Tag: otome game nintendo switch

THE CHARMING EMPIRE

Developer: Dogenzaka Lab, D3Publisher Inc.
Publisher: Dogenzaka Lab, D3Publisher 
Platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch, Mobile (iOS and Android)
ESRB Rating: M+17 Mature

I bought this game for the same exact reason I bought The Men of Yoshiwara series: Kikuya and Oghiya: I needed more otome games in my Nintendo Switch Library. ^^;

 

STORY (From Nintendo Eshop Page)
“Our heroine, Amane Kosaka, was living a simple yet happy life in the countryside until one day she was suddenly taken away to live in the empire, summoned by her brother Soshi Amazaki — the current ruler. Though she was unaware of the underlying circumstances, she finds herself brought to this lively and palpable central city.
Living in the immaculate royal palace, our heroine comes to learn that the empire might not be as joyful as it seems.

Her brother is no longer the gentle man she once knew…
A corrupt organization secretly runs things behind the scenes…
The heroine’s fate guides her down the path of love.”

 

ART
The Charming Empire’s artwork was done by the artist, Fuji Mitsuya, a well known mangaka responsible for most of the beautiful art covers of popular JP Drama CDs (e.g. Midnight Jiangshi, Majestic Crown). If you admire her works, you’ll definitely love the CG’s for this game. Although they fall rather short as expected due to the game’s plot line, they were all undeniably beautiful.

 

MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING
I like how catchy The Charming Empire’s intro music was. Their BGMs were pretty good too, an improvement from what they had with the Yoshiwara series. But what initially attracted me the most to buying this game was their voice acting. Reading the list of cv’s below, I immediately recognized some of the famous voice actors from popular otome games I’ve recently played.

Tetsuya Kakihara “Toki Tanba” – Victor Frankenstein (Code Realize), Shin (Amnesia), Karasuba (Psychedelica BB)

Toshiki Masuda “Kei Yoshimine” – Ieyasu Tokugawa (Ikemen Sengoku), Yukimura (SLBP), Iori (IDOLish7)

Takuya Eguchi “Koichiro Sera” – Kazuki Hoshino (Collar x Malice), Nomura (Hakouki), Nagi (IDOLish7)

Toshiyuki Toyonaga “Kagemitsu Togawa” – Junichirou (Bungou Stray Dogs), Yuri (Yuuri on Ice)

Kenjiro Tsuda “Soshi Amazaki” –  Chikage Kazama (Hakuoki), Hattori Hanzo (Nightshade)

 

ROUTES AND CHARACTERS
While playing the game, I noticed that each route mostly follows the exact same story pattern: You get whisked away to the capital – become a royalty – romance with the guy you choose – a rebellion occurs – conclusion. Although there were ‘some’ routes that offered a few plot twists, others were concluded far too easy and as simple as it can be.

All of the routes were short that it barely gets you that connection to the guy you’re romancing. If it weren’t for their profound voice acting, the stories would’ve fallen quite flat and somewhat boring due to zero character development.

Characters
The only recurring characters of the game are Sochi Amazaki and Kagemitsu. The rest of the guys only appear in their routes alone.

 

 WARNING:  Few MINOR spoilers up ahead!

 

TOKI TANBA – Bad boy, Robinhood, Best Cook, Baumkuchen!

Toki is the handsome cafe owner you bumped into one day while you were secretly strolling off town. You became acquainted with him due to his friendly & flirtatious personality and eventually tried to help him out in his cafe by waitressing and washing the dishes (lol the things you do for a handsome stud). He is rather popular in town and is loved by his customers. He appears very kind towards you but actually has hidden motives which you’ll get to discover in the middle of his route.

Ngl, I only enjoyed Toki’s route because of Tetsuya Kakihara’s voice acting. His laugh reminds me of Fran-chan’s giggle in Code Realize! It’s too adorable SQUEE!

 

KEI YOSHIMINE – Hot tutor, Smart, Talented, Tsundere as hell, Prince Charming, Pinky Swear, Best Boy!

Kei would have to be my favorite route in this game. His story was very sweet and surprisingly had good pacing and a satisfying ending. Kei was a prince abducted from a land which Soshi’s family conquered and destroyed. He became a captive in the capital after that and currently now living as your private tutor with a fiery grudge against your own brother. Unlike the other main characters and their respective routes, Kei was probably the only one that developed a realistic romance with the heroine. His story didn’t felt too rushed and the bonding between him and the MC was more genuine. Kei’s story is also a good choice for a first route in this game.

 

KOICHIRO SERA – Silent, Cold, Serious, The Bodyguard, Samurai, Best Soldier, Sketchy af

Sera is your faithful bodyguard who will watch you 24 hours a day and will never leave your side, ever! In his route, he was appointed by your brother Soshi, as your trusty bodyguard who needs to be with you wherever you go. This man is very devoted when it comes to his job. His bushido code is prioritizing your protection 24/7. I felt bad while I was playing his route mainly because of how Sera was starving himself just to watch over you (the guy eats one riceball every meal) Sob! During his story, it was revealed that he was part of the rebellion group in a pursuit to overthrow your brother’s regime. I didn’t quite liked how it felt as if he was only using you so they can put an end to Soshi’s dictatorship. In the end, I felt like Sera’s feelings for you were a little too forced because there wasn’t any character development between him and the heroine during the transition of events. Oh well!

 

KAGEMITSU TOGAWA – Childhood Friend, Substitute Tutor, Mr. Nice Guy, Boring.

Kagemitsu is your childhood friend and also your brother Soshi’s best friend and right hand adviser. I was kind of interested with this character at first but was surprised on how bland his story was. Kagemitsu is your typical childhood-best-friend-type character and since you’ve always known him and liked him for the way he was, there’s literally  nothing more you can get from the relationship between him and the MC. Again, the romance felt too forced. The only interesting part about Kagemitsu’s route was how involved it was with Soshi’s underlying story. It may be better to play this character prior to Soshi since their stories felt somewhat connected.

 

SOSHI AMAZAKI –  Has Trust Issues, Cold, Cunning, Bipolar (but not really), Incest (but not really)

Soshi probably has the most interesting story among the main characters. Mainly because he was considered the bad guy in other routes. Playing his route will get you to discover his side of the story. Soshi also offers a little bit of character development as he starts cold towards the MC (you) but then later on develops warms feelings as he tries to open up to the heroine. I kinda like Soshi’s story. It had a couple of plot twists and I was satisfied the way it ended. The only downside in his route was how pathetic the heroine was in this story that it gets overly annoying playing her character. (Rolls eye)

 

 

TRAILER

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS?
I really couldn’t say anything more other than how simple this game was. Perhaps if you’re looking for an easy short read that’s not too engaging (you can literally finish one route in an hour), this game is a good candidate.

Personally, I love the voice acting best as well as this game’s art style. But story wise, it’s painfully predictable that it  gets boring at times to a point where you literally don’t care how it ends. I really don’t think it’s worth the full price. So if you’re concerned with getting your money’s worth, I don’t recommend buying this game unless it’s on sale. Despite the mediocre story writing, the game had a few pros up it’s sleeve such as having very little typos, and I did enjoyed two routes (Kei and Soshi). I don’t regret buying this game for my Switch library since there aren’t a lot of localized otome games in the Nintendo Switch console yet. Also, if you’re a fan of the seiyus: Tetsuya Kakihara or Kenjiro Tsuda, this game won’t be so bad as you think it’d be.

Chlo’s Rating: 6/10