• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical; digital version currently on sale for $42.49 until July 11th)
• Developer/Publisher: Idea Factory
• Release Date: June 27, 2023

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

Content warning: kidnapping, offscreen bodily harm/death, betrayal, kissing under duress, etc.

Charade Maniacs caught my attention due to its premise as well as an impressive number of love interests. In the year 2148, a teenage girl named Hiyori is walking home from school one day with her best friend Tomose. Out of nowhere, an ominous figure appears, and everything goes dark. Upon waking, Hiyori and Tomose discover that they, along with eight other people, have been kidnapped to participate in a twisted game.

They’re told that they’ve been taken to a place known as Arcadia, or the “Other World,” a so-called “utopia” in which dreams come true. The mysterious figure(s) behind their abduction make them act out drama scripts for viewers in Arcadia. These scripts range from romantic dramas to more sinister murder dramas. Acting in each stream will earn (or lose) them points, which can be used to request something in Arcadia, or possibly a way home.

Apparently, the “Other World Stream” is part of an ongoing plot. They usually have an even split of 5 men and 5 women, but this time Hiyori is the only woman for some reason. The romantic dramas are pretty awkward and painful to watch – especially the ones with required kiss scenes.

Forcing the cast members to kiss each other under duress is bad enough, but it gets worse. It seems that all of the previous casts may have died in the stream. If someone refuses to perform, they receive some sort of punishment such as losing function in a body part. Continued refusals or severe enough infractions result in death.

And Hiyori and her new companions have more than being kidnapped as a reason to not comply; the murder dramas require that they actually commit the act of violence listed in the script. The damage may not be permanent in the physical sense in this world, but it certainly takes its toll on the cast’s mental states. Naturally, some of them refuse to cause even reversible harm and so they get punished.

You’d think that all of this would be bad enough already…but wait! There’s more! Among each group of ten cast members, one of them is supposedly the “Producer” behind everything. The rules state that if the cast successfully discovers who they are, everyone goes free. But, they only get one guess, and if they’re wrong, it’s game – and life – over.

So you wonder: Is there one traitor? Two? Three? All of them? None of them? In between the stressful streams, the group often argues over whether or not they should trust each other. Eventually, the household dynamics settle down a little, and they split into 3 groups: information gathering, cleaning, and cooking.

A town of sorts was set up outside of their housing. There’s a library, park, school, and more. When they aren’t acting, they’re allowed limited freedom throughout these areas. They try to investigate the strange Arcadians, their surroundings, unknown rules, and who the traitor(s) could be. It’s fair to say that Hiyori and the guys are in for a rough time.

Hiyori always tries to see the best in people, which is a good thing in theory. In Arcadia, though, it has the potential to be quite dangerous. As you play through each route, you’ll get to know each of the 9 love interests and figure out what role – if any – they play in the stream.

Real Dating Drama

As the only girl living with nine guys, Hiyori is fortunate that none of them seem like total creeps. Sometimes a few of the guys say or do something that could border on sexual harassment, but all of them at least appear to be fairly kind to Hiyori on the surface. Anyways, I liked a few of the love interests much better than others.

Kind of spoiler-ish note (copy & paste the black text to read it):

Apparently there are several locked characters that require another character route to be completed before theirs is unlocked.

Considering their character traits, I think I liked Kyoya, Mamoru, Mei, and Mizuki the best out of the love interests. I had mixed feelings about Keito and Souta, but I didn’t respond well to the rest as far as their “romances” were concerned. Tomose was my least favorite character due to his many red flags. 🚩

An issue I had was that five or six of the guys get the much-dreaded (to me) sibling/other family member comparison at one point or another. Or they’ll say it to Hiyori. “You’re like a brother to me.” “Oh, you’re like a sister to me.” “You remind me of <family member>.” And then they develop feelings for each other. I know they’re not actually related to one another, but this trope always makes me uncomfortable anyway. I can tolerate it if one or two routes use it, but when two-thirds of them do so it’s not my favorite.

I also took issue with how often the story emphasizes Hiyori’s status as an older sister. She has several younger siblings in her real life. It seemed like they made that a huge part of her identity, and she worries about everyone all the time “because she’s a big sister.” There’s one point where she says: “But wouldn’t you want someone to worry about you sometimes to the point that you find it annoying? I think that’s love!” That sounds a little overbearing to me, personally…

Hiyori just wasn’t my favorite character for reasons like that, and she is also way too naïve and forgiving. When the guys try to caution her against being too trusting in Arcadia, she doesn’t seem to take much of their advice. And she makes too many justifications for bad behaviors.

That’s not to say that the cast is all bad, though. I did get some enjoyment out of their interactions when they weren’t engaged in one of their squabbles about who the traitor(s) could be. Although the circumstances behind their stay in Arcadia are frightening, there are still times where they can relax and have fun. I thought the cooking team, consisting of Takumi, Keito, and Mizuki, had the most humorous interactions.

The ideas behind the plot are really intriguing, too. I don’t want to say too much to avoid giving away any spoilers, but I liked where they went with it. You need to complete all of the endings in order to get the full story; you’ll find out more about each character’s backstory and if they have anything to do with the stream.

For me, most of the individual routes did not have entirely satisfactory endings, coming off as anticlimactic and abrupt. But when you’ve experienced every ending, they do work well to explain the events surrounding the stream.

As much as I liked a lot of the guys, I think that the story would have fared better with a slightly reduced cast and a lengthier plot. There are usually only seven short-ish common route chapters, and then a single chapter to focus on the love interest. I think we needed more time with each love interest, too.

It often seemed like relationship development consisted of “insta-love” given that there’s only one chapter for the love interest. We do get to find out more about character backgrounds, but I’m just not sure if there’s enough to justify feelings of love.

The common route could feel a little scattered, with a combination of: a handful of dramas acted out, investigations, chores, arguments, getting to know the other cast members, and a few leisure activities. I think that with the common route being on the shorter side, they also really overused flashbacks – especially the ones for scenes that pretty much just happened.

Although I took issue with the pacing and character development, I will say that the localization was well done. I appreciated the overarching plot when all of the endings came together and you finally discover the origins of the Other World Stream. It’s tragic, traumatic, and messed up in a fascinating, “can’t look away” kind of way. I was also mesmerized by the lovely character art and backgrounds, and the soundtrack suits the mood of the scenes pretty well.

Your response to Charade Maniacs will depend on your enjoyment of more suspenseful stories with themes of betrayal, as well as the kind of main character you prefer in an otome; Hiyori simply didn’t go over well with me. I liked a lot of the ideas behind everything, and think it’s a good effort – it just wasn’t my favorite otome due to my personal preferences on character and romance development.

7/10