Chuusotsu is an upbeat story set in a peculiar utopian world that uses humor to explore its deeper themes of motivation and the right way to live.

Release: 2016 (Studio Beast)
Writers:  Hiruou
Japanese difficulty: Hard
English: Fruitbat Factory
Ratings: VNDB (7.89); EGS (7.80)

With its upbeat tone, likable characters, and lots and lots of jokes, at first sight Chuusotsu may come off like a lighthearted comedy about growing up, but it doesn’t take long before you start noticing all sorts of serious real world issues peeking out from its humorous exterior.

Hiruou is a fantastic writer who adapts an extended range of weird Japanese slang to bring even the most minor of faceless characters to life. His approach to writing reminded me of G.O.’s from Himawari up to being able to seamlessly mix comedy with tragedy and thought-provoking themes without resorting to cumbersome prose and preaching.

Chuusotsu! 1st graduation is the first story in what’s probably planned to be a trilogy and focuses on Arue who has serious motivation issues and, despite acting as the most serious of the group, is always the first to escape or cheat when faced with a truly tough situation. I’m sure all of us have been in a position like that at least once in our lives, which makes her struggle to find a way to live in peace with herself extremely easy to relate to.

It’s still a bit hard to tell how the entire story of Chuusotsu will pan out, and if it will shift its focus from characters to plot later (which I feel it might on Arara’s episode) but I was thoroughly impressed by what I saw so far. It has the cool old school vibe which reminded me of old Romeo’s works where nothing was ever as simple as it seemed, mixed with a bit of Sharin no Kuni and Himawari. In any case, I highly recommend Chuusotsu to anyone who’s looking for a fun memorable experience.

Fruitbat Factory is currently holding a kickstarter for its English translation, so support them if you want this little gem cross the ocean. I’m personally more interested in the fandisc extended goal, so please get me that one. I can’t wait to see more Arue and the girls. Studio Beast is an amazing developer, and their success here might pave the road for more of their games reaching the west.

Oh yeah, and if you support them enough on thunderclap, Studio Beast will add new CGs to the game as a token of thanks, so be sure to do that too!