Chic Pixel - cute and nerdy Japanese pop culture

Menu

Skip to content
  • about
    • portfolio
    • product finding service
  • contact
  • podcast
  • support
  • Subscribe

Category Archives: First Impressions

First Impressions: Cupid Parasite

11 / 3 / 2111 / 3 / 21
Chic Pixel First Impressions

Idea Factory International’s first otome game localization in years, Cupid Parasite, is out today in North America, and Europe on November 5! This romantic comedy otome game is full of vibrant colors and a really fun retro pop Americana vibe, which is why I’ve had it on my radar since it came out in Japan. To celebrate this exciting release, I’ll be sharing some first impressions of the game, with a full review coming once I’ve completed all routes.

In Cupid Parasite, you play as Lynette Mirror, a top advisor for the marriage agency Cupid Corporation who takes on the 5 toughest clients at the company, known as the Parasite 5. Lynette has one thing up her sleeve, though – she’s the actual mythological goddess Cupid, and she’s come down to earth to prove to her father Mars that she doesn’t need godly powers to succeed at matchmaking humans.

The members of Parasite 5 have a range of extreme “quirks,” from the Thieving Parasite Allan who’s only interested in girls who already have partners to Ryuki, the Glamor Parasite who won’t even acknowledge a woman’s presence if she doesn’t satisfy his strict beauty ranking system. But Lynette isn’t going to let that stop her, and soon the group find themselves at the center of a sharehouse reality show focused on finding the Parasite 5 love!

So far, I’ve played through Ryuki’s route, which is generally recommended as one of the routes to start with because it’s pretty self-contained. On your first playthrough, the only characters available are Ryuki, Shelby, and Gill, and after your second playthrough the ability to play Allan and Raul’s routes will be unlocked. After clearing all five of these characters, there’s one more secret character route at the end. While I’ve seen some variation in the suggested route order, it seems like Ryuki, Shelby, and Gill are pretty interchangeable, while Allan should be saved for last due to the story elements in his route.

While I can’t yet comment on the story as a whole, I’m quite enjoying this game as a lighthearted palette cleanser after Olympia Soirée. Though both games are heavily focused on marriage, Cupid Parasite is so goofy it’s hard to take seriously most of the time. In fact, the Parasite 5 are all pretty unlikeable from the beginning, at least for me, so the game’s fun really comes from discovering the charming side of each of the characters.

Ryuki, in particular, is extremely difficult to like at first due to his focus on beauty, to the point that he won’t even speak to people he feels aren’t pretty enough for him to associate with. While his behavior is quite toxic, the whole game plays everything off sillily enough that I didn’t take him very seriously, but at times it still made me rather uncomfortable, and I can see him really turning off some players. Despite this, I still found him growing on me more than I expected over the course of his route!

It’s important to note that as of this post, and the launch of the game, Ryuki and Raul’s routes have unedited English text in them. Idea Factory International has announced it will be patching this, along with any text overflow, in about four weeks. For their full statement, see below.

Important news regarding the launch of Cupid Parasite™.#cupidparasite #otome pic.twitter.com/JMDL7Qmylp

— Idea Factory International (@IdeaFactoryIntl) October 29, 2021

Unfortunately, these textual issues are quite apparent in the latter half of Ryuki’s route, with pronouns being mixed up and many rough lines of text. Since IFI has already announced they are addressing these issues, if you can wait for the patch or want to play through other routes first, such as Shelby and Gill, I would recommend doing that. I’m not saying the game is unplayable by any means, but I did feel the unedited text in Ryuki’s route marred the experience for me.

An example of the rough text and overflow in Ryuki’s route

I’m planning on replaying the latter half Ryuki’s route after the patch is implemented to see how it’s been updated. It’s a shame, but IFI has shown great transparency by sharing exactly what sections of the game are affected and how/when they will be fixing it.

For now, I’m looking forward to playing through the rest of the routes in this extremely fun and silly otome game!

Leave a comment
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

First Impressions: Heave Ho

6 / 8 / 206 / 8 / 20
Chic Pixel First Impressions

Heave Ho, a couch co-op multiplayer game for Nintendo Switch and PC/Mac developed by Le Cartel Studio, has been on my radar since it came out mid last year, especially after watching the hilarious Quick Look for it on Giant Bomb. With a 50% off sale on the Nintendo Switch eShop and some friends coming over to visit now that quarantine restrictions in Australia have been largely lifted, I figured this was the perfect time to try it out!

Read More
Leave a comment
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

First Impressions: Tengai ni Mau, Iki na Hana

8 / 26 / 18

Chic Pixel First Impressions

Wow, it’s been ages since I did a First Impressions post! My First Impressions series is pretty self-explanatory: basically, it serves as a chance to share my opinions on a thing (almost always a game) before I finish it and write a full review. This time, I want to talk about Tengai ni Mau, Iki na Hana (天涯に舞う、粋な花 or “refined flower, dancing on the horizon”), an otome game by Otomate that released back in April for the PlayStation Vita.

Tengai ni Mau, Iki na Hana was voted by my lovely Patreon supporters to be my import game review for April, and I was super excited to play it! That is, until it turned into one of the most frustrating otome games I’ve ever played…

Tengai ni Mau Iki na Hana screenshot 7

Read More

Leave a comment
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

Monster Hunter World Beta Impressions

12 / 23 / 1712 / 26 / 17

Chic Pixel First Impressions

The second Monster Hunter World beta is currently underway for PlayStation 4, so I jumped on the chance to spend some time with it. As a relatively new but very avid Monster Hunter fan (I started with the Japanese version of Monster Hunter 4 in 2013), I’ve been apprehensive about the footage I’ve seen of Monster Hunter World so far.

The monster, armor, and environments look really drab! The game shows you how much damage you’re dealing! These may seem like minor nitpicks, but when it’s the little details that got me into the series in the first place, I was worried so many changes might indicate that Monster Hunter World might not be for me. Luckily, the game still feels like the Monster Hunter I know and love!

Read More

Leave a comment
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

First Impressions: Toraware no Paruma (Imprisoned Palm)

9 / 5 / 16

Chic Pixel First Impressions

Toraware no Paruma (囚われのパルマ, or “imprisoned palm”) is the first mobile otome game from Capcom, and an ambitious one at that. The game centers around your interactions with and observation of the male character Haruto, who is imprisoned after a “certain incident” that he has no memories of. In fact, he has no memories of anything, and you’ve been transported to the island where he’s being held captive to act as his counsellor and try to find some answers.

Read More

7 Comments
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

First Impressions: Kyoukai no Shirayuki (Saji’s Route)

7 / 29 / 167 / 29 / 16

Chic Pixel First Impressions

Kyoukai no Shirayuki was my most anticipated game of the year, so I’m really excited to finally share it with you! As a dark otome game loosely based on aspects of Snow White with art by Kinako (Gatchaman Crowds), it ticks all the boxes for me. But since I can be incredibly slow to actually finish things, I thought it would be fun to share my first impressions of the game after finishing Saji Kakeya’s route!

Read More

6 Comments
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

First Impressions: Superbeat: Xonic

11 / 10 / 15

Chic Pixel First Impressions

First Impressions is a brand new series where I share my preliminary thoughts on any video game, anime, or manga titles I’ve been consuming! When I asked you all what you’d like to see more of on Chic Pixel in my September reader survey, I got a lot of responses interested in reviews and impressions pieces. Since I don’t always finish things fast enough to review them in a timely manner, First Impressions will enable me to share my thoughts with you that much quicker! Most items featured in First Impressions will receive full reviews at a later date. Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you think of this new format! 

Read More

4 Comments
Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email

Welcome!


Name: Anne Lee
Birthday: December 13
Fav food: Mochi

Chic Pixel is where I write about my favorite aspects of Japanese pop culture, with a focus on the cute and nerdy! Read More >

Email Chic Pixel Follow Chic Pixel on Twitter Subscribe to Chic Pixel on Youtube Follow Chic Pixel on Instagram Like Chic Pixel on Facebook Follow Chic Pixel on Tumblr

Subscribe to Chic Pixel

Recommended Posts

Chic Pixel's Ultimate Guide to Blogging
How I Edit Instagram Photos and Nerdy Flatlays
Yaoi and Boys' Love (BL) Manga Studies Reading List
How to Make a Japanese iTunes Account
How to Purchase Manga from the Japanese Kindle Store

Affiliates

Support Chic Pixel by shopping at my TeePublic merch store! I've hand-picked the best cute and nerdy designs that you can purchase on a wide range of products such as t-shirts, mugs, hoodies, stickers, and more! All purchases support the independent artist that created the design, as well as Chic Pixel!
MangaGamer

Anne LeeFollow

Anne Lee
Retweet on TwitterAnne Lee Retweeted
miyuu_cr美結@miyuu_cr·
14h

インピーお誕生日おめでとう!
#インピー・バービケーン誕生祭2022

Reply on Twitter 1526413568996179968Retweet on Twitter 152641356899617996863Like on Twitter 1526413568996179968158Twitter 1526413568996179968
Retweet on TwitterAnne Lee Retweeted
OhPoorPupchrista lee@OhPoorPup·
21h

this is so sweet ;;

Reply on Twitter 1526309511199281153Retweet on Twitter 15263095111992811533Like on Twitter 152630951119928115321Twitter 1526309511199281153
Retweet on TwitterAnne Lee Retweeted
apricotsushiAnne Lee@apricotsushi·
16 May

🌼✨

Reply on Twitter 1526027436655529984Retweet on Twitter 152602743665552998410Like on Twitter 152602743665552998432Twitter 1526027436655529984
Retweet on TwitterAnne Lee Retweeted
mdiskplaylistMDi, The One They Call M Disk@mdiskplaylist·
15 May

Do you like platformers? Do you like Kirby games? Do you want to find a fun way to celebrate Kirby's 30th anniversary? Well join us at the Community Game-Along with your favorite Kirby platformer this month using #PlatforMay!

Reply on Twitter 1525988102027763714Retweet on Twitter 15259881020277637142Like on Twitter 15259881020277637146Twitter 1525988102027763714
Retweet on TwitterAnne Lee Retweeted
hyogonosukeヒョーゴノスケ5/25新作絵本@hyogonosuke·
16 May

008カメール

Reply on Twitter 1526102246164811777Retweet on Twitter 15261022461648117776357Like on Twitter 152610224616481177746250Twitter 1526102246164811777
Load More...

apricotsushi

A super cute new desk mat from a friend was the mo A super cute new desk mat from a friend was the motivation I needed to revamp my work space! 💻 I don’t think I’ll ever fully settle in to our current rental (it’s too tiny with both my husband and me working from home now), but at least this corner is cute! 💕💕 
.
.
.
#geekgirl #ladygamer #divoom #divoomditoo #animecore #bulbasaur #kawaiiaesthetic #pixelart #gudetama #nendoroiddoll #hellokitty #kawaiioftheday #kawaiiness #gamergirlsofinstagram #gamergirlsunite #kawaiilife #kawaiilifestyle #desksetup #kawaiidesk #cutelife
Lil budew inspired by @michelle_coffee’s amazing Lil budew inspired by @michelle_coffee’s amazing work! He’s dreaming of when he’ll bloom someday 😌🌹 be sure to check out @michelle_coffee’s art - so many stunning pieces, and her store is updating this week! My piece was made with watercolor gouache, posca and a little bit of gold gel pen. def need to stick to the 300gsm paper because this 200 warped too much with the amount of water I was using 😅
.
.
.
#pokemonart #budew #pokemonfan #pokemoncards #nerdyflatlay #pokemonpinball #gameboyadvance #pokemongames #pokemongame #midliners #stationeryaddict #pokemontcg #japanesestationery #traditionalart #geekart #geekartist #kawaiiart #kawaiioftheday
Aki and I are not feeling this return to work afte Aki and I are not feeling this return to work after a 1.5 week vacation! Ms Aki is @jessjhs’s lovely shiba inu who we’ve been pet sitting for a few weeks☺️ mug is by Keane Ng, creator of upcoming game A Shiba Story! 
.
.
.
#shibastagram #shibaholics #kawaiiness #kawaiioftheday #cutedogsofig #shibastyle #shibasofig #geekgirl #ladygamer #otakugirl #indiegamer #indiegames #cutemug #gamergirlsofinstagram #gamergirlsunite #cutevibes #aestheticposts
Finally got my hands on one of the Pokémon Happy Finally got my hands on one of the Pokémon Happy Meal toys at @mcdonaldsau! (Not counting the ones @iubnasus grabbed for me hehe) I love the big stickers! It reminded me that I need to get back to New Pokémon Snap… I haven’t played since the update!
Hisui Zorua! 💜 They are coming out with so many Hisui Zorua! 💜 They are coming out with so many cool new Pokémon designs for Legends wow 😍😍 I’m still on the fence about the game itself, but this Zorua is def a new fav! This piece was inspired by @citrinenote’s adorable style, and I tried a few new things like multicolor lineart
It’s time to get in the Halloween mood! 👻👻 It’s time to get in the Halloween mood! 👻👻 I played my first spooky game for the month, the point and click adventure My Dear Frankenstein (pictured at the top). If you like dark gothic vibes, I def recommend this game. Full review on Chic-Pixel.com! I’m thinking of playing Yomawari next… are you playing any spooky games this month?
Load More... Follow Me on Instagram!

Favorite Blogs

Contemporary Japanese Literature
Hello Sandwich
Tiny Cartridge
The Gay Gamer Otaku Journalist

Categories

Archives

This site contains affiliate links. Any purchases made by clicking on one of my affiliate links earns me a small commission that goes back towards keeping the site running. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Angie Makes Feminine WordPress Themes