Thank you Aksys Games for providing us with a review code!

Tengoku Struggle -Strayside- revolves around the Buddhist religious system that comprises of a heavenly realm, a human realm, and multiple levels of hell.  The heavenly realm is portrayed as a bunch of naïve sinless people who aim to see the best in everyone and do not see the need for defensive or offensive abilities.  They have a tradition of lowering a thread from the heavenly realm to the hells and pardoning the one who is able to grab onto it.  The unconditional pardon is highly sought after and violence ensues when the thread is dropped down.  The story begins with multiple people in hell being pardoned by tricking a heavenly realm priest.  Since the heavenly realm folk are too weak to forcefully remove these pardons, it’s up to the ruler of hell, King Enma, to fix this mess.  

King Enma along with six other judges evaluate the lives of the deceased and determine which hell they are to be assigned to.  King Enma is an eccentric but reasonable guy and when the main protagonist, Rin, passed away tragically at nineteen he took pity on her and adopted her.  Like many Japanese visual novels, Rin is an amnesiac and does not know anything about her past.  Rin is grateful for the care and opportunities that King Enma has given her and has dedicated herself to becoming a hell guardian to keep the prisoners in line.  She scored the highest of anyone before her and made her adoptive father proud.  

To further test Rin, King Enma decides to send her along with four of hell’s prisoners (which happen to be attractive) to the human realm to capture these mistakenly pardoned prisoners.  If successful, King Enma will grant Rin with the necessary documentation to allow her to be a full-fledged resident of hell.  

Here’s a quick breakdown the of eligible bachelors:

Goemon Ishikawa – A renowned Robin Hood like thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.  He was boiled alive and came from eternal hell which is the harshest for his own misdeeds along with those of his followers.  His route is unlocked after all of the others are completed.
Jack – A human influencer who is a song writer and is suicidal. He’s associated with the enemy and threatens to cut off Rin’s head, but she still pursues him.  Jack’s route is the second to last to unlock.
Kikunosuke Uga – A thief who is protective of his younger sister.  He has the ability to turn into a wolf.  Because of his stealing, he was a resident of the black rope hell.  
Sharaku Toushuusai – He’s a neat freak to likes to keep the living quarters spotless.  In his life he was popular with the ladies and killed thirteen of them.  His misdeeds send him to the crushing hell.
Yona Murakami – His red hair caused many to dislike him growing up.  He loves the sea and the pirate life.  He was assigned to the revival hell for murderers.

When Rin and the inmates are given this assignment the prisoners are respectful in front of King Enma. However, they quickly assert their dominance in the human realm.  They call Rin a provisional hell guardian and disrespect her.  Granted, she discovers that she has much learning to do and is required to earn their trust if their mission is to be successful.  The enemy is very strong and to unlock the powerful abilities of her partners there has to be 100% trust between them.  Given that everyone starts off hating the opposite gender, this is not an easy task.  

Each of the prisoners is wearing a shackle that allows Rin to shock them into submission if necessary.  Rin also has a whip for self defense.  While she can hold her own, the guys will be doing most of the battles in this game.  Battles are unavoidable and bloody.  Slashes have good sound effects and will result in blood being splattered on the screen.  

The residence has a hot tub that’s filled with water from hell which has healing properties.  This hot tub is used throughout the game and you’ll see muscular shirtless guys enjoying it often.  Even Rin’s pet hell cat likes bathing in there.  

Language is pretty earthy with every word but the F-bomb used.  The Lord’s name is used in vain as well.       Sexual dialogue is plentiful and each of the routes leads to descriptive pre-marital intimacy.  Heavy kissing and wandering hand movements are described.  Lifting of a skirt and spreading of legs is mentioned and usually accompanied by a background of a guy leaning over and kissing Rin.   Before clothes are removed, the screen goes to black.  With this level of detail I am surprised that this title is only rated Teen instead of Mature by the ESRB.  Outside of the sex scenes, partial frontal nudity is shown with threads floating around the main character’s body in a dream-like state.  Similar to a Barbie doll, there is no detail, but no undergarments either.

At least one of the bachelors (Goemon) is a heavy drinker and gets drunk at least one time in the story.  Sharaku is a bit of a gambler and always carries a die that he casts to aid in decision making.  Rin starts the game hating all men and not trusting prisoners from hell at all.  As she gets to know these guys she’ll learn why they committed the sins they did and the reasons behind them are not all black and white.  

Like other otome (reverse harem) visual novels from Idea Factory, the art in Tengoku Struggle -Strayside- is well done.  In order to unlock all of the available images you’ll need to complete the good and bad endings for each route.  Each of the bad endings has the characters meeting again after at least one or both of them are reincarnated.  

The Japanese voice acting is well done and the sound effects are fitting.  The background music is pleasant to listen to in-game and didn’t stick around in my head after playing it.  

While I enjoyed playing though Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-, it pushed the boundaries on my comfort level with the intimacy scenes.  Again I think this title should be rated mature.  If you enjoy otome visual novels and are not bothered by the moral issues, I’m sure you’ll like Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-.