The Amazing Shinsengumi: Heroes in Love

This is... Really something... I can only say one good thing: the artwork is nice... When it doesn't look like the guy is yelling at his thumb. Everything else... Ugh... Especially the English... If you get turned on by this sexy line: "gouging out your insides" during sex... Well then... I have a book for you!!! [i]MC:[/i] SIGH. These Otome games and their USELESS freaking MCs... My goodness...! Okay... She does do chores... There is one thing. Apart from that: She can't speak correctly, she is utterly naive, she misunderstands and mistrusts overly too much, she runs into battles WHEN TOLD NOT TO and YELLS at the guy TO STOP doing WHAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO!!! She also tries to throw her life away for [i]clothes[/i] (NOT A JOKE!!!) and at one point for a kid, whose MOTHER... DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER... TO GO INTO THE HOUSE TO SAVE HER!!!!!!!! WHAT KIND OF PARENT IS THAT?! Are you all for REAL?! You REALLY think... A GOOD PARENT... Would ASK... A COMPLETE IMBECILE OF A GIRL... TO GO INTO A BURNING BUILDING... TO RESCUE THEIR OWN OFFSPRING?! I hate this... I hate the psychology of this book... It's f-ed up worse than reality at this point! And it pains me to say…

I can't recommend it but I wouldn't 100% dump it - only because this is definately a mobile game adaptation. So if you enjoy the nostalgia and style of old school phone games, then you'll enjoy this game. If you want a short, fast, simple experience, you might also dig this. But otherwise its got almost no build up, depth and has a barebones and circumstantial plot. CGs are goregous but thats the only plus here. Overall not alot going on inside. Its not inherently bad, its just not exactly a complex and deep otome. It's bare bones and just okay in my opinion. Just a bit MEHHHH.

The Amazing Shinsengumi: Heroes in Love is a romance-focused otome visual novel that blends historical fantasy, emotional storytelling, and samurai-inspired drama into a lighthearted but charming experience centered around the legendary Shinsengumi. Developed by Dogenzaka Lab, the game takes place during the turbulent final years of the Edo period, but instead of focusing heavily on warfare or political conflict, it prioritizes romance, character interactions, and emotional relationships between the heroine and several famous Shinsengumi captains. The result is a visual novel that feels more intimate and character-driven than historically intense, offering players a softer interpretation of one of Japan’s most iconic historical groups. The story begins after the heroine loses her home in a devastating fire and unexpectedly finds herself connected to the Shinsengumi in Kyoto. From there, she becomes surrounded by several notable samurai figures, each serving as a potential romantic route throughout the story. Characters such as Hajime Saito, Soji Okita, Heisuke Todo, and Sanosuke Harada are presented less as intimidating historical warriors and more as emotionally approachable love…

For a rather old otome, I would say it's good. It's not incredible but it's enjoyable if you don't mind the generic clichés and naivety of it. At times I started to grow bored of the Mary Sue MC but then the plot would throw a pinch of angst and I gotta say it hit hard. I greatly recommend buying it when on sale though. There's five routes, each took me about 2 hours (the 3 endings have pretty much the same outcome whatever the choices you make, and there's an epilogue and date bonus). The game isn't voiced so you don't need to spend time waiting for lines to be said, and the whole reflecting on past actions thing can get long sometimes so I often skimmed through it lol *A small detail but I quite liked how MC has a different look in each route, it feels a bit like each of them deserves love with their own lover 😔

Nice art, story's a bit clunky and perhaps it's the translation but it treads a weird line between immature and trying to be spicy at the same time, so it's overall not very appealing. Easy to play and get the achievements though.

We have 'Hakuōki: Shinsengumi Kitan' at home. Literally all I was think was 'this is a wannabe Hakuoki without supernatural stuff'. I know the character are based on the historical shinsengumi, but the wasn't much character develop to add dimension to the characters. The artwork is good but there is a mix of faceless heroine artwork and artwork with a face- this just seems really inconsistent to me. Then you have the fanfic level of writing which at points out of no where turn to dub-con/non-con sexual advances from a guy where the heroine has to tell them to stop.