Japanese Release - 08/01/2009
Translated Rerelease - 02/27/2017
Japanese Placement - 12th
Translated Placement - 5th
Length - Medium
Genre - Adventure
A quest for cat food is full of mines!
A quest for cat food is full of mines!
Laying on her deathbed, a mother is surrounded by her two loved ones. Tasking her daughter to go out and buy food for their cat as she lays on the bed dying. The daughter doesn't give a damn about providing for the cat and hopes it feasts on bugs instead. But she reluctantly agrees to it at the request of her mother.
Having visited the local K-Mart for cat food, she is told by the cashier that the Dark Lord residing in Devil Mountain has bought all the cat food. Having gathered up all the nearby cats for their park with unknown intentions.
Emily, the daughter tasked with buying the cat food arrives at the base of Devil Mountain. Her arrival alerted and gained the attention of a talking zombie, mocking them for being a stock zombie at best - ranting her complaints like a normal human being. Her words convince the zombie to change and decides that he'll lead Emily to the Dark Lord's castle.
With her goal stated to the zombie, she prematurely steps into a minefield before her undead guide could warn her. With nothing better to do, he tasks himself with asking the Dark Lord for cat food.
The two greet each other as if they were the bestest of friends. The zombie tells the Dark Lord what is going on and why he's at their home as danger lurks by.
Two humans find themselves being threatened by cats right outside the Dark Lord's home. The flexing they exhibit stares right into their souls.
All you had to do is deliver the cat food!
All you had to do is deliver the cat food!
You are the not-so flesh-eating Zombie, having himself tasked with carrying Emily's quest to get cat food from the Dark Lord of Devil Mountain. Having made friends with the Dark Lord, Zombie now must find a way back to Emily's home to deliver much needed food and bad news.
But danger lurks at the top of Devil Mountain, for it is full of explosive mines. Every step is a chance into the afterlife, every step is one more danger, and every step is one closer to Emily's home.
Can Zombie complete Emily's task or will he become a victim of the minefields?
Will the cat be feasting on roaches?
Features
Features
- A story of following one's last request
- Roach-eatting cat and a huge amount of threatening kittens
- Playable zombie and Dark Lord
- Become heroes of the morden era by any means
- Generic RPG Mechanics
- A Tohou top-down shooter
Screenshots
The story
Emily's Big Adventure is quite possibly one of the few entries in the series to not showcase any misleading nor deceptive titles or graphics - and stays true to what it wants to be from start to finish in its own way though. We're also back to a fully fledged Three-Act Structure narrative unlike the previous entry, Royal Lolicon Quest.
We start off with Emily tasked with buying some cat food due to her dear mother literally on her deathbed. Emily isn't too keen on actually going through with the task, not giving a damn if the cat resorts to eating bugs - this is also a clear cut example of Foreshadowing. Of course not many people actually pick up on the Foreshadowing in this series because of how utterly crazy it is, but it is generally and easily telegraphed in several ways.
So, Emily finds out that the Dark Lord of Devil Mountain bought up all the cat food for their cats, having gathered them all up for whatever reason. You'd think a Dark Lord wouldn't need to actually buy food for their pets since they're evil, the Mad Genius of Kawagoe in fact loves Subverting Tropes, her usage keeps every entry in the series fresh.
Emily gets waylaid by a zombie and decides that she needs to brutally abuse them with her words. Calling out the poor undead for just being a typical zombie - of course this causes them to Suddenly Speak soon after. The moment the zombie speaks, Emily gets herself killed and becomes a Decoy Protagonist - she should've stayed put and listened to the zombie when they warned her about the minefield.
Instead of waving off her sudden death like Keijirou's in Lifescuker Erocula, Zombie decides that he must honor her by completing her task of getting cat food.
Zombie parleys with the Dark Lord and subverts expectations of them being evil because they're chill and willing to share. But then the Dark Lord's cats get vaporized by two humans as they felt threatened by them. Instead of killing the two humans, the Dark Lord calls the police and gets them arrested.
Zombie and the Dark Lord mourn the lost of the cats, and then Zombie gets blown up by explosive mines. Dude just walks to his death just like the very person he was helping.
When the Dark Lord arrives with the intent to deliver the food, Emily's mother passed away, and that the very cat that the food is for is full of roaches. Emily's words have caused it to obtain a vocal chord and the Dark Lord is forced to forcefeed them cat food. But then, the cat just.... bellies over - the roaches have eaten their insides.
So, they go to K-Mart to buy herbal tea that would allow the cat to purge their insides of the roaches. All is safe until Japan passes a law that prohibits online sales of tea, and I think the cat just.. dies.
The characters
We have three sets of protagonists, each of them leading one portion of the narrative. They all get equal screentime unlike Royal Lolicon Quest's cast of characters. I'll divide the important characters into three sections or in the order of appearance in the narrative.
Emily is the initial protagonist of the story and the first to die. She is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold due to not caring about the cat but obviously is willing to help her mother, and that she is a terrible listener who rants quite a bit. Her death inspires Zombie to carry on the task of getting cat food.
Zombie is the second protagonist of the story and assumes the role once Emily accidently gets herself killed by explosive mines. They were just but an ordinary stock zombie you'd find anywhere until Emily's verbal abusing causd them to suddenly have a mind of their own. They're dutiful and set in their way of completing Emily's quest to bring cat food home to her cat. But then they end up dying the same way like Emily via explosive mines.
Then you have the third and final protagonist of the story, the Dark Lord of Devil Mountain. They assume the role of the protagonist once Zombie bites it. They were built-up and written as if they were going to become the antagonist of the story but it becomes quite a Subversion. In fact, they are willing to give cat food to Zombie and help them with Emily's cat is heartwarming.
While they acted as if they were evil, they're very very chill and amicable even to the people who murdered their cats. It's noted very very early that the Dark Lord has been gathering cats/kittens for their park, so it's telegraphed in a way to both show and hide what they really are.
Then you have the antagonist, Emily's cat. They basically only exist because Emily's words at the start sent them down a path of utter darkness, feasting on roaches as both their owners die - naturally and via minefields respectively. But they are redeemed by being forcefed cat food.
Overall
This entry is pretty okay as it is, and alot better than Royal Lolicon Quest.
You've got a clear and defined storyline that's basically passing the task onto another person with a goal of feeding someone's cat. You have three acts centered on a different protagonist that all get their time to shine, and an antagonist that is simple and fresh.
From the get to, Emily and Zombie are Decoy Protagonists of the story as a whole with the Dark Lord taking center stage as the main protagonist. It isn't too often that a supposedly evil character actually assumes the protagonist role and stay good.