• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer: Otomate
• Publisher: Aksys Games
• Release Date: April 4, 2024

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 warnings: Rated T for “Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Sexual Themes, Language, Fantasy Violence, and Blood.”The game discusses the Buddhist concepts of Heaven and Hell, torturing sinners in Hell, as well as the sins that got them there. Reader discretion is advised.

I really liked the trailer for Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-; the opening theme is incredibly catchy, and the art is vibrant and lovely. (Tamao the adorable kitty mascot makes it even more appealing!) When it comes to the game’s premise, the Olympia Soirée team at Otomate decided to make it a “comedic battle fantasy” in which the adopted daughter of King Enma takes a team of “model prisoners” to the Human Realm to recapture some escaped prisoners from Hell.

Plotting Prisoners

Rin Enma recently became a provisional Hell Guardian, a job requiring her to administer different punishments (a.k.a. torture) to prisoners based on their infractions in their lifetimes. She despises men after seeing the absolute worst of them in Hell, and is 100% on board with punishing them for their sins. Only the strong-willed souls can withstand being tortured for a long time.

So-called “Model Prisoners” are those who have supposedly repented for their sins, yet they remain in the Hell Realm. They’re trusted enough to work in the Human Realm, where humans are aware that Hell really exists. The Asakusa Special Ward connects the Human Realm with the Hell Realm, and allows prisoners to work in the Human Realm to generate income for Hell. (The overall commercialization of Hell in this game is pretty hilarious.)

Now, several Not-So-Model-Prisoners decided to prove they belonged in Hell by cheating their way out and escaping to the Human Realm. The ridiculously flamboyant and zany King Enma tasks Rin with taking four trusted Model Prisoners to the Human Realm to bring back the escapees.

Rin and her all-male prisoners will live together in a house in the Asakusa Special Ward. Of course the guys act like model prisoners for King Enma, but once in the Human Realm they dismiss Rin’s authority. The 7 Common Route chapters consist of the group getting used to living together, familiarizing themselves with Asakusa, and learning about the escapees’ current situation.

After completing the Common Route, you then select which love interest’s route you want to play through first. Only 3 of the 5 routes are available from the start, and you must unlock the last two by playing the other routes. The majority of the love interests’ routes contain 14 chapters beyond the Common Route, and I think each one is a fairly decent length.

They each have one good ending and one bad ending. I was very pleased that the game tells you if a dialogue choice made the love interest happy. If you make the wrong choice, you can just rewind to choose the right one.

I liked that they only wrote two endings for each character, as that allowed them to concentrate their efforts on them rather than splitting their attention across three or four. Each bad ending unlocks an Extra Stage, and in an intriguing twist on the usual otome formula, the extra chapter for each love interest often lessens the blow of the bad ending.

Hellish Hotties 🔥

I was wondering if there would be any yandere guys since the game is about Hell and sins, but it doesn’t seem like any of them are too bad. (Sometimes consent wasn’t clearly established, but I don’t think anything was non-consensual between Rin and the guys.) I’d say that 4/5 love interests are kind of tsundere. The group gets off to a rough start, but I came to love these devilish dudes.

Goemon

Although Goemon comes from the lowest layer of the Eight Great Hells for committing pretty much every sin, I found him to be the most reasonable guy in the house. He’s probably the least hostile towards Rin in the beginning.

His route includes some interesting side character subplots that build up to an unexpected twist at the end. The good ending was a bit cheesy, but I still liked his route. (Bonus points for the chest-baring shirt! 😍😂)

Yona

Yona’s sin was “destruction of life” (murder), and he’s definitely got a rough exterior. He’s impulsive and quick to start fights. That being said, Yona is more sensitive than he seems.

I warmed up to him for a few reasons, including his hobbies and love of animals. (His “frenemy” relationship with Tamao made me laugh a lot.) The only downside in his route is that I didn’t feel like much happened with the escapees. But I liked him, and he gets bonus points for the adorable freckles.

Sharaku

Sharaku committed “perverse acts” as well as murder to get to Hell. I was initially kind of wary of him because I didn’t know if his “perverse acts” were consensual sins or not. Thankfully he’s in the clear there. But his route wasn’t terribly romantic, as it seemed like the lead-up to his relationship with Rin just had him constantly propositioning her.

Rin developing feelings for Sharaku as soon as she did didn’t make much sense based on their interactions up to that point – especially since he’s dismissive of her position as a Hell Guardian. (His frequent sarcastic remarks are pretty funny, though.) On the plus side, his route does a better job of balancing his background with the escapee plot.

Kikunosuke

As a thief, Kikunosuke is arguably the weakest sinner of the four prisoners on the team. I think he’s just precious, and his special ability makes him even cuter in my eyes. The main antagonist and storyline in his route weren’t as strong as those in other routes. However, his personality and hobbies made him one of my favorite love interests in the game.

JacK

JacK is the only love interest who isn’t a prisoner from Hell. I thought he would be one of my favorites based on his character design alone. His backstory had potential, but ultimately I felt that that potential was squandered.

It makes sense that we don’t see as much of him as the others since he doesn’t live with Rin like they do, but there wasn’t enough focus on JacK in his own route. I was more confused by Rin falling for him than I was about Sharaku. JacK’s bad ending is bizarre and completely out of left field. The best part of his route for me was that Rin’s Team Has Opinions On Him.

Side Character Squad

I adored the gradual sense of camaraderie that developed among Rin and her prisoners in every route. And they also did a great job managing a fairly large cast of side characters. Despite Rin’s initial dislike of humans, she ends up befriending characters from the Human Realm as well as Heaven and Hell.

Tamao is Rin’s talking cat, and he’s one of my favorite otome mascots ever. He may be small and cute, but he’s also very loyal and protective of Rin. His methods of protecting her are a hysterical running joke across routes.

King Enma would have to be another one of my favorite characters due to his energetic, over-exaggerated personality. He’s not how I’d picture the King of Hell, but he’s the King of Hell I didn’t know I needed.

I was impressed that they were able to establish backgrounds for most of the side characters. My only complaint about the side characters is that we don’t get to learn as much about characters from the Heaven Realm. We also don’t learn anything about the Asura, Beast, or Starving Ghost Realms.

Myths & Merch

I think they put a lot of effort into fleshing out most of the realms, though. Tamao gives a couple of lectures on the levels of Hell and the sins assigned to each one. They even go into Hell’s intake process, the different types of torture for each sin, and the reincarnation cycle.

The subject of Hell is pretty grim, but that doesn’t mean King Enma is against fun (or funDs)! Hell makes money from the Asakusa Special Ward, with a bunch of silly Hell and King Enma-themed products like plushies, apps, and more. (I want the King Enma plush!) I appreciate the thought that went into these items.

Writing Woes

For the most part, the writing was pretty good. I will say that there were a surprising amount of typos and missing words here and there. (I.e.“You’ll keep an eye them…” is missing “on.”) I also found it odd that Rin calls Ono no Takamura “Sensei Nono,” as I’m used to hearing “Sensei” by itself or after the name.

When it comes to the actual story writing, I thought it could have been a little stronger. My main issue was the team’s lack of urgency in apprehending the escapees. While Rin and her prisoners do go out on patrols in the Asakusa Special Ward, it feels like they walk around at a leisurely pace. They focused more on developing the romance.

I also don’t know if they do the best job of changing Rin’s relationships with the guys at a natural pace. Despite her claim that she hates men, she seems awfully polite and considerate of them even when they first start living together. I thought she got over her hatred of men rather quickly.

The escapee plot resolution varied in each route, with some characters having stronger escapee plot lines than others. Although the story wasn’t perfect, I still adored the cast. This has a much more wholesome – perhaps even a little cheesy – environment than I thought it would. I was not expecting to laugh this much in a game about Hell.

Art & Extras

The art is definitely one of my favorite parts of the game; the character designs and backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous! They did an equally good job with the audio, both with the Japanese voice acting and with the soundtrack. The opening and closing themes are some of the best I’ve heard recently.

You can watch/listen to them again in the Extras section, which includes a ton of bonus material. There are brief biographies written by both the main and side characters, and a lot of shorter scenes and interviews with the characters. These scenes were extremely entertaining, and I was impressed with the extra content.

Overall Otome Opinion

Tengoku Struggle -Strayside- is a hilarious otome that makes light of an otherwise serious subject. Most characters have tragic and violent backgrounds, but don’t come into this expecting doom and gloom. The overarching story didn’t feel fleshed out enough, and the romance seemed to develop too quickly. However, within that story is a cast of likable characters in an interesting setting. I’d recommend this if you’re okay with darker humor and need to laugh.

8/10