Same to Ikiru Nanokakan (サメと生きる七日間) is an average-length (30-ish hours) visual novel developed by CUBE that was released in 2022. It features a particularly unusual and interesting premise revolving around sharks (just like your average B-Movie). I played this back in 2023 and it was really enjoyable.

The story follows Fukami Kyouhei, who wakes up lying on a beach without any memory of what happened to him or even his own past. Next to him, there is a naked girl with a shark-like appearance (later nicknamed Kuuko) who is currently biting his head. Just as he is trying to understand what is going on, a blonde girl arrives declaring she is his childhood friend, Remi.

The protagonist slowly tries to get accustomed to this situation, but things start becoming more and more mysterious with each passing day. People are disappearing, apparently getting eaten by a shark, yet everyone treats it as "normal." There are weird octopus-like creatures everywhere on the island that are considered sacred by the locals, and a mysterious shrine in the forest that nobody should ever try to reach.

Together with Kyouhei, you will have to discover more about your past and what is happening on the island. Is there really a shark killing people? Is Kuuko involved with all this? What are those weird octopus-like creatures? Why is Funabori Onee-san working multiple jobs around the city? Why do the files on Kyouhei's PC point to some sort of "investigation"?

It is honestly an incredible experience because you get to learn different things in different routes. Even when you think "that's it!" in one route, some detail will appear in another route to disprove your theory. Only in the very last route (the game unlocks the True Ending only after you have gone through ALL the other endings) are all the pieces connected, allowing you to finally "solve the puzzle."

The main heroines of this story are:

Hoshiro Remi

The self-proclaimed childhood friend of Kyouhei. She is a stunningly beautiful short-haired blonde high school girl with incredible swimming ability, but she is not that smart at school. Her dream is to go to a mainland swimming tournament and win. She is the titular "stupid and beautiful blonde" archetype you find in B-movies.

Nemuribuka Maruri

A gloomy classmate of Kyouhei. She is timid and introverted and is often bullied by other students. She loves anime, manga, and B-Movies, and has lots of occult knowledge (even regarding the so-called Octopus God).

Tenjiku Amane

A tourist girl coming from the city. She is confident and proud and is referred to by everyone else as "The Hunter" as she is apparently here to fight against the shark. Due to her messing with the octopus creatures, she is denied entry to other establishments and is forced to go to Kyouhei's house/shop to eat.

Yoshikiri Tooka

An honor student and classmate of Kyouhei. She is calm, collected, and quite calculating. For some reason, she seems to "hate" him for forgetting about her, implying they had some link before his memory loss.

Funabori Onee-san

One day a policewoman, one day a clerk at a convenience store, one day a teacher at school. She seems to be everywhere in the city and is mysteriously involved whenever Kyouhei tries to investigate more of the shark situation. She is mysterious and probably dangerous, but definitely hot in that policewoman outfit.

Kuuko

The mysterious adorable girl that appeared together with Kyouhei at the beach. She can't speak long sentences and is often seen biting Kyouhei's head or arms as they seem to be her favorite snacks. She seems to be the center of the mystery regarding the shark roaming the city.

It is hard to choose a favorite character between the heroines because they are all great in their own way, and I ended up switching my favorite multiple times during my playthrough. In the end, if I had to choose, I would probably go with either Kuuko or Funabori Onee-san.

Funabori Onee-san because, well, she is really hot and she literally carries the story. She is present in all routes, moving pieces and acting in different roles depending on the situation. Her personal route was also extremely bittersweet and only managed to solidify my opinion.

Kuuko because she is absolutely adorable in every scene she is in, and her "kuu~" sound is something I can still hear in my head even now (she is voiced by Fujita Akane, who also voiced Kaguya in Ambitious Mission). She gets even more interesting once you get to know more about her past and her role.

As you can see from the attached images, the art design and direction is amazing and consistently show the charm of the various heroines. The striking contrast between the bright pastel colors and the, sometimes dark and full of despair, scenes makes the art stand out even more.

The opening song is "Utakata no Hikari" sung by Fujita Akane while the ending song is "Departures" sung by Duca (extremely prolific singer and songwriter for visual novels). Both are great catchy songs and I suggest you giving them a try searching for them on Youtube.

I suggest you give this visual novel a chance. It has a great story and high production values, and it will keep you glued to the screen trying to understand the mystery of this island.