Mitch’s Otome Corner: Jack Jeanne Review
I waited a long time for this one. I mean, just look at it, it’s beautiful. I had no doubt that this game would leave me in awe, and honestly, it might be my all-time favourite Otome game. It’s expansive, gorgeous, features a voiced MC (!!!), and the way it presents its cast and narrative is nothing short of incredible. It’s genuinely a step above, and I want to delve into that a little further.
On a personal level, I prefer the more grounded Otome games to the fantastical ones, and I used to do theatre for a few years myself when I was younger (of course, it wasn’t anywhere near as intensive or ambitious as Univeil, the theatre school in Jack Jeanne), and this managed to be an almost nostalgic experience, and one that felt so tightly woven that it gripped me from beginning to end. I have Tears of the Kingdom right here, but I couldn’t tear myself away from Jack Jeanne.
So, what is Jack Jeanne about? You play as Kisa Tachibana (name can be changed) as she enrolls in the All Boys Univeil Drama School, one where her brother was seen as a star pupil before graduating and vanishing from the face of the Earth. She hides her identity as a girl, masquerading as a boy, and manages to pass the strict entry exam, setting herself on the path of glory as she pursues her dream of acting. Theater is hard enough without having to hide your identity, which plays a large part of Kisa’s character as well as a core plot point.
She joins Quartz, one of the four classes, which means that it’s yet to be seen where her strength lies. Quartz is where you go to do it all, or to find out who you really want to be. Most of the game is the common route, which I really enjoy, with some romance towards the tail end of the game. You don’t need a guide at hand for this one, as you can spend your free time with people, or practicing different things to strength your acting ability, so it’s always very clear who you’re pursuing (and there are 6 love interests, all of who are easily likeable and have a lot of depth, as well as MC Kisa’s route which can be seen as the ultimate true route). You can check your progress with any character at any time in the menu, too.
As part of Quartz, you take part in five different plays. These plays aren’t two hours or so long as you’d see in person, but I was surprised at the depth and dialogue they had — I truly felt like I had experienced these shows from beginning to end, understanding the character’s motivations and plots through to completion. They range in genre and starring leads, proving to be emotional, funny, and a great way to push some characters forward as they fight for a speaking role. Not everyone can earn the biggest roles, after all.
This otome feels expansive. It’s long, it has two variations of rhythm games (a face-button one for dancing, and a shoulder-button one for singing), and the dances come with fully 3D animated music videos, and the songs are fully vocal, all of which you can re-experience again later in the menus. The soundtrack is amazing, and I wish I owned it, and the entire package comes together in such a perfect and well-curated way. Nothing went to waste here, I’m amazed at how much creativity, love and care went into this one, and how fantastic the final package is.
I’d be remiss to not mention that Tokyo Ghoul creator Sui Ishida was a large part of this game. They’re entirely different beasts, but anyone who follows Ishida knows he has a love for music, and he took on a lot of responsibility on this title. Character and world designer, illustrator and lyricist, this is the project that Ishida should be best known for, if you ask this writer. I enjoyed the first season of Tokyo Ghoul a lot, but Jack Jeanne inspired me and turned out to be an engaging, heart-warming tale that I struggled to put down.
Jack Jeanne is localised by Aksys Games (and published by Reef Entertainment in the UK), and it’s one of their best translations to date. I’m not familiar with the original Japanese release, but I am familiar with the debacle of typos and stilted sentences that Collar x Malice: Unlimited released as. This one has clearly had a lot of care and eyes on it, and the translators should be proud of their work — it reads naturally and like a charm. It’s called Jack Jeanne because the roles given to cast members see them take on masculine roles (Jack) or feminine roles (Jeanne), in case you were wondering.
You know me, I love Otome games, chances are our shared love of Otome games is how you found this blog in the first place. Many of you come here for Otome, and for that I am grateful. If you enjoy Otome at all, or honestly if you enjoy visual novels or reading, then you owe it to yorself to play Jack Jeanne. This is standing among some of the greatest games of the year for me, and I’ll be recommending it wherever and to whoever I can.
Play Jack Jeanne!
