Charade Maniacs has been picked up for localisation by Idea Factory International! This is the first time Charade Maniacs will be coming West. The game will be available on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.
The game was first released for PS Vita on August 9, 2018 in Japan. A Switch port was released on September 16, 2021, and mobile port on October 27, 2022.
IFI is the same publisher responsible for English localisations of Amnesia, Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei, and Cupid Parasite.
About Charade Maniacs
The premise. 
Isekai x mystery otome. Hiyori Sena, a sophomore in high school, was living a peaceful life. One day, as she was walking home with her childhood friend, a masked figure appeared before them. The two were abducted and taken to a strange world with two moons. By the time she realised, Hiyori was with nine others who are in the same predicament as her. In their confusion, the mysterious figure began to speak.
“Welcome to Arcadia! In this world, if you perform for us, your wildest dreams can come true!”
In order to find their way home, the group was forced to work together and act in an assortment of scenes from a drama. They were also made aware that a traitor walked among them…What could be the motive of this traitor? And why are they all being forced to act?
Unable to fully trust anyone, whose hand will you take in the end?
[Source: IFI, but with slight translation modifications by Vira based on the Japanese version]
The game director is Saitou Asami, whom had previously worked on Tokeijikake no Apocalypse. The scenario writer is Amemiya Uta – her other notable work includes Gensou Manege and the upcoming princess and knight otome, TsuiTsui.
Teita, who is responsible for the character design, had previously worked on other well-known titles including Norn9, Juuzaengi, and Nightshade.
Based on official info, the game will be released in Summer 2023. But there is a preorder page already up on Amazon, which does mention that the game will be released on June 30, 2023. Since this is not official, I would implore we wait for official information – but it looks like we won’t have to wait too long!
Charade Maniacs seems to feature fairly standard visual novel gameplay. There is flowchart, some investigative-style plays, and drama scenes where the LIs may act completely out-of-character.
Watch the trailer here:
Characters
Sena Hiyori
✤ Voice actor: Not voiced.
A sophomore at Gekkei High School. She is always trying her best at everything she does. Just before summer break, she met a strange man and was suddenly transported into the Other World Stream.
Akase Kyouya
✤ Voice actor: Saitou Souma.
A student who attends Ariake Technical School. He’s an honest, athletic, and energetic guy with a strong devotion, leading him to be quite influential on the group’s mood.
Banjou Tomose
✤ Voice actor: Suzumura Ken’ichi.
A schoolmate of the protagonist who is undeniably cool. He’s also Hiyori’s childhood friend, and has the tendency to be a little overprotective of her. He loves clam chowder and is a member of the drama club.
Chigasaki Mamoru
✤ Voice actor: Namikawa Daisuke.
A soft spoken and respectful man. Whenever the protagonist is in trouble, he lends her a hand. He tries to avoid any conflict and is a very peaceful person. He loves to collect succulents.
Dazai Mei
✤ Voice actor: Furukawa Makoto.
Although he may seem distant, he is very kind at heart. Vigilant and watchful, he keeps the free spirits in the group grounded. He loves cats.
Ebana Keitou
✤ Voice actor: Maeno Tomoaki.
Although he seems like a serious person, he’s got a mouth on him and always gets into arguments. But similar to Dazai, he’s very grounded. A skillful cook.
Futami Ryouichi
✤ Voice actor: Seki Tomokazu.
A student in vocational school studying art. He’s very good with his hands and loves to do silver crafting. He’s the brother figure to the cast members who act selfishly.
Gyoubu Souta
✤ Voice actor: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu.
Supposedly attends Gekkei High School like the protagonist, but she’s never seen him there. He’s an eccentric man who always acts aloof. He loves old games.
Haiji Takumi
✤ Voice actor: Okamoto Nobuhiko.
He always seem to be staring off into space. A boy who doesn’t speak often. He’s hard to read but what we know for sure is that he loves ice cream.
Iochi Mizuki
✤ Voice actor: Ogata Megumi.
The oldest of the cast members. Unlike their appearance, they’re pretty bold, often acting as the host of the disorderly group.
Personal impressions on Charade Maniacs
I’ve been stuck in my game hoarding era since late 2022 – but for some reason, CharaMani just never really made it to my to-buy list. For once I actually didn’t just impulsively buy and checked the trailers, briefly read some reviews – and unfortunately it was a bit mixed so I wasn’t convinced.
I think one of the biggest pullback for me was that many reviewers mentioned this game is low on sugar content. This is unsurprising given the focus on solving mysteries. If I was to play a game in Japanese, I need to be reasonably invested in it because reading Japanese text uses up a lot of my brain power. 
So personally, I’m happy I’ll be able to give this game a fair chance and breeze through it in English.
CharaMani seems to have a lot of charms though. The A-list voice actor casts, Teita’s art and the mystery element will certainly appeal to many. The traitor concept reminds me of Tomodachi Game! One of the LIs, Mizuki, is also non-binary – and I’m sure we can all appreciate the diversity. I’ve also seen a few moots mention there are LIs with “interesting” personalities. I love yanderes and trash LIs in general, so I decided not to look into it for maximum enjoyment when I play this. 
According to what I’ve read, the game is also really good at foreshadowing, and we may find secrets about other LIs when playing through the route of a completely different LI. Apparently, the common route is long – but overall the game seems to be on the shorter side, with only one ending for most of the LIs. Luli and many Japanese bloggers also recommend that we play the game blind, and I might take their advice and do just that!
IFI’s announcement
I was disappointed that IFI only announced one game. I thought they’d at least give people Birushana FD as well since it’s already been released in Japan, and the first game was well-received in the West. But 1 to 2 otome a year seems to be their current standard (?). Let’s see if we get something else later in the year!
I don’t want to get too involved with community drama, but I echo everyone’s sentiments that the announcement was bizarre and frustrating. But I’m cautiously optimistic they will learn from this! One positive take-away is that the chance of older titles getting localised is most definitely there, and that’s a win. If you are upset (and you have every right to be), but are actually curious about this game, I would say don’t let the whole announcement saga stop you from trying CharaMani out. But of course, that’s just my personal take! 😊💖
