This is a story about finding love to overwrite the feelings for the one they held dearest. A girls love visual novel about summer, love and adolescence.
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what an amazing game the way it handles mature topics was surprising considering i didn't have any particular expectations going into this besides "cute romance story" there are so many impactful moments in this game and the writing is so nuanced and had me thinking for quite awhile. the main cast is one of the strongest ive seen in any romance media and kaoru is the GOAT also whoever was the pianist for the ost went insanely hard for no reason LOL i cant recommend this enough
Full video review: https://youtu.be/G4yuvzEmFVo
A story about finding love to overwrite feelings for the one you lost. UsoNatsu is a nice, short girls love visual novel that has gone oddly unnoticed.
Overview & Length
UsoNatsu is a kinetic novel. There are no choices and your only input is just advancing the lines. It’s also not too long - clocking in at somewhere between 10-15 hours, which honestly is not that bad for the type of story being told here.
Story
The story starts out slow, throwing you into these random slice of life scenes where not much happens. In a lot of visual novels like this, this kind of content can oftentimes become overbearing, but I did not really get that feeling here with UsoNatsu. The slice of life scenes are spread out well, are varied in their delivery, and don’t drag on too long. It’s genuinely fun to get to know these characters and the game does a great job advancing the overall story through these scenes.
The idea is to overwrite painful memories with happy ones, so oftentimes you’ll have these "fun" scenes and the characters may share just a bit of their past or otherwise have some sort of small development so it doesn’t feel like just slice of life filler. It’s a balancing act and UsoNatsu overall does a great job with it.
Pacing
The pacing is great until the last 20% of the game or so. Relationships changed too quickly and the entire love triangle that develops during the middle of the game just becomes cheesy at that point and I can’t say I cared too much for it. This makes the emotional beats that the finale was going for not quite land as hard as the writers probably aimed for. I mean, the ending itself is satisfying enough, it’s just everything immediately preceding it that felt like it could have been spaced out another chapter or two.
Characters
UsnoNatsu is a love drama, but it’s not overly dramatic. There is a love triangle, but it isn’t this super annoying thing. I really liked how the story felt grounded and realistic in a way. The characters actually act like humans and not some mess of anime tropes. The main character in particular, Kaoru Tachibana, has some genuinely interesting monologues that might just be the highlight of the story for me.
She’s grappling with the loss of this relationship she had with her teacher, who herself is probably my second favorite character in the story, while also managing these blossoming feelings for the second lead heroine, Shiori Minagi. Minagi has a really interesting backstory and I enjoyed getting to learn that, but I also can't deny that I felt like she came across as a bit shallow at times.
There’s also the friend character, the one that finds herself in a love triangle with the other two, and really, she was probably the least interesting of the bunch because she hardly had any time to get any real development and felt more so like she was inserted into the story to act as a driving force for what is obviously the main relationship here.
Overall though, I liked the characters. A couple of them may be lacking, but the main heroine is very well written and easily carried the experience when the others were lacking.
Flashbacks
For everything the game just did right spacing out the slice of life scenes and having some actually decent pacing, it kinda shoots itself in the foot with just how much it uses flashback scenes, even for events that happened not that long ago. It’s like yes, I remember that just happened 30 minutes ago or so, I don’t need to be reminded. That part felt like filler.
Art & Music
The art might just be the single best thing about the game. This is a visual novel with characters that have more than one outfit. They quite literally have a new one each time they go out. That kind of details seems small, but considering that most VNs hardly give you two outfits max, it’s nice to see the studio go the extra mile there. That and the models aren’t just some static thing. They are slightly animated and that was a nice touch too.
Backgrounds and the overall color choices and lighting and all of that were solid. It’s a very good looking visual novel and probably one of the best I’ve read in quite some time, at least in that department. The music too though. It’s not quite on the level that I would listen to outside of the game, but it is also not super grating or repetitive and it does its job well.
Settings
Settings-wise, the game has the basics and that’s pretty much it. Skip mode option, speed options, all the different audio sliders, and window options. That said, I do have to give credit to the fact that I think this is the first visual novel I have played that natively supports 4k resolution and even has an framerate option in the settings. The game looks great and runs well at 4k, 120 fps and I am glad that at least some devs are realizing that not all VNs need to be 720p or lower.
Overall
UsoNatsu is a short, yet sweet girls love drama that might just be the best-looking visual novel I have played in years. The art is gorgeous, the story is engaging, and the characters are fairly likable overall. It does have some issues with its finale and a couple of its characters, but I enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it to girls love fans.
A story about finding love to overwrite feelings for the one you lost. UsoNatsu is a nice, short girls love visual novel that has gone oddly unnoticed.
Overview & Length
UsoNatsu is a kinetic novel. There are no choices and your only input is just advancing the lines. It’s also not too long - clocking in at somewhere between 10-15 hours, which honestly is not that bad for the type of story being told here.
Story
The story starts out slow, throwing you into these random slice of life scenes where not much happens. In a lot of visual novels like this, this kind of content can oftentimes become overbearing, but I did not really get that feeling here with UsoNatsu. The slice of life scenes are spread out well, are varied in their delivery, and don’t drag on too long. It’s genuinely fun to get to know these characters and the game does a great job advancing the overall story through these scenes.
The idea is to overwrite painful memories with happy ones, so oftentimes you’ll have these "fun" scenes and the characters may share just a bit of their past or otherwise have some sort of small development so it doesn’t feel like just slice of life filler. It’s a balancing act and UsoNatsu overall does a great job with it.
Pacing
The pacing is great until the last 20% of the game or so. Relationships changed too quickly and the entire love triangle that develops during the middle of the game just becomes cheesy at that point and I can’t say I cared too much for it. This makes the emotional beats that the finale was going for not quite land as hard as the writers probably aimed for. I mean, the ending itself is satisfying enough, it’s just everything immediately preceding it that felt like it could have been spaced out another chapter or two.
Characters
UsnoNatsu is a love drama, but it’s not overly dramatic. There is a love triangle, but it isn’t this super annoying thing. I really liked how the story felt grounded and realistic in a way. The characters actually act like humans and not some mess of anime tropes. The main character in particular, Kaoru Tachibana, has some genuinely interesting monologues that might just be the highlight of the story for me.
She’s grappling with the loss of this relationship she had with her teacher, who herself is probably my second favorite character in the story, while also managing these blossoming feelings for the second lead heroine, Shiori Minagi. Minagi has a really interesting backstory and I enjoyed getting to learn that, but I also can't deny that I felt like she came across as a bit shallow at times.
There’s also the friend character, the one that finds herself in a love triangle with the other two, and really, she was probably the least interesting of the bunch because she hardly had any time to get any real development and felt more so like she was inserted into the story to act as a driving force for what is obviously the main relationship here.
Overall though, I liked the characters. A couple of them may be lacking, but the main heroine is very well written and easily carried the experience when the others were lacking.
Flashbacks
For everything the game just did right spacing out the slice of life scenes and having some actually decent pacing, it kinda shoots itself in the foot with just how much it uses flashback scenes, even for events that happened not that long ago. It’s like yes, I remember that just happened 30 minutes ago or so, I don’t need to be reminded. That part felt like filler.
Art & Music
The art might just be the single best thing about the game. This is a visual novel with characters that have more than one outfit. They quite literally have a new one each time they go out. That kind of details seems small, but considering that most VNs hardly give you two outfits max, it’s nice to see the studio go the extra mile there. That and the models aren’t just some static thing. They are slightly animated and that was a nice touch too.
Backgrounds and the overall color choices and lighting and all of that were solid. It’s a very good looking visual novel and probably one of the best I’ve read in quite some time, at least in that department. The music too though. It’s not quite on the level that I would listen to outside of the game, but it is also not super grating or repetitive and it does its job well.
Settings
Settings-wise, the game has the basics and that’s pretty much it. Skip mode option, speed options, all the different audio sliders, and window options. That said, I do have to give credit to the fact that I think this is the first visual novel I have played that natively supports 4k resolution and even has an framerate option in the settings. The game looks great and runs well at 4k, 120 fps and I am glad that at least some devs are realizing that not all VNs need to be 720p or lower.
Overall
UsoNatsu is a short, yet sweet girls love drama that might just be the best-looking visual novel I have played in years. The art is gorgeous, the story is engaging, and the characters are fairly likable overall. It does have some issues with its finale and a couple of its characters, but I enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it to girls love fans.
I didn't research any plot details beforehand, not even the synopsis, because I knew I would like it based on my (abrupt but nonetheless great) experience with the previous game from Lycoris. Initially, I was expecting a light yuri romcom with no stakes, similar to OshiLove (to be fair, I couldn't finish it; maybe I should have been more patient), but it certainly wasn’t that. Instead, UsoNatsu is the slow burn coming-of-age story with the most accurate representation of teenage years I've ever seen. Even though I'm a straight guy, a lot of themes and plot points were relatable for me.
There was a huge wall of text I decided to scrap because, even after an hour of thinking, I wasn't able to collect all my thoughts into something comprehensive. This VN is so much to me. Anger, anxiety, happiness, amusement, envy, regret, and a little bit of hope.
Also, there's a 1-hour-long prequel voice drama on youtube, but I would not recommend listening to it until you've played at least half of the game
UPD: This novel has completely destroyed me. Half a day has passed, and I still can't stop crying. I haven't felt this depressed since 2021, but now it's for a different reason. It's too sweet. Their relationship feels real, and the thought that I won't ever experience anything similar is soul-crushing.
There was a huge wall of text I decided to scrap because, even after an hour of thinking, I wasn't able to collect all my thoughts into something comprehensive. This VN is so much to me. Anger, anxiety, happiness, amusement, envy, regret, and a little bit of hope.
Also, there's a 1-hour-long prequel voice drama on youtube, but I would not recommend listening to it until you've played at least half of the game
UPD: This novel has completely destroyed me. Half a day has passed, and I still can't stop crying. I haven't felt this depressed since 2021, but now it's for a different reason. It's too sweet. Their relationship feels real, and the thought that I won't ever experience anything similar is soul-crushing.
Pretty great short yuri VN. The art is incredible and appealing with some beautiful backgrounds. The characters are all pretty well written with good developments and interesting dynamics, also nice pacing to the story
Incredible visual novel, from start to finish. The amount of assets in this game is astounding; the tachie have different clothes and hairstyles each time the characters go out. The backgrounds and CGs are incredibly detailed and beautiful too. The tachie are all animated and very expressive; even the characters in CGs are animated. The game has great QoL features as well; voice replay doesn't stop when you exit the backlog, and you can actually jump back to a specific scene from the backlog.
The characters are all well-written and have great dynamics, not a single scene ever felt boring or forced. The writing is top-notch too. The scenario is very grounded, but it takes its time exploring all the themes that are brought up and enough gravity is given to themes which require it. It's just a very good experience all around.
The characters are all well-written and have great dynamics, not a single scene ever felt boring or forced. The writing is top-notch too. The scenario is very grounded, but it takes its time exploring all the themes that are brought up and enough gravity is given to themes which require it. It's just a very good experience all around.