You can take my body, but not my heart. Have you ever come across this cliche? Taimanin Yukikaze by Lilith-Soft caters to fans of this theme, with a huge dose of humiliation, and worse, mixed in for the ninja heroines.
As a warning, due to the nature of Taimanin Yukikaze, some of the topics discussed and images shown in this review may be considered objectionable. This title focuses on darker erotic content.
Dealing With Demons
In the near future of Japan, humans have grown more corrupt over the years and are now working with demons. Whether it’s corporations or criminal enterprises, demons are involved. Taimanin are the government’s secret ninja task force to deal with them.
Yukikaze and Rinko are inexperienced but talented Taimanin. The pair were raised in a hidden village run by the protagonist of Taimanin Asagi. It’s quickly established that Yukikaze and Rinko’s less talented younger brother Tatsuro like each other, with Rinko playing the typical teasing older sister.
Despite Yukikaze’s nature as a headstrong but shy tsundere, she kisses him, finally making her feelings clear after years as just friends. Taimanin Yukikaze is no pure love story though. Yukikaze and Rinko have been assigned a mission to infiltrate the underground city, Yomihara, a red-light district. They’re told to go undercover as prostitutes, as only they and slaves can enter the city as women.
While the introduction is brief, it works well to set up what felt like a cute fledgling relationship between Yukikaze and Tatsuro. There’s a sweet bashful nature to it, establishing both as rather inexperienced. Of course, this is just set up to bring everything crashing down.
Infiltration Mission
In their arrogance, Yukikaze and Rinko believe they’ll be able to get through this mission with their virginity intact. They soon find themselves in worse circumstances than they could’ve imagined. Their bodies are modified by demon technology to feel excessive sexual pleasure. They’re then brainwashed to crave it more than anything and lent out to paying customers. It’s a horrible situation.
Admittedly, the plot isn’t the main attraction of Taimanin Yukikaze, but it did feel like they were far too naive here which detracted from the experience a little. Not only were they far too trusting, but they were sent on the mission by the far more experienced Asagi, who would have known better. A couple of other plot holes do pop up too. Aside from that, the story in general is quite thin, but ties everything together well enough.
One small disappointment was that choices didn’t matter much, aside from the endings unlocked as described in our guide. This is very much Yukikaze’s story, despite Rinko being alongside her and undergoing the same treatment. Even choices that you expect would put Rinko into the spotlight are dismissed, with Yukikaze told to step forward instead. The true ending was also an unexpected letdown, with very little happening.
What it does better is keeping a consistent characterization and slow descent. Whether it’s Yukikaze’s feelings for Tatsuro, Rinko’s pride, or the mission, they’re trying to hold on to what’s important to them. We can see them trying to resist, but slowly losing control over themselves over time. Whether it’s a brief lapse followed by horror at themselves, or a wish for forgiveness, it puts their feelings on display often.
A great design choice was to often include segments showing Tatsuro and what he was doing during this time. Yukikaze’s feelings for him are repeatedly highlighted in a heartbreaking way during her experience, and this helps to strengthen that impression and show a contrast as he innocently has no idea what’s going on. Alongside brief interludes for the plot to move the story along, these scenes also help to break up some of the long sexual scenes.
Not Just Non-Con
The sexual scenes take up most of the runtime of Taimanin Yukikaze. They focus on the slow process of breaking down Yukikaze and Rinko. They’re humiliated and shown to hate what’s happening to them, while feeling guilt over the pleasure.
Taimanin Yukikaze is depraved, but feels tamer than Taimanin Asagi. There are scenes with multiple customers and some particularly niche acts, but it doesn’t use the demons as much as I expected. Some of the harsher content is locked away in the extras too, rather than in the main story.
While this is Yukikaze’s story, Rinko does get quite a few adult scenes which adds some nice variety for those who prefer the voluptuous older sister to the flat tsundere. These are almost all in the extras though.
As usual for Shiravune, the adult scenes are mosaiced and the Steam version has significant cuts. Our guide explains how to install the patch, as well as how to unlock the extras.
Slightly Low Budget
The initial Japanese release of Taimanin Yukikaze was in 2011, but the English localization is based on the 2015 Taimanin Yukikaze Animation version. It feels somewhat older though.
Graphically, my impressions were positive despite a 4:3 aspect ratio, low resolution, and limited amount of sprite poses. The CGs are drawn well, the designs fit the characters, and the use of animation in the adult scenes looks great. The motion here really brings things to life with bodies moving back and forth between two positions, and jiggle animations.
I didn’t feel like the voice acting stood out, but again they represented the characters well. Yukikaze’s brash personality comes across, and Rinko certainly sounds like an older sister character. All female characters were voiced, including a one-line unnamed one, but none of the male characters are, despite three of them serving rather important roles.
Options are extremely limited. There’s not much you can adjust. It doesn’t help that a few extras are hidden away in the top bar rather than the options menu, so players may not realize that full screen is even a choice.
Verdict
Taimanin Yukikaze was not for me, but if you’re looking for themes of humiliation and slavery then it might be for you. The headstrong Yukikaze herself is a great main heroine, her characterization is consistent, and the animation of the adult scenes looks great. The few downsides are mostly around the story, but if you’re playing this I imagine that plot isn’t exactly your main concern.
TAIMANIN YUKIKAZE IS RECOMMENDED
Walkthrough/Guide: Click Here
If you are looking for another eroge visual novel, you may enjoy Criminal Border 2nd Offence.
Thank you to Shiravune for providing a review code for Taimanin Yukikaze.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
