Tokyo NECRO revealed itself as an epic visual novel, just as the previews promised. An uncensored eroge with plenty of blood and beauty. One of the protagonists is even a blood-covered beauty after she completes a job. Nitro Origin, the developers behind such titles as Full Metal Daemon Muramasa and Song of Saya, have made another memorable visual novel. For fans of sexy anime women slaughtering hordes of undead, there is much to enjoy in Tokyo NECRO.
A Frozen World Where Necromancers Reign
Tokyo NECRO begins in, appropriately enough, Tokyo. Our heroes are there to fight Necromancers and their undead forces. It’s 2199, and the world is enduring an ice age. Necromancers came to prominence during the Sino-American war. This series of battles between 2141 and 2186 saw China and America struggle to control territory around the planet’s equator. Temperatures were dropping, and so were people. As such, Necromancers, who control the dead, were seen as a valuable asset.
Years after the war, Necromancers didn’t see much prestige, so they turned to crime to prosper. Their activities gave rise to the Living Dead Stalkers, private individuals possessing the skills and equipment to hunt and eliminate Necromancers and their undead legions. They’re given similar status as official Military Police. Two of our main characters, Kibanohara Ethica, a wild and ruthless Stalker with a penchant for picking up ladies, and her partner Nagaoka So’un, a comparatively taciturn Stalker, work for the Karasuzumi Living Dead Stalker Agency.
Making a Living From Killing the Dead
Yes, the characters make the joke in the subheading more than once. Ethica and So’un both make the pun even when separated. Don’t expect them to get together, though, because Ethica is purely into yuri. Their task is to rescue a vice governor from a Necromancer, and they head to the Endless Summer Hotel to find him. Ethica here dresses in a revealing outfit, with some transparent orange affair that shows off a bra and pantsu. To keep their cover, she requests a female prostitute who turns out to be undead. Ethica and So’un tear up a floor full of more undead and separate to complete their mission. A fierce duel nearly costs So’un his life, but his skills and advanced equipment see him survive to rescue the hostage. However, it isn’t the vice governor but a cute amnesiac girl named Hogyo Iria.
All of that happens in just the prologue. The action and mystery only pick up from there.
Beauty Among the Undead of Tokyo NECRO
Nitro Origins is known for its stellar anime aesthetic and attractive girls. This talent carried over to Tokyo NECRO. Even the female zombies are hot, as seen when they wear swimsuits and loosened kimonos. Plot would soundly win if someone were to bring the Plot vs. Justice argument to this game. All the girls presented here have some tantalizing curvature and a penchant for wearing tight clothes.
The cutscenes play out with static stills of the characters, but their expressions change on the screen and in the dialogue box. CGs are saved in the Database with no censorship of any kind. The Database also contains lore details that can be referenced at any time. Nitro Origins went all out with their world-building.
The city itself has a gritty sci-fi post-apocalypse vibe to it. Bleak lighting and pipes stretch and tangle everywhere to provide heat and electricity to the human survivors. It’s definitely not a positive outlook on humanity’s future. Despite all that, women are still sexy, so we take the good with the bad.
The stand-out feature is the inclusion of 3D cutscenes. Tense and epic moments play out in 3D. For instance, Ethica’s fight against the armored ghouls happens in 3D. Bullets spray out from both combatants. Then Ethica’s chainsaw cuts off an arm and pins it into a skull. So’un’s duel against Tang plays out with duel pistols and a tentacle spear that doesn’t look friendly.
The Sounds of Tokyo 2199
The sound work in this game is just as exceptional as the art. Everything has a sound, from bullets to footsteps. There’s ambient music and voices to make the world seem alive. The voice cast is absolutely perfect. The characters sound as you think they would, from So’un’s quiet and reserved nature to Ethica’s wild and yuri-fueled spirit. The zombies’ sounds are as creepy and threatening as one would imagine, adding an air of danger to the 3D combat scenes.
The music sets the scene perfectly. The opening song rocks hard as the character transitions into action scenes. The opening movie alone makes it clear that no expense was spared to make Tokyo NECRO the visual novel of the year.
Tokyo NECRO Makes a Killing
To sum it up, Tokyo NECRO is definitely a top-tier visual novel. It’s an eroge, to be sure, but it’ll take a while before Ethica hits the showers. Nitro Origin has a story to tell before things get steamy. It built an entire world and lore that pulls the player in. I could see this game getting an anime adaptation, much like Fate Stay/night before it. But if this world had any justice, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa would have gotten an anime adaptation, too.
Tokyo NECRO will satisfy fans of zombie horror and post-apocalypse stories. There are eroge scenes, of course. The first one is a yuri scene, and it is exciting. However, it feels like the ero scenes are almost secondary. Sure. Ethica looked great in her disguise, and the female zombies were hot, but it took quite a while before we arrived at the first pure ero scene.
That’s not bad, not by any means. Players looking for a thin plot that’s just an excuse for sexy women to get undressed might have a bit of waiting to do, however. The “plot” is as thicc as the Plot of the anime girls waiting to strip down.
Tokyo NECRO is now available for purchase on JAST. It is entirely uncensored and presented as the developers intended. You can also preorder the collector’s edition in the J-List store.
