Clockwise from top left: Neil Lowell, Gabriel Levi, Cecil Coward, Michael Levi and Leonid Owen. Not pictured...
Shingakkou -Noli me tangere- is a Boys' Love Visual Novel developed by PIL/SLASH and was released in March 30, 2011. Despite its title, it has nothing to do with the novel of the same name written by Jose Rizal.
Set in England some time after the events of World War II, the story follows Michael Levi, who along with his twin brother Gabriel, returned from school to visit their family on Christmas Eve... only to find their parents' and younger sister's corpses, and their house set ablaze. And the only clue behind who orchestrated their family's gruesome demise is a symbol left on the murder scene: an inverted cross encoiled by a serpent.
Michael recognizes it as the symbol of a cult from his school, a cult that is rumored to worship the devil and all things unholy. Consumed with both grief and anger, Michael renounces his faith in God and resolves to find his family's murderer and get revenge, and to do so, he returns to the seminary to investigate the cult and hopefully catch the mastermind.
The visual novel is noted for its Religious Horror element and its penchant for Jump Scares with a healthy dose of Mind Screw. As such, this is not recommended for the faint of heart.
A manga adaptation of the visual novel illustrated by Kai Natsumi was released in 2011, and covers the story of Neil's route. As of 2023, there is still no English localization for the game, although it is included in a survey from MangaGamer regarding which game to localize next, leaving the hope that it may be picked up for an official translation someday.
Shingakkou -Noli me tangere- provides examples of the following tropes:
- Age-Gap Romance: If Neil is the chosen love interest, he and Michael share this relationship since he is at least a few years older than the other man.
- The Ageless: For reasons unknown, after receiving a bullet to the head and miraculously surviving, August stopped physically growing a day older. Case in point, by the time the plot kicks off, he is supposed to be as old as Lazarus, since they were both classmates; yet one would initially assume that they are at least a decade apart.
- Ax-Crazy: Something isn't right at all with August, and it's not only because of the physical damage he got to his cranium from surviving a shot to the head. His route reveals the extent of just how screwed up he is, and it's portrayed as both horrifying and tragic.
- Batman Gambit: Near the climax of Neil's good ending, Michael ends up stabbing Neil after being haunted with thoughts of how he must kill the latter... only to realize that Neil is completely unharmed and protected himself beforehand with a book, a piece of pork, and a blood pouch to deceive Michael out of his hypnosis.
- Big Bad: Lucifer, the leader of the demonic cult that is connected to the murder of Michael and Gabriel's family.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: August seems reasonable and friendly, with a hint of a harmlessly mischievous side to him. Except that he is a lot more cunning and cruel than he lets on, and takes mad glee in the torment he inflicts on others. However, his route implies that this may be yet another front he's putting on in an attempt to incur Michael's wrath and foster his killing intent.
- Bittersweet Ending: August's good ending has a somber albeit realistic conclusion. After what ultimately is a Bungled Suicide, in spite of the ordeals he suffered at August's hands, Michael ultimately regains his faith in God and grows up to become a priest. He soon learns that, in contrary to what he was previously told, August is still alive, albeit catatonic and nearing death. Michael then visits August and tells him that even though he shouldn't, he still chooses to forgive him for everything he's done and prays for August's soul to find salvation. It's hinted that shortly afterwards, August breathes his last, finally freed from his suffering.
- Bungled Suicide: In the climax of August's route, both he and Michael drink poisoned wine, but they nonetheless survive. While Michael is mostly in good health after recovering, August is left in a far more damaged state...
- Curtains Match the Window:
- Michael and Gabriel have golden hair and eyes.
- August's hair and eye color is brown.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The horrors of World War I turned out to have taken a huge toll on August's sanity and greatly shaken his faith and his morals.
- Death Seeker: August's greatest wish is to die, but he wants Michael to be the one to kill him.
- Driven to Suicide: August jumps off from the school tower in Neil's good ending.
- Fiery Redhead: Downplayed with Neil. He has red hair, has a reputation for being a delinquent and he's frank, but he's far from temperamental and is quite the Nice Guy.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Michael and August met ten years before the plot of the game kicks off. Of course, being a child at the time, Michael doesn't remember that event.
- Hollywood Atheist: Leonid, despite attending a seminary, doesn't actually believe in God.
- Holy Pipe Organ: The opening theme, which is sung like a choir hymn, makes good use of the trope from start to finish.
- Interface Spoiler: A subtle one. In any opening sequence in a BLVN, August is introduced as one of the main characters, which then allows the player to know that he is a love interest. The fact that he is a priest, however, means that for him and Michael to have that sort of relationship would indicate that August harbors a deep-seated issue or two. And even before the player can access his route, they will soon see that he's not as normal as he seems...
- Internal Reveal: By the time the player gets to play August's route, they already know very well that he's not the kind priest he is first introduced as. So the suspense comes mainly from having to watch Michael find that out for himself. Of course, the player is still in for a surprise since it's only in the same route that they see August's true colors completely unfold.
- Ironic Name: Despite being named after the kinder son of Adam and Eve, Abel Stapleton is an utter piece of work who has fun in getting on other people's nerves.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Leonid may seem rather standoffish and quite the uppity person, but he's far from a bad person and is reasonable.
- Jump Scare: The visual novel loves to startle the player using either horrifying CGs or tracks and sound effects that invoke the feeling of terror. At times, it makes use of both.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Leonid has long and flowing silver locks, complete with a fair appearance that cements his status as this trope.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Shingakkou takes place in a seminary, so it's almost inevitable that Michael and some of his love interests would do it in the chapel or the nave.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Lucifer wears a white mask that covers the upper half of his face. It also helps in keeping players from realizing early on that Lucifer and August are one and the same.
- May–December Romance: Although calling it a romance may be a bit of stretch, Michael and August's affair qualifies for the trope still as they are at least twenty years apart, and even more, in light of The Reveal that August is far Older Than He Looks.
- Meaningful Name:
- Michael is named after the archangel Michael, especially as he is born on September 29, which just so happens to be the feast day of St. Michael himself. Likewise, September 29 is also the feast day of the archangel Gabriel, and Michael and Gabriel Levi are twins.
- While it's a bit on-the-nose, it also makes sense that the leader of a Satanic cult would be given the moniker "Lucifer". And with August being (or at least believing) that he is the devil incarnate...
- Nice Guy: In spite of his status as a delinquent, Neil always acts with good intentions and serves as a supporting friend and brother figure to Michael.
- No Romantic Resolution:
- August's route isn't really so much as a romance route as much as it is a route that explores August's character and his relationship with Michael in greater depth. In spite of the abundance of sex scenes in the route, it becomes obvious that whatever is going on between the two is not a genuine romance or anything resembling such, even with the complicated emotions they share. It helps that the ending doesn't actually have them get together. The only resolution achieved in the climax is that both Michael and August finally find peace and closure with their respective personal demons, but no more than that.
- Gabriel's route has Michael end up with no one, since Gabriel is no more than a figment of Michael's imagination. While Michael manages to find the real Gabriel in the ending, they reunite as relatives and nothing more. Nonetheless, Michael gets a happy ending because in spite of what he has lost, there is still someone who he can call family.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: The climax of August's route has the player choose whether to he should condemn August and exact retribution, or to do nothing and decide that it's not his place to enact justice. Given everything that August had done up to that point, it would be understandable to have Michael do the former... except that this option actually nets the bad ending.
- Older Than He Looks: August is clearly an adult of a mature enough age. However, he's already at least twenty or thirty years older, and he looks the way he does because his body had stopped aging since World War I.
- Pedophile Priest: Neville Kohl, the headmaster of the seminary, likes to punish his students a little too much. In fact, the punishments he metes out are no more than an excuse for him to molest the students.
- The Promise: In Michael's Forgotten First Meeting with August, the latter asks Michael to kill him. Instead, Michael vows to save August's soul, a promise that he finally makes good on in August's good ending.
- Red Herring: Any player would initially assume Leonid to be Lucifer, since when the latter is first introduced, he speaks with the former's voice. Lucifer's real identity is actually August, who happens to be very skilled at voice mimicry.
- Religious Horror: The visual takes place in a seminary where there is a demon-worshipping cult hiding among the facility and student's ranks. What else should be expected?
- The Reveal:
- August is Lucifer himself, the leader of the cult that's involved with the murder of Michael's family.
- Although Michael does have a brother named Gabriel, the "Gabriel" he has been interacting with throughout the game was all in his head.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Michael and Gabriel are close, there's no doubt in that. But there is no denying that they contrast each other in many ways, from their personalities to their capabilities. This is because as a projection of Michael's mind, Gabriel is everything that Michael isn't.
- Sincerity Mode: Even with the way he's manipulating Michael, August tells the younger man in a rare moment of genuine honesty that he cannot give Michael the love he seeks because he's too corrupt of a man. He even gives Michael one chance to leave and not pursue their affair any further... a chance that Michael ultimately declines.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The ending theme of the visual novel, "We Are One", is a peppy modern J-pop piece that doesn't really fit in with the game's Religious Horror setting.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Michael asks August in the latter's route why he didn't just kill himself if he wanted to die that badly. August answers that it would be too boring, but Michael accurately deduces that it's because August knows that committing suicide would make him unworthy of Heaven, and in spite of everything, August is still in conflict with his faith.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Given everything that happens in August's route, there was no feasible way for him and Michael to have a happy ending together.
- Teacher/Student Romance: August's route qualifies for the trope, given that he's an instructor in the seminary. Although given what's already revealed about him in the others' routes, it doesn't take long for the player to realize that his relationship with Michael is far from the healthy kind.
- Tragic Villain: August turns out to be far malevolent than anyone would ever assume him to be, and his route shows his black-hearted side in full, but it's also revealed just how broken he is deep down, even if it doesn't justify any of the vile actions he has committed. It should also be noted that the objectively best outcome the player can get for August is the most bittersweet ending of the entire game.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: August subjects Michael to a great deal of emotional and mental torture. However, it doesn't take until August impersonating Michael's deceased father in the middle of violating him that Michael's suffering becomes too much for his mind to take, and he ends up losing his memories for some time.
- Uke: Michael is the bottom by default with his love interests. Though compared to most other visual novels of the Boys' Love genre, he and any of his love interests can switch roles (with regards to who tops and who bottoms) during sex.
- Voice Changeling: August is really good at imitating other voices. This is how he is able to conceal his identity as Lucifer. And once his true colors are revealed in any route, especially in his own route, the tone of his voice drastically changes, just to show both Michael and the player how sinister and insane he is deep down.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: The endgame of August's route strongly implies that the reason August treated Michael as cruelly as he did was to give Michael more than enough cause to kill him, his tormentor, and August has long sought for his death at Michael's hands.
