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| Title | Atom GRRRL!! |
| Developer | Cosmillica |
| Publisher | Denpasoft |
| Release Date | March 2, 2016 |
| Genre | Adult Visual Novel |
| Platform | PC |
| Age Rating | Adults Only 18+ |
| Official Website | |
Do you like Pulp Fiction? No, do you L-O-V-E Pulp Fiction?! If the former, Atom GRRRL!! might be for you. If the latter, this Visual Novel is almost definitely for you. All around, this story is a send-up of American Culture, or, more specifically, the Japanese view of what American Culture is. But through the prism of Quentin Tarantino. Most of the story mirrors the events that took place in that classic 1994 movie. But there are also some other references thrown in. I certainly recognized some elements of the 1999 Guy Richie movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, although that one is a British product. The developer screen even features a giant hamburger and a Confederate Flag, so there is no doubt the feel they are going for.
Anyone that chooses to play this Visual Novel will appreciate the struggle that it was to take screenshots of my playthrough that meet the SFW guidelines. The characters’ propensity for colorful language certainly meets the criteria of a Tarantino joint. In fact, that makes for much of the hilarity present in this title. Much of it is intentionally comedic, and some of it feels a bit unintentionally funny. Some of the pop culture, sports and political references are so terrible that they are side splittingly funny. But from the voice over it doesn’t seem to be due to any bad translation; it’s just the culture filter at work. The writing is hit or miss in this regard, but the hits are quite a bit more funny than most Visual Novels.
Let’s meet this incredibly colorful cast of characters. The main character is Jessica Huster, also nicknamed Atom Girl. She is the Vincent Vega of this world, recently back from a visit abroad. Only in this story she is back from “Yamato,” or Japan, instead of France. And instead of being fascinated by the “Royale with cheese,” she is fascinated with the difference between California Roll sushi and the real thing.
In the role of Jules, to Jessica’s Vincent, we have Anna. In many ways she was my favorite character of the story. While she didn’t have quite the flair of Samuel L. Jackson (and, really, who in the world does?), she was still very cool. For one thing, she represents an ethnicity that is rarely explored in Visual Novels. Well, realistically it’s rare to even find American games representing African Americans, but I don’t even want to go into that discussion within a review. But both her personality and her skin pigment make her pretty remarkable and lovely. And in this version of the story, Vincent and Jules are lesbian lovers. You certainly didn’t get that with Quentin!
In the role of Marsellus Wallace, we have Big E. She is… she is… well, it’s difficult to say much about this woman that will be Safe For Work. Big E is of Chinese ethnicity and she runs her own section of organized crime. While “The Mob” is referenced, likely meaning the Italian/Sicilian version, she runs her own outfit of thugs and crime. Big E also runs a side business for pleasure and fun that is basically a slave trade in cat-girls. They are basically sex servants of high class women. Due to a circumstance, when Jessica was younger, of which you will see a flashback, she and Big E have a working relationship. Anna is certainly not all that happy over their work ties, both because she would rather keep Jessica for herself and because Big E tends to cause a bunch of trouble.
If there was to be a “villain” of this story, it would be Jessica’s cousin, Very Huster. But, she has her own motivations for the things that she does. So she’s not just a one note character at all. Her particular motivation is that the position of the head of the family for the next generation passed over her to the younger cousin Jessica. The previous head of the family made that decision based on the feeling that Jessica was the stronger person. But Very is quite notable in her own regard. So she’s trying to do something about it. Most of those things are pretty illegal, though. And even among her family, her activities would cause censure. The family has a policy of no gambling or drug trade, and she has her hooks into both.
Also joining the villain side we have the sadly ineffectual college student and drug cooker, Dave. He has created a new batch of drugs that is taking the city by storm. However, he gets in too deep with Very Huster and she wants to use him to exact her revenge upon Jessica. Even she realizes that Dave is a pretty hapless choice for the task of shooting Anna. But she figures that if Dave fails, she doesn’t really lose too much in the deal. Dave also represents the couple that try to rob the diner in Pulp Fiction. Surprisingly in this Visual Novel, even though all sexual content is yuri, all the males are voiced. Most of the time in this genre all male characters, protagonists or otherwise, are unvoiced. This story happens over the course of a day, and it turns out to be a very bad day to be Dave.
Last we have Vince Huster, Very’s father and Jessica’s Uncle. He was originally the choice to take over the business dealings of the Huster family from the Old Man, but he turned it down. He does have a lot of skeletons in his closet, though, and even Jessica respects him. In fact, she seems to be more fond of him than his own daughter is. He definitely pulls no punches in his criticisms of his daughter. And when the story requires Wolf to come in, Vince is the man for the job.
More Yuri Pulp Fiction on Page 2 ->
