Shin Koihime Musou Kakumei - Souten no Haou - Karin was just perfect!

March 16, 2026 · 5:46 PM

Shin Koihime † Musou -Kakumei- Souten no Haou (真・恋姫†夢想-革命- 蒼天の覇王) is a visual novel developed by BaseSon and released in 2017. It is the first entry in a trilogy that remakes and expands the popular Shin Koihime Musou franchise into a modern style with additional characters and content.

The story follows Hongou Kazuto as he is transported to a parallel world where the figures from the Three Kingdoms novels are all female and beautiful. He is dropped into the middle of this era without any info or preparation, right before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, as the prophesied Messenger from Heaven.

Shuuran was surprisingly quite a home type of girl, much different to the hotblooded Shunran (even though that one is also quite sweet...)

Karin looks absolutely stunning in this picture. Her personality can be hard to like at the beginning, but she's the poster girl of the entire franchise for a reason.

In this first installment of the trilogy, Kazuto becomes involved with the Gi faction led by Karin (Cao Cao). He ends up working for her as she attempts to unify the Three Kingdoms as an absolute ruler. The other two visual novels follow different paths, but there is a sense of continuity between the three, so the stories are not entirely disconnected.

The narrative follows the general events of the original Three Kingdoms novels, though Kazuto's presence causes certain events to shift. Karin is unwilling to use the future knowledge that Kazuto brings for her own benefit, as she is determined to carve her own path through history.

Shiren starts as an extremely male-hating girl, but becomes quite sweet after winning her favors. Takes a while though.

Shanfu is the cutest of the entire faction Gi faction. She's the perfect little sister material, plus her dream of flying bring cute results.

The visual novel is divided into chapters, and each chapter consists of two phases. The first phase features heroine side stories, and the second phase covers the main story. At each major plot point, the narrative pauses to allow you to view scenes with all the heroines you have met so far.

This structure slowly reveals the backstory and romance for each character while keeping the main timeline linear and easy to follow. You can pursue romances with all of the heroines directly, and these interactions remain canon to the story. While you can technically skip the side stories, doing so would cause you to miss the chance to truly appreciate the massive cast.

Keifa tried, as usual, to put a trap for Kazuto to fall into, but the actual person to fall into was Karin creating this cute scene with an angry Karen. Her voice is amazing as usual. View video page

And there are indeed many characters. This first title features 23 unique heroines to meet, romance, and enjoy comedy skits with. They all have distinct personalities inspired by the original novels, but they are given extra layers of expression to fit the anime style.

The story of Souten no Haou is massive. It takes around 85 hours to complete the game if you include all the side stories. The positive side is that it remains entertaining throughout. The alternation between the main plot and side stories works perfectly, allowing you to take a break and enjoy lighthearted content before returning to the serious drama.

If I had to name the heroines that were the closest to protagonist, it would be definitely be Nagi, Maou and Sawa because they spent the most time together with him.

I really like the scenes with them because most CGs include them together which makes things more colorful and cute.

It is difficult to choose a single favorite heroine when there is such a massive cast to pick from, so I will instead choose favorites for different categories.

For the best-looking character, my choice is Reichen, Kei’s younger sister. She is a calculating girl who does not shy away from using anyone, including Kei, for her own purposes. She enjoys using her looks to seduce men to do her bidding, yet she does not want anyone to actually touch her. She does not seem to care about status or power, but she dislikes the idea of having to return to the countryside.

For the best voice, I choose Fuu. Her voice actress, Yokote Kumiko, is popular for her unique vocal style. I mentioned her in my review of Girls Bookmaker, and I simply cannot get enough of that quirky voice. I end up loving every character she plays.

Karin has, of course, a lot of focus brought on her. I liked how her choices change quite a bit by meeting with Kazuto.

The contrast between the beautiful and flashy heroines and the standard art for the other minor unnamed characters is always striking like here with Eika.

For the best heroine to pursue romantically, my choice is Nagi. She is a loyal and seemingly strict girl who works under Kazuto along with Maou and Sawa. Once you get to know her better, you realize she is extremely affectionate and completely changes her personality when she is alone with the person she loves.

For the best mascot, I choose Shanfu. She is the first heroine you meet and is a complete ball of cuteness. She dreams of flying, and her personal story is one of the sweetest in the game as she repeatedly attempts to achieve her dream. With Kazuto's help, she eventually succeeds.

Karon seemed to be a airhead character, but she had quite a few moments where you thought 'she's actually smart'.

Sorry Karin, but that's way too big for whatever you carry. Leave it to the other girls that are more...apt for that. Wait, what? Stop with that sword, I didn't mean to...

Of course, these are just four characters I have highlighted, but I can assure you that every character has their own charm. They each target a specific character archetype you might see in various anime. Just be aware that initial impressions can be misleading. For example, I disliked Shunran at the beginning, but she became quite endearing once I got to know her better.

As I mentioned before, the story ends here, but the real conclusion of Karin's story doesn't arrive until the end of the third game of the franchise because there is a special fourth continuity (that develops in the post credits of each visual novel) that gives conclusion to the other three. I won't go much more in detail to avoid spoilers, but it gives Karin the ending that she deserves!

Still laughing at how they translated the yellow turban revolts into being caused by some idol concert. Chihou, Tenhou and Renho were cute.

Kei and Reichen were only introduced later in the story because they were originally antagonist, but I honestly ended up liking them quite a lot. Especially Kei.

I learned recently that the voice actress for Karin, Maeda Yukie, passed away on March 9, 2026. This is very sad news, as I truly enjoyed her performance in this role.

There is no doubt that Shin Koihime † Musou -Kakumei- Souten no Haou is a highly recommended visual novel for anyone who wants an action-packed experience set in the Three Kingdoms era. Knowledge of the original novels is not required; I only knew a brief summary of them myself and was still able to follow the story perfectly.