Now don’t get me wrong on my sudden taste of this game. I’m taking you on a tour about a PC game called… Hinatabokko.
*SPOILER WARNING*
Taking a look at the mainstay eroges which I am forbidden into playing, I managed to snatch up and download myself a rare eroge with a simply-put decent storyline with a sense of Slice-Of-Life. Yes, I adore those kinds of anime and manga; even in things such as this. No rape, no cheating, no murder, no tentacles, no bondage, no S&M, no bestiality, just simple straight-forward relationshipping between the main hero and the heroine so-the-player-chooses.
Going straight to gameplay because nothing much is said; for a typical eroge hentai game is a simple click of a button to advance to the next slide of the story as you progress. And at times when you come across a point where you are given options for what the hero should pick, it determines the path of the certain girl you wish to choose.
I’m excited that this is probably my first ever eroge hentai game I could get my hands on since I might never get anything like this in my local store, or maybe downloadable on the net. To be given an idea how it usually plays like, I’ve gone through the whole game of each girl in general and finally review it.
The Story So Far
We find ourselves seeing a young man named Natsuki Hayami, a college student who lives with his sister Koharu. In a state of confusion that he and his sister are supposed to move out of their home during a renovation, he stumbles upon his former teacher Hinata Hiiragi. Wishing to rekindle his feelings for his teacher, he accepted the offer to work at her café, as well as accepting the offer to live with her. In a new life where he and his sister now live next to the Hiiragi family while living in a room a floor above a café, our love-driven hero contemplates on who he should go out with. His former teacher Hinata Hiiragi, his former teacher’s sexy sister Natsuki Hiiragi, his step-sister Koharu Hayami, his closest friend Koori Kujou, his aikido friend Suzuno Kisaragi, or maybe go gay with his best friend Shizuma Kisaragi?
In a fun fact, Hinatabokko means “Which Girl Should I Choose” and somehow has the main heroine Hinata matching the title’s name. In another instance, the main hero Natsuki also matches with Hinata’s sister Natsuki. And in another instance the café that the Hiiragi sisters own called “Koharu Biyori” also matches with our main hero’s sister Koharu. Name issues much? One could wonder.
The Characters
Natsuki Hayami – The main hero who wounded up in a situation of finding work and a place to live as his home in going under renovation. He has two good friends and a sister of that matter, and usually it’s like he has a more sincere, serious and decent personality altogether. His face is seen in some parts of the game, but it’s a good idea how he should look like. He kinda looks like Makoto from School Days but I really liked him because of the whole decency he has. Besides, F*CK MAKOTO, F*CK SEKAI, F*CK SCHOOL DAYS, Natsuki's a perfectly sane guy. I grew to like him.
“Huh? Hayami-kun?”Hinata Hiiragi – The main heroine and title character of the game. A former teacher of our main hero who now works at a café called the “Koharu Biyori”. You see her pretty face more like a teenager, but she is older than looks itself. She’s mature in every way and does her job in all of her hard work. Should Natsuki decide to rekindle his relationship with Hinata, it sure as hell crosses teacher/student relationship but both can acknowledge their feelings for each other.
“Sooooo, you’re Natsuki too, huh?"Natsuki Hiiragi – Hinata’s twin younger sister. A typical flirt, and in actuality is struggling herself into writing a novel. She supports her sister in whatever way she can since she too used to make coffee before. Should Natzuki choose her, she first gives him advice of coffee-making, then she becomes more open to become closer to him.
“Eating my sandwich~!”Koharu Hayami – Natsuki’s child-acting younger sister out of the blue hair of it all. In actuality she is Natsuki’s step-sister, from which Natsuki was adopted into the Hayami family. After both their parents died in an accident, she’s been close to her step-brother like an actual one, even calling him “Natsu-nii”. Should Natsuki choose her, Koharu wanted to be close to him but at a lost about their blood-relative issues. It all ends well as Natsuki accepts her feelings.
“Sleeping again, Natsuki? Geez…”Koori Kujou – Natsuki’s friend. Tomboyish and freely-open in some terms. The other thing is her being tsundere on Natsuki and violently punching him in the gut onto some screw-up he did. Secretly she works at a restaurant and couldn’t let anyone know about it. Should Natsuki choose her, Koori will reveal that she had a crush on him even through from those bad times she had with him, and yeah, Natsuki accepts her for that.
“Nii-sama…”Suzuno Kisaragi – Natsuki’s childhood friend and Koharu’s classmate. She and her older brother Shizuma currently work in an aikido dojo which previously owned by their grandfather. Kind-hearted in terms of personality, and in the oddest reason calls Natsuki “Nii-sama” by honor due to her fondness over him. Typically stern towards Shizuma however. Should Natsuki choose her, Natsuki visits the dojo to train himself while getting close to her. And Suzuno would confess her feelings to him based on a long time promise.
“Heh, can’t you tell by my looks?”Shizuma Kisaragi – Natsuki’s other friend and Suzuno's older brother. A tall blondie-cutey with a nice chest and somewhat wise figure among Natsuki and Koori. There is a yaoi route for those who wanna see Natsuki and Shizuma together… By god I went through that route. I was scarred for life… NAH I’M JUST KIDDING! Should Natsuki choose him, you’ll realize HE was a SHE. Apparently she was hiding her gender because of something.
Koori, you never cease to amaze me.Overview
As far as graphics of this game are concerned, it shows decent background of some various houses, streets, shops, and probably other background stuff which you walk on the roads on. Each of them can go up to morning/afternoon, sunset, nighttime and that’s about what I can mention; usually I should think it gives the feel how time usually passes as some certain stories progress through. Music is rather redundant as it mixes with some scene such as normal-life, comedic moments and of course the dramatic moments. There’s even one track that has vocals which move me a bit. Voice acting from the seiyuus are interesting in variety if you enjoy the glorious sounds of their cute voices; hearing some exotic mature voices to childish voices and sometimes nasal voices. Overall they tell the personalities of each of the girls.
Understandably that the most canonical ending to me would have to be the one with Hinata Hiiragi, to the fact that in that route shows a more detailing relationship between Natsuki and Hinata on how he yearns for her and her returning his feelings despite a teacher/student complex. However it’s not the kind of couple I wanted. In favor of which girl to choose from, I think it would be Suzuno. Sure she sounds innocent, young and timid yet mature and reasonable at the same time, and one plus factor is that she does aikido. Forgot to mention she has the tendency to calling out Nii-sama everytime, beating that from Natsuki’s step-sister Koharu calling him Natsu-nii. Complexes, complexes...
To me, this feels like a fairly decent eroge with a nice range of hentai bits of pure sexual content. At least it gives me an idea how something like this operates. Having the contents of a simple slice-of-life, I claim this to be one of my favorites for safe keeping. What's really impressive is that it does not feature in any bad endings as far as this is concerned, so I'm just happy about it.
My rating for Hinatabokko: 7/10
9-10: GYEAHHH!
7-8: Pretty good
5-6: Should’ve been better
3-4: Good for a laugh
1-2: Waste of a PC game
0: What has gaming come to?
As far as graphics of this game are concerned, it shows decent background of some various houses, streets, shops, and probably other background stuff which you walk on the roads on. Each of them can go up to morning/afternoon, sunset, nighttime and that’s about what I can mention; usually I should think it gives the feel how time usually passes as some certain stories progress through. Music is rather redundant as it mixes with some scene such as normal-life, comedic moments and of course the dramatic moments. There’s even one track that has vocals which move me a bit. Voice acting from the seiyuus are interesting in variety if you enjoy the glorious sounds of their cute voices; hearing some exotic mature voices to childish voices and sometimes nasal voices. Overall they tell the personalities of each of the girls.
Understandably that the most canonical ending to me would have to be the one with Hinata Hiiragi, to the fact that in that route shows a more detailing relationship between Natsuki and Hinata on how he yearns for her and her returning his feelings despite a teacher/student complex. However it’s not the kind of couple I wanted. In favor of which girl to choose from, I think it would be Suzuno. Sure she sounds innocent, young and timid yet mature and reasonable at the same time, and one plus factor is that she does aikido. Forgot to mention she has the tendency to calling out Nii-sama everytime, beating that from Natsuki’s step-sister Koharu calling him Natsu-nii. Complexes, complexes...
To me, this feels like a fairly decent eroge with a nice range of hentai bits of pure sexual content. At least it gives me an idea how something like this operates. Having the contents of a simple slice-of-life, I claim this to be one of my favorites for safe keeping. What's really impressive is that it does not feature in any bad endings as far as this is concerned, so I'm just happy about it.
My rating for Hinatabokko: 7/10
9-10: GYEAHHH!
7-8: Pretty good
5-6: Should’ve been better
3-4: Good for a laugh
1-2: Waste of a PC game
0: What has gaming come to?
