Genso Manège is a visual graphic novel that caters to readers who are into cliche romantic stories but with the option to choose a path of various love interests. Different story scenarios will play out based on the options you chose as the player. It’s a common theme to visual graphic novels that adds replay value to understand each love interest’s backstory and the story your character goes through.

Figuring Out the Past and Future

The visual novel follows a young woman named Emma, who is secretly a witch but lost her powers and memories when she was caught in an accident at a younger age. Losing her father during the accident and her mother prior due to an illness, Emma was adopted and lives a peaceful life.

However, things begin to jumpstart her easy-going life after visiting a carnival in her town. One of the workers, Hugo, a director of the traveling amusement park recognized Emma from the past. Additionally, he saw a glimpse of Emma’s magic interacting with one of the amusement park rides. Hugo explains to Emma that he and many others at the park are chained and cannot escape the park due to a witch’s spell. 

Having hope, Hugo requests Emma to work at the park and remember how to use her power to help release them. She agrees to help and looks to remember her past and the connection to the park. As Emma’s story continues, she’ll work with other employees but also develop a bond with each.

The story does take its time to process and things begin to speed up about three chapters in. There’s about eight chapters to go through and players should expect the story to branch in various directions early in the game.

Visually Pleasing

The game’s color scheme works very well with its pastel colors. Additionally, the user interface (UI) where dialogue is displayed for players to read is designed wonderfully to match the game’s pastel style and has a unique animation to make the interface appear and disappear between scenes. Adding in details and smooth transition to keep the visual novel from looking like just still graphics with simple fades. Character illustrations are drawn quite well and add voice actors to add a visualization of each main character. Though it seems odd that Emma herself does not have her own dedicated voice over.

A Story to Continue Reading

Genso Manège is both visually and an interesting story. Visual novel readers who enjoy various romantic paths will want to explore this title. Fans can visit the game’s official website for additional details.

A Nintendo Switch code provided for this article.