). The big complain I have about her is the obsession she has with drinking, and whenever she gets “serious” I can’t really feel the seriousness at all? She’s also too quick to trust others, and she barely has any moments when she uses her skills to fight, leaving most of the hard work to her special unit “Colmillo” (fang in Spanish).
Gardenia: hot draggon mommy (not really a mom, but I like calling her that.) Not a memorable character at all. In fact, I’m still not sure what tropes she has, but I can tell you that her design is hot.
Shuka: cool design, cool voice actress, cool origin story, cool fighting style, dogshit romance route. Sorry, but I feel like her treating the MC as her child because “she always wanted to experience motherhood somehow” is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a while. The scene where she allows him to suck on her titties to “simulate breastfeeding” I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Apart from that, I really liked the scenes where she gets comical and tries to kill herself and commit seppuku for the stupidest things.
Reis: hottest design in the game, no cap. Rare item collector, in fact I’d categorize her as “the jew” of the game. One of her scenes sucks becaus eit’s tentacle porn and I’d rather rip my eyes off than reading one of those, but the other was okay. A shame her route is 10 minutes long.
Yoksha: furry character insert. She’s a ninja, and speaks with the “degozaru” accent trope, which is amazing and I love (stupid autism of mine, I know.) Apart from that, she acts like a dog all the time and I felt like her character, like many others, is too unidimensional for me to expand on her personality.
Ebita: little sister character. She’s a cute character, and I liked how she’s nice to the protagonist throughout the story (I really hate tsundere little sisters for some reason) but as someone who has a little sister irl I couldn’t stomach her route. Sorry Japan, but I will NOT eat the bugs.
Kurone (Or Crone, which would make more sense in English): last but not least, the most disappointing route of them all: Crone.Spoiler alert. Crone happens to be the MC’s big sister, and her route consists of her being the mature big sister trope, pushing the protag to do whatever the hell she wants. At first she comes across as a very imposing, threatening character, but in a matter of an hour that image breaks down, leaving a very cute, wholesome character. While this ois okay, i was really expecting her route to have more meat and cool battles between the main cast girls. Ultimately this wasn’t the case. In fact, it was the complete opposite, as the main girls became super friends and the power of frindship and rainbows overcame everything. The Empire opened its doors to the unwashed mashes of demons and republic immigrants, and the bad guys win (imo). Anyways, going back to Crone: nice big sis dominatrix trope. She lacked H scenes, and I didn’t like how she disappears for a quarter of her route.
I’ll list the amount of things I found triggering from this story and leave it there.
The game suffers from superficial storytelling, the worldbuilding remains shallow, and the diverse races serve merely as superficial flavor rather than meaningful story elements. This rushed approach hinders character development and intricate plot building, making it impossible to fully get into the story and the setting overall. The side girls also have 10-minute routes, which makes pursuing them an utter waste of time. Unless you only want to hear them moan and see their H CGs, that is. Honestly, after seeing what Minatosoft is capable of in Majikoi with side girl routes, I honestly found this very disappointing.
The story is burdened with excessive infodumps that overwhelm you with details of little significance. These unnecessary information dumps detract from the overall enjoyment of the story and become difficult to retain. Because why would you remember some shit that won’t ever be mentioned again, anyway?
The route order is shitty because the overarching evil plot is bad, the villains are shallow and boring, and I don’t see a point of wasting 40 hours on routes that ultimately give you breadcrumbs in comparison to the true route. (I still read the whole game)
The game struggles with an inconsistent tone, constantly shifting between forgettable battles and trivial slice-of-life scenes. It’s like the writer can’t make his mind about what exactly this game wants to tell you. Is it a goofy slice of life like majikoi? Or is it a more serious-toned story? While I clearly felt like the former was the more correct choice, it’s just difficult to gauge since the writing is all over the place. This is made even worse by the over reliance on what I’d consider childish humor and absurd plot twists, undermining the intended seriousness of certain situations. This mix of tones creates difficulty in taking the story seriously.
In the realm of character development, backstories are reduced to mere 20-liner infodumps, offering little room for emotional connection or empathy towards the cast. How can anyone relate to any of the characters like this? Sorry man, I just can’t be convinced after a 10-line tear jerker about how this character’s father or whatever died at the hands of “Evil Demon #345” and that’s why he’s boo hoo mad and wants revenge.
The game’s art department exhibits inconsistency, with multiple artists contributing to CGs and sprites. Like, can they keep consistency in this matter? Some CGs are super amazing, and others are just terrible. I’m also surprised at how.,.. colorful this game is in comparison to other minato titles. They really were aiming for a different vibe altogether. Similarly, the music quality varies, with some tracks excelling in setting the mood while others fall short. I don’t know how to explain this, but in short, it’s very hit or miss.
Just compare the quality of these Noah CGs and you’ll get what I’m talking about. It’s literally all over the place.
The cringiest thing has to be that not only not all the girls are romanceable, but also the lack of H scenes per girl altogether. I need more h scenes, minatosoft, where are they? Best girl (Kurone) also has the least H scenes. Come on, man, give me something to cook with! Why does Noah have 3 H scenes but Kurone and Erin only 2 each?
The overuse of recycled sprites and an abundance of kissing scenes feels repetitive and unnecessary. However, I personally liked this because I have a kissing fetish so we’re gucci here.
Certain characters, initially presented as serious figures, are reduced to clownish, comedic sidekicks, undermining the game’s intended tone and character dynamics, I specifically want to point to: Damian, Minjara, Pigaro, to some degree Pettar (the bunny), and Kurone.
An unusual obsession with food-related elements adds little value to the narrative or character development, becoming a distracting aspect of the story.
Lastly, the insertion of Japanese culture into an isekai setting feels out of place and leaves me questioning its relevance to the overall plot. Fuck off, Japan. I couldn’t care less about your culture in an isekai setting. Sorry, but reading about “ramen” in a fantasy world is wrong.
Anyways, short tldr: the presents an intriguing premise but falls short in execution. The combination of superficial storytelling, underdeveloped worldbuilding, and excessive infodumps hinder the game’s potential for a captivating experience. While it may still appeal to die-hard Minatosoft fans and isekai enthusiasts, I found it to be a disappointing addition to the genre. The scattered positives, such as commendable voice acting and the inclusion of mature heroines, are overshadowed by the game’s inconsistencies in art, music, and tone. Ultimately, it fails to live up to its potential, leaving me longing for a more immersive and engaging fantasy adventure. If this is the direction Minatosoft wants to take in the future, I sure fucking hope the writing gets better, otherwise I’ll make sure to avoid this company’s games like the plague.
I really can’t believe the Majikoi writer came up with this hot pile of garbo.
I’ll give the game an overall 4.
Translation is Tiring 
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