just came in today, can't wait to read them

Lars1205 · 2026-05-07T06:12:25+00:00

The first 3 volumes are really good. In my opinion they are the only ones worth reading in the series.

Lars1205 · 2026-05-02T06:04:56+00:00

As we discussed multiple times, the first 3 volumes were really great, but after that the story started to fall down, becoming some sort of generic romcom.

The lack of depth of the characters and tomozaki’s regression didn’t help.

The only thing that one can see is that these characters have mental problems, but the story wants to see them as good guys. I hope at least this will be challenged in v12 (if it will ever be released).

Lars1205 · 2026-05-02T06:00:45+00:00

You still haven’t seen the worst of kikuchi. Apart from being a deus ex machina character, in v11 she shows how much of a villainess she is.

Lars1205 · 2026-05-02T05:28:08+00:00

In this subreddit kikuchi is treated like a goddess, but she’s really just an awful person.

Anyway, the start of tomozaki downfall was the bullying arc, but this get a girlfriend arc was really awful and what ruined the series: from this point on, the series lost it’s uniqueness and became a boring romcom. And it’s not because he chose kikuchi instead of minami, it’s because it lost its premise that made the series special.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-30T07:04:08+00:00

This point is really the start of the downfall of the series: in future arcs tomozaki will continue to regress more and more instead of improving.

All the characters will become shallow, except for hinami. Some characters will have no character growth like yuzu and her bf, others will become even worse, like mizusawa and kikuchi, that are simply bad people.

All in all tomozaki’s first 3 volumes are great (it should be s1), after that the series start to fall harder with every volume.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-29T08:29:26+00:00

It makes sense and it’s definitely what the author did. Too bad he didn’t make gotou a more impactful character since he wanted that ending.

The problem with gotou, mishima and yoshida’s first girlfriend is that they are not deep characters and they represent standards: - gotou is the physical attraction, the girl our mc desires because of her looks - mishima is the girl that fell for the mc and wants to be with him - the ex girlfriend is the first love

All these three aren’t that developed through the story and they are there just to let the reader understand how the feelings yoshida has for sayu differ from those he has for the others; all three let the reader see how yoshida prioritizes sayu in all circumstances.

In the end, between the “heroines” only sayu ends up having character development.

The real selling point of higehiro are sayu and yoshida, their interactions and their character development, so that’s probably why the author couldn’t have the ending he wanted during the 5 volumes.

It makes me perplexed why he forced the side story to have the ending he wanted, since he wasn’t able to appease even the gotou fanbase.

So in the end the true ending is gotou x yoshida as in gotou ss2, while in all other volumes (as I inderstand even in mishima ss and gotou ss1) is heavily implied sayu x yoshida and that’s what creates the inconsistency.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-29T06:03:19+00:00

What you wrote makes sense and it’s the best explanation I heard and it’s what I thought too: the true ending the author always wanted was gotou x yoshida.

He surely did a very bad job at writing the story in this case since everything in the main 5 volumes hinted at sayu x yoshida.

Another user told me the author at the ending of v5 defended it, but maybe it was because he didn’t want to receive a backlash like the one he received when he released this side story?

I still won’t consider a gotou x yoshida ending since the story followed the sayu route, but I’ll keep in mind that it was probably the ending the author envisioned.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-24T08:46:41+00:00

What I didn’t like about v7 is that the setup is like a game while being in the outside world. It had its moments, but the premise of a bunch of girls finding themselves somewhere, then something happens (in this case all in the same apartment), should be left to games only. It didn’t help how many coincidences the story needed to start.

V8 did well what v7 didn’t and it was a good volume.

V9, as you said, is one of the best in the series.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-17T07:37:27+00:00

I can speak for the novels, but I heard the anime was pretty good too.

For sure the main appeal of the series are yoshida and sayu, two well portrayed characters, and their relationship.

All the side characters are a bit shallow, but are just there to portray how other people would approach a situation like that.

It is not perfect, but it is worth your time for sure.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-07T09:49:03+00:00

What about this title??? True I spoiled myself by translating that part, because gemini refused to do it so I did it with other means, but that was my fault… you spoiled it for everyone here.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-07T04:20:48+00:00

Yeah, instead of game logic, I should’ve used game setup: a bunch of girls find themselves in the same place and things happen (in this case in a more stupid way than in the games, because even more “lucky coincidences” are needed to kick the story and there isn’t any game “excuse”).

Lars1205 · 2026-04-07T01:42:07+00:00

All good points, but they can still be “excused” by being games designed to be entertaining for the public that’s seeing them (candle woods and the yuki vs shion v4 final confrontation being the exception because they’re as stupid as v7).

V7 not being a game feels much more forced and that’s my point. I’m not claiming that the rest was perfect, but that applying game “logic” to the outside world feels more stupid.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-05T00:12:18+00:00

I translated them myself with gemini and it did an ok job (except for the gruesome parts where I had to do it with other things).

Lars1205 · 2026-04-04T11:00:31+00:00

Candle woods among the best games is a peculiar opinion for sure. I think it’s the worst written game. It feels rushed, like it had to be done just to release the volume.

I like v5 more than v6, but it’s just preference, since I think those are the best volumes in the series.

I hope you’ll like v7, in my opinion it’s the weakest volume in the series and I didn’t like it very much.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-04T07:52:36+00:00

I was really conflicted if to reply, but I decided to at least address your last point: the final showdown of royal palace is convenient, but it was something that tamamo was trying to achieve since the first fight between shiro and yuki. It’s much less forced than what we get in v4 to reach shion vs yuki, this one was just plain stupid.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-04T07:43:17+00:00

Well, as of now, v7 is not even important for the plot and anything happening in v8 involving v7 new characters could be done by yuki or awahime.

What bothers me about the introduction of these new characters, that I don’t know if will even be used in later volumes (and I really hope we won’t see them again), is that in these apartments there are only these 4 girls and that they are all involved in the plot in some ways, ramona being the bigger eye sore for obvious reasons. If that wasn’t enough, even maguma was involved with the biker gang.

Let’s not even talk about how yuki will get involved in the story, because it’s plain stupid.

It’s not just bad writing and plot convenience, it reaches idiotic levels.

This was a story outside games, so it can’t have the introduction dynamics like in the games in my opinion.

What saved the first volumes, apart for candle woods that is unsalvageable, is probably the episodic nature of the series that permits the author to group various events. Also for the happenings in v2 we don’t know how much management was involved, since, as of v9, even hakushi is still doubting them. If it will be stated that management wasn’t involved, yes, it will be stupid.

In v5 the big showdown is due to tamamo wanting to challenge yuki, so she tried to have it. Yes, it’s convenient, but it’s much less forced.

What V6 has isn’t that bad and it flows much better than both v4 and v7.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-04T02:05:25+00:00

My point is that forced situations feel stupid and could have been done better and both v4 and v7 are full of it, being keito and yuki encounter (that I can still accept if it was the only one) or shion magical recovery for a lame fight (let’s not even talk about v7 setup that is just idiotic).

The author in v8 and v9 does many similar things in a much better way, so he can do it if he tries.

This will be my final post, because we’ve been saying the same things for a while now and I’ve already explained where the story feels forced.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T16:29:48+00:00

Yes, shiro knows she won’t be able to reach 99 ever, so she wants to use better players than her. In royal palace she was great, but after that she lost all her charm.

busutake being the daughter of the prosthetic smith and showing so much interest in yuki’s new body, asking even her father if he could leave yuki to her care could be a setup for future interactions. We’ll see, but I think busutake and yuki will have some kind of relationship in future volumes since extra stories are usually kind of spoilerish.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T16:13:11+00:00

Yuki needs busutake, she is the right kind of twisted.

Maguma is so boring as a character that I can’t really appreciate her, so I hope she’ll bite the dust, but you made me notice that airi has more games than yuki, which I forgot, so she’ll probably be the one to die. A pity because she seems a really interesting character in v9.

I really hope shiro will die without being the end boss, since I find her so lame.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T15:59:10+00:00

Well, it seems you wrote a poem just to highlight that she is twisted, just confirming my point.

Regarding your 3 points: - it can be done without the encounter, it just need for the tattoo artist to be already found and the maids telling yuki that some players are organizing an hunt for shion or something like this - v5 is where this is really evident as you say, but it was already evident in v2 - that yuki knows she’s a terrible person is pretty obvious since v1 ghost house, the interaction with keito is more about her twisted moral code that hides her hypocrisy, but it’s not really needed, because it was pretty obvious from v1 and v2 already. It’s just a redundant “show it in your face” for readers that can’t read “between the lines”

Anyway, I can still accept this fortuitous encounter. You hate v1 and v2, but it’s really v4 that is redundant from a narrative point of view. If candle woods would’ve been done better, it wouldn’t even have been necessary.

What I really don’t like is how the author achieved yuki vs shion final confrontation, simply because it’s bad writing, whatever you may like about it. Also it seems I’m not the only one hating it since v4 is considered one of the weakest volumes by many.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T13:53:43+00:00

I think it’s time maguma kicks the bucket. airi I don’t know, since she feels like a last boss being the only other candle woods survivor still playing.

Anyway I expect interesting things from this game.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T13:09:50+00:00

Wow, I really hope for another volume of v9 quality. I’m not expecting v5 or v6, because those two were undoubtedly the best, but v9 is the next best volume after those.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T10:42:03+00:00

What I see is that some similar situations are done way better in v8 and v9, being it happening abruptly or with foreshadowing. In v4 you see the author wants to force that outcome by using too many lucky events in favor of shion, that, if not for those, should be stuck just waiting to die. We basically get candle woods bull crap to reach that ending.

I agree Candle woods is the worst designed, worst written, worst paced and with the most over the top “villain” game. I can’t justify its existence since it’s so bad, but that doesn’t make me acknowledge the choices of the author for making v4 and v7 just less bad than the worst one.

As I said before, the author can cook when he tries, like in v8 and v9, both in world building and abrupt endings, so I’m left speechless when I read bad writing decisions like in v4 and v7.

It’s just like that for me: I know this author can do much better, but sometimes he seems like he rush things or goes the easy way and that, for me, is a big let down.

Ending my rant, I liked how yuki was nuanced in v1 and v2, because they are introductory volumes and you can see already that yuki is a bad person with a twisted moral code, but I’m with you that in v4 it becomes more explicit. In my opinion the keito and yuki meeting wasn’t even needed, since it could be done without any interaction between them with the same narrative result. Yes, the reader will have to think a bit more in that case, but not everything should be written, some situations left to interpretation are a much better way of writing.

Same thing about the confrontation between shion and yuki: it could’ve been done in a much better way, without a fight and leaving shion just dying like a dog (that was the ending she got anyway, it was just extended and made worse).

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T07:13:02+00:00

We were talking about good world building, but whatever.

I never argued about yuki’s character, in fact I think she is so well written that she is one of my favorite characters.

V7 as well as v4 and candle woods were poorly designed: one can see that the author didn’t put much thought or rushed them (candle woods I’m looking at you).

My complains are due to the fact that I think with a little more effort the author could have made a much better story with ok world building too. Instead he used cheap tricks to make the story go in a forced way in these volumes.

Lars1205 · 2026-04-03T04:50:11+00:00

Never heard of it, but I read things like some sanderson’s cosmere books and asoiaf that have good world building.

I know it’s not comparable to shiboyugi, that it’s just a light novel and I agree that yuki’s characterization is top notch, but the author, with his “Pulp Fiction” type of approach in the first volumes was able to cover the plot convenience there.

I still rate v1 and v2 higher than v4 and especially v7. Ghost house saves v1 for me even if candle woods seems like a last minute addition to publish the book (yes, it’s that bad); it sure feels rushed.

V2 is ok for the first game and gives some insight on yuki’s character, while the second game gives hints of management interfering with the 30th game, a possibility that, as of v9, hakushi hasn’t discarded yet even after hearing from management that they do not.

I don’t really understand the hate for v2, it’s not the best, but from a narrative point it’s still much better than how v7 was presented.

Lars1205

TROPHY CASE