Every once in a while, a game will come forth in the midst of mediocrity to shine brilliance while using very simplistic and sometimes common elements. In the days of the NES, it was Super Mario Bros. 3. In the days of the SNES, it was Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Ero games normally don't see many games of this tier due to their nature, but sometimes, brilliance can be found in rather strange places. This brings me to a game called Rakuen ~"Ai kawarazu na boku" no baai~.

The setting is...unique to say the least. I have seen ero games about high school, college, art students, oppai girls, domination, witchcraft, traveling through the world of books, music conservatories and Akihabara, but I've never seen a game about...people that make ero games. In Rakuen, the player takes the role of a nameless main character who, amongst other things, is a talented doujinshi artist and a ronin. He moved away from home and came to Tokyo in order to enroll in one of the area's many cram schools to be better prepared for his next attempt at taking the entrance exams. Of course, temptation and his drawing ability dragged him into the doujinshi circuit until he found his way into a company called MoonEarth. Since MoonEarth is a starting company, there's little worries about company rep, though there is a wish amongst the employees to make a name for themselves by creating a quality product. Of course, said staff being the biggest group of slackers to ever grace the video game industry puts a damper on that wish. As a member of MoonEarth, our main character is chosen to become the character designer for their premier title, which to say the least, is a difficult task in itself. Thus, Rakuen focuses on MoonEarth as they struggle through staff shortage, financial trouble and crunch time, as they work their way to completing their project, a game titled "Ai kawarazu na boku". Whether MoonEarth gets to finish on time or not is heavily dependant on which girl the player chooses to go after, since each has different motives for working in the ero game industry, and their ambitions heavily influence the flow of things.

There are five girls to choose from in Rakuen, each varying from the next, and each funny in their own right. To start, we have Mishiba Karen, CG/Graphic artist for MoonEarth. She is the standard "short, really small girl that is actually older than everyone else" character. Karen stands at 130 centimeters (51 1/4 inches), and despite her small size is quite fearsome. Being an artist, she has very odd quirks, including ending her sentences with "nya", attacking people that call her "chibi" and anyone who thinks she is a middle school student, and of course, being indominable under most circumstances. She bites too. Despite her quirks (not to mention her extensive knowledge of ero game genres and elements), she tends to be playful and friendly, though is one of the many people at MoonEarth who filters everything through knowledge of ero games.

Next we have Mikami Mika, probably the most popular character out of Rakuen simply because she is the best Kansai-ben speaking character I have ever seen. Mika is a CG/Graphic Artist like Karen, and in fact when they started out, they used to share an apartment. She currently works for MiniMi Software, the rival company of MoonEarth, but her overly friendly nature keeps her focused on the job and less on the rivalry (much unlike her boss, Tanaka, who does everyting he can to provoke the Director of MoonEarth). Mika is also an accomplished doujinshi artist, which is how MiniMi discovered her, and how she meets the main character (whom she affectionately calls O-chan, derived from otaku). She's on friendly terms with everyone, though Karen has shown a tendency to be overprotective of Mika (especially if the main character chooses to go after her). Ironically, her role is not that of a damsel in distress, but more of a support pillar for the main character.

Chikura Sae is next, who to me is a very odd character. Sae is very cliche due to her being the childhood sweetheart of the main character (well, high school would be better). They were close by high school standards, since the main character gave her his second button (which has great meaning since it's the button closest to the heart), and after finding out that the main character is a ronin, she decides to make a promise with him to get into the same university together (since she also initially failed the entrance exams). She is probably the most reserved girl in Rakuen, though she has a perchant for blogging and fanfic writing. Thus, when MoonEarth is in need of a scenario writer for "Ai kawarazu na boku", the main character decides to ask Sae (who from then on uses the pen name "Sakura"). She turns what originally started as a nonsensical three-heroine concept into an interestingly deep sci-fi story. Being the only character who has any true emotional background with the main character, Sae is the "lead" girl of Rakuen, though to me her character is inferior to Mika and Karen's.

You can't have an ero game without a younger sister character, and Rakuen went a bit beyond expectations by having not one, but two younger sister characters. These would be Ann and Aki, twins that take it upon themselves to bother their older brother (whom they call ni niichan, or "second older brother"). Ann is the quiet and reserved one, though she apparently has a huge crush on the main character. This is something that is shown by her throughout much of the game, when things are getting a little too wild between the main character and any of the other four girls he can choose from. Her trademark is the angry cat eyes plus the soft yet stern voice, showing that one does not need to be loud in order to be commanding. Other than that she's pretty soft-spoken and easily led on when it comes to anything but whatever is relating to the main character. She is also very adamant that he attends cram school in order to get into a good college. When she finds out her brother is an artist for MoonEarth, she immediatly jumps on board as manager (a position created by the director), to help whip the staff into shape by keeping a schedule and and organizing the budget. She is literally torn between knowing that (ideally) her desired relationship with the main character can never be, and wishing to actually pursue.

Last, you have Aki, the less-reserved younger sister of the main character. Unlike Ann, Aki never holds back and is much less responsible. As such, she loves doing as she pleases and almost never helps out. In fact, she is the most detached out of all the girls, since she doesn't work for MoonEarth or anyone else, instead pursuing her dream of becoming a voice actress. She gets her shot at helping out when voice actresses are needed for "Ai kawarazu na boku", and manages to prove that the voice acting lessons she has taken were very well worth it. Unlike Ann, she has no real infatuation with the main character, though she does deeply care about him.

The flow of the story is interesting due to the plot jumping back and forth through time. You start with the main character and everyone in the cast, and as one progresses, backstory on how each girl met the main character arises. There's also a lot of choices in the "past" that have an impact on which girl is where in the "present". Everything builds up to the demo release of AiBoku, though anything afterwards is determined by which girl the protagonist goes after. Certain endings will lead to MoonEarth shutting down, while others will have AiBoku seeing the light of day as a MoonEarth title. An interesting thing to note is that the company that developed Rakuen is called TerraLunar, and the fictional company in the game is MoonEarth...we could have the ero game equivalent of Gainax's Otaku no Video, but only time will tell.

Sound-wise, Rakuen has probably one of the best soundtracks I've heard since Green Green. The entire thing is soft and hard rock, but due to the generally light atmosphere of the game, the music fits like a glove. Whether it's "The case of us", or my favorite track, "Star Boy, Ether Girl", the music is just, in one word, great. Whose feet should we be kissing for this good soundtrack? Rock'N'Banana.

The voice acting for this game is beyond measurable levels of good. This is one of the few times in media where I actually hear common and normal Japanese being spoken instead of the enunciated speech most anime fans have been weaned on. The voice acting is almost too real for its own good, since it has the abbreviations we don't normally hear ("ari" instead of arigatou, "otsu" instead of otsukaresama), plus casual slurring of things (especially amongst characters like Aki and Karen). My only complain is that the director and Marquee (the programer for MoonEarth) should have been voiced, especially since they have more lines than Sae. Still, the level of voice acting used for this game is just beyond words, and it's truly a treat for those wanting to hear normal-paced Japanese.

Despite being a game from 2004, Rakuen's interface is functional, yet a bit outdated. The log is not an accessible window, but something built into the panel that can be scrolled up. An audio replay button is included should the player wish to hear spoken lines again.

As far as bonuses, Rakuen has an added omake in the form of a mini-ren ai game called "Boku no taisetsu na mono", which is the game being developed by MiniMi at the time MoonEarth is working on AiBoku. Interesting little joke there. The game itself is not voiced.

Overall, Rakuen has managed to shine through despite the seemingly cliche characters through its incredible voice acting, the flow of the story and the tons of comedy involved. If anything, TerraLunar should get a prize for this game, since it has met levels of quality and funny that not even Green Green has achieved. It gets my seal of approval, though I am unsure of what would happen should someone decide to make this into an anime tv series or an OVA.

This game deserves much more credit than what it is currently getting. Considering that this is the last game made by TerraLunar before they folded, I'm under the impression the standard otaku did not like it. Sadly, the strange sophistication this game has is perfect for those of us of external influences (since we are not affected by the overall limitations that some of the reviewers I've read seem to be subject to). The unique setting combined with the impressive voice acting should have made it a hit, but I guess the Japanese like their games with easily dominated characters along with enunciated voice acting. Aikawarazu na~!