This second visual novel from PULLTOP and MoeNovel in Steam is a cute, funny and heartwarming fairytale romantic comedy with fan service in a modern Japanese setting about three goddesses who have descended into Japanese society as singers/dancers/entertainers to draw Sakimitama (good hearts and good will of humanity) from their human fans and supporters.
The story features a male protagonist Yamato Tatsumi who is the heir to a tailor business. The 3 goddesses are Sara Benzaiten, the center singer lead in the popular idol group L☆SEVEN who is a regular at Tatsumi's tailoring shop, Shuri Kisshouten, a wannabe street performer at Akihabara and Kagura Amauzu, a dancer and waitress at Goddess Cafe Goddess Kaguyama.
One day, Shuri and Kagura came to Tatsumi's shop for advice on idol outfits along with an ambitious plan to improve and promote their singing/dancing/entertainment career among other goddesses to audition for a place in the idol group L☆SEVEN, a center member position Sara intends to vacate.
Each route will take approximately 1-2 hours each(3 romance options altogether with Shuri, Kagura or Sara). I decided to give this visual novel a score of 9/10 on the following factors:
Plot and character backgrounds:
The English text are well-written and translated with very few errors. There is only one choice to make in the entire game which will determine which route and ending the player will get (fan service!). In each goddess's route, there is plenty of fan service and humour. Each main character has sufficient variety with each other and with the protagonist.
However, due to this visual novel being very short and seemingly as a fan service visual novel, this aspect is the weakest part of this visual novel with little variety on each character route, a rather rushed romance plot progression and a somewhat predictable outcome in both Shuri and Kagura's routes. Shuri's route also seem to be relatively longer than Kagura or Sara's. I would have preferred the visual novel to expand more on the daily challenges, hard work and practice Shuri or Kagura had to undergo in order to compete with other goddesses for the highly desired idol group position and on the events leading to Sara's motivations for vacating the idol group or whether Sara can be dissuaded from vacating her position at the idol group through additional dialogue options. Also, the romance plot progression feels rather rushed where the visual novel seems to present 3 beautiful goddesses to the protagonist who is a normal human with possibly slightly more Sakimitama than other humans, yet that is enough to enable each goddess to fall in love with the protagonist and also have sufficient Sakimitama to unleash their Jinriki(divine power) and impress audiences at their musical performance.
Artwork, backgrounds and CGs:
The artwork in this visual novel are top-notch. With the implementation of animated sprites by E-mote(Emotional Motion Technology) from M2 as one of the main selling points in this visual novel, this makes the character sprites of this visual novel very attractive with blinking eyes, waving hair, tilting head, moving lips and moving cloth pieces. There are a respectable number of chibi and normal CGs showing small movements and facial expressions in this visual novel despite the relatively short length of this visual novel. The game cover, soundtrack cover, character sprites, backgrounds, CGs, opening themes, Steam achievements, backgrounds, badges and emoticons are attractive and colorful throughout, making it a very good choice to showcase on Steam profiles. The opening theme also does well in introducing the cast of characters featured in this visual novel.
Voice acting and background music:
The voice acting are generally good and help to improve the quality of this visual novel. My only complaint is that some parts do not feel accurate and realistic such as when the goddesses are performing does not feel as if they are actually performing with at least a working microphone used in stage performances as featured in the CGs and background art where the voiced dialogue feels more as if the goddess is speaking directly towards the protagonist during a regular conversation rather than an idol singer addressing a fully packed audience at a concert venue.
The background music are generally pleasant and appropriate to match the different moments in the game. The song with vocals in this visual novel make this visual novel excellent and make it the main highlight of this visual novel with top-notch song performances by Twinkle☆Girls (which also happens to have 7 female members in the group and hence share similarities to the fictitious idol group L☆SEVEN featured in this visual novel), Yuko Kawanishi, Hitomi Harada, Rita and Chata where they have fast, catchy and upbeat songs which make J-pop and this visual novel very special and memorable.
Start Line by Twinkle☆Girls at 2:05 in first gameplay video above Color of Dreams at OP in second gameplay video above Color of Spring by Hitomi Harada at 4:39 in 1st gameplay video above, 4:54 in 4th gameplay video above and in game info page Color of Two Hearts by Rita at 0.55 in 4th gameplay video above and in game info page Color of Rainbows by Chata at 2:37 in 5th gameplay video below and in game info page Shooting Star by Twinkle☆Girls at 7:38 in 3rd gameplay video above, 2:58 in 4th gameplay video above and 7:31 in 5th gameplay video below
Overall, this visual novel and soundtrack DLC are highly recommended when in bundle offer for anyone looking for a short fantasy visual novel as a romantic comedy with fan service, easy achievements, excellent artwork and song with vocals. For those who already own MoeNovel's other titles in Steam, the developer has also included additional free chibi wallpapers to reward their fans. If you don't mind the large amounts of fan service and somewhat short length of this visual novel with hardly any choice to be made in this visual novel, this visual novel is for you.