It’s been a little over a year since the release of sweet pool. Today we’re back with a new boy’s love (BL) visual novel from Nitro+chiral to digest. This time we’re going back to their very first game, created in 2005. Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood is a dark, violent story about a young man wrongfully convicted of murder and forced to enter Japan’s most infamous killing game.
Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood kicks off establishing post-World War III Japan in a state of complete ruin. The narrative goes into explaining the nation’s divide between the government CFC division taking over the east side of Japan, and Nikkouren taking over the west. However, neither has been able to prevent the drug lord circle known as Vischio from overtaking Tokyo and establishing the city of Toshima on its crumbling remains.
Between it all, government bio-experimentation and drug developments had been used to turn human test subjects into super soldiers, raised since birth for the sole purpose of combat. However, the war ends before the first wave of soldiers see the battlefield. To keep the experiment a secret, the Japanese government had erased all children’s memories and dumped them in orphanages across the country until they were assigned government surveillance “families.”
Fast-forward a little over a decade and we meet the emotionally distant Akira. With the country in complete chaos and ruin, and failed test subjects running free on the street, Akira has since become the country’s most recognized undefeated Bl@aster fighter (it’s basically organized street fighting). Framed for murder, Akira is approached by a government representative team that makes him an offer: either enter the killing game, Igura, taking place in Toshima, and win, or face life in prison.
So Akira travels to Toshima, trailed by his best friend, Keisuke, to enter the poker-influenced killing game. Those who win their fights have the freedom to whatever they desire with their opponents. Most victors show no mercy in immediately violating and killing others. Either he’ll climb the ranks to fight the underground drug lord operating the whole city, or he’ll meet a number of fates far worse than death. Between his best friend, a middle-aged man operating as an info broker (Motomi), and a high-spirited photographer (Rin) showing him the ropes of the city, Akira just might have the teammates necessary to make it out alive.
Despite the game being 15 years old, Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood still holds up well today in terms of music, narration, scenario, and characters, possibly better than more contemporary horror/thriller visual novels. The story is lengthy, but provides a great amount of world detail and character development. Each route offers the reader more than a different sex scene and love interest. Plot points and world detail are scattered across every route. There’s something new to learn at each turn Akira takes. What’s more, while each route does have a primary focus on a different love interest, the other characters aren’t immediately shafted and left in the dark after a certain point. More than half of the routes equally explain the fate of other characters, regardless of if Akira romances them or not. No matter the route, players get a story with a nice rhythm of leaps and bounds of BDSM, gore, romance, and corrupt government operations.
Traditional for most visual novels, but especially Nitro+chiral, Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood has three “wrong turn” endings that can occur early in the story. Unlike sweet pool which used a raw “instinct vs logic” type of choice-making, or DRAMAtical Murder which used a point system, Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood uses a binary choice selection that immediately steers the story down different roads the further you go. It’s possible to be heading down Keisuke’s route but one critical choice can immediately lock you into Rin or Motomi’s route instead. Choose wisely.
After the “wrong turns” and main three character routes have been completed, a new character is unlocked, allowing the player three new endings with the mysterious Shiki, who had been otherwise lurking in the background of all the other routes. After this, players can unlock the final hidden route, giving Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood a total of twelve endings. Even with multiple saves, you’ll have roughly twenty hours of content.
My biggest complaint with sweet pool was that the story felt half-finished, and only got interesting when every route wrapped up, including the secret one. Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood has no such issue. While each route has unanswered questions that other routes cover, each option feels like a completely realized narration. It feels realistic that not all the facts are thrown at the player in every route. Just like how no person’s story in real life reflects the same amount of real-world knowledge, Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood‘s routes don’t, either. You’ll find yourself coming for the erotic sex scenes, and staying for the actual plot each time.
CGs are illustrated by Tatanakana (Kurahana Chinatsu’s previous pen name). Fans can probably look at just about any of the game’s illustrations and pinpoint the game’s release time frame and know the art was from the artist’s earlier career, especially from a character design perspective. However, designs are distinctive, facial features unique, and color schemes suit characters without getting too cliched (notably Shiki’s leather goth garb). Since their time at Nitro+chiral, Tatanakana has moved on to be a freelance illustrator and animator, even working on Uta no Prince-sama.
Overall, the story is addictive. The sex scenes are seductive. The characters are likable. The art is captivating, and the soundtrack is memorable and catchy. Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood is an exceptional visual novel and possible landmark for BL games.
Togainu no Chi: Lost Blood is available now for PC on Steam, or, get the uncensored version via JAST USA for $25.
