Taisho Alice Heads and Tails

After years since its release, I finally decided to sit down at my PC desk and play Taisho Alice Head and Tails, which is a very short fandisk.

I’ve decided to go through different routes following the same playorder I had for the original game, which means I started with Cinderella.

I didn’t care much about him honestly, he isn’t my type, but I admit his after story was so good, I was almost crying of laughter: Yurika is even funnier when she’s drunk, she’s blunt and honest even more than usual; Cinderella panicking when she said embarrassing stuff was amazing, I grew to like him a lot more.

Akazukin’s route was so perfect, I’d replay it for hours and hours: I nearly cried when it ended, it was so short I didn’t even notice I’ve been playing for an hour; truly, it felt like five minutes.

Yurika was trying her best to embarrass him and make him admit he wanted to touch her, but Akazukin pretended he wasn’t understanding what she meant… until he admitted that he’s actually a pervert and he thinks about that kind of stuff all the time, he’s just too embarrassed to actually do it!

I’ve never seen such a funny interaction all my life, even if I’ve been playing otome games for 7 long years! But this dialogue (and the whole after story) was pure gold, it’s been a long time since I had so much fun! I’m sure I’ll replay this part in the future.

Kaguya was next, but I admit I wasn’t excited at first, since his route in the first game was so sad, I felt more pity than love towards him. But here’s another story, completely!

My favorite moment was when Yurika was wondering if there were ikemen working at her place, while she was sick: somehow, Kaguya was able to read her mind and entered the room asking if she was cheating on him, making her panic. That had me laugh so hard, it was comedy gold!

I don’t know why I used to dislike his strong accent, I find it really cute now.

I had great expectations for Gretel’s route, since he’s my favorite character of the game, but his after story wasn’t that special; I didn’t get bored, there were still a few golden moments which made me laugh, but overall I think an amazing character like him deserved more effort from the writers.

His personality is so over the top, making his route memorable seems like an easy task to me; but I guess the writers were tired of his yandere side and preferred to show him in embarrassing situations, just or make everything lighthearted. That’s ok I guess, but I’m a bit sad.

Shirayuki’s route had the usual vibe that comes naturally from him: sad, mysterious, creepy… and overall, you always get this feeling that something awful is about to happen soon.

He’s really sweet, you can tell how much he cares for Yurika, but something about him still makes me a bit scared: his dark aura is too strong, even when he smiles.

Mahoutsukai’s route was the most disappointing: I know they still had a huge issue to solve, but it should have been handled differently. He basically jumped with Yurika in all the different words, to see what each character was doing in their After Story. In the end, he realizes his love for this Yurika, instead of the “real one”. Well, it was about time, he should have understood it sooner! when you need Ookami’s advice as a plot device, something is lacking. It could have been a great After Route, if it was at least 3 hours long, leaving enough time to show something more of their life as a couple. It was a cute fandisk for everyone, come on! Short as it is, wasting it just for the angst it’s a pity.

I left Alice’s After Story last, he’s the prince of this game after all.

It was weird but in a fun kind of way, I was laughing so much, it felt way shorter than the others; the ending was so cute, they really look perfect together.

I remember myself not loving him that much when I played the first game and I still didn’t know the truth, but I grew to appreciate him way more in this fandisk, his exaggerated reactions were amazing!

After all the main characters’ After Stories, I finally started the new “routes”: Ryoushi and Ookami. Actually, instead of being proper routes with romantic endings, they just tell the whole story of the original game from their point of view.

Ryoushi’s route was really useful because he described all the events since his childhood to the very end of Alistair’s therapy, so we are finally able to witness all the situations that led to the development of the different personalities.

This is not really otome in a “romantic” way, you can’t properly develop a love relationship him, even if there were cute moments between siblings and also lovely endings; but I’m weak to brocon stuff, so I can’t complain at all.

Among dramatic and shocking events, my most favorite part was obviously their date, which helped a lot to relieve the anxiety which was piling up.

It looked way more romantic than it should have been, they almost looked like lovers: Ryoushi always tried to appear cold and distant, but his affection towards Yurika was obvious.

He cared a lot about her since childhood, even if they’ve never been close for various reasons; I loved how he worried about her problems and tried to help her, even more than their parents.

Their affection grew slowly, but strongly, even if Ryoushi couldn’t show it blatantly as Yurika.

This route felt more like a long trip, full of sadness but also sweet; it made me feel like I was watching some kind of movie with 3 main characters, who need to overcome their fears and pain together, needing one another to be free from their chains. Amazing.

Ookami’s route was the main reason why I decided to play this game, since I’ve always thought that his bright personality deserved a route on its own. And I wasn’t disappointed, he’s such a great character!

He made me laugh from the start, with his sudden “love at first sight” confession; how can someone be so straightforward (and desperate!) with his feelings? I like his positive attitude.

His delusions of Yurika saying sexy lines were so funny, I was laughing at myself like crazy the whole time. Sadly, since she’s in love with Alistair from the start, his romantic dreams had no hope, he was destined to be the third wheel forever. I really wish he had at least one happy ending, I’m even angry at the writers! It’s cruel! I’d totally date him, if I were Yurika.

The last part of the game is a school AU, where all the characters are students and teachers, without the usual angst typical of their respective routes. Finally!

Even if I’m not a fan of this kind of scenario, I enjoyed seeing them all having a normal school life, they deserved to be happy and fall in love without suffering.

I expected it to be really short, but surprisingly the length was decent, it was enough to experience their mutual love growing! It was refreshing!

Cinderella is a cool teacher, I’ve never thought he could look so attractive; Gretel finally satisfied completely my yandere needs, I liked him more here that his After route; Mahoutsukai was annoying til the very end; Shirayuki was kinda boring as usual; Akazukin is the star of the game, the real main character! I’ll miss him a lot.

So, do I recommend this game?

YES. Absolutely YES. Even if you aren’t a great fan of the first game, or if you don’t like every character (like me, I admit it), it’s absolutely worth your money and time.

After all the pain, finally there’s some happiness!