Iwakura Aria is a Yuri VN with an Insane Twist at the End

And so, I finally finished a Visual Novel called Iwakura Aria, which was released last year for Steam and Nintendo Switch. The game tells a story set in 1966 and is a Yuri VN (a warning for those who already dislike the genre).

I ended up receiving a review key for the game from the developer, and this was my completion status. It took me 12 hours and 30 minutes to unlock every achievement, which includes watching all endings and all side stories:

Even though it took me 12 hours, you can finish it in less time, since I probably left the game open for around 2 hours while doing other things.

But let’s talk about the game and what I thought about it.

Iwakura Aria takes place in Japan in 1966, a few years after the country’s period of rapid economic growth. The story follows Ichiko, a young girl with no prospects who gets a job as a maid at the mysterious Iwakura family mansion.

And yes, as soon as you enter the mansion, you start wondering what kind of madness happens inside that place. The story follows the relationship between Ichiko and Aria. Ichiko is the protagonist, while Aria is the girl who gives the game its name and is also her romantic interest.

Among the other characters, we have Amane, Aria’s father and the person who hires Ichiko as a maid; Sui, the cook; as well as the gardener and the security guard, who have less important roles.

The game has 9 endings, with one being the true ending and the others being considered bad endings. And I’ll say it right away: not only are they bad endings, they are genuinely bad.

Seriously, if it wasn’t for the achievements, after seeing 1 or 2 bad endings I probably wouldn’t have bothered watching the others, because they are really poor.

The problem is that in many of these endings, the characters act completely differently just to create a specific situation involving Ichiko. I’ll give an example without spoilers: there is a moment in the game where you have two choices, but both choices lead to the exact same situation. You end up being discovered by another character, but in one route that character acts one way, while in the other route they behave completely differently.

Because of this, the alternative endings feel very weak.

Another thing that bothered me was the protagonist. I hated Ichiko.

She is a 16-year-old girl who starts working as a maid at the Iwakura family mansion and quickly falls in love with Amane’s daughter, Aria Iwakura. From that point on, what happens is that… Ichiko seems to hate men.

Actually, it feels like the game itself hates men, because every time a man looks at Aria, talks to her, or touches her, Ichiko says that it is “disgusting” and that they only want to take advantage of her. The game also repeatedly pushes the idea that men approaching women is something dirty.

I like Yuri anime and games, but there is one type of Yuri story that I consider the worst kind: the ones that turn male characters into villains or portray all of them as something disgusting.

This ends up making the female characters (at least for me) extremely unpleasant, and that is exactly how I feel about Ichiko. I simply don’t like her.

There is a moment in the game where Aria is talking to two men in the mansion and Ichiko becomes FURIOUS because they are smiling and looking at Aria.

In my opinion, that is something completely normal during a conversation, but Ichiko starts thinking about how they are “disgusting” and “repulsive.” She then lies to Aria, saying that there is a guest waiting somewhere else, and tries to take her away.

Ichiko thinks she saved Aria, but when Aria realizes that Ichiko lied, she gets angry and returns to talk with them.

At that moment, Ichiko says that the men are disgusting because they have impure thoughts about Aria or because they want to touch her, and Aria replies:

“You are just like them.”

And yes, Ichiko is literally the same.

Throughout the game, Ichiko repeatedly flirts with Aria, looks at her body, and desires touching her, exactly like the “disgusting men” she criticizes so much. I liked that someone finally called Ichiko out on this so much that I had to take a screenshot haha.

Regarding the mystery: yes, there is a mystery in the game that Ichiko eventually discovers, but this VN did something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen another Visual Novel do.

The mystery is revealed early.

I believe that around halfway through the game you already discover what is happening inside the mansion, and from that point on, the objective becomes simply following along to see how everything will end.

One important warning: there is blood, quite a lot of blood, as well as violent scenes throughout the story. So if you are sensitive to this kind of thing (like me), be careful.

Anyway, I’ll be honest: I didn’t enjoy the story that much.

At the beginning of the game, I was genuinely interested in the mystery, and the game’s visuals are beautiful, but as Ichiko continued to speak, think, and act, I became more and more annoyed with her for the reasons I already mentioned.

Besides that, the romance is kind of… weak?

I can’t exactly explain what bothers me about it, but the relationship between the characters never reaches the point where you think: “wow, this is something incredible.”

Finally, the last plot twist surprised me.

I saw that some people became very upset with the final revelation and said that it “ruined the story,” but for me at least, it felt like after the revelation, the relationship between Ichiko and Aria ended up changing.

Final Summary:

• Beautiful artwork
• Great music
• Mystery is OK
• Annoying protagonist
• Weak romance
• The ending didn’t bother me, but for many people it ruined the story.

You can buy the game on Steam here.