• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer/Publisher: Idea Factory
• Release Date: October 15, 2024

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

Content warning: Rated T for “fantasy violence, language, mild blood, mild suggestive themes.” Contains “mild jumpscares, violent imagery, and discussion of suicide.” Kidnapping, stalking

Just in time for Halloween, Idea Factory has brought 9 R.I.P., an occult-themed otome, to Nintendo Switch. Under pressure from her mother to become a doctor, high schooler Misa Isshiki is having trouble deciding what she wants to do with her life. Her occult-obsessed best friend tells her stories about supernatural phenomena. She says that their town is notorious for people getting “spirited away,” and those who are struggling – like Misa – are the most likely victims.

SuperNaturally, this means that depending on your choices, Misa will indeed be spirited away. There are 4 pairs of love interests whose individual stories unfold in different parts of the spirit world. Some routes take place in a frightening spirit plane version of Misa’s school, while others focus on events in the Mortal Realm or Hell.

Everyone has a Heavenly ending, which is kind of happy in a bittersweet way, and a Godly ending, which can still be bittersweet but also happier than the Heavenly ending. Each love interest has a different number of bad endings as well.

School “Spirit”

Misa’s high school is rumored to have “Seven Wonders,” with spooky ghost stories about potentially malevolent spirits lurking in the building.

Kureha

Kureha is the first spirit we meet in the game. His appearance frightens Misa at first – especially after hearing the rumors about him – but he’s a really nice guy. Besides Kureha and another love interest character, there are other spirits wandering around the school, some of whom are friendlier (and safer) than others.

If you make the wrong decisions, Misa might meet her end at the hands of evil spirits. The warped version of her school is the creepiest setting in the game, in my opinion. You get to learn more about Kureha’s tragic backstory, as well as the history of the high school.

While I liked Kureha well enough, I think the romance was kind of rushed. I found his backstory more interesting than his relationship with Misa. I should mention that most of the game’s “happier” endings aren’t really happy in the traditional sense, and that’s certainly true for Kureha’s route. I was also disappointed here because I didn’t think Misa was able to resolve her uncertainty about her future in this route.

Hibiki

Hibiki is the other love interest in the school environment. I figured out that he was “emotionally unstable,” as another character describes him, pretty early on. I’ve never been a fan of yandere types, so I knew Hibiki would end up towards the bottom of the list for me.

His past is connected to events in some other love interests’ lives, though; I like those guys, so it was at least nice to see more about them through Hibiki. (There’s also a messed up yet funny scene with Kureha in later chapters of Hibiki’s storyline.) The school-based routes were just okay for me, but the next love interests were definitely an improvement in my eyes.

Friendly Ghosts

Koyo

Koyo is my favorite love interest in the game. (Koyo is best “boy-o.”) He’s a cute tsundere who I totally thought was some kind of J-Pop idol at first based on his hair and clothing. 😂 I was instantly intrigued by where the story was going in his route – for both Misa and Koyo’s side of the story.

Misa finds him a little irksome at times, but overall Koyo is a kind, protective guy who is very easily embarrassed by compliments. I really like how he tries to help people, and he’s sweet to Misa. The romantic development felt slower – in a good way – even though it happens in the same amount of time as the other routes.

There are some good plot twists I didn’t see coming in Koyo’s story. I was happy that we got to see more scenes with Yui (another female character), and Koyo is friends with Sena, another love interest. I really enjoyed the romance, friendships, and overarching storyline in Koyo’s route. It made up for Kureha and Hibiki’s okay routes.

Sena

Sena’s route has the same neat plot twist as Koyo’s storyline before their common route branches out into their individual stories. Koyo dealt with a messed up situation, but Sena’s story leans more towards the tragic side of things.

I liked him, but similar to several other love interests, he seemed to fall in love with Misa way too quickly. That being said, his route still evoked a stronger emotional response than Kureha or Hibiki’s routes.

“Devilishly” Handsome

Minami

Although Minami was one of my least favorite love interests, I found that I didn’t dislike him as much as I thought I would. He’s better than Hibiki in some ways, and worse than him in others. His story takes place in Hell for the most part; he’s an obsessive, possessive, sadistic love interest. The romance and “best” Godly ending felt rushed. But he does have some redeeming qualities and scenes.

Seiya

Seiya is a contender for my second favorite love interest. He’s a self-described hopeless romantic who likes to deliberately misinterpret what people say as romantic. (But not in a creepy predatory way.) Some of the other love interests aren’t as likable in routes besides their own, but I was fond of Seiya in every route he appeared in.

He’s helped many of the characters in 9 R.I.P., and is very protective of Misa even when he isn’t in love with her. My only real complaints about him are that his better endings aren’t as happy as they could have been, and once he’s together with Misa he gets a bit possessive.

Slice of Life

Yukimaro & Koharu’s Routes, and there’s a secret ending after you’ve played through everyone else’s routes

Yukimaro

Yukimaro is a guardian spirit in training who has attached himself to Misa. His storyline takes place in the Mortal Realm, and he shares a common route with Koharu (below). The interactions between Misa and the spirits are hilarious in these routes. We also get to see much more of Misa’s family and friends.

To become a full guardian spirit, Yukimaro needs to make Misa happy. He comes off as a little childish sometimes, but he manages to help Misa when she struggles with her loved ones and her hopes for the future. It’s a shame that he gets less endings than the other love interests, but he’s certainly an entertaining character.

Koharu

The second tsundere, Koharu is the other guy I’m considering for my second favorite love interest. I loved the way he reacted to everything; he seems a bit prickly, but is incredibly considerate on the inside. His connection with another character was cool to see, and helped flesh out his background more.

Koharu’s Godly ending wasn’t very satisfying, but it wasn’t too bad. Like Yukimaro, he has less endings than other love interests. But I liked how kind he was to others, and there are some neat details about Japanese mythology in his route.

Overall Otome Opinion

9 R.I.P. isn’t my favorite otome ever, but I still think it’s pretty decent. My main issues were the pacing, an uneven distribution of endings for each love interest, and I wish there were more traditionally happy endings in the game.

On the plus side, I appreciated the inclusion of different Japanese urban myths – even the ones I was already familiar with. Thematically speaking, the game is more serious due to the nature of the paranormal phenomena, yet there are still some funny moments here and there. Some players may be a little disappointed with the “horror” aspect of the game, as I didn’t find it overly scary. (I was okay with this!)

I was happy that they gave us some variation in the routes’ settings, and that they occasionally switched to the love interests’ points of view. The antagonists also differed across routes; on some occasions another love interest might act as the aggressor!

Usually I’m not a fan of otome with more than maybe 5 or 6 love interests. I think that often makes it difficult to produce quality content. However, despite some of my concerns, I think they actually did a decent job writing stories for nearly 10 love interests!

The art was also fantastic in my opinion, and I liked it even more after I found out the artist also worked on Cupid Parasite (which is pretty much the complete opposite in terms of the atmosphere). The gallery section includes the game’s gorgeous CGs, but it also has a voice section with additional voiced lines from the cast.

Between the story content and the extras, 9 R.I.P. has a lot to offer otome fans, with an estimated ~60 hours of play time according to the Visual Novel Database. I hope they localize the sequel at some point, as one is being made apparently.

8/10