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I can only recall a single situation at the very end of the game when an option menu suddenly had garbled text. There were almost no technical hiccups, whether that be freezing or translation errors. But overall, I’d say the soundtrack did its job. I did find that there were a few moments when the music didn’t quite fit, mostly based on prior situations it had been used in.

The music is fairly standard, with a small variety of songs used to convey specific tones. The movement is so fluid and was able to portray a variety of personality ticks that wouldn’t be possible with static animations. This added a level of attachment that I wouldn’t have expected and I honestly feel like I may be a little bit spoiled now when going into any future visual novels. The characters are often fully animated when talking and occasionally even move around slightly, such as Sakura nodding off during morning conversations. The graphics in this game are phenomenal, particularly in handheld mode. She suffers a physical ailment that makes it difficult for her to participate in activities with others and so has found herself resorting to anime and manga to keep her company. The third is Sakura, your very quiet but deeply passionate fellow otaku.

Aoi’s story was one of my favorites, simply because it was provided so slowly and never failed to surprise me. She wears her emotions a bit more openly and has a tendency of forgetting herself to the needs of those around her. Second is Aoi, the lovable sporty type with a surprising intensity. Within moments of ‘meeting’ Karin you have been accused of assault, being a pervert and threatened with the police. She immediately presents herself as what we otaku like to refer to as ‘tsundere’. First is Karin, whom you physically run into while on your way to your first day of school. The three girls of the story are all unique and interesting while at the same time still adhering to the expected stereotypes. Far from the more common erasure of culture from Japanese media, Tokyo School Life embraces it and willingly shares all it has to offer.

Nonetheless, I am thoroughly impressed that a feature like this even exists! I know that my watching anime and playing countless visual novels has taught me to understand a very small amount of Japanese and the concept of trying to assist that in-game is honestly one of the coolest things I’ve seen. I can’t speak to how functional it is and I turned it off early on, partially because I am easily distracted and running two texts is the perfect way to get me all off track. But I found that this feature is even mentioned in the game’s blurb, specifically as a mechanic to help one learn or practice Japanese, or I guess even potentially the other way around. And I assumed that there was no way that the intent was what I thought. When I first saw this, I was flabbergasted. The options are English, katakana, kanji and romaji. You can select your main text, which appears at the bottom of the screen, and then a secondary text that runs in the top left corner. There is a very interesting function to run text simultaneously in different languages. I absolutely adore how the concept of the game is then reflected in the actual gameplay. And second, I love that they have enough faith in their audience to keep things like this culturally consistent. I love this! First, I love that they take the opportunity to teach something. The game opens with a notice regarding how Japanese name are ordered (last-first) to help avoid confusion in the story. One thing I want to immediately praise this game on is how it handles little cultural differences. I’m reminded of the time a game store clerk stated quite matter-of-factly that, “You can’t learn Japanese from anime and games.” Well tell that to our protagonist! He has been awarded two months at his academy’s sister school in Japan after achieving the highest grades in his class. This may be one of the more accurate uses of that word for any otaku. He taught himself to speak and understand Japanese through watching anime, with a little help from a local friend whom he, of course, refers to as ‘senpai’. This game is so god damn cute! The main character is immediately presented as the ultimate weeaboo. In fact, I almost feel like there may be a higher ratio of legitimately sweet moments in Tokyo School Life than in most of my otome. That’s not to say that there aren’t any of these moments, but the ones that do occur are so heavily coated in sugary innocence that I found it difficult to be upset, let alone feel the light disgust that I had expected. Not that I’ve played one before, but I’ve watched enough anime to have built a concept in my head of a pervy foreigner falling into every possible creeper trope. I really thought I was going into a full-blown harem game.