(i've only played mayuri's route and i don't have much intention of playing rikka's route so this review is ONLY for mayuri's route).
i don't read many vns but i was drawn to this series when browsing jast usa's games on steam and it stuck out like a sore thumb. i decided to give it a go after reading sayonara o oshiete as i felt it would be a nice palette cleanser and it had ballet and very pretty illustrations so i was pretty interested in giving it a go despite the fact that i don't tend to enjoy slice of life stories.
after finishing, i can confidently say it's not what i expected at all. i thought it would just be an overly cutesy story with no real conflict, but i couldn't be more wrong.
i think because i related to mayuri, suoh, and erika a lot the depictions of internal struggles and internalised homophobia really resonated with me and touched me. it had a very respectful and delicate way of presenting mental illness while also not stepping on eggshells. i found that the religious aspects of the story (with the girls being enrolled at a catholic school despite being agnostic or atheist) were very well done. it never felt forced or unnatural and i fully expected there to be moments where they'd opt for the "christianity = homophobia" stereotype but it was never black and white and i think they definitely handled it very well.
in short: (for the most part) the characters are all very vivid with very likeable personalities and relatable struggles, the illustrations are absolutely stunning, the writing is elegant and very beautiful despite a few spelling errors (which i assume is just an issue with the english translation having bugs with words that include "...nj" in them). the music is pretty, but i found myself muting it fairly early on because it got fairly repetitive and i felt a lot of the song choices didn't really match the mood of a lot of the scenes.
the reason i can only give this 4.5/5 is because there are a few minor issues as mentioned before and i personally REALLY could not stand rikka's character at all which did become a problem since she is one of the main characters and a temporary protagonist during one of the later chapters.
i am very excited to play the rest of the games and overall i'm happy i found this series
i don't read many vns but i was drawn to this series when browsing jast usa's games on steam and it stuck out like a sore thumb. i decided to give it a go after reading sayonara o oshiete as i felt it would be a nice palette cleanser and it had ballet and very pretty illustrations so i was pretty interested in giving it a go despite the fact that i don't tend to enjoy slice of life stories.
after finishing, i can confidently say it's not what i expected at all. i thought it would just be an overly cutesy story with no real conflict, but i couldn't be more wrong.
i think because i related to mayuri, suoh, and erika a lot the depictions of internal struggles and internalised homophobia really resonated with me and touched me. it had a very respectful and delicate way of presenting mental illness while also not stepping on eggshells. i found that the religious aspects of the story (with the girls being enrolled at a catholic school despite being agnostic or atheist) were very well done. it never felt forced or unnatural and i fully expected there to be moments where they'd opt for the "christianity = homophobia" stereotype but it was never black and white and i think they definitely handled it very well.
in short: (for the most part) the characters are all very vivid with very likeable personalities and relatable struggles, the illustrations are absolutely stunning, the writing is elegant and very beautiful despite a few spelling errors (which i assume is just an issue with the english translation having bugs with words that include "...nj" in them). the music is pretty, but i found myself muting it fairly early on because it got fairly repetitive and i felt a lot of the song choices didn't really match the mood of a lot of the scenes.
the reason i can only give this 4.5/5 is because there are a few minor issues as mentioned before and i personally REALLY could not stand rikka's character at all which did become a problem since she is one of the main characters and a temporary protagonist during one of the later chapters.
i am very excited to play the rest of the games and overall i'm happy i found this series
sleepywednesday
1 month ago