I'm going to be blunt... this game is badly overrated on vndb. I was - quite frankly - amazed at how poorly the story was told... it was like looking at a bunch of disorganized pictures set on a wall and trying to make an actual story out of them. The protagonist is your classic cipher for the reader, and the female characters basically exist to have random sex with the protagonist. The actual battle system is nowhere near as refined as it was even in Force, despite the fact that Revellion is a remake version that should have logically seen an upgrade there in addition to the major visual upgrade it got.
While I see hints of brilliance here and there, this game fails miserably at getting you to care about what is going on, mostly due to a lack of emotional investment in the characters in general. Quite frankly, I'm regretting my purchase of this game. They upgraded the character designs to Baldr Skydive levels... but they failed to revamp the story, which really needed it. It is also unbelievably short, which is probably why it failed so badly to get you to care about what was going on.
VN jargon can be one of the most confusing things on the planet for newbies, when they first start playing VNs. I say this as a straight-out statement because jargon-related questions are some of the most common ones I get from newbies, and jargon-related misunderstandings are pretty common. However, I'm not making this post to explain each piece of VN jargon's definition and the like, but rather to poke a few holes in the illusion of the 'stability' of the VN lingua franca that people like me tend to let people believe in for the sake of convenience.
First, the idea of the VN term that everybody assumes is used widely in Japan but really isn't. In VN otakudom, this is pretty common. First, I'll give you the examples I'm aware of off-hand.
1. Visual Novel- yes, this is a term that was coined by the Japanese, but it only ever took off here (there are occasions where it is used in Japan, but not in quite the same way we do). However, it has become the umbrella term for an entire medium over here, an umbrella term the Japanese don't use that way primarily because they lump all 'games' in together as the same medium. I see visual novels as a storytelling medium, but the Japanese see them as games, despite the lack of any real gameplay. This is not a matter of absolute definitions but rather a mindset, so I'm not going to insist my personal interpretation of the word is absolute here. The closest thing Japan comes to umbrella terms for VNs is 'bishoujo geimu', 'otomege', and 'gyaruge' (the first referring to male-oriented VNs with beautiful females, the second referring to female-oriented VNs of a certain type, and the third being a term that tends to change wildly depending on who is using it).
2. Charage- yes, you've heard me use this word a few times in the past... and indeed it did get used sometimes by Japanese makers or players to describe VNs of the type I use it to describe. However, if you want me to be straight about it... a few others and myself basically took the term, used it like crazy, and made it a piece of the jargon for the sake of our own convenience. It caught on here but it never caught on in Japan. Occasionally I still see someone use it in a Japanese board, but it is primarily a term used and defined by western players.
3. Chuunige- Actually, I'm pretty sure this was invented by the Fuwanovel community, lol. I use it because it is so convenient to describe the genre, but before it came around there was no jargon for the type of VN this has come to define. I actually laughed hysterically the first time I saw the term 'chuunige' pop up in a Japanese forum used casually to describe Dies Irae, and when I saw the easter egg in Semiramis no Tenbin where the writer said he'd been asked to try making a 'chuunige' I rofled hard. However, I'm about 90% sure we, the Western vn-players coined the term, even if it went over there at some point.
Terms that mean pretty much the same thing on both sides of the water do exist.
1. Nakige- for better or worse, this is probably one of the most well-defined VN genres. That is probably because Key did such a good job of forming the foundations for it, and the term caught on really well over there.
2. Utsuge- similar to above, this is a term that is used on both sides of the water, more or less in the same manner.
3. Otomege
Now that I've ranted on all that... I should probably give a few examples outside of VNs where this has happened... or at least one. Manga and anime are terms we use to describe Japanese comics and animation. However, in the eyes of the Japanese, both are umbrella terms for all comics and animation. Of course, there are terms that have gone over there that have also gone through mutations of their own (they are known as pseudo-anglicanisms), so don't be surprised if you come across katakana words whose meaning doesn't even resemble what they sound like (the katakana word for an apartment, for instance). While there are a lot of common points of understanding on both sides of the water, there are also a lot of points in our jargon that have warped and changed to fit our understanding or have been adopted here even though they got tossed to the side over there. Anyway, for those whose experience with the community has been confusing, Western VN jargon is, for better or worse, only just escaping its formative stages, so be patient with us lazy (and somewhat senile) old-timers. Jargon exists for everyone's convenience but defining jargon is a pain in the butt, as meanings change over time little by little.
This might seem like an odd choice for a blog post, but it should be noted that, after more then twelve years and seven hundred VNs, remembering each and every one is impossible. In fact, I hardly recall roughly 70% of all the VNs I've played, and less than 10% are memorable enough that I consider replaying them once in a great while. I'm somewhat infamous for my lists, but I figured one more wouldn't hurt. Remember, these are the VNs I still remember to the point where I can state almost everything about what I like and hate about each. This list is going to be split into two parts, the VNs I loved and the VNs I loved to hate.
The VNs I loved to Hate
Suburashiki Hibi- Yes, I hate this VN. In truth, I hate almost everything written by Sca-ji that I've read. Sca-ji's style drives me up the wall (for some reason, it presses all the wrong buttons), and his love of unreliable narrators only makes it worse. Suburashiki Hibi is just the most obvious example of a VN I can't forget, even though I want to, badly. I can admit that Suburashiki Hibi is interesting... but to me that just doesn't stop me from hating it anyway.
Aiyoku no Eustia- For a chuunige fan like me to actually outright hate a chuunige is actually fairly difficult. 90% of the reason I eventually came to hate Eustia was because of its true/Eustia route. I didn't like Caim's rapid personality change, the fact that elements of the setting introduced in Eustia's path make all other paths impossible, and I absolutely loathed Eustia herself (what is it with the love for the helpless and frail heroine in some games?). That said, it doesn't change the fact that I liked most of the game before I got onto Eustia's path... but it does mean that I will never admit this is a truly great game.
Ryuusei World Actor- Similarly to above, this is a chuunige I love to hate, despite it being memorable. There is one simple reason for this... it was made to be a prequel rather than a whole game in and of itself. There is no sense of completion, no satisfaction to be gained by completing this story. In addition, it was only recently that its sequel was - finally - announced. Worse, Kinugasa Shougo's style of never really explaining the setting, except in the most oblique of fashions, greatly harms the enjoyment of this game's plot. In the case of his previous works, it was relatively easy to extrapolate and speculate yourself into an understanding of the setting based on what was there, but there is a definite sense that way too much is left unsaid about this setting.
Sakura no Uta- Oddly, this is a game I thought I would have loved, given the twisted relationships and messy backstory involved. However, once again Sca-Ji's style of presentation and love of unreliable narrators drove me nuts. Not to mention the constant abuse of foreshadowing and repetition
VNs I Love so much they are unforgettable
Dies Irae- Obviously, Dies Irae is one of the penultimate chuunige ever made. While I personally think Masada turned into a complete incompetent after KKK, there is no denying the quality of Dies Irae's narrative, its characters, and the way it seems to age so well. Dies Irae is one of those rare VNs that doesn't suffer at all from the passing of a decade or more between its original release and now. That isn't to say it hasn't been left behind somewhat by the conventions of the genre, but in the end, that doesn't matter as much as you would think it would.
Fate/Stay Night- Arguably the VN that turned chuunige from a mere curiosity to an actual niche genre. While many people have a love/hate relationship with Shirou and the Nasuverse, there is no denying that much of the game is enjoyable and it embodies most of the virtues and flaws of the early era of the genre.
Draculius- The VN that changed my viewpoint on the harem ending and actually did vampires right (outside of the comedy, anyway). In all honesty, before I picked it up at random, I had no idea this would become one of my most-replayed VNs of all time. While this game has aged poorly in some ways, in others it's presentation is almost ideal.
Evolimit- In my mind, this game is Higashide's masterpiece, the defining game of his career, whereas others will argue that it was Ayakashibito. However, for all that I enjoyed Ayakashibito, this is the game I go back to play over and over, whenever I want my faith in JVNs revived.
Devils Devel Concept- No, this is not the best game out there. It is a total niche within a niche game. I love its characters and setting, but most people would probably drop it solely based on the artwork. Devils Devel Concept taught me that the protagonist didn't need to be the good guy to be interesting and that heroines didn't need to be fainting lilies to make a chuunige work.
Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no- Let's be clear... visually this game has aged horribly. It is from a much earlier era than most of the games on this list and it shows. However, I have to note that it is one of the single best nakige ever made. I can still go back and cry for Tonoko, Shino, and Miyabi no matter how many times I replay it, and the sense of salvation after the end of one of those three paths, the catharsis is so strong that my stress buildup is perfectly lanced afterward.
Houkago no Futekikakusha- I frequently give this as an example of the ideal 'hard' utsuge. The situation the protagonist is in is hopeless from the beginning, and his suffering his pre-determined. Moreover, when the story begins he is already broken almost beyond repair. The way it is presented provides great catharsis, though like many hard utsuge, the setting is all over the place.
Konata yori Kanata Made- Many consider the first Konakana to be the ideal for the 'soft' utsuge genre, and I don't generally bother to argue with them. While similar games were made later on occasion, one can always feel the influence of this game in them, often to the point where it feels like they are almost plagiarizing parts of it.
Akatsuki no Goei- I have a love/hate relationship with Kinugasa Shougo. He hates completing stories, he never explains anything unless he has to, and his endings are always open-ended unless he is coerced to make them not so. Akatsuki no Goei (the series) embodies him at his best, with Kaito being a complex character that only appears to be your typical 'dameningen' protagonist if you aren't paying attention.
Hapymaher- What often comes back to me about Hapymaher, compared to later Purple Soft games, was the ideal synchronicity of its aesthetic and its music. It is very, very rare for me to bother complementing a VN on its music, since most essentially use rearrangements of old BGMs without accounting for unique themes and atmosphere. While there are some severe obstacles to making this an easily replayable game (the Christmas arc is overwhelmingly boring the second time around), it is still a VN worth experiencing.
Semiramis no Tenbin- Semiramis no Tenbin is an oddity. It is a game based in a school setting in modern Japan that doesn't gloss over Japan's social flaws or exaggerate them to excess. I say this because the Japanese are as good at pretending certain issues don't exist as we white Americans have been at pretending racism doesn't exist. Not to mention that the beginning of this game locked it in my memory eternally.
Nanairo Reincarnation- This is one of the few games in my VN experience that I actually out and out named a kamige on first playthrough. I don't regret it today, and I don't think I ever will. I could put down any number of reasons to love this game, but it is better, in this case, for readers to make their own conclusions.
Akeiro Kaikitan- I mostly chose to keep multiple VNs by the same author and team off this list. However, I should note that I have actually replayed Akeiro six times since its original release... despite it having been released in 2016, a mere six years ago. I play it about once, sometimes twice a year. Why? Because it is still interesting no matter how many times I read it. The presentation of the various paths is about as close to the storyteller's ideal as it is possible to get, making it difficult to get truly bored of if you put some time in between replays.
Komorebi no Nostalgica- Say what you like about Takaya Aya, but his moments of brilliance definitely leave an impression. Komorebi no Nostalgica is easily the best (mostly) non-action sci-fi VN I've ever read. Ironically, the primary reason for this is how the central non-heroine character, Cinema is handled in the various paths. It is impossible to fully explain to someone who hasn't played the game just how powerful a role Cinema plays as a supporting character as well as the game's central character, and I'm not even going to try here.
Ayakashibito- While Evolimit is my favorite Higashide game, I can't fail to mention Ayakashibito here. Ayakashibito is the work of a genius, and it most definitely shows. It was also the VN that first showed Higashide's basic style, which almost always utilizes a protagonist with an intimate relationship with the true heroine that continues to thrive regardless of heroine choice. Ayakashibito is less refined than Evolimit, but in exchange, it also feels more freeform than some of his later works. It also established his creation of high-quality antagonists (Kuki Youkou, Shannon Wordsworth, etc).
Ruitomo- Ruitomo is probably the most famous of all the Akatsuki Works games, for good reason. It is a high-quality classic plotge from an era where such games were relatively plentiful, and its style was the one that defined the expectations of fans for the company's games, though they later took things in a more action-focused direction.
Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier- This VN is one I push for weaboos who like the romanticized eras (Sengoku Jidai, Bakumatsu era, etc). It is based in an alternate world where young Japanese women are sometimes chosen by 'demon-aura stones' that grant them immense physical powers and heightened intelligence in exchange for being unable to have children and being naturally more aggressive than is the norm. As a result, these women are generally adopted by samurai families and raised to be bodyguards, assassins, and in various other roles normally reserved for men. The protagonist is a young man raised by a feminized version of Kondou Isao and Hijikata Toshizo and is essentially Okita Soujirou. It begins previous to the formation of the Roshigumi and branches off after the initial stages of the rebellion that began the collapse of Tokugawa power.
Sekien no Inganock- This is pretty much the only Liar Soft game I didn't have trouble playing. In retrospect, it isn't as good as I remember it being, but it is still enjoyable.
Majikoi- Say what you want about Majikoi. Various people either love or hate it and everything by Minato Soft, but I personally think it was an excellent base that they used effectively to milk the setting. Later games and fandiscs added depth to the characters and expanded the cast, and this, the original was a great game (in my eyes) in itself.
Grisaia- Probably the most popular VN to introduce VNs to newbies now that Tsukihime and FSN have become so dated as to be almost unreadable for new people. Like many VNs that got translated, it has a lot of people either worshipping or hating on it, but its quality (in Japanese) is undeniable.
Soukou Akki Muramasa- Easily the best game Nitroplus has ever produced. While it is a heavy read, it is also a VN worth reading at least once, if you have the mastery of Japanese to do so. However, it is also emotionally draining, so many who start it never finish it.
Hello, Lady- I could have chosen any of Akatsuki Works' chuunige, but with the final version of the game that includes the FD routes and the new true route, this game has easily become my favorite Hino Wataru game.
Kitto Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo- A game by Shumon Yuu. Nothing else needs to be said. Play it, or you aren't a true JVN fanboy.
Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide- An oddball sort of chuunige by Shumon Yuu. This one is fully voiced (protagonist included) and has a solid story and cast of characters.
Silverio Trinity- of the three Silverio games, I'll say right off that this is the one I liked the most. While Vendetta has some great moments, Trinity is where I thought the setting first came alive truly.
Sakura, Moyu- Honestly, I think this is the best VN, by far, that Favorite has produced. I cried more while I played this game than in all the other games combined, and I was more emotionally invested in the story than any of them by far.
Aah... to be honest, this VN is really nostalgic. After about an hour, I felt like I'd begun an old-style love-comedy anime, full of whacky antics and blushing girls who pretend they don't - or don't realize - they all like the same guy... I only played three of the routes - mostly because it is a straight-out love-comedy with no real story at all. However, I can say that this VN has a few major attractions for someone looking for something light to play.
1. It really is just one big laugh-spree. It is comedic twist after comedic twist, with almost everything being an excuse for a joke.
2. The heroines actually aren't template (ohmygod!)... well, I'd say that at the very least the Jinguu girls aren't.
3. This game's atmosphere in general is a reminder of what old-style otaku love-comedies were like. For those who want to indulge in nostalgia, it is a good choice.
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.
Let's be clear... I have no reason to try to be fair to charage anymore. This might sound like a terrible statement to make, but the fact is, I've been a lot nicer than I wanted to be for years when it came to charage. I went out of my way to look for positive aspects, and when I found one, I deliberately put it in as positive a light I could without overdoing it. This was because the sensation I got coming out of most charage was fatigue. SOL, in small doses, is enjoyable and even relaxing... in the kind of doses I experienced over the last five years, it is downright toxic.
Now, down to the game... CharaBration is what is termed a 'thematic charage'. This is a type of VN with a preset theme that all the heroines and possibly the protagonist all adhere to to one degree or another. In this case, it is the duality of the heroines/protagonist's character types. Each of the characters presents one face to the world and another in private... and in the case of this game, the gap between them is massive.
The heroine who starts as the initial focus is Hai, the protagonist's cousin whom he thought was a sickly ojousama that he had to take care of... and is really the kind of tomboy who dominates all the males around her, with a coarse manner and foul language. Yukia, who is pretending to be her sister Mirei, presents herself normally as an arrogant leader who always dominates the room, but in private, she is shy and has trouble talking at all. Himeme is normally acts in a false male role, but she really prefers to act like the girl she really is. All the heroines are like this to one degree or another, and Rikka (the protagonist) ends up splitting his life between pretending to be a maid and attending school in his male form.
Now... this is a game with a lot of potentially fun elements, and it would have been great if the 'hidden' character traits for Hai, who was presented as the main heroine at first, weren't so grating. Starting out with a positive hatred for Hai that never really faded even after I got into the heroine routes (her ojousama act just made me more irritated, due to that fake cough) was a huge drag on the experience for me, and it is the reason why I took so long to finish even the paths I did. Hai is annoying, to be straight about it. While her presence is necessary to create the situation going in, her persona (both of them) drove me up the wall.
The fact that I actually liked the other heroines only made it worse, because whenever she came onto the scene, I just wanted to delete her character. I'm sure some will love her (there is someone for everyone, supposedly), but she isn't for me.
Common Route
Tbh, the common route spent so much time on Hai and stuff related to her that I'm tempted to erase it from my brain. However, it needs to be said that it does a good job of introducing the heroines and creating their relationships with Yuki/Rikka. Rikka is a standard 'I protest dressing up like a girl but I subconsciously am coming to love it' trap protagonist, and that creates a few moderately amusing scenes... However, I can't really said this did a good job of anything but introducing the heroines and creating those basic relationships. It is a pretty short common route, and the heroine routes afterward aren't long either, so it feels like more time and effort could have been spent deepening the relationships before they headed off into the romantic wilds.
Yukia
Yukia is easy to like, at least for me. Her helpful, kind nature is prevalent throughout much of the VN, and her other persona is mostly amusing (some of the ways she strings together lines to hold a conversation together make me laugh). Her relationship with her sister, Mirei, which comes out in her path, is amusing on several levels, and I like the way she grows as a character during the course of her path. That said, her ending is somewhat disappointing, as I would have liked to see what she and Rikka were like after graduation.
Corona
I chose Corona as the second heroine mostly because she is Yukia's opposite in so many ways... and because I rolled a pair of dice to decide which would be the second and final heroine I would play (I can't bring myself to play all the heroines in this type of game anymore). Umm... I really like her character, if only because it makes me laugh (an easily-embarrassed prime personality and a secondary personality that strips without a hint of hesitation and is obsessed with other women's breasts... definitely worth a laugh). In fact, this path is nicely weird, especially because of how those twin personalities interact with the romance. If Yukia's path was par for the course (predictable and staid as trap protagonist and ojousama heroines go), Corona's went pretty far out there. The epilogue and after story was also too close to the ending in chronology though, *sighs*.
Conclusions
Despite some high points, this game is pretty average as charage go. Like a lot of thematic charage, it makes the mistake of assuming that the theme is all-powerful, and, as a result, it falls short on a lot of minor points. I was particularly irritated at the way they handled the endings/epilogues, and I felt that the writer didn't really do Corona or Yukia justice, when it came down to it. Given more detail and time spent deepening character relationships in a believable fashion, it would have been much easier to engross myself in the setting. Unfortunately, that never happened here (the good parts of Yukia's and Corona's paths stand out so much precisely because they are the best parts of the VN by far). It felt like the writer wrote his favorite scenes first then sort of created a bare-bones framework to support it using the theme.
Gensou no Idea is the third VN from 3rdEye, a company specializing in chuunige. When I originally played this game, I was a bit more perverse, personality-wise, and as a result, I treated this VN badly, as one of my pet-peeves is dual-perspective VNs. I generally prefer for there to be only one protagonist, and my reaction to this game was colored badly by that.
First, I'll introduce the protagonists.
The first protagonist is Minase Yuuma, an optimistic young man who is nonetheless grounded firmly in reality. There isn't a scrap of malice in this kid, but he is not an innocent or unaware of the nature of the world he lives in... he simply has a very firm philosophy on life, as the result of being raised by a rather... strong personality. Yuuma is a 'cleaner', specializing in the removal of corpses and the cleaning of homes that have been contaminated by them. He takes pride in his work, and he is one of the few optimist protagonists I actually like.
The second protagonist is Akashi, an Idea (the term that refers to beings from Utopia that roughly conform to human legends) who possesses control over fire. His emotions are weak in most areas, partly because he isn't human, partly because he is missing a big chunk of memories. However, he possesses a driving urge to recover his memories and destroy the 'Phantom' who brought ruin to his life. He has a strong interest in humans and believes firmly that he is good at mimicking them, but he is... not very good at it, lol.
Now for the heroines... strictly speaking, there are no separate heroine paths in this game. This game is, like Sorcery Jokers, essentially a kinetic novel where you choose which protagonist perspective you see first sometimes. There are epilogues for each heroine, but they are pretty short and to the point.
The first Yuuma heroine is Naru. Naru is a fortune-teller with a bad case of chuunibyou and an inherent optimism that matches Yuuma's own. She is very prideful and has a tendency to lose her cool rather easily.
The second Yuuma heroine is Rinon. Rinon is an idol and an Idea that Yuuma follows obsessively. She is arrogant, possessive, and violent. However, once she falls for him she is... passionate and loyal. I really, really liked her epilogue, and I almost fell out of my chair laughing at its end.
The third Yuuma heroine is Kokoro. Kokoro is your classic 'emotionless heroine', showing little reaction to most stimuli.
The first Akashi heroine is Noel. Noel is a possessive, jealous Idea woman whose first priority is Akashi's love, second is Akashi's safety, third is Akashi's happiness, and fourth is Akashi's penis.... do I need to go on? One of her ongoing hobbies is drugging Akashi and having him tortured to find out the identities of women he is cheating on her with (she defines 'cheating' as talking to or being talked to by another woman... or looking at them, touching them, or breathing the same air as them).
The second Akashi heroine is Mitsuki. Mitsuki... has issues. She is very much an introvert, and she has a tendency to keep her distance from others. She does get pretty cute when Akashi manages to make it past her guard, though.
The setting
This game is based around a century or two after Bloody Rondo (don't know if this is fully canon or not), seven years after a disaster that nearly destroyed humanity. In this new world, where a large portion of the planet's surface has been submerged and the human population has been greatly reduced, Archive Square, the corporation that has taken charge of the recovery, has become the central power in the world. This is the case across most of the world, but the city this story is based in is one where more than half of the population works for AS.
There are two worlds in this game... one is 'Dystopia' (the name Idea give Earth) and the other 'Utopia' (the word the Idea use for their own world). Idea, beings of immense power from Utopia, have been going back and forth between the worlds for centuries, taking the form of humans on Earth and generally indulging their curiosity and whims as they desire.
The story
This story focuses on two perspectives... Yuuma as he deals with the changes in his situation, and Akashi as he seeks the past. This story has a lot of really good battle scenes, emotional moments, and some seriously interesting hedge philosophy (mostly out of Kyouko and Yuuma, though Akashi contributes sometimes).
On my second playthrough, having gone in with a more open mind than my first, I found the story a great deal more interesting. I won't say it is perfectly paced or that the characters are the best I've ever run into in a chuunige (they aren't), but I honestly enjoyed the ride, from beginning to end. This isn't a VN that is likely to make it into my top fifty, but if you are looking for a good chuunige and have already read the more famous names, this is an excellent choice.
... for the first time in years, I just went through an entire week without finishing a VN...
Why?
The reason is fairly simple... real life. I'm having to clean up all the work left over from the time I spent essentially mentally handicapped that I didn't subcontract to someone else. That is on top of the work I would have received anyway...
In any case, I'm slowly making progress on Seiken Tsukai, and I can tell you that it is a VN that will definitely pick its readers. The strange mix of an idiot-arrogant protagonist, a cast of heroines who are mostly just window dressing (the story is supposedly over before you pick one), and a rather pathetic lack of proper information flow (by now, they should have covered the protagonist's immediate past, if only to get it out of the way...)... I can so far say that it isn't precisely an inspiring work. It isn't horrible (it is good enough that I actually want to finish it), but too much effort has been put into the character side of things (despite the low relevance of romantic elements) as opposed to story progression.
Edit: Actually, this is the first time since 2013 that I haven't spent more than seven hours in a single week on VNs... and I'm suffering from withdrawal. I get the urge to switch PCs in the middle of work constantly, and the voice in the back of my skull keeps saying 'just a few minutes, just a few minutes'.
Everything in this post is spoilers, so I'll be treating it as such. Don't look in the box below unless you played the first Senshinkan VN, Hachimyoujin.
That is a very vague summary of the basic outline of what went on in the first VN, and no one should play Bansenjin without having played Hachimyoujin.
Edit: At the same time, people who are used to Masada's style will have time getting into Bansenjin, simply because you have already experienced the majority of the characters in this VN. You know their root nature, you know their essential worries, their personalities, and how they will react. This is one of the reasons I hate sequels in VNs... but it is a lot worse with Masada, at least for me. I can see why he normally put two or three years between each release of VNs in a series (like five years between Paradise Lost and Dies Irae and three between Dies Irae and KKK) and why he made sure they shared as few obvious common points as possible, when it came to the characters.
To be blunt, Masada's skill when it comes to reusing characters without massive warping (ie KKK) is a bit... lacking. Not to mention Yoshiya isn't exactly the kind of protagonist you'd want to experience twice. His story was complete, so it really shocked me that they bothered with a sequel... and I'm just finding I can't enjoy it, despite the fact that there are some cool scenes already. There is just no sense of freshness for me... so I might or might not continue this, but it probably won't be for a little while.
Akiyume Kukuru is the third (and possibly final) game in Sumikko's 'Seasons' meta-sci-fi series. It centers around a group of five 'Holders', people genetically altered at the embryo stage to possess possibilities that don't otherwise exist in Earth's evolution using artificial DNA and RNA known as XNA.
These five people are individuals whose actions or abilities have made them a threat to society/the government/etc., and they have been exiled to Ruruan, a closed city in Hokkaido where a quantum bomb was detonated, obliterating the possibilities of the area it covered. In this area, objects and time move on a one-day time loop, causing objects and the shattered remnants of the people (blobs known as WASPs) to return to the state they were the previous day. The only way for an object to cease looping is for an individual to purchase it, thus 'observing' it as being their own ('observation' in the Schrodinger's Cat meaning of the word).
Anyway, despite what sounds like a bunch of spoilers above, this is all basic everyday knowledge for these five people (six if you include their human loli-teacher). These five were placed there both as an exile/punishment and in order to see what effect their presence would have on the damaged region.
This VN is classic Sumikko in one sense... in that it is full of meta-ideas and insane over the top happenings, as well as an immense amount of sexual and violence-related humor (which is also a signature of this series). To let those interested know, this one is as distinct from Natsukumo as Natsukumo was from Harumade. What that means is that the ideas it explores are fundamentally different while still being involved in concepts drawn from quantum physics and ideas (ideas versus the scientific meaning of theory). To be blunt, most of the scientific terms involved are ones that are beyond the understanding of someone who doesn't major in physics (well, beyond a surface understanding anyway), so I advise anyone reading this to focus on the protagonist's interpretations, since those the ones most likely to be relevant (obviously).
I honestly loved the characters - both the heroines and the protagonist - and I thought the game as a whole was a really enjoyable read. I laughed a lot at this one, and other parts made me think. I came to the conclusion that Sumikko is the only company I've ever encountered that can manage this meta-crap without making it sound like a pretentious teenager quoting Nietzsche. That's mostly because the writer is rather open about the fact that he/she doesn't care if we understand every detail of what is going on, as well as noting (in a really subtle way) that all of this is a bunch of convenient interpretations of various thought experiments.
Anyway... this is a fun VN if you can stand a few infodump-related headaches and like Sumikko's peculiar brand of violence and sex humor (think heroines that casually make serious death threats out of love/friendship and others that get hooked on not wearing panties...). The characters are all nicely twisted, whether it is the ex-male (had his/her balls shot off during the conflict) Noa who used to be a bomber or Saori's belief that making her breasts sway is an art form... so that in itself would have made for a fun game.
Don't expect any really huge mindfucks in this one, in comparison with the previous two. For whatever reason, they didn't really focus on fooling you on the big points, preferring to catch you on the details (there is a mindfuck hidden in the story, but it is relatively mild compared to Harumade or Natsukumo).
Generally speaking, if you are a weaboo and/or otaku and you reveal your hobby, you generally tend to end up on the receiving end of all sorts of unbelievably irritating questions. This is my list of the most annoying questions I've heard as an otaku/weaboo.
1. "Is that a cartoon?" Almost every anime fan gets asked this at some point, though generally speaking, this is an event that was a lot more common when I first started watching anime. To be blunt, American cartoons tend to be one of two types... the kid-oriented or the adult-oriented comedy (Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park). However, anime's sheer variance leads a lot of fans - including me - to want to clearly delineate a difference between the two, despite the fact that the actual Japanese anime definition includes Western cartoons.
2. "Why do you hate your country?" This is perhaps the dumbest question I've ever heard, but I've been on the receiving end of it countless times during my weaboo life. The fact is, I don't hate my country. My country does a lot of stupid things, but it raised me, it helped form my personality, and it has kept me fed. I simply prefer to study Japanese culture and language over American. Unfortunately, trying to explain that this is essentially a matter of aesthetic tastes is pretty pointless in the case of those who ask this question (since they've already made their own conclusions).
3. "Why are you dressing up like that?" When you cosplay, this is perhaps the most unbelievably obvious question you can ever get. Back when I still cosplayed, it drove me insane to be asked why I was dressing up that way when it was bloody obvious I was doing it for fun because I liked the anime/books/etc it was based off of.
4. "Why is there a poster of a cartoon character on your wall?" This gets old, fast. When I still bothered buying swag, it was as annoying as hell to have the occasional visitor to my room ask this and similar questions about the swag in my room.
5. "Why do you like the Japanese when they are the ones who started WWII?" This is mostly a question asked by someone who has only read US history books or high school level world history textbooks... WWII was the results of both sides' arrogance and over a half-century of bitter economic competition, preceded by an even more arrogant series of attempts to turn Japan into a Western satellite country (ie. late nineteenth and early twentieth century China). That said, the question has absolutely nothing to do with why I like Japan. I like Japan because its unique cultural development has so many interesting aspects to study, and I am fully aware of the insanity of war-era Japan and the cultural quirks that led to it, unlike the people who ask this question.
6. "Japanese games are all the same... why do you play them?" This is a more recent question and one of the few that has a legitimate point, though it is made from ignorance (usually some newbie listening to a long-time vet complain). The fact is, otaku media, in particular their games, are slow to change... The shifts in the market are slow, and so gluts of certain types of games are endemic to the industry. The same applies to all otaku media, really. Japanese business-people hate change and are slow to adapt to it. The eccentric exceptions are just that... exceptions. The answer to the question I usually give is that I honestly just enjoy Japanese style more than Western when it comes to telling a story, and more than half of my reason for living is experiencing good stories.
7. "That Japanese sword look like it would break with a single whack of this hammer... why don't you just buy a broadsword?" lol... this question I got when I was showing off my 日本刀 （a katana actually made in Japan in the old manner) to another guy who does broadsword fencing. The simple answer to this question that I gave him is that my sword is prettier, because I didn't want to get into the arguments about the difference in purpose. The more complex answer is that katanas make more sense in an era without metal armor than a broadsword (katanas are designed to slice, as opposed to the way western blades are designed to smash and crush as much as cut). Again, there is also the aesthetic, lol.
8. "Do you support what the Japanese did in China during WWII?" Now this question... I've never got how people can ask this question. Do people really think that even a weaboo would lack that much common sense and clarity of thought? Seriously?! Of course I don't in any way support Japan's actions during WWII. Only someone who hasn't read history could have. In regards to America, there were mitigating circumstances and legitimate reasons, but China was another matter entirely. China, for all intents and purposes, was basically a helpless, defenseless region (I don't call it a country because it wasn't and hadn't been since Britain won the wars in the nineteenth century), and there was absolutely no need for any of the excesses Japan undertook during the invasions and occupation there. The same goes for Korea. I almost punched the last person who asked me this question.
Due to work in recent weeks, I wasn't able to play any VNs for about a week straight... and when I tried to pick up Ouka Sabaki to finish Feb's releases, I found I had no urge whatsoever to play a VN... any VN.
Understand, I've been playing VNs constantly since 2009. I literally have not gone more than a day without playing at least a little bit of a VN (even if it was only a half hour or so) since then. So, to my shock, I've found I don't have the energy to pick one up for the first time in almost eight years.
I'm an addict, it's true... but apparently, somewhere in the last few months, something broke me out of my fixation and I found myself uninterested in playing VNs outside of my personal obsessions. I still plowed my way through despite that in January and February, but I felt like a kid going back to his homework after a few hours playing video games when I tried to play another after that delay.
This might seriously be the effective end of VN of the Month, if I can't recapture my desire to continue...
Sena is another active type of heroine... the lazy martial artist heroine. With anything other than pursuing self-training, she is lazy, and she is also a glutton. Generally speaking, she's good if you like boyish heroines with a tendency toward sexually harassing other girls.
Her path split is shortly after Kokone's, so there is not really much in the way of extra character development... but in exchange, her route is probably the most detailed of all the heroine routes. Not only that, but there is some extra drama in there that made it an interesting story in and of itself, rather than feeling like a charage appendage to the main story (which the others barely edged past being themselves).
Some comments before the True Route
One thing I've noticed about this game is that it stops just short of being good at describing the action. Oh, they do describe it... but they avoid details, and there is no flair to the narration. I don't expect something on the level of Dies Irae, but if you are going to include the abilities and martial arts these people are displaying, it is downright wasteful for the combat narration to be so spartan.
I'm going to be blunt, I wasn't really up for playing this in the first place, and as a result, my opinion of this VN is probably quite a bit lower than it actually deserves... but at the same time, it is probably a bit more realistic than those who are tricked by the pretty pictures. I mostly picked this one up to satisfy those who are curious and because it is technically a May release.
From a writing standpoint, this VN is about average, as moege go. There is nothing really special about the narration and the dialogue is actually weaker than I'm accustomed to from non-doujin titles. As such, there really isn't anything to praise linguistically. There are a lot of attempts at humor in this VN, but they are just that... attempts. Not only that, but the patchy way they voiced the game - about half is voiced, half is not - makes it hard to absorb oneself in reading this. It would have been better if they either forewent voices entirely if they didn't have the cash to at least fully voice the heroines in all scenes.
From a visual standpoint... this game is actually as good-looking as a commercial release, and the fact that all the major characters except the protagonist have tachie is a huge plus. As a potential minus (though not for me) the style is a bit old, though not so old that someone who hadn't experienced older styles would have noticed.
I already mentioned the voices above... but what I didn't mention was the music, which was singularly unimpressive, even if you are considering the fact that this was a doujin game. Most VNs manage to have at least a certain level of quality to their soundtracks, even if they are forgettable... but this one doesn't quite make it on that account.
As for the story... disappointing is the only word I had for it. I was surprised at how pathetic the presentation of the plot (such as it was) was, and I have to wonder why they bothered to release this if the endings in general were going to leave you feeling 'eh, what? It's over, that's it?'
I lost five posts with the reset, and I probably won't bother trying to resurrect Natsuiro Recipe, except to say that it was the first addition I'd made to the Chicken Soup for the Soul list in over a year... and I generally don't update that list unless I really believe a VN is worth it.
Arcadia no Tomoshibi is a two-in-one VN downloadable only from DMM, sold for around a ten dollars. It is by Nostalgic Chord, the makers of Houkago no Futekikakusha, which was easily the best utsuge made in the last few years. The two VNs inside it are Rakuen no Shugosha and Merrybell wa Shinda to Papa ni Tsutaete. Though there are no voices in these VNs (this was obviously done on a bootstrap budget) it matters a lot less than you would think, because the way they use the art style and music in order to draw you in in these two VNs makes a mockery of the average VN in terms of overall quality.
Rakuen no Shugosha
Rakuen no Shugosha is a VN about a future where a small percentage of the population - both animal and human - have gained supernatural abilities that make them so dangerous that they rendered most modern weapons obsolete. When the story begins, you are thrown into action with a small unit of United Nations soldiers who are sneaking through the ruins of a dead city for the purpose of killing the 'most powerful human in existence'.
The story is told by switching between the present (the hunt) and flashbacks of the past, that tell the story of the superman they are chasing and just why it ended up that way. This VN and its partner are both written by the same man who wrote Gunjou no Sora, and it shows in the sheer quality of the narrative and the near-perfect balance between the development of the characters and the progression of the story... leading to a very emotional conclusion.
The art-style is far closer to that of an American comic artist than that of the anime/manga style that is dominant in VNs, and this adds to the general overall maturity of the characters. There are none of the usual sacrifices to the God of Moe, and the average age of the characters is forty-something.
And this traditional comic-book art-style is used masterfully - along with the music - to reinforce the superhero image of Julius, the man they are chasing. In the flashbacks, he is an emotional, generous soldier with a love of children (and no, not in the sense our rotten souls would normally have it be) who will do absolutely anything to protect the innocent. In every concievable way, he represents the ideal of a superhero soldier, who acts without hesitation for the sake of others. The protagonist, with whom he shares a mutually antagonistic relationship at first, is his opposite, a clear-headed tactician who is good at seeing the big picture. In a lot of ways, their relationship is like if Lex Luthor and Superman had become the best of friends and the ultimate partners... or at least that is how it looks in retrospect.
This VN lasts about five hours (for me) and can be very intense... and overwhelmingly emotional at times. By the end, you can't help but weep for the tragedy of what is going on in the present, and the ending leaves you with a bittersweet feeling that though the worst was prevented, there was no justice done. For artistic presentation (and I don't mean visuals but in the overall sense of using all elements to create a bigger whole), this is one of the better VNs I've played in recent years.
Marrybell wa Shinda to Papa ni Tsutaete
This VN is perhaps the most unusual portrayal of the 'protagonist gets pulled into a fantasy world' trope I've ever run across. The writer actively mocks the usual usage of the trope, instead creating a perfectly mundane - if saddening and terrifying for the characters - struggle to live through culture shock, dramatic personal change, and the formation of new bonds.
The story is told from the points of view of the six 'family members', who are all people who were dropped into this new world when their section of Tokyo 'fell'. They are also the only survivors... and they find themselves indebted deeply to the indigenous city that manage to reach and the merchant guild that sells them their house. A great deal of the story is about a combination of simple financial struggles to make ends meet and pay off more of their debt... and of how the various characters adapt - or don't.
This isn't a story that is prettied up in any way. The characters have mixed emotions toward one another, varying anywhere between trust to outright hatred. Midori, who is one of the two parent figures (the two college students) basically works in a hostess bar (though given the medieval tech, it is grungier), and Yuuya works as a hunter of monsters, barely managing to bring in enough money to pay the bills and pay back some of their debt.
The choice to use an anime/manga style art style (unlike Rakuen no Shugosha's) in this case just emphasizes how different this is from your standard VN. There is no bow to the traditional tropes. There is only endless mockery toward those particular bronze idols. Like Rakuen no Shugosha, this VN is as much a work of art as entertainment and it shows.
Like some others, I got tricked into playing yet another gameplay-hybrid in the series of games by Gesen known as the Sangoku Hime series. To be honest... I couldn't imagine how they could have screwed things up worse.
First of all, they used their 'restructuring' of the game as a big draw for those who were disappointed with a lot of the aspects of 3. They basically redid all the character designs (without exception) with completely new characterization, art, and voices... and I'll be honest, I couldn't imagine how they could have screwed things up worse.
It isn't just that the style has regressed in some ways (the male character designs, which were actually pretty awesomely detailed in previous games, are now unbelievably crappy by any standard, probably to bring them in line with the new, moe-moe character designs for the female characters)... if it were just that, I would have shrugged and let it go. Unfortunately, it pretty much eliminated the best part of 3, which was the glorious atmosphere that enveloped you at key historical moments, such as the confrontation with the Yellow Turbans or the Alliance against Dong Zhuo... and especially when you defeated one of the Three Kingdoms or reached another historical turning points. Sun Ce, who was a warrior-queen type in the previous games, has turned into a moe-airhead with a war-addiction in this one. Cao Cao, who always put her ambition first and had the immense strength of will to follow through on her plans at all costs, while possessing a surprising sense of mercy and compassion to those who followed her or surrendered to her... has become a kuudere with a love of sweets. Even worse, her appearance in 3, which was kind of demonic, was changed drastically to make her into 'just another leader-heroine'. The only ones that hadn't changed were the Liu Bei followers, whose drive and personality hadn't essentially changed (though their visuals had changed significantly... oddly the only positive visual change I saw in the game).
Now, setting aside the characterization and visual changes in other characters, we'll come to the change I found the most unbelievably annoying. Ginga, for all that he was a straight-out womanizing soldier-type in the previous games, nonetheless had a distinct personality. He was a powerful individual who knew the battlefield like the back of his hand. Unfortunately, he was replaced in the new game by Akito, your typical 'nice-guy' VN protagonist who happens to have an ability to see the future in dreams (and yet he can't seem to figure out how to use it... until late in various paths). Oh, there were other big issues throughout what I played... such as the lack of serious character development and the retaining of pointless slice of life scenes for side-characters that feels out of place in an otherwise serious game. However, the writing/story side just basically lost ALL of its luster... leaving you with the drudgery of the Sangoku Hime series (yes, the actual game-progression hadn't changed a bit from the previous games).
There were some changes to the gameplay... such as the contraction of the soldier-types into a mere six different ones (light infantry, destroyers, barbarians, cavalry, archers, and tacticians (female or male)) versus the twelve or so that existed in previous games. This was actually an improvement in some ways, as it clearly redefined the classes according to their abilities and role. The character-building system is also simplified into three trees (war, learning, and astrology) and is expanded to cover all generals, not just the unique ones. Unfortunately, that simplification means that it is hard to impossible to overcome weaknesses in vital characters such as the ruler of your country (Liu Bei and Sun Ce both have weak political abilities compared to Cao Cao, whose abilities in this area are among the highest in the game). This can be a huge handicap, as your leader's political ability determines how much you can do in a single turn. You also lose most of the skills that were most useful in the previous games, such as the ones that let you massively increase your attack power in certain situations (thus giving you more strategic options).
In the end, I just had to drop the game after I conquered half of China with Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and the Sun family... all three had exactly the same problems. Not to mention that the detailed story scenes that recreated certain minor but vital historical events were gone entirely (I particularly missed the events from Cao Cao's rise to power, which were fascinating and as true to the base material as anything I've seen in a game like this).
This is actually my second time playing this VN, though my first playthrough only went through Neko and Kohane. I will say that playing this after the original series does change my perspective somewhat, as it is easier to get the many references throughout the VN. Hakari, one of the heroines, is the cousin of the protagonist from the original trilogy and the protagonist is Kani's cousin. Jiro is a relative of one of the Kenpou Club's members from the time of the first protagonist (ten years before), Cherish is the daughter of one of Serebu's father's friends, Kasumi's family is served by the Kurogane family (Otome's family), and Neko was raised in an orphanage that came to be owned and run by Sunao's father. In addition, one of Murata's little sisters is a classmate of the new protagonist and... well it goes on like that. In other words, it is hard to fully appreciate this game without playing through the original series, which is probably why I ended up being so bored with it the first time around.
Common Route
To be straight out, the common route is pretty hilarious, in a style that is almost equivalent to that of the original series, though the new character dynamics are quite a bit different. For one thing, the 'group of friends' is a bit looser than in the original series (in the original, it was a really tight friendship, like a family), and the school's situation is a bit different. Hakari, who is the Student Council President, is a natural manipulator and a genius, but she lacks Erika's hedonism and charisma, so she generally controls things from behind the scenes. This is opposed to the hard-headed Morals Committee, which is led by Neko, who is obsessed with rules and whose ideals just don't match with those of Hakari. This is a source for most of the conflict in the common route, and it is generally amusing.
Neko
I can't say I've changed my opinion of Neko's route. Similar to the original Otome route in the original Tsuyokiss, it is a surprisingly weak route for such a character that leaves such a strong impression. For better or worse, Neko is a bit hard-headed... like Otome she is ridiculously strong (both of them are about .8 of Momoka from Majikoi in terms of strength), and she is a stickler for the rules... but in exchange, she is ridiculously cute once she falls in love with the protagonist (definitely went for gap-moe here), but there is a severe and unforgivable lack of drama in this route, despite some foreshadowing. I think that they intend to use Festival to give that foreshadowing life - and probably intended to from the beginning - but it makes for a pretty frustrating experience.
Hakari
The protagonist's osananajimi, the Student Council President, and the original Tsuyokiss protagonist's cousin. To be honest, her route has the same problem as Neko's. It sticks to a very simple love-comedy equation and doesn't go into any of the down and dirty that frequently framed the background of the original trilogy. For that reason, I can't help but give this route a reluctant thumbs-down. I'll be perfectly honest... this VN is starting to remind me of Nigakki for the crappy heroine routes.
Cherish
Cherish (also known as Cherry) is the granddaughter of a former American General. Her personality is bright and straightforward, and she is the game's 'bakaloli'. Her path is a bit weird, in the sense that she and the protagonist never quite fall into the conventional 'lovers' slot, where both sides are passionately in love. Generally speaking, in VNs when a friend makes the transition to lover, there is a bit of tension and drama, but in this case it simply doesn't happen. To be honest, even after the six hours of this path, I had to ask myself if she was a heroine at all (despite the kissing and sex scenes). Like the other paths, hers lacks any significant drama.
Kohane
Kohane's role is a lot like Nagomi's in the original series. She starts out as a delinquent-like girl and once she goes dere, it is the most extreme of all the heroines in contrast. Also similar to Nagomi, it is the protagonist sticking his nose into her circumstances that eventually results in them becoming close, though there are some significant differences both in degree and detail. Kohane is easily the best of the four heroines available when you start the game, or so I've concluded after having played those four routes. However, like the other routes, it ends in a way that makes it feel incomplete. I have to conclude that this entire VN was designed to make way for Festival.
Sumika
... well, here is definitely the true route of the VN. The difference in detail, quality, and overall everything between it and the other routes is even worse than Majikoi's true route. Sumika's route basically brings everything that never quite came to fruition in the other routes to the forefront - including cameo appearances from Otome and Kinu (Kani). Sumika grows a great deal across the path, and it is easily the best path in all the Tsuyokiss games so far... but in exchange, it has sent me into a screaming rage. Why? Because all the other heroine routes were so weak, probably precisely in order to make Sumika's route strong. I absolutely hate it when a company deliberately weakens other heroine routes in order to make the true heroine's route stand out. In this case, it was rather extreme, considering how stand-out the heroines were as characters. So, though I went ahead and adjusted my vndb vote a bit upwards, I nonetheless do not feel good about this VN. Hopefully, Festival will rectify the crime that is this VN, and thus make me happy, lol.
Edit: In terms of raw quality, while Sumika's path is better than any one Tsuyokiss path in the previous games from a pure drama perspective, the sheer atmospheric gap between it and the other paths, as well as the fact that the paths were generally left improperly or unresolved, meant that I honestly couldn't enjoy it as I would have if it were just one path amongst the others. For this reason, I can't help but condemn Candy Soft for doing it this way.
Wow. This is definitely a case of not being able to judge a book by its cover... or by its summary, either. I don't think I've encountered a VN with as much emotional impact as this one since Houkago no Futekikakusha, last summer.
Sumire is by Nekoneko Soft, one of the oldest existing VN brands... They are one of the 'founding names' of the moege umbrella genre, while also producing more serious works through their subsidiaries, such as Cotton Soft (of Reconquista and Owaru Sekai to Birthday fame).
Sumire is rather unique, by the standards of current VNs. The protagonist, rather than being a student, is a salaryman in in his mid-twenties, a socially inept man who was an otaku but has lost most of his passion. He goes to a virtual chat room/online game that imitates a school, where people use characters from Nekoneko Soft games as avatars. There, he is part a sub-community of four people (including him) of people that are similarly awkward.
This story is... emotional to say the least. So far, I've finished two arcs of the story (there is only one actual path, though there are apparently multiple endings) and I had to spend the last thirty minutes or so easing myself out of crying-mode. What is so good about this? Generally speaking, I have to say it is the overall presentation and characterization, as well as the narrative.
The depth of the characters lent by the narration and dialogue - keeping in mind that they are the same type of person, generally speaking - is impressive, considering how relatively short a time I have been playing. At the same time, the story itself - for all its odd aspects - is one that is mostly easy to understand. It reminds me of some of the best works of last decade (2001-2010) in that it tries to just tell a story rather than pretending to be something in particular (ex. a charage, a nakige, etc).
So, unless they seriously screw things up, this is VN is a definite candidate for VN of the Month...
Edit: Changed this post so it reflects the whole game.
Now that I've finished the game - and yes it is that short - I will go ahead give my final word on it. This game stops a bit short of kamige-level (the ending is a bit too short and 'things are looking up' optimistic for that), but it is nonetheless an excellent game.
Now, for the overall... first, I should say that there are a total of three arcs. There is one focused on Sumire, then Hinahime, then Akari. Sumire is the main heroine, with the other two girls having 'extra' h-scenes in the omake section or as an extra on the second playthrough.
The first two arcs are both straightforward - relatively speaking - stories of alienation and redemption, with a bit of love and friendship thrown into the mix. Really, in the first two arcs, you can't really get a good lock on what is motivating everyone, which isn't surprising, really. About two thirds of the game is in the characters rl and a third in the virtual space (it is more like half and half in the early game and ends up mostly rl at the end).
For those who like mild mindfucks... Akari's arc will fulfill your desires to an extent. You'll find out the last few undiscovered secrets of the characters, including what links them together. In addition, you'll also have to choose between one normal, one bad, and one true ending. The true ending is a nice conclusion, though it is very short. The normal ending is sad, and the bad ending is a bit... depressing looking at it from the outside.
Overall, this is an excellent VN, though short. I'd recommend it to those who want something unusual to break out of their usual reading habits but don't want something violent or with lots of sexual drama.
This is the latest game released by Akabeisoft3, the bastard company made by Akabeisoft2 to take in all the subsidiaries of its parent company other than itself, Applique, and Akatsuki Works. The game was written by Nakajima Taiga, who first made his name as the writer of Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu and gained yet more fame with the utsuge Inochi no Spare.
This game is a nakige, though it is one that leaves a lot more bitter in with the sweet than is normal. It is based in a Japanese inn called Yuki, where ghosts can interact with the physical world in order to complete the desire that keeps them in the world. In order to hide the fact that they are ghosts from the normal customers, the employees wear cosplay to make the unusual or out of season clothing the ghosts are often wearing not stand out.
The protagonist, Haruto is the bantou, the male in charge of greeting customers arriving and taking reservations. He has been there for ten years and is seen as a reliable employee by the younger staff. He is very much a workaholic, performing his duties with absolute devotion and no real hesitation... it is just that those duties involve arranging the things that 'non-reservation customers' (the ghosts) need to fulfill their last desires. These desires are often simple things like wanting to say something or leave a message for a loved one, but can also be somewhat crazy things like wanting to get into a swordfight to the death. Haruto takes on all these requests without hesitation or any real emotional disturbance. Nonetheless, he does care.
The partings in this game are probably the most vivid aspect... naturally, you come to know the ghosts' stories, and when the time for parting comes, it is always sad, even if you know they are going away happy and satisfied. I cried repeatedly during these scenes.
There are four heroines in this game: Neko, the ghost of a girl who wanted to live freely but was unable to when alive; San, a cheery girl who gets along with everyone and enjoys her work; Kohane, a nervous otaku girl whose dream is to become a professional cook; and Sakine, a somewhat gloomy woman in her mid to late twenties who decided to work at the inn on impulse.
Neko
Neko was the first heroine I pursued, mostly because I have a thing for girls who say ~nyaa. Neko is a seemingly whimsical girl who loves to hang around the protagonist and constantly makes false attempts to play hooky from her work... but never really does so. Her path starts out as a soft romance between two souls with a lot in common...
... but the fact is that Neko is a ghost, and there was no way it was going to have a purely happy ending. Neko's path is full of small happiness and frequent sorrow, and the desire that binds her to the world is heartbreaking in and of itself. I honestly found myself crying for the entirety of the last hour of the path, to the point where I developed a sinus headache.
Kohane
Kohane is the assistant to Makoto, the fake homosexual cook (the story behind how that happened is hilarious in retrospect but it is part of a sad scene). She is shy and is very negative about herself, but there is enough iron in her core that she has managed to stay for one year under Makoto's extremely harsh tutelage. Kohane is a living heroine (as opposed to Neko, who was a ghost), and her path differs accordingly.
Kohane's personal issues were actually fairly interesting... enough so that I was honestly able to empathize with the last scene and cry my eyes out (again). The last scenes in this path are all highly emotional, but there is a lot less bitter in with the sweet than Neko's ending, which feels more bitter. One issue that is common to both this one and Neko's path is that the protagonist's own issues aren't addressed, sadly for him, though it doesn't seem to bother him much (which is understandable once you know about him). It isn't a negative issue, since it makes sense within the context of the story.
Sakina
Sakina is the only full adult heroine in this VN (by the story, I'm guessing 27 or 28). Having quit her job previous to coming to stay at the inn, she decides to work there soon after the game begins. She is quiet, shy, and a bit gloomy at times. However, she is also kind and thoughtful. Unlike the other heroines, you will only rarely see her smile, but those few smiles are the ones that get you.
Sakina's path is... tied up with the protagonist's past. The way this route turns out is different from the previous two (though I can't tell you why without spoiling), but it was interesting in and of itself. I didn't end up crying my way through the whole later part of the game, but the ending was uplifting and bright.
San
San is the game's central heroine. Her personality is bright and sunny, generous and giving by nature with a strong spirit. San is a student as well as one of the inn's hostesses (a job shared by Neko and Sakina), and her favored cosplay are a dog-girl, a maid, and a new wafuu (Japanese style) idol.
Her path, like many central heroine paths, is the only one where all the major character issues are resolved (though only speculatively based on the epilogue in a few cases), and it is also the only one where the protagonist's own major issue is resolved. Like Neko's path, this one is very bittersweet, and like many cases in this VN, the partings here had me in tears for long periods of time, leading to sinus headaches (this game took me longer than it would have otherwise because I kept having to stop playing after I cried myself into a headache). I will say that I consider the ending to be a happy one, but, thinking of how San had to feel in the time between the ending and the epilogue breaks my heart even now...
Overall
Overall, this is an excellent nakige by a writer who seems to be able to write across all the genres and involving characters of all types and ages. For those who want a lot of catharsis, this is a great choice, but be prepared for a bit more 'bitter' in with the 'sweet' than is normal with a nakige (though it is still a nakige, rather than an utsuge). Despite my remarks on how bittersweet this game is as a whole, it should be noted that the atmosphere at Yuki, the ryokan (Japanese-style inn) that serves the setting, is very warm, welcoming, and downright familial to the point that I found myself wanting to jump into the game and stay a night there. I liked all the characters, including the side-ones, like Sentarou (the night security guard and exorcist that bears a passing resemblance to Archer from FSN), Toki (the century and a half hold ghost owner of the inn), and Makoto (the macho fake homosexual head cook). This isn't a kamige, though I'm tempted to call it one based on my general level of satisfaction, but it comes pretty damned close.
... *weeps like a small child*
Seriously, I haven't run into an utsuge/nakige hybrid like this since Karenai Sekai last year. Imoten (the nickname for this one) is the latest production by Alcot Honey Comb, the mid-priced subsidiary of Alcot responsible for Satsukoi, 1/2 Summer, and Hatsugamai.
For some reason, in most years, the larger majority of the high quality VNs for the year tend to be put out in the first or last three months of the year... at least, that's the way it has been since 2011, when I first started playing most of the games released during the year. A 'good month' is a month with two VNs that are VN of the Month quality, and of the three I've played so far from October's releases (setting aside the fact that I'm reserving the rest of Freaks for a later date) two have been of that level of quality... and I haven't even started Baldr Bringer.
This VN is based in the same universe as Satsukoi, which was itself a first-class utsuge/nakige hybrid (I won't tell you about the link, since it is a spoiler for both games). Now, this game technically has heroine paths... but by the nature of the way the game's story is told, this game is more focused on the protagonist's struggles than on the heroines. In fact, in order to see the true ending (Touka's), you have to make a rather sad choice near the end of the other three heroine paths. The 'happy endings' of the first three heroine paths are rather short and end abruptly... which makes a lot of sense, in retrospect.
This game's protagonist, Yuki, is the son of two famous actors, who present a good face in public but have been living separate from each other and him since he can remember. After discovering that his mother only birthed him for the sake of putting forth a good social image, he briefly considers suicide, but upon meeting the archangel Touka, who convinces him life is worth living, he agrees to sign a contract to become an angel candidate, with the intention to one day take over from the present god, who is at her limit after a century and a half of keeping humanity from destroying itself and the world. Unfortunately, after a year of living together (Touka having altered reality so that she is seen as his little sister), he has yet to become a true angel, much less reach god's throne. As such, he is regularly scolded (verbally and physically) by Touka and has to endure regular meetings with two other angels... a shinigami (Shizumi) and an angel who is also an idol (Mia) where they try to figure out why he hasn't become an angel yet.
The VN starts out humorous... and indeed, the typical fourth-wall breaking humor Alcot abuses is present constantly here, but things get grim really quick. This is not a kind world, after all.
I'll be straight with you... if you just want normal romance with a great happy ending, this VN isn't for you. The world in this VN is as cruel and cold as the real world, in its own way (think about it... this is the same world where mermaid sisters have to eat their oniichan in order to live... and humans in order to extend that life)... all the more so because the characters are in a position to know, to an extent, why the world is the way it is. If you have a heart, each of the paths will reduce you to tears, each for a different reason... and the choices of Yuki (the protagonist) in order to reach and complete the true story lead to a bittersweet ending which will be hard on those who absolutely need a happy ending.
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.
Komorebi no Nostalgica is one of the more interesting VNs I've read in the past three years. I occasionally go back and play one of its paths when I want to restore my faith in VNs, and one of its primary themes is artificial intelligence. There are a number of different viewpoints represented in the VN about AIs, ranging from classic horror stories and instinctive repulsion to acceptance and/or affection. Cinema, who is the source of most of the central conflicts of the VN, is a humanoid robot created before the big war that basically wiped out the internet archives and a lot of humanity's knowledge of its own past. She was apparently customized immensely by the man known only as the 'Store Manager', who ran an underground video rental shop with her as the clerk. She isn't a heroine, but it wouldn't be incorrect to state that she is the focus of all the major events of the story. In many ways, her personality and setting resemble that of the heroine from Planetarian, and those who played that ancient will probably be able to easily recognize the earnest, almost childlike nature of the two. The generation of humanoid robots after her eventually developed a self-determining will and intelligence, becoming fully sentient, sparking a pogrom (of humans slaughtering robots that were suddenly seen as a threat) that led straight into a war that shattered human society as it existed at the time. The war was... a draw, though a draw that turned out more to the advantage of the robotic Metasera than to that of humanity. During the war, Cinema was put into hibernation and hidden by her creator, until she was awakened by the protagonist and his hare- *coughs* friends. The Metasera, having gained the right to self-determination in exchange for forfeiting their right to aggressive self-defense, live in small arcologies based in just about every major city of the planet, learning from and aiding humans as they seek to evolve their budding intelligence and emotions further. One of the heroines, Fluorite, is a Metasera, and it is through her that you get the writer's insight into the idea of the results of a 'naturally occurring' AI. Cinema, on the other hand, presents an entirely different path to the same goal... she is a low-spec virtual intelligence that is designed to grow into full sentience and in the end gains a far wider spread of emotions than the Metasera... while also showing off a surprising degree of emotional development, even before she gains that sentience. The idea of an AI that develops intelligence before emotion and causes a war (the Metasera) versus an AI that develops intelligence after emotion and is a friend to humanity from the beginning (Cinema) is one of the many hidden themes of the VN. There were innumerable times in the VN that I felt intellectually stimulated or driven to express raw emotion. The story is just that powerful, after all. Moreover, the protagonist and friends are of the first generation to grow up without knowledge of the world prior to the Metasera, and it is the writer's portrayal of this aspect that is frequently the most interesting.
Well, that was a bit of a surprise... after people's iffy ratings of the trial, I'd honestly expected this VN to be disappointing, in general, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the VN as a whole exceeded the expectations I'd had for it previously. What were those expectations? I thought it would be a mere variation on the usual 'human goes to another world, gains ultimate power, defeats the evil, and gets a harem' theme that defines most VNs that have a protagonist go to another world... with a strong taste of Japanese nationalism. However, it wasn't anything of the sort. Oh, the protagonist is indeed a kamikaze pilot, as advertised... but his outlook is a lot more interesting than you would have expected from someone willing to smash himself into the side of a ship with a plane. In fact, his view on patriotism in general is pretty negative, despite his own insistence on his duty. He is short-tempered, quick to get in a fight... and just as quick to drink and party with those he was fighting with a moment before (if they weren't trying to kill each other). He is definitely a soldier, because his point of view is written in a very similar way to that of various historical fiction written by Vietnam and WWII vets (outside of some certain areas). It does retain that uniquely Japanese 'emotional surrealism' that is a part of all otaku literature, and he spends an indecent amount of time philosophizing in his head for someone who is essentially an iron-skulled grunt by nature. His description of his feelings about WWII resembles a great deal several first-person accounts written by soldiers on the Japanese side, and it is quite obvious that the writer of the story did at least some research on the matter. One thing some of you should keep in mind is that, despite the fact that a lot of girls fall in love with him, this protagonist is not a ladies' man and he generally doesn't indulge, except with his chosen heroine (he's definitely monogamous, lol), so you needn't worry about the kind of careless going back and forth between various women that defines a lot of 'go to another world' protagonists. If you were looking forward to a harem story, you'll be disappointed though. This VN is a lot darker than it shows from the front, much as Grisaia was designed to be much darker than it seemed at first (has the same writers, so it stands to reason). While there is a lot of light-hearted stuff in here, there is also a lot of bloodshed, slaughter, and betrayal as well. This is perhaps one of the grittiest 'trip to another world' VNs I've ever read, and I honestly was impressed with the degree to which the writers and artists were willing to dig into the down and dirty aspects of the war. The issue that will, on some level, inevitably come to the mind of anyone who reads this VN all the way through is the zombies... to be honest, the artistry of the zombie designs in this VN is a bit ridiculous, in the sense that they actually went to the trouble to make them look graphically disgusting (torn off ears, exposed muscle and sinew, etc etc). There are even dragon zombies, which are pretty freaky as well. Story-wise, this VN has pretty much just two pitfalls... it requires you to read between the lines on a lot of issues, and there is perhaps less detail to the endings than you might wish. Frequently, you'll be directly prevented from knowing the thoughts of certain characters at certain important moments, simply to keep you from spoiling the heroine routes or to give impact to later scenes. This is actually a well-used technique, but it also makes the dog-people chapter a bit hurried toward the end, because of how much isn't touched upon deliberately to make Aira's path more powerful. The endings... honestly, Yukikaze's and Aira's are good. However, Ria's and Meltina's endings are kind of lacking. In Ria's case, this is inevitable, for reasons that become obvious at the end, but in the case of Meltina it is just a little frustrating. Ria's path is unique amongst all of them in that it is almost entirely told from the heroine's perspective, outside of some scenes near the end. Indeed, the protagonist's on-screen role is very limited, and the most important scenes are always away from him, with Ria on her own. You are required to play Yukikaze's path first... and the reason for that is pretty obvious... she's the main heroine. The heroine paths are all distinct toward the end, but it is Yukikaze's that has the most straight-out, easy to understand impact. Ria's path has a lot of impact for another reason... but it also has the weakest ending/epilogue (though Meltina's is also a bit weak). The music in this VN is really good... but it is also a mix of rearranged and slightly altered themes from several chuunige that I recognized... surprisingly this doesn't matter all that much, because the music is extremely well-used, frequently with an artist's touch for timing. Visually... if you liked Grisaia's everyday visuals, you'll probably like the everyday visuals here. The protagonist in this VN is deliberately made to look like a somewhat ugly guy in his late twenties, so that is a change... and as I said before, the zombies in this VN are pretty hideous (in a 'good' way). For some reason, they reused Michiru's mouth design on a number of characters in this VN, and I found myself considering them to be morons from first meeting, even i they weren't, lol. Unfortunately, this VN won't be for everyone... people who want a moege won't have much fun with this, and there is perhaps a bit too much moe for those who want something really dark. At the same time, people who can't stand zombies will hate this VN, because zombies make a lot of appearances (and one of the heroines is a 'special' zombie). The fact that the main heroine is a bit overly idealistic/emotional at times will also be a letdown for someone expecting her to be a classic warrior princess. However, this is also a VN that brings a lot of disparate elements together to create an interesting whole... In other words, for me it was a good ride... for you? Honestly, there are a lot of points in this VN that will bother at least some of the population, and there is a lot of subtle criticism of certain WWII issues that might offend others or make them feel like this is a purely ideological piece. Indeed, there is a definite sense of 'Gundamness' around some of the themes, but I honestly found it enjoyable and stimulating, overall.
Edit: I'm finding it kind of funny that some people are joining vndb just to give 1 scores to VNs to drag the numbers down... Anyway, what I really wanted to add a few points... first, a lot of people are going to be tempted to see Visra as the US... but it is actually a lot closer to if you added Nazi Germany's leadership to America's industrial and natural resources, with an even stronger dose of 'ethnic cleansing'.
This is a VN frequently recommended to those who have just gotten used to playing untranslated VNs, a story-focused mystery VN focused on the village of Minagami, a small farming town in the mountains somewhere on the main island of Japan. I remember playing this back when it came out and enjoying it immensely... but since it was like the twentieth untranslated VN I'd played, I was still not quite to the point where I was able to grasp every single detail of the story. In addition, I was still devouring primarily chuunige at the time, so 'in-between' games like this one and Kurenai no Tsuki tended not to be very satisfying for me, lol. As such, while I remembered a lot of the big points of the story, I found a lot of details on my return to it that I didn't recall.
The protagonist, Kousuke, returns there after ten years away, visiting his cousin and aunt on a long summer vacation from college. At first, he primarily focuses on re-connecting with old friends and getting along with his shy younger cousin, Shouko. However, after he encounters a monster made of a rotting bear in the mountains, he begins to pursue the mysteries of the village he was born in.
This game has seven heroines in total, with four of them main heroines and three sub-heroines. The main heroines are Ginko (the mysterious silver-haired beauty), Shouko (the protagonist's shy younger cousin), Iroha (the successor to the local Shinto Shrine and the protagonist's osananajimi), and the protagonist's younger sister Sakuya. The three sub-heroines are Sachiko (Shouko's former best friend and a 'traditional' violent tsundere), Akane (a hired miko at the shrine who is slightly older than the protagonist), and Misato (a girl from the neighborhood who is a bit older than Kousuke and serves as the homeroom teacher for Shouko's and Sachiko's classes).
There are two paths for the heroine routes. One is the Left Route, containing Shouko's, Sakuya's, and Sachiko's routes. The Right route contains Ginko's, Iroha's, Akane's, and Misato's routes. The Right route is based off of you choosing to follow, then trust Ginko early on and changes the protagonist's relationship with her (and thus how he treats the mystery). The recommended path order is Ginko>Iroha>Akane>Misato>Shouko>Sachiko>Sakuya>True. If you just want to get the true ending, you should take this route: Ginko>Iroha ending 2>Shouko ending 2>Sakuya ending 2>True.
Ginko
Ginko really is mysterious, with her spending most of the VN only revealing stuff about herself in scraps. Part of this is because in paths other than her own, there is no need for her to reveal herself, and part of it is pretty much habit and reflex, lol. She is lonely, kind-hearted, and somewhat impulsive. However, if needed she is quite capable of being ruthless.
Her path focuses on her secrets primarily, while also touching on what happened ten years before in general without going into details. To be clear, the rest of the VN is just too frustrating if you think of it without the information from this path (you'd probably hate Ginko in some of the other paths if you didn't see hers first). This doesn't reveal the whole of the secrets of what is going on, pretty much because Ginko herself only has bits and pieces of knowledge and a few theories. However, I found this to be a touching path in and of itself.
Shouko
Shouko is a shy little girl (seriously, if this VN were ever localized, they'd probably have to completely erase her path or up her age by five years) who is deeply troubled by nightmares and gets chased by the monster in the prologue. Curious, impulsive, and as childish as she appears to be, she is also stubborn and focused when she needs to be. Both in her path and in the rest of the VN, she is someone to be protected by almost everyone, precisely because she acts on impulse at all the wrong times. Nonetheless, her path provides a valuable puzzle piece to the mystery that envelopes Minagami Village.
I'll be blunt, in that while the romance was sort of cute at first, I have no taste for loli... so this path was only of interest to me for the ending, which I remembered from way back at the beginning. I honestly don't like her as a heroine, but this game shares one of the primary qualities of the best VNs of the past... the heroine paths are greater than their heroines.
Sachiko
Sachiko's path focuses on more mundane family issues that sprout out from Shouko's path, ignoring the fantasy aspect of the story. As a result, it is fairly humorous and cute overall, without becoming dull or feeling like it was a waste of time. It does add something to the reader's viewpoint, because it is the only path in the VN that actually makes the protagonist's mother into a person rather than an archetypical 'deceased mother' figure.
Iroha
Iroha is an active, ever-smiling miko who is also the protagonist's childhood friend. She is generally warm-hearted and forgiving of others' faults, willing to get along with just about anyone and devoted to the shrine at which she serves, if not the deity it enshrines. Her path focuses on the yamawaro (the monsters) and their nature, going into more detail than Ginko's path as to what they are and their behavior. Unlike Ginko's and Shouko's paths, this one doesn't have as much of a bittersweet edge, though some parts at the end of Ending 2 are worth crying over.
Sakuya
Sakuya is the protagonist's little sister (by around three years). She is cool-mannered, calm, and pretty much the only character other than Ginko that can keep up with Kousuke's teasing. She and the protagonist have an easy relationship that seems unnaturally close to those who know them. Her path is a preliminary to the true path (her second ending leads directly into the events of the true path, with the epilogue scene being the starting scene of the true path). However, it is primarily focused on the formation of their romantic relationship, which has the usual barriers you see in cases where the people around an incest couple have at least some common sense.
The Fragments
The Fragments are a set of four scenes that are accessible on the flowchart after the four main heroines' second endings that tell the story of the Tennyo from the point where she arrives in the village to the point where the curse of the yamawaro comes into being. While the beginning is sweet, the ending parts are pretty horrible (guro), and it puts a lot of what happens in Shouko's and Ginko's paths into perspective, helping you put together the pieces of the puzzle from the main heroine paths into a more complete picture.
The True Path (Sinsemilla)
This path finally confronts the core of the curse inflicted on Minagami Village, and there is some serious action in here. The actual length of this path is about half that of the heroine paths, but since it is basically an extension of Sakuya's path, that makes sense.
Honestly, even after all these years, I can't name more than three non-chuunige VNs that did as good a job at presenting a story as this game has done overall... though that doesn't necessarily mean this is one of the best ten VNs I've played. For one thing, It doesn't, despite the fantasy aspects, match my personal tastes. I don't really enjoy mysteries and this definitely is a mystery (a multi-path mystery that is only solved in the true path). In addition, presentation isn't the only factor I look at when judging the overall quality of a game. This is definitely a kamige... but that doesn't mean it is one I'm going to want to replay again anytime soon.
I can definitely recommend this to anyone who liked Kurenai no Tsuki, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and any number of other VNs that combine this type of setting with a multi-part mystery/thriller setup. However, this isn't something I'd recommend for someone who just wants to sit back and enjoy the slice-of-life. For better or worse, the story is very tightly-focused, despite its immense length. For those who want extra slice-of-life, they should read the fragments that pop up occasionally on the flow chart as you read (alternate perspectives, optional scenes, etc).
I do have one huge complaint, though... (Don't read this unless you want to be spoiled about the ending)
This is yet another VN from Ensemble, the company specializing in trap protagonist infiltrations and ojousama-ge. For the first time in a while, the protagonist in this one is actually not a trap and the game actually has something approaching a good story... which was nice. However, if you ask if it met my expectations for it, that's another story entirely.
First, this VN starts with the protagonist, a part-time bodyguard from a family of such individuals, transferring into a school to secretly serve as additional security for Kuon, the daughter of the head of the powerful Hikami family. There he meets his osananajimi, Natsuki, who is Kuon's open bodyguard, Kuon's friend Erika, and the wise and somewhat playful senpai Miku. In addition, his brocon little sister Rikka transfers later on, unable to stand the idea of him being surrounded by other women, lol.
Anyway, the first thing I should say about the protagonist is that he is very close to the 'classic' protagonist type that plagues charages in most ways... he is sincere, kind-hearted, dense, and indiscriminately compassionate. However, he is also a trained bodyguard, with all the observational and martial arts skills that go along with that. Unfortunately, there are rarely few times in the VN where he actually acts as a bodyguard, because most of the VN is slice-of-life focused on reviving the Shuvesta tradition at the school, with him and Kuon at the center of it all, as the first Shuvesta pair.
Kuon... isn't exactly what you'd expect from an ojousama heroine. She's bright, enthusiastic, and 'sparkly' (her personality is extremely... bubbly). She is also highly intelligent, but she has a tendency to jump to conclusions that can drag those around her in her wake at times. I liked her as a character, and she is one of those rare heroines who actually makes ichaicha romance fun, if only for a brief time.
Erika is your average serious and straight-laced school president heroine, with the usual tendency to be a devoted and adoring lover that comes along with that type. To be straight, I thought that they could have done more to show off that side of her, since the best part of heroines like her is seeing the mask fall off completely as the story goes on. This is a rare case where I think they moved from lovers to the endgame a bit too quickly.
Miku is... a compassionate, playful, and mischievous older 'oneesan' type. Her type is less and less common in recent years, primarily because over 90% of VN heroines are of the same or lower age than the protagonist in non-nukige VNs (in nukige, really older women are making a comeback, for some reason). As a character, she was invaluable in and of herself, providing a powerful support in the other paths. In her own path... she's very aggressive. Very AGGRESSIVE (it needed to be said twice).
Natsuki is the protagonist's osananajimi and Kuon's personal bodyguard. She and the protagonist are reunited after ten years apart in this VN, and she is quite obviously dragging her puppy love for him behind her like a lead weight, though she covers it up with occasional tsundere-isms and excuses, lol. Her path was primarily interesting because it was the first one I played that actually dug into the protagonist's origins (I won't spoil it for you). I can't really say I'm fond of her type of heroine (I have negative feelings about half-assed usage of childhood friends/osananajimi settings), but I did enjoy her path...
Rikka is the protagonist's younger sister by adoption (he was adopted after his parents' death). She is a genius, to put it bluntly. So much so that she has actually already completed her education and is working as a full-fledged bodyguard, while the protagonist is still moonlighting as a student bodyguard. She adores her oniisan in a way that is rather obviously more 'a girl in love' than an imouto's affection for her oniichan (as portrayed in VNs, as opposed to rl, lol). Though she manages to cover it up with her acting skills, she is actually very slow to trust and has difficulty getting really close to non-family members. Her path was probably the most predictable of them all...
The biggest negative point of this VN, besides the fact that it doesn't provide enough action to take advantage of the bodyguard setting, is the lack of comprehensive endings and/or after stories. To be blunt, the 'drama' at the end of each path feels too obviously like it was made up specifically to wrap the routes up and provide an excuse for a fandisc. Worse, the 'after-stories' that come after each path are basically just h-scenes... usually based less than a week after the route ends (c'mon, Ensemble... I want to see what happens ten years down the road, not what happens after school the same day!).
Overall, this turned out to be a standard charage for the most part, if one with a bit more solid of a story than you see in most. While it is amongst the better games made by Ensemble in recent years, it is pure crap when compared to Koi no Canvas or Gokigen Naname. I can't help but wonder if this company will ever figure out that it contracted with the wrong writers when it was deciding who would be in the main staff roll...
