My Lovey-Dovey Demon Review

I’m a sucker for a good visual novel. What was once a genre I didn’t care much for is now one I can’t seem to get enough of. One such developer I’ve been using as my personal supplier is ebi-hime, a visual novel writer with nearly a decade of experience who specialises mostly in yuri and ‘grim’ stories. As such, when I saw their most recent release being centred around the summoning of a demon, it was more than enough to pique my interest. 

My Lovey-Dovey Demon is a kinetic visual novel, meaning that there are no decisions or branching narratives. Through this, we follow the story of Taiki, a 19-year-old university student from Tokyo who’s on holiday with his siblings at his grandparents' cabin over the summer. Taiki is mostly a faceless protagonist; whilst he does have an appearance that shows up in CGs, he has no sprite to represent himself during dialogue, which allows more focus to be put on the other members of the cast. Whilst on vacation for the week, the family accidentally stumbles into the occult and summons Elisabeth, a demon from Hell who very quickly gets attached to Taiki during her stay with the family. 

Anyone aware of ebi-hime’s work may hear that premise and assume it leans toward a darker narrative, but My Lovey-Dovey Demon sets out to quell that possibility almost instantly. My Lovey-Dovey Demon wastes no time telling its story, with Elisabeth showing up within ten minutes of the game starting. From here, it becomes very clear of the kind of story being told. 

MLDD is a fluffy, charming love story that explores the joys and trepidations of young love through the mystical lens of a hormonal boy and a demon with zero clue of how human society works. Any notion that this will be anything other than a wholesome love story is rapidly and efficiently shut down within the early stages of the narrative. It’s a story without really any stakes, and it doesn’t need them. The journey of the characters we have is interesting enough without adding more tension.

Elisabeth, being a demon, is naturally expected to come off a lot more hostile than she does in the game, which is something that the narrative itself does touch on. Elisabeth’s entire personality works well to walk the line between making her ditsy and clueless enough to rely on those around her (mostly Taiki) without diminishing her agency as a character. She’s the perfect opposite of everything you’d expect from a demon: kind, compassionate, awfully sweet, and harbouring a fear of rejection. She offers a surprisingly snug fit for our social outcast of a protagonist by being an outcast in her own right in a very different way. A familiar tale of love told effectively through a fantasy lens.

To its merit, MLDD is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, nor does it need to. The bizarre comedy of the plot does more than enough to hold the readers' suspension of disbelief. It quickly establishes its plot of ‘demon girl gets summoned in the family home’ as fantastical without wasting too much time on everyone’s reactions to it, which allows us to spend more time with Elisabeth and Taiki as a pairing, as well as his siblings and grandparents.

Clocking in at around six hours to read from start to finish, MLDD has a surprisingly sized cast outside of protagonist Taiki and the love interest of Elisabeth for its shorter length. We have Taiki’s two grandparents, Shunsuke and Makiko, and his younger siblings Reza, Chiharu, and Nene. Taiki’s grandparents offer a surprising level of callousness to the situation, which helps keep the story grounded despite its rather fantastical premise as well as throwing a good dose of humour into many scenes. Reza, the youngest sibling, serves as a strong emotional anchor for both Elisabeth and Taiki, as it is through him that the two of them can show their more caring sides. Chiharu is the eldest sister, being only a year younger than Taiki, and exists as an occasional voice of reason to the madness. She inquires with Taiki regarding the nature and intention of his relationship towards Elisabeth, and whilst she may tease and come off aloof, it never breaches into the realm of cruelty and instead offers a good way for our protagonist to bounce his thoughts around in a more interesting way than internally monologuing. 

The most eccentric of the cast is Nene, the middle child who manages to somehow out-weird the literal demon. Her tiring love of theatrics and bizarre idiolect has the makings of a character that could get boring or irritating quite quickly, but the line is toed in such a way that this never really becomes a problem. Nene’s love for the pseudo-occult contrasts surprisingly well with the actual occult happenings in the game without coming off as cringeworthy or uncomfortable, in large part due to the game never deciding to take itself too seriously. Nene feels like a character that wouldn’t work in almost any other story, but MLDD seems to be a perfect fit for her specific flavour of crazy without souring the pot. 

All of these characters come together to not only make a pleasantly palatable depiction of sibling relationships and interactions in a piece of media, but they all support the overarching plot of Taiki and Elisabeth’s brewing relationship. The interactions our witless lovers have with the other characters are just as important as the ones they have with each other, and there’s never a moment that feels like it didn’t belong. Everything that happens between the characters in MLDD contributes something to the story in some form, and it gives the entire experience a brilliant pace that never feels like it moves on too quickly nor overstays its welcome. 

The sprites and CGs present in MLDD are all very well designed. There’s a distinct ‘anime-esque’ feeling to the art style that offers a perfect coating for the story. Each character has a recognisable silhouette, and it’s evident ebi-hime had a lot of fun with their designs. An obvious standout is Elisabeth, who clearly had a lot of love put into her appearance and offers a fun visual design even before you consider the tail, wings, and horns. With many CGs making sure to capture her wings and tail and Elisabeth herself getting several outfit changes throughout the story (a known rarity for visual novels), it’s clear a lot of love went into the starring lady, and it all works well together to make her a likeable character, which, for the game's love interest, is an important trait to have.

Despite the more fan-servicey appearance of Elisabeth, which can be seen as early as the game’s cover image, the sexual content in My Lovey-Dovey Demon is actually rather minimal. Outside of Taiki’s euphemistic descriptions of exactly how (and specifically, where) Elisabeth makes him feel, the worst any sexual content gets is with vague innuendos. Even in the 18+ patch, which does add a single sex scene at the end of the game, it’s a tame and soft one that doesn’t show much that hasn’t already been seen. It’s a satisfying culmination of where the story between Elisabeth and Taiki had been leading to and is a surprisingly sentimental scene that navigates the uncertainty of doing it for the first time with equal parts awkwardness, humour, and affection. 

If the idea of naked demon girl titties is what attracted you to this game, you may want to find something else to get your fix. But if you’re looking for a soft love story with a touch of fantasy and a good dose of humour and characterisation to top it off, My Lovey-Dovey Demon hits all of these marks brilliantly.