Tokyo School Life: Quick Thoughts

So, having just started my summer holidays after an exhausting first year of university, I've found myself jarringly transitioning from a period of having a lot to do to... well... not. As such, I browsed around Steam looking for entertainment and found something that caught my eye: Tokyo School Life. What caught my interest was the really narmy (to use tvtropes jargon) description of the game, as well as a stupidly anime trailer. However, what the hell, it was cheap, it was a VN with fairly positive reviews, and I was bored, so I decided to give it a go. Here's what I thought, in whatever nonsensical order it pops into my head.

I've just blazed through one of the four paths through the game you can take in just under 3 hours. I can't say I'm excessively impressed with the thing. Katawa Shoujo it is not. Not even close. That said, I can't deny I enjoyed my time with it. It's very much a 'light' VN in pretty much every aspect: the characterization is fairly light and reliant on well-known archetypes, and the actual part of the whole thing that's story-focused comprises less than half of it (read: just over an hour),

The premise is one we've seen a million times before. You're an exchange student going to Japan for a couple months. Through a series of wacky coincidences, you end up meeting and then staying in the same dorm with three girls. It's your job to make sure your protagonist doesn't end up not falling in love with one of them.

The three girls are fairly entertaining. Aoi, the short motherly one who is occasionally surprisingly strong-willed, despite looking like a discount Uiharu from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, I found to be a really good realization of her character archetype. Karin, the snappy but deep inside kind one was fairly dull and predictable, but I like that particular type of character enough to forgive it. Sakura, the quiet shy one who is secretly a passionate otaku (and the only one whose route I've gone down so far) I found to be really likeable, even if she was pretty much cookie-cutter.

For a while, a game named Go Go Nippon! was making the rounds as the thing youtubers made fun of. From what I glimpsed watching said youtubers, Go Go Nippon! appears to be really in love with Japan, telling you how great it is at every opportunity and coming across as an advertisement for the Japanese tourist industry. Tokyo School Life kind of does something similar, though it never gets quite as obnoxious. Still, it is frustrating seeing the main character be baffled by things that are supposedly something only the Japanese ever do but really isn't. I'm curious where this guy comes from where people don't leave a side of the escalator clear if they're standing on it, or where people who get good grades and bad grades are put in separate classes at school, because it sounds like an awful place. Similarly, he seems to lack knowledge of Japanese culture that anyone at least slightly interested in it should have. I'm a fairly casual anime-watcher, but even I know stuff like "Itadakimasu", or what an onigiri is.

I quite enjoyed the little love story that evolved between my character (named Matt Borealis in honour of Podtoid) and Sakura. It was simple and fairly predictable, but well executed for what it was, with a stirring moment or two thrown in for good measure. Trying to avoid spoilers: the final generally saying "bit" was quite emotionally impactful, whilst the earlier stuff was appropriately fluffy and enjoyable. My biggest disappointment  came when the credits ended. Before the credits, the story seemed to end in a perfect and rather surprising way. It was powerful, and was shocking enough to leave me quite strongly affected. However, the post-credits scene, wrapping the story up, seemed like a pretty serious cop-out, and ruined the effect, instead leaving me feeling fairly content without being nearly as impactful.

The one thing I won't deny about the game is that it looks great. I love the use of the 3D models (which look gorgeous), and I think the animation is phenomenal. That said, it might be good to have given the models a few more poses, since they seem limited by the few positions they can be in. Some more CGs would be good too. The sound design was alright. The soundtrack is immensely forgettable (having finished the game 10 minutes ago, I can only remember the one piece), and the voice acting was voice acting, I guess.

Overall, Tokyo School Life is pretty OK. It's no masterpiece, but I don't think it really wants to be. It's enjoyable while it lasts, has a few fairly effective moments, and will probably leave very little impact on you after that (unless the other routes are considerably better). It's not a bad way to spend your time by any means, though I think even the cheap price it's going for might be a tad steep for what you get. My prediction for what will happen with my and Tokyo School Life in the future is as follows: I do the other routes, then uninstall the game and don't ever really get the urge to go back.

If my evaluation changes, I shall post an update. Otherwise: get Tokyo School Life if you're looking for a fairly decent VN that won't really blow anyone's mind bust is a good time nonetheless.

My Top 5 Game Characters

Videogames have great characters. Let's prove it with a pointless top 5 because I like lists. Woo hoo! Only rule is no more than one character per franchise because otherwise this would be "Top 4 Persona characters and some girl from The Walking Dead"

Honorable Mentions:

Lilly, from Katawa Shoujo. Because I don't consider KS a game, but Lilly is an absolutely great character. Hell, every main character from KS is. Also GLaDOS (or however you capitalize that) from Portal, who, after a long while of thinking about it just slipped from position number 5. She is a fantastic, hilarious villain.

Number 5: Final Fantasy X's Yuna

Final Fantasy X is the first game I ever reviewed. Whilst I praised the characters and world immensely, I felt the story was a bit meandering and roundabout. One single character helped maintain its impact: Yuna, the emotional centre of the game. She's an extremely tragic character, yet manages to be likeable and enjoyable to be around, not falling prey to the mopiness that brings a lot of the series down. Being nebulous because of spoilers, Yuna is a character who is a lot stronger than she seems, with every warm smile she gives and comforting thing she says seeming all that much more tragic in retrospect. This is the character that single-handedly carries the story of an 80 hour game, which I feel is more than enough testament to just how damn well she's written.

Number 4: Mass Effect's Mordin Solus

Mordin is one of those characters that has it all. He's funny, he's charming, and he's got a really powerful storyline of change and redemption. There's really very little to dislike about Mordin's arcs. He creates the most powerful moment in Mass Effect 3 (my personal favourite game in the franchise, ending aside), and his characteristic, overly logical and fast-talking manner of speaking just oozes character. Mordin is simply an extremely solid, well rounded character. There's not much more to say about this model of a scientist Salarian.

Number 3: Ace Attorney's Miles Edgeworth

Something that games seem to struggle with is pitting players against character who aren't evil. The Ace Attorney series avoids this almost without fail: most of the prosecutors you face (who essentially act as your primary rival in the trial component of the game) end up being fairly likeable and having their own reasons to be the way they are. Nowhere is this more obvious than with Miles Edgeworth, your main rival from the first game, who goes from being a terrifying figure of rather doubtful morality to one of your closest allies in the search for truth. Edgeworth truly evolves, both in his character and in the player's eyes. His reasons for prosecuting possibly criminals as hard as he possibly can are noble, even when they are in complete opposition to your objective of proving these same people not guilty. Eventually, even when he's doing the best he can to prove your client guilty, you end up seeing Edgeworth as an ally, someone who acts as your complement. Edgeworth is there to make sure the guilty are put away, and you're there to make sure the innocent aren't. These are not opposite functions. The fact that someone so terrifying can not only become so likeable, but also evolve so, much is a huge accomplishment.

Number 2: The Walking Dead's Clementine

It almost feels cliche to put Clementine here. She seems like a real shoe-in for the spot, and she really, really is. Admittedly, having not experienced Walking Dead Season 2 yet, I can only speak to how she is in the first season. So that's what I'll do: Clementine is a brilliant child character. She truly feels like a child, in more than one way: her mannerisms, the way she acts, her motivations... Yet she doesn't fall prey to the same trap most child characters do in video games. She's not just some useless object to be rescued. Sure, she gets into a lot of trouble that she needs to be rescued from, but she's also proven to be smart, emotionally strong, and independent. But she never comes across as an action chick. She's a deeply childish character who happens to be in a situation where she needs to grow up extraordinarily fast. The want to prevent that from happening, the desire to make sure Clementine stays safe and can stay her pure, childish self as long as possible is what drives a lot of the emotion of The Walking Dead, and the fact that it works, unlike children in so many other pieces of media, is a true testament to the quality of writing Telltale is putting out. Still, as I once said, this is my favourite character from (what at the time was) my favourite game. You know they're doing something right.

Number 1: Persona 4's Culprit

Persona 4 is a murder mystery, and boy what a pay off. The piece of scum that's been carrying out these murders is a truly brilliant character. I'm avoiding spoilers here, but I find said person deeply terrifying. They just blend in so well prior to the reveal, yet their personality never changes. It's just that easy to pass as normal, even when you're such a complete piece of filth. The fact that a lot of the pseudo-philosophy they spout actually makes sense, and to some extent resonated with me is also a deeply terrifying thing. I'm going to avoid saying anything more to avoid spoilers, but for God's sake, go play Persona 4. It really is a great game.

(Also, for reference, here is the list without the one-per-franchise rule and unnecessary hyperbole:

5. Yosuke Hanamura, Persona 4

4. Miles Edgeworth, Ace Attorney

3. Chie Satonaka, Persona 4

2. Clementine, The Walking Dead

1. The culprit, Persona 4

Yes, I really do like Persona 4 that damn much)