Being the very first boy’s love visual novel ever localized in English, Enzai: Falsely Accused made big waves in both Japan and overseas upon release. Beyond its dark, tightly written plot, the game captivated audiences with its unapologetically violent and twisted sexual content. With heavy fetish play, copious amounts of blood, and a soundtrack that made every moment more disturbing, it’s not for the faint of heart or easily offended (or not-so-easily offended, for that matter).
Today, we’re looking back at JAST USA’s very first boy’s love release in another post-modern review!
Enzai: Falsely Accused tells the story of a boy named Guys who shoplifts candy with his friends. While being detained, Guys becomes the prime suspect in a murder that occurs roughly around the same time. Convinced by the police detective, Guildias, to confess to the murder to make the judge go easy on him, Guys is immediately sentenced to life in prison. As his days stretch into months, Guys realizes he has become another victim of Guildias’s trap, using the police and prison as a cover to satisfy his own, as well as other clients’, twisted sexual fantasies.
All hope seems lost when his friends refuse to testify on his behalf and his parents flee town out of shame until a mysterious drunkard comes to visit him, claiming his mother has paid him in advance for a few months of service to investigate the case again. With the help of his new lawyer and the other inmates in similar situations, Guys just might be able to feel the sun as his skin once again.
After the initial introduction and shock factor settles, Enzai: Falsely Accused falls into a scenario pattern. Guys’s lawyer will arrive to present and trade new findings of evidence, a comical yet creepy prison life scene will occur between the inmates, followed by an episode of dark, often bloody, and humiliating sexual content, and then conclude with new theories and evidence being discovered just in time for Guys lawyer’s next visit. Lather, rinse, repeat, unlock an ending, and roll credits.
Although repetitive, the scenario pattern is never boring. Enzai: Falsely Accused commands the player’s attention at every moment, keeping you on the edge of your seat in suspense. Side characters and even a few nameless background characters (particularly Guard B) give Guys and the player the necessary touch of humanity needed to press on when things seem too vile or hopeless to continue.
With that said, be warned.
It’s a prison survival story, which implies everything one could imagine, and much more which others would wish they hadn’t seen. Piss play, food play, blood, make-shift BDSM, and a soundtrack that emphasizes every controversial scenario — Enzai: Falsely Accused delivers a vile, disgusting shock value to the player.
Thankfully, sexual content offers little to no plot advancement, and the game does not force the player to read all dialogue like most visual novels. A quick tap of the fast-forward button will speed you right past what you don’t want to see.
The game has over ten different endings which range from proving innocence, an attempted prison break, enslavement, or even death, to name a few. It’s difficult to call any ending happy or romantic because only half end with Guys coming out the victor of his story. Hardly anyone in paired endings feels like a realized love interest, but rather a confidant or partner in crime.
Using a point system, the player doesn’t necessarily achieve a particular path, but locks themselves out of getting any other. Each route has a handful of key choices that need to be made to unlock a supposed ending. For example, towards the midpoint of the game, one particular choice splits all possible endings. One choice keeps you on track for five possible endings, while immediately destroying the chance of others. For Enzai: Falsely Accused, you’ll have to keep track of your choice combinations carefully if you want to complete the CG gallery or get a particular ending.
Nearly 20 years since it’s release in Japan, Enzai: Falsely Accused may not be so easy on the eyes anymore. Even compared to the developer’s 2006 title, Absolute Obedience, there is a leap in the artist’s skill. Controversial and putrid, yet the story remains as top-notch as ever. For only $10.00, you can experience a piece of history, the very first boy’s love visual novel available in English, available on the JAST USA webshop.
