A supernatural mystery disguised as a rom-com, hiding trauma, curses, and unexpectedly heartfelt character drama.
When you hear the name Death Match Love Comedy!, you might picture either a joke or a very sad story. Kemco developed the game, which was first released in 2013 for Android and iOS. It wasn’t like a lot of other games at the time because it came out before PC or mobile versions. Soon after, in 2026, PQube localized it.
This gave the weird little game a new start in life and made it available to more people. Because of the idea—a boy who is cursed to blow up if he tells—you might think it was a joke. What you get instead is a much stranger magical drama that uses silly plots to get to the heart of your feelings.
Death Match Love Comedy! is mostly about Kei Yagi, who is in his first year at Misasagi High after moving from a different school. It looks like things will stay the same after a month. Like the rest of the class, he made friends and didn’t stand out too much.
It throws off the balance when two girls, Rumiko, the “princess” of the class, and Otoba, his fiery childhood friend, both say they love each other at the same time. Kei blows up instead of having a bad relationship. It’s not a figure of speech, straight to the point.
From that point on, the story turns into a mysterious puzzle.
Kei sees something high above him that looks like a cat. This being tells him that he will die again if he tells anything. Even worse, Rumiko and Otoba get so crazy sometimes that it seems like they have to admit, even though they don’t want to. It’s not true that this trend is called “Death Match Love Comedy” by the group. There are some funny and tense love scenes, but the mystery and drama about the characters are what really matter.
From not saying sorry to finding out where the curse came from, the story goes on. Kei, why now? What binds the seven key people who slowly come together to look into the thing? Over time, family secrets, old grudges, buried guilt, and long-standing pain are added to the story. The story doesn’t just laugh at how silly it is for people to claim to be in love. It builds up to a look at how emotional scars change people’s views, relationships, and even who they are.
Kei becomes the main character of this game, which is more interesting than most. He feels his worst fears rising to the surface one by one. He makes fun of himself at first and doesn’t get why people would love him. Kei was raised by his cousin, Suzu Toro, after he had to move because his family was unstable.
He still doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings of loss, duty, and worth.
He’s not running away from fires as much as he used to; now his story is more about fixing his broken ideas about love. Along with his fears of death and getting close to someone mentally, he fights with being open and taking care of other people.
They are both more complicated than their models suggest. Some parts of Otoba’s past are surprisingly dark, making people question what they think they know about her anger and tsundere exterior. Rumiko is often portrayed as light and gentle, but she carries her own weight because of her family’s history and the place’s history. Because they are friends, the love triangle is more difficult because there is truth where there might have been pride.
People who help others also change and grow in big ways. Kei, Asuka, and Ryuto are the intellectual and philosophical opposites. Over time, Miya and Shinoka become more important to her personally. The story isn’t just about romance, because Shinoka is very faithful, and Miya doesn’t look like what she is. The group feels they have more in common than just the curse. A painful past also connects them.
Death Match Love Comedy! is the same as playing any other visual novel. As you read dialogue and make choices that change the story, you move through a route chart that shows you different ways to reach the end. You can’t fight, do normal jobs, or get experience. How far the story goes rests on the decisions you make and how much you look around along the way. You can check the route plan almost anytime, letting you take different routes without retraveling long sections.
Figuring out which conversation choices lead to good ends and which ones lead to bad ones is the “challenge,” if you can call it that.
A lot of bad endings happen quickly and can be funny or sad. It is simple to try new things with this structure, but it might not be fair. It’s called “tonal whiplash” when the end of a joke breaks the flow of a heavy story. But the fact that the route plan is simple to find makes things less annoying. You are never asked to do too many repetitions.
Since there is no XP or skill development, stories are the only way to feel like you’ve accomplished something. When you look into branches, you get more information. There isn’t a straight line in the experience; instead, it builds on itself as you go down each road. Your stats aren’t improving; instead, you’re putting together magical, emotional facts.
This works well with the theme, but people looking for more technical depth may be disappointed. It looks like the game came from a phone app. The figures have good styles, but they don’t change much in appearance.
CG pictures work fine and appear at key moments, but they’re not very impressive. Things that happen in nature are the bigger trouble. It’s done well in some places, like Kei’s room and the classes, but not so well in others that use gradients or vague color fields. It can be hard to get into a scene when the setting is so simple, especially if it’s an emotional scene that could use more depth.
The sound design is likely the least well-done technical part.
Though there is no speech acting, that doesn’t mean they can’t happen. A lot of good graphic books don’t need it. The problem is that there aren’t many sound effects or songs to choose from. There are times when nothing is playing, and tracks loop weirdly. There are times when the lack of sound seems planned and times when it seems accidental. In general, the result isn’t very good.
You can’t hear the sound of dramatic build-ups or the breaks that come with funny beats. That being said, the English version is good. Most of the time, there aren’t any typos in the speech, and cultural references are kept without being awkwardly explained too much in the last act. The tone stays in line with the setting by using proper nouns. Sometimes the writing is hard to understand, especially in later routes, but it mostly gets its point across.
Death Match Love Comedy! has a unique theme because it portrays stress as bad rather than good. The decisions that characters make are only good for them. They get mad. Their goals are off. It’s possible to hold back your feelings with the curse, but it’s also a real thing. There is no such thing as a pure romantic act of confession when there is unsolved pain behind it.
The story also avoids being too sad. It never ends on a happy note. It talks about grief, falling out with your body, guilt, and feeling like you were left behind. It lets people stay broken instead. Even the real ending, which is ambitious and full of ideas, doesn’t end simply.
How happy you are with that outcome might depend on how willing you are to accept story twists. Tonal balance is the worst thing about the game. It can be hard for the game to stay together at times because it has a lot of mystery, drama, and funny parts. It’s harder to believe as the real road gets more complicated and grand. But the mental thread stays the same even when things go crazy.
The group still holds things together.
In the end, Death Match Love Comedy! is a study in opposites. It doesn’t bring in much cash. It’s easy to play. Its look is sometimes very simple. Still, its emotional goal is bigger than anyone thought it would be. A silly idea hides a deep thought about love in all its forms—romantic, friendship, and family—and the pain that changes them all.
When you walk in, you might be ready for a comedic take on love stories. You can read a story about people getting better, taking responsibility, and facing the past. It’s not even. It can be weird sometimes. But it’s also true, emotional, and surprisingly strong.
