Absolutely charming short story, got me all giddy throughout the read. The audio-visual direction is top-notch, just a little minus from some of the murky BGs, but that's no big deal. I do feel the ending is not... conclusive somehow? Some potential subplots were hinted at, but the curtain was already called. Regardless, INtSDL,bIWO is just amazing and lovely.

The only thing I regret is the short screen time of Kirari. She's the queen, the girlboss, the mother... and she allowed the principal to continue the assembly.

Easily a standout entry; utterly charming and competently written, with a steadily executed aesthetic that gives the game a unique visual identity before you even download it. The character designs are all brilliant and don't feel even slightly burdened by the lack of colors, and the illustrations play with the visual language of comics in what feels like a fitting nod towards the obvious influences. Full points for style.

The interpretation of the game jam's theme is fine; I get it, even if the slightly weird repetition of the word "expanding" feels like the most explicit sign of that being what prompted the story. It could have felt weightier in some other way, I suppose. At first, I honestly thought it was going to be one of those "expand your horizons" cases since that feels more fundamental to the story on an emotional level and the "expand your time with him" angle mostly just sets off the plot.

The first couple of scenes are fantastic – there's a fun satiric touch to how the game uses its archetypical characters to examine a setting where queerness is unremarkable, with the high school bad boy using his frankly bizarre grip on the entire institution to stage an elaborate confession of gay love. As the story goes on, however, the sense of escalation to the drama and the absurdity of it all feels pretty muted, and the conclusion comes off as a little jarring in how sudden it is. I like the full-color illustration, though – it's visually punchy, one of those things that remains an enduring classic because it works.

But if the original ending is sort of weak, the very last part (which I'm understanding is some kind of bonus thing added after the initial release) feels even less appropriate as a stopping point. The scene itself is cute and fun like the rest of it, but it's more in the business of filling the gaps than revealing anything genuinely new about the dynamic of these characters, presenting a final turning point, or summarizing the journey so far. I wish there had been a stronger, more conclusive note to really cap off the narrative gracefully.

Let's not be hyperbolic and say the ending ruins the entire game or anything, but I'm Now the School Delinquent's Lover, but I Want Out!! does feel a little underwhelming on the whole, a great setup in need of a conclusion to match its highs. Still, very enjoyable, can't imagine anyone having a bad time playing it.

The presentation is impeccable, and it's especially impressive as something that was made by one person in half the month allowed. Not only is the art great, but everything comes together very seemlessly, it genuinely felt like watching an anime episode.

Tbh this is my main gripe with this entry. While it's incredibly polished and it wouldn't look out of place as a professionally made game, the story felt a bit too generically anime for me. It lacked that sort of viscerally intimite je ne sais quoi that I look for when I read indie FVNs. But that's more a matter of personal taste than it being a shortcoming of the VN.

On a more objective note, you can really tell the story awkwardly continues past its intended ending to deliver a little side story that does not feel as conclusive. I think it would have been better to have the side story be bonus content you can access from the menu once you complete the game, instead of the story just going on and diving into the mini episode without any kind of separation.

Final very small nitpick is that some of the backgrounds looked noticeably more low quality.

Again, kudos for the impressive work!

You know, I'm pretty sure that me and Konpeito have completely opposite tastes in media. As such, I went into this with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

But, goddamn, this game was so charming.

The art style is good. The sound design is fantastic. And the plot just works. It just works; there's no other way to describe it. It's cute and its fun and it wrapped me up in its stupid, silly romance that kept me smiling till the end.

If I had to give a few critiques, I would say that the theme is not very present and there was a textbox overflow with one of the dialogues. 

Still an excellent entry! So glad I played it!

BRO

Bowser Puma has been talkin' my ear off about this, so it was a high priority read for me, and he was so right about this. While I havent fully read through Konpeito's previous works, I've seen enough to know that he writes compelling dramas. School drama stuff isn't really my speed these days, but as previously stated, Bowser wont shut up about these, and I knew it would at least be entertaining, if not a genre i particularly enjoy.

I'm very happy to have had my expectations so thoroughly overcome. I'm Now the School Delinquent's Lover, but I Want Out!! Starts strong with an interesting premise. The title, though ostentatious in the way only anime can be, sets the core question, and it only gets more interesting as it plays out. Akuma, the titular delinquent, seems to have genuine feelings for our main character, Haruto. Meanwhile, Haruto is simultaneously too scared of Akuma to stay with him, and too much of a coward to back out of the relationship, giving him just enough time to see that maybe Akuma isn't such a bad guy after all? The ensuing 'will they, wont they?' had me clapping my paws and bouncing in my chair. I laughed and surprisingly, given the light tone of it, I cried as well!

(oh, theme implementation, i gave 4 stars cuz i thought it was a good implementation for what you were going for, putting it in as a line for "expanding time" spent in the relationship. I thought it was a weird wording, but it folded into the vibe of the VN very well, and for that i think its a pretty good implementation, thought maybe it could have been better.)

Hat's off to you Konpeito. I'll def be keeping a closer eye on your work after this!

Spoilers ahead, but you're likely playing this first before looking at the comments.

Theme: Not quite present here. Expansion of friend group? But then they're pushed aside narratively?

Story: You were authentically hitting up beats that I see in manga, so that was fun. As soon as they were in the locker room for the side story, I knew exactly what tropes you were pulling, having seen it so many times before.

I liked the explanation for why Akuma was into Haruto, but I kind of wish we saw that ourselves. The Haruto on screen was very boyfail, and Akuma's explanation gives him more depth that I feel like we're lacking. We're getting that sort of archetype of the harem protagonist who doesn't have much going for them but builds up a harem nonetheless (I don't have to name names, you can throw a rock at most mangas and find an example). There was too much self-deprecation, to make the interest feel earned for me. Haruto says he's not worth being interested in so much that I believed him, even if he is a cutie patootie.

Honestly, I was kinda feeling the romantic tension between Udon and the Dalmatian, and was ready for the narrative to focus on them instead. You did a very archetypical bully with heart of gold who people make more assumptions about but he still is tough, and I cant' help but think that this is relatively in the same conversation as Worst Dating Sim, my beloved.

The boss of the meat store knowing the bully has a heart of gold? Of course. Treating him for the date? Of course. Protag likes gaming meaning arcade? Of course! Stalks him at the con? Oh boy.

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Story Aside: Hatsune Miku? Minus a quadrillion point, I don't make the rules /s 

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Presentation: Love your music usage--felt very anime, upbeat, preppy, but that made the brief moments were there were no music stand out. Also one track felt like elevator music which was an interesting choice.

I kinda wish they were wearing sailor outfits(the gakuran), as those are really iconic for delinquents in iconic anime/manga throughout the years (Jotaro, Kuwabara, Josuke, Yusuke, whatever is happening in Tokyo Revengers that I didn't read). Even in Beezelbub, some of the chars still wear the outfits. 

Bunny? Slay. Diva. Icon. Queen. Mother.

The background filter adds consistency to your fun black and white style (and allows for the color finish), but it muddied the backgrounds a bit. I wonder if more time could have been spent in altering the backgrounds to ensure that they didn't come out so muddy. Or maybe if you did brief sketch ones instead, as those would also be black and white and fit in to the themes? Idk.

Akuma's pose speaks to the stiffness he carries, but I almost wish his arms moved at least a little. He's so tall compared to the rest of the cast-- I had to keep going back to look for the expressions because his face was my only cue and he's the tallest thing on screen. Far away from the text.

Creativity: I like your usage of black and white (which is perhaps due to the time constraint) and making it into a stylistic choice that brings it closer to some of your inspiration's source material... manga!

The narrative beats felt very expected and derived from that very same inspo though, and I think the delinquent uniforms could have stood to be  the same level of baseline expressive as the bunny with her tie and mask.

Overall Thoughts: You hit the mark on making your own take of this manga trope, and I can see why everyone is flocking to it. It's fun and cute.

I just wanted more derivation from these tropes and beats, because I already read too much manga for my own good. I needed more than the one-shot chapter. I needed this to get to serialization's changes.

Your art style really meshed with the story you wanted to tell, and I can see why you're gonna be one of the top rankers of this game jam, and it's not undeserved. Good job! And hopefully your other works will continue to get more attention now as well!