Period Cube

MC and her childhood friend try to seek out her brother, who has disappeared (sounds like deja-vu, now that I am typing it - 7’sCarlet anyone?) and they think they can find a clue to his whereabouts in the game he created. They log into the online game only to find themselves inside, stuck and with their lives in true jeopardy.

Every .hack fan probably just cringed (and don’t you dare even think the words SAO at me! I see you back there!!). That being said, I loved this premise and it was nice to see it in the otome world. I liked how there were two names for MC, a gamer tag and the real name one, just like in a real mmo, and boys had two identities, as well. A lot of very cute mmorpg elements appear in the online world, which makes it feel authentic and adventurous - and MC encounters and befriends a lot of characters that are outside of the romance paths, which is also a great difference to how otome usually goes. Especially because these side characters only spend the perfect amount of time without being that third wheel. I also liked how some of the characters were different in the game compared to their real life - this is also very authentic and added to the mystery of the guys encountered. The story was decent and most of the routes were interesting, split between the real world and the game. The endings do get a bit cheesy, but not overly so, and I did enjoy some of the twist surprises the game brings to light. The thing to remember in the end, there’s a game within a game and so, nothing is what it seems.