Cherry Tree High Comedy Club released 2 years ago on Steam and was published by Capcom and localized by Nyu Media. Developed by doujin group Circle 773, it was billed as an adventure game. You’d watch a story play out and in addition to that, manage your time and fatigue levels. This new follow up game strips that whole sim portion in order to deliver a story. While it does indeed do just that, perhaps the game is a bit light on the story side, even affecting some design oversights.

The story of the game is a follow up to the previous title. Mairu Habisu has got here Comedy Club started, but is immediately in danger of being shut down if she can’t find a partner and a supervisor from one of the faculty. Meanwhile she also has to deal with a rival Classic Comedy Club. In addition there is a new member who could potentially threaten Mairu’s relationships with her friends. The story plays out in short little episodic vignettes that feel like a slice-of-life anime, only condensed. They usually don’t last more than 10 minutes, and the whole story is over in about 120 minutes all said. While there are 7 main chapters, side-stories open up as you progress. There is no saving that can be done in-between chapters due to this. Although this just highlights the visual novel’s shortcomings.

For one, it’s a continuation, so newcomers might not get as good of a feeling for these characters as those who started with the first title. Then there is the length of the story. Because of its short run-time, character development is very light, which is weird in light of the conflict thrown in; especially in light of the introduction of new characters. You get some back-story and some development, but it’s pretty threadbare. Another odd thing is the distinct lack of examples of comedy being done by the club members. There is some humor in the dialog, but no actual comic representation takes place. Maybe this was something that existed in the first title, but nothing of the sort is here.

Other issues are the lack of mouse inputs or screen resolution options. The screen is pitifully small. While the screen itself is big enough to see everything, it is not big enough to really take advantage of the backgrounds or sprites of the game. On the positive side, the title is still a good experience, and it’s worth checking out. It’s just one part of an ongoing series, and it’s highly recommended that you start from the beginning. Good enough on its own, but the story is more appreciated if you go in order. Still worth a look, and it is only 5 bucks.

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