Reviews from

in the past


"But even still, you'll never see what lies ahead if you don't keep fighting. There's a lot to love in the world, so you have to take the good with the bad.
And so, we'll fly forward.
We'll carve our own path across the blue... where our future lies."

Aokana é uma visual novel que eu já tinha interesse antes pois achava a arte bem bonita (ainda acho), mas nunca botei nenhuma expectativa muito alta nela, via de longe e pensava "po deve ser divertidinho". E bem, aproveitando que me recomendaram eu li.

E não pude estar mais enganado, Aokana vai muito além de ser divertidinho, foi uma experiência incrível. Começando pela sua ost que transparece muito bem toda a ambientação onde o jogo se passa (que é uma ilha) além disso é um setting o qual sou muito fã e o tipo de músicas que sou muito fã. Ele faz com maestria tanto música mais calmas, mais emotivas ou músicas mais agitadas para as partidas do Flying Circus. É uma ost que tem MUITA ALMA, eu confesso que muito da culpa de eu não ter finalizado aokana antes é pelo fato de eu deixar o jogo aberto so pra curtir a música e pá, me encantei muito pela ost disso e consigo ver o compositor dando a alma por ela.

Agora, sobre a arte do jogo em si achei muito bonito. Eu realmente não sou lá fã de coisa muito anime, mas aokana ajudou a tirar muito do meu preconceito com esse estilo e me mostrou que eu consigo sim me agradar desse tipo de arte quando bem feito, as cgs são ótimas e os designs em sua maioria são bem legais (tirando a Rika que só é bem... sem graça). No geral, me agradei bastante da arte de aokana.

Bem agora uuuh, antes de eu continuar falando dos pontos positivos (do flying circus e das rotas), eu quero logo tirar o elefante da sala e dizer as duas coisas que mais me incomodaram na obra. As hscenes e a Rika.

As hscenes são muito chatas de ler e sinceramente não tankei ler nenhuma até o final, elas são bem feitas pois a arte de aokana é muito bonito então é agradável aos olhos, mas sinceramente elas não são nenhum pouco divertidas de ler e mostra como japonês realmente devia parar de tentar escrever sexo já que não dá certo. Não tem nada de errado com a existência das cenas em si, é completamente coeso com a relação do masaya com a garota de cada rota, mas namoral, é um saco de ler.

Agora a Rika, nada dessa garota presta. Simplesmente o pior personagem e a única personagem que eu não gostei da obra. Ela se resume a um traço de personalidade que é ser tradwife, é sério. E a rota dela é uma merda, eu gosto muito da ideia e de certa forma adiciona no personagem do Masaya, mas o jeito que fazem aquele drama com aquela mina que eu até esqueci o nome com a Rika é completamente merda que até parece shitpost, o que é um desperdício enorme, pois a cena da Rika mostrando pra ela que ainda dá tempo de voltar para aquele lado tem um valor temático muito bonito pra aokana, mas toda a construção pra isso é só cringe, edgy e rushado.

Bom, chega de negatividade, quero falar bem da obra agora.

A common foi uma experiência bem divertida, a relação que é construída com o Masaya e o resto do cast é muito genuíno e engraçado, eles realmente são como amigos zoando por aí um com os outros, implicando um com o outro e etc, é o tipo de coisa que realmente faz muita diferença na experiência disso tendo em vista que. querendo ou não, maior parte de Aokana é slice of life.

O Flying Circus é um ponto a se destacar, afinal é nele que se centram os dramas dos personagens. É um esporte feito exclusivamente feito pra obra, e eu achei foda pra caralho. Sério, queria que esse esporte realmente existisse. E a forma como a obra executa as partidas dela me deixa extremamente hypado, inclusive deu até vontade de ler outras obras de esporte depois de aokana. As partidas mais importantes principalmente como a última partida da rota da Asuka e na da Misaki, me deixaram arrepiado de tão brabo que foi. Legitimamente fico ansioso pra ler os extras pois quero ver muito mais do FC.

A primeira rota que eu fiz foi da Mashiro, e achei bem legal. Acho muito legal a forma que a Mashiro e o Masaya se apaixonam, é um bagulho meloso e açucarado pra caralho e de certa forma, cringe? Sim, é, mas é tão genuíno que não consigo odiar, a cena da mensagem subliminar é genial. Gosto muito do fio FC aqui e a forma como a Mashiro mostra um "céu puramente azul" diferente do que o Masaya via, é bem bonitinho, o final da rota me deixou satisfeito.

Agora a rota da Asuka... mano. O que dizer dessa rota? Simplesmente do caralho, tipo sério. Eu achei a rota da Mashiro boa e acabei esperando que fosse sempre naquele nível, mas essa rota me mostrou a verdadeira face de Aokana. QUE ROTA ESPETACULAR PUTA QUE PARIU! Eu só não consigo por em palavras o que eu senti com essa rota, pois é algo que só lendo a pessoa vai entender essa sentimento, mas nossa, uou.

A rota da Misaki foi a que deixei por último e não me arrependo de nada. Tanto o romance como o jeito que é tratado o FC aqui é fenomenal, ele trata de uma outra perspectiva tudo isso e foi por uma direção que eu não esperava, mas que fez muito sentido ter tratado dessa forma. Ele explora o Masaya de uma forma que os conflitos dele tenham ficado 100x mais interessantes, pois as situações tratadas são muito complicadas. Claro já era do caralho antes, mas aqui eu posso dizer com toda certeza que é o ápice do personagem. E Misaki melhor garota fds TE AMO MISAKI DIVA DEUSA MINHA RAINHA.

Algo mais pessoal agora mas, eu realmente me conectei muito com o Masaya. Por que? Pelo simples fato que eu entendo exatamente como ele se sente, pois eu já passei pelo mesmo que ele. Quando eu fui ler Aokana eu legitimamente não esperava me deparar com minha biografia, e não é nenhum meme do gênero "ele é literalmente eu fr", eu to falando sério. Os dramas dele me bateram muito mais forte por causa disso.

Enfim, não me arrependo nenhum pouco de ter lido Aokana, foi uma experiência incrível e eu com toda certeza irei ler os extras.

Overall I definitely considered it a good time. Flying Circus was a nice way to introduce a new type of fictional sport, keep it interesting without infodumping a lot, and finding ways to have twists around it.

I suppose some people call it a moege cuz it's lighthearted but I thought there was enough character development and plot/goal consistency to definitely have an edge over other moege, to the point where you can make an argument this is NOT a moege.

I'd say the characters were mostly likable, and it helps characters outside the MC + main girls actually mattered to a decent extent. That said, some jokes and some of the timing of them got a bit overdone which hurt a few characters for me.

But I liked each route, they brought something unique to the table and I was more than fine with some being FC focused vs romance focused. I suppose there were some weird route detail inconsistencies but I've just gotten used to it due to different writers and stuff.

Visuals were obviously very good, and BGM was solid with a handful of standout songs. Can't complain too much on the presentation aspect.

But here's the fun part, route/character rankings... Funnily enough I'd say they're exactly the same.

Asuka > Rika > Misaki > Mashiro

Asuka- Her route felt like it branched from the common most naturally based on how things were going. But more importantly, it was the FC route that focused on the future of FC and many characters' futures and was just a lot of fun. It was also the route that had the involvement of almost every major character compared to every other route consistently, which I liked. This was the cheesy battle shounen route as expected, but I eat that shit up if done well and I definitely think it was done well. I've seen slight complaints of Asuka's romance/first H-scene being rushed but I thought it was... fine? Like the route writing the romance was very cheesy diabeetus inducing but I thought there was just enough to have me satisfied. Though it helps Asuka clearly was in love with the beginning so that helped smooth things. Speaking of Asuka, she's clearly the most simple character but I'm fine with that since she was built to be the unpredictable but innocent and honest deredere type which I enjoy well.

Rika- Outside a few details, I legit don't see what's wrong with her route. Were those details really enough to ruin a solid character oriented route? Both Rika and her route were nice and comfy and relatable and I like that. She had a goal, and while the villain was a bit edgey and probably got off too easy, I thought the way it was built up with how Rika was training was nice. The romance was decent enough.

Misaki- It's unfortunate, cuz I really see where the love of this route comes from. It's very unique, and develops the 'dark side' of a few characters in the most interesting way by far. The route has by far the most 1 on 1 time, which works out for 2 mains to develop more. However, I thought the romance was by far the most rushed, even with Misaki's 'chad' confession. Also having lots of 1 on 1 time with Misaki meant.... a lot more of her obnoxious joking which was very hit or miss for me.

Mashiro- God I really did not like Mashiro outside her route much... which sucks because part of why I like her route is that they made her so much better, especially when you get halfway through Ch 7. I wish this Mashiro was more of her standard personality in more of common/other routes. As it stands she's probably below a bunch of minor characters on my ranking. Anyway, her route was the most romance focused which made sense her liking Masaya made the least sense so they had to develop it the most so it worked out. Involving the development of more characters besides her was nice and she had some nice feelsy moments.

If I had to rank the minor characters since enough of them are relevant

Madoka > Minamo > Shindou > Satouin > Saki > Aoi > Shion/Prez > Masaya > Shirase > Arika > Irina > Minori

So yeah I generally enjoyed myself. I didn't consider this something that blew me as like king of moege potential or something but I did enjoy it.

this was cute lol hmmm i personally am not big into VN's like are like 99% wholesome and then 1% erotic but I get the appeal and I am not going to judge

Aokana is something I really enjoy overall but MAN does it drop the ball in some places.

Going over what I like first, common route was great. The SoL was on point rivaling that of Grisaia for me (high praise). The characters were also super fun, having great interactions and extremely good development in some cases. Also the FC matches were crazy good, ridiculously good at points. Aokana is so good at showing how badass this fictional sport can be and I love it for that.

My biggest problems mostly stem from the routes. I have no issue with Misaki route and thought that was fantastic overall so I'll ignore that but the other 3 have their own fair share of issues. Just a blanket statement across the routes is the romance is so fucking cringe. I never want to endure pillow talk between these mfs again and I ESPECIALLY never want to see two mfs being shy about a date after having some crazy ass sex literally the night before, like come on brah. On to individual problems, Mashiro's route was mostly just a victim of cringe romance, I really like her character aside from that and her development is phenomenal. Rika's route just sucks outside of like one part, I REALLY don't like her route and felt it didn't have to exist. And lastly I think Asuka's route is awesome when it comes to FC but Asuka as a character is very whatever.

Overall I still think Aokana was very good, it can just drag it's feet hard at points. Also if you've already read Aokana read Extra 2, that shit is PEAK and does so much justice to this VN

Great characters, mid worldbuilding
big loss of potential because the developers love milking the series instead of making a worthy sequel


Great experience for anyone who's ever competed in anything (sports, video games, etc) or just enjoys something sports related. Also great if you just want something with cute girls because the SOL scenes are all fantastic and has amazing visuals to go with it.

Or if you like huge boobs like Misaki has

Ya he dicho mi opinión sobre Aokana en los últimos 2 años, objetivamente una buena VN, pero que personalmente me aburrió... Tuve que obligarme a terminar las rutas que me faltaron y juro que me tomo más de 1 año en poder terminarlo.

De hecho ni siquiera quería comprar Aokana, lo compré simplemente porque aun era novato en este nicho y fui estupido y lo confundí con Konosora (La cual si es una buena Visual Novel de verdad)

Lo único decente fue Misaki que es hot af y Madoka y Mashiro besto waifus. Aun asi no soy vengativo y una de las VN que llevo esperando desde hace años es Koichoco, obra de los mismos que Aokana y que con suerte sale este año.

Great natsuge: very strong visuals, exciting sports games, and sweet romance. Couldn't wish for more in my life, I feel blessed.

No wonder it got an anime (if only it had a good one of course) because this was such a fun ride. The fictional sport in this game was so detailed and well constructed, they really put all their effort into it. Don't blame them, the concept is awesome.

Besides that being the focus of course, the routes as a whole were extremely wholesome and just really fun rides the whole way through.

actually good and cool story building

Uma das melhoras VNs que já joguei apesar de seus defeitos e clichês, uma leitura emocionante, cativante e divertida.

Não é um 10 ou 5 em nenhuma de suas versões seja anime, mangá ou a própria vn mesmo.

Only did Asuka and Misaki route and not planning to read the others (at least not now for Mashiro), astonishing visuals, surprisingly a fair amount of CG for the FC matchs and cool story. I think the characters routes are too short compared to the common route, or the common route is too long but it's not well balanced, OST is great but lacks diversity and you end up listening to the same 6 for the whole VN. Romance is cute but it goes too fast and you get a lot of timeskip where I would have enjoyed to see characters interactions instead, however they did great with H content especially Misaki ??? Also cool parallel between Asuka and Misaki, the two of them grow in different ways, one by having fun and the other by being frustrated and you feel it in their routes and characters. Misaki's route goes more in depth into the MC but unfortunately the final is not as good as Asuka's. Side characters like Shindo and Satouin are cool but Ichinose is garbage even though she's one of the 4 heroines.

For sure an extremely competent moege with especially great art and voice acting, but maybe this genre of VN isn't super for me because I'm again a little underwhelmed. The Flying Circus sport mostly worked but was a bit asspull-y at times (especially toward the end of Asuka's route lol). Misaki's route was a cut above the rest for me, both in how much I could sympathize with her emotional turmoil and in how much chemistry I felt she had with the MC. Loved their banter. Doing her route first probably didn't do the others any favors (though thankfully I saved Asuka for last cuz the other two would've been anticlimactic).

TL;DR I had a decent albeit slightly forgettable time with this very lighthearted series of romance possibilities centered around a kinda goofy but intriguing sport

Funny spots of translation: At one point Madoka says "Grande, tall, regular, small" completely in English, yet the text says "Venti, grande, tall, short" lol. Also when Misaki calls Madoka a brocon and the text translates it as fangirl, cmon now. I almost wish Madoka had her own route, she was fun

[2023-05-10 // bumping score up from 6 to 7]

A VN with 1440p images!?
Well It's gorgeous, all the art and voice acting is top notch. The girls (and best boy) are all lovable and the humor is remarkably good for a translated VN. It's broken into 2-3 hour "chapters" which gives you great spots to stop.

I think it went something like..
UOOHHH AHHH OHHH MAAH GAWD


Good mix of sports and moege, game looks really good and the presentation is above most visual novels.
Misaki my beloved.