Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road: The closest you'll get to a MajiKoi spiritual sequel while waiting for the rest of the A series (no spoilers)

[NowItsAngeTime]

https://vndb.org/v9879

So a few months ago the English patch got released, I was excited enough to buy a physical copy based on the developer and decent hype for the VN. I just finished it last night and for the most part I wasn't disappointed.

If you don't know, Tsujidou was made by Minato Carnival, a subsidiary of Minato Soft (which made the MajiKoi series). There was also a MajiKoi spinoff/April Fools jokes half-based in the Tsujidou universe in Shakadou-san no Jun'ai Road (https://vndb.org/v12791) which is really short. It had no Tsujidou characters but had a few recognizable MajiKoi characters and a new character in Sakura (I wish she came back).

In any case, even though Tsujidou has a different main scenario water from MajiKoi, it's clear the writer of Tsujidou was very heavily inspired by MajiKoi. They even put a bunch of references to Kawakami and Kuki in the VN.

• The humor style and overall tone of the VN is similar. Really silly gag based humor with a penchant of going over the top even with character designs as well as having similar types of music.
• All the main girls are super powerful and most of the guys are whatever power wise minus a few. While it's somewhat more grounded since it's delinquent based instead of using samurai weapons it's clear that the girls are crazy powerful especially compared to how they look
• Lots of silly choices for humor purposes
• While there is romance, it's not gonna be consistently focused on it all the time and while light hearted there's still decent/memorable enough drama and character development
• While not as many there's still quite a number of recurring minor/side characters that are fairly important in each route
• Some kinda similar character archetypes (like the older sister is like a mix of Momoyo bullying and Miyako yandere-isms)
• Lots of silly bad/alternate ends
• They both like their REALLY long H scenes and ones that can be inappropriately timed, possibly even moreso than MajiKoi. 

Of course there are differences from MajiKoi that make Tsujidou stand out on its own

• A bit more grounded setting: delinquents and gangs in regular schools as opposed to the more formal schools based on creating fighters and having tournaments.
• While the humor style is similar they dont cut and paste jokes from MajiKoi. It has some really funny unique jokes of its own. I still crack up most of the time when there's those cut-in death glares in humorous moments.
• The main character is a little more standard fare as the 'nice guy' who doesnt like fighting as opposed to Yamato whos prides himself as a tactician and stuff.
• Only 3 main routes. There's also no unlockable/true route but when you read the VN and look at the title it'll be obvious who's basically the true route
• The whole friendship thing/big group of friends thing that was in MajiKoi isn't nearly as pronounced in Tsujidou. There are still shades of friendship stuff but not as much. The closest thing you get are some of the delinquent groups which kinda work like that but not really.
• The main thing that stuck out to me was the part where the routes branch and how unique the situation is compared to most VNs. I won't spoil what it is and it isn't SUPER mindblowing but it was really interesting how it was done and how it leads to the other routes.

So obviously there's no guarantee you'll like this if you liked MajiKoi or even vice versa. That said, in my personal opinion if you're really thirsty for more MajiKoi while patiently for A-3 through A-5 I think this is a good alternative to hold you over for just a little longer.

It's really fun.

[adamstan]

Thanks for that review. Definitely on my "to-read" list

[mitchhamilton]

whats interesting is before the vn was released it was referenced in majikoi s. 

was nsfw but i edited it so its fine now.  

Spoiler

ill get to reading road one of these days... right after i start and finish dies.  

 

at this point, im tired of majikoi. i mean, i love the artwork and the characters and everything but please, just stop. stop bringing in characters from other routes that i want to h. please.   

[Formlose Gestalt]

Should one read MajiKoi before reading Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road or is it irrelevant which VN you read first?

[Akshay]

Just now, Formlose Gestalt said:

Should one read MajiKoi before reading Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road or is it irrelevant which VN you read first?

They are both stand alone. i.e. You don't need to read one before the other.

[VirginSmasher]

Tsujidou feels like an attempt to capture Majikoi's charm but succeeding in achieving its own charm. It's not as good as the OG Majikoi by far, but it's still a really enjoyable read with 2 good routes and a decent common route. However, don't mention Ai's route to me unless you want a rant. 

[Zander]

20 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

Tsujidou feels like an attempt to capture Majikoi's charm but succeeding in achieving its own charm. It's not as good as the OG Majikoi by far, but it's still a really enjoyable read with 2 good routes and a decent common route. 

Interesting. How did you feel about Ai's route, though?

[VirginSmasher]

2 hours ago, Zander said:

Interesting. How did you feel about Ai's route, though?

Not even gonna latch onto that bait. 

[Stormwolf]

On 30/05/2018 at 1:43 AM, VirginSmasher said:

Not even gonna latch onto that bait. 

Is it bad? I like to save the best for last.

Started reading this yesterday. Iredeemably boring protagonist but everything else just clicks for me. 

[littleshogun]

14 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Is it bad? I like to save the best for last.

Started reading this yesterday. Iredeemably boring protagonist but everything else just clicks for me. 

It's more in regard of the matter of the taste though, namely that VirginSmasher here didn't like moege thing and Ai's route is full with flirting moment (Which is common in moege). So I would say that if you've read Ai's route, it would be better to just expect it as romance story instead of delinquent story even though Ai here is one of three main delinquent. Anyway have fun with Tsujidou there.

As for the writing, I like to guess that Takahiro here did put some pressure to the new writer into the writing, so of course the tone here is more or less like Majikoi (It's still different though like OP Ange said). I can say this because I saw that Takahiro did work together with both of Ou Jackson and Tanaka Romeo, and I saw the review that both of the works did have complain that Takahiro overshadow the writing too much (Both of the aforementioned writer were pretty well known). Keep in mind that once again it was just my guess, so I may be wrong on this.

[Stormwolf]

Shes the heroine i like the best so far, so i guess ill save her for last. Well, the sister is pretty good as well. Seems like ill have fun with this!

[adamstan]

When I was reading it, I started with Ai, as her route progresses most naturally from common - to get onto other routes, you have to actively reject her.

But I actually liked all 3 main routes (Ai, Maki and Renna). Good luck

Edited September 22, 2018 by adamstan

[Mr Poltroon]

2 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Is it bad? I like to save the best for last.

Started reading this yesterday. Iredeemably boring protagonist but everything else just clicks for me. 

The issue with Tsujidou's route is that the main drama/conflict in it may seem stupid to some and happens solely because of the protagonist's personality. This is further aggravated by the fact that that very same point of contention, which would also apply to the other routes, actually gets skimmed over in those, making the fact that it was such a huge issue in Tsujidou's feel cheap.

[Stormwolf]

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

The issue with Tsujidou's route is that the main drama/conflict in it may seem stupid to some and happens solely because of the protagonist's personality. This is further aggravated by the fact that very same point of contention, which would also apply to the other routes, actually gets skimmed over in those, making the fact that it was such a huge issues in Tsujidou's feel cheap.

Sounds like its either she beeing intended as the main heroine or they just not wanting people to read the stuff multiple times, or a combination of the two.

[VirginSmasher]

7 hours ago, littleshogun said:

It's more in regard of the matter of the taste though, namely that VirginSmasher here didn't like moege thing and Ai's route is full with flirting moment (Which is common in moege). So I would say that if you've read Ai's route, it would be better to just expect it as romance story instead of delinquent story even though Ai here is one of three main delinquent. Anyway have fun with Tsujidou there.

6

It's more that the drama was boring and the comedy took a dive off a cliff in terms of quality. I liked Maki's route and that was full of moege shlock. It's just that it happened to be funny and the drama was good.

[Stormwolf]

Certainly not the only problem here. It suffers a bit from inconsistent writing and bad planning. Minor stuff, but a bit annoying. Example. Maki attacked protag early on saying he smells like ai, now later the protag wonders if maki knows who ai is and if she'd be scared if he mentioned her.

[Stormwolf]

Was there ever a vn that guilt trips you like this for not choosing the main heroine? Makes me feel bad

[adamstan]

1 minute ago, Stormwolf said:

Was there ever a vn that guilt trips you like this for not choosing the main heroine?

Koichoco perhaps?

[littleshogun]

White Album 2, especially in regard of Closing Chapter where we have Setsuna as the main heroine of said part.

[Stormwolf]

1 hour ago, adamstan said:

Koichoco perhaps?

I did the main heroine first, but i didnt like her so i enjoyed the other heroines pretty thoroughly!

1 hour ago, littleshogun said:

White Album 2, especially in regard of Closing Chapter where we have Setsuna as the main heroine of said part.

Will take a long time tilwe get everything here. Isnt there also a sequel that finally ends it?

[Stormwolf]

On 9/22/2018 at 12:33 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

The issue with Tsujidou's route is that the main drama/conflict in it may seem stupid to some and happens solely because of the protagonist's personality. This is further aggravated by the fact that that very same point of contention, which would also apply to the other routes, actually gets skimmed over in those, making the fact that it was such a huge issue in Tsujidou's feel cheap.

Well, i don't like her route at all so far. The other girls have been honest to their personalities and lived the way they wanted. Ai however... She lies. She's going to be normal, she isn't interested in fights anymore, she loves the protag more than anything. YET she completely ditched that movie date because she was more interested in fighting and completely ignored protag after looking at her watch and confirming it was time to go and also ignoring his messages and arrived like over an hour or so late.  Waifu material for sure... The fact that he continued that date is completely incomprehensible. He should have left before she arrived or waited and told her he's disappointed in her and left after confirming the reasons for her arriving late. That was to me a big sign of betrayal in a relationship. Not as bad as cheating obviously, but it was pretty damn bad.

While i don't think it's good to try to change people if you're interested in them, don't make promises you've no intention to keep either. 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Stormwolf

[TexasDice]

To quote my own clickbait statement: "Junai road is worse than Majikoi, but better than S."

 

[Stormwolf]

Does that mean you think majikoi is bad though? Only hear good things about it, but never read it. Think it was freibdship true route which made it uninteresting to me.

[NowItsAngeTime]

11 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Does that mean you think majikoi is bad though? Only hear good things about it, but never read it. Think it was freibdship true route which made it uninteresting to me.

Don't worry, there's still H scenes in the Friendship route

[adamstan]

H-scenes or not, True Route in Majikoi was the best for me.

 

Spoiler

Also, poor Koyuki

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by adamstan