A pure moe game that somehow manages to be thoroughly entertaining despite the complete absence of plot.

Release: 2015 (SMEE)
Writers:  Hayase Yuu (Lover Able, Fureraba)
Japanese difficulty: Easy
English: None
Ratings: VNDB (8.02); EGS (8.05)

Pure x Connect has probably the least amount of plot of any visual novel I have read so far. There is not a single attempt to create tension or any struggles for characters to overcome — it’s just a never-ending barrage of light-hearted banter and jokes, and each scenario consists almost solely of MC and the girl in question fooling around in their room (which I suppose is quite realistic for university romantic relationships).

And yet, despite reminding me a lot of “Working!!” — a show that I utterly despise — Pure x Connect actually entertained me quite a bit, probably because unlike the excruciatingly dull slice of life anime, it offers lots of very satisfying erotic content.

Hayase Yuu definitely has a knack for writing both entertaining and arousing banter — most of his characters very hard not to like — so it’s a bit unfortunate he never tries doing anything more serious with them (I bet he could pull off something akin to Hatsuyuki Sakura if he did). In any case, Pure x Connect is pretty much as good as a plotless visual novel can ever get, so if you’re into the so called “moe” genre, you should definitely check it out.

One of the good things about games of this nature is that you can ctrl-skip any route, or any scene you might find boring and don’t feel like you’ve missed anything. I thought that the messed up childhood friend relationship of Sora and MC was the most entertaining part of the vn, but you should probably just pick the routes of the heroines you personally find attractive.

Positive:	Negative:
Beautiful, attractive, varied sprites	Lower halves of the attractive costumes are wasted on waist-high sprites
Beautiful, arousing CGs	Forgettable soundtrack
Simple, flowing prose	Not even a semblance of plot or a story
Light-hearted, but effective comedy	Doesn’t offer anything new to the formula
Charming, likable characters
Plentiful, and entertaining erotic content