Altherion

Surprisingly solid so far, for me. Not laugh out loud funny, but still consistently entertaining and upbeat.

We've never really seen Yuuji as a child and Kazuki hasn't seen Yuuji as a seventeen year old to compare. Though, it seems Sachi doesn't think he's changed greatly -- not that she really mentions, at least. I get the impression his core personality hasn't changed much at all -- just his perspective has been very, very warped (understandably)..

All I can say is keeping to the theme of OP/EDs that were undeserved by their respective series: Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi's ED - Utsusemi, by Akiko Shikata. Of course, I might be slightly biased -- I've been in love with her voice since introduced to it in the first Ar Tonelico. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjJLof2xgeI

I don't know. Speaking as someone who played through Amane's route first (even though I don't particularly care about her as a heroine), I think her route turns the tables from the common route nicely. There's definitely a strong case for playing her route first -- but, even if you decide to put it off towards the end, I'd swap Sachi and Amane in the order above and save Sachi for last. Sachi's good end just left me in much better spirits than the others, so I think she'd be an excellent way to end things.

I'm in the "No Yuuji?" camp. Though it still definitely looks awesome, but seriously. As much as I love the girls in Grisaia, Yuuji is just as integral a part of the cast. Hopefully being listed under 'others' doesn't make him a complete side character or something. At least we get Kazuki in a lead role, apparently? Then again, if Kazuki really is in a lead role, Yuuji becomes much less necessary since they both have pretty similar core personalities -- just vastly different talents and abilities.

Grisaia no Kajitsu

, so they might change just adapt Kajitsu and end it with a harem ending. That's my best guess. I agree. I figure it'll probably be adapted on the Rakuen timeline/world/whatever. Not terribly excited, though, there isn't really enough time to do justice to each heroine. Even Kajitsu is just too damned long. Imagine if they tried to properly adapt Common + Angelic Howl. Bam -- that's probably over a full cour already. And Angelic Howl is kinda important because it gives us a surprisingly large amount of information about Yuuji through us learning about Kazuki. Knowing as much as we do about Kazuki really helped me empathize better with Yuuji's life and circumstances. While knowing the past revealed in Sachi and Makina's route gives us a good, solid view of Yuuji's childhood and why he ended up how he did -- learning about Kazuki and the type of person she was really brings things home, I feel.

Pretty sure the reason was to atone for her being the cause of Kazuki's death. "Punishment" as she refers to it. Consider even the "good" ending epilogue -- though, in a sense, I don't really consider it as a strict good end, since even though she loves Yuuji, she still has that desire to be punished for surviving and never really seems to come fully to terms with it. While realistic (some people can never fully come to terms with things like that), I still prefer my fiction to have a bit more satisfactory conclusion in a "good" end.

I'd agree, bad end should be bad. But, to be fair, there's no real perception of time to account for the difference in ending -- so it makes it feel like an arbitrary bad end just to have a bad end, rather than a legitimate choice that pushes things onto that path. So, I'd say it was crappy, too.

Definitely. Her voice acting was easily a standout performance -- even in super-maid mode, she still manages to convey that mischievous, cheerful core. Also agreed on her past/ending. RE: Makina I quite enjoy Makina's route (aside from the 'Papa' throughout), but both endings just wrecked me. I did the bad end first and was just "Holy shit!". So, then I did the good end and was mostly thinking "How is this a good end?!"

Angelic Howl is definitely up there for me in terms of best routes ever, just because of the wide range of emotions it dragged from me. Especially when you throw in all the fun parts of the common route--playing through Amane's as your first route leaves a huge, jarring emotional impression. And, of course, Kazuki is probably the coolest character in the game. That said, Sachi was still my favorite heroine/route. Didn't skimp on the emotional manipulation angle, Yuuji has an obvious interest in her from the get-go, and by the end of it, I'd say she's easily the best match for him.

That's exactly how it is for me. I can think I've forgotten a decent chunk of the details, but once I actually start playing through again everything generally starts rushing back to the point where I just about know the next line -- let alone scenario. Pretty much holds for me in all media, though--books, television, games, etc. Even when I want to re-watch something, I rarely get comparable levels of enjoyment from it.

The really big problem with that, though, is that we know Maou killed Haru's mother early on. And no matter how you try to add things up, there's no real support for Kyousuke ever having had an opportunity to do that. The plot is just such a mess.

For me, I totally felt like Makina's route was a bad end either way you cut it. I know the good end isn't technically a bad end; but, it sure felt like one to me. Just, y'know, not as bad as the bad end. So, it ended up being very disappointing for me.

Personally, I'm a big fan of a strong common route and heroine specific side-stories. Too often true routes end up devaluing the other heroines -- and, most of the time, if there's a true route nearly all of the other heroines have half-assed routes. In the end, I don't really care, but I definitely prefer strong common routes where everything branches off at near the same point in the overall story.