Kara no shoujo, also known as The Girl in the Shell, was rebranded as The Shell.
The story has great potential but is ruined by unnecessary sexual content between characters and excessive complexity in reaching the true ending.
Despite these issues, The Shell still manages to engage the reader, especially if you play without a guide, trying to put the puzzle together for a good ending.
The story is set in the mid-1950s in a resurgent Japan after the devastation of the war, in a small area of Tokyo, not far from Shinjuku. Our detective and former Policeman, Reiji Tokisaka, is involved in a chilling case by his former work partner Uozumi. Girls are torn to pieces and their bodies are put on display like visiting a chilling museum of horrors. The mystery thickens because we are also witnesses of the murderer’s thoughts. Although we understand who the culprit is halfway through the first arc, we are still engaged as till the reveal their reason remains unknown.
The social commentary is also intriguing, using the girls of the Oba high school as a “voice of reason” to issue complex and open comments against Japanese society.
The Shell is divided into two parts, and the second part can only be accessed if you manage to find the murderer. The first part is dedicated to understanding the mystery, while the second part starts off towards something else.
The game walkthrough guides are essential because certain clues and places must be seen in a certain order; otherwise, you end up dead.
The atmosphere is always very interesting and decadent, but sometimes the story deviates with random sex scenes. Although it is not against these scenes, it would have been better if they were done with more taste.
In one case, there is sex between a 30-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, which is not necessary and lowers the product’s quality.
The Shell has a great OST, beautiful decadence, social commentary, and fantastic design. However, it is too difficult to solve without guidance, and the sexual content is not meaningful for the plot ruining great moment of tensions with descriptive scenes straight-out from some cheap Hentai (Seriosuly Japanese when you folks have sex you mention the “walls of the vagina” and your “Manhood”, come on…)
I am not sure I will read the second part in the near future (the VN should be a trilogy
Overall, I give The Shell a score of 60 out of 100
Shibuya Confidential 
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