Wanko to Kurasō

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"All together now.... AWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Wanko to Kurasō (わんこ と くらそう) or "Living With Puppies" is a 2006 Eroge created by Ivory and unofficially translated to English by Yandere Translations.

The Story: Yuuichi Yusa is a college student who lives alone and makes ends meet by teaching cram school. On a rainy day, he finds an lost sick puppy and, after nursing her back to health with the help of Nadeshiko (the nice lady from the pet store) and finding her owner (a high-school girl named Risa) discovers that the dog doesn't want to go back to her home because Misa, Risa's sister and her previous owner, died on a traffic accident and the doggie hasn't quite accepted it. Yuiichi, after putting some thought onto it, decides to adopt the puppy, whose name is Mikan, and try to make her happy again.

All seems quite normal up to this point, right? But it's an Eroge after all. So where's the catch?

It all happens in an alternate reality where aside from regular pets, there's also a variety of humanoid pets called "Anthropoid Animals". And Mikan is one of them.

Tropes used in Wanko to Kurasō include:
  • All Men Are Perverts: Subverted, with Yuuichi being an Asexual and Risa being a Covert Pervert.
  • Asexual: Yuuichi.
  • Badass Bookworm: Kuu likes to spend her free time reading, but she's a cat after all, and can be a nimble acrobat if she wants to.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Nadeshiko's route. They know it couldn't work....
    • It also doesn't matter what ending you'll get since pets only live 20 years Mikan will die when Yuuichi is in his 40's, still its shown that everyone accepts the fact and will enjoy their time together until the end.
  • Bi the Way: Risa.
  • Broken Bird: Silvie but after all, she had it pretty rough.
  • But Thou Must!: When Risa asks Yuuichi to find someone who would buy her virginity, the only option available is to have Yuuichi buy it himself, although he ends up holding it as "collateral" for a "loan". With interest.
  • Catgirl: Kuu and some offscreen, unnamed catgirls.
  • Cats Are Mean: According to Kuu, cats are independent and selfish hedonists that like to have a master because it keeps them company, but they're more playful than mean.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Mikan's results from her licensing exam become important when she tries to find her way home after escaping the kidnappers
  • Christmas Cake: Nadeshiko, though she's more of a New Year's Eve Cake.
  • Cool Big Sis: Kotarou (and Kuu!) are this to Mikan and Silvie. Also, it's hinted that Misa was one, too.
  • Covert Pervert: Risa, though her cover is blown very early in the game.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Mikan has a very tiny one.
    • A few of the other girls, too. Even the human Kana has one.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Yuuichi. Abandoned by his parents at an early age, he was adopted by a prostitute and grew in the Japanese underworld of host clubs and soaplands. He even became a host later on, and a professional sexual masseur. As a result of this, he became asexual.
  • Dogs Are Dumb: Subverted: according to Yuuichi and confirmed by Kuu, dogs are smarter than cats. Still, the most intelligent animal in the game is a cat.
    • Possibly a contendor for smartest character, in fact, but probably not.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Silvie is like this.
  • Emotionless Girl: Silvie. Also Yuuichi, to an extent.
  • Fair Cop: It could be argued that Kotarou and Kaie belong here, because both are trained police dogs...
  • Gratuitous English: "Fucking guy!"
    • "Leh-peet aftuh me!"
    • "COME ON BABEH~ desu yo!"
  • Hand Wave: "Those Anthropoid Animals? Why, they've always been there, don't pay attention to them!" Then why do you feel the need to explain, Yuuichi?
  • Hot for Teacher: Seika.
  • Interspecies Romance: Duh.
  • Intimate Healing: When an Anthropoid dog/cat enters heat, it's better if he/she's relieved by his/her master or someone close.
  • Kawaiiko: Mikan.
  • Lethal Chef: Played with. Risa's cooking tastes strange, but it's an acquired taste and, more importantly, is very healthy.
  • Loveable Sex Maniac: Risa, at least to the inhabitants of the Yusa household.
  • Meaningful Name: Mikan sleeps on a box of oranges.
    • And has orange hair.
  • Non-Idle Rich: It's hinted that Yuuichi has a lot of dough in the bank when he nonchalantly paid 7000,000JPY, roughly 80,000$, for Silvie, and said that young hosts can make a real fortune if they control their expenses, but he prefers to work to sustain himself.
  • Older Than They Look: Before getting to know her, Yuuichi notes that Nadeshiko must be a middle schooler. Nope, turns out she's older than he is.
  • Opposites Attract: Risa and Yuuichi end up Happily Married in Risa's ending.
  • Parental Favoritism: Risa's parents pinned their hopes and dreams on her older sister Misa, and were fairly indifferent as to what Risa did.
  • Petting Zoo People: Well, what do you know.
  • Porn Stash: When moving into Misa's apartment with Yuuichi's help, the bottom of the box containing Risa's gives out. The poor cardboard box never stood a chance against the ungodly collection of sex toys and porn tapes she had in it...
  • Porn with Plot: Yes, it's quite an ero-heavy game, but one with a sweet and heartwarming plot behind it.
  • Precocious Crush: Seika's crush on Yuuichi. Nothing comes of it, no matter what choices you make.
  • Puni Plush
  • Raging Stiffie: Yuuichi agrees to test some arousal medicine for Nadeshiko in return for store credit. It works too well, and he ends up needing help calming down. An employee from Nadeshiko's store found the drug ineffective, leading him and Nadeshiko to wonder if Yuuichi had been experiencing a "Placebo Effect."
  • Shout-Out: Yuuichi references Nello and Patrasche from A Dog of Flanders.
  • Slice of Life: Of a life with anthropomorphic dogs and cats, that is.
  • Supporting Protagonist: Mikan is the most important character on the story, but she hasn't her own route.
  • The Ojou: Seika and Silvie.
  • Third Person Person: Kotarou sometimes, probably to indicate her relatively low intelligence compared to Mikan or Kuu.
  • Through His Stomach: Yuuichi realizing that he almost can't eat any food not made by Risa is the straw that breaks the camel's back and makes him propose to her. D'awwwww.
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Yuuichi claims he stopped smoking and drinking when he turned 18.
  • Unwanted Harem: An Asexual guy befriends a bunch of females who happen to have also female anthropomorphic animals that need relief upon going into heat. Who also end up taking an interest in him themselves. Only Kana and Kaie seem to resist his unintentional charms.
  • You Fail Biology Forever: Where to start...
    • Mikan was trained to recognize when one can safely cross the road based on color of street lights. Dogs are daltonists (red-green colorblind). (Of course, it's perfectly fine that they can talk. And read. And do mathematics, in Kuu's case.)
      • Seems fairly logical that, if the dogs are given a largely human physiology, they'd have some abilities similar to those of humans.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Risa.