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lunas-otome-blog · 4 months

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Luna's Review: Hamefura Pirates

(The full game title is: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! ~The Pirate Who Summons Trouble)

Official Summary:

Katarina Claes was reborn as a villainous daughter in an otome game when she hit her head and regained memories of her previous life. She struggled to safely a destruction end and seize a happy future. Sure…. A romantic comedy of avoiding destruction flags is now available as an otome game. The stage of the game is the luxury liner, and the doom flag is a “pirate”?! This is the beginning of a new bad end avoidance story.

(Spoiler Free) Luna's Thoughts

As a fan of the Hamefura franchise, most notably the anime, I felt this game fits right in! The simple cel-shaded art, while not as exquisite as is custom in many otoges, looks like the anime, and the characters blink and move their mouths when they talk, creating the illusion of an anime.

Catarina is a rare protagonist in that she's not meant to be a fill-in for the player; she's her own character with her own backstory. As such, you're not allowed to change her name, and she's fully voiced, which is a rare treat.

They do expect you to be familiar with the anime and reference events in it several times. While it's not a prerequisite, there's not a ton of expose in the beginning and you're pretty much thrown into it without any backstory. I've seen both the animes so this didn't bother me, and in fact I would have gotten bored with a lot of unnecessary background, so I was pleased with this.

If you're expecting a heavy, serious otome game, this is not it. "Pirates of the Disturbance" is light and silly, and you get the sense that nobody is ever in any real danger. With the exception of the two game-only characters, there's little backstory to uncover for the romanceable characters because, again, the game assumes you're already familiar with them.

I would actually not recommend this game for those who aren't already fans of Hamefura. The fun of this game is in watching Bakarina fall in love and choose someone, which is something that is probably not going to happen in the main series. It's not a particularly involved game beyond that.

I had some hesitation about including two new characters as romance options, but Rozy and Silva actually fit right in and I loved both of them pretty quickly. I think Silva was actually my favorite character in the game.

The game has four different ending types: doom, another, good and happy. You have to pick pretty much all the correct options to get the "happy" ending, so they're difficult to obtain first go. If you don't want to skip through a whole route again, you can go to the final chapter using the chapter menu and set affection to high, and then you'll only have a few choices to get right. Some of the good endings are on par or (imho) better than the happy endings, so definitely try to get all of them!

Overall, I loved this game! It's light, fluffy and a nice companion to the Hamefura anime.

My route order recommendation is Geordo -> Nicol -> Keith -> Alan -> Rozy -> Silva.

Please find below my thoughts on each route in the order I played them. Spoilers ahead!

(Spoilers) Mary/Sophia/Maria Route

Okay so this isn't technically a route but it's what you get if you avoid picking a boy and just flirt with the girls and focus on eating the whole time. It abruptly ends the game pretty early on.

This was the first end I got because I wanted to see what would happen if I just let Catarina be herself. While I wish the girls had a more fleshed out route (or better yet, individual routes) I understand that Hamefura has never been a yuri series.

While I get that Sophia ships Catarina with her brother, and Maria's intentions may be closer to friendship, Mary's feelings are 100% romantic. This is confirmed in the anime and in the game, and she has always been on par with the men in the aspect of competing with Catarina's affections. So I would have liked to see Mary get a whole route for herself.

That said, I'm glad Catarina got a little time with the girls before getting to the boys.

(Spoilers) Geordo Route

Geordo is my least favorite boy in the main cast, so I did his route first. It ended up being a good choice, as his route was not particularly interesting.

There is a certain satisfaction of Catarina falling in love with her own fiance, but beyond that, this route isn't really substantial. Geordo confesses to Catarina, she struggles with it for a while, and then they get together. In one of the "another" endings, if you choose to avoid Geordo during a strategy meeting, he straight up kidnaps Catarina and bribes her with food and romance novels to stay with him forever lol. What trash.

Considering how tame these pirates seem to be, combined with the fact that they aren't allowed to harm the main cast, you never really feel concern for anyone in this route. You do get to see Geordo engage in a cool swordfight with Silva, and Catarina even gets to help out a little.

I think this route could have been improved with a little more angst, and the writers actually created a scenario that could have worked ... only to end it almost immediately. When Georgo confesses to Catarina, he claims that he's been pretending to like the rest of the group since childhood. This greatly upsets the pure-hearted Catarina, who just wants everyone to stay friends forever.

There were so many ways this could have provided for more conflict. Maybe Geordo had convinced himself that was the case and his friends needed to show him that their friendship was real. Maybe Geordo could take some needling to admit he likes the rest of the group. But the game just resolves it with Geordo immediately apologizing and coming clean to Catarina. It felt like they rushed what should have been the main arc of this route.

Overall, Geordo's route was predictable and standard. If you like the princely type, it might be for you, but I wasn't super excited about him.

(Spoilers) Nicol Route

Nicol's route is immediately more involved, with the introduction of a mysterious woman. You also get a lot more intro to Rozy. Overall, it felt longer and more composed than Geordo's route.

Geordo is Catarina's fiance, so there wasn't really any conflict with him liking Catarina other than her own obliviousness. But that's not so with Nicol (or any other character) who spends most of the route trying not to act on his feelings for Catarina. This sets up some delicious angst as Catarina doesn't understand why Nicol is drifting away from her.

Add in a mysterious Catarina double and a curse and you've got a much more interesting route than Geordo's. It keeps you on your toes. The correct choices are not always obvious.

I do think the witch/curse plotline was rushed, and the way they come into the information that saves the day is a little too easy. My biggest gripe is that this route didn't have to involve Nicol at all. If the point was to make Geordo jealous because Geordo resembles the prince who slighted the witch, then it didn't have to be Nicol who was affected. It would have been so easy to have Nicol be the distant relative of the prince or something and make it a role only he could play.

I also didn't get why Rozy confessed in this route. He's so nice to you and it was really heartbreaking to have to reject him. I guess the point was to allow Catarina to realize her feelings for Nicol are special, but I don't think this needed to come at the expense of Rozy's feelings. This doesn't happen in any other route. And now I have to deal with the fact that Rozy probably likes Catarina in every route. *cries*

There is also the existential dread when you realize that Catarina's original self (before she regains her memories of a past life) might be locked away inside of her. But let's not think about that lol.

That said, this route was a good length, the pacing was alright, and Catarina actually gets to do a lot, even if the debates inside her head are largely useless. She's an idiot so this checks out.

I love the "good" ending scene with Sophia proudly declaring she will never marry if Catarina becomes her sister-in-law. The Ascart siblings are truly a two-for-one deal and I am living for it. The "happy" ending was also lovely because you get to see Geordo being nice for once, telling Nicol he's glad it was him and not some rando Catarina fell for. Also Nicol's dad loves Catarina so much — it's so cute!

(Spoilers) Alan Route

Like Nicol, Alan is not supposed to like Catarina, but his angst is even deeper because she's his brother's fiancee AND he has his own fiancee. This is set in a slightly different timeline than the anime, but Alan and Mary still have their agreement where they stay engaged to avoid other attention while knowing they are both in love with someone else (though neither knows they have the same love interest lol) so you get some extra Mary in this route.

Alan and Mary are shown to be great friends who care a lot about each other, which is super sweet. You'll also get some extra Mary backstory and a confirmation that her feelings for Catarina are indeed romantic, and they even sort of get together in one of the normal endings. I really wish she got a proper route.

Anyway, back to Alan. He's the tsundere of the Hamefura world, so of course I was excited to play his route. And his tsundere nature does not disappoint. While his route does explore some fairly typical anime tropes, such as accidental kisses, hiding in closets together, et cetera, Alan's adorable reactions make it worthwhile.

I adore Liliana, the original character who has a super cute design. I found her faith in her husband very sweet, and she's a badass fighter, too.

Alan's route was the best paced out of all I had played thus far, and it builds up to a really nice ending scene where he asks Catarina to forget he confessed to her. Catarina, of course, refuses, and asks Alan to give her time to sort out her own feelings. It was all going so well and I figured it would all resolve in the after ending.

The Alan "good" ending is a total disappointment, so make sure you don't stop there. You find out that while Catarina and Alan have been meeting up secretly at school, there hasn't been any progress in their relationship at all. Catarina hasn't been able to end her engagement to Geordo, and neither Geordo nor Mary take her feelings for Alan seriously. Worst of all, Catarina herself isn't sure if she's in love with Alan or not.

In the "happy" ending, however, he does finally get the girl and their engagement is confirmed. Alan is still treated kind of poorly, however, as you find out Geordo and Mary, and possibly others, have been sabotaging Catarina's chance to confess. Geordo does finally relent, but not without first telling Catarina that he did truly love her. It was a sincere moment but why did it have to come during my lovely tsundere's finest moment? It was kind of a dampener on what would otherwise have been a pretty nice ending. I feel like the makers of this game might have something against Alan.

(Spoilers) Keith Route

I left Keith's route for the last of the main cast, because he's probably got the hardest time of all when it comes to romantic chances with Catarina. While they're not biologically related, he is Catarina's brother legally, and Catarina is also the most comfortable around Keith compared to all the other characters. I figured his route would be full of sweet, sweet angst and wanted to play it later.

For storytelling purposes, I'd actually recommend playing Keith's route before Alan's. The main villain in both stories is more or less the same, but you get more on a certain character in Alan's route. Having played Alan's route already, it felt like an oversimplification because I already knew more than I was supposed to.

That said, I have very little criticism for Keith's route. It was romantic, well-paced and, unlike Alan's route, Catarina is decisively into him. She even comes to terms with her feelings BEFORE a confession or any romantic action is taken. I feel like the writers must favor Keith with how well he was treated on his route lol.

Something I really like is that Keith doesn't necessarily reveal that his love is romantic for a long time. Like, WE know it is, but you're left wondering if he thinks he's just got really brotherly feelings. But after he accidentally goes for a kiss, you get this really nice introspection where he straight up says "I've been in love with her since I was 8 years old." And you realize he's been serious the entire time and just trying not to act on it. It made my heart flutter~

I had thought him being her adoptive brother might have factored into it, but not really. Catarina isn't bothered by it. Geordo lets Keith have her, and their parents are actually thrilled that their children are marrying each other haha.

In the "happy" end, everyone is a bit mean first though. Upon seeing them together, Mary cries, Alan and Sophia are like "be happy I guess, you weirdos" and Geordo is fuming. Only Maria and Nicol are able to contain their disappointment enough to congratulate them properly. It was kind of a bummer. I actually liked the "good" ending better.

Rozy is sus as hell on this route, which made me excited to play his route next.

(Spoilers) Rozy Route

Rozy's route confirms what was hinted at all along — Rozy is yet another childhood friend of Catarina's, and another rival for her affection.

His route was solid, but it felt longer and more like a true ending due to how far it continues past the plot contained within the other routes. I loved meeting his cousin/wingman King Albert and enjoyed how frustrated he made Geordo, my least favorite character.

I thought the final few scenes were a little rushed, and I wish we got a little more out of the endings. Their relationship is still a secret in both the "good" and "happy" endings. You do get a proposal out of the happy end, at least.

What I enjoyed most about this route was his friendship with Silva. We don't get a lot of male bonding in games like these, so I adored how much they care about each other, and how supportive Silva was of Rozy's interest in Catarina. It made me even more excited to play Silva's route.

When you play the common route after Rozy's route, you get a new cutscene where Rozy heartbreakingly reveals he's prepared to get on with his duties and disappear without ever seeing Catarina again. He's so pure T_T

(Spoilers) Silva Route

Ahh, Silva. I surprised myself by falling in love with him quickly, even on other routes. He was my favorite character in the game, though I think Keith's route was still the best.

Though Rozy's route reveals most of the main secrets of the game, it made me really excited to play Silva's route last, as he's literally the only romanceable character who isn't already in love with Catarina. She has to earn his love by being an adorable idiot, which of course comes naturally to her.

I really enjoyed how this route utilized some very classic anime situations, only to have Catarina's ditziness turn them in a different direction.

For example, the first time she sees Silva upon entering his route, he's half naked and getting changed. Instead of having Catarina do the usual anime girl "kyaa!" and blush furiously, she instead immediately assumes Silva is a cosplayer. Similarly, he attempts to seduce her several times by coming close to her and pushing her down, but she doesn't understand he's coming on to her at all, quickly diffusing the situation. He's never had that happen before, so he takes an interest in her.

Silva's route is a classic slow burn, which I adored. The romance in this route felt very natural. Catarina realizes Silva is kind, despite attempting to appear forceful, and starts to feel safe around him. Meanwhile Silva continues to be amused by how unique Catarina is. It takes quite a while for those feelings to develop into romance.

The final confrontation with Silva's longtime enemy was a little rushed, but I enjoyed Silva agonizing over telling Catarina about his past. Rozy notices this too, and he's just as good a wingman to Silva as Silva is for him in his route. Man, I adore these two so much. Their relationship is so genuine and wonderful! Make sure to check out the memory log at the end for the backstory on the sketchbook, because it's never explained in the main game.

Silva's route was pretty solid. In the "good" ending, he never directly says he loves Catarina — only teases her and kisses her enough to make her realize it herself. The "happy" ending though ... man, Silva cleans up nicely! It was so cute seeing him in princely clothes, having officially become adopted into Rozy's family and learning high society just to be worthy of Catarina. He even breaks his composure a little bit because he's embarrassed, which is the fun of flirty characters like Silva.

Overall, Silva's route was lovely, and I think it should definitely be played last.

#otome game #otome review #review #hamefura #hamefura pirates #doom flag #all routes lead to doom #pirates of the disturbance #my next life as a villainess #catarina claes

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