Broken Base: An incident involving Deep-Sea Prisonernote she drew fanart of SalWada on request through their Tumblr (Formerly okegom), which was NSFW and had implications of rape. The lack of trigger warnings for the post had brought up a flame war so large that she left the site. To be fair, she actually apologized, but the fact that such a sensitive subject was brought up without trigger warnings had made some of the fans grow more furious and message that it's not enough for an apology. caused the Wadanohara fandom to be left in a disarray, some left and went to hate the fanbase due to this incident while others continued to support her for the story oriented RPGs they made. To this day, the argument is still there to some extent. It got even worse with another incident note Some of her artwork had the rising sun flag sometime after the aforementioned incident above, which caused quite a stir to Chinese and Korean fans given their history due to World War II. They had asked her to tone it down, but she seemingly refused and kept on using it. Some fans thought that she did it on purpose, which caused more people to leave the fandom. which made the rift between the fans outside of Japan with her larger.
Orca also has quite the amount of fans who are quick to forgive his behavior despite the fact that he revels in violence, nearly murdered Samekichi, and was going to do the same thing to Wadanohara in the first Bad Ending.
Princess Mikotsu is often painted as The Woobie despite her willingness to start a war, kill her own sister, and turn the sea into a hellish Eldritch Location, all for the throne. The remake also makes it clear that Mikotsu is the one who's truly responsible for all of the depraved shit Sal gets up to, as he wouldn't have fallen to evil without her corruption. Regardless, one could argue that the punishment levied at her for her crimes was pretty damn harsh.
Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: The game isn't really all that hard. You could probably Auto through most random encounters without much trouble. By the time you hit level 30, nothing in the game can pose a threat to you, and all non-scripted boss fights can be won in one turn.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Among the side characters that help Wadanohara, Tatsumiya, Cherryblod, and Lobco are the most popular among the fanbase. Orca also has a large following that may even rival Samekichi's, despite only appearing twice.
In a favorite character poll, Orca placed fifth, Chlomaki seventh, Meikai eighth, and Tatsumiya tenth. Keep in mind that each person could only vote once.
While the Dead Sea characters who serve Princess Mikotsu are well liked by the fans, Tsuribari has received the most love and fanwork.
Wadanohara as the Red Witch is the most popular of Wadanohara's transformations, though more for her design than actual character.
Fan-Preferred Pairing: Aside from the Official Couple, a popular pairing among the fanbase is Tatsumiya and Orca due to the small ship tease that happens near the end of the game and in a bonus video. Tatsumiya and Old is also rather popular, as well as Old and Orca, or a One True Threesome with the three of them.
Some people also seem to prefer to pair Wadanohara with Fukami.
It's not uncommon to see Red Witch Wadanohara being paired with Sal. Given the events of the Normal End 1 and what the Red Witch's profile states, this isn't too surprising. In fact, the comics unlocked with the password in the bonus room (only found after completing the true ending) that deal with the Normal 1 ending support this. Red Witch Wadanohara is shown discussing with Princess Mikotsu how her relationship with Sal is going in one omake comic.
The scene where Wadanohara finally breaks down and cries is unfortunately a bit spoiled by poorly-synthesized music. Yet for people who actually enjoy 90's-style computer music made with Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, this might come off as either Narm Charm or not a problem at all.
During the chase scene with Sal, there is a possibility he will run left, right, and even backwards on a straight path that only goes forward.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: A lot of fans have taken a liking to the Dead Sea characters who serve Princess Mikotsu and aid her in her quest to kill her sister, and were disappointed that their only purpose was to be mini bosses. It didn't help that, with the exception of the squid, they all immediately died after their defeat, so very little of their back story and character was shown.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: There are a handful of fans who were disappointed that what happened between Princess Uomi and Princess Mikotsu wasn't shown in great detail or given any proper flashbacks during gameplay, with the small exception of little bits of exposition and some of the bonus videos.
Many players mistake Memoca for a boy until they read her profile in the Bonus Room or see the official artwork of her when she's older. A lot of people also mistook Fukami for an Emotionless Girl on their first playthrough.
Ditto for Dolphi.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite its cute characters, lighthearted story, nice atmosphere, and easy gameplay, this game is rated R-15 (roughly equivalent to an ESRB's M!) for good reason. About 2/3rd of the way through, there's implied rape (against Wadanohara no less), Gorn, Body Horror, Eldritch Location, and many other nightmare-ish scenes that would scare your average little girl.
Original game
Complete Monster: Sal/Syakesan is an albino salmon shark masquerading as a friendly dolphin under Princess Uomihime's court. As the Ambassador of the Sea of Death, Sal conspires to release Princess Mikotsuhime, the result of which would plunge the sea into death and madness. In the past, Sal steals the sacred sword whilst sexually assaulting Wadanohara in an attempt to extract information from her. When Samekichi—Wadanohara's familiar as well as Sal's twin brother—defeats him, Sal gleefully removes Wadanohara's memories before incriminating Samekichi as the traitor. Sal also orchestrated the war between the Sea Kingdom and the Totsusa Kingdom by sending an inflammatory letter to Princess Totsusahime. While he claims to have genuinely loved Wadanohara, he doesn't hesitate to stab her with the sacred sword and leave her for dead when she rejects his advances. A psychopathic sadomasochist, Sal darkens the mood of an otherwise light-hearted game.
