I already thought Episode 1 was great on its own but held reservations as it was only 1/4 the story. However, Ep 2 confirmed this is likely to be one of my new favorite visual novel series.
In case you don't know Criminal Border starts off with a goofy eroge plot device of an accidental "digital drug that causes intense horniness". However things get EXTREMELY serious after with psychological thriller story with quite possibly the best pacing I've seen in a visual novel story.
The story and characters embraces the "potentially good people have to do fucked up things" theme super well. At least based on Ep 1 and 2 usually the main character plus the main heroine of that story have to go through an intense character arc, and I loved all of them so far.
Themes like attempted rape, drug dealing, attempted murder, Yakuza, deception, sex business, etc are treated as serious parts of the worldbuilding of the story. I'm surprised this is by the same writer as the 9-nine series, Kimagure Temptation, and part of Cafe Stella.
The art style isn't my personal favorite (especially some girls' boobs being bigger than my head) but the style fits the story well, and I'm sad the art style is a likely a huge reason why people aren't checking out the series.
I'll hold of an a definitive final rating for now but at least based on eps 1 and 2 it's likely at minimum gonna be a top 10 visual novel.
In case you don't know Criminal Border starts off with a goofy eroge plot device of an accidental "digital drug that causes intense horniness". However things get EXTREMELY serious after with psychological thriller story with quite possibly the best pacing I've seen in a visual novel story.
The story and characters embraces the "potentially good people have to do fucked up things" theme super well. At least based on Ep 1 and 2 usually the main character plus the main heroine of that story have to go through an intense character arc, and I loved all of them so far.
Themes like attempted rape, drug dealing, attempted murder, Yakuza, deception, sex business, etc are treated as serious parts of the worldbuilding of the story. I'm surprised this is by the same writer as the 9-nine series, Kimagure Temptation, and part of Cafe Stella.
The art style isn't my personal favorite (especially some girls' boobs being bigger than my head) but the style fits the story well, and I'm sad the art style is a likely a huge reason why people aren't checking out the series.
I'll hold of an a definitive final rating for now but at least based on eps 1 and 2 it's likely at minimum gonna be a top 10 visual novel.