Kemono Teatime

Speaking of games that I bought on release and finished recently… I finished Kemono Teatime! This was a game recommended by a friend and the art style was so cute that I had decided to add it to my wishlist (and then buy when it came out). Some of the staff were behind another few games that I had played, namely Crystar and Crymachina which were both games that I had a fun time with… outside the gameplay. So when I heard that this was a VN with minimal gameplay elements I was excited!

Unsurprisingly, I had a really good time with the game. I really liked the art style, the music, and of course, the characters.

I wanted to talk a little about the setting and the way it’s told since I thought that it was an interesting piece. Throughout the course of the game, it takes place entirely within one little cafe. They drop snippets of lore through radio, newspapers, and character conversations. I think it’s a nice way of doing it, especially in a game where it feels like the focus is about keeping happy despite the negatives.

And the world is dark. Despite the extremely cute artstyle and characters, the world is plagued by a disease with a 100% casualty rate. It’s extremely brutal, and a lot of the story is about how these characters cope with their doom.

To me, this is where the game really shines. Behind the cozy, colorful, and cute art, there is a story about grief and how the characters process it knowing that their loved ones are doomed to die. There are effectively four pairings of characters that we see the story through.

The first pairing that has to go through this process is Guimauve and Mallow, a pair of lovers who are doomed to separate as Mallow grows a tail (signifying that her end is soon). The two of them act out a lie, a lie that Mallow has lost her memories and doesn’t know who Guimauve is.

It was how they thought it would be best to spend the rest of their days, staying at a comfortable distance without getting closer because getting closer meant it would only hurt more at the end. Despite knowing that the other person was lying, they continued it because they believed it was what was best for the other.

The second pairing that we see is Scone and Jam, twins who run a business together. This was my personal favorite pairing outside the main one. Scone tries to distance herself as much as possible from Jam to make her passing easier. I remember thinking “oh that’s kinda dumb, I’ve seen this kind of thing before”, but there’s a pretty powerful scene where Scone asks Jam if she knows how hard it is for Scone herself, to know that she’s dying, and to know that Jam will be left alone. It shows a lot that the real struggle here isn’t actually about Jam, it’s about Scone and trying to have that discussion. I think it shows especially when she stops using the terminology of “journey” and explicitly says “die”.

Once again, the two of them had only the other’s best interest in heart, just viewed from different perspectives. Scone was thinking of the future, worrying about how Jam would survive by herself. Jam was thinking of the past, wanting to make and preserve her memories of Scone as much as possible before she departed on her journey.

The last pairing was a little different with Galette and Blintz. They seemingly got on very well until Galette reveals his secret that he had cheated on his wife in the past. This of course upsets Blintz who had been betrayed by his own father leaving him and his mother.

This was the pairing I felt most conflicted about, mainly because I felt the VN at times painted Galette in a… more than positive light than I personally would for someone who had cheated. To give Galette credit, it was far in the past and he recognized that it was a mistake and a bad thing to do, even if he had loved the other woman.

But the important part of the pairing was how they had to deal with this anger and these feelings of betrayal while Blintz still had time left. He had decided to forgive Galette because he didn’t want to hold onto these bitter feelings until the end.

All three of these pairings though serve as (in my opinion) a way to guide the main pairing, Macaron and Tarte. The two had shared a promise to keep smiling always until the end, no matter how difficult it got.

I really admired the character’s resolve, at least at the start. Throughout the course of the game though and through the other pairings we get to see and experience all the emotions that they have to go through, both as the person who will depart on their journey as well as the person who remains behind.

These experiences all reflect on Macaron and Tarte in different ways. Guimauve and Mallow keep up a lie until the end, in the case of Macaron and Tarte it’s the promise (which becomes a lie when they hold back their true feelings) to stay smiling until the end. Scone and Jam think of the future and past, but neglect the present and what that means. For Macaron and Tarte, both of them are thinking of the other’s future. And lastly, for Galette and Blintz, the two of them their time is agonizingly short, and Galette thinks about how things would’ve been had he given the Ramune to Blintz. This is reflected in Tarte’s own decision to decide if she wants to give the Ramune to Macaron in her final days.

That last decision is particularly tough as in my opinion there really is no right answer. The game does have a “right” answer in the sense of which choices lead to the ending, but I think it’s still a difficult decision to make. Does Tarte respect her own selfish wishes, or Macaron’s wishes instead?

Anyways the last little bits started sounding more like summary than my feelings but those were the aspects of the game that I really liked. I loved the character dynamics and how the experiences we see through other characters tie back to the main duo. The pain and emotions they have to carry is expressed really well throughout the VN, and of course I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up at the end.

The game having such a cozy aesthetic despite having such dreary topics made it that much more impactful when things got heavy. The contrast behind the art on the screen and the dialogue and the world we learn about sort of adds to the little isolated bubble of paradise that the cafe is in, and it help cements it as a sort of happy place for all the customers even if some sad things happen inside it.

Most of the critiques I have with the game are mostly technical, which unfortunately there were a few technical bugs. Or maybe localization bugs would be accurate too? I think there was one instance where the character speaking was mislabeled, and there were multiple instances of text leaving the text box. Not game breaking or ruining, but a little annoying to see. I also wish there was a tiiiiny bit more difference in some of the animations, I liked the asmr but having an extra voice line or two or combining herbs if you selected multiple would’ve been cool (I watched all the brew times unless I made a mistake lol).

I had a really good time with the game/VN (I am realizing now that I flopped between the two) and may go back for 100%! For now though, I think I’ll smile, and let that follow me on my journeys.

Bonus post script. One other aspect of the game that I really liked was the messaging on how sadness was ok. They mention a lot of times that sadness is proof of how much you loved them, an important aspect in the process of grieving imo. That sadness is sticking with me as I finished this game. It shows how much I loved the characters… though I did finish on a happish note.