LET'S PLAY: JACK JEANNE
For Christmas I got Jack Jeanne as a gift from my father. I have finally finished my first route and I wanted to talk about what I love and not-so love about the game so far! There are still 6 other routes for me to do, but I have so much to say about just one that I wanted to share my thoughts.
I will be discussing spoilers for Soshiro's route, but only under the cut! So BEWARE!!!!
I'll probably make more blog posts about this game when I do more routes lol. It's infesting my brain.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
You play as Kisa Tachibana, a young girl finishing middle school. Kisa dreams of attending Univeil Theater Academy like her older brother, Tsuki, but unfortunately it's an all-boys school where both masculine and feminine roles are played by men. Masculine roles are played by "Jacks" and feminine roles are played by "Jeannes", hence the title of the game.
Tsuki was a legendary Jack Ace who was beloved by many and graduated at the top of his class at Univeil, but has since disappeared, leaving Kisa with her father who has unpaid debts which forces her to work in place of attending high school. Kisa is about to give up on her dreams until an encounter with Univeil's principal, who asks Kisa to audition for the academy on the condition that she gets a lead role at the Univeil performance, nobody finds out that she's a girl or that she's related to Tsuki. Kisa jumps at this opportunity to chase after her seemingly-impossible dream.
There are 4 classes at Univeil:
- Quartz- The class that Tsuki Tachibana graduated from and the class that Kisa is assigned to. Quartz students are those with shining potential.
- Onyx- A class that focuses primarly on dance and Jacks.
- Rhodonite- A class that focuses primarily on singing and Jeannes.
- Amber- A class with exceptionally talented students.
Something to note is that this game is by Sui Ishida and Shin Towada. You may know Sui Ishida as he's the mangaka responsible for 'Tokyo Ghoul' and the ongoing 'Choujin X' (which I totally need to read), as well as Shin Towada who is his older sister. I'm a super huge fan of Ishida's art style and the CGs for this game are super gorgeous. (Though, some CGs might have some dodgy anatomy or details because it seems like Ishida had a lot on his plate. Otherwise, extremely beautiful.)
GAMEPLAY
Jack Jeanne has 3 elements: story, stat building and rhythm game.
Story- It's an otome visual novel, but something to note is that the actual character routes start about 80% into the story. The first section of the story is referred to as the "common route", which remains the same in every playthrough, save for very small interactions. The routes split on Christmas depending on who you choose and what stats you've raised.
As for what I think of the story, I personally really enjoy it. Kisa has to navigate her new life as a Univeil student, aiming for lead roles and performance awards while keeping her secret of being a girl. You meet some students from other classes who are about as interesting and peculiar as you'd expect theater students to be.
There are 4 seasonal performances that lead up to the final performance of the academic year, the Univeil performance.
- Newcomer's performance - only first-years are given lead roles, while upperclassmen play supporting roles, allowing the newcomers to show what they've got.
- Summer performance
- Fall performance
- Winter performance
- Univeil performance - the final and most important performance for Univeil students. It's also the last performance for third-year students before they graduate.
You explore the struggles of being a Univeil student and the insecurities that build behind the curtains. I find the protagonist's relationship with gender quite interesting but I do wish it was explored a bit more. Maybe it just wasn't a big part of the route I experienced first to be fair, since the love interest I went for first already knew about Kisa's gender.
If you've watched Aikatsu, you might be familiar with the kinds of things Jack Jeanne explores in the story. This seems like a bit of an odd comparison but it's because they're both about students at a performance school and you see them grow and struggle. I found one of the characters to be quite similar to Kiriya Aoi and her personal insecurities of not being as good as her peers. Maybe it's just beause I'm a huge Aikatsu fan LOL. Revue Starlight would be a farrrrr more accurate comparison, but Jack Jeanne is not quite about sword-fighting-lesbians-under-the-school.
Stat building- I'll be real, this part of the game is an absolute joke. The ONLY thing it does is ensure you unlock the specific romantic route you want. You have 6 stats and each corresponds to a love interest. Raise the stat you want and you're basically set. It absolutely does not affect anything else in the game whatsoever and is quite literally a button press (you can even automate it so that you can just choose a stat to repeat for the week).
I really wish that this mattered more or that you had to manage these better. When I started the game I actually did think this mattered similar to in Monster Prom, but it straight up doesn't do anything. I hope that Jack Jeanne 2 reworks the stat system and gives the player a bit more management to do. I understand that it's not the focus of the story, but it truly feels like a useless aspect of the game.
Rhythm game- Have you ever played Love Live, Bandori, Enstars or any of those other mobile rhythm games? You will find familiarity in Jack Jeanne's rhythm game sections! There are two types:
- Dancing- The choreography in the game is represented by 4 lanes that you can either tap on with your fingers with or use the corresponding buttons on your Switch. It's a fairly standard rhythm game, much like the mobile ones I mentioned previously.
- Singing- Similar to the dancing rhythm game, but ever so slightly different. You have 5 lanes and use the left arrow and A button to drag a line to the left or right. This is pretty poorly explained so I'll link a video! (if you're impatient skip to 30 seconds lol)
Between the two, I found the singing one to be far more difficult. I think it's that my brain couldn't really process when to move left or right, but you definitely get more used to it. One complaint I have is that the expert level dancing rhythm game wasn't very compatible with how I set up my buttons, which is my fault, but I found it to be really unintuitive personally. I think the beatmaps were designed with buttons in mind and some expert maps are laid out in ways that are almost impossible to do by tapping on the screen.
Despite that, I actually LOVE the music in this game. The characters have really lovely vocals too! My favourite song is "Intense Confessions at the Confessional" (hefty title!), one of the songs for the Winter performance ingame. Listen if you'd like, I'll embed it below ;) ! Though, if you're interested in the game and you care about not spoiling yourself on performances, I would say skip on it. It's not inherently spoilers, but I really did enjoy seeing them for myself.
I do think the 3D models are pretty ugly. They're kind of jank and clip a lot, but they're only used in the dancing music videos behind the rhythm game, so it's really not a big issue to me. It did make me burst out laughing when I first saw them, though.
LOVE INTERESTS
In this game you have 6 romanceable characters. I'll give you a short rundown so you can get an idea of who they are and maybe who you'd go for first! They're all students of Quartz, the class that Kisa Tachibana is assigned to in her first year of Univeil. Sadly, only Quartz members are romanceable, but maybe that will change in Jack Jeanne 2 that was announced to be in production last year.
SUZU ORIMAKI - He's a first-year that Kisa first meets when they audition together. Suzu might not be the brightest, but he's energetic and earnest about everything that he does. He always does his best and aims to be a Jack.
SOSHIRO YONAGA- Another first-year, as well as Kisa's childhood friend that used to play pretend with the Tachibana siblings as kids. This makes him the only love interest to know from the get-go that Kisa's actually a girl. He's a bit insecure, but truly passionate about acting. He aims to be a Jack, but starts off getting Jeanne roles due to his appearance.
(Haha, is it obvious I did Soshi's route first?)
MITSUKI SHIROTA- The only relevant Quartz second-year. Mitsuki is Quartz's Tresor, their best singer. He's often cold and bossy and keeps to himself to focus on his singing. Mitsuki is always given Jeanne roles due to his feminine appearance and beautiful singing voice.
SARAFUMI TAKASHINA- Quartz's Al Jeanne, the leading Jeanne actor. He is a third-year and is best known for his exceptional dancing. Fumi may seem intimidaitng at first, but he's actually pretty easy-going and kind to his underclassmen. As well as that, he was previously paired with Tsuki Tachibana, the previous Jack Ace of Quartz.
KAI MUTSUMI- Quartz's Jack Ace, the leading Jack actor. He is a mysterious third-year who is rather quiet and withdrawn, but devoted to supporting Sarafumi when they're on stage together. Kai excells at leading his underclassmen and helping them grow.
KOKUTO NEJI- Quartz's class representive and playwright. He's an eccentric third-year who writes the plays for Quartz, but is also a talented actor as well. He often assigns himself silly roles, but it's obvious that he's still a genius. It seems like Neji is the only character who has a pretty even split on Jack/Jeanne roles, but I believe he leans towards Jeanne? (I'm doing his route next!!)
When I initially got the game, I planned to do Neji's route first (I should be calling him by his first name but Neji rolls off the tongue nicer) but I totally fell in love with Soshiro when actually reading the story. I found him to be cute and quite relateable. Now that I've finished Sou-chan's route, I can now do Neji's route. He seems to be the most popular character by far and I've seen glimces of what could be explored of his character, but I won't know until I play!
So what did I think of my first route?
If I've caught your interest and you want to play the game for yourself, this is where I recommend you click off and spend about [paused to google] THE GAME IS HALF OFF RIGHT NOW! Usually about £45, but currently £22~ until the 12th. I totally recommend this game!! It's the only thing I've been thinking about recently!!!!
I did Soshiro Yonaga's route first because I'm a sucker for childhood friends. If you don't care about spoilers, then feel free to read on!
(Also this is going to be a bunch of nonsense and I'm aware. I just need somewhere to put my thoughts that isn't my twitter.)
During his route you see him totally crash into this insecurity and Soshi actually gets into two seperate arguments with Suzu. Soshi and Suzu are both first years with Kisa, so the three of them are really close and I love their friendship. Soshi isn't one to give up though, and you watch him try to pick himself up and it actually works. In the Fall performance, he performs with newfound confidence which carries into the Winter performance which is my personal favourite performance ingame. Oh Rama Havenna...!
His route gets really good when it actually starts. I'm not quite sure how much the common route differs depending on your love interest, but Soshi's arc is actually a huge part of the main story. After the Christmas performance, Kisa and Soshi go out on a date and he ends up confessing to Kisa at a shrine that resembles the one that they used to play pretend at as kids. It's a very tender confession and it totally tugged at my heart. It was just so overwhelmingly CUTE! The two of them get to enjoy the holiday season together in the dorms, but the happiness is interrupted by the Univeil performance preparation starting once the New year comes around.
You see, Soshi's whole motivation for attending Univeil is because he wanted to see Kisa again and perform on stage in hopes of her watching him. Soshi moved away during middle school and the two hadn't seen eachother since and Soshi was extra surprised to see Kisa attending Univeil.
Soshi is cast as the Jack Ace for the final performance along with the Al Jeanne.... Mitsuki Shirota! One of the requirements Kisa is given to remain at Univeil is to get the lead role for the Univeil performance and this is utterly crushed by Mitsuki being cast as the Al Jeanne. Soshi is aware of Kisa's true gender as well as this condition, so the two of them naturally freak the fuck out. Soshi can't even enjoy being the Jack Ace because he's too worried about Kisa having to leave Univeil and losing his motivation to act.
Soshi just cannot ease into his role and cannot act with Mitsuki. Going to skip over the complicated bits, but Mitsuki ends up stepping down as a result and Kisa takes his place. Unfortunately for Soukisa, a student from Amber named Momonashi provokes Soshi and manipulates him into thinking that Soshi should completely ignore everyone else and perform like it's only him and Kisa onstage. This warps Soshi's perception on how he acts and he becomes selfish and posessive over Kisa. I was so so shocked to see him transform into a yandere for a brief while.
Soshi in yandere mode is actually a very good and flashy Jack Ace, similar to his previous successful performances that landed him the lead role this time around. However, this comes at the price of completely outshining his peers and stealing the spotlight so he and Kisa alone can shine. Soshi deludes himself into thinking that he can only act good when he's with Kisa.
But this was SO CRAZY. The game had already put me on an emotional rollercoaster watching Sou doubt himself so deeply and then successfully put on a great show. Now they shove me into Soshi and Kisa's secret relationship becoming super posessive because Soshi's insecurities are being fuelled. (I do like yandere Soshi. It's kind of cute. I know it's not good, though. It was kind of mind-shattering in the moment though.)
This also brings me onto something I had been laughing about all through out the game because the students at Univeil probably think Kisa's just a gay boy rather than a girl. Like when Kisa starts a relationship with a love interest and someone finds out they'll probably think, "oh they're gay" rather than "Kisa's been lying about her gender". A lot of characters do start to catch onto the fact that Kisa is lying about something but can't really place it or just tipetoe around it.
Anyway! Back to Soshi! Soshi gets into another argument with Suzu and Suzu basically says, "Soshi you are being GREEDY! You are not letting anyone else shine and you're being inconsiderate of our third-year senpai who are graduating after this performance". Naturally, Soshi lashes out at first, but realizes that Suzu is right and gets out of that headspace.
From then on it's rainbows and sunshine and Quartz puts on a beautiful performance. Soshi and Kisa both get Gold Individual awards due to their fantastic acting. I really liked the final performance because Neji writes the script very deliberately for the characters to be just like Quartz. They are all part of an acting troupe and at points the characters' performance and the students' feelings blur and they end up speaking from their hearts. It's very sweet and a nice send off for the third-years who can look back to the performance and remember their classmates.
(The winter performance, Oh Rama Havenna, is still my favourite performance. Sorry. Banger story and music.)
The conclusion for Soshi's route is that he realizes that his dream of being a Jack Ace was only because he wanted to stand next to Kisa on the stage. He finds a new dream in supporting Kisa on the stage, regardless of what role he plays. He's simply happy to attend the school with Kisa now that she's fufilled the conditions to remain at Univeil for another year.
I wonder what it's like to be Soshi in other routes. I don't think he's Jack Ace in any other route for the Univeil performance, so he's probably down in the fucking dumps about that. Not only that, but he wouldn't be dating Kisa either so he would probably crash out. Don't know for sure. I honestly feel like Soshi is a good contender for "canonical route", but it does feel unsatisfying that I can't give the other characters their own conclusions.
I extra wonder how Jack Jeanne 2 will play out. For one, will we have Kisa as a protag again? I do hope so, even if she's somewhat mary-sue-ish (I don't care personally it's awesome lol), I think that Kisa is a great protag. Maybe it will be second/third-year Kisa, but it begs the question of if we'll still be dating our love interest from the first game. It would probably be easier if it was post-graduate Kisa or a completely protag. Hard to say, but maybe we'll get some news on the 4th anniversary of Jack Jeanne this March.
Btw I'm mad that we never find out what happens to Tsuki. Some people theorize he's Tummy, a weasel(?) with a moon(tsuki..) on its stomach, but idk I think it's a little silly. I was expecting Tsuki to come out of the shadows at the end LOL.
Anyway if you somehow read through all of this garbage I actually applaud you. I really love this game and it's the only thing I can think about right now. Even Aquamarine's been put on the back burner which says something.
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