Help us fight spam!

A Review of Sakura Swim Club
By ImJustThatKinky • 4 years ago


Nutaku asked us to take a look at this game, and here’s our opinion.

The great Sakura marathon continues! Before we begin, let me give you a quick update. First off, there’s like a million of these games so I’ve made the executive decision to only review four of them for this marathon. Based on the feedback from you guys and my own personal research, we’ll be continuing with this review, Sakura Dungeon… and Sakura MMO 2! (Spirits had some good press too but doesn’t really have sex scenes) I swear I didn’t time this shit, I’ve never spoken to Winged Cloud, it just so happens that they released the sequel to Sakura MMO on Nutaku during this marathon.

With that out of the way, let’s get started. Sakura Swim Club is a short visual novel that was developed and published by Winged Cloud. Interesting to note, is that it’s not yuri. I was under the assumption that all Sakura titles were yuri, but that’s definitely not the case. It was released on Nutaku on September 11, 2015 and can be picked up for $10.


Art/Music

Despite the title not including any yuri (except for one kiss), the soft, cute artstyle that the Sakura games are known for makes a reappearance here. I won’t spend much time talking your ear off about it because it’s pretty much the same, you either like it or you don’t. Now the music on the other hand, was a step-up from the last game. Sakura MMO had a whimsical, fantasy-driven soundtrack that provided atmosphere, but that’s the limit of its impact for me. This game’s OST is much more generic-sounding overall, but there were a few tracks that were really enjoyable: the track that plays during emotional scenes, and the track that plays during hype scenes. I had to slow down while reading just to prolong those scenes and hear the music go off for a while before continuing.




This is why I hate good art. I want to go swimming in that water now.


Writing

The writing also proved to be an improvement in my book. Your basic storyline is still here. Kaede is a transfer student with busy parents who joins the swim club in an effort to help out the the only two members it has: Mieko and Hirumi. Yet while the characters are based off archetypes like a tsundere, some effort is done with their backstories to flesh them out more. And god forbid… I think this shit had a moral. Kaede eventually has to confront his father, who is insistent that it’s time for them to move again, and tell him that he wants to stay and find his own path through life. This isn’t anything new per se, but obviously it’s unlikely Kaede is going to become a professional swimmer. It’s nice to see the spin of “I don’t know what I want to do, I just know I don’t want you to decide it” instead of “I love swimming Dad, fuck you, I’m going to swim forever.”


Yeah yeah, I've heard that one before.


The Sex

So I’m sitting here, playing through this game, dreaming about anime thighs, when all of the sudden, the first female character pops up. Now imagine my surprise, when this girl’s dialogue is accompanied by Japanese voice acting! Immediately, I pray to the gods that this isn’t some shit where once we arrive at the sex, it isn’t voiced. Thanks to my divine faith, I can assure you that the sex in the game, IS in fact voiced. A round of applause for everybody reading. The crowd goes wild! BUT… there’s still a few issues. The scenes themselves are fairly short, and might have to be combined together to be fappable. Secondly, due to a good bit of descriptions and Kaede dialogue, there isn’t as much voice acting as I would of preferred. In addition, the writing for said scenes is fairly generic so it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for this section.


Hell nah, cold surfaces kill a boner faster than depression.


At the end of the day, Sakura Swim Club boasts a more cohesive storyline and theme than Sakura MMO, but does not possess the same level of interesting writing for the sex scenes. English voice acting may have been able to boost this title up due to its rarity, but alas...

Japanese voice acting tries to bring this title up to a 4, however short, seemingly copy-pasted sex drags it back down to a strong 3/5

Alright boys and girls, Sakura Dungeon is up next time. I heard that one actually has a unique game mechanic so I’m naively getting my hopes up. Are we excited? Will Sakura MMO 2 reveal the grand theme of Sakura MMO and make what I say in this review invalid? Let me know in the comments below!