Title: アオイトリ
Developer: Purple Software
Release Date: 24th November 2017
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 20+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
As a baby Shiratori Ritsu was left at the gates of Kirihara Academy – a wealthy Christian all-girls school. Usually, male students are prohibited but Ritsu was taken in by the school and trained to be a priest. He possesses an unusual ability to give others “pleasure” with his touch, and this is heightened with sexual contact. As such, he offers his services to help the students at the school.
One evening, he comes into contact with a mysterious being – a demon who contacts him on his mobile phone and is the catalyst to the start of this tale. Over the course of the next week, Ritsu then comes into contact with some unique girls who begin to expand his world view.
Characters
Shiratori Ritsu
Ritsu is the young priest whom was raised in the chapel of Kirihara Academy. He has been forbidden to leave the school grounds as others may want his powers for themselves. He blames himself for the death of a female student some years ago so now puts the happiness of others above himself, and never refuses to use his abilities. Ritsu is a calm, if sometimes stoic young man.
Mary Harker (CV Kusuhara Yui)
Mary is a century old vampire who makes the return journey to her childhood home, which just happens to be where Ritsu lives. She has spent much of the last 100 years travelling and meeting people, which is something she enjoys. Mary is a cheerful girl who misses the warm embrace of the sun (vampires cannot stay in the sunlight without dying). She’s a surprisingly competent cook and enjoys drinking a hot cup of tea.
Kurosaki Sayo (CV Suzuya Maya)
Sayo is a mysterious girl who turns up at the Accademy one day and announces herself as Ritsu’s twin sister. Apparently, the two were seperated at birth and she was left to survive on her own on the rough city streets. This has made Sayo a tough cookie, who has a difficult time trusting others (except her beloved brother). She has an ability similar to Ritsu except that she grants negative emotions to those she touches, leading to people fearing her.
Umino Akari (CV Akino Hana)
Akari is a first year student at the Academy who considers herself to be the uttmost normal student there. Unlike many of the other students, she’s not from a particularly wealthy family. She’s a softly spoken, shy girl who takes a liking to Ritsu after her friends go to him for his services. Akari is a member of the school’s swimming club, and is particularly focused on diving. She gets along well with Mary and somehow ends up acting as a maid for the household.
Akasabi Risa (CV Nonomura Saya)
Risa is an ex-student of the Academy who returns as a teacher. She and Ritsu knew each other from back then and have some sort of history. She is the older sister of Mikako but, due to their family situation, doesn’t live with them.
Akasabi Mikako (CV Tachibana Mao)
Mikako is a classmate of Ritsu and is one of the few people he considers to be a friend. She is a bit of an eccentric girl, whom is known for being blunt so struggles when it comes to interacting with others. She’s incredibly intelligent and also comes from an extremely wealthy family but is surprisingly down-to-earth. Mikako cares deeply for her older sister.
Artwork
The primary artists for the game were COQ (Koku) & Akio. The former has worked extensively with Purple Software over the past 10 years, with this being the latter’s first. The SD artwork was handled by Annou Eight, whom again was a newcommer.
Sound
Opening: Aoi Tori – Hashimoto Miyuki
Insert Song: Futaridake no Curtain Call – Asaba Rio
Ending: Tabidachi no Tori – Yamazaki Moe
The game’s soundtrack was composed by Abukawa Osamu, whom has previously worked with Purple Software on a number of their games.
System
Aoi Tori’s title screen changes with each part of the game you finish (prologue or heroine route).
The game uses Purple Software’s standard floating textbox presentation & features a very simple route selection – there’s literally one choice in the game. Mikako doesn’t have her own seperate route, and her story is intertwined with Risa’s. Once you complete the first 3 routes, Akari’s route is available to play via an option on the title screen.
My Thoughts
Considering I enjoyed my first Purple Software game (Amatsutsumi), it’s no surprise that one of their other games by the same author (Mikage) caught my eye. Would Aoi Tori be able to live up to the high standards I had set for it?
One of the first things that really impressed me about Aoi Tori was the prologue – it did a great job of setting the stage and introducing Ritsu & Mary. I found this to be one of my favourite parts of the game actually.
The common route was more of a standard affair – a mix of slice of life and comedy with some mystery elements. As was evident in Amatsutsumi, there are numerous H Scenes before the route cut-offs, although this does make sense with regard to Ritsu’s ability.
As far as the heroines go, Mary is definitely my favourite. She’s utterly adorable and every scene with her present is a good one. Her route is good, not the best in the game but still an enjoyable read.
Sayo was 100% the biggest surprise to me – the kuudere archetype isn’t one I’m typically a huge fan of but the combination with her backstory and her occasional brocon tendencies were gold. Outside of the true route, Sayo easily had the second best route.
It’s kind of difficult to explain Mikako and Risa’s route without spoiling parts of it but it’s pretty much a combined route (with 3P scenes to match). This was the only part of the game not written by Mikage and instead by Ono Wasabi, whom is probably best known for his work under the Laplacian brand. Whilst this was my first experience with this writer, I am aware that his other plot-focused works are generally held in pretty high regard so I expected this to be no different. Unfortunately, I did feel like this was the weakest part of the game – the pacing just felt very off for me throughout and the twist just wasn’t good.
Akari’s route is the game’s true route and is definitely befitting of that title. I really enjoyed the contents of this route and Akari herself was a pretty interesting heroine.
Ritsu himself was actually a decent character – he definitely had a more defined and developed personality than many galge protagonists.
Obviously one of the clear appeals of this game is the gorgeous artwork and I must agree with that sentiment. There’s just something about COQ’s artwork in particular that is just so interesting to look at – I think it’s to do with the unusual angles/image composition. This isn’t to say that the other artists’ work in Aoi Tori is bad, it’s just that I’m super bias (sorry).
Another area where this game excels is its music department – all three vocal songs are top-tier and the BGM was also pretty good. Purple Software & Hashimoto Miyuki songs – name a better combo?
As mentioned earlier, this game features more than your average amount of H Scenes. It’s clear that the developers put a focus on this area as well as the story. However, these are not exactly divided fairly amongst the heroines – some have double the number of scenes of others and a lot of scenes are actually considered bonuses and do not take place within the main heroine routes, which was somemthing I was not expecting.
Final Thoughts
My Score: 8/10
With a good mix of characterisation and story, Aoi Tori is another game from Purple Software that manages to deliver an enjoyable, satisfying read. I’m becoming a fan of the certain atmosphere that their later games have and will definitely be checking some more of their titles out.
Thanks for reading.
Zettai Renai! 