The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude

Developer: Lupiesoft | Publisher: Sekai Project | Release Date: 2015 | Genre: Indie / Casual / Visual Novel | Website: Official Website | Format: Digital Download

As a demon, Toko only has one job, which is to ferry human souls to the afterlife. Unfortunately, Toko is not very good at it and fails. Repeatedly. Eventually she runs out of chances and is unceremoniously kicked out of hell and left to fend for her own amongst the humans. As luck would have it, Toko bumps into Nadia, the very first girl whose soul she failed to take. Nadia is not only all grown up, but also quite taken with Toko, insisting that she moves in with her and then lavishing her with affection. At first Toko is taken back by the whole experience, but just as she begins to settle into her new life all kinds of other demons start popping up again. All of them have their own agendas, which makes her life more complicated.

The Reject Demon is the debut Steam release from Lupiesoft and as the name suggests, serves as a prelude to the rest of the story, which is still to come. It does a great job of introducing all the wacky characters and although a little on the short side actually packs a lot of story as well. Since it is a kinetic visual novel, there isn’t much to do except read, so it is a good thing that the plot is very interesting.

Although Toko is a succubus, she slowly loses her powers after her banishment and becomes more human. It is quite funny how Nadia, through her flirtatious behavior and obvious infatuation, manages to make the poor succubus uncomfortable. There is no happy ever after for the two though, as everything from talking bass guitars, to demonic stuffed bunnies and vicious angels crop up to cause trouble. Aside from Toko and Nadia, the rest of the cast are also very interesting and the story never became boring. I can’t say much more about the events that unfold without spoiling anything, but suffice to say the story bounces all over the place and there is rarely a dull moment. According to the developers the complete story will span four chapters, so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out.

The Reject Demon features a unique art style, which makes the cast of characters even more memorable. Unlike many visual novels, the characters all have different body sizes and proportions, so they certainly stand out from the crowd. Despite the all ages rating, some of the demons wear outfits that are quite risqué and there is also a bit of fan service. However, these are not the focus of the game and make sense considering the cast consist mostly of denizens of hell. The game doesn’t feature any animations, but there are a couple of nice CGs and the backgrounds are pretty detailed as well. A few more backgrounds would have been nice, but the ones that are available are good. There is unfortunately no gallery mode to check out the artwork after completing the game though.

Since the story involves a big rock ‘n roll event looming on the horizon and demons with musical instruments you would expect a good soundtrack and Toko doesn’t disappoint. There is a nice selection of tunes that cover a variety of genres and all of them fit in perfectly with the theme of the game. Once again, a jukebox section would have been nice, but I can’t fault the developers for excluding it and instead offering the soundtrack separately as dlc. Considering the low asking price for the game this is definitely not unreasonable and the 13 tracks are definitely worth it. The game doesn’t feature any voice acting, but the developers have expressed interest in adding this feature via a patch in the future. As it is a kinetic novel, the controls are not an issue and the text speed as well as auto speed can be adjusted to your liking.

Lupiesoft has definitely gotten things off to a great start and hopefully future chapters will continue to build on the interesting story and unique characters. Players who are not fans of yuri content might be put off by some elements of the story, but it would be foolish to miss out on the game because of that. It might only be an hour or two in length, but the low asking price and enjoyable cast of characters ensures that this game belongs in the Steam library of any self-respecting visual novel fan.