NEKOPARA Vol 3 (Nintendo Switch) Review

From the game's title image it is clear just how cute and kawaii-filled this visual novel is. The opening song is beautiful to watch, the anime style graphics have the characters breathing and moving their ears from scene to scene. This style of graphics combined with the cat theme makes it a perfect read for some VN fans. Readers may not be cat-human hybrids, but they have the same dreams and fears that humans do. The spotlight falls on Maple who has personal dreams that she wants to achieve, but she has fears of being bothersome to the others. The way that Kashou and his sister encourage Maple is heart-warming to say the least. There is some teasing involved but it isn't in a nasty way, and the girls do forgive each other of their faults. Kashou's sister Shigure seems to be the one to help keep the peace and identify where the problems are - she does leave Kashou to fix them.

Unusually for a graphic novel, the player doesn't have to make a single choice. It is more a graphic novel on the Nintendo Switch than a typical visual novel whose options affect the outcome of the story. This makes it a perfect read before bed, and the absence of options didn't feel weird, it suited the nature of the story. There is one scene which was taken out of at least the Nintendo Switch version of the game; this adult scene removal seems to be because it wasn't in keeping with the overall style of the game which is about family bonds rather than romance. Some of the characters do have a more adult way of thinking, which at times is a bit uncomfortable, but overall makes sense for the characters' natures and is simply a part of the story rather than being put there purely for fanservice reasons.