Ever Maiden - Yuri! Averla was surprisingly a good character

March 2, 2026 · 1:45 PM

Evermaiden ~Daraku no Sono no Otome-tachi~ (エヴァーメイデン～堕落の園の乙女たち～) is a yuri mystery visual novel developed by Liar-soft and released in 2022. Liar-soft is a popular brand in the visual novel space, generally focusing on fantastical stories with a unique art style, which was designed this time by Ooishi Ryuuko.

The story follows Alouette, a mysterious girl who is found unconscious at the front gate of the "Puellarium", a girls-only school that is seemingly isolated from the rest of the world by a barrier of magical fog that should have been impenetrable. Alouette has absolutely no memory of her past, but she is enrolled in the school and begins interacting with the other girls.

Alouette has a lot to learn because the school has many distinct customs, such as a specific curfew, and various legends regarding secrets hidden within the grounds. There is even a type of magic that all members of her special class can perform. This magic is pivotal to graduation, as the lowest-ranked girl is apparently expelled to ensure the number of students in the class remains constant.

Rook is often shown like this, completely emotionless. But that isn't going to faze Alouette.

Rook fights with this weapon during the night and is quite strong overall.

One night, she wanders outside after curfew and notices that the entire school has turned into something very different and much creepier. She begins investigating to understand who she is and why she came there. She is certain that she had a significant purpose, but she cannot remember what it is.

Led by the strict and extremely suspicious head teacher Adler, Alouette continues her journey and experiences various stories of romance and tragedy involving the girls around her. The ever-present Rook, the main heroine, is always trying to steer her away from the mystery but is unwilling to provide more information.

Evermaiden features two normal endings, one bad ending, and a true ending. All endings add more to the story and should be played in the order I specified to get the best overall experience. It is a mystery series, so speculating and trying to see if you are on the right track is part of the fun.

Yuri and tragedy go hands in hand in this series. What will happen to the girls?

It's rare to see Rook agitated, but generally Alouette is very good at making problems so...

The main characters are:

Alouette: The protagonist of the story. She is an amnesiac girl with a high talent for the type of magic taught at the school. She seems attracted to Rook but does not know why. While she is generally clueless and pure, she grows to become more proactive in her attempts to save everyone.

Rook: The main heroine of the story. She is a girl with long black hair who is reserved and serious. As the top of the class, she talks very little with anyone else. She is adamant about ensuring Alouette is expelled and stays away from the mystery hidden deep within the school. She is seen often wandering during the night.

Averla: A strict and aggressive girl. She could be characterized as an "akuyaku reijou" because she acts as a villain for most of the series and has that specific type of voice. However, there is more to her than that, and during the story, you will learn more about her past and present, which changes things significantly.

Alouette technically can fight too, but her personality isn't exactly the perfect one for it.

Canary and Robin take the exact type of relationship you would expect.

Canary and Robin: I am pairing these two together because they act as a yuri couple and their story is so deeply intertwined that there is not much point in talking about one without the other. Canary is a feminine, sweet girl with a shy personality, while Robin is an assertive and boyish girl. The two have a plan to escape from the school, but things do not go as expected of course...

Macaw and Pavone: As with the pair above, this is another yuri couple at the center of one of the story's chapters. Macaw is an insecure girl who has trouble practicing the school's magic; she is the first on the chopping block now that Alouette has arrived. Pavone is an aloof and often quite weird girl who does not seem concerned about anything in the world.

Art is generally pretty good and never goes too much deep into the ecchi territory.

Averla has her own reasons for being like that. I ended up liking her at the end, but...

Olor: A girl with long hair that is half black and half white. She does not appear directly in school activities but often communicates with Alouette in dreams. She is the one who guides Alouette through the initial phases of her journey and is key to discovering the secret of the school.

As you may have noticed, all the girls are named after particular bird species, and these names resemble their personalities as well as their personal stories. Out of all the characters, I think I liked Averla the most because of the great growth she showed over the course of the series.

Macaw really change after being dressed up by Pavone. She's really beautiful here.

Olor and Alouette are way more intertwined than you'd think. But who are they?

There is some action in the visual novel with battles happening mostly in the night, you can see Rook using her weapons to strike down monstrosities multiple times, but it'll take a while to understand exactly from where these monsters appear and what can be done to stop them.

Overall, I can safely suggest Evermaiden if you are interested in a solid yuri visual novel with mystery elements. It is relatively short, at around 20 hours, and the payoff once you learn the full truth behind the mystery is quite high.