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Random VN replay: Majikoi


Clephas

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I decided while I was playing my Tsuyokiss marathon to replay the Majikoi series.  My reason?  I played the original over five years ago, and my perspective on it was bound to have changed since.  In that sense I was correct.  I came to one conclusion that I'll go ahead and state beforehand... Majikoi is a game that definitely picks its readers (in a sense, this is true of all of Takahiro's games). 

Whereas the Tsuyokiss series is, for better or worse, a series of VNs in the 'traditional golden age beginning of the charage' style, Majikoi is more like 'I thought of this setting while I was high on pot and decided to take it as far as it would go'.  The fact is, Majikoi is most enjoyable for those who can sit back, let go of their grip on reality, and just enjoy it for what it is without constantly being driven crazy by the over-the-top (in a different sense than a chuunige) nature of the setting and characters.  If you can't do that, you are bound to hate or at least be disinterested in this VN.  Noble Masters, the first Minato Soft game written by Takahiro, had a similar sensation to it, but Majikoi pretty much takes it as far as it can go (without escaping the slice-of-life boundaries of Takahiro's stories completely). 

For better or worse, most of this VN is slice of life.  It is generally good/amusing slice of life, so I actually don't mind even now, but the sheer number of 濃い characters can at times grate on the nerves, even as those same characters provide a lot of amusement.  The obsession with strong women that Takahiro obviously has makes for a great set of heroines in all of his games, but it also means that the protagonist's position is weak, no matter how talented he is (even seeing things through Yamato's eyes is pretty frustrating sometimes, though not as stressful as either of the Tsuyokiss protags). 

Unfortunately, people who like 'soft' women will find this VN less than attractive.  All of the main heroines are pretty headstrong and difficult to deal with, and Takahiro's approach to the romantic part is pretty... sex-trainer-ish at times.  It was like that in Tsuyokiss as well (from the summaries on Getchu, I'm pretty sure it was intentional).  Chris's path caused a lot of arguments from prudes and 'freedom of H-scenes' Fuwans in the past, if you want the most drastic example, lol.

I honestly enjoyed the VN as a whole still... but I probably wouldn't rate it as high as I did back then, if I were playing it for the first time now.  Kazama is just annoying to me now, rather than being a piece of comic relief, for instance.  As I said above, there are a lot of points in this VN that split opinions drastically based on taste, and those who love this VN will love it... and those who hate it will trash it like crazy.  I love the setting, simply because it reminds me of Simon Green's love of 'there is no point in explaining, I just want to put this in there so I will' writing style.  It is an acquired taste for those used to reading stories with more rational settings though.

 

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I love this VN and all it heroines, but i do agree that the romance kinda felt like somebody training a prostitute. It got even worse in Majikoi S with the after stories and Margit's route. I'd give the first a 8.7 of 10 and a 6.8 to Majikoi S. Haven't played the A series yet due to not knowing Japanese, but I'll have to wait until when they get TLed.

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31 minutes ago, Clephas said:

I liked Majikoi S the first time... though in retrospect, the after-stories for the Kazama Family heroines felt redundant.

Especially with half the routes being h scenes. It felt like a waste of time for all of them. Margit's route was the worst of all of them. They turned a badass woman into a sex slave.

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