In a country overflowing with every dating simulator game both imaginable and unimaginable it can be hard to carve a niche. We’ve seen games in the past where players challenge themselves to score a date with an alpaca, pigeon, or T-Rex, but for those who want to play the field of the entire animal kingdom a new player has emerged.

The game is called Kikenna Kare ni Koishiteru (In Love with a Dangerous Boyfriend) and in it you assume the role of a young girl who enrolls in a school of a variety of animals from soft-shelled turtles to Japanese horseshoe crabs. We took the game for a spin and now humbly present this review for your consideration.

Like most dating sims, Kikenna Kare ni Koishiteru has the player reading through lots of dialog and occasionally making decision that will make or break the hearts of potential suitors. A common setting for such games is high school and this one is no different.

As the game opens you are met with the administration of Akamori Academy who get you set up for your first day of school. You can either go with the default name for the female lead of Noa Funakata (an allusion to Noah’s Ark), or you can choose you own name. Even though it’s a girl I used my own name on the recommendation of my therapist who said “it’s an important step towards self-realization,” whatever that means.

“Ah, right right. Steven-chan, there’s a girl Ruri in the same class as you, I think you two will get along.”

Excited with this prospect on my new day at school, I headed down the hallway to meet my new friend. However, on the way I stepped on some dog-raccoon-fox type thing. I couldn’t find out what kind of animal it actually was because I killed it and the game ended.

“I stepped on something and… oh no… I crushed… something… to death.”

I was about to throw the game disc out the window in frustration and a genuine love of Frisbee, but after remembering it was a free downloaded game, I decided to give it another go. This time I managed to avoid killing the fluffy animal and got to the classroom where Ruri was waiting.

After some awkward introductions, Ruri transformed into an orurishijimi, a blue butterfly endemic to Japan and Korea. Shortly after, I opted to confess my love for this butterfly I just met. What can I say? That shade of blue really gets me going.

“I’m an orurishijimi.”

However, Ruri didn’t respond well to it.

“Steve-san… I’m sorry… I’m happy you feel that way but… you’ll have to try again.”

“When I heard what Ruri said somehow I blacked out.”

And my game ended again… You might think that’s a lame cop-out by the author of this game, but then again maybe that’s just how butterflies are. They make you faint the second you profess your love to them.

Ratings

Clearly I’m not any good with animals or romance, but if both of those are your cups of tea, then you might want to check out Kikenna Kare ni Koishiteru. The controls are tight. Every time I clicked the lines of dialog moved forward smoothly so I’m going to go ahead and give that five stars (★★★★★).

The graphics were good and in keeping with the dating sim genre. I liked the artistic choice of using anime-style people and animals that verge on photorealistic. However the bandages on the dog-thing I killed didn’t really match the body, so I’m going to only give that four stars (★★★★). The music was simple but infectious and well worth a whopping five stars (★★★★★).

As it should be, the story is where this title really shines. Having only played a few minutes; I killed, fell in love, and passed out. It was like my entire high school career summed up in a few moments. There are also mystery elements like the reason for the bag over the principal’s face. For that alone I give the plot 18 stars (★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★) out of 72.

Source: My Game News Flash (Japanese)
Kikenna Kare ni Koishiteru (Japanese)
**WARNING: downloading games from websites may be harmful to your computer proceed at your own risk**

The game boasts eight story arcs including soft-shelled turtle, Japanese horseshoe crab, golden eagle…

…and Amami rabbit