Nekopara Vol. 1

What's NEKOPARA? Why, it's a cat paradise! Kashou Minaduki, the son of a long line of Japanese confection makers moved out to open his own shop "La Soleil" as a patisserie. But upon moving out, hidden amongst his things were two of the catgirls, Chocola and Vanilla, that the family had been raising. When he tried to send them back, they begged and pleaded until he gave in and now they've opened La Soleil together. With two catgirls who really, REALLY love their master trying their very best and occasionally failing -- a heartful comedy opens for business! See the Sayori NEKO WORKs' mascots Chocola and Vanilla like never before, moving, and in full voice on screen. And now with the E-mote System, the characters smoothly move on screen changing expression and poses in countless ways.

Overview:

Nekopara Vol. 1 is a visual novel game for adults (18+) developed by NEKO WORKs. In the game, the player takes on the role of the main character Kashou Minaduki, a pastry chef, and interacts with the female protagonists, cat girls who have the ability to talk and have diverse personalities.

The Nekopara game was first released in 2014 and has become one of the most loved visual novel games in the Japanese and global gaming community. It has also been adapted into an anime and manga series.

The graphics in Nekopara are beautiful and meticulously designed with colorful and detailed images. The cat characters in the game are drawn very cute and lovely, with very vivid expressions and gestures, creating a lively virtual world space.

The sound in the game is also very distinctive, with music tracks specific to each scene in the game. These songs are composed very delicately and emotionally, creating a romantic and warm atmosphere in the game. In addition, the voices of the characters in the game are also very professional and delicate, making it easy for players to empathize and listen to the characters’ stories.

Features:

Catgirls

Ok, let’s get the “cat out of the bag” the big appeal of Nekopara are these beings, people, things, animals or whatever you want to call them. They are catgirls. They look like a cute girl cosplaying as a cat, but they are actually part girl and part cat. They have both human and cat characteristics.

What is weird is that in this world, catgirls are a part of everyday life. People have them as pets, companions, workers and yes……. Even lovers. There is nothing unusual about catgirls in this world, but our “hero” Kashou is a little uneasy with the whole thing when it comes to catgirls. All though in all honesty given what he does with the catgirls he really cannot be that uneasy with them.

A Man Starting His Own Bakery

The story that is the backbone for Nekopara is that Kashou has had enough of his interfering family and he wants to break out on his own. He has always dreamed of having his very own bakery so he opens his own one that is called, La Soleil. Inside the bakery, there are two large boxes and in these boxes are two catgirls. The game is about him trying to make a go of it with his bakery and his catgirls “helping” him out. As you would expect there are a lot of screw ups and this is actually quite funny. The story is quite well written and you can tell that the two catgirls (Chocola and Vanilla) want the best for him, but things do not always go as planned.

E-mote

Say what you want about the subject matter, but Nekopara has some great art, but it also has this thing called E-mote. This gives the characters a bit of animation to bring them to life and it actually works quite well. I think that this is actually a good addition to the world of visual novels.

This is a different cat paradise:

The NEKOPARA series first started out as a series of doujinshi or self-published print works by Sayori from NEKO WORKs. In it were the two mascot catgirl characters, Chocola and Vanilla, and the series eventually went on to become a full-blown visual novel. For this first game, you play as Kashou Minaduki, who hails from a long line of Japanese confection makers and dreams of opening up his own shop.

The start of the story here involves you finding that two of your family’s catgirls—or “Nekos”, as they’re called—have followed you to your new shop. You eventually decide to let them stay and have them help around. The plot is pretty linear, however, and you can’t make player choices for other endings or even raise affection with the characters—despite the cast line-up looking like something designed for a harem story.

What makes this game unique is the implementation of the “E-mote” system or the live2D animation. This allows the characters to move a bit and easily express their emotions as you progress through the story. However, expect that since this has mature content, the live2D animations will involve lewd jiggle physics that might not be safe for work regardless of the lack of explicit scenes.

Conclusion:

Nekopara Vol. 1 offers players a delightful visual novel experience that revolves around running a pastry shop alongside an adorable cast of catgirls. The game initially gained popularity as a doujinshi, authored by the talented artist Sayori, before later evolving into this engaging visual novel form. The title puts players in the shoes of Kashou Minaduki, an aspiring confectioner branching away from his family's tradition to open his own bakery, "La Soleil." However, Kashou soon discovers that Chocola and Vanilla, two sweet and playful catgirls from his family home, have secretly followed him to assist in his new endeavor. NEKOPARA Vol. 1 serves as a lively introduction to the quirky world of anthropomorphic feline companions-referred to fondly as "Nekos."