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starfighter9

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In my opinion Rewrite is very good, it has a fun common route, good characters, an interesting world and awesome writing. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it was so long and it was so serious all that time that I had to take a break every once in a while.

But besides that you will get the feelz, especially towards the end, definitely would recommend.

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In my opinion Rewrite is very good, it has a fun common route, good characters, an interesting world and awesome writing. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it was so long and it was so serious all that time that I had to take a break every once in a while.

But besides that you will get the feelz, especially towards the end, definitely would recommend.

Thank you for opinion
It motivated me a lot.

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In my opinion, Rewrite is a top-10 VN out of those that have been translated. The gameplay elements are mediocre, but the plot, characters, and fun "mysterious animal" mini-stories are well worth the time. The production values are also very high, beyond the level of most other KEY VNs, mainly because it is newer and more polished than the ones they are more famous for (Clannad, Kanon, Air, etc.).

It also has a more of a modern anime art style than the classic KEY style, which is a plus to me.

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Have been a fan of Key ever since watching Clannad.

Although Jun Maeda's involvement wasn't much, Rewrite is my favourite. Each heroine route are somewhat sad or tragic creates deeper impact than many VNs I've read, especially Kotori's route which makes you curious about the other routes. As always good music at right timing changes the mood. Fun and jokes from Keys' works makes me laugh quite often. 

I had a month plus school break when I read it, lots of time. 

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I ask that anyone who has read me say do you think, to motivate me to do even the fame that VN has is huge, but in the opinion of you who are experienced players, this VN is that good?

 

It is to me. I felt that the main scenario writer (Romeo Tanaka) hit a perfect balance here between his thematic style, and the forward storytelling style used by Key in their previous works to invoke emotions.

The common route is very fun, mixed with a mystery/suspense element that felt to me inspired from his work on I/O with Nakazawa. it's fun and it will keep you guessing and thinking until you reach the real story in the heroines routes. Tanaka wrote 4 routes and they were all fantastic to me. Ryukishi07 (Umineko/Higurashi) also did a great job with Konohana Lucia, her route was the most emotional one, but not thematically as strong as Tanaka's routes imho. Tonokawa's routes Sizuru and Chihaya are the weakest in the game, felt more cliche to me, especially Chihaya and her typical shonen story.

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  • 3 months later...

I just finished Rewrite (Except the "Oppai Ending") and WOW I must say this has been an amazing experience. I have so many questions. I will dump them all here, hopefully there are answers or speculations to them. I kept notes as I did the VN and ended up with a huge list. I trimmed down the list based on what I feel I still don't know, even after finishing. I added "Hindsight" sub-notes to items I feel I understand a little better or differently after having beat the game.

Common Route / Misc

  • What is the source of the alternate dimensions? VN explains that they are created, but are largely unexplained.
  • Why can Kotarou randomly enter the dimensions?
  • Key appears in his room, haunts him, no explanation why
  • Why is there a copied version of the entire city?
  • Bubbly toxic river of pollution: Where does it come from? What is it?
  • Who owns the "Leaf Dragon" familiar?
  • The origin of familiars is never quite explained. They’re a mysterious phenomenon.
  • Choice buttons have a different texture/feel to them sometimes. Starting with the 3 choices presented during Akane’s questionnaire in the club room. Do these have any significance?
    • Thought: These choices are “life-altering”; extremely important?

Chihaya's Route

  • The tiny familiars: Where do they come from? They said they are pairs, created from garbage?

Kotori's Route

  • At end, Key says "Kotarou... proof...". Proof of what?
  • Kotarou loses feelings/memories of Kotori after finding the Key in the forest. Confusing: That should have happened during their childhood, not after finding Key. He blanks out after finding Key in the forest;
    • Hindsight: I realize that choosing to attack Kagari in the forest during Terra results in joining timelines with where the Common route begins, but this doesn't explain the mysterious forgetfulness and lack of emotion towards Kotori during her route after he finds the key in the forest (Kotori is already grown-up)
  • Kotori avoids visiting him, expressing feeling for him. Why?
    • Hindsight: Does this have anything to do with the fact that she knows how Kotarou was in his life before the coma? She's very mysterious and confusing about her relationship with Kotarou.

Lucia's Route

  • What happened to the boy that died in the cursed story?

Shizuru's Route

  • I read somewhere else that Kotori is the "Voice" that Kotarou hears while Shizuru is in a coma. There are theories around this. Is there actually any evidence in the VN to support what actually happened here? How did Shizuru save Kotarou?
  • Is Shizuru blind in her right eye? I don't recall this being mentioned in the VN anywhere. I suspected it after I realized that Shizuru seems to sacrifice a part of her body or "senses" to save someone. For example, she lost her hearing after saving Kotarou. So she would have lost sight in her right eye after saving her father.

Akane's Route

  • Kotarou seems to remember Akane; but it's a very faint, hazy memory. He talks about Akane being lonely, unhappy. Never crying. On a phone call, Akane mentions that Kotarou has not regained his memories.
    • Hindsight: During Terra, it's clear now that Kotarou met Akane. But why is Akane so secretive about his past with her? How much does she actually remember about Kotarou when she was a child?
  • 1 year later, Kotarou hears the Voice in his head again. It asks him to choose her over Akane. The voice talks poorly of Akane. Is this the same "Voice" from Shizuru's route? If not, what is the significance here?
  • While the world is ending, and while Kotarou is searching for the mysterious summoner that is massacring people, he gets brief visions through what appears to be the eyes of another familiar somewhere in alleyways. Golden bird familiar appears. Who is it from? Why can Kotarou see himself through its eyes?

Moon Route

  • Kotarou is in a world where only him and Kagari (Key girl) are present (seemingly). There is no "time". Is he dead? He still recalls memories from the other routes (his past lives, branched based on decisions he's made).
    • Hindsight: The "world" turns out to be the Moon, but still confused how Kotarou ends up here, relative to the other timelines (girls' routes).
  • Ugly purple familiar appears in his timeless world. What is it, where does it come from?
    • Hindsight: Apparently Sakura is spawning these from another timeline. It also explains the massive attack of familiars. But why Sakura? I don't understand how she is even aware of the fact that they are on the moon, or what she has to do with any of this.
  • Why does Kagari never speak? Or rather, she speaks SOMETHING, but Kotarou cannot understand. Is his intellect not advanced enough? Similar to reading the tree-shaped "Theory of Life" that Kagari is working on endlessly (he cannot comprehend it)?
  • Akane is able to look at Kagari's "Theory of Life" without getting head pains?
  • The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory?

Terra Route

  • The tree on the title screen appears to be Kotarou. The blue energy inside it seems to be Kagari, based on the flash backs at the end. Why is it "inside" of the tree? I don't understand the combination or its significance
  • The tree that the girls are surrounding on the title screen makes sense because during the end, they all gather around it to summon Kotarou as a familiar, however the background doesn't match the hill of flowers that he died on (turned into tree) or where he was summoned after the fact. Is this negligible?
  • What motivated the girls to all come together to the tree to summon Kotarou as a familiar? Were they aware that the tree was Kotarou (Kotori mentioned the tree feels familiar). What was their goal? Were they just responding to the rumors about some tree pointing to the moon?
  • Why was Kotarou's immediate action to go to the moon? His tree form also yearned for the moon (it was "pointing" at it). Does this mean he still loves Kagari? Is there meaning in this?

 

Sorry for the tons of questions. I can understand if most people don't have the patience to read this or answer some/all of these. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me fill in some gaps.

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So many questions, and some of them are answered during the game. IIrc, the other dimensions are Kotarou actually entering that second city, which was something like a Bunker for the end of the world.

KEY haunts Kotaro because he has a part of her inside him, due to him being beatten almost to death.

All questions are anwered in the game ,I cannot give you perfect answers because I've read it a long time ago

 

Kotori avoids Kotarou because she "fixed" him, becoming his master, just like she made with her parents. She didn't want to Kotarou to only love her because of their linking, she didn't want to control Kotakou, and that is why she prefered distancing herself

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The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory?

 

Instead of making everything happen again, and again, that changed the way they met before, when he almost died attacking her

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2 minutes ago, Silvz said:

The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory?

 

Instead of making everything happen again, and again, that changed the way they met before, when he almost died attacking her

Thanks for answers. BTW I fully suspect most of this is answered in-game. If I had the answers, I wouldn't bother posting here. It's easy to miss answers in Key games, IMHO, because there is so much to remember. Some of your responses are already helping me piece things together, for example why Kotori does not get close to Kotarou. I remember her saying that he was never like how he currently is, even though he asserted he has always been that way. His treatment of her during Terra made it all clear as to what she was talking about.

Your explanation of "I hope to see you again someday" helping doesn't make any sense, still. If this is to alter that one moment (where we choose not to attack her, and thus not die), how does that 1 phrase change anything?

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Well, I honestly didn't understand the game that well myself, so I might be wrong here. I skipped some I have no clue about or don't remember whatsoever, but here's what I think about some of the other ones:

-What is the source of the alternate dimensions? VN explains that they are created, but are largely unexplained. AFAIK the alternate dimension is just a huge familiar that allows people to be inside of it. It's a manifestation of that tree under Gaia HQ. Some researcher at Gaia probably created a tree familiar with this property, and was like "Oh cool, let's use this to create a bunker to store all our other familiars in!"

-Why can Kotarou randomly enter the dimensions? He just randomly finds places in the "real" Kazamatsuri where it's linked to the alternate dimension. Other people have also found it before though most of them get stranded in the other dimension since it's probably just as hard to find the way back. I think the guy who leads Gaia (not Sakuma or Akane, the one from the other faction) explained it in.... Akane's route (IIRC) during his plan to evacuate the city.

-Key appears in his room, haunts him, no explanation why. As Silvz explained, it's because Kotori implanted one of the key's ribbons in Kotarou when she was trying to fix him up. The Key is attracted to him because he has a part of her.

-Why is there a copied version of the entire city? Gaia created it in the other dimension to store familiars. Don't remember if there was an exact reason for why it had to look like the city, but I guess maybe they already were thinking about it serving as a shelter for when Salvation happens.

-Bubbly toxic river of pollution: Where does it come from? What is it? It was explained at some point, by Akane I think. IIRC it's because a bunch of pesticide used to keep the forest free of insects near the city was buried near that place? Not too sure.

-Who owns the "Leaf Dragon" familiar? No idea. Don't think it was ever mentioned.

-The origin of familiars is never quite explained. They’re a mysterious phenomenon. Not sure either. I think they came into existence as a manifestation of some people's strong desire to change the world, as opposed to changing themselves (What superhumans do)

-Choice buttons have a different texture/feel to them sometimes. Starting with the 3 choices presented during Akane’s questionnaire in the club room. Do these have any significance? Dunno, I also thought it just meant it was an important choice. I guess it's where you decide whether you are a superhuman or a familiar master (don't remember what someone who uses familiars is called lol) (I remembered, it's Summoner, lol), or at least which idea you agree with more. Change the world is Gaia, change yourself is Guardian, and on first playthrough you don't know enough about the world so you are forced to choose you don't know.

-The tiny familiars: Where do they come from? They said they are pairs, created from garbage?  Don't remember exactly but they are the result of some kind of testing done at a Gaian lab for creating familiars. I think they were trying to make familiars into more independent beings or something like that (as in, not requiring a summoner to control them), but the experiment was shut down and Pani and Gil managed to escape somehow.

-What happened to the boy that died in the cursed story? I think... he just died? Who knows if it's due to Lucia's poison or if it was just a coincidence (the boy was frail already).

-I read somewhere else that Kotori is the "Voice" that Kotarou hears while Shizuru is in a coma. There are theories around this. Is there actually any evidence in the VN to support what actually happened here? How did Shizuru save Kotarou? I have no idea but I'm also interested in this. If anyone knows please tell me :D

-Is Shizuru blind in her right eye? I don't recall this being mentioned in the VN anywhere. I suspected it after I realized that Shizuru seems to sacrifice a part of her body or "senses" to save someone. For example, she lost her hearing after saving Kotarou. So she would have lost sight in her right eye after saving her father. Very interesting idea, and seems plausible. I found it weird that she would wear an eyepatch just because of heterochromia. Then again, she does take it off when she is at "work", and there'd be no use in doing so if her eye was blind.. so maybe it's just partially blind or affected in some other way (maybe she sees in black and white from it?)

-1 year later, Kotarou hears the Voice in his head again. It asks him to choose her over Akane. The voice talks poorly of Akane. Is this the same "Voice" from Shizuru's route? If not, what is the significance here? Also super interested in this, who is that voice? What does she mean?

-While the world is ending, and while Kotarou is searching for the mysterious summoner that is massacring people, he gets brief visions through what appears to be the eyes of another familiar somewhere in alleyways. Golden bird familiar appears. Who is it from? Why can Kotarou see himself through its eyes? I'm guessing it's Akane, I think deep down she probably wanted to help him.

-Kotarou is in a world where only him and Kagari (Key girl) are present (seemingly). There is no "time". Is he dead? He still recalls memories from the other routes (his past lives, branched based on decisions he's made). I would say he is neither dead nor alive, just outside of existence. All the memories are "possibilities" that the Earth had lived through as part of Kagari's plan to prevent it from running out of resources. Then again, I don't understand how Sakura could send familiars there.

-Why does Kagari never speak? Or rather, she speaks SOMETHING, but Kotarou cannot understand. Is his intellect not advanced enough? Similar to reading the tree-shaped "Theory of Life" that Kagari is working on endlessly (he cannot comprehend it)? I guess she regards him as a lower level being so she doesn't make much effort to speak to him. But when she does, she spits out information at a super fast rate so Kotarou gets information overload and can't process it. She probably doesn't use sound to convey that information either, but rather directly beams it to his mind somehow, so he is "forced" to process it, but can't due to his lower intelligence.

-Akane is able to look at Kagari's "Theory of Life" without getting head pains? I guess she is just barely smart enough to do that. But she probably still can't understand all of it as a big picture.

-The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory? Don't really know why she wouldn't think of that herself, but I guess it tells Kagari that the key to saving the Earth is Kotarou. Which is true, what determines whether you get the common + girls routes (where Earth isn't saved) or Terra route (where Earth is saved) is the one choice Kotarou makes to capture, kill, or let the key be. Capture/kill leads to him getting hurt, Kotori saving him by planting Key's ribbon into him, and him falling into a coma for several years as well as stopping the aging process - so when he wakes up, he is the age of a highschooler, and the common route begins. But by this point he was in a coma long enough where by the time he again finds out about Gaia/Guardian/Key/Salvation etc, there's not enough time to save the Earth. However if he lets the key be, he doesn't fall into a coma and has enough time needed to save the Earth.

As for the questions about the tree I personally don't think there's much meaning to them except Kotarou being drawn to Kagari. I guess he still loves her, as you said.

Anyway I hope I didn't give you incorrect information, my memory is quite hazy already even though I read Rewrite pretty recently :P Hope this clears at least some stuff up for you.

 

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  • Kotarou is in a world where only him and Kagari (Key girl) are present (seemingly). There is no "time". Is he dead? He still recalls memories from the other routes (his past lives, branched based on decisions he's made) =>> This is just my interpretation but there are no branch worlds. Every routes actually took place chronologically and the world was reseted each time as an attempt to find a possibility for life to exist. However, in the end, there wasn't much life energy left so 'Life' decided to moved to Moon ("This is the second time we've made this passage"). Here, a kind of civilization (I remembered that Kotarou did mention its name) was created with organismes that were the reflections of their past lifes, probably in order to avoid consuming too much life energy. Thus, Kotarou was neither dead nor alive here, he was simply just a reflection. As for "There is no 'time'" , it was explained in the scene that Kotarou leveled up his perception, time is seperated from the matter in the far future.
  • Why does Kagari never speak?. =>> She didn't live between human so she didn't develope the ability to communicate using human language (as the case with Terra Kagari). She did 'speak' to Kotarou but that was just directly injecting the information into his brain.
  • The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory? =>> Again this is just interpretation but everything she tried before were "logically" changing things to find the solution. The comment that Kotarou made and a few days with him struck her with the idea of including love - an unknown, illogical factor that even she could not comprehend into the theory. She probably didn't understand why the solution worked but well, thing just works so who cares :D

Terra Route

  • The tree that the girls are surrounding on the title screen makes sense because during the end, they all gather around it to summon Kotarou as a familiar, however the background doesn't match the hill of flowers that he died on (turned into tree) or where he was summoned after the fact. Is this negligible?. =>> I think it's negligible. Perhaps, Key doesn't want to spend more budget on drawing another BG for just that one single scene.
  • What motivated the girls to all come together to the tree to summon Kotarou as a familiar? Were they aware that the tree was Kotarou (Kotori mentioned the tree feels familiar). What was their goal? Were they just responding to the rumors about some tree pointing to the moon? =>> They probably just responsed to the rumor. After Kotarou saved the world, the future is too diverse that I doubt Kagari has enough time to 'programme' them to meet again. However, I think it's better this ways since it feels more like a miracle / fate that they reunited again.
  • Why was Kotarou's immediate action to go to the moon? His tree form also yearned for the moon (it was "pointing" at it). Does this mean he still loves Kagari? Is there meaning in this? =>> A part of that is because of the desire to meet (Moon) Kagari that has been inserted into in his soul. The another reason is that he unconciously tried to fulfill his promise/wish that he made at the end of Moon route ("If anyone ever reaches the sky, I want them to find the girl on the moon,...")
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Spoiler

 

It's been a very long time since I read Rewrite, but I do recall being feeling certain that Kotori was the voice in Shizuru's route, that she was the one who saved Kotarou's life at that time, and that she sacrificed her own life to do so. It was definitely not directly stated, but if I recall correctly, my reasoning for thinking that was a combination of:

  • It becomes clear in Kotori's route that Kotarou is her familiar, sort of (this fact also answers some of your other questions, especially the one about "why does Kotori distance herself from Kotarou" - she is afraid that Kotarou being in love with her is actually just her forcing her own feelings onto him through her power over him as his summoner).
  • There is some discussion somewhere, possibly Kotori's route, which implied that Kotori could heal Kotarou by giving him her life force
  • There was some further implication that she could give all her life force to do some sort of rather complete healing of him, and also sever him from herself. Or something like that. This is what I assumed happened during Shizuru's route.

 

Edit: put everything in spoiler tags just to avoid preview spoilers

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