Bye, Boyfriend! is a monthly column where Xiao Qing abandons her healthy relationship with her human boyfriend to find love in a dating sim. This month, she leaves him for a cockroach.
The dating sim genre was made for those who lead a whimsical life (i.e. me). From dating pigeons in Hatoful Boyfriend to dating your literal existential crisis in Date Everything!, the genre has taught me to look past the physical and see these unique personalities for who they really are.
Enter Earth Corp, a Japanese pesticide company who has decided to challenge my views with the ultimate question: would you still love him if he were a… cockroach?
On June 4, 2026, also known as Bug Day in Japan, Earth Corp released a short dating simulator titled Gokigen Lovely Days, with voice actor Yuki Kaji (yes, Attack on Titan’s Eren Yaeger) voicing all four love interests. At first glance, the four hotties represent the typical tropes — the energetic Chaba, or the aloof Yamato — but as you grow closer, they reveal their true selves: cockroaches.
In Japan, the summer months are the best times for cockroaches to breed and invade your home. Earth Corp’s Gokigen Lovely Days aims to educate players on how these pests can breed in your home and, of course, sell you their pesticides. Since the game is just one big advertisement, the MC ultimately kills the hotties — I mean, roaches — after they reveal their true selves. But as a seasoned dating sim player with a very open mind, I sought to answer the age-old question: could I learn to see a cockroach as a love interest?
Leaving a tiny gap in my heart
In Gokigen Lovely Days, my alter ego Kairi is a young salarywoman. The work days are long and the tasks are difficult, and all she wants is a companion to greet her when she gets back from work. One rainy evening, you choose between sheltering in a restaurant or a park gazebo, meeting either Chaba and Wamon or Kuro and Yamato. They help you — breaking your fall or saving your documents before they get drenched — then vanish, leaving a lingering impression.
At this point, I was still on board. The premise was a little silly, but Kaji’s voice acting made the characters genuinely appealing. I gravitated toward Kuro and Yamato’s cool, mysterious vibe (which reminded me of my boyfriend), though Kaji’s range — especially with Chaba and Wamon — was impressive.
Kairi’s next encounter with the hotties is where things start getting weird, and the men start hinting at their… less savory selves. Kuro and Wamon’s hints are a little goofy, but perfectly acceptable. Kuro’s wings appear as he dives off the roof to retrieve clumsy Kairi’s phone, and Wamon duplicates himself in an instant to pick up all your pearls when your necklace snaps. How quirky! I could certainly see myself loving a man with the power of flight and the ability to clone himself!
Then there’s Chaba, who starts chewing on Kairi’s hair for dessert, because cockroaches will eat human hair if there’s no other food around. As for Yamato, he offered my poor Kairi a bouquet of cockroach eggs, which the stupid girl accepted and was even touched by the gesture.
All of this is underscored by that unmistakable, spine-chilling scuttling sound.
But it’s fine! They’re just a little quirky — I played My Horse Prince and I was able to accept and love Yuuma with my heart. Surely I can do the same with these roaches.
Scuttling his way in
By the third act, Kairi has been exchanging messages and is completely infatuated with the men. The hottie (whichever one you chose to romance) will text to say that he’s coming over, and Kairi immediately scrambles to make her home presentable, whether it’s by taking out the trash or freshening up in the bathroom.
Cue the scuttling sounds, and dread.
If you’ve ever dealt with a cockroach, you know the horror of their sudden appearance, and the game nails this. Each character enters exactly how you’d expect: Chaba from the trash, Kuro flying in, Wamon sneaking in from under the sink, and Yamato popping out from your AC or laundry. It’s ridiculous and so incredibly disgusting.
When they finally appeared in full roach form, I found myself laughing and recoiling at the same time.
Kairi, thankfully, has clarity. She immediately sprays them with Earth Corp pesticide, effectively killing them. My relief is almost instant.
I guess I’m not ready to love everything just yet.
Be gone, pest!
For a pesticide advertisement disguised as a silly romance game, Earth Corp’s commitment to factual accuracy is impressive. The four roaches you meet are based on a real species in Japan: kuro gokiburi (smokybrown cockroach), wamon gokiburi (American cockroach), chabane gokiburi (German cockroach), and yamato gokiburi (Japanese cockroach). The hotties you encounter take on their appearances and names based on the type of cockroach they’re representing.
For example, Wamon wears a red-brown shirt and has blonde streaks in his hair, as wamon gokiburi tend to be reddish-brown in colour and are easily recognized by their distinct yellowish band around the head. They are usually found in restaurants and sewers, which is why the MC first encounters him in a restaurant and later discovers him coming out of her bathroom sewer pipe.
Maybe it’s because it’s a bit too accurate, but any affection I had vanished as their true nature emerged. Like the MC says at the end, “The closer we get, the more we hurt each other.” In the end, she realizes she doesn’t need to rely on someone else.
And maybe… There are better things for me out there after all. Maybe I don’t have to spend my life with a 2D cockroach.
Gokigen Lovely Days is free to play here. Do note that the game does not have an official English translation.
