• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer: Idea Factory
• Publisher: Aksys Games
• Release Date: May 18, 2023

A review code was kindly provided by MMPR on behalf of Idea Factory and Aksys Games. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: This takes place in Japan in the early 1700’s, and mentions the way they punished their criminals. Edo’s red light district and brothels are also discussed.

Otome fans like myself are ecstatic at the amount of otome titles that have made their way to Switch as of late. (This trend will continue with games like Jack Jeanne and Charade Maniacs next month!) This month you can check out Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo, a story about a lonely young woman with powers that could prevent her country’s destruction.

The story is set in Japan in 1716 during the Kyōhō era. The people of Edo are terrified after constant monster attacks, and so the shogunate establishes the Oniwaban to calm and protect the people. Meanwhile, a young woman named Suzuno, who lives far away from the chaos in Edo, has been exiled from her village because the people there fear her power to predict disasters.

One day, some members of the Oniwaban appear with a summons from the shogun himself. Somehow they are aware that Suzuno possesses the ability to see what people are feeling, which helps her figure out when tensions are running high enough to cause monsters known as Blightfalls to appear.

There are obviously some more fantasy/supernatural elements to this fictional version of Edo. The Oniwaban exist solely to destroy the frightening Blightfall monsters plaguing Edo. Humans cannot get rid of the Blightfall, which is where beings known as Vessels come in.

Formfolk, which are “[beings] created when the soul within a tool used lovingly for many years gains its own form,” live alongside the humans whose emotions led to their creation. The Vessels who defend Edo from the Blightfall are similar to the Formfolk, as they are also created when a tool gains a soul; however, Vessels are specially created and modified with the power to fight the Blightfall. Their hearts and memories from before becoming a Vessel are sealed because someone with a heart and feelings is vulnerable to the Blightfall attacks.

Suzuno can’t see what the six love potential interests are feeling, which means that they are Vessels. And if they regain their heart or memories, they could be destroyed as tools that no longer serve their purpose. 😢 Can she help protect Edo and also find love without risking their well-being?

Entanglements in Edo

Suzuno will mostly encounter new faces as she builds a new life for herself in Edo, but she’ll also bump into some old friends. Her coworkers in the Oniwaban will make her feel at home – even the “emotionless” Vessel members. They all work in their assigned sections in Edo, and after you play through the Common Route chapters you’ll have to decide which area – and therefore which love interests – you’ll interact with for the rest of that playthrough. As is often the case in otome games, some endings and CGs are locked until you complete a specific route.

Samurai Town “Soldiers”

Tomonari

Tomonari Takamura is the first love interest Suzuno meets, as he is one of the Oniwaban that comes to escort her to Edo. He really cares about her well-being – even as an “emotionless” Vessel – but he doesn’t know why. Another member of the Oniwaban says that Tomonari’s consideration for Suzuno is somewhat out of character for him. I wasn’t expecting to like him as much as I did, but for me his route was the best overall in terms of the romance (and second best for the underlying storyline).

Kunitaka

Kunitaka Tojo is the other love interest who comes with Tomonari to get Suzuno. He’s higher-ranked than Tomonari, who is newer to the Oniwaban. I thought he would be a little bland because his description basically sums him up as the “nice guy” of the team; sometimes the nice guy character’s depiction isn’t as good as it could be. But I actually really liked Kunitaka! He is very kind, saving injured animals and running a school in his free time. Like Tomonari, he’s protective of Suzuno. The romance was very sweet, although the actual plot felt kind of weakly resolved in his good ending.

Castle Town “Kings”👑

Genjuro

Genjuro Kuga works as a castle watchman as his cover job for the Oniwaban. He’s quite duty-oriented, and he likes to observe people because he has trouble understanding how to interact with humans. His thoughts on serving as an Oniwaban are more pragmatic and kind of sad, as he seems to accept the possibility of being disposed of should he regain his memories and heart.

Suzuno gets to know him more while “working” for him as his servant as her public job. I did really like that Suzuno gets to fight by his side in his route because Yoichi is the other character in Castle Town, and he teaches her to fight. But I couldn’t really see the passion here. I didn’t dislike Genjuro, and, you know, he’s really pretty so… 😂 😘

Yoichi

Yoichi disguises himself as a citizen of Castle Town in order to collect information on the people and the events that happen there. He’s a little abrasive (described as lazy and moody), and is another character I thought I wouldn’t like at first because of his description and also the first few interactions with him. But I definitely changed my mind about him.

He apparently thinks of the way he should appear to react to get people to leave him alone. Yet a lot of women still really like him despite his prickly personality. (Animals also love him, which tends to be a very good sign!) Yoichi can cook (jackpot!), and reluctantly teaches Suzuno how to defend herself if you choose to work in Castle Town. I thought the Blightfall part of the plot was more interesting than it was in Kunitaka’s route, but I liked Kunitaka’s romance just a bit more.

Entertainment District Delights

Ohtaro

Ohtaro is a younger guy who collects information working as a “barker” bringing in customers in Edo’s Entertainment District. He’s not overly serious but at the same time, he’s not too carefree either. During some of the fight scenes, he comes up with some intelligent plans to use against the enemy. It was a nice surprise to have the more laidback guy think of these strategies. I liked that he is nice to Suzuno a lot, and he has an interesting past. However, I actually liked him more in other characters’ routes and not so much in his own. (The plot was much more interesting in his route, though.)

Kinji

Kinji plays the female roles in kabuki and tries to overhear any relevant information in the Entertainment District. He is an extremely popular actor – Suzuno actually gushes over how pretty he is to his face! Kinji is one of the older members of the Oniwaban, and he’s very strong. One of his pastimes included messing with people, and his newest target is Suzuno. I didn’t dislike him, but his route has an uncomfortable storyline in which Suzuno infiltrates the red light district. Similar to Genjuro, I didn’t really see the passion behind the romantic development.

Overall Otome Opinion

As is usually the case in otome, the love interests’ appeal varied, but I liked the majority of them. None of them had any major red flags for me. It may have been more interesting if there was a human or Formfolk thrown in as an option, but I enjoyed playing through each route anyways.

I really appreciated that the love interests were paired up in their patrol sections to allow us have a little more screen time with the other guy before the common route changes to a specific route. I also liked the way that they changed from Suzuno’s perspective to that of the guys or another third party sometimes.

A Strong Suzuno & Supportive Cast

What really made me happy was that Suzuno wasn’t just a damsel in distress waiting for the male Oniwaban to save her or the civilians. She may be a newbie to the organization, but she’s willing to overcome her mental and physical discomfort to help keep the people of Edo safe. Suzuno asks to be taught to fight – and learns to – in certain routes, but even in the routes where she doesn’t learn to fight she still does her best to take charge in emergencies and help civilians evacuate.

Although she still freezes up on occasion, in my opinion she does exceptionally well for a former civilian. In addition, Suzuno seems fairly intelligent and perceptive, often making important connections that help solve the cases. She’s got a lot of good traits – and strong otome heroines like her make me ridiculously happy.

And speaking of strengths, I thought that the side characters were also done quite well. It was great having Miharu as Suzuno’s confidant, and the higher ranking members of the Oniwaban are good to Suzuno. The Oniwaban members are serious when it comes to protecting Edo, but even in intelligence briefings there tends to be a brief moment of comic relief to help cut the tension.

And Komame the sparrow is an adorable little mascot character who also brings some laughs. This isn’t a comedic otome, but it was nice to have those moments in between the frightening occurrences in Edo.

Features

Beautiful character and background art, an excellent soundtrack, and Japanese voice actors help bring these characters and their stories to life. They included a feature where you can decrease the volume of individual characters or even turn off that voice completely if you want. I never felt the need to do that though, as all of the voices worked well.

The “Exhibits” section fleshes out the characters and their version of Edo even more. They included interesting tidbits about Japanese culture in the story – such as tea ceremony etiquette – and there’s a glossary to explain any unfamiliar terms that pop up as well.

Of course there is also a CG gallery, music, and movies. Once you complete the true ending for a character you unlock the “Extras” section, which includes basic information such as their age, birthday, hobbies, and more, along with their character art and a special CG!

In Summary:

Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo is an otome with great characters and a decent plot. I do think that the story could have been stronger in certain routes, and the explanations on how the Vessels broke the seals on their hearts and memories were a little weak. The romance and story worked for me overall though. The script was handled well and only had a handful of minor typos. If you’re looking for an otome where the story has just enough darkness but not so much that it’s overwhelming, this could work well for you.

8.5/10