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I'll cut you, rooke

Why not get a better taste instead of wasting your time with this type of characters

AKIRA's art has this mesmerizing charm that I really like.

Start from route A, because while route B was take place before route A actually it was full of spoiler (Route B). As for the ending, just go for true ending if I may suggest something (And save before branching in case you want particular ending). Have fun.

Confession: I can talk to cat, jk

I finished the Aqua's route in Himawari, and, let me say it straight, I didn't like it. At all. The truth is however, that I can't pinpoint what exactly I didn't like. There are still things like unrealistic characters and completely nonsensical setting, but, let's be honest, almost every VN has both, and we still like them. This time however... I saw exactly which emotion every scene supposed to bring, but they just didn't work. The reason, most likely, is that I failed to connect to any of the characters in the Common route, and it worked in that way. Though I have a feeling that maybe I should've stalled this VN before I had more time to spend on it and read the route in one go instead of stretching it to several weeks. I don't know if I'm going to continue this VN right now. Actually, this VN made me seriously consider dropping the VN medium altogether. My next VN needs to be a complete masterpiece, or I might actually do it, you know.

To be honest, I wrote this point just several minutes after I finished that route, and maybe I overreacted a bit there. Anyway, it's not like it was entirely Himawari's point that I started to think about dropping VNs. It's more like, finding good VNs to read became a bit too difficult recently, and I'm not sure at what point it becomes just not worth it anymore. Like when I just started, I could just take a random high-rated VN often mentioned in reviews, and I was almost guarantied to like it, at least to some extend. For some reason, I managed to like VNs for that is good in them and almost completely overlook their flaws. There still were some VNs I didn't really like (mostly, less popular ones), but I always could just drop them at the very beginning and move to something else. Then, at some point, about a year and a half ago, it just stopped. Suddenly, for almost every VN I played I could say "There were some great moments in it, but ... completely ruins it", or "I liked it overall, but there were some aspects that lowered my overall enjoyment quite a bit". For example, I liked very much how Ever 17 handled mystery, and I had very good time trying to add all things together. On the other hand, I couldn't care less for it's characters, and the final revelation turned out to be so little thought-out, that it dropped my overall mark by 2 points. It all got a bit tiring, and the thought that maybe my time with VNs is coming to its end started to appear in my mind from time to time. Then for a few months I just didn't have enough free time to read VNs anymore. When I came back, I tried Fata Morgana, and suddenly I was engaged again. And though it wasn't perfect, I managed to overlook it's flaws and get the full enjoyment of the things it does right. The same thing with Pygmalion, though it's actually even more flawed than Fata Morgana (like, 20 times so). Then I tried Himawari, and suddenly I'm where I started. Overall, I can't say I hate it, or this is a bad VN. There are some things it does quite well, and the overall idea is quite good. Just, I cannot connect to the most characters, especially to the protagonist, and the number of plotholes makes it almost impossible to enjoy it to fullest extend. The worst part of it, though, is that I start to compare Himawari to some VNs I read earlier... and I don't see how they are better. It's not a very healthy thought, because it makes me wonder whether those VNs were actually as good as I remember, and maybe my tastes are just changing with time. Maybe you're right @akaritan and I just need to stay away from VNs for some time. I'll probably try to get through some works in other media that I wanted to try. Anyway, thanks for your advice! I'm stalling Himawari for an indefinite amount of time. I'm not dropping it, however. I still want to give it a second try, at some point of time. I had a single precedent when I suddenly started to like a VN long time after finishing it, even though I fully hated it the first time. I am still going to at least finish it, but I won't touch it at least before the middle of this summer. And I'm sticking to VNs with good protagonists from now on. @littleshogun Yeah, thanks, but I tried both, though I haven't finished them. Actually, I'm a big fan of Higurashi and Umineko. Though, in case of Higanbana, I just couldn't make myself care about it, and dropped it on the third chapter. As for RGD... I played first two seasons when they the only ones available in English, but never got in the mood to finish it later. @Funyarinpa Thanks, but I already finished it. @Vorathiel I'm pretty sure Moogy wrote something somewhere... Though I don't have a link, sorry.

Mmm... the problem is that heroines that seem taciturn on first glance in VNs are almost always hidden deredere heroines... heroines that remain distant and taciturn are pretty much unknown. I've come across heroines that are emotionless but appear to be emotional on the surface, but that isn't what you want... Suzu from Kono Sekai no Mukou de seems to be that type, but she changes radically on her own path...

Try her https://vndb.org/c5005 She is definitely similar to Rei.

You probably just need a break. We've all been there. After trying to get through Muv Luv for some seven months, I ended up not reading practically anything for six months or so. I also felt like maybe the medium wasn't for me after all. Then I happened to pick up the first chapter of Higurashi and that got me out of that slump. If you're looking for a masterpiece, The House In Fata Morgana is sublime.

I recommend to start with Root A. As for the endings. If you mean all the BAD ends then no, you can get them if you want to 100% the game but you don't have to. However I do recommend getting the Normal ending but once again you don't have to (or you might get it on your own). But you need to get the Root A true ending (or was it called the Good Ending I don't remember). But if you want to get the best ending you'll have to complete Root A at least 3 times. Each time you'll need to make the right choices to get a scene with your favorite girl. I recommend that you do that, it's gonna be worth it.

I knew that Himawari was going to be either very good or overrated ie not good there. Although if I may say something, it's definitely scretching too much if you want dropping VN medium altogether. As for your solution, I think you better drop Himawari and take a rest for a while just like Akaritan suggested. And if you recover, I think you could try to read both of Higanbana and Rose Guns Days if you still interested in VN (Or haven't read those yet). In the end, it's your decision.

GOD DAMMIT ANIKIN

JAST's technical support is more or less their forums. They're too understaffed to individually troubleshoot problems over private channels. They've even let major issues slide like taking the official Shiny Days bugfix patch down and expecting users (i.e., ME) to host it somewhere else. Contacting J-List is useless because they're just distributors; at best they'll forward your mail to JAST.

I like Liarsoft's old Streampunk series and Kindred Spirits's art. I also like Steins; gate. Innocent Grey is also nice. In general, I dislike overtly large eyes and too much "anime-esque" art.

I've had this experience several times before (thanks, Da Capo), and I really do think that you should just take a break, and probably drop Himawari too. If you dislike it to the extent that it's pushing you away from VNs as a whole, then reading more will be a huge waste of your time. Frankly, I don't think dropping VNs as a whole is a great idea, as you're probably just burnt out and I truly do think that there are still good experiences that the medium can offer you. However, that is your choice to make. What I would do is drop Himawari, and then do something else for however long until another VN piques your interest (be it weeks or months).

Gay

Just finished Kanade's route and got started on Riho's route (not looking like I'm going to finish the whole game by April, but I'm going to try!). I'll echo Turnip's comments that Kanade narrating so much of it really helps the route feel more complete. In general, I'm a fan of VNs that let the heroines narrate for a while (the longer the better, almost), especially when that means you see the protagonist from their perspective, so I'm hoping that Riho's route will deliver more of that. I also liked a couple of the new characters who appeared in her route, especially Megumi and Johann, both of whom ended up being much more interesting than they looked at first blush. The story arc was solid and well-resolved, and felt both thematically appropriate for the game (in contrast to Rimu's or Yayoi's route) and quite different from anything I'd seen so far in the common route. Kanade hadn't really been properly shown off elsewhere, and it was pleasant getting to see her really shine. Also, I feel like the CG artist really loved Kanade; every last CG of her looks stunning. The sprite artist, well, not so much (though her secondary sprite is kind of cute, I suppose). On to Riho's route!

SSS is one of the worst system I have ever seen in VNs. You never have ANY idea about what characters are going t odo if you raise their meters, it's coplete bullshit. I recommend playing with walkthrough, but then - you need to alt+tab the game once in every few minutes. So yeah, RD is a good VN (I think, I only just sterted), but its system is horrible.

I mean, you can just skip over those scenes. It's not like that's everything the game has to offer, and it's just during H-scenes, as far as I'm aware. Still a 50<hour long game with story and other content.

Rubi-Sama. Her art is so freaking good.

Granted, I don't have much experience with VNs, but Steins;Gate is one I really like. It looks fantastic (especially on a big screen) and it also looks like nothing else I've seen. The "dots" for example, really pop and add character to the art. I also really like the style of the backgrounds, though I don't know how to describe it. It seems kind of run-down in a lot of places, but not in a "neglected" or "broken" way - more in a "lived in" type of way.

Even though you don't actually get with the guys (or anyone), Enigma has a lot of both men and women interests. Some may argue there aren't, as the protagonist doesn't start a relationship with them, but it is clear both male characters are into him, while one female one states she is in many moments.

I use to really fucking hate the "soap opera disease", but than I saw the ending of SAO season two and decided that it was a much better alternative. Well dealing with visual novels that have "foreign" characters one should not expect a realistic depiction, one should expect a character archetype. Just like how you are not going to find a "tsundere" or "coodere" out in the wild, you are not going to see "foreigner" archetype in real life.

I didn't even know that she held the day hostage!