So I hope the girls are to your liking so far, they only get cuter the more you read. Yuzusoft really did something special with Senren*Banka, and it should be highlighted. It’s incredibly difficult to convince all readers to read every route to get a complete story. Furthermore when the story is incredibly lengthy. Often, you’ll see a lot of readers claiming “finished” after leaving out one character simply because it didn’t cater to their taste. I was guilty of this at one point of my life. This story genuinely changed that for me. When I first finished Mako’s route, I was overjoyed that the ninja got the love she deserved. But at the same time, I got curious over certain holes in the story. If I called it quits and wrote the review then, while calling the holes inconsistencies, it wouldn’t feel right.
This is a visual novel that I genuinely think a lot of people will like the characters enough to at least try all the routes and Yuzusoft will happily reward those that do. These are unique characters with different approach to love that all get satisfying endings while contributing to the overall lore. I can’t ask for anything more than that. But Yuzusoft takes it a step further, with the additions of epilogue and after story chapters for all route options. To even appeal to those that were strictly in it for the girls and not the story, please don’t do this. The Senren*Banka story was a rollercoaster and I was screaming from beginning to end. I’m sad I can’t give all the details, but please read all of it.
If I were to talk about what makes this story so impactful and the characters so lovable, we need to get technical. Voice acting is a novelty that allows the reader to gauge emotion within the line, we all know this. However, what about the character sprites? If you could see the range of emotion within a single voice line as the character speaks, don’t you think you’d be able to understand the situation more? In Senren*Banka that’s what you get, almost treading on the line of full-animation, but just enough to bring even more life to these characters. The voice acting hits you hard, but when the sprite is equally as passionate? I can’t bring myself to look away. I put the game on auto to appreciate all of it and that’s why this review took way longer to come out.
There’s a lot of life and variety in the art of Senren*Banka. While the sprites carry emotion, the backgrounds are full of life for the joyous occasions and dreary for the more fearsome ones. Don’t even get me started on the wonderful soundtrack which provides equal amounts of ambiance as it does passion for every character! The combination of all this felt like I was taking a sip of the perfect cup of coffee. There’s so much careful consideration for everything in this visual novel. Even if I felt for a split second like the story was taking a turn for the boring, I’m immediately dragged back in. Or if I finish a route, I can just easily use their in-game flow chart to get back into the action without losing that fire. To say that I loved playing Senren*Banka is an understatement. But who made this possible? NekoNyan.
This review will not end without addressing the hard work by the publisher. NekoNyan is no stranger with Yuzusoft as they previously collaborated on Sabbat of the Witch. Furthermore, they’ll continue to work after this review as they have Dracu-Riot and Riddle Joker on the way. There’s a positive developer-publisher relationship and witnessing their work for the past two titles I understand why. With all the technical stuff under the hood for Yuzusoft titles, NekoNyan manages to successfully bring over the script and everything lovable about the Yuzusoft games in one piece. Even offering players the option to work with accurate multi-language translations. For this, I decided to compare lines between my English read and my friend Eric’s Traditional Chinese read. The differences we found in iconic scenes were almost non-existent with only finding a word being different at most. It’s incredible.
This script translated wonderfully across multiple languages. An absurd amount work went into the game, including image editing involving over 150 different sprites, unique ending sequences and everything in between. Furthermore, the amount of programming including a easy to navigate in-game flowchart. All of the essentials and quality-of-life functions working flawlessly. As a result of all this hard work, NekoNyan continues to show they’re aiming to be the best visual novel publisher to watch out for. If they continue to work on these games with the same amount of love they did for this one, they’re going to be here just as long if not longer than Yuzusoft at the very least.
Normally, I use the last bit of the review to talk about any cons that I may have encountered along the way. Naturally if you read up to this point, you can understand why I may have very little to say in that regard for Senren*Banka. However, there are some nuances that I do want potential readers to be aware of. For instance, if you are to play the 18+ version of Senren*Banka, I will warn you now. These incredibly lewd scenes with your favorite damsels are incredibly long. I timed multiple lewd scenes to 33 minutes if left on auto. The art, foreplay and the dirty talk is all arousing, but there’s going to be a lot of moaning to skip over. I felt guilty for holding the control key for the last few lewd scenes I got, but enough was enough.
Finally, you might feel that a couple characters did not get proper representation in their own routes. All these characters are amazing and have great stories. However when compared to their peers, some might be more lacking than others, which is bound to happen in a visual novel of this quality. Let it be known that the worst one in Senren*Banka, could still be the best in another story. With this said, please still read all of them. You will not regret it. Please note, while not exactly a con, there is a bookmark voice line feature. Use it to truly save those specifically wonderful moments in your read. Like the ones I’ve displayed throughout this review.
Senren*Banka is the most amazing visual novel I’ve read to date. The amount of content put in by Yuzusoft and properly brought over by NekoNyan make this a must own title for all types of visual novel fans. This was the most satisfying 40 hours I’ve spent on a visual novel and I took the time to write my longest review yet in hopes I can convince you to play. Please consider supporting both developer and publisher by grabbing the game if you haven’t already. It’s $34.99 and it’s easily worth every penny. I want to thank NekoNyan for giving me the best Valentine’s Day gift ever. Please look forward to Dracu-Riot and Riddle Joker when they’re out, and if you want more NekoNyan consider playing Making*Lovers! Thank you for reading all of this, and please stay safe.
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Game provided by publisher for review purposes.
