Tokyo Onmyoji -The Tale of Rei Tengenjibashi-

Beautiful art, the voice over is exceptional. You have plenty of stories to choose from. A must have! It is censored.

I play maybe for an hour, I'm amazed with how good the quality is. The start of the story already draw me in, it's interesting and creepy. Full voice cast, awesome cgs, this game definitely worth it even with full price. Buy it to support more BL games being localized! Also thank you for the team that translate and bring this game to english audience! I pray for other BL games future release!

Imagine a very plain cake - it's uneven, the icing hasn't been applied with a masterful hand, and the baker is a complete amateur. You cut into it and slap it on your plate, pretty unenthused about the whole thing. And then you put your fork in your mouth. It's the most delicious cake you have ever eaten in your life. That's what this game is, and that's why I'm leaving it a review. Yes, the art is a little rough. Some of the sprites are off-model (looking at you, Yotsuya), and the CGs are inconsistent quality-wise. Some of them are gorgeous, sexy, and creative. Others... Not so much. But genuinely, GENUINELY, that is one of the only "bad" things I can say about the game. That being said, I got used to it fast and began to ignore the handful of too-tiny hands and weird side profiles because I was so immersed in the story. I wanted to say this first because my initial impression of the art is what prevented me from purchasing the game upon release. Eventually, I bought it because I was stuck inside for a few days and really enjoyed the short demo... And it ended up being one of the best BL games I've ever played. The story of the game follows the titular Rei Tengenjibashi - a 29 year old Onmyoji who is proactive, openly gay, intelligent (if shockingly emotionally repressed), and overall a very fun protagonist. This is a massive plus for me as a comfortably queer 20-something who is tired of the virgin/gay panic tropes that permeate BL games. In fact, this game is pretty tonally mature, and manages to avoid a lot of pitfalls that BL games suffer from. Of course, there is still rape, violence, drugs, etc. but nothing feels overtly gratuitous, or there for the purpose of being shocking, or unjustifiable in the plot. All of the love interests are incredible, and they each follow their own individual plot line, instead of being tied to an overarching story. They are all very different people, and Tengenjibashi responds to them in different ways as well, making each route strike a totally unique tone. Without fail, all of the characters surprised me because of their complexity, and the juxtapositions of their traits. I never got bored, or felt like I *had* to power through to complete anything, and I ended up adoring all of them. One of the routes ([spoiler]Kamiosaki[/spoiler]) feels comparatively bare bones, even though his route is probably the longest of the four. He gets fewer CGs overall, and not even a single kiss CG (!!) when the other two main paths get a handful each. Basara isn't a full route, and I feel like his story definitely could have been elaborated on further instead of essentially keeping him as a mascot. But neither of those things really affected my overall experience. There is a huge amount of worldbuilding, and a lot of it is ultimately inconsequential to the plot. However, it does add to the flavour and keeps you immersed in the universe. It's completely subjective whether you find that kind of presentation appealing or not, but I'm a fan of in-depth storytelling and I consider it a big factor in my personal enjoyment, so it's worth noting. The localisation is solid, and there are very few errors or awkward turns of phrase. A few of the lines are really hard-hitting, and the strength of the narrative is one of the biggest positives about the game. The voice acting is also absolutely amazing - minus a couple of minor characters - and I made LIBERAL use of the save voice feature. All 30 pages of it, in fact! The only consistent and objective negative I can find is that it is VERY frustrating to play without use of a guide. The common route is structured in such a way that you have to begin to earn approval points from the LIs through Tengenjibashi's Onmyoji jobs before you've even seen the LIs for more than a few minutes, and you have to earn pretty much every point in their favour available to get on their route. On one occasion, I failed to unlock one route because I made a decision that counted against the LI I was pursuing, even though he was not present for the job at all. It's also very easy to die, or get a game over, or lock yourself out of a good ending hours before you even realise you've done it. It's fine with a guide, but it's a problem if you prefer going in blind or without particular intention to follow a certain route order. A minor warning; there is one instance of transphobic language and narration in one short mission/sex scene, but you can easily skip over it using the spacebar. The sex scene is purely optional and the information in the mission isn't integral to the plot. For those who wish to take care, the name of the mission is ([spoiler]"Woman of the Outskirts"[/spoiler]). It took around 35-40 hours to complete all of the routes - my play hours are so high because I loved it so much that I'm replaying it with a friend - so it's on the longer side for a VN, and in my opinion the price tag is worth its weight in gold. If you're debating whether or not to pick it up, I hope this helped you make a decision. If you're still on the fence, I say wait for a sale. Trust me on this one. TL;DR: Looks bad on the outside, is absolutely amazing on the inside for a million reasons. Give it a chance and I promise you'll be really pleasantly surprised. Meguro please call me.

Уффф, з відключеннями читати довгі візуалки це тортури, але що вже, ні про що не шкодую, писатиму багато, тож розділю рецензію на 3 умовні частини: про сюжет, про роути та про технічний бік. Загалом рекомендував би поціновувачам містики дуже, а також тим, хто ще пам'ятає БЛ ігри початку нульових й не жахається отримати трохи крінжу, який ховає непоганий сюжет. Так, це не чудовий закручений сюжет як та ж АкаАка (Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino, вона тут є, я про неї писав, хоча там ціна вдвічі вища й порт кривий як падло), але цілком прийнятна гра загалом. Трошки альтернативна Японія, де усіляка містика та ритуальні практики це норма, позаяк аякаші стає все більше й віднедавна відбувається щось зовсім нечуване - люди почали перетворюватися на аякаші після смерті. Токіо, 2014й рік (рік виходу гри, раптом ви сумнівалися), оммьоджі намагається заробити грошей та якось вижити у великому місті, при цьому рятуючи аякаші та духів замість того, щоб знищувати, ще й відмовляючись активно практикувати стиль Тенгенджібаші, родини оммьоджі, яка спеціалізується на прокляттях. [strike]Якщо вам починає трішечки зводить олдскули й згадуються, мммм, прізвища Сумераґі та Сакурадзукаморі, вітаю, тисну руку, коліна теж болять. І та, якщо продовжувати аналогію, то гра дійсно нагадує таку собі суміш до\після, себто щось між Вавілоном та Х.[/strike] [quote]And before you go to sleep at night Preying shadows - do they ask you why? And in the morning through the afternoon Do you wonder where you're going to? Roxy Music – The Thrill of It All (наступна теж)[/quote] Я грав в демо й хочу зауважити, що воно не передає ніц, бо крім загальних вайбів старого БЛ не дає нічого, розпишу ще докладніше, але суть в тому, що це от як старі еротичні/порнографічні ОВАшки без першоджерела, куди пхають фансервіс заради продажів. Себто гру можна (й досить легко при тому) пройти взагалі без 18+ вмісту, але всі будуть розмовляти про секс. Бо окремо від власне конкретних роутів тут хіба деякі погані закінчення є про зґвалтування (їх на диво багацько), а на роути вийти складно та заморочливо. Тому перші годин 16 я це читав просто як містику й так, спроби нагадувати, що це взагалі-то яой радше дратували, бо сюжет цілком цікавий, як є. По суті ви місяць граєте за ГГ, обираючи справи та вирішуючи, як йому діяти в кожній конкретній ситуації. При цьому справ багато, кожна має до трьох варіацій від банального "все ок/ви померли наглою смертю" до додаткових сцен та сюжетних поворотів, якщо ви виходите на відповідний роут. Себто сам сюжет гри загалом звісно не шедевр, але читати приємно та цікаво, ще й лору/подробиць вивалюють стільки, що я багато чого додатково гуглив. Ще мабуть додам, що це єдина гра в досить великій серії, яка єдина має переклад, аж прикро, ще б почитав. [quote]You might as well know what is right for you And make the most of what you like to do For all the pleasure that's surrounding you Should compensate for all you're going through [/quote] Давно не вагався, в якому порядку записати роути, але двоє посередині настільки різні, що зрештою якось отако, звісно ж це виключно мої враження. Yotsuya>Kamiosaki>Meguro>Basara Вже написав, що стосунки та секс тут видаються нав'язливими й це при тому, що до них ще треба дочитати. Є ще майже виключно фансервісні бонусні історії (хіба в Мегуро вона про сюжет) й варто уточнити, що коли я пишу "роути" це теж фактично окремі історії про події, що відбуваються після першого місяця роботи ГГ залежно від того, з ким він налагодив стосунки, або не налагодив, є також закінчення, в якому вам так і кажуть "нічого не змінилося" й на нього найпростіше вийти, бо надто вже умови там специфічні, радив би після проходження одразу користуватись посібником, бо вже перевірив, що навіть одне якесь рішення може вас залочити поза обраним роутом. Й тут знову ж таки додають сюжету та лору в першу чергу, якщо стисло та без спойлерів то максимум лору про ГГ в роуті Каміосакі, роут Йотсуя пафосно-драматичний, аж занадто закручений, але теж відсипають цілу історію, Мегуро радше не про ГГ взагалі й це якось освіжає, плюс на диво найбільш милий сюжетно, а Басара це навіть не окремий роут, по суті, лише трішки зверху сексу насипали, щоб було. Загалом не скажу, що більшість стосунків в грі доречні в принципі, але це туди ж, до крінжі та фансервісу, ще й сцени сексу описані так, що подекуди перестаєш розуміти, про що мова (з япом не порівнював, позаяк вони майже не розмовлють про подробиці, лише про секс загалом, хах, але не думаю, що в цьому випадку проблема в перекладі), туди ж усілякі дива анатомії, фізіології (й фізики) та інші типові штуки, з якими я змирився ще на початку нульових, але ж. Мені додали сюжету, мені норм. Ну й все не жахливо-жахливо, бувало набагато гірше, але хочеться бачити краще все ж. А тепер докладніше про технічний бік гри: Тож по-перше є вибір з купи різних шрифтів й позаяк я вже не павм'ятаю, який був в оригіналі не знаю, чи це глобальна проблема для всіх шрифтів, але скоріш за все, бо форматування тексту ламається повністю, невідворотно й дуже боляче. Тобто у вас будуть всю гру отакісамі (ага) речення. Ну й позаяк вже почав про текст переклад не ідеальний, але й не зовсім жах. Загалом більш-менш, але наприклад в роуті Йотсуя зловив багацько помилок й ще зверху жарт (від ГЗ, спойлерно [spoiler]про кістки, він його ще й там повторює купу разів[/spoiler]), якого немає в оригіналі. Були певні неточності з визначеннями усіляких термінів (як то кодоку, сюжетно важлива штука й я лише з япа зрозумів, про що ж саме мова) та навпаки коли перекладені ті ж мантри ти просто сидиш і О_О <"ЩО ВИ НАРОБИЛИ?!! ААА!!". Бо ну нашо?.. Ліпше б пояснили хоч трохи штук про оммьодо, ну. Помилки\одруки теж трапляються (себто окремо від поламаного форматування, яке постійно з'єднує короткі слова), але нечасто. Сейю молодці, до речі, прям приємно слухати, хороший та досить відомий каст, нарікань не маю хоч десь. Картинка... йой. Ну тобто по-перше грати на весь екран фізично боляче, бо все стає страшенно розмитим й пече очі, по-друге робити знятки в Стім, коли завантаження швидкого збереження стоїть на ту ж Ф12, що й знятки... ви зрозуміли, та? Якщо робити зняток з гри у вікні, то отримуєте чорний фон за розміром вашого монітора й скромний сам зняток десь в кутку, теж проблема багатьох старих візуалок й кривих портів, особливо кривих портів, хоча ця гра виходила саме на ПК спочатку. Ну й багато де зображення не такі якісні, як видається на перший погляд, але то я вже прискіпуюся. Про всяк допишу, що це повна версія гри, себто не порізана (з рідною японською цензурою пікселями) версія з усім оригінальним вмістом. За це теж дякую.

I totally didn't expect it to be such a pleasant, exciting read (●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。It was so fascinating I didn't want it to end T_T Who would have thought I had such a gem in my wishlist. Thanks, Добрый, for digging it out for me, it was one of the best gifts I've ever received <3 At first I was really hooked by the setting & story itself with all those supernatural elements, riveting Japanese myths & mysterious cases. That was already enough to make me feel totally engrossed. There are quite many gripping cases where your choices may lead to either successfully solving them or to gruesome deadly endings. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3610869066 What's also important for me in a good story is an appealing MC & here he's one of the most endearing chars I've ever read about! (♥️‿♥️) His background, opinions on many different things, decisions he makes, his weaknesses and strengths, absolutely everything I found just perfect! In most novels all the protagonists (esp female chars in typical otome) are unbearably annoying, I have to endure their stupid actions but in this case I could just relax, easily associate myself with MC & enjoy that entertaining experience. I'm gonna miss the guy 🤗 But after all those cases it suddenly turned out to be an explicit, passionate BL novel O_O as I try to avoid reading store pages not to spoil the pleasure it was an astonishing surprise :D I believed all that romantic tension while solving the cases & occasional hot, sexy but dark endings is all the love content I was going to get but you can unlock four routes after the main part. That was amazing ♥️ Absolutely all the love options are attractive, fun to read with their unique engaging conflict to overcome, bright, distinctive personality and significant part in MC's life, making him finally contented and blissful what he deserved so much. Though all those numerous bad ending in the path of the only happy one are truly devastating. In general, the story was very emotional for me, in both positive & negative aspects. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3620798116 Of course, I can't omit mentioning stunning visuals (I've made almost 300 screenshots), gorgeous voices (I couldn't make myself click further until I finish all the lines till the end, there was just zero unpleasant voices) and short but fun extra stories for each love interest <3 So, the game is almost perfect in my opinion, except such minor complaints as --abrupt lines, the sentences almost all the time were cut short, continued on a new line for whatever reason and every time it ended in the next slide the first two words were typed together, no space. Reading fast it always sounded a tad weird, I stopped, it drew me rudely out of my immersion, I had to reread that part to figure out what was that... so annoying :( --Basara didn't have a route strictly speaking, it was just one short scene, that was so unfair T_T to both readers and poor, loyal shikigami <3 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3617338906 --blurry censorship :( though it definitely can't be the reason not to recommend the game as one of the curators I follow did O_o All those intimate scenes were passionate enough without explicit images though I get it why it's so annoying, let me have my fun to the full extent😡 Welp, now it's undoubtedly one of my favorite novels, I'd like to replay it one day. I hope that irritating status 'Profile Features Limited' will be removed soon and I'll add it to my steam profile among the best games <3 Чтобы хоть как-то поспособствовать этому, если есть желающие из моих русско-говорящих друзей, кто хотел бы пройти новеллу и написать рецензию, дайте знать в личку, я куплю эту игру в подарок первому написавшему. Не знаю, кстати, изменилось ли что, но помнится раньше я не могла дарить игры людям из других стран, т. к. у них ценник был выше, сейчас вроде региональные цены убрали, но кто их знает, потому предлагаю только своим)) [table] [tr] [th]More thoughts about the game in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/603040419439504001/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]

SPOILER FREE REVIEW: 100% Recommend this game to all BL and Visual Novel lovers! It's a classic BL visual novel that's been around for a while and to find out it's been localized, translated and readily available on STEAM made my heart soar! WORTH THE MONEY! I've always wanted to play the game when I heard about it years ago but with my limited Japanese and inability to play it prior to it being open STEAM, made me sad. NOW THAT'S CHANGED AND I'M OVER THE MOON!! SO PLAY IT GODDANGIT! SPOILER REVIEW BELOW! (Prob will update as I've only played MEGURO's GOOD ENDING) Tokyo Onmiyoji is more than just a BL Visual Novel. It is deep and rich in story, supernatural Japanese lore as well as an interesting mix of characters! I've only played Meguro's full GOOD route and ....it's just outstanding how intricate the supernatural elements, stories and lore have been wound into the story and it's characters! From understanding the evolution of Ayakashi, Onmyodo and to modern day Japan (Shinjuku) adapting to such supernatural phenomena ect. The characters are tied skillfully and thoughtfully into the lore and compliments the story/routes fantastically! I could go on for hours onto how amazing the story is. Heck, the smut scenes make sense when they appear in the story too! (And oh boy is the art in those R18 scenes YUMMY!) Please give this game a chance! ALSO IT HAS EPIC ANIMATION MOMENTS THAT ARE AMAZING TO SEE! Props to the animation and art team for this! ART: 10/10 (Give these artists a R A I S E!!) MUSIC: 10/10 (Nice set pieces and a good mix of tense, funny and situational themes that make sense in all scenes!) CHARACTERS: Ehh....8/10 (points off for Kamiosaki for being for being an overbearing dumbass lol. Might change once I've done his route but ehhhh) STORY: 10/10 PREMISE: 10/10 Come on its supernatural stories with a detective/monster of the week feel! SMUT: AMAZING. YUMMY. A TREAT FOR THE EYES. I love me some Power bottom/sassy/self assured/confident/elegant UKE like our lovely Rei Tengenshibashi <3 You don't see enough of his type nowadays in modern BL. *sigh* BRING BACK THE CONFIDENT + SASSY POWER BOTTOM UKE! *I'll prob add more to this review as I finish Basara, Yotsuya and ....eh...regretably Kamiosaki's routes!* But anyways, PLEASE BUY AND ENJOY THE GAME AS MUCH AS I DO! IT'S WORTH THE PRICETAG AND I GUARANTEE YOU IT WON'T DISAPPOINT!* EDIT: Finished game on 28/3/2022. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'VE FINALLY FINISHED THE GAME (All good ends thank god) and my previous review from a few days ago stands. IT IS AN INCREDIBLE, STORY AND CHARACTER DRIVEN GAME WITH AMAZING PLOT, CHARACTERS, ART AND SOUNDTRACK! LOVED EVERY MOMENT! Overall experience 9/10! One point off for Basara's route not being long enough like the other boys ;_; Like I want a prequel detailing how he and Rei met and formed a bond together prior to the series and all aaaaaa Oh well. Great game overall!

It's a very good game, I'm surprised this game doesn't have more exposure. * Story: Quite long (some might get bored); you get to work as an onmyioji (sort of demon exorcist) and pick the jobs you want to do, accompanied by at least 1 of the ROs; good balance of comedy, drama and spicy scenes; there's also 1 bonus story for each RO, after you finish their routes; * Characters - MC is a well rounded character, confident in himself and actually acts like his age (29); the ROs also have good, believable backgrounds and 3 out of 4 have pre-existent relations to the MC and are into him whether you do their routes or not * Routes: childhood friends to lovers route, enemies (rival) to lovers route, the silly smitten sidekick route and the friends with benefits to lover route; they add character development both for the RO and the MC himself; * CGs: a good amount, a few are slightly animated and have some cool visual effects; * Backgrounds: kinda meh, sometimes they get reused; * VAs: fully voiced (aside from 3rd person narration); amazing voice acting; * Sound: fitting music, not that special; a surprising amount of good sound effects, subtle and well placed; * Adult content: does not require a patch; pretty descriptive scenes; intimate parts are pixelated; people calling this "censored" are vastly exaggerating, as you can see the unpixelated body fluids dribbling, the unpixelated pubic hair, the colour and size of their d*cks, them being the ONLY thing pixelated and perfectly inside their original shape at that; the pixelation is minimal, it's hiding close to nothing; with how simple the art is, it would've probably just been a couple lines filled with the skin colour and no other details - I've seen some curators not recommend this game entirely because of this "censorship", absolutely ridiculous; people read their kind of crap and think the game has no sex scenes or is missing them in the way JAST USA butchers their NitroChiral games, which isn't the case at all; I uploaded a screenshot with the pixelation for one scene, for anyone who's wondering (not even the most explicit one, as I was trying to avoid spoiling it too much); MC is bottom for all ROs; there's some dubcon & noncon, mostly in the bad endings; * VN features: very polished, 150 save slots, gallery, can save voice lines, can save on choices, skip is pretty fast.

Very good story with an interesting group of characters that led to some very fun and shocking twists. Love this style of game where we understand the culture of Japanese in terms of spirituality and folklore with a mostly unfiltered voice.

Definitely one of the better BL VNs. Moonchime did a great job translating this *extremely* Japanese VN into English, barring a few minor typos and stilted sentences. It helps to be familiar with Japanese mythology and spirituality going in to this story, but it's not necessarily required. Just be prepared for some word soup when the story goes into the weeds regarding the finer details of onmyoji techniques and history. Again, Moonchime did a great job! It's just unavoidable sometimes due to so many terms not having English equivalents. If none of the love interests seem appealing, play it for Tengenjibashi himself. He's a proactive and genuinely skilled protagonist that puts doormats like Aoba and Akira to shame. He's also written as and actually acts like the experienced working adult he is, which is refreshing in a genre that tends to infantilize the player character. The love interests themselves are more interesting than they first appear, for the most part. 3/4 routes go deep into their motivations and how they connect to Tengenjibashi. Tyrant opted for the less=more approach to characters and their stories and it paid off rather well. Since it's one of the main draws, I'll mention the R18 stuff... everything is still censored, which didn't bother me but might turn away others. The scenes themselves are a mixed bag depending on your own preferences. I like Tengenjibashi's tendency to be honest about his history and what he wants (remember that "proactive" bit?), but the characterization isn't always consistent sadly (he tends to become submissive pretty quickly once things get heated.) There are some non-consensual encounters, N+C style guro scenes, and questionable situations but nothing out of the ordinary for BL. If that type of stuff bothers you, just avoid the bad endings. There is a guide in the Steam community to help with that. And, if I'm being honest, the guro isn't as explicit as some of N+C's worst stuff- Tyrant seems to have a tad more restraint in that regard. But again, it's easily avoidable for those who don't want to see it. The scenes themselves also aren't necessarily out of nowhere or awkward feeling like the can be in other VNs. The story-to-PLOT ratio is tilted in the favor of story in 3 out of the 4 routes. Overall I'd say this is a great VN to play for veterans and newbies alike. Definitely give it a shot if you're interested in BL!

I am now a cerified Onmyoji and gay.