Dekitate High School: Could do better

At a glance, Dekitate High School appears to be an intriguing bundle of bits. There’s a dash of Princess Maker-like raising sims in the way I’m expected to guide one teenage girl through three crucial years of her education. The presentation and setting brings Tokimeki Memorial‘s school days to mind. And building to a budget based on certain needs is all a bit SimCity. Pulling such unusual styles together can create something incredible and new. Or, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed from the title, it can create something like this half-baked mess instead. The premise is flawed from the start. I’m here to improve the school while personally guiding one hand-picked star student to academic success to the complete exclusion of all the other already mostly invisible pupils in her class, girls so utterly absent and inert they literally do not animate during lessons. They could be replaced by cardboard cutouts, or blocks of cheese, and it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference.…