Sweet & Spicy Quarterly Review #1 | March – June 2021
This review is a review of Sweet & Spicy Reviews; specifically, our first three months – from the 27th of March, to the 27th of June 2021. We’ll go over some of the achievements and milestones we reached, re-cap the reviews we posted, and share some of our plans and goals for the next quarter!
June 27th marked the 3 month anniversary of Sweet & Spicy Reviews, so we wanted to take a look back at our first three months to see how far we’ve come in such a short time. We’re hoping to do this every quarter as a record of the progress we make, but it ended up being a really long article so we might have to make it a monthly recap instead!
If you want the gist of the post, however, it’s basically this: Thank you. We were expecting maybe around 10 views a week (at most) for the first few months. Instead, we’ve been overwhelmed by interest and support, averaging at around 45 views a DAY! This may not seem like a lot if you’ve been in the online media business for a while, but for us this is so, so much more than we were expecting this soon.
If you’re one of the people who read our reviews, shared them with your friends, or even donated, then thank you. If you’re new here and this is the first time you’ve come across our website, then welcome! Here’s to many more months to come~
Achievements
From our initial website launch on March 27, to meeting our first donation goal, Sweet & Spicy Reviews has come a long way in a short three months. We’re overwhelmed at how much interest and support we’ve received, so we wanted to highlight some of our achievements for our first quarter…
Website Launch
27th March | Website Launch!
Sweet & Spicy Reviews was an idea many months in the making before we finally made the site live. We only had three reviews ready to go and a whole bunch of ideas got scrapped at the last minute just so we could launch something. These ideas are still in the works, so keep your eyes open for a bigger and better Sweet & Spicy Reviews in the months to come!
500 Views
28th May | 500 views!
In 1 month and 1 day, we managed to reach our first major milestone of 500 views! We were astounded that we had so much interest in such a short amount of time, and we only gained more momentum from there…
First Donation Goal
1st June | Donation Goal!
We set a donation goal when we first launched so we had a solid number to aim for (and an excuse to buy more otome games), but we weren’t expecting to reach it any time soon! As promised, we’ve purchased a copy of Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome, and a review is in the works.
If you want to donate and check out our VIP supporter rewards, you can do so here or at the end of this review.
1000 Views
18th June | 1,000 views!
Not long after reaching 500 views, we hit the 1000 view milestone, too! Since then (at the time of writing this), we’ve even surpassed 2,000 views, and it won’t be long before we hit 3,000. The speed is overwhelming, but we’re more motivated than ever to continue to produce more otome reviews, and to expand the website so we can grow along with the support we’ve received!
Review Recap
We post reviews every week on Saturdays at 3PM (AEST), with a few bonuses here and there when we have the time. Below is a recap of all the reviews we posted from the three we had live on launch day, to the last post of June (which was a character review of Leviathan from Obey Me!, if you want to check it out…)
March 2021
March 27 was our launch day, and we had three reviews ready to go. It was difficult to know who and what to start with, so we chose one game and two characters. Arthur is one of our favourite characters, and Ieyasu was a route we had recently finished. Obey Me! is a game we continue to play regularly, so it seemed like a good place to start with our game reviews…
Arthur Conan Doyle | Ikémen Vampire | Character Review
Cheeky, playful, and very, very flirty; Arthur Conan-Doyle appears to be your classic Playboy character, but you soon discover there is much more to this dangerously seductive vampire than meets the eye. With his quick wit and dazzling charm, it’s no wonder this mischievous mystery writer continues to be a fan favourite…
Obey Me! | Game Review
Funny, sweet, and dramatic; Obey Me follows the adventures of your main character on a student exchange trip to hell… literally. With a diverse range of love interests, genderless MC, frequent story events, and immaculate UI, Obey Me has become a gateway to the world of otome games for many new players…
Tokugawa Ieyasu | Ikémen Sengoku | Character Review
Abrasive, introverted, and awkward; Ieyasu initially comes across as rude and confrontational, but any tsundere fan will know this prickliness is there to hide the sensitive sweetheart underneath. At first, you will have to be persistent and chase him down (sometimes literally), but, before you know it, you’ll have fallen head over heels for this contrary warlord and his clumsy affections…
April 2021
April was the first full month for Sweet & Spicy after the initial launch. We received much more interest than we expected, but we still didn’t have many reviews for people to read. We spent this month focusing on expanding our range of content…
Seth Hyde | Ikémen Revolution | Character Review
The first truly spicy character I have come across in Ikémen Revolution, Seth Hyde is full of surprises. Each time you think you understand Seth a little more, you see a hint of yet another side to this multi-faceted character…
Sanada Yukimura | Ikémen Sengoku | Character Review
He calls you ‘dummy’, he takes you to a festival, you share a romantic moment as fireworks light up the sky… Sanada Yukimura covers all the classic teen romance tropes we’ve come to love, but he’s a samurai, not a high-schooler…
Ikémen Vampire | Game Review
Ikémen Vampire is sexy, angsty, and compelling. The characters are intriguing and complicated, with diverse personalities despite the brooding vampire theme. If you’re looking for a more mature game, Ikémen Vampire fully embraces the spiciness we expect from seductive creatures of the night…
Zero | Ikémen Revolution | Character Review
Zero is a wholesome, pure-hearted Very Good Boy, with a troubled and mysterious past. His relationship with MC has a very balanced dynamic, with both of them protecting and caring for each other in equal measures…
May 2021
In May, we continued to work on adding more reviews to the site. We realised that we wanted to expand the types of games and characters we reviewed, including different platforms and themes, but it took a few weeks to change our schedule to allow for this shift in direction. We also got to participate in the Closed Beta for Tears of Themis, which led to us publishing a ‘First Impressions’ review for the first time…
Jean d’Arc | Ikémen Vampire | Character Review
Unapologetically angsty; Jean d’Arc is the quintessential vampire. He’s brooding, ethereal, and filled with a self-loathing that sets the stage for beautifully melodramatic lines like, “You’re too radiant for me,” and “Is it okay for me to go on living?”…
Lucifer | Obey Me | Character Review
Powerful, dominant, sadistic; Lucifer is not a love interest for the weak of heart. Through persistent efforts, and a fair amount of trouble-making, MC eventually succeeds in gaining his attention, but perhaps they were better off keeping their distance…
Ikémen Sengoku | Game Review
With full marks across the board, I’d recommend Ikémen Sengoku to any otome game fan. It’s a true all-rounder with great character design and top-tier storytelling. Plus, with the recent release of Act 2, it seems Ikémen Sengoku is only going to get better…
Date Masamune | Ikémen Sengoku | Character Review
Masamune’s route is a wild ride, to say the least. He whisks you off at high speed in the prologue and if you choose his route, well, it never really slows down. He’s adventurous, spontaneous, and playful, making him one of the most exciting options in the game…
Tears of Themis (Closed Beta) | First Impressions | Game Review
The closed beta has now ended, but even from this brief glimpse, it’s clear Tears of Themis is going to be the next heavy hitter in the otome game industry. With high quality animation, smoothly integrated gameplay, stunning visuals, and extensive voiced content, miHoYo’s latest production sets a new standard for mobile and otome games alike…
June 2021
June was when the website really hit its stride and when we hit most of the achievements mentioned earlier. By this point we had much more content to browse and we started experimenting with different types of reviews. We were also lucky enough to be given a reviewer copy of a game, Dates & Wires, by Mary Safro and Io Black, and we’d met lots of interesting content creators online who inspired us to keep working hard. Our writer, Oona, also had her Birthday on 9th June, so we celebrated by posting a special Player Birthday Event review…
Mammon | Obey Me | Character Review
Described as ‘greedy’, ‘stupid’, and ‘scummy’, I didn’t expect to like Mammon. However, as I got to know ‘The Great Mammon’, I realised there was more to this perpetually-indebted Avatar of Greed than his lust for money…
Player Birthday Event Review | Obey Me & Ikémen Series
Many mobile otome games offer special celebrations on your birthday, including log-in gifts and messages from your favourite characters. As my birthday recently passed, I thought I’d take a quick look at the player birthday events across a few of the games I’m currently playing…
Dates & Wires | Game Review
Dates & Wires is a satirical blend of grungy cyberpunk and romantic comedy. Coming from the world of the webcomic ‘Drugs & Wires’, the characters in this game each have complex, flawed personalities that perfectly set the stage for a wild night of (attempted) debauchery…
Leonardo Da Vinci | Ikémen Vampire | Character Review
Leonardo is the kind of man everyone loves, but no one truly knows. No matter your problem, the ‘Renaissance Man’ will have a solution. But, when the conversation gets personal, he quickly changes the topic, leaving you wondering how someone so warm and caring could also seem so distant and lonely…
Leviathan | Obey Me | Character Review
Leviathan is the kind of guy you want to snuggle up to and play video games with, and, once you earn the trust of this painfully shy demon lord, you’ll find he’s a sweet, supportive guy who’s just super excited to share his passions with someone…
Aspirations
Looking forward, we want to continue posting our weekly otome reviews, while still experimenting further with other concepts and series ideas. We’ll stay active on social media so we can get to know more interesting people, and we hope to expand on this drive to support other creators in the otome community and industry. We’re also looking into other forms of content, as we know that long, detailed, wordy articles aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we want our reviews to be accessible for everyone.
Currently, Sweet & Spicy Reviews is a passion project run by otome fans who have too much excitement to keep to ourselves. However, as the site gains interest and we continue working on ways to improve, we’re mindful that this will require more time and energy, and therefore more funds. We don’t want to put ads on our site, so we have some ideas to expand on our VIP membership, for those who want to provide ongoing support. The more of our time we can dedicate to Sweet & Spicy, the more content we’ll be able to create, and the faster we’ll be able to grow. If this is something you’d be interested in, please feel free to leave us suggestions for any VIP rewards that you would like!
Final Thoughts
This post ended up being much longer than we intended, but it’s truly been a whirlwind of three months and we’re incredibly proud of how well-received the site has been. Watching it grow and reading the lovely feedback you’ve given us has been so rewarding (and heart-warming!). Thank you to everyone who took the time to read what we had to say, both in this article and all the others, and a huge thank you to everyone who donated, shared, or left some feedback. We couldn’t do this without you!
We look forward to the next three months, and hope that by continuing to share our reviews, we can help otome game fans, like us, find their next love story~
Support Sweet & Spicy
As our site is ad-free, we rely on your generous donations to maintain Sweet & Spicy Reviews. If you would like to support us, you can do so by checking out our Ko-fi page via the button below:
For business enquiries, please contact us at: sweetnspicyreviews@gmail.com
Sweet & Spicy | Otome Game Reviews 