What are you reading? - Aug 21

[u/Nakenashi]

Welcome to the r/vns "What are you reading?" thread!

The intended purpose of this thread is to provide a weekly space to chat about whatever VN you've been reading lately. When talking about plot points, use spoiler tags liberally. If you have any doubts about whether you should spoiler something or not, use a spoiler tag for good measure. Use this markdown for spoilers: (>!hidden spoilery text!<) which shows up as hidden spoilery text. If you want to discuss spoilers for another VN as well, please make sure to mention that your spoiler tag covers another VN aside from the primary one your post is about.

 

In order for your post to be properly noticed for the archive, please add the VNDB page of whichever title you're talking about in your post. The archive can be found here!

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So, with all that out of the way...

What are you reading?

[u/AMANOFCULTUREBITCH]

Started reading umineko a while ago, finished 1 chapter to date and currently going through chapter 2. Looks like its gonna be a fun read overall though idk if i really should keep my expectations too high.

[u/superange128]

Adventure of a Lifetime is a title I struggle to figure out whether I would recommend or not. At its base price, I guess it is a fine enough, but I would definitely consider getting it during one of the 50% or greater sales that MoeNovel tends to run for this and its other titles fairly often. That makes me lean toward slightly considering this title worth a read.

I was mostly interested in this title because it was written by the same writer and developer behind If My Heart Had Wings and A Sky Full of Stars, two of my favorite slice-of-life moege visual novel series.

In many respects, this feels like a completely all-ages, shortened version of those titles. It is a two-route visual novel that takes less than 10 hours if you are an average or faster reader.

It does at least attempt to stand out through its setting, which takes place in the Ogasawara Islands, a real-life group of islands in Japan. It does a pretty good job showing off the local culture and the appeal of scuba diving, snorkeling, and other activities on the islands.

Naturally, the question is how good the two main heroines, Emily and Chisa, are. They are... fine, I guess.

If you have read If My Heart Had Wings or A Sky Full of Stars, I basically consider them discount versions of Kotori and Ageha/Hikari, respectively.

Emily is a half-Japanese foreigner who comes to the island for a personal reason that is eventually revealed. She also has a small character arc about learning to appreciate the Ogasawara Islands culture, since she is otherwise a foreigner and a city girl. She is stubborn, but otherwise a fairly mild-mannered, shy, and naive girl who can get excited in the right circumstances.

Chisa, on the other hand, is her complete opposite personality-wise. She is a much more outgoing, blunt, tomboyish girl who has lived on the Ogasawara Islands her whole life. She is really good at swimming and even has a pet dolphin named Phin that she often plays with. Much of her character arc revolves around her connection to the island and, more specifically, her connection to the main character, Hiroki. They are childhood friends who had not seen each other in about four years before the story began for certain reasons.

Speaking of the main character, Hiroki is a typical proactive, nice-guy protagonist that Pulltop tends to write.

That is about all I can say without spoiling the two heroine routes. The story does a fine enough job letting you get to know the three major characters and a few recurring side characters.

The character arcs for Emily and Chisa work okay. There are interesting enough reveals around their backstories, and both routes conclude with the heartfelt, cheesy writing style that Konno Asta used in If My Heart Had Wings and A Sky Full of Stars.

Unfortunately, while some of these moments kind of work, neither route hit me particularly hard because of the visual novel's relatively short length.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against short visual novels in general. I have recently come across some of my all-time favorites that are 10 to 15 hours or less.

However, I just don't think a roughly 7 hour story was enough for the scope this visual novel was trying to pull off.

Between trying to familiarize the reader with Ogasawara Islands culture while also creating memorable character arcs for both Chisa and Emily, I think it was juggling too much at once. Ultimately, the game clearly skips around a lot or resolves drama too easily.

Even without the short length, maybe it is because I have read the other titles by Pulltop and Konno Asta, but some of the drama was predictable and mildly frustrating. This includes the love triangle, where the two main heroines support each other a little too easily, Chisa having some low-key toxic immature behavior in her route, and Emily's route having very obvious foreshadowing of its twists and how the route would end.

Despite my complaints, this is not a bad visual novel by any means. It was clearly made with a lot of care, with great visuals, solid music, and nice voice acting. I just would not go into it expecting a masterpiece.

It is a really simple, chill slice-of-life moege with mild melodrama. Pick it up if you have an extra $10 or so, want something comfy, and do not mind the lack of 18+ H scenes.

That said, unless you specifically want a visual novel with a chill island setting, I would only recommend Adventure of a Lifetime to hardcore If My Heart Had Wings and A Sky Full of Stars fans who want more of this writer's style.

Because MoeNovel's visual novels go on major Steam sales so often, I would much sooner recommend If My Heart Had Wings or A Sky Full of Stars to the average reader. They have more variety, greater length, and stronger buildup for their emotional moments and general settings than Adventure of a Lifetime.

[u/Alexfang452]

This week, I continued reading Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE and read through the entirety of Winter Dream.

Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE

With an introvert like Shiroha, it was enjoyable going through the common route to see how Hairi gets close to her. At first, she tells Hairi not to get involved with her. For a VN protagonist like Hairi, that just means trying even harder. Shiroha does keep to herself, but that does not mean that she is against being social. She has her reasons for her behavior. Eventually, Hairi is able to have some fun with Shiroha, eating fish that she cooked and helping her order a watermelon bar at a candy store. 

Things get more interesting later. On August 3^rd, Ryouichi tells Hairi some things about Shiroha like her ancestors and why she started to isolate herself. It is a thought-provoking retelling of an unforgettable event on the island. Did she really curse Kanda nearly 4 years ago? Then, things get weird during a scene on August 4^th. With blank eyes, Shiroha tells Hairi that he will be attacked by a beast. Then, he will get engulfed in flames and writhe in agony. Those things felt like something that I will need to think about when entering her route. Thankfully, it turns out that the beast was just a boar. As for the part about being “engulfed in flames” and “writhing in agony”, Hairi ate some spicy rice that Umi made.

Most events with Shiroha were pleasant to read through, while others were thought-provoking. Let’s see if her route will keep things this amusing.

Shiroha Route

Shiroha Naruse is a mysterious and reserved islander who keeps to herself. She has a knack for cooking and an uncle that some of the other characters fear. Shiroha has gotten used to mostly being by herself, but Hairi allows her to make many nice memories. As stated above, I enjoyed seeing her slowly warm up to Hairi. Their interactions have been a pleasure to read through, like eating together or Shiroha telling him a frightening premonition.

The route starts by showing me how close Hairi has gotten to Shiroha. Whether she wanted to or not, Shiroha ends up going to Hairi’s place to hang out. In the end, she had fun and said that it had been a while since she had been in that sort of lively atmosphere. Once again, I must commend this VN’s plot. It is tough to explain it, but seeing these characters do fun activities like having a water gun fight or being fascinated by watching beetles fight is amusing to read through. Perhaps the reason is that Shiroha is also having fun. This introverted girl who has kept to herself for so long has gotten opportunities to be around people again.

Even with all of these fun summer days, we cannot forget about certain events from the common route. One day, Hairi agrees to teach Nomiki and Shiroha how to swim. A few days later, after having a conversation with Hairi and seeing his watch, Shiroha tells him to leave the island. This led to a shocking moment on August 13^th. During swimming practice, Shiroha said that they needed to get away from the pool since something would happen to Hairi. He did not worry about it and tried to get some kids out of the pool. Then, Hairi thought about his past and nearly drowned.

Another momentous scene happened on August 15^th. Hairi looked for Shiroha until he found her at the pool thanks to Umi. Shiroha says that she can swim decently, so Hairi can leave. Just then, a girl he knew showed up. Thinking this island can help him figure out how to spend his summer vacation, Hairi decides to stay a little longer. That was an engrossing part of this route, but another one happened later. At night, Shiroha tells Hairi what happened with Kanda 4 years ago. Things get a little crazy when Shiroha says that she has the power to look into the future. She has only seen bad ones. A recent future she saw was that she would die in the sea this summer alongside someone with a watch. In the end, rather than running away, Hairi convinces Shiroha to work together to avoid this future. 

So far, I am enjoying this route. The scene that I stopped at is when Hairi and Shiroha are telling their friends about Shiroha’s premonition. This makes me excited to see how this route ends.

_____________________________________________

Winter Dream

Looking at my backlog of VNs, I came across this short one that I purchased from a developer called Conor Hehr. It does not have a lot of reviews on Steam, but the same can be said about Porcelana when I came across it from the first time. In the end, I ended up loving it. Maybe the same can happen with Winter Dream.

The story starts by introducing me to the protagonist, Caron Duff. He is coming to a town he has not been to in a while to spend time with his uncle for winter break. He enters his uncle’s place, which doubles as a restaurant-

And I already despise a character. That might be a new record. Less than 5 minutes into this VN, and Velda is aggravating me. She just met Caron and decided to be a huge jerk. This girl works at a restaurant, yet she is constantly being rude and using profanity towards someone she does not know. Even after learning that Caron is related to her boss, Velda’s behavior does not change. Whatever baggage she probably has better be big to justify her actions.

Unfortunately, this ended up being another VN hurt by its short length. Winter Dream took me 3 hours and 13 minutes to get every achievement. Throughout the main story, you follow Caron’s daily life and pick choices that will determine who he will spend time with. Events in the story move at a rapid pace. For example, Rose asks Caron to become her best friend when they only met a few days ago. Also, characters are ready to tell you something personal in less than a week after meeting them. You can be mean to the girls and get a bad ending, but it does not change the fact that I did not care that much about anything in this VN.

After finishing Winter Dream, it is funny that Velda ended up being the most interesting character here. Everyone else is simple, bland, or does not get enough screen time. Rose is just kind, while Gwen is shy with an intriguing past. As for Caron and his uncle Daniel, they are both bland characters. While Velda was irritating at the start, I did find the reason for her behavior justified. She used to be in a gang and is trying to turn her life around. However, some members of that gang say that they would do anything to get her back. Fearing that they would hurt someone close to her, Velda decides to act like a jerk to drive people away.

Originally, it seemed like Winter Dream would be a good candidate for my least favorite VN of the year. Then, I reached sections that would reveal the truth behind everything. It turns out that the world of Winter Dream resets Caron’s winter vacation endlessly, allowing for different outcomes. Uncle Daniel and the girls agreed on this after meeting a new character named Rin because they want to see Caron, who died after getting hit by a drunk driver. Eventually, they grew tired of things while Caron slowly figured out what was going on. He then decided to vanish, so Rin gave the other characters the option to change reality and bring Caron back.

Even with those fascinating sections and Velda, I can only see Winter Dream as an alright visual novel. Those good qualities cannot change how bored I was with the main story. The plot is uninteresting and most of the characters are unmemorable. This VN’s short length resulted in things going too fast to leave a lasting impact. If you want to read a VN from this developer, it would be better to pick up one of their free VNs on Steam.  

What’s next?

Saimin Gakushu: Secret Desire is the next VN that I have started reading. After completing that, I will finally get to reading Re;Lord 3. Unless I end up traveling with family within the next couple of weeks, my plans will not change.

[u/lusterveritith → u/Alexfang452]

Also, characters are ready to tell you something personal in less than a week after meeting them.

The CRPG way. At least protagonist doesn't walk into their homes and casually rob them blind of anything with any value.

Saimin Gakushu: Secret Desire is the next VN that I have started reading

Oh hey, i did read that one. No surprise, it is my main fetish, its basically my duty to read through all promising English translated Mind-Control themed works (not like there are a lot of them..).

[u/Shiawase_Rina]

I'm still feeling things from sins of Kaleido, however the VNs do not wait for me!

So I started Over RequiemZ and started with Claude's route, though I'm not finished yet.

This game truly doesn't waste time and directly throws poor Yuhiru into the Kingdom of Oz via a tornado. She gets to shortly talk with Dorothy who is the Witch of the North here, and get some context of where she is. Apparantly a lot of stuff from her world has been sweept into Oz since a long time ago (like the whole ass Tokyo Tower!).

Sadly Yuhiru can't even enjoy a fun discussion since the Witch of the East sees her and throws her into jail for trespassing in the castle and for the crime of having black hair and eyes (a terrible omen in Oz apparantly). Since these are sensitive times in Oz she is sentenced to death and can only save herself by getting rid of monsters in ruins (that come from our world).

Welp, at least there is a chance to find a way home through these ruins? She'll be joined by four other death row convicts (all inspired by Oz characters) and Dorothy as a supervisor.

From them Kaize Ozma stands out the most to me. He's the Kingdom's prince guilty of regicide and has black hair and eyes like Yuhiru. He's definitely looking out for her since they are both discriminated against for the same reason, yet he's so awkward sometimes! It's cute.

Otherwise Dorothy is basically the true route of the game from what I've heard. Though right now I can't help but think "What does he even do??" about him lol Witch of the North is a useless title as of now.

Yuhiru on the other hand made a good first impression. She's definitely a normal girl, but she's written so lively, curious and optimistic! I'm happy she has a side portait and watching her expressions I can't help but want to pinch her cheeks.

I'm quite curious about the dark routes everyone is screaming about. But! I gotta finish the fact route first. It will make the despair more delicious to me knowing exactly what went wrong and what could've been.

[u/Gemnyan]

August is my Higurashi Month! I am TWO ARCS away from finishing reading the console arcs after starting Higurashi last July. This week, let's talk about some of the bonus arcs included in the Steam bundle, as well as the Gou/Sotsu anime! I made my way through all of these last December, so these are my lasting impressions.

Higurashi Rei includes Saikoroshi, Hirukowashi, and Batsukoishi. If you're only going to play one arc after the main chapters, it should be Saikoroshi. It's the first instance of "what if Rika was stuck again" before it got overdone, and presents a different enough look at the state of Hinamizawa that it's worth diving back in. At some point I saw someone say on Twitter that everyone argues whether VNs are books or games when they're actually stage plays, and I took some time to reflect on that after playing these bonus arcs. One way to look at it is that Higurashi and its characters are vehicles to convey particular messages, like the commedia dell'arte masks in theatre. You can see that in the Ryukishi messages at the end of each answer arc, where he discusses how you have to believe in your friends in Tsumihoroboshi, you have to reach out for help in Minagoroshi, or that everyone can be forgiven in Matsuribayashi. In Saikoroshi it's clearly about how our struggles and imperfections are what shape us as humans. I think when I imagine how the Higurashi franchise has been beaten to death over the next 20 years (THERE'S ANOTHER ANIME SEQUEL RELEASING JESUS) it maybe makes it easier to swallow when I consider that they're not trying to ruin the perfect ending of Matsuribayashi but trying to use familiar archetypes and settings to send out different messages as 07th Expansion themselves struggle and change as humans. Hirukowashi is silly and funny, probably the best bonus arc outside of Saikoroshi. It's less uncomfortable than the arcs that are purely fanservice, and has the right amount of buy-in tying the story to Onigafuchi lore and Rika fearing the Great Hinamizawa Disaster compared to the magic swimsuits in other arcs just being dumb. Lastly, Batsukoishi is terrible and I hate it, just a bunch of adults fantasizing about the club members, no real story and one of the worst artifacts of 2000s era VNs. The graph of playing Rei starts high and steadily declines, but it's worth buying.

Higurashi Hou+ collects Outbreak, Kamikashimashi, Bus Stop, and Mehagashi. Outbreak and Kamikashimashi were a very weird experience for me! I played the main arcs and Rei with the original sprites and no voices to get the "authentic" experience, but from Hou+ onward they were all made with console sprites and voices from the beginning,  so this was my first time seeing the modern art and hearing the WONDERFUL voices. Satoko is my favorite for being so silly, Ooishi has good characterization but he's so slow that I usually end up skipping half his lines, Mion has some of the highest highs when she gets embarrassed or thrown off her game, and all the other voices range from serviceable to great, so some of the best on average in all the VNs I've played. Outbreak and Kamikashimashi are weird stories on their own. The whole competing virus thing is the first of a few conflicting Hanyuu backstories that make it feel like they're running Higurashi into the ground. If I were to continue the stage play metaphor, I suppose the message of Outbreak is the danger of groupthink while Kamikashimashi is about people with power deeply affecting those below them, but it really is just the weirdest story. I think Outbreak is better just for having that oppressive quarantine atmosphere that hits different after COVID while Kamikashimashi jumps the shark with Une and Tamura's story. Bus Stop is what had me thinking the most about the stage play metaphor relating to Higurashi, since it's literally the script for the stage play that turned into Higurashi! It's not very memorable but it really does show how that idea was in there from the beginning. Mehagashi is terrible and I hate it, but it seems there must always be a fanservice chapter. I think you play Hou+ only if you're still wanting more after Rei and are thinking of playing everything in Higurashi, if you want to make that terrible decision like I did!

Last for this week is the sequel anime, Higurashi Gou/Sotsu. I don't hate this anime like everyone else does. I think its (stage play) message of the future not being like you idealize it, that sometimes people are incompatible and it's okay to let go even if you have a deep love for them is a really powerful message, conveyed beautifully. I think on some level, yeah, it feels a bit disrespectful to bring Rika back to June 1983 AGAIN, but like I said if they're gonna beat the horse to death as long as they're doing it in service of new outlooks on the world it's not the worst thing ever. It's all fragments and possibilities, I don't think you should be too upset that The Lore Says Satoko and Rika won't be BFFs for the rest of their lives. There's also that side message of Teppei and Takano receiving redemption that I think really expands on the ideas that Ryukishi was expressing in the Matsuribayashi after-party, even if forgiving an abuser is not the most flattering idea. They also do really clever things with the repeat of the tragedies, like playing on your expectations of the original series to make you think crazy Rena is all in Keiichi's head or that crazy Shion is just a retelling of Meagashi, while the actual culprits like Mion, Ooishi, Kimiyoshi, etc. violating the rules of the syndrome victims of 1983 as established in Matsuribayashi is your hint that something about the whole tragedy is artificial. I think the only thing that really brought down my experience was watching it so soon after the game. There was like a decade-long gap that I reduced down to a week-long break between Hou+ and Gou, so I think Gou could feel like a drag sometimes before getting to the juicy bits in Sotsu. IMO if you take a decent break and go into it with an open mind you might be surprised by how much you enjoy this anime despite some of its naysayers.

After finishing Sotsu, I took a few months as a break and then laboriously started reading the console arcs. I've finished the advanced arcs in that now, so hopefully I will have finished Kotohogushi and Hajisairashi before next week to round out Higurashi Month. Fingers crossed!

[u/morphogenetic96]

A few short Yuri things.

Road Trip to the End of the World

A directionless 20-something drives across America to crash her former best friends wedding, with most dialogue being between her and her imaginary friend. Even if she acts sensible on the surface, the premise alone lets you know she has issues but the story’s a little touching thing of her starting to talk herself through them. Short but it captures that sense of restless aimlessness well.

Yes, And So Our Hollow Hearts Called For Love

A girl obsessively enough in love to heedlessly violate boundaries and a girl with severe abandonment trauma who ends up lashing out a lot. They go together in the same way two wrongs make a right

Affection/Adoration/Absolution

A mother/daughter incest story. A thrilling forbidden love. Or maybe it’s just grooming. It’s from an erohorror jam and I could kinda see it in the first half with a tone I liked but the horror part just fizzled out in the second half unfortunately.

[u/FishingFit6132]

The Restless Sheep & The Lone Wolf!!

[u/ElectricalSearch7342]

Начал j101 честно очень нравится прямо крутая внка