Otome Game Review: Beastmaster & Prince

Intro: When Tiana trades her mother’s brooch to save a cage of wild animals at the market, she discovers they’re not really animals. They’re actually the princes of Fasan who went missing when their ship caught on fire! Cursed into bestial forms and not knowing who tried to assassinate them, they turn to Tiana for help. There’s just a few small problems: war is about to engulf her homeland once more, and now she’s in grave danger.

Spoiler-free Final Thoughts down below.

Matheus Bartels Fasan: is the first prince of Fasan who was cursed into a lion. A brilliant strategist and competent leader, Matheus has all the makings of a promising King. He has an ongoing rivalry with Tiana’s childhood friend, Klaus, and the two are always butting heads. He’s also a huge flirt who thinks he’s the hottest thing alive  (✧≖‿ゝ≖)フフッ. The first step to breaking their curse is finding a witch. Who just so happens to live next door to Klaus’ bakery. At first, Tiana doesn’t know that Gerda is the one who tried to kill the princes. Gerda and Sylvio run an apothecary selling herbs and medicines. And for the right price, maybe something more. Sylvio sells her an expensive powder that lets her turn an animal into a human — but only for a limited time. Matheus helps her earn more money by gambling so they can afford a longer-lasting powder. It’s around this time that they discover Sylvio and Gerda were behind their assassination attempt, and they flee. The annual Carnival arrives, and Tiana and Matheus spend the day together acting in a play, eating cheese, fending off the merchant Hannes (the guy who sold her the princes as animals), and visiting the famed rose garden. If you present a rose to someone you love and they reciprocate those feelings, they will bloom. A flood of women give Matheus their roses, but none of them bloom. He takes the roses with him and has Tiana help carry some. To her shock, all of the roses he handed her bloom and out his feelings for her. 

Matheus suffers from a peculiar allergy wherein he breaks out in hives when he comes into contact with men, save for his younger brother Erik. He’s too afraid to talk about it for fear of someone in the castle using it against him. Klaus helps her look for a book on the subject, and they discover the legendary Traum Flower can cure it. That night, Matheus feeds Tiana some cheese (｡・//ε//・｡) He tells her that the brooch she gave to Hannes in exchange for them belonged to the royal family and he promises to gift her a beast when this is all over. Right as she’s getting ready for bed, Gerda manages to get close enough to stab Tiana with a cursed dagger. She tells Matheus to kill his brothers and meet them in the Underground Passageway if he wants the antidote, else Tiana will die a painful death. They capture Gerda and Sylvio and after interrogating them, learn that someone in Renard was forcing them to follow orders. They abducted The Last Witch, a woman Gerda loves dearly, and is threatening to kill her if they don’t murder the princes. Gerda is an apprentice witch but she’s so bad at her job that she can’t cure Tiana’s curse. She was hoping she could force them into helping her steal back The Last Witch, whose blood can break everyone’s curses. That’s when Tiana’s other childhood friend, Lotte, races in to tell them that Renard has invaded. The group splits up, with Matheus, Alfred and Tiana staying behind in Cattleya to fend off the imperial army and the other half sneaking into Renard to rescue the witch.

Tiana learns about Matheus’ horrible childhood. Because he’s the spitting image of his father, the cruel King Balthasar, everyone feared him and kept their distance. Matheus adores Prime Minister Berndt, who was one of the very few people in his life to treat him like an actual person. He wants to introduce her to Berndt after everything is over. Unfortunately, Berndt wants Matheus dead because King Balthasar threw his wife in jail to rot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Berndt lures him to the arena and attacks him, and Tiana arrives just in time to save his life. She and Klaus tend to his wounds and Lucia calls them with Gerda’s magic-mirror. The Renard Emperor was killed and they’re going to be framed for the crime. Berndt and one of their brothers, Prince Dirk, are also in cahoots to tear down the nations and build a new Empire. They plan to put Dirk on the throne as a puppet king after they raze down Sardine through The Last Witch’s powers. Those powers are actually a dragon that went beserk and razed half of Cattleya twenty years ago. Tiana is close to death’s door, so Matheus kisses her and leaves to try and stop them. Tiana realizes that all of her training was meant to prepare her for this day. She gives chase and takes the beast down with her whistle, destroying Berndt’s master plan. After Matheus is crowned King, he asks Tiana to marry him. He also gives her the cure to his curse and says she can decide when she wants to use it because he knows how much she loves his fluffy lion form. During their wedding, Klaus throws Traum petals over them, curing Matheus’ allergy as a wedding gift.

Klaus: is my guilty pleasure. Not because his route, per se, is bad, but because there was so much lost potential (´＿｀。)グスン He had everything going for him! He’s a megane-ikemen with a kuudere personality but the writers were like lol nope. We’ll barely give you any fan-service. Klaus is also voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto, who I need to see in more otome games because hot dayum he could narrate how grass grows and I’d be here for it. Klaus is Tiana’s childhood friend who works at the Royal Library and he serves the Cattleyan Pope. He’s been in love with Tiana for years and he looks after her when her parents travel. He dislikes Matheus because he scored higher than him in a few subjects at the Sardine Academy and the two maintain a heated rivalry. I thought it was funny how there was a note about how he would go to the market to snack on cheese after work. Though Klaus and Sylvio have the shortest routes in the game, both of them are enjoyable. Most of Klaus’ route boils down to Tiana feeling guilty about keeping the princes’ identities a secret until she’s outed when Lucia accidentally throws a bag of powder on him, turning him into a mouse. Forced to stay at her place until they find a cure, she helps him grab all his work from the castle and brings it back to her house. Then she cooks soup for him. To Klaus’ horror, the princes took the powder with them when they went out, meaning he’s stuck as a mouse until they return. He struggles to lift the spoon in his tiny paws and nearly falls into the scalding meal. Tiana saves him and proceeds to feed him herself.

The next morning, Tiana walks into Klaus fresh out of the shower and without his glasses on┣¨ｷ(oﾟДﾟo)┣¨ｷ They pay Lotte a visit, and as he’s talking with their parents in the back, Lotte asks if they’re a thing now. They spend time at the Carnival together. He admits that he tried to give someone a special rose once, but they rejected him. At Gloss Hill, Klaus says he wants to protect Cattleya from another attack. Half the country was razed to ashes during the war, killing his parents and leaving him an orphan. Lotte’s parents took him in and all he can do to repay them is work hard. Her talents lie in her beastmaster aspirations, and he encourages her to keep at it. They capture Sylvio and Gerda after she gets shanked, Renard invades and Tiana stays behind to help the citizens flee to Sardine. Tiana runs into Lotte and admits she’s in love with Klaus. Lotte is delighted to hear that. The next day, Klaus is like HMMM（￢o￢）—-☆ 怪しい when they receive word that Prime Minister Berndt is coming to help Cattleya. That’s when Lucia calls and confirms his suspicions: Berndt is a traitor. Tiana sends a messenger bird to Alfred to warn him, then faints as the curse activates. Matheus plans to leave her to die in order to defend the country, and Klaus rages at him. They chase after Matheus to try and help him when Erik accosts them with a letter from her mother. It explains that her true mission is to put the dragon to sleep with her whistle. Klaus takes a crushing blow for her from the beast but she eventually defeats it. He stays in bed to heal over the next couple weeks, and Tiana sees the princes off to Fasan. Klaus shows up the second they leave and gives her the cure to his curse. He knows she adores his mouse form and wants to let her choose when she uses it. Klaus isn’t done there. By the time Tiana’s parents return, she’ll be reintroducing him to them as Daddy. He slides a rose bud into her hair. When they were little, he asked her what she wanted for her a birthday: a cake or a flower. Like most kids, Tiana picked a cake. Klaus gave up on giving her one of Cattleya’s special love roses. But Tiana says she’s always loved him, and he kisses her.

Alfred Heydrich Fasan: is the second prince who was cursed into a wolf. Despite possessing what should be a sharp nose, Alfred is hopelessly directionally challenged like Ace from Alice in the Country of Hearts. He’s loyal and kind-hearted, constantly calling out his brothers for imposing on Tiana. He used to train the soldiers back home and adheres to a strict workout schedule to keep in shape. Tiana often wakes up to see him doing push-ups in his wolf form . Alfred is a man of action rather than words and is a precious cinnamon roll (´▽`ʃƪ)♡ . He greatly admires Matheus, and would do anything for him — even at the cost of his own life. When Tiana asks for help making money to afford the powder, he enters a fighting competition and easily wins. During the Carnival, Alfred says he picked up a sword to defend Fasan. Now he wants to protect Cattleya. They get lost on the way home and are attacked by wolves, but Tiana protects them with her whistle. Alfred offers to help her hone her skills. It starts pouring so they wait out the storm beneath a roof with him holding her close. At home, the princes tease them and Lucia wishes her good luck if she takes him as a lover ROFL. Prince Dirk shows up out of the blue the next day. He’s Alfred’s shota yandere brother who started wearing an eye patch so he could be like him. Dirk accuses Tiana of trying to curry favor with the princes because she’s a commoner and poor Alfred’s all（ﾟДﾟ;）oh my God the audacity! Alfred used to have two brothers, but Prince Abel died in an accident. Alfred also lost his eye in it. They all go swimming on Muskel Plateau the next day, and Alfred admits he invited Dirk but he never came. Matheus congratulations Alfred for falling in love with someone and later that night, Gerda stabs Tiana.

They capture Gerda and Sylvio, Renard invades, and Tiana sticks with Alfred. He confides in her about his mother. She was the late king’s concubine and she hated Matheus because he stood in opposition to Abel’s right to the throne. Ever since Abel’s death, Alfred’s been next in line. His mother has been pushing him to become king, but he doesn’t think he has what it takes and wants Matheus to do it instead. The day their ship caught flame, he was actually running from Fasan. But now all he wants is to stay with Tiana. The next day, she uses her whistle on the invading army, forcing their horses to disobey orders and turn around. Their victory is short-lived, because Lucia informs them that Berndt and Hannes are working together to tear down the nations and Matheus is in danger. When they get to Cattleya, Dirk orders the soldiers to kill Tiana. They escape to Gerda’s laboratory where they find Klaus. He escaped the castle after Berndt slew the Pope. Alfred tells Tiana he killed his brother Abel. When they were children, Abel drew his sword on Matheus when he wasn’t looking, and Alfred slipped in between them and drew his blade. He lost his eye in the process. He blames himself for his brother’s death and Tiana tells him he has to live with the choice he made if he truly believed in it. And then the curse makes her faint. When she comes to, Alfred is holding her. He was so scared she died. Tiana realizes she’s in love with him.

Together, they infiltrate Rosette Castle and discover Dirk formed a contract with the witch’s power, which is the dragon that razed Cattleya twenty years ago. Dirk starts to transform, intending on burning Cattleya down for good. Alfred tries to get Tiana to evacuate. He’s going to sacrifice himself to stop Dirk. Tiana tries to convince him not to, so he kisses her and says he’s been trying so hard not to fall in love with her, but in the end he did so anyway. Gerda then calls to let her know they finished making her antidote and they need her to come down to her laboratory because she doesn’t have much time left. Tiana can’t let Alfred die, though, so she declines. Gerda says she can stop the dragon with her whistle, so Tiana runs toward the arena to battle it. She defeats it and Alfred hugs Dirk and manages to convinces him to stop because everything he’s doing is wrong. Once Dirk settles down, Tiana collapses. The curse has finally gotten to her and she lays there, dying. Alfred sobs as she tells him that she loves him too. Gerda manages to make it in time to save her, and so Tiana lives to see another day. She wakes up in her bed and finds Alfred has been waiting for her to regain consciousness. He also hasn’t broken his curse yet, all because he knows she would miss his wolf form. He goes downstairs to make her breakfast, and she follows after him. Before she eats, he gives her a bouquet of special roses that bloom the second she accepts them. Alfred wastes no time in proposing, unaware that his brothers are all eavesdropping, worried she might reject him . I really enjoyed Alfred’s route and would love to see more pure-hearted characters like him in otome games.

Lucia Fasan: is the third prince who was cursed into a duck. He also happens to be a tsundere (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)ワクワク. Lucia likes to mess with his younger brother Erik, but he loves sleep and food even more. He thinks he’s the hottest catch in all of Cattleya despite all of his brothers insisting he looks nothing like Matheus . I personally thought that Lucia and Sylvio’s routes were the best in the entire game. Anyway, Lucia helps Tiana earn money by catching a wanted criminal for the bounty. This particular crook is a cross-dressing woman who’s been stealing the hearts of the local older women. Lucia doesn’t bother to tell Tiana he knows the criminal is actually a woman, instead making her grope the actress’ chest onstage in front of everyone to confirm his suspicions . When he tells her that his grandfather is the Cattleyan Pope, Tiana remembers a boy she often played with in the gardens. Berndt informs him that Ms. Charlotte is very worried about him, prompting Tiana to ask if she’s someone important to him. He lies and says she’s his fiancée, only to backpedal when she becomes upset. He just wanted to how she’d react! During the Carnival, Lucia says that he and his cousin, the Prince of Cattleya, used to graffiti all over the church. His grandpa beat their asses for it. Tiana feeds him some cake later, they put up with Hannes and Lucia asks her what she thinks of Klaus when they’re in the rose garden. She falls asleep next to him on Gloss Hill, but wakes up as he stares down at her wondering if she forgot all about him.

Lucia leaves to take care of something by himself, and when he gets back, Matheus grounds him. Lucia rages because he has things to do, but he won’t tell them what that is. That night, Tiana finds an old journal about her days with her childhood friend. They painted the roses yellow and blue and he even helped her train. She hopes he grew up to be a hot piece of man lol. She later discovers that Lucia had tried to enter them into a beastmaster competition. Tiana tries to explain that it wouldn’t be fair to enter when he’s a human cursed into an animal, but he interrupts her, believing she thinks he’s not good enough because he’s a dumb duck, and kicks her out of his room. Lucia sneaks out and goes hunting with Kurt, but gets trampled by a boar. Kurt reveals he’s the Prince of Cattleya, shocking everyone, and that Lucia is his cousin. Lucia rests in bed and Tiana glomps him when he wakes up. They clear up their misunderstanding, and he reveals he was her childhood friend. He was a merchant’s son, and they promised to enter the beastmaster competition together someday. Tiana didn’t recognize him because he was a chubby boy back then, but he worked hard and exercised for her, eager for when they saw each other again. He never told her it was him because he didn’t want her to treat him differently because of his status. That night, Gerda stabs Tiana. The gang catches Gerda and Sylvio, Renard invades, and Tiana joins Lucia to infiltrate Renard to rescue The Last Witch.

They run into Hannes, who helps sneak them into the Renard castle. They split into two groups. Of course Hannes alerts the guards and arrests half of their group. Lucia and Tiana manage to hide in time. Hannes threatens to execute them after the war ends and gloats about how Matheus won’t see Berndt’s betrayal until it’s too late. They use the mirror and manage to tell Klaus to warn Matheus, but they’re going to be found by the soldiers any moment. Lucia kisses Tiana and says he always loved her ┣¨ｷ(oﾟДﾟo)┣¨ｷ He was ashamed that he was changed into a dumb duck and envious of Matheus and Alfred for turning into cooler animals, but this is what he can do for her. He steps out of hiding and announces himself, hoping Tiana will use this chance to escape. But Hannes sees right through his act and says he’ll kill him unless she comes out. Thankfully Kurt arrives to save the day. They find a note from The Last Witch talking about how Tiana’s parents rescued her and sealed the dragon inside of her. Lucia and Tiana escape to the forest while Kurt rescues their friends from the dungeons. He tries to kiss her again but Gerda arrives and roars at him for flirting while they were fighting for their lives. They receive a call from Matheus detailing Berndt’s plans, and then Tiana faints as the curse eats away at her.

When she comes to, Gerda tries to convince her to stay in the laboratory. But Tiana can’t sit around. She’s going with Lucia to stop the dragon. They race to Sardine and she gets hit with a swipe of the beast’s tail. She drops her whistle in the fall, and Lucia tries to get it for her but Berndt corners him and draws his sword. He demands Lucia hand it over. Lucia hurls the whistle at Tiana, and she blows it, sending the eagle flying over Berndt into a frenzy. As Berndt fights off the eagle, Tiana puts the dragon to sleep and foils their plans. She collapses as the curse starts to kill her, and right before she falls unconscious, she tells Lucia she loves him. When she comes to, she finds out that her father stopped by to deliver a letter from her mother detailing everything she was supposed to do. Her mother is proud of her and says that while her father raged when he found out she was dating Lucia, she’s rooting for them! Lucia also didn’t break his curse yet because she likes him as a duck. Until she recovers, Lucia refuses to let anyone inside the room so he can have her all to himself lol. He stays behind when his brothers return to Fasan so they can prepare for the beastmaster competition. A year later, they’ve made her dreams come true and are traveling the world as performers.

Erik Fasan: is the fourth prince of Fasan who was cursed into a rabbit and an unexpected favorite of mine. The yandere strike again! I was ready for Erik to be at the bottom of my list, but the writers came in clutch with this gremlin. This game also made me realize that I do like yanderes. Just a very specific type, which is why I thought I couldn’t stand them for the longest time . Erik is a crybaby who carries a stuffed frog named Caspar everywhere he goes. He’s also incredibly talented in all creative pursuits. He always offers to help Tiana with chores around the house and is overall just a sweetie-pie. When she asks him for help with making money, he sells his wooden carvings to the public. It’s a hit. But Erik is thrown into an existential crisis when Matheus makes a joke about him really being a girl because he never breaks out into hives around him. During the Carnival, poor Erik’s esteem plummets again when Alfred suggests he take up a more “manly” hobby. Erik asks Tiana if she prefers men like Alfred and Matheus instead of guys who prefer artistic pursuits. Then, a rude little girl demands Erik give him Caspar. When he won’t do what she wants, she tries to steal it from him and ends up tearing Caspar’s arm. Erik cries over Caspar, and Tiana offers to stitch him up. He declines because Caspar hates when other people touch him (ʘᗩʘ’) .

After Caspar’s been sewn back together, Erik tries to force a special rose onto Tiana when he finds out it’s for lovers. When she tries to politely reject him, he cries and asks if she hates him. Matheus happens to be there and he tells him he can’t be selfish and trouble someone he supposedly loves. Erik decides to stop acting like a child. For the rest of the Carnival, he doesn’t bother Tiana again. He even impresses her with his talent as a pianist. At home, Lucia tries to steal Caspar away because he’s “cursed,” but everyone rounds on him for being too mean. Lucia demands Erik explain where he got Caspar from then, but Erik doesn’t know. The next day, she and Erik have breakfast on Gloss Hill. It’s going great, until Erik puts Tiana on the spot. Again. He says he has feelings for her and asks if she likes him. She does, but before she can explain that it’s not the same way, he demands she kiss him to prove it. She can’t, so he throws a tantrum and races away. Tiana gives chase and finds he’s been cornered by Sylvio. Erik tries to shoo her away, but she refuses to leave him. Erik takes the hit for her, and Sylvio’s weapon slices through Caspar. Sylvio stomps all over the frog, and a bunch of glass and powder comes out of its stuffing. And that’s when he unleashes the demon: Erik. He’s scary, completely unlike the cheerful Erik she knows, and he frightens Sylvio so badly he flees the scene. Erik makes Tiana promise to keep this between them, then sprinkles the powder over himself before stowing the rest of it into Caspar’s stuffing. When they get home, Tiana says they were attacked by Sylvio. Lucia immediately realizes something happened with Erik, and he takes her outside to talk about it. He says the Erik she’s known all this time is a fake and that if she wants to know more, she needs to talk to him about it.

That night, Gerda stabs Tiana. Erik wishes he could take her place. His mother wanted a girl. When she gave birth to him, she wept. Unlike Matheus’ and Alfred’s mothers, who want the throne, his wants nothing to do with it. She also forbade him from going near Matheus because of the rumors of his father. He breaks down and says he wishes he’d been born a girl because then he wouldn’t cause his mother pain. Tiana hugs him tight and realizes he’s created this doll-like persona to please his mother. She tells him it’s okay to live for himself. To everyone’s horror, Erik sneaks out to capture Sylvio and Gerda and intends to torture them. They stop him in time and after interrogating the two, Matheus speaks to Tiana and Erik alone. He demands to know what’s going on. Erik says he’s still Erik, but neither of them completely understand. Tiana goes with him to invade Renard, and discovers he put a curse on himself to become the doll his mother always wanted him to be. He’s done pretending. Tiana mourns that side of him as he throws away the powder. Inside Renard, Erik finds a way to infiltrate the castle without Hanne’s help, because he can’t trust him. They all split up and Erik confesses that he truly does love Tiana. She realizes Erik is still Erik and she never really lost him so she wants to get to know him more. Unfortunately, they walk right into a trap when the discover the Renard Emperor’s dead body in his own bed.

Hannes accuses them of regicide and throws them in the dungeons. He brags about his plan with Berndt and threatens to hurt Tiana to find out where the others went. After he leaves, Tiana uses her mirror to contact Matheus. Klaus answers and she briefly explains the situation. Then she uses her beastmaster skills to break them out of their cell by getting the mice to fetch her the keys. Erik says she’s amazing and together, they race toward the throne room where Hannes is about to execute their friends. Erik throws a bag of powder into the room, turning everyone into animals. He takes a seat on the throne and says they need to find The Last Witch if they want their curse broken. When they find out she’s been taken away by Berndt, Erik decides to kill Hannes, but Tiana convinces him to stop because he’s not as cruel as he believes he is. They realize that Tiana’s powers are meant to put the terrible dragon sealed inside of The Last Witch to sleep, so she and Erik race to Sardine to stop Berndt. Before they get too far though, Erik pulls her aside and kisses her. For too long, he feared that he was the one who inherited his father’s cruel nature. He was afraid he’d kill his brothers and take the throne just like him. But she showed him that’s not true. He doesn’t need to kill to prove himself.

Berndt is transforming into the dragon by the time they arrive. Erik wants to talk to him before she uses her whistle. He tries to convince him to stop because Berndt is only planning to use him. But Dirk won’t listen. No one will defy him now that he’s so powerful. Erik sees there’s no point in arguing, and asks Tiana for her help. Her curse starts killing her right at that second, so Erik grabs her and tries to shield her from the flames Dirk is about to spit at them, but they never come. Alfred and Matheus distract him while she takes the dragon down. Tiana loses consciousness as the curse attacks her and she apologizes for being unable to return his feelings. Except she doesn’t die. Gerda made it in time to save her life. Erik’s none too happy about how close it was though and says they should pay for everything they put her through. He brags about carrying her all the way back here and watching over her and says he won’t let anyone touch her. He gives her a letter from her mother and the brooch he stole back from Hannes. Aww. Erik adds that their parents approve of their relationship because he gave his father a performance and he was so delighted he immediately gave him the go-ahead . They have to part ways for three years so he can finish his education, and when he comes back, he’s hot as balls. Tiana thanks her lucky starts she snagged a good one and the two vow to fulfill their dreams of becoming a musician and a beastmaster and traveling the world to perform.

♡( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡ Sylvio: is the apothecary owner who works with Gerda. He reminded me of Ikuto so I was instantly a goner. Sylvio and Klaus both have shorter routes than the princes, but Sylvio’s was one of the best in the entire game. I was warned his route would make me cry. I thought I was prepared. I was not. Unlike the other routes, Sylvio immediately takes an interest in Tiana and doesn’t brush her off by saying he’s not looking for a relationship. (I just realized he was saying this because he’d been waiting for her the entire time.) Tiana wards off all his advances, thinking he’s just messing around with her. But when it comes time to pay for the medicine she ordered, she realizes she doesn’t know where to get the money. So she asks if he’ll accept a trade instead. He’ll give her the medicine if she brings him a hundred Gold Flowers. They bloom only at night in the Kinnbart Forest and are the ingredients used for the medicine she wants. It’s a dangerous task though. Tiana agrees. She and the gang go searching for them that night, but she gets lost and runs into Sylvio. He was worried about her and wanted to help her out, and that makes Tiana happy. As they’re walking, she falls down a hole and Sylvio comes tumbling down after her. Conveniently, she literally lands on top of the very flowers she’s looking for. A whole field of them. After she picks enough of them, Sylvio takes off. The next day, she finds the same cat she met downtown one night in the apothecary. She picks it up and sets it in her lap, wondering where Sylvio went.

Gerda hands Tiana her order and she leaves. Later on she discovers the two of them were behind the princes’ assassination attempt, which really confuses her. After the welcome-back parade the princes throw for themselves to flush out Gerda and Sylvio, she finds Lucia in the castle gardens. She tells him this is the place she finally mastered her training as a kid. She successfully put a small, black kitten with a white spot on its chest to sleep here. That’s when a cat matching that exact description walks past them. Lucia says that’s the one that attacked them on their ship — it’s got to be the witch’s familiar. They fail to catch it and return home. Tiana helps Lotte out at the bakery during the Carnival, and on her way back she sees someone in the apothecary. It’s too dark out to see who it is, but Tiana decides it’s worth risking to check. It’s a thief. He whirls on Tiana and is ready to attack her when Sylvio comes out of nowhere and saves her life. The thief flees the scene and Sylvio asks her why she walked inside when it was dangerous. She was going to call for someone. He tells her he couldn’t not care about her and asks why she’s living with the princes. She explains the situation and he realizes she’s a beastmaster. He tries to convince her to ditch them because she’s going to be in danger. Tiana asks why he cares. Sylvio says he fell in love with her, but she probably only thinks he’s just some sales clerk he only met. He runs away after saying he wished she’d picked him up instead ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚And this is when I realized the pain was only to going to get worse.

Unable to bear the thought of putting Tiana into any more danger, Sylvio drags Gerda with him to talk to the princes later that night. To prove their story, Sylvio pours powder of himself and changes into the cat that attacked them on their ship. And the one Tiana kept coming across. They agree to help them. Renard invades, they split up and Tiana goes with Sylvio. On the way to Renard, Sylvio tells her that Gerda forced him to work for her. She put a curse on him so he could work the shop. Tiana says she feels like they met somewhere before and Sylvio takes that opportunity to flirt with her. Then Gerda’s client calls. They know she’s on her way to betray them and demands she kill the princes now or he’ll harm the Last Witch. Before she can decide, Sylvio cuts their call and tells Gerda to stop letting that guy tell her what to do. Their plans change and they start to head back when Hannes races over to them. He reveals himself as the one who’s been manipulating her, all of his plans and then orders the soldiers with him to kill them. Tiana saves their lives with a smoke bomb and they escape. They find Matheus injured in Gerda’s laboratory, and Klaus asks her and Tiana for help while they sneak into the castle dungeons to rescue the witch. Berdnt took her there. Tiana promises Sylvio a welcome-back kiss and he says he has to tell her something in return.

While they’re waiting for them to come back, Tiana helps Gerda prepare food in the bakery. A letter falls out of her pocket from her mother and Gerda freezes. She can read witch’s script?! Gerda recalls a couple The Last Witch allowed into their home — her parents. Her mother sealed away the dragon in the witch and that’s what her whistle is for. They race to the castle to stop Dirk and discover everyone collapsed under rubble. Gerda takes a blow for Tiana and she manages to put the beast to sleep. Sylvio, who’s been heavily injured, confesses that he used to be her sparring partner when they were little. He didn’t know what it was all for, but now he understands. He used to be a good-for-nothing, but then he met her and was so impressed by her tenacity that he fell in love with her. A human. Some powder falls out of his pouch and onto him, turning him back into the cat she trained with. Gerda says he didn’t want her to know, but Sylvio was never human. He was a cat she cursed into a human. Sylvio breaks his curse and chooses to live his life as a cat, but Tiana is depressed because she’s in love with him. Thankfully, Gerda realizes she and the witch can’t survive without an income so they curse Sylvio and send him to work at the apothecary again. Tiana stupidly wanders into the store thinking it’s being robbed again, but Sylvio’s the one inside. He wraps her into a hug and asks her to work with him. I’m trying very hard to forget that he’s a literal cat and not human but he’s also technically a human so uh. I don’t know how to feel. I loved Sylvio’s route and I cried a river ლ(ಥ益ಥლ).

After Story: Tiana catches a cold and Gerda accidentally gives her the wrong medicine. She is turned into a cat, and Gerda promises it will wear off on its own in a few days. Until then, most of the guys lose their minds as they try to tackle all of the chores for her without burning the house down. The CGs were too cute I could not. Once again, poor Klaus got the short end of the stick in this. I thought his story was cute but for some reason he always pales in comparison to the others. I’m really praying the fandisk gives him something because I want him to have that content lol. Sylvio’s stole my heart, Lucia’s made me smile, Alfred’s was filled with innuendo he didn’t mean lol, Erik’s was filled with innuendo he totally meant, and Matheus was the usual flirty stuff. There’s also another bonus 4-koma section. They were so short I didn’t see a point in translating them, but they were also cute.

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Vita vs Mobile Port:

Let’s talk about the differences between the English localization of the game and the original Japanese game. Before I get into that, I translated it strictly to practice the Japanese language and to experience the story. I have not made any money off of it. I’d like to continue learning and sharing my progress with you. Feel free to play the game using my translations. Just please DON’T stream the game using mine or use them to try and make a profit. There’s already a localization of this game through Solmare. Please credit me if you use my translations. That’s all I’m asking. Thank you!

Beastmaster & Prince was originally released on the PS2 by Otomate. Then it was ported  to the PSP, the Vita and even the Nintendo Switch. I bought the PS Vita version several years ago before and decided it was finally time I make an effort. The most notable difference between this port and the app is that the mofumofu system has been completely cut from the latter. This was one of the main draws to the game in the first place. The mofumofu system is how you earn affection with the princes via petting them through a minigame.

You hold down the O button while moving the joystick around the screen. There’s a 30 second timer for each session. You can’t see the clock tick down until you have 5 seconds left. You use the directional pad to switch between their upper and lower body. Your goal is to finish the minigame with a pink screen, earning full points. It sounds simple enough but there were several moments where the timer ran out right before the screen turned pink. Then I’d have to restart.

I don’t know why this was cut from the app when it has a touch screen. Was it a budget reason? Could the app not handle it? Did they not receive the rights for this? I have no idea. The other huge difference is the total absence of voice acting. This is usually how mobage goes and one of many reasons I stopped playing them years ago. It’s shame they weren’t included when they had such a stellar cast of seiyuu, but that’s gotta be expensive to get the rights for.

I only sampled the first chapter of the app because it was free, so I don’t know what else was cut. Some people have told me that some of the scenes during the Carnival were cut in Matheus’ route, but I can’t confirm that. Something that stood out to me right away is the cost. The asking price for the entire game through Solmare is crazy cheap compared to what I forked over for the Vita version.

This is also paying for someone’s livelihood. And unlike a lot of mobage I’ve played, this one has a stellar translation. I was thoroughly impressed. If you don’t have a console to play this game and don’t mind the aforementioned cut content, the app is a great way to experience the story. Support the translator. They did a fantastic job! You can always cross-check with mine to see how badly I messed up lmao.

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Final Thoughts:

Coming Full-Circle

Beastmaster & Prince remains a classic among Otomate’s lineup of otome games, and for good reason. It has a charming story, a proactive heroine and a great roster of love interests. It truly is a shame that the Kickstarter failed. I really think it would’ve been a favorite for many. Beastmaster was also one of the very first otome games I wanted to play. All the reviews I’d read back then strongly recommended it. Fast forward several years and I finally played it — in Japanese. The good news is I also translated it in full, so it’s available to anyone who would like to play the game if they have a copy of it (or you can just read through it if you don’t have it). It wasn’t easy and I even developed carpal-tunnel during this project . So do those reviews hold up? Absolutely.

Heroine:

I wasn’t expecting to adore Tiana but here we are. She’s not the most assertive heroine in an otome game, but she didn’t falter in her goals and charged headfirst into danger to save others. She took the reins, came up with plans and took part in them. Her powers were super cool too. While romance played a role in her routes, it was never the most important thing to her and she valued her own dreams. I thought that was really awesome to see.

Music: Nothing really stood out to me but it served its purpose. Beastmaster is also a pretty old game so I can’t really fault it.

Art: If you recognized the art, that’s probably because you’ve played Code Realize. Miko’s earlier artwork is fascinating to look at, especially since you can see some of her inspiration in later games. Hannes and Saint Germain, for instance, are very similar.

Characters:

Matheus: He’s not my favorite, but I can see why Tiana was swept up by the guy. The only issue I had with him was how difficult it was to make out what he was saying. There was a strange quality to his voice, almost like the seiyuu was suffering from a cold. Or maybe the recording was odd?

Klaus: He’s a guilty pleasure route for me. To be honest, I mainly like him so much because of his seiyuu, Hiroki Yasumoto . I swear, every otome game I realize that I really don’t have a type. I think I do, and then I always find something else. Shin-ichiro Miki, Tsuda Kenjirou and Hiroki Yasumoto all have divine voices.

Alfred: Is such a precious cinnamon roll! I loved how everyone teased him the entire route and I thought he and Tiana were adorable together.

Lucia: His route was chef’s kiss. I loved him so much. I know Matheus is the poster boy, but Lucia and Sylvio had me wondering if maybe the role should’ve been reserved for someone else.

Sylvio: Thanks for making me cry my eyes out! I’m trying not to question the things I learned and what that means but I love him. I’m excited for his fandisk route and I pray future otoge give us more love interests like him.

Erik: Someone send me life alert. I’ve fallen and can’t get up. Erik’s route also destroyed me, not because it was sad (it was), but because I realized I like yanderes. But only a specific type. Is there a name for them? I can’t stand the, “I’mma lock you in a cage/kill you so no one else can have you/murder anyone who looks at you,” kind. I loved Erik, Saint Germain, (does Shiraishi count?) and Peter White. If you have any recommendations for sweet yanderes like them, please let me know! I’ve already played Nightshade but I didn’t like Kuroyuki. He was too manipulative for my tastes.

Kurt: So… why didn’t he get a route? I guess there was already a bunch but I can’t help wondering what that would’ve been like. He had a lot of interesting qualities, though I suppose Tiana would’ve gotten tired of his poor memory fast lol.

Gerda: This woman was adorable. She made me laugh so much. I loved her weird dynamic with Sylvio, which reminded me of Team Rocket. Also, you can’t tell me that the game wasn’t insinuating that she and a certain someone were cottagecore lesbians. They are a thing and I refuse to believe otherwise. I want fanart of them.

Beastmaster & Prince was everything I’d hoped it would be. I truly hope that some day the Switch port gets an English release. If you like fluffy, fairy tale-like otome games with assertive heroines and a cast of love interests who respect and admire her, this is the one for you. Toss in a sprinkle of magic, curses and light political intrigue and it’s enough to stand out from the usual lineup. I’d love to replay this some day and will hang onto it until my Vita breathes its last breath. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all are doing good out there. Stay safe, get your shot and mask up when you go out.

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What did you think of Beastmaster? Who’s your favorite character?

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