If you are an avid anime watcher as I am, then you are well aware of the common “Notice me, senpai” trope. For those unfamiliar with it, the trope is that a shy, lonely, often socially awkward boy or girl pines for the day that the cool and attractive upperclassman they have a crush on (aka “senpai”) will notice them and they’ll have that happy fairy tale romance, and all that. Of course, it never quite works out that way, which is always part of the fun… for the audience at least.
Anyway, Kokurase is essentially “Notice Me, Senpai: The Video Game.” This doujin (fan made) RPG Maker game became popular enough in Japan to garner a novelization, and there is a manga series based on it in the works. Kokurase is an episodic game where the first episode is available for free on Steam and additional episodes are akin to paid DLC.
The story is about a group of eccentric teens who refer to themselves as Kokurase (sometimes referred to as Cupid’s Helpers on the game’s website and Steam profile), and who help their lovelorn classmates get “senpai” to notice them. In this case, the client is a female first-year student named Sakura who has the hots for a popular third-year student named Yoshimitsu. Unfortunately, Sakura is so shy and awkward that she faints by simply thinking about him. The one time she managed to talk to him for a minute, she completely embarrassed herself. Now, Yoshimitsu is the guy all the girls want and every girl who has ever confessed to him has been harshly turned down. As far as he’s concerned, the girls are all cookie-cutter and have no interesting stand-out qualities to really excite him.
And, you guessed it — it is up to the infamous Kokurase Gang to get brash Yoshimitsu-senpai to notice timid Sakura. The storyline itself doesn’t color outside the lines of its tropes very much, but it is engaging due to the peculiar cast of characters. Every member of Kokurase has a unique skill or power to aid the team on these amorous adventures, such as one guy’s ability to see ghosts and thus collect rumors, gossip, and information from the spirit realm. The members of Kokurase are not exactly the suave wingmen/wingwomen you expect, but are more akin to the weirdo kids in school that you wouldn’t think would attract guys or girls in the first place. But skeptics be damned, here they are helping the hapless, and with an astonishing success rate to boot. This is not a narrative that will enlighten you to question the nature of life and the universe, but it is an enjoyable romp of anime hijinks. I love how this first episode ends and want more, especially after seeing the post-credits ending that delightfully thickens the plot. When this episode ended after 3-4 hours, I wanted to hang out with these characters more.
My only objection to the story is that the localization is not the smoothest. Spelling and grammar are passable, but I felt like there are some odd syntax choices. For example, during a conversation with a teacher, the teacher says something along the lines of “you ain’t gotta.” When teachers are speaking colloquially with each other, that’s one thing, but when addressing students, a teacher (especially one in Asia) would speak more formally and less casually. I also feel like some conversations read too stiffly, do not always flow the way people naturally talk, and sometimes detract from the characters’ personalities.
The script also has textual errors indicating that whoever proofread this for content and context did not do a thorough job. For example, the members of Kokurase sometimes call one of their members “Rin” when her name is “Riho.” This is supposed to be a tightly knit group of friends, so there is no excuse for referring to a teammate by the incorrect name. Another example is that when a guy is grumbling about Yoshimitsu (again, the popular guy everyone on campus knows) but refers to him as Hoshimitsu. These are nitpicks I’m sure will be smoothed out with future episodes as the localization team gets its sea legs.
Another reason I want to hang out in the Kokurase world more is the soundtrack. This music is really good. I’m a sucker for funky jazz fusion style music, and I especially enjoy the extensive use of character themes. Kokurase has you switching between several characters during play, and all of them, even the minor ones, have a distinct theme. I am also quite fond of the group theme that plays whenever the gang convenes at their hideout. The music enhances the vibrant personality of the game and is music you definitely want to listen to through good headphones or speakers.
Graphically speaking, it is clear that the ambition of the game outgrows RPG Maker’s limitations, and I hope that it gets the same remake/update treatment that Corpse Party received recently. The pencil-drawn character artwork in the menus is uniquely stylish, the angular drawings in the cutscenes are vivid, and the character portraits shown during dialogue scenes have nifty pastel qualities. Unfortunately, the generic sprites look nothing like the character designs, and the locations look somewhat plain in contrast to the game’s artfulness elsewhere. This is no fault of the creators, but again highlights the limitations of RPG Maker. The only time the artfulness backfires is during the introduction sequence. It looks like a professional anime intro, but the stylish shadow effects make the character profiles difficult to read, and the pertinent text flashes by too quickly. Regardless, I hope to see more of illustrator Doromizu’s artwork in the future.
Although this game was made using RPG Maker, it plays more like a graphic adventure than an RPG. Gameplay is based around switching between characters at appropriate junctures to use their skills at appropriate times to grease the wheels of getting “notice me, senpai” to happen. Throughout the game, important pieces of dialogue called “Key Phrases” are heard and collected. The use of these Key Phrases at opportune places and times is the key to solving the puzzles throughout. Along with using the right phrases at the right times, there are also a few traditional puzzle elements, such as a stealth/subterfuge snippet that made me feel like I pulled off a cagey maneuver. I found the gameplay enjoyable because it allowed me to experience the same situation from different perspectives. There are a few glitches here and there due to scripting these multi-perspective event scenarios, but nothing I wasn’t able to circumvent.
If Kokurase were a person, I would heartily say that senpai has noticed you. I had a great time with the first episode and want to experience more of the misadventures of Kokurase/Cupid’s Helpers. If you enjoy wacky anime hijinks with a quirky cast of characters and lovely music, give this game a shot, especially since the first episode is free.
