Visual Novel Spotlight: Boku no Shokora
Boku no Shokora, or “My Chocolate”, is a free game by BabyClan that was released for Valentine’s Day in 2011. The following year, Ouiratsuike released a translation for both it and its expansion. Boku no Shokora follows the story of Komachi, who is forced into a rather strange situation by Takaomi, the awkward son of a German corporate family.
Boku no Shokora is a strange mix of awkward feelings and tsundere moments surrounded by an unsettling situation. Takaomi, the son of a distinguished family, has had his eye on Komachi, a waitress at the local café. He decides to kidnap Komachi’s brother on Valentine’s Day to blackmail her into giving him some homemade Valentine’s Day chocolate. After Komachi rushes through making the chocolate and hurries to meet Takaomi, it becomes apparent that all this was just Takaomi’s creepy way of confessing his love.
When you forget about the premise, the game is rather cute. Both Komachi and Takaomi like each other but have trouble expressing it. Komachi is a textbook tsundere who definitely doesn’t want to feed you homemade chocolate, okay! While Takaomi is a foreigner who is so straightforward it’s a little painful.
The game spans twenty minutes or less and gives you the chance to reach four different endings, each varying between comedic, romantic and platonic. The heart of the game is between Komachi and Takaomi’s interactions and how it gets slightly more ridiculous as time goes on. The game does try to make the kidnapping comedic, but it still comes off as unsettling. That is probably due to the translation, however.
The fact that Boku no Shokora’s summarising quote is the most awkward sentence in the game speaks a lot about how the translation has been handled. It’s not unreadable like a certain game about alpacas, but it is exceptionally clumsy. The Japanese language’s particular use of ellipses, full stops and dashes has been left in, making the text look a little odd for those not familiar with it. It doesn’t appear to be a machine translation though, and it’s not hard to understand what’s going on.
Apart from that, the sprite work is adorable and the interface is simple but cute. Event CGs are used sparingly and two out of four endings get special illustrations. Completing all routes unlocks the prologue, character profiles and omake (bonus) page with concept art and such. The prologue gives some context to the story but kind of makes the situation even creepier.
Boku no Shokora is a short game that straddles the line between romantic and creepy. While the translation is a little awkward, that shouldn’t stop anyone from playing through the short story of a tsundere waitress and a perverted foreign businessman.
Boku no Shokora is a free game for Windows only. It can be downloaded in Japanese from BabyClan’s website. As Ouiratsuike’s site has gone down, you can download the translation from the English Otome Games Tumblr. A free expansion of the game, called Boku no Shokora White Day Patch, has also been translated and you can find a link to it in this review on Otome Sweetheart.
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