Dreamlike Love with Seira (Goshujin-sama, Seira ni Yume Mitai na Icha Love Gohoushi Sasete Itadakemasu ka) is a romance visual novel and the first release of the developer Rubi-sama o Agameru Kai (literally Group for Worshipping Rubisama) back in July 2022, with an international release by JAST in August 2024. It features art by the illustrator and occasional voice actor Rubi-sama who is known for her work on many eroge titles, including several under the brand Skyfish (such as Nyan Café Macchiato and WanNyan ☆ a la mode!). While no English localization has been announced at the time of writing, a related visual novel where Seira is again slated to appear as one of its heroines titled Yume Utsutsu Quintet has also been announced.
This story revolves around a fantastical encounter between an overworked salaryman and a beautiful maid in a world found within dreams. Seeing the marketing for Dreamlike Love with Seira gave me the impression of a sweet and short visual novel that gives its reader the opportunity to spend a relaxing time with their own personal maid. Even as someone who isn’t strongly inclined towards reading titles in a similar genre, the artwork of Dreamlike Love with Seira captivated me enough to want to try it out anyway. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a little bit more exhausted from work these past few months. Wait, am I actually the target audience of this visual novel?
Will our time with the beautiful maid Seira make waking up from a dream harder than falling asleep? Let’s go and massage our tired psyches with a professional maid’s services!
Oh, the Woes of a Salaryman!
Watari Haruto is your typical overworked Japanese salaryman—he begrudgingly slogs through work way past the 5 PM cutoff to meet demands in a company that seems to care about profits more than it does the wellbeing of its employees. With more overtime days than there are normal ones, he has settled into the norm of going home just to get a bit of sleep and then starting the day anew when his alarm clock cruelly tells him to. The only thing that seems to keep him up on his feet is the promise of eventual relief and the cans of beer and energy drinks that literally fuel the last remaining embers of his motivation. But everyone has a breaking point, and with an incompetent junior under him and a stressed chief begging him to split the workload with him, it’s not long until Haruto hits his.
Despite the chaos of his unhealthy life balance, besides work, there is one more thing that occupies the back of his mind. He frequently dreams about a white space with four locked doors, of which none respond to any of his proddings. He usually ends up just staring at them, waiting for reality to wake him up from his peaceful slumber. But one day, after a very exhausting night of overtime, a door unlocks for him. Curious about what it means, he enters the now available space, and what waits for him is a wide expanse of green with an imposing mansion situated at the center of it.
Isn’t This Dream Too Specific With the Details?
Upon entering the mansion, he encounters a beautiful maid that fits the regal vibe of the setting. Prim and proper, the maid exudes elegance reminiscent of many historical dramas set during the famous Victorian Era. Once noticed by the maid, he reels back upon the realization that he’s basically trespassing and asks for forgiveness. But the beautiful maid, instead of apprehending him, performs a curtsy for him, and speaks the words every man would want to hear at least once in their life: “Welcome back, Master.”
Introducing herself as Seira, the maid has been waiting for the master of the estate to return so that she may serve them. With Haruto becoming the de facto owner of the mansion, Seira welcomes him into the dining room for a refreshing breakfast. Pancakes, waffles, a fresh batch of Eggs Benedict—you name it! The perfect maid Seira will listen to and grant whatever requests you desire. This is the determination of someone with the will of a maid! What kind of relaxing antics will the two find themselves engaging in? With hopes and fantasies bursting at the seams, Haruto’s dreamlike time with Seira begins.
A Maid Dedicated to Helping You Relax
Dreamlike Love with Seira is a romance visual novel mostly set in Haruto’s dream world and his workplace. It features developments in his professional career as he repeatedly meets with Seira in his sleep. As someone who rarely dreams, I wish my dreams were like this. There’s a saying that goes something like “Man cannot live on bread alone”, and they’re absolutely right. This visual novel shows you how correct that line of thought is by making you realize that ah, I also need an incredibly beautiful maid to comfort and pamper me in my dreams. Moreover, Kagehotaru Hana does such an amazing job of voicing Seira that even just listening to her speak is already a form of relaxation. Putting it simply, this is just a roundabout way of saying that the visual novel excels in creating that healing and soothing atmosphere that only a pretty maid can give.
In terms of plot, Dreamlike Love with Seira is very simplistic. It mostly feels like a slice of life story with dialogue that flows well. Rarely do the characters feel like they speak awkwardly, which makes for a rather pleasant read. However, the game feels a little lacking in terms of excitement as well. Perhaps due to the emphasis on relaxation and feelings of affirmation, it lacks the sense of tension that often appears in a typical romantic story, which I would have liked to see. It made me feel like I was basically waiting for the next feel-good encounter with Seira, which I was certain would come. This, of course, doesn’t mean that it entirely lacks tension of any kind. As introduced in the synopsis, Haruto will be grappling with the idea of Seira’s dedicated service to him throughout the story. And in an indulgent title such as this, what else could it be except lascivious acts?
We’ve Maid It This Far, Folks!
The relationship of Haruto and Seira as master and maid plays a big part in the tension present in Dreamlike with Seira. As Haruto indulges in Seira’s dreamlike dedication to him, he repeatedly questions what kind of boundaries there are in his own dream. How much can he request of Seira, given that she acts like her own person even within his mind? Although minor, I appreciate that our main character encounters a form of struggle through these thoughts. It makes it a little bit more fun, not knowing exactly when he will run out of reasons and excuses to keep his imagination in check.
On another note, because the visual novel is so short, I would have liked to see more varied experiences shared between Haruto and Seira during the game’s runtime. After I finished reading it, I felt like I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the maid aspect of the game beyond being a convenient plot point to make Seira dedicated and subservient to Haruto. You do have your usual teatime, mealtime, and sexy time, but there’s so much more to explore within the dynamic that it feels like a bit of a waste, especially since there were multiple opportunities within the scenario for the characters to do something else. It would have opened more slots for CGs featuring Seira in her maid uniform too!
Art and Music
Dreamlike Love with Seira features a total of 11 unique CGs (20 if counting each variation in background and expression). Being a romance visual novel with erotic content, a substantial number of these are HCGs, with the game featuring a total of 11 H-scenes, at least according to the scene gallery. The number is mostly due to the way the visual novel splits its adult content in the gallery; the actual total is around 5 H-scenes given that a number of these are segments of longer scenes.
Rubi-sama’s art style is an incredible fit for a game as indulgent as this. She paints Seira in a way that makes her shine well amidst the background assets and is able to give her expressions that warm the heart and make you feel fluffy inside. With vibrant colors and eyes that strike right at the heart, she gives so much life to Seira as a heroine that it’s hard not to fall in love as you read through the story. The detail on Seira’s maid outfit is incredible as well, accurately portraying the lace and frills that give maids their characteristic elegance and charm. I could stare at it for days!
As for the music, it felt like there were a handful of tracks that played throughout the visual novel that are easily distinguishable because of the kind of situations associated with them. There’s one for company work, another one for time spent with Seira, and one for situations that are a little bit more tense. They didn’t particularly stand out to me, but they felt well-put within their intended scenes. I just wish there was a music player option. Unfortunately, there are only galleries for CGs and event scenes on the title menu.
Speaking of the interface, I would like to point out that the game itself does feel a little bit lacking in that regard. On one hand it’s probably due to the limited customizability in its settings, but I also felt like there was a lack of intuitiveness in some of their UI decisions. As an example, usually the option for full screen mode would be in the settings itself, but for some reason, it was only available on the bottom right side of the dialogue box. Other visual novels do have a similar feature in that their function bar is usually host to a plethora of UI options, but to keep it solely there instead of making it available in both the general settings and in the function bar is a weird decision.
Verdict
Dreamlike Love with Seira is a sweet romance story about being served by a beautiful maid to comfort you from the hardships of daily life. Indulgent to readers’ fantasies, it is a nice and relaxing read that definitely helps the reader wind down from the high tension stories pervasive in a lot of mainstream media titles. Simple and cute, there’s not much to think about besides putting your feet up and enjoying your time with Seira.
Featuring gorgeous art by Rubi-sama and at an incredibly affordable price tag, readers will find themselves satisfied with their overall experience with the visual novel. I recommend grabbing Dreamlike Love with Seira if you’re currently craving a low investment, instant feel-good read to help soothe your wounds from the rough and cruel reality of our day-to-day lives. You never know, you might be the next person to encounter a visit from the girl of your literal dreams!
DREAMLIKE LOVE WITH SEIRA IS RECOMMENDED
Purchase: JAST USA
If you are looking for another visual novel, you may enjoy Kakenuke★Forward to Our Sparking Youth. We have also covered a wide variety of visual novels both original to English and localized from Japanese, which you can check out here.
Many thanks go to JAST USA for a PC review code for Dreamlike Love with Seira.
Visual novel reader that wishes there were more than 24 hours in a day. Gacha victim, TCG enjoyer, and VTuber simp. Still trying to live happily.
