Akemi Tan is a game by outkataoka (Kona5), developer of other games I reviewed, like Sukutte - Save Me (see here!) of the weird Body Elements (go here!).
This game, made in 2014 in Wolf-Rpg engine (one of the most popular in Japan, also used for the Purgatory series), is more akin to Sukutte, being a classical japanese horror game with custom portraits and maps + charsets made with Refmap, a classic resource pack (used also in many popular horror games, not just Sukutte but also A Crooked Man and others).

Shimoda Shimoko is our alter ego protagonist, a nineteen year-old girl that lives in a small japanese rural town who is tasked to deliver an offering of food to her village's guardian. The village is in fact protected by spirits (called Gods, but it's more or less the same here) and each year, a family is selected to make an offering at the Ou temple.
It is said that anyone who eats food meant as an offering is doomed to a curse, anyway Shimoko makes the offering, but is tired and hungry, so she takes one piece of fruit, thinking that it would be okay. Really smart isn't it? But yeah who believes to these silly superstitions nowadays?
Being this an horror game, as soon as she comes home she hears some weird sounds and a voice that tells her that she won't be forgiven! Congratulations, you you screwed up such a simple task!


Well, Shimoko, does she looks alright to you?? Do you really have any doubt??

As usual we will find some old classics of horror games: jumpscares? Yes, of course there are some. Chase sections where you can die if some weird being touches you? Yeah these are included. Puzzles? Why not? We cannot just go around mindlessly, by the way some parts were really clever, I liked that! Anyway here there are also some boss battles included, a real novelty.
So apparently this looks like game like Sukutte (I still remember those jumpscares!), but there his a touch of surrealism and weirdness that is more on the field of the mysterious than on the realm of horror. Weird sounds (are those digestion sounds?), weird creatures... all this weirdness has no explanation, but I found all of this entertaining and funny from a certain point of view as it adds meat to the story, also making some simple exploration parts more interesting and less dull or boring.
I mean, characters aren't particularly interesting (Shimoda Shimoko's most noteworthy feature that I remember was her powerful and spectacular body odour of 999! I am not joking, not at all!).


THings do not look too good for Shimoda Shimoko!

Graphically the game is pretty nice (sorry for the dark pics... but it was dark!): I usually like the Refmap resource, but here the locations are a bit better and more varied than in Sukutte (that was made in 2011 and translated in 2013): no longer huge corridors without details, so it's clear that the developer's mapping skills improved a lot.
I still find the original portraits not too bad (this time there is no ugly fellow... and I am not speaking about the monsters, play Sukutte and you will understand what I mean!) but a bit imperfect due to them being badly cut (leaving some white borders that... ugh I cannot stand that!). Also only important characters have them, but at least they all uses the same style. Finally there are some original custom sprites and cutscenes (like in Sukutte these are sometimes creepy and totally cursed!), not bad at all as it gives character to an otherwise bland story.
Oh yes, the story!
While it starts from an interesting premise (I liked the traditional japanese theme of spirits, not the usual schoolboy/girls story), it falls a bit apart towards the end. Well maybe it is because I got a super sad ending, but I'm not sure it's the only one available, even if knowing this .


Help! Let's RUN RUN RUN... to the...

Final Verdict
Akemi Tan is an atmospheric and spooky where the developer shows real improvements over the past entries delivering an original interesting premise and plot (sadly as I wrote before the story later takes a turn for worse!) while mantaining the original features and jumpscares typical of the previous games (fusing the horror of Sukutte with the surreality of Body Elements).
It's a classic adventure game, and even if there is not much guidance and you're left experimenting to find what you are supposed to do and where you are supposed to go, there is more variety and it's more interesting than most other classic horror scenarios. I mean there is a huge variations of horrors and monsters here (it's not a "monster of the week" game with one scared protagonist versus a single horrible brute/assassin/eldritch abomination from cthulhu mythos).
In the end this is not a perfect game but so far the best that I've played from this developer. If you like classical japanese horror games and you play some other titles, I an pretty sure you will love this one!