Due to family circumstances, Yuki has only one belief: money will make his little sister happy. And thus, he works part-time jobs late into the night. His plan is to start working full-time after graduation, but his little sister tells him that if he won't go to university, then she won't either.
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oh it's porn!!! 💀 anyways...
Full video review: https://youtu.be/UCd-Er7zUGY
I loved this studio's previous work - Sankaku Renai - so I was excited to get into this one.
Plot Setup
Koikari is one of those VNs that immediately sets itself apart from the crowd with its protagonist. The story is basically "Rent-a-Girlfriend" but the dude is the one being rented instead and there’s FAR less pointless drama. You start off with some quick character introductions and then are immediately thrown into this loop of being rented by the heroines one at a time, all while somehow keeping it a secret from the others and even keeping your identity at school a secret as well.
It’s the same level of absurdity that we got in Rent-A-Girlfriend, where for some reason no one can tell that the dude they are renting is the same as the dude from their class. It’s a ridiculous plot setup, but it makes for some great comedy and common route shenanigans, something they did well in Sankaku Renai and now again here in Koikari.
Characters
That said, you gotta have a certain amount of tolerance for this kind of writing. It’s a constant tug of war between the different heroines and the story gives off a ton of harem vibes. That and the protagonist definitely doesn’t help there either with his greed - give the man some money and he’ll be your guy, but otherwise he wants nothing to do with you.
On one hand, it’s a nice change of pace from the usual dense wall or self-insert type protagonist, but I can’t deny that he comes across as a bit heartless. It’s made worse by the fact that he is a siscon and is only doing all of this to raise money to put his little sister through school - which is such a common character type that if you play any amount of these types of games you’ll probably be bored by it.
The rest of the cast is a bit 50/50 too. They each fit their character type and usually have one really exaggerated trait. The exaggerated character types really sell the comedy during the common route, but if you’re looking for some quality character routes - this is not the game for it.
Common Route
Fortunately, the common route is long enough on its own and there is even an extended “second common route” of sorts that you can end up on if you make the right choices. The second common route becomes more of a love triangle, but maintains the comedy from the rest of the game, so it’s a pretty nice two-in-one package with the first common route.
Just like Sankaku Renai, the common route is pretty much nonstop comedic slice of life stuff - some taking place at school, but most taking place outside of it with the whole rental boyfriend gimmick. Not all the jokes land,, but it was easily my favorite part of the game.
Character Routes
Then you get the character routes, where the quality drops off hard. Gone are the fun antics of the common route with all of the heroines and now you get these character routes where the romance comes across as artificial and a lot of the scenes feel like filler. The protagonist does a 180 on his personality and the heroines - who were previously just used for comedy and did not get much development beyond that - are too shallow to carry individual routes.
In fact, I believe the game itself recognizes this. The main two heroines, for example, have their own routes, but you can’t play either of them without the other main heroine constantly showing up. I may have liked Emi’s character in the common route, but I don’t need her popping up every other scene in Hasumi’s route just to play her clingy character type (and vice-versa).
Still, none of this really takes away from the common route. That part of the game is some good stuff and I don’t regret my time with it, I’m just disappointed it doesn’t carry over that quality into the character routes.
Art & Music
My initial impressions of the art were not that good, but as I played, it grew on me a bit. There’s a good bit of movement and pose changes to match the comedy, the facial expressions were on point, and the CGs (while few) were nice too. The character designs are fine, but I’d be lying if I said they were better than the usual we get for this genre. And the music - I can’t say I recall any of it being too bad, but I also can’t recall any individual tracks - so nothing too notable there I guess.
Overall
Koikari is a bit of a tossup. The comedy and slice of life stuff during the common route is some good stuff and carries the studio’s signature style with it. The character routes though are not quite as good, failing to live up to the “romance” part of a romantic comedy. The characters are fun, but don’t have the writing behind them to carry such routes, so if you’re looking for a well-rounded VN then this isn’t it. However, if you’re looking for some pure comedy and don’t mind a handful of shorter, less impactful character routes, then it’s worth a shot.
I loved this studio's previous work - Sankaku Renai - so I was excited to get into this one.
Plot Setup
Koikari is one of those VNs that immediately sets itself apart from the crowd with its protagonist. The story is basically "Rent-a-Girlfriend" but the dude is the one being rented instead and there’s FAR less pointless drama. You start off with some quick character introductions and then are immediately thrown into this loop of being rented by the heroines one at a time, all while somehow keeping it a secret from the others and even keeping your identity at school a secret as well.
It’s the same level of absurdity that we got in Rent-A-Girlfriend, where for some reason no one can tell that the dude they are renting is the same as the dude from their class. It’s a ridiculous plot setup, but it makes for some great comedy and common route shenanigans, something they did well in Sankaku Renai and now again here in Koikari.
Characters
That said, you gotta have a certain amount of tolerance for this kind of writing. It’s a constant tug of war between the different heroines and the story gives off a ton of harem vibes. That and the protagonist definitely doesn’t help there either with his greed - give the man some money and he’ll be your guy, but otherwise he wants nothing to do with you.
On one hand, it’s a nice change of pace from the usual dense wall or self-insert type protagonist, but I can’t deny that he comes across as a bit heartless. It’s made worse by the fact that he is a siscon and is only doing all of this to raise money to put his little sister through school - which is such a common character type that if you play any amount of these types of games you’ll probably be bored by it.
The rest of the cast is a bit 50/50 too. They each fit their character type and usually have one really exaggerated trait. The exaggerated character types really sell the comedy during the common route, but if you’re looking for some quality character routes - this is not the game for it.
Common Route
Fortunately, the common route is long enough on its own and there is even an extended “second common route” of sorts that you can end up on if you make the right choices. The second common route becomes more of a love triangle, but maintains the comedy from the rest of the game, so it’s a pretty nice two-in-one package with the first common route.
Just like Sankaku Renai, the common route is pretty much nonstop comedic slice of life stuff - some taking place at school, but most taking place outside of it with the whole rental boyfriend gimmick. Not all the jokes land,, but it was easily my favorite part of the game.
Character Routes
Then you get the character routes, where the quality drops off hard. Gone are the fun antics of the common route with all of the heroines and now you get these character routes where the romance comes across as artificial and a lot of the scenes feel like filler. The protagonist does a 180 on his personality and the heroines - who were previously just used for comedy and did not get much development beyond that - are too shallow to carry individual routes.
In fact, I believe the game itself recognizes this. The main two heroines, for example, have their own routes, but you can’t play either of them without the other main heroine constantly showing up. I may have liked Emi’s character in the common route, but I don’t need her popping up every other scene in Hasumi’s route just to play her clingy character type (and vice-versa).
Still, none of this really takes away from the common route. That part of the game is some good stuff and I don’t regret my time with it, I’m just disappointed it doesn’t carry over that quality into the character routes.
Art & Music
My initial impressions of the art were not that good, but as I played, it grew on me a bit. There’s a good bit of movement and pose changes to match the comedy, the facial expressions were on point, and the CGs (while few) were nice too. The character designs are fine, but I’d be lying if I said they were better than the usual we get for this genre. And the music - I can’t say I recall any of it being too bad, but I also can’t recall any individual tracks - so nothing too notable there I guess.
Overall
Koikari is a bit of a tossup. The comedy and slice of life stuff during the common route is some good stuff and carries the studio’s signature style with it. The character routes though are not quite as good, failing to live up to the “romance” part of a romantic comedy. The characters are fun, but don’t have the writing behind them to carry such routes, so if you’re looking for a well-rounded VN then this isn’t it. However, if you’re looking for some pure comedy and don’t mind a handful of shorter, less impactful character routes, then it’s worth a shot.
it was enjoyable up till the common route ended