Karigurashi Ren'ai - Hiyori was so funny, but Nanako was also great

Karigurashi Ren'ai (かりぐらし恋愛) is a romantic comedy visual novel developed by ASa Project and released in 2018. Most of the visual novels produced by this company are chara-ge that usually feature a particular gimmick event forcing the protagonist to get deeply involved with the heroines.

In this case, the story follows Setoda Takuma, who, after much hard work, managed to pass the entrance exam for the only school present in his childhood hometown. Unfortunately, when he goes to move into his childhood home (alone), he finds it in a terrible state of disrepair and completely impossible to live in.

He does not want to give up his dream of staying in his hometown. Thankfully, his four female childhood friends come to the rescue and allow him to live with their families for a certain period until the house is fully repaired. The protagonist will spend one week with each family in a rotation style.

This would already be a pretty crazy setting, but add on top of that the fact that the families are all extremely weird, and it creates the perfect storm for comedy. You have the family where both daughter and mother are completely lazy (Aranami), the family where the mother is scared of males and the father wants to throw out the protagonist (Yohakari), and the family where the mother wants to romance the protagonist (Niizuma).

The story is deeply comedy-focused and follows a typical chara-ge approach. It features a rather short Common Route to set up the heroines and their families' situations. Then, you enter the specific route where the chosen heroine takes the helm and occupies most of the screen time, leaving the others to become background characters.

The heroines with routes are:

Aranami Kyou

An "older sister" character you can always rely on. She is the only one who stayed in contact with the protagonist even when he left town. She seems to be the most welcoming of the heroines until you realize she is extremely lazy (just like her mother), to the point that she spends most of the day just snacking and watching TV. Her father is extremely interested in making sure that she ends up marrying the protagonist because he is worried about her not being able to find anyone else to support her lifestyle.

Niizuma Hiyori

Straightforward and open, she is the most energetic and easy to befriend among the childhood friends of the protagonist. She lives together with her mother and works at the family's Japanese tea house. Despite her cheerful front, she is quite sensible, and living in a single-parent situation has made her try to avoid showing too many emotions.

Sakuragibashi Rito

She lives alone after her parents moved overseas for work. She is the most serious and well-adjusted among the childhood friends. She can cook, clean, and do almost everything. She has a grudge toward the protagonist at the beginning because he thought she was a boy when they were kids. Personality-wise, she is a tsundere, and a classic one at that.

Yohakari Ayaka

A childhood friend one year younger than the protagonist. She is a model student and looks and acts like one. She seems like an angel, but the truth is that in the background, she is a closet pervert who loves going through obscene material during the night. This often causes her to misunderstand normal conversations, thinking they are talking about something obscene. She lives with her parents and two siblings, and the family is quite a crazy one too. Her mother is deeply scared of males who are not part of her family, her father wants to throw out the protagonist to prevent him from being too close to Ayaka, and her younger sister has a sister complex toward Ayaka and is ready to do anything to eliminate the protagonist.

Usujima Nanako

She is not a childhood friend of the protagonist but a side heroine with a small route. She is the Vice President of the Student Council and is often seen eating food and requesting more from the protagonist and other characters. She is carefree and usually seen with Tomohiko (the Student Council President).

Yohakari Maru

The little sister of Ayaka. She has a deep sister complex and is ready to do anything to keep the protagonist away from her. The issue is that with all these approaches, she ends up falling in love with him, and there you get a small side route for her. She is sharp-tongued and kind of a kuudere.

It is hard to choose a favorite heroine, to be honest, because they are all really charming and extremely funny to be with. Hiyori is probably the one I would most like to be around, considering she is funny and caring, and staying at her house really felt like being at "home". For overall fun, though? Probably Maru or Nanako, to be honest; their segments were hilarious.

I don't think there's too many flaws with the formula of this visual novel as it relies on the characters to carry the narrative even if sometimes it was harsh to see the other heroines disappear mostly during the specific routes. I know it can't be helped because that's just how chara-ge works.

If you are looking for some really solid comedy, I definitely suggest this series. It is a relatively short one (25 hours to complete), and you will enjoy every single moment of it.