Karigurashi Ren'ai: Living on Borrowed Love

[h1]Concise Game Review: Karigurashi Ren'ai: Living on Borrowed Love《かりぐらし恋愛》— When Childhood Friends Become Your New Home[/h1] [i](Scroll down for the detailed verdict)[/i] [table] [tr] [th][b]🎮 Game Value[/b][/th] [td] ✅ [b]Strongly recommended for fans of ASa Project and childhood-friend romcoms where the protagonist’s past relationships can develop into romance through the player's choices.[/b] Karigurashi Ren'ai is a Full HD remaster of ASa Project’s romcom VN about Setoda Takuma, who returns to his childhood town only to find his old home unlivable. With no place to stay, he moves between the homes of several girls he knew as a child, leading to a lighthearted story about daily life, family comedy, and romance shaped by the player's choices.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]👤 Protagonist[/b][/td] [td]Male Protagonist — Nameable; Takuma Setoda by default[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]🧬 Genre[/b][/td] [td]Adventure / Visual Novel / Romantic Comedy / Slice of Life / Childhood Friends / Homestay Romance / Adult Patch Supported[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]🔞 Adult Content[/b][/td] [td] ■ [b]Core Themes[/b] ● Childhood Friends（幼なじみ） ● Romantic Comedy（ラブコメ） ● Pure Love（純愛） ● Lovey-Dovey Romance（ラブラブ…

[後半に日本語レビューあり] [h1]Childhood Friend Rotating-Homestay Romcom VN — HD Remastered[/h1] What awaited Takuma on his triumphant return to his childhood hometown was the family home reduced to a near-uninhabitable ruin. Literally unlivable—and his wallet in dire straits to match. The lifeline extended to him came from the goodwill of his childhood friends' families. And so begins a peculiar "boarding life," rotating through the homes of four heroines one by one. At the core of this title is the family comedy born from that boarding arrangement. Each household brings its own atmosphere and brand of humor, and the comedy density and energy of the common route consistently runs high. Closeness with each heroine is shaped by player choices, deepening into a relationship across individual routes in a straightforward VN structure. Total volume across all routes exceeds 20 hours. ASa Project's trademark exaggerated character expressions and slapstick gags mesh seamlessly with the boarding-life premise. The HD Remaster renders the CGs in high resolution, and the bright, expressive visuals suit the romcom's cheerful tone well. The fully voiced cast earns consistent praise for their energetic pe…

Asa project has had exactly one notable release in Sankaku Renai. Every other release, somehow, someway, has managed to be bland and poorly written, with little to no narrative value outside of being funny once an hour. Every time you buy the newest game, because maybe they'll break the mold after such a long series of disappointing releases, and come out with something entertaining. Instead, they just release another slop title that carries itself confidently throughout the common route, and falls flat on its face the second the character routes start. I can understand that its a comedy game, and its an eroge, and that you probably shouldn't expect a masterpiece out of a publisher like this, but after reading a certain number of games you get to the point where you just have to roll the dice with new releases and hope for the best. This time, we rolled a three. That leans toward 6(or seven) during certain scenes. You're better off saving your money for doordash, gacha rolls, or cosmetics in whatever other game you're playing right now. Genuinely a surface level title that collapses as soon as you get halfway through. Perhaps the worst side character cast in visual novel history…

Su Casa Mi Casa. Karigurashi Ren'ai: Living on Borrowed Love is a fantastic comedy VN where the jokes hit just right to get a lot of laughs outta me. While the whole story is more comedy focused than romance focused I still love the unique personalities of all the heroines even if some of them are just irredeemable at points. The music is great and the art style is beautiful, but the backgrounds themselves arent the best. I did really love the fashion sense for the heroines though, they all killed it in casual wear. The common route does an amazing job at setting up the story and showing off all the heroines as the MC couch surfs his way into everyones hearts. While I am a tad disappointed in how short the actual routes are they still deliver great comedy and touching moments with the girls, though the side characters routes really were just side lined. Each individual route is rougly 2-4 hours long ( I didnt check to thorougly) while the side routes are 30 minutes at best. Best girl by far is Hiyori who had a super sweet route that actually felt like a romance. I especially liked how the little goofball was always having a good time and really just had her life put together. H…

Asa Project does a wonderful job with the banter between the cast. The music and art are also fantastic!

Not as "wild" as the usual ASa Project titles, the premise is pretty simple with just the MC going around his childhood firends' houses due his own house being in ruins. (what great parents he has, lol) Despite that I had a good amount of fun with it. The girls are great, except Maru, she is a waste of a human being and her route was just awful and I need to question why it exists the way it does. That time could have been spent extending Nanako's sub route or even have a Miyori route for real. Alas, not all routes are created equal but I am sure you will find your favorite pick regardless. My ranking: Maru > Ayaka > Kyou > Rito > Nanako > Hiyori I would have put Ayaka higher but her family is genuinely super annoying. What was unusual story wise that apart from Maru's route there was no drama or any serious conflict, now for most people that would be probably a negative but I liked how chill that was. On the technical front Kagami Games did a great job delivering, their translation is also excellent. I think I can count on one hand the mistakes I found. There is one text display bug where if you are in windowed mode and it is too long then it will go behind some of…