VN of the Month, May 2018
First, VN of the Month, May 2018 is Shunkyoku no Tyrhia. While the game had some serious flaws, like all Liar Soft games, it was enjoyable enough that I felt it worth becoming a candidate for VN of the Month.
Maoten
Maoten is the game I was looking forward to the most for June's releases... and I was not in any way disappointed. The game is classic Candy Soft in some ways (the over the top characters, looser sexual mores than the norm in non-nukige, etc), but it also stands out as its own story.
This game focuses on a small town where a large number of demons settled after giving up rather quickly on conquering the world. The protagonist, who is at first unaware of this, is forced to an awareness of their existence by the rather extreme occurrence of Carlen's emergence into the world. Carlene, who is essentially a hedonistic free spirit with a child's attention span, becomes a catalyst for an interesting central story.
The protagonist of the story, Rentarou is a fishing addict with a kind heart and an inordinate fondness for women with large breasts (I know... *smiles wryly and shrugs*). He can be be proactive when it is necessary, but, as is typical of many essentially introspective protagonists, he has a tendency to fail to ask for help when he needs it.
There are three heroines in this game (though there are several noteworthy side-characters with h-scenes as well). The heroines are Rita (the protagonist's psychotic osananajimi), Yuuri (the protagonist's adoptive elder sister who happens to be a battle angel), and Carlene (the demon lord who devoured Shiva when he came down to obliterate the demon world).
In Maoten's world, demons who disrupt the human world seriously are subject to obliteration (usually along with any geographical features and lifeforms in the area) by the Angels, who are 'guardians of order' (supposedly). As such, the demons who arrived twenty years before survived by making agreements with Earth's government to allow for their settlement there.
Common Route
The common route varies between comedic and serious moments, with those same moments (typical of Candy Soft and its subsidiaries) often being mixed heavily. Generally speaking, most of it is comedic, with the more serious moments concentrated mostly in the beginning and at the end. A lot of this is simply because of the need to form a solid picture of Carlene's character, since she is the only one of the three heroines not to be living in immediate proximity to the protagonist.
I enjoyed the (rather long) common route and it had good pacing. However, it did leave a lot of things to your imagination int he worst way, so I felt myself wanting more even as I went into the heroine paths.
Carlene
Naturally, Carlene's path is the one I chose first. The relationship formation in this path is... kind of weird. Oh, there is definitely love there, but the resulting relationship can't really be called romantic. Rather it ends up as a rather weird version of a Queen and consort relationship, mostly due to Carlene's beliefs and her own view of her feelings toward Rentarou. There were a lot of rofl moments in this path, not the least during the h-scenes (you know that you are enjoying it when the h-scenes make you laugh). The actual story was good... and though I disliked how they dealt with the protagonist's own major issue, I just shrugged and lived with it in the end. The ending is one that made me smile, and it was perhaps too convenient... but I've yet to encounter a good ending from this company or its subsidiary (Minato soft) that wasn't that way to one extent or another.
Yuuri
Yuuri is an adorable person. While she seems both strict and friendly in public, in private with the protagonist, she is very much the 'wannabe oneechan', and she values her relationship with Rentarou greatly. The relationship building in this path is ridiculously straightforward, but in exchange this path deals with the events of ten years before (which involve the protagonist).
Like Karin's path, this one starts mostly amusing but becomes more story-focused as the protagonist digs deeper into past events surrounding the decaying hospice and himself. It was enjoyable, and the ending is worthy of a few happy tears in itself.
Rita
Rita's first path is something of a bad/normal ending. The story itself is excellently-written (as should be expected, given my experience with the previous paths), and this story deals the most intimately with the protagonist's most dramatic past issue. That said, this path has a much darker turn than the other two, at least for a time, and there is one scene that is borderline guro, so anyone coming into this one should be prepared. The humor in this path is much like the humor in the rest of the VN (typical Minato-soft/Candy Soft style character typical humor).
To give you a better idea of Rita's personality, she is like Kagome from Comyu (if she wasn't killing people to survive) or Momoyo from Majikoi (if she wasn't a martial artist). She is actively mischievous, strongly attached to her small circle of closest friends, and extremely hedonistic and self-absorbed much of the time.
Rita 2 (Another Path)
This path is referred to as Rita's second ending, but it is actually a non-romantic ending that serves as a general conclusion (it also wraps up the biggest loose end from the first Rita ending) to the story as a whole. This path is equally dramatic to Rita's path, but it is also a lot more emotionally stressful for much of its length. That said, I can honestly say there are no more secrets to this game's setting once this path is done, so it left me with a definite sense of satisfaction with the game as a whole.
Omake
The omake scenes in this game are basically a series of post-Another Path story and h-scenes focused on side characters (including one yaoi scene with Ramu). They are mostly humorous and/or ecchi... and it was nice to get some h-scenes with the game's rather large set of interesting female side-characters.
Conclusion
A first-class game that I've already put on my list of VN of the Year candidates. If you like the Majikoi style, this is an excellent game for you, but if you don't like it, there is a good chance you'll hate it. This game is apparently based in the same world as the Majikoi series, based on a cameo of certain characters, but I honestly question that, since I can't see Momoyo failing to sense Carlene and come to 'visit', lol.
Before I go visit my remaining grandparents this weekend (my grandmother on my father's side and grandfather on my mother's side are both in extremely frail condition right now, so we are taking time to show my sister's kid to them), I thought I would give my thoughts on modern VN trends.
Charage aren't going anywhere
Though I frequently bash the industry for over-saturating the market with moege/charage/SOL, the fact is that the demand for this type of VN is never going to go away as long as the Japanese eroge VN market exists. Why? Because it is the single easiest way to present the formation of relationships of young people into a sexual one. While the genre isn't that attractive for people in their late teens or early to mid-twenties (incidentally the reason this market is declining), the majority of any older generation is always going to prefer this. The lesser numbers of young people in Japan compared to my generation and the lower relative amounts of income are the main reasons for the current contraction of the genre.
Good Writers don't go into VNs anymore
This is a truth that few of the plotge addicts like me want to admit. Most of the best writers in the VN industry are getting into middle age or later now (or have already left it), and the new and upcoming writers are mostly up and coming LN writers who have a far looser grasp on how to write/narrate and (more importantly) complete a story. This doesn't mean they won't evolve their styles to match the new medium eventually, but whenever I've read a VN written by one of these newbies, the plot holes and poor handling of the endings of their games stand out painfully.
Chuunige are in decline
I absolutely hate to say this. However, it needs to be said. Trends in the last nine years in chuunige have tended to result in far too much side-story exploitation and sequelitis. There is also a distinct lack of innovation, and when innovation does come, it tends to come with a huge drop in quality in the final product (Sora no Baroque). Fans of the genre are getting older, and some companies (such as Light) have been putting their games in non-ero form on consoles to try to grasp the hearts of younger VN lovers (this has actually succeeded to an extent), but the fact is that it takes a much longer time for a chuunige company to make back its investment after a release. This is exacerbated by economic issues in Japan, and the fact that these companies mostly suck at advertising (like many niche genre companies, they only put it up in places where those already 'in the know' will find them).
VN Trends are always years behind the rest of Otaku-dom
VN communities in Japan are insular. Even moreso than they are in the US. When rom-com anime vanished for the most part at the end of the last decade, it was replaced with cheap action-fantasy (shallow, weaker stories for the most part, with more emphasis put on 'cool' elements) and moeblob. The glut of such anime is reaching its peak right now... and that influence is starting to overflow (interpreted through the lens of the hyper-conservative VN community, of course) into our side of things. That said, this is a trend that is unlikely to take hold, because it requires a modicum of writing skill that doesn't involve dialogue, and most VN writers just don't have that. Instead, VN companies that have been around for a while have been 'testing the waters' by making games that step out of their usual niches, hoping to diversify to deal with the changing trends. Light went with going down a much darker path than usual with its most recent game, and Navel actually put up a half-assed plotge last month. These, along with many other incidences in the last two years, make me wonder just what the market will look like five years from now.
I just finished this game a few hours ago, and I’m honestly not sure what I should write about it. It left me with so many different impressions and emotions, I’m kinda overwhelmed. One thing is for certain though, this game was absolutely amazing. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and, dammit, it scared the crap out of me a few times.
Chrono Box is a mystery from start to finish. As a result, one of the things that makes the writing and the story so good is the element of surprise. In other words, twists you don’t see coming. There are tons of these, and they are done very well. The writers really did a fantastic job in my opinion. I was constantly trying to piece together the puzzle in my head. However, they just kept on taking me by surprise, making me more and more confused. (In a good way. Confused as in, the kind of confusion you want from a good mystery.)
You are fed information on a regular basis, but it is never enough to come to a complete conclusion. Honestly, comparing it to some of the other mystery stories I have read, this was by far one of the better ones. I often manage to somewhat guess most of what is going on by the halfway mark in these types of stories, but here I was at a loss until the very end.
To be honest, because of the fact that this is a mystery, where spoilers really can ruin the experience, I don’t want to get into any details about the plot. In fact, I recommend that you do not look into the plot at all, as stupid as that sounds.
My recommendation is this: if you have some interest in reading the game, just do it. Don’t read any summaries or reviews, don’t look at any CGs. Just read it blindly. Well, use a guide if you want. The guide luckily won’t spoil anything at all, as all the choices are map movement choices, meaning you won’t have to worry about «spoilery choices» whatsoever.
I will say one thing though. The game has a lot of H. I know some people aren’t really big fans of H-scenes, and ends up skipping them. DO NOT DO THAT IN THIS GAME. Don’t skip any scenes. Read everything, even if it bores you. Trust me, you want to read absolutely everything in this VN. Every little detail matters.
Anyways, Chrono Box is definitely a must read for horror/ mystery fans in my opinion. It's one of those stories I wish I could forget, just so that I could experience it all for the first time again.
This is a question I've asked myself on any number of occasions (and despite my own thoughts below, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this as well). For some reason, most vampire literature with a vampire protagonist has that protagonist hating him/herself and his/her condition (switching to 'his' after this sentence, for the sake of brevity).
Let's be honest with ourselves... if we could gain immortality, immense strength, and the ability to control people's minds in exchange for having to suck human blood and stay out of the sun, the greater majority of us would probably leap at the chance. Humans are selfish creatures, and the advantages seem to far-outweigh the disadvantages on the face of it.
One common answer to this is morality. To be honest, I think this is the second worst answer of them all. Yes, in the case of a vampire setting where the vampire has to kill the subject or infects anyone he bites, it makes sense for there to be a moral issue. However, if that is not the case, this one doesn't pan out. Sure, drinking blood sounds evil in and of itself... but if you aren't human, it isn't cannibalism, now is it? Hedonism? Is there anyone in a first-world nation that isn't at least a little hedonistic?
Another one is a sense of isolation. Now this one makes a bit more sense as a negative for vampirism... but not for sucking blood. Sure, it might be hard to make friends with your food, but it wouldn't be the first time. No, the issue here is lies. By nature, vampires need to hide themselves, since they are well... scary. I mean, if something essentially eats a part of you to survive and looks similar to you, how can that not be scary in a visceral sense? So yes, the isolation is a good reason to be afraid of your own vampirism if you are a vampire.
A sense of normalcy. This is the one you see the most in VNs, and I honestly think that it is an abomination. It is the worst answer. Almost every vampire protagonist in a VN wants to regain their 'normal life', and this often results in them taking their anger out on the people who saved them and/or love them. Sure, you pay a price for your vampirism... if you can't go out in the sun (a rarity in VNs), then it is hard to go to school. If you have to suck human blood, then you can't really be called normal. However, that sense that normalcy trumps everything (no I don't mean the president) is ridiculous. I honestly find this kind of attitude annoying as hell in a protagonist, and it is only the ones who don't linger on it constantly that I'm willing to forgive.
Violent instincts... now this one is laughable. 'Vampires have violent instincts!!!' Umm... hello? What race goes around killing people for stupid reasons like religious affiliation, what side of a line on a map they live, and who has a better cow in their barn? *snorts contemptuously*
In the end, vampirism in fiction is a trade-off... and self-hating vampires who stay that way without a good reason always strike me as fake (Toshirou from Vermilion has good reason, but most don't).
This is my fourth time replaying the Light VN, Vermilion Bind of Blood, and to my startlement, I realized that my only commentary on this is is in my ancient VN of the Month Thread on the forums. So... of course I cannot leave my beloved public ignorant of this game (though I've made a habit of recommending it to everyone, like Evolimit).
Vermilion was the first chuunige made by Light's second team, and it was my first experience of the team's work. It is also probably that team's single most balanced VN, and it is the only one I call a kamige, albeit with a few reservations.
The protagonist of this story is one Kashima Toshirou (who is referred to in the Western fashion as Toshirou Kashima throughout the whole game). He is a former samurai from the era just before the opening up of Japan by Perry's black ships who became a vampire. Now he is a gloomy man who serves as a watcher for the vampiric community of the fictional American city of Foggy Bottom. Toshirou is something of an anomaly amongst vampires in general... and most seem to hate him instinctively (there is good reason for this, though few ever know it). He considers all vampires merely to be an extension of humans, denying the vampire legend that most believe in, and he has nothing but contempt for those who allow themselves to drown in their power and the arrogance born from it.
This game has four heroines. They are:
Anne Portman- The first heroine. You are forced to play her route first (probably because nobody would want to go after her if given a choice). Unlike the other heroines, who are more or less easy with their lives as vampires, Anne is a timid, kind-hearted girl who is fundamentally unsuited to being a vampire. Her role in this game is quite similar to that of Kasumi in Dies Irae (more as a contrast in the form of a 'normal person' than as a real heroine). While her character is less than inspiring (that she is a heroine is the only flaw I see in this game), her path is actually quite good, though less so than the others in this game. I did and do find the ending worthy of mention, because it is... pleasant in a sad sort of way. It is also surprisingly uplifting, coming back without being tainted by my dislike for the presence of a Victim A heroine in a chuunige VN.
Sherryl McGregor- The victor of the heroine polls twice in a row, Sherryl is Toshirou's long-standing partner in both work and the home. Their relationship is a 'don't ask, don't tell' one where they don't talk about their pasts. It is an easygoing relationship, but it is fairly obvious that Sherryl fell for him decades ago. If I were to compare Sherryl to a translated VN heroine, it would be the adult Cal Devens from Phantom of Inferno, albeit with a century and a half of experience under her belt. Sherryl was born in Victorian England, and her experiences in the slums there shaped her base personality. She bluffs, she fights, and she has a temper... but underneath it all, she is as soft as a fuzzy teddy bear when it comes to Toshirou. She is also a talented singer, a skill she shows off at Casanova, the bar near the office. Her path is the most revealing of Toshirou's past (in fact, that is its structural purpose, though that doesn't interfere with its quality), and it is a fun ride... Her ending is actually pretty hilarious as well as touching, because it is probably the only path in the game where Toshirou manages to move on to some extent (Toshirou is very very stuck in his ways). Sherryl also grows a great deal as a character in this path (as a matter of course) and it is a pleasure to watch.
Nina Orlok- The Principal (political leader of a Diaspora, which is the name given to vampiric communities) of the Western US Diaspora, a young woman forced into a position far beyond her personal power by her powerful blood father's will after his death. She sees her duty as the only way to repay her father's trust in her, and she constantly struggles with the gap between what she wants to be and who she actually is. That said, she is actually a quite capable political leader (a given, since she isn't dead or imprisoned, despite being a youngling in a position that would normally only be allowed to an ancient vampire), with a core of strength hidden under the girl struggling desperately to fulfill her father's hopes. I sincerely enjoy her path, each time, because her growth as a character is inspiring, especially once she gets past her father complex. Toshirou in her path is probably the most samurai-like (in the classic sense), and the battle that closes out this path is the third-best in the VN (behind two of the fights in the Grand Route).
Ariya Takajou- The Jaeger (vampire hunter) White Pile's successor, who has come to Foggy Bottom specifically to hunt Toshirou Kashima. Driven by her desire to prove herself and a latent fear born from her experiences as a child (her family killed before her eyes by vampires), she endured training that would make a Marine recruit run away screaming to obtain the ability to almost match the physical abilities of a vampire (it is something close to inner qigong). She despises all vampires and sees them as inhuman monsters, but her meeting with Toshirou fills her with a personal hatred, as his obvious (to her) difference from other vampires drives her to obsess over him. Ariya's personality (on the surface) is very... twisted. She is probably the single most sharp-tongued heroine I've ever encountered (she makes Kagome from Comyu seem pleasant), quite naturally using insults in a tactical fashion to get vampires to lose their heads and simply because she doesn't like people. In her own path, she also develops a rather... twisted sort of love for Toshirou (and it is love, mixed with hate, gratitude, and intense sado-masochistic lust). I always rofl at the way she changes in this path, and the ending... is actually really really cool.
Grand Route- The Grand Route of this game focuses on fighting the antagonist who was the root cause of the conflicts in the VN, as well as dealing with the origins of vampires in general. In this path, Toshirou finds himself facing his past and looking into the future in a way he doesn't in the other paths. This path also has two of the best fights in the game, including the final face-off between the antagonist and Toshirou himself. This path also gives a really significant insight into the mind of a side-character whom I loved... Klaus, the previous White Pile. The ending of this path is bittersweet and faintly sad (as is common in a lot of chuunige true endings), but it also gives you a sense of completeness, closing out the VN nicely.
Side-characters worthy of mention
Isaac- Isaac is the bartender at Casanova and plays a key role in all the paths. He is Toshirou's one true friend, and his personality is a cross between a hedge philosopher and a boy who never gave up his dream (and never will). His (oddly troubling) life advice frames a lot of the game's key internal conflicts, and his influence can be felt throughout every part of the game, to some degree.
Klaus- The previous White Pile, an elderly Jaeger who fights with a gigantic stake (think a log from a log cabin with its edges carved into a spike-like tip and you get the picture). He is a warrior to the core, a man who hates vampires absolutely and has made a living sacrifice of his life to cleanse as many of them from the world as possible. In contrast, his unstinting love for humanity, including its flaws, is awe-inspiring in its strength, and he has an absolute faith in humanity's potential to rise above its own filth. He saved and raised Ariya to be his successor, and she is perhaps the only chink in his armor other than his personal hate (he normally sees vampires not as individuals but as harmful insects to be crushed) for Toshirou. He loves her deeply, in a fatherly fashion, and it is his love that is perhaps Ariya's greatest salvation, though it is also her second greatest weakness.
I'm going to be blunt... if it weren't for the urging of one of my online friends, I wouldn't have played this game. For one thing, it is a direct prequel to Gakthun, which I didn't have much fun with (I don't really like Japanese versions of Liar Soft games, for some reason... though I loved the English version of Sekien). It is based in a steampunk world version of one of the most-visited eras of Japanese history in otaku media, the Bakumatsu era.
In that era, Japan was opened by British air-fortresses, rather than by Perry's gunships, but the results were pretty much the same up until the beginning of the game (albeit with the usual liberties taken). Since there was no walkthrough out for this game, as of yet, I ended up on a path whose history pretty much echoed rl history save for who died and when (oh and the individuals' motivations, of course). Whether this was a good thing or not, I dunno... but the ending was decent, if bittersweet (not to mention that the last scene indicates that it is the one that heads into Gakthun).
The protagonist, Hachirou, is the child of a Shogunate vassal family famous for their real combat oriented sword style. He himself is a bit obsessed with modern steam technology, and his habit of constantly referring to his pocket watch shows off his straight-as-a-yardstick personality.
Like a lot of steampunk-series games, this one jumps around between many different perspectives for about three-quarters of the game (relatively little time is spent with Hachirou, considering he is the protagonist), but this game escapes the rather... Steven Brust-style story narration (reference to the Phoenix Guard and its two sequels, which are written in a style that is excessively dramatic and roundabout) that poisoned me against Gakthun and some of the other games by this company. In that sense, this was the easiest Liar-soft VN for me to read.
This game has heavy Cthulhu Mythos influence throughout its latter parts, ranging from a rather blatant one in the final battle scene of the ending I got to numerous smaller indications throughout.
Is this game good? Yes, it is well-written and interesting to read. Is it a kamige? I can't really judge, since I have no idea how to get the other endings without a lot of trial and error (and I'm too lazy to do that with a liar soft game). I'm giving it a decent rating because I liked a lot of it... but the way the game treated the Shinsengumi was a bit depressing at times (it really, really sucks to be Shinsengumi in this game).
This is the latest kinetic novel based in the setting created by the 'Uso' series by Campus. The name of this VN says a lot about how it begins - the name means 'How we began our calculating love-comedy'. The protagonist, a young man who managed to pay off his parents' massive debt through hard work after their deaths, comes to Mahoshi Gakuen in order to find a rich girl to marry. This is in part because he is actively suspicious of romantic inclinations due to the fact that his hopelessly inept parents were from rich families and eloped because of opposition from both sides (and he saw his misery as a child being caused by his parents' decision to take love over wealth).
Despite this, he is essentially a good person... and intelligent, despite frequently making facepalm-worthy decisions and taking facepalm-worthy actions in pursuit of his gold-digging goal. He approaches Teidou Shirayuki (a younger relative of Setsuka from the Uso series) and is rebuffed harshly... but his experiences in life have left him more than a little psychologically tough, so he decides to continue pursuing her. It is then that he is approached her maid, Sakura Nono, who offers her help in his plans...
Just to get this out in the open for people who aren't fans of nontraditional or unconventional relationships (or those who are), this VN is a 3P romance story, and it is typical of this series for bucking the common trends in VN romance in a few little ways (that I won't spoil for you). After I got over wanting to bury my head in my hands over the protagonist's actions in the prologue, I quickly took a shine to the three main characters and their odd little relationship (and it just gets more odd as time goes by). The protagonist's overconfident attitude and endless optimism about his own capabilities (sometimes justified, sometimes not) is frequently a source for humor, and seeing Shirayuki's cold attitude melt away is a true pleasure to watch. While Nono frequently takes on a sidekick like role, she still manages to be a solid heroine in her own right, with her possessing almost as much affection for Shirayuki as she does for the protagonist (this is true of Shirayuki as well).
Despite its premise, this game actually manages to be much more believable in some ways than other VNs with a romantic focus, and that is a huge positive, at least in my view. I love the relationship building in this game (both before and after the required and omnipresent 'confession scene'), and I came away from this game feeling some of the built-up negative feelings from playing so many charage with almost identical romances shaved away.
I'll say this first off... this game actually needed locked paths or a true ending. Like most Windmill games, the character interactions are pretty heavily reliant on easygoing manzai humor and running character personality and behavior jokes (in fact, most VN humor is based on that). This game has a cast of four writers (one amateur, one h-scene specialist, and two established names), including Imashina Rio (Gin'iro Haruka and Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai) and Kagami Yuu (ef, Eden*, and Mirai Nostalgia). Unfortunately, the styles of the two main writers are extremely different, and it is rather blatant when things shift... sometimes in the middle of scenes (this can be jarring and disturbs the flow at times).
Understand, I started out liking this game... I like non-city settings (for some reason, city locales always end up being multi-date ichaicha fests even for heroines who wouldn't be interested in that kind of thing), and the interactions with the heroines and side-characters were amusing. I even still liked how things were going early in my first heroine path (Serina), but after I headed into a second path, it became apparent they were abusing the 'osananajimi is scared of friend group falling apart' trope. Oh, the way they abused it is different in each path, but the abuse is so rampant that I had to wince.
Worse, the characters have these pretty much useless powers that only work on each other. All the paths have the powers as part of the central conflict, but, considering how little the characters seemed to care about their powers in the common route (one way or the other) it felt unnatural how they became central in the actual heroine routes.
Understand, I'm a fantasy freak, so characters having powers is (of course) fine with me... what bothered me was the artificial-feeling limitations and the way the characters so blithely accepted a revelation midway through the path that would have turned most games a bit gloomy. Again, what's worse is that this was seemingly only utilized conveniently to explain why the other girls (all of whom are latently in love with the protagonist) stop pursuing him once you get on a particular heroine path. I will say the way they did it was mildly funny (the pseudo-yuri in Himari's path was lol-worthy for instance), but it felt very, very forced to me.
Another issue is that Rinka is rather blatantly the main heroine (the scene I mentioned above makes that very clear). As a result, all the other paths proceed without resolving the issue of just why that certain event and the issues it brought to the surface came into being. Of course, as a result, Rinka's path is a very obvious 'true path' and blows away all the others in terms of quality (and length), drawing on elements from the other paths that hinted around the edges about what is revealed in Rinka's path.
Anyone who plays this game should either only play Rinka's path or play the other paths first (like I did). While the paths other than Rinka's have some serious issues (the biggest one being choppy pacing and poor use of the setting elements and plot devices), Rinka's path and the common route are definitely worth playing. Sadly, I can't recommend this one for VN of the Month, but if you want a mildly funny plot-centric charage (yes, they coexist at times), this is a decent choice.
First, I should apologize for taking so long (for me) to get around to finishing this game. Despite the fact that Kazuki Fumi games are always high-priority for me, for some reason I stalled after finishing the first arc and two of the paths in the second arc. The main reason is probably because the first arc pretty much satisfied me, and I didn't feel like the game needed much of a second arc or the third arc that comes after.
As indicated above, this game has three arcs. The first arc is a dark and emotional story that focuses on the protagonist, an android programmer and mechanic, the people around him, and a legless abuse victim named Hatsune that is left on his doorstep. The whole thing is emotionally powerful, has a Sharin no Kuni/G-senjou no Maou style battle of wits, and it generally left me completely satisfied with how things turned out....
Then came along the second arc (which will hereafter be named the romance arc). The romance arc shows off the style Kazuki Fumi has put together in the last few years (to varied reactions from otakus, for whom his approach to romance tends to be hit and miss). The romantic formation is abnormal, the romance is strange, and the end result is generally not what you would expect. Is this a good thing? If there hadn't been a third arc, it probably would have been.
Now, let's get down to the third arc. First, the third arc is a dramatic conclusion to the aftermath of the events that occurred in the first arc. This was actually the biggest mistake made in this game's structure and the reason I expelled it from the running for VN of the Month. The first thing you are asked to do upon starting this arc is pick which of the heroines you romanced in the second arc, which essentially just changes one or two scenes and the ending scene. The arc's story as a whole doesn't change at all, and it is short enough that I was able to finish it all in under an hour.
Now, why is this a problem? The reason is fairly simple. It completely screws up the pacing of the game. For better or worse, the second arc's 'endings' feel like a conclusion, even though I knew from the walkthrough that they weren't. They weren't a great conclusion, but if they'd been followed up with individual after-stories or completely customized versions of the third arc, this might have become a solid VN of the Year candidate. Unfortunately, the third arc is what amounts to a 'one size fits all' affair that makes the whole romantic mess of the second arc feel mostly irrelevant. Coming from someone who generally doesn't express a fondness for romance, I know this will sound strange... but this was a horrible way to handle things. This game isn't a kusoge, but I honestly can't recommend it with the current conclusion (hope for a story FD to smooth things out, maybe).
In conclusion, this is a game that shows signs of greatness throughout the first arc, falls back on romance in the second arc, and stumbles in the third arc. It has great characters, a good story and theme... and falls far short of what I've grown to expect from this writer after Nanairo Reincarnation.
This is the latest charage from Hearts, a company specializing in 'yurufuwa' charage with nakige elements. This company's works have a tendency to make me want to puke waves of sugar, but, in my experience, this is one of the better 'yurufuwa' companies out there.
This game focuses on a kind-hearted young man named Harutoki Narumi as he suddenly (and by accident) summons a high-level spirit named Haruharu, and, as a result, he gets dragged into the world of witches and magic users whose duty is to keep the balance of nature by conversing with such spirits. Narumi is generally your classic 'good guy' protagonist that everyone at least likes, and this VN doesn't have any real confrontations in the sense that you might see in another VN, so he doesn't really have a combative side at all.
Haruharu is the spirit Narumi summoned, a generally cheerful and lively young woman who lives in the moment and is driven obsessively to help others. Her spirited and cheery manner generally warms the hearts of those around her, and it is hard even for me not to like her, since she is basically like an embodiment of pure good with no negative elements whatsoever (except a lack of modesty, if you use some standards, lol).
Kazane is an iinchou-type who is the head of the Garden Club, which serves as a front for the activities of the school's small community of witches (the heroines and the protagonist, essentially). She is ambitious, in the sense that she wants to be a Grand Witch, but her essential nature is that of a person who can't help but want to help others (seeing a pattern here? hahaha).
Mashiro is your classic fushigi-chan genius... the most skilled (versus Haruharu being the most talented) of the heroines in magic, she always has a high-level cat spirit named Bastet riding on her head. Despite her brief period as a seeming kuudere (it ends almost immediately) she is, in fact, just as much as a goodie-goodie as Kazane and Haruharu, and her only really unusual quality is her sense of humor.
I'd be tempted to call Mikana a dojikko, in any other VN... but Hearts really hates to include negative personality traits in its heroines, so she just happens to be the least skilled of the heroines. She likes baking and is generally a sweetheart and something of an innocent... and just like all the other heroines, she likes helping people (it is almost amusing that they unified the heroines to this degree, lol).
Now, the charage of this VN has a lot of cheap feels and cuteness... and that is pretty much all there is. The girls and Narumi go around solving minor issues (not incidents) while practicing their power to speak to the spirits of the world, and generally you can expect that any event is either going to result in some kind of low-level emotional scene or lots of cuteness. Given the fact that it was well-written and paced enough to affect me, I have to wonder how the people who eat this up will feel playing this.
The heroine routes... are all about at the same level. Oh, Haruharu's route is the most emotional by far, but I can honestly say that the routes are basically extensions of what I experienced in the common route... lots of low-level feels and cuteness, with h-scenes added in. I'm not saying this is a bad thing... if anything, this game is pure crack for the lovers of the genre. If you want a low-stress, cute as a fuzzy bunny game, this one is ideal.
I will say that you should probably leave Haruharu's route for last... since the feels leading into her ending are the best in the VN. However, I can also say that you could probably play this game just for Haruharu's route and come out feeling quite satisfied if you like the genre. Given my tastes, I'll probably forget this game ever existed by the end of next month, but I felt a need to mark that this game is a rare ideal production for those with a taste for the fuzzy-feely and adorable.
To be blunt, I only started this one first because I don't want to read something written by Kazuki Fumi (the writer of Nanairo Reincarnation) just yet... I'm sleep-deprived, so I wouldn't be able to appreciate it, lol. In any case, it was either this game or the new Windmill release, and, when in doubt, I try to get the new company games out of the way first.
This is written by Scokan, a new writer on the VN scene. Judging by what I saw in the common route, he is about of average level for a charage writer or maybe slightly better, with a tendency toward using the wrong kanji for some archaic terms. The characters in this VN all fall into classic VN stereotypes.
Kikyou is a somewhat innocent tsukumogami (For the inexperienced: tsukumogami are objects that have, over a long period of time, gained a form of sentience and some spiritual power) who is devoted to her duty but hopeless at doing anything related to that duty (whereas she is abnormally good at cooking and other daily tasks). She is enthusiastic and kind-hearted, but she has a tendency to apologize excessively.
Haruka is the classic genki stepsister. She loves her niichan and is virtually attached to him at the hip, despite his protests. She is generally cheerful and tends to want to touch those she likes constantly. Underneath, she is surprisingly vulnerable, though her fundamental baka-ness means that she rarely remains down in the dumps for long.
Shiori is your classic kuudere (a type that we don't see that often these days). She seems aloof at first, but, when people try to talk to her, she has a tendency to give them the benefit of the razor edge of her tongue. She also has as much trouble being honest with her feelings as any other tsundere variant.
Misaki... is your classic deredere osananajimi miko (yes, this pops up enough in charage that it has become an archetype). She rather obviously is in love with the protagonist from the beginning, and this makes his rather half-hearted and awkward attempts to avoid her rather irritating in the prologue. Moreover, she is extremely pushy and tends to settle into the usual 'fuufu manzai' situation in front of others when it comes to the protagonist.
The protagonist, Yuuto, is... a hetare. I'm sorry, but that is how I feel. Oh, the getchu page makes him seem like a shadowed character, but he is just half-heartedly misanthropic... and this part of his character is handled poorly in the common route (he hardly struggles at all against what is happening, despite his supposed misanthropy). I found him immensely irritating a lot of the time, though his interactions with Haruka are frequently amusing (as opposed to his interactions with Misaki being downright annoying).
Common Route
The common route is mostly classic charage fare. You get lucky sukebe events on a regular basis, the heroines forgive the protagonist quickly, and the protagonist eventually stops resisting the friendship of the heroines (without crossing the line into favoring any particular one). Thankfully, all the routes split off from the same choice, so there is no massive number of meaningless choices to annoy the reader, but I thought that Kikyou's character was poorly developed in the common route, considering that she is the obvious main heroine. A lot of this is that she is a non-presence during most of the school hours, and the writer applies the plot device of the magic power keeping the protagonist from getting too far from her inconsistently. As a result, I exited the common route with a fondness for most of the heroines but a bit irritated/stressed because of the way Kikyou was neglected and the protagonist was such a hetare about some things.
Kikyou
It was a close race between her and Shiori, but I picked Kikyou first (I have no intention of bothering with the other two heroines, as they are both types that make better side-characters than heroines).
As if they were sorry for treating Kikyou like a side-character in the common route, her own route is... emotionally-packed. There is some serious drama in there related to her nature as a tsukumogami and the protagonist's trauma (which is touched on in much more detail here), and it was almost as if an entirely different writer was handling the more serious parts. I cried several times... but this path uses a rather archetypical set of events (if you've played other kamisama-heroine paths, you'll recognize the tropes instantly), and even though it is presented well, the pacing is kind of sloppy toward the end. The ending of this path is... short. I say this in annoyance, because this would be an ideal path for a Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa-style 'to the very end' ending.
I want to talk about the ichaicha in this path separately because it is worthy of note that it almost felt like a nukige at times. Kikyou and the protagonist have almost no restraint, and it is made worse by the fact that Kikyou is the type to gladly respond to just about any kind of advance and the protagonist is the type who has self-control issues once he actually has a girlfriend. There is, thankfully, only one date in here and they didn't try to insert something unrealistic like the innocent kamisama wanting to go shopping (which would be out of character for Kikyou but which some writers would have insisted on).
Shiori
I picked Shiori for a very simple reason... I have a weakness for kuudere heroines who really hate being alone. Shiori's path is, like Kikyou's, fairly emotional, with her asthma playing a role in the path's story along with the protagonist's trauma (once again, and showing off a bit more detail as to what happened leading up to it).
By the time I got halfway through this path, I started to recognize a pattern in how this writer is handling the protagonist... at some point, the heroines start to mother the protagonist to one degree or another (the reason why this is part of the relationships makes sense when you've played the common route), and, similar to Kikyou's route, the protagonist is like a dog in heat throughout much of the route after the romantic connection forms (as is the heroine). I feel it necessary to mention this because the 'intensely sexual' phase of most charage routes tends to be a lot less extensive than I saw in this one. This felt much closer to Majikoi levels in some ways, hahaha.
The ending is reasonably touching... but again, by my standards, it felt like it wasn't quite enough, as it ended less than a month after the climax (I like 'years later' endings).
Conclusion
If you want to try a newer (up and coming) charage company, this is a good choice. For this game, they used artists from Studio Ryokucha and Gesen, and it shows in the styles. There are more emotional moments than is the norm for your standard charage, but that is a plus rather than a negative. The only real downsides are a few pacing issues, the briefness of the endings, and the weakness of the common route (lol).
Now that I have confirmation from Dergonu that the game he was playing is not VN of the Month quality (he has stalled on it), I will move on to finally announcing VN of the Month for March and April.
March
March was a decent month, since it had three potential candidates for VN of the Month. Those candidates are:
Butterfly Seeker
AI Love
Unjou no Fairy Tale
Now, despite my rating of it, I'm going to go ahead and disqualify AI Love. Why? Because it is essentially a borderline nukige. It made its way onto my Chicken Soup for the Soul list, but, as I've stated in the past, that isn't necessarily an indication of kamige status. Rather, it is an indication of how good the game is at soothing and relieving non-violent stress.
So, this comes down to Unjou no Fairy Tale versus Butterfly Seeker. Based purely on my personal tastes, I'd probably go for Unjou no Fairy Tale, since I'm an admitted fantasy addict... but in the end, I had to (reluctantly) admit that Butterfly Seeker was the better VN. The depth of the story, the characters, and even just the details of the important events was such that I couldn't honestly give Unjou no Fairy Tale the victory for VN of the Month, March 2018.
My reasons for excluding Etatoto from the final running are... that fun2novel's own review and private comments didn't leave me with the impression of VN of the Month quality. Worth reading for a certain portion of the community? Yes. Worthy of being recommended on a larger scale... no.
April
Having dropped Taiju for the moment (SofthouseChara's newest SLG), I was left with only one viable candidate for April... Yuusha to Maou, to Majo no Cafe. This is perhaps the weakest VN of the Month candidate I've put up in quite some time, but it still easily won over Kari Gurashi Ren'ai, which is the only other game that hit my baseline standard. Naming it as VN of the Month, April 2018 actually troubles me a bit... given a choice, I wish that Unjou or AI Love had been released in April so I'd have a better candidate. I almost decided not to name one for this month, but I reluctantly decided that it meets standards.
I'm doing a spotlight on this author for a number of reasons... one is that I'm currently going back through his works on my new Kindle (lol), but another is that I have never really understood until recently just how profound an effect his works have had on my thinking until I had the opportunity go back and marathon some of his series.
Modesitt has been writing since 1982 (the year I was born, incidentally) and has a massive number of works to look at (seventy novels across a number of series). He writes primarily sci-fi and fantasy, but he also ventures into poetry, non-fiction, and other areas. For the sake of those, like me, who are only interested in fiction outside of history books, I'm going to focus on his fiction.
Modesitt... is probably one of the most subtle writers I've ever encountered. Part of that is that the current trends (straightforward writing with an emphasis on less... roundabout methodologies) hadn't been established when he first began writing. Another part is that he is that he has been writing on the same basic themes for over thirty-five years.
Those themes, though it isn't obvious unless you go back with an analytical mind, include environmentalism, gender politics, personal growth, and the costs of poor sociological and practical choices. Perhaps one of the most common statements (whether internal or external) that you'll see in his books and that is probably the most important one for the reader to grab hold of is, 'See the world as it is, rather than as we would have it.' Most of his protagonists are people who either act out this way of looking at the world or eventually grow into it. In the Internet Age, this is a particularly relevant theme, because the sheer amount of information available means that otherwise sane individuals will subconsciously or consciously ignore information that is inconvenient to their preconceptions of what is true and what is not (we have seen a lot of this in America recently, lol).
Another thing that you'll see - primarily in his fantasy series - is the tyranny of dominant genders. Generally speaking, in his fantasy realms, there is usually at least one realm, usually embattled by its neighbors, where a matriarchal society exists, at least one where the genders are almost equal (it tilts back and forth based on the era) and many where patriarchal societies are dominant. One thing that is striking about the matriarchal realms he depicts is that men tend to be relegated to roles you'd normally see in females in other societies on the same world (stay at home parent, decorative spouse, etc). Another is that he depicts an approach that is far more balanced in those realms than in the patriarchal ones, where treatment of women can vary between the casual chauvinism that is so prevalent even in the West to the pet-like treatment you see in nations in the Middle East and parts of Africa. The reason I find this interesting is because, while he obviously thinks that a matriarchal society is healthier than a patriarchal one, he still sees the same ills (albeit on a lesser scale) that plague a patriarchal one.
He also has a rather obvious contempt for the 'warrior archetype'. Individuals who fight for the sake of fighting, seeking conflict out of vainglory or ambition, his books generally portray dying horribly or in incredibly stupid manners... usually after failing to back down when the protagonist of the books confronts them. The most obvious of these is in the Spellsong Saga, where Anna, the former American music teacher turned song-sorceress, is continually confronted by the stupidity and shortsightedness of men and women who refuse to see that there is no 'honor' in killing for the sake of harmful traditions or ambition.
Another theme that pops up, his contempt for those so short-sighted as to believe the world is going to last forever or problems will fix themselves, is generally portrayed in the endless line of antagonists or passive rulers/characters who see that something is wrong but fail to take action to fix it, causing their downfall. These characters generally see that their own lack of action is going to lead to the destruction of what they love, but they often cannot accept this and will ignore it, if it is inconvenient to their peace of mind. This is most glaringly obvious in the Corean Chronicles and the Forever Hero. In the Corean Chronicles, a race of humans called the Alectors or Ifrits, has made a habit of using their magic to escape each world they occupy after they render it worthless. The Alectors have literally drained three worlds of all life in the past, using it to fuel their magic engines, using it to make their clothing nearly indestructible, and using it to control the populations of the worlds they seed and conquer. Their attitudes bear distinctly similar tones to those of modern Westerners, particularly in their stated concern about waste (in this case, of life-force) vs their unwillingness to reign themselves in in any real sense. Considering the end results of this attitude... well, it is rather obvious what Modesitt thinks about this kind of thought-pattern.
The Forever Hero Trilogy is... probably the most depressing work by this author I've ever encountered. It portrays a future where Earth was laid to waste by careless over-exploitation to provide the resources for colony ships and contaminated itself beyond natural recovery. The protagonist is a young 'devilkid' (a sub-species of human involved for individual survival above all other things) who is captured and educated by the Empire, the successor to the Earth-based galactic government that preceded it. Having been educated, he sets about the task of resurrecting Earth... only to find that the simple physics of space travel and the economics of the Empire make resurrecting Earth nearly impossible. Fortunately, as a natural immortal (he doesn't age), he has the time... and the intelligence to work it out. He is perhaps the most ruthless and amoral of Modesitt's protagonists, but his cause is enough to grasp the reader and not let them go. This series also deals with the 'dirt and grit' of a far more realistic sci-fi environment than is common in modern science fiction, where the details tend to be sanitized outside of dystopian efforts.
I generally recommend this writer to those who like reading sci-fi and fantasy that makes you think, characters that are good at the beginning but grow to be great as their role requires them to, and those who don't mind their comfortable way of looking at the world being jarred on a regular basis.
This was one of the group of about forty VNs I played in my first year after I began playing untranslated VNs. It was also the fourth chuunige I played that was untranslated. For those who are interested, this game was written by Takaya Aya (the writer of several kamige, including Komorebi no Nostalgica and Otoboku 2). He is a writer who can handle just about any genre, including nakige, chuunige, charage, serious drama, and deep science fiction.
Alicematic is his first chuunige, written in 2006, during the 'golden age of VNs'. It is based in a version of our world where the dimensions that comprise reality are collapsing, and as a result entire swathes of the world are becoming unlivable, the survivors driven mad. The protagonist, Marume Kuroudo, is summoned to an experimental facility based on an artificial island in the Tokyo Bay in order to participate in an experiment to alter the currently unavoidable extinction of humanity and the end of the world as we know it.
He and the others summoned, are told that they must fight to the virtual death (pain and sensation included) in a virtual realm to supply the mental energy to alter the fate of the world.
Now, this game has a pretty diverse cast. The protagonist, Kuroudo, is a wild, pure-hearted type who knows his own limitations as a person and devotes himself to the things he feels are important without hesitation (he uses the odachi). Sayane, a young woman constantly dressed in the goth-loli style, is a master swordswoman with a passionate heart and an iron will (she uses the standard katana). Kuroe and Shiroe are twins, with the older sister Shiroe being hesitant and gentle and her younger sister Kuroe being an overprotective siscon (their weapons are kodachi). Iori is an unsociable young woman whose hobby is observing people (her weapon is an executioner's sword). Rikka is a cheerful, talkative, and active young woman (and the most normal of the heroines) who wields a crescent-spear. Fuyume is a blind and innocent miko who is also a talented onmyouji and can see the souls of people and objects. Nobotsuna is a seemingly light-hearted womanizer who quickly befriends Kuroudo and the others, his surprising wisdom coming out at just the right moments. Kei is a cross-dressing young woman who is also a master of western sorcery (also a confirmed lesbian).
Common Route
This game's common route changes depending on what choices you make throughout it leading up to the heroine branch-off, the events occurring after the prologue changing the most dramatically. While there is a lot of repeated text, it can mostly be skipped using the skip function on subsequent playthroughs. This is a technique used a lot in early chuunige, because events tend to accelerate rapidly in chuunige once you get into the heroine paths. The differences mostly lie in which heroines you interact with the most and the fate of a certain antagonist that appears early on... as her fate is usually related to how things turn out in the heroine paths, somehow.
Route Order Suggestion
I honestly suggest that you use the exact route order found in the Foolmaker walkthrough: http://sagaoz.net/foolmaker/game/s/alice.html
The reason is fairly simple... despite not restricting any of the paths but Fuyume's, there are assumptions made about your preexisting knowledge for each path.
Sayane
Nine out of ten people who play this game through the end of the prologue without picking a heroine will choose to do Sayane's path first. Why? Because she is the heroine who leaves the most vivid impression in the prologue, by far. As a result, for the second time around... I ended up picking her again (it was a toss-up between her and the twins). Sayane's rather twisted value system is the basis for why the actual buildup to relationship formation is so... long. However, the reasons make sense, given the events of the prologue, and the romance is... beautiful in a sense that is rare in visual novel romance in general.
The battles in this path are first-class (really all the battles in this game are), and the last battle is just... superb. I laughed, I cried (a lot), and I felt my heart wrench with empathy for Sayane and Kuroudo. This is an excellent path, and, even if you play none of the other paths, this one would make the game worth playing (though I might end up saying the same for some of the others as well, lol).
Kuroe and Shiroe
I just ignored my own advice... but I don't like Rikka, so that was inevitable (her type of heroine is my least favorite, because they are so common). Kuroe and Shiroe are a pair of twins that are one year younger than Kuroudo. Shiroe is the older sister, a gentle-mannered girl with a tendency to view her own motivations negatively, particularly when it comes to Kuroe. She is rather obviously in love with Kuroudo almost from the start (the incident that brings it on is fairly obvious). Kuroe is the younger sister, and the dependent half of the pair (most otaku media twins operate on the theory that one is dependent and the other dominant). She loves her sister first, second, and last, lol. She is also an aggressive violent tsundere with a fondness for jump kicks and a generalized dislike of men.
Kuroe and Shiroe's path has a much different focus than Sayane's... the swordsmanship aspect is far less important (the fights in this path are mostly short ones), and it is very much about the twisted psychology of the twins' dependent relationship, their past, and how it effects the experiments when Kuroudo gets mixed up with them (hint: the results tend to be mixed). Generally speaking, the path itself can probably be called one of the weaker ones in the VN from a chuunige perspective, but it is emotionally rich and generally enjoyable to read.
Rikka
I'll say it right out. Rikka is the heroine I like the least in this game. She is mostly a comedy relief character. She is genki, she eats a lot, she makes random sexual jokes, and she is in a deep manzai relationship with the protagonist and other characters.
That said, her path is of even quality to the others so far. This path... will probably be hard on people who like Sayane (I won't go into details), and I had to wince at some of the things that happen to the characters here. However, in exchange you get a series of three first-class swordfights, a bunch of lesser fights, some seriously crazy turns of events, and a nice ending.
Iori
Iori... by the time you get to this path (I recommend doing it last amongst the initially-available paths for reasons I'll mention in a moment), you'll have some idea of her personality. On the surface, she is calm and collected, but underneath, she is very much like a lonely child who desperately wants the love she never received from her parents. However, she also has a tendency to instantly make decisions others would procrastinate on, and there is little in the way of hesitation to her personality.
Her path... is split into two parts. The first part, which is treated pretty much the same as the other heroine paths, is a sad ending (almost like a Tsukihime-style normal ending), that feels bittersweet. It is also fairly revealing about Iori's personality and her limitations as an individual. The second part has you start from the beginning of the game from a slightly different point, and it dramatically alters events when it comes to how Iori, Fuyume, and Kuroudo interact with one another and eliminates a major story element common to all the other paths, including Iori's first path. How it differs most radically from the first version, however, is in how Iori deals with her personal issue that pops up in almost every path of the game. Let's just say that the issue is confronted much earlier, at least in part because Iori held close contacts with the others at a much earlier point. This is also the most revealing path so far for the Cthulhu Mythos elements in the story.
Fuyume
Because of Fuyume's tendency to refer to herself in the third person, whenever she talks, I get the feeling she is putting herself down (my backbrain keeps interpreting her name as Fuyu and 'me' as that deliberately servile appellation some retainers to wealthy or socially high-ranking individuals use for themselves). However, her personality is fundamentally kind-hearted and gentle with a strong flavor of curiosity about new things and a tendency to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.
This path... is very emotional, both in the romantic and in the story/drama parts. While this path doesn't have any superlative fights, the flow of the story is the most 'complete', and I honestly loved the way the relationship between Fuyume and Iori strengthens throughout the path. I smiled, I laughed, and I cried... and in the end, I was left with a sense of completeness, as this path put an end to the story as a whole.
Overall
This game is one of those that was hard to appreciate fully on the first playthrough. Part of it is that, when I first played it, I was unfamiliar with much of the terminology (occult, scientific, and swordsmanship) involved. However, the largest part was that I simply didn't have the understanding of the concepts involved necessary to fully appreciate how this story plays out. Most who read this game will be satisfied entirely by the sword-fights and the story, but, later on, if you have a wider understanding of the concepts involved in this game, it becomes a much richer/deeper read.
This review was written by fun2novel and edited for grammar and style by Clephas.
Etatoto review
The mystery genre is one of the most interesting and captivating genres in fiction (Clephas: We are all entitled to our opinions). While there are many mystery vns out there, finding one that has an addictive, twisting plo, and a satisfying ending is a difficult task. It is even harder if you’re looking for something really unique and different from the usual murder who’dun’it, detective, mystery plots... Such as something that will make the reader doubt and rethink what they think they know but also gives satisfying answers.
Welcome to Kieta Sekai to Tsuki to Shoujo -The World was Prayed by The Girl Living A Thousand Years- or Etatoto. Okina Seiji comes back to his home town for a visit. After his arrival, he reunites with old friends and makes new ones, goes to school with them, and spends time bonding with them. However, the real reason for his visit is the mysterious death of his mother, and his goal is to find out the truth. Nothing goes as planned, of course. As the story progresses, the mystery grows more and more complex, questions are raised, and more mysteries are uncovered. This is ALL you need to know, as saying anything more than that will ruin the plot. So, if you’re looking for a good mystery visual novel that is not quite the usual kind of mystery, something complex and twisty, this is a game for you. It’s not quite as complex as the Infinity or the Zero Escape series, but it’s definitely worth your time.
In terms of art the game made a few odd artistic decisions. While the backgrounds looks great, and the main characters are all drawn well, some of the characters look as if drawn by a completely different artist than others. On top of that, their sprites look rough and sketched in comparison. CGs have a similar problem due to a strange artistic decision to draw the h-scenes in one style and the other CGs in a different one. The non-H CGs look rougher, almost sketched. These CGs still look good and match the atmosphere, so perhaps it was an artistic decision rather than a budgetary one (Clephas: It is Lacryma... it was probably just a fumble).
Speaking of production values, the music deserves special recognition. The music is superb, with a variety of deep soothing compositions, atmospheric music, emotional music, and perfectly timed moving pieces. However, there aren't a lot of them, so they might come to feel old with repetition. That said, the music is so good that it shouldn’t be a deal breaker for anyone.
There are a few low points in Etatoto’s writing as well. Most of the characters are not especially well developed and leave you much to be desired. Though, this wasn’t a huge deal breaker, as the story was good enough to pull all the right strings. The reason for this is that most of the game's focus goes into the story, rather than the characters. The romantic elements are a bit sub-par as well, since almost every route develops its romantic relationship in exactly the same way, with pretty much the same amount of time spend on each heroine and with the same ‘date’ spot as everyone else... Not to mention, it takes a while for the story to get going. The first few hours were very difficult to get through, but it is still worth it, in my mind. Those slow peaceful times are used to introduce the characters as well as do some clever and obscure foreshadowing about the events to come.
On a technical side, things aren’t perfect either. The auto skip function doesn’t work as expected (Clephas: Lacryma's technical staff sucks), and sometimes it just doesn’t work at all. At other times, it takes a little longer to load the backgrounds after you resume from a saved game. These are relatively small annoyances that could (and most likely will) be patched later; so, thankfully, they don’t become an obstacle for enjoying the experience of the VN as a whole.
In conclusion, talking about Etatoto is difficult without spoiling the intricate details of its plot. It’s the kind of VN where you should avoid searching for more information than is contained within this review. This gives you a good idea of the pros and cons of the game, and with a little patience, a mystery lover will get hooked on what is probably one of the best mystery visual novels in a while.
Yes, I did this game first. This is one of those games that is a bit hard to define. It is part moege, part nukige and part charage... and part surrealist story. It is about cats being reborn as humans being reborn as cats being reborn as humans (it gets ridiculously complex, to the point where there is no point in keeping track).
There also isn't a whole lot to say about this game... it is mostly at-home SOL, h-scenes, and reminiscence of past lives. As a VN, it is a bit hard to read because it jumps around in time so much, and I'll probably forget this VN before long. However, I gave it an extra point for making me cry several times, lol.
Yay! Two catgirl harems in one month!!! lol
Anyway, this is the newest game by Moonstone's crappy subsidiary, Moonstone Honey. It is a straight-out catgirl harem moege from beginning to end... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The game is set on an island that has been completely built up with leisure facilities of various types (amusement park, pool, beach, a mall, etc), and the protagonist is a young man in his early twenties who is given a chance to take charge of resurrecting the stagnant pool business.
I'm going to be blunt (as usual) here... there really isn't a lot to this VN except endless ichaicha between the protagonist and the three catgirls. The protagonist accepts the catgirls' presence and change to a human form with relative ease, and within a few days, he has them working part time at the indoor pool he is running. While problems pop up along the way, they are solved quickly and with relative ease, and the girls make the transition from 'just pets' to his harem rather early on (albeit without h-scenes).
The catgirls' names are Mikan, Lime, and Lemon. Mikan is the innocently affectionate type, constantly trying to be helpful and showing her love for her master in an honest and straightforward manner. Lime is a mischievous type, showing her affection and trust by teasing and playing small pranks on the people she likes. Lemon is... a classic tsundere.
Don't expect a real story or any kind of drama in this game. The whole point of the game is to enjoy the ichaicha between the protagonist and the catgirls, so there isn't a whole lot extra outside of that. How the girls transformed is never explained (in fact, it is pretty much forgotten ten seconds after they first emerge), and there is no step-up of affection from them toward the protagonist, as they already love him pretty much from the beginning (it just changes to romantic love later on). This is a kinetic novel, the choices only deciding whether you see a CG or not. There is no H content during the main part of the game, but the rather long after story contains about twelve h-scenes for those who are interested.
Overall, if you just want some catgirl harem action, this is a decent choice, but if you don't want what amounts to an old-style moege (not a charage) this probably isn't a good choice.
This is the second game in the 9 -nine- series, a half-chuunige series that began last year. For my comments on the first game, look below.
I'm going to be blunt... all my complaints about the previous game in the series still apply here. While a little more information is revealed in the second game than the first, and two of the characters (Haruka and Sora) come to life a great deal more than in the first game, it has to be said that the sense that I should have waited for all the games in the series to come out before I played it is unchanged. Oh, I liked Sora as a heroine (the interplay between her and the protagonist is frequently worthy of laughs). However, I absolutely hated the way it trailed off at the end, right after revealing something of absolute importance.
The battle scene in this one (there is precisely one worthy of the name) is good, and the writing (of course) is first-class... but playing a game like this in pieces is immensely frustrating.
For March's VN of the Month
fun2novel has finished etatoto and will be sending me his review at some point in the near future. Dergonu is currently playing Akumade, Kore wa ~ no Monogatari, though the current date he will be finishing it is unknown. When I have their reviews for these two VNs, I will announce the VN of the Month for March.
For April's releases
I've currently completed three VNs from this month. Koneko, Maou to Yuusha, and Tenpure. Only Maou to Yuusha, of the three, is at VN of the Month levels of quality, but I still have to finish Taiju (SofthouseChara's newest gameplay hybrid) and the second game in the 9 series by Palette. I do not plan to play Front Wing's new release at this time... (mostly because I don't have any charage energy left after the SOL overdose from Tenpure and Maou to Yuusha). I might get to it later in the month (I don't plan to announce April until after March...), but that will be after I've made a recovery, lol.
Now, considering that all the games Mint Cube made up until now were kusoge (personal experience speaking here), I didn't expect to be especially impressed by this game. Thankfully, I was surprised a little by how this game turned out. In the world of this VN, the light and darkness, embodied in the Maou and Hero, fought one another ten years before... and no one knows the outcome. Since then, the world has settled into a relative state of peace.
This game focuses on the amnesiac Tarou, who is taken in by the witches running a cafe in the middle of the forest. Tarou possesses powerful light and darkness abilities, and he is generally an intelligent young man who is utterly up front and honest about his feelings (including his ecchi ones).
The game uses a combination of a chapter flow chart and a ladder-style structure, but since each heroine's ending/path makes sense/is consistent within the greater setting, it didn't bother me as much as it might have. Most of this game is ecchi antics and peaceful SOL in the cafe, with occasional battle scenes (one-sided against monsters) sprinkled throughout. The 'common route' leads straight toward one of three endings for Rufuna, who is the main heroine (Dark, Light, Neutral), and at the end of each chapter two heroine paths are added to the flow chart.
If I had something to recommend about this game, it would be the fact that the side-heroines all get a substantial path that is worth reading in and of itself, taking away my usual objections about heroine neglect that come up with ladder-style story structures. In addition, most of the game alternates between wacky and 'hohoemashii' SOL that generally keeps a smile on your face.
That said, by the end of the game, I was starting to feel SOL fatigue (the fact that I had only just started to feel that way says everything about the relative quality of the SOL in this game). However, people with a higher tolerance than me shouldn't have any problem with this.
One group of people likely to have problems with this VN are the monogamists... Tarou, the protagonist, is very ecchi and indiscriminate until he actually chooses a heroine, and even in the 'common route' he has relations with several of the heroines in a very casual fashion. That said, he is, at heart, just a more open and ecchi version of the average harem protagonist, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Despite the dramatic turns of phrase used by some of the characters for the events that occur within the VN, this game rarely falls into seriousness. The characters themselves are generally amusing (if not laugh out loud amusing), so people who don't want a lot of drama and darkness messing up their SOL will probably like this game.
Edit: For those who are interested in this game, you should know that the Getchu page spoils what story there is badly. I've basically stripped all the spoilers I could have legitimately dropped here (based on my policy of using information from the official site and Getchu as a guideline) because it becomes rather evident (in my eyes, anyway) that you aren't in fact, supposed to know certain things about Ruhuna, Peko, and Assam (there are actually spoilers for Peko's path in her character description, to my exasperation). While it is possible to guess at some of these things based on hints early in the story, I would suggest avoiding reading up in advance on this game in the official site and Getchu page. This is particularly egregious when it comes to Ruhuna, as her secret is stated outright in her character profile, and is treated as a big reveal in the story itself (relatively late in the game).
First, I'll say that this game is pretty much based on the concept of using the concept of templates and archetypes in the story. The protagonist bumps into a girl with toast in her mouth, gets woken up by an osananajimi, catches a maid falling from the sky, is frequently scolded by a fake-prude iinchou, and he even has an ojousama fall in love with him at first sight.
Now, the attempt to turn all the classic template happenings of a moege/charage into a joke sort of falls flat in this game. The common route is pure dirt in that sense (the lack of any original content plus a failure to fully play up to the game's theme ruins things). I will straight out tell you that the common route is boring. I've encountered similar happenings in literally hundreds of games in the past, and I never really felt a bond with most of the characters in the common route. As a result, I only went off on one heroine route (and don't plan to bother with the others).
This route was Miori's... and Miori's route is the only reason I didn't just drop this game and give it a 4 on vndb (points for visuals and audio, negatives for storytelling, average characters). To be blunt, Miori is of a template I didn't realize I had missed in recent days... the eccentric fushigi-chan. In recent years, this kind of character has mostly fallen to the wayside (probably because Key got such joy out of overusing it), so having this particular template make a comeback was a definite positive for me (as opposed to the older osananajimi oneesan, the osananajimi imouto, and the secret pervert iinchou, which have been constants in charage since forever).
If there is one thing Circus does well, it is moe. Miori's moe point is the traditional gap between her nearly emotionless everyday and her dere. This is shown briefly when she deals with a cat in the common route (incidentally the point at which I decided to pick her), but only really comes into play in her heroine route. Her route is traditional down to the last detail (deep love after confession>frequent ichaicha>gets found out by father>confront father>betrothal) for her second character type (not going to reveal this, though it is fairly obvious after you see her and Matsuri in the same scene). However, since I was just sitting back and enjoying fushigi-chan deredere action, I was perfectly happy to ignore the archetypical ending.
Overall, my advice to anyone looking at this game is... if there is a heroine type in there that you like, go ahead and just play that heroine's route. The common route is pure crap, but the heroine routes will likely push a lot of positive buttons for those in love with their particular type of heroine, as they did with me. I did make an attempt at starting the other heroine paths... but I just got bored at the endless stream of predictable occurrences. For a veteran of charage/moege, this game can be a painful slog or a joy, depending on where you are in it.
Edit: It needs to be said, but the main reason I give this game a failing grade on the common route is because they went for a spoof theme but didn't make the common route wacky enough. When it came down to it, except for the protagonist's complaints, it was just a weaker version of a normal moege common route.
Mirai Nostalgia is the game that turned Purple Soft around. After Ashita no Kimi to Au Tame ni, the company produced a number of middling and poor quality games, and it looked like Purple Software was going to fade into the background, like a lot of other companies that prospered during the 'Golden Age'. Then, all of the sudden, they released this game... and they regained the hearts of their followers, leading to a series of high quality releases, including Hapymaher, Amatsutsumi, and Aoi Tori.
Mirai Nostalgia follows an extensive cast of characters... a group of friends centering primarily around the protagonist Youichi and Uta (called Hime by the rest of the group). Like most high quality VNs with a lot of SOL, the interactions with the friend characters and non-heroines are lively and vitally important to fleshing out the setting and characters as a group and as individuals.
The Protagonist
Kudou Youichi- Youichi is a lazy young man who is utterly incompetent at all forms of housework. He lives alone (at first) with the ancient bakeneko Kuro (who has apparently been alive for over a thousand years) and is a weak esper, possessing telekinesis and an unstable teleportation ability. In obedience to his family traditions, he keeps his powers hidden from all but those few others around him that also possess powers. Youichi is, by nature, a very calm, accepting individual who instinctively puts others first, often disregarding his own well-being if faced with the needs of others. He is also generally on the lowest rung of the family ladder (even the cat is above him), and he spends a lot of his time accommodating the females in his life (Shizuku and his little sisters especially).
The Heroines
Kasuga Iori- Iori is a traditional black-haired beauty and a miko... with an airgun and immensely powerful telekinetic abilities (think being able to erase someone from existence with pure kinetic force). She is also constantly threatening Youichi's life, for reasons she declines to mention to him, and her temper is almost always sharp-edged. She is definitely S by nature. Despite this apparently violent nature, she also has a deep capacity for love and compassion, and she is quite capable of forgiving a lot from those she cares about (though Youichi apparently pushes her over the edge).
Hatori Uta- Youichi's osananajimi, the daughter of the CEO of a large electronics company, and the spiritual center of the group of friends that lies at the center of the story. She definitely marches by her own drummer, living life as she wants to live it and ignoring inconvenient realities completely. All of the group of friends can't help but love her, and she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is a heavy gamer and loves nothing more than beating the shit out of Youichi in competitive gaming.
Kudou Nono- The older of Youichi's twin stepsisters, a genkikko who does the vault in track and field. She loves to exercise, loves to eat, and loves her oniichan (not necessarily in that order, depending on her priorities at any given moment). She always has a smile on her face and can make friends with just about anyone.
Kudou Hina- The younger of Youichi's twin stepsisters, a sharp-tongued beauty with glasses who rules the Kudou family with an iron fist. A natural dictator, she openly states that her goal is to become the next student council president and enslave the student body to her will. She adores her niisan, but she doesn't let that stop her from insulting him constantly and prodding him into doing what she wants him to do. Where Nono is the type that wears her heart on her sleeve, Hina is the type that has quiet depths beneath the surface.
Anna- Anna is an esper who has traveled from the future to the past, in order to change the timeline she came from. She states that the future Youichi denied her confession of love, and she also presents herself as the most powerful esper in existence. She is generally a prankster, playful and easygoing, taking endless pleasure in teasing Youichi. However, she is quite obviously hiding a lot of things from him... She is also the true heroine.
The Other Characters
Hatori Ei- Uta's elder brother, a rootless wanderer who travels the world for years at a time. His generally irresponsible nature makes him the butt of jokes for most of the group of friends, and he and Shizuku are rivals for the position of 'elder caretakers' in the group.
Hoshikawa Shizuku- The all-powerful student council president, Youichi's cousin, an immensely powerful clairvoyant, and the 'elder sister' of the group. Most of the group's members have resigned themselves to being her slaves, and when the whim takes her, she drags them all into her schemes and plots. She cares deeply about the other members of the group, but her position as an elder sister often puts her in the position of having to think of what is best for everyone.
Sanada Kanata- The waitress at a local cafe, one of Youichi's osananajimis, and an infamous dojikko. She shines the most as the butt of jokes or when being dragged around by Shizuku or caught up in her schemes. Everybody teases her, but they all love her, too.
Kase Touya- An unfortunate young man who finds himself in the same position as Kanata most of the time (the butt of jokes and getting dragged into trouble by Shizuku). While he is good-looking, because of his overly eager manner, most girls don't take him seriously, and he has yet to manage to get a girlfriend. He and Youichi often commiserate about their treatment by the girls in the group.
Kuro- A thousand year old bakeneko (youkai cat) who has advised the Kudou family for generations and is one of the 'people' who raised Youichi. Once an immensely powerful youkai, time has taken its toll, and now he only retains the ability to speak mentally to those who possess esper abilities. Immensely dignified, wise, and gentle by nature, Youichi's trust in him as an advisor is absolute. While Kuro will advise if asked or if he thinks it is truly needed, he doesn't believe in 'holding the student's hand' (figuratively speaking) and is perfectly willing to sit back and let Youichi make his own mistakes.
Kasuga Haru- Iori's mother, an easygoing nurse and sometime coach to the track and field team, she is an immensely strong person (mentally and spiritually). Her capacity for love is as deep and strong as her daughter's, and one can see the results in Iori's private interactions with her. She does share Iori's S side though.
The story
Mirai Nostalgia's story begins with the protagonist's first contact with Anna, the supposed 'girl from the future' and the return of his twin imoutos, Nono and Hina after several years apart. Soon after, he encounters Iori, and his peaceful life is suddenly overturned as a result. This is a nakige, much like the other games Purple Soft has made since, but its style is more 'traditional' (closer to the format Key pioneered, albeit with a stronger central story). My suggested play order for this game is Hina>Nono>Uta>Iori>Anna. The reasons are pretty obvious if you play the game, but I'll go ahead and outline them here. I basically put them in order from 'least relevant to the central story' to 'most relevant'. Hina's path is by far the weakest of the five, which is probably inevitable in retrospect (Hina's character is hard to grasp as a heroine). Nono is a bit stronger as a heroine, but the events leading up to the climax of the story felt forced in comparison to the events that led to her and Youichi becoming lovers. Uta's path is a bit more fantastical in some ways, mostly because of an unexpected turn of events caused by Uta's dependent personality. Iori's path... is emotionally powerful, not the least because it reveals the biggest reason why Anna returned to the past. Anna's path... is a cryfest. I cried through roughly a third of Anna's path both times I played this game, simply because it was just that good.
The audio
This game's music is slightly above the standard quality for commercial VNs, so it is noteworthy in that sense. However, this was also the VN where Purple Soft began to seriously typecast the company's favored voice actors (Kazane in particular), and so you can pretty much tell the personality of a Purple Soft character by the sound of their voice, in a generalized sense, lol.
Visually
The first time Purple Soft used Koku for their visuals was in this game, and for those who have played Hapymaher or Chrono Clock, the style will be familiar by now.
Overall
This game is a nice nakige with a strong mix of humorous slice of life and powerful emotional moments. If you want a good nakige to sit down and read through that is less moe-dependent than a Key VN, this is an excellent choice.
This VN is an odd duck on my long list of recommended VNs. While its existence as a time loop story is a trope, the way the game's story handles it is pretty interesting.
I went ahead and revealed this as a loop story because you find it out so early on that hiding it as a spoiler is meaningless. The game's story begins with the protagonist meeting (and helping out) Nodoka, one of the four heroines, and her confessing her love to him on the next day when she transfers into the class. While he is at first somewhat bothered by this, he eventually falls for her, loves her... and then suddenly wakes up on the second day of the month, the day after he first met her.
Now, you will go through a lot of route loops before the game is over (you have to see all four heroine loops, plus a bunch of side loops, to get access to the endings), and a lot of these have seriously crazy outcomes. The protagonist, being a young idiot, goes off and tests everything he can find (often to hilarious results), and his 'morality' tends to be rather fragile when it comes to having fun (in one loop he ends up gambling so hard he gets sold to an organ broker, lol). To be honest, the journey through the non-heroine loops is probably the most attractive part of this VN. The music is slightly below the average quality of the industry, as is the art (though that is comparison to the present day), but the game as a whole has a lot of laughs and good moments.
The protagonist, Minato, is essentially your average (slightly baka but not totally stupid) harem protagonist who is kind to everyone and as dense as the lead plating protecting a fission reactor's core. Minato has solid reasons for being dense about the three heroines other than Nodoka (Nodoka being very open), based in his past relationships with the others (Inori being his abusive childhood friend, Korone being his little sister, and Yuuki being so friendly to everyone it is difficult for a harem protagonist to see it in her, lol). That said, that is perhaps the most annoying part of his character, though it gets relieved over time.
Explaining the heroines to this game is counterproductive. I'm not being mean, but if I were to start explaining the heroines, I would probably ruin the experience for you. I really advise you not to read the character profiles (both because they are deliberately inaccurate and because forming your own impressions of the heroines is important to getting into this VN.
There are five endings to this game. One for each of the heroines and the true (harem, no H) ending. The heroine endings are mostly kind of bittersweet, because there are solid reasons why things aren't going to end perfectly, but the true/harem ending is pretty hilarious. Other than the true ending, I liked Korone's ending the best, both because I liked the outcome and because it was the happiest one other than the true one.
Edit: Incidentally, Inori is probably the only case I've ever heard of where they handled the tsundere osananajimi realistically (rather than just using the sides as a contrast).
For those who are interested, here is the first real comedy VN of the year...
The protagonist, Takuma, having returned to his hometown to live alone in his family's old house, finds that it has collapsed in on itself, and, desperate for a place to stay, ends up staying at the homes of his four childhood friends (osananajimi). This leads to various hilarious antics and situations, with most of the heroines being 'ponkotsu' types (meaning that they are the kind of girls no sane man would want as a girlfriend if he knew their real personality).
First is Kyou, the 'older sister' of the group... to be blunt, she is the single laziest human being I've ever seen in a VN. She and her mother are the type that seek marriage solely so that their husband can feed them, clean up after them, and support them financially. If she tries to cook, explosions ensue; she won't even consider doing laundry; and her room looks like mine did in middle school (I never really did see the point of putting things away back then, lol). Incidentally, don't expect any of this to change (the heroines are fundamentally ponkotsu types from beginning to end).
Second is Hiyori, the blonde idiot daughter of the owner of a cafe that specializes in Japanese sweets and teas. She is air-headed, clingy, and she has a tendency to do stupid things just because she feels like it. Worse, her mother, a widow, takes aim on Takuma almost from the moment of his arrival.
The third is Ayaka... Ayaka, when compared to her family, is a quite normal girl. However, with an OCD mother who thinks men are filthy pathogens, a little sister who is yandere over Ayaka herself, a little brother who is addicted to masturbation, and an overprotective father... that really isn't saying much. In reality, she has a strong interest in sexual matters, wants Takuma to be her oniichan, and is very much a schemer/manipulator by nature.
The fourth girl is Rito, the childhood friend that Takuma used to think was a guy. This leads to an immediate argument, of course, but she quickly turns into a clingy, emotionally dependent girl who alternates between aggressively seeking Takuma's affections and snarling viciously at anyone who gets in the way.
With that particular cast of characters and a protagonist who tends to want to turn everything into a joke himself, you have a recipe for a first-class comedy game.
Of course, most of it is boke-tsukkomi (manzai) type humor, save for the fact that all the characters are running jokes in and of themselves. There are no real serious points in this VN, and the only time the story actually feels romantic is during Rito's path... and that actually made it the least enjoyable of the four main paths.
There are also three endings other than those of the four main heroines... a 3P ending with the yandere imouto, an extra ending with Nanako (the girl who steals Takuma's food all the time), and a 'normal ending' that probably would have ended up as a yaoi ending in some other games, lol.
Overall, I left this VN feeling laughed out. I probably won't replay it, because I don't imagine it would be funny twice, but I honestly enjoyed it for what it was... an excuse to break out into real-life laughter to the point where my throat and head started to hurt worse than they already are (I have the flu right now, yaaay!).
This is Unobara Nozomu's second attempt at the mystery genre (for those who are interested, he also wrote Yurirei, Teito Hiten Daisakusen, and Fairytale Requiem) after the dramatic failure of Shinsou Noise last year.
To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this game, despite its interesting concept. This game, like many detective mystery type VNs, possesses a deduction system... but thankfully, it also lets you skip that portion at the click of a button (thus avoiding the story disruption that is the norm for games with deduction gameplay).
The story takes place in Shiraori City, a small city that has a massive murder rate, with most of them being carried out by serial killers, who seem to bloom like poisonous flowers by the handful in the city (incidentally, the manslaughter and incidental killing rates are much lower compared to the population than in the rest of the country, apparently). In this city, due to the sheer workload of all those murder cases, is a system whereby young people with unusual talents are taken on and trained as student investigators.
The protagonist, Tohno Keisuke is one of these, a young man with the ability to see the factor that made a victim's fate certain when he touches their corpse (or their ashes, hair, etc.). This ability has, with the help of his fellow investigators, allowed him to find several serial killers. His school's 'team' of student investigators works under the label of 'mushikui' (a club supposedly devoted to finding better ways to eat bugs).
The members of the club are Tendou Yui, a girl with an extremely strong sense of empathy that allows her to read the emotions and thought patterns of others from the most minor clues; Himuro Chitose, an almost autistic girl with an excellent memory and capacity for rational thought that has her training to be a profiler; Saotome Haya, an aggressive girl with immense physical abilities who hates criminals and loves nothing more than beating the shit out of them; and Kiryuu Azusa, the club's overseer, a teacher who is also a trained detective.
The game consists of three heroine paths and one true path. There are eight endings other than the true one (five of which are bad or dead endings).
The heroine paths in this game are about of equal quality, each adding pieces to the greater puzzle of the strange city the characters live in and bringing each heroine to life in turn. The protagonist, Keisuke, is something of a fractured spirit, constantly stabbed with pain left from his past (I'm not going to spoil you about it, even though it is revealed relatively early in the common route why this is), and how the heroines bring him out of this differs radically from path to path.
... trying to avoid spoilers in a mystery game is a serious pain in the butt. I can't really say anything in particular about the heroine paths without spoiling things, so I'll restrict myself to saying that each heroine path covers an individual case (a series of serial killings), and the mysteries themselves are relatively interesting on their own. Chitose's perp is probably the most obvious, whereas Haya's perp is the most obscure (clues are more subtle). There is a lot of psychopathy and disturbed minds in this game, and that includes the heroines and the protagonist (they all have issues, though not as bad as the killers they chase, lol).
The true path follows the mystery of the 'why' and 'what' of what happened six years ago (the events that resulted in Keisuke gaining the Butterfly Seeker ability and becoming obsessed with saving as many lives as possible). It reveals, piece by piece (drawing on the 'pieces' revealed in each heroine's path in part) the full truth of both the events six years previous and the events still occurring in Shiraori City. The ending of the true path is a bittersweet one, and - unlike most such paths - it isn't a heroine ending. While there are some things to be optimistic about for the characters, the fact remains that theirs is a life surrounded by tragedy (oh and watching Yui during a certain scene was scarier than any of the serial killers in this VN, lol).
I left this VN feeling relatively good about it... which is rare for me, when it comes to mystery VNs. A lot of it was that I liked the characters, the music, and how they handled the actual cases. Another part of it was that Keisuke was a surprisingly good protagonist. Overall, this was a good VN, though I'm not likely to pick it for VN of the Month this time around (this month is waaay too packed).
For those who are interested, Dergonu is handling Akumade, Kore wa ~ no Monogatari and fun2novel is handling Etatoto. The simple reason is that there are just too many March releases for one man to handle, and they were interested in those two games.
Edit: In retrospect, I do have one big complaint about this VN... there is no Azusa path. Azusa would make an excellent heroine, and it seemed a bit forced to make all the heroines around the protagonist's own age, considering how mature he is, in general.
