• Price: $9.99 USD
• Developer: Guarida Games Studio
• Publisher: Gammera Nest
• Release Date: October 13, 2023

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

Kittengumi: The Sakabato’s Thief caught my attention for several reasons. First of all, I may have cats and dogs, but I consider myself more of a cat person. I found the art appealing, and then they had to go and add additional weaknesses of mine: the visual novel genre and puns!

The story is set in an alternative version of Japan with anthropomorphized animal characters (they talk, walk upright, and wield weapons). Our heroes are the Kittengumi, a group of samurai who defend the weak. Hilariously, their headquarters is located in “Nyedo,” a play on words combining “Nyan” – the Japanese equivalent of “meow” – with the city of “Edo.”

The purr-otagonist protagonist of this tail tale is Ryuudama, a young orphaned cat taken in by the Kittengumi. Although he is young, his skill with a sword is undeniable, and he hopes to one day become the captain of his own division in the Kittengumi. Ryuudama’s best friend Kumaneko, who is totally-a-cat-and-not-a-panda, hopes that he can become a part of that dream too.

A week before a big tournament is held among the Kittengumi, someone steals the prizes! One of the prizes is the titular Sakabato, a reverse-edged katana used for defensive purposes; the Kittengumi consider it a sacred item. The leader of the Kittengumi asks Ryuudama and Kumaneko – two rookies – to find the culprit, supposedly because everyone in the upper ranks are busy with more “high priority” missions.

As you read the story, sometimes you must decide what Ryuudama and Kumaneko will do. There are 10 endings for you to experience. I really appreciate the way that the “scene select” menu shows you which scenes contain the decisions that lead to each ending.

I did have an issue with the endings themselves, though. To me, it did feel like several endings were almost exactly the same but with very minor differences (such as where those events occurred). The bad endings came as a surprise after I witnessed a few with better outcomes. I like that they included bad endings because it shook things up a bit. I just think that perhaps they could have decreased the number of endings and focused on a set of more detailed endings with more varied storylines.

The story was translated from Spanish, which is evident due to a few missed Spanish words here and there. Some character names were left untranslated from Spanish, such as “Esbirro no. 1,” or “henchman number 1.” (That was never included in my vocab lists for Spanish class, but it’s a neat word.)

I think that overall the English translation is okay. I understood everything that was said. Sometimes it is a little awkward, with a character shouting, “Beware!” instead of a more natural sounding, “Look out!” Characters frequently use the wrong gender for other characters, switching between “he” and “she.” In addition, there are a handful of typos here and there, such as, “Goda Nekondo is the current leader of the Kinttengumi.”

Even with the linguistic issues, though, I still liked a lot of the ideas within the story, and I even got a few laughs from the character interactions. Kumaneko the panda cat believing that all cats crave bamboo was so silly. The art style with the adorable kitties might make you think that the story will be completely lighthearted. However, there are darker themes in both the good and bad endings, and if you care about swearing, some nya-ughty cats use “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “p*ss*d off.” I don’t think there’s a lot of it, but it is there.

After Ryuudama and the Kittengumi complete their investigation and beat up the bad guy(s), I don’t know if I’d say that the purr-petrators’ perpetrators’ motives were clear enough for me. But they did add some interesting details to both the story, character backgrounds, and the art. They reference the Egypt-associated Sphynx cats setting traps like the ones depicted in stories about pyramids, for example. And it was nice to see the different interactions between the cats, dogs, foxes, rats, and the occasional panda.

The soundtrack really suited the mood and environment in each scene, in my opinion. And the character designs and the backgrounds are some of the game’s greatest strengths. I think that there’s a lot of potential here. It’s a great concept, and apparently this is “the first of a collection of visual novels that tell different stories starring the members of this group.” If they polish the translation a bit more and focus on less endings (but with lengthier storylines) next time, I can really see this being successful. I know I can definitely see the Kittengumi having an Animeow Anime and Meownga Manga.