(Light spoilers)

Wow this game is long as hell. What made the game so long is how wordy it is. As a writer myself, I got irritated as why can't the author just be concise and straight to the point. I don't mind if it has an insanely long paragraph I'll read it as long as it feels important, which Oretsuba's writing fails at. I don't need a whole paragraph describing how Takashi bought something at the vending machine. I'm guessing that the aim was to create a strong image by describing it a lot. Sure, I did imagine the environment quite well but it honestly was boring at some times, like I just wanted the writer to get to the point.

On the pros of the writing, it does incredibly well in creating a living city. It really felt like a real city with real residents with their own lives. There is a ton of sub-characters that contributes to the "alive" feeling of the city. The characters don't live for the plot. Now that I'm writing my thoughts, I don't there was much of a plot rather than the psychological issues of the protagonists. I'm someone who has grown to hate games without plot and making me play a game like this is quite an achievement. I'm not saying there's no plot in Oretsuba but compared to how dense the writing is, the story is quite light. But somehow, it manages to catch your interest. It felt like people watching. You just watch interesting people live and go in their daily life and that's intriguing in it's own way.

It also makes sense on how even if this game is a classic,popular and a lot of time has passed and still it didn't have a translation was because of HOW HARD THIS IS TO TRANSLATE. TOO MANY KANJI PUNS. It's incredibly hard to translate the quirks and talking characteristics of all the protagonists. They all have DISTINCT personalities that can be found in how they think and talk but It's hard to put that into english. Japanese sentences can have a lot of nuance and connotations that is hard to put into english.

For me the real stars of Oretsuba was the protagonists. I have only finished Asuka and Hiyoko's route and it was short but done well. The routes reflect the protagonist, it felt more like the PROTAGONIST's routes rather than the heroines. I actually like it because the protags are well written and one of the best protags I have read. They're all human with their own personality. I was incredibly happy when the protagonists interact with each other because they play well with each other. If all of the personalities were split within different bodies and formed a family, I would be willing to read that. They really felt like some kind of fucked-up brotherhood but they care for each other.

Haneda Takashi is the first protagonist, it really hurt to read the first time because of how ignorant he is on his situation. There were many times I just wanted for someone in the game to support and cheer him up, he was just so precious and innocent.

Chitose Shuusuke   is the second protagonist. He's the total opposite of Takashi. He's one of the most funny and sociable people I've seen in the game. I sympathized with him a lot considering we almost have the same personality. Beyond his light and talkative facade is someone who is incredibly frail and has trouble facing conflicts. It's a common thing to  see in people who are incredibly agreeable and sociable that deep down those are just defense mechanisms to avoid getting hurt.

I'll write more about the next protagonists when I finish their routes.

Watarai Asuka- It BOTHERED ME ALOT THAT THEY WERE STILL TALKING ON LAST NAME TERMS EVEN IN THE TIME SKIP. Honestly I was excited to play her route the whole time since she felt different from most heroines and yeah she was totally different. Although the concept of "school idol with a hidden personality" is an overused template, her's was done well. I loved her story in the fandisk, technically not HER story but it was a subplot in Shuusuke's. Makes you think not everyone has a happy ending just like reailty.

Skipped Miyako's. It's funny in the fandisk that she said "Why do I have a route, it felt unnatural". Wish that route could have went to Ai's ( I know she had a route but it wasn't written by the original author) or  Kinako.

Tamaizumi Hiyoko - CUTEEEEEE. She's a total tsundere but she is cute. She has a lot of problems hiding in her chest which Shuusuke forces out and solves it.

I got lazy half way writing this Lol but this game lives up to it's reputation. I don't know how many hours I've put into this game but it's certainly more than White Album 2 or ChusinGura.

After I finish the game, I'll try to write a more comprehensive post, along with the next protagonists and heroines.