Left to right: Christopher, Eduardo, Russell, Nathan, and Thomas
Pirates in Love is a Romance Game Visual Novel by Voltage, Inc., and the first of their games to receive an English-language release.
Through a series of mishaps, the protagonist - a plucky young bar wench - finds herself inadvertently stowed away on the pirate ship Sirius. Her presence is soon discovered, and the captain of the Sirius summarily drafts her into service as a member of the ship's crew to join them as they sail the seas in search of hidden treasure.
There's just one problem - the Sirius doesn't have a bunk to spare.
The heroine is left with no choice but to choose which one of the Sirius pirates to room with:
- Russell, the quick-tempered swordsman
- Eduardo, the sharp-tongued navigator
- Nathan, the gruff and quiet cook
- Christopher, the kind doctor
- Thomas, the cute young deckhand
- or the hard-drinking, hard-partying, womanizing Captain Morgan himself?
Whoever she chooses, she's got her work cut out for her.
In 2017 Voltage released Pirates in Love: Captain's Cut, a re-localized English version of the app using the original Japanese character names and unmodified artwork. The original localization was retired in 2018, and Captain's Cut was transferred into Voltage's Love 365 library app.
Pirates in Love features examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Alan to the protagonist in several routes other than his own, most notably Eduardo's main route.
- Fuzzy to Eduardo in his main route, until she recognizes the growing romance between him and the main character.
- She also does this to his Christopher in his main route. She doesn't take the rejection well, though...
- The Alcoholic: All of the pirates drink, but Morgan is an especially heavy drinker. In his route, the protagonist eventually makes him promise to go dry, to his great dismay.
- Anachronism Stew: The game's fictional setting allows for some handwaving, but mostly the writers clearly just didn't bother trying to maintain any kind of consistency in what sort of time period the game is supposed to be set in.
- Chain Pain: Nathan wields a chain and sickle in battle.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Hilariously justified on Alan's route. He's able to strip down to his underwear at a moment's notice when it seems like he might have a chance with the protagonist - because he's wearing tear-away stripper clothes.
- Chef of Iron: Nathan, the ship's cook.
- Christmas Episode: Two. "A Pirate's Christmas" features the Sirius crew sans Morgan, while "Christmas With the Captains" features Morgan and Alan.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Captain Alan of the Rika is a singularly odd human being.
- Coat Cape: Morgan wears his coat thus, with the same "superglued on at the shoulders" effect seen elsewhere.
- Dead Person Impersonation: "Morgan" is actually the twin brother of the real Pirate King Morgan. He took up his brother's identity at the latter's dying request.
- Dirty Cop Dirty : Rear Admiral Donatello in Leonardo's story. Framed Linus, Leonardo's best friend, by saying he was in cahoots with pirates and started a war called the Battle of April. Linus died a traitor there and Donatello did it just so he could get a promotion to his current position. Does this again to Leonardo, saying he was in cahoots with the Sirus Pirates just so he can capture them and take credit.
- Duality Motif: Eduardo's left eye is golden brown inherited from his Uru mother, while the right, normally hidden by his eyepatch, is a reddish brown he inherited from his father.
- Dub Name Change: The character's names were changed for the English-language localization - Hayate, Shin, Nagi, Soushi, Towa, Ryuuga, and Roy became Russell, Eduardo, Nathan, Christopher, Thomas, Morgan, and Alan, and so forth. Captain's Cut uses the original names.
- Durable Deathtrap: The ruins on Skull Island inevitably sport a few of these.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Outside of the Voltage USA adaptations, Pirates is thus far the only Voltage game in which character names (and in some cases appearances) have been changed for the English translation (reversed with the release of Captain's Cut.
- There's also an example within the game itself: the translation of the first routes released has all of the characters speaking with noticeable "pirate" dialects, a practice which is abandoned beginning with Thomas's main route.
- Eyepatch of Power: Eduardo wears one over his right eye. The eye is perfectly functional, but its color reminds him of his father, who he hates.
- Expy: Between his gruff Sugar-and-Ice Personality, his cooking skills, and his appearance, Nathan bears a distinct resemblance to Shinjiro Aragaki.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Yamato, an obvious counterpart of Japan.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The same lack of consistency mentioned under Anachronism Stew also shows up when the writers attempt to populate the setting. Zombies, ghosts, fairies... if you can imagine it, it will probably show up in a side story sooner or later.
- Featureless Protagonist: As usual for Voltage games, the protagonist's face is rarely shown in CGs, and when it is shown she's depicted without eyes.
- Festival Episode: The "Summer Fireworks" side story.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Eduardo catches some crap for being the son of a Moldor officer and an Uru princess.
- He Is All Grown Up: Cute little Thomas grows up hot, as his second sequel shows.
- Hot Springs Episode: The "Nathan's Special" side story.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Skull Island.
- Ineffectual Death Threats: Eduardo frequently threatens to feed the protagonist to the sharks.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eduardo.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Leonardo, a naval captain who adores his cat Myumyu.
- Magitek: Although not particularly featured in any of the initial routes, it becomes a prominent element in some of the sequels, such as Eduardo's, which involves airships and a race of "gods" who live in a city above the clouds.
- Master Swordsman: Morgan, famously so.
- My Sibling Will Live Through Me: Morgan, as mentioned above in Dead Person Impersonation, so much so that we never actually find out what his real name was before he took over his brother's identity.
- Pirate: The entire point of the game.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The crew of the Sirius never engages in any actual piracy, preferring to search for lost treasures rather than try to plunder valuables already owned by others. The crew of the Rika, meanwhile, seem to spend all their time chasing after the Sirius.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: An upbeat version of "Nessun Dorma" serves as the default BGM, and a more low-key variant plays during contemplative/romance scenes.
- Punny Name: Thanks to the Dub Name Change, the hard-drinking pirate captain is named Captain Morgan.
- Race Lift:
- Soushi in the original Japanese version is visibly Asian, but for the English localization he's been changed into Christopher, a black man. Captain's Cut retains his Japanese appearance.
- Eduardo's character design is also modified to look less Japanese as compared to his original incarnation, Shin, although this was probably more to keep him from being confused with Alan - Soushi, Shin, and Roy (Alan) all have very similar appearances in the original Japanese version of the game.
- Rightful King Returns: See "Royal Blood". Taking up his responsibilities to his people is an important element of Eduardo's main route and sequel.
- Royal Blood: Eduardo turns out to be the last living member of the Uru royal family.
- Serious Business: The treasure that the pirates risk life and limb to retrieve from Skull Island during Nathan's route is... a kitchen timer. (And various other valuables, but Nate really does just want the timer.)
- Shout-Out: Captain Morgan, named after the rum mascot.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Nathan.
- Supreme Chef:
- Nathan. No matter what delicacy his crewmates might have a craving for, he can make it, and his cooking is always delicious.
- Also, unexpectedly, Alan.
- Talk Like a Pirate: The English translation of the initial main routes is heavy on this kind of thing, with dubious results. Translations of the additional material mostly drop the practice and have the characters talking more normally.
- Time Skip: The second sequel routes take place two years after the original routes and sequels.
- Token Minority: Christopher's Race Lift also makes him one of these.
- True Companions: The Sirius and Rika crews.
- Valentine's Day Episodes: The "Valentine Kingdom" side story.
