Thank you Aksys Games for sending us a review code!

Otome Daoshi -Fighting For Love- takes place in the country of Kayu whose society is founded on the philosophy of “Might makes Right”. The residents there are skilled in martial arts and compete in competitions to earn the emperor’s favor. While the majority of the residents are supportive of this way of life, there are some who prefer intelligence over brawn and are opposed to the emperor and his methods.

You play as a Daoist priestess-in-training whose default name is Shunlin. You can change it, but I kept it for my playthroughs. In total, there are five routes that you can play through, and a couple of them require you to complete the others before unlocking. All in all, I spent more than fifteen hours playing this game.

As the title suggests, Otome Daoshi -Fighting For Love- is an otome (reverse harem) visual novel where the main character can pursue romantic relationships with various (good looking!) male characters. The character choices vary ranging from childhood friends to a high ranking palace official. Most of these bachelors are competing in the tournament when a horde of zombies disrupts the festivities, and your character and her grandfather are one of the few Daoshi priests available to give these undead fighters eternal rest.

Though the routes all start the same, it’s interesting to see the various perspectives and motives of the bad guys. There are many references to Daoism, and Shunlin can travel through a sacred forest that’s intended to lead the deceased to their afterlife. While there are no bad endings, many of the routes have blood, violence, and murder scenes in them. Language is prevalent with multiple instances of the words *ss, b*st*rd, and d*mn. There are some instances of the Lord’s name in vain being dropped, and when it is, it’s in lower case.

Like other games from Idea Factory, the artwork is great. The characters look unique and are all highly detailed. I love the manga-styled cut scenes and the narrated chapter breaks. It makes this visual novel seem more like a sitcom.

The voice acting is in Japanese, and while I can’t understand the words, the emotions come through loud and clear. The background music is nice, though stereotypical at times.

Some of the routes show kissing and there are multiple marriage proposals. Nothing past kissing is shown or implied. One of the characters gets obsessed with the heroine to the point of treating her like a captive instead of a friend (or more!).

If you enjoy otome visual novels, Otome Daoshi -Fighting For Love- is worth checking out if you don’t mind the Daoism, violence, and minor language. For the most part, the characters are likable and the routes are fun to read through. I like how you can replay previously viewed chapters to access the multiple endings in order to unlock all of the character artwork. Because this visual novel is shorter than others, I would recommend waiting for a sale before picking it up.