Welcome back to Trapp Reviews. Today, I will hopefully finish my main review of Waifu Academy a Ren'Py visual novel made by Irphaeus. On the last entry, I delved into the setting, style and plot of the game, as well as a few of the characters. Soooo, in order to continue where I left of, I will be talking a little more about the characters from this game. We've discussed the quote-unquote "important" characters, so it's about time I delve a little bit more into the other girls and guys making this story what it is. Starting with...

AHHHH!! KILL IT WITH FUCKING FIRE!!! I mean, ehhh...

Kensou Busujima: The Otaku of the game. But not just any Otaku. This is where all the memes and jokes at the expense of Anime fans come from. Kensou is one of those guys who you look and and you know the motherfucker hasn't showered in over a week. And to go with his questionable hygiene, he gets the absolute worst traits of Master Roshi, Happosai from Ranma 1/2, Jiraiya from Naruto and Minoru Mineta from MHA amped up to 11. He loves taking panty shots of his classmates, is inappropriate in his mannerisms and speech and is always causing trouble everywhere he goes. This is where most of the cringey comedy in the game comes from. He even goes out on the street with a full Ahegao pajamas set and a tacky red coat to match. For further proof, here:

To his (and the writers') credit, he is a very consistent character in the respect that you don't know what's going to happen when he shows up, but you know things are proooobably not going to end well. And as far as male characters go, the one good quality I do have to give him, is that he is loyal, despite thinking with his lower brain and basically being a fuck-up of the highest order... He just wants some Anime tiddies, man. He deserves at least that much. 

Shinji Ikami: Some real original names we got here. And trust me, it's not over yet. Like his near-homonym, Shinji is a soy boy. So much so, it's PAINFUL to watch at times. In a sense, he is very relatable because most fans of Anime, comic books and geeky stuff always had trouble fitting in and making friends. I know I did. And I at times feel resentful about that, and it irks me just a little bit to see that side of myself reflected on other people, real or not. Shinji doesn't have a spine on his body, being bullied by other guys and forced by Kensou to give Motoko, the class president, a love letter he wrote himself, with disastrous results for Kensou's junk.

After that, Shinji goes into this arc where another classmate tells him to join the stream of this girl named Caramella and talk to her by donating money. This arc is painful. But it reflects that feeling of loneliness modern men feel as they are unable to form proper relationships with women because of the current social climate, where even talking to one of them is a gamble you do not want to take. Sadly, at the time of this review, it hasn't been resolved, so it's a matter of time whether the team can get their asses back to work here.

I want to discuss the girls a little more in depth, but before I do that, I need to go ahead and touch upon two more important things: How the plot develops, and the gameplay.

WHAT GAMEPLAY?? Didn't you say this is a visual novel, you retard?! Yes, I did. And yes, it plays like EVERY OTHER REN'PY BASED VISUAL NOVEL. Meaning that there is a "choice system" that will be taking you to either one route or the other, mostly without consequences, but there are key moments where you cannot go back. And here is where we have the Karma System.

Waifu Academy is not the first game to implement a choice system in Visual Novels, and I think it is a good way to create replayability. Now, I already went on a tirade about Kutaragi in the previous entry, but that was just my opinion of the character himself. You can go and choose the Good Guy or Bad Guy route with different unlockables for each scenario, all of which in the context of the game are very spicy and range from peeking on your female classmates to groping to an actual gangbang. So it is good that you have this choice scenario in a game of this style. However, the Karma System in Waifu Academy shines for its non-consequential results, meaning that no matter what choice you make, your Karma will either go up or down and you can STILL unlock certain character scenes regardless of which spectrum you're leaning against. And the game makes the stupid, STUPID decision to spoil what the ending is going to be by showing the three possible outcomes for Good, Neutral and Bad paths DURING TRIVIAL MOMENTS OF THE GAME, WITHOUT HAVING TO DO ANYTHING!! Way to go, guys. You're really are master programmers...

4. THE CURRENT PROGRESS OF THE STORY

Sazaki Academy is currently working to host the prestigious Interscholar Games, and the weight of winning falls squarely on the shoulders of runner Kaori Tomikawa. However, during practice time, the coach Harada is seen moving large quantities of sports equipment to the gym warehouse. It is implied that this is a front to move materials into an underground laboratory where a powerful drug that is made to abuse women is being developed. This right here is the work of the Zaibatsu clan, led by a woman named Shirohime. I think now is as good of a time as any to start talking about other characters and their role within the story. 

Shirohime: This white haired woman is the current leader of the Zaibatsu clan. Her real name is... Kasumi Tendo. As in Ranma 1/2's Kasumi Tendo.

WHY?! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! CAN'T YOU COME UP WITH MORE UNIQUE NAMES FOR YOUR FUCKING CHARACTERS?! IT'S NOT THAT HARD, I DO IT ALL THE FREAKING TIME!! HOW CAN YOU RUIN THE MEMORY OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE WAIFUS OF ALL TIME, YOU STUPID, LAZY FREAKING WRITERS?! Kasumi was perfect! She probably might not fly with today's standards of what a woman is capable of, but she didn't contest it! She was happy being the housewife and everyone in the show loved her! AND YOU GIVE HER NAME TO A RUTHLESS, CUNNING AND POWERFUL YAKUZA BOSS?!?! I'm going to turn into Nostalgia Critic after "Bat Credit Card" with this shit, so let's move on...

SHIROHIME is the current leader of the Zaibatsu clan, the "newcomers" in the lore of the game's city, and current financial powerhouses, with businesses like HoneyBee's (the Hooters-esque restaurant), private gyms as well as strip clubs. They also have a powerful influence in the underworld, with fighting rings and the development of drugs, following the incident at Sazaki Academy 16 years ago.  With Shirohime, we have Helen Anders, real name Tanya Henderson. This woman used to be a student with Shirohime at the time of the Sazaki incident along with an, as of yet, unnamed third girl who still hasn't been featured in the story. Helen is now the principal at Sazaki Academy and is the mother of Asuka. Her relationship with her daughter is difficult since she's too busy trying to keep under wraps what happens in the school and doesn't really give much thought to her daughter's actions unless they reflect negatively on her.

I think now is as good as time as any to mention that the lore of this game talks about the main four clans who were part of the city's history: The Musashima (represented by Motoko and Yukiko, pictured above) were the most important clant in the past, being a political force. They were protected by the Takamura (represented by Maki), being soldiers. The Tendo clan, represented by sisters Kasumi and Kayane, were merchants and to this day, are a waning Yakuza family, from which Kasumi, now Shirohime, broke ties with to join the Zaibatsu. And finally, the Sazaki, now represented by Kutaragi, were the educators. Nothing much has still come out of this sub-plot, but from what I understand, the Zaibatsu are the more powerful family in modern times, with the Musashima parents gone missing, the Tendo recovering from the defection of Shirohime, and the Sazaki being apparently ruined now.

This is Kenichi Zaibatsu, a main antagonist of Kutaragi on the academy,
and for the heir of a Yakuza empire, he is a pussy. He has his henchmen, Tochiro 
and Katsuya, doing his bidding in exchange for money, with Kayane infiltrating
the group for her clan's own ends. He's the type of character that has no agency
and thinks his shit doesn't smell. It's pathetic in a sense.

In any case, with the developing times from Irphaeus and the team, it still might take a long time to have a proper resolution to the storylines being presented here, as the team has clearly taken the time to develop characters and sexual plots as well. How it all will unfold is anyone's guess at this point, and sadly, the finish line is nowhere in sight... So let's get this shit over with and move on the the actual important part of an adult visual novel...

5. THE GIRLS AND SEX SCENES!!!

Yeah, yeah, it took me fucking long enough. I'm sorry, but as I stated earlier, my objective with these games is not just the cum part. Anyone can make a good sex scene and make you groan with visuals, but to me, the whole package is just as important as the sexy bits. Not apologizing for that. That being said, I'll introduce the rest of the girls in this story and let YOU decide who is the best. Once again, I'm going to go a bit in-depth with them, and for the sake of length, I'm going to try and keep things short. Also, some girls will be left out because I don't feel like talking about them. They're not really relevant or likeable enough, soooo...

Elizabeth Laroche: She is a girl from France whose backstory isn't really explained. Story-wise she has little to offer beyond being the archetype of the "closet freak", like my beloved Beli in HuniePop. She is a beauty with platinum blonde hair, blue eyes and massive breasts, and often allows herself to be groped by strangers on the train, including our illustrious MC. She is an art enthusiast, and despite her prim and proper behavior, she eventually embraces her very sexual side with Kutaragi. I personally like the archetype because of how it embodies the "Mind Break" fetish of Hentai so naturally, as it doesn't come from a place of abuse and malice as so many.

Kaori Tomikawa: She's the star athlete of Sazaki Academy and is prominent in Track and Field. She is talented in sports and little else, frequently falling asleep in class as result of narcolepsy. The few instances we've seen of her, she's asleep in the girls' locker room or the gym storage room, which is where Kutaragi works his "magic" with the perfume crafted by Rachel, playing with her body and somehow curing her narcolepsy. This would lead the way for Kaori and Kutaragi to get closer, but we haven't seen much of it just yet. She's a good enough girl, but not much of a character beyond getting frustrated and pushed around by coach Harada.

Inori Kumoto: Inori doesn't have much in the way of lewd scenes in the game. Her arc is that she is fan of an idol named Yuna and wishes to become a singer and dancer just like her, practicing her dance choreography to the point of obsession, eventually getting her opportunity to work with her thanks to the cunning Kutaragi.. She gets involved in a grooming plot of which she fortunately comes out unscathed and like Elizabeth, she's also trying to get Kutaragi's attention. She's probably the most innocent character of the game, as in, she doesn't get much in the way of sex scenes and seems aloof about seduction until she realizes the amount of women fawning over Kutaragi. Little does she know that he is on his way to become her step-daddy as her mother, Catherine, has already had her pipes cleaned by her crush... F in the comments for Inori u.u

Motoko Musashima: Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!! I'll just lay it out (as if I ever needed to justify myself...): I LOVE JAPANESE WOMEN. I love Asians in general, but Japanese beauties like Motoko get my heart racing! She is this game's Yamato Nadeshiko (the ideal woman in Japan, as in she is beautiful, well-mannered and gentle) and she is the current class president. In terms of lewd content, she doesn't offer much except for one daydream scene where Shinji is cucked by Kutaragi. She has large breasts, a beautiful figure, and is a confident girl who commands people's respect by the way she carries herself. Unlike the clumsy and horny Elizabeth, Motoko always is proper and doesn't tolerate disrespect, as shown when she received Shinji's "love letter" and (hopefully) rendering Kensou sterile with a powerful knee to the nuts. Also, she gave us this lovely scene, which serves as gateway to the next character... Brace yourselves...

The tanned girl on the left is Yoko Nishimoto. And let me tell you...

I. FUCKING. HATE HER.

Yoko starts harmless enough, being Inori's best friend and supporting her idol dream at the beginning, but slowly and surely taking Kenichi's side and being an asshole and troll to Kutaragi after he decides to help her with the Yuna situation. Yoko is vindictive, acts of her own convenience and has broken ties with her own family just so she could become a streamer as she teases her followers in slutty cosplay outfits and gives them horrible advice about their love lives for generous donations. She doesn't care about anyone but herself and her mind is so twisted that she gets involved in a petty blackmail tug-o-war with Kutaragi, which ends up badly for her, as she is fated to be sexually assaulted, either by Kutaragi alone or by him and two scumbags who plotted on raping her earlier on, with Minami being the one that nearly gets victimized.

Her character is written so that you hate her and feel justified about going to extremes to get even with her at any costs, just because of how spiteful and selfish she is. Irphaeus went to serious lengths to make sure she gets her comeuppance, and hers might be the most uncomfortable scenes in the game because of the overuse of the pheromone perfume made by Rachel and how she, in her alter-ego of Caramella, is exposed and humiliated in front of her many, many fans. It's as if the game rewards you for being a bad person and going beast mode against her... If not for that context, and how hateful Kutaragi acts towards her (admittedly, she didn't make things easier for herself...), this scene would be so much sexier.

I'm done talking about her. Now it's time to talk about the girls who, to me, are the best girls in this game. First up, the tomboy!

Maki Takamura belongs in shows like Hokuto No Ken, Baki, Hajime No Ippo or any Anime which features strong characters beating the shit out of each other. She is the owner of a dojo in the outskirts of the city, having being trained by her grandfather, and holding a vendetta against the fighter who publicly beat him to death in live television. Maki is headstrong, proud and ridiculously strong. There might only be one female character that is as strong as she is, that being Jira Bhagaal, bodyguard for the Zaibatsu and Kenichi's trainer (she should be paid much more to train that bitch...). Maki isn't aware of her femininity, and doesn't usually care if her breasts are showing (which happened once during an arm wrestling match with Katsuya, one of Kenichi's minions), but it is through Kutaragi that she becomes aware of her attractiveness and willingly gives her virginity to him later in the story.

Out of all the girls in Waifu Academy, I consider Maki to be the best, not only for her badass personality and super sexy body. She is the only character in the game with which Kutaragi truly connects on a human level, as she brings out his selflessness, will and honor. And despite his teasing of her, it feels more natural of a progression in a relationship than with any other character. Maki to me is the beacon of a character who's determined, with the right amount of innocence and naivety and a heart of gold that doesn't get appreciated. If this was a romance focused story, she would be my top choice, bar none. What can I say? Strong women are the best!

I will have to stop here, as there is still one more character I want to discuss in extensive detail, as she is my favorite girl in the entire fucking game. I'll finish this review blog over the course of this week, as I want to gush a little bit about her, as well as leave you with my final thoughts about this game, not to mention the ranking of all the girls in the game. I need to capture more stuff for that, so please be patient. Thank you for reading! Tune in next time for the absolute queen of the game: Kayane Tendo!!