Renai Karichaimashita: Koikari - Love For Hire

This VN is pure comedy chaos like almost all Asa Project games. The game has good romance moments and a very likable cast. Sadly there are most of the time only two character sprite poses for each heroine but the faces are very expressive and the character design is very good. The voice actors are doing a very good job and there are 4 routes and 2 side routes. The CGs are very beautiful and the soundtrack is good. If you like Ecchi Comedy, this game is for you. My favorite Characters were Emi and Momoko. Don't forget to get the patch from Nekonyan's website.

Main focus is on being a gag comedy, some decent heroines, all quite vanilla and low drama, fairly average overall

The least chaotic AsaPro game, but with the best cast. Nyuhuhu best girl

Koikari is a rom-com with balls to the walls writing and hilarious character interactions. This can be attributed to the writing and how much chemistry characters have with each other, I had a blast whilst reading it (the only reason I'm giving a thumbs up). However, once the afterglow fades away, I start to recognize this VN for what it really is, a rom-com with an disproportionate emphasis on drama and comedy, while undelivering in romance and everything else.

I'll be reviewing the main routes alongside Tsubaki's route because they illustrate my problem with this VN- the writers seemed to forgo everything else for the sake of jamming more drama down our throats.

In the common route, the writers present us with the love triangle of hasumi vs emi, with these two girls being childhood friends. Hasumi is the enigmatic deredere who is rich and popular amongst her peers, while Emi is the "enemies to lovers" tsundere with a vain side. Although both girls have their fans, they are just different shades of cookie cutter rom-com stereotypes, so pick your poision.

I ended up disliking Hasumi because of what she did in the common route, namely going out of her way to nuke Emi's friendships, stalking the MC and making him stay at her place for the night by intentionally manipulating the clock in her room so that he would miss the last train. If the gender roles were reversed, we'd be having a very different conversation but since she's the nyhuhu deredere who loves the MC, no one bats an eye. It also doesn't help that the MC has fantastic chemistry with the rest of the cast, making her rapport with the MC pale in comparison.

Emi on the otherhand has so much chemistry with the MC that everyone already assumes they are already dating. Even Tsubaki gets jealous of Emi in her own route after seeing them get along. Although I've heard bad things about Emi in Hasumi's route, I think that's a symptom of how the characters are only written for the sake of drama. Yes, even after you are locked into a route, the game continues to force these skits with the losing girl being sore and unable to move on from rejection. These got uncomfortable really fast and shows that these characters exist for the sake of fueling drama, rather than having their own lives and motivations.

It should come as no surprise that my favorite route was Tsubakis' due to the relatively tame and laidback nature of their relationship. Tsubaki, being the MCs' cram school teacher, has a noticeably distinct dynamic with the MC. She plays a mature and loving caretaker role to both the MC and his sister Tsuki. The school recital scene was the most wholesome moment of the entire VN. Koikari is by no means a slice-of-life romance story, it's usual emphasis on drama and constant high-octane skits ended up leaving very little room for routes to breath and characters to grow.

Bottom line, Koikari is for people who want a good laugh and fun character interactions. Everyone bounces off each other really well and the skits are funny for the most time. But if you're looking for more from your romance stories, you should really look elsewhere.

Inspiring