Criminal Border 3rd Offence (titled Liminal Border Part III on Steam) is the penultimate episode of Purple Software’s crime drama visual novel, Criminal Border. Shiravune is publishing the English translation of Criminal Border.
This review may contain spoilers for the previous two episodes. Criminal Border 3rd Offence is an eroge which contains sexual content and themes some may find uncomfortable, this review will discuss this content, but not in graphic detail.
Under Pressure
Following the events of Criminal Border 2nd Offence, Ninomae Itsuki and friends are still working under the Umon-kai Yakuza. Itsuki’s motivation now however is not just to free him and his friends of their twenty million yen debt, but to destroy the Umon-kai entirely to secure true freedom. Things are looking pretty good for the plucky young criminals too. Their club is up and running, peddling Rave, the digital aphrodisiac Itsuki created in the first episode, to wealthy clients and securing their position as important earners for the Umon-kai.
To destroy the Umon-kai completely though, is going to take a lot more money, power, and ability than Itsuki and company have at the moment. Criminal Border 3rd Offence focuses on the expansion of Itsuki’s grand plan, as he works to recruit our 3rd heroine, Meryl, to the cause. Meryl was an important background character in 2nd Offence due to her connection with Kotoko, but at the outset of this episode, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding her. She is working for the Umon-kai, but her primary loyalty is to a shady foreign criminal syndicate. She’s established as a lethal force, and her withdrawn nature makes it hard to figure out her intentions.
Over the course of Criminal Border 3rd Offence, we unravel the mysteries surrounding Meryl, and her character is fully explored and developed. Nothing about Meryl’s character or her development in this episode was particularly surprising, but it is certainly well done. 3rd Offence does a good job of teasing out her circumstances and her emotional state in a way that makes Meryl a much more sympathetic character, but it also maintains the same kind of idiosyncrasies and moral ambiguity that made the previous heroines so engaging. Meryl, like so many of Criminal Border’s cast, is a normal person caught up in the brutality of the criminal underworld.
Where Meryl’s characterization diverges somewhat, is that she does not have an innate desire for liberation from her circumstances. Much of her development in Criminal Border 3rd Offence is her becoming conscious of the idea of freedom, and having her desire for it nurtured by Itsuki and his crew of criminal misfits. We get to see a lot of fun, engaging interactions between the core cast as part of Meryl’s development.
It All Comes Tumbling Down
As the story of Criminal Border progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to discuss without spoiling the major events of each episode. Criminal Border 3rd Offence’s narrative is not easy to discuss in a vague way, but it would be criminal (heh) to undercut it by giving the game away, so I will make my best effort.
The development of Meryl’s character, and Itsuki’s attempt to recruit her to his cause, is the primary narrative thread of Criminal Border 3rd Offence, but throughout this story there is something else bubbling under the surface. I’ve commented on Criminal Border’s masterful management of tension in reviews of previous episodes, and 3rd Offence feels like the culmination of all that work.
Throughout Criminal Border 3rd Offence there is a horror taking shape, and the narrative is laced with this unbearable tension as you await this inevitable disaster. The brutality escalates as we get closer to Meryl and we see the savage and violent aspects of organized crime depicted more explicitly. Eventually, the gears start spinning, and the nature of the peril facing Itsuki and his friends becomes clearer, then the tension boils over and the other shoe drops.
The brutality and misery that Criminal Border 3rd Offence leaves the player to wallow in is powerful. After the credits rolled, I was struck with a feeling of embarrassing naivety, somewhat mirroring Itsuki in 1st Offence actually. I had a clear understanding of the stakes, and of how bad things could really get, but I frankly didn’t think Criminal Border actually had the balls to deliver in a meaningful way. Even now I have this small hope that maybe the fourth episode will open with “psyche, none of that happened”. That would be some truly abysmal writing, and I would absolutely eviscerate the game for pulling it, but damn it would be comforting compared to the hollow feeling I’m left with after 3rd Offence.
Life Sentence
Now that Criminal Border 3rd Offence has laid the stage, I eagerly await the final entry, Criminal Border Life Sentence. The final episode will focus on Rin, who up until now has remained pretty disconnected from the progression of the narrative. I wasn’t sure if Criminal Border could pull Rin into the fold in a satisfying way, but 3rd Offence pulls it off by finally aligning Rin’s motivations with Itsuki’s.
There is a dramatic, dangerous conflict ahead for Itsuki and his friends. Criminal Border 3rd Offence does a phenomenal job in establishing the stakes and players for Life Sentence. It feels as though the gloves are off, nothing is sacred, no one is safe, and all that’s left is to see this story through. If the fourth and final episode can stick the landing, then Criminal Border might just end up being one of the best visual novels I’ve played.
Can’t Look Away
I mentioned this in my review of 2nd Offence, but I’ll reiterate that nothing much changes between episodes as far as visual or audio quality is concerned. There are a few things worth mentioning though. One element of Criminal Border 3rd Offence that was a bit disappointing to me was Meryl’s voice. The VA does a great job with what they’re given direction-wise, but there is an issue of volume that is tough to ignore. Meryl’s flat, soft tone fits her character well, but it isn’t very engaging for a primary heroine, and it definitely could have done with being bumped up a bit in the mix.
Visually, Criminal Border 3rd Offence continues to impress with its unique art style continuing to be a perfect match for the gritty, grubby story it’s telling. As with previous episodes, Criminal Border 3rd Offence is sold as Liminal Border Part III on Steam and a patch is required to access the game’s adult content. Sex is such an integral part of the narrative that I’d say it simply isn’t worth playing the censored version of Criminal Border, so either patch the Steam version or pick up the game on a platform like JAST USA where a patch isn’t required. Criminal Border 3rd Offence contains five fully voiced h-scenes, with multiple CGs each. The quality of these scenes as far as the writing is concerned continues to be fantastic, but I did notice some decline in the art quality. There was one scene in particular where the characters were off-model to a degree that I think undercuts the impact.
Verdict
Criminal Border 3rd Offence delivers beautifully on the tension built up in the first two episodes. It offers a thrilling, impactful narrative experience with a unique visual style and lays the stage for an explosive finale in Criminal Border Life Sentence. I continue to be impressed by the quality delivered by Purple Software, and I can’t wait to see this story through to its conclusion.
CRIMINAL BORDER 3RD OFFENCE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Purchase: JAST USA
Looking for another visual novel? You should check out our review of The Shell Part I: Inferno. We have also covered a wide variety of visual novels both original to English and localized from Japanese, which you can check out here.
Thank you to Shiravune for providing a Steam review code for Criminal Border 3rd Offence.
A man described by critics as “pretty normal” and “memorable in the abstract”. He has committed his life to the consumption of anime and games, against the advice and wishes of his family and friends. Now writing about his passions, hopefully for your enjoyment.
