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Fake Azure Arcology


Clephas

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Mmm... because I replayed Lost Azurite, I thought I'd do a bit of comparison... also because I didn't feel up to playing Sengo or Dragoon yet.  Fake Azure Arcology is based some time before Lost Azurite, in Amahara, an arcology completely cut off from the outside world.  It is a city that basically tries to maintain a sense of the 'outside' inasmuch as it is possible while essentially living inside a giant dome.  Seasons and the sky are simulated, as is weather, and it is even possible to cook real food (though it is reconstituted through the recycling systems for the most part).  The element of the setting most central to the story is 'Flight', a type of race-battle involving fast-moving airplanes dogfighting while struggling to reach the goal first. 

The protagonist, Chihiro, is a former pilot who lost the ability to fly due to a certain traumatic event.  He acts bright and cheerful and is something of a troublemaker, but he is constantly struggling with his desire to return to the skies.  Near the beginning of the VN, he suddenly finds himself rescuing a blonde girl from a downed aircraft, and that is how the story really gets started.

To be honest, most of this story is the heroines beating up on the protagonist because he is so utterly hopeless at anything other than making trouble and flying.  I'm pretty sure anyone who has watched anime from the late nineties and early 2000's will recognize the 'punching bag protagonist', who seems to spend all his time getting insulted and treated like crap by women who love him anyway.  To be blunt, he is that type.  For those who can't stand this type of situational comedy, I honestly have to warn you against playing this. 

Reti, the blonde girl, is Noel's counterpart in this story, in the sense that she originates from the same place (and even has a brief cameo appearance in the true end of Azurite).  She is cheerful, free-thinking, and a bit cat-like.  She drags Chihiro around behind her as she explores Amahara, and it is her appearance that drives the feelings of the various heroines out onto the surface. 

Rio is... a girl that really looks like she should be yandere.  Seriously.  In fact, there are a lot of moments, both in her path and otherwise, where you almost see her that way.  She and Chihiro are osananajimis, and their past is complex and wrapped up in the events that caused Chihiro's trauma and the aftermath.  She is what is called a 'heavy' woman, in the emotional sense, and that is the primary cause of conflict with her and Chihiro throughout the story.

Akira is an imouto-like character (sort-of) who is also Chihiro's osananajimi... but she is also from a powerful family that serves as a lodestone for the trouble in this story.  Her path is, to be honest, mostly involved with that family and its problems.  It is also the weakest path, looking at it from an objective perspective.

Haruko, the final heroine, is the protagonist's former rival, a fellow pilot who went through training school with him.  Her path is one of the better ones (if you are just going for detail, Rio's is the best), and it is the most intimately involved with the sport of Flight, for reasons that are self-evident.

Overall, to be honest this story does not in anyway match that of Lost Azurite.  I don't say this as an insult, but Lost Azurite was both darker and more unconventional.  For that reason, those who like Lost Azurite might very well hate this one and vise-versa.  That said, both times I played it, it was a fairly interesting (if at times irritating due to protagonist issues) trip into the future, and I honestly liked most of the characters, despite everything.  I do think this VN could have used a much longer and more solid set of after-stories, and I would have liked to see an added ending for a certain character, but other than that, most of its flaws are forgivable. 

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