Sakura Bunny Girls Review – Friends, Foes, and Furries?

First up, a quick thank you to publisher Gamuzumi who have kindly given us access to a hefty selection of their back-catalogue of games over the last few months. While we can’t showcase absolutely everything, we certainly hope our recent coverage of Gamuzumi titles, including multiple entries in the ‘Sakura’ series, has proven beneficial.

Introduction

Today, we bring a close to our current wave of reviews focusing largely on the Sakura series of visual novel games, with hopefully many more to follow in the near future. We end with the latest new title in the ongoing Sakura saga, Sakura Bunny Girls, which once again follows developer Winged Cloud’s traditional narratives shaped around a specific subgenre of fetishistic fan service. The title says it all really.

Sakura Bunny Girls is the latest entry in the Sakura series and a stand-alone title at the time of writing, though the game leaves the option open for a sequel. The game released on 25th April, 2025, as a cross-buy title for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It is a short, kinetic visual novel with a simple-to-achieve platinum trophy.

The game follows a set, linear storyline yet features more player choice options than ever before for a Sakura visual novel game, however these choices won’t alter the overarching story or change the protagonist’s relationships with the supporting characters throughout the tale, yet gives the illusion of a player-controlled narrative.

Story

Yori is a respected professional security guard who’ll take on any paying job if the price is right. He’s been involved in a fair share of shadowy operations with big risks and bigger rewards. However, in his latest job, protecting an important, highly classified briefcase with entirely unknown contents, he encounters something really quite unexpected.

While guarding the briefcase, Yori is confronted by Satomi, a hauntingly beautiful young woman wearing a bunny suit. This attractive thief also happens to possess superhuman abilities, including enhanced strength and speed, plus the ability to stop bullets with her bare hands! Yori may be outmatched this time, but he has the skills and cunning to give her the slip, which actually seems to impress her.

Just who is this bunny girl, and why does she want the briefcase? Yori will soon learn that Satomi is not the only super-powered bunny girl walking the streets at night, as he finds himself in the middle of an underworld criminal turf war. Yori’s skills, determination, and charm seem to earn him some sway with the beautiful bunny girls caught up in the seedy underworld. Can he persuade them to use their powers for good and give up their mischievous ways?

Progression

For a brand new entry in the Sakura series, Sakura Bunny Girls doesn’t alter its control scheme, and so series fans will already know the basic flow. A single-button interface moves the text forward; the Cross button will move the text on to the next line or paragraph, while tapping L1 allows you to rewind to the last line or scene.

Pressing the Square button will let the text auto-play, while R1 acts as a fast-forward feature, allowing you to skip through the game in a flash if you really want to. As is the norm for the majority of Winged Cloud visual novels, the game includes a very easy platinum trophy. Text display speed can be adjusted from the main menu, which when combined with the fast-forward feature means you can skip all dialogue entirely to get your platinum in as little as five minutes.

Dialogue choices will alter specific character responses during conversations, however these choices won’t alter the overall plot or character-specific relationships this time around. All trophies will unlock automatically during a single playthrough. For a genuine playthrough, you can expect 2-3 hours of content.

Graphics/Sound

Sakura Bunny Girls is beginning to show very subtle evolution in its character designs, with a touch of extra detail which makes each sprite and image Winged Cloud’s best artwork yet. Characters are bright, colourful, and expressive from scene to scene. As per usual for ecchi-themed developer Winged Cloud, the mostly female cast gain the majority of your screen time, and every girl is exceptionally beautiful.

As before, characters aren’t animated and will only move or gesture as their sprites are regenerated after each line of dialogue advances, with no independent blinking or lip-syncing attempts. Characters aren’t voiced as is the norm for these lower-budget visual novels, yet all text dialogue is perfectly personalised and expertly translated. There is a subtle yet solid soundtrack throughout the game to accompany the brilliantly detailed backdrop images.

Conclusion

Sakura Bunny Girls presents a surprisingly interesting story of a criminal underworld hidden in plain sight, yet like a lot of games that flesh out their narratives, individual character arcs often get forgotten about. The characters of Sakura Bunny Girls certainly aren’t forgotten entirely, and we’ll learn a bit about the Bunny Girls’ pasts and motivations through quirky date-like scenes, but there’s not a whole lot of real development going on.

For a Sakura title, players will be surprised to see how little fan service actually features in the game, and the complete absence of any remotely sexualised scenarios. The most skin we’ll see is from the titular Bunny Girl costumes, which look great, of course, yet the game never tries to go beyond this. Date scenes feel more like business meetings, with next to no flirtation or promiscuity.

This translates to a story that doesn’t develop its characters beyond their specified roles, and neglects to really cater for the fan service expectations of Winged Cloud fans. There is a respectable story here and some beautiful artwork throughout, yet the game never goes above and beyond to give its target audience what they want. Sexy bunny cosplay alone doesn’t really feel like enough of a gimmick to make a strong game.