The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya

The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya is the second installment in the Gyakuten Yoshiwara series, the first game being The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya. Different from it’s predecessor, Ohgiya introduces a new cast of characters and a new protagonist, instead of being a continuation of Kikuya. This game was one of the four new releases from Dogenzaka Lab, in this case, a port of a mobile game. The story follows the heir of a prestigious merchant family going to the red light district for the first time, not only to try and produce a heir, but because it’s part of the culture of the island where she lives. There, she meets five different courtesans and has to choose one of them.

The first thing I noticed was the game’s art. It’s really pretty, all the sprites are really well made, all the backgrounds are well drawn and beautiful and the CGs are very beautiful too. The character design is really good as well and all of the characters fell really unique and beautiful in their own way.

The characters of Ohgiya are another thing I enjoyed. Each of them had something charming that made me like them. The cast of Ohgiya is really diverse in personality and it’s nice to get to know them little by little while playing through their routes. I found myself falling in love with the characters, wanting to know more and more about them and cheering for them to get a happy ending. Since there’s not much of story, the characters are really the focus of this game, all of them having their own painful past, hoping for better days to come and wishing to be happy. In each route you get to discover their history, their hopes and dreams and eventually, fall in love with them.

But one thing that bothered me while playing was the protagonist. Her character was unstable, her personality would vary from route to route. In one route she would be very quiet and duty driven, but in the other one she would be extremely shy and stubborn. It was hard to follow what was happening with her and that made understanding her tougher. My choices didn’t seem to affect her personality at all either. It felt like I was playing with a different protagonist in each route.

It is worth mentioning how the VN deals with sex. The game has a lot of scenes with sexual content, even if there’s nothing really graphic or explicit, the narration really tries to describe what’s happening without leaving details behind. So, if you don’t like this kinda of stuff, maybe this game isn’t for you. The game gives you two choices per chapter, but they don’t make much difference to the story, since it stays the same regardless of what you choose. Instead, the choices impact how the relationship between you and the guy develops, making it easier to like them. It’s fun to interact with the guys, seeing their different reactions and responses.

Now onto a few of the bad aspects of Ohgiya. First, the music. There’s not much to the music, but sometimes it gets repetitive fast, bothering me while I played. The transition between BGMs wasn’t good either and sometimes it felt really sudden, with one sad music being instantly replaced by a really happy and upbeat song.

The VN also has issues with pacing. Some routes had a really weird pacing, with things happening too fast and things being thrown at the reader suddenly, with too many things happening at the same time. Events would be left unexplained and would only happen to force a happy outcome, resolving an issue like it never happened.

Finally, the editing. There were some strange translations, but what bothered me the most was how bad the editing was at times. Words would sometimes appear to be missing, and sentences were awkward to read at other times. Of course, if you don’t mind weird translations and some errors, then this shouldn’t bother you, but it’s worth mentioning that the editing could be better. It’s not something that could spoil the game, but I found it annoying and it pulled me out of the VN at times.

In conclusion, is The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya good? I think so, I really enjoyed it, but it might have limited appeal. If you like otome games and want something light, without a really deep and complicated story, then you’ll probably like Ohgiya.

You can purchase The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya here!

A review key was provided by the publisher.

 

Thank you to kumayu for taking the time to review this VN for us! Feel free to follow her on twitter @dumbyuri.