Before playing this game, I was quite worried: many people complained about the difficult kanji, so I thought that buying it immediately instead of waiting for the english localization was a huge mistake.
But it wasn’t true! Obviously, this is not for beginners, but my japanese is not that good and still I had no problems.
Also, I was worried that an heavy plot could overshadow completely the romance part, making this game more like an action/detective game instead of an otoge…. that was wrong, too. Obviously, it depends on the route, but overall I didn’t feel a lack of romance at all.
I’ve played Mineo first, and I fell in love immediately: he was so awkward and shy, he could say the most embarrassing lines ever…. in one world, he was flawless. I couldn’t ask more from a character, there were so many funny scenes in his route, I just kept laughing at his reactions! And he was so cute when he was jealous… everything was perfect.
Also, his case was the most interesting to me, I could perfectly understand his sad feelings and his desire to give up… but in the end, he came back and he grew as a person, not only as a policeman.
His route felt complete, I really appreciated the writing too: serious and funny parts blended together very well and there weren’t boring moments at all. A really good start for this game!
Takeru’s route was completely different.
In the beginning, it was very serious and all about investigations; also, he was quite rude to the heroine, I even thought “Ichika, can’t you just chose another boy? Look around you, there are so many nice guys!”. But then, after accepting her as a partner, he became really nice, and I’ve started to like him.
The atmosphere felt overall heavier than Mineo’s route, there weren’t as many funny moments; but the cute scenes with Takeru made me fall in love with him really hard, he can be so nice and caring! The ending was perfect too, I was even screaming like crazy at the confession scene!
Kei interested me since the beginning, I fell in love immediately with his personality!
He was so caring towards the heroine, but at the same time really reliable and stoic with his job.
His constant research for a meaningful death made me really sad, I’m very glad that Ichika didn’t let it pass and got mad at him.
Somehow, this route felt longer than the others, probably because this case felt a bit boring to me, it didn’t get my interest as the previous routes; their relationship was also developing in an awkward way sometimes, they acted like lovers even before confessing, so it was a bit weird.
Anyway, the exciting ending made up for it, it was really cool! I just wished I could see more romantic moments.
Shiraishi’s route got me disappointed.
He was an interesting character for sure, I had great expectations and I was very curious about his secrets and his past… but I don’t think it was explained perfectly, I wanted to see more and understand better what happened in his childhood days.
Plus, his endings were really awful, I was not satisfied at all!
He couldn’t have a simple happy ending as the others, and that’s fine; but there were too many things happening in his route, at least I wished there was more focus on him instead of the case, because it just felt incomplete.
Yanagi’s route was obviously the most important, because it tied all the cases together and also unveiled the truth about the Xday.
It was awesome and shocking, I wasn’t expecting that person to be the real culprit and the mastermind behind everything! I had no idea, I was suspecting another person… the writing was amazing.
My favorite part was the last phrase in the end: “everyone has an invisible collar attached”,which got me really thinking…. it impressed me, I wasn’t expecting so many serious topics from an otoge.
Needless to say, this is my best otoge of the year.
I would recommend anyone to play it, absolutely! If you’re too afraid of difficult kanji, maybe wait for the english localization: I hope it will be good, because if it’s bad like the previous releases I’m going to be very angry this time.
Collar Malice deserves a perfect translation, because everyone has the rights to enjoy it as I did… people must not be condescending, this is a true masterpiece that can not be ruined by terrible memes or other random problems.
I don’t even know who is my favorite character, I enjoyed them all…. and I need a fandisk so badly, I hope Otomate will listen to our prayers soon!
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