"The Fruit of Grisaia" Review

[starlessn1ght]

 

WARNING: This review contain spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, jump to the "Overall" section in the end.

 

"Mihama Academy - on the surface, a closed learning environment established to nurture students who find themselves at odds with the world around them; in actuality, an orchard-cum-prison built to preserve fruit that has fallen too far from its tree.

 

Whatever the circumstances behind its establishment, Mihama Academy is at present home to five female students, all with their own reasons for "enrollment." For better or worse, each girl has established a routine obliging of her current situation; life moves at an idle, yet accommodating pace within the walls of Mihama.

 

Yet with the arrival of the institute's first male student, the nearly preposterously opaque Kazami Yuuji, the students at Mihama begin to fall out of step with their predetermined rhythms. Will Yuuji prove to be the element the girls around him needed to take hold of their lives once more, or will the weight of their pasts prove too steep a wall to overcome?

 

And in the first place, just who is Kazami Yuuji? While the true nature of the "job" he is wont to alight to at the most haphazard of moments remains shrouded in secrecy, one thing is for certain - his encroachment upon the quiet orchard known as Mihama Academy will prove itself momentous in one way or another. And of course, one cannot discount the possibility that perhaps Yuuji himself carries the weightiest past of any of the students..."

 

 

Story (7.42/10)

 

Spoiler

GnK’s common route was boring. I know many strongly disagree with me, but that’s how it felt to me. It was just skit after skit. It resembled Kiniro Mosaic season 1 for me, but even Kinmoza was much better: it had more focus on feminine friendship and was way cuter… However, the common route fulfilled its role, which was, to introduce the characters. All their ‘distinct’ personalities, and also gave some hints to their backstories, but nothing that kept you hooked to know further. The only thing I really liked about it was spending time with my two favorite (initially) girls: Yumiko and Makina. (After reading her route, Michiru is now my favorite one).

The first route I read was Yumiko; and unfortunately, it was the worst one. This is really bad, because it had a huge potential in my opinion. First, they started with a silly conflict and expected the reader to feel somehow sorry for Yumiko: it was just about Yuuji beating up guys in black suits… Then, there was the flashback, which was the best part of the route and the best of the flashbacks in the whole game. Okay, later Yumiko almost gives up but Yuuji saves her with a “stupid turkey”. Everything in this scene was stupid. Then, they start living together, Yumiko screws up the apartment, and then Yuuji has to clean her mess. And then, Yumiko calls her father, and then Yuuji has to “clean” her mess again. At this point, I realized how stupid this girl was. From here on, storywise, things get a lot better. We get some good romantic scenes, we get a nice resolution to the conflict, and a good epilogue… If only the rest of the route had been good like this…

Then, I went to Makina’s route. The “revelation” of her past is very very early, and not well handled. I would have preferred if Yuuji found it out through Makina herself, or if we got through a flashback when Yuuji’s reading her files. From here on, the route is very slow-paced. It consists mostly of Yuuji teaching Makina his skills and ‘playing’ with her. It was long and boring at some times, but still a good start. Then, when the actual conflict is presented, the route keeps switching between happy and sad moments, scene after scene. It doesn’t build the atmosphere of the conflict, which was supposed to get heavier gradually. And the bad ending didn’t make sense at all, unless that “pregnancy” was psychological only. What I most liked about her route is that it made me like Yuuji more, and we got to know more about him.

Michiru’s route was really good. The beginning was interesting enough, the relationship between Yuuji and Michiru was well handled too. The backstory was interesting and done at the right point, and the climax was also good. I didn’t like, however, how it dragged the story after the climax; it got quite tiresome. Some people dislike the route because of the conflict, which may seem unbelievable, but I had no problems with it. I think it’s something personal.

Amane’s route was the best as a whole, but considering the story alone, maybe not. The beginning of the route is… Full of perverseness, but I enjoyed it. No, not because of the ecchi, I don’t even like Amane’s archetype. I will explain below, but here I’m just going to say it made sense. Angelic Howl was very good, specially because of Kazuki, although some parts of it were boring. After Angelic Howl we see who is really Suou Amane, and then I started liking her more. There was that quite “God angst Machina” conflict, but it was fine. Later, there was the epilogue, which was one of the most romantic and beautiful.

Sachi’s route wasn’t as good as I thought it was, but this was more due to other stuff I will talk about later. Storywise it was quite good. The beginning was the best of all the routes, the middle was sweet, and then it got to what I thought was the climax. It had potential to be a climax, however, the conflict doesn’t stop there. Part of it was solved there, but part of it still remained unresolved. It had the same problem Michiru route had, it kept dragging the story after that. I would rather have it with a “true climax” that killed two birds with one stone. The route felt broken. But the good ending was the most heartwarming of all. I could say the bad end was the best as well.

The romance was good in some but bad in others. Yumiko’s romance had a terrible development: Yuuji wasn’t even certain about his feelings, and then confessed to Yumiko and asked her to have sex with him. That’s how it started. Makina’s route didn’t even have romance, but there was sex. Michiru’s and Yuuji’s interactions were really interesting and their romance was well handled as well. Amane’s romance… Made sense. Unlike Yumiko’s, it was fitting to her personality and they were constantly revaluating their relationship, which made it more interesting, besides it was related to her backstory. Sachi’s romance was very sweet, full of heartwarming moments, and well developed as well.

This VN definitely had some outstanding scenes. I don’t know, however, it this will improve on the next two games of the series, but the action scenes were quite lacking. None of them was particularly outstanding.

The flashback sequences were all really good. Some true “horrible” stories and were effective to make us understand more those girls, and how much they’ve gone through. My favorite was Yumiko’s, as I already mentioned: not only it had a good length, but it also had some of the most dramatic moments. Makina’s was short. Amane’s was long and it lacked what Amane’s route lacked as a whole: true remarkable scenes. Sure, there were some very dramatic moments, but they were weak compared to others in the game. However, it still was very good. Michiru’s was very good, specially because of the whole focus on friendship, which is a theme I’m particularly fond of. Sachi’s was, well, definitely very very sad and impacting.

There were some true heartwarming moments, particularly in the epilogues. The best one was Sachi’s epilogue, which got me close to tears.

And what Yumiko’s route got right but none of the routes did, was the presence of true romantic moments. Yes, moments. The “amusement park” scene was one of the things that saved Yumiko’s route from being a complete waste of time. However, there was no scene in the other routes similar to that one. Sachi’s romance was definitely good, as well as Michiru’s, but it was mostly because of the couple’s interactions. It lacked a little salt. It lacked remarkable romantic moments.

Although the game’s story may be bad developed at times, its themes were certainly well explored. The Fruit of Grisaia was a story about social anomia. Girls who could no longer live peacefully in society because of certain circumstances. Each route dealt with those circumstances, and how they affected them, changing who they were drastically, setting them apart from the environment.

Yuuji had to help those girls realize that the problem lied within themselves. Not that they were the problem, but they were creating it. They thought society couldn’t accept them for what they were or did, but Yuuji was there to prove them wrong. They were the ones who had to accept themselves, not society. To emphasize that, a common motif of the expressions “I’m sorry” and “Thank you” appeared in almost every route. Yuuji asked the girls to replace “I’m sorry” for “Thank you”.

Yumiko thought she hurt everyone because she was born a girl, Makina thought she was the source of all the pain people around her experienced, Michiru thought she was a bad person and no one liked who she really was, Amane thought she was selfish for letting everyone die and being the only one who survived, and Sachi thought the reason her parents died was because of her being a “bad girl”. Yuuji helped each of them destroy the problem by themselves and gain more self-esteem to do so.

The game also dealt with “selfish suicide” in Michiru’s route very well. It showed someone can’t simply “vanish” from the world, because it will affect other people intensely.

To be fair, most of the game well paced. However, there are two routes that suffer from slow pacing: Makina’s and Amane’s. Makina’s route began very slowly and it seemed it would never finish or begin the real conflict. Amane’s problem was in Angelic Howl. The first days were slow-paced, and it was boring at some times. But, the last days had it right.

The common route is the one who suffers the most. Very slow paced, and it seems to go on forever. In an average VN, in the common route you follow the footsteps of the protagonist, through his daily life: day after day, morning, afternoon, night. GnK just jumped from scene to scene while slowly making Yuuji approach the girls. It was very big. I myself would prefer a standard, day-by-day, common route that was shorter. Rewrite, on the contrary, did have a big common route, but it never got boring for me.

GnK’s setting wasn’t that great. It was supposed to be a “normal” school until some point, but it has some particularities in fact. It has only six students, and all of them are unable to live in society due to some circumstances about their pasts. In this sense it works like a prison. But in the end, it’s just a normal school.

Because of it, it gets boring with time. The game doesn’t do much to explore the school (the reader knows very few places in the school itself), or build a connection to it. Regarding the last aspect, it was essential in Sachi’s route. I think if the game had worked more on it, “that” moment would have had more effect.

The town itself is very peaceful, and I think it was fine as the environment the school was set in.  With this being said, I think the school had still a good role on approaching the characters, as ‘lonely’ as it was.

The dialogues were one of the game’s weaknesses. Sometimes the perverseness was too much to be tolerated. Aside the perverted jokes, the game inserted some of those lines in the middle of a serious moment, taking out all the atmosphere. The major culprit was Amane. One thing I did like, though, was the fact that the heroines usually didn’t praise the protagonist, I hate it when it happens, like in Konosora.

The ‘romantic’ dialogues lost part of its appeal, because of Yuuji’s personality. He’s very ‘down to business’ and ‘direct’. Everything is just casual, like, he proposes to Sachi just after marriage first pops in his head in the middle of a playground. Yuuji’s ‘confession’ to Yumiko was the worst, though.

Even though the dramatic dialogues weren’t all that good either, the dialogues were a good way to define the characters’ personalities and traits. They were responsible for the chemistry and uniqueness of the interactions among Mihama Academy students.

Overall, the story was fine. Not something overwhelmingly good, but I don’t think the strength of the game lies in its story. And also not as bad as some people put it. It did have routes focused on its contents, it just wasn’t strong enough to impress me. But it was still a fine story. 

 

 

 

Characters (9.04/10)

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

Here is where GnK “shines”. Initially, I didn’t understand what made Grisaia so popular. But after playing more of it, I realized. Grisaia plays with common character archetypes, giving them depth and justifying them. It shapes its deep characters with popular otaku tropes. The tsundere, kuudere, maid, loli, etc. All of them are commonly used to appeal to the readers. The story usually doesn’t explore why is the character that way. Not only it is a little meta, but it uses those tropes as devices of the story. Grisaia explains why the character became that way. After all, those archetypes aren’t really “normal”…

 

Each character developed in the way they were in the common route because of their circumstances. Yumiko shuts herself against people because she thinks she can’t be loved by anyone. Makina acts as a child because her brain suffered a trauma and couldn’t develop normally. Michiru acts as a tsundere to make people laugh, as she thinks is the only way people can like her. Amane acts as a slut to Yuuji, because she wants to punish herself for letting his sister die. Sachi obeys everything she is asked because she thinks the reason of her parents’ accident was her being a “bad girl”.

 

Every character was useful to the story, specially the heroines, whose development was their means to ‘go back’ to society. Yuuji helps all the girls, by doing all he could to make them realize the real source of their problems, while developing a romantic connection to them.

 

Chizuru was useful to help Yuuji deal with each heroine’s problem, as she had a certain ‘debt’ to him. She’s also the school director, who gives Yuuji the opportunity of a ‘normal’ school life. JB has a similar role to Chizuru, but sometimes she was on the “opposite side” of the road, although she never meant to harm Yuuji.

 

The characters definitely worked really well as a group, offering some colorful dynamics. You could really feel how well they matched each other’s personality. Makina was the spoiled child that disturbed everyone, Amane was the big sister who took care of the others, Michiru served as a comedic relief, Sachi helped everyone with what they needed, and Yumiko tried her best to hide her will to be with the others. Some had a special connection, like Amane with Makina, and Sachi with Michiru. Yuuji was the object of passion and desire of all the girls.

 

It was good to see how they helped each other, even when they weren’t fully aware of the circumstances. From giving some love advices to creating a plan to discharge a big businessperson, they were always there. I’ve seen better ‘groups’, but they were still very united and interesting.

 

Yuuji had a good chemistry with most of the girls. It was interesting to see how Yuuji worked with Michiru. He was serious, she was playful. There were some cool dynamics between them. Yuuji and Sachi also had chemistry. Like, how Yuuji was always willing to help her and when he patted her head… Yumiko had a very interesting relationship with Yuuji in the beginning, but it ‘faded’ away quickly. Yuuji and Makina were… Quite good in the beginning, when Makina grew slowly attached to him and he was constantly asking himself about her peculiarities. Then, it became boring. I don’t think Yuuji and Makina’s relationship in her route was coherent to his personality nor was it interesting. It was somewhat artificial.

 

Given the way they were explored, the characters are quite unique. The game did exaggerate and subvert some tropes in Michiru’s and Sachi’s cases, setting them apart from other tsunderes and maids. As for the other three, they didn’t have very unique personalities, but their ‘circumstances’ made them different.

 

The most memorable one would be the protagonist, Kazami Yuuji. Despite the fact that I don’t like him that much as a protagonist, he’s still outstanding. The VN offers some insight on his character, from his personality to a little of his background. He has very ‘formulaic’ concepts and ways to judge people. He may seem tough because of his military past, but he is still ‘broken’. He is also determined and willing to help others. When he dealt with the girls’ problems, he knew he couldn’t be direct or try to solve their problems by himself. He didn’t try to change them when he knew there was no way to do it, like Amane’s case. But still, he found a way to “take her back”.

 

Character development is a central piece in the VN. It was what the routes were all about. It was Yuuji’s main goal: to change the girls so they could be ‘normal’ and could live peacefully in society. To make them accept themselves. Mostly, it worked very well.

 

The best example is Sachi, in my opinion. Her personality was one of the strangest of the group. With her backstory, you know how the accident affected her, in a way that she put all the weight over her shoulders. She tried to ‘fix’ who she was, and she thought it had worked, thus she didn’t even have more nightmares. She probably considered herself a normal person. However, Yuuji started dating her, and making her slowly realize that the real Sachi was hiding somewhere inside her. He then helped her to fulfill a certain request, and by doing so, Sachi could finally realize her so called ‘selflessness’ was actually destroying her. “You can stop being a good girl now.” But after that, the nightmares got worse, because there was something Sachi still needed to fix. She was afraid of her parents’ feelings and she still considered herself the main culprit. Then, Yuuji showed her that workshop, containing her parents’ real feelings. Sachi, thus, could finally live peacefully, with no weight on her heart.

 

Sachi also had some changes in the way she acted. The girls noticed how different she was acting. But, Michiru and Yumiko were more evident in this sense. Yumiko, because it was her own ‘dere’ side. She thought no one could love her, and if someone loved her, he would leave her. Yuuji proved her wrong, bringing her real ‘dere’ side on, leaving that cold-hearted nature on the past.

 

Michiru also had a significant change in the way she acted. She wasn’t exactly a tsundere, because she was faking it, but she still had a ‘dere’ side. She blamed herself, she tried to suicide, she was depressed for half of her route. Yuuji helped her realize she shouldn’t be living for other people, but for herself, and that she was loved by her friends and by him. We, then, saw a real happy Michiru, satisfied with her life, and thus could finally live peacefully.

 

Now, Amane and Makina didn’t really develop. Makina still was dependent on her Papa, and couldn’t get over his death. The problem was solved on the surface, because Yuuji was still with her on the good ending, and she imagined the same thing on the bad ending. Amane only accepted she didn’t need to be punished on her final moments. The problem was also solved on the surface, as Yuuji offered himself to be her punishment, so she could live happily punished.

 

As for my personal opinions on the characters, there’s no one of the main ones that I particularly ‘hate’. I thought Yuuji was very irritant in the beginning, because he was rude, sexist and too full of himself. But after reading Makina’s route, I started liking him more.

 

Firstly, Yumiko was my favorite heroine, but I got very annoyed by her stupidity on her route. Makina was always cute. As for Michiru, I found her annoying in the beginning, but she became my favorite girl after reading her route. Amane’s and Sachi’s routes made me like them more as well.

 

But, as for Chizuru and JB, they are extremely annoying. I dislike both of them and I wish they never appeared in the whole game.

 

 

 

Art (6.90/10)

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

I’ll start commenting on the character design, one by one. First, we have Makina. She has a very childish look, fitting to her personality. Her head is big compared to other girls, but I think it serves to make her little body look even littler. She also has those cute clothes, which look good on her. Her design isn’t particularly original, though, and those big eyebrows bother me.

 

Now, Amane. I do think she is pretty and all, but her head is just very small. The detailed and big hair can make you think otherwise, but her head is indeed small. This for itself isn’t the problem, actually the problem is that she has a very big body compared to the head. Maybe this is used to emphasize her body like in Makina’s case, but it’s ugly in my opinion. And it becomes more evident when she is taking a bath. It seems her body was taken from someone else and transplanted; and the shadows on her body in contrast with her pale head help to accentuate it. Her clothes and appearance still match her character though, but aren’t very original either.

 

Sachi has a very cute design. I also think the color of her hair was very well chosen, because it fits well her delicateness. Her maid outfit is also justified and well employed. Also, she has the best swimsuit… I just have three problems with her design: the eyebrows (too big and thick), she has one of the blandest faces, and some expressions, especially when she’s scared don’t match her personality or her voice. Most of her expressions, though, are very unique and fit her very well. The one I like the most would be when she crosses her hands on her chest and smiles softly…

 

 

Michiru is my favorite on this category too. Not only her design is more original, but it’s also beautiful, matches her personality and doesn’t have those big eyebrows. Michiru shows many expressions that fit well comedic moments, but also fit well her sadness and most painful moments. The color of her hair and that pink purse make her stand out even more as well. Her design doesn’t really match her ‘other’ personality, but I think this was purposeful. Thinking about it... Her design isn't that original:

 

 

Yumiko’s deisgn is my least favorite. I think it’s mostly something subjective, but I think it’s ugly. It’s different, but ugly. Her big nose is probably the main culprit. And there’s also that weird line above her mouth… She does show some cute expressions, and most of them match her well. Her eyebrows are okay, but I don’t really like the shape of her breasts. As for her clothes, aside the uniform, they’re bland. They don’t add much to her in my opinion.

 

Yuuji’s design is strange. It’s hard to know how he really is because there’s so much inconsistency when he’s in a CG… But I think his eyes are strange, his nose too… However, it still fits his personality. I like the watch on his arm, and I think most of his expressions are fitting (most, not all of them).

 

The other character’s designs are mostly okay. Chizuru’s is weird, but fits her well. JB too. Kazuki is bland, but also fits her. Makina’s mother’s design is very opposite to the way she is; it’s probably hard to draw someone with that personality but at the same time resembling Makina…

 

GnK’s biggest problem regarding art is consistency. I don’t know who it is, Fumio or Akio, but I’m almost certain Sachi’s and Yumiko’s CGs were drawn by the same person. Because the number of abuses committed on those was absurd compared to the other girls’ CGs. Whoever it is, he or she must have a strong crush on fat girls.

 

 

Right here, for example, a big part of Yumiko’s hair is occupying her head. This is different from Yumiko’s original design, in which the hair covers just a little part of it. Her eyes are too square here and too far from each other. Maybe she looks better this way, however this is not how Yumiko looks.

 

 

Oh my God. I think this is the worst one. This was a common mistake in Sachi’s CGs, and the reason I think the artist has a crush on fat girls. Not only Yumiko’s face is more oval here, but the distance between her mouth and her chin is absurd compared to Yumiko’s normal design. This is what makes her look fat. It looks like a totally different person if it wasn’t because of the hair… 

 

 

This one is also very ugly. Her face is too thin, and everything looks so ‘compressed’. Her right eye is almost on her ear, her face is square on the right, and her waist is too large. Not to mention Yuuji, whose eyes are smaller and asymmetrical. Ugh, just ugh.

 

 

Sachi’s CGs were the biggest problem of her route, and the main reason I rank her route behind Amane’s and Michiru’s. Okay, her face is okay here. But look at her hands. Those fingers are as thick as an elephant not to mention how small they are compared to the whole hand. A common problem in Sachi’s CGs, the weird ‘fat girl’ obsession, also mentioned above in Yumiko’s CGs.

 

 

Again, but the problem here is on the face.  Her nose and mouth are too close to her eyes, leaving a considerable portion of her chin empty, which differs from Sachi’s design. Also, her nose is damn weird here.

 

 

Here the problem is not in Sachi, but in Yuuji. Compare the height of her shoulders to his. Almost the same height, but Sachi’s head is higher than his head. Notice how Sachi’s shoulders come from under her ears, but Yuuji’s shoulders come from almost above his ears. This makes him look fat or like some kind of hunchback. Seems like the artist not only like fat girls, but also fat shotas…

 

 

This is the worst one in my opinion. I had to stop the game at this point for a while, because it was really bothering me. This was supposed to be a cute romantic moment, but was spoiled because of this inconsistent CG. You can put a whole city between her mouth and her chin. And her hands look more like balls, round as they are here…

 

The game had those problems, but thank God it was only really evident on those two routes. Makina’s, Michiru’s and Amane’s CGs didn’t suffer much from it… Michiru’s CGs did have some mistakes, though…

 

There are moments that deserve a CG, and others that don’t. CGs will make some moments more remarkable than others. GnK was decent in this aspect, but in some cases it could’ve been better.

 

The most noticeable example is Makina’s CG set. It is mostly bland. It doesn’t offer much content. Her route was like that as well, but there were moments that deserved CGs but didn’t have any. Like the trip in the mountains and some action scenes…

 

Other absurdity was the stupid Turkey Shoot. They wasted 4 CGs there. 4 CGs. Not that they were good anyway. Sachi did have a lot of CGs, but at least they were more well-chosen, probably to compensate the other mistakes.

 

Grisaia used its vibrant colors such as blue and green to emphasize the calm and happy atmosphere of the common route.

 

Orange was used to refresh, to give a sense of a serene atmosphere. It was commonly employed in Sachi’s route, particularly on heartwarming moments. In contrast, Sachi’s route also had a lot of scenes at night, with black and gray giving strength to the saddest and most impacting moments.

 

Michiru’s route’s colors were mostly bright to reflect her ‘fake’ personality. On the other hand, Yumiko’s route used a lot of blue, especially the dark one. It wasn’t appropriate in some moments, but in others it reflected her cold-hearted nature.

 

GnK’s CGs had some small problems with exposure, but nothing too extreme. Some VNs go to far on overexposure, your eyes hurt just from looking at some CGs. However, it had some problems with white balance, saturation, and angles…

 

 

(Obs: The darker image is the original one. The other is how it should've been. ) I’m not going to complain about the dutch angles, because I don’t think it’s fair since a lot of VNs use them, probably to fit most of the characters on the screen. But the dutch angle here tricks the player into thinking Yuuji’s position is alright. But it’s not. The CG is inclined to the left, which would make Yuuji inclined to the same side as well, but instead of it, he’s inclined to the right, like he’s falling or something. The second problem of this CG is the exposure, which is a bit low. Some areas, especially around Yumiko, are very dark. And the third problem is the white balance. This is a scene that serves to show that Yumiko is slowly attaching herself to Yuuji, it has a calm atmosphere, despite the circumstances that surround it. The temperature is too high: a lower temperature would have had a much better effect.

 

 

This one got ruined because of Yumiko’s expression. It’s just… Ugly and unnatural. Looks like she is trying to eat a big sandwich or something. If the artist erased this and worked better on her expression, it would’ve made it a lot better.

 

 

 This is one of Sachi’s best CGs. It’s consistent, her cheeks are lightly blushing, giving a more delicate tone to her face. And it’s also taken from a high angle, reflecting the inferior position Sachi puts herself in relation to others. We get also closeness to her face, since it’s bigger than the rest of the body.

 

 

This, on the other hand, was a terrible mistake. First, they made no use of the setting, since it was a rooftop. Second, Yuuji adds nothing to the image. Not only his face remains terribly expressionless, but the focus of the moment is on Sachi. And third, they didn’t show the object Sachi had in her hand, which had a big role on that moment. Another angle would’ve been much better.

 

 

Here we have an oversaturation of Amane’s face. You can clearly tell from her design that Amane’s face is very pale. It would be okay to have it a little more saturated, but here she looks like a Latin girl. Amane’s CGs were definitely the best ones, but unfortunately, the best CGs were on the first part of the route.

 

 

This one is a quite good CG, but it could’ve been better. First, the sun is too bright. From its position, the sun shouldn’t be that bright and it definitely would’ve looked better if it wasn’t. The sky could vary more the colors, with more pink and purple tones. And second, it isn’t obeying the rule of thirds. The portion of the sky shown is too tiny. It should’ve been bigger.

 

The focus on most CGs was okay and the light was so so…

 

Regarding art, the backgrounds were the game’s biggest strength. Most of them were very beautiful to look at. I loved the sunset in the bathroom, especially when Sachi’s BGM was playing… The sea Michiru loved to gaze at was also wonderful… I also liked the school at night, when there were those lights illuminating it…

 

 

I also liked the fact that the game wasn’t ‘economic’ with the backgrounds. Some games definitely lack a lot of backgrounds, and put just the sky when one is needed. Almost every place in Grisaia, even those that appeared just in a single route, had their background.

 

Grisaia’s art, however, isn’t very original. It doesn’t have an outstanding artstyle, but it is still okay.  The art is similar to other Frontwing games, including the character design, but also similar to most VNs. Nothing sets it apart, but still, it’s not particularly bad.

 

Overall, Grisaia art is decent. I don’t think it’s impressive nor bad, but certainly more good than bad. Some CGs were very beautiful, some were painful to look at… Grisaia doesn’t add much glow to them, creating a sense of 3D like Key CGs, for example, but there’s still a little of it. Maybe art is one of the game’s weakest points, but it’s still not bad.

 

 

 

 

Acting (8.87/10)

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

Voice acting is very good in GnK. Makina’s voice fits well her character, and Tamiyasu Tomoe does a fairly good job in portraying her emotions, from her cheerfulness to her most fragile and sad moments. It was not as good as some other girls, though.

 

Taguchi Hiroko gave definitely life to Amane’s personality. Not very outstanding on the most dramatic moments, but Amane’s monologues were the best in my opinion. She also portrayed Amane’s personality very well, despite changing a lot from Angelic Howl to the present.

 

Michiru’s seiyuu was my favorite, though. Kaori did a wonderful job on the comedic scenes, portraying Michiru’s fake ‘tsundereness’ by making it sound very artificial, but at the same time making it very funny. And she could also give the same strength to Michiru’s most dark and sad moments, talking with a soft and fragile voice. All Michiru’s moments, the romantic ones, the funny ones, the sad ones wouldn’t be half of what they were because of this seiyuu. I don’t know if she voiced “the other girl” as well, but if she did, congratulations!

 

Sachi’s seiyuu did also a very good job. The soft and humble voice of the girl matched her personality very well. Ai voiced this character well on the romantic moments too. Unfortunately, the dramatic moments weren’t voiced as greatly as other girls, and the monologues weren’t very good too. But still a good job.

 

I don’t think Tanaka Ryoko’s voice was very appropriate for Yumiko’s personality. Sure, it’s cold just like she is, but it’s still very masculine, as opposed to Yumiko’s femininity… But it does portray her feelings and emotions very well, though.

 

A notable mention would be Kazuki’s seiyuu, which, despite acting in just one route, was very good in my opinion. It must’ve been very difficult to voice Kazuki’s lines with those tones…

 

I liked most of the voices, especially Amane’s, Makina’s and Sachi’s. Makina had a cute voice, Amane had a kind of balanced one, and Sachi’s voice was so soft I could float just from hearing it… I loved Michiru’s voice on her ‘dere’ side, but her ‘fake tsun’ was kinda annoying to listen to.

 

The only one I hate is Chizuru’s voice. Sure, it fits her well, but it’s extremely annoying. I just didn’t disable it because I think it would be kinda strange…

 

 

 

 

Soundtrack (5.60/10)

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

The soundtrack is one of Grisaia’s weaknesses. Most of the songs did fit the mood of the scenes; however, it lacked songs for dramatic and impacting moments. Most of the songs used on those moments were more appropriate for ‘building tension’ and not for the moment itself. The best fitting songs were either the comedic ones, the common ones or the heartwarming ones.

 

GnK’s songs aren’t very remarkable. There isn’t any of them that left a strong impression on me, like some other VNs.

 

One of the problems is that there are many “similar” songs. Songs that express the same feeling are fine, because the game can vary more, however, this isn’t good when it is lacking some songs, like I mentioned above. Most of the best songs had other songs very similar to them. For example, I loved “Days Flow by: Sweet Fruit Memories”, but “little clown”, “Until the New Day Dawns” and “toHappy” are all similar to it. Those songs aren’t even used with much frequency in the game, so just one of them would be enough.

 

 “The Final Fractal” has some interesting lyrics, referring to the girls using the fruit symbol, while emphasizing Yuuji’s need to get over his past in order to save the girls.

 

Most of the EDs dig well into the girls’ feelings, especially Makina’s and Yumiko’s ED. Michiru’s on the other hand is kinda shallow. Sachi’s ED “Kono hi no Mama De” is the most romantic of the endings. 

 

 

That is a graphic I created to show my tastes in Grisaia’s soundtrack. The biggest portion of the songs is “decent”, something that is adequate to the feelings it tried to convey, while not being bad, but still not impressive.

 

The “meh…”, “annoying” and “very annoying” songs are almost the same in number compared to the “good” and “very good” songs. A soundtrack is considered good for me when it lacks annoying songs and has very good songs. Grisaia’s soundtrack has some very good songs like “in the air” and “Holograph”, but it still had some songs that made me want to throw the PC on the wall (the most annoying one is probably “code: xxx”).

 

Most of the game’s good songs were the heartwarming ones. It failed especially regarding the action songs, which were some of the worst from the list. I just hope Meikyuu manages to bring a stronger soundtrack. Therefore, overall, Grisaia’s soundtrack is just “acceptable”, nothing very bad but nothing awesome as well.

 

 

 

 

OVERALL SCORE = 7.6/10

 

Overall, “The Fruit of Grisaia” is a good visual novel. It has a quite good story, strong characters and voice acting, and okay soundtrack and art. Not as bad as some people claim to be, but not a masterpiece. It’s not better than Rewrite, like I’ve seen some people put it, because Rewrite beats Grisaia in all those aspects, except maybe characters… However, I recommend it and I’m anxious to play Meikyuu

[Eclipsed]

I'd like to see all the calculations that led to you giving a 7.42/10 and whatnot

[Nosebleed]

I rate this review 6.2914/10

[starlessn1ght]

I'd like to see all the calculations that led to you giving a 7.42/10 and whatnot

[Zenophilious]

stuff

[starlessn1ght]

 

[Guest]

I find it a little strange that you rate it thanks to a mathematic formula. Seems very robotic (to the point where you rate subjectivity o_o).

Follow your guts !

 

But hey, you do make some good points, good review man !

[Deep Blue]

the overall score should be 7.56

 

good review

[Darklord Rooke]

Sweet review Starless, and hella detailed! You know, the review team has been looking for talented reviewers for many months. You should think about joining

[starlessn1ght]

I find it a little strange that you rate it thanks to a mathematic formula. Seems very robotic (to the point where you rate subjectivity o_o).

Follow your guts !

 

But hey, you do make some good points, good review man !

[Deep Blue]

this review is based on the +17 ver right? I think if you have played the +18 I bet the score would have been much lower because the eroge in this particular vn, it ruins the plot specially in michuru's route,

she was buried alive for 3 days and just as soon as she gets out, remember she didnt drink, eat, she shit herself literally all that for 3 days, and the first thing she does after that is having sex...that was the most moronic thing I've ever seen in a vn.

[starlessn1ght]

this review is based on the +17 ver right? I think if you have played the +18 I bet the score would have been much lower because the eroge in this particular vn, it ruins the plot specially in michuru's route,

she was buried alive for 3 days and just as soon as she gets out, remember she didnt drink, eat, she shit herself literally all that for 3 days, and the first thing she does after that is having sex...that was the most moronic thing I've ever seen in a vn.

[Deep Blue]

Yes, it would've been worse. But the VN did make clear when sex happened, and this case was no exception... The most intolerable one was actually in Yumiko's route imo...

[Chuee]

to be honest they are all really bad,

for example when you have sex with Makina she drinks her own piss for no reason... like wtf xD also all the scenes have this weird sound effect in the background like if someone is putting his hand in a glass of mayo, really creppy sound O.o

 

It's Makina. Really all you can say. Aside from that, he h-scenes weren't really all that badly placed being honest in my opinion. Well, except for the one in Sachi's route

where you just fuck right after blowing up the school. Right there in the grass. 

 

[Deep Blue]

It's Makina. Really all you can say. Aside from that, he h-scenes weren't really all that badly placed being honest in my opinion. Well, except for the one in Sachi's route

where you just fuck right after blowing up the school. Right there in the grass. 

 

you are already giving me another example in how the eroge scenes were badly done and placed, lets forget that

blowing up the school is stupid because that's how the vn is

it was forced like many other scenes

michuru acting like a bad tsundere while having sex was the most awkward thing to watch :/ come on you are having sex already stop that shit for a second, nobody would do that nobody is just moronic and it ruined the scene (and like I said before having sex right after she got out from the coffin) , the other ones i cant remember, amane was fucking in public most of the time I think and yukiko...cant remember really but I remember that all the scenes were really awkward to watch, btw he always cummed 2 times or 3 in one scene he was like a machine xD

[Eclipsed]

I think I was still in my early immature VN reading days at the time I read GnK aka Ctrl-skipped through all H-scenes

 

Guess I should dedicate some time to reread them H-scenes to see what all the fuss is about

 

...nah

 

 

[Zenophilious]

If you do end up going back and reading them, just know that Makina and Amane's feature watersports, and Michiru's are just fucking terrible for no other reason than when they happen.  Other than that, though, Amane's h-scenes are pretty good, and Makina's second scene is so damn funny that I actually started tearing up from laughing so much.  Sachi's are overall pretty decent, aside from her stupid third one that has almost as bad timing as Michiru's, but Yumiko had the h-scene goldmine.  It's pretty much her route's sole saving grace from being absolute trash, in my opinion, which makes it all the more amusing that there's an all-ages version of it.  Without the h, it's just bad with nothing to distract you from its inferiority to Makina's route in every way.

[Zebhra]

Michiru H scene stuff

 

Actualy no, this one Michiru's scene was actualy one of the best h scenes in all game. But i agree on how absurdly timing was choosen in her and Sach's routes...but they are in this school for reason, so lets just say they all are completely insane

 

A few sidenotes:

Yumiko- best girl

Michiru - best route

Nyammel - Best supporting character =^__^=

Makina - smug-face of the century

 

And no Chizuru on that picture makes me sad

[Deep Blue]

^ no no no you got it all wrong!

 

This is how it goes: Michiru - best girl, route and pretty much everything else. 

[Chuee]

you are already giving me another example in how the eroge scenes were badly done and placed, lets forget that

blowing up the school is stupid because that's how the vn is

it was forced like many other scenes

michuru acting like a bad tsundere while having sex was the most awkward thing to watch :/ come on you are having sex already stop that shit for a second, nobody would do that nobody is just moronic and it ruined the scene (and like I said before having sex right after she got out from the coffin) , the other ones i cant remember, amane was fucking in public most of the time I think and yukiko...cant remember really but I remember that all the scenes were really awkward to watch, btw he always cummed 2 times or 3 in one scene he was like a machine xD

[Deep Blue]

Did they actually fuck right after she got out? I could've sworn it happened in the bathroom dorm or something a bit afterwards. Aside from hers, Amane having sex in public is pretty much her character of being a huge slut. Yuuji cums like a machine because, uh, he has a 'history'. That's all that needs to be said. I didn't really care for any of the h-scenes myself, but as for as being cringe-worthy goes, I've seen a

lot worse.

[Tyrael]

Review's good, but I have to disagree about Yumiko's route in particular since you could probably just describe it as 'typical rich girl troubles'. Not that I didn't like her route, but it's story was probably the second weakest after the mess that was Michiru's route. In fact, Michiru's route was such a mess that I personally wouldn't give this more than a 6.5/10 for story. Other than that, the common route had some pretty severe pacing issues (which mostly got fixed during the individual girl routes, but still) and Yuuji's character was largely inconsistent over the course of each girl's routes. I would personally call this the 'Hisao syndrome' where the protag just morphs into a different kind of person depending on who he's dating (see; 'jerk Yuuji' in Michiru's route vs. 'But I'm a psychiatrist Yuuji' in Sachi's route). It breaks immersion.

 

Yuuji is without a doubt the worst thing about this VN. He's the ultimate badass and everything and everyone around him seems to only be there to make him shine even more. It got on my nerves by the end. 'Yuuji saves the day again' gets old after a while.

 

Also, please don't use 'in my opinion' when you're writing a review. You're stating the obvious. It's a review, which means it's an attempt to voice and bring forth arguments that support your opinion.

[AlexZandria]

This review is a bit old and granted I haven't read Grisaia yet but I looked at the art review specifically (because the art in a game is very important to me and it had a rather low rating) and I'm astonished by how ignorant some of the artistic comments come off.

 

First of all as somebody who hasn't read Grisaia I had to pull up the VNDB page to understand your "ideas" on the characters. Why? Because you list the characters in a line and then you talk about Amane before Sachi while setting Sachi's picture in first. Why is this a big deal?

 

 

 First, we have Makina. She has a very childish look, fitting to her personality. Her head is big compared to other girls, but I think it serves to make her little body look even littler. She also has those cute clothes, which look good on her. Her design isn’t particularly original, though, and those big eyebrows bother me.

 

Now, Amane. I do think she is pretty and all, but her head is just very small.

 

In the pictures you place above Makina and Sachi have the same headsize and you're like "look the first girl has a big head but the second girl with the same head has a small head!" it's honestly the only reason I noticed they were out of order. But still, in that case. You make a comment that her head is bigger "in comparison" to other girls but Makina, Sachi, and Michiru have the same headsize. Michiru's head is perceived as smaller only because of how the frame of her hair sits. On her left (our right) she has a darker blonde strand that cuts into the face making it look like her face dents inward around the cheekline and on her right (our left) she has a very wide frame the cuts off far from her ear. Since Makina's frame starts right before the ear you're forced to see that whole round face shape, while Michiru's actually accentuates the face in the way a frame is supposed to. Sachi's face looks "thinner" only because she isn't in 3/4ths view like the other 2.

 

Now we call Amane's face small but it's actually of comparable size to Yuuji and Yumiko. The difference is how Amane's hair sits. The screenshot below explains why her head looks smaller.

 

 

Look at this picture and look at her sprite in your OP. Notice how part of Amane's bangs sits over her face as well as one of the 2 long strands of her "frame" (the medium length pieces that go over the front of her body and fall on either side of her boobs) actually goes over her face. It cover the side of her face effectively giving the appearance that her head is smaller....if you don't understand how her hair looks. But you know the second you realize how her hairstyle is composed and then you look and see that Amane and Yumiko have pretty much the same sprite head just flipped you realize you can just slap Yumiko's hair onto Amane and swap their eye colors and if you cut off their picture's before the neck and made them both a "avatar" image I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't notice the difference until they sat down and had a staring contest with the two, and even then I'm sure someone who hadn't looked at Grisaia for a few months would probably take a minute to figure out which one was actually Yumiko...because you know the both have the same face shape and size and the facial differences between them are minuet when you look at a nose line and the squareness of Yumiko's eyes. It's like the callings of "identical twins" in real life if that was all that was different in your facial anatomy.

 

But let's talk anatomy. Let's talk about how the OP fails to recognize anatomy when criticizing Grisaia for ohmuhgawd changing the spacial difference between her chin and her mouth and turning her into a whole new character! because you know perspective doesn't exist in art and it doesn't matter where/how you look your head moves but if you look to the ground your eyes are actually on the top of your head and if you sit down your eyes are floating above your body just so that they "don't move".

 

 Yumiko's hair

 

 

Let me start by saying these pictures aren't "perfect" replicas of each other. Now let me finish by saying the anatomy is perfectly justifiable in both of them. First picture is Yumiko looking down. How did my detective skills decipher such witchcraft? That piece of shading in the middle of her head is her hairline. It's after the bangs end and assumably around the centerpoint of her head. What does it mean when a person is looking down? I means that the top of their head (the part covered in hair unless you're bald) does not contain facial features. It means that since her top of her head is showing therefore her eyes are further down, therefore she has more hair. Look at the picture below to see what I mean.

 

 apollo13art.com's head anatomy study

 

The middle picture of her looking straight ahead is the bottom picture of Yumiko's the picture underneath is the first picture of Yumiko's where she has "more hair". Granted the Apollo13 headstudy shows the downward glance at a more drastic angle, but let's talk about differences that were complained about in the OP.

 

 

Right here, for example, a big part of Yumiko’s hair is occupying her head. This is different from Yumiko’s original design, in which the hair covers just a little part of it. Her eyes are too square here and too far from each other. Maybe she looks better this way, however this is not how Yumiko looks.

 

(second picture was here)

 

Oh my God. I think this is the worst one. This was a common mistake in Sachi’s CGs, and the reason I think the artist has a crush on fat girls. Not only Yumiko’s face is more oval here, but the distance between her mouth and her chin is absurd compared to Yumiko’s normal design. This is what makes her look fat. It looks like a totally different person if it wasn’t because of the hair… 

 

"a big part of Yumiko's hair is occupying her head" I already talked about how that's angling and there is no logical reason to give Yumiko a balding spot on the top of her head just so that it doesn't "look" like she has more hair.

 

Her eyes are normally a vertically enlongated rectangular shape. Looking at Apollo13's picture you see that the eyes become "vertically pinched" when you tilt your head down, they don't become as long anymore. Therefore since Yumiko's eyes are supposed to take up less vertical space the rectangle shaped eyes are perceived as more square. I swear she didn't swap out her eyes, that's actually how Yumiko looks.

 

Again when you look downward everything on your face gets vertically squashed therefore her face will look more round. You can see in her sprite she's just barely looking down and has an oval face, in the 2nd CG you showed me she has a very oval face, in that first CG that you said made her look fat in? She's looking down at the hand in an angle that will squish all of her features and make them look fatter. When Yumiko looks more straight on she should have more space between the bottom of her chin and her lips than when she looks down. The only actual anatomy problem between the two pictures is the space between the nose and the lips as when she looks down they should be closer together than when she looks straight on. I believe this is more of a problem with anime noses than it is with the artist's sense of proportions because it would look really weird to have a nose that doesn't even have real lines to sit right on top of her lips.

 

 next Yumiko image

 

One of your first complaints about this picture is that her right eye is rather far over...I'll give you that one. Her face however is not too thin and if her face was too think then her face wouldn't look "more compressed" it would look quite the opposite. If her face was too thin it would maker her look thinner not fatter in the face. Let's be real. Again most of this picture's "issues" arise from perspective, she's looking up but the camera is looking down on her so that her face is almost in a head on view but the rest of her body is in an angled over view. Her eyes are a little far apart which leads to one eye being too close to her ear other than that the anatomy on her face is fine. Her hits might be a little big but I haven't seen any other pictures that really display her full hips thus far and with the view being angled downward if her right leg is tilted outward from her body the way A/C/D poses below are, then I could see the big hip as being an extension of her thigh and her thigh's angle

 

female poses

 

I'm not going to argue Sachi's fat hands in that first picture (although her fingers could have looked fat if they were outlined/shaded correctly because of her fingers curing into her body...but the artist obviously drew it way way wrong)

 

I'm also not going to bother repasting the second picture of Sachi and remaking the complaint that her mouth should have a lot of space from her chin because of angling...in part because it's obvious the eyes are spaced wrong in that picture (too far over on her right eye) and in part because I'm beating a dead horse by claiming the OP doesn't understanding anatomy when a head is tilting up or down.

 

What I would like to talk about though is little Sach and little Yuuji and how the picture is actually really cute and says a lot about the characters and how they feel even to some who, again, hasn't read the VN.

 

little Sachi and little Yuuji

 

Look at their body language. Little Sachi is happy. Little Yuuji is sad. Sachi's head is more upward facing thant Yuuji's. On top of that Yuuji is slumping his shoulders (as seen by the obtusely downward angle) and Yuuji is hunched forward. Sachi on the other hand is in swinging position. Have you ever sat on a swing with you back perfectly straight? No not really. You lean forward a bit unless you're in the forward swing where you throw your body back. Sachi isn't slumping forward really. Since Yuuji's head is facing downward (as seen by how his shoulders end halfway up his ears and Sachi's ears are above her shoulders) it would be ridiculous for Sachi who is holding her head up higher in a position where their shoulders are even to have her head in line with Yuuji's. Her head is heald higher his is slumped forward at the same angle of his body. Sachi's chin his higher than Yuuji's, Sachi's mouth starts higher than Yuuji's, Sachi's nose line his higher, her eye line is higher, her ear's start/end higher...and her head ends higher. Please if I stood next to someone who was might height and then slumped my head forward don't criticize the guy next to me for having an enlarged head, you'll come off as insulting and probably get punched in the face.

 

The last Sachi CG looks like that purely because the artist didn't draw Sachi with a chin and the underside of her chin. It happens in a lot of Anime...they have 2D heads not 3D heads in that regards. It looks a little off and it isn't really consistent but it's 2 CGs out of the batch you showed me that really has "glaring" issues (the other one being miss fat hands)

 

I'll also give you the picture you resaturated as being off, after that I didn't really read much more. I will say I personally liked the Yumiko expression in the carousal picture. It's not natural or realistic but neither is being able to see eyes over hair or eyebrows over hair or anime pointy chins or nonexistent noses or many other stereotypically anime art qualities. It's an overexagerated expression as used in many pictures that aren't realism/semi-realism and I personally think it's a cute childish cartoon expression that shows Yumiko caught offguard and in wonderment in a childish way while sitting on a childish ride such as a merry-go-round and it's a good juxtaposition to Yuuji's expression in the picture which is very subtle and mature. She's brimming with childish emotions and he's happy observing her and getting lost as a bystander or in his own thoughts (I can also see this scene as Yumiko being surprised that Yuuji is sitting behind him in this case it still feels like a childish expression as her being too naive to adapt to a more sexual situation otherwise I see it as a childish joy of the ride).

 

Overall people are welcome to like/dislike the art how they please. I won't argue that. I will however say the evaluation of everything that was "wrong" with all the pictures was very silly and inaccurate. That's like saying you don' like pecan pie because it tastes too fruity. It's okay to not like a fruit pie for being fruity...umm but I promise your pecan pie doesn't taste like cherries there's no reason to use it as the excuse for why you don't like it.

[starlessn1ght]

 

 

I'll also give you the picture you resaturated as being off, after that I didn't really read much more. I will say I personally liked the Yumiko expression in the carousal picture. It's not natural or realistic but neither is being able to see eyes over hair or eyebrows over hair or anime pointy chins or nonexistent noses or many other stereotypically anime art qualities. It's an overexagerated expression as used in many pictures that aren't realism/semi-realism and I personally think it's a cute childish cartoon expression that shows Yumiko caught offguard and in wonderment in a childish way while sitting on a childish ride such as a merry-go-round and it's a good juxtaposition to Yuuji's expression in the picture which is very subtle and mature. She's brimming with childish emotions and he's happy observing her and getting lost as a bystander or in his own thoughts (I can also see this scene as Yumiko being surprised that Yuuji is sitting behind him in this case it still feels like a childish expression as her being too naive to adapt to a more sexual situation otherwise I see it as a childish joy of the ride).

 

 

 

The problem isnt not if it's realistic or not. It doesn't fit her emotions in that moment. And your comment in the end of the paragraph doesn't match with the given scene in the VN. First, because they didn't mention anything like that, and second

they had already done sex before that

.

 

This review is a bit old and granted I haven't read Grisaia yet but I looked at the art review specifically (because the art in a game is very important to me and it had a rather low rating) and I'm astonished by how ignorant some of the artistic comments come off.

 

First of all as somebody who hasn't read Grisaia I had to pull up the VNDB page to understand your "ideas" on the characters. Why? Because you list the characters in a line and then you talk about Amane before Sachi while setting Sachi's picture in first. Why is this a big deal?

 

 

In the pictures you place above Makina and Sachi have the same headsize and you're like "look the first girl has a big head but the second girl with the same head has a small head!" it's honestly the only reason I noticed they were out of order. But still, in that case. You make a comment that her head is bigger "in comparison" to other girls but Makina, Sachi, and Michiru have the same headsize. Michiru's head is perceived as smaller only because of how the frame of her hair sits. On her left (our right) she has a darker blonde strand that cuts into the face making it look like her face dents inward around the cheekline and on her right (our left) she has a very wide frame the cuts off far from her ear. Since Makina's frame starts right before the ear you're forced to see that whole round face shape, while Michiru's actually accentuates the face in the way a frame is supposed to. Sachi's face looks "thinner" only because she isn't in 3/4ths view like the other 2.

 

Now we call Amane's face small but it's actually of comparable size to Yuuji and Yumiko. The difference is how Amane's hair sits. The screenshot below explains why her head looks smaller.

 

 

Look at this picture and look at her sprite in your OP. Notice how part of Amane's bangs sits over her face as well as one of the 2 long strands of her "frame" (the medium length pieces that go over the front of her body and fall on either side of her boobs) actually goes over her face. It cover the side of her face effectively giving the appearance that her head is smaller....if you don't understand how her hair looks. But you know the second you realize how her hairstyle is composed and then you look and see that Amane and Yumiko have pretty much the same sprite head just flipped you realize you can just slap Yumiko's hair onto Amane and swap their eye colors and if you cut off their picture's before the neck and made them both a "avatar" image I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't notice the difference until they sat down and had a staring contest with the two, and even then I'm sure someone who hadn't looked at Grisaia for a few months would probably take a minute to figure out which one was actually Yumiko...because you know the both have the same face shape and size and the facial differences between them are minuet when you look at a nose line and the squareness of Yumiko's eyes. It's like the callings of "identical twins" in real life if that was all that was different in your facial anatomy.

 

 

 

When I said 'big head', I was just talking about width. And Amane heads looks smaller in comparison to her body, thus the same doesn't happen with Sakaki.

 

 

But let's talk anatomy. Let's talk about how the OP fails to recognize anatomy when criticizing Grisaia for ohmuhgawd changing the spacial difference between her chin and her mouth and turning her into a whole new character! because you know perspective doesn't exist in art and it doesn't matter where/how you look your head moves but if you look to the ground your eyes are actually on the top of your head and if you sit down your eyes are floating above your body just so that they "don't move".

 

 Yumiko's hair

 

 

Let me start by saying these pictures aren't "perfect" replicas of each other. Now let me finish by saying the anatomy is perfectly justifiable in both of them. First picture is Yumiko looking down. How did my detective skills decipher such witchcraft? That piece of shading in the middle of her head is her hairline. It's after the bangs end and assumably around the centerpoint of her head. What does it mean when a person is looking down? I means that the top of their head (the part covered in hair unless you're bald) does not contain facial features. It means that since her top of her head is showing therefore her eyes are further down, therefore she has more hair. Look at the picture below to see what I mean.

 

 apollo13art.com's head anatomy study

 

The middle picture of her looking straight ahead is the bottom picture of Yumiko's the picture underneath is the first picture of Yumiko's where she has "more hair". Granted the Apollo13 headstudy shows the downward glance at a more drastic angle, but let's talk about differences that were complained about in the OP.

 

 

"a big part of Yumiko's hair is occupying her head" I already talked about how that's angling and there is no logical reason to give Yumiko a balding spot on the top of her head just so that it doesn't "look" like she has more hair.

 

Her eyes are normally a vertically enlongated rectangular shape. Looking at Apollo13's picture you see that the eyes become "vertically pinched" when you tilt your head down, they don't become as long anymore. Therefore since Yumiko's eyes are supposed to take up less vertical space the rectangle shaped eyes are perceived as more square. I swear she didn't swap out her eyes, that's actually how Yumiko looks.

 

 

You do have a point here.

 

 

Again when you look downward everything on your face gets vertically squashed therefore her face will look more round. You can see in her sprite she's just barely looking down and has an oval face, in the 2nd CG you showed me she has a very oval face, in that first CG that you said made her look fat in? She's looking down at the hand in an angle that will squish all of her features and make them look fatter. When Yumiko looks more straight on she should have more space between the bottom of her chin and her lips than when she looks down. The only actual anatomy problem between the two pictures is the space between the nose and the lips as when she looks down they should be closer together than when she looks straight on. I believe this is more of a problem with anime noses than it is with the artist's sense of proportions because it would look really weird to have a nose that doesn't even have real lines to sit right on top of her lips.

 

You say she looks down, but the thing is, she doesn't appear to be. At all.

 

What I would like to talk about though is little Sach and little Yuuji and how the picture is actually really cute and says a lot about the characters and how they feel even to some who, again, hasn't read the VN.

 

little Sachi and little Yuuji

 

Look at their body language. Little Sachi is happy. Little Yuuji is sad. Sachi's head is more upward facing thant Yuuji's. On top of that Yuuji is slumping his shoulders (as seen by the obtusely downward angle) and Yuuji is hunched forward. Sachi on the other hand is in swinging position. Have you ever sat on a swing with you back perfectly straight? No not really. You lean forward a bit unless you're in the forward swing where you throw your body back. Sachi isn't slumping forward really. Since Yuuji's head is facing downward (as seen by how his shoulders end halfway up his ears and Sachi's ears are above her shoulders) it would be ridiculous for Sachi who is holding her head up higher in a position where their shoulders are even to have her head in line with Yuuji's. Her head is heald higher his is slumped forward at the same angle of his body. Sachi's chin his higher than Yuuji's, Sachi's mouth starts higher than Yuuji's, Sachi's nose line his higher, her eye line is higher, her ear's start/end higher...and her head ends higher. Please if I stood next to someone who was might height and then slumped my head forward don't criticize the guy next to me for having an enlarged head, you'll come off as insulting and probably get punched in the face.

 

 

I shouldn't have compared the height of the shoulders... But I did this experience, with me and my cousin. Both of us stood in Yuuji's same position. And, no matter how low were our heads, our shoulders didn't come from right under our ears.

 

 

 

 

 

Overall people are welcome to like/dislike the art how they please. I won't argue that. I will however say the evaluation of everything that was "wrong" with all the pictures was very silly and inaccurate. That's like saying you don' like pecan pie because it tastes too fruity. It's okay to not like a fruit pie for being fruity...umm but I promise your pecan pie doesn't taste like cherries there's no reason to use it as the excuse for why you don't like it.

 

 

I was commenting on the pictures that when I looked I thought 'Ew, this looks weird~" And maybe I have commited mistakes, but this is because I'm an amateur when it comes to art. I'm not graduated in literature, or visual arts, or music, or scenic arts or psychology... But I won't stop reviewing stuff just because of that. Heck, I think almost no one here who reviews VNs is graduated in all those stuff. All I can say, however, is thank you for your advices (specially regarding perspective), and I'll try to improve next time. 

[kyrt]

Excellent review nailed many of the positives as well as the negatives of the game. I always find it difficult rating this game since I love a few of the routes and don't overly care for the others. A good reviewer is capable of pointing out the good as well as the bad and you did a great job at showing both.