Reviews from

in the past


content warning
i will start out by saying that this game and any other games of its nature are very difficult to recommend to people simply because of the content in them, so a huge content warning beforehand for:
- rape & sexual violence
- child exploitation
- animal abuse
- incest
- beastiality
- pedophilia
- gore
- necrophilia

i also want to say that this game in no way tries to romanticise any of those themes whatsoever and paints them in a very negative light. all the erotic scenes are fan disservice and exist to be unsettling while moving the story forward.

context
i haven't read many visual novels and prior to reading sayonara o oshiete i'd just finished reading saya no uta and my friend said he really enjoyed sayooshi. i'm not the best at reading and this game as of writing this still doesn't have an official english release, but the fan translation i read was very good.

spoiler free summary
the protagonist is a young teacher trainee suffering from repetitive nightmares of an angel being assaulted by a monster as he starts his teacher training at an all girls school. every day he wakes up in a dazed state and tries to get through each day of his training, but he keeps thinking about the dreams he's having and one of the girls at the school shares an uncanny resemblance to the angel in his dreams. he meets 4 other girls that seem to never leave the school in the late hours of the evening, and they all remind him of different aspects of his own childhood.

characters
every character in sayooshi is so perfectly written and individual, making them very easy to get attached to. this may be a coincidence, but as i was reading for the first time i found that each of the characters reminded me a lot of alice in wonderland characters.

koyori reminded me of the cheshire cat a lot, being very playful and seemingly absent minded, while also talking in a very mysterious way, subtly trying to help the protagonist while also teasing him. she directly reflects the protagonist's confusion and lack of self awareness and mocks him while doing so. i really loved koyori's scenes the most because of how much they broke the 4th wall. talking to her made me feel like i was going insane, but after finishing each route it all came together and made sense.

miyuki's blunt and pompous personality reminded me of the caterpillar a lot, as she seems to always want to be right and indirectly helps the protagonist by telling him random facts from books found in the library.

and as for nozomi, her loneliness and desire to disappear reminded me of alice's curiosity and affinity for a world outside of our own. the way nozomi talks to the protagonist seems like she's masking her loneliness by acting like a grown up, similar to how alice initially looks down upon adults.

the characters all have a way of making the reader doubt reality. whether it's through the whimsical ways they interact with the protagonist, or how they don't seem to be aware of each others' existence. they are all very likeable and individual from each other, which when compared to saya no uta, i only found myself getting attached to saya herself.

because of the nature of this game, the protagonist obviously is not a good person in the slightest and does some of the most unspeakable things imaginable. but his day to day hysteria and monotony is written in such a way where you do feel for him. his struggles are for the most part all very common and relatable. this doesn't make any of the things he does any less unacceptable, but it does make the overall experience feel a lot more conflicting, as you are lead to feel for this man who acts out terrible things.

visuals
something i feel a lot more qualified to critique and talk about are the illustrations and interface design. but there's really nothing to complain about. everything is so beautiful and tinted in a deep sunset hue. the characters are illustrated perfectly, reflecting each of their unique personalities flawlessly. the art style can definitely invoke a sense of nostalgia in anyone, regardless of whether they've read sayooshi before or not, since the art in some ways is dated and hasn't aged the best from the early 2000s anime style that was popular at the time. but, i find it incredibly charming, and the way the illustrator drew the faces gives them a sense of emptiness and distance from the reader.

the interface design is incredibly beautiful and intricate too, i sometimes find myself wanting to boot up the game just to look at the menus and cg gallery. it's definitely one of the most stylistic games i've ever played

music
if you don't plan on reading sayooshi i definitely recommend listening to the soundtrack. each piece is so full of complex emotion and pretty melodies. especially when it comes to each character's theme, the songs sound like how i picture each character's personalities to sound. i honestly wish the soundtrack cd wasn't so expensive because i need it in my life 😭😭

closing thoughts
if you can stomach the extreme subject matter, i cannot recommend sayonara o oshiete enough. it's one of the most immersive stories i've ever read and probably ever will read. i felt like i was spiralling into madness along side the protagonist the entire time i was reading it and i wish it wasn't over. i forgot to mention also that the voice acting is amazing and so perfectly cast, i can't imagine any of the characters sounding any different.

my only critique is that mental illness is such an integral part of sayonara o oshiete, but in some areas it does feel as though the protagonist's mental illness is being demonised. on my first playthrough i got a bad ending which felt a little offensive, but i understand that the game is rather old now, so i don't expect it to be a perfect representation for mental illness.

tldr: it's a very fun and disturbing experience overall and it made me cry a few times, would recommend.