My Candy Love

My Candy Love, first released in France as Amour Sucré, is an otome game^[2] visual novel for the Browser Game. The game was designed by Chinomiko, and published by Beemoov.

Synopsis

When she arrives at her new high school, Sweet Amoris, after moving, the unnamed protagonist meets several new people among which are Nathaniel, the class president, resident bad boy Castiel, mean girl Amber, and the school's Principal Shermansky. Ready for a fresh start, she soon discovers she's been followed from her old school by Ken, a geeky boy, hopelessly in love with her. It is from here where she must decide how to treat others at her school and which boy's heart to try to earn.

As the chapters of the story, called episodes, progress, she will meet a cast of other usually dateable boys such as Jade or Dajan, Lysander, Leigh, Dake, Armin, and Alexy, as well as the other students and faculty of the school. The heroine must learn to balance the school's events and trials and her friendships and romances throughout the ongoing game.

Game Mechanics

The parts of the story are released in "episodes" or chapters, every few months. Players use their Action Points earned daily to move around, interact with characters, and complete objectives to progress through the episode. Players also receive in-game dollars to spend on clothing, important items, and date outfits, which are often required to receive the illustrations of important moments in the story.

Some illustrations are earned automatically, while others depend on a player's Lov'O'Meter with characters or a player's choices. Like illustrations, the Lov'O'Meters are affected by the player's actions and dialogue. Players may spend fifty in-game dollars in order to obtain more illustrations or to experience parts of the episode they may have missed.

Main Characters

• The Heroine is generally referred to as "Candy", though in the game she will be referred to by the player's username. Though most of her choices are left up to the player, she is notably nosy despite this. Her looks are customizable. In the comic (and/or/called manga), her name is Lynn. There she is a Caucasian-looking, French-girl, straight-haired brunette who the main nerd Kentin has a crush on.
• Nathaniel is the blond angelic class president. Always responsible and serious.
• Castiel is the red haired bad boy musician. His constant moodiness is source of some humor throughout the game. He occasionally teases the heroine for her flat chest.
• Ken or Kentin is at first a geeky boy hopelessly in love with the heroine, but he later makes a comeback as a cool, confident guy.
• Dajan (appears episodes 3 and 11) is a local basketball star. He usually hangs around the gym.
• Jade (appears episodes 3 and 11) in charge of the gardening club. He is found in the school gardens.
• Lysander is a white-haired poet with heterochromia, and shows an interest in Victorian fashion. He sings in the same band as Castiel. He is passive, oblivious, sensitive, and behaves like a gentleman. He has a brother, Leigh.
• Leigh is the older brother of Lysander. He dates Rosalya and tends to the clothing store.
• Dake or Dakota (appears episodes 9, 11, 19 and 21 ) is the archetypical blonde surfer. He flirts very strongly with the heroine. He is from Australia.
• Alexy is a newly enrolled extravert student with blue hair. He reveals his homosexuality a while after his first appearance. He is energetic and likes techno music and shopping. He has a twin brother, Armin.
• Armin is the twin brother of Alexy. He arrives at school the same day as his brother, whom he is very supportive of. He enjoys video games and has a good sense of humor.
• Amber is the queen bee of Sweet Amoris, and the little sister of Nathaniel. Accompanied by her friends, she's always on the look out for mischief and tends to bully the heroine and Ken.
• Charlotte is the quiet, serious friend of Amber.
• Li is Amber's vain, airheaded friend. She is afraid of ghosts.
• Capucine seems to admire Amber and her group, but remains indecisive about siding with her group. She is a bit shy and enjoys music and ballet.
• Rosalya is a fancy-dressed white-haired girl who dates Leigh. The heroine often remarks to herself on Rosalya's prettiness and clothes.
• Melody is second in command besides Nathaniel on the student council. She's sweet and demure.
• Violette a shy, kind, young artist. She comes out of her shell more as the episodes progress.
• Kim is a tomboyish girl who participates in the plastic arts club and the aikido club. She is strong-willed and addresses the heroine as "little girl".
• Iris is a kind, helpful girl and is friends with the heroine and Ken. She often offers advice, but can be forgetful.
• Peggy runs the school newspaper and considers journalism and activism to be synonymous. She can be pushy about getting information and insensitive to how it may affect others, however.
• Nina is a middle-school girl with a crush on Lysander. She often ends up making him uncomfortable. If the heroine has pursued Lysander, Nina will become very threatening to her.
• Lucy or Laeti/Laetitia is a friend of the heroine from the heroine's old school. She is a bit boy-crazy, and tends to go through relationships quickly.
• Mr. Faraize is a new teacher at Sweet Amoris who seems to fear Principal Shermansky. He is kind and forgiving to the heroine.
• The Principal is a normally sweet old woman, though she is prone to moodswings. Her last name is Shermansky, and she owns a pet corgi named Kiki.

Minor Characters

• Agatha or Auntie/Tata is the heroine's aunt/fairy godmother. She sometimes appears in episodes to give the heroine money, action points, or exclusive clothing items. It is debated whether she is an actual fairy or an eccentric aunt.
• François-Xavier de Montherlant is a flamboyant looking young man who runs the Jewelry Shop. He has yet to appear in any episodes, though he is rumored to be roommates with Lysander and Leigh. He may giggle at random times.
• Louis is a kindly old man who runs the Dollar Shop, though he makes cameo appearances in some episodes, often noted as "seeming familiar".
• Boris is a cheerful adult who is kind to the heroine. Though considered unattractive, he is revealed to be Dake's uncle, who is known for his looks. He later becomes a gym teacher.
• Chinomimi is the avatar of the game's creator, ChiNoMiko. She appears in some episodes to offer brief tutorials, and mentions that she is friends with Boris. A wearable doll of her appears in episode 7.

Special Characters

• Willi is a young boy with rabbit ears and tail who appears in the Easter 2012 Special Episode. He is the youngest of the three brothers, and is drawn chibi-style.
• Cotton is an elf boy from the Christmas 2011 Special Episode. He works in Santa's workshop and seems to love his job. He is very kind and generous, and is drawn chibi-style.
• Tije is an elf girl from the Christmas 2012 Special Episode. She takes care of Santa's reindeer. She is drawn chibi-style.
• The Witch is a somewhat rude witch from the Halloween 2012 Special Episode. She guides the heroine throughout the episode. She has a pet cat that may be won by the player.
• Dimitry is a vampire only appearing in the Halloween 2011 Special Episode. He appears to be sad and lonely over the loss of his love, Mary Magdeline. He says that the heroine reminds him of Mary, and he treats her like a gentleman. He has a pet bat, Black.
• Charli is a boy with rabbit ears and tail who appears in the Easter 2012 Special Episode. He is friendly and pleasant. He has two younger brothers, Willi and Wenka.
• Wenka is a boy with rabbit ears and tail who appears in the Easter 2012 Special Episode. He is hostile to the heroine at first, though he may become friendlier over time. He has two brothers, Charli and Willi.
• Viktor is a manga-only boy who is mature, strong, and loyal, though mysterious. As he will soon take over for his father, a rich business man, he travels the world to prepare himself. His name comes from Lysander's original name during his creation process.

Reception

In a span of a few months, My Candy Love had more than 1 million accounts created, according to Beemoov.^[3] On November 12, 2013, Beemoov boasted 2 millions registered accounts on My Candy Love.^[3]

It has been criticized for cliched characters and setting, a lack of skin tone choice in character customization, and the lack of LGBT dating options, which have been repeatedly defended as keeping to the style of the otome genre it is based in, and also that adding skin tones and LGBT dating options would give the creator too high a workload and slow episode production.

The Action Point and Dollar system has also been criticized for not being player-friendly enough, but it is has been stated by Beemoov that it will not change as this would affect the company's income. The speed of episode production has also been criticized; however, it should be noted that new artwork and wearable outfits come with each episode, and that each episode contains over 13,000 words, as stated during the 2013 Christmas Event. Translation from the original French may increase this wait time.

In Other Media

The success of My Candy Love has led to the publishing of an artbook in 2012. The artbook was published by Beemoov both in French and English.

A manga series started to be published in French in late 2012 by publishing house Akileos. Chinomiko signs the scenario, while the drawings are from Chinese artists Xian-Nu and Migoto Sen Chu. As of March 2014, 3 volumes have been released.

A project of animated series realized by Steam House Animation was revealed on May 16, 2013 via an online pilot of 9 minutes.^[4] Although, it received some criticism for its character design, the project is planned for a 2016 broadcast.

Two My Candy Love applications are available. One, simply titled "My Candy Love", is the same game in app form, and is available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, though it requires iOS 4.3 or later and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It is rated 4+. "Dream of", the other application, functions as a game and alarm clock, and is available for the same devices as the other app, though it requires iOS 5.0 or later. It is rated 9+ for mild infrequent mature and suggestive themes. It is currently only available in French and features 6 options for players to interact with. They may choose from Nathaniel, Castiel, and Lysander, each with or without a shirt, of which only regular Nathaniel is free. All three of the characters have pre-set dialogue and voice actors.

My Candy Love has also produced merchandise such as bagdes and plastic figurines, sold online and in fan events such as Japan Expo by Beemov,^[5] and an illustrated agenda published in French-speaking countries by Kazé.

References

External links

• My Candy Love official English site
• My Candy Love official French site