Otome in Review: Bad Apple Wars

[not_krys]

This will be my final, overall thoughts for Bad Apple Wars, giving a basic summary of the game, my overall experience, some of my favorite moments, as well as links to all of my previous posts involving the game.

As can be expected, this is going to contain spoilers (I will be using White Mask's real name throughout the review), so you might want to hold off on this review if you haven’t completed the entire game yet as some plot points for certain routes are going to be revealed. I can’t give much further warning than this. This is my final review of the game, no holding back in this post.

This is your final spoiler warning.

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Overall Thoughts and Experience


This game was bought on a whim, not having any prior knowledge, but it was hyped enough, so I decided to give it a try.

Admittedly, it does have some good ideas within it. I loved the art style, the flat colors with the gradient shading is cool, I loved the background design, the game’s visual look and style is fantastic. The music is also good too. I love the opening and the insert song Sanzu sings. The background music is also enjoyable. The idea of life after death and reincarnation is also an interesting concept, and what they do with it is interesting.

Other than that…. Meh?

Once you’ve play a route on either side, you can pretty much skip everything else if you start a new route on that same side. Like, starting on the Bad Apple side, if you do, say, Higa first, you can pretty skip through Shikishima’s and Alma’s introductions, because the dialogue is exactly the same save for very few key scenes. Same for the Good Apples routes, do Satoru first, then you can skip through the common route for Iku.

This also completely sucks when you consider that the majority of the game is the Common Route.

Yep. Five Chapters of Common Route. With really only two chapters remaining to spend with your bae.

Yes, I know they get technically four chapters, but you only do actual gameplay in two of them, if you’re lucky (Alma has two soul moments in the same chapter and three chapters of story while everyone else gets two chapters of soul touch, one per chapter each).

I mean, it’s not hard to get onto a route, you basically have to have to choose your bae’s color twice in a row in order to, technically, get onto his route (and it has to be both, else you won’t get his epilogue, as I found out the hard way with White Mask). So, it doesn’t make much sense to me to only have two choices and technically already be on a route, but you don’t really ‘get on a route’ until Chapter 6. What’s up with that.

Speaking of questioning everything, were there some translation errors? Oh yes.

A big pet peeve of mine was seeing dialogue and hearing spoken dialogue moving along as natural as can be when the screen dialogue cuts off, so you click to see the rest of the dialogue box, but the spoken dialogue gets cut off, like they couldn’t fit the entire dialogue onto one tile, so they make a new one, but no sound is coming out to go with the new dialogue box. This is probably what annoyed me most about the game, dialogue boxes leaving me hanging when the spoken dialogue had already finished and it just frustrated me to no end.

Going off of that tangent, there’s two characters, both of them pursuable routes, where the name most likely wasn’t translated correctly, the most noticeable one was White Mask’s real name, Iku Watase. Shikishima gets this treatment as well, but it’s not as noticeable as White Mask’s name.

I will be the first to admit that I do not speak Japanese very well. I took about two years of it in college, plus I’ve been an avid watcher of anime since I was a little kid, but I’m FAR from being completely fluent in it. But, when you’re exposed to the language for long periods of time, even if you don’t speak it very well, there are some words and phrases you can pick up on the longer you’ve been exposed to it.

Where my Japanese stands currently, I can at least understand when a character is telling me their name, or I’m being told someone’s name.

The spoken dialogue calls Shikishima’s first name ‘Natsuhisa’, while the written dialogue says ‘Natsuku’ instead.

White Mask gets the worst end of this treatment, in changing his first name entirely.

You can clearly hear him saying ‘Iku’ in the spoken dialogue. Iku Watase.

The written dialogue?

‘Shou.’

I replayed the dialogue several times to be sure I wasn’t hearing things wrong, but he never says ‘Shou’ Watase, he says ‘Iku’ Watase. They don’t even sound remotely similar as it kind of did with Shikishima. It makes me wonder what else I’ve heard but wasn’t translated correctly, making me miss the entire point of a scene. 

Speaking of pointless, besides being a heroine, what was Rinka’s purpose in this game? Why is she so specifically good at the Soul Touch when no one else seems to be as sensitive? Why doesn’t she in particular have a Soul Totem? What makes her feel like she’s ‘empty’ inside? Why does she so easily break at least two of the unbreakable rules by herself when no one else before could do so?

Really, what makes Rinka so special?

If we look at it more closely, Rinka doesn’t really develop as her own character. She’s mainly a driving force to help her boys to develop while not developing much herself. She helps them to progress while she doesn’t grow much herself.

Yes, I know that every heroine is special in her own way, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around what makes Rinka special and why she in particular can do these fantastic things when no one else can.

Again, if someone can tell me, I’d really appreciate it, but what makes Rinka special? Better yet, what was the point of separating her from the two factions if she’s going to be a part of Team Bad Apple anyway?

Yes, I’m specifically looking at you, Naraka, for letting a sworn enemy into your hideout so willingly in the Good Apple routes. Yes, I want to know why he would do something this dumb.

The Good Apple Side has fewer stories to tell, and less of Rinka having a reason to stay on their side. Outside of White Mask (and specifically him in his route), we aren't given much of a reason to find the Good Apples and the Disciplinary Committee sympathetic or why we should be more sympathetic to their cause. Really, outside of White Mask in his own route, Good Apples are the bad guys and we should avoid becoming like them at all costs. Hell, on the Good Apple Side, Rinka isn't even given the choice of wanting to be on the Disciplinary Committee. She just... becomes one. And goes to the Bad Apple Side when things get too intense on the Good Apple Side.

What was the point in having two factions if you're just gonna be rooting for one side no matter who you choose first? No, I wanna really know. What was the point of separating the game into two factions if she's gonna end up on Team Bad Apple no matter where she originally started?

But I digress.

And now, onto what makes Bad Apple Wars unique amongst its peers: The Game Mechanics.

Game Mechanics


Seriously, I’m sure Rinka is about 15, but where are her boobs? What’s between her and Alma? Clothes disappear in Naked Soul Touch mode!

The majority of the time, Bad Apple Wars is a click through classic visual novel.

What makes this game unique is its… choice system.

The mechanic is called Soul Touch, a mechanic where you can touch your boy of choice in order to see into his memories. Do it enough times and you can eventually do it naked.

There are even points where they are flat out moaning at your touch. Untranslated Japanese moaning. Untranslated Japanese moaning while naked. From underage school boys.

Yeah, I’m a little uncomfortable too.

The only downfall from this kind of touch system is that there isn’t any sort of bad touch until you get to the Naked Soul Touch™ portion. Up until that point, you’re basically blindly trying to grope your boy until something clicks and you get inside his memories.

Still weirded out and uncomfortable about this concept.

Maybe it could have been a better system if ‘Bad Touch’ had been implemented earlier on in the route. Some people are more comfortable with being touched than others, and I wish that had been a thing earlier on.

A better example of this kind of system is in Dandelion: Wishes Brought to You, a game by Cheritz, the same company that made Mystic Messenger. This game also features a touch system. The idea is that some boys like certain places being touched more than others (like poking Jisoo in the dick. Yes, I’m dead serious), and if you touch a ‘Bad’ area, you don’t gain affection points, or worse, you lose affection points.

Let’s also not forget that once you do get to the Naked Soul Touch™ portion, you basically have no idea which is a Good Touch spot and which is a Bad Touch spot, only finding out once you start touching. Nothing in previous dialogues give hints as to where your boy likes to be touched, or if they liked to be touched all together. I had the experience of White Mask as my first route, and once inside of the Naked Soul Touch™ portion for him, he had so many Bad Touch spots, it was hard to find his Good Spots without a guide. In contrast, the other four didn’t mind as much, as they had pretty much all Good Spots and one specific Bad spot.

Not for nothing, but I think I would have preferred more variety. Like, I can understand why White Mask doesn’t like being touched period, and that one of Shikishima’s main Bad Spots would be his chest, as he had died of tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs, so his Bad Spot makes sense.

However, even before I even played his route, I had no idea that Alma had a tattoo on his arm until about halfway through the route, nor that that would be one of his Bad Spots. We’re not given any information about his tattoo, it’s not ever brought up, how or when he got it, it’s just there, and is one of his Bad Spots. No explanation as to why it’s a bad spot for him, it just is.

I think I would have preferred it more if there was a medium touch Bae, if you will. That he has a more even spread of Good and Bad spots, rather than either ‘you can touch me anywhere you want EXCEPT this one specific area that you and I may or may not know about’ and ‘TOUCH ME AND EVERYTHING YOU’VE WORKED FOR FOR THE PAST HOUR IS FUCKING POINTLESS. HAVE FUN ALL THE WAY BACK IN CHAPTER ONE, BITCH.’

Just… some variety would be nice. I think some variety would be nice.

Favorite Character


Not a lot of characters stand out to me as particularly good or bad, if they had had the time to properly develop.

Given what I have to work with, I’m gonna say my favorite is White Mask/Iku.

In spite of the trouble he put me through, he was probably the character I enjoyed the most. In my opinion, he probably had the most character development out of all of the pursuable baes. He gets a believable character arc in his own route, he learns and grows as a character, and he probably has one of the more satisfying conclusions.

Honorable mention also goes for the teachers. Because what the fuck are these guys.

Least Favorite Character

 
Yoh.

I’m just coming out and saying it now. I don’t like Yoh. Like, at all.

I got to watch over five times how he doesn’t feel he’s good enough to pursue music with Sanzu. What’s worse was that he doesn’t talk about these feelings with her, to get her opinion on things, just thinks she’s gonna be totes okay with just breaking up the band(who were her first group of friends ever, by the way) because she’s a better singer and performer and that she would be okay going solo with her previous support system abandoning her.

What’s worse is that he goes behind her back to do this. Before their deaths, Yoh had been planning to drop the bomb about the band breaking up right after their ‘last’ performance to Sanzu. Except that he doesn’t get to do this because death kind of got in the way.

This is also extremely annoying when this comes up again around the time the School Festival Arc starts up. Every. single. route. has Sanzu and Yoh fighting because Yoh doesn’t feel he’s good enough to be up on stage with her. They fight, some encouraging words are said, Yoh changes his mind and plays with Sanzu anyway, and Sanzu graduates each and every time. And Yoh goes into the same exact depressive state each and every route, only to be brought back last minute and revived just like everyone else.

Yoh’s story didn’t get better each time I had to sit through it. He still lets down Sanzu and everyone, yet is still redeemed each and every time, coming back around at the last minute.

You know what? I hope that Sanzu’s next life doesn’t include him, as he is probably the shittiest friend I’ve seen in an otome game. Either talk to Sanzu’s about your insecurites, or just not be there in the first place. Sanzu deserves better, if you ask me.

Favorite Moments


There’s not much that can top Alma slicing his throat open, let’s be real here. It’s so out there and what the actual fuck that I can’t help but laugh at it.

Favorite Route


Again, in spite of the heartbreak he put me through, I had the best time in White Mask’s route. Rinka’s ‘emptiness’ is less prominent here than it is in the other routes, she actually takes a stand against him and pulls him back from ‘correcting’ a student, and she actively tries to stop him from getting his soul destroyed. This is probably the most active and proactive Rinka ever was for the entire game. Plus, his character arc is, again, great. We can see the wheels beginning to turn in his head as he begins to turn from a Good Apple, as well as the consequences of those actions. He probably has the most satisfying route and character arc overall.

Least Favorite Route 


After stepping away from the game for a little while, I've had time to cool my head and to give this section a little more consideration.

As much as I complained in Alma's Bae in Review, he still has the (probably unintentional) entertainment factor. It just kept throwing every crazy thing at the player as it could, trying to get us to feel sympathy for the Tomato Edgelord. I've somehow grown attached to him because he gave one hell of a ride start to finish.

Which is why, I regret to say, that Shikishima's route as my least favorite.

It's never explained why it's important when a student comes from as time is irrelevant in this game, as it's explained several times. Someone from further in the future than Shikishima arrived before he did (two, as memory serves me, Alma and Higa), and even if he's from an older time than everyone else, it's never made a significant difference. The idea of memories from your past life and your life in NEVAEH Academy melting together until it becomes a huge muddled mess is an interesting idea, and it was brought up in his route. However, it wasn't explored fully until Alma's route.

I just think, if you are going to introduce an idea in one route, try to explore that idea within that route itself rather than having someone else explore it more. If this was more of a thing with everyone else's route, I wouldn't be complaining too much about it. However, this concept is really only featured in two routes, Shikishima's and Alma's, the latter having the idea more fully fleshed out than the former.

I had expectations of Shikishima being the crazy one of the game. There are times when the tone of the game would suggest that he might be a little unhinged, but it's never fully realized within his route.

Shikishima has a problem with giving me high expectations, but not delivering on those expectations.

Favorite Ending


As if I haven’t praised him enough, White Mask also wins my favorite ending. It’s understandable that he’s going to be cautious of everything concerning his new girlfriend Rinka, especially considering she was in the hospital. Plus, given his past, he definitely doesn’t want to lose her too. So, he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure at least she leads a full and fulfilling life, with him by her side to make sure she stays alive.

Least Favorite Ending


He comes back from his own death (memories from NEVAEH still intact) and grows up to be a doctor. He also falls in love with his 15 year old patient.

Tell me what isn’t wrong with this picture.

Plus he goes back to his natural hair color. Laaame~

The only bright side is that he at least waits until she’s 18 before popping the question and all that jazz, probably the only redeeming part of this ending.

Favorite Bad Ending


This is probably the hardest decision as, thinking about it again, Iku's and Alma's NEVAEH endings struck the strongest cord, yet they run on a similar path, in that they both take an idea established in their respective routes and took it down the most terrible path it could go. In that, for Alma, memories can be muddied over time until you can't tell what your reality is anymore; and for Iku, it's that souls can be destroyed.

I think I'm gonna stick with my original answer, however. Rinka decides to become Alma's dead girlfriend and her personality, as a result, warps to fit into another person's view and tastes. She never could become like Alma's dead girlfriend because she (and us, the audience/player) never really got to know her personally. And even then, whose to say Alma's memories of her aren't already warped as well? And with Alma's memories warped, neither Rinka or his dead girlfriend can exist in his memories anymore, just as some entities that take care of each other for eternity, presumably.

Iku's NEVEAH ending, on the other hand, Rinka stayed herself, and tried to help Iku, only to pay the price in the end. It's made worse by the fact that, as we find out later, Rinka had died originally thanks to the 'Death Curse' that's followed Iku his entire life. He feels guilty that his 'curse' could even kill someone he didn't even know, just making passing eye contact was enough to set off his curse. Her death was the final straw for him, making him into what he was for the majority of the game, and, once on his route and he starts to regain his memories, he keeps pushing back because he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore, that he shouldn't exist if all he does is cause death and misery. It's why he jumps at the chance to have his soul destroyed, so that he can't cause anyone else any more pain.

Except he isn't even given the satisfaction of death's sweet release. Rinka pushes him out of the way and is killed, again, in his presence. And it breaks him ...so hard.

In Conclusion


I’d say this might be okay as a starter otome if you’re just getting started in the genre, but other than that, I can’t say I can recommend it to long time players. Most of the common route is skippable on both sides. It doesn't really matter which faction you choose to side with as, chances are, you're gonna be on Team Bad Apple no matter whose route you originally take. The Soul Touch mechanic is a joke. What they say isn't translated, so you really have to go by the tone of their voice to tell if you're doing good or doing horribly; and there isn't much variation in ways to do Soul Touch. Most baes have too many Good Spots with no regards to their personality or if the player is given prior knowledge of if and where they like or not like to be touched.

Rinka isn’t interesting as a heroine save for like, one route, that one route being the only really good one. She doesn't really develop as her own character in other routes, not given really anything that could make her special as a heroine, acting more as an audience insert rather than her own character in most other routes. The only times I felt she had the most personality was in Iku's route, where she actively tries to help Iku realize he's not a monster, and helps him to better himself and take an active role in his fate, rather than letting outside forces control him.

Some interesting ideas are introduced into this game, but some of them aren't given the full execution they need to become great ideas. It's never explained why time is irrelevant here, nor why some students from further back time periods arrive later that those from a future time period. Why does reincarnation work the way it does in this game? Why do some characters get reincarnation while others just straight up come back to life in their original lives before they died? And what about the teachers? Do they reincarnate after so long too? Do their memories meld together after some time? Were they good apples at one point? Or odd apples, like Shikishima?

We just don't know.

If you do decide to play this game, please, please, PLEASE leave White Mask for last. He’s really the only saving grace of this game. If this game had unlockable routes, his would have been better locked until a few of the other routes had been completed. Otherwise you’ll be either bored or confused by everyone else. Remember, you technically get four chapters with them. First five chapters of Common Route, and two of those four chapters is for soul touch (twice in a single chapter for Alma) and not much else.

This just about wraps it up for all things Bad Apple Wars. For a more in depth look into the individual character routes as I completed them, here’s a link to my Baes in Summary page, which gives a quick summary of my feelings on the character, as well as links to their individual Bae in Review posts. For an in-depth analysis of the Bad Endings, here’s a link to its Bad End Round Up.

If anyone has any special requests for baes for me to review, the most up-to-date list of games and routes I’ve completed thus far is on my profile page.

Have a good day, lovelies, and remember to touch all the butts.