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I ☆ Can is an eroge visual novel that was developed by LiLiM back in 2009. The visual novel features Ryouta Tendou who is the main protagonist of the visual novel. He's just an ordinary highschool student with bad grades who doesn't like studying. As he was walking home from school, a girl named Miyu Toudou who is the main heroine of the story suddenly bumped into him and ended up kissing his lips by accident. Because of that, Miyu Toudou magically transformed into an idol which was caused by the magic given by a chibi familiar named Qupu (Christopher Landale Providel IV) who is an acquaintance Miyu. Essentially, Miyu Toudou is aiming to become an idol which she dreamed of ever since she was a child. Qupu, who came from Dreamcastle is obligated to help her dreams come true. Ryouta is willing to help out as well because he can amplify Qupu's magic inside Miyu whenever they kissed, making it more likely for her to reach her dream. The story of the visual novel roots off from here and the ending you get depends on the choices you make.

[Miyu]: "It's okay for you to call me whatever you want. That way, we'll feel closer to each other"

I ☆ Can may appear cheerful, but certain parts to the story are far from it. While there are some romantic elements in its story along with some comedy, it also contains some darker elements such as blackmail, gangrape and the infamous netorare (NTR) genre. Just like most people, I'm not a fan of netorare, but that's actually what made this visual novel so compelling. I was even more compelled to play it after watching its hentai adaptation that was developed by PoRO.

 

 

The story for the visual novel mainly focuses on the main character helping Miyu to achieve her goals. At first, the visual novel starts off relatively slow, which aligns similarly to the slice of life genre. As you keep moving forward into the story, you'll learn more about the key characters and what their backgrounds are, especially for Ryouta. They were a bit too short in my opinion and the details were not very intricate but I still find it interesting. Depending on your choices, you'll also experience some dark moments associated with the other characters you come across with, which can potentially lead you to bad endings. While I do find the story of I ☆ Can to be compelling to some degree, it doesn't seem very creative when comparing to other visual novels. To me, it just seems very basic. A highschool boy helps a girl out to achieve her goals and they eventually fall in love with each other. Sounds like the plot of a regular Nukige, but there is no way I can forget about the infamous netorare genre I mentioned before.

[Reina]: "You heard the crowd's cheer right? My cheers were louder than Miyu-san's."

In terms of the characters in I ☆ Can, some of them were pretty memorable. The voice acting was also spot on, especially for the male characters. Putting Miyu aside, there's also another heroine of the visual novel; Reina Horiike. Just like Miyu, she also aims to become an idol. She's also acquainted with a chibi familiar of her own from Dreamcastle named Holy who is helping her reach her goal. There's also the main antagonist of the story; Kouji Terada who is aiming to seek revenge against Ryouta's family because of a particular incident that happened in his past during his time in the entertainment industry. There's also Yuuto Yamashita who I find to be a mysterious side character.

For me personally, I find Qupu to be the most likeable character in the visual novel. He may a bit reckless, but I do find him to be the funniest character, especially when he lowers his voice whenever he intends to be serious on something. The character that I find to be the least likeable is Holy. Given that she is more successful than Qupu, she often brags about her superiority. She also belittles Ryouta for being associated with Qupu who is not as successful. This arrogant and prideful persona of her really makes me want to rip her wings off!

The visual novel has a total of 13 endings and they are obtained based on the choices you make for the main character. Despite the story being pretty basic; not being as creative as other visual novel games, I still find it enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the romantic relationship between Ryouta and Miyu. Even if you are not a fan of the netorare genre, there are reasons why it exists in the hentai and visual novel community. If it wasn't for netorare, the story may not be as compelling and I probably would've dropped the visual novel.