a lovely post-script in the tsukihime story - believe it or not, i actually ended up preferring kagetsu toya to the main tsukihime novel! there's far less to talk about thematically here. note that due to the nature of the story being told here as well as the relative nature of fan-discs in dojin projects, kagetsu toya should be looked at as a bonus scenario for fans rather than a proper entry within the canon itself.
following the events of tsukihime, shiki tono loops through the same scenarios under the same 24 hours over and over in the world of dreams, and what blossoms out of that is one of the most interesting progression systems i've ever seen in a visual novel. through repetitive short cycles with slightly altering paths, shiki is able to dive further and further into the illusory world of this dream, meeting up with friends, allies, and enemies from across tsukihime in a desperate search for the end of this dream, the identity of the dreamer, and the purpose it is trying to show him. that said, the drama here is far less than that of tsukihime, but i honestly think this benefits kagetsu toya's tone.
dream logic pervades and a hazy, dreamy midsummer day plays out ad nauseum while the looping metatext and surrealism shadow-puppet shiki's adventures through the looking glass. at times, lampshading with that classic dojin referential pastiche, at times sanguine and succint with truly japanese-centric humor and social pulp. nonsensical good morning messages from cast and crew pull the curtains back on another one of shiki's 45 days in a day.
somewhere along visiting those same sets of options once again i smiled to myself and thought, 'this feels so much like flower, sun & rain', which is an utmost positive coming from me, one of its most ardent fans. despite suffering from some similar shortcomings as the main tsukihime itself (was len's story ending that way really necessary, nasu?) i found myself truly falling in love with this game, and type-moon as a whole, during this game. the side stories and galleries of both fan art and colleague art (note to self; if ever i make a visual novel and it succeeds, do exactly this) all brought a smile to my face as well. kagetsu toya managed to take all of the eccentricities and in-betweens i loved about tsukihime so much and bolstered the experience all that much more. this midsummer's daydream is what's truly sold me on getting to more of their work.
following the events of tsukihime, shiki tono loops through the same scenarios under the same 24 hours over and over in the world of dreams, and what blossoms out of that is one of the most interesting progression systems i've ever seen in a visual novel. through repetitive short cycles with slightly altering paths, shiki is able to dive further and further into the illusory world of this dream, meeting up with friends, allies, and enemies from across tsukihime in a desperate search for the end of this dream, the identity of the dreamer, and the purpose it is trying to show him. that said, the drama here is far less than that of tsukihime, but i honestly think this benefits kagetsu toya's tone.
dream logic pervades and a hazy, dreamy midsummer day plays out ad nauseum while the looping metatext and surrealism shadow-puppet shiki's adventures through the looking glass. at times, lampshading with that classic dojin referential pastiche, at times sanguine and succint with truly japanese-centric humor and social pulp. nonsensical good morning messages from cast and crew pull the curtains back on another one of shiki's 45 days in a day.
somewhere along visiting those same sets of options once again i smiled to myself and thought, 'this feels so much like flower, sun & rain', which is an utmost positive coming from me, one of its most ardent fans. despite suffering from some similar shortcomings as the main tsukihime itself (was len's story ending that way really necessary, nasu?) i found myself truly falling in love with this game, and type-moon as a whole, during this game. the side stories and galleries of both fan art and colleague art (note to self; if ever i make a visual novel and it succeeds, do exactly this) all brought a smile to my face as well. kagetsu toya managed to take all of the eccentricities and in-betweens i loved about tsukihime so much and bolstered the experience all that much more. this midsummer's daydream is what's truly sold me on getting to more of their work.
3 Comments
Very based
Hope you enjoyed the translation. Spent a few months cleaning it up where I could in hopes people would better be able to see what’s so cool ab this game
Hope you enjoyed the translation. Spent a few months cleaning it up where I could in hopes people would better be able to see what’s so cool ab this game
thank you very much! i did! i’ll come back when my japanese is in a spot to play enough of the original to get a feel for it too and see what’s up :)
tokumei
1 year ago