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]
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]
8 Comments
Yeah I'm 100% gonna read Extra2 I loved Misaki, just taking a little break from Aokana first (and holding out hope for a bigger sale than -15% on Steam but hell, the devs probably deserve full price for the quality, might just buy it now)
Good then !
@EdmondDantes (idk if Backloggd sends a proper notification unless I tag you?) Ended up buying it and Extra1 too which I'll read first because Mashiro was actually my 2nd favorite (not far behind Misaki but way ahead of Asuka and Rika) and it would bug the completionist in me to "skip" any content. I saw a review say her Extra is very romance-focused and for me that's a great sign. That's not to say I disliked FC, I just enjoyed the romance more overall. Anyway, cheers for reminding me about the Extras! I might have waited too long if not for you haha
Also before I start to forget too much of the story/girls, if I had to rate the routes individually it'd be something like 8-9/10 for Misaki, 7/10 Mashiro, 5/10 Rika, and 3-4/10 Asuka
No it doesn't for the notification. Good for Extra1 then, I'm not that fan of Extra1 compared to 2 but it's pretty wholesome, it has some cute scenes, and probably the funniest scene of all Aokana. And yes there's no sport in Extra1, when Extra2 has a lot (more than her route but it's also very focused on romance, I think they really did an amazing mix between sports and romance, both are really intertwined like in her route).
You're welcome, happy to read that ! I would say I have the same rating for Misaki route, personally I really love Asuka route too, how it clashes thematically with Misaki's route, and Rika/Mashiro are nice for me (probably something like 6/7). But as an all, Aokana main VN is a 9 for me since I have a lot of attachment for it. I also think doing Misaki route last and just after that finishing Extra2 gave me even more attachment to it since it came at the end, and Misaki became the main heroine of Aokana (even if I like Asuka a lot, she's a mary sue, literaly a female Goku but I found her determination endearing, and she has some really great dialogues in Extra2).
Hope you'll enjoy Extra 1/2 !
You're welcome, happy to read that ! I would say I have the same rating for Misaki route, personally I really love Asuka route too, how it clashes thematically with Misaki's route, and Rika/Mashiro are nice for me (probably something like 6/7). But as an all, Aokana main VN is a 9 for me since I have a lot of attachment for it. I also think doing Misaki route last and just after that finishing Extra2 gave me even more attachment to it since it came at the end, and Misaki became the main heroine of Aokana (even if I like Asuka a lot, she's a mary sue, literaly a female Goku but I found her determination endearing, and she has some really great dialogues in Extra2).
Hope you'll enjoy Extra 1/2 !
@EdmondDantes I can totally see why you'd appreciate Asuka's route a lot for the whole classic hard work vs. talent thematic clash as you mentioned, but like you also mentioned, her being a Mary Sue was just not working for me. I don't /dislike/ her or anything close to it, and I'm probably being too harsh taking away too many points just because her route ended with that deus ex machina moment but man did that leave a bad taste in my mouth - especially when I compare it to how amazing Misaki's final FC match was.
I also understand why you'd rate the whole Aokana VN a 9/10 even if Rika/Mashiro weren't that high for you. Maybe I'm making a mistake by basically scoring it as the average of all 4 routes instead of giving more weight to the emotional impact of Misaki's route. Fuck it, I think I'll take a page from your book and bump my score up from 6 to 7 now
Anyway, I actually just finished Extra1. It was fairly cute, quite short at only 4 hours but I think they covered everything they needed to as an epilogue for her story. Excited to dive into Extra2 now!
I also understand why you'd rate the whole Aokana VN a 9/10 even if Rika/Mashiro weren't that high for you. Maybe I'm making a mistake by basically scoring it as the average of all 4 routes instead of giving more weight to the emotional impact of Misaki's route. Fuck it, I think I'll take a page from your book and bump my score up from 6 to 7 now
Anyway, I actually just finished Extra1. It was fairly cute, quite short at only 4 hours but I think they covered everything they needed to as an epilogue for her story. Excited to dive into Extra2 now!
Yeah I can understand being neutral about Asuka, and it's true that her final match was a deus ex machina at the end, but I really think it fit her and what her route is telling (even if I prefer the more grounded side of FC represented by Misaki)
Nice for the update of the score and Extra1 ! And yeah, Extra1 is quite short, Extra2 is longer even if it's not very long (I would say it's as long as Misaki route, or maybe a bit longer)
Nice for the update of the score and Extra1 ! And yeah, Extra1 is quite short, Extra2 is longer even if it's not very long (I would say it's as long as Misaki route, or maybe a bit longer)
EdmondDantes
1 year ago