Throb! The Greatest Inventions of the Sexy Era! Review

Title: Todoroke Seiki no Daihatsumei Ai to Okori to Kanashimi no Himitsu Kessha Dai Ni Kagakubu
Original title: 轟け性紀の大発明 愛と怒りと悲しみの秘密結社第二科学部
Alias: Throb! The Greatest Inventions of the Sexy Era! ~Second Science Club–A Secret Society of Love, Rage, and Sorrow~
Release date: 2009-07-24
English release date: 2013-06-21
Developer: Softhouse-Seal
English publisher: MangaGamer

"Throb! The Greatest Inventions of the Sexy Era!" is the latest title in MangaGamer's lineup of shitty nukiges that I decided to play. My motto: "Experiencing the shit so that you don't have to". Surprisingly, it's also the best title in the said lineup, beating any previous S-S game in every aspect.

I started this VN without any expectations and maybe that was a good thing, because "Throb" managed to surprise me. We have already had one parody making fun of a superspy genre and it flopped terribly, while also being the worst S-S title. "The Greatest Inventions" makes fun of the supervillains usually seen in Bond-like action flicks, and is a probable homage to Dr. Evil. This game casts us in the shoes of a self proclaimed villain bent on the world (or at least the schoolgrounds) domination.

You have fallen for this hook, line and sinker.

Enter Daiguuji Kyousuke (not to mix with Daijuuji) - a PE teacher at Hanatabake Academy and a part time mad scientist. When the principal of the Academy, Hondou Sakura, announces that she will reopen a formerly famous science club, Daiguuji expects to be chosen as its advisor. Why he expects that, despite the principal not knowing anything about his scientific proclivities is unknown; probably has something to do with his general mental instability that is shared by all mad scientists. After some other guy named Tanaka is chosen as an advisor, Kyousuke vows to take revenge on the Academy and founds an evil organization "The 2nd Science Club", also assuming its leadership under the incognito "Black Supreme Leader". Of course he is also the sole member of the said organization. LOL.

Every evil mastermind needs lackeys and Kyousuke easily drafts a foolish and ditzy girl Haruhara Fuuka. At first she is frightened of his alter ego "Black Supreme Leader", but after a few minutes of pep talk she is completely smitten and gushing about the greatness of Supreme Leader.

Sleeping Beauty.

That whole scene reminded me an old "Simpsons" episode where Homer and later the children got brainwashed by a cult and its Leader.
"Whom do you love kids?"
"Leader."
"Look, there are flying bicycles for you two. Whom do you love now?"
"Flying bicycles!"
"Well... that's a start."

But I digress. Fuuka is a real cloud cuckoolander and it's not a stretch to imagine her in a similar situation. She seems oblivious to anything that goes around her and it's a wonder she doesn't get lost while going to school. She is also so innocent that when Supreme Leader is rapi giving a well deserved loving she didn't know she wanted to the principal, Fuuka thinks that he is administering a massage to her. Fuuka is friends with another girl Sasanose Matsuri, and this duo comprises the main two heroines of the game.

Matsuri is fickle, rash and even aggressively selfish twintail blonde with tsunderish tendencies. Also, unbeknownst to anyone she moonlights as a mahou shoujo Festa. Matsuri in her Festa disguise interferes with the 2nd Science Club and becomes a pain in the ass for the Supreme Leader. It's laughable how much Clark Kenting goes on in this game as neither of the main characters can see through each other disguises, despite those being just different clothes. Of course, all that is played for laughs. Actually, the whole game is one big laugh fest.

What a lucky guy!

Previously, SSSS tried and failed to be funny, but "Throb!" manages to succeed to a certain extent. At the very least, it managed to make me chuckle quite a few times. Kyousuke's inventions are so over the top batshit insane that it's impossible not to admire them. Take, for example, "Super Drying Agent", that sucks everything that has water. However, considering our mad scientist invents things by just assembling materials by intuition and has only a sketchy idea how they all work, expect side effects. If your name has a kanji for water in it, don't go near the aforementioned drying agent. Or let's mention that "All Hardware Compatible Controller" that was intended to work with all video game consoles, but if you put its wire into someone's mouth, you will be able to control that person. It's a good thing that there is no second wire to put into one's rectum... no chance to mix them up.

All in all, this time "Softhouse-Seal" invested more in plot, thus making the game more palatable and accessible. Plot is not the only thing that's an improvement from previous fares. Graphics are also much better looking, especially CGs that are genuinely pretty. Sadly the soundtrack still sucks - oh, well, you cannot have everything. I also noticed that this is the first title from this company that doesn't have an OP. Probably the resources that usually would have gone to a completely useless opening video were allocated to improve the overall game quality.

You ain't fooling anyone, you know. (For those who are interested, she is saying "Mega Drive". What was the reason for Americanizing that?)

As I said previously, Fuuka and Matsuri are the main two heroines and all the endings relate to them. The visual novel is quite short and there are four choices, but the first one and the last one only lead to different sex scenes. It's the second and the third that combined create four different endings. Those are: Kyousuke/Fuuka, Kyousuke/Matsuri, Kyousuke/Fuuka/Matsuri and Fuuka/Matsuri.

Sadly, while the plot was slightly improved, characterization was not, and all the personages are very shallow. If only the game was longer, it could have been improved even further. You see, there are other fuckable girls, but while they have a few scenes, they do not figure in the endings. Those girls are: the principal Hondou Sakura, a tomboy Sahara Yuuki and an ojou-sama that cannot swim Mizuhara Ururu. I was quite interested in all of them, and especially Yuuki, as I have a fondness for tomboyish girls with short hair. If only their role was expanded and they got their own endings, even a shallow characterization wouldn't have hurt the game that much. Plus any of them would have been a better heroine than Mitsuri whom I disliked.

She actually believes she is boning a god.

The other thing that I have noticed, was a great improvement of sex scenes. They were shorter an more to the point which is always a plus as I dislike H-scenes that go on and on and on without any payoff. Payoff in this case would be more CGs and positions per scene, but apparently that is not within S-S budget. Additionally, more fetishes were explored and some scenes were genuinely unseen before. Like that one un-sex performance with a lolified Fuuka. That was... something new. Also, the uncensorship job was probably the best of S-S catalogue. This time genitals look like something resembling a real thing and not shapeless blobs like in SSSS.

To end it all, let me say that "Throb!" was a better game than I expected from previous MG nukiges, but it was still not a very good game. It was a shallow nukige that still managed to get a few laughs out of me. Graphical representation is pretty good and the sex is nice. If you want a quick fap-aid that will last you a few hours, you could do worse than try this one. Still, I'm eagerly awaiting for that suspected "Lilith" partnership announcement from MangaGamer. That should be epic.

Links of Interest

Visual Novel Database
Official Japanese site
Buy the English digital release from MangaGamer

Final Verdict: 64%