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Writing about Glass Heart Princess makes me feel really nostalgic: this is one of the first otoge I’ve ever played, years ago, so I’m a bit emotional now!

If you just look at the art, you can already imagine how colourful and bright it is; in fact, it’s a funny game without a deep plot, but the crazy moments and the interactions between characters make it really enjoyable and worth playing.

The first part of the game is basically about Kyouko going on dates, to cure her illness: the glass heart syndrome. This also means she has to do a lot of training (by raising stats), so her weak heart will be able to take all the emotions without breaking into pieces. If you fail, you can really see her heart breaking and the poor heroine dies, so take it seriously! It may be quite silly as a plot, but I was laughing all the time, also because the scenes are written very well: it’s simple, but not boring or predictable. Raising stats may be annoying, but I didn’t have great problems, besides Shinnosuke’s route: I just tried to raise everything equally, from physical training (I usually prioritized that, I’ve noticed it helps her heart the most) to reading manga and watching drama, and it was enough.

Shinnosuke was a completely different story: his route must be unlocked in a special way, and it was really hard to get for me… I had to start all over again about 5 times, maybe even more. In the end, I managed to do it, but I don’t even know how exactly.

Anyway, a few tips:

  • usually, when the game starts, you have to shoot Cupid’s arrow to the character you choose, to enter his route; it doesn’t work for Shinnosuke, so don’t do anything;

  • If you will date him from the beginning, you will be called by the shota after a few dates, and end up in his route; do it just to complete the CGs and have some fun, but you can’t reach Shinnosuke’s ending like this;

  • Date Yukito for a while, be sure to choose always the best answer and raise all the stats. I remember that I had problems if I prioritized the psysical training, so I watched a lot of dramas since the beginning, to reach the A ranking very soon.

  • You will see that a new date option appears, called “black pulse”, choose it!

That’s how you can unlock this route. I suggest you to use a very detailed guide, because it’s better if you know exactly what you have to do each training lesson! If you don’t achieve the stats required, you will end up angrily repeating it multiple times, like it happened to me.

Annoying stats aside, let’s talk about the characters!

Yukito is such a cute tsundere: he acts like he doesn’t care, but it’s obvious that he likes Kyouko; he’s also very shy, that’s why he just keeps blushing on every date! He loves animals and he’s a really caring boy, even  if he always tries to act cool.

Tenma is the infirmary doctor at Kyouko’s school: he’s very positive and energetic, even too much for me… I usually can’t stand this kind of character, but his route is quite interesting and I loved his good ending!

Kanata is a typical kuudere, but his innocence and lack of reactions makes every situation really awkward and embarassing for the heroine! well, in fact he hides a huge secret, but I don’t want to spoil!

In this game, every character hides something very shocking and everything is revealed in the main route, which starts when the dates are over: that’s how the funny and easy part ends, the plot unveils and you can see the true colors of everyone. It was quite random to be honest, but also unexpected and interesting!

Shinnosuke is the canon, that’s why he’s so difficult to unlock: he’s her loyal butler, so the main route also shows how he met with Kyouko and why he chose to stay by her side, devoting his life to protect her. It was really heartbreaking and emotional, I was madly in love with him… and I still am, he’s one of my favourite characters ever, he deserves a special place in my heart.

The shota has a short route, I recommend to play it even if it doesn’t interest you, because you can finally get to play him when he gets older in the FD! And he grows up really well, trust me.

Satsuki, the heroine’s maid, is the best side character ever: she always tries to help the heroine in her own crazy way, creating embarassing situations that made me burst out laughing, it was amazing! I think I’ve never had so much fun while playing an otoge, and Satsuki really made everything even greater. I simply love her, and I’m really glad that she had more scenes in the FD, to show why she decided to become Kyouko’s maid. That made me really emotional too.

The fandisk is really short, it took me just a week to play it, but I absolutely recommend it too! I loved every single moment, I even cried in the end…. amazing. No raising stats this time, just simple choices that are very easy to get, you can play without even using a guide if you want. The huge amount of CGs impressed me, I wasn’t expecting it and I was so glad because I love this style, it fits the atmosphere perfectly!

If you haven’t played Glass Heart Princess yet, just do it now! Don’t be afraid of the raising stats system, it may be a pain sometimes, but everything else greatly make up for it! This game can be at the same time funny and very emotional, the art is colourful and great, the characters are weirdly enjoyable and Satsuki will be your best friend ever.

You won’t regret it!