Café Stella and the Reapers' Butterflies Review - A Cup of Coffee And The Souls of The Dead

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Genre – Slice of Life, Romance. Playtime – 40 hours. Developer – Yuzusoft. Publisher – NekoNyan and Hikari Field. VNDB – https://vndb.org/v26414.

A Second Chance

Dying is never pleasant, especially when you have lingering regrets. Takamine Kousei’s death is as sudden as his life was unremarkable and in his final moment he wishes his life could have been more. However, this is not the end for Kousei as he finds himself back at the start of the day he died but this time instead of meeting his demise he meets a Shinigami and a talking cat. They inform him that he is responsible for the time jump and God is not happy. The Shinigami offers him a way out of this conundrum, assist her with her work by opening a cafe. So begins Kousei’s tale of love and lost souls.

My Shinigami can't be this cute!

Yuzusoft are well known for their slice of life visual novels and Café Stella and the Reapers' Butterflies does not deviate far from their comfort zone, for better and for worse. With a total of four heroines and one sub-heroine and a run time in the region of forty hours, there is no shortage of story on offer for fans of the slice of life genre. However, does the quality match the quantity? Let’s dive in and find out.

Of Love and Butterflies – Narrative and Themes -

When it comes to visual novels of the slice of life / romance genre there is often a lack of an overarching plot in favour of smaller personal stories and Café Stella is no exception. Each route focuses solely on the issues of the heroine with only the loose threads of the supernatural and Kousei’s damaged soul joining them. This is overall not a bad thing, but you should set your expectations when buying the game.

I would be careful of those cats if I were you...

The routes themselves have an excellent variety to their stories and do a good job at selling the romantic build up between each heroine and Kousei. However, there is a formula which each route follows and it becomes readily apparent once you have played a few of them. While this does not ruin them, since they do not have any important plot point which could be spoiled by the structure of the narrative, there is an undeniable repetitiveness which can make the individual events of different routes blur together. This is symptomatic of the broader formulaic nature of Yuzusoft’s work with similar narratives being played out in multiple games. As such Café Stella can bring feelings of deja vu for those who have played other games by the studio, whether this is a good or a bad thing will depend on how much you like their style.

Shifting away from their usual school setting, Yuzusoft went with a university age protagonist and a workplace setting in the form of a café. It is surprising how much a change in setting can feel like a breath of fresh air. The discussions the characters have over the logistics of running the café, from new menu items to the décor, give a grounded feeling to the narrative that the standard school setting lacks. This shift is by far the best quality of the overall work and reinvigorates the trapping of the genre with a new life.

However, there is an elephant in the room throughout the entire game, the supernatural. Each Yuzusoft game generally has a gimmick to spice up the slice of life formula. In the past this has been things like spies in Riddle Joker and witches in Sabbat of the Witch. For Café Stella it is the Shinigami and the butterflies that are the souls of the dead. These gimmicks always sit awkwardly alongside the romance and slice of life elements, never being properly utilised or existing as consequence free set dressing. Such elements can actively harm the experience as in the case of Riddle Joker’s unwillingness to deal with the realities of spying in any fashion, but for the most part they are just distractions that add little to the core experience.

Be careful. One of these choices leads to a sudden death.

The Shinigami and butterflies fall into the latter group and for the most part neither add nor detract from the enjoyment of game. Unfortunately, it can a times fall on its face with uncomfortable and unintended implications. One of the prominent examples of this issue is God. In Café Stella, God is a merciless overlord who will not hesitate to smite anyone who exhibits the capabilities to alter the world, like Kousei, even when they are not knowing doing it. This is clearly not the intention of the writers as no character treats God as if this were the case. Instead it is merely an unfortunate implication of the actions of God and the lack of care that was taken when considering how this element might be perceived. It is this lack of care which defines the supernatural aspects of the narrative and while it ultimately does not ruin the experience, there is a cost of immersion to be paid for this sloppiness.

Maidens Bound to the Dead – Character Overview -

A likeable cast is a critical aspect of the slice of life / romance genre. If there is not a fight over who is best girl then there is a problem with your characters. This is one of the areas in which Café Stella excels when compared to its peers. The characters’ likeable personalities and strong chemistry is one of the standout features and is the main reason the game is worth playing.

The heroines have a good variety to their personalities with little overlap between them meaning that they standout in distinctly memorable ways. Kanna is a mischievous yet kind Shinigami, Shiki is a sharp tongued classic tsundere, Nozomi is the no nonsense childhood friend and Mei is a cheerful and slightly childish junior. It is a testament to the quality of the character writing when my favourite heroine is the sub-heroine Suzune, the perfectionist baker, which is rare since they are often not given a chance to shine with most resources being focused to the main heroines. Secondary characters receive a similar treatment with each being given the space they need to shine without them ever getting in the way of the main characters. This even treatment of the characters and their dynamics allows for all of them to be active players even outside of their own routes or conflicts and creates a rich feeling cast who are a pleasure to watch doing even the most mundane tasks.

Suzune is best girl. Nothing beats being a house husband.

If there is one character who somewhat ruins this quality cast it is the protagonist, Kousei. This is not to say that Kousei is a terrible character rather he suffers from the whims of the writers who have a habit of changing his personality to suit their needs. One of the main examples of this problem is how Kousei deals with women. He flitters between being able to speak to girls normally to being unable to properly communicate with them to being a flirtatious ladies man depending on what is needed in that moment. This inconsistency hurts the believability of Kousei and he can often come across as a mere narrative device rather than a person. Since Kousei is our window into the world, this issue can often brings you out of the experience.

Undeniable Quality – Visuals and Audio -

One area in which Yuzusoft have consistently excelled it is in their visual design and its quality. Each heroine has a surprisingly large assortment of expressions and poses along with different outfits to the point at which you will constantly see something new from them. In a similar vein the variety of CGs and super deformed cut-ins makes the important moments of humour and emotion stand out, but at the same time they are not overused so each remains special. The bright colours and attention to detail throughout the visual design demonstrates a clear understanding by Yuzusoft of the visual identity of their work and of the genre. This results in a distinct presentation which clearly sets expectations of what experience is in store for the player.

Shiki has some of the best expressions.

A similar level of quality can be found in the audio department. The sound effects are crisp and on point while not being overly used. The voice acting is high quality with all the actors giving engaging and emotive performances which do as much to sell the likeability of the characters as the writing. If there is one area of moderate weakness it would be in the music department. It is less that the music itself is bad but rather that it is unremarkable and leaves little lasting memory. This is normal for the genre and does not detract from the overall experience.

One final aspect worth touching on is the extensive quality of life features present in Café Stella. These range from a route flowchart, the ability to suspend and resume anywhere, full controller and keyboard remapping, the function to favourite any voice line and many more. The sheer expansiveness of these features always surprises me whenever I play a Yuzusoft game and they are the example other visual novel developers should strive to match.