Saccharine and dream-like without deliberately ignoring the harshness of reality that spurs on those idle fantasies. Since it's a period piece of sorts (set around the time of Barack Obama's first electoral win) there's plenty of anachronisms you could nitpick, but what I think it gets best is the hypocrisy of the era -- that empty hope for something better that we all know never really came. There's lots of "unrealistic" aspects baked into the experience, and I feel a nitpick would probably be that all the characters feel distinctly queer, but I also magically ended up being friends with a bunch of closeted queer people circa 2008, ones I'm still friends with to this day! And like, depending on the era the story is taking place in, the characters might act a little older than you'd expect for people of that age (both in the elementary school flashbacks and the "modern" high school perspective), but it fits so well into the game's themes, premise, and ultimately the fantasy that Butterfly Soup is trying to deliver that it's not even a legitimate criticism in my eyes.

The humor definitely seems hit or miss for some people, but I thought it was cute!! The most accurate "child-like" aspect of the characters the writing lands is their sense of humor and it honestly rules for that; I definitely knew people like and was friends with people like Akarsha in middle and high school. Plus, there's just genuinely snappy humor goin' on here (in the end though it was the "Mile 'Tails' Edgeworth" that really got me, probably because that's exactly the type of joke me and my friends would've made back in like 2009).

Butterfly Soup is just a really lovely visual novel, I think more people should check it out if it interests them!!! Also, I am definitely not beating the Min allegations.

Reviewed on Mar 13, 2024


4 Comments


1 month ago

Oh man, i forgot about this game. It has never been my type of thing, but someone i knew growing up really liked it. She passed away when we were in high school but i'll always associate this game with her. Thanks for reminding me about this ^_^

1 month ago

@moschidae i'm really sorry to hear that, but i'm glad me posting this review could do some good for somebody

1 month ago

> I feel a nitpick would probably be that all the characters feel distinctly queer, but I also magically ended up being friends with a bunch of closeted queer people circa 2008, ones I'm still friends with to this day!

I don't believe in such a thing as a 'universal experience', but somehow managing to gaydar your way into knowing every other queer in your circle as a teenager seems to be the closest thing to a universal queer experience.

1 month ago

huh gay girl obama era period piece is not a way this has been described to me, maybe i was too dismissive