When Tomohisa Inagaki received an unmarked crate of cantaloupes on his doorstep, he couldn’t resist the urge of eating them. Though the delivery was unaddressed, the fact that it contained his favorite variety of melons seemed to signal it was from a close friend. Thus he was taken completely by surprise when a rush of paralysis overwhelmed his body after several bites and a pair of beautiful succubi suddenly appeared above his unmoving form. With lewd glints in their eyes, they joyful exclaimed that Tomoshisa had tasted the rarest of demonic delights – the Lust Fruit – and that his life would be forever changed by it.

 
Megami Dai Taisen (女神大戦) is a mahou shoujo inspired eroge published by LiLiM in 2007. It was later remarketed with two additional titles of the same genre in 2008, as the LiLiM Super Heroine Box. It has no sequel, side story, or noteworthy doujinshi.

 

 
As most site visitors are aware, the eroge market can be divided into countless genres, many of which cater to a specific fetish or theme. Among the most popular are mahou shoujo (better known as magic girls to Western audiences), owing from the massive success this media enjoys in mainstream entertainment. Naturally the classification can be further divided into a variety of additional subgenres: Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth are legendary standards which magic girl titles are set against, yet the two have widely differing ambiance in setting and presentation. So too is eroge inclined in following suit, releasing hentai doppelgangers of the most successful materials that earn top ratings on television or record manga sales. Yet from time to time there comes a title which does not directly correlate with something found in the mainstream. In rare cases this is because the release is ingeniously original, but more often the anomalous categorization is a result of crosspollination from the endless sea of ideas and concepts available for emulation. In of itself such unrestricted “borrowing” does not constitute failure, yet it takes a masterful hand to not lose sight of the ultimate prize being sought and know when enough is enough.

 

 
From a superficial glance, thanks to the choice of title and distinctive character design of a winnable heroine, it’s easy to assume that Megami Dai Taisen is a hentai incarnation of Ah! My Goddess: indeed that was my own assessment before playing it. The reality is far from it, and for all intents and purposes, the eroge is little more than a generic mahou shoujo which stirs a myriad of iconic concepts in haphazard disregard of the incompatibility. In simplicity, the eroge is a story of five virginal goddesses with differing elemental affiliations, sent on a mission to prevent the legions of Hell from awaking an ancient evil that could destroy the Heavens. It would just so happen that the key to preventing (or starting) Armageddon is in the form of a young man attending an academy in Japan. So long as his sexual frustration is appeased, and knowledge of the war between divine beings is suppressed, the status quo will remain balanced and unchanged. Yet the source of sexual stimulation is detrimentally important, for the nature of the chosen one makes it impossible for him to resist the influence of whatever sates his libido, be it demonic or heavenly. Of course the Infernal Hordes are keenly aware of this delicate situation, and fully expected to pursue their private agenda with dire fervor.

 

 
With such a cliché scenario it doesn’t take a genius to determine what role Tomohisa Inagaki, the player controlled protagonist, serves in Megami Dai Taisen. Despite the title and character origin, this eroge draws the majority of its magic girl inspiration from the Sailor Moon variety. Each goddess poses as a normal school girl until the forces of evil appear in a whimsical villain of the week fashion, whereupon the goddesses call upon their divine power and transform to do battle. Each heroine carries a unique signature weapon and commands dominion over a single elemental power, which predominantly defines her capabilities in combat. Of course Megami Dai Taisen is not a tactical or strategy eroge, so the measure of the cast’s capabilities are predetermined and purely described in worded context. For the most part, the goddesses are an effective team and can hold their own against opponents without need of assistance from the lead protagonist. Where Tomohisa really factors into the plot, is that witnessing the goddesses in battle increases his levels of horniness for a variety of reasons. Thus the player is offered a series of options to quench his urge to fuck – during and after the fighting – which is noteworthy when it becomes obviously apparent that Tomoshisa isn’t entirely human. Do you suppress the savage rage and delicately take the goddesses’ feelings into consideration, or do you unleash the beast (literally and figuratively) and ravage her into a mindless stupor.

 

 
Although the story content of Megami Dai Taisen leaves much to be desired, it does not disappoint with the quantity of sex: a total of 126 scenes. Of course that does not indicate the quality is as lavish, since the majority of events recycle the same collection of illustrations with different voice acting to make them seem distinctive; so in reality the eroge only provides fifty or so unique events. Far from shabby, all things considered, as the variety is fairly impressive: fellatio, foot massage, consensual intercourse, tentacle rape, brainwashed harem orgy… just to name a few. While dark sex is clearly presented, nothing strays into truly offensive areas, with an absolute lack of deformation, guro, scat, urination, or anything else of that magnitude: at most you get sundered hymens and pleas to be released. Nevertheless, some might find it a turn off that several rapes are unavoidable in the progression of the story, most notably one featuring tentacles and another using prehensile slime. Duration of the sex greatly varies from scene to scene, but is generally kept tolerable without being too long or short.

 

 
Megami Dai Taisen is an absolute mixed bag in the department of audio and visuals. It enjoys a fairly upbeat and enjoyable vocal song, yet the rest of the soundtrack is comprised of quasi-MIDI garbage that’s better silenced than listened. The strength of voice acting is dependant on the specific character, and what that character is doing at the time: some actresses are great at performing in non-sexual scenes, but utterly unconvincing for erotica (and vice versa). All characters except the player’s are voiced, which again is a plus and minus since the ero has a comedic (read: stupid) way with handing several villains. Though on the simplistic side, CG event illustrations are nicely drawn, utilizing crisp colors and close-up positioning. Unfortunately this does not counterbalance the issue with paper dolls: while there is an abundant number of a differing facial expression, the body positions are eternally locked in the same position. Yuka is always flashing a peace sign and Minayo is always holding her broom. Things of that nature get annoying fast. Real fast. Background illustrations for the game engine are adequate, as is the menu interface, but most definitely could have been improved.

 

 
For all that it’s worth, Megami Dai Taisen is nothing more than an uncreative mahou shoujo hentai with pretty (yet repetitive) event images, disorderly sound quality, and a barely adequate game engine. It is by no means the worst someone can find, yet only the most desperate of magic girl fans should even consider it worthy of purchase: moreover when the title unjustifiably equals the pricing of top tier product. Indeed I would even go as so far to claim that Megami Dai Taisen is one of the worst titles produced by LiLiM; even within their selection of mahou shoujo. It would be in your best interest to simply avoid it, and find something more worthy of your hard earned cash.

 

 
— Central Characters —

 

	Chiyotani Yuka   The Goddess of Victory. An old childhood friend of Tomohisa, most students consider Yuka the perfect student, as her academic and athletic performance are simply flawless. Yet having seen her outside of school, Tomoshisa knows aspects of Yuka personality others do not, and with that knowledge in hand labels her as a tomboy, much to the girl’s chagrin.
	Fujisawa Maki   The Goddess of Beauty. Working part time at a fancy maid café, Maki is a breathtaking woman whose body draws the envious stares of males and females alike. She hides an incredibly feminine love for cooking and baking sweets, under the veneer of a man hating personality.
	Doumoto Minayo   The Goddess of Water. Minayo is an absolute neat freak, frantically noticing the smallest spots of dirt and forever carrying cleaning supplies; most notably her lucky broom. Although she has a keen eye for small details, she suffers from frequent tripping and falling at the most inopportune times.
	Terakado Miyabi   The Goddess of Earth. Aiding her parents with their family grocery store, Miyabi is a mature yet gentle soul. While she enjoys keeping busy with work, there are times when she inadvertently overwhelms herself with assignments and becomes buried in stress. Despite the lack of practical experience, Miyabi has amassed detailed knowledge of sexual foreplay… for research purposes of course.
	Yanagihara Sayu   The Goddess of Flora. Filled with the innocence and maturity of a young child, Sayu is nonetheless the employee of a respected floral boutique. Highly inquisitive and always asking questions of the world around her, she exhibits a boundless love for environmental preservation and a friendly positive outlook.
	Sakyu & Basu   Sakyu and Basu are demonic twin sisters who share a prominent rank in the hierarch of Hell. The duo is loud and rambunctious, enforcing their perverted ways upon everyone they encounter with total disregard of the consequences. Weak in comparison to other demons, the siblings possess a powerful technique that easily evens the odds as a secret wildcard.

 

 
— Scored Summary —

 
Scenario: 3 out of 10. If you want a decent plot, look elsewhere, because you’re not going to find back story or character development in this one. Essentially a thinly veiled excuse for why there’s a boy who needs extreme loving from a harem of young goddesses (as various demons from Hell are causing havoc throughout the city), is sloppily thrown in your face to justify the random pointlessness. There are many times, especially when the villains appear, that slapstick humor is applied: generally these are massive moments of extreme failure. There are sixteen attainable endings, half of which are “bad ends” for making wrong choices.

 
Visual: 10 out of 20. The character designs are blatantly stolen from other sources – Ah! My Goddess and King of Fighters immediately come to mind. Paper dolls never change body positions; only facial expressions are dynamic. The only artistic saving grace of this title is that event illustrations were drawn with a lush variety of colors and clean technique.

 
Audio: 10 out of 20. All characters except the main protagonist are voiced, yet this isn’t as wonderful as it might seem since the quality of acting greatly varies from role and situation being portrayed. The music is generally forgettable and was composed on budget sound suites. Overall the presentation is tolerable, but not by a large margin.

 
Erotica: 35 out of 50. There are a grand total of 136 individual sex scenes, but the real number is less than half that, as two-thirds are just variants of each other. It’s a healthy variety of different positions and styles, covering all sorts of consensual and non-consensual situations, but generally unimaginative and run-of-the-mill.

 
Mechanics: 0 point neutrality. The typical “choose your response” menu system that most eroge share.

 
Final Score: 58 out of 100. To be honest, if you bought Megami Dai Taisen you really wasted your money, and a quick glance at an eroge shop will quickly reveal what you could have gotten instead. It lacks something worthwhile to seek or unlock, as everything it attempts to do is done better elsewhere. Despite, or perhaps because of the vast amount of sex, Megami Dai Taisen merely stagnates on itself. No real plot. No defining characters. No breathtaking lights and sound. The perfect example of something, that’s really nothing. Not recommended.