Strawberry Vinegar Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Strawberry Vinegar
Genre: Visual Novel, Adventure, Simulation, Role-Playing
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/Publisher: ebi-hime | Ratalaika Games
Age Rating: EU7+| US Teen
Price: USD $9.99 | CAD $12.99 |AUD $ 11.99|UK £9.99 |EU €9,99
Release Date: 5th June 2020

Review code used, with many thanks to Ratalaika Games!

The Title Is a Metaphor! 

If you were browsing through your Nintendo Switch eShop and just happened to see the cute, predominantly pink featured image for Strawberry Vinegar and thought to yourself, “Wow, what a cute name for a game!” . . . well, first, you were correct: It is a cute name for the game!

But the title also just happens to be a metaphor for the two adorable main characters of this delightful story: Licia and Rie, the strawberry and the vinegar respectively.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Apparently there are anime otaku in Hell as well, who knew?

The title also touches on the fact that this game is not only a visual novel, butand I mean this in all honestya true homage to Japanese food.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Just look at the artistic sheen on that omurice.

Now, it has been a while since a visual novel has really warmed the cockles of my heart, but Strawberry Vinegar did just that. It was just so wholesome and fluffy that I found myself constantly saying, “Awwwww! They are so CUTE!” and putting my hand to my heart.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
This is what happens when you pretend to eat a demon’s breakfast.

The Colourful Cast

Strawberry Vinegar has four major characters: Rie (the heroine through whose eyes we see the world), Licia (the demon from Hell), and Rie’s Mom and Dad. The story revolves around our heroine Rie Sakuraba, a 9-year-old Japanese elementary school student. She is the daughter of a famous, beautiful actress and a stay-at-home dad. 

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Nothing like a family outing to a summer festival!

Her parents are two absolutely lovely side characters who not only round out Rie’s character, but also have personalities and story arcs of their own. Her dad is a bit of a masochistic doormat (it sounds worse than it is), while her mom is a sadist who is constantly working and thus not around very often.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
What is the most responsible choice? I wonder…

This combination of parental personalities has turned Rie into a very serious and responsible 9-year-oldas she would say, “Someone has to be the responsible one here!” Her father loves to dote on her, but in all fairness Rie isn’t a child anymore and can look after herself; in fact, she prefers to. 

This leads to a lot of fun side-character development, especially in Dad. It was bittersweet, sad, and touching to hear Dad talk about how he missed having Rie get excited about his cooking, or about simply spending time together. He is happy that she’s growing up into such a lovely little young adult, but at the same time sad that his little girl doesn’t need to depend on him anymore. 

My heart felt so full of delicious emotions throughout the whole story!

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Almost a shame I’m a vegetarian now; takoyaki evokes many delicious emotions.

The Demon From Hell

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Allow her to introduce herself!

Right off the bat Rie tells us that she is a major introvert and prefers it that way. She gets perfect grades, and while at school she keeps to herself. She actually doesn’t have any friends, and I was reminded of the Aesop fable The Fox and the Grapes. To explain, she thinks friends are useless because she herself doesn’t have any, similar to how the Fox can’t reach the grapes so he thinks they’ll probably taste bad anyway. 

This is another reason why I love this game so much: Rie is an unreliable narrator. She is telling us what she thinks is the truth, that she has no friends and prefers it that way. But when her classmates can be overheard basically bullying Rie, weas the outside audience looking in—think that maybe Rie is only saying these things to protect herself.

Which brings me to Licia and the inciting incident that kickstarts Rie’s peaceful life into another delicious dimension.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Drool… I’d like to enter this delicious dimension.

After school one day, Rie decides to wind down by baking some cookies. After allowing said cookies sufficient time to cool off, she returns to the kitchen to partake of her confections, only to find an adorable girl sitting on the table and polishing off the very last cookie! The nerve!

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
She didn’t even ask if she could have ONE, let alone eat them ALL!

This cute little curly-haired being might look like an innocent little girl, except for the fact that she has horns and a tail! Oh, and she also claims she is here to reap Rie’s soul! Now, if that doesn’t put a wrench into one’s peaceful life, I don’t know what will.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
It’s a verbal battle royale! Ding ding ding!

Rie, being a true pessimist, doesn’t really believe any of this for a second. But Licia says that if Rie feeds her delicious foods for a week she will refrain from reaping Rie’s soul. 

Now, if a demon were to appear in your kitchen and say, “I’m here to take your soul to Hell, but I won’t if you feed me for a week.” Well . . .  I think I would do it even if I were skeptical, or at least go along with it just to err on the side of caution.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
If someone fed me this, I definitely wouldn’t reap their soul.

And that is exactly what Rie does. Of course, Rie’s ridiculous mother and father enter and decideon the spotto let Licia live there. In fact, Dad has a bunch of cute little frilly dresses he’s made for Rie that would fit Licia perfectly, and oh how excited he is since Rie is too serious and mature to be excited by his clothes-making-prowess these days.

“But wait, she’s a demon from Hell! She has horns and a tail!” Rie cries.

“Oh, just because she’s from Norway is no reason to call her names,” her parents reply cluelessly. “Besidesm I’ve seen stranger fashion statements on the streets of Tokyo anyway!”

Now get ready for all the warm fuzzy feels when you get this game and delve deeper into the story.

The Most Beautiful Food In The World

As I mentioned before, this game is an adorable and touching story with amazing character development, all wrapped up in a true homage to Japanese food.

So, because Licia demands food, Rie (and her Dad) buy and bake several meals and confections to satiate her appetite. Some visual novels would simply write that the character eats the delicious food, and then the character would say “Yummy!” But not Strawberry Vinegar.

Keep a handkerchief handy to wipe away the drool because every food the girls eat is drawn amazingly. And the smell, sound, texture, taste, the entire experience of the food-of-the-moment is written out in delicious detail.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
I want a magic spoon that can go through my screen and let me eat this!

From the breakfast of rice and natto (a fermented Japanese soybean meal which I find has the texture of snot and tastes pretty bad, but in this game Mom absolutely loves natto, so Dad makes it for breakfast on a pretty regular basis) to a late-night festival snack of shaved ice and candyfloss, you will be hungry the whole time you play this game.

It made me desperately want to go back to Japan, and I’m sure it will do the same to you (or make you want to visit it for the first time if you’ve never been). And if you live in Japan and play this game, you can feel a special sense of pride that you could get plenty of this food at local festivals or grocery stores. (LUCKY DUCKS!)

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Summer festivals are hot, so cool down with some shaved ice! Mmm.

If looking at these food screenshots isn’t making you desperate for a trip to Japan, well . . . then I don’t know what to do with you! 

Final Verdict

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
Licia likes Japan because she watches anime.

This game is a heartwarming story about a little girl discovering the wonderful feeling of her first friendship and non-familial love. Strawberry Vinegar made me laugh and cry. It made me feel warm and fuzzy. But most of all, it made me hungry.

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
I’m not a fan of natto, but this photo actually makes it look appetizing.

The artwork is just as amazing as the story, and the music is cute and sets the mood for every single scene nicely. 

In common visual-novel-style, there are different choices you can make (do you want to make pancakes for Licia, or go buy her a crepe?), these choices will lead you to one of six different endings, making for plenty of replay value.

On top of that, there are your standard artwork collectibles (which are all beautiful artistic creations) of the characters and your more-specific-to-this-game splendid drawings of food.

I can feel how much love went into this game. The author clearly loves each character, and the artist clearly loves food! 

LadiesGamers Strawberry Vinegar
One time I ate so much cotton candy I puked, now I can’t eat it anymore.

Ratalaika Games hits another home run for publishing this one, and the developer ebi-hime is an excellent author. Ebi-hime has other visual novels under their belt as well, and I am really looking forward to checking them out too. 

Strawberry Vinegar has such a modest price point that I would highly recommend it to any fan of visual novels. Also, I think it’s an excellent starting point for any young gamer looking to try out a visual novel.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up!

One comment

  1. Oh my word! I think the price point is so low because they know we’ll have to go out and buy delicious food whenever we play it. Looks AMAZING.

    There’s a hilarious British TV series called The Trip where Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon travel around the country of the current series eating the most incredible looking food and trying to outdo each other on impressions. It’s impossible to watch this show and not end up eating better food then you normally would.

    This game clearly falls into this same genre of media that I’m now calling “entertainment to save the restaurant industry.”

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