"Do you want to know what I learned about happiness, Mr. Saitou?"
"The happiest people were the ones who loved the most."
— Mr. Saitou Official Trailer
An overworked Salaryman named Mr. Saitou winds up in the hospital after the physical and emotional stress of his job finally takes its toll on him. During his stay, he suddenly finds himself in a magical realm where he, now a Llamaworm, works at a button making corporation that closely resembles his old job.
It is here that he meets Brandon, a friendly and outgoing little Sky Bud whose dream is to visit a beautiful cavern locked deep within the nearby ruins. Together they embark on a short but life changing adventure full of giant birds, cool trains, and mathematics.
Mr. Saitou is the second installment in the Rakuen universe created by Laura Shigihara. In contrast to its bright but tragic predecessor, Mr. Saitou is a non-stop heartwarming, optimistic Adventure Game about two unlikely friends discovering the meaning of happiness.
The game was released on March 23, 2023 on the PC through Steam and bundled with Rakuen on the Nintendo Switch.
Mr. Saitou contains examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Saitou has a strange fear of the giant, harmless birds called Minimori. He refuses to get anywhere near one, and whenever he finds himself in a room packed with Minimori, he screams in terror and burrows underground while Brandon assures him that there's nothing to worry about.
- Ascended Extra: In the previous game, the Llamaworms were all shy NPCs named "Saitou-san" who only appeared in the tunnels underneath the forest. This game features a whole corporation full of Llamaworms, one of which is the protagonist himself.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Several characters from Rakuen are hanging out inside the Kinoko Matsuri Club. Most notably, NO HOLDS BARD!!! is now a famous band that performs there regularly, and Tony and Christina are sitting together at the same table.
- Continuity Nod:
- A shop advertising Panky's Bakery from the last game can be found outside the subway station.
- In the previous game, the Korshal Farmer complains that the Pungent Onion living in his house smells bad and never leaves. In this game, the Pungent Onion can be found hanging out in a cave, saying that the Farmer finally kicked him out so he could clean the house.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The side of the page containing Brandon's math homework has a doodle of a goofy creature saying "So much math!". It later appears as the Sphinx of Basic Math who gives Mr. Saitou and Brandon puzzle hints throughout their journey.
- Foreshadowing:
- Saitou says he's in the hospital because he fell down, but the injuries he sustained are painful and severe enough that the doctor insists he shouldn't be walking around. The ending reveals that he didn't simply collapse from exhaustion like the opening implied. He also tried to jump in front of a train.
- One coworker tells Saitou that without Hole-in-One Golf Insurance, anyone who scores a hole-in-one has to spend a year's worth of salary on gifts for their friends. Bosstou ends up landing a hole-in-one later on in the story and has to beg Saitou to help him get rid of the evidence because he doesn't have the insurance.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The aptly named Irritatou loves the sound of his own voice and always runs his mouth about anime and video games. He's so annoying that his co-workers try to leave the room, hide, or avoid him the moment they see him.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Brandon, a curious and outgoing child, and Mr. Saitou, a weary middle aged salaryman, become good friends over the course of their adventure in the dream world. The ending scene implies it may not have been a dream and they became good friends in real life.
- Leitmotif: The melodies of hospital theme, "These Gray Walls", and the cavern theme, "Minimori Meeting Ground", can be heard throughout the song "Goodbye Mr. Saitou".
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Llamaworms are striped llamas that are all head, neck, and no body. They are extremely flexible and can burrow into the ground just like a worm.
- Never Say "Die":
- Brandon tells Mr. Saitou that he really enjoys hanging out at the old folks' home with his grandma and all the senior citizen friends he made there, but his least favorite part is that he has to get used to saying goodbye a lot.
- At the bar after work, Shytou says he's so stressed out that he wants to dig to the center of the earth, which is said to be a place you can never return from. Near the end of the game, Mr. Saitou admits to Brandon that he attempted to dig to the center of the world a week ago but failed when he hit a giant rock on the way there.
- Once More, with Clarity: The opening of the game is a montage of Mr. Saitou's day before he collapses from exhaustion at the train station. At the end of the game the montage repeats, but the final scene is a shot of Mr. Saitou standing too close to the tracks as a train approaches the station, implying that this was the real reason he ended up at the hospital.
- Or Was It a Dream?: The majority of the game is presented as a dream Mr. Saitou has while recovering in the hospital. At the end of the game when he's ready to leave, the doctor hands him a get well soon card made by Brandon featuring a llamaworm with a cake tie, a sky bud, and a bunch of characters they met on their journey.
- Permanently Missable Content: One achievement requires you to inspect every single plant in the game. Several sections of the game can only be explored once, so if you miss even one and progress to the next section then you will be locked out of the achievement for the rest of the save file.
- Planet of Steves: Every single Llamaworm is named Saitou, just like in Brandon's drawings at the start of the game. The most prominent ones have Saitou-themed nicknames such as Bosstou, Oddtou, and Subpartou.
- Pun: The hint for all the Minimori statue puzzles is that Minimori like odd things. It's established that Minimori like to gather at strange places, and the statues need to be placed on the odd numbered platforms to solve every puzzle.
- Satire: The game pokes fun at several aspects of Japanese work culture, such as sticking unwanted employees on mind numbing tasks rather than firing them and being pressured into drinking and socializing with colleagues after work.
- Shout-Out:
- The game that Irritatou blabbers on about and is later mentioned by the Pungent Onion is "Wizardry: The Rallying".
- The lyrics to the song "Tea Party" are stuffed with references to other works:
- "Himawari aren't the first line of defense": Plants vs. Zombiesnote
- "Ladies and gents, wizards and ents, gather around!"/"Cuz a wizard's never early she starts right on time": The Lord of the Ringsnote
- "Pound the ground, oh wait, wrong game this isn't Yoshi"note
- "Best boy gear kami kabuto boshi": Rakuennote
- Variable Mix: The Minimori theme gains an upbeat drum line when Saitou picks up and carries a Minimori around. An even more aggressive variant of this theme plays when Saitou struggles to carry a Megamori.
