Game Review: Uchikano: Living With My Lovers

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

There was a time at A-to-J when most of the games we reviewed were visual novels, some of those being eroge. It's been a while since we've looked at a release from MangaGamer, but we're going to change that today! Uchikano: Living With My Lovers is an 18+ kinetic novel (meaning that there are no choices in the game) released on Steam that is the third part of a trilogy, though no knowledge of the previous games is required for this one. It released earlier this year and we're going to dive into this one and see if our long-awaited return to MangaGamer localized releases was worth the wait!

(Note: While this is a review of an 18+ game, there will be 18+ content in this review.)

And so it begins...

It is very unbelievable actually.

Uchikano drops you into the shoes of Keisuke Tachibanaki, a salaryman who regularly visits the same cafe on his way home from work. This cafe used to be a very low-key, nearly empty business where Keisuke would often be the only customer. All that changed when the cafe took on two new maid servers: Chika and Yuri. Now the cafe's business is booming, and all the customers want the attention of the two girls. Unfortunately for them the pair only seem to ever acknowledge Keisuke, who continues to go to the cafe even though it's now a completely different experience. Life continues the same until one day Keisuke recalls regularly seeing a musical duo performing behind his local train station. He decides to see them live again on the next opportunity as he used to be quite fan of theirs; actually he was their only fan. He catches this duo, named "Yuritica", that weekend and is shocked to realize that the duo is none other than Chika and Yuri. As chance would have it he knew them long before their arrival at the cafe, and it was due to his appearances at their lives as to why the pair favored him. Following a night spent drinking, Keisuke manages to break his arm helping out the Yuri and Chika escape a raging fire. Seeing as it is somewhat due to them that he is now unable to easily live his day-to-day life, Chika and Yuri decide to move in with him and help him. This unlikely string of events keeps getting weirder as Keisuke is now determined to get their music off the ground, and takes on the role of their Producer. The stage is set, now we just have to get towards that whole "lovers" thing to get everything moving towards the goal.

You can't get rid of them!

Lines aren't a good thing, Ayame!

Keisuke is your generic visual novel protagonist that has no real defining characteristics. Actually that's not exactly fair as I felt that he was a bit more nuanced than you usually get in games like this. He eventually ends up falling perfectly into the tropes one would expect once the ecchi scenes start showing up, but he has a bit more depth before that. Unlike most salaryman protagonists, he doesn't have the whole "wishing for something more" thing going on, and he seems perfectly content with his current life before the pair move in. He also doesn't seem overly sex-driven either as the slow-moving romance between the trio takes quite a while to actually go anywhere, not the least due to the fact that Keisuke himself seems perfectly willing to just go with the flow. I know that the side characters of Riho and Ayame (his younger sister and childhood friend respectively) were his love interests in the first two games in the series, but I'm not sure if these exist as alternate timelines as there are absolutely no direct references of a romantic past in this game. That's probably for the best as it would probably be a bit confusing for new players like myself, and would potentially complicate this game's plot here. Unfortunately his character takes that aforementioned 180 when the ecchi stuff shows up, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Daiso is the best.

This was bound to happen of course.

Chika and Yuri are probably the main reason why anyone will want to play this game, and I of course mean that in more ways than one. They drive the plot forward and are arguably the only two fully-realized characters in Uchikano. They're introduced as make-up obsessed, cool, fashionable girls who are totally unfazed by, but also totally aware of, their beauty and effect on people. They're best friends in the strongest of ways and act as one unit throughout much of the story. It's actually revealed early on that they're working at the cafe on a single salary, and they resolve to share everything in their lives, even their potential boyfriends. Thankfully they're not totally unfriendly characters and their initial aloofness in regards to the world around them is often played for laughs rather than presented as a persistent character trait. Their Yuritica alter egos are a bit of a stretch though as they literally go the Clark Kent route in that they hide their identity behind pairs of glasses. This apparently doesn't matter much though as no one seems to like their music, and this is actually the core conflict that needs to be resolved by the end of the story. There's more than just Yuritica though, and both girls have past issues they need to resolve in due course. While these personal journeys do provide much needed background to their characters, they're resolved so quickly that it's not really even worth touching on them here. They also go through something of akin to character loss once the ecchi scenes start, though less than Keisuke in my opinion. This is probably due to the fact that they manage to tie in their characters to everything that is going on. Without going into spoilers, they choose to take Keisuke as a shared boyfriend in a somewhat polycule kind of way. Harems and the like are all the norm in anime and eroge, but it comes off as different here in ways that are a bit hard to describe without experiencing it within the context of the game itself. In short, Chika and Yuri are the best characters in the game, though that's not exactly difficult in a game with a cast as small as this one.

Anime gonna anime.

Watch out for sweaty neckbeards.

I've been dancing around the ecchi content in Uchikano for a bit and that's basically because the game has two distinct halves: before the romantic relationship between Keisuke, Chika, and Yuri develops, and after. The first half (more like 2/3 actually) of the game focuses on Keisuke trying to adjust to life with his broken arm and two new roommates, and his newfound goal of helping them find success in their music. The normal anime stuff of the girls sometimes being in their underwear, and Keisuke's friends getting the wrong idea of what their relationship is, all happen here, but it's almost strange how little sexual content exists during this part of the game. When the romance between the trio does start, it moves fast and adds in a lot of ecchi scenes that feel like they're drawing out the story's conclusion rather than adding to the overall experience. I know that there are many people who are probably picking this game up solely for the sexual content, but they'll probably find the opposite thing a point of contention: That it takes too long to get to the ecchi scenes. I played this fully uncensored on Steam, and while this isn't exactly unique in and of itself, it did make me wish that the Steam version was an all-ages one with the sexual content removed. This would significantly reduce the time taken to complete the story, but it would give it a lot more focus to the last part of the game. By the end things are moving quickly with the trio, the cafe, Yuritica, and even with the side characters of Riho and Ayame, but everything will grind to a halt here and there for the trio to have sex. It wouldn't be so bad if these scenes didn't feel like a total afterthought. It really makes for a disjointed experience, even if many of Uchikano's players are probably here solely for them.

The Lovecraft references though!

They're really doing the Clark Kent thing...

I can't really go too much further into the story without giving away more of the somewhat short plot, so let's move on. Visuals in a visual novel are obviously very important, it's in the name after all, so let's start there. First off, I have to mention again that when I started playing Uchikano I was very out of touch with current visual novels. I was at first pleased with the visuals and thought that they were more than serviceable, great even, then I started to dive into other visual novel/eroge titles released over the past few years and realized that there are a lot of things that make Uchikano appear very dated when compared to its contemporaries. There is pretty much no animation to speak of, beyond occasional added emojis, or moving the character portraits around a bit. This means no movement, no lip flaps, and no animation in the ecchi scenes. Also, several supporting characters that don't have character portraits at all. The cast is small enough, but two big side characters you interact without throughout the story, the cafe owner and the president of your company, are shown simply as silhouettes. Poppy, a person from Chika's past, does have a character portrait but the fact that it has its own art credit, and it's only ever showed in one form with its own static background, lead me to believe that this was an added later. I have to reiterate again that I didn't find any issue with the visuals initially, but it's hard to move away from the fact that the game has a distinct "budget" feel to it. I can't help but feel that this game feels like one that was released well over a decade ago.

This is pretty much the only Yuritica CG.

There's actually a LOT about make-up here.

Moving away from what isn't here, let's talk about what is. I've mentioned every character at least once so far, but it's obviously only the girls that get any sort of attention when it comes to character design. Even though we only ever see Yuri, Chika, Ayame, and Riho in any great detail, they don't have a lot of variety when it comes to portraits and outfits. Each of them only have two outfits to speak of, with Yuri and Chika having a few extra variants that aren't all that noteworthy. It's definitely an anime trope to wear the same clothes every day, but it is odd that they're described as being so fashionable but have only one outfit they were on all occasions. There are a handful of unique CG screen-filling images, but these are often re-used, even the ones for the ecchi scenes. The locations and backgrounds are similarly limited, but they are well-done for what they are. There isn't too much to hate or love here, but I couldn't help but wish that the world of Uchikano was a bit bigger as it seems that everything happens in the same 4-5 places. I don't want to keep knocking the lack of variation in the visuals, but even before I found the overall look of the game to be dated and budget, I was noticing these issues after the first hour or so.

Alcohol really does help.

The internet is toxic AF.

Music in Uchikano is great. The background music is upbeat and catchy, and there were a lot of melodies that I'd often find stuck in my head after I was done playing. Nothing that would make me run out and purchase the game's soundtrack mind you, but music that was a bit above the standard in games of this genre. That may sound a bit like a backhanded compliment, but what else can you really ask for when it comes to music in a visual novel? Well, seeing as this game has music front and center I was hoping that there would be more music from Yuritica themselves. I wasn't expecting several vocal tracks, but I was hoping for more instrumentals that were meant to represent their music. There is only one track that is so low-key that it took me a minute to realize that it was meant to represent what they were playing. It's an odd omission that would've really added to the game, and it doesn't seem like it's anything that would've been too hard to implement. There is one vocal track towards the end, but it goes by so quickly that it only served to make me wish that there were more throughout. Lastly regarding sound, the voice acting is all well-done and everyone sounds perfect in their roles. Nothing too big to note there, but it all works perfectly in context of the game.

Depending on your reading speed, or if you're one who likes to let spoken dialogue completely play out, you'll get through the main story of Uchikano in about 4-5 hours. There is an extra episode to go through once you complete the main story, but it's very short and consists of a brief epilogue and yet another ecchi scene. Seeing as this is a pure kinetic novel, there really is no reason to go back to the game once you complete it unless you want to experience the story again, or maybe revisit some of the ecchi scenes. So you'll have to weigh out your options and consider if $29.99 (Its current MSRP on Steam) is worth the afternoon's worth of content. I don't want to make that sound like a negative though, as while I am on the fence, I'm leaning towards it being worth the price of admission. It's definitely a matter of personal preference if you see this as an okay deal or not. I will note that it was a very pleasant return to looking at MangaGamer's releases after such a long hiatus.

Yuritica needs more music!

Please don't let them get away with embezzlement.

So this is an 18+ game, so right off the bat it has a very limited audience no matter what I say in terms of recommending it. The first half of the story really drew me in, and the non-H scenes in the second half kept me going to the end. The problem is that I can think of a negative point for every positive I can come up with. The character designs are great, but the non-animated style looks very budget. The music is great, but there is a surprising lack of vocal tracks even though they're a focus in the story. It's a really endearing story, but it's over very quickly. If you temper your expectations correctly, and maybe if you're more of a fan of H-scenes than I am, you'll probably have a good time with Uchikano: Living With My Lovers. Everyone else? Well, maybe grab if you can find it on sale.

Check out Uchikano: Living With My Lovers on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2395630/Uchikano__Living_With_My_Lovers/

Check out Uchikano: Living With My Lovers on MangaGamer:
https://mangagamer.org/uchikoi/

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Story: A
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B-
Music/Sound: A
Value: B-

Overall: B

Pros:
+ Surprisingly good writing and characters keep this one interesting throughout.
+ The music fits each mood, and the voice acting is spot on for every character.
+ Character and background designs look great overall, with Chika and Yuri (obviously) standing out the most.
+ While advertised as a nukige title, there is more story here than your usual eroge.
+ A rare completely uncensored release on Steam.

+/- Is the last game in a "trilogy", but doesn't require any knowledge of the previous games.

Cons:
- While the character designs look great, everything feels somewhat limited in terms of variety.
- The static images feel very dated compared to many modern visual novels that feature more animation.
- At about 4-5 hours, it's a fairly short experience.
- A true kinetic novel, there are no choices or "gameplay" to speak of.
- The 18+ scenes seem needless and repetitive, and only take place in the last third of the game.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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What a band name!

#uchikoi