What are you playing?

[LemiusK]

Phew. Finally reached the epilogue of Cartagra. This feels like Muv-Luv Alternative again, where I write about my feelings after the penultimate chapter of the story, rather than after the final chapter. lol Sigh. Guess I'll keep it short and write another update when I finally finished this.

Anyway, I can see why people recommended me this in my 428 thread. There's a little bit of resemblance between Kano and Shugo in terms of their working relationship with their boss, though I'd still say Kano's arc was far more satisfying because there was a lot of clever subversions added to his character arc (and his boss was one of the key elements in subverting the cliche, not to mention living up to the heroic figure Kano had admired him to be in the first place), whereas

Spoiler

Arishima just turned out to be a greedy money-grubber who tries to cover up his crimes. Hardly an epic antagonist. More like a cowardly criminal.

But can't say I'm not satisfied with the ending (especially when I haven't actually reached the exact ending). It's been a lengthy journey so far, and it's kinda exhausting, but in a good way. Like when you've had a good cry kind of exhausting. I could only imagine how much more mentally-exhausting Kara no Shoujo would turn out to be.

Kinda a shame with what happened to 

Spoiler

Toji.

Makes me like the Normal Route a little more because of her fate in there. My guess is that this will be a running trend in Kara no Shoujo, where the "True Route" would be much more depressing than a "Fake Happy End" or one of the heroines' endings. Ah well. Such is the fate of dark and depressing VNs.

Though if I actually think about it, the only dark VNs I could really think of that's as depressing is this and Saya no Uta. Even with Fate/Stay Night, you get a happy end for Saber in the newly revised Fate route. Even something like G-senjou no Maou had a cheerful end. Most VNs I know of just don't contain this amount of grimness, for better or worse. Most Japanese people seem to prefer happy and cute stuff. And children. They really like children. 

Anyway, I don't want to talk too much about Cartagra yet 'till I actually finished it. 'Till next time~ 

Edited November 19, 2018 by LemiusK

[Dreamysyu]

5 hours ago, alpacaman said:

And I can recommend visiting Bernkastel(-Kues) to anyone who wants to go on vacation in Germany. It's a beautiful old town in a winegrowing area close to the border to Luxembourg (which is also worth a visit if you can stomach paying 10€ and above for an iced coffee in the centre of its capital).

According to Higurashi, Berkastel was a favorite wine brand of Rika's father. Does it exist in reality, I wonder?

 

[alpacaman]

Bernkastel Wine does exist, but it just means wine from Bernkastel, not a specific brand (since there are several wine growers in Bernkastel). Wine from the Moselle region is kind of famous even in other parts of the world as far as I know, probably because it's as sour as it gets since it's one of the wine regions with the coolest climate worldwide. 

[LemiusK]

Well, finally done. 7/10. That's all.

...or at least that's what I would like to say, since it's like 5 in the morning here. lol

Anyway, Cartagra. Quite a solid murder-mystery, buuuuut it's nothing to write home about. The ending's kinda too clean. I know what I said earlier about the VN being depressing, but that wasn't a criticism. As it is now, the so-called "True End" feels kinda generic, like I've already seen countless times in other VNs. I mean, sure,

Spoiler

Yura's in a coma, but considering that she totally went yandere insane, I'd say she got off easy, considering the numerous suffering she's caused. That girl's a lost cause, so I had thought that Shugo would have to put her down, but he didn't, and it all felt kinda anticlimactic, like it's a square peg happy end forced into a round hole of a dark VN. The ending felt contrived, like it just had to end with this superficial naive hope that someday, Yura would open her eyes again... and hopelessly goes on another murder spree. Oh shucks, that Yura. What are we going to do with you?

I don't know. Maybe it's because it's leading up to this hyped up Kara no Shoujo that I'm giving it such a hard time and having such high expectations. lol It's an okay story.

Yaginuma had a kinda cool moment there near the end... even if he's seven hells of creepy throughout the entire story. Nana was kinda cool playing detective, but then you think about her Bad End and what she did to Shugo and then she doesn't appear that cool after all... Yeah, someone arrest that maniac before she Bad Ends someone else.

Finally, the mystery element's not bad. Very solid and just challenging enough to keep me in the dark, even if I did kinda figured out what the real motive was from the spoilerific description under Cartagra's title itself (during the OP theme), explaining what "Cartagra" means. Figured it had something to do with obsession or jealousy, which seems to be a recurring theme in the story too.

Speaking of which, Takako stands out as a character, and not in a good way. She feels like someone just shoe-horned her in at the last minute, just suddenly popping out of nowhere as Nana's friend. We didn't even see her spending that much time with Nana outside of ONE scene and then BAM, it's her route all of the sudden. Very jarring character, which contributes to my 7/10 rating. Also, her "route" was painfully short anyway, so I don't even know what was even the point of her existence other than act as a

Spoiler

redshirt.

Same issue with Koyuki & Seri. But I guess not every side character needs to be fleshed out and developed. Just bugs me a little that they actually have an ending of their own, even if it's just a Bad End. Feels kinda cheap to just drop in some random undeveloped characters for an ending.

All that considered... Mhm, gotta drop the rating a little.

Final Rating for Cartagra: 6/10

Edit: Oh yeah, next up... finally, Kara no Shoujo. Time to get to the good stuff. 

Edited November 19, 2018 by LemiusK

[Rain Spectre]

Spoiler

Yura's fate is actually resolved in a fandisc. She woke up, was given a weapon by Nana, went on a killing spree and was then shot dead by Toji.

Yaginuma has a larger role in KnS. He also gets a backstory, and it makes him a MUCH more interesting character. 

Agreed on the pointlessness of the other endings. I feel the story would've been much stronger had they been excised, since they add nothing to the mystery and seem like just an excuse to insert H-Scenes. 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Rain Spectre

[Dreamysyu]

14 hours ago, alpacaman said:

I thought this is answered rather unambiguously in episode 7:

  Reveal hidden contents

There are three Beatrices (excluding the two "piece"-Beatrices from ep 6): Kinzo's affair from WWII is the first one, then there is their daughter, who also had a child with Kinzo. This child, Yasu, developed the split personalities of Shannon, Kanon and "Witch" Beatrice.

I thought that there weren't that many open questions left, except for the very obvious one of what actually happened. But the whole point of the last episodes was that the actual events aren't important so I'm fine with not knowing. I didn't really get why Battler returning to Rokkenjima in 1986, and not any other year, lead to everone dying, but maybe I just missed the answer or forgot some details from earlier episodes that would have allowed me to interpret the given hints correctly.

 

About Battler:

I didn't read the manga which might explain it better, but, from what I understand, it's about Sayo's relationship with George. At that point in time she already fell in love with him, but didn't yet have a chance to explain her circumstances to him and was still in love with Battler. If Battler came a year later, Sayo would already be married to George and would come in terms with her feelings.

 

[alpacaman]

Spoiler

I guessed it would be something along those lines but for me that still is a pretty weak motive for trying to kill 15 people. The only way this makes sense is if the Beatrice personality thought this was the only way to convey her feelings to Battler, but choosing mass murder over an admittedly very awkward confession seems quite extreme.

What I found problematic is that the VN seems to be rather ok with incest. Yasu is related to all the cousins, which neither the narration nor Genji or Kumasawa seem to worry about, and Kinzo having a child with his own daughter is portrayed in a way that seems to say 'Yeah it's wrong, but he was a grieving delusional man so stuff like this might happen'. Not to mention this constitutes rape considering it's made clear that she didn't see him in a romantic way. To me this seems like a thing where even in 1960s Japan everyone who knew about it would have at least cut off contact with Kinzo. It didn't ruin the experience for me but I found it weird that the VN just shrugged it off.

I developed a habit of watching the anime adaptation after finishing a VN if there is one, since it usually helps me with digesting everything that happened. So far I don't think the Umineko anime is that terrible but it's pretty obvious that not having time to explain everything is going to become a problem later on since I finished about one third of the anime and it hasn't even reached the third game. What I noticed though is that it's really easy to figure out

Spoiler

the "how dunnit" if you know "who dunnit" even for the murders that seem impossible when you witness them for the first time in the VN. The way Umineko uses unreliable narration is just incredible. It's pretty obvious that all the supernatural stuff isn't really happening but it makes you think that you can at least to some degree trust scenes where there is no magic involved. It turns out you couldn't be more wrong. You really can only trust things Battler sees with his own eyes.

 

[LemiusK]

The final Bad End of Ever17, achieved. Finally... peace and tranquility. I know @Dreamysyu advised me to just disregard Sara's Bad End for now buuuut, my OCD just couldn't allow me to take the easy way out. lol It just feels like it won't be as satisfying if I experienced the Bad End later after I've already seen the Happy Ends of everyone. The catharsis effect won't be as effective.

But anyway, haaaaah, that was exhausting. Now it's all uphill from here. Medetashi, medetashi. I'll now circle back to the first route I read, Tsugumi/Sora, but I'll probably go for Tsugumi's Good End first. Sora is still my least favorite character among the characters, especially now that Sara has won me over in her route. But man, kinda a turn-off, isn't it? Who Sara really is... 

Spoiler

*cue Joe Dirt "You perved on your sister!" scene* Ah, kinda glad Kid didn't do any thing more than kissing.

So anyway, in terms of most favorite to least favorite so far: Coco > You > Sara > Takeshi > Kid > Tsugumi > Sora

Yeah, the antisocial Tsugumi's still pretty low on my list. I kinda remember why she's like that from the last time I played through her route, like I understood her circumstances, but that doesn't mean I could condone her attitude. And besides, Japanese stories have enough of edgy loners glorified as some cool badass hero. They're just as bad as the hot-headed shounen cliche. Being antisocial does not make you cool or badass.

But Sora's boring, which is why I put her beneath Tsugumi. At least Tsugumi has an interesting backstory.  Also... so much infodump. You accomplished the same task far more efficiently that it was laughable how simple the explanation was.

Between Takeshi and Kid, I do kinda have a soft spot for that "hot-headed shounen" cliche because they tend to have a heart of gold, passionately standing up for justice and friendship in spite of being overtly naive. As a person, they're just far more likable than the lone wolf cliche, so I gave him a pass. Besides, Takeshi has his cool heroic moments. Like actual "cool," not pretentious Tsugumi cool.

Coco is self-explanatory. Best gurl all around.

You is a tomboy (You are a tomboy?). I love tomboys.

Sara's route got me tearing up a bit. I love her song... So lonely.

Edited November 20, 2018 by LemiusK

[LemiusK]

Grisaia no Meikyuu
Finished Sachi's route, and damn, her route has got Amane's route beaten. So much content is packed into it, you'd think it's a main route, not to mention the tension and suspense that the other routes lacked. Didn't expect that antagonist to be a real threat, even though the Chekhov's Gun was pretty obvious from the start.

Still, having completed Sachi's After Story only makes me feel even more bummed out about Michiru's AS. Compared to the three other AS I've played so far, Michiru's AS just has the least amount of story and character development. This is like Fate/Stay Night all over again, where my favorite heroine (Saber) has the weakest route of them all. Sigh. The only saving grace Michiru's AS has going for it is that unique Ending Theme, but that doesn't amount to much when the route itself isn't any thing special. Every other heroine so far aside from Michiru has some of significant character development or change to status quo, while Michiru's route was kinda casual and stagnant. But I digress.

Anyway, I could easily see Sachi's After Story making it into an anime adaptation, which is a shame that it didn't. That "conflict" that appeared in her route could have made for some decent drama. But it's probably best that it wasn't adapted, considering what a mediocre job they did with Kajitsu.

Ever17
Finished Tsugumi's so-called "Good End," which obviously feels more like a "Fake End." I have now remembered more of her past and backstory, which does make me warm up to her a lot more, but I'm still a little conflicted over how I feel about her for now.

Next up is Sora's Good End, which I have very little expectations towards. lol Not to be harsh towards Sora, but I'm just not interested in her type of "Elegant Ojousama" woman. Her character archetype is one of my least favorite among anime archetypes. Doesn't really help that 

Spoiler

she's not even human.

But again, I might change my tone after finishing her Good End, but we'll see. I did feel a bit bad about her during

Spoiler

Tsugumi's Good End... She looked like she's at bliss, satisfied that Takeshi and Tsugumi made it out alive. Well, Tsugumi did anyway...

On a sidenote, I'm kinda annoyed that the XBox version of the game wasn't translated or ported. It looks a lot more fun with its additional content, not to mention its far more energetic OP theme that I really liked. Shame there's no patch to add that OP theme to the PC version of the game. I really don't like the PC version of the OP.

I might also play the other entries of the Infinity series in the future, but it seems that Remember11 wasn't finished or something, that one of the routes that explained the mystery wasn't completed, so I don't know how I feel about that. Oh well. Shame that 12Riven doesn't look like it's going to be translated any time soon.

[Rain Spectre]

Oh boy, Sora's route...a warning, it is easily the worst part of the game. 

[Dreamysyu]

Just now, Rain Spectre said:

Oh boy, Sora's route...a warning, it is easily the worst part of the game. 

Warning: you just triggered @Funyarinpa.

[Rain Spectre]

Spoiler

I stand by what I say. The route was a mess. About half of it was just wholesale ripped from Tsugumi's with only minor differences, the majority of what is different is a toothless romance the felt like it went nowhere and it brought up a number of fascinating ideas regarding AI and the Pygmalion Effect and did nothing with them. The route reeked of being a last-minute addition, having no contributions to the narrative besides the explanation of how Sora survived LeMu collapsing, and the whole thing with her memory being wiped was resolved almost as soon as it happened. It was a lazy mess, and could've been cut from the game without hindering anything.

 

[Dreamysyu]

8 minutes ago, Rain Spectre said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I stand by what I say. The route was a mess. About half of it was just wholesale ripped from Tsugumi's with only minor differences, the majority of what is different is a toothless romance the felt like it went nowhere and it brought up a number of fascinating ideas regarding AI and the Pygmalion Effect and did nothing with them. The route reeked of being a last-minute addition, having no contributions to the narrative besides the explanation of how Sora survived LeMu collapsing, and the whole thing with her memory being wiped was resolved almost as soon as it happened. It was a lazy mess, and could've been cut from the game without hindering anything.

 

Don't worry, I just half-jokingly summoned here a person who has the opposite opinion. I personally kind of agree that it was weaker than the other routes and overall pretty unnecessary.

31 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

On a sidenote, I'm kinda annoyed that the XBox version of the game wasn't translated or ported. It looks a lot more fun with its additional content, not to mention its far more energetic OP theme that I really liked. Shame there's no patch to add that OP theme to the PC version of the game. I really don't like the PC version of the OP.

From what I heard, the rewrote so much in that version that it pretty much became a new VN. It even has a separate page on VNDB, which says a lot since they usually don't add new pages even when the new version really needs one.

35 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Compared to the three other AS I've played so far, Michiru's AS just has the least amount of story and character development.

These types of after stories typically don't have much character development since they are just there to artificially continue the story. I don't know, I liked Michiru's AS for what it is, but I agree that the after stories for Sachi, Amane and Makina are a lot more interesting. As for Yumiko... It was so boring that I almost skipped it.

[LemiusK]

4 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

From what I heard, the rewrote so much in that version that it pretty much became a new VN. It even has a separate page on VNDB, which says a lot since they usually don't add new pages even when the new version really needs one.

Makes me want to play it even more. Reminds me of the untranslated "Plus Communication" version of Da Capo, which I was so curious about that I had to play the Mandarin version (my Mandarin isn't that good).
 

6 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

These types of after stories typically don't have much character development since they are just there to artificially continue the story. I don't know, I liked Michiru's AS for what it is, but I agree that the after stories for Sachi, Amane and Makina are a lot more interesting. As for Yumiko... It was so boring that I almost skipped it.

Yeah, I know. I actually don't really hate Michiru's AS that much, as it's still kinda funny. But I just feel so bad for her; she's still the butt-monkey in every other route, even in her own AS. Would have liked to see some form of maturity or character growth like all the other heroines, that's all.

Shame about Yumiko's AS... that's the final AS I'm gonna play. And then, it's finally time for the Grand Route/Main Route. Now that I know Yumiko's AS is boring, makes me feel even more anxious to complete it so that I could move on to the good stuff. lol

[Dreamysyu]

13 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Makes me want to play it even more. Reminds me of the untranslated "Plus Communication" version of Da Capo, which I was so curious about that I had to play the Mandarin version (my Mandarin isn't that good).

The problem is that, from what I heard, the authors who did the rewrites aren't really that good, and some of the rewrites were pretty unnecessary. I didn't read that version since it's untranslated, but I've seen a certain really generic CG of

Spoiler

Sara pointing a gun towards Tsugumi

that apparently appears in that version, and it makes me very suspicious whether this new content really adds anything of value.

13 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Yeah, I know. I actually don't really hate Michiru's AS that much, as it's still kinda funny. But I just feel so bad for her; she's still the butt-monkey in every other route, even in her own AS. Would have liked to see some form of maturity or character growth like all the other heroines, that's all.

Oh, yeah, I kind of agree. I don't know, sometimes it feels that different writers didn't agree on how they wanted to develop Michiru, so in the end, though she is still my favorite character, I didn't feel like the way they handled her character was very satisfying.

13 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Shame about Yumiko's AS... that's the final AS I'm gonna play. And then, it's finally time for the Grand Route/Main Route. Now that I know Yumiko's AS is boring, makes me feel even more anxious to complete it so that I could move on to the good stuff. lol

Well, let's hope that you'll like it more than me. And the Grand Route is actually pretty good, so look forward to that!

Edited November 21, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[LemiusK]

5 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

The problem is that, from what I heard, the authors who did the rewrites aren't really that good, and some of the rewrites were pretty unnecessary. I didn't read that version since it's untranslated, but I've seen a certain really generic CG of

  Hide contents

Sara pointing a gun towards Tsugumi

that apparently appears in that version, and it makes me very suspicious whether this new content really adds anything of value.

Still, even if it's generic, something like that does pique my interest, since it's not something more ordinary or far more generic like eating or something right out of the anime cliche textbook. Makes me wonder how Sara acquired that object. Seems like quite a significant plot-device.

Edited November 21, 2018 by LemiusK

[Rain Spectre]

So, as a general statement, I'm reading Muv Luv Alternative, Dies Irae, The House in Fata Morgana, Grisaia, Kara no Shojo and Swan Song. Yes, I'm reading six different works. 

[Funyarinpa]

3 hours ago, Rain Spectre said:

Oh boy, Sora's route...a warning, it is easily the worst part of the game. 

First of all how dare u

Second of all

How fucking dare u

Sora is literally the best thing about ever17

[LemiusK]

Well, just finished Sora's Good End. Hm... remember when I said I doubt that I would change my tone after I finish her route? Well... I was wrong. Tee hee.  Not wrong to a large extent, since I still prefer Tsugumi over Sora (both as a character and as a route), but still. Playing her ending, I've come to remembered all the adorable moments she had

Spoiler

trying to act human in accordance with Takeshi's "lessons." It was cute. Her "out of character" moment that made Coco cry was especially hilarious. So yeah, her not being human was hardly a problem. In fact, the Pygmalion parallel was... hm, quite tearjerking. It was a little too sappy and sentimental, since Takeshi basically just killed himself for the sake of an A.I., but still, I could appreciate the sentiment. That moment when the Ever17 theme played at the end, when Takeshi started talking about Pygmalion... yeah, quite heartbreaking.

Now I'll address some of the points @Rain Spectre made:

6 hours ago, Rain Spectre said:

  Hide contents

About half of it was just wholesale ripped from Tsugumi's with only minor differences,

 

Disagreed to a certain extent. If I had started with Sora's route first, I would have felt almost the same about Tsugumi. That said, there's a reason why I said "to a certain extent"...

6 hours ago, Rain Spectre said:

  Hide contents

the majority of what is different is a toothless romance the felt like it went nowhere and it brought up a number of fascinating ideas regarding AI and the Pygmalion Effect and did nothing with them. The route reeked of being a last-minute addition, having no contributions to the narrative besides the explanation of how Sora survived LeMu collapsing,

 

This. Yeah, it's pretty sloppy writing, very "last minute"-ish. Tsugumi's route has closure; Sora's doesn't, and was very tacked on.

Spoiler

I liked the Pygmalion aspect, but like Rain Spectre said, they didn't do much with it. 

Had they expanded her ending (which I assume the XBox version DID... ALL THE MORE REASON IT NEEDS TO BE TRANSLATED/PORTED), I would have put her End above Tsugumi's easily, in spite of how sappy it is (or rather, because of it). However...

6 hours ago, Rain Spectre said:

  Hide contents

and could've been cut from the game without hindering anything.

 

This point, I disagreed with. There are many VNs where some of the routes contribute NOTHING to the "True Route," and some of those "meaningless routes" end up being my favorites over the True Route. While Sora's route isn't good because of all the problems I mentioned, I wouldn't say I want it to be cut because 1) she's quite a decent character, 2) the route itself is quite tearjerking, 3) the themes and philosophies fit the overall theme of Ever17, so her route doesn't feel out of place. To say a side-plot should be cut because it contributes nothing to the main is... well, simplifying things a little bit. It's not math or a strategy game; you don't cut content because it contributes nothing. It's a story. You only cut it if it's a bad side-plot with no redeeming value. I would say Sora's route would have contributed to the theme of Ever17 had it not been for the unpolished ending.

But yeah, I've come to like Sora more as a result of her ending, so it's not all bad. Looking back at all the times I've read about Ever17, I could understand why people called her route the worst route (infodump, infodump, infodump), but I don't think "worst" in this case necessarily equates to "terrible." More like "flawed," "potential squandered."

Anyway... now that that's done, time to move on to my waifu, YOU! I. AM. YOU! 

[Rain Spectre]

The thing I find weird is that You and Sara's routes are quite different with their own revelations and story trajectories. I can only assume Sora's route exists solely to give some symmetry to Takeshi's side in terms of route structure.  

[LemiusK]

1 hour ago, Rain Spectre said:

The thing I find weird is that You and Sara's routes are quite different with their own revelations and story trajectories. I can only assume Sora's route exists solely to give some symmetry to Takeshi's side in terms of route structure.  

Yeah, I could see that. In that sense, Sora's route does feel like the only route that reveals little to no important information, and therefore, in a sense, you're correct in saying it "contributes nothing." But again, that doesn't take away from my enjoyment of her route.

Actually, now that I think about it, Tsugumi's route bummed me out too, in that certain information about her wasn't revealed either, especially 

Spoiler

why she came to Lemu in the first place, and whether if she knows what's going on with the "infinite loop" thing going on in the story. Compare this to You and Sara's routes, where almost every information about them was revealed, especially the important part of why they came to Lemu. That vague sense of not knowing Tsugumi's purpose here in Lemu is the reason why I'm still conflicted about her, not fully satisfied by her ending. I would have thought she would have a larger role to play due to her seemingly knowing so much about Lemu and the company, but I ended up being disappointed at just how little Tsugumi's route revealed about the main story. So in that sense, it's not just Sora; both of them revealed little of importance. Quite fitting that their Bad End was shared as one.

I mean, sure, I could make a guess about why she came here due to the hints dropped throughout her route, but I feel like I shouldn't have to, since it's the end of her route. I have some hint as to why she's here though (probably has to do with her virus and the pharmaceutical company).

By the way, on an unrelated note, I've learned an important piece of information from Professor Dave in Grisaia no Meikyuu - that you can press F12 to minimize the game in case someone walks in on you playing an h-scene. Thanks, Professor Dave! 

Edit:

>Starts Yumiko's route
>First thing I see is 

Spoiler

her licking Yuuji's chin-chin in a bunny-suit saying "Pyon!"

>Reaction: EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. 
>In deadpan Tomokazu Sugita voice: "Ah, my apologies. Looks like I walked into Professor Dave's station by mistake. GOOD DAY. GOODBYE."

Yeah. This gonna be "good."[/sarcasm]

Edited November 22, 2018 by LemiusK

[adamstan]

I finished Sanoba Witch yesterday.

It showed me again, that first impressions can be misleading. The beginning of common route felt kind of bland to me, so I was a little disappointed, especially reading this after Yoake, where I got emotionally attached to the characters and atmosphere right from the beginning.

OTOH - it kind of relates to the story

Spoiler

as the protagonist initially is emotionally dead and avoiding any deeper relationship

so maybe it was intentional?

Whatever's the case, I'm glad I didn't drop it, as the character routes are where it starts to shine. As for common - I loved comedic bits, the scene at conveyor-sushi shop was hilarious

My reading order was Tsumugi -> Meguru -> Touko -> Wakana -> Nene, and after all I think it is the best when it comes to discovering different parts of main magical theme. (well, Wakana's route can be moved freely, as it unlocks after completing one route, and is kind-of side route, but a very good one).

So, like I sadi, I started with Tsumugi's route. It's the shortest one from the main routes, and serves as good introduction.

Spoiler

with Tsumugi also being a witch, like Nene

The ending felt rushed, or rather, very action-packed, there were lots of things happening over short time, but all in all it was good.
This route had many sweet moments:

Spoiler

The very beginning, when Shuuji "votes" for Tsumugi in costume contest after Halloween party. Then, the scene where she comforts him by hugging his head to her chest and patting him. If I'm not mistaken, Meguru had similar scene in her route, but I won't complain as for some weird reason I LOVE this kind of scenes. And the date at the amusement park - cuteness overload Or when she hughs teddy bear while sleeping...

Good route, and the best thing is that remaining ones are even better, so it is good to start with

Next was Meguru. It had different mood and theme, but is connected with Tsumugi

Spoiler

as it also features Akagi, who happens to also be alp of Meguru's missing friend, Chii-chan. That arc had some really emotional scenes, with Meguru finally knowing that her friend didn't abandon her, and overcoming her fear of relationships.

On another note - Meguru in her lazy-clothes and glasses - OMG, so sweet and so hot at the same time!
And it was absolutely hilarious when she got flustered in the club room and unintentionally leaked some details about their sexual life Somehow like Nene ends up saying many embarassing things

Cuddling-in-bed CG near the end was very sweet.

Very good route.

And then came Touko, and upped the ante even higher. Her route was great, and provided another bit of main story

Spoiler

as Touko was former alp of Shuuji's mother, who later became human.

There were many sweet moments in this route, and the drama got me as well

Spoiler

Scenes with Shuuji nursing comatose Touko were really heartrending. And then there was epic reunion, when he managed to break into her dream and smash the glass that separated them...
It was then followed with some really funny scenes, when Touko, who fully regained her emotions started to get crazily embarassed for some things they did earlier

So, to conclude, this route was a bit of nakige, but I loved it.

Wakana's route is on the shorter side, but it was very nice romance route, with many sweet and funny moments. Nice breather before final.

Nene, main heroine and true route. It was hard to imagine, but it was even stronger than earlier routes. Many funny moments in the beginning, and many feels later, especially in the second part.
Almost anything would be a spoiler, but all in all it was epic.

In every route there were also some really nice thoughts about the nature of relationships, and quite helpful advices (coming either from Shuuji's dad or in conversations while OC is helping students with their love problems). They were pretty obvious things, like how communication is the key, or that you have to constantly maintain your relationship - but it was nice thing to see.

Art and music was pretty good. Also, I absolutely loved all SD/chibi scenes - they were cute and hilarious, often with small animations thrown in.

I played without H patch, and I think it was perfect this way. Even without H-scenes, it is by no means "all ages" release, as all other ecchi stuff is left intact. Also, while the scenes aren't shown, in all routes except Tsumugi characters often speak about what they just did, sometimes with a great detail And those kissing scenes were pretty hot and erotic if you ask me. So for me it was very good solution - it isn't bad to leave some bits to imagination

Translation is good, but I encountered numerous typos - not of the misspelling kind, but rather missing or misplaced words.

To conclude - it started low, but ended on a very high level. Very nice charage - 8/10

 

Edited November 22, 2018 by adamstan

[LemiusK]

Mhm, mhm, You's Good End feels the most

Spoiler

"normal" and "typical," which suits me just fine. Very sweet and romantic ending. Reminds me a lot of '90s Asian drama, many of which would end on an incredibly sappy note. There's even a sunset and everything as Kid kisses You...

I like that the epilogue cleverly hides away some of the plot details in vagueness since I haven't unlocked Coco's route yet. Now that I think about it, that would also explain why both Tsugumi and Sora's routes feel "uncomplete," because I haven't reached their combined epilogue yet. Not sure why it's combined though, because honestly, I would rather see an epilogue dedicated to each of them separately. You's epilogue, for example, wraps things up so nicely with her character arc. It feels like it has a lot of closure for her character, so I hope Tsugumi and Sora's epilogue being combined won't affect either of their routes not ending effectively.

Anyway, these readings of Good Ends feel kinda short because I kinda just skipped texts I've already read. lol So each Good End only takes me about an hour or two to reach. It won't be long before I hit Coco's route. Kinda anticlimactic, when I made such a big deal about how lengthy this VN is in the past.

Next up is Sara's Good End. 

Spoiler

Brother and sister finally reunited!

 

Edited November 22, 2018 by LemiusK

[LemiusK]

Currently still playing Yumiko's route, but, it got me thinking about one of my favorite Yumiko moments back in Grisaia no Kajitsu, and it wasn't even in her own route. I'm sure most of you already know what I'm referring to. Yes, it's that scene in Michiru's route that conveys just how deeply Yumiko cares about her friends, Michiru included. 

Spoiler

AKA The funeral scene. Had to look up the scene on YouTube because I've long uninstalled Kajitsu, but man, I teared up again. I remember that I couldn't hold back my tears the first time I saw it too, but I had thought I could handle it this time...  The way she screamed Michiru's name, saying "Nothing's alright anymore." I kinda knew she was suppressing her emotions, but to see Yumiko break down like that, I couldn't help but break down as well. The girl that fought with Michiru countless times was the one freaking out the most over her death. Damn...

Sigh. My night is ruined by the waterworks. Sour mood now.

I think it's a lot worse that there's no BGM during that particular scene, or rather, the scene was a lot more painful to watch.  It's like being forced to watch a cute animal die, but you're given no catharsis in the form of some contrived melancholic music. Just... silence and grim reality.

Anyway, it's a good reminder why her route was my favorite route of all back in Kajitsu. It still is now, even if her AS in Meikyuu disappointed me. The heavy theme dealt with in her route wasn't particularly uncommon among VNs, but it's nonetheless relevant. And Yuuji's explanation of 

Spoiler

the consequences of suicide

felt so realistic and grounded. Sure, he's a rather pompous hypocrite throughout most of Michiru's route, but his words rung true, and he did a good job showing how terrible the consequences would be.

Anyway, guess that's why I have a soft spot for Yumiko. Her AS so far is kinda boring, which is a shame, so I hope it will pick up later.

Sigh. My mood really took a turn for the worse now that I remember that scene.

Spoiler

I know that things turned out alright in the end, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a horribly, horribly tragic scene.

In hindsight, I'm kinda glad that the anime didn't adapt that scene (IIRC). Not sure if I could handle it watching it in animated form. Then again, it's such a great scene that I also hate that it didn't adapt it... Wasted opportunity.

Edited November 22, 2018 by LemiusK

[adamstan]

I'm starting YMK. Wish me luck