Bad Apple Wars follows Rinka, who, on her way to her first day of high school, is struck and killed at a crosswalk. After death, she is greeted by Mr. Rabbit (a teacher with a rabbit mask) in the afterlife in front of NEVAEH Academy,
a purgatory-esque setting for deceased students with strict rules. Mr. Rabbit brings her to the academy's opening ceremony, which is attacked by the 'Bad Apples,' a group of students who oppose the strict authoritative nature that the schools runs on.
The player must decide to side with the Good Apples (prefects) or the Bad Apples.
man. bad apple wars was such a ride from start to finish. i cried way too many times while playing this game. i already wrote a whole blog post about it but i'll summarize it for this page.
bad apple wars is a story about self acceptance, love, and our reasons for existence, packaged as an otoge. i played shikishimas route which was fwigging amazing. as a forewarning, this game is sad as fuck and not at all a traditional otoge, seeing as how no matter who you choose, you'll never end up together in the real world. but it's also relatable as fuck as someone who's never quite felt special, accepted, or like i belonged anywhere. both shikishima and rinka (protag/player) are people who have never felt as though they belonged; shikishima is an artist who no one ever understood, who feared his art would reach no one but accepted it nonetheless, and rinka is an average girl with no talent or skills and who loathes herself for it, feeling useless in nevaeh academy.
the story is set in a school in the afterlife, separated into two groups; the prefects/good apples, and the bad apples. the good apples follow every rule and lose all their self identity, and the bad apples hope to break each rule in hopes of "expulsion", or returning back to life. shikishima's route is under the bad apple's route.
the story has an amazing cast of characters and an even better setting. because each character is dead, they're all from different eras. nevaeh exists in a grey area/limbo of time, where, if a character is expelled, they'll return back to their life in the era they came from. it's kinda hard to explain... it makes a lot of sense in the game, though. of course the afterlife doesn't follow our traditional ideas of time. each character is a highschooler, and some are born decades apart from eachother, though they're all the same age. i found this gimmick really cool!
i urge you to read my blog post if you're interested in this game because i don't want to reiterate the same things i said there and i don't want to spoil anything. just know this is a tearjerker.
bad apple wars is a story about self acceptance, love, and our reasons for existence, packaged as an otoge. i played shikishimas route which was fwigging amazing. as a forewarning, this game is sad as fuck and not at all a traditional otoge, seeing as how no matter who you choose, you'll never end up together in the real world. but it's also relatable as fuck as someone who's never quite felt special, accepted, or like i belonged anywhere. both shikishima and rinka (protag/player) are people who have never felt as though they belonged; shikishima is an artist who no one ever understood, who feared his art would reach no one but accepted it nonetheless, and rinka is an average girl with no talent or skills and who loathes herself for it, feeling useless in nevaeh academy.
the story is set in a school in the afterlife, separated into two groups; the prefects/good apples, and the bad apples. the good apples follow every rule and lose all their self identity, and the bad apples hope to break each rule in hopes of "expulsion", or returning back to life. shikishima's route is under the bad apple's route.
the story has an amazing cast of characters and an even better setting. because each character is dead, they're all from different eras. nevaeh exists in a grey area/limbo of time, where, if a character is expelled, they'll return back to their life in the era they came from. it's kinda hard to explain... it makes a lot of sense in the game, though. of course the afterlife doesn't follow our traditional ideas of time. each character is a highschooler, and some are born decades apart from eachother, though they're all the same age. i found this gimmick really cool!
i urge you to read my blog post if you're interested in this game because i don't want to reiterate the same things i said there and i don't want to spoil anything. just know this is a tearjerker.
SHIKISHIMA
love interest of choice...
shikishima is neither a bad apple nor a prefect; he calls himself an "odd apple", spending his time painting quietly on his own and appearing without warning
in random places. his behavior is strange too, as he speaks in a friendly but formal tone and uses a lot of nature-based metaphors, placing a heavy emphasis on finding
beauty in everything. he does not actively break rules, but doesn't care for them; when he gets in trouble with the prefects, he just apologizes and is forgiven.
his "soul totem" is a sketchbook, though with the limitations of nevaeh academy, no matter what he draws, he's cursed for it to never look like anything recognizable. this is due to the love he pours into every painting. due to being a "soul totem", whatever he draws in his sketchbook can become real. this is seen at the beginning of the game, when he showers the opening ceremony in flower petals.
his "soul totem" is a sketchbook, though with the limitations of nevaeh academy, no matter what he draws, he's cursed for it to never look like anything recognizable. this is due to the love he pours into every painting. due to being a "soul totem", whatever he draws in his sketchbook can become real. this is seen at the beginning of the game, when he showers the opening ceremony in flower petals.