Saving a Failing Game Developer

Eroge! H mo Game mo Kaihatsu Zanmai is a 6-episode OVA about a small game company called Flower. It aired between 2011 and 2016. And, I believe this is the third anime I’ve reviewed about making video games.

The first similar anime I reviewed is New Game!, which has the most in common with Eroge! Both series are about all-female development companies. But, Eagle Jump (the company in New Game) is larger and more successful than Eroge!’s Flower. Other than that, though, they’re pretty much the same series.

After New Game!, I reviewed Saekano, which is one of my favorite anime. Unlike Eroge! and New Game!, Saekano is about high school students developing a game. But, where Saekano is more similar to Eroge! is in the genre of the game being made. New Game! is about making an RPG. Eroge! and Saekano are about making dating simulators.

So, I mentioned that the game company Flower isn’t very successful. That’s because their first game flopped. They barely sold any copies and, as a result, can’t pay their employee’s salaries. But, the president of the company has an idea. And no, it’s not filing for bankruptcy.

Only failures file for bankruptcy. Flower isn’t a failure. They just need a little help. That’s why the president hired a new employee with extensive dating sim experience. But, when I say extensive experience, I mean experience playing games, not making them.

Why would the president do that, though? Well, the current employees of Flower are actually good at their jobs. The real issue is that none of them have experience playing dating sims. How are they supposed to make a fun game if they’ve never played one before? That’s where the new employee comes in.

Flower Staff

Tomoya Mochizuki is the protagonist of the series and professional dating sim player. He doesn’t actually bring any other experience to Flower. Basically, he’s a glorified play-tester. But, his presence does shake things up at the company which was once entirely comprised of women.

Kisara Himeno is one of the three main girls. I’d argue she’s the female lead as she’s the one who gets the most character development. Kisara is one of two artists at Flower and specializes in line art. She’s also a tsundere, which makes her the cutest of the girls.

Momoka Fujiwara is the next main girl. She’s the script writer for Flower and she writes BL doujinshi in her spare time. While I do prefer Kisara’s appearance and personality, Momoka is the girl I would choose. She’s more adventurous, which makes her more fun.

Iori Kousaka is easily the worst girl of the series. She’s also the third main girl and works as the second artist specializing in coloring. But, what makes Iori so bad? First, there’s her sense of style. She wears a skirt over jeans — who does that? And second, she’s a bit too adventurous.

Nene Sonono is the president of Flower. Despite her appearance (she looks like a child), she’s actually in her 30s. Nene could have been a decent character. But, she doesn’t get as much screen time as the others. And, as a result, her character never gets any development.

The final character I want to mention is Reina Otori. We’re never actually told what Reina’s role at Flower is. But, she doesn’t work in the office with the rest of the employees. From my understanding, Reina is the owner of the company. She also appears to have money, despite Flower’s situation.

There’s No Replacement for Experience

Thanks to Tomoya, Flower’s second game is a resounding success. It’s amazing what a little experience can do. However, that doesn’t mean we should praise Nene for hiring Tomoya. Her gamble paid off, sure. But, who caused the problem in the first place?

As the president of Flower, the blame probably lies with Nene. To me, it seems like Flower’s main issue is poor management. Why did they develop a dating sim when none of the employees had ever played one before? That seems like a recipe for disaster — and it was.

With that said, I can’t say for certain that Nene was the problem. Based on Reina’s personality, it’s possible that she pushed Flower in that direction. I can definitely see her deciding that a dating sim is the way to go and not listening to any feedback.

Something else to keep in mind is that Tomoya wasn’t the worst possible hire for the position. He actually wants to make Flower’s next game a success. And he’s willing to put in the effort to ensure that happens. He’s more than a dating sim snob like Keima from The World God Only Knows.

At the end of the series, the employees of Flower go on a trip to an onsen to generate ideas for their next game. Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see what that next game looks like. I don’t see there ever being a true sequel to this series.

But, there is another OVA called Ero Manga! H mo Manga mo Step-up♪ from the same creator. From my understanding, it’s the same idea but with mangaka instead of game developers. So, maybe I’ll have to review that one in the future.

Conclusion

I ended up giving Eroge! H mo Game mo Kaihatsu Zanmai a 7/10. It’s a good series with at least two likable girls. But, I feel that it could have been even better if Iori wasn’t in it. Replace Iori with Remon Aizawa (a voice actor who appears once) and it could have been an 8.

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