Replay date: January 29, 2025

Given the amount of miscellaneous content this game, I feel obligated to disclose that I did not play Elbert, Ami, Edgar content, but went through all of the main LIs’ stories, liar cards, after stories, and that game where you increase affection. You may notice the screenshots have 2016 or 2023 written on it. Disclaimer that pure CGs are taken from online uploaders as it is truly a pain in the ass to upload screenshots from Switch to phone then airdrop to my Mac… Dialogue screenshots not available online will be from my own game.

I played WOF1 on PSP-emulator pre-2014. 10 years later I decided to get the series on Switch including WOF2 and 2FD. This review only discusses WOF R.

PROS:

• A classic high-school dating-sim with a magical touch
• Beautiful art, lots of CGs – I inserted a lot more CG/screenshots than I would for a usual review
• Lighthearted story and fluff
• Interesting characters that are not cookie-cutters of their trope

CONS:

• The system: it is not strictly a VN and the stat-building aspect may be annoying to some. You may need to save/load to roll a Sunday date/for your LI to appear on the school map/to re-challenge them to the card game
• Voice acting: I’m not sure if it has to do with the audio being from near 15 years ago, but I note a significant downgrade in quality of acting & the audio quality in general compared to titles today.

My play order: Julius > Noel > Bilal > Lagi > Est > Alvaro. Noel should come ideally immediately after Julius. You can probably do Bilal/Lagi first too & Lagi does not have to go after Bilal. Best to save Est and Alvaro for later given there’s a bit more too their stories – but not like they spoil the routes of other characters or anything.

My recommendation before starting the game is to go to settings and optimize the fast forward read content feature, as you’re gonna need it for skipping through the RNG events & S/L. The first two routes are going to be the slowest and the later routes will pick up because you can skip through read missions.

***FULL SPOILERS AHEAD***

STORY

The game starts with a young protagonist (Lulu) with her grandmother, who conjures some flowers with a wand. Grandma then tells Lulu that one day she will inherit this wand of fortune and bring happiness to others via magic. Lulu travels to an elite magic academy to study magic. She learns a long time ago only a different species called the ancient ones can use magic. However, the leader of the ancient ones Fata Morgana and his human friend Cornelius confound this academy and taught humans how to use magic too. The principals put Lulu through a ritual to test her element, as everyone has one out of six elements to which they have the highest affinity to. Lulu did not have an element, which is rare. The principals give her 24 weeks to learn how to control her magic and find her element. If she cannot do that or pass the final exam, her magical powers will be sealed forever as it is dangerous for element-less magic to roam free. Lulu meets her roommate Ami, as well as six LIs who are all her classmates at the academy, and begins her journey as a magic student.

[Wow, it’s so refreshing to not need to write 2000 words just to explain what happens in the common route!]

JULIUS FORTNER (CV: Sakurai Takahiro)

The wind-user is the first LI that Lulu meets in the prologue. A fire was breaking out in an empty house with Ami telling Lulu to retreat to safety. However, seeing Julius step in, Lulu felt she should help, and casts a spell. While Lulu meant for water, her magic went havoc and instead a huge tree grew out of the courthouse. The fire is stopped, technically… Julius immediately took an interest in Lulu because of her unpredictable and interesting magic.

He is popular at the school with his own fan club, as well as the model student. There is a fan club of three girls who kept warning Lulu to stay away from their idol, then proceeded to not bother her the entire route lol. I expected Julius to be a ladies man like Shin from Amnesia, but he turned out to be the biggest magic nerd. Magic is his entire personality. Coming from a family who does magic-related work, Julius’ goal is to be a scholar in magic (and he’s disappointed that his little sister is not interested in magic at all). He would have those huge rants of his theories and random magic trivia when his brain races, and I cannot help but wonder how many times Sakurai had to practice those lines lol. He would study all night to the point his roommate Mashu gets worried or fall asleep in the library. Lulu would then force him to skip class with her (this is later on in the route) to rest beside the lake where he can sleep in her lap lol.

The key to Julius’ heart is to share his love for magic and be as quirky as him. On one of his first dates with Lulu he gives her a big pile of goo that is supposed to turn into something she has in mind. Lulu wished for a rabbit, so it turned into a rabbit but not quite as the goo is still experimental. However, Lulu tells Julius that she loves the gift and how cool his inventions are. On another date he gave Lulu another pile of goo which is supposed to be chocolate or something, and Lulu would take the leap of faith and eat it, only to find it super delicious.

Lulu is someone who constantly piques Julius’ interest: her magic and her bubbly & curious personality. As the two spend more time, he realizes he does not want to be apart from her. Despite being Mr. Popular at school, Julius is a rookie when it comes to dating and love.

Their final test requires them to get some medal which is linked to a magical cock that apparently has the ability to petrify people with its gaze (Medusa? but a cock?). When it attacked the duo, Lulu jumped in Julius’ way and as a result her entire body except face is frozen. A remorseful Julius cries at her bedside and vows to find her cure, which turns out to be finding and killing the cock.

Vanya (one of the teachers) casts a spell allowing Lulu to move for three days only. Julius, with Lulu trusting in him, finds the ultimate spell that requires stealing (and breaking) Noel’s amber and succeeds in killing the creature. He then confesses to Lulu who gets flustered as well and starts blurting out how ordinary and basic she is and isn’t worthy of Mr. popular prodigy model student’s love but he obviously would have none of it muahaha.

In the FD he couldn’t keep his hands off Lulu even in the library – guys watch it with the PDA ohmygawd. He gets in the mood and kisses Lulu to her surprise and confusion, and she ran away, but of course the two kiss and makeup, with Noel being the wingman hahaha.

When I first played WOF1 over ten years ago, Julius was my oshi. He is a handsome nerd who smothers Lulu with affection. He is a surprisingly sincere character. If he likes something or someone, he will devote everything to it and confess his feelings. If he works too hard, Lulu will keep him in check. I also love how the two discuss magic together and encourage each other to improve their craft and be the best versions of theirselves. This is the classic Cinderella story in otome Hogwarts – “Mr. Popular Prince falls in love with quirky me” and ticks all the otome fantasies. What more can one expect out of a school romance?

NOEL VALMORE (CV: Suzuki Chihiro)

Blondes are always my weakness in otome games. Noel didn’t particularly catch my eye in my first playthrough as at the time I found him too goofy. However, my impression of him changed as I matured? during this second run. To preface, I am also an earth sign, so maybe this is why I resonate with him in certain way?

Noel starts out as the comedian/laughing stock of the game. He fights Ivan’s bird at the library, keeps buying children’s toys thinking they’re magical gadgets (his father is a banker and there are many details in the game that hint he is LOADED), and gets flustered easily. He tells everyone that he is going to be the greatest magician there ever was (I definitely did not read this in Trump’s voice) and that he is a genius. He and Lulu start out very platonic with him saying flamboyant stuff like Lulu should be honoured to have someone as smart as him to tutor her, or to go out with him over the weekend – he cuts this act out later ahaha. He views Julius as his rival (to Julius’ confusion) and compared to theory, he focuses more on the application of magic.

The two have some cute moments including Noel showing Lulu earth magic and making her a bouquet, as well as their various shopping misadventures where Lulu plays along with Noel getting scammed for the 99th time. In one mission, Noel turns into a cat because he wanted to use the magic that turns one into “the animal they were in the past life” thinking he must have been something majestic like a tiger or something…

Despite his blunders and appearing “uncool”, Lulu continues to cheer Noel on and support him in his endeavour to become a great magician. She also plays along with his silly magic-item hunting endeavours – that magic girl scene made me giggle.

While he doesn’t say it out loud (because he is a shy boi when it comes to this – more in epilogue hehe) he cares for Lulu deeply. In one of the events, Noel once again gets his hands on some “lucky charm” only to find it will eventually bring bad luck after the good luck is used up (as in, what goes around comes around). The item got attached him with the only way to remove it being “to be exposed to bad luck”. Lulu stays by his side even if it means she will get bad luck as well, which moves Noel. Some books fell off the library shelf and he immediately pushes her aside to get her out of danger.

Despite all this show, he is someone who works very hard, and has a structured schedule every day. He also often tutors Lulu which is something I wondered about in Julius’ route – if he’s such a genius why didn’t he help Lulu out more lol, but she appeared to have better grades in Julius’ route (as in Noel’s she was complaining of a history test being hard and barely passing)?

It is impossible to discuss Noel’s route fully without talking about Julius. Hence, I feel very lucky to have played Noel route right after Julius’ and would recommend you do this as well. Those two characters are mirror opposites and different sides of Lulu are showcased as well. In Julius’ route, Lulu becomes flustered when being confessed at, and starts listing reasons why she’s too plain and ordinary for Mr. Popular Star Student.

In Noel’s route, his showy exterior is merely a coverup for his insecurity. He knows he is not a genius. He knows he is not as smart as Julius. Hence, he has to work twice as hard to get to where Julius is. However, he is obsessed with the idea of appearing “cool” and believe he can only earn respect, and later Lulu’s affection, if he is a genius and hero that saves everyone’s day. This obsession got to the point that during the final exam, Verona warns Noel in a roundabout way that his insect amber will destroy him eventually – when she was really saying that Noel needs to stop on relying on external magical items and start believing that he is enough to be a great magician himself; the insect amber is not inherently an evil item.

This route’s final exam involves the Poupée revolution. In this game, Poupée are earth golems that act as the school staff, carrying out daily tasks like cooking, water the plants, cleaning etc. However, one of them started acting weird and disobeying orders. That one outlier also got all the Poupée to quit and the school was in chaos. To make things worse, Noel couldn’t cast magic anymore because he and Lulu both thought Verona meant the insect amber is evil; and in this world you need a medium to cast magic. Noel begins to feel like a failure and breaks down.

Lulu and our silly boi have a heart-to-heart where she tells him IT’S OKAY THAT HE’S NOT A GENIUS. IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE PERFECT AND BE VULNERABLE. SHE LOVES HIM JUST THE WAY HE IS AND BELIEVES IN HIM. Lulu is such a relationship green flag OML-

The two confront the rebellious Poupée who was given a medallion by the teachers, and thus given power. Initially, Noel said there was no choice but to kill it, although he felt very bad because like Noel, this Poupée now has his own feelings and his own dream, and Noel feels cruel taking this away from him. Lulu helped block some attacks for Noel, while he casted a spell on the Poupée… not to kill him, but to “reprogram” him. The Poupée became normal but grew to admire and adore Noel so much his face now looks exactly the same as Noel’s – with Lulu nicknaming it Rueno (which is Noel’s katakana spelt backwards).

With Lulu passing the exam, we arrive at the kokuhaku scene at the garden where it’s still as adorable as ever.

The epilogue mirrors Julius’ as well where Lulu is the one who can’t keep her hands off Noel, who runs away in embarrassment. With Alvaro being wingman, the two have a proper kiss in the garden… where everyone watched from the library lol. When Noel returned everyone threw him a party for “manning up” LMAO even Julius congratulated him…

BILAL (CV: Takahashi Hiroki)

Lol yea I’m not typing out the entire name… and curse you game writers. You had the voice behind OG Hisoka, EnStars Shu, Princess Maker 4 Valois (one of my OG voice crushes) and you make him talk in a weird tone at 0.75x to show he is a gaijin… SMH….

Bilal is the second prince from the faraway kingdom Faranbald, which is loosely based on Arabic and particularly Muslim culture. His country is a desert where water is a commodity; people there do not believe in magic. However, being blessed with the water element, Bilal is determined to study magic and eventually return to Faranbald and bring water to save his people from droughts.

He is five years Lulu’s senior (21 to 16) with some people finding this disturbing, which would be the case if IRL tbh. However, the goal of this review is to examine how the writer executes this age-gap relationship and because of the unique character setting, gets to showcase the clash of ideals between Lulu and Bilal, particularly surrounding traditional gender roles. Unfortunately I’ve been warned that he turns into a sexist prick in the future instalments, but in this route he remains okay.

Early on in the route, you can tell Bilal is a zaddy who showers Lulu in gifts and acts like a gentleman. When it was the day of the sale, Bilal used his prince-sama aura and cleared a way for him and Lulu to shop directly lol. After the first two puppy-love routes, this is a route where you can tell Bilal clearly has more experience in the playing field. He puts the moves on Lulu early on. I thought he was just this yasashii dude until the public entertainment room scene where he convinced Lulu to sleep in his arms “oh no one will come”, then LITERALLY ALL FIVE OTHER GUYS COME and he just shows her off and then when Lulu wakes up “oh honey see, nobody came”. He also calls out Lulu’s bluff if she goes to the mirror and sees his reflection.

He and Lulu bond with each other by showing a genuine interest in each other’s upbringing. This was refreshing because in the first two routes I felt Lulu was the only one interested in the guys’ life and dreams, the guys didn’t ask Lulu how she felt, what she wants, where she came from, if you get my drift?

Bilal tells Lulu that in his society, a proper woman would obey her husband, focus on raising the family, and not show her beauty outside by covering herself up… In return, men of Faranbald who are trained to be warriors, will protect the woman and not let expose them to any harm… He admits this is basically, the opposite of Lulu, who is a free spirit who always wants to be 50/50 with her man and stand with him through thick and thin.

This became a major conflict in the final exam as well – which basically revolves around a curse cast by a water djinn. I don’t know how to put it in words, but this route was a lot more supernatural than the other two, if that is even possible in a game which takes the premise of being a magic school. Instead of working with Lulu, he basically lone wolfs the mission and tells Lulu that he would rather her quit this exam, have her magic powers sealed away forever, than let his woman go through any risk of harm… in response to which Lulu set the record straight quickly because she ain’t having any of that lol. Bilal was shocked, but open to discussion and ultimately respected Lulu’s wishes, so I give him a pass – boy is still fresh off the boat and going through cultural shock. However, again, with him and Lulu being betrothed in the end with plans to return to Faranbald, I cannot help but worry how much freedom Lulu will retain when she is in an unfamiliar environment isolated from her family and friends, and effectively, at the mercy of Bilal.

Bilal also introduces this concept which basically says that each prince of Faranbald will only have one destined true love. When they find this woman and become one with her, they gain immense powers – aka Lulu is his key maiden lol (Dante: yo). He straight up proposes to Lulu mid-exam and then with his newfound powah he goes to subdue the djinn and almost dies – until Lulu steps in. Hence, instead of entirely belonging to Bilal, the djinn regards both Bilal and Lulu as her master, and she wingwomans the two in the after story, which is basically Bilal getting horny for Lulu and the two do the deed beside the waterfall or something, then proceed to have more PDA while the other guys tell the two to get a room, lol.

Honestly the best part about obtaining the djinn is that Bilal magically learns Japanese and finally speaks in his hot zaddy voice… for like 5 minutes. Unfortunately I heard he goes back to his gaijin accent in WOF2 because the game does not continue from the best end… Overall, I found this route intriguing and a good read, with some hot CGs. Am I skeptical of their romance lasting? Yes. Even towards the end I cannot help but wonder if he is interested in Lulu only because she is different from all the other girls from his homeland… aka she is some exotic beauty that like many men, he wants to “tame” and make her his possession. The route definitely buried a lot of questions and uncertainties that hopefully will get answered in the future titles, so I look forward to it, even if it means I gotta sit through that weird ass gaijin tone for another game.

LAGI EL NAGIL (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya)

Okay, okay, back to the route. Lagi is different from the other students of the academy because he cannot use magic. He is half-human half-dragon and of the fire element with great elemental resistance. He landed here to look for a cure. People of his age usually can control between human and dragon forms, yet he still cannot do that. In fact, if he comes into bodily contact with any females he will transform to CHIBI DRAGON. He still cannot transform into a real dragon. The chibi dragon is the cutest thing in the entire game; Kakihara does such a good job of giving it an adorable voice too.

I’ve seen some reviews say Lagi is not boyfriend material or immature. Fundamentally, this is an issue of perspective. If you view Lagi as a grown man (aka Bilal) then yes he is not a good communicator and is impulsive. However, to me the whole point of this route is how Lagi grew from boy to man (or at least late teen), learned about responsibility, and with that finally controlled his dragon powers.

Hence, if you look at Lagi (especially beginning of the route) as a boy who literally isn’t able to come into contact with girls and does not have experience talking to them, things will start to make sense. He acts all distant and cold towards Lulu, because he doesn’t want to be turned into chibi dragon (who is then super hungry afterwards for meat) against his will. However, the two quickly discover they have a lot in common. Lagi learns that he cannot generalize girls into shallow people who like shiny things and shopping in a mall. Lulu appreciates his love for nature and affinity towards animals. The two also go on foodie dates where they try lots of tasty and spicy food (poor Lulu).

Slowly, without himself knowing, Lagi starts caring about Lulu, how she feels, what she thinks, despite still denying it on the surface. He also starts to get possessive asking if Lulu will say the same things she does to him, to other guys. Eventually, those two children stumble into the territory of “like”. I still found the scene of Lulu kissing Lagi on the cheek an abrupt transition in the relationship, but again this is the real puppy love route of the game, and I’m old and cynical, so to hell with what I think lol.

The final exam was anticlimactic compared to the previous ones. In summary, there is a fire salamander on the loose in the academy. Salamanders in this universe are servants to dragons. However, because Lagi hasn’t mastered his transformation the salamander doesn’t respect him at all. Lagi also received the results from the researchers at the academy that there is nothing wrong with him physically, suggesting the reason behind his inability to transform at will being “mental illness”… which made Lagi break down and run away… during Lulu’s exam leaving her to hang to dry. (hence probably why some people didn’t like him). Lulu eventually learns that Lagi knows deep down why he cannot transform. It’s because he cannot make up his mind to live as a dragon (who are isolated from human society) or human. While he’s still contemplating his life, Lulu tries to lure out the salamander and defeat it herself. However, she gets overpowered by the salamander. For the one time this game, Lagi jumps out and saves the day. He decides on his own for Lulu’s sake he will live as a dragon, embrace his powers, so that he can help her pass the exam, but this will mean the two’s goodbye… or is it?

Lagi transforms into a full dragon and commands the salamander’s obedience. Lulu obtains the magical item that made it go havoc in the first place. She passes the exam. Lagi returns to human. He wants to stay at the academy a little longer for Lulu, who tells him she would love to visit his home with him by her side. He has mastered his powers… for the most part, unless he becomes too embarrassed when with Lulu and will still turn into chibi dragon lol – which is in the after story he kept running away from Lulu to the point Lulu thought she pissed him off and got all sad. Bilal told Lagi to man up and stop making his girlfriend sad, so Lagi literally BREAKS INTO THE GIRLS DORM to confess and kiss Lulu, only to be a chibi again hahaha.

Overall, I enjoyed this route. It showed a lot of growth on Lagi’s part and sets up perfectly for a sequel/FD leaving me looking forward to what he will be like in the future. However, my criticism is that Lulu purely served as his manic pixie dream girl this route. My thought having played four routes thus far, is that Lulu’s interests will always change to match the LI’s, and we don’t really know what she really likes or wants.

EST RINAUDO (CV: Irino Miyu)

While he doesn’t voice many otome games, Irino is notable for many heavy hitting roles including Haku (Spirited Away; when he was 13!), Syaoran (Tsubasa), Hyakuya Yuichiro (Seraph of the End), Apollon (Kamigami no Asobi – that despite the luxurious cast I sold the game after dropping it rip), and Sora (Kingdom Hearts).

Est is a boy who is younger than his peers, including Lulu. Like her, he also does not have an element, and is said to be a prodigy (more than Julius). Interesting that the ancient ones don’t seem to care about him lacking an element but give Lulu the ultimatum hmm…

He carries a tome around with him at all times and was the rudest person to Lulu in the prologue, telling her that there’s no need to know his name. He dislikes human interaction and prefers to be a lone wolf. The first third to half of the route consists of Lulu chasing him around and insisting they be friends.

What I like about Est is that he realizes his feelings quickly unlike Lagi who was a tsundere even in the after story. Early on when you chat with Est, he makes some weird comment about “must be nice to have a family”. As you chat more with him, he doesn’t seem to have any likes or dislikes outside of reading in a quiet place like a library. This sets the sus alert off in the player’s mind.

He is also clearly shocked that another human being shows concern for his well-being, such as when he was bullied by a senior, and telling Lulu to stay away from him because his tome is cursed (only to have Lulu say, but won’t you get hurt too then? which made Est go ;_; ) After their shopping date in week 4, I appreciate Est for at least owning up to Lulu that he had a good time with her and saying he would like to ask her out again. In one of the events, he was overly cold to Lulu and left her beside the lake, but returned to sit beside her and quickly apologize after he heard Lulu crying.

It isn’t revealed until the final exam that Est was a “being” created by the “Fanatics” who hate the ancient ones and want to create something that is better than them. (Ivan and Vanya know about this the moment Est enrolled, but couldn’t be bothered enough to deal with him.) Hence, he never had family. Lulu filled this void in his heart by being a big-sister figure who looks out for him and spoils him (such as giving him headpats). Eventually, this grows into something more. I’m usually not a fan of the big/little sister into lover trope but will give it a pass as to Est, family and love will come hand in hand.

The final exam was the reveal of Est’s backstory, which explains why he has so much self-hate and thinks everyone including Lulu is better off without him as he is just an instrument for revenge, and neither human nor ancient one. They enter a black mist which was an alternative universe. Est wanted to shut himself in forever and send Lulu back to the real world (with the medal to pass the exam), but Lulu pulled him last minute so they returned together. While Lulu was asleep, Est struck a deal with Ivan/Vanya to learn magic with them so that he can be free from the Fanatics’ control.

The epilogue is more of Lulu spoiling our Best Boy, including taking care of him when he got sick with cold. She ends up getting sick after Est recovered so now it’s Est’s turn. The CG of Lulu jumping on top of Est is also cute as hell.

I loved this route from beginning to finish. This isn’t a route where Lulu goes along with whatever hobby/interest the guy has and just roots for them, this is a route where Lulu does Lulu things, being a kind human to another, and warming Est’s heart. I love how quickly he reciprocates overall (despite some tsundere statements, but much better than Lagi) and doesn’t leave Lulu guessing or hanging or sad too much (unlike Lagi!). Did I mention that he gets sooooo much hotter in 2 and FD2? 😉 Yep, I’m hopping on the Est train for sure.

ALVARO GARAY (CV: Suzumara Kenichi)

I saved Alvaro for last because well, like Est he’s also got more to his surface identity. He is the flirt with a hairstyle typical of LI of early 2010 otome games (looking at you Amnesia). He was often the wingman in the previous routes and in his own, he acts like the perfect gentleman who spoils Lulu with sweet words, complements, and teasings. Almost all of their CGs are him hugging Lulu/having close body contact during their dates. He gifted Lulu a shawl early on (that made my laugh out loud because it looked grandma style) and Lulu’s sprite changed later in the game showing she’s wearing it, and I take back the grandma comments because it was kinda cute:

I usually enjoy twisted characters and endings but Alvaro’s route to me read like poorly written fan fiction or AI. Alvaro is a spy from an organization called GUILD whose motivation isn’t explained unlike the Fanatics. They just sent Alvaro to infiltrate the school and disarm the security system, which happens to be the same medal that appeared in each of Lulu’s exam [so how come previously nothing happened to the security system?]. The medal is hidden under/within Fata Morgana’s statue that can be only accessed by someone without an element i.e. Lulu/Est. Alvaro manipulates Lulu to take the medal. I note that during the exam Noel/Est/Bilal all tried to warn Lulu that Alvaro is suspicious but she just went full braindead mode “but mama I love him” and disregarded their warnings.

Lulu gets the medal then Alvaro shows his true colours (no pun intended) with his flimsy ninja outfit. Instead of reporting back to the GIRUDO he does a “bet” with Lulu to see if she can take the medal back from him. [His motivations are later explained in the after story.]. He also casts a spell to bind their lives (where if one dies, the other does as well; so Alvaro doesn’t get targeted by Ivan/Vanya) for three days. Lulu reports back to the principals who then tell her they knew Alvaro was a spy all along but because he wanted to learn magic and was clearly talented/good at it they could not reject him; they also didn’t really care to stop him because being arrogant ancient ones they didn’t think he would do something catastrophic until he did I guess. Vanya gives Lulu a speech that she needs to stop guessing Alvaro’s motives, stop caring about whether he is lying, and that if she doesn’t have the resolve to kill him then she will be killed. Talking about protecting your students lol. She and Alvaro still hang out day to day like nothing’s happened, with Alvaro giving her a taste of the real world such as telling her that the ancient ones have a lot of blood on their hands, that those “Avada Kadabra”-like spells were all researched and founded by researched of the Black Tower aka her academy, so her sensei are not innocent either.

Lulu doesn’t want to kill (and probably doesn’t have the ability to) Alvaro but she also wants to protect her school (while her principals don’t care I guess), so she runs to the library and learns a dark spell. She asks Alvaro out on the last night before the end of the exam, and starts casting a spell that binds their lives forever for the rest of their lives – when the spell loses power Lulu will literally die. Alvaro, who is this professional spy/killer dude somehow could not stop a novice like Lulu in time, and clearly didn’t expect this b to be crazier than himself.

Because they are bound together, Alvaro can no longer return to GUILD and the ancient ones confiscated the medal back. Lulu continues to brainwash herself that Alvaro-sama loves her/she will make him love her eventually and we head into the after story. The monologue helps clear up a bit, but not much of Alvaro’s motives. He doesn’t have a moral compass, and his only goal is to “not be bored”. He also mentions his instinct and love for destroying pretty, delicate things. So he is just this pure chaotic evil character who was killing his boredom by doing GUILD’s bidding until his new “toy” (as he said in monologue) Lulu ran to him.

The issue I have with the writing is that from beginning to after story I did not get a single hint that Alvaro liked Lulu even a bit. Maybe the writer was trying to say that because Alvaro is so used to being a jester who habitually lies he cannot face his feelings. However, the whole route Lulu ignores good advice, brainwashes herself and gets brainwashed by Vanya (who tells her in the after story to again turn her brain off and just “be a woman” around Alvaro to win his affection???) and becomes even more of a mindless doll than what Bilal wanted her to be in his route.

The cheek-pinching scene was also so bizarre. It’s like the authors went, “well because this is not an R-rated game otherwise we could’ve written about angry, frustrated, kinky sex because those two couldn’t talk it out like adults”. Maybe 2 will do him justice but for now this route left a bitter taste in my mouth and I’m sad I had to end on this note… His voice was hot though.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, this is a classic otome that imo, stood the test of time. I didn’t mind the stat-building or RNG aspect (though it stung a bit when I had to roll a record 18 times to buy something from the shop). In fact, the schedules made me immerse in Lulu’s school life. I would recommend it to people who are looking for a lighthearted school romance with a touch of magic and plot (so you have a bit of suspense, but not too much). I didn’t really understand why they partially voiced Lulu’s common lines; just voice her completely or don’t.

Lulu as a main character is overall likeable. She is a bubbly ray of sunshine who believes the world is inherently good. She is gullible but being a 16-year-old from the countryside can do that to anyone. In certain routes she can end up being kind of a yes-woman who will beam at whatever the boy likes and lack her own personality – it’s like she doesn’t have her own likes/dislikes, she will just like whatever the LI takes a fancy to. That’s why I particularly liked her in Bilal/Est’s routes where she was able to have her own voice and take a step to defend her feelings and actions.

My character ranking: Est > Noel > Julius > Bilal > Lagi >>>>> Alvaro

My final rating: 7/10