If you’ve watched supernatural themed anime, you’ve probably seen it all. Ghosts, demons, cat girls, busty demons and so forth are just a few of the common tropes to be seen in these series. In the gaming world, those same themes aren’t too uncommon either, but that doesn’t lessen their value to us here at Honey’s Anime! We entered the world of Makoto Kagami in a rather intriguing supernatural tale named Nanairo Reincarnation. Is this supernatural comedy/drama visual novel worth investing your time in or should you pretend it’s a ghost and ignore it? Let us answer that in our full review of Nanairo Reincarnation which you can find down below!

Nanairo Reincarnation plays out like most visual novels or VN for short. Players assume the role of our main character and must make choices that lead to different routes in the story. Where Nanairo Reincarnation strays from the usual theme slightly is the fact that there are several different routes to enjoy and the story to be experienced feels truly like an anime in VN form! Nanairo Reincarnation will present you with a fully voiced VN and only ask that you sit back and enjoy the tale of a young man whose life has become a bit more wild.

Third year College student Makoto Kagami is pretty happy to be living alone and away from his parents finally. When Makoto’s grandfather passed away, he left the young man his home and all of his assets giving Makoto a new place to call home. However, Makoto would soon learn his grandad passed on a few more…things. Makoto remembers a time where he would play with a young girl named Ee and how he would play with his grandad surrounded by maids. Makoto soon learns his childhood friend and the maids weren’t what you’d call normal. Instead, these seemingly normal individuals were demons who Makoto—alongside his grandad—were able to see and interact with! Now Makoto must take up the mantle of being a guardian to the town he lives in just like his grandfather before him. The normal college life Makoto was having is about to become very supernatural!

In case you’ve decided to finally enter the world of VNs, let’s go into what you can expect from Nanairo Reincarnation. The primary goal of this supernatural tale is simple. Guide our clairvoyant protagonist Makoto through his new life of being a spirit detective. While that sounds daunting—and quite anime-like—the end result is far from difficult. Like most VNs, you’re going to be reading about 95% of the time with the last 5% focusing on making choices to change Makoto’s story.

Let’s remove the one element that might turn off some fans of VNs from Nanairo Reincarnation. Yes, this title is like 99% of vanilla themed VNs. You’re not going to have mini games to play or many things to do other than read and occasionally make choices to change Makoto’s path. We aren’t saying this like it’s a bad thing about Nanairo Reincarnation, but we need to make a note of it as some visual novels of late try to be like several games in one. Nanairo Reincarnation keeps the traditional VN style and if that is a problem to you, then you might find yourself wanting to look elsewhere.

Those who don’t mind the original VN format—we personally love it—then you’ll be happy to know Nanairo Reincarnation hits all the right notes. First, we should mention the story which actually hooked us quite quickly. We loved the characters presented in Nanairo Reincarnation and loved their realism despite the often supernatural themes behind them. Equally, there are some darker moments—which is why there’s an 18+ warning in the beginning—which surprised us and actually made us tear up a few times! A VN lives by its story first and foremost and Nanairo Reincarnation does a great job in giving us a good story to enjoy!

The other necessary strength that games like Nanairo Reincarnation need is the visual element. If a VN looks ugly or bland playing through it can be tough. Luckily, Nanairo Reincarnation is a sharp looking title with some truly robust character designs and colorful world set pieces. Characters all have a nice variety of facial stills to give you different CGs to stare at while the dialogue plays out. Speaking of dialogue, we forgot to mention that last strong element to Nanairo Reincarnation, the audio.

Voice acting isn’t always included in VNs, but Nanairo Reincarnation has nearly every character—aside from the main—being voiced. While the audio is Japanese only, the inclusion of voices gives the overall experience a nice depth to it. Reading lines of dialogue is fine, but hearing a voice accompany makes the impact stronger and gives life to characters. When a sad moment has a character crying while your eyes read it, that moment intensifies! Add to that all the voice actresses are pretty popular ones and Nanairo Reincarnation makes for an immersive VN.

Nanairo Reincarnation doesn’t do much different from the usual visual novel, but we can look past that in this case. Where Nanairo Reincarnation excels is the wonderful narrative that is both engaging and truly enjoyable. We equally loved the visuals that keep the tale very anime-esque which is never a mistake for an anime fan! Our only warning when playing Nanairo Reincarnation is don’t expect hundreds of dialogue choices or options to pick from. While there are multiple endings, most are pretty straightforward and come up sparingly. If you love visual novels though, Nanairo Reincarnation is a solid title that is worth the nearly $30 price tag.

Fans of visual novels tend to be easy to please. If you make a visual novel enjoyable and give just enough content, most fans will settle down, boot up the title and play to unlock the endings they want obtain. Nanairo Reincarnation is the prime example of this theme by being a fun visual novel that—while not perfect—offers up enough solid narrative, dialogue and gameplay to warrant sinking your time into. That being said, do you plan to play Nanairo Reincarnation? Comment below to sound off and let us know! For even more game reviews and anime related articles/news, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime!