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Review of Sengoku † Koihime ~Otome Kenran ☆ Sengoku Emaki~

SubjectSengoku † Koihime ~Otome Kenran ☆ Sengoku Emaki~
ByHelpfulness: 2
Vote: 8.5
casualreader on 2021-07-02 last updated on 2022-02-12
ReviewThis review was edited on 11/02/2021 to include the R15 content review as well.

Review of X version:
Sengoku † Koihime is considered a sequel to Shin Koihime † Musou. That said, you do not need to play Koihime in order to play this game. Either way, just know that it's not directly related to any ending of any of t he previous games and, at most, you miss is a few (most of the times amusing, that's true) references that are thrown (and they're even vague, at times).

Now, if you want to know if the game is good or not, I'd recommend you to simply play the introductory portion of it. Kensuke and Kuon's first scene is one of the best I've read, so if you read it and find it's not up to your tastes, I'd stop right there and then.

As far as the rest of the game goes, if you were not aware yet, this is a harem story. But instead of Shin Koihime's approach, in which after every story chapter you are free to choose and see any and all the stories of each heroine known up to that point, Sengoku Koihime breaks that down a bit. You will not see stories for every single character every time, instead it might just one or two at one point; four or five at another, and so on.

This is both good and bad: it's great in terms of pacing, as seeing, for example, ten character stories after every single main chapter gets tiring after a while. However, that also meant that the characters had enough screen time and relationship development with the protagonist. You can judge what you like best (personally, I feel the characters in Sengoku could use more screen time).

Overall, this is a fun game to read throughout, although I personally feel they could've done better with the ending.

Review of the original/R15 version:
Now I played this one afterwards and, if you are like me, who played X first, you will notice one thing: the R15 is a kind of prequel to the X version. Any more details would be spoilers, so I'll just answer a few questions for those curious about whether it's worth it or not to play the R15 version.

What are the main differences between the R15 and X versions?
- The R15 contains a lot less scenarios than the X version, and that means not only the h-scenes. Particularly, characters like Koyasha, Touko, Aoi, Shirayuri, Yuuki and the entire Takeda and Nagao cast have a lot less screen time and development.
- Some script changes made Kensuke more logical in his decisions instead of just thinking that things will resolve themselves somehow. In R15, for example, he never reaches the conclusion that the Kensuke Squad should focus on guns, it's Kuon's idea. In X, they both reach this conclusion.
- The plot is also completely different at its core, with different motivations and endings.
- To be fair, in my opinion, the R15 at least doesn't force a few of the romances which are just...past borderline, like Kuu, Aina and Natsuki.

Which version should I play, the R15 or X version?
If you want the full experience, you should play the R15 first, wait an year, and then play the X version. Be aware that, while the two are different stories, a lot (I'd guess around 90%) of the scenes and scenarios in R15 are the same as ones that appear in X/ Going crazy with the skip button might mean you'll miss some slight, but important differences.
If you don't want/don't have the time to do that, just play the X version (and you can read the spoilers below for the main plot differences at the end of this review).

I already played the X version, but I don't want to play through the entire R15 version. What should I know?
Just read the spoiler section below if you have played the X version and don't intend to play the R15 one.

- The fundamental difference is that Yoshino doesn't exist in the R15 version, so the "villain" of the story is Xavier/Erika. This means all dialogues shift from talking about Yoshino to talking about Xavier (a fictional figure created by Erika which is revealed at the Takeda council of war with all forces).
- There are no events for Aoi/Yuuki. This means that Aoi never gets to know Kensuke better, ends up being against him in the Takeda council with all forces, gets assigned the duty of watching the Sunpu movement during the march to Kyoto and would have been most likely the enemy should the story have continued.
- Touko never appears in the beginning to save Kensuke (Kensuke fights one oni, which just escapes). Kensuke also never meets Touko and Koyasha until the event where they start hunting oni together. There's also never a scene of Touko meeting Erika either.
- A few plot points never get explained in X, but are explained in R15. The reason why Hikari says they created the perfect situation is because Kuon appoints Erika as the Kyoto Shoshidai, leaving her to move as she pleases.
- The ending is different, with them exchanging a promise to see other again and Erika disappearing, alongside all the oni as well. The game ends with them saying that, now with the oni menace gone, it's likely they'll have to fight the other warlords in Japan.

Several arcs don't exist either in R15. They are:
- The Azai battle against the oni in Mitamura village
- The Otate no Ran arc, in Echigo
- The remnant of the Suwa Shrine/Tora arc, in Kai
- The battle to regain Sunpu



If you want a bit of comparison between this and Shin Koihime, feel free to read below (beware of spoilers).

Sengoku Koihime feels like it's trying to do all of the Shin Koihime's routes in one. Kuon is a mix of Karin's craftiness, Renfa's temper and Touka's charisma. There is a battle with an insert song similar to what's in Gi's (Kakumei version, at least), the heavy story parts of Go midways through Sengoku and, like in Touka's, nations gathering under a banner to fight a common enemy.

I really feel they could've done a few things better with Sengoku though.
First, having "oni" in the plot just to leverage a single antagonist felt cheap and ended in a pretty "empty" way in my opinion. This is specially true if you stop to notice that Sengoku hardly has complex strategies...mostly because the oni aren't smart creatures. You won't see great strategists outwitting one another for instance, as we have with Shuri and Hinari; Meyrin Ashe and Non; and Keifa, Rin and Fuu. Lots of choices, personalities and strategy styles.

Second is the fact some people have "special abilities". It's true that Shin Koihime had characters such as Nagi, who could "shoot ki", or Ren, who was overpowered in pure strength, but it's hardly as much as the ones in Sengoku, which are massively devastating. It makes it hard to imagine how wars would be waged in these scenarios, making it closer to "slaughter" instead. I really wanted to see a "Shin Sengoku Koihime", without the oni around and with Kensuke appearing in other factions, such as the Takeda or Uesugi instead of Oda, but they would need to find a way to balance these.

Third (part one), there is Kensuke x Kazuto. I think a lot of people like Kensuke more since he is obvious more capable and prepared than Kazuto. While Kensuke is smarter, stronger and appear way more on the frontlines, he has no growth at all (at a point, it feels like the only thing he knows what to say is "let's infiltrate the castle!"). Kazuto, on the other hand, is like a blank paper. He is your average person, whose only quality is being a "hard worker", but he grows in every faction he is in, either becoming capable and aware of his limitations and qualities in Gi, incorporating the heart and soul of the Son Go or knowing and sharing the burden of responsibility he has a one of the pillars of hope in Shoku.

And Third (part two) and last, Kensuke's personality ends up written a lot worse than Kazuto. They paint him as a "goody two-shoes", despising his uncle for having more than fifty wives, just to end up in a similar situation. Once he can officially have as many wives as he wants, he claims he'll only do it "out of love". Yet at that point, the logic, half of times, is like:
To-be-wife: "Hey, I want to be your wive too!"
Kensuke: "Yeah...but I don't want to have a wife that doesn't love me"
To-be-wife: "But I love you!"
Kensuke: "Oh...okay. Sure, yeah, I love you too"
2 points
#1 by flvbycjctnheheh
2021-07-12 at 07:55
< report >Nice review. As it's the highest-rated Koihime game I plan to check it first when I have the time and the mood for a very long harem story - they are rarer than you'd thought. Also, wtf, did they really made a game with a huge harem with a 15+ rating (and zero sex scenes, obviously) initially? Lol.
#2 by casualreader
2021-07-15 at 18:16
< report >Thank you, I hope it helped. I personally don't mind 15+ since a lot of times h-scenes are just there because they have to be to sell more, but both Sengoku and Shin Koihime have well written h-scenes that add up to the characters relationships.

As for the game's rating, I guess you haven't read the spoiler part (and you shouldn't, since you haven't read either game yet), but I'd say all three Shin Koihime Kakumei games are better than Sengoku in terms of storyline (if you don't know, the three Kakumei games are a remake of the original Shin Koihime Musou).

The one thing that I've read to make or break for a lot of people is the main character. Kazuto is more of a "background" protagonist in the Kakumei games, while Kensuke is a lot more active. (ironically, Kazuto, in the original Shin Koihime ,is a lot more like Kensuke in two out of three routes).
#3 by mizuki12
2022-04-08 at 04:05
< report >For me, i dont really care if kensuke is a “goody two shoes”. I just care about is the man want to make a girl happy or sad. So if a girl confessed to MC and MC accept her even he didnt love her (well even he didnt love her, he CARE about her and want her to be happy). I like this kind of MC. I like harem novel. I didnt like some MC like isekai magician bcz this kind of MC is just choose one and turndown another heroine. I mean if there is no rule about “YOU MUST HAVE ONE WIFE”, then why u turndown another heroine?. They love MC and they will be happy if they can be MC’s wife even MC have a lot of wives. Why MC turndown them? Why not just accept them and make them happy. Why MC make them sad and then “maybe someday you will find a man who love you”. Shit about that. You didnt know the future, MC. Maybe in the future they got political marriage, or got raped, or even worse than that. They will happy to be with you, MC. And you just broke their happiness by turndown their confession.

WELL THIS IS JUST MY COMPLAIN ABOUT STUPID MC (where they can have a lot of wives but they just choose one wives)

Sorry if my opinion make you mad, readers. #HAILHAREM
#4 by casualreader
2022-04-08 at 22:53
< report >Don't get me wrong, it's actually the Koihime series which convinced me that harem stories could work. But not Sengoku, Kakumei did. I also don't think there's nothing wrong with caring and wanting to make someone happy, but it does bother me that it seems he just waits for someone to says "I love you" to simply reply back the same words. It makes it seems less like "love" and more like "cruel kindness". I'm obviously only assuming this as they are just characters and there's no way to know for sure, but it's just the feeling the writing gives me.

I feel harems only work when the characters don't get jealous or possessive, and the laws/rules usually play a big part on that. Which is why I can't fully agree with the "happy" part, since in Sengoku Kensuke explicitly declares to Kuon she would be the only one at first. Kuon then forces him into accepting polygamy, but it's clear both sides weren't 100% in. Afterwards, you also see several scenes of Kuon suffering from that decision and Kensuke also notes several times how everyone is holding back for the multiple wives system to work. Kuon and Kensuke also agree that she'll always be the no.1, which already breaks the entire concept of loving everyone equally. The heroines are too dependent on Kensuke and there's little shown on what they do without him.
If you compare this to Kakumei, each kingdom has so many characters and the bonds between them is shown in depth, to the point you are aware that they still carry on with their lives with our without Kazuto. No one is where they are for Kazuto and they all have allegiances that are at least equal, if not higher than to him.

But I'm not mad, you can probably tell I like this series and also this game. I'm just disappointed that they didn't make the romance work as well as in Kakumei, while knowing they're fully capable of it. And the new Ex1 is actually doing worse in that aspect.
#5 by Riez
2024-01-11 at 02:21
< report >Thank you for the review,im interested on this but a bit worried since it's a "sequel" Glad its not really necessary to play shin koihime first,