喧嘩番長乙女 Kenka Bancho Otome – Houou

Houou is a third year and the strongest bancho in Shishiku. He’s Hikaru’s brother (not related to him though), so he treats Hinako like her little bro and is super happy when she calls him “onii-san” cause apparently Hikaru treats him like shit.

So rumor has it that Urashima are acting suspiciously hostile. This causes Houou to be more aware so he tells his dad he’ll be keeping his eyes peeled, especially around Hinako (or Hikaru in his eyes) since she’s the top fighter in Shishiku. So while on the lookout he invites her out and hangs out with her while telling her she’s his precious bro and always wants her to rely on him (which makes Hinako question why Hikaru hates him so much when he’s so darn nice lol).

Unfortunately, Urashima guys are starting to cause shit so Sakaguchi to Hikaru they need to be on the downlow for a bit and have him return home and attend to Shishiku for now. Hikaru is so fucking pissed about this idea that he literally lashes out at everyone as himself in Shishiku so everyone is terrified of him. In addition, Hinako goes back to her girl’s school and stays at the apartment on her own. Hikaru tries his hardest to leave his home since he does not like the idea of going to Shishiku, but Sakaguchi ends up dragging him back under his father’s orders.

Eventually, Hinako is able to return to Shishiku for the cultural festival because they have a sort of fighting tournament that Hikaru obviously can’t participate in. So when she comes back as “Hikaru” everyone exclaims that she’s back to normal. Apparently the real Hikaru treated everyone like their personal servants (except for Yuuta who he clinged to 24/7 lmao). So she apologizes to everyone for it and participates in the tournament. She of course, beats everyone, including Houou. Thus, she’s crowned as the new legendary bancho.

But something Houou says makes her anxious so she goes to talk to him. He reveals he’s not actually related to her by blood, and he’s not a true Onigashima heir. His real father’s name was Kaizu Shinya. And he died protecting Hikaru’s uncle and was adopted into the Onigashima family. So Houou basically waited until she was stronger than him so he could earn the title and protect it. This makes Hinako kinda feel like shit cause this something Houou wanted to convey to Hikaru himself, not her. So she not only feels bad she’s hearing this, but also feels jealous how Houou cares so much about Hikaru and it’s almost like she’s non-existent to him as “Hinako”.

So when Hinako tells Hikaru everything, he flips the fuck out and says he doesn’t want anything to do with that shit nor does he want to be the top bancho or yakuza leader. Apparently Hinako’s dad left her in an orphanage because theu didn’t need a daughter, cause we have a son!! (which ironically enough ends up being the one who can’t fight lmao). So Hikaru is in a complete slump over this and finally decides to visit Hinako and ask her to convince Houou for him to be the heir instead. So when she visits him, she insists that he is more suited to be the Onigashima heir, regardless of blood. But Houou is not convinced and still believes “Hikaru” is fit for the role. He says he planned to leave town and disclaim the Onigashima name if Hikaru was to become the next leader.

After that, Hinako finds out that the Urashima gang attacked Hikaru on his way to school. So Hinako decides to switch places with Hikaru and live at the Onigashima home. She lives there for almost half a month and bonds more with her “onii-chan” who is super happy to see her smile since Hikaru had been depressed recently. Once she goes back to school, she finds out Hikaru has been treating everyone like shit again lmao. Hinako gets really awkward around her dad since she doesn’t know how to speak to him. Meanwhile, Houou teaches Hinako the importance of family and how becoming a yakuza leader means protecting those in their town.

So a day before Houou’s birthday, Hinako gets sick and goes home early to rest. Next day, she’s still not better and her fever only gets worse. She tries to go to school so she can celebrate Houou’s birthday with everyone, but collapses. So Houou takes her to Hikaru’s room to rest up. So in order to make her breathe easier, he takes off her uniform and WTF BOOBS. He’s all “wtf???? This isn’t my brother!!” but decides to at least care for her until she wakes up. So when she does wake up, he confronts her about it and she admits she’s not really Hikaru.

She then takes him to the apartment Hikaru is at and they both scream like little girls when they see each other (also cause Hikaru was dressed as a girl). Houou is pissed off at Hikaru for his lies and demands an explanation. So he tells him that he and Hinako are twins that were separated at birth. Houou can barely wrap his head around the situation, but Hinako begs him not to completely blame Hikaru. She was only able to meet everyone because she attended Shishiku. Either way, because of this, Houou says he will take the title as Onigashima successor. So Hikaru gets Houou to promise not to tell their dad, for now at least. Regardless, Hikaru is forced back home while Hinako lives alone in her apartment.

On Christmas eve, Houou visits and tells her that he’s still trying to find out more about her and what happened with her and her dad. He also gets her a cake that Sakaguchi made, while Hinako gives him a scarf and gloves as a belated birthday gift. He pats her head but remembers that she’s not his bro anymore, but she still would rather treat her the same. Unfortunately he can’t do that now that he knows she’s a girl (prob cause he has the hots for her). He does however, ask if he can call her “Hinako” which she is of course fine with.

Houou soon decides to confront his father about Hikaru having a sister. He admits its true and that because they didn’t need a woman in the yakuza, she was thrown into the countryside. Houou also finds out from Hikaru (after breaking down his door) that he found put about Hinako through a martial arts magazine. Unfortunately, their conversation is cut short by a gun shot and they find out the Urashima are attacking. A couple days later Hikaru is trying to gtfo out of his house but Sakaguchi and Houou keep snatching him back. Houou notices Hinako wearing her girl school uniform for the first time and tells her it really suits her. Unfortunately, one of the Urashima guys were spying on them and found out that Hikaru has a twin sister.

Apparently, the dad’s brother, Kenji, lost a yakuza leader fight 15 years ago. And cause he’s still pissed about it, he wants revenge on the Onigashima and joined the Urashima instead. So Houou visits Hikaru to make sure he stays there since the Urashima would be after him. It then gets brought up that Hinako should be safe since no one knows about her but Hikaru reveals that the bancho group at their school would know. This leads to Houou believing Hinako is in danger and runs off. So Kenji encounters Hinako and tells her who he is. She remembered what Houou told her about him. He tries to kidnap her but she kicks the shit out of his goonies. He immediately brings out a knife and thats when Houou appears telling him to back the fuck off. They dont really get a chance to duke it out though cause the cops appear and they run for it.

So Houou takes Hinako to the Onigashima home now that she’s a target of them. And when her dad sees her he’s actually really relieved to see that she’s alive and well. He then reveals the truth as to why he really didn’t keep her in his family. He didn’t want his daughter and wife to get involved with the yakuza so he had them sent to the countryside. He thought only Hikaru would be their target, but he held Hinako and her mother hostage and would only spare their life if he ended his own. So just as he was about to let Kenji kill him, Houou’s dad stepped in and got stabbed instead. So Kenji was arrested and Hinako and her mom just went missing so their dad had no ways about finding them. So he then hugs them and starts crying and says he’ll protect them and their family.

Houou awkwardly leaves and Hinako runs after him. She thanks him for bringing their family back together. Unfortunately, he’s already decided that he’ll leave so there’s no more disputes about the Onigashima leader. So Hinako starts living at the Onigashima home. On Valentines day she makes chocolates for all the guys there and Houou gets super jelly. She surprises him with some special made chocolate for him though. A few days later Houou finally makes his decision to leave and hugs Hinako before leaving, while telling her to forget about him.

Houou decides to attack Kenji and the Urashima group on his own in order to stop them from attacking the Onigashima family. Hinako soon finds out and rushes to the scene, making sure Houou doesn’t actually kill the guy. So they beat the shit out of his gang and soon Hikaru arrives with the police. After all that, Houou realizes he’s in love with Hinako and tells her he wants her to stay be his side. So they go to dad’s to get his approval of them dating. So he finally approves on the condition they marry and Houou is officially welcomed into the family. They have a traditional Japanese wedding and Sakaguchi and Hikaru flip their shit lmao. In the epilogue, Houou is jelly that Hinako hangs with her Shishiku boys and makes out with her saying he’ll treasure her as his wife.

Thoughts: Surprisingly, Houou doesn’t have a friendship route. Which wasn’t an issue for me, cause I hated having to keep filling the gauge and not being able to skip certain fights. Houou’s route was so good though, and it felt surprisingly, realistic? When he found out she was actually a girl, he didn’t suddenly want to make out with her or anything or realize he likes her now cause she’s a girl. He was more like “wtf why is there a girl that looks like my brother here?” and he actually felt really bad for her cause Hikaru took advantage of her situation. I also would’ve liked to see more Hikaru/Houou moments. It would’ve been nice to actually see them brotherly bonding instead of yelling at each other all the time lol. OH, and Houou with his hair down is too hot for words, oh boyyyyyy. I mean, I still kinda dig the Aizen hairdo, but put it down once in a while.

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Overall Thoughts:  This game was a lot of fun. It took me forever to write up these last few reviews, but I really liked it. The art was great, music was really catchy (reminded me of Jet Set Radio and Sonic lmao), and the characters + seiyuu made it all the more worth it. Kira was my favorite though Totomaru was a close second. Even Konparu had his adorable moments. Nevertheless, I loved ALL the characters. AND SAKAGUCHI IS ONE OF THE BEST SUPPORT CHARACTERS EVER. If he had a route, I’d be completely fine with that. And If you’re looking for a strong heroine and a fun set of characters, this is definitely an otome game you don’t want out miss out on.

So, maybe Spike has shown interest, maybe they haven’t; either way, you never know so sign this petition and perhaps that’ll get their attention! They stated if there’s enough interest, so… perhaps a petition shows that? I’m not sure if Spike will actually localize this game, but they do, this game is a good choice cause it sends that important message that “girls can be strong too” like seriously, Hinako doesn’t fuck around. Even when the guys found she was a girl, they were skeptical at first, but realized “wow this girl IS badass” and still fought along side them. So it doesn’t matter what gender you are, you can still kick ass and find love in the process!!