Hiiro no Kakera: Fragments of the Past 💚 Kuso no Mikoto💚

Hiiro no Kakera, (at least this particular one) can be downloaded as a free-to-play otome from Google play. Most of the Hiiro no Kakera franchise are pay-to-play only, so consider this game a teaser for what the paid games can offer.

💚Kuso-no-Mikoto is the first otome route I ever played.💚

I had watched the Hiiro no Kakera anime and saw the game while browsing through Google Play.

(Be warned, before starting Hiiro no Kakera, the game is time intensive. It takes a while to get through the game, and the extra story-tickets are hard to come by without paying for them with real money )

Hiiro no Kakera always starts the same way: MC is the cursed Tamayori Princess, charged with guarding the power that can destroy the world. In the case of Fragments of the Past, MC stumbles upon an injured fox god and takes him back to her home to heal him. Thus begins a struggle to protect the world, etc. etc.

Otome Yokai Zakuro

Otome Yokai Zakura is a period piece set during the westernization of Japan. It features a standard yokai/human interaction plot and relies heavily on Shojo visuals that are similar to Haikara-San: Here comes Miss Modern.

Not gonna lie, I thought the show was from the 70s or 80s from this image. 

Unlike many anime that frequently utilize super sparkle/rose master leads, Otome Yokai Zakuro has a solid plot even when the romance factor is removed.

The show pivots around how yokai are finding their place in the new Japan and how they’re relating to the humans around them. This theme allows the plot to branch out and touch on similar issues, such as “how much westernization is too much?” etc.  The topics of unfounded fear and reaching across social boundaries are also breached.

Zakuro, the half-yokai main character, detests the westernization of Japan and Agemaki, her assigned human partner, is terrified of spirits, the recipe is right for disaster.