Minako ~Kikyou Shita Inaka de Murabito-tachi ni Netorareta Saiai no Tsuma~ Review

Title: Minako ~Kikyou Shita Inaka de Murabito-tachi ni Netorareta Saiai no Tsuma~
Original title: 美奈子 ～帰郷した田舎で村人たちに寝取られた最愛の妻～
Aliases: Minako ~The Most Loved Wife Seduced By Villagers On the Return to the Country~

Minako ~Beloved Wife Who Has Slept With the Villagers of Her Husband's Home Village~

Release date: 2014-12-18
English release date:  2015-04-24 (as a fan-patch)
Developer: Happy Life
English publisher: m1zuki

"Minako" (let's shorten the title to the manageable length) is not a visual novel, but rather an... I was going to say an RPG, but I would have been lying out of my ass. The more apt description would be "an adventure game made in RPG Maker".

If the title doesn't clue you in, "Minako" is a netorare title. A housewife (and former teacher) Nishimura Minako arrives with her husband Tatsuo to his birth village to visit his father. Apparently Tatsuo left a long time ago and never came back, because of a certain bully Iwasaki Ryuuji, who made his life hell. He thought Ryuuji has left the village, but apparently he is back and ready to make Tatsuo's life hell again... by corrupting his wife and turning her into a slut.

Hahaha... no.

As the Universe apparently hates Tatsuo, he falls seriously ill just upon the arrival, and is bedridden, and eventually hospitalized, giving Iwasaki all the time in the world to work on his young wife. "Minako" is a netorare Type A title - there is no rape, blackmail or other unsavory aspects of the NTR genre. Iwasaki gently manipulates and seduces Minako simply by presenting himself as a good hearted, but misunderstood guy, who recently lost his loved one. Of course, he is a black hearted villain, whose main goal is corrupting Tatsuo's wife into eventually becoming a whore at the brothel he runs.

The game surprised me, as it averts and subverts many of the tropes associated with the NTR. First of all, the protagonist of this game is Minako and we see majority of the game from her perspective. Frankly, I prefer it that way, as I find the female perspective so much hotter when the cheating is happening. Plus, getting into her head and finding out what she thinks about her cheating is more interesting than playing as an angsting cuckolded protagonist. Some might question if the game with a female protagonist can be called a NTR game, but I don't bother myself with such philosophical questions.

She fucks like a bunny.

Moreover, it usually requires for the guy and his girl to be particularly stupid and dense for the plot of a netorare game to happen. Here Tatsuo is not present for the 3/4ths of the game and Minako is not only not stupid, but I would even call her genre savvy. She jumps into Ryuuji's hands so eagerly without much prodding, that I gather that even if she had never met our villain, she would eventually have cheated on Tatsuo with someone. Eventually Minako admits that it's not only sex she loves, but she finds the very fact that she is cheating to be a major turn on.

"Minako" shies away from "rage" associated with such games, rather I consider it a "feel good" game. Everyone wins here: Minako gets a chance to let loose, Iwasaki gets to turn her into a slut and Tatsuo is aroused by his wife's cheating once he finds out about it. Of course the game does not limit itself with Ryuuji. It doesn't take long for him to suggest to Minako that the best way to help a local hikikomori would be to coax him outside using sex as an enticement. Soon other people join into the fun and there is no turning back. Though am I the only one to find it strange that a local criminal was best friends with a hikikomori?

Cosplay with an otaku.

I'll tell you a little secret - I like netorare, it's one of my main fetishes, and it's a shame that there are basically no eroge translated into English language that cater to it. I loved "Minako". As a NTR title it does almost everything right. The sex scenes are hot as hell, Minako is one perverted slut (and sexually promiscuous women is another of my fetishes) and the CGs are very pretty looking. Not to mention that all that unprotected sex ends with our protagonist becoming pregnant. And as I like to say: "Netorare without pregnancy is like a party were you do not end up unconscious under the table in the end". In other words - not cool at all!

Additionally, I love it when the mental corruption is expressed through physical changes.

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

The fact that upon starting her work at a brothel Minako died her hair blonde was hot as hell. Not to mention, that one of the endings sees her going completely ganguro style, deep tan and slutty clothing included.

I'm sucking a lollipop, darling.

If I have any criticism with the game, it's pointed towards the gameplay portion. As I have already mentioned, "Minako" was made in RPG Maker, by the developer "Happy Life" (irony of ironies that this dev specializes in NTR titles). The game is split into days, and every day you have to do certain tasks in a certain order. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, it's confusing were you need to go, though you can always check your destination by examining one of the sparkling monuments scattered through the village. I have no idea why the game wasn't made into a visual novel, because the only thing you do is walk from destination to destination. There is basically no meaningful gameplay that wouldn't have worked better in a visual novel. I'll also be the first to admit that I found the first few game-days boring and considered dropping the game, but it soon picked up the pace and wowed me.

The game has three possible endings. The first one is gained by finishing the game normally and is very sudden and unsatisfying, but obviously even the devs do not consider it the true ending as the credits do not have an ending song. The other two secret endings are obtained after finding all fifteen "Dragon Ornaments" hidden on the map. It's easy to find them and the game even provides a map with every ornament marked on it. You can find this secret map starting with Day 9 north of the boat rental shop. It's in the chest which you can reach by boat. Either collect the Dragon Ornaments during the normal game, or after loading the last save after you finish the game normally. Once you finish the game, the door to the shrine opens. You can enter and get the membership card. Go to the brothel and watch the scenes. You are given a binary choice upon leaving and it leads to other two endings, which are awesome, though I have no idea which is the developer preferred one, as both of them have an ending song.

Ain't you laying it on a bit thick, droog?

The English translation was pretty good. I didn't notice any glaring problems or significant typos, though two or three non-essential sentences were left untranslated. All in all, "Minako" was everything I want from a netorare game. It has perverts, sluts and hot sex galore. You should try it if you aren't frightened away by the NTR-centered plot. It might give you a nice break from slice-of-life moeges and shy virginal heroines. Moreover, the game is pretty short (≈4 h) and won't take much of your time to finish.

Links of Interest

Official Japanese site
Buy the digital edition of the game on DLsite
Download the English patch
Download "ALL Decrypter" and read patching instructions
Game discussion on ULMF forums

Final Verdict: 79%