From renowned visual novel studio Key, which brought you the highly rated visual novel “planetarian~the reverie of a little planet~”, this is “Harmonia”, the latest kinetic novel in the series.
Reviews View More
c'est key donc forcément j'ai essayé, c'est vraiment un viiieux vn avec les graphismes qui vont avec mais ça va l'histoire était ok pas plus
The more the story twisted the less it made sense to me. Personally think it would have fared better staying as a post-apocalyptic comfy slice-of-life sort of story.
That being said, it was still a decent read. Harmonia focuses mostly on emotions and the understanding of them.
That being said, it was still a decent read. Harmonia focuses mostly on emotions and the understanding of them.
Depressingly mid despite having some potential and nice presentation -- story is too short to do much of anything interesting, and what time you do have is mostly spent meddling around.
Such is the fate of the kinetic novel -- too short to accomplish anything interesting and also too restrained by Key's need to maintain its brand image. What you're left with is a predictable story that could've been more, had it been produced by literally anyone else.
Such is the fate of the kinetic novel -- too short to accomplish anything interesting and also too restrained by Key's need to maintain its brand image. What you're left with is a predictable story that could've been more, had it been produced by literally anyone else.
The second kinetic novel of what Key has now dubbed the "robot trilogy" as of December 2022—and the third of the trilogy that I have read—Harmonia has a very calming atmosphere. It's thoughtful, and very much akin to something I'd expect out of an iyashikei anime.
I'm not quite sure how to describe how I got to this VN. I watched many of Key's anime adaptations of their VNs, and knew about Harmonia when it first released in English. It was released a few days before Japan weirdly enough, which is not very common for a Japanese-developed visual novel at all.
Prior to reading Harmonia, I had read Planetarian back in 2016, and more recently Stella of The End, both of which I liked (well, outright ADORED Stella). I was curious to see how Harmonia handled a similar setting and thematic material to its predecessor, Planetarian, and its successor, Stella of The End, given it was now part of this arbitrarily titled "robot trilogy" thanks to the JUKEMATA arrange album that released on the 26th of December, 2022.
I have had Harmonia in my Steam library for many years now, but that's actually not the version I played—I read this visual novel in Japanese. A friend kindly lent me their copy to install on my computer, so that's how I read it.
I think this is consistent between all of Key's robot girl kinetic novels, but I don't think thematic content is anything to write home about. It isn't breaking new ground. If you want something that'll blow your socks off, you won't find it here.
While I was playing through the game for the first time, I made a tweet that said:
>I love post-apocalyptic VNs about learning basic concepts such as "what is emotion?" and also there are robots
This statement pretty much sums up the entire VN. That said, I still really enjoyed it. Coming from having already read both Planetarian and Stella of The End, I really appreciated how it approached similar thematic material from a different perspective. Planetarian was all about learning how to enjoy life from the robot girl, Stella of The End was all about teaching the robot girl how to live as a human, and Harmonia was about teaching the robot feelings—except WE, the protagonist, are the robot and are being taught by a human. As a premise at least, I feel these all are distinct enough to have a reason to stand on their own, even if the overall message between the three are kind of similar.
The soundtrack is wonderful, as most Key OSTs are. Shinji Orito especially to me feels like such a defining figure of Key's soundtracks, but Ryo Mizutsuki's work on the OST was also phenomenal. That said I wish it didn't clip, haha—the mastering isn't great (most noticeable in Oppidum), and it's unfortunately not much better on the soundtrack CD that comes with the game.
I don't know if I'd outright recommend this VN to anyone as a first choice, but it is a really relaxing read. Really makes you think, and it put me in a unique mood which I'm not sure I can quite describe with words.
Boppidum gang
I'm not quite sure how to describe how I got to this VN. I watched many of Key's anime adaptations of their VNs, and knew about Harmonia when it first released in English. It was released a few days before Japan weirdly enough, which is not very common for a Japanese-developed visual novel at all.
Prior to reading Harmonia, I had read Planetarian back in 2016, and more recently Stella of The End, both of which I liked (well, outright ADORED Stella). I was curious to see how Harmonia handled a similar setting and thematic material to its predecessor, Planetarian, and its successor, Stella of The End, given it was now part of this arbitrarily titled "robot trilogy" thanks to the JUKEMATA arrange album that released on the 26th of December, 2022.
I have had Harmonia in my Steam library for many years now, but that's actually not the version I played—I read this visual novel in Japanese. A friend kindly lent me their copy to install on my computer, so that's how I read it.
I think this is consistent between all of Key's robot girl kinetic novels, but I don't think thematic content is anything to write home about. It isn't breaking new ground. If you want something that'll blow your socks off, you won't find it here.
While I was playing through the game for the first time, I made a tweet that said:
>I love post-apocalyptic VNs about learning basic concepts such as "what is emotion?" and also there are robots
This statement pretty much sums up the entire VN. That said, I still really enjoyed it. Coming from having already read both Planetarian and Stella of The End, I really appreciated how it approached similar thematic material from a different perspective. Planetarian was all about learning how to enjoy life from the robot girl, Stella of The End was all about teaching the robot girl how to live as a human, and Harmonia was about teaching the robot feelings—except WE, the protagonist, are the robot and are being taught by a human. As a premise at least, I feel these all are distinct enough to have a reason to stand on their own, even if the overall message between the three are kind of similar.
The soundtrack is wonderful, as most Key OSTs are. Shinji Orito especially to me feels like such a defining figure of Key's soundtracks, but Ryo Mizutsuki's work on the OST was also phenomenal. That said I wish it didn't clip, haha—the mastering isn't great (most noticeable in Oppidum), and it's unfortunately not much better on the soundtrack CD that comes with the game.
I don't know if I'd outright recommend this VN to anyone as a first choice, but it is a really relaxing read. Really makes you think, and it put me in a unique mood which I'm not sure I can quite describe with words.
Boppidum gang
Ehhh - maybe worth picking up if you liked Planetarian, but if you haven't played that Key visual novel, you should try that one instead, since Harmonia goes for a similar setting and vibe, but is much more hollow
The first half stumbles a long at a weird pace, and characters end up feeling hollow anyway because the story prescribes them a single emotion they aren't really allowed to deviate from
The second half picks things up a bit but the plot twists are really easy to guess, especially when the cast is so small. You can really tell that this visual novel wants to have a dramatic, emotional ending but its put no effort in to earn it so while I got a bit invested towards the end, I could only bring myself to care so much
Good music and visuals but sadly, just kind of boring and hollow, especially compared to Key's other works
The first half stumbles a long at a weird pace, and characters end up feeling hollow anyway because the story prescribes them a single emotion they aren't really allowed to deviate from
The second half picks things up a bit but the plot twists are really easy to guess, especially when the cast is so small. You can really tell that this visual novel wants to have a dramatic, emotional ending but its put no effort in to earn it so while I got a bit invested towards the end, I could only bring myself to care so much
Good music and visuals but sadly, just kind of boring and hollow, especially compared to Key's other works
It's clear off the bat that this VN takes inspiration from Planetarian, which I don't really mind seeing as Harmonia is an anniversary title for Key so it makes sense to try to make a homage to an older VN while infusing some new ideas into it. Unfortunately, said new ideas are kind of... weird? While I don't dislike Tipi herself, pretty much everything about her role in the plot results in a lot of awkward moments and forced melodrama that I consider the weakest parts. There's also a couple of twists that would have some impact if they weren't so easy to predict. I really do enjoy the production values of this VN, aesthetically it's very nice outside of a couple of wonky CGs, but what Harmonia does best pales in comparison to Planetarian.