Every Otome is a Joseimuke. But not every Joseimuke Game is an Otome. Joseimuke is an umbrella for games directed towards a female audience and this includes non-romantic content.
If the game has a female protagonist and male characters, but no actual romance or romance as part or direct influence of the storyline but directed towards a female audience, it’s a Joseimuke. (E.g. Obey Me, Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice, A3!)
If the game has romance and a female protagonist, but no male love interests, that’s not an otome game. (LGBTQ+ Games with a queer female protagonist with other queer characters that exclude any male identifying ones)
If the game has romance and male love interests, but no female protagonist as an option, but still has a major female audience, that’s not an otome game and possibly also not a Joseimuke. (Games with only neutral/ masculine NB or Masculine Protagonists that pursue a variety of love interest of any identity. Bara is commonly gay games for gay men, for example, and would not count as a Joseimuke.)
Often other Joseimuke can be distinguished that the dates or romantic bits are locked behind cards or gacha and have no influence on the main story or the characters; thus, canonical never happened. Therefore, they lack the essence of an otome game where you obtain an actual ending versus the known “husbando” collector games that are about gathering more cards and events rather than a conclusion.
Joseimuke also includes:
- Sapphic/ WLW content (e.g. Heaven Will Be Mine, Please Be Happy)
- BL directed at mostly a female audience (e.g. DRAMAtical Murder, Hashihime of the Old Book Town)
- Stories about male protagonists for a largely female audience (commonly distinguished through the art style, e.g. ENIGMA: by Fruitbat Factory, My Dear Frankenstein)
Popular Joseimuke / Non-Otome Romance Games: