Kunado Chronicles

2034 A.D.—
That was the year when the metallic monsters known as Tekki appeared and wiped most of humanity out in their wake, and the accompanying failure of all metal-based equipment likewise accelerated the loss of technology and civilization. Soon, the only places where humanity could survive were in the small gaps between Tekki activity.

Since then, a thousand years have passed, and a single hero has at last struck a decisive blow against the heart of the Tekki menace.

“The battle for the fate of humanity ended 100 days ago.”
“The only things left for the story that lies ahead are ‘hope’ and ‘happiness.’”

The stage is set in a country known as Kanto, home to some eight hundred empowered individuals and reminiscent in some ways of long-lost Japan. This nation of scrappy survivors has built its whole culture around the struggle for continued existence—and although that struggle is over now, the common citizens still cover their faces with fox masks and live as “nobodies” in the full sense of the word.

“What do you mean by ‘hope’ and ‘happiness?’”
“We don’t know anything other than fighting.”

—One day a young man from a thousand years in the past is dug up, to become the protagonist of our tale. Just awoken from an unreliable cold-sleep hibernation, he finds himself missing his memory, but although uncertain who he is, he possesses the knowledge of ancient civilizations.

“Please—can you promise me to join with us, and work to bring hope and happiness into this world?”

In exchange for food, clothing, and shelter, he agrees to bring culture to the kingdom of Kanto, which might as well be a different world from our own.

Only after the fight for the fate of humanity does his story even begin.

This is a story of a strange new life,
of coffee shops and the paper-money economy,
about the qualities and struggles of a leader,
and it’s about a girl who was nobody,
finding her feet and embracing a dream.

And it’s about the life and the death of a hero.

But more than anything, this is a confession.
Kunado Chronicles, Synopsis from Shiravune

Buy Now ON Steam

Technicalities

Kunado Chronicles is a visual novel developed by Purple Software and localized into English and Chinese by Shiravune. This visual novel is rich in content with about 48 hours of content if patched or about 35 hours if it isn’t.

The 18+ patch restores contents removed in the Steam version. There are 13 hentai scenes for main and minor characters too. The patch also restores After Stories and Akane & Aoi’s romance route, both of which are removed in the Steam version.

Plot

1000 years ago, machines and technologies rebelled against humanity and started attacking them. Since then, humanity has been battling the very thing they used to dominate. This also marked the start the appearance of the Powered, humans with unnatural and extraordinary powers, to help humanity combat the Tekki, the metallic enemies seeking to kill humans whenever they detect one.

One day, the residents of Kanto found a human sleeping in a pod they found from the corpse of the ultimate Tekki, a Kurokami. He was awoken up, and he promised to bring hope and joy to Kanto, bringing the knowledge of the civilization he knew.

Art

Kunado Chronicles feature an anime-style character design. As for the background art, I can’t help but notice the inconsistency in quality. Some background art is amazing while others look like it’s made using a 3D software before rendering it producing a result significantly different from the hand-drawn ones. Check out the differences below.

The music is another lovely non-visual art present in the game. The oriental music goes well with the oriental setting Kunado Chronicles is in.

World

One thing I appreciate so much in Kunado Chronicles is the world and how flipped it is: matriarchy instead of patriarchy; craftsmanship instead of mass manufacturing; oriental instead of contemporary; collectivism instead of individualism. It’s the opposite of this world we live in, and this visual novel explores a world like it.

Kanto, the town the story is set in, is specifically managed to prevent detection by the Tekki. Individuality is gone, sex is only for making children, and family life is a thing of the past. In politics, Kanto is under the rule of the Ichi-no-kami, the strongest in terms of might and the highest authority of the eight authorities, known as the Eight Swords.

Routes and Characters

Kunado Chronicles is a bit different from most visual novels. It has a common route which introduces the characters and explains the world, the main routes which explores a heroine’s story and canonical to the true story, and a romance route which further explores the heroine’s story with a bit of lovemaking.

Shin is the protagonist of the story, and you will be spending most of your time in his point-of-view. Shin has been sleeping for 1000 years when the Swords discovered him at the corpse of the ultimate Tekki. He possesses knowledge of the modern civilization before the rise of the Tekki. He has taken the duty of bringing hope and joy to Kanto and revive the old ways of doing things. He has the power of kotodama.

Starting with the first heroine is Yuri. She works in the palace and has the power of exceptional physical strength. She’s been assigned to guard and look after Shin. Eventually, she has been designated to be the symbol of change in Kanto.

The next heroines are Akane and Aoi, the two Ni-no-kami of the Eight Swords. Akane and Aoi are mischievous twins. Their powers are wind and lightning respectively and are terrifyingly strong when their powers are combined. These twins share the route and it’s only available if the patch is installed.

The last and the canonical heroine is the adorable glutton, Haruhime. She’s the Ichi-no-kami, the highest authority in Kanto, and a kotodama user like Shin. The kotodama is the strongest ability of the powered because it allows the user to influence the world to their will just by making a declaration.

The VN’s flow goes like this: after the common route, the main routes come next. You are given a choice whether to read into the character’s route or proceed to the next main route after finishing one’s route. It gives you a chance to get to know well the heroine before you are given the option to romance her. Common routes, main routes, and Haruhime’s route are canonical and presents the intended story while Yuri, Akane, and Aoi’s routes are extras.

Quality Assessment

Shiravune’s Steam release suffered heavily on the quality of this VN because of technical issues. The most noticeable issue is the game always launching in windowed mode because it doesn’t save preferred window settings.

On the audio side of things, sound effects aren’t properly implemented. Almost always the sound effects get suddenly cut out after it plays for a few milliseconds. I also noticed one background music not looping properly, but it wasn’t used frequently.

The graphics are just 720p, and this is a game originally released in 2021. It makes me wonder why the industry insists on HD graphics in the age where Full HD is common and is now embracing Ultra HD.

As for localization quality, there are some typographical errors which I can easily forgive. I am a bit curious in their translation choices because Shiravune chose not to translate some terms. For example, Ichi-no-kami, Ni-no-kami, and Hachi-no-kami are some of the authorities of Kanto. Ichi, ni, and hachi means one, two and eight respectively. Those who are a bit familiar with Japanese numbers would notice the pattern. I don’t know what kami means in this context because it can mean either god, hair, or paper depending on what kanji character is used. Aside from that, there are also important texts left untranslated. They also used equal signs, which aren’t punctuation marks, oddly placed in translations.

Declaration

Kunado Chronicles is a story full of twists and revelations. Its world is set in the future, but with life gone backwards. It’s a world without modern technologies. It’s a world with superpowers. It’s a world without metal. It’s a world we don’t know and hopefully we don’t come to know.

One thing that has gotten me curious: how did the Tekki came into existence? Suddenly, they woke up and chose violence. They took over technology and attacked humanity. I feel like there isn’t enough explanation for this or that their existence is illogical to begin with.

Conclusion

Kunado Chronicles has an interesting story and I have no complaints about it. But I’m gonna have to take some points away due to poor user experience. Comparison between the original Purple Software release and Shiravune release revealed that animated backgrounds and character portrait mode were removed, and the graphics are less sharp.

As for the 18+ patch, you can still enjoy Kunado Chronicles and read it from start to finish. I wouldn’t say it’s a necessity if you’re planning to read only the canonical routes.

I’m giving Kunado Chronicles the Blue Mochi Stamp.

Kunado Chronicles is a visual novel full of twists and revelations in a world opposite ours where man is against machines. While there might not be enough waifus to conquer, it’s still worth reading.