TOKYO: As summer draws near in Japan, residents brace themselves for both unforgiving heat and an uptick in the number of insects and pests.
In a unique campaign promoting its products, major Japanese insecticide company Earth Corp released a dating simulation game Gokigen Lovely Days with a twist.
Instead of dating attractive characters like the genre traditionally offers, the player’s love interests transform into cockroaches instead.
The player encounters each of the four love interests differently and develops feelings for the love interests after their first meeting, but ominous references to cockroaches are sprinkled throughout the game.
These include chittering sounds resembling the noise of a scattering cockroach mixed with the background music, love interests that appear out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, and indications of discomfort by the player’s in-game character when approached by the characters.
After texting each other for a few days, the love interest will offer the player with either a surprise visit or a surprise present delivered to the player’s doorstep.
This is when the infamous transformation scenes – two for each love interest – happen.
Be it out of a parcel, a potted plant, from below the sink or out of the kitchen vent, the love interest will reveal itself in the form of a muscular cockroach – to the shock and, possibly, dismay of the player.
The game ends after each transformation, with the image of the muscular cockroaches fading out and replaced by a bottle of insecticide instead.
The game then follows with relevant warnings on how the items or locations in the respective transformation scene are prone to cockroach sightings.
The insecticide company released the game on June 4, Japan’s official Bug Day which is a wordplay on the numbers six and four.
Voiced by one of Japan’s top voice actors Yuki Kaji, who is known for starring in hit animes such as Attack On Titan and Boku No Hero Academia, the game has stirred up attention on social media.
The company’s X post announcing the game has amassed more than 44 million views, with many netizens tickled and impressed by the creativity of the game.
“The nice voice flustered me as much as the ultimate transformation shocked me...” one netizen wrote. - The Straits Times/ANN
