Saya no Uta
Well,
given how all I’ve been covering this Halloween have been imported eroge and
the sadly limited amount of horror themed eroge available in English, this
review was probably to be expected. Seeing as how mediocre Insai no Shima was
it just wouldn’t do to end this year’s Halloween on a low note and so for that
we’ll be taking a look at Nitro+’s classic horror romance eroge, released by
JAST USA on May 6, 2013, Saya no Uta.
Pros: Overall excellent horror story, characters are
interesting, good artwork, great voice acting, excellent music.
Cons: A couple pacing issues.
WTF?!: From Fuminori’s perspective, every weapon looks like
the Soul Edge.
Saya no
Uta tells the story of Fuminori Sakisaka, an unfortunate young man who is the
only survivor of a car crash that claims the lives of his parents. Yet that is
the least Fuminori has lost as the injuries he suffered were so severe one of
the treatments he had to undergo was brain surgery and the aftermath has left
him with a warped view of the world around him. To Fuminori his surroundings
appear to be mounds of twisted flesh, people appear as completely repulsive
monsters, and everything that he can touch or taste comes across as equally
disgusting. It’s so bad that Fuminori can’t even stand to interact with those
who he once considered his closest friends. What keeps Fuminori going though is
a mysterious girl he met and befriended while at the hospital named Saya, the
only one who appears human to him now. It’s through Saya that Fuminori now has
the companionship he needs, but questions remain. Who is Saya’s father and why
is he missing? And just who or what is Saya?
I have
to say in all my years of playing visual novels I have yet to encounter one as
dark, disturbing, creepy, and somehow beautiful as Saya no Uta. If you ever
wanted to see if a serious romance and horror (especially the kind reminiscent
of the Cthulhu mythos( could be blended, then this could very well be worth a
look. I know that sounds ridiculous if not impossible, but trust me when I say
the game succeeds to being an interesting romance and a good horror story.
Regarding
the romance, note how I call it interesting because that’s really the best way
to describe our central pair of Fuminori and Saya. The writer, Gen Urobuchi (who some of you may know as the
writer for Fate/Zero and Puella Madoka Magica), does a good job in establishing
these two as a couple by showing how not only are they together just because of
Fuminori’s condition but also because of how they complete each other. You get
a good feel of how they’re two people alone in the world under extraordinary
circumstances and they give each other the companionship they both desperately
need. This is also supported by their interactions that do a good job in making
it believable that these two genuinely care for each other. All of these things
are not only good elements, but also very necessary…to show that there is no
atrocity or depravity too horrible for these two to commit all so they can
remain together.
This is
where the romance leads into one of the major parts of the horror aspect of the
story. At a certain point in the story Fuminori has to choose between staying
together with Saya or have his senses returned to normal. Choosing the former,
which is the canon choice (the other choice leads to a premature, but still
well written in its own way, ending), leads the pair down a path where they go
to all manner of lengths to insure they remain together and happy. When I say
“all manner of lengths” I really mean it as the murder of even a possible
threat to their happiness is the least of what they’re willing to and do. These
two go to very disturbing lengths for each other’s sake with very little regard
for who they harm in the process (and boy does one character get the worst of
it) and yet somehow you can’t entirely hate them because the story does a good
job presenting why they’re doing these things and they do make sense from their
point of view. It also helps that this pair is able to command your attention
from there as the story kind of gives the Fuminori and Saya a larger than life
air in their crusade for their happiness together; they’re almost like an
Eldritch Bonnie and Clyde.
Of
course the horror element of this game isn’t just composed of the disturbing;
at times it can evoke a good scary atmosphere. All of these moments involve the
mystery behind Saya and her missing father, and they all serve to evoke that
sense of foreboding in investigating something that one would probably be
better off not. These range from minor moments such as descriptions of how what
went on in the hospital while Saya was secretly living there which serve to
build up the mystery behind her (even if it is pretty easy to figure out) to
strong moments of fear of what the dark conceals such as when Yoh investigates
Fuminori’s house. That’s one scene that’ll have you at least mentally shouting
at the screen “Don’t go into the house, you fool!!”
As for
the characters (click here for
profiles) they’re all well written, even though Fuminori and Saya get the
focus, and you get a feel for their situations when you play from their POV. As
a result you do care enough about the other characters besides our two mains
that you do feel bad when bad stuff happens to them, which also helps on the
horror front. Aside from the aforementioned scene with Yoh, the best example
can be seen in Koji, who depending on perspective can be considered a hero or a
villain. You really feel for this guy as he gets drawn into the mystery surrounding
Saya without even knowing about her and when that mystery takes him down a path
of vengeance you may even end up rooting for him. Even a character like Ryoko,
whose main involvement isn’t until late in the story manages to leave a good impression.
If
there are any flaws to this game’s story I’d say, and this is nitpicking mind
you, that there are a couple of pacing issues. Mainly I think a few story
elements could have been looked at a little longer such as maybe a little more
of either Fuminori or Saya interacting with the world outside or maybe a little
more screen time for Ryoko. I’ll admit that maybe once or twice it seems the
game may be trying a little too hard to be disturbing, but that’s really just
because maybe the events happen a little too close together. Then again one
other good thing about Saya no Uta is its short length (it'll take you 5-10 hours to complete) means no filler and I
wouldn’t want to risk ruining that.
In the
area of presentation Saya no Uta does phenomenally. The artwork is good even
though it doesn’t have the polish a lot of VNs typically have. I’d say that
works to the game’s advantage in a couple ways: first, it gives everything a
good hand drawn feel that actually helps in giving the characters a little
extra in their expressions and posture than if they had been your typical anime
artwork, and second, when it comes to the more horrific or supernatural looking
artwork the artist succeeds not only in creating imagery meant to be strange
and horrifying but also in somehow managing to put in an element of beauty to
some of the images that doesn’t stand out. The music track for this game is
also excellent with each track capturing and conveying the right mood for their
respective scenes perfectly, be it the searching feeling you get from “Seek”,
the lurking feeling from “Scare Shadow”, or the chaotic yet badass feeling
fight music of “Savage”. Yet perhaps out of all the tunes, the most memorable
to me is the theme song titled “Saya no Uta” as it really succeeds in bringing
about the right feel for the third ending, evoking a mixture or triumph,
soothing, and mourning. Equally amazing is the voice acting; every character is
perfectly voiced, but the standout performances are without a doubt that of
Hikaru Midorikawa as Fuminori, followed close behind by Yasunori Matsumoto as
Koji. And to any otakus from my generation who recognize both names from The
Slayers, enjoy watching Zelgadiss and Gourry kill each other.
As for
the ero scenes…well, I’m not entirely sure what to say about the ero scenes.
They’re not meant to get a rise out of you as their purpose is to disturb
and/or horrify. Even the more innocent seeming scenes have a pretty disturbing
context to them once you’re aware of certain plot elements, not to mention the
music that plays during those scenes give you a feeling that something isn’t
quite right with what’s happening.
In Conclusion:
Saya no
Uta is an excellent horror eroge and certainly one of the best of the few
horror visual novels officially available in English. I will warn you that this
game is not a happy story and can get downright disturbing, but if you can take
that then you can enjoy a horror story that has good characters, suspense
abound, and two main endings that will both leave quite the impression on you.
I highly recommend this to you, especially
considering you can get it at Rightstuf for about twenty bucks, so price
shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Final Score: 8/10 Awesome
Author Recommendation: Buy it now.
And
before anyone asks, no I haven’t read the infamously bad comic book adaptation.
The copies are rare and I’m not really interested in scouring the internet for
scans.
So with
that this year’s Halloween reviews have come to an end. Hope you all enjoyed
the string of reviews I posted and hopefully at least one of those reviews has
gotten you interested in trying out one of them. A Happy Halloween to you all
and I hope we get to do this again next year.
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