Review: Jack Jeanne

Game: Jack Jeanne

Developer: Broccoli

Publisher: Broccoli, Aksys

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Year: 2023 (in English)

A few years back, I couldn’t scroll on Twitter without seeing someone raving about Jack Jeanne, an otome visual novel from Japanese developer Broccoli. Known for its unique visual style with artwork from Tokyo Ghoul’s Sui Ishida, Jack Jeanne incorporates rhythm game and stat building elements into its gameplay, making it a unique otome game experience.

Jack Jeanne follows the story of Kisa Tachibana, a girl whose older brother attended a prestigious all boys drama academy before disappearing without a trace. Wanting to follow in his footsteps, Kisa is offered a place at the same school: as long as she can keep her gender a secret. The premise of a girl disguising herself as a man is actually pretty common in otome games, so I was intrigued to see how it would play out this time as I’ve seen it a few times before but not in a modern setting.

*Sui Ishida, creator of Tokyo Ghoul, is responsible for the artwork and partially responsible for the story in Jack Jeanne, and I think it looks amazing! Source: Broccoli*

What I liked:

There’s been a lot of talk lately about otome games all looking similar; employing the same artists over and over and making each game have the same look every time. If it’s worked once, maybe it’ll work again! However, you cannot say that Jack Jeanne looks like any other otome game. Sui Ishida’s work on the character sprites and CGs especially is gorgeous, with a pencil style in the artwork which really brings the game to life in a whole new way. Playing through the common route and unlocking new variations of each CG with each of the love interests was really exciting as they all looked so good! Jack Jeanne is really a feast for your eyes.

As a long-time fan of Ensemble Stars, I really enjoy a rhythm game. The rhythm game element in Jack Jeanne makes sense within the story and is finished off with amazing 2D and 3D visuals, depending on if it’s accompanying a singing or dancing performance. The beatmaps are fun and challenging, and the dance ones allow you to use the Switch’s touch screen which I really appreciated!

The routes themselves were well written and engaging, with one of them really pulling on all of my emotions as one of the most realistic depictions of grief and depression I have seen in an otome title. I found myself enjoying routes for characters who aren’t usually my taste, purely because the story laid out for them was perfect. MC also felt like a real person, with amazing voice acting (a rarity for otome MCs!) and she reacted to each situation in the same way I reacted. It was a pleasure to play through the game from her point of view, and experience her relationship with each character, whether they’re a love interest or side character.

Neji’s route was incredible; one of the most heartbreaking yet rewarding experiences I’ve played in an otome! Source: Broccoli

What I didn’t like:

Jack Jeanne does alter the traditional otome game formula; rather than being a pure visual novel, it incorporates elements from other games. This shouldn’t be a bad thing; it mixes up the gameplay, makes it feel fresh and keeps the game engaging. I found this was the case for the first route I played. Building up my stats in order to get the route I wanted was fun, as was playing through the common route. But in Jack Jeanne, the common route is the majority of the game. The individual routes are about a quarter of a run-through of the game. The common route is three quarters. Which meant I was spending a very long time (hours upon hours) of reading the same story with very small changes depending on the route I was going for, over and over and over again.

This repetitive experience is the reason it took me so long to finish Jack Jeanne. Reading the same thing multiple times in order to reach the one small section I hadn’t read felt like a chore after about two playthroughs, and there are seven routes total if you include the finale. I ended up having to take months long breaks in order to come back to the game just because reading the same thing over and over back to back became dull quite quickly. There was one character who I ended up strongly disliking and I played his route a lot later, which meant I was enduring the repetitiveness to reach an ending with a character I didn’t even like!

Jack Jeanne is a perfect game for those looking for an otome title with a twist. The different gameplay elements, such as the rhythm game portions are exciting and the music and artwork is gorgeous! Just be prepared for a lot of repetition later down the line.

Rating: 8.5/10 ❤