A Kiss for the Petals 7: Sweet Enchanting Kisses

Well doods and peeps, I’ve delayed this one long enough. It’s finally time to talk about…episode 7. Hoo boy, this is going be rough.

Warning: For those uncomfortable with pedophilia/lolicon or don’t like to read my rants, I suggest skipping this one.

Everyone else, this is going to be an interesting one from yours truly.

Where do I begin? This episode, unlike the other debut games, doesn’t hold back at all as we begin with the ero stuff pretty quick. We find out that the first scene is the present and we’re taken to how this teacher/elementary school student romantic relationship began. Takako is a 20-something year old school teacher who got a job teaching at her alma mater’s elementary division. One day, a “supposedly” beautiful little girl shows up and immediately takes over the classroom and shows her dominance over her peers by giving Takako a big wet one. Doesn’t take long for Takako to realize this girl is really “HER” younger sister.

I’ll stop explaining the plot here because you can guess where this is going between the two. What’s interesting to note is that compared to all the other debut episodes, this one is surprisingly the deepest. Then again, considering who the participants are, maybe it isn’t. It’s not deep as in it’ll make you think really hard (A certain manga which I’ll discuss on later date delivers this plot in a far more believable manner) but it’s more than just love at first sight. It has a bit of self reflection and a minor conflict in terms of taboo in society so I’ll give Fuguriya that much. However, as much as I can go on about the depth in this relationship, my utter disdain with the couple in question is what kept me from enjoying this episode.

In short, props for going deeper than usual in this episode, but that doesn’t change the fact that imo, this couple sucks.

Runa Houraisen is a stereotypical ojou-sama type character who is elegant, cocky and popular on the outside with her “mightier than thou” attitude but on the inside is actually lonely and doesn’t know how to make friends casually. Simple enough, but then you throw in the concept of her having a sort of love/rival relationship with “HER” and for some reason wants to both win and find love early through Takako. Why someone her age and upbringing would bother with things like that so early in her lifespan is beyond me, but whatever. I guess “SHE” had a hand in molding her. She’s a more childish tsundere than either Reo or Shizuku and gets the job done in that department, I guess. She doesn’t annoy me as much as…that woman who I’ll get to in a moment, but I’m not a fan of hers is what I’m saying.

Next we have Takako Suminoe…oh goh. Do I dislike this pathetic excuse of a woman. It’s not because she’s a lolicon (I’ll get to that in a bit), it’s because of how much of a masochistic wuss she is. Also, if someone with her personality were to become a teacher in the real world, take it from someone who studied to become an English teacher, she wouldn’t last three minutes.Pathetic is the one word I use to describe Takako. Heck, even her “awakening” was lame compared to the other submissive protagonists or preys.

From what I could understand after finishing the game, Takako fell in love with Runa for the following reasons:

1: Runa exerted all the personal qualities Takako so desperately wants to possess herself: courage, respect from her peers, no fear, dominance, elegance, wits and blonde hair (Okay, the last one’s a lie).

2: Runa reminds Takako of “HER”! She quickly discovers that Runa’s “HER” sister so it made sense.

There are probably other reasons that will make sense in the sequel but these two are the most important. In any case, Takako’s responses and reactions to the current situation of dating a minor were downright retarded. She constantly mentioned how wrong their relationship is. Newsflash dummy, you’re horny for a spoiled brat who reminds you of your first crush. Stop bringing up how wrong it is. Get over that fact and move on! Look, I understand this, along with all the other games in the series are about a sweet and charming relationship between two women. The other couples pulled it off quite well without being too silly. This game on the hand downright tries to insult my intelligence and dry my patience. Heck, the reason this review took so long to publish was not just because of my midterms, but also due to how much it irritated me. DAMN YOU TAKAKO! Runa isn’t any better either…conceited little brat.

While episode 8 and its love scenes filled with me great joy and glee, episode 7’s brought forth nothing but anger and irritation. I couldn’t even get into Takako “awakening” as I had already mentioned. MAN, was her “awakening” lame.

Look, I wanted to like this game. I hoped its controversial reputation was solely  based around the kind of couple and not the tale that is told. Unfortunately, while the tale’s somewhat interesting, the participants, especially one brain dead teacher, are what kept me from liking this game. Again, the age-gap thing had nothing to do with it.

One more thing. I mentioned this request once before in a post about episode 11, but now I’m more serious than ever. Please Yurin yurin, PLEASE MAKE THAT ALTERNATE ROUTE OPTION I REQUESTED A REALITY! I beg of you. This kind of story was done so well in another form of Japanese media, which is why it disappoints me even more that this one failed to impress me.