As much as some of us may not like to admit it, we covet the fact that the Japanese get to play so many ero PC games (or maybe some of us don't mind admitting it at all). When I was in Tokyo I nosed around looking for more of this type of thing, but since my Japanese reading comprehension still needs a lot of work (translation: I still need to learn a billion kanji before achieving anything remotely close to literacy), I wouldn't have been able to read it anyway. Still, the clamor from American fans to play games like this has obviously been heard.
Enzai: Falsely Accused is a yaoi PC title from Japanese software house Langmaor, and the first of its type to hit American shores in English. I get that you may be looking at the whole "yaoi/shotacon" description and feeling a little uncomfortable, and if you do, that's quite alright. It really is not everyone's cup of tea. If the thought of post-revolutionary 19th century France, all male prison stories sends an exclamation mark through your panties though, well, you've come to the right place. Hit the jump for more on Enzai: Falsely Accused.
Your story begins with what I originally considered kind of a flimsy excuse to end up in jail: your character, a young man named Guys, is stealing from a convenience store in Paris when he is busted by the police. Next thing you know, he's being accused of murder. Which basically makes no sense, but okay. A smarmy police officer named Guildias shows up, pins some stuff on Guys, and the next thing you know, you're in prison. With a bunch of guys. Really LONELY guys.
So I'm going to save you the trouble of sketching out what your imagination is already considering: yes, there is definitely prison rape and man-to-man sex in this game (although the sex sequences are few and there's a lot more story than sex). As I played through these sequences, I had to think carefully about whether to brand this game with our "Recommends" title. On the whole I found the story well-constructed, I liked the music, sound effects and characters, and I enjoyed playing it. That being said, it's going to ruffle a lot of feathers once you introduce rape into any type of consumable media, and one cannot deny that it is present here.
In the end, I felt it was only fair to assume that there are many fans of both shota and yaoi that will in fact enjoy this game. As a product, it is well constructed, and while I wasn't personally aroused or excited playing through the sex scenes in the game, I don't really have a problem with the idea that someone would be. Human sexuality, after all, is merely a product of our fantasies and how they interact with the physical sensations of the body. Age is never specified here, so while Guys looks young, there's never anything that indicates he is underage (and it is clarified by retailers of the game that none of the characters are under 18).
Like most visual novels, Enzai has a number of different endings (eleven in total), which you can achieve based on the decisions you make in the game and what order you make them in. There's a lot of depth here! The "good" and "official" endings are somewhat challenging to achieve. There is an overarching conspiracy to be found in Enzai, but I would go as far as to say that it would be very hard to figure out without help from some sort of guide. This is not a bad thing, as it gives you the option to replay the game and use your deduction skills to figure out how to achieve the other endings.
So if you can swallow (pun intended) the subject matter, Enzai is definitely worth checking out -- this is a quality Visual Novel with an excellent story, and if we support it, we may see more of its kind localized. The series has quite a fan following in Japan, where everything from OVAs to Drama CDs and fan websites. You can buy a copy through J-List, where it retails for $29.95. Sure, it's a little twisted, but what media from Japan is ever normal?
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