Sakura Swim Club was released on 9/11, and such a date is no coincidence. The game itself serves as a sombre reminder of the event

Oh boy. What a way to start into my first game in the Sakura series. By this point I’ve grown pretty used to playing these games that are more aimed towards men, and this series really takes it to the extreme. Sakura Swim Club is the latest release in the (monthly?) series of Sakura titles on Steam.

In Sakura Swim Club, you, as the reader, are in the role of Kaede. Kaede is your typical boring guy who comes from a family of prodigies. Of course, he doesn’t care enough to do well in school. His father keeps transferring him to different schools every semester, hoping to find one that will finally “click” so Kaede will follow in his footsteps. With his latest transfer, he bumps into (quite literally) a girl. Later, he goes to check out the swim club and finds out this girl is a part of this. This begins his long journey to make it to the tournament where he decides to prove to his dad that this school is working for him and he doesn’t want to leave.

Now, for those unaware, the Sakura series isn’t exactly known for having a serious plot. If my experience with Sakura Swim Club says anything, it doesn’t seem to have a very realistic plot either. The main focus is on how dirty it can become. Don’t worry – the base Steam version is censored. You won’t really “see” anything. This doesn’t take out all of the near nakedness or panty shots though.

Going into Sakura Swim Club, I knew what to expect from it. I knew that things were going to get a bit risqué. It still would’ve been nice if there was, say, an actually tangible plot line. The “plot” makes basically no sense. Often times, things would happen just so the story could go completely off and have a lewd picture happen. Oh hey look, we’re at a cultural festival! The MC has no idea what this even is, but the girls force him to go just so that they can go and show him these lewd swimsuits/outfits.

Sakura Swim Club is definitely aimed at a particular kind of audience. If you’re wanting to read a serious visual novel then there are plenty on Steam I might suggest instead of this. If you want a pretty nonsense story that just throws in events so that one can get more lewd pictures in then sure, maybe the Sakura series is for you. I also spotted some typos within the writing which didn’t help with how much the story was already making me laugh from the nonsense within. With how much nonsense I found in the story, it’s hard for me to recommend this. It was already a particularly hard recommend because it’s aimed at such a specific audience, but the absolutely nonsense story and events happening just to get into a lewd picture push it past the point of non-recommendation.

Sakura Swim Club is very similar to other Sakura games. Despite all the fanservice thrown in CG form, there’s always a human emotion aspect that’s relatable. This game has an ongoing theme that it’s better to be yourself deciding what you want to do instead of having the path of life decided for you ahead of time against your choosing.

Sakura Swim Club, like Sakura Angels, got a free voice patch after release. The voices fit the characters well and amplify the reading experience quite a bit.

Describing Sakura Swim Club is difficult, not because of the game, which is fairly flat and straightforward, but because it was meant for adults and must be carefully tip-toed around for proper reviewing. A simple and short visual novel, it follows the story of 'Generic Guy' as he adjusts to a new school environment. His problem? He's unmotivated and uninterested with the world. Forced to pick a club GG opts to go for the swimming club; a club that consists of only two female members and has developed an infamous reputation. Upon arriving he meets up with 'Tsundere' and 'Sweet Girl,' and various things start to follow.

This visual novel is not good. The primary reason is because it was meant for one purpose and one purpose alone. As a result the characters are flat, and the story is little more than a token piece meant to tie everything together - often tripping over itself in order to add comedic and "romantic" moments at seemingly random times. At one point, for example, GG has 'Tsundere' and 'Sweet Girl' over at his house when the later one notices that GG has a game console. In her attempts to utilize it certain hijinks ensue that seem impossible for multiple reasons, and were clearly included simply to have said hijinks.

As a visual novel it ends up being quite lacking, as the choices are, few and almost never all that deep (at best). There is a bit of a plot and story involving GG and how he will adapt to the new school and handle his overbearing parents, yet it's never all that tense and the conclusions are fairly obvious. The plot is flat with no real twists or turns, the characters are archetypes through and through, but at least, if there's one redeeming feature that is that, as a piece of a certain… genre, it's decently acceptable.

While clearly not on par with more thought out pieces and certainly underwhelming, there isn't actually something 'wrong' with Sakura Swim Club. The art is decent enough, the story, while clumsy, is not really the main focus, and the characters, while obvious recycled clichés with little deviation, are also not really bad or all that groan-worthy. The problem is that it targets a specific niche and makes no attempt to deviate from it, become deeper, or even try a bit harder. While that does keep it from becoming frustrating, it also means that it's simply flat through and through. It has one place and it is more than glad to stay there.