When Suuran Digit was released, in 2016, I remember myself reading reviews which considered it mediocre and boring; back in those days, there were a lot of new otome games releases every month, so I could be picky and save my money for something better.

Sadly, the situation changed a lot lately, there are months when there’s nothing new to wait for; that’s why I decided to invest some money on this old PSVita game, everyone deserves a chance to shine, after all.

The heroine, Hiroka, is an high school student, who just enrolled in a famous Academy and discovers on the first day to have some kind of ancient seal, which shows with the kanji of number “zero” randomly appearing on her left hand.

The sons and daughters of the most powerful families of Japan, descendants of “numbers”, are gathered there for a reason: the most influent clan, Ichizono, wants them to revive the “Suuran sensou”, a battle which happended like 300 years ago to decide who was going to be the leader.

Hiroka has no interest in fighting, but she ends up involved immediately with a rude guy (I’ll call him number 5 just to make it easier, he’s not datable) who keeps bulling others just to have fun.

This heroine is kinda cool, since she didn’t hesitate a second, to stand up for the weakest ones. Good job, girl! At this point, she realizes she can’t just sit back and watch, she needs to fight as expected from a member of number families.

Actually, the clan “zero” shouldn’t even exist anymore, but her parents died and there’s no relative she could ask to understand the secrets of her ancestors. Her only way is surviving the best she can.

Hiroka can decide if she wants to join the student council (where the popular guys are) or the math club (where you can meet the guys lower in ranking, ignored or bullied by the most powerful ones).

The math club is: Takaki, who is always serious and quiet (number 6), Mitsu, energetic and positive (number 2) and Yuuhi, who keeps getting beaten up and he’s scared of everyone else, but loves ghosts and creepy stuff (number 4).

I decided to start with Takaki, since he seemed the safest start: you can barely see him in the common route, he never talks, so the main guy is not him for sure; I was sure his route didn’t contain major spoilers which could ruin my experience.

The problem is that his route ended suddenly, when finally Hiroka was getting closer to him and I started having some kind of interest in their relationship; but it was cut off without a final confession, as if a whole last chapter was missing! I was literally staring at my Psvita in disbelief, wondering what happened… did they run out of budget? Out of ideas? Out of time?! I don’t really know. But I still kinda enjoyed the setting and I had huge hopes for the main guys.

Mitsu has the opposite personality, he’s outgoing and talktative.

He wants desperately to beat Osuke (number 1), he keeps trying even if it’s basically impossible; but I loved his attitude, he doesn’t give up and I wish I were persistent like him in real life. Even if he’s fun to be with, his route somehow felt the most boring to me and I admit I even force skipped some parts. But here is revealed the truth about Hiroka’s parents, so I highly suggest to avoid playing him too soon.

Yuuhi didn’t interest me much, since he’s a weak guy, always bullied literally by everyone else and I’m not a person who is attracted to timid boys, who need help just to basically survive at school.

I started this route expecting to get bored, but I was SO WRONG.

My advice is to play him last, if you want to wrap up this journey with the greatest shock.

Well, I admit I like this kind of unexpected development, when a game can still surprise me to this level: after 8 years and more than 100 otome, it’s not easy to trick me, hiding a character’s true face; when it happens, I guess it’s enough for me to say that the game was worth playing.

The student council is made of the popular guys, who basically run the school (and whose families run the world): Keitaro (number 7), Meguru (number 9) and Osuke (number 1).

Keitaro is younger than Hiroka, but he’s always reliable and mature; when the situation gets dangerous, he’s calm and reassuring, probably because he’s blessed with good luck, which also influences people around him. I could feel a weird vibe from him and I wasn’t wrong, even if I wasn’t expecting things to take such a dark turn; I won’t spoil, so you can have the pleasure to meet his true side.

Osuke was obviously the main guy of the game: he’s perfect, smart and basically invincible in sports and fights; all the girls fangirl over him and guys respect (probably also fear) him.

His route was the most romantic, since he fell in love with Hiroka immediately, at first sight: actually, he literally stalked her everywhere to get closer and find out why he was so interested in her, which is a question every player probably wondered about.

I mean, Hiroka is cute, she’s not stupid (even if she’s lazy) and also indipendent, but I guess it should take something more for the perfect school president to fall so hard, considering he could choose among every other girl attending the school.

Anyway, despite his power (being number 1 means everyone should obey his orders) he’s nice and mature, a perfect gentleman. I admit his confession was good, simple and straightforward as I like it. Well, he never doubted his feelings were recriprocated, so there was no need to be shy I guess.

It was my favorite route.

Then I completed my journey with Meguru: he’s aggressive, a bully who has no respect and he’s feared by everyone; well, of course, except Osuke.

I couldn’t really get into him, even if sadistic guys usually get my interest; but I didn’t accept how he diminished everyone in the math club and all the normal students, thinking they are basically trash compared to him. I have no idea why Hiroka stayed by his side and I played without much interest, waiting for this stuff just to be over.

So, did I enjoy Suuran Digit?

Way more than I expected! I can’t say it’s great, I understand why many people found it mediocre, but for me it was still fairly good: while a few routes feel predictable and repetitive, others have huge shock moments which made them memorable and worth playing; honestly, some scenes made me reminisce about old Rejet games, which was completetly unexpected and gave me a positive surprise. The plot is not that deep, each route adds some bits to the truth, but it’s better not to follow a random playorder, to avoid being spoiled: Yuuhi and Osuke are better played last.

I liked the BGM and the art was good, I can’t complain at all; the writing was decent too, some scenes felt more like fillers instead of adding something to the story, but overall the pacing in each route was nice.

I’m glad I was able to pick up this game at a kinda low price, I suggest you to give it a try if you find a good deal!