Shujinkou is an edutainment game that teaches Japanese through the medium of a jRPG, which is such a clever idea I’m surprised it hasn’t been tried before. I’m always a bit skeptical of edutainment, but it can be effective when done well, and given how much Japanese media I consume, I figured it would be worth trying out.
Educationally, the game is solid. A central mechanic is that your characters fight with kana characters, and striking an enemy with a kana from their name does more damage, which is a great game-mechanical incentive for understanding. Additionally, it’s possible to highlight most items and game terms to convert them between English and romaji (or kana, if you’re a more advanced learner), which is very helpful for learning those words. Unfortunately, the game itself is weak; it falls into many standard jRPG pitfalls while also making a number of questionable aesthetic choices that work against the educational goals.