What i thought was an amazing game at first with fun characters and an interesting concept has pained me on so, so many levels that it probably has given me a form of PTSD. Sadist takes on a big plot twist that was significant in it's meaning but ultimately has killed the entire story. Let me explain.

Sakura Sadist revolves around a character named Azusa who, in the beginning, gives us the impression to be the sadist of the story. Teasing her roommate Mari(lyn) and being up to no good in terms of school or lewd scenarios. Azusa has a crush on a character named Mamiko who is seen as an innocent, honest person. With these two opposites putting interest in each other, the game makes a recipe for a good story in which a devilish girl tries to overcome her fear of asking out her innocent, mysterious crush with roughly 2x the bust size.

The game has traces that look similar to Sakura Cupid: A smug girl that gets herself into mischief and has to overcome her issues as she gets a fair cup of support from her companion (both conveniently also have dark hair). However, as Sakura Cupid walks the plank of success, Sakura Sadist fell off not even close to the end of the plank as said game hits you with a serious plot twist: Mamiko is the actual sadist.

A huge problem arises with this scenario playing out the way it does. For one, whatever your opinion is of Azusa, as long as you paid at least a little bit to her character, you will end up disliking her nonetheless. Should you have hated Azusa from the beginning, there is little to no reason to continue playing as she is the face of the game and will be with the player 100% of the time.

HOWEVER, should you enjoy Azusa as a character from the very beginning, the plot twist aforementioned changes Azusa personality in such a way that she becomes unrecognizable. From a teasing, mischievous protagonist to a slave of Mamiko, she lost any charm she has prior to this change. It gave me a feeling of being heartbroken as i felt like Azusa, who i was able to relate a LOT too, was reshaped to someone i can't even see myself in anymore.

It gets worse - this rule generally applies to people that liked Mamiko too. Her innocent behavior changes to a sadist (topical) which made any relatability to her also null and void. This game changes characters too much in order to make a breakthrough in it's lore in this visual novel. Fortunately, there are only three characters in the entire story. Surely we got something in Marilyn left, right??

Yea. It gets even worse. I have zero clue what Winged Cloud had in mind when they took this initiative to the planning board. Who would've thought that Mari ends up in the exact same position as Azusa - merely a second slave to Mamiko because Winged Cloud loves to kill off your favorite characters. Unlike Azusa however, Mari gets zero build-up to become what she ends up as, so any hope for Mari fans is ditched in the trash as she also gets tossed into Mamiko's Personality Killing Machine.

Overall, this game took an awful turn in the mid-part. You end up heartbroken with no likeable characters at all. This game was on the path of greatness to be as grand as Sakura Cupid but effectively killed itself before it was even halfway to it's goal. Shame on you, Winged Cloud but most importantly, tons of shame on you, Mamiko.

Written by Syaro_3 & Mario Rapper Gaming