Exhibition Of The Heart Review – The Things We Do For Love
Genre – Yuri, Nukige Play Time – 3.5 hours Developer – Yuri Eureka Steam(18+) VNDB
Note – I received a review copy from the developer. Just a heads up.
Oops My Crush Is A Weirdo
Reconnecting
with your secret high-school crush is difficult at the best of times, but finding out they are a shameless exhibitionist makes it even more
awkward. This is a fact which Alice finds out first hand after
discovering Sylvia, the girl she idolised, deep in the forest and as
bare as the day they were born. Determined to finally confess to
Sylvia, Alice decides to get involved in Sylvia’s antics and the
pair begin their increasingly daring activities. It is in this
frantic attempt by Alice to get Sylvia to look at her where
Exhibition Of The Heart shines as the pair dance around their
feelings in their own little masquerade. Comedy underpins everything
and creates a light tone which compliments the likeable main
characters while allowing them the space to express themselves. The
warm and round visuals supplement this cosy story by enveloping the
player in a blanket of fantasy. Yet the narrative is capable of
creating some impactful moments when needed to help sell the
believable escalation in the pair’s relationship. Alice’s
insecurities become a constant companion throughout the experience
and being in her head offers an engaging contradiction between her
thoughts and how she acts around others. However, it is not without
its issues with some rough edges in the visual department which can
draw the player out of the moment. Are these imperfections enough to
ruin this tale of yuri escapades? Let’s take everything off and
find out.
Baring All To You – Narrative and Themes
The
many antics the main pair get up to over the course of their
exploration of exhibitionism are the star of the show. Each one
getting increasingly daring while playing into the humorous tone to
create some delightfully entertaining moments. Their primary
narrative purpose is to showcase the pair’s current relationship
through the way they clearly trust one another enough to get carried
away in their activities but at the same time lack the confidence to
truly be open about their feelings. A wonderful irony
exists throughout the early sections where they are baring everything
about their bodies yet both are lying to the other out of fear of
baring their hearts. These combine to keep the light-hearted banter
entertaining as the emotional vortex called Alice struggles to pull
herself together long enough to confess. Each of these events slowly build
up the overly idealised vision of Sylvia found in Alice’s head
while doing a good job of convincing the player that this is the
truth despite how absurd the initial fantasy seems.
 |
| Maybe that isn't the best idea... |
Of course any
delusion like this is doomed to shatter on contact with reality and when this happens it is quite a spectacular and emotional punch which puts everything
they have done together into a new light. The climax to the story
knows how to up the stakes without entirely doing away with the game's tone and making it feel like everything is coming full circle. It
offers a surprisingly grounded problem for the pair to overcome where
the future they must face is murky and uncertain with the only light
forwards being their mutual love. It nicely reflects back on the
ideas of lying to others to make yourself look better by showing that
baring yourself in both body and heart can result in a more
meaningful relationship with another person than merely trying to impress them. While its
core messaging might be fairly simple it is delivered in a suitable
human package and placed into the context of our everyday lives giving
it the impact it needs to stay with the player.
Concealed Love – Characters
Alice
is front and centre of the narrative from the moment it starts and acts as a
lively protagonist with a memorable internal landscape. Often
indulging in flights of fantasy, she is perfect mix of impulsive and
insecure where what she wants clashes against her own self doubt to
create a debate as she desperately frets over what to
do in any given situations. Her monologues are some of the strongest
sources of humour in the game and set up her as a likeable character
even if she is not the smartest tool in the shed. This colourful
personality also works to shape the player’s impressions of both
her place in the world and of Sylvia whom she puts on a pedestal.
This innocent crush prevents her from properly seeing Sylvia which
leads to both the main conflict and also a lot of small moments of
levity.
 |
| Opening with Alice's diary really makes it clear who the protagonist is |
Sylvia forms the other half of this romantic pairing
while being the straight man to Alice’s internal struggles. She
initially comes across as aloof and uncaring about what other people
think even after Alice catches her engaging in exhibitionism in the
woods. Yet she does care what Alice thinks about her and seems
at least in part aware of how Alice views her which she often plays
into. Initially it is her deciding on the increasingly wild things
they are going to do together making her appear to be the dominate
member of the pairing but over time the two shift around as they
begin to properly truth each other after their time apart. The slow
rebuilding of their dynamic into something new is the main focus of the character side of the narrative and it does a
good job of keeping things fresh as the pair test their boundaries.
All of this set up and strong characterisation is key to making the
big conflict at the climax have impact. It provides a suitable test
for everything the pair have built between them and plays off their personalities to reveal their hidden sides. Everyone beyond the main
pairing is just set dressing for their journey and are mostly
disembodied voices or silhouette people to drive this home.
Flesh And A Stiff Breeze – Visual, Audio and Technical
By
far the greatest point of improvement over Yuri Eureka’s previous
title are the visuals which help craft a soft and cosy atmosphere. Bright pastel colours seep into every aspects
of its aesthetic identity from the day time streets to the dark
forests with all of them lit up in their gentle hues. Accompanying
this is a broad use of curves across the visual design. The two
protagonists are noticeably round, soft and lacking in harsh edges
which lends them a feeling of being delicate and gentle. Everything
which can be rounded has found itself curved in some fashion and the
remaining harsh angles are alleviated by the aforementioned bright
colouring. These all come together to reinforce the warm and light
feeling the game is aiming for. The main pair have a good variety of
poses and clothing for their sprites to properly communicate the
daring activities they are engaging in. It also serves to make them
visually dynamic which is important give how much they are on screen
and makes it fun to see what their sprites will do next. A nice
inclusion is the sprite viewer and scene maker which unlocks upon
completing the game and it offers a great toy to mess around with to
create your own little moments.
 |
| The best and worst all in one shot |
However, despite all the improvements
to the visuals, it is also here where Exhibition Of The Heart’s
biggest issues emerge. The first of these are the many small visual
oddities which can be found throughout the game. These are mostly
things like minor incorrect proportions for some objects of parts of
people in CGs and a general rigidity to some character posing.
Nothing which ruins the moment but it is something the player will
notice over the course of the game. The second and bigger offender is
the character sprite of Samantha which looks off compared to the two
protagonists. She is a microcosm of all the broader visuals
inconsistencies throughout the game, slightly off body proportions
and a choice of pose which comes across as painful and unnatural.
Combine this with her only having only one expression and pose and
the result is a character who comes across more like an alien
pretending to be human than a believable person. Fortunately she is
only in the game for a couple of scenes so she does not really ruin
the experience, but it is distracting when she does appear.
Conclusion
Playing
around with the idea of exposing oneself, both figuratively and
literally, is one of Exhibition Of The Heart’s greatest strengths
and it has a lot of fun taking this concept to its extremes. It
creates a powerful irony in the main pair’s exhibitionism as they
conceal their hearts from each other and this leads to a wonderfully
impactful final conflict over their love. The pairing of Alice and
Sylvia results in a back and forth between Alice’s internal
delusions and Sylvia’s aloof responses which creates a fun dynamic
throughout the entire game. Visually and technically this a set up
from the studio's previous game and crafts a warm and gentle
atmosphere through its bright colours and constant curves. However,
it is also in the visuals where the biggest issues lie stemming from
inconsistencies and other minor problems. Thankfully they are
infrequent enough to not ruin the experience and ultimately only dent
what is a wild and entertaining yuri ride.
Verdict –
Wild antics and entertainingly dynamic characters bring to life a
vivid story of love and the fear of being judged. It has some rough
visual edges at times but nothing which ruins the experience.
Pros -
+
Leverages the exhibitionism to craft a tale of the contradiction
between what we show people and who we really are leading to a powerfully
emotional finale.
+
Alice and Sylvia are an absolute joy together and their interactions
lie at the heart of the game’s appeal.
+
Strong visual direction and a number of fun post game extras make for
memorable atmosphere.
Cons -
-
Minor visual inconsistencies in terms of proportions, awkward posing
and other such elements do distract at times.
Quizzes – Uncovering The Hybrid
Answering The Pressing Questions
An
often overlook yet extremely common mechanic in games is the Quiz
with its simple multiple choice questions demanding the player rack
their brains. The tendency visual novels to focus their entire structure and identity around presenting various options means
Quizzes have often found themselves a home as part of their overall
means of engagement. Rather than being an outlet for trivia, which a
Quiz game might be on its own, it is instead repurposed to push
in-universe ideas and concepts through a familiar lens. This can be
as simple as being a tool to make sure the player has been paying
attention and knocking them awake. More often than not it is utilised
as a means of simulating the process of deduction in many mystery or
detective games which can exist alongside or in replacement for other
mechanics pushing the same idea. They can also create a form of tension when the visual novel suddenly asks something designed to
unsettle the player or require them to be answer in a short window if they
want to survive. Let’s get ready to press that buzzer and find out
how this pairing works in practice.
Poking The Player
In
its most basic form a Quiz serves the function of checking the player
has been paying attention and tests them on facts about what they
have witnessed. It acts as a shock to the system to signal the player
should be paying closer attention if they do not want the game to
hand out a failing grade. Despite this being a basic
motivator it can be surprisingly effective since nobody likes to feel
like they are dumb and the everyone wants to believe they are smart
which is what a Quiz inherently feeds its mechanics on. This carrot
and stick approach is tame enough to not make the player feel as if
they must have a perfect score but it is has enough teeth so that
they are likely to have a greater awareness of the narrative going
forwards. Such Quizzes tend to be infrequent in nature due to how
they completely break up the flow of events and are mostly
concentrated at the end of distinct sections of the story where they
occupy a nature pause in momentum.
XBLAZE LOST:MEMORIES is the poster
child for this kind of Quiz in visual novels. At regular intervals it
takes the player into a space separate from the narrative where it
has its cast act out of character and it has the protagonist be part of a quiz
show about the story events they have just witnessed. This exists so
the game can ensure the player is keeping up with its increasingly
complex plot points and concepts by repeating them and highlighting
which ones are important through their questions. A similar concern
about the player’s understanding of complex narrative beats can be
seen in Schrödinger's Call where Mary will stop after every call and
quiz the player in the form of an internal monologue about what they
just witnessed. What these two games showcase is how the Quiz can
break down ideas and events into more manageable chunks to keep it
from becoming overwhelming. However, it also risks appearing to
patronise the player by treating them with a sense that they lack the
intelligence to follow these narratives without assistance which can
accidentally antagonise them.
 |
| Language lessons made fun! |
A way to mitigate this is to frame it
as being related to what the protagonist is learning alongside the
player as is done in The Expression Amrilato. It regularly asks the
player to apply the bits of Esperanto they have learned to help
Takatoo Rin on her journey of communication. Focusing on a positive
and productive aspect of Rin’s story allows the game to add some
weight to the Quizzes through a gradual escalation in what they are
asking both parties to achieve. Esperanto is not a commonly taught
language so the player is likely to be learning it through the game
for the first time and this lets the game side step the issue of
patronising the player since all this will be new to them. All three
titles here present their Quiz elements in a simple fashion which
sits somewhat to the side of the rest of the visual novel where
success or failure is ultimately not the point of their existence and
so treats it in the same detached manner.
Stand-In For Deduction
When
taking a Quiz you are being tested on your knowledge and ability to
recall details about information from past experiences. By extension
any kind of deduction starts with a series of questions to establish
the when, where, who, what and why of a situation which nicely covers
the requirements of a Quiz. This means it is easy to overlap
answering questions and the process of logical reasoning leading the
Quiz to be a common means of systematising a detective’s path to
catching a criminal or uncovering a mystery. Rather than presenting
it as a series of questions, this style of Quiz is mingled into the
character’s internal dialogue to frame it as them breaking down a
problem into solvable chunks. It also serves the purpose of making
the player feel clever since they are the ones who are answering the
questions which even the detective is struggling with so allowing
them a feeling of being intellectually superior. Their simple structure gives this kind of Quiz the ability to fit into any space
where the illusion of deduction is needed without having to dedicate
time to implementing more complex mechanics which may not be
appropriate for the kind of story being told.
Since this is so
flexible and often makes up a small part of the overall mechanical
landscape, it is best to cover a broad spread of examples in a simple
fashion to best demonstrate this trend. Let’s start with the two
most obvious visual novels employing this kind of Quiz, Danganronpa
and Phoenix Wright and compare their similar implementations. Both
include Quiz elements intermittently as part of a series of mechanics
which symbolise the process of deduction. They are mostly applied
to questions with obvious answers or those with big dramatic effects
which the player needs to witness immediately rather after a separate
play area has finished. They use the Quizzes during their respective
‘trial’ sections and this leads them to being a means of pushing
forwards to the truth giving the sequence a sense of momentum when
needed to keep the player engaged.
 |
| Fire, it is always fire. |
In some games the Quiz can end up
merged with other gameplay mechanics and it does in Yurukill: The
Calumniation Games. Here the Quiz takes place in and around the main
mechanic of being a top down shooter where the player is asked to answer
questions using the top down flight to go into the answer they want.
Seamlessly integrating it like this allows the game to maintain its
core focus and identity rather then bringing everything to a halt to
present its options and creates a greater sense of flow as a result.
Of course making the Quiz stand out is also an option and one which
FLOWERS -Le volume sur été- embraces to sell the stages of
deduction. It uses them to very directly signal significant jumps in
logic presented through the overall lining of flowers to keep it from
feeling too beyond the rest of the content. Being so direct gives
FLOWERS the ability to provide the feeling of intellectual catharsis and cleanly reward the player for their keen attention
with a pat on the back.
Asking For Tension
When
a person is suddenly asked a question they were not expecting there
is a moment of panic before their brain pulls up the answer and
capitalising on this through a Quiz can add extra drama to a scene.
In order to make this possible the choices are often accompanied by a
timer ticking down to create a sense of pressure to forceable induce
the desired anxiety and maybe even have the player commit to a
mistake. Picking the wrong option can often result in the death of
the characters in order to give the player’s actions and panic a
sense of weight and consequence. However, there is no doubt this is a
cheap trick to pull and risks annoying the player since they will
feel they were not given a fair chance to pick correctly. As such
this kind of Quiz is rarely used and is only really found in horror
titles where the pacing and demand for tension allow it to nicely
slot into a wider suite of mechanics. Even here it has to tread
carefully or fear can give way to frustration at the inability to
progress due to an artificial barrier and this is mitigated through
providing the information needed to solve it almost immediately
beforehand. After all the point is to create tension not to actually
test the player’s ability to recall past details so avoiding
anything too mentally taxing in this stressful situation prevents
unnecessary friction.
 |
| Even the spirit fights like to use little bits of Quizzes |
A title which demonstrates the both the
strengths and issues of this use of Quizzes is Death Mark. It
regularly picks at the player’s brain under a tense and time
constrained pressure where the monster of the day is breathing down
their neck. Sometimes failure in these results in an instant game
over while in others the negative effects are delayed in order to
keep the player on their toes and prevent them for growing
comfortable. For the most part the game
carefully chooses information for its Quizzes from recent areas so it
is easy to recall and allows the feeling of tension to not boil over
into anger. However, for some later sections it assumes culturally
specific knowledge not present in the game itself and asks the player
to answer its questions based on it. To
its original Japanese audience this would have been a reasonable
expectation but when transferred into another culture all of this is
lost and the only thing left is confusion and a bad taste in the
mouth. Future games in the series make sure to never repeat this
mistake and it shows just how aware the developers are of the fine
line they were treading in Death Mark leading to chances being made
to avoid overstepping again.
Conclusion
Twenty
questions might not a first glance seem to be something compatible
with visual novels yet their common choice based nature opens them up
to a flexible overlapping. Their main purpose is to act as a
mechanical way to stimulate the player without having to go into more
complex systems and they help break up any feels of monotony. Add some
timers and a death if the player does not get the answer right and
the Quiz can create tension during the scramble to recall the correct
information. It can also be an intellectual stand-in when dealing with deduction where the player gets to feel smart and puts themselves into the
head space of a detective. Overall it is an extremely adaptable
style of gameplay which every developer should consider using if they
want a small addition to the standard choice based structure of their
visual novel.
War – Genre Deep Dive
Conflict’s Final Form
Human
history has been shaped by war and so there is not a storytelling
medium on the planet which it has not found in and naturally this
includes visual novels. It is a genre of fiction with quite a wide
range of tones and content in a way few others can manage in part due
to the differing reactions and presentations of War within cultures
across the world. The least serious use of War is as a heroic fantasy
were great warriors clash for power and dominance. On the opposite end of the
tonal spectrum are the stories about where war is a destructive force
which leaves suffering and death in its wake and even once it is over
its shadow remains in the lives of those it touched. Related to this
serious tone are titles where the war is not against humans but some
kind of monster which cannot be reasoned with so the focus becomes on
the suffering of a single side in this conflict. Let’s
pick up our banner and find out how each of these depictions of War
change what stories can be told.
A Time Of Heroes
A
common use of the War genre is as a stage for the great deeds of
larger than life heroes. It downplays the damage and death of warfare
in favour of a lighter tone where banter is exchanged and defeated
leaders join the good guys with a smile. The overall moral compass of
such games tends to be on the simpler side with the protagonist and
co. being undeniably right while facing an evil so direct in nature it is
completely in the wrong. Neutral heroes which the protagonist has to
overcome are presented as either being tricked by the evil or doing
their duty to their people. This makes the clash between them and the
side of good being something which can ultimately be ironed out upon
their defeat when faced with the protagonist’s generosity and
uprightness. Another element often found in these titles is the fact
the characters tend to be of the opposite gender to the protagonist
meaning that through the recruitment of former enemies a harem ends up being created. How much each game ends up playing into this
fact varies but it always remains in the background of the narrative
space especially when romance is introduced into the mix. Here War is
treated as a playground for the player’s fantasies and writes them
on the exaggerated scale such conflicts are fought on to provide a
feeling of grandeur.
 |
| It is easy to forget about the average soldier when they are so small |
Koihime Musou has a double layer of fantasy
applied to it for it is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
and so is also a fictional version of the real conflicts which took
place in China. Naturally everyone who is male in the original story
has been changed into woman leaving the protagonist as the only important man
in the story. Couple this with the game’s heavy emphasis on romancing
these girls and the result is the player being encouraged to interact with
as many of the heroes as possible with there even being a harem
ending should they desire it. In terms of the actual conflict it more
or less plays out like a simpler version of the book it is based on
with the protagonist’s presence being the determining event which
pushes his faction towards victory. This is presented through a
series of simple strategy mechanics where the player must choose
formations and who will fight in order to achieve victory. The heroes
are always front and centre of these battles with the individual
soldiers nothing more than indistinct shapes in their conflict. These
larger than life exaggerations of even their book counterparts
dominate the experience and they will be the part of the game which the player
is going to remember long after it is over.
In many ways Eiyuu *
Senki is a larger scale version of the concept presented in Koihime
Musou. No longer confined to China, but to the whole world, it can
bring in historic figures from all over and turn them into women while
playing up their already distinctive personalities to the logical
extremes. What makes Eiyuu * Senki stand out by comparison to Koihime
Musou is the way it handles evil and the effect having so many heroes
has on their presence in the narrative. The presentation of evil is extremely simple with an absolute antagonist playing
puppet master from the shadows and even using mind control to
manipulate some of the heroes. This makes the overall conflict black
and white and the protagonist’s side in the right for their attempt
to unify the world. It also absolves the heroes they come in conflict
with since they have been lied to so making the War a result of a
misunderstanding rather than malice. Moral complexity never even
appears as a concept in the story and instead it pushes the conquest
into a jolly upbeat ride which is further reinforced through the
bright visuals and soundtrack. When it comes to the sheer number of
heroes in Eiyuu * Senki, the effect is there can only being a small
amount of time to flesh out each one before the next one comes along.
Earlier heroes fair the best since the recur enough to have a
memorable identity but everyone else is more like a plastic action
figure to be collected. It also further pushes the player away from
the concept of any damage which might be done through War since even
the largest personalities are reduced to nothing more than small dots
to be connected. Funnily it means the harem outcome is inevitable
since no single hero gets enough focus so they all end up evenly around the
protagonist.
The Shadow It Casts
In
the real world War is an immensely destructive force which brings
death and ruin in its wake and even after it is over people live in
its shadow. The War genre can lean into this man-made
force to drive their narratives and influence their tone or
messaging. It tends to focus around the human cost of these conflicts
both in terms of the solders who die and the civilians who get caught
in the middle. Having an active conflict leads to an easy and
repeatable source of drama as the War drags the
characters into its different theatres where they must fight the
opposing side. This roller-coaster style of War narrative can end up
assuming elements of the heroic type since there needs to be recurring
characters in order for the player to have something to grab onto and
a recognisable enemy. If the story wants to deal with the damages of
War then being set in its aftermath to better captures the problems
and trauma surrounding the conflict. Here War is not actively present
with no clashing of opposing armies but instead it sits silently in
the memory where it influences people’s actions. There is a general
favouring of letting the player sit in the quiet pain of its cast and
how far into the future the echo of War can travel. Hope can still be
found here, yet it is always a fragile thing in need of protection
and nurturing lest a new conflict swallow it whole.
In many ways the
Utawarerumono games are perfectly suck in the middle between the
damaging effects of War and its heroic fantasy. Being a SRPG hybrid
necessitates a core cast of strong personalities to play as and to be
boss enemies so the story has to bend around this need and the War
becomes defined by these individuals. All the major changes in the
War rest in their hands to be fought over until there is a victor
with the antagonists vanquished. It also helps create a stronger
narrative flow since big events can happen in the conflict and it can
be easily moved into new areas to keep the gameplay fresh. Yet these
titles undeniably have a poor opinion of War with the terrible things
done in its name being bemoaned by the cast at every turn. Greed and
ambition are the things shown to be the culprits of this suffering
and become the defining characteristics of the antagonists. This is
doubly true of the civil war from the Mask games where former
comrades now kill each other and it messy nature of such a conflict is shown where even victory is hollow since it is damage inflicted upon their
own country.
 |
| War always remains long after it is over |
One visual novel which has an interesting take on living
the in aftermath of War is Rose Guns Days with its alternative
history were Japan was divided between America and China. The effects
of the War are apparent throughout the each season as the damage it
caused underpins the motives and actions of the cast to the point of
being inescapable for them. Even when not being talked about its
shadow finds its way into the conversation and it is only towards the
end of the narrative where things beyond it start to come into focus.
While Rose Guns Days has its fair share of action scenes, there is a
greater focus given to witnessing the consequences of the War and the
suffering in a contemplative and emotive fashion. Doing this not only
heightens the contrast with the dramatic moments but it also serves
to smoothly establish the stakes and world building in a manner which
the player can easily parse since the pain it presents is framed from
the personal level of its cast. The messaging which results from this
approach is written clearly for the player to see without it having
to spell it out directly and instead have them witness it first hand.
Against An Unfeeling Foe
Not
all War in fiction need to be fought against a human foe, sometimes a
story calls for the opposition to be a horde of monsters crashing
against civilisation. This removes the moral ambiguity of a real
world conflict by making other party an objective and unthinking evil
which cannot be reasoned with and must be destroyed to survive. As
such the focus of the narrative shift onto the allied side to hold up
the weight of drama, character and plot since a monster cannot offer
much in the way of complexity. Here the effects of War on the
internal structures and people who run them become the stars and the
picture is often a mixed one defined by bickering and backstabbing
even as their troops continue to die. The practical side of military
operations often comes into focus with the life they lead during the
conflict being a major source of drama while providing a grounded
sense of identity through its connections to the way real world armed
forces are organised. Underpinning this is a sense of tragedy at the
losses to the machine of War and the trauma it can inflicts on the
survivors.
 |
| Alternative is not a happy setting |
By far the strongest example of this monster focus can be
found in the Muv-Luv Alternative games featuring their iconic BETA.
The original Alternative is decidedly more militarily focused than
its previous entries with a lot of time give to the internal
conflicts of the setting and the utter devastation of the BETA’s
advance. This is further expanded upon in Total Eclipse and
Schwarzesmarken which lean even more heavily on the personal cost of
the War both in terms of losses and how it twists the morals and
identity of those fighting within it. Each Alternative title takes a
lens to a relatively small cast to best showcase this damage in a way
the player can easily empathise with due to its human scale and it gives a face to the people fighting this War so they are not faceless soldiers but
characters they have come to feel for. Its presentation of War is as
a tragedy inflicted upon these people and mourns their suffering and
loss at every turn.
Conclusion
As
the final form of conflict it should come as no surprise that War has
a complex relationship with fiction in visual novels. It can be a
stage for the heroic deeds of larger than life characters where a
light hearted and upbeat tone results in grand tale of love and
battle. Against unfeeling monsters the dynamic becomes tragic and
focuses on the loss and trauma caused by War. Human conflicts can
also be made to speak of the follies of War and how even after it is
over the people trying to rebuild their lives will always live in its
shadow. Overall War is genre which demands its inclusion be carefully
moulded into the structure and ideas of a game for it to be effective
and fundamentally changes the tone of the entire work.
Traps: Masculine Ideals and Male Sexuality – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Feminine Masculinity
What
is interesting about Trap characters is how titles featuring them
tend to be aimed at men with their appearances in female focused
games being rare. As such their role and presentation is shaped by
the male centric fantasies which such works are focused around and makes for an
interesting test case for what male sexuality means within visual novels. The most
common kind of Traps are those which can be classed as heroines in that they essentially fulfil the same romantic function as their female equivalents. Then there are the visual novels
where the Trap assumes the role of the protagonist and they are
surrounded by the normal assortment of female love interests. Mixing
in a Trap heroine into an otherwise female roster happens
infrequently but it results in some telling interactions between the
two genders. These three methods of utilising Traps share the
blending of masculine and feminine elements of identity in order to appeal to the male audience. Let’s be
overwhelmed by cuteness and find out what Traps can show us about
being a man.
Male ‘Heroines’
When
the Trap characters are the main focus of a visual novel they often
end up being placed into the same role as the female heroines of
similar titles and replacing them. This includes many of their cliche feminine traits are inherited, such as being clumsy or gentle, while also being dressed in female
clothing, or at least boyish clothing, and so pushing down any masculine elements. On top of this
such heroines are often voiced by the opposite gender so from
an auditory perspective they bring to mind their female equivalents
whenever they open their mouths. Yet this is not how the game wants
its male audience to view them and instead it in as a means to
blur the edges of the heroines' masculinity which is the part
where their attractiveness lies.
Rather than trying to explain this
allure in the abstract, going over a few examples would better
illustrate this point. No~Strike’s entire visual novel output is
focused around only Trap heroines in the form of the Josou
games. These frame their love interests through the male traits each
demonstrate and how their relationship with the protagonist comes
with some degree of masculine tension. Here is where the feminine
side takes the edge off the clashes between them and paints the heroines in the light of skirts, blouses and softer curves to draw
upon the idea of being conventionally attractive. It is this blending
of the familiar element of being a man with the alien ones of a woman
where these games find the allure to make each of their Traps
desirable targets for the male player’s sexuality. Something which
somewhat muddies this presentation of them as men is the fact most of
No~Strike’s games feature male pregnancy as part of their happy
ending which does push them physiologically closer to women. Yet even
this could be seen as merely an adherence to the standard outcome for
a heroine in this kind of visual novel just applied to this masculine
context for romantic effect.
 |
| Thanks for the reminder.... |
Pushing away from this more fantastical
style of work, let’s look at a grounded game in the form of
Girls! Girls! Girls!?. The heroines here lean much more into
the masculine side of their personalities then those of the Josou
titles and are generally more confident when dealing with the
protagonist. This is somewhat of a sliding scale with Nanase Nagisa
being violent and aggressive in a decidedly male confrontational
manner when interacting with the protagonist, while Hayasaka Kaede is
far more gentle with his masculine element coming in through the
confidence he presents. Visually they are a blend of straight lines
and curves showing their boyishness through the lens of them being
comfortable cross-dressing. What this constructs is an impression of
the heroines as fundamentally both masculine and feminine and
appeals to a somewhat tomboy idea with there even being a direct tomboy in the form of Ayase Yuzu. As such they share much of the
desirability and attractiveness of the tomboy in that they sit closer
to the male player than to a female identity due to the emphasis on
their masculine traits. Having this undeniable feminine presence
takes the male element and passes it through a sexuality which leans
into this mixture of known and unknown to provide an allure to their
every movement.
Feminine Protagonists
Masculinity
and the way it is defined increasingly comes to the forefront
when dealing with a Trap protagonist as their expected role in the
story rubs up against their feminine side. The kind of games they
appear in follow the standard structure of having a selection of female heroines to choose from which draws a comparisons between the Trap
protagonist and their more traditionally male equivalents in the genre. This is
further reinforced by the fact most of the stories involve the Trap
pretending to be a woman for one reason or another and passing for one convincingly to the rest of the cast. On top of this they
generally adhere to feminine traits, such as being domestically
orientated, and have trouble balancing this with their idea of themselves
as a man. It is this clash which defines their sexuality and how
their attempt to reconcile it through their relationships with women
leaning on their attempts to be what they see as a good boyfriend.
Yet it never brings in the more aggressive masculinity of a standard male
protagonist and the Trap ends up mixing in the feminine elements they have
internalised to create a gentler form of desire for the heroines. Presenting it like this informs the player how they should be
engaging with the romantic material and the idea of what a man can
be.
Otome * Domain has its protagonist, Asuka Minato, forced into an
all girls school and a female uniform which he has very conflicting
feelings about. Despite this he ends up being the most domestically
minded character with the girls all being completely unable to clean
up after themselves resulting in his role being a maternal
one in their dorm. As he grows closer to the heroines he has to
wrestle with his male sexuality and the way it does not match his
currently feminine presentation. When he assumes his role as
boyfriend, he tries to be more assertive as he imagines a desirable
man to be but it never quite works out and the pair’s interactions
end up being more mutual in who takes the lead. This is never
presented as a negative thing and instead something which shows the
strength of their bond and Minato coming to accept how he is and what
it means for their future together. Throughout the journey the player
is constantly remained of his masculinity with his embarrassment
around the girls at times when they treat him like one of them and
treads this line to make his blend of male traits an attractive one
for the player to see this world from.
 |
| Gentle and leading |
Another example is Otoboku
which presents a similar idea, cross-dressing to be at an all female
school, from a different angle. It protagonist, Kaburagi Mizuho, is
not domestically minded at all with some absolutely terrible cooking
skills and instead his feminine element stems from a kind and gentle
nature to compliment his female appearance. Unlike Otome * Domain,
Otoboku treats this aspect of his identity like a boyish trait and
this is reinforced by this youthful optimism bringing an innocence to his actions. Once he takes a step into romancing the
heroines his masculine traits start to become more prominent and
there is a general sense of growing from a boy into a man. Yet he
never entirely abandons the feminine parts of himself which have
defined his time at this school and instead they form the basis of
his future relationships with the heroines. Such a journey holds some
resonance to the male audience since their experiences relating to
their own boyhood will find comparisons in the story and they will feel support of Mizuho’s
struggles.
Divisions Of The Mind
Mixing
a Trap heroine in with female heroines occurs fairly infrequently in
visual novels due to a desire to focus titles on specific audiences
rather than trying to appeal to overlapping demographics. However,
when it does happen the treatment of these Trap characters is
interesting in how it pushes them further towards the female than
either of the previous types. Their masculine part occupies a
position of being core to their self-definition yet it is
almost entirely obscured by their feminine presentation both visually
and in terms of their personality. Often their affection for the
protagonist is stronger and more immediate than the female heroines they are alongside even if the protagonist fails to see that fact until
much later. By blending in with the other heroines the Trap gains an
attractiveness indistinguishable from them to the point it is easy to
forget they are in fact male. Yet once the protagonist in a
relationship with them this desirability becomes linked to their
masculinity since it forms an increasingly prominent part of their
identity as the feminine front is pulled back and merges with the
male and the sexuality the pair share.
 |
| Ruka's feelings run deep through who he is |
By far the most well known
title to have a singular Trap heroine is Steins:Gate in the form of
Urushibara Ruka. His presentation is highly feminine when he is
introduced to the player since he is shy, timid and effeminate in his
actions and speech. It is even part of a recurring gag where people
mistake him for a woman upon meeting him for the first time. As the
player spends more time watching him they will begin to notice aspect
of his masculinity in his relationship with Okabe and eventually
notice the feminine elements of his identity have an underlying
boyishness to them. His use of the microwave to change the past so he
is born a woman might seem on first glance to be a desire to be the
gender he appears to be but the truth ends up not being so simple.
The first clue to this is how his personality remains unchanged so he
is decidedly boyish even as a woman making this masculinity something
baked into his existence. Then later comes the big reveal that the
reason he wanted this change is because he is in love with Okabe and
felt Okabe would not look at her romantically unless he was a woman.
It is in this pure desire to change into something to please the
person he is love where Ruka’s attractiveness can be found.
Through his mix of masculine and feminine being consistent and true
regardless of his sex, this wish for Okabe comes across as more
sincere and committed than many of the women around him. The game as
a whole treats him as someone pure and true in a similar way to
Mayuri but she hold a far more feminine version of it while Ruka
holds closer to Okabe’s masculinity to draw a line between the
pair.
Tenioha! Girls Can Be Pervy Too! has a more lustful angle on
its solitary Trap heroine, Esaka Haruki, but there is a lot of
overlap in their his and Ruka’s motives. He end up dressing in a
female uniform at school to join the Intellectual and Cultural
Studies Club as an attempt to get the protagonist to notice his
feeling for them by blending in with the other heroines. Before this
point the protagonist does not take his affection seriously seeing it
as friendship and it is only when it passed through the lens of
a female aspect does it become clear to them what these feelings are.
Once more it is in this devotion and persistence in getting the
protagonist to recognise his love which makes Haruki attractive which
is helped by the purity of his affection when contrasted against the
far more lustful heroines surrounding him. This is not to say that
his desire for the protagonist does not have a sexual element to in,
and the same in reverse, but more that its presentation leans away
from it until their bond has more substance.
Conclusion
By
now you have likely realised the undertone of what male audience
would be interested in Traps, their framing in a feminine light and position in the narrative means they are mainly aimed at
heterosexual men with any other groups participating being an added
bonus. Trap heroines find their attractiveness in blending of
feminine in with their masculinity as they blur the lines between them
to create an alluring mixture of the familiar and the alien so crafting something desirable. If the Trap is part of a larger roster of female
heroines then they feminine side becomes even more pronounced as does
their devotion to the protagonist and the purity of their feelings
which is where they gain their attractiveness from. When the
protagonist is the Trap character things change to being a defining
of masculinity and its relation to the feminine part of the Trap
which often ends up as an exploration of this boyish element of
themselves. Does this mean all the men who play these games are
secretly gay or bi? No, the rigid idea of something having to neatly
fit into fixed definitions of sexuality has time and again proven to be
wrong and the boundaries porous. The ancient Greeks would engage in
relations with other men and then return home to love their wives and
found no contradiction in their sexuality because of it. Something as
specificity targeted as a Trap is designed to play on this ambiguous
boundary to create a unique experience which explores the idea of
where masculinity and the male begin and end.
Best Visual Novel Releases – September 2026
Now
we have entered autumn and harvests are the theme of the day, it is
only natural the world of visual novels would spread out a wonderful
buffet of new titles. It has been a great month for releases with a
selection of engaging and thought provoking games which highlight all
amazing stories the medium is capable of making, from crime thrillers
to two varieties of philosophical romance to a musical dystopia.
Let’s dive in and see what titles are worth your time and which
will make you stop and think.
Official Releases
HimaNatsu: Of Churches, Sunflowers, and Long Summers
During
a long summer Yosuke Ashitaba returns to his seaside home town of
Oboshiro where he meets familiar girls from his past, sees a new face and
confront the crisis of the Oboshiro Church’s impeding demolition. A
slow burn narrative leaning heavily on the character interactions and
their thoughtful consideration of their lives which nicely
compliments its aesthetic and thematic focus on the slow pace of
summer time. The romance has a similarly lethargic
pacing with the cute and soft nature of the pair’s love gently
embracing the experience in a quiet warmth to contrast the blazing heat of
summer. It is a title which wants the player to sit next to it and
contemplate the character’s struggles and the mundanity of life as it all plays out. If you are willing to met it on its level then you are
in for a fun cruise down an emotional river.
even if TEMPEST
This
PC release of a previously Switch only otome title presents a
chance for new players to experience an excellent dark fantasy visual
novel. After having been burned to death, Anastasia Lynzel suddenly finds
herself alive and well long before the events which lead to her
demise. Given this second chance by a strange witch she must walk a
new path in order to avoid meet the same end and becomes intertwined
with fates of the game’s suitors. The story really pushes the dark
fantasy undertones of even if TEMPEST and makes them work as a major
source of unsettling tension where the fate of its protagonist seems
continually on a knife’s edge. Each suitor represents a constant danger Lynzel faces as they are both her greatest allies
while also having the potential to do the most harm. Overall, it is a
strong otome for those looking for a level of danger to their
romantic narratives.
In Falsus
Mixing
rhythm games with visual novels presents a series of challenges and
opportunities which In Falsus navigates to some interesting results.
Having five different perspectives to its narrative allows a broader
exploration of the world so it can fully express itself without being
bound to the bias of one set protagonist. The idea of Binds as this
public display which shows your emotions and enforces honesty is a
strong concept with an easy to see visual element which the game
makes the most of at every opportunity. This dystopia presents the
characters in a series of engaging conflicts where the newly formed
group of friends must withstand those plotting against them. Combine
this with an excellent musical score for the rhythm game sections and
it makes for an exciting twist on the genre for those looking to see
what it can achieve when it pushes itself.
Operation Eventide
Releasing
on Steam for the first time a year after its debut on itch.io, this
version contains new story arcs and other bonus content and brings
the twisted yuri title to a new audience. Definitely not a game for
the faint of heart with some very messed up things happening across
its play time. It is an utterly fascinating descent into madness where
the foundation of what seems obvious are undermined in spectacular
ways. Unfortunately this makes if difficult to properly express its positive qualities without going into spoilers so you will just have
to take it on faith and try the game for yourself.
Fuyukuru. - Winter winds, adieu?
Sit
down all for another of Watanabe Ryouichi’s weirdly horny
philosophy lessons this time featuring a plethora of very aggressive
lesbians. It is a strange fever dream of a game which wildly jumps
around in tone from whimsical to deadly serious sometime within the
same scene in a clear effort to throw the player off balance. Over the
course of its play time there are a number of engaging and thoughtful
issues dissected, these reflect onto the player’s own life in
a way which makes them reconsider the bigger picture. However,
Fuyukuru can be a bit clumsy in its execution with multiple instances of
major plot information being thrown out with no fanfare in a blink
and you miss it manner. Yet there is no denying this is a unique
visual novel pushing for an angle which will make it
stick in your head and for those up to the challenge it is something
worth experiencing.
Phantom PHANTOM OF INFERNO NITRO ARCHIVE
Talking
about this version of PHANTOM OF INFERNO is a bit odd since it is the
second English release of the game (the other being an ancient and
weird bastardisation) while also being a port of the Japanese only
Xbox 360 version. Rather than the older sprite work it chooses to
take visual elements from the anime and make these the baseline for
it overall aesthetic which is probably for the best given how time
has not been kind the original’s character portraits. It also adds
scenes and narrative beats from the anime into the visual novel’s
story leading to becoming a chimera of the two versions. Despite all
these changes the core identity of the game still remains and given
this is the only easily available release in English, this is the
best way to experience this classic visual novel and one of Nitro
Plus’ earliest works.
Posts
