Warning: This review *does* contain spoilers of the original Collar x Malice game so if you haven’t read it yet then continue at your own risk!
Title: カラーマリス アンリミテッド
Developer: Otomate
Release Date: 26th July 2018
Length: ~16 Hours
Links: Official Site, VNDB
Since this is a mini-review of a fandisc, I’m just going to jump straight in with my thoughts on each of the individual sections and the game as a whole.
When you reach the title screen of the game, instead of the usual “Start” option we have the “New Memory” option which basically just takes you to a scenario selection screen:
As you can see from the above image, there are 4 sections of the game: Interlude, After Story, Adonis & Side Story. At first only the prologue of Interlude is available to play, with other sections opening up after certain conditions are met.
I’ll start with “Interlude” first – this takes place during the original game and focuses around a guy called Chisato enlisting the help of the detective agency to help track down his missing friend, whom he believes to be a member of Adonis. This section of the game is very short and is really only used as a way to unlock the individual character after-stories based on your choices. The mini-games from the original make an appearance here too. I personally thought this part of the game was completely a waste and would rather have the after-stories open from the start instead. At least there was a nice CG for each of the characters?
Next up is the main part of the game – the After Stories for the 5 main characters. These are all a fairly decent length at around 2 hours each. Each of the after stories has 2 endings – best & normal. All of the after stories take place in the April following the original game.
Aiji had one of the best routes in the original game and this trend continued in the fandisc, with his after story being super sweet but with a bit of relevant plot thrown in for good measure.
Mineo loses his beloved eye-patch in this game but is still his usual puppy-like self. I felt that his route kind of had a lot of unnecessary drama compared to the others but the ending almost makes up for it. I just wish that we actually got to meet his family since he talks about them quite a bit!
Takeru’s after story was probably my favourite overall and I absolutely adored his interactions with Ichika. It feels like he generally got the most cute scenes but he does probably have the worst ending CG so I guess that balances everything out?
Kei was my favourite character in the original game (although I love everyone so much) and his after story was good, although he could be a little frustrating at times. His LEAF messages continue to be absolutely hilarious & Yoshinari was good during this route too~
As Shiraishi’s route in the original was pretty bittersweet I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from his after story (even though I left it until last, haha). His after story was the least “cutesy” and was more plot-focused. While it was interesting to learn more about Shiraishi’s past I just wish that there were more fluffy scenes in this route as they were wonderful when they did show up!
After this come the side-stories. There are 3 in total, which are:
- Pride (Unlocks after reading Takeru’s best ending)
- Onwards (Unlocks after reading Mineo’s best ending)
- Crossroads (Unlocks after reading Kei’s best ending)
“Pride” takes place in the February after the original game and follows detective Minegishi Seiji as he tries to deal with the aftermath of the X-Day incidents, including wondering just why Ichika was chosen by Adonis. I personally didn’t care much for Seiji in the original and just found this story to be pretty dull/pointless, the hints of romance were kinda awkward(?) too…
“Onwards” begins in April during the start of the X day incidents and follows Ichika’s younger brother Kazuki and how he befriends Akito before working with him to achieve his dream of becoming a professional musician. I thought this story was on the short side but was enjoyable and a worthwhile addition to the game, especially as the voice acting talent was great.
“Crossroads” takes place during the same time as the original game and is told from the perspective of Yoshinari Hideaki, Kei’s kouhai and a member of the security police whom is curious about Ichika’s relation to the rest of the members of the detective agency. YOSHINARI IS SUCH A GOOD BOY!! I enjoyed this story immensely and had a good laugh BUT I was so badly hoping for a romance route that I was a little let down because the story ends before anything happens ｡･ﾟ･(ﾉД｀)･ﾟ･｡
Please give this angel a route Otomate!
Once you finish both Aiji & Shiraishi’s best endings, you unlock the Adonis section of the game. This is a “what if” story following one of the bad endings from the original game, where everyone close to Ichika dies in their pursuit of Adonis and she ends up joining the terrorist group as she believes revenge on Zero may be all she has left to hope for. Two years later and in the preparation for the upcoming “X Day” involving a Coup d’état, Zero suddenly summons Ichika and informs her that there’s a traitor among the higher-ranking members of the organization and asks her to investigate and discover them before they sabotage their operation.
I had heard that there are glitches during this part but I personally just followed what the game itself told me to do and had no problems. Basically, you’re given 30 days (which goes down to 24 after your first play-through for some reason) to speak with the members of Adonis. Each of the characters have 7 story chapters, apart from Rei who has 8. My advice for this section is to just finish a couple of characters every time you play through the game (the game *should* remember who’s scenario you’ve finished on subsequent plays). Once you reach the “Normal Ending” on your first play through then you restart the game by choosing New Memory → Adonis → Prologue.
After your first play through, Zero/Yuzuru becomes an option to talk to as well. I went through the characters in reverse order according to their numbers (9 → 0) and found that this worked fairly well. Once you have read all of the story events for all of the characters, you’ll get to read the “true” route of this section, which has two endings. I think the main glitch involves save data from this part not loading correctly or something but there’s only one choice so, as the game says, just reload from part 3 of Yuzuru’s “route” and skip until the choice.
The Adonis section of the game is actually surprisingly enjoyable and gives some interesting depth to each of the characters and are a good mix of comedy and tragedy with some really heartwarming moments too. I never knew I needed this but now I care about all of the members an alarming amount and wish that they could’ve been happy! There’s also 5 “Combo” events featuring pairs of characters which are honestly so goooooood!
Now, for those curious about a Yuzuru route, I don’t want to spoil it for you but it’s kind of odd. After finishing the original game, I really wanted a proper Yuzuru route because I love the whole “villain as love interest” trope in games. That being said, it wasn’t what I expected but I really thought that this route was handled rather well and was definitely different. I think this also highlighted Ichika’s strength as a character too.
As you may have guessed from the amount of CGs I’m posting, the artwork in this game was absolutely top-notch and there was an absolute abundance of CGs given that the game is fairly short. I’ve no idea how she managed it but Hanamura Mai seems to have improved yet again and most of the CGs are absolutely gorgeous. The SD artwork provided by Natsume Uta is also super cute and I loved those CGs too! There’s also a huge amount of bonus artwork, with individual bonus CGs for each character, as well as 2 final bonus CGs.
The sound department was great and I enjoyed the new BGM tracks, the OP/ED songs were all also pretty good and I’ll have to get around to buying them at some point.
In terms of bonus content, I thoroughly enjoyed the extra LEAF conversations with the guys, especially as they now use super adorable stamps as well.
Where on earth did Shiraishi find a stamp saying that though!?!?!?
Final Thoughts
My Score: 8/10
While it’s true that fandiscs don’t often quite live up to the original game, this was definitely a fun play with some much needed fluff for the main characters and enjoyable extra stories.
My main complaint of this game was the lack of wedding endings – I know that this is probably just personal preference but when only 1 character gets a wedding CG it feels like the rest are missing out on something… I was also pretty disheartened with the abrupt ending of Yoshinari’s side story (give him the romance he deserves!) but the rest of the game was generally very good and you get the feeling that the creators put a lot of love into this one.
If you’ve played the original game and liked any of the characters and/or want to know more about the Adonis members then this is definitely a good purchase to make!
Since this game has sold pretty well so far I’m low-key hoping that they’ll make another game/spin-off/fandisc with more fluff.
Thanks for Reading!
Zettai Renai! 