Kanzaki Mei decides to take a part time job at her grandpa’s French pastry restaurant but she gets slapped in the face with 2 shocking revelations: Grandpa’s been hospitalized & the restaurant is going to close. In order to stop this from happening, the manager & main chef tell her she needs to gather staff ASAP. Mei’s like “challenge accepted” and gathers a staff of hot mans joining them to serve the guests of Petit Four~!

Sanada Kazuki – When Kazuki hears about the the part time job he immediately agrees. Anything to be with his beloved childhood friend of course. (♡´౪`♡) He’s clumsy and ends up delivering food to the wrong tables and almost spilling stuff. He breaks many plates and gets depressed so it’s up to Mei to smack him and tell him not to give up. At the summer festival they go together in their yukatas and Kazuki’s so busy bumbling like an idiot from embarrassment around Mei….he runs into a tree and scrapes his arm. When Mei wipes off the blood he’s like （//ˇ◡ˇ//）. When he tries to put a blanket over her while she’s sleeping she wakes up sees him next to her with a blanket and screams calling him a hentai lol. She apologizes later for the misunderstanding. Some time laer a douchebag shows up saying he wants to buy the restaurant. They refuse to sell the restaurant and Isamu says that if this guy buys it, he will quit. That’s pretty much the core plot of the game and it repeats in almost every route. Anyway at the end of August Kazuki finally confesses that he’s always loved Mei while they are in the storage room. Before she can answer he kisses her and afterwards they both feel so awkward and he starts screaming YABBEEEEE in the storage room and shit falls all over his head 😆 At the end after all the store drama that I kinda glazed over, 1 month later grandpa returns to be the store owner and so Mei leaves as the “temporary replacement”. Most of the old staff return but some of the staff who worked with her go their separate ways. While finishing up senior year of HS, she continues working at Petit Four on a part time basis as usual while she dates Kazuki. Kazuki’s studying for an exam to go to the same college as her so he doesn’t have much time to work but he comes in when he’s free. During one day that he comes in at work, he takes her to the storage room to talk privately & asks her to spend Christmas with him. Mei is so happy she kisses him on the cheek. Eh Kazuki was cute and he tried so so hard for Mei but Tattsun’s screaming in my ear every 5 minutes was rather unpleasant. (´･ω･`；)

Karasawa Yuuta – Yuuta is Mei’s senpai 2 years older and is in college. He always hits on her (and the female guests) but she constantly rejects him :lol:. He often slacks off work a lot and sits around lazing in the break room or storage closet. They go to the summer festival together but his nanpa is totally ineffective and he’s in the fugliest yukata ever. He does manage to slip a clover ring on her finger though. When he runs into his college friends he tells them that he can’t hang out with them cause he’s busy with his woman. Mei gets upset with herself for not being able to push him away like she usually does (♡´౪`♡) After this event she becomes extremely tsundere for him lol. Actually she becomes so tsun it starts pissing me off (lll￣□￣)ｶﾞｰﾝ!!  Near the end he confesses to her and kisses her against the lockers. She of course  lets him cause she knows that he’s serious about her… but afterwards she’s all TSUN and is like angry at him and ignores his confession. SIGH. Omg man I’m all for strong heroines but this is balls. ┻━┻ ︵ ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) She does get dere agreeing to go on a date with him later and says she likes him as well.(He asks her to repeat her confession but she tsuns up and goes back to work sigh.) And so 1 month later, the manager’s shocked on why she’s picked Yuuta to be her boyfriend and poor Kazuki’s so depressed he’s crying manly tears while studying for his exams. When Mei gets jealous of Yuuto hitting on his female customers, she has an upset look on her face. Yuuto of course notices, so to make her feel better, he hides their faces with a menu and kisses her on the cheek telling her that she’s the only one for him. (♡´౪`♡) She gets all pissy & tsun  as usual lol. Daww lmfao how much more can you make me ﾟ+o｡ﾄﾞｷｭ―(*ﾟдﾟ*)―ﾝ｡o+ﾟ senpai. Definitely my favorite character stereotype and despite most of the route being skippable, I liked him a lot. Too bad Mei had to become all tsun and really grate my nerves. Ho if you don’t want him, GTFO and make way! 😆

Kakizaki Seiji – Seiji is the floor manager of Petit Four and he’s usually greeting guests while manning the register. He’s always yelling at everyone and directing everyone on where they should be and what they should be doing. Of course this includes yelling at Kazuki for breaking stuff and at Yuuta for slacking off. Seiji is like Homare from Starry Sky where he will get stressed and hold most of it inside – causing his stomach to act up. I FEEL YOUR PAIN MAN. щ(ಥДಥщ) Fortunately he always carries around some medicine to simmer down his innards xD. To relax himself Seiji often ends up cleaning as well. Seiji asks Mei to go to the summer festival to try to give her time to “relax” since he knows she’s always working hard. While they walk around they find a lost loli whose name is also Mei and she calls Seiji “daddy” :lol:. After the mom finds and claims her loli, the 2 of them watch fireworks together. As they walk home someone bumps into Mei and she traips & Seiji catches her….until they both realizing they’re hugging. (♡´౪`♡) They both end up walking home holding hands. When during service hours Mei injures her hand he offers to treat it and the two of them start blushing like idiots at each other 8D. After the whole porn-stache man restaurant drama Mei gets all upset that everyone’s handling it like a bro except her so Seiji tries to calm her down.

Afterwards he babbles about how the one who needs calming down is himself and blurts out that he likes her. He tells her to forget what he said, but Mei decides to be awesome and goes and kisses him on the cheek thanking him for his support. (*´ｪ(*´ｪ(*´ｪ(*´ｪ｀*)ｪ｀*)ｪ｀*)ｪ｀*)ｽﾍﾟｼｬﾙﾎﾟｯ♪ Later on that night during dinner, Mei randomly confesses to Seiji and he’s like……what. She continues doing her work and seating the customers as if nothing happened lol. And so one month later, everyone’s working as usual except Yuuto who quit to go hang out with the ladies at Gokons because he couldn’t get with his beloved Mei-tan ww. Seiji and Mei are apparently dating but it’s rather awkward and he seems embarrassed about the whole thing which makes Mei incredibly unsatisfied! She then asks him during their break time, if she can come over to his house on their next day off. He starts freaking out saying that he lives alone and if she comes over…stuff will happen. Mei is like “boo hoo you said I could go anywhere I want” and to prove his point he grabs & kisses her. Afterwards he tells her that they should save the “coming over” thing until they date a little more (●ゝω・●). Still though it’s like GDI ┻━┻ ︵ ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)　Why are all the “adult character” routes always so prude like this blah lolol. Still though I liked Seiji, even if I felt his route lacked a bit of romance (well for the most part the whole game does really…)

Matsuo Isamu – Isamu is the oresama chef and he’s like one of the best chefs out there. Trained directly under Mei’s grandpa he’s definitely got his bragging rights. Not only that but he takes his work seriously so along with Seiji, he gives all the kiddies an earful when they screw up. He also loves bitching about the summer heat since he spends most of the time in a hot kitchen. He’s so confident about his cooking that during a busy time at the restaurant to have Mei try out his food, he shoves a piece of his cabbage down her throat ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ / ＼/ ＼. It’s apparently very delicious but he does apologize later for randomly shoving things into her mouth :lol:. This doesn’t end however and he continues stuffing her mouth with random other food samples ／(^o^)＼ﾅﾝﾃｺｯﾀｲ. Somehow they end up going to the summer festival together after being tsun with each other over the phone. He comes in a red yukata and looks like an ikeman because he has his bandana off for once. They go to the various booths and he goes to the one where you shoot items to win them and he wins 2 stuffed animals for Mei. While he’s getting food or something for them, some dudes start hitting on her and when he comes back he’s all like “lay off mah woman beetches (`・ω・´)ｷﾘｯ”. Afterwards he gets frustrated with Mei’s immaturity since he’s like 10 years older than her but I guess he’s willing to “wait” :lol:. In the past Isamu would constantly duke it out with his father over cooking decisions so anyone watching from far away would be seeing like an Iron Chef competition.

Yamamoto comes from Etoile store where Isamu’s  father works asking him to return to that store. Isamu tells Mei he has no intentions of leaving Petit Four. As time goes by Isamu starts falling for Mei but she suddenly turns into Miss Clueless and pretty much all the signs fly over her head. Fortunately at the end when she gets all baww about not being a good enough “owner substitute” he tells her despite this he’s fallen in love with her. He then grabs her and kisses her in the kitchen (／ρ＼)いやーん. Lol afterwards she’s like “man I’m so awesome if  I made you fall in love with me cause I bet no other girl can do that!” Wahahaha ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ Only Mei will say that after getting an oresama type dude to fall for her xDDD. And so 1 month later, everyone’s working as usual except Seiji who’s apparently overworked himself and collapsed so he had to be hospitalized & told to lay off work for a while. Gramps comes back but in front of him, Isamu is as humble as ever 😆 Mei asks if they can go on a date and he tells her he bought her a helmet so she could ride on his motorcyle with him. She then glomps him and says she loves him. I thought I’d be bored with Isamu but I actually ended up liking him a lot. Despite having a larger age gap than Seiji, I thought his route was handled way better as far as the “older guy” romance aspect. Not sure why they kinda shafted me with Seiji until the end but at least they did it right with Isamu…or maybe they are just biased to oresama characters like I am. (〃ﾉωﾉ)

Charles Kuribayashi – Well Charlie’s first impression is rather odd when he grabs Mei by the shoulders telling her they’re too tense. Uhh thanks dude but can we get to know each other first? XD Of course he means this in the most innocent way ever because he is rather an airheaded half French baker. His specialty is making sweets and he’s come to Japan to try and find a job. Unfortunately he finds himself at the rage of Isamu most of the time. At the summer festival Charlie looks like he’s wearing some kind of green bathrobe. I mean I’m no expert on yukata designs but something about that green polkadot pattern…But things do get cute when he lifts her up princess style and carries her through the crowded festival. I mean overall he just felt like a nice gentle dumb blonde most of the time so I really didn’t feel any romance with him and Mei…in fact I guess it being shoved near the end there felt the most awkward in the whole game. So then he like  randomly kisses her forehead and says he loves her. At the end he tells her that if she’s ever sad he’ll bake something sweet for her. And so 1 month later, Isamu decided his cooking still needs polishing so he flew off to France to train. Charles keeps making hits with his French Wafu~ sweets and then he makes out with Mei in the break room. Bleh everything felt extra forced and I just felt like the entire route flew over my head. (´・ω・｀)

Takenashi Shizuka – Shizuka is the kuudere wine boy. Well he’s not really a boy since he’s 22 but he does look rather young for his age. He’s got a high taste for wine and apparently has the magical talent of being able to remember any flavor if he tastes it at least once.  He only focuses on his jab and he won’t go out of his way to help others, in fact he’ll even refuse. ／(^o^)＼ﾅﾝﾃｺｯﾀｲ Anytime he can get out of work is happy time for him and sometimes he even hides under the bar so that the guests won’t bug him 😆 For the summer festival Shizuka comes wearing a solid black yukata which makes him look like he’s going to a funeral. （ಠ_ಠ）He also apparently loves festivals so much that when he was younger he ran away from home just to go to one. Additionally when he was a shota he had a dream of becoming a goldfish scooping master ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵.Before she goes home, Shizuka grabs her and pulls her behind a tree and holds her mouth shut. Apparently one of the other guys came to the festival and he didn’t want them cockblocking their date 8D. After this Shizuka starts hitting on her but he says it in his kuudere ways that she can’t tell if he’s happy or angry at her xD. I was a bit grossed out though when it was revealed that he drinks guests’ left over wine after the store closes.

I mean honestly are you that desperate to get drunk that you drink some nasty left overs ew. (≖_≖) One day he overhears Mei babbling about how she wants some new accessories like necklaces or bracelets but then she goes on how she can’t wear them while working anyway. He then grabs her and takes her to an accessory store, and  gives her advice on choosing jewelry because apparently he can suggest jewelry like he can suggest wine lol. During the whole restaurant buyout drama, he tells her to clear her mind and the best way to do this is by grabbing her & kissing her. (♡´౪`♡) He then makes her go completely blank by saying he loves her. She then confesses to him too but he just goes …fuun.. and then has a dorky smile on his face while she goes to serve customers. And so 1 month later, Charles quit the restaurant to focus on his wagashi making.  During their break he glomps her from behind and says it’s relaxing…BUT WHERE’S MY REAL KISS CG. That half assed kiss CG doesn’t count!! All the other charactes got one what is this discrimination (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ 彡┻━┻. Sigh yea that + the  drinking customers’ wine kinda put a damper on this route for me…even though I thought Shizuka was really cute and I loved his snarkyness. Oh well  (◞‸◟ㆀ)ｼｮﾎﾞﾝ.

Harem Route & Another Story – In the harem route you basically raise everyone’s flags and around after the festival scenario. All the guys start getting antsy  telling her to stop hitting on everyone and pay attention to them instead. At the end when Mei breaks down and bawws on the last day of August all the guys get together & comfort her while fighting for her attention. And so 1 month later, some photographers come to take a photo of all of them for some magazine and so they fight over who gets to stand next to Mei. In Another Story, while Mei is assigned to cook something for once, everyone starts discussing about her cooking and about who she will marry. They all end up beating the crap out of poor Yuuta again, and afterwards they eat Mei’s curry which apparently turns out great. They then proceed to argue what topping should be on curry ranging from Mayonaise to Nattou….and they  put all their nasty toppings on the curry. Mei gets upset so the forces them to eat their nasty creations and they all get KO’ed. I ended just force skipping through the rest because I was just getting so bored of all this gag food humor to be honest (and this game.) I ended up missing 2 CGs somewhere in the Another Story probably but well at this point I’ve lost all the patience I’ve had with this game.

I felt like I accomplished nothing in this game. By the 2nd and 3rd routes I felt like I spent more time skipping than I did reading new scenario. I spent a week doing Kazuki’s route but all the other guys took me about 4 hours each because 90% of the game is a common route. The plot is the same, and even the romance scenario is the same. I knew that she would go with guy X to the summer festival, then she’d wangst in the end and guy X would support her & then confess to her and then in the epilogue she’d be dating guy X while working at the restaurant. It was such a template that I was pretty much crawling through the last few routes and well going through the harem route was the worst as I pretty much just sat there skipping through the whole game.  Due to this I really just got sick of the game and I just couldn’t find myself enjoying Another Story even though the CGs were fairly entertaining. There are of course positives to this game too. The cast is actually pretty good (save for stereotypical gaijin Charles) and miko’s art is still nice even back in 2006.  The game gives you a variety of uniform colors to choose from which also then change in the CGs as well. When you choose to “end game” a random character will pop up with a goodbye message depending on the time of day. I had a weird issue with the voices though. A lot of them were really hard to hear even though I had turned up my voice and turned down the BGM. Additionally sometimes the voice would lag behind the text so I’d finish reading the text before the guy even began speaking… (ㆀ˘･_･˘)　That probably slowed down my progress a lot. The lack of romance was rather disappointing and the lack of proper kiss CG for Shizuka was irritating since he was really the only one that got screwed over in regards to that. So overall while I did enjoy the premise, art and characters, the story was written poorly in a template fashion and I just found myself getting frustrated with the game near the end. It upsets me and I wish there was a “better” remake of this but I guess there was – it’s called Arcobaleno. Too bad they went and changed all the characters…I liked Yuuta, Shizuka and Isamu a lot. (´・ω・｀)