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Hatsukoi 1/1 English Translation Available (Discussion and Poll)


Which is the best heroine  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is the best heroine

    • Fujikawa Runa
      5
    • Makabe Midori
      1
    • Morino Yukino
      4
    • Tokizaki Maya
      12
    • Tsukishima Kyou
      2
  2. 2. Which is the best route

    • Makabe Midori
      5
    • Fujikawa Runa
      5
    • Tsukishima Kyou
      0
    • Tokizaki Maya
      14
    • Morino Yukino
      0

This poll is closed to new votes


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17 hours ago, Freestyle80 said:

Reading this after ChronoClock makes it hard, this MC is so bad, almost ruins it all

 

but i am liking the other parts of it so far hope routes are as good as ppl say

Well, have fun. By the way, I would recommend you to finish both of Yukino and Runa routes first because the MC was gotten worse at those two routes according to some people.

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I have only just started Makabe-san's route. Let's put down some thoughts:

Common Route Thoughts (Spoiler)

Spoiler

So far it's been a decent experience. One of the things that stands out to me is, surprisingly, the art. It doesn't tend to influence me much but this game does a lot of interesting things.
To start with, Yukino's forward facing sprite is really... "robust"? Unlike most sprites, she isn't making some pose that'd look totally weird in reality with her hands, nor is she at a slight angle. She really is facing straight forward with her hands hanging at her side -- which, for some reason, is really rare in VNs. They're always making some pose, but not here, and I think, funnily enough, it contributes decently to her "earnestness". I called her robust for she seems like a big girl (though that's probably supposed to be a con, as she actually isn't), especially with her blue coat. Her waist isn't as thin as the other girls and the location of her waist in her body makes me think she has a big back. Though as if to juxtapose them, she also has an opposite sprite, which is her facing directly sideways. That one's pretty cool, too.
Makabe-san has awesome expressions. She has all manner of clueless, troubled, pouting, conflicted, pensive, and, in general, goofy faces.
As for Tokizaki, she's got the stock "suspicious eyes" or "evil grin" that her character "archetype" tends to have, and they're good.
Sprite-wise, I found Kyou and Runa to be par for the course. I did find it interesting that they chose to give Yuuma's friend glasses. I just don't associate glasses with his character archetype. Nice.
Finally, it's worth mentioning all girls have at least three body poses with a bunch variations in their expressions and arms, which makes for a somewhat dynamic, somewhat expressive cast. Also, clothes. Different uniform combinations for some of them, and general clothing.

On the topic of music thus far, the OST has a few tracks I like. There's a goofy one that's mainly played when the guys get punished, and another kinda cool one for when they're plotting. Otherwise, one of the 'everyday' songs has a really nice rhythm in the background and there's one that generally plays at lunch time -- a piano melody slightly reminiscent of silent score music -- which is really, really up my alley.

Let's talk about the characters.
The way the three guys have a pretty decent friendship and come up with bad ideas together is really nice, and reminds me of the guys in Edelweiss, which I thought were some of the best interactions amongst male friends I've seen in a VN (the OST that plays when the boys in Hatsukoi plot also has a similar vibe to the one in Edelweiss, so that's nice too).
I also need to applaud the game for having two other male friends. It's generally limited to one stock 'male side character', sometimes no one, and said character tends to either be delegated to a comedy role or be forced onto the background most of the time. With three guys together, it's easier to create a dynamic and have them hand out together or in different pairs. I won't deny they aren't the focus, but thus far I've seen no hints at the game completely forgetting about their existence. In fact, they sometimes hang out with the girls and Yuuma. Wow.

Yukino can basically be defined as earnest and loving. She likes the protagonist, and, as the game likes to remind us, is his childhood friend. For that reason, she has a specific chemistry with him where she generally spends her time cheering him up, cheering him on, and getting happy at seeing him do things. It's somehow both blatant and reserved. Huh. Overall, what I like about the character is actually the way she just seems genuinely happy and supportive towards anything the protagonist does. She's a nice girl in general, in a way most of the other needy children aren't, besides Makabe. That's cute, but not particularly unique. Thankfully, that cuteness is 80% of why I play VNs.

Makabe is my first choice. It only seems appropriate in the overall scheme of things, as she's technically the one the protagonist has a crush on to begin with. She's also an archetypical 'onee-san sheltered girl' character, but her goofy expressions and her awkwardness and clumsiness with certain matters make it up to me. As a result of her disconnect with reality, she becomes really cute when she is surprised and/or happy for what would normally be considered mundane.

Runa is funny. I don't much like the idea of a high school girl that's way too childish, but alas, since they did it, at least they did it well. From actually not knowing the meaning of many relatively simple words and expressions, to trying to hide her childishness to throwing temper tantrums, they simply decided to throw all childlike traits in her general direction. But that's fine. Her beyond blatant affectations for the protagonist are both cute and funny to watch. Indeed, one of the most hilarious scenes I recall occurred when the whole committee was eating in the cafeteria and, having stuffed herself, she asks for seconds. It's at that point that she looks at the girls surrounding her and shouts as she comes to a realisation: "Oh, no! Femininity!".

Kyou is... sort of generic and sort of not? Everyone is, at this point... She's a tomboy, she's manipulative and she has less shame than the average lass, generally putting profit (not monetary profit) above shame. She also has a deep love for pizza, so there's that. So she shamelessly does what she can to attain what she wants, but not so seriously as to hurt people.

Tokizaki probably the least generic character, making her what is likely the most interesting of the cast. Acting, pretending, teasing, ordering people around and not caring are all terribly unappealing traits in a real person, which is why everyone is fascinated with this character. But seriously, the prospect of loving and being loved by this type of person is fascinating, so I'm excited for this route.

The structure of the common route was actually pretty good. It went through recruiting each girl and, indeed, each girl had, more or less, an arc, the most well defined of which being Runa's (faffing about after school looking for a club and volunteer work) and Tokizaki's (trying to befriend her). Yukino's there by default (motivates him into taking action) and Makabe-san was already at the centre of his motivations (after the whole, ominous, "incident"). Kyou's there for the pizza, as usual.

Slight Makabe Route Spoilers

Spoiler

I've got to say, I'm loving Kyou in this. And by that I mean her last three lines. The protagonist has just confessed to Makabe, and is currently awaiting for a reply.
In the meanwhile, his friends are cheering him up. And Kyou is doing so by rubbing salt in his every wound and teasing him in every way. You know, the sort of thing I, myself, would do to my friends.

"Well, there's as many girls out there as there are North Stars in the sky." (aka, you fail this, you're done and buried)
*at karaoke* "Let's sing something. How about 'Forbidden Love'?" (bonus points for the protagonist not knowing English, the language of the song)

And the boys are just downright heartless.

 

I am a bit... afraid by what I'm hearing. Apparently this VN has some drama, such as breakups, which is totally not my thing. I am seriously hoping the cute, happy moments make up for it, then.
(This write-up feels dry as all hell, but alas, I am both tired and there's not nearly as much to say as I tried to write.)

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2 hours ago, Freestyle80 said:

One question is there a way to change the text color in the the log?

Why is it white color in a light-colored background, can barely read anything :reeee:

Go to Font Settings in the Text Settings window, and enable "Drop & Shadow".

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11 hours ago, Freestyle80 said:

thanks a lot, totally didnt notice that at all till you pointed it out, they should've made it more obvious lol

We tried to include it in the patch, but unfortunately it's a setting that's not saved in the game's folder.

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So after playing one and a half routes my impressions on this game is mixed, I am just halfway through and Midori's route seems to be 10 times better than Yukino's one which i played first, thanks for that advice @littleshogun  lol

 

it kinda seems like they had different writers or sth, the MC behaves much better with Midori But the route drags on forever with no purpose, and

seeing the MC fcking depressed after the incident is annoying and why does he beg to be in the council? lol

 

 With Yukino, he became a douche and pretty obsessive really quick, so far thats unseen with Midori 

I'm really looking forward to Maya's route next!

On 6/22/2017 at 4:51 PM, Irru said:

We tried to include it in the patch, but unfortunately it's a setting that's not saved in the game's folder.

 

Ah i see, makes sense now

Edited by Freestyle80
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Some thoughts on Maya route.
I can see why its a popular route, its start is amazing and more than half of it had me engrossed too. But the end, just why?

 

There was no need to force the acting bullshit and Yuuma once again started deteriorating, really hated the part where he was forcing his feelings on her about going back to acting. It doesnt make sense, she doesnt want to and is perfectly happy not to. Really would've preferred to see them grown up and living together somewhere maybe even married just like how Maya wanted. [/spoiler]

 

Also some things about the start of the route

 

To me it looked like Maya was already long interested in Yuuma long before the confession but that was never touched upon, kinda sad. Would've been nice to hear her monologue on parts where she got pissed at him for not caring about someone asking her out lol. I bet the writer forgot

Edited by Freestyle80
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  • 1 year later...

Currently reading this and surprisibgly i dont find it as bad as people say. Yes, protagonist is an utter idiot at times. Seems route specific.

Yukino:

Spoiler

 

well, yukino is cute as a button, no two ways about it. Im not sure what to think of the breakup scene though, they broke up over something which is very normal. Guys tend to put their gfs as the #1 priority when falling in love. Well, thats fine anyway. I always knew what she was doing. She was very insensitive towards the guy who confessed to her though, when she went on cheeting him on. Good for him that he was faking interest at that point. 

But the whole scene felt planned, yet yuuma came to the school completely coincidentally, so it was a bit weird. Other than these small things and the fact that yuuma was an idiot, i quite liked it.

 

Kyou:

Spoiler

Kyou's route was a bit of a mixed bag. Yuuma was awesome and Kyou was nice as well. I liked the development they had with working the pizzeria,  and their trials and tribulations around it. It was fun to read. Then came the basketball crap. Yes, that ruined the route completely. Like i've said before, if a girl in a vn shows talent for something, dampen your expectations cause the ending will be crap. Its never just played off as simply something she does. Nope. They always emphasize how little time they have together because of it, or heroine moves away for x amount of years. Super romantic in a romance based vns

 

Edited by Stormwolf
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On 26/06/2017 at 10:50 PM, Freestyle80 said:

Some thoughts on Maya route.
I can see why its a popular route, its start is amazing and more than half of it had me engrossed too. But the end, just why?

  Reveal hidden contents

There was no need to force the acting bullshit and Yuuma once again started deteriorating, really hated the part where he was forcing his feelings on her about going back to acting. It doesnt make sense, she doesnt want to and is perfectly happy not to. Really would've preferred to see them grown up and living together somewhere maybe even married just like how Maya wanted. [/spoiler]

 

Also some things about the start of the route

  Reveal hidden contents

To me it looked like Maya was already long interested in Yuuma long before the confession but that was never touched upon, kinda sad. Would've been nice to hear her monologue on parts where she got pissed at him for not caring about someone asking her out lol. I bet the writer forgot

The part about heroines liking protagonist early is a typical bad written route specific thing. Its not rare, but you know they've had no interest before that point, so i wonder why they do it. Same with protagonist confessions where he later admits to having feelings for a long time, or always had them.... when he did not... at all...

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Midori:

Spoiler

Completely faultless thus far, but im currently reading it. Really like both yuuma and her so far in this route.

Edit: well, i'm now finished and... My opinion has drastically changed. What were the writers thinking when writing this route? Midori was adorable and it was all good until she decided to start ghosting the protagonist. It's a truly despicable move which there are no excuses for. For months and months she just kept her distance without telling Yuuma anything at all, and when she finally did, it was to break up. It was always clear what she wanted, but being being ignored makes a guy desperate and takes a major toll on his psyche because he will start making excuses in his mind (unless the person in question is a player and can easily just get another). I have no words for the cruelty which she showed. Her route ended on a good note of course, but her actions are not easily forgiven, and i hoped he would ditch her and make her chase him and beg on her knees, but nooo.. I don't like that heroines gets away with anything in most vn's.

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On 11/20/2018 at 10:49 AM, Stormwolf said:

The part about heroines liking protagonist early is a typical bad written route specific thing. Its not rare, but you know they've had no interest before that point, so i wonder why they do it. Same with protagonist confessions where he later admits to having feelings for a long time, or always had them.... when he did not... at all...

barely remember the VN but i hate it when something is implied heavily but isnt touched upon plus pretty sure the route felt very disjointed as if it was written periodically and they failed to keep it consistent

 

one of the many problems with the VN, didnt even bother reading the after stories lol

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Maya

Spoiler

Maya irritated me initially, but damn does she become cute as the route goes. Their interactions and relationship is believable. The route itself though... I read until drama was about to start, but honestly. Girl with a talent and the whole route seemed to focus on movies/filming etc it just felt so forced. I knew in my bones which direction the route was heading and the routes i hate the most in charages are the ones that end with a long distance relationship because heroine is so super talented that obviously nothing close by is good enough. Well, i just watched the epilogue on youtube and not to my surprise at all, it ended just as i expected from the get-go. I wouldn't have done that, but after reading Kyou's route then i knew this crap would happen. Glad i didn't waste my time reading the whole route. Such a shame as their chemistry was so good and Yuuma displayed jealousy for simple matters, and now he's suddenly A-OK with her going nude and kissing males. Face it, an actress will go nude and kiss lots of males during her career. Well, i guess he was until Maya explained the situation at the very end and he got a chance to say he's not ok with kissing afterall. At least for now.

 

Edited by Stormwolf
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3 hours ago, adamstan said:

After story fixes that ;)

  Hide contents

I'm not sure if it happens when she goes back or provides alternate ending (most say the latter), but they're together with no signs of LDR

 

Problem is that the after story is almost immediately presented as a "what if scenario"

Think it was "what if i want to keep maya close" or something like that. When its just a what if scenario then it doesnt do much for me at least :/

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In some way every route in every VN is a "what-if", and sometimes they can have more than one "good ending", so I think you could treat afterstory as such alternative ending, and discard the original one - which indeed is understandable, but rather unsatisfying.

Edited by adamstan
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10 minutes ago, adamstan said:

In some way every route in every VN is a "what-if", and sometimes they can have more than one "good ending", so I think you could treat afterstory as such alternative ending, and discard the original one - which indeed is understandable, but rather unsatisfying.

Spoiler

 

I agree with every route being what if scenarios, but it tets a bit com9licated when a route suddenly have 2 true ends. This new one was written because a uproar of some kind because of the ending. If that was the case then i think they should have established it more as the true route.

But hers It is an unsatisfying situation as you say. I cannot comprehend how anyone could think otherwise. All those feelings, all those promises, the way they were depending on each other and feel lonely without each other. All discarded with him pushing her away (like the fool that he is) and her at the end of the day choosing her work over him. Stupid ending which ruined what started as a beautiful route if you ask me. 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
20 hours ago, +StrikeR+ said:

Started this as well, i went first with Tsukishima, mc-kun was mentally challenged but i could get over it. Now doing Yukino's route, and my only question is this: Can't i just freaking strangle this guy already?

oh boy that route

 

Yukino minor spoilers 

 

 

Thats the worst version of the MC, esp towards the end also Yukino is one of the worst childhood friend routes i've ever read 

Edited by Freestyle80
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14 hours ago, Freestyle80 said:

oh boy that route

 

Yukino minor spoilers 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Thats the worst version of the MC, esp towards the end also Yukino is one of the worst childhood friend routes i've ever read 

That's a bit sad, i really do like her character after all, one of my favorite in this category of childhood friends.

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On 1/9/2019 at 11:46 PM, +StrikeR+ said:

Started this as well, i went first with Tsukishima, mc-kun was mentally challenged but i could get over it. Now doing Yukino's route, and my only question is this: Can't i just freaking strangle this guy already?

Unfortunately you can't, because it'll broke your PC/laptop. That said, I think Yukino's after story here did sort of redeem the route here, although obviously you can only enjoy that after all the route thing is over. Also apparently Tone Work's did REALLY get the note on HatsuKoi's bad reception, so they decided to improve childhood friend as hard as possible and I think you can see their effort in Marika's route at Hoshiori later if you compared it with Yukino's route.

Edited by littleshogun
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10 hours ago, +StrikeR+ said:

That's a bit sad, i really do like her character after all, one of my favorite in this category of childhood friends.

You've already done what could be considered the 'best' route because in Tsukishima's one, minor spoilers-

 

other than him being a dick to her for that one day when his friend egged him on, he is pretty decent in her route. In most other routes however...not so much, Maya's route is 'fixed' by the afterstory somewhat and Prez's route is ok, not the best 

:vanilla:

 

Also since you mention childhood friend, the one in "If you love me then say so" is one of the best i've read :sacchan:

 

3 hours ago, littleshogun said:

Unfortunately you can't, because it'll broke your PC/laptop. That said, I think Yukino's after story here did sort of redeem the route here, although obviously you can only enjoy that after all the route thing is over. Also apparently Tone Work's did REALLY get the not on HatsuKoi's bad reception, so they decided to improve childhood friend as hard as possible and I think you can see their effort in Marika's route at Hoshiori later if you compared it with Yukino's route.

 

seems so, even in Giniro Haruka from what i've read, they've learnt from their mistakes in Hatsukoi (although MC in that is apparently too flawless) 

Edited by Freestyle80
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Spoiler

 

Unfortunately Mayas desire to be in acting was way too rooted in her personality throughout the common route and her route to be fixed in her append scenario. It was always easy to see how she missed it and wanted to act. She was obsessed by it and her very way of being showed it. The mc was annoying sure, but he certainly didnt do anything she didnt really want deep down. I think the append sterilized her personality. I was a bit "hmm, this certainly doesnt look to be the maya i know"

So my beef with the route was simply that it had to be acting. Its not a desireable career for a wife to be honest. I'd never date an actress outside a one night stand.

 

 

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As for Ginharu, I did believe that actually we can count all of the heroines as childhood friend, because all six of them were already being together since middle school, and I think some people did treat middle school (Or secondary school) period as childhood. Of course we have classic childhood friend in Ginharu (Mizuha), although her route was written like Maya and Rikka though from what I'd read at VNDB (Both of Maya and Mizuha did have same seiyuu (Sakurai Harumi) even though the aliases are different).

For flawless MC like Ginharu's Yukito, I believe that apparently it was carried over from Hoshiori's Ryousuke, and if we knew that some VN player would like to imagined themselves to self insert themselves as perfect human in the VN (ie wish fulfillment), then it make sense that the MC need to be perfect - for the further proof, you can rename the MC in both of Hoshiori and Ginharu (Default name is fine though since the heroines still have numerous voiced lines called MC with default name). Although whether they can say the MC is Gary Stu or not, to each of their own I guess. 

Edited by littleshogun
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