Kara no Shoujo - The Last Episode - 天ノ少女 - Review
Entry posted by Sparteh
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Foreword: The path of the reader is both fulfilling and a lonely one. Every time we read a story, we create a world in our minds, we become attached to it and in the end, we have to do both: to say goodbye to them and let them rest in our hearts. Now, after many years of waiting, it is finally time to say farewell to the Kara no Shoujo franchise, and I couldn't think of any better way to do it, than by dedicating my first visual novel review to it.
Summary: Kara no Shoujo franchise is a 3 part (4 if you count Cartagra) murder mystery visual novel, which tells a tale of Tokisaka Reiji, a detective who accepts a request from a strange girl named Kuchiki Touko - "I want you to look for something. Me. My true self." Kara no Shoujo The Last Episode, is the 3rd and final part of this story.
Visuals: To begin with, if someone asked me how I would describe The Last Episode, I would probably choose the word - beautiful. From the art of the characters, to the grotesque victim bodies, Kara no Shoujo really put a lot of effort into it. This visual novel also have quite a few semi-movie type scenes, which are quite important to the plot, however, those who read untranslated works using translation tools should be warned, that text in those scenes cannot be hooked.
Soundtrack: The soundtrack of this novel is quite simple, however very fitting, from more relaxing to tears inducing moments, it perfectly amplified the atmosphere.
Story: The story itself practically takes place immediately after The Second Episode. It has multiple bad endings, normal endings, and 3 "more conclusive" endings - Grand End, それぞれの天国 End and True End. However, in order to reach the last 3, you need at least 2 complete playthroughs and a well timed save points. While I do not completely agree with all the decisions during the course of the story, at the very least I have to admit that they were quite fitting. The final 3 endings however, are worth discussing. While certain actions and choices leading to them are different, in the end these 3 endings felt more like a single ending split into free parts. If you only take them one by one, they will not feel completely fulfilled and leaves some things unexplained. Based on this, it might have been more practical just to make them a single ending. Out of the 3, Grand Ending feels the happiest, while True Ending is the most tear-jerking and bittersweet. It was probably the most fitting way possible to end this story. In terms of feelings, it reminded me of Umineko Magic Ending, which is my favorite Visual Novel ending or maybe even my most favorite ending in all forms of media.
Conclusion: Kara no Shoujo The Last Episode is a very good visual novel and an extremely good conclusion to the series. While so far not that many people have completed it, but I believe that it will soon (at the very least in terms of VNDB rating) be known as one of the best visual novels of all the time.
If there was one thing however, which I have personally desired, it would (SPOILER ALERT!) have been to see Touko somehow alive and well and have a happy ending for them, similarly to the Obsession ending from the part 2, but in reality. Though, I knew from the very beginning it was impossible. That is probably why the True ending felt even stronger.
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