Celebrating All Things Romantic: Nekopara Vol. 4

The Nekopara series continues to surprise me.

After reading through Nekopara Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3 in past years (not to mention the otome spin-off Catboys Paradise), this year I moved on to Nekopara Vol. 4 anticipating another story of Kashou starting a relationship with more catgirls.

So it’s quite a surprise that I’m mainly counting this as a “Celebrating All Things Romantic” review by virtue of the series itself fitting in the theme.

The past entries featured Kashou getting to know the catgirls who help him manage the patisserie La Soleil, helping them through their problems and conflicts at the same time. In the fourth volume, however, it’s the protagonist himself who takes the center stage.

An encounter with his father, who disapproves of his work in the patisserie and tells him his cooking is still lacking, leads Kashou to question himself and what it is that he’s missing. This entry largely focuses on his conflict with his father and his personal journey to overcome his doubts. It’s quite heartfelt, and its messages are surprisingly wholesome.

It’s still filled with catgirl antics and funny moments, but the focus was much more on Kashou’s character development.

Of course, this is Nekopara, so the lack of romance is mitigated if you get the 18+ version (or the 18+ patch). While this entry might not include any new relationships, the main character still has six catgirls to spend time with. What’s more, I learned that the 18+ content of Nekopara Vol. 4 actually contains alternate scenes as well, where if you say you’re in the company of other people, you’ll be presented with a different intimate/romantic scene instead of a sex scene.

I also learned that the console versions of the Nekopara games are not the same as the all-ages Steam version after all, but replace the sex scenes with different scenes.

That’s more complicated than I expected from Nekopara, but then again, it’s a series full of surprises. In short, Nekopara Vol. 4 does not focus on romance as much as the others, but will still have its share of romantic scenes and/or related activities depending on the version you play. Meanwhile, the core story is a surprisingly wholesome tale about fulfilling your dreams and seeing what drives you.

Volume 4 is currently the last game in the Nekopara series, although a new game called Nekopara After La Vraie Famille was announced in 2021. And don’t forget, you could win a Steam collection of the Nekopara series by participating in this year’s contest!

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