Uh… yeah, this is definitely Wacky’s piece. Right off the bat, you can tell that this is for a specific target audience. It’s crazy, horny, kinky. All in all, it’s a fun read!

Once again, WackyWoof lives up to his name!  I know you had this on the "No Chill" meter, so thankfully, I bore that in mind when reading this one, and it was certainly a trip!  I often get quite invested in the characters in stories of this nature when they have been so broken and oppressed, and wasn't too surprised by the wolf's reaction at the end, especially with the side comments made earlier in the story.  The juxtaposition was a bit jarring, but I believe that was also the intent.

I like that it didn't try to sanitize everything or make a "happily ever after" ending.   I like that all the characters had flagrant flaws on display, and that there was no "good guy," yet you still, against all odds, find yourself pulling for the xenophobic otter and his vigilante wolf.  (Again, not endorsing EITHER of their actions, but great job in helping us understand their motivation.)  And it all still fits within the context of the WackyVerse without necessarily needing a direct connection to your other works.

I went in blind and was not expecting a lot of the kinks in the game! I should read the summaries more...

Besides that, the offbeat and colorful prose is probably my favorite part of this VN! The drawings, especially the animations, are quite good. That ending was out of nowhere, which honestly made me appreciate the story more. Great job!

The writing in this VN is incredible...

This was certainly quite the read, quite the kink too, but I can't help but feel bad a lot for the guy for majority of it, also damn the xenophobia on the MC, where I can understand there are people like that and I am quite glad that they talked about it, and fair enough I guess for where they are set at, but should I be rooting for them? Mainly because of the ending, some part of me says yes, another no, and I think it's neat I get to feel that way, although objectively what happened was pretty pretty bad...

But here's the thing I really disliked about the writing is the inclusion of specific Japanese words in place of phrases like "Thank you." I understand they're Japanese already, but then I wonder if they're speaking English or Japanese. If the MC complains a lot about foreigners, I assume they are speaking in Japanese,  just translated to be understandable in English, and when they speak in Japanese it's like a double translate thing??? Maybe it's just me who feels odd about this one thing. Like I feel out of immersion when I read it.

this sure was Wacky

Bit of an odd one, but it's made better for being odd. The story and its resolution are a bit predictable, given what you can see from the summary and screenshots, but what I wasn't expecting was that Brutus would be so resistant to being helped. It's a surprisingly realistic and profound depiction of his life, and why he doesn't want help from anyone. Note that I only say surprisingly because... all the 2/10 chill stuff aside, this was funny as hell? Loved all the 4th wall breaks and snide VN references. It really masters that full range of emotions from comedy to tragedy. And also a lot of unique Japan-isms that can only have come from thorough research or lived experiences. And the Wacky brand of animated sprites. Suffice it to say, there's a lot to love in this one. Though, I gotta say something... not a fan of the way the story ended, at all. It's probably a delicate political matter, but I don't support what Brutus did and I don't think Ashiko should, either. Just left a bad taste in my mouth. Disappointing end to a great VN, but I liked everything else a lot.

...right, so, this one was very clearly made for a very specific type of audience, and that audience is, uh, not me. It still got a few chuckles out of me and I'm doing my best to be objective with the ratings, but I might try to get through the breakdown a little faster here than my normal novel-length reviews. 

Without further ado then, working through each rating category, spoilers from this point forward.

Implementation of Theme:

Well, it's explicitly stated in Brutus' letter. Ashiko is the "light" that pulls Brutus out of the darkness of prostitution and self-loathing. This might be more effective if Brutus didn't leave the darkness of prostitution and self-loathing to immediately immerse himself in the darkness of mass murder, but this VN is a tennis match of tone flying back and forth between cultural criticism and outright parody and it can be hard to tell when something is meant to be taken seriously and when it's supposed to just be dark humor. 

Story:

As mentioned above, the biggest issue I had with the story was just trying to nail down tone. There are some little moments that really got me ("when you talk my textbox displays '???'") but these seem to clash with the harder fetishy stuff and attempts at social commentary, all of which is exacerbated by this world being a kind of exaggerated reality in which a dude sticking his balls in your ramen doesn't even provoke a reaction from bystanders. The golf tee sounding scene was legitimately more horrifying to me than the contents of the actual horror submissions I've read for this jam. 

I feel like probably most, if not all, of this was supposed to be part of the joke, but maybe it's just my humor not really aligning here or an issue with...

Presentation:

The writing was... a bit rough in this one. It's not something where I couldn't understand what you were trying to say, like, in a literal sense, but going back to that issue of tone, it's hard to be sure of what tone you're going for when it seems like some things are getting lost in translation.

With that said, the rest of the presentation was pretty awesome. Tons of assets here, including sprites and CGs (even the ones I didn't like looking at lol) as well as the custom UI (which was really well done!), animations, and alternate menu screen (also really well done!)

Good use of music here as well - really crushed this one from the audio/visual department.

Creativity:

Yeah I'm not going to fault you for creativity here. This wasn't really for me, but you took this in a direction that I definitely haven't seen 40 VNs into the jam, and at this point am probably unlikely to see again. I may not necessarily follow the vision, but you definitely had a vision and sure as shit executed it, so cheers to that.

I give this 12 dismembered kaiju out of 43 sweet potato taiyaki. 

mrdr them all 😈😈😈

Another certified wild ride from the twisted mind of WackyWoof. The jokes land, there are a lot of nice touches in the visuals (fantastic work with the animations!), and the zany turns the well-paced story takes are certainly something to behold.

Now, it's not lying by presenting itself as a straightforward kink piece, and given I'm not in the target audience, I don't know if there's anything more for me to say. I don't know if the game makes a lot of coherent points about sex work, the protagonist's Japanese nationalism, or the insane final beat, but it's hard to count as a weakness in a piece this clear about its fundamental intent being making the clown. Still a more delicate portrayal than Anora; Sean Baker is shaking in his boots.

A wild ride but nevertheless a fun one. I especially like the drawings at the end.

Wacky what the hell?! That was the most wild VN I've ever read, hands down! You are really living up to your screen name with this one!

There's really a lot to unpack here with the characters and plot... I ultimately view this as a fetish piece, so I'm not going to read too much into the implications of all of the crazy stuff happening. I wasn't really sure what to be feeling as a reader since there were so many mixed messages being sent by the narrative, so I tried to bury my disdain for Brutus' abuse and just have fun, which was a bit of a strange and unsettling feeling.

I will say, Brutus is really pretty, and I can't emphasize enough how impressive your artwork and animations are! All of the characters have very great designs, and there's tons of little goodies in there that made me explore every choice. I also appreciated seeing the references to your other works, and the homage to the May Wolf artists as well.

The Japanese setting was also fun, and there's some interesting commentary about Paris in there too... :)

Overall, Escort had me hooked the entire time for better or worse, making me feel the entire spectrum of emotions: joy, anger, sadness, confusion, laughter, shock, arousal... So for that reason, I enjoyed reading it tremendously.

This was a blast to read, but probably for all the wrong reasons. 'Escort' is a crazy ride from start to finish, with every turn being a left one. I mean this as a compliment when I say this reminds me a lot of John Waters' work, with the absolute blatant degeneracy and willingness to treat absurd scenarios with sincerity. In a way, I felt like this could also be interpreted as a commentary on sex-work, to which even escorts should be afforded a level of dignity to perform a job like that. I feel like that might be a generous take on what is essentially a fetish story around 'clothed-male-nude-male' shenanigans, but I'd like to give it praise where it's due.

As a fellow CMNM enjoyer, the first act was super fun to read. The direction of the scenes and the boldness of the sex-act choices were great. From the CBT, impact play, food play, and public indecency, it was a wide variety of sexual acts and great use of drawn images, use of the provided sprites, and Ren'py animations that is not as easy as it looks (shout out to the golfing scene). That's for sure why I'm giving this a 5 star in presentation. The little details really boost the immersion.

In terms of striving for a full on CMNM fantasy, it really succeeded in the first act, which is why it surprised me how the plot took a turn for the wholesome in the second act and the tour/date around Japan. I understand the want to make a contrast between a toxic dom and a respectful friend/boyfriend, but it inadvertently paints the concept of masters as toxic, when there's an opportunity to portray a master/sub dynamic in a healthier way. But then again, I respect the author's intent that this isn't that type of story, and is more about a main character with a savior complex and living out that kind of sex/power fantasy.

Of which, this is definitely a power fantasy fulfillment type of story. There's a commitment to making the characters as unlikable as possible, which is laudable, since it really adds to the enjoyment in a sort of twisted comedic way. While I appreciate the foreshadowing to the twist at the end, the commentary and justification around it was way more of a shocker than the twist itself. I don't think either character really had that much of an arc in the end, and that's okay.

Getting back to the overall implementation of the theme of "Light in the Dark", while the letter at the end of the story spells it out, it really doesn't seem to reflect it in the narrative itself. From a practical standpoint, neither character seems to be in a significantly better position from where they started. It seems that the wolf overcame something emotionally, but I'm not sure what, so I don't think it's stuck to the theme as well as it could have. That being said, I had a fun time with it, and if you've got the mental fortitude or experience with humiliation kinks, this is a very amusing and enjoyable experience.

The beginning made me quite uncomfortable, but that’s definitely supposed to happen and works in its favor to contrast with the middle parts. I like how the relationship of the MC and wolf develops: Ashiko knows he’s being selfish in his own way, Brutus keeps his guard up by keeping as an escort, but after getting to know each other and having a heart to heart they start becoming friends. That was a really nice story. And that makes the ending hit like a monstertruck. It comes from nowhere and I feel it contradicts Brutus character. It feels like it was plucked from a different VN.

As for the rest, the presentation is really well done: lots of cool art and fun sound effects. The writing has lots of grammar mistakes but can be followed easily so it didn’t distract much (“a western” is a movie, “a westerner” is someone from the West) (also, “I take a big inspiration” will be the new “making the clown”)

Overall, cool and interesting VN that got spoiled by the ending.

This had some very dark moments but also some absurdist cute moments. I'm afraid of spoiling anything, but them talking about the horrible things at the end while being loving was cute/funny just because I wasn't expecting the characters to be so cool with it.