Coconut Is Better Than Maple- A Synopsis
Nekopara is a video game released on December 29th, in 2014. The game is in a “visual novel” format, meaning it reads similarly to a book, but with active animation, and character models. In the first game, volume 1, there are two primary characters, Chocola and Vanilla. More characters are introduced, but the character arcs are not introduced into the later games. The games follow a trend of focusing on two character arcs per game, the first volume being Chocola and Vanilla, the second volume being Coconut and Azuki, and the third game being Cinnamon and Maple. Volume zero does not cover as many characters and does not have as much content as the other games have.

Volume two begins with another day at La Soleil, the bakery at which the game takes place, and it introduces you to all characters up front. The characters Chocola and Vanilla are always prominent in every game because they are a community favorite among the other cast of characters. The main arcs of volume two however, as previously stated, are Coconut and Azuki. Coconut is described as the tallest of the cat-girl sisters, and often to be the biggest of the cat sisters. Coconuts character arc begins with giving off the impression that she is very mature but has very low self-esteem and a low outlook of self-worth, this is due to her clumsiness and her self-proclaimed lack of skills. It is revealed later on in volume two however that her matureity was simply a façade, and that she was actually trying to mature as quickly as possible to try to not be a burden to Kashou (the protagonist and owner of the store), or her sisters. She accepts herself for who she is towards the end of volume two, and because of this bolossoms as a character and becomes more cheerful, playful, and much less clumsy. At the start of volume two she became a waitress, and is a very hard worker, however, she has low self esteem and an infeority complex because of her outlook of herself. She is always put to the side and doesn’t get to shine and show off her effort because of her sister and manager of the store, Azuki, always telling her to take a break. She fights with her sister on several occasions. She goes out of her way to get special training from the owner of La Soleil, Kashou, and tries her hardest, and because of this, she makes very good progress. Two days later, she helps Kashou in the kitchen, and shows him her new techniques. During this time she noticed he was acting strange, and snuggled up against him. This had the adverse effect of what she wanted, make it more tense and uncomfortable for her, not knowing about her own emotions and hormones being a woman. Kashou very calmly invited her to have intercourse with him, and she very hesitantly accepted the offer.
Kashou and Coconut spend the night together, but Coconut feels worried about Chocola and Vanilla, for the reason that they are already Kashous “cat-panions”, but since cat-girls are polygamous, this doesn’t prove to be an issue for anyone, and Kashou assures her by saying it is fine, because he loves her along with Chocola and Vanilla. Shigure (Kashous sister) then figures out that Coconut and Kashou slept together, and then pressured her to confirm that she is now her cat-panion. Coconut felt very distraught over this, and was worried about Kashous feelings again, but he reassured her that everything was ok, and to not regret anything that happened.

Maple is mostly focused on in volume 3 of Nekopara, and her character shows development there. The development mostly takes place when Kashou watches a video of her that was of when she was a young Kitten. The video showed Maple singing on stage, which is Maples dream, to become a superstar and sing and play instruments. Maple however feels put down about the entire situation, because people say she is a good cat-girl or a bad cat-girl, and can’t look at her like a regular girl instead. Kashou tells her to follow her dreams and she gets resolve from his backstory, and then gets renewed vigor. Because of the talk she has, she starts taking singing seriously, and Shigure tells her that she will not accept anything less than her absolute highest effort. The next day they go out to get her a guitar for her to play while she sings. Cinnamon later one gets a keyboard to play with her because they are best friends and do everything together no matter what, and help each other through thick and thin, and also have a sexual relationship with each other as well. When Kashou asks her to play for a friend that he will be catering for, she gives him a lot of guff and attitude over it. Then he goes out and finds her sitting on a bench, where he reassures her that she isn’t bad at singing, and will be fine, then Cinnamon shows up and says the same, and she gains resolve from this (again) and then decides she will go sing. Then they think of songs to sing that aren’t anime songs, Cinnamon suggests video game songs but those wouldn’t be fitting for the catering event either. They decide to make their own music for the event.

Coconut is described at face value to be a cool, yet self-conscious of her abilities at the same time. She shows great affection towards those she loves, is very playful and very energetic, and comes to love and accept herself for who she is, which makes her a very cheerful character as well. She is hard-working and very determined, as shown in volume two when she seeks out help to better herself, asks for special lessons from the bakery owner, and also tries her hardest all the time, and doesn’t want to take breaks. She yearns for those she loves to call her cute, and to praise her hard work, as seen in the beginning of volume 3. She is very considerate of other peoples feelings, blocking her sister, Azuki, from saying profane things to customers several times.

Maple is described at face value to be independent, classy, and calm. She is one of the most, if not the most mature of the cat-girls. She is rude to customers in the shop if they have conflicting opinions, and she has a tendency to hear things and blurt her opinion out loud. Her elegance is referred to by the oldest cat sister, Azuki as “harsh and unpleasant.”. Maple has also shown traits that make her seem knowledgeable in different technologies, in Nekopara volume one, Maple helps Chocola learn how to use mobile phones and browse the internet, and also shows aspects of being full of herself throughout volume three, in the first act a small young girl goes into the store and says “Woah, Maple-chan is so cool! She’s super pretty!” to which she replies “Wow, this kid totally knows what’s up, I should break out the best tea leaves for you.”, she further states that “she is number one”. In volume 3 act 2. Later on in act 4, she says “People who can sing and play at the same time are totally hot, so its perfect for me.”, father showing her self-absorption. She is also described as a snob, as shown in act 4 of volume 3, where she states “I’m looing for a good guitar, a good, cool guitar that matches me”, and had a vein attempt to act like she understood guitars when she was a beginner, she asked the shopkeeper for the best guitars available, and was about to make an embarrassment of herself when Kashou stepped up and asked for a beginners guitar. She is always attached to her phone, walking around looking at it constantly, as pointed out by Kashou in volume 3, act 2, she then proceeds to call him “such a nosy person”. Kashou describes Maple as the most cat-like of all the cat-girls, while the others act more like dogs. Kashou also denotes that he finds her selfishness and patience cute. She speaks without a filter, and insults Kashou, saying she doesn’t need a player like him, and calls him the dumbest brother in the world. She also acts tough and cool constantly when she is afraid of something as simple as an amusement park attraction, clinging onto Cinnamon for the entire time and screaming, as she was doing this, Shigure took pictures for the La Soleil blog, and after the attraction Maple was worried that if people saw her scared it would hurt her image, and was very worried about Shigure posting them online. She enjoys singing and playing guitar, she is basically an American teenager, and says like profusely, like, a lot. She also yearns to be looked upon as a cat-girl, but an actual girl. She is very hard-headed and doesn’t allow people to see her true feelings often, after 69ing Cinnamon in volume 3 act 9, she says she will kill her if she tells anyone, and then is very harsh and rude to her because of her own insecurities.

Coconut is vastly superior to Maple in many different ways. Maple can be very condescending, rude, and very cold to people, she thinks she is above other people, and gloats constantly. These aren’t attributes to someone I, personally, like whatsoever. If someone else likes someone who is brash and doesn’t think before they speak, then by all means, Maple is the one for you. Coconut is a lot more caring, fun and upbeat, and in general, nice to others, and is a sweet person all around. When it comes to figure, maple is a lot smaller than Coconut, Coconut being the biggest of the cat-girls, after all. Maple is the second tallest cat-girl, but is a lot smaller in every way in comparison to Coconut, she is shorter, less voluptuous, and in general has less mass. Maple has green eyes, while Coconut has an amber eye and a blue eye as well. Coconuts regular apparel is very revealing, and rather thotty, in comparison to Maples snobby regular dress. Coconut is a lot more caring for others as well, which is an attribute I appreciate, someone who cares for people and their opinions and feelings is very sweet, and this just adds even more to their character, which is why she is usually paired with the very tough-as-nails Azuki, who is the most Tsundere character of the whole cast, maple coming in at a rather close but not too close second (Funnily enough, she is paired with a girl who is really nice all the time, that trope with characters is prevalent throughout the entire series.).
Maple is also obnoxious, she says like every other sentence, and acts like a snobby white girl, if I went to Starbucks, I would see Maple there, acting like she is a god and being condescending, being overly resolute in her skills when they are at most sub-par. She thinks she is the best thing since sliced bread, and isn’t afraid to talk about it for the five hours in the third novel. Maple acts like a snooty white teenage girl for the entire time in volume 3, all five hours. In contrast to the very sweet and loving Coconut, who would go out of her way to make sure her family and everyone inside of it is happy, and those who she has affection for as well, I’d say it’s a clear choice. You are choosing between someone who is fun, happy, smart, and very in touch with her childish side, to someone who is rude, condescending, has a superiority-complex, and thinks she is above other people. The difference between the two characters is astronomical, and the niceness of them is also astronomical. You could have someone care about you and do everything in her power to make you a happier person, and would lend a hand whenever you want, or, the harsh person who is a tsundere. That character trope doesn’t sit well with me, it is probably one of my least favorite character tropes in anime, which is why my opinion is formed this way, I don’t like people who are condescending and have a superiority complex, they bother me endlessly, I would much rather enjoy my time with someone then dread it, and want to escape and break free from their tyranny.
Even after having relations with Kashou at the end of the game, she is still cold to him, just like how she was cold to Cinnamon after having relations with her, and she wants to have sex with him more after the first time, but is too full of herself to even ask him, instead Cinnamon drags her into it and makes her come along with her. The two personalities of Cinnamon and Maple are so good on the writing because of how opposite they are, Cinnamon being the kindest of all of the cat-girls, and then Maple being really hard-boiled and unapproachable. The characters work in tandem that way, which makes the dialog funny and enjoyable to read, but also gives it that serious tones at times, but even then, when the tone gets serious, the characters feelings get pushed aside to a certain extent and then get replaced with someone who is more caring for a little bit, then go right back to the every-day shenanigans. In a tender moment with Kashou, Maple is being a lot less of a rude, condescending person to him, and more passionate and caring, then after she feels better she goes right back to her old self, making fun of him and being rude and full of herself. This really puts into perspective just how oddly unsure maple is of who she wants to be, she shows no actual true-bred emotions until she is put on the spot, but when she is, it is for a few seconds then she goes right back to the normal hijinks of being condescending and rude to the person who took her in and adopted her, gave her everything she has, and goes through unnerving, obnoxious tasks and hardships to make sure she obtains her dreams and happiness, he buys her whatever she needs, he helps her along the way, he saves her from herself, and she still is rude to him and can barely manage to show him a shred of respect, even after he does all of this for her, she cant even have the decency to be nice to him, she will say thank you, sure, but then she goes right back to treating him with disrespect and coldness.

Now you take Coconut, the sweet, misguided woman, and ever since Kashou helped her find herself, and even before then, she has reminded him every step of the way afterwards that she was grateful. She knew that she needed work done to get better, and wasn’t afraid to go forward and ask for help, and to look at her flaws and realize her strengths, and then put the work in to better herself. And for the entire way there, Coconut did nothing but thank him, give him kindness and love, and was very sweet and caring for the entire time. And she was willing to admit that she wasn’t the greatest without hesitation. But she is more reassured about her strengths than ever, offering to help around the bakery by carrying things, and using her strength several times, and doing smaller chores that she learned how to do to become a lot more productive at the bakery. She applies herself and tries her hardest at every step of the way, and it shows with her character, being sweet, caring, kind and loving, which makes her better than Maple in every way, shape, and form.
There is no competition to it. Someone cold and rude versus someone warm and loving, someone who is condescending versus someone who thinks that all people are good and that she needs to catch up with the others, someone mean versus someone nice when you boil it down enough. Maple isn’t even waifu quality, she is just a wolf in sheeps clothing. She can’t even manage to be nice to her childhood friend, Cinnamon, when she cries over her and tries to better herself for her, she still treats her harshly, and with malice, even though she is infatuated with her “ever present greatness”, which is falsified and fake, a façade she puts up to protect herself from realizing her actual flaws and moving forward. She basks in her own greatness instead of looking at her weaknesses and growing from them. There is virtually no character development to her in the game. She goes from being cold to being cold and being able to play the guitar and sing. That’s the development. She can sing and play guitar now like an American girl (she acts like an American teenage girl because she is a two-year-old American Cowl, which is a teenager in cat-years, in case you didn’t know.), but that’s it. That’s the development. She is still rude and condescending as shown in the final act where she is being rude to Kashou in the picture booth and being extraordinarily rude to Cinnamon because her phone went off in the picture booth and distracted her, and then Cinnamon needs to take the backlash from that, her phone going off, after everything she does for Maple, she freaks out and starts being rude to Cinnamon because her phone went off.

If you think Maple is better than Coconut, you probably haven’t read anything in Nekopara 2 or 3 and are going based off of just an up-front view of what they look like. Maple is not better than Coconut in any way, and Coconut is ahead of her at every turn. Chest size, height, everything, she is ahead of Maple in. There is nothing that Maple beats her in, Maple is cold and acts too cool for her own good, while Coconut is sweet and too nice for her own good. Cinnamon is willing to go the extra mile to ensure happiness, while Maple isn’t willing to take the first step. There is no character development, she started rude, learned how to play instruments, then ended rude. If you are looking at an up-front view, I could understand choosing Maple over Coconut. She dresses very scantily, which might not be something you like (and is weird, and does not fit her character whatsoever), while Maple looks more cheerful, elegant, and kind, when in the scriptures, she isn’t, she is rude and cold, and is not willing to put forth any effort at all to help anyone but herself, because of how self-absorbed she is. She is not waifu material whatsoever. If you did not read the volumes I could understand why you could think she is, but she isn’t. The tropes of being an American girl has no place in a Japanese game like this either, if I wanted to go see an obnoxious American girl be an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I would go outside and get a job at Starbucks. And taking that into consideration, is having Maple as a waifu worth your time? Absolutely not. Not at all. She is not waifu material, she is just a garbage character who gets mad over nothing for no reason and then is moody until someone fixes it for her. That isn’t waifu material, that’s just complete trash. It is really baffling to me that people would consider her for waifu material at all knowing all of this, but your opinion is your opinion, even if your opinion is wrong and baseless because you don’t know or understand any of the characters or their character arcs. That’s your choice, even if it is the wrong choice to make.