Follow TV Tropes

Following

Visual Novel / My Candy Love

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mclog.png
Who will you choose?
My Candy Love (Amour Sucré, lit. Sweet Love) is an online visual novel created by Beemoov. You play as a young adult who recently moved to the city of Sweet Amoris, either for the first time or as a former resident. She quickly becomes involved with the minutiae of her friends and peers, often getting into various adventures (and misadventures). The main character's name is up to you, though she's officially referred to as Candy. For the sake of simplicity, the player character is going to be referred to as "Candy/your Candy/our Candy" and with female pronouns.

The game is split into four seasons: "High School Life", "University Life", "Love Life", and "Alternative Life". Seasons can be played in any order, as most of them include a mandatory tutorial episode. You don't have to finish one season in order to start another, and switching between them won't make you loose any progress. "High School Life", "University Life", and "Love Life" each offer five potential love interests, and "Alternate Life" focuses on three of the HSL boys that didn't make it into second and third season.

The main objective of the game is to have your Candy become romantically involved with one of the available romance options. Dialogue options appear many times during Candy's interactions with them and how much they like or dislike Candy depends on the choices you make. Choose correctly, and you'll be able to raise their affinity and potentially unlock illustrations. Unlocking illustrations is also mostly dependent on which date outfit you choose; most episodes include more than one, and choosing incorrectly can lead to a missed opportunity even if that love interest's affinity is high enough.

In addition to the main game, there are several bonus episodes, the ability to customize your Candy's appearance from her physical attributes to her wardrobe, and plenty of holiday events that take place throughout the year. The events offer you the opportunity to win exclusive clothing for your Candy and illustrations of love interests.

In November 2022, it was announced that a spin-off titled My Candy Love: NewGen is in development. In July 2023, the NewGen website was launched for preregistration.


This game provides examples of:

  • Abhorrent Admirer: Kentin transferred to Sweet Amoris just so he could be with Candy. Depending on your choices, Candy can be upset that he followed her and very displeased to see him again. Even if you are polite to him and end "A New High School" with him, Candy is shown pouting in the illustration. After coming back from military camp, Kentin is far more restrained in his shows of affection.
  • Abusive Parents: Nathaniel and Amber were raised by parents who didn't seem to care much about them as people. For Nathaniel, their father was physically abusive and their mother emotionally neglectful. While Amber was adored by their father, their mother was emotionally abusive. This treatment impacted both their personalities and actions in HSL, and definitely had some lasting impressions in UL.
  • Allegedly Free Game: It takes months to rake in enough action points to play through one episode, due to how much AP they use and because of how little AP you get per day by comparison. The events use AP as payment to get through the event faster, and most events include an outfit that you can only obtain by purchasing AP or Gold.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Nathaniel, Castiel, Kentin, and Armin are prone to saying things to Candy that are suggestive. Castiel's the most obvious one, since he's the one that comments about Candy's bust size the most.
  • Almost Kiss: Candy almost locks lips with different love interests at several points during HSL and UL.
  • Alpha Bitch:
    • In HSL, Amber bullies Candy during their first interaction for seemingly no reason. She steals money from Candy and has her own Girl Posse.
    • In UL, Yeleen is a downplayed example for how she treats Chani and Candy, i.e. with distaste and condescension.
  • Alternate Timeline: The "Alternate Life" seasons take place in a different timeline in which your Candy was able to reconnect with either Lysander, Kentin, or Armin during her last year at university.
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Participating in events gives you the opportunity to earn new outfit pieces in exchange for playing mini-games or completing certain tasks within a limited time frame.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: In "A Perfect Mask", Candy can (sort of) confess her feelings to Castiel during an argument with him. This doesn't end the argument.
  • Animal-Eared Headband: There are several clothing items that include bunny or cat ears.
  • Animesque: The artstyle evokes the look of the anime/manga aesthetic, mainly the exaggerated facial features.
  • Anti Poop-Socking: The action point system is deliberately designed to make playing through an episode take awhile. With few exceptions, clicking on each piece of dialogue- be it Candy's narration or a character speaking- will deduct two AP from your inventory. The average episode costs at least 1,500 AP, but you only get twenty per log in. While you can get a bit extra through specific log-in bonuses and minigames, it will still take awhile for free-to-players to collect enough AP to play through an episode in one go.
  • Art Evolution: Since the games initial release, the character sprites have undergone a few changes as the artist has gained more experience. The illustrations show just how much the art has changed. In general, body proportions have gotten better, the lineart far more seamless, and the shading more soft and realistic. With the implementation of Live 2D, most of the sprites have become animated as well, making the characters feel more alive.
  • Audience Surrogate: Candy is the player's gateway to the world of MCL. Sometimes, she'll even remark on the absurdity of some of the situations she finds herself in.
  • Author Avatar: In HSL, ChiNoMimi acts as a stand in for the game's creator and art director, ChiNoMiko. ChiNoMimi explains how the game works and will pop up whenever an episode has a particular gimmick.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: There are several relationships that appear strained but are actually better than Candy first imagines. The relationships between Rosalya and Leigh, Nathanial and Amber, and Castiel and his parents, for example, all seem to be contentious, but it becomes clear that they all have a genuine love and respect for one another.
  • Bathtub Bonding: Castiel and Candy bathe together during "Think!". Castiel's dog even joins in.
  • Beach Episode: "By the Seashore" and "Wave of Emotions" included an episode where Candy takes a trip to the beach.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Despite being the younger twin, Nathaniel is protective of Amber. At the beginning of HSL, he would defend her actions no matter what, even when innocent people were hurt by them. In UL, they lean on each other a bit more and don't fight as often. Whenever Nathaniel finds himself in danger of any sort, he does his best to hide it from Amber to keep her from worrying.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • In "Sherlock Sucrette's First Investigation", when Amber tries to slap Candy, she can be stopped by one of the love interests before she can land a blow.
    • Towards the end of "Reunion", Nathaniel reintroduces himself by scaring away some street goons that were going to do something horrible to Candy.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Candy and her crush share a kiss at the end of "An Almost Perfect Dinner". In UL, the kiss happens during "First Date". In both cases, Candy and whoever she kissed become a couple.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first glance, Deborah seems like a cool and interesting person. She quickly dismantles that notion when she warns Candy not to get on her bad side or she'll destroy her. Yeleen is a milder version; she's genuinely nice to anyone who isn't Candy or Chani (at least in the beginning) and she'll treat Candy better when her friends are around.
  • Bland-Name Product:
    • In "Final Exams!", Castiel is shown holding a WcDonald's bag in his illustration.
    • In "A Shattered Mask", Armin mentions a "Gooble" and "Wifipedia".
  • Break the Cutie: In UL, while there aren't any contained arcs per say, there are events that last several episodes that clearly take a toll on Candy's mental well being. If it weren't for the support of her loved ones, who knows how she would even have graduated.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Emergency, Lost Dog!" had Candy running around the school to capture the principal's dog, Kiki. During the next episode, when Candy goes to tell Castiel about what she and Li saw the night before, he guesses that you found Kiki. Candy comments that he's an episode late.
  • Breather Episode: Inbetween each major story arc, there's usually a more light-hearted episode; after dealing with Deborah and her bullying, there's an episode where Candy and her classmates "rescue" some rabbits due to a misunderstanding.
  • The Bus Came Back: In HSL, Kentin was written out of the story at the beginning of "Emergency, Lost Dog!". Ten episodes later, he returned to Sweet Amoris sporting a new look and a (somewhat) new attitude.
  • Cassandra Truth: A major obstacle in two arcs.
    • In HSL: Deborah's nasty, bullying personality was discovered by Nathaniel and Candy very early on. She almost got away with it because almost no one believed them.
    • In LL: Castiel is accused of plagiarizing some of his music. His record company, most of his fans, and even some of his bandmates treated him as guilty until he could prove his innocence. Hyun had a tough time managing his social media pages and Nathaniel had to be very discreet in his investigation in order for the truth to get out.
  • The Casanova:
    • Dakota obviously prefers Candy, but he'll flirt with just about any pretty face.
    • By the time UL starts, both Castiel and Nathaniel have realized their potential as chick magnets and are implied to have had several flings before Candy comes back into their lives. Part of the drama of pursing Castiel is his numerous female fans and his ambiguous feelings towards them.
  • Character Customization: You can choose Candy's name, hair color, hair style, eye color, skin color and her attire. In HSL, Candy's hair color, hair style and eye color will be reflected in illustrations, and in UL and LL, Candy's hair color, eye color, and skin tone are reflected (her hair style will always be long and straight).
  • Chekhov's Gun: For most of HSL, finding Lysander's notebook was treated as a simple, throwaway mission. In "Happy Life, Double Life", the notebook became a key factor in Lysander regaining his memories.
  • Cooldown Hug: At the end of "A Perfect Mask", one of the love interests (sans Castiel) will give Candy a comforting hug when she breaks down into tears thanks to Deborah's bullying. In UL, if you're on Hyun's route, he will give Candy a few hugs to bolster her spirits.
  • Cliffhanger: Some episodes leave the audience in the middle of a dramatic event. "The Love of Art - Part 2" ends shortly after Lysander gets hit by a car.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Rosalya almost got close to fighting Deborah because she was flirting with Leigh. In high school, Melody had a huge crush on Nathaniel and would be extra bitter towards Candy if she was pursing him. Candy herself will develop this towards whoever she is crushing on/dating.
  • Closet Key: In "University Life", Priya can serve as a bisexual awakening for Candy.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy:
    • Each of the love interests in HSL have jealous tenancies, Castiel being the worst of the five.
    • With UL, there aren't many instances where the love interests can get jealous (since the actual dating starts as early as "Disconnected"), but there is one very strong instance: In "Uncertainties...", Castiel proposes a one night stand with Candy. Whether Candy accepts or not, unless Castiel is the one she ends up with, all of the other love interests will be very cross with Castiel for the rest of UL.
  • Cringe Comedy: Some of the comedic situations Candy finds herself in are embarrassing not just for Candy but for the audience too. "Influenced" in particular has this in spades, what with Ms. Delany's obvious discomfort at teaching sex ed to a bunch of teens who aren't taking it seriously. In UL, Candy treats some of the things her parents do as incredibly embarrassing.
  • Crowd Surfing: During "A Fresh Start", Priya and Candy surf the crowd at Crowstorm's concert.
  • Crush Blush: As Candy gets closer to one or more of the love interests, they will often blush due to something she says or does.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Several characters have matching hair and eye colors: Nathaniel's is yellow, Jade's is green, Hyun's is black, Charlotte's is brown, and so on. It also possible to give your Candy the same color eyes and hair.
  • Death Glare: In "Furballs", when discussing whether or not they should save the rabbits, Castiel bluntly says that rabbits die all the time anyway. This earns him a harsh glare from most of his classmates.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Both Castiel and Lysander's routes include Candy getting closer to them by helping them let their walls down little by little. Castiel is easy to anger and snarky to the point of being insensitive. Get close to him, though, and he'll slowly become more open and honest, especially with Candy. Lysander is a bit aloof and cool at first, but he has a genuine heart to him that Candy can help bring out.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Play with with Kentin in HSL. During the first couple episodes, it was clear that Kentin had a huge crush on Candy. He often inserted himself into situations where he wasn't really needed. Candy didn't seem to be happy with his overenthusiastic affection. When he came back from military camp, it's still obvious that Kentin is crushing on Candy, but his clingy behavior was toned down quite a bit. And if Candy ends up with one of the other boys, Kentin accepts her choice.
  • Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The original sprites look very different from the several updates they would receive. Nathaniel, for one, didn't have the blue color scheme that he wound up acquiring, Armin had a scarf and vest instead of a beanie and black-and-white shirt, etc. Of the original dates, Castiel's sprite is the only one that's had a more consistent design sensibility.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: When the game first launched, there was a morale system. Candy's morale would start at 100% and if it ever got to 0%, she would be unable to go out for a day. Interacting with Amber usually lowered it by 5% while interacting with Iris usually raised it by that same amount. The mechanic was in use for the first few episodes, but was completely ignored shortly thereafter. The 2017 update removed its presence entirely.
  • Easily Forgiven: In "SOS Rabbit", Candy accepts the apologies of those that had believed Deborah's lies and turned against her because of them. The only person who Candy doesn't easily forgive is Castiel; she ignores his attempts at an apology a few times until Castiel forces her to listen to what he has to say.
  • Enemy Mine: Defied. Candy asks Amber if she'd be willing to help her take down Deborah, but Amber refuses.
  • Fairy Godmother: Aunt Agatha thinks of herself as Candy's fairy godmother, even looking the part. You have a chance at finding her during each episode. If you happen to run into her, she'll give you clothing, action points, or gold.
  • The Fashionista: Rosalya and Alexy are both very passionate about clothes and fashion. Rosalya designs and makes the clothes for the school play, and Alexy will take Candy on shopping trips.
  • Fictional Currency: Gold is an in-game currency that you can use to purchase quest items, date outfits, clothes for Candy, etc.
  • Freudian Slip:
    • Once Kentin returns to Sweet Amoris, he tries very hard to keep his crush on Candy under wraps. However, if his affinity is high enough, he'll slip up and often.
    • Subverted with Castiel; anytime it sounds like he slipped up, he makes it very clear that whatever compliment he just gave Candy was said on purpose to make her blush.
  • Gayngst: If you're on Priya's route in "University Life", Candy will go through some internal turmoil about that fact that she has feelings for another woman. Once she comes to terms with her newfound feelings, she fears what others will think. Her official first date with Priya unfortunately proves her concerns correct when two random bystanders make crude remarks just because they see Candy holding Priya's hand.
  • Geeky Turn-On: Part of the appeal of dating Armin is he's a shameless video game and pop culture nerd.
  • Girl Posse: Li and Charlotte serve as Amber's posse. They're both just as petty as her and they're often seen together with Amber. As the story goes on, Candy can interact with Charlotte and Li on their own, but they receive little development otherwise.
  • Gratuitous English: The original French version is littered with English words and phrase, not just within the story, but in other places too; there's a T-shirt with the phrase "I look so good with your boyfriend" on the front; Armin will switch to English out of nowhere in order to ponder "What kind of sorcery is this?" in regards to Kentin's post-military camp transformation, and so on.
  • Growing with the Audience: The game was originally just focused on teenagers and basic teenage related problems with some plots that were standard (such as studying for a test), silly (catching the Principal's dog), or both (figuring out who stole exam answers) for an otome game. As the story progressed and the target audience got older, though, more mature themes were introduced such as domestic abuse and cyberbullying. When "High School Life" ended, the second season shifted to focusing on Candy's last year in university and the third season shows her as a working adult.
  • Guide Dang It!: The necessity of all the online guides cannot be overstated. In order to unlock most illustrations, you need to choose the correct dialogue and one outfit out of two or more. Towards the beginning, you might not have that much trouble discerning the right choices from the wrong, but future episodes include more complicated methods, such as needing to make several correct dialogue choices. If you miss an illustration, you'll have to spend even more AP on replays.
  • Halloween Episode: Two special episodes were made to celebrate Halloween. The first, released in 2011, had Candy talk to and help out a vampire. The second, released in 2012, had Candy interact with a witch. Both episodes can be repeated played by purchasing their associated rings for 100 AP.
  • Handsome Lech: Dakota is both attractive and loves to flirt with Candy. He even enters the dressing room Candy is in during "Unexpected Encounters" (if you're on his route). Castiel is also fairly handsome with a habit for commenting about Candy's breast size.
  • High-School Dance: "Exam Results" is centered around a dance to celebrate Candy's class's graduation. The Valentine's 2018 event also takes place during a school dance.
  • Holding Hands: Some of the illustrations show Candy and her date holding hands; "Act 1 - Behind the Scenes" has a distinctly romantic overtone to its hand holding.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: Even if they were to wear the same clothes, it would be easy to tell Alexy and Armin apart due to their different eye and hair colors, as well as the direction their bangs are parted.
  • Info Dump: The tutorial episodes have ChiNoMimi or Agatha monologue to the player about the game's mechanics.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: In "Exam Results", Candy and her boyfriend are about to have sex when they're interrupted by her mother. She takes it well, though.
  • Intimate Lotion Application: In episode 9 of "High School Life", the cast goes to the beach and if you do Nathaniel's route, he offers to rub sunscreen on Candy's back. The narration has Candy getting nervous at the possibility and gives the player the option to accept or decline. If the player accepts, they get a CG of Nathaniel rubbing the sunscreen on Candy's back, seemingly oblivious to her Crush Blush.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Castiel has a generally rough demeanor, but underneath it all, he does genuinely care for his friends and family.
    • Post-military camp Kentin is more prickly than he was before, but at his core, he's still an awkward lovestruck boy who would help Candy at the drop of a hat.
  • Kick the Dog: In "Sherlock Sucrette's First Investigation", Amber stole some exam answers with the intent to distribute them to the rest of the students. Nathaniel was in charge of looking after those papers and was going to be in deep trouble if Candy hadn't figured out that Amber took them. Amber was fully willing to let her brother take the fall for her actions.
  • Knight of Cerebus: While Deborah's arc wasn't exactly the happiest, the introduction of Nathaniel's father, Francis, and his abuse of Nathaniel is where the game starts to include more mature themes and topics.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Every so often, Candy will seemingly channel the various frustrations the players feel (e.g. when a character tells Candy that they always see her running around the school, she thinks to herself "That's because no one is there when I need them!") or comment on some of the stranger aspects of her surroundings (e.g. when she comes across her Aunt Agatha dressed as a fairy, the first thing Candy asks her is "Why are you dressed like that?").
  • Lap Pillow: If you choose Castiel as your orientation partner in "Dynamic Duo", Castiel will rest his head on Candy's lap, something that's reflected in his illustration.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Kentin's return and the new love interests for UL and LL are all part of the game's trailers and promotional material.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Candy and Alexy's relationship is similiar to that of a pair of siblings.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Charlie, Willi, and Wenka, the characters introduced in the Easter 2012 Episode, all have rabbit ears.
  • Locked Up and Left Behind: When the auditions for the lead role in the school play are about to start, Amber tricks Candy into the school's basement before locking the door and leaving.
  • Love Triangle: After Candy enters a relationship with one of the love interests, a small love triangle develops between her new boyfriend and the boy who's affinity is the second highest.
  • Master of the Mixed Message: Castiel can go from flirting to sarcastic at the drop of the hat. Just when Candy thinks that he might be cracking and showing his feelings, he'll make sure to correct her.
  • Mini-Game: There are four mini-games you can play once per day. Three of them can give additional action points and one of them can give Gold.
  • Mister Muffykins: During "Emergency, Lost Dog!", Shermansky basically orders Candy to find her dog, Kiki. Candy spends most if not all of the episode chasing after the corgi. Her frustration was felt by many a player.
  • Monochrome Casting: When the game first launched, a most of the cast was white, including the five love interests and Candy. As more episodes were released, characters of different ethnic backgrounds were introduced, such as the transfer student Priya and the art teacher Patrick. To celebrate the fourth anniversary, twelve different skin tones were added, but they had be purchased with Gold and any illustration Candy appeared in would always show her as white. "University Life" and "Love Life" would later advert this: five skin tones are available from the start and the illustrations will reflect whichever one the player picked for their Candy. There are just as many characters with brown skin as there are with white from the beginning and each one has their own distinct personality.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In "The House of Secrets", Candy overhears Nathaniel being abused by his father. After taking a moment to digest this, she goes to check on Nathaniel in his room and immediately gets distracted by the fact that he's only wearing boxers. Right after this line, the tone gets serious again.
    • In "The Love of Art - Part 2", Candy has finally started a relationship with the boy she's been crushing on, Dakota finally understands that she's not interested in him, and Candy's team has even won the prize in the art exposition. Then Lysander is hit by a car.
    • At the end of "Searching for Truth", Candy and her boyfriend stand up to Charlotte and intimidate her into deleting her photos of Iris. Overcome with passion, Candy kisses him. Afterword, she steps outside, only to find a crowd surrounding Armin, watching as he's being arrested.
  • More Diverse Sequel:
    • "High School Life" featured five white male love interests for the female protagonist. "University Life" and "Love Life" replaced three of them with a male teacher of Arab descent, a male co-student/co-worker of Asian descent, and a female co-student of Indian descent.
    • HSL Candy is always portrayed as white. Custom skin tones are available, but you have to pay for each one, and Candy will still appear as white in the illustrations. In UL and LL, custom skin tones are a default feature and whichever one you choose for your Candy will be reflected in illustrations.
  • Most Writers Are Adults: Some of the dialogue in the early episodes of the first season is pretty stilted and formal for teenagers, even if you account for Lost in Translation. Later episodes improve on this somewhat by having the characters pepper their speech with slang.
  • Multiple Endings: For the series as a whole if episode 16 of LL is considered a fluffy bonus episode with episode 15 as the true ending. There are four different endings to LL that can happen depending on Candy's choices and the affinity level of her main love interest.
    • Additionally, there is the choice to disregard UL and LL entirely and follow through with one of the AL endings.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Armin half-jokingly suggests they kill Deborah as a solution to her bullying of Candy, adding that they could Make It Look Like an Accident. Deborah's lucky no one wanted to go to jail.
  • Nerd Glasses: Kentin's original design included a pair of large opaque circular glasses in order to emphasize his nerdiness. His post-military camp design omits them; in-universe, this was explained as him switching to contacts.
  • No Dress Code: Some of the things the character's wear might get them in trouble if they went to a stricter school, Kim's revealing tank top being one example. Justified, since the game is set in France, where many schools don't have dress codes.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In "A Perfect Mask", trying to tell everyone about Deborah's true nature will only make a majority of them hate Candy's guts.
  • Not What It Looks Like: If you're on Castiel's route in "SOS Rabbit", one of the rabbits Candy's trying to rescue gets under her shirt. She takes it off in order to better get at it and Castiel ends up holding the shirt. Just then, Mr. Faraize walks in, mumbles that he didn't see anything, then leaves.
  • Odd Friendship: At first glance, it seems strange that the hot-headed Castiel is best friends with the even-tempered Lysander. However, there is at least one thing they're both very passionate about: music. Lysander even writes lyrics for Castiel to sing.
  • Old Flame Fizzle: When Kentin comes back from military camp, his affinity drops significantly regardless of how you treated him before he left. However, since he's still a love interest, you can raise his affinity again.
  • Orwellian Retcon: François-Xavier de Montherlant was a blond man that appeared in the Jewelry Store before the 2017 update combined it with the Clothes Shop.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Immediately after returning to Sweet Amoris, Kentin kisses Amber, breaks her phone and calls her ugly as revenge for her bullying him.
  • Peggy Sue: The single episode replays can be used to get items and outcomes you couldn't obtain the first time, and the story replays can be used to rewrite your story.
  • Pet the Dog: Every so often, Amber will do something genuinely nice or even compliment Candy. In "A Shattered Mask", she admits that Candy did a good thing when she took down Deborah. The next episode, she wants to help Candy remove the rabbits from the school's science lab.
  • Play Every Day: You get 20 action points and five Gold every day just by logging in, and the mini-games can only be played once per day.
  • Player Character: Candy is the point-of-view character. You can choose her appearance and some parts of her personality.
  • Put on a Bus: At the beginning of "Emergency, Lost Dog!", Kentin tells Candy that his father is sending him to a military camp. He doesn't appear again until ten episodes later.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During "The Love of Art - Part 2", Nathaniel will deliver one to Amber if you're on his route.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Some of what Castiel says or does definitely falls into this: he comments on Candy's bust size in front of her parents, neither of whom snap at him for it (not even Candy's father). During one Valentine's day event, he gives Candy a pushup bra as a gift, and in another he gives her fuzzy handcuffs.
  • Relationship Upgrade: "An Almost Perfect Dinner" ends with Candy and your boy of choice sharing a kiss, officially kicking off their new relationship.
  • Relationship Values: The Love'o'Meter (LoM) measures each character's affinity, a mechanic that reflects how much that character hates, likes, or loves Candy.
  • Revenge: Once it's clear that something needs to be done about Deborah, Candy and a few others in the know make a plan to reveal Deborah for who she really is. Not only does she lose the respect and admiration of everyone in the high school, she also loses the one thing that inspired this whole mess: her singing contract.
  • School Newspaper News Hound: Peggy is nothing if not dedicated to her job. She loves to search for the next story, but isn't shy about collecting or printing gossip and rumors.
  • Scoring Points: The points being scored here are affinity points, which affects how certain characters act towards Candy. The events also include other types of points during their mini-games.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In "Cupid on Strike", you're supposed help Rosalya find a ring that Leigh gave her. You can find the ring or you can buy a replacement for 85G.
  • Selective Obliviousness: Despite all the evidence, Amber refuses to believe that her brother is being abused by their father. It isn't until Candy takes action against him that Amber begins to accept what's been happening.
  • Series Continuity Error:
    • In "The House of Secrets", Candy remarks to herself that she needs to buy new pajamas, as she hasn't bought any since middle school. Apparently, she forgot about the pajamas she bought in "Pyjama Party".
    • In "Roller Coaster of Love", the library is made available with its location being by the stairwell. The problem is, in "A Shattered Mask", the library was supposedly upstairs during an objective to investigate Deborah with Armin and Lysander.
    • In UL, Priya mentions the Violette helped out with the high school play. The play took place six episodes before Priya's introductory episode.
  • Shall I Repeat That?: Both ChiNoMimi and Agatha will ask if you want to repeat a specific explanation. If you do, the dialogue will remain exactly the same as before.
  • Ship Tease: Upon meeting each other, Lucy and Armin share some moments that could definitely be interpreted as romantic. A few episodes later, Armin brings her up again and hopes that she'll be at the play, and is the only one of the love interests to do so. However, since Armin is still a datable character and Lucy is a huge flirt in general, it's easy to guess that this relationship will remain platonic.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Even before they start dating, Castiel and Candy are always swapping teasing insults then a compliment or action that has one or the other blushing.
  • Slumber Party: "Pyjama Party"'s plot involves helping Melody organize a slumber party for her birthday, then attending said party. Each character that is attending gets pajama outfits. It doesn't take long for the conversation to turn to boys.
  • Smoking Is Not Cool: Castiel smokes, but his habit is never really shown in a positive light.
  • Stalker with a Crush:
    • Before he was sent to military camp, Kentin definitely had a fixation for Candy. It's heavily hinted that the reason he had a crush on Candy is because she stood up for him against bullies, back at their old school. However, when Candy transferred to Sweet Amoris, Kentin followed her, specifically so he could be with her. He'll also appear randomly to offer you cookies. After returning from the camp, this aspect of his character is considerably toned down. Even if he still likes you he doesn't follow you around as much.
    • Nina follows Lysander around and always shows up to his concerts. She is also an active member and president of the Lysander fanclub (of which she and/or your Candy are the only member(s)). If Lysander likes you, then Nina certainly doesn't.
  • Starbucks Skin Scale: The names for each of the skin tone you can buy from the Clothes Store are named after different types of food.
  • Status Quo Is God:
    • After everything they've been through and after helping each other out on some pretty major occasions, Nathaniel and Castiel still refuse to be friends. Candy even jokes that there Sweet Amoris isn't Sweet Amoris without Castiel and Nathaniel fighting.
    • Even after all her character development and two arcs revolving around her experiencing the consequences of spreading rumors, Peggy still thinks it's appropriate to tell everyone Melody and Mr. Faraize are having an affair. Candy tears into her for being so inconsiderate and going back to her old ways.
  • Story Arc: Each season has varying levels of this. HSL eventually incorporated multi-part episodes that centered on a specific boy's problems.
  • Student Council President: Nathaniel is Sweet Amoris' resident student council president.
  • Suspend Save: Your progress is automatically saved while playing. If you log out, log back in, and then resume playing, the episode will pick up where you left off.
  • Sweet Tooth: Kentin has a thing for sweets, especially cookies.
  • Symbol Swearing: Some characters do swear sometimes, but the swears are replaced with special characters.
  • Teen Drama: As the name implies, "High School Life" centers around teenagers and the day-to-day drama they often find themselves in.
  • Teens Are Monsters: Kentin's classmates at military school can only be described as such: they bullied him severely, locked him outside during a snowstorm, forced him to sleep in a dumpster, and forced him to drink toilet water. And that's just what he tells you about. The only person who was nice to him was Evan, who is 10 years older.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Castiel and Nathaniel can't stand even looking at one another. They manage to set aside their animosity (sort of) while practicing for the in-school concert.
  • Their First Time: In "Live and Let Live", your Candy and her beau can have their first times together. The one exception to this is Castiel, who already had his first with Deborah.
  • Time Skip: There's a four year gap between HSL and UL and a three year gap between UL and LL.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kim and Iris are the tomboys to Rosalya and Melody's girly girls. Violette and Priya are somewhere in the middle.
  • Tone Shift: Around "Snooping Around", the game gradually includes more mature themes, such as abuse and cyber bullying. UL and LL ramp this up now that all of the main cast are adults.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Kentin, to varying degrees. Part of it depends on how you treated him before he left, part of it is due to the toxic attiudes he picked up during his time at military camp.
  • Trapped in Another World: The Easter and Halloween 2011/2012 special episodes start off with Candy getting transported to a completely different word. In order to return home, she has to complete the assignments given to her.
  • Two-Teacher School: Mr. Faraize and Principal Shermansky were the only known faculty members that worked at Sweet Amoris. Boris was later (re)introduced, then Ms. Delanay and Patrick. Anteros Academy seems to be better staffed, as more staff members are shown or referenced.
  • Unbroken First-Person Perspective: The whole of the game is from Candy's perspective. Even during "A Jump Back in Time" when you're briefly in control of Deborah, the POV remains in first person.
  • Unmoving Plaid: The date outfit for "A Perfect Mask" includes Candy wearing a purple plaid top. The pattern remains consistent even within the folds of cloth. It's especially evident in the episode illustrations.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: There are many opportunities where can you say or do something mean or selfish. On rare occasions, the game will even use illustrations as an incentive to do the cruel or selfish thing.
    • In "Cupid on Strike", you choose to break up Leigh and Rosalya. This is the only way you can get Leigh's illustration.
    • In "Turn Up the Volume (Part One)", you can choose to buy the amp everyone gave Candy money for or use that same money to buy an outfit. If you choose to purchase the outfit, it'll become a permanent part of Candy's wardrobe, but everyone's affinity will decrease.
    • In "Roller Coaster of Love", the only way to get most of the illustrations is to not help out other people: don't find Lysander's notebook, don't tell Priya about Amber, don't support Violette, etc.
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: In "State of Emergency", you'll miss an illustration if you don't forgive Nina for lying to an amnesiac Lysander about being his girlfriend shortly after learning about her dysfunctional family life.
  • Video Game Objectives: Throughout each episode, you will be given various objectives. A list of them can be viewed by click the green "Objectives" button on the upper left hand side of the game's screen.
  • Video Game Tutorial: Each season has a manditory tutorial, during which ChiNoMimi or Agatha explain the game's mechanics. LL's tutorial has an option to skip the tutorial and go straight to picking the route you want.
  • Visible Silence: Ellipses are used whenever a character is processing information or is simply choosing not to speak.
  • Webcomic Time: Seven years passed between the beginning and end of HSL, the events of which span about two years. About two years passed in real time from the begining to the end of UL, and UL's story takes place within one year.
  • Wham Episode:
    • "Snooping Around": Up to this point, the game hasn't ever dealt with heavy topics, or hinted that it might include them. Then Candy sees that Nathenial has several bruises on his back...
    • "The Love of Art - Part 2": A majority of the episode is standard fair, which makes the ending all the more jarring: Lysander gets hit by a car.
  • Wild Teen Party: Downplayed. Candy and her classmates arrange a party at Iris' house and, while there is some underage drinking, it doesn't get nearly as wild as these scenes are usually portrayed.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Deborah is fond of this tactic: she likes to make herself look like the victim and Candy the bully, whether through lies or arranged situations. This has worked in the past, and it almost works again when she manages to get almost all of Candy's classmates to sympathize with her. Rosalya and Alexy are the only ones who can see what's she doing.

Top