Video Game / Len'en Cafe ~ Book of the Cafe

Len’en Cafe ~ Book of the Cafe is a Turn-Based Strategy-Simulation Game hybrid and the 0th installment in the Len’en series. The game launched in Alpha status on April 4, 2020, and was updated to Beta on June 9, 2021. The full Japanese version was released june 2.

The game has two different modes: one where you manage a cafe, and another where you participate in various battles.

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This game contains examples of:

• Allegedly Free Game: Subverted! Despite the game having all the hallmarks of one of these, there is no way to spend real money in the game.
  • However, JynX did say that microtransactions may be in the full game due to server costs exceeding ad revenue.
• Ascended Meme: “Santa Clause” was a common fan joke before becoming an official character for the Christmas event 2021.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Clause’s inherent trait, Abbreviation, reduces casting time for 3 turns, something that would normally be incredibly useful. However, Clause is a Stone Wall with little offensive ability, meaning this trait rarely comes into play.
  • Santa Clause's inherent trait, Abbreviation of the Holy Night, permanently reduces casting time of Trick system and Water/Ice element spells by 1 - which synergizes greatly with Aoji's turn based attacks, which JynX themselves acknowledge. However, due to Santa Clause's already overall poor stats and high MP cost - you'll run out of it sooner than you'll kill the enemy (which JynX also acknowledges).
• Brutal Bonus Level: The Memories of Strong Battles serve as this.
• The Cameo: Sese Kitsugai and Sukune Katano don’t have a role in the game proper yet, but they make an appearance on the “New Game Bread” recipe.
• Canon Immigrant: Rei makes their first in-game appearance in the April 2022 update.
• Christmas Episode: The Christmas Frontlines stage added for Christmas 2021 serves as this, with the player facing off against Santa Clause and three (groups of) Christmas Ghosts.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Hooaka’s cafe stats boast the highest Cooking Speed in the game but otherwise lackluster stats. Not helping is that Cooking Speed is the most situational of the three stats.
  • Downplayed with Waiter Form Tsubakura, who has the highest Walking Speed, but since it’s a much more useful stat than Cooking Speed, they tend to see a lot more action.
  • Some combat units, like Yabusame and Aoji, only have attacks from one element plus Null, while other characters, like Tsurubami, only have Null element attacks. Aoji in particular has all of their spell slots taken up by Water/Ice element spells.
  • Tsubakura (Waiter Form), Yabusame (Chef Form) and Santa Clause are designed to inflict status ailments - but due to Unreal difficulty disabling debuffs, that makes those units virtually useless if you're going to tackle Unreal stages
• Cute Slime Mook: Slime (Yabusame) is a cafe employee that gives a massive boost to popularity gain when fielded.
• Department of Redundancy Department: By default, Rei knows Monochrome Ray in two of their spell slots, effectively giving them only three base spells.
  • However it gets subverted if you take in mind that they have Karate Punch instead of usual Strike system attack, thus giving them four base spells. If you go out of your way to replace Monochrome Rays, you'll ultimately end up with FIVE spells on Rei-kun
• The Dividual: Each Christmas Ghost is actually three ghosts grouped together as one unit.
• Fragile Speedster: Tsurubami has balanced but somewhat low battle stats aside from their high Speed, and their Party Skill increases the team’s Movement.
• Glass Cannon: Tsubakura and their variants are this to varying extents. Also applies to Ink Bird, having surprisingly high Attack and Speed for a B Rank unit but otherwise poor stats,
  • Downplayed with Rei, with their Inherent Trait boosting their Attack, Defence and Movement at the cost of everything else for 3 turns. However, due to their already high S.DEF and DEF stats, it puts them more into Magically Inept Fighter territory
• Highly Specific Counterplay: Kurohebi has an inherent trait that allows them to deal more damage against Tsubakura-like units, of which only four appear as opponents. However, they still prove useful outside of that niche due to said inherent trait also giving a comparatively smaller damage bonus against humans and Kurohebi's overall high stats.
• Lethal Chef: Tsubakura has by far the lowest Cooking Speed in the game in both their regular and Waiter variants.
  • It even gets exploited via their Monochrome Ray of Bizarre Foods move which has higher chance of inflicting poison than Poison Gas
• Lethal Joke Character: Normal Clause has the lowest Cafe stats, but they possess a useful unique ability that makes customers eat faster. Contrast their Santa Clause variant, who has higher stats but a less useful ability.
• Lightning Bruiser: Kurohebi has all-around high battle stats with the exception of Special Attack.
• Limited Move Arsenal: Characters can have up to four moves which can be replaced/added thanks to spell chips. Aside from them, they also have:
  • Normal attacks that don't consume MP, which range's and multiplier are dependent on a system that the attack falls into.
  • Flashbombs: A Counter-Attack that consumes Flashbomb Gauge which accumulates during a battle. Effects vary from character to character
  • Bombs: A special attack that consumes bomb items and is used immediately, usually is a copy of 4th slot spell which are usually the strongest move that the unit has access to that requires turns to cast
• Magically Inept Fighter: Kurohebi and Rei, especially the latter, count as this. Rei's Special Attack is further decreased at the start of battle due to their Inherent Trait.
• Master of All: Tsurubami has high Cafe stats in all areas but lacks a unique ability.
• Money Multiplier: Kuroji’s Cafe ability increases the amount customers spend on dishes.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Many of the opponents you face on higher difficulties exceed the level cap.
• Player Mooks: These can be obtained for use in battle.
• Power Creep, Power Seep: Downplayed with Tsurubami’s presence as a playable unit. While they have the highest total Cafe stats, their combat stats lean more towards Fragile Speedster. They are still the Final Boss of the current beta, though, with stats to match.
• Power Equals Rarity: Generally played straight for combat units, with higher rank units being more powerful than lower rank units. In addition, only S Rank units get Bombs, Flash Bombs, and Party Skills. On the other hand, lower-ranked units are easier to get to DEEP 4, and there are a few non-S Rank units that have managed to carve out a niche, such as Large Ink Core and Ink Bird.
• Squishy Wizard: Hooaka has one of the lowest HP stats among S ranked units (only rivaled by Tsubakura and their variants) but makes up for it by having the current highest Special Attack stat in the game.
• Stone Wall: Clause’s combat skillset revolves entirely around taking hits, though they lack any offensive prowess. Chef Form Yabusame, meanwhile, has higher raw stats, but lacks Clause’s useful flashbomb. This also applies to Large Ink Core and the various Sword Fairies.
  • Tenkai (Melon) is even more defensive than Clause and comes with a full set of support spells, but is even worse on the offensive side.
• Temporary Online Content: Limited time events tend to have unique furniture only obtainable during the events.
• Three-Stat System: The only three stats in the Cafe part of the game are Movement Speed, Cooking Speed, and Washing Speed.
• Useless Item: Rei's Party Skill, Monochroid Rei, increases the non-elemental damage of other Machine units. However, Rei is currently the only Machine unit in the game, making this skill useless.
• Weak, but Skilled: Christmas Ghosts may have low stats compared to other limited time units by virtue of being A Rank, but they come with an exceptionally useful skill set including their unique skill Noel Heal, the best healing skill in the game.