little busters!

completed: april 29, 2020

little busters is my favorite piece of media ever; and it might not be yours. it looks severely disarming. itaru hinoue's charming 2000s art combined with the classic galge premise of "guy somehow attracts a bunch of unique strange girls and they all fall in love with him and they all have really annoying voices." but presenting itself in this unserious fashion is exactly what takes the reader aback with little busters & what sets the scene for one of the most phenomenal literary works ever (that makes me feel guilty it only exists as a visual novel, because those are difficult to recommend!)

you won't like little busters if you don't like the humor. thankfully, i've had a 100% success rate with showing people little busters and getting some laughs out of them.......all of the characters are so unique & silly & ridiculous that the common route being 10 hours long doesn't even seem like a chore. it's actually attractive. like, yes, i want to watch masato and kengo launch rin up an entire building!! i want to see the baseball team grow and get up to stupid cliche heartwarming hijinks!!!!

and then after some time, it's no longer heartwarming hijinks and it's just an uneasy sinking feeling that lasts for countless hours of reading. but, that's how all key visual novels are, and that's what makes them so notorious & loveable.

little busters's strongest point is its male characters, which was a first for key visual novels. they had half-decent protagonists in the past (i do love yukito & tomoya) and horrific butt monkey sidekick male characters (kitagawa.....sunohara is okay, i guess), but little busters actually was their saving grace. i remember being 14 years old and downloading little busters with an interest in the heroines and left wondering why it wasn't a BL game. the shit riki and kyousuke say to each other is NOT straight! i'll tell you that!

this isn't even to say that their female characters falter. i felt there were some (explainable, albeit troublesome) plot holes with some of their routes; but they all left such an individual impact on me that denouncing them would be unideal. they are perfect and serve as the foundation for little busters's largely-vast worldbuilding, & overlooking them would honestly be nightmarish.

i guess if i gave my two cents, if i had to criticize......kanata wasn't a character i could resonate with, even after completing her route, and kud is some loli bait character that irks me to no end——but her route is very bittersweet & heartwarming & well-written nonetheless. she got the spinoff game for that reason. smh. should have gotten kyousuke after....

i cannot recommend this visual novel enough, especially if you've indulged in otaku-ish content in the past (as a good amount of the humor is centered around those tropes & poking fun at them). it's a beast (longer than the bible by 300,000 words if you read the EX version) and took me an entire month to finish, but all the time put into this visual novel was so worth it.

it's worth mentioning all the goofy visual novel tropes because little busters takes them and turns them on their head. key visual novels have attempted to do it in the past but really didn't succeed until little busters came around. it's troubling to not say much without spoiling——though it's worth saying that the classic galge premise gets shot into the dark & becomes one of the most depressing stories i've ever consumed. and jesus christ those girls may be bubbly and annoying but they got some SHIT going on.......

i finished little busters as a 14 year old but reread it when i introduced it to a friend of mine as an 18 year old. my brain has literally flipped a switch since then. there has not been a story more impactful on my personal life, how i view relationships, and how i view myself more than little busters. it's interesting to compare how i viewed little busters as a 14 year old to the present——little busters has been my favorite visual novel since 2020 and it was mainly because i desired a group of friends like the little busters. i got lost in the world of their baseball team and was hooked on the idea of having a friend group just like theirs. it was just one huge comfort visual novel for me, in the end.

when it came around to rereading it, however, i had this sense of media literacy that i definitely didn't before (and one that i'm still honing today). every character stuck out to me in ways they had not before, & after rereading the main story, i finally gathered the strength to take on the 3 EX routes too. i think about this visual novel more than anything else but it feels so worth it. i feel so present in the world because of it.

i will accept my birth!

cross†channel

completed: march 25, 2020

this vn gives me a fucking headache to think about. i really have so many thoughts about it & i think my hate for it has become infamous among my friends that i know i read vns......oh my god dude. like...........

cross†channel has such a unique & amazing concept that is perfect for the visual novel format. a boarding school for those deemed "socially unfit"? a protagonist who scored an 84% on an adaptation exam, meaning he is only 16% human mentally? like he's just that deranged of a guy? and the designs for all of the characters are so wonderful.......and their backgrounds are so rich with tragedy & perfect for the eerie setting that you CONSTANTLY feel when you're reading cross†channel.....it's genuinely like the perfect setup ever. also it has amazing art & amazing music.

and then the protagonist is lifting up some high school girl's skirt every 2 fucking lines which instantly kills any built-up tension, any interest in the plot or time loop, any desire to continue reading, literally everything

i could write a george henry shaft-level essay (no, i couldn't, nobody can) about how ridiculously stupid & irritating that taichi is as a protagonist. reading cross†channel has never been a bigger waste of my time; i was constantly getting brought up to expect some crazy groundbreaking denpa magic at play only to get let down by the protagonist sexually harassing one of the female characters for, probably, unironically and unexaggeratedly, the one-hundredth time. there was so much that was getting good about it and it just kept falling on its face, over and over....

but i would still give it a 5/10! because it HAD that potential! it's been 3 years (as of writing this) since i've reared my chin in cross†channel's direction but it frustrates me so badly to this day. taichi had many interesting moments of violence (non-sexual) related to the cast that were an effect of the time loop that was actually intriguing. one of my favorite parts was definitely (spoilers, because i don't really mind & don't really want to ever recommend that anyone read this visual novel) the discovery of taichi pushing shinkawa off of the roof, taichi confronting youko and making her re-live her traumas after she kidnapped him, taichi's mass murder at the orphanage......literally there were so many interesting moments of violence that cross†channel could have continued to build upon to make taichi a more serious character. it might be awful to say that his assault on yusa was at all a necessity to the story (it wasn't, by the way) but the fact that it was a serious scene added more to the tone that cross†channel's writing was attempting to achieve the entire time.

it's a really great example of a denpa doing it right.....until it didn't. anyways, cross†channel is home to some of my favorite quotes in any vns ever & has a really unique vibe to it that i can't go without praising. i mentioned the word "eerie" earlier to depict it—and that's certainly the best way to put it. you're on edge all the time with cross†channel. also "see you next week" just goes hard as a quote. also, cross†channel's ending song is the best ending song i've ever heard in any visual novel ever. it fits the novel perfectly but is also such a shame considering how much dislike i have for the protagonist

i want to give benefit of the doubt in some way; maybe it's just the fact that cross†channel has three english translations and every single one of them are terrible (i'm using some harsh words here) & that's why the story was reflected so poorly to me.....but i don't think a change in translation would have changed taichi. and i literally read a censored version!!!! i can't even imagine my reaction if i read cross†channel in its actuality....

saya no uta

completed: june 29, 2020

a very controversial but beloved visual novel that both intrigues me and pisses me off to the fullest. i love gen urobuchi's writing and saya no uta's english translation does an amazing job in holding the story to its true writing quality. if i'm ever in a writing slump, this is one of the first visual novels i turn to because of how horrifically detailed every single line is. saya no uta's atmosphere is incomparable

but no matter how good of a story you can tell, i cannot get behind the amount of disgusting content within saya no uta. this is something that goes for a lot of visual novels—mainly in the denpa/horror genre.....i think i've read visual novels long enough to where i can forgive some of the questionable things and set it to the side in order to focus on the story that the writer actually wanted to tell....but saya no uta is just straight up weird.

i think all of my bitterness toward this story comes with 1. the unnecessary existence of pedophilia in the story 2. how popular the visual novel has gotten and its cult-like following that constantly praises saya. she is the villain of the story & that was the intention all along; seeing her get praised over and over by people saying "she's so me!!!" is so maddening

the art is beautiful and eerie. the music is next goddamn level and i seriously can't name many other visual novels that can top saya no uta's long list of composers. the translation was so well done and it's difficult to find many english translations that do a good job. but i cannot stand saya!!!!

again, that's probably the point. but saya did not need to be a kid for her purpose as a character to be fulfilled. her appearance to fuminori in his deranged world is supposed to be pure and almost angel-like, a reprieve from his nightmarish brain......but god damn it she did NOT have to be a kid and to get drawn in those disturbing situations to STILL have a huge effect on the reader!

i understand that this visual novel was written in a completely different time & was created by one of the most renowned horror writers & that many other visual novels hold this same troubling responsility of unnecessarily involving their child-like characters in questionable situations (hasaki from subahibi is one that comes to mind) & that saya is supposed to be the villain of the story......but i guess i'm just trying to say that i can undestand these things & also be critical of the work

it's an impressive work that served as a product of its time but it's not something i would recommend to literally anyone ever. unless you were a writer that was looking for some horror inspiration. and that ended up being the only time i ever DID recommend saya no uta. it's a cult classic, i'll give it that........but i've never experienced such an enraging character!!!

g-senjou no maou

completed: may 30, 2020

my feelings toward g-senjou no maou are mostly positive only due to one of the greatest characters i've ever had the pleasure of reading in a visual novel: usami haru. she absolutely carries the story throughout its unavoidable boredom of the chapters leading up to the fifth one & her arc absolutely shapes the reason why g-senjou no maou is still iconic today. also, she's voiced by kawashima rino.

i want to express my negative feelings toward the story right out of the gate: there's a super prolonged racist bit in the story that serves no purpose at all other than just to be racist. and, yea, the chapters leading up to the one centering haru could get a bit boring because the other heroines are definitely not my favorite characters of all time. they're very shallow and simple-minded, the reasonings behind their actions aren't well-explored (nor seemingly well-thought-out), and they add very little to the story other than to lead up to haru's arc (which is fine, because sometimes visual novels do that with their characters!)

other than that, it's a cool visual novel. lots of nice art & PHENOMENAL soundtrack featuring two of my favorite songs to ever be in a visual novel (answer, the opening, and close your eyes, the insert song). most of the bgm outside of that is based off of classical music, which is so cool considering the protagonist's interests!!! the protagonist is a whole other thing i could get into...

i'll admit, the protagonist isn't really strong toward the beginning of the story.....as much as he could have been, at least. azai kyousuke is the son of an infamous yakuza who takes on his father's work by manipulating yakuza lackeys at night and manipulating his peers at school during the day. he loves classical music like a freak, too. they had opportunities to better solidify him as a character at the beginning but chose not to, instead waiting for haru's part of the story to delve into him (and do an EPIC reveal of his face....)

he turns himself around (in both his manipulative behaviors and the quality of how he was written) eventually and becomes an integral role to one of the most unique stories i've ever read. g-senjou no maou made me wish there were more visual novels centered around crime/detective work....but maybe i'm just missing out on them & have no idea (and yes, i've read kara no shoujo. i dropped it. sorry).

it's a visual novel that i can recommend if you have patience & have read a few other stories in this medium before. it uses a ladder structure that i wasn't really used to at the time of reading it but really appreciate given that the buildup to haru's route was needed. and after you finally enter her route, they bring the intensity when it's needed!!!

it's sucky that the visual novel struggles to get good at the beginning. it stinks that you have to read for 15 hours to even get to the good part.....but there are visual novels out there that are a lot longer with a lot more of a struggle needed to read them than g-senjou no maou. it's an alright representation of the genre; haru, the love story slowly being told over intricate infodumpy battle of wits, and the OST stick with me today. i find myself listening to those two aforementioned songs at least once daily, to be honest

subarashiki hibi

completed: december 27, 2019

i literally do not think i will ever have a visual novel experience that replicates mine with subahibi ever again. based off of 350+ votes on vndb, subahibi is a 50 hour long visual novel; and yet it is the quickest i've ever finished a full-length visual novel. i was freaking hooked from day one.

things i do recommend: reading subahibi. things i don't recommend: reading subahibi if you're under the age of 18, especially if you are 14 year old me who had never once read a denpa story and was about to have her mind scarred by the "it's my own invention" chapter.

in seriousness (though i was still being serious before), subahibi changed my entire perspective on the visual novel genre & the kind of stories i've enjoyed. subahibi completely bends what is normal in the vn genre and leaves you with a brain that is both clarified but confused. about everything. like seriously. one of my favorite things about subahibi was how many references to other media it made; it was a unique quality to visual novels that i ended up adopting into my own writing. tractatus logico-philosophicus, cyrano de bergerac, and emily dickinson's poems are just a few examples of the wild allusions made throughout subahibi, all draped over its mind-screwing events that leave you with an irreversible impact.

i recommend it; but, it's also extremely difficult to recommend. i feel like a lot of people finished subahibi with thoughts fixated on tomosane & hasaki's tragedy; but where i felt the story really shone was during its first half where all of the screwed-up craziness unfolded. it's tough to find a visual novel that keeps you WANTING to read after dropping all of that on you while also telling a compellingly emotional & brain-changing story. but it's got a LOT of rape. and it's got some pedophilia/incest centered plotlines that the story seriously could have done without.

i'll write every review with the grain of salt that: these stories were written in different times, they're supposed to be messed up, they're written in a region where the existence of this content in media is normalized—but subahibi is another example of a visual novel that falls victim to unnecessary porn.

that being said: why a 10/10?

i think my rating of stories will often reflect how much impact the story has had on my life. there are things to complain about with all of the visual novels that i think are masterpieces but their effect on me remains unchanged. subahibi made me a better writer & that's something i really value. subahibi was my first REAL bite at the visual novel genre & it didn't fall short in proving how impressive & unique the medium is when it comes to storytelling. subahibi's methods of jumping around protagonists (don't get me started on the yuki/takuji/tomosane twist. that's still so peak to me) & following a consistent timeline throughout is exactly the reason why visual novels gain their unique, cult-like following: there's just no other way to tell that story.

and even through all that is screwed up and intricately (sometimes confusingly) philosophical about subahibi, you leave those 50 hours of reading with an actual sense of the story having reached its conclusion. nothing feels like it has lost its meaning after all of that time & tragedy that the reader (& characters, of course) endure. end sky II changed my brain for freaking life. otonashi ayana is my goat forever

yume miru kusuri

completed: january 01, 2021

my memory of this visual novel is mostly rooted in kirimiya's route and that's where i think it best shone. it's your average eroge, it tickles at darker themes but doesn't really get to a point that made it difficult to read. i definitely felt a lot of "wtf" moments from this visual novel, though. very much. at the girl shitting herself from getting choked out by the protagonist & the heroine in one route, at the drug-addicted heroine who literally looks like a kid in another route, and the very-memorable premise of kirmiya's route, a girl who lived life on edge because she truly thought she was going to die everyday.

kirimiya is one of the most unique characters i've ever had the pleasure of reading in a visual novel. yume miru kusuri's alternate title, a drug that makes you dream, also features the tagline of drug x bullying x interpersonal relationship; and kirimiya's is the lattermost. her route.....almost felt too mature for the visual novel that it was in. and then it fell super flat toward the end. i definitely believe it's because of the length......i just couldn't care much for how the heroines' stories resolved.

yume miru kusuri had an interesting premise that explored extremely traumatic themes in a high school setting, littered with cotton candy-like graphics that were super dreamlike, uniquely charming character designs with fluid art, and an awesome soundtrack that i still listen to today if i'm looking for some calm drawing music.

i think the story just conflicted itself so much (in the way that i sorta am right now) and that's where it struggled. a dreamy high school intermingled with instances of drugs, bullying, attempted murder, pregnancy...there wasn't really any present tone shift or moment where i was like "shit, it's getting real!!!!!" the story just kept flip-flopping itself over and over, switching from really dark and vivid descriptions to comedic porny fanservice.

it's not a vn i'd recommend despite it being on the shorter side for vns (around 16 hours). it felt very random and i'm certain that i was not its target audience, either......as i stated before, it's just your average eroge. with weird moments that really catch you off guard. a product of its time, again.

if you're going to take anything away from this review, let it be the soundtrack. "girls are made of frosting cake" is the best bgm i've ever heard in a vn. every time i'm reminded of this visual novel's existence, i immediately go to play it. that's about all, though....

sweet pool

completed: january 24, 2022

a little aggravated as i wrote a full-length review for this before but then completely wiped it out when i wrote my yume miru kusuri one. despite that, sweet pool is a really good visual novel. it doesn't feel like it's been almost 2 years since i've read it since its events are still really fresh in my mind & i think about the horrifically tragic story more than i'd probably like to. it was my first (and, as of november 2023, my only) BL vn and wow.......what a freaking choice. my fear with reading BL stories always came from the worry of them being fetishy; and while sweet pool definitely was, it didn't try to make the events that took place between the characters seem.....good. bad shit happens and no one really gets redeemed.

i've always seen sweet pool as a very tragic telling of abuse. spoilers: the story ended in the best way it possibly could have, with the two main male leads forgetting each other. because who the hell would want to remember each other after going through all of that??? what i really loved was the final CG of youji in the story......it gives you the hope that they could have met again, hopefully under different circumstances where they aren't bound by fate's twisted maelstrom that brought the two together. i liked that at a certain point, it addressed that the two initially had zero feelings for each other, and that's the only reason their relationship ever started—but later, tetsuo questioned whether or not those lack of feelings still existed or not. their relationship was definitely abusive but had me rooting for them at points when you realize that, really unfortunately, these two are the only good things in each other's lives.

that's a really morbid thing to say. and it's still abuse, so, again.....the true ending was the best possible way for that to go.

i originally got interested in sweet pool just because i was looking for vns with characters voiced by midorikawa hikaru (because i'm a simple girl with simple interests). but i was really attracted by the art in sweet pool & i can honestly say that there aren't many visual novels i can name with an atmosphere like sweet pool's. the art, music, and writing all work in a harmonious tandem that made the visual novel very memorable and super special—especially as my first BL story. the only other vns i can think of with similarly prominent atmospheres are innocent grey's.

but i was brought in for two reasons completely unrelated to the story and ended up getting a great story in return. it's made me super curious about reading more BL stories!!! specifically from nitro chiral....they've been in this game foreevverrrrr. i feel like i've been missing out a bit but i'll always be grateful to sweet pool as an introduction to this unique genre. also i thought the protagonist was shitting blood the whole time. yep, read sweet pool if you're looking for something that is both intriguing AND emotional (which is something i've noticed vns have a difficult time balancing....).

muv-luv

completed: april 30, 2021

this is the best prequel to any visual novel i've ever read. this is the best 30 hours of foreshadowing ever! muv-luv is one-half romance-eroge-dating-moe and one-half alien-war-destruction-of-earth (except you don't see the aliens at all). and it's unique, funny, and BEYOND well-written. saying that muv-luv (and its sequel, alternative) is just "well-written" is a complete understatement. there was so much thought put into every moment with every character that it's difficult to praise it with words alone. the art is so cute and befitting of its time, the music is amazing and i constantly replay it on my own time, and the world that is slowly being built over the 30-ish hour course of this vn is next-freaking-level.

meiya mitsurugi is one of the greatest characters i've ever had the pleasure of reading........there will literally never be another vn heroine like her. nobody is doing it like her!!!!

it's difficult to say a lot about muv-luv alternative's predecessor without talking about alternative, hence the length of this review. i've said enough about the impact of foreshadowing in this story.....but, seriously, when you look back at muv-luv after finishing alternative, it's completely different. even if you find the romance-eroge-dating-moe half boring or unnecessary, once unlimited and alternative start, all you'll WANT is to go back to that idyllic school life story. shirogane takeru is one of the greatest protagonists ever; he really grows in alternative, but even throughout muv-luv, he is hilarious and perfect for the story being told. one of my favorite things about muv-luv was the shift from extra to unlimited—the tone shift wasn't too drastic. i didn't feel like i was being transported into some alien war like he was because of takeru's delayed reaction.

not to mention....you don't really see the impact that this war has on takeru until alternative, when he's forced to repeat it all again, knowing that he has the power to stop everything from going poorly. you see a visual novel protagonist actually have some control and proactiveness for once....which really makes him the heart of the story!!

if you've read any visual novel ever and are frequent to its community, the chances of you hearing about muv-luv alternative are inevitable. there's a reason for that. it really is a cult classic worth the hype (minus one gripe i have......though there's more on that below), and, yet again, another amazing use of the visual novel format for storytelling. muv-luv's length leading into alternative may draw you away from reading this part of the story (and it definitely did hinder me when i took on this epic trilogy), but you really do miss out not reading extra & unlimited.

why a 7/10? it's still an amazing visual novel and a perfect setup for the real intense part of muv-luv's story; but that's exactly what it is. it's a setup. muv-luv in itself is an unfinished story. the trilogy is definitely excellent when you put it all together, though!

muv-luv alternative

completed: september 29, 2021

not to be dramatic like every other reader of muv-luv alternative, but i've never had a visual novel emotionally scar me more. one recommendation i can make for anyone planning on reading muv-luv alternative: don't download the director's cut with the 18+ content. i did it out of fear that some important scenes would be censored and ended up with a lot MORE fear after reading literally the most horrific h-scene i ever have in a visual novel. regardless of the h-scenes (which take up maybe 1% of the visual novel, not even), muv-luv alternative is a fucking car crash. you literally cannot look away. muv-luv alternative is like getting ran over by a truck repeatedly and then having a nuke dropped on your flattened body.

it took me four months to finish alternative because of how freaked out i was at certain points. i had to literally take breaks.....damn girl you are soooo dramatic LOL

but alternative is the final entry in the muv-luv trilogy that encompasses everything iconic about the series. it's tied for first place as the highest rated visual novel on vndb & is the inspiration for attack on titan to give you an idea of how popular & stupidly good it is.

i'm not really sure where to begin. the music is just as spectacular as its prequel, building onto an already-great soundtrack. reminiscence is a song i still play whenever i write & i can't get over the amount of emotions i feel with that song (don't listen to it if you haven't read MLA, though. seriously).....not to mention muv-luv alternative's insert song, carry on. i'd honestly say that where the song is inserted is my favorite scene out of any visual novel ever. alternative is crazy tragic & beautiful......& it reels you in so perfectly by literally having what seems to be a "50 hour prologue (including muv-luv)."

you sit there wondering when it gets crazy. and then something crazy happens. and then you think: wow! that was pretty intense. and then it gets crazier. this is one of those "if you know, you know!" things.

the entire trilogy (and series of muv-luv, considering they have sooo many spinoffs) has insane world-building that is incomparable to any other visual novel. every little section of infodumping you spam click through in alternative is just another piece of their intricately-laid puzzle of a beautiful war story....and then you think wtf didn't this start out as a cutesy dating sim??????? honestly, what makes alternative super special is its length; the reason why it can create such a detailed world is because of how long the reader is immersed in it. muv-luv's high production quality overall speaks for itself & makes you feel as if you're really there.

and...i mean that super literally. the game gets so loud and overwhelming at points with all of the camera movement & gunfire. but that's exactly what makes it an experience unlike any other visual novel.

why not a 10/10???? i hate to be a person who lets certain characters ruin stories for me, but....dude.....sumika.....

some spoilers ahead here: why is she the main heroine? that's always confused me. i found her really funny and sweet throughout the story & her tragedy is absolutely the most jarring thing i've ever read in a visual novel, but maybe i'm such a meiyahead that i'm annoyed about sumika being endgame, but it just never made sense to me. one thing i'll really appreciate about muv-luv alternative was its take on the "true love saves the day!" trope. true love kinda ruined the day. it kinda ruined the world, to be honest. sumika kinda caused all this shit to happen

maybe her being the main heroine was takeru's way of forgiving her for that? though, he never really considered it her fault. from how meiya's past was described in the original muv-luv extra to her devotion to takeru in alternative, i feel the story would have been better concluded had there been a choice to end up with meiya as well. i'm not super picky nor passionate about my visual novel heroines as i'm usually reading for a story rather than the actual dating aspect......i just felt like the choice of sumika was super out of place. there wasn't much about her that i could enjoy. sorry sumikaheads......

i should also clarify that i don't think sumika "ruined" the story for me. the story is still a masterpiece, just with one major flaw in its ending that let down me & many other people. it didn't at all make the journey of muv-luv not worth it, though. i felt like my devoted 80 hours to the series made for a serious impact on how i view visual novels, how i write, and how i simply push through life. it's one of those vns with a lot of great themes to take into your own life. i really recommend it if you have the patience!!! the trilogy took me an entire year to finish but sent me off with new expectations.

also yuuko best character

clannad

completed: november 01, 2020

i want to say i'm "biased" toward clannad in some way because of the amount of impact this story has had on me but i don't even think my review/rating is biased. i actually just think this is one of the best stories to ever exist & you should experience it at least once in your human life. i watched the clannad anime when i was 9 years old, it was my first anime ever & my introduction into this wild world of jp media, & it was also one of my first vns too......but as you can tell, it took 2 years to finish.

clannad is really freaking long. but it is so special and perfect to me. as it's a key visual novel, the art is perfect to me & fits the time period of these emotional vns perfectly. clannad is one of the classics, dude!!!

clannad is also one of the only vn adaptations i've ever seen get done right. if you shy away from the 70+ hour length of this vn, definitely consider watching the anime....the nice thing about clannad's "supernatural twist" (as all key visual novels come with) is that it doesn't require the visual novel format for the story to be told properly. the same can't go for some of the other key vns i've read......and that's ultimately why their anime adaptations suffer

every single character is so special. like little busters, clannad's theme is focused on interpersonal relationships & the importance of being around others. they both tell very similar stories of protagonists figuring out themselves by the relationships that they build with other people—but clannad is very special in the romantic/familial aspect. tomoya & nagisa are literally the best couple to ever exist in any piece of media ever.........i say it with my chest!!!!! they're the freaking best!!!!!! my favorite thing about clannad was the change in dynamics from the two of them between nagisa's route & after story. where her route is focused on tomoya helping her become stronger, after story is focused on nagisa building up tomoya's strength as their relationship continues to get hammered with hardship

god.....and the soundtrack. the soundtrack is a freaking killer. i've been showing the clannad anime to one of my friends recently & let myself sit through the ending song just one time so that they could see it & ended up bawling like a baby because of it. clannad holds so much weight to my growth & allowed me to meet so many like-minded anime fans when i was really young. what also makes me love it so much is how much more it means to me as time has gone on.....the story only gets more and more real as you grow up & face difficulties. it's one of those stories that makes me grateful for all of the media i've experienced; i can look back at all of these characters and how they overcame their roadblocks and use it to motivate me through hard times. tomoya is seriously one of the greatest protagonists i've ever read in any piece of media

if i could ever recommend a vn to someone who has already read a handful of them, clannad would be it. clannad is literally my first recommendation to anyone ever actually.........it's definitely one of key's strongest works. they really perfected their story formula here

clannad: side stories

completed: march 01, 2022

clannad's side stories aren't a "must-read," and as you can tell from the length it took me to finish it, it's not something you have to urgently read either. iirc, there's twenty stories all told from different perspectives of the clannad characters that tell of times during, after, or before their routes. but it's super lovely. if you enjoyed clannad and are looking for more out of it to consume, these side stories are really wonderful.

honestly, my favorite part of the side stories are goto-p's art. i've loved his illustrations since narcissu & i think they're perfect for clannad.......i could even see the original clannad being told in his art style. it's super charming and fluid, perfect for the characters & their designs. i'm actually pretty glad they went a different direction with the artist here for the side stories—it brings a whole new vibe that still compliments the main themes of clannad really well. the side stories are very cg-heavy so there's a lot to experience visually

that being said, there wasn't anything crazy special about it. there were some funny stories, some heartwarming ones, some that helped provide context to certain notions made throughout the original clannad, and ultimately was just a really nice addition to everything else. the autoread is so grueling however

sabbat of the witch

completed: october 22, 2022

it's eroge. there's actually nothing special or interesting about this vn....it's just eroge. the premise is eroge. it's a romance visual novel. i can't say i'm surprised or anything......i think reading sabbat of the witch was just my attempt of trying something new or maybe just an attempt at wasting time. it's yuzusoft so there's not much to really expect; the art and character designs are really cute, though, and i do like the concept of witches needing to break their curses (especially in a high school setting!! i thought that was cute). but idk.....it's just porn, nothing crazy

nothing stood out to me abnout this visual novel at all. the romance felt rushed & forced, the protagonist was super boring, but.....i guess that's just the genre! there's a certain group that love these sorts of vns & i just don't think i'm one of them. sabbat of the witch's only strong point were the character designs

air

completed: november 08, 2023

with this layout update (as of february 2024), i also took the time to rewrite my review for air because the visual novel's importance to me has shifted. air lacks in several categories——mainly its horrific pacing that i had to crawl through. but it genuinely is one of the most unique & one of the most inspiring visual novels i've ever read. air has given me so much motivation to write.

unlike the other key visual novels, air's ending is very tragic & it doesn't make any supernatural effort (like the other key vns) to correct it. it's a tragic romance born from a curse of 1000 years past & that's all it is. i have to shine a light on the 1000 years past part; air explores mythology unlike any other visual novel i've read. the unique shift in setting made the story all-the-more worthwhile to grind through

misuzu is my goat, yukito is one of the better key protagonists, the soundtrack & art is phenomenal.......i'd recommend air if you're someone that has patience. but it's an emotional one. honestly gives me utsuge vibes

doki doki literature club!

completed: may 08, 2018

i'm a hater, sorry

not in the way that i hate ddlc, i sorta just ride the bandwagon of vn readers not really liking this one......it was good, but there's so many better ones that there isn't much of a point in praising ddlc. especially when the goat totono basically did the same thing before this one came out. of course, though, it was my first visual novel, so i have to be a little kind toward it......i read it & realized i really liked that method of consuming media, simply just staring at my screen and clicking.....and thank god i found some better vns out there than this one

the art's cute, the music is iconic, the story is even more iconic.....and definitely infamous. i found myself laughing a lot—and, of course, since i read this story before my brain developed halfway even, i literally did not expect the stupid predictable twist nor did i understand checking the game files & really soaking in the fourth wall breaking twist. so the surprise was fun in itself.....i can thank ddlc for what it did to the visual novel genre! but honestly, i don't even think this story is worth a reread. not that that's my basis for if a vn is good or not.......it just isn't as special as it used to be

the house in fata morgana

completed: april 07, 2023

there isn't peak quite like the house in fata morgana

i seriously do not think i will ever read a visual novel again with an atmosphere or distinction from the genre as much as the house in fata morgana. everything about it is worth praise from beginning to end. i will recommend this visual novel to anyone and die on that hill. it will genuinely make you rethink life & actually love life.......the theme of always picking good over evil & its exploration of forgiveness really stuck with me. and that's just the story i'm talking about! the art and the music are on a whole DIFFERENT level of a fucking masterpiece!!!!

if you look up the house in fata morgana right now and compare it to any other visual novel on this entire list side-by-side, there is such an evident difference and great uniqueness that makes the house in fata morgana one of the most beloved visual novels ever. there is literally no romance story stronger than it, by the way. there is literally few better examples of how beautiful the visual novel genre is & how wonderfully it can be employed in a story like the house in fata morgana. there are such few characters that i can think of with strength & dynamics like the cast of this story & it will leave you with such a strong imprint that it will cross your mind at the most random times

also, praise be that the playlist is on spotify. it's really nice to write to

without spoiling much (because the protagonist themselves are a spoiler), the protagonist is genuinely the best i've ever read in a visual novel. the white-haired girl is one of the coolest plot devices to ever exist. ever. giselle is my goat. for a visual novel released in 2012, its exploration of LGBT issues is very appropriate & definitely what makes this visual novel a standout in the niche as much as it is. i think the best words i'm looking for to depict it are to do with its worldbuilding; you will literally feel like you are IN the story.

and you were able to bear them because they weren't your tragedies!

the great thing about the house in fata morgana is that it has a lot of spinoff stories. honestly, the initial story itself left such an impact on me that i'm not even sure if i could bring myself to delve further into it....the same goes for muv-luv alternative, really. of this entire list (and of all vns i've read, so far, as of december 2023), it's one of four 10/10s and deservingly of it. i can't even think of a single person that disliked this visual novel. i can't even think of a reason why someone WOULD dislike it (and that's what differs it from my other 10/10s!)

flowers -le volume sur printemps-

completed: october 16, 2019

one of my first GL visual novels i ever read & seriously probably the best of that whole genre (in terms of vns, at least. i don't really watch anime or read manga much....)

given that it's a sugina miki visual novel & created by innocent grey, you know the atmosphere is unlike any other. the music & the art make you feel like you're seriously in the visual novel & attending their boarding school. that's kind of a corny thing to say but its effects on my psyche when i read it at age 14 & my sudden need to attend an all-girls school (the queer dream) is irreversible. this is the first volume of flowers -les quatre saisons-, a four-part series separated into seasons......which is already so peak enough. like i don't know another visual novel that's done something similar

every volume is so beautiful. i'm not sure how else to describe the flowers series without saying the word "beautiful," to be honest. if you're looking for a story with a great female protagonist too, suoh shirahane is seriously one of the best. her development over the four volumes really stuck with me as a person struggling to make friends. it gives you a lot of hope & is overall just really interesting, given that it's a mystery story too

i guess my only gripe with flowers (its spring volume, and the entire series) is that the mystery aspect could be a little stronger. it's a GL story in the end, so i definitely understand the need to focus on romance; but i felt like the mystery could have been better explored & a little more......interesting? its premise reads as a mystery novel but that's definitely not its central focus, even if that's the story being followed over the four volumes. the required choices for picking apart the mysteries require a guide to have any chance of succeeding in, mainly because they have such strong references to other media (films & books, mainly) that not everyone knows.....at all.......and it's simply because the protagonist reads hella books and watches hella movies

but that's the nice thing about flowers, too. the protagonist actually feels like a genuine character in the story & that's something a lot of visual novels suffer in when they lack. flowers' spring volume was a great opening to a really unique (but not exactly strong..?) mystery that spanned over four volumes & built a strong feeling of romance across. suoh & mayuri forever!!!!!!!

it's got a cliffhanger ending, though. the flowers series is a little notorious for it BECAUSE there's always a next volume (except for the winter volume's resolution) and that sort of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea.....i know it definitely wasn't mine as i waited 4 years for the entire series to get translated. thank you, jast......

it's a good one, definitely. if you have the patience to read through four different visual novels & you're a GL fan, this is 100% something you should go about reading. just note that it's all-ages.....which, again, isn't everyone's cup of tea, but was DEFINITELY mine. DEFINITELY. it's so difficult to find a visual novel that's got an all-ages version or is just all-ages completely......and it was definitely unexpected under the scope of innocent grey but appreciated nonetheless. i'm so glad vns are making the change to all-ages versions.

flowers -le volume sur été-

completed: november 10, 2019

again, it's one of the quickest times i've ever read a visual novel in. this is flowers' best volume, without a doubt. the two main characters are extremely strong-willed & loveable, & the atmosphere made me fall in lvoe with the story all over again. this is probably the vn i've gone back and reread the most ever......four times now!

what else can i say? the art & music are phenomenal, like every other volume of the flowers' series. i feel like this volume was the most engaging for me, though; and, again, i have to show appreciation to flowers' distinction between volumes through the seasons.......every volume is so beautiful in its aesthetic & the transition between each one really makes you feel like you're growing up with the characters!! i think because i read this volume being the same age as the other characters, my love for them was a lot stronger compared to had i read the story now

still, it's a great GL; and if you're looking for a GL that's REALLY focused on the romance, this is a good one. erika & chidori are so unique & compliment each other really nicely. i'm really fond of eccentric misanthrope characters....these two really fit the bill for me & inspired my own characters so much

i have to show more praise toward the protagonists of the entire flowers series, again; erika as a protagonist was the best possible choice they could have ever made. she's great representation as a disabled character whilst making the story not at all centered around said disability.....i feel like that's such a difficult thing to find in a visual novel! one of the only other examples i can think of is katawa shoujo (which literally translates to disability girls....), but even that story, i have my own gripes with....

the summer volume of flowers is the greatest. i don't recommend reading this series out of chronological order, though.....it's difficult to follow along & fall in love with the characters the same way. i'm not sure what else i could say about this volume that i haven't said already; the characters in this volume are especially amazing & erika is such an amazing protagonist. praying they make a drama CD in her perspective

flowers -le volume sur automne-

completed: august 08, 2020

after reading the summer volume, the translated version of flowers' autumn volume did not exist. jast usa was still working on it & pissing me off in the process with the amount of delays it underwent; it was the first time i ever actually waited for a vn to get translated........and, unfortunately, it didn't live to the hype that my one-year obsession with its pending translation grew. a lot of people say the autumn volume was their favorite & i definitely love how bold it was in comparison to the rest of the volumes; it's a bit more homoerotic, the story comments on religious homophobia straight-up (after building up this setting of a GL story taking place at a missionary school for the past 40 hours) rather than censoring it, and it explores unrequited love & two characters who knew each other prior to the story's beginning as compared to the previous two volumes, which are mainly about the girls getting to know each other for the first time ever

again, like the other volumes, the atmosphere & music & art are phenomenal. the main two characters, yuzuriha and nerine, are so beautiful & definitely the standout designs of the flowers cast.......and this is very clear from the moment they're introduced in the spring volume, too. they both also have a really hilarious dynamic & yuzuriha is voiced by my goat, kawashima rino, so of course my love flourishes for her....

i'm not sure what it was about this volume that didn't click with me, though? maybe it was my rush to read it so desperately that made me enjoy it less. honestly, as i'm writing this, i'm thinking i should reread it (as flowers remains the vn series i've reread the most to date) just to figure out what didn't sit right. this volume probably has the biggest cliffhanger of them all & i think it just really settled down after the high that was the summer volume, that maybe my expectations simply weren't met.....and the fact that i haven't had the urge to reread it until now has me inquisitive of what my thoughts even were of it initially. i was literally 14 when i read it

but i can really appreciate that, too. about a lot of the vns i read when i was younger; i think i connected with them better & loved them a lot more at the time because these characters were close to me in age. as i get older, that whole concept just gets a lot weirder. that's probably another topic for another day, though....

i think the fact that i cared the least for these characters (yuzuriha, nerine, and the sasaki twins) most prevalent in the autunmn volume & the mystery aspect simply wasn't as strong in comparison to the drama (which i didn't care so much for, because i really didn't mind the characters!!!!) was what contributed to my lower rating of the novel. it's good & a must-read for the entire series (because there's no skipping when it comes to flowers), it just didn't leave as much of an impact as the rest of the series. W for erika & chidori in this vn though because they're really cute

flowers -le volume sur hiver-

completed: june 22, 2022

although the wait for flowers' final volume was a lot longer than the wait i had to endure for the autumn volume, this release came as a huge surprise for me. i remember thinking as a 13 year old after reading the summer volume that i'd never get to experience the full story of flowers until i graduated (2023) because of how long the translation was taking; but then jast usa took me by a wonderful surprise by having fully localized the final volume by summer of 2022! i binged it instantaneously, in a very strong need to resolve this story i had been waiting to read for so many years....and the final volume definitely delivered. mayuri is already such an amazingly strong character in the first volume & her weight in the story is unavoidable in the other volumes—but she really comes together & makes the story unforgettable in the winter volume

it's already enough for me that i love stories with winter settings & that flowers' atmosphere over its four visual novels had been unchangingly phenomenal & such a standout in the vn niche. sugina miki cooked. all i'm sayin.

the music, if it couldn't get any better, is actually the greatest in flowers' final volume. i wrote an essay in my sophomore year about the opening song, fairy wreath, and definitely looped the réunion song an ill amount of times when writing all my silly stories. i wonder what my music technology teacher thought of that essay because i never got any feedback....

a lot of reviews complained that the mystery's resolution wasn't really worth the length of the four visual novels. i thought it was.....for an innocent grey vn, their nonviolent way of handling a four-part-series mystery was really impressive & unique in a way that i couldn't have predicted at all. they introduce a lot of new characters in the final volume while also showcasing the development of these characters you've seen all the way from the first volume!!! and the amount they've changed over the four seasons is just so wonderful & really strengthens my attachment to all of those girls. the flowers series seriously has the best protagonists i've ever read in vns

the production quality definitely rose with this last entry in the series & takes in some qualities from kara no shoujo's detective work that weren't super impactful on the novel but really interesting nonetheless. i've also always appreciated how clear-cut flowers is with its true routes......there ARE other routes but they're really not necessary & the true routes really stand out. i've never been a fan of vns that have multiple endings that don't tell one overarching story.......it was just another reason to really love flowers

as i stated in the spring volume's review, i haven't read another vn that's done something similarly to its entries by separating them into seasons. and each one is so unique but true to the atmosphere clearly trying to be employed.......all of the symbolism with flowers too is something i don't think i've paid my appreciation to yet in any of these reviews. like, the story is definitely called flowers for a reason!!! if you're looking for a vn series that has beautiful art & so much extra content & is actually a healthy portrayal of GL in the visual novel niche, flowers is a seriously underrated one that i can recommend to anyone looking to get into visual novels. it has its few plot holes & confusing moments given all of the other media references that it makes.....but it's definitely among the stronger across the amount of vns i've read to date

miniature garden

completed: september 05, 2020

played for korie riko's art and the awesome designs, left with a half-baked mystery that rendered zero impact on me other than it being a waste of four hours. the art is genuinely gorgeous, don't get me wrong.....but there was nothing at all impressive about this visual novel nor is there any reason to recommend it. and somehow, it's like 20 USD???? everything about it felt really slapped together even though the production quality appears so high....it's one of those stories where even if they let it simmer for another ten hours and really got deep into it, it probably wouldn't be able to recover itself. the twists weren't exciting & i felt zero attachment to all of the characters. i just thought they looked cool at the end of the day.....

it's a story about a handful of students who get trapped in their school on the night of the school festival, and rumors spread that one of them will befall death. rather than it being a full-fleshed mystery vn that you'll never forget, it's sorta like a horror flick that you go to bed without thinking about even if you read it that same night. i've always lacked affinity to short visual novels just because it feels wrong for the genre (though it's been done right many times!), and this vn just serves as proof of it

i wouldn't recommend this game to purchase at all. if you want to waste a few hours of your life, go for it. korie riko carries

kanon

completed: november 28, 2023

kanon is absolutely phenomenal. it's another key/visualarts vn, dated all the way back to 1999 & holding a prominent role as the first visual novel that the company created. taking place in winter of 1999, an amnesiac protagonist returns to a city from his childhood and encounters a lot of eccentric girls (as all key visual novels do), slowly weaving the ambiguous web of his past to comprehension again. it has its unexpectedly dark points & i honestly can't recall a time where i've had so much fun reading a visual novel. it's slice-of-life through and throughout, even during the majority of the heroine's actual route, you're mostly just having fun and silly scenes.....but i loved every second of it & it's one of the quickest i've ever read a visual novel. kanon is a perfect example of the key formula in action; but, surprisingly, a lot of key fans don't like this one so much! maybe it's because the writers were still trying to work it out together & the quality of vns just weren't the greatest at this time, but if you go into kanon with the understanding that it was made in 1999, you'll actually be a lot more surprised from it than disappointed

every character is really amazing. for once, my favorite heroine in a key vn wasn't the central heroine (like rin in little busters, nagisa in clannad, misuzu in air, or kanade in angel beats), it was mai! and mai is a REALLY disliked character....which shocked me so much.........but her route is one of the most emotional i've ever gotten at a visual novel (& i like to think i do a good job at not crying over these powerpoint presentations....). kanon's main heroine was just as spectacular too, along with the fan favorites of nayuki & sayuri & shiori.

my one HUGE gripe with the kanon vn is, of course, nayuki's route. i started off with it simply because a guide said to (i also don't read my vns without a guide, if you were curious...) and i can imagine someone dropping the vn immediately after reading that route because of how horrendous it is. reason number one that overarches everything completely is the incest......nayuki is the protagonist's cousin. but there was also zero intrigue into her route & the drama that takes place happens so suddenly that it was literally hilarious. i was laughing when a character got ran over by a fucking car because it was so out of place & unanticipated & poorly written...spoilers.

but my faith in kanon wasn't misplaced as every other route was a real treat & so enjoyable. i've stated before that i'm really attached to stories with a winter setting & kanon checks off all the boxes in that aspect. and while some people shy away from it (because they can't handle peak itaru hinoue? mayhaps?), the art is one of my favorites across all key visual novels. every cg was so spectacularly done & screenshot worthy. the backgrounds were my favorite out of any vn i've ever read.....i think if i ever abandoned the kengo theme of my website one day, i would turn to kanon & its phenomenal atmosphere & background art. the music is just as amazing, too......it really doesn't feel like it was made in 1999, all things considered!

i'm a key fan to death, so maybe i'm a little biased, but it's one i would recommend if you can forgive some of the cringy tropes of 1999 bishoujo games. kanon caught me by surprise & is a perfect relic of this time in visual novel history. this is a really lovely video that goes in-depth about some of kanon's strongest themes (but has a lot of spoilers), containing a lot of mostly-agreeable points......it's a bit of a dramatic video but is just another example of its impact on this niche & the key visual novels to come. kanon oftentimes gets called the "clannad before clannad" for a really obvious reason if you've read/watched both stories......and that feels really true but not kanon's primary focus. i expected their stories to be more connected only to find something completely different & something super enjoyable in the twelve days i managed to crunch this 30 hour story in!

kanon is also one of the only vns that has a good anime adaptation. if you don't wanna plug along the vn because of disagreeable content or you hate the art that much (i can't imagine refusing to consume something because of its art, sorry!!!!!! i am a hater in this aspect through and throughout!!!!), definitely check out the 2006 kanon anime

otherwise, this is one of the vns that made me grateful that i tried to get my shit together & read some more at the end of 2023. kanon was such an amazing experience, and NOT just because i figured out i can read vns on my laptop in bed rather than having to sit upright at my desktop......it was comfortable to read in more ways than one!!!! shiori & mai & nayuki are some of my favorite heroines out of any vn ever; and, because kanon doesn't follow the typical key format of having one true route/arc after all the heroine routes, it's really nice that the heroines DO get the spotlight in this vn

katawa shoujo

completed: june 08, 2018

oh brother. katawa shoujo. this vn is among many's firsts, including mine, and my start/finish dates for this vn isn't exactly accurate......i had a bad habit of stalling vns and never returning to them for years around this time (which is actually what i did with my last entry, kanon, as i actually started it in 2020 but didn't pick it up again until 2023), & katawa shoujo was definitely victim to that. but the dates ARE accurate to when i started and completed rin tezuka's route, aka one of my favorite characters out of any visual novel ever. if i had to make a top 10 list of characters, i would put the childhood friends in little busters as the first five and then put rin tezuka as six. i had never related to a character more, ever before, & i've reread her route five times up to this point just to make sure i understood literally every aspect of it (as it does get a bit philosophical & ambiguous at points).

i can rave a little more about rin later once i get the basic details of this relic out of the way: katawa shoujo is an OELVN created by a bunch of guys on 4chan who took a concept art image & turned it into an actual romance visual novel that stood the test of time & remains one of the most popular in the english-speaking community today. it's probably the only OELVN i've read too that can stand up against japanese visual novels in terms of quality; but that's not saying that katawa shoujo doesn't have many, many, many weak points.....

i think the impact of rin's route on me definitely sways the score of this vn wholly. the other routes are decent-seeming if you're new to the vn genre & i remember being 13 and having a lot of fun reading them. although it's a bit of a surface-level concept, titling your visual novel and having the centrefocus of the heroines be the quality that they have disabilities, but not centering any of their routes around said disability.....was just a really peak move. and a bit unexpected if you consider the origins of katawa shoujo. a lot of people pick on the concept of the characters, but it's an amazing nakige with a great price tag to entice any reader: $0.

the katawa shoujo visual novel is free to read and you can download it here. it's a good beginner vn if you want to get used to the format & read something that's genuinely good but not too overwhelming. the music is actually some of the greatest i've ever listened to in a visual novel & the art is.....a little interesting, since they had so many different artists on the project; but, knowing that quality actually makes you enjoy it a bit more. it's a passion project made by a bunch of strangers that continues to be one of the most-recommended vns to date

i think i've gotten enough out of the way. rin tezuka is so amazing. i've never had a character influence my brain more (maybe other than kyousuke and kengo?); every character and story i ever wrote from the moment i read rin's route in katawa shoujo had to include some philosophical element and existentialism, like how you explore throughout her route. she's one of the more-debated heroines of katawa shoujo......but a part of me (a biased one indeed) strongly believes that her story didn't deserve to belong among the other ones. it feels like a completely separate visual novel by that point. if you really love interpersonal stories and weird girls (and rin definitely started a weird girl craze for me.....they tend to be my favorites in vns now), rin tezuka's route is a must read

it's also the only time i've ever thought a h-scene in a visual novel was actually....necessary? or helpful to the story, rather, and didn't diminish the route's exploration of rin at all. it made hisao & rin very special as a couple and as characters in the story—and it's another reason why i feel like rin's route belongs in another visual novel than katawa shoujo's. hisao feels a lot more special as a character when he's with rin & he's grappling with his own disability

maybe i'm just a sucker for weird girls! maybe i'm just a sucker for interpersonal connection! maybe i'm just a sucker for surface-level philosophy! or maybe rin tezuka just changed the game forever?!?!?!?!?!?!

you and me and her: a love story (totono)

completed: june 05, 2020

it's a thousand times better than another visual novel infamous for likely being based off of this one, i'll give totono that....

totono is an extremely harmless and normal love triangle story where nothing bad or strange happens at all. the art is beautiful, and so is the music, and there are definitely a few jarring scenes i can name that stuck with me. other than the latter half of the story sorta being difficult to get through (in terms of, like, gameplay......like i had to use a guide the whole time), the story itself is enjoyable and left an impression on me. it's pretty decently average, still. aoi is a goated character

honestly, i wish i didn't read you-know-what before reading totono. i'm sure totono would have had much more of a lasting effect on me had it been my first experience with visual novels breaking the fourth wall and getting eerie, but it didn't really, because i had that ddlc-shaped fingernail scratching at the back of my head the entire time.

totono has so much more charm, though. and definitely is stronger in the horror aspect. i wish i could wipe my thoughts of ddlc and write a more proper review of this one......just know that it's good, it's iconic, and it has everything within it that should be perfect about a visual novel. should be. i would have made it longer, to be honest.....