1793: Oppai Cookin’

Been playing a bit of Senran Kagura Bon Appetit! over the last couple of days as a precursor to delving properly into Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus. And I’ve been pleasantly impressed.

For those unfamiliar with the series as a whole, here’s a breakdown: Senran Kagura Burst on Nintendo 3DS was the first game in the series released in the West, encompassing what were two separate releases in Japan: Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows, and Senran Kagura Burst, which incorporated the story of Skirting Shadows and another full story with the five “antagonist” characters from the original. The two stories run in sort-of parallel — there are a few differences in terms of the events which occur, but they end up in the same place and conclude with the same events from different perspectives. The game itself is a modern-day take on brawlers like Streets of Rage and its ilk: you run from one end of a level to the other, beating up groups of enemies in order to proceed, occasionally squaring off against bosses.

Vita installment Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus is regarded as a “spinoff” — the numbered sequel Senran Kagura 2 is a 3DS title — but it follows on from the events of Burst and introduces numerous new characters as well as following the stories of the original cast further. It’s still structured like an old-school brawler, but this time gameplay is in full 3D, lending the gameplay a feel somewhere between Streets of Rage, Dynasty Warriors and Power Stone.

Bon Appetit, meanwhile, is a “true” spinoff in the sense that it’s not intended to be “canonical” to the main storylines of the other games, which are all fairly serious affairs about what it means to be a ninja, and how difficult it can be to grow up with all manner of difficult responsibilities and expectations thrust upon you. Bon Appetit, conversely, is about cooking, boobs and arses. Pairs of girls from the previous games pair off and engage in a cooking battle against one another, represented as a rhythm action music game played over the course of three rounds, with the loser of each round suffering the indignity of damage to their clothing — the iconic feature of the series as a whole is clothing destruction — and a comprehensive drubbing resulting in being stripped completely naked, covered in tactfully-placed whipped cream and chocolate sauce in order to pose provocatively atop the world’s largest cake.

Bon Appetit has absolutely no shame whatsoever, and it’s immensely enjoyable as a result. It’s lewd and it’s rude, but it’s also a lot of fun to play, feeling very much like PS1-era rhythm games such as Parappa the Rapper and its ilk. There’s a decent selection of catchy tracks — all originals, once again calling to mind PS1-era music games, particularly those with “character songs” such as Bust-a-Groove — and these vary from the fairly straightforward to the extremely challenging, with the two-lane note charts often being composed in such a way as to deliberately confuse you, a process made significantly easier by the backdrop occasionally being filled with giant gyrating bottoms and titties, particularly if you hit the single “heart” note in the song correctly.

In many ways, Bon Appetit is absolutely indefensible. It’s pretty much fanservice in its purest form — in fact, it’s striking a double fanservice whammy by being a particularly fanservicey game in a series already notorious for its fanservice — but in being this way it’s doing exactly what it sets out to do: to provide a fun, silly and enjoyable opportunity to play with a cast of characters who are genuinely beloved by many in a context significantly far removed from their normal situations. The game states up front that it’s not intended to be taken seriously, but manages to provide the player with an addictive and strangely compelling experience in the process, even once the initial appeal of “life and hometown” wears off.

So whatever you may find yourself thinking of it after what I’ve written above, I’m having an absolute blast. And you know what? I think I’m going to go and play a bit more right now.