I watched the Nil Admirari no Tenbin anime before I really understood what otome games were. So, imagine my surprise when I learned there was a text-based game that expanded upon the world of this show. Now, I’ve come to realize that anime adaptations of otome games can be hit or miss. But I genuinely believe that Nil Admirari has one of the better anime adaptations, granted I have not seen them all. So, after really enjoying the anime, I was really excited to play the game!
And then I learned, the game was only available in Japanese.
Well, fast forward a few years, and I finally had the courage to try Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan.
This game is BEAUTIFUL! I love the story, art, music, and voice acting! I read the prologue and, yes, it was exactly like the show but that was to be expected. It was the prologue, after all. So, I dove into the common route, excited for the adventure that awaited me.
And…well…the anime kind of spoiled the route.
As always, character and plot analysis and spoilers after the cut!
That’s not to say this game is bad. I just knew what was going to happen. At every character introduction, I already knew if this character was a good guy or a bad guy. I already knew the big twists and character revelations. I remembered Nachtigal and the whole upper society black market. So, for a game that should have been a mystery, there was no mystery. This is actually praise for the anime, that I found the story so engaging, that I remembered most of what I had seen a few years back.
Now, I don’t like long common routes to begin with, and Nil Admirari has a VERY LONG common route. I found myself becoming bored with all the character and world building. Once again, this doesn’t make this game bad, I just already knew everything. I had already seen all of this build-up in the anime, and the show did it at a much quicker pace, which I REALLY appreciated and preferred to the meandering length of the game’s common route.
This had honestly never happened to me before. I always read up on an otome game before I purchase it, but I’ve never had an otome game experience, that had been so thoroughly spoiled by reading, or in this case, watching content on the game I wanted to play.
Since I already knew all the answers to the mysteries of the game, the only thing left to keep me engaged was the relationship and character development of Tsugumi and her chosen hero for the route. And while Hisui (VA: Ryota Osaka) is a sweet young man, who is respectful, kind, considerate, and loves birds, I just couldn’t connect with his character or his relationship with Tsugumi.
So, I dropped the route.
I got to a point where I was completely bored, and I decided to skip read the rest, so I could collect the CGs and “complete” the route so I could get one step closer to Rui and Hayato. I mean, I already knew the ending, and the journey to get there was just so tedious for me.
Heroes who lack self-confidence and need the heroine to act as their confidence therapist, are not my favorite. And this is what Hisui’s character was. And with me knowing all the answers and plot twists of the route, the only new story to discover was the character journey. And frankly, I just didn’t enjoy it. That’s not to say, Hisui’s journey was bad. It’s just not the type of story, I enjoy. Which is fine.
This boy needs love. And in his route, he finds the love he needs with Tsugumi.
-Final Thoughts-
Okay. So, Hisui was an average hero for me. Just because I didn’t like Hisui’s character journey, doesn’t mean I didn’t understand why he was the way he was. He has a very good reason to lack self-confidence and not love himself. Like, I get it. I just didn’t enjoy his story. It’s good. It’s fine. It’s just not for me. So, I can’t in good conscious, give him an “annoying” score. This boy has a good reason for being the way he is. And I can respect that.
I like Tsugumi as a heroine. She is very brave to leave the world she was born to, and become a “working woman.” She is going directly against her breeding to get a job. And that is very courageous. I just felt in this route, Tsugumi was regulated to being Hisui’s confidence therapist. Once again, it’s not a bad thing to support the person you love. It’s just hard for that kind of relationship to support an entire route for me.
It’s not a bad route or a bad game. I love so many things about it. However, I can’t say I enjoyed Hisui’s route. Yet, I know, the bulk of the route was spoiled by the anime. Would I have enjoyed the route more, if I hadn’t seen the anime? I don’t know.
So average. I’m rating the route average.
Otomes as Novels 