Shingakkou ~Noli Me Tangere~ PIL/Slash (VN) ★★★★★

14th March, 2026

Where to start with Shingakkou...the setting is perhaps the best point. With charming retro shoujo style artwork, Shingakkou takes place in post-war England at St. John's seminary, following the main character Michael Levy, his brother Gabby and various students and teachers at the school. Michael is a model student having become prefect in his second year. His life is a perfect picture with a respected priest father, a loving mother, a sweet little sister and a twin brother joined to his hip. Of course, this only lasts up until the inciting incident of the story: arriving home for the Christmas holidays only to witness a terrible fire at his home that kills his parents and sister. And the flames set in motion one of the greatest narratives to grace the BL genre with a most compelling main character that will leave you with love, fear, grief, agony and profound peace.

The VN tackles complicated themes like loss of faith, mental illness, resilience in the face of tragedy, and period typical homophobia. It's also at it's core a horror story; several scenes range from eerie to downright skin-crawling, and an ominous tone is maintained via several plot threads regarding secret societies of devil worshippers, a mysterious teacher shrouded in darkness, and the blink-and-you'll-miss-it bread crumbs of info that reveal Michael is not quite right in a very, very sad way.

What I really enjoy about this game is how it handles the topic of religion. We all know the cassock-wearing priest is hot and a prime target for defilement, but often times the concept of religion itself is cut out entirely in favor of surface level Christian aesthetics in many a BL manga. The taste is exquisite, but the full course is daunting. Yet Shingakkou walks the tightrope perfectly, weaving threads of faith into the larger fabric of the story as Michael wrestles with both the betrayal and salvation of God.

The romance is certainly light here but not at the expense of character dynamics. Each love interest brings out a new side of Michael without ever feeling out of character. My personal favorite is Neil with his gentle teasing and the lighter moments he brings to a dark story. But really, the star of this VN is indeed Michael with such a rich, multi-faceted personality that you don't often get to see from main characters in this medium. If I had to lodge a complaint against this game, it's that the three student LI routes can get repetitive at times, but the auto-skip feature solves it fairly easily. And no Shingakkou conversation is ever complete without mentioning the fact that this game is not available in English, either official or fan translation, and chances look slimmer with each passing year. So my advice is to keep practicing your Japanese and then read this VN first!

Tags: BL Horror Mystery