I am really sorry for being inactive these past few months, but as many of you have probably experienced, lifecan be such a bitch sometimes. Plagued with family problems at home and responsibilities at my new workplace, I barely have any time to play an eroge. With my current state, I am not exactly sure at what pace I will be able to write, though I am expecting things to settle down as I learn more of my new trade. Until then, I have faith in Aero that he will keep this place alive(￣▽+￣*)

As suggested by the title, this post will be a review on a new game released by Caramel Box called Semiramis no Tenbin(セミラミスの天秤). If you are a newcomer like me, you probably have never played any game made by this company or even heard of Caramel Box to begin with. This is completely understandable as it has not released any new game since 処女はお姉さまに恋してる 2人のエルダー that came out four years ago. For this reason, you may not have any idea of what to expect out of this game and that is exactly where this review may come in handy.

Well, let us get the review started then. I hope everyone will be able to enjoy their stay here, お手柔らかにお願いします。

Name: セミラミスの天秤
Release Date: 2014/06/27
Company: キャラメルBOX

Opening

Song: Hanging Gardne
Vocal: Marica
Lyrics: Takaya Aya (嵩夜あや)
Composition: Funczion SOUNDS

Story

The game started quite uniquely with a lecture on atoms and souls, presented in a fourth wall breaking fashion. Narrated by a cute voice along with eerily cheerful background music and childlike hand drawn illustrations, had made the explanation a pleasant to follow. The only problem was however, I didn’t see how it has anything to do with the story even after completing all the routes.

The scene then slowly shifted to our protagonist, Hayami Reiji, who was in hospital for medical consultation. Playing around with his cute but not so bright kouhai on the stairs had resulted in Reiji tumbling down headfirst. While he was lucky to escape the accident without any serious injury, he hit his head so hard that he started hearing voices. Fortunately or not, doctors were unable to find any irregularity and concluded that Reiji must have experienced an aftereffect of mild traumatic brain injury which would heal over time.

The next day came like any other day for Reiji, except that he had to be careful not to retort loudly to the voices in his head. If there was another out of ordinary event that morning, it would be the introduction of a sociable and amicable transfer student, Kamio Ami, during the morning homeroom.

Just like any other eroge transfer student scene, Ami quickly found herself being surrounded by her new classmates who bombarded her with questions. On the other hand, Kamio Ami wasn’t exactly your typical heroine because she skillfully and with unnoticed manner diverted all questions around into providing her with information on this new community.

“Be careful with with her. She is dangerous,” whispered the voice in Reiji’s head, but he shook the warning away with a sharp reply under his breath, “Bullshit. I know nothing about her.” After all, the doctors said that the voices were supposed to be his unconscious thought and therefore it couldn’t possibly know about something that he didn’t know himself.

The rest of the Reiji’s school day went on as usual. He had lunch with classmates, exchanged light banter with his kouhai and spent quality time playing an online game with other members of the divination club. The sun was on its way to the other side of the globe when Reiji finally decided to leave the school.

“Hayami-kun!” someone called out to Reiji who was on his way home. He spun around and found that the voice belonged to none other the newly transferred student. Apparently, Kamio Ami was also on her way home but had lost her way and forgotten to bring her new address. In the end, Reiji decided to invite Ami over to his apartment so that she could wait for her uncle to return from work and pick her up. Unknown to him though, this was exactly what Ami hoping for.

“I don’t want to go home! Please let me stay here!” begged Ami who suddenly pushed Reiji down to his bed, “I.. I will pay with my body… so… so please make love to me.”

Now, please imagine a beautiful girl looking down at you with teary expression just like that while whispering invitation for sex in Kiritani Hana’s voice. I will say it is nonsense if there were any straight man that claim he will not take up the offer, of course, unless he is a lolicon. In other word, that night went wild and exhausting for both of them.

Reiji who was woken up the next morning by strange sensation between his legs, found Ami who was giving him a morning handjob. However, the romantic mood that they had last night were nowhere to be found. Although the action was rather forceful, a handjob is still a handjob and Reiji couldn’t help it but to ejaculate onto Ami’s face. Before our protagonist had any chance to figure what was happening, Ami distorted her face into painful expression and…

*SNAP*

“This is an evidence that you have raped me,” said Ami with an evil smile while showing the picture she just took with her cellphone..

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The moral of this story is to be careful with girls who are trying to have sex with you without any solid reason. As a matter of fact, I have heard several cases of such blackmail in real life and all of them do not end beautifully like in eroge (￣◇￣;)

Character

Kamio Ami

Calculative at best and deceitful at worst, Kamio Ami is the brightest star and biggest mystery in this game. Armed with manipulation techniques commonly known to salesman and cons artist, she often makes her classmates dance to her tune without even realizing it. While that makes Ami sounded like an evil controlling bitch, it is important to know that her concept of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ is pretty twisted to begin with. In other word, for most of the time, this red haired ‘devil’ is simply acting out of either curiosity or playfulness. The outcome of her whimsical action though, can be so significant that it completely changes someone life.

Akibe Eru

Despite of appearing as one of the two major heroines on the title screen, Akibe Eru’s personality was less impactful than that of Ami’s. She is your typical kind and reliable sempai character or at least that will be everyone’s first impression. However, she is actually quite a monster herself as she was capable of standing on an even ground with Ami in debates that often broke out between them. Through arguments that she used in these debates, it was slowly becoming obvious that her point of view was as twisted.

Takahashi Sunao

Takahashi Sunao is the newest addition to Aoyama Yukari long list of cheerful and chatty classmate characters. She was nicknamed ‘the class queen’ by Ami due to her ability in controlling conversations and standing in the center of trends happening in their class. While both of them shared the controlling aspect, Sunao differed from Ami however in that her method was much more direct. To put in simply, she has the knack to make even the most boring topic sounded interesting and that made people listened to her which in turn gave her the initiative in conversations.

Anou Touko

If I were to pigeonhole Anou Touko into a common heroine category, she would most likely fall under the so called ‘my pace’ character. Although the common perception is that such characters are usually airheaded and not very bright individuals, Touko is a very intelligent and knowledgeable girl. The reason behind her ‘slow’ personality instead lies on her disinclination toward changes. In other word, unlike Ami who loves stirring up trouble and therefore causing alterations along the way, Touko prefers staying passive and preserving status quos around her. She is Reiji’s childhood friend.

Inui Fumika

Personally, I found Fumika to be the least interesting out of all the heroines in this game, but that is maybe due to her limited screen time. Compared to Ami and Eru who are key heroines, or Sunao and Touko who have one whole chapter dedicated to them, this stalker kouhai gets nothing more than a few events in the common route. Even the flags for those events were something Fumika earned by watching over hallways and feigning coincidence when her beloved sempai finally appeared. Despite of having a soft spot for dedicated heroines such as Fumika, I found her stammering speech manner extremely annoying.

Hayami Reiji

An interesting main protagonist made an interesting game, because he is the window from which we experience the eroge world. In this aspect, Hayami Reiji isn’t extraordinary in any way, but he has a solid personality and that is enough to make him better than some ‘blank’ main characters. What made Reiji stands out though was his character development. Due to the influence of Touko’s father who is an author, Reiji was already somewhat more knowledgeable than your average teenagers even before his fateful encounter with Ami. Still, the constant exposure to arguments of two opposing viewpoints of Ami and Eru, brought him to the whole new level.

System

When starting a new game, you will be greeted by an unusual screen which prompts players for the play mode they want.

On the left of the screen is the option for ‘Balance Play’ that will let you experience the game normally, while on the right is ‘Digestive Play’ mode suggested for busy people. Below the two onscreen mode selectors is a function to enter secret codes from the light novel ‘The Hollow of Enkidu’. Apparently, a successful input will introduce changes into the storyline, but obviously I have no access to those secret codes and therefore have no concrete information that I can share.

Now, if you are someone who doesn’t have enough time on hands and yet still want to experience the fullest out of this game, you may wonder how precisely does this ‘Digestive Play’ differs from ‘Balance Play’. To be honest, I have to say I am not exactly sure, because I played all routes on normal mode and have never replayed any of them on ‘digestive’ to make the comparison. What I know however is that the two modes use very different methods to determine which ending route you get.

The digestive mode for example, implements a simple ‘choose a heroine route’ approach as shown by the screenshot above. The mode I chose on the other hand, requires a player to carry out many decision making upon which a scale(天平) will tip in favor of either lawful or chaos alignment. The final position of this scale is what will determine the route a player will get in the end.

Impression

Character 8/10
All the heroines in this game are superior in comparison to the usual cookie-cutters as they have an interesting twist or two to their personalities. If there were any complain, it would be the overly unique main heroine, Kamio Ami, who I personally think is one of the best heroine I ever seen. The problem with Ami is however, given her conspicuous character and extensive screen time, she effortlessly eclipses the charms of the other heroines. As a result, it feels as though the whole story simply revolves around Ami while the other heroines are nothing more than peripheral characters.

Story 6/10
If I were to grade solely on the common route, I will have no problem giving this story section at least an eight. Simple but elegant implementation of psychological manipulations and intriguing philosophical debates are the main draws of Semiramis no Tenbin. Unfortunately, just like many eroge with good common routes, this game suffers from horribly rushed individual routes. With only one chapter for each heroines, both the climax build up and plot resolution leave a lot to be desired. I believe this is probably where most people will find this game disappointing.

Music 6/10
Although the soundtracks played its part in shaping the mood and color of the game, they aren’t particularly memorable.

Graphic 7/10
There are a few CGs in which the characters are disproportionately drawn, but apart from that, I think the quality of the art is superb.

Conclusion

In all, I believe Semiramis no Tenbin is only worth playing for the common route but definitely not for the heroines. While that may sound contradictory with the score I gave for the character section above, it isn’t. Despite of housing many interesting heroines, rushed individual routes and limited screen time severely diminish the romantic experience that some people may be looking for.

Cao~~~ (￣▽￣)ノ