The Sagara Family

Developer: ZyX | Publisher: JAST USA | Release Date: 2005 | Genre: Adult / Visual Novel | Website: Official Website | Format: Digital Download

Yusuke Nonohara is a college student that is sent by his family to board with the Sagara family for the duration of his studies. Much to his delight Yusuke discovers that the Sagara household consists entirely of females. With widowed mother Maria and her four daughters inviting him into their home will Yusuke be able to concentrate on his studies or concentrate on more romantic matters.

The plot of The Sagara Family is nothing new and has been done to death before in both other games and manga in general. I wouldn’t say that Yusuke is the most memorable lead that I have seen in these types of games, but his attitude does seem to change depending on the choices you make. He does sometimes act like a jerk for no apparent reason while at other times he actually displays remorse over his actions. He is still a typical faceless ecchi male character (eyes obscured by shaggy hair during h-scenes) that wastes no time in bedding nearly the entire household.

Apart from Maria, the widowed matriarch of the household, there are also four daughters for Yusuke to pursue. These range from Arisa the clumsy kindergarden nurse to Emiru the quiet cosplayer, Ruruka the youngest and the quick tempered Sanae. They all conform to the typical character clichés so if you have a particular style you like (moe, tsundere etc.) you will enjoy this game. The five females don’t all take the intrusion of a male too kindly but by the end of the game you will end up with one of them or even more than one of you play your cards right. In fact, this game not only has an ending for each of the girls, but also endings for combinations of them. This is obviously great from a replay value standpoint, but considering that all the females are family it does raise some questions. At least Yusuke is not related to any of them and compared to some titles in the genre this one is rather tame.

The visuals are rather nice and there are actually a few animated h-scenes as well. Don’t expect too much though, as these scenes are typically only a few frames that loop. The game is completely uncensored and actually features voice-overs in both Japanese and English. A lot of effort has also been done with backgrounds and locations which is rare for the genre.

The girls also change outfits which is another nice touch that is not always guaranteed for these types of games. The humor isn’t too bad and Yusuke sometimes breaks the fourth wall the address the player. This is quite funny, especially when he explains that he is actually studying during all the screen fades. The translation is polished and I did not pick up on any spelling or grammar issues over the course of the game.

While The Sagara Family isn’t exactly a memorable game, it does have a bit more polish and longevity than most of the eroge titles that are translated to English. Once again this is not a game that is going to convert players to the genre, but if you are already a fan you might enjoy what is on offer.

*Review originally published January 2006.