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Review of Café Stella to Shinigami no Chou

SubjectCafé Stella to Shinigami no Chou
Café Stella to Shinigami no Chou - 18+ Patch
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Vote: 7
Omikron on 2022-10-08 last updated on 2022-10-13
ReviewPreface:

Sanoba Witch is the only other title by Yuzusoft I've read so far. Thus, it is obviously my main point of reference concerning their games.

I'll divide this review into different sections. After finishing it I wanted to point out several aspects that either bothered me a lot or positively surprised me.

Let's start.

1) Introduction:
Kousei is a university student, still a virgin and is longing for a girlfriend. He spends his days studying, fooling around with his friends and agonizing over not being in a relationship. Until one day he dies in a car accident. His great desire not to die a virgin and the power of his soul are responsible for him performing a miracle. He turns back time. He restarts the same day of his death. Everything happenes as before until the occasion of the accident which he avoids this time. He then follows a certain cat to a certain Café. There he is explained the situation he found himself in and what he has to do order not to feel God's wrath. In short: find a girlfriend, lead a fulfilling life.

2) Heroines:
Nozomi is Kousei's childhood friend. She is a very cheerful girl but she also knows how to counter many of the MC's lines and his behaviour. Hers is a very funny character and I enjoyed her a lot.

Mei, the cheerful, easy to get along with, kouhai heroine. Her interaction with the MC and in general were a lot to my liking. Her VA did a hell of a good job bestowing a unique personality on Mei.

Suzune - I'll be damned did she sweep me off my feet. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun with a side heroine. Quite a few scenes during the common route (CR) and her route made me laugh out loud. Again, her VA did an awesome job as well. Despite being a loli, I became a huge fan of her. Usually, I don't like loli heroines but as everyone knows: Exceptions confirm the rule. Her voice not being squeaky e.g. immensely contributed to my liking of her.

Natsume, the tsundere/coodere (?) heroine of the game. Her pouting and angry faces are the very best. Personally, the same goes for her SD CGs. If not for her and her route, I'd given the game a lower score.
Another VA I like a lot and fits the character very well. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was the true heroine.

Kanna, the true heroine. Unfortunately, most of the time she just fell flat which is a first for me. She left a reather weak impression during the CR and didn't play as much of a role on other routes as the other heroines or Nene as the true heroine of Sanoba Witch. Even Suzune could hold a candle to her when it comes to importance during the CR and even individual routes. I think that is a shame and shouldn't happen to a game's true heroine. On a side note, I really like her VA, e.g. Sacchi in the Grisaia series.

3) Routes:
During the CR the reader is offered 7 choices which determine which route you'll lock onto. Only 5 of these really matter because if you don't chose "Accept the job offer", you'll get the bad end.
Back on topic - the quality of individual routes variies a lot. Just a few words on each route following the sequence I read them.

>> Nozomi: It was difficult for me to chose whose route to read first, but then I decided to read the childhood friend's route first. Her route is about her relationshiop with the MC and its development and change throughout her route. A certain appearance piques the MC's, Kanna's and Mikado's interest. Nozomi and the MC then try to get to the bottom of it to prevent Nozomi to be befallen by a terrible fate. During her route the MC also becomes more and more interested in shrines and the workload they come with.
Personally, her route was interesting and engaging enough. Enjoyable, yes, but nothing too special.

>> Mei applies as a waitress and is hired quickly. Her hair style covers her left eye and on her route the reader learns why she does that. Her past and a certain ability made her cover her left eye. It takes quite some time for her and the MC to get together which comes at a cost - the amount of time spent on the main plot of the route is cut short. Whatever plot there is felt forced anyway. So, having only little time to spend on the main plot and it feeling forced to begin with didn't make it an enjoyable route for me.
To top it of - Mei is an awesome character with a hell of a good voice. Her route didn't do her justice - at all!

>> Suzune is this VN's side heroine. Her route is about her coming to terms with qutting her previous job. She is a few years older than the other heroines, apart from Kanna, and the MC. Kousei starts to spend more time with her leading to them falling in love with each other. The MC then decides to support Suzune and her decision to improve more and more as a pastry chef.
Despite ony being a side route, she as a character and her route left a great impression on me.

>> Natsume.. there is more to her than meets the eye which is revealed after the reader locks onto her route. To me it came as a big surprise, but a good one. Once again her route is about her past and the accusations towards herself. She often asks herself whether she deserves happiness. Her circumstances lead to her believing that the opening and the success of the Café is all she could ever ask for.
It felt like she could be seen as the first true route of the game. Her epiloge is longer than the one of the previous heroines' routes. Her route also reminded me a lot of my past, thus I can empathize with her a lot.

>> Lastly, Kanna, the true route. She is a grim reaper, over a 100 years old whose job it is to gather butterflies, souls or remnants of which who remained in the world of the living and guide them to God's side to be reincarnated. She has known Kousei's soul for a long time and has been looking after his soul ever since first meeting it. Finally, she insists on her being the one responsible for Kousei's happiness.
While hers is the true route of this VN it certainly was on the weaker side, which is very unfortunate. Compared to Nene from Sanoba Witch her character and route fall beind in almost if not every aspect.


4) Support/side characters:
There are more of them than those listed here. Many even got their own sprites. I think everyone of them played their role well and served the purpose they were given. Specially the little girl in the CR was very cute!

5) H-content:
In general, the h was much to my liking and mostly very hot with a few kinks here and there. In three instances, being Mei, Natsume and Kanna, I thought the MC was to heavily focussed on sex which put me off a lot, more so on Mei's route. Personally, Natsume's and Suzune's scene were the hottest.

6) Art and music:
The art is top notch. Thinking back on my time with Sanoba Witch and what I've read about Yuzusoft in general one doesn't need to expect anything less.
What really came as a huge surprise: backgrounds had other people drawn in them! That is awesome! Such little things make the whole setting much more lively. I don't think it is difficult to add a few people here and there in the backgrounds.
Also, seeing characters from other titles mentioned or drawn is a plus for me - the station background, right side, Wakana, side heroine in Sanoba Witch is walking there with her pink guitar case on her back.
The music wasn't bad but it sure as hell didn't grip me as the music used in other titles, not Yuzusoft's specifically.

7) Negatives:
As mentioned before, the heavy focus on sex during those 3 routes and too many references to it put me off.

The MC himself was very weak which greatly annoyed me. He views himself as a weak person 'Who wants to go out with the likes of me?' What does he base this statement on? Well, not on his experience, that's for sure. If he actually had any experience, he wouldn't think that way. He isn't a bad person, so...

During Kanna's route the start of their romance kinda came out of the blue, which bothered me. This might be because I read her route last and didn't re-read the CR again before locking onto her route.

Then came the time of the confession. The build-up was well done. Then she cut him off, which also made a lot of sense, to me at least. But then it happens: The way the MC acts in the break room - I got so mad and angry. He is so fu**ing selfish. Kanna asks him often enough to stop forcing her, to stop being so selfish, to consider her feelings and her view as well. All he does is the exact opposite.
Him saying that if she rejects him he'll lose faith in women in general... urgh... what bullshit coming from someone who never experienced a relationship. I've been hurt by women too, but that doesn't mean I've lost faith in ALL women, nor does that mean I lump together all women. This just pisses me off.

He is SO terribly naive, I couldn't stand it. And how does everything turn out? Of course he isn't able to keep his promise to Kanna, which was why she finally gave in to his pleading. I knew in that moment he promised her to keep smiling after she's gone that he sure as hell won't be able to keep it. All of this lead to yet another miracle and again, Kousei isn't punished. Instead, everything gets resolved too qickly again.

Also, her and Kousei not having a lot of time together before her reincarnation gets mentioned only once and without any warning it suddenly happens, she disappears during their second ferry's wheel ride. While reading that scene I didn't see that coming and when it happened I thought 'What the hell?' No build-up, lead-on, nothing? Come on!

To sum things up: Kanna being an unfortunately weak true heroine and the aspects mentioned above nearly made me drop her route. In the end I didn't and I have to admit, during her route some moments were enjoyable too. Her h was not bad, either.

8) Personal final verdict:
Heroine rating: Natsume > Suzune >= Nozomi >= Mei > Kanna

Route rating: Natsume > Nozomi > Suzune > Kanna > Mei

I can only give a 7/10 due to a route that doesn't do its central heroine justice, a weak true heroine and those scenes during the true route.

To be honest, after Sanoba Witch my expectations very high and they weren't met...
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