NEKOPARA Vol. 3 Review

People love to gush about how beneficial it can be to step out of your comfort zone and open up to new experiences. However, after “experiencing” NEKOPARA Vol. 3, I’m not sure they’re correct. Up until recently, I’d managed to avoid anything labelled as an “adult visual novel”, largely due to the harsh stereotyping of the genre’s fanbase as well as a general lack of interest. As such, I was blissfully unaware of the NEKOPARA series until the third instalment was staring at me from my Nintendo Switch, waiting to be reviewed. Not wanting to be unfair to the franchise, I tried to shed the assumptions I’d made about the genre and jumped in with my mind as open as possible. It was my mission to find a level of sincere enjoyment within a game many wrote off as “that anime porn thing”. Did my mission succeed? Well, kind of… but mostly, no.

Welcome to Patisserie “La Soleil”, a bakery/sweet shop run by a young man named Kashou (the player surrogate and ) and his little sister Shigure. These two aren’t alone in running their baking business however, they’re aided by six cat/human hybrid girls who love nothing more than wearing skimpy outfits and being petted by Kashou, their “master” whom they serve as loyal “catpanions”. Throughout the game, the characters will get closer to one another as they serve the public sweet treats, partake in various silly antics and —for two of the catgirls— pursue their dreams of pop-stardom. Oh, and —who could forget?— the cat girls are also feverishly, uncontrollably attracted to the protagonist (and the player, by extension).

Don’t get the wrong idea, cat girls (who I think are technically minors, for what it’s worth) fawning over a dull male lead doesn’t so much “get me going” as much as it bores and discomforts me. However, I do sincerely believe that, for the right person, there is non-perverted value to be found in amongst NEKOPARA’s scenes of uncomfortable flirtation and borderline softcore pornography. You know how, in games like Animal Crossing, a lot of the appeal comes from the low-stakes friendliness of it all? How in our world full of fear, uncertainty and anger, there a few “chilled-out” titles that offer a figurative warm, cosy place to hide away? NEKOPARA really could be one of those titles: whole chunks of the story revolve around goofy activities like getting ice cream or going to a theme park; all the characters get along with minimal arguments that are ultimately inconsequential; and the whole thing is portrayed in an anime art style that —while not everyone’s cup of tea— is undeniably colourful and vibrant.

It’s just a crying shame that the whole Animal Crossing-esque vibe is ruined by constant sexual undertones and the overtly sexual climaxes of most chapters. I’m aware that the sexually-charged element of this game is the main attraction for most of its players, but I’m not a typical NEKOPARA player. In the end, I would have rather seen the characters just go out for ice cream rather than wind up licking it off each other’s faces. Call me old-fashioned, but I was left with a tangible “dirty” feeling by the end of each chapter: it was so blatantly pandering to a lonely male player’s fantasy; it all felt wrong.

The voice acting is in Japanese, so I can’t speak with authority about the quality of the voice performances. With that said, the performances could be Oscar-worthy and it still wouldn’t improve the eye-rolling, groan-inducing writing on display. The cat girls are fantasy anime girl-dolls brought to life and their dialogue reflects this to an almost painful extent. One early example that stood out involved a cat girl being questioned on what she wanted to do with her day, in response she cried out: “We want to be lovey-dovey with master all day long”. Need I say more?

Those familiar with visual novels will know that there will be no discussion of gameplay here, it’s a standard for the genre that gameplay mechanics are minimal-to-none. This game also offers zero player choice: every character interaction and plot point will play out in exactly the same way for every player. The one and only piece of interaction (short of pressing “A” to progress the dialogue) comes in the form of...erm, “stroking”. At almost any point, you can stop the plot’s progression and caress the anime-styled cat girls by rubbing the touch screen. I tried this out once, near the start, and never interacted with the feature again. I couldn’t… I just couldn’t.

NEKOPARA Vol. 3 is the quintessential example of how most anime fans don’t want the genre represented: it’s full of (morally ambiguous) oversexualisation, simplistic writing and blatant male pandering. There are some heart-warming themes of friendship and scenes of goofy fun that might appeal to someone looking for an optimistic gaming experience, but in many ways these only make the sexual scenes even less pleasant. NEKOPARA is a franchise for a very specific type of person, unfortunately, that’s just not me.