Nurse Love Syndrome

released on Apr 18, 2019

Meet cheerful Kaori Sawai, fresh out of nursing school, as she joins Yurigahama Hospital. Surviving a near death experience as a child left her with a desire to become a nurse and "healing hands" that let her relieve pain in patients just by touching them.


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This was my first real dating sim visual novel, and honestly if they are all this well done I'll have to really give this genre a look. The common route of Nurse Love Syndrome actually doesn't deal with much love to begin with. The majority of problems, concerns, and moments are just a newbie learning to be a nurse and figuring out how to be the best they can be. At a certain point you do start to unlock romantic routes, but this doesn't happen till roughly 60% through the common route. The game also has a bit of mystery and dark tones to it, with a large portion of it dedicated to the main protag, Kaori, trauma from surviving a car accident. The game's choices are also a bit subtle, but not to the point of being obtuse. A lot of the choices usually align with where you want your affection to go, but it isn't also clear 100% of the time.
The main cast are all fairly given a variety of depth and care throughout the game, and even more so in their respective routes. With the expectation of two characters, I would say every character is written well enough and have a number of layers on them that can help you connect to why they would do certain actions over constant explanation. A lot of this has to do with the common route explaining certain details about a problem and how each character interacts with Kaori as she learns about the job.
The same characterization can't be said with two of the characters, Ami and Mayuki. I think a large reason Ami doesn't get main focus is due to her leaving and coming back into the story and also the fact she is a high school student. While the game does well to treat such an age gap, the actual moments for Ami and the point in which Kaori falls in love feel rather thin, and it's even to the point that Kaori doesn't really declare her love for Ami compared to the main cast. It certainly seems like Ami has a lot more going with her story, but just as fast as it starts out, it fizzles out. Mayuki, on the other hand, feels entirely out of place for this game. While a majority of this game focuses on realistic problems and solutions, Mayuki is entirely a magical Benjamin Button plot point. It is certainly interesting seeing the dynamic of these two characters interact with Mayuki being so off putting to everyone, but the sweet Kaori, and Kaori navigating the mystery around Mayuki, it's just too short serving compared to the rest of the cast.
While the game usually has an odd moment where Kaori kinda sits down and wonders if she is in love, a lot of this subdued by the fact that she is also a rather dumb protag. Kaori, by all means, tries her best, but it's clear to see that she is still very naive and keeps her emotions on her shoulder. Due to this, a lot of interactions may seem aggravating, and at times can be hard to place as a self insert because she is largely her own character.
Overall Nurse Love Syndrome was a great experience of love, romance, and surprisingly informative about what it's like to work as a nurse. While I certainly doubt there is any work place romance going on in real life, my time with Nurse Love Syndrome certainly felt romantic enough to keep me busy.