Sanada Ninpou Chou has been staring at me for 2 years from the shelf, laughing at me because it knew my kanji knowledge is getting worse, instead of better.

If you’re learning different languages at the same time, you probably know how it works: the more you learn a new language, the more you forget another.

But since I’m a do-m, here I am, starting an historical game made of kanji I forgot completely, and struggling through it; that’s my life.

This game was an impulse buy, I fell into this trap because the release date was too close to my birthday, I was feeling sad and old, you know how it feels… or probably not, if you are really young, get out of here!! well, I’m joking… kind of.

Let’s talk about this game, finally.

Settled in the Sengoku period (which game developers love for obvious reasons), Sanada Ninpou Chou gives you the chance to play as Mutsumi, a shinobi who lives at Sanada’s place and wants to get a revenge for her deceased father.

The common route felt way longer than it actually was (I guess 3 hours are probably enough), but somehow I couldn’t be interested in the characters nor the plot, so I was barely paying attention, hoping to stay awake.

I was already cursing myself for having wasted my money again, but when I finally entered individual routes, my opinion changed for the better, and playing this games stopped feeling like a chore.

I started with the historical character I probably knew the most from various other games, Sarutobi Sasuke. He looks cold, but you’ll realize pretty soon that he’s just stubborn with his feelings, which is normal if you consider how hard it must be to live as a shinobi.

Sadly, since this game is mostly focused on war, the romantic moments are really rare and pushed at the end of the route, like some sort of “reward” for surviving through it all.

I can’t say their feelings were forced, I guess living at the edge can bring people closer really soon, but I wish there were cute moments here and there through the route, just to hint that their love was growing step by step. Sadly, it’s a common problem if historical games.

The saddest part, is that the endings were kinda lame: the Happy ending isn’t long enough to show enough of their future happiness, and all the other endings are basically useless, not worth seeing at all. Unless you feel the need to reach platinum trophy for every game you play, I highly suggest you to save your time and go for the Happy ending only.

I played Juuzou next and I had good hopes since he seemed to be the sweetest guy of the group.

I admit this route felt A BIT more romantic, since his gentleness towards women blessed me with a couple of beautiful CGs that I wasn’t expecting so early in the game.

Sadly, it wasn’t all easy and sparkly as it seemed, since he was hiding a lot of secrets.

But most of all, the real highlight of the route was the moment when the heroine and another girl literally slapping each other’s face (not just once!), while claiming they both loved Juuzou the most!

Poor guy, he watched the whole scene with a shocked look in his eyes, I bet he just wanted to run away and find a normal girl, instead of those crazy ones. Even if it was a funny scene, I highly doubt that a real shinobi, heartless and cruel, would go that far for a person’s attention.

But I guess consistency is not the most important part of this game.

Kamanosuke was my favorite route, probably because he felt less “robotic” than the other characters: if the others look like perfect and serious warriors, Kamanosuke feels more like a human with actual feelings.

He’s also kinda shy while talking to women, so it’s easy to make fun of him whenever he gets close to the heroine!

His energetic attitude made me feel at ease, somehow he felt the best match for the heroine, who is young and straightforward like him.

Saizou was the complete opposite: he’s arrogant, difficult to approach and also suspicious, honestly I could never trust him completely. His attitude made me want to punch his face multiple times.

He tried all the time to make Mutsumi his personal kunoichi, always implying she wasn’t good enough to be a shinobi. He acts like he considers women inferior most of the time.

Obviously, as the route proceeded, he changed his mind and recognized the heroine’s value, but it isn’t easy for me, to forget his behavior.

I don’t even know why, usually I’m attracted to confident characters, even if they are douches, but I couldn’t like him completely. Or maybe it’s just because at this point, I started feeling bored by this game and I couldn’t feel involved in the plot nor characters anymore, I just wanted to get the last route done and move on.

Nobushige was supposed to be the main character, but somehow I decided to play him last.

He’s the typical leader, respected and probably even feared by subordinates, but he hides his insecurities behind a mask.

I appreciated when he had a moment of mental breakdown and let the heroine take care of him, it’s not easy for a person of his status to show his fragile side.

I can’t say I disliked his serious attitude, but honestly, when I completed his route, all I could feel was a sense of freedom because I was done with the game.

So, would I recommend this game?

If you really, REALLY love historical games, I can’t say Sanada Ninpou Chou it’s a kusoge, so I won’t stop your thirst for wars, zombies and shinobi.

But if you don’t, I think you can skip this without worrying too much: even if the art is beautiful, overall it just feels like a ripoff of various similar games. Which is not completely bad, if you love the genre or simply can’t get enough of games settled in the Sengoku Era.

You probably know that I’m not a huge fan of this setting, so it takes a masterpiece (like Nightshade) to keep my interest up and make me change my mind.

And Sanada Ninpou Chou wasn’t enough.

I knew it wasn’t going to have many romantic moments, I wasn’t expecting cute dates or fluffy scenes, but I think the writers forgot that this is supposed to be an otome game, in the end: of course, the characters got their final confession and kiss, but 10 minutes (or even less) are not enough to make me play for like 7 hours each character.

I could forgive them if there were at least funny scenes, or something which wasn’t constantly about war, but………….. literally, there’s nothing else. When there’s not a fight, war is the only discussed topic, even when the “couple” is alone. For most of the characters, I didn’t feel at all their feelings growing, they were just fighting and randomly confessed after they won.

The ending was short, like…… 5 minutes? Maybe even less? I was expecting something romantic at least at the end, but I was disappointed again.

If you think Hakuouki focused too much on historical events, stay away from Sanada Ninpou Chou, it honestly felt even worse. But I’m the one to blame, I bought it even if I knew it was risky for me, so I got what I deserve for being blinded by the art.

I wish I could say “I’ll learn from this and I’ll stop making mistakes”, but who am I kidding? I’m always weak to pretty boys.