Magical Witch Academy
Review
This is a
type of review in which I review games from good old Japan that are
completely accessible provided you have some understanding of the language
(admittedly I’m only semi literate and have to resort to a dictionary and
online translator at points) and the money to import. That said let’s begin.
Out of all
the eroge companies, Atelier Kaguya is considered to be the best in the sex
romp genre. They’re able to integrate good ero scenes with at the very least
decent stories. Magical Witch Academy, released Feb. 25, 2005, is thankfully
one of the ones with a good story, and a worthy intro to Atelier Kaguya’s vast
library.
Pros: Good story with a diverse plot, characters are both
likable and well written, excellent artwork, good music, interesting way of
using the magic learning of the school.
Cons: Milphie and Éclair’s routes are a little on the short
side, one particular ero scene in Sylvia’s route, the harem route, Tsukasa is
only voiced in the harem route, no route for Iris, no English translation.
WTF!?: Your best friend is a talking hat (sorry no pictures).
In Magical Witch Academy, you play as Tsukasa
Strobilanthus, an apprentice mage studying at a prestigious magic school that
was originally an all girls school. Due to his kind and helpful nature as well
as being a dedicated student, Tsukasa is quickly accepted by the student
population and becomes accustomed to life with the various friends he makes at
school. However, there is one problem, the main reason Tsukasa is attending at
this academy is to gain control of a mysterious power within him that is sealed
in his eyes by a pair of glasses which must be kept on. This power gives him a
boost in the area of magic, but when the glasses come off it automatically casts
an enchantment on women that makes him irresistible to them.
Okay,
before you make any judgments on that last part of the summary let me make
something clear: this particular plot element isn’t used to show gratuitous ero
scenes. It’s made clear from the beginning that the power’s pretty much an
inconvenience to both parties and Tsukasa is serious about becoming a mage so
he can live a more normal life.
Moving on,
despite a somewhat overdone start, Magical Witch Academy has a surprisingly
good story. Each heroine’s route is unique with a very good story and the
common route that precedes each route is a good read too. Each one of the
characters is well written in that not only are they appealing as characters
but they’re also written in a way that has most of them go beyond the standard
anime trope that they first appear to be. A very good example would be the
succubus Lyra; at first I was expecting her to be your typical sex fiend
demoness heroine where the only thing to her character and route would be doing
Tsukasa. Thankfully I was completely wrong in that we see she has a caring side
to her in that she has a sisterly relationship with Éclair’s two daughters and
further exploration into her route reveals a surprisingly dark backstory and
origin concerning her demonic nature which leads into a pretty satisfying
resolution. Also well done is how well the character relationships are
presented as each heroine has a believable friendship with Tsukasa and it helps
to get you interested in seeing how that friendship blossoms into something
more as you play each heroine’s route.
The
heroines aside, Tsukasa himself is also a pretty good character as he’s a good
change from the typical eroge hero in that he’s diligent sort of student who
genuinely cares for his friends and is willing to support them in any way he
can, making him a character that is genuinely likable and we can root for. The
subcharacters are also interesting such as Éclair’s daughters, Iris, and most
of all Siegfried, an enchanted hat like creature who acts as Arucia’s guardian.
Despite being your typical perverted comic relief character, he does have
interesting moments that add more depth to his character, especially in
Arucia’s route.
As for
favorite heroine routes, here they are:
1)
Arucia
2)
Lyra
3)
Shizuna
4)
Tie between Éclair and Milphie
5)
Sylvia
Sadly, this
game does have some flaws storywise. To begin with, two of our heroines,
Milphie and Éclair, have disappointingly short routes. After the start there’s
no emotional conflict or drama that occurs like in the other routes and it’s
just a leisurely walk to the ending. It’s really too bad considering both
heroines have something about them that could easily have been used for even a
brief bit of drama in between the start and end of their routes. Another
problem I have with the game is the harem route, which is unlocked after
finishing the main game. To be honest the route was just weird, some of the
heroines were acting a bit out of character, and there was very little in the
way of story content. The only interesting part involved the school principal,
Iris, who surprisingly doesn’t have a route, which is odd considering she’s as
significant a figure in Tsukasa’s school life as all the other heroines and
brief scenes in both the main game and harem route hint that she likes him. It
might be because she was a character in another Atelier Kaguya game and maybe
the creators didn’t want to potentially screw up canon, but I can’t say for
sure as I haven’t played the game yet. In case you’re curious, the game is
called Dungeon Crusaderz (yeah
you know what’s coming).
In the area
of presentation, I’ve got to say that this game did everything right. The
artwork is well done, the music is good and does a very good job in matching
the scenes in the story, and voice acting is all well done. Oddly enough while
in the main game, Tsukasa isn’t voiced (with the exception of one scene), for
some reason he’s given a voice in the harem route. Maybe the company was trying
to save money, but if so what’s the point of having a voice actor for an
overall brief part of the game, why not just use the money you’d have paid for
adding more story to either Éclair and Milphie’s routes or the harem route?
Now out of
all the games I’ve reviewed so far, this is the only one where the ero scenes
warrant me talking a little more about them. To be honest, the ero scenes in
this game are very good. Aside from being well drawn and acted, the scenes are
also presented in a way that few eroge do really well. The scenes basically do
a good job in showing it as a part of their relationship with Tsukasa as some
of the interactions that occur between the two as a result of the scene are
pretty amusing and in character to the respective heroine. Some of the scenes
also take advantage of the fantasy setting by having magic used to spice things
up a bit, and this is where the game implements something I’ve never really
seen used before in any eroge. Basically, during the common route a chosen
interaction with one of the heroines on a specific day gets Tsukasa to learn a
new spell (or rune as the game calls it) and said spell ends up being utilized
in some scenes. Now while the ero scenes are good, the game does suffer from
one scene in Sylvia’s route that seems to have been added more for shock value
than anything else and probably would have been better off without.
Characters (all in order of the character page
except Tsukasa, who’s at the bottom. Warning Visual section has NSFW content):
Tsukasa Strobilanthus
An apprentice mage studying at the academy in order to find
a way to control the mysterious power that he must seal behind a pair of
glasses. Due to his hard working and friendly nature, Tsukasa makes friends
with the academy staff and other students easily (though it may also be because
his looks get many to initially mistake him for a girl).
Sylvia Vesper
Tsukasa’s guardian and main teacher, Sylvia was the one who
discovered Tsukasa’s power and got him enrolled into the academy so he could
learn to control it. Despite being a powerful mage, she can be surprisingly
lazy, has a fondness for alcohol, and basically has Tsukasa cook and clean for
her as well as wake her up so she can get to the classes she teaches on time.
One of her hobbies of course, is teasing our hero.
Despite this, Sylvia does genuinely care for her apprentice
and also seems to know a little more about his mysterious power.
Arucia El-Grant
Princess of the country of El-Grant, a forest nation located
to the far south of the academy, and is attending with Siegfried as her
chaperone. Her reasons for attending are so she can learn magic to help her
older sister, the heir to the throne, a responsibility she takes very
seriously. Has an obvious crush on Tsukasa, but isn’t very vocal about her
feelings.
Shizuna Cadocrass
Shizuna hails from a far eastern island nation and is the
daughter of a distinguished family of warriors that specialize in both magic
and swordsmanship. It’s her dream to become a warrior worthy of the family name
and she’s constantly training to accomplish that goal.
Though her dignified manner tends to keep most people at a
distance, Shizuna is a loyal and trustworthy friend to Tsukasa and co. even if
she does sometimes have a hard time expressing it. She also gets easily
flustered when Tsukasa compliments her.
Lyra
A succubus sealed inside the school since ancient times,
Lyra fits the bill of demonic seductress. Due to the large amount of magical
energy within the academy to keep her sated and the largely female population,
Lyra’s pretty much harmless and has a good relationship with most of the
residents due to her surprisingly playful and friendly nature. Things change a
bit with Tsukasa as, ignoring the fact that he’s male, Lyra also finds herself
drawn to the mysterious power within him.
Milphie Fasufa
Of all the heroines in the game, Milphie is the most up
front on having a thing for Tsukasa. Unfortunately for her, she’s far from the
best student and has to get tutoring in order to keep her grades up. Despite
her silliness, there are points that show her feelings for Tsukasa are genuine
and there’s actually a reason why she’s in love with him.
Milphie’s also painfully aware that the other heroine’s
outbust her and quite sensitive about it.
Éclair Barnett
A teacher for some of Tsukasa’s other classes, Éclair is a
widow as her husband died in a war that occurred years before the events of the
game. She gets on well with Tsukasa as he’s a good friend to her twin
daughters, Maple and Marron, and also frequently visits her greenhouse to share
a cup of tea and enjoy its atmosphere.
In Conclusion:
Magical Witch Academy is for the most part, a shining
example of how to make a good sex romp eroge that has a good story to match the
good ero scenes. While I will admit it has flaws, most of the routes have
stories that will keep you interested and the entire game has characters that
will keep you entertained. All of this is provided of course that you have some
knowledge of the Japanese language.
Final Score: 8/10 Awesome
Author Recommendation: Buy it now.
Note: There does exist a two episode OVA for this game, but
I highly recommend not watching it, or if you have seen it then don’t let it
give you the wrong idea about this game. The OVA has about as much in common
with the game as Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li has with the Street
Fighter games. Most of the characters are voiced by different voice actors than
in the game, the entire cast is atrociously out of character, and it gets so
many story elements from the game wrong and/or makes plot points up that I
wonder if the any of the staff responsible for the OVA even played the game.
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