"Can you win the tournament - and his heart?"
Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club is a Ren'Py-based visual novel successfully funded on Kickstarter. The game features characters based on the YouTubers who are part of Normal Boots,
hence the name Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club. Almost all the members of Normal Boots are romanceable, with a few exceptions. There are also cameos by the members of fellow YouTube group Hidden Block, but they aren't romanceable.
When things in her life get to be too much to handle, Hana Mizuno transfers to Asagao Academy to start fresh. Once there, she runs into the Normal Boots Club - a group of handsome, competitive gamers, and the most popular guys in school. And they need her to compete in this year's gaming tournament!
The game was released on April 21st 2016, and is available for download here, on itch.io.
This visual novel contains examples of:
- 100% Completion: The 1.0 version of the game added another ending unlocked upon getting every single ending, which fittingly is an extension of Jirard's route. A new ending for The Completionist for the completionists.
- A-Cup Angst: Hana who occasionally laments her boyish figure
- Alpha Bitch: Mimi Santos can be this.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Winning the tournament in any route will give Hana a Normal Boots jacket instead of her usual uniform for the rest of the route.
- At the very end of it, completing the Hidden Chapter (aka Hidden Block's route) gives Hana the Hidden Block jacket.
- Anti-Hero: Different members of the Hidden Block Club might play this role, depending on the route.
- Artistic License – University Admissions: Granted, it's a high school (albeit a very university-esque one), but according to a flashback, Hana got a scholarship despite not being rich or particularly talented, and she believes the school just wanted good PR by housing a poverty-stricken student. Granted, this could be her Self-Deprecation at work. But considering the school seems to prioritize their public image, seeing as they've ignored stalker reports in the past because they don't want the school to seem dangerous, it's possible they'd do this too.
- Beach Episode: In Jared's route. The scene is even titled "Obligatory Beach Scene."
- Bishie Sparkle: Jared. PBG even points it out.PBG: I wish I knew how to sparkle.
- Bland-Name Product: Constantly. Usually achieved by simply changing a single letter in the name.PBG: Your favorite game was Screw You, Pikachomp, and we would take turns making up insults and making him dance, and we called him Rodrigo.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mai is the biggest culprit since she occasionally tells you that you are a "total main character" among other more subtle statements.
- You can also get Jared and PBG to break the fourth wall with varying levels of subtlety by making incorrect choices on their respective routes.
- In Continue's after credits scene, Mr. Saitomo breaks the fourth wall when talking about Hana's mother. He also does this more cryptically during the route by making reference to the actual purpose of the current scene as it relates to the plot.
- Broken Ace: Jared.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Jared does this to his mother at the end of his route.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Tends to happen a lot when it comes to their feelings, but PBG is the most notable in this since he still has feelings for Hana no matter which route you choose. Jon and Caddy also suffer from this for completely different reasons.
- Chekhov's Armoury: Almost any item in chapter one is significant to one route or another.
- Childhood Friend Romance: In PBG's route, it is revealed that PBG is a childhood friend of Hana's that she forgot about due to amnesia.
- Distressed Dude: Shane was on multiple occasions according to himself on his route.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: All Normal Boots routes have several different endings, depending on whether Hana was able to practice enough for the tournament and whether she is close enough to the one she's pursuing. Some routes are fairly straightforward, such as PBG's or Jirard's route, and some can be
nightmarish and easy to screw up like Shane's or Jon's route. However, any route will make you ponder on decisions that are hard to make and lack a definitively correct answer. - Everyone Can See It: No matter the route, most of the characters are pretty quick to pick up on when Hana is in love, except her interest in most cases.
- Festival Episode: The Flower Festival at the start of every route.
- Feud Episode: Satch's route centers around this.
- Foreshadowing: Considering that the first chapter foreshadows every single route to some extent it's not surprising that it makes up about half the playtime of the game.
- Practically every item Hana touches foreshadows one of the routes.
- The first time Hana sees PBG outside playing soccer Luke gives her a thumbs up. It all seems random until Luke's attempts to push Hana and PBG together serve as the main conflict in the PBG route.
- Interestingly, the game also hints at problems with the guys Hana doesn't chose, implying that even if Hana doesn't choose that particular guy, the problem still occurs. The degree of how subtle the foreshadowing is varies from route to route. For example, after chapter 1, Jon's sprite will lack Jacques on his shoulder every time he makes an appearance, hinting at Jon's main conflict. Meanwhile, PBG's random nighttime appearance in the soccer field in Jared's route is more subtle and would only make sense if one played PBG's route beforehand.
- This even happens with Mai: She is hinted to have stolen Hana's IBK in Jirard's route, although it's played off as no big deal. In Satch's route, however, Mai's kleptomania is a major part of the plot.
- Insecure Love Interest: One of the main sources of conflict in Jirard's route.
- Also, oddly enough, Played for Laughs briefly at the end of the PBG route.
- Goldfish Scooping Game: Played during the Flower Festival in the Satch Route.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: In PBG's route, Mai tells Hana that Asagao Academy tries its best to save face, so there was a student who felt threatened by a stalker, so told the school staff multiple times about it, but staff ignored the student's pleas. It is unclear what happened to the student, but the way Mai doesn't like to talk about it, it probably didn't end well. Mai admits Asagao of sweeping a lot of incidents under the rug. It's also hinted that Hana's old school acts the same way which is obvious by knowing why Hana transfered to Asagao in the first place.
- Hot Springs Episode: In PBG's route.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog:Mai: Well, I need to head in to class because I have a... test... I gotta talk to...
- Innocently Insensitive: Jon, though well-meaning, can be thoughtless, such as when he tells Hana she's perfect for a role in Romeo and Juliet - a tree.
- Instant Expert: Hana apparently has a lot of natural talent at video games, despite having never played before.
- Love Epiphany: Hana, though the progression and development of her feelings depends on which route she's taking. It's either a long build-up or ,if you're playing Paul or Jon's route, it all hits Hana very early in the route and as a result, becomes one of the driving forces behind her involvement with them.
- Master of the Mixed Message: Paul for the majority of the Continue? route does this causing all the confusions you'd expect.
- The Matchmaker: Mai is big on this, especially to Hana. The rest of the Normal Boots Club also join in on this on occasion.
- May–December Romance: Ms. Shizuka and Mr. Saitomo as revealed in the after-credits scene in Satch's Best Ending.
- Medium Awareness: Mai is freaked out by Brutalmoose speaking in Comic Sans.
- Nice Guy: Jirard, Satch, and PBG are the most obvious examples.
- Noodle Incident: The practice Stomp Sisters tournament the year before. It's never fully explained, but something happened that ended in Jon almost breaking Satch's nose, Jirard twisting his ankle, and Shane almost passing out from blood loss.
- Not What It Looks Like: Caddy gets a few of these since the Salvaging and Slaughtering guns show up in the game, and he even name drops the trope.Caddy: It's really not what it looks like. These are- I use them for- I'm not going to hurt anybody with them, I only hurt games with them!
- There's a mild example in Chapter 1. Jirard comes back from getting coffee to unexpectedly find Shane and Hana alone in the dorm room together. He immediately blushes and says
Jirard: And what are you two doing in here? Alone? Together? - Only Known by Their Nickname: PeanutButterGamer gets referred to as PBG instead of Austin. This is because in the game PBG's real name is PeanutButterGamer instead of Austin.
- Opposing Sports Team: Subverted with the Hidden Block Club - though they are Normal Boots' rivals, they have a relatively friendly relationship, most obviously between PBG and Spacehamster. Brutalmoose is even the one who suggests Hana play in the tournament on Normal Boots' side, after seeing her skills at puzzle games.
- Playing a Tree: Jon thinks Hana would play a great tree in his production of Romeo and Juliet, to her disappointment.Hana: Also I am dressed as a tree. That is a thing.
- Prematurely Bald: Josh, considering the fact that the characters based on Youtubers are turned into teenagers.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Jon is said to have them along with PBG having multiple references to his resembling a puppy.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Used sparingly, but there's a few of them.
- Robot Bird: Who do you think?
- School of No Studying: The titular academy definitely hands out schoolwork, but it never comes up besides a brief mention when a scene starts with Hana leaving class or in her dorm, usually as a segue. Pretty much its only plot relevance is serving as the reason for Hana and PBG to meet (being paired up for a school project), but even that gets dropped and never brought up again after the scene ends, even on PBG's own route.
- Subverted on certain routes. The cause of some characters' stress, such as Jon and PBG, involves trying to keep up with their schoolwork while also practicing for the upcoming tournament, usually alongside a problem unique to them. We never see the actual schoolwork, but that's justified, and it still has an impact.
- Secret Level: Choosing to ask Ian to the Flower Festival will result in a "Hidden Chapter", where Hana eventually joins the Hidden Block Club instead of the Normal Boots Club. You can also choose to ask Jacques to the Flower Festival, however...
- Shout-Out: Several:
- Mai can be heard humming the Attack on Titan theme song in one route.
- She can also be heard humming part of either Metal Crusher or Death By Glamour from Undertale.
- One poster advertises the school's Host Club, complete with roses.
- In one route, Hana buys what's implied to be an Ouran shirt for Mai.
- At one point, a furious Miss Shizuka says "Turn to page 394."
- Asagao's first soccer game is against "Hatoful High."
- Mai can be heard humming the Attack on Titan theme song in one route.
- Stealth Pun: It is often referenced that Jared's cologne smells distinctly of ham. This is probably a play off of Jared's status as a Large Ham.
- The Stinger: There's a post-credits scene for almost every route once you get the best ending.
- Take a Third Option: In Chapter 1, Paul and Jared get into an argument and ask for Hana's opinion. This is one of the few choices in Chapter 1 where there are three choices instead of two, with the third choice being to take neither side. Unfortunately, doing this locks out both of their routes for that playthrough.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Ian is this in spades.
- Tender Tears: Characters cry for a lot of reasons. Satch because of the sad ending of a book, Jon because of the difficulty of folding origami, Hana because Mai was unexpectedly nice to her, Mai because she saw Hana crying ...
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: There's at least three:
- After bashing and manipulating both him and Hana for a good portion of the last chapter, Jared gives his mother an extremely satisfying one of these.
Jared: "I. Am. Sick. Of. This. I have put up with you for seventeen straight horribly awful, painful, joyless years of my life. I begged and begged for you to grant me an ounce of happiness or sunshine every day, and you rejected me in favor of your own selfish greed and pointless ambition, all intended to hide your pathetic sense of loneliness and abandonment. I have finally, finally found something— someone— who makes me happy, someone who showed me that I was still worth a damn even if I wasn't perfect, someone who showed me that everything you taught me throughout my life was wrong. And I will be damned straight to hell if you think I am going to let you take her away from me."- Ian delivers one to Mimi in Jirard's route, calling her out on trying to use Hana's sprained ankle to draw attention to herself.
- Jacques delivers a nasty (and justified) one to Hana in his route when he gets his free will back.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Hana and Mai.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Almost every character gets this at least once, Hana included. Special mention goes to Shane on almost every route except his own and Paul on the Continue route. All the Normal Boots Club members except Satch on his route are also particularly nasty to Hana and Mai for the majority of the route.
- Twice Shy: Pretty much the entire PBG route. He takes it far enough that even after Luke's divine intervention exposes his feelings for Hana he still tries to avoid addressing the issue.
