Hello, my dear readers! How have you been? Doing well, I hope!
First of all, forgive me for my rushed LIP review last time. I’m here to make things better with a review of Toffer Team‘s newest title: LIP! Lewd Idol Project Vol.3!
If you don’t even know what Lewd Idol Project is about, don’t read this review… Just kidding!
I will try to make it as spoiler-free as possible, but there are some set things I can’t avoid and do spoil the previous titles. That being said, this is a wholesome yuri nukige, so there’s no plot twist to fear.
I want to thank Toffer Team for providing us with the game keys for all of the series, so please go support them if you enjoy these games!
Last time out, we left Volume 2 with a tease of what’s to come: new girl, new romance, new dynamics! And it has arrived: let’s jump into it!
Plot
For the third title in the series, I feel there’s a lot more happening in the story than usual. For one, we have a lot more characters to follow: Kairi, Yuki, Ranko—and now Kanako.
This entry is on the longer side for the series, only losing to Volume 2. It took me around 4 hours to read through it, but be aware I read fast, so it may take a little longer. That being said, I think it could have benefited from being longer and more developed. I would have loved to learn about Kanako’s past or even daily life scenes with to develop her more and to see more of her dynamic with Kairi.
I won’t go into details as not to spoil, but the first H-scene we have with the two of them is beyond ridiculous, and it turned me off a bit. It was still sexy, but the reasoning behind it was hilarious, to say the least.
Overall, the plot moves way too fast for me to be invested in the things happening, and the writing doesn’t help, as I will explain later.
While it’s not a long VN, one thing that could have been cut short was the introductory explanation. You can skip it—which is a plus in my book—but still, even if you need some recapping, I felt the H-scene exposure was done a bit lazily and the little comedy act didn’t work for me.
Anyway, at the end of the game we get teased about a possible new girl and therefore, a new volume: both for a DLC (for Volume 3) and a Volume 4! Now THAT was a surprise. I was quite sure Volume 3 would be the end of the series, so I’m quite excited for this new girl. I can only hope she’s more dominant and, as much as I like Kairi, I found the fact that she was more into Ranko highly attractive, and it definitely made me more interested in checking it out because of it. Maybe I’m just into older women and could relate to this new mystery girl.
Speaking of Ranko: I demand a ponytail sprite of Ranko. She would look sexy as hell can be!
Writing
As usual, the writing is nothing to write home about. It reflects how (un)serious Lewd Idol Project is, but I do feel that whenever it tries to be dramatic, it comes off underwhelming due to the overall pacing.
The small and quick comedy duo dynamics often felt somewhat cheap and shoehorned, maybe due to certain character tropes being overused, like how Ranko is always this huge old-man-esque pervert who can’t stop herself from making gross and sexual commentary on the girls. There’s a time and place for that, Ranko—but I fear the author just got too comfortable with relying on the same comfortable tropes, without trying to diversify.
I felt this more intensely during the climactic scenes, as the chapters focusing on the conflict and resolution were wrapped up almost instantaneous, making it not as impactful as it should have been.
Characters
Kanako is an interesting character, but she had the potential to be something more. Maybe I’m just hard to please when it comes to tsunderes, but I was expecting a confident type and what I got was a blushing virgin. I know I’m being kind of harsh on her and she is overall a good character that has her struggles.
I hope we can see her grow into a more confident character in future releases and make sure her developments aren’t wasted.
I also like how Kanako’s introduction to the cast developed the theme of found family more. This was already touched on previous titles, but I found it more explicit this time, and there was definitely more bonding not just between her and Kairi as a couple but with the whole group, Ranko included.
New girl aside, I am very happy to see how much Kairi has grown. You can see this mostly in how she acts within the LIP dynamic. It was also interesting to see more clearly just how much each girl depends on Kairi for support and to see Yuki get some bonding time with Ranko. As I’ve said before, I was getting somewhat tired of seeing only Kairi, Kairi, Kairi, so this was a nice change of pace.
I feel vindicated seeing Ranko get her moment in the spotlight! I find her to be the more charming and sexy members and I was getting frustrated with all the teasing of her past with no actual results. It was also a very sweet bonding moment, and I hope we can see less rivalry as time progresses.
Art
The art is the best aspect of the game and what sold me to it, to be completely honest. It’s amazing to compare the first ever title to this and check just how much the artist improved! The art feels softer for a lot of CGs, although some angles for H-scenes still feel awkward.
Overall, very hot scenes!
Atmosphere & Soundtrack
While there wasn’t any ground-breaking soundtrack, Kanako’s theme song did get stuck in my head for two whole days. I find the rock influence fun for a title such as this, all cute and pop. It also served for some nice atmosphere, in particular for Kanako’s big moments!
Mechanics & Gameplay
The minigames are all the same and mostly appear as one of the characters walk around the town. They are all entirely optional, though. A nice touch, especially for people who still remember well their time with the previous entries.
I do have one major issue I had with the Strip Karaoke/Singing minigame: it can be fun and all, but whenever the background art changed, the game would freeze for just a tiny second. That’s enough to cause several misclicks and it sure got more and more annoying as the minigame got harder.
Verdict
This was a nice chapter of this wild (lewd) idol ride, and I’ve been enjoying it so far!
That final tease for the new girl really left me intrigued…
If you want more group, ahem, action, you’ll definitely get more this volume. Other than that, you’ll have your fat share of Yuki, Ranko, and Kanako yuri moments.
Enjoy all the girls and follow closely as they step up the entertainment world to fame!
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