Import Games for Adults: Kyonyuu Majo

Kyonyuu Majo Review

                Everyone who plays video games finds at least one series they become attached to be they great RPGs like the Persona (and the rest of the Shin Megami Tensei series)   or Mass Effect series or shooters like the Bioshock series or visual novel series like Infinity, Zero Escape, or Majikoi. Naturally this attachment gets you to want to try out any material connected to the series such as books, comics, and spin off games. This brings us to this review’s subject, Kyonyuu Majo (released by Waffle on September 24, 2010), as I’ve stated before how much I love the Kyonyuu Fantasy series so when I found out there existed a spinoff game I was excited and figured that this would be a good lead up to Gaiden 2 (plus I wanted to get caught up with the series). After playing it…while I can say this game has a lot of the good stuff that the main series has, there’s enough bad that I think I can see why it has a questionable place in the series canon.

Pros: Likable and interesting cast of main characters, decent story, great artwork, good music, good voice acting.

Cons: The individual heroine endings have no real point, the game’s two villains are annoying, Route B…it really is amazing how much one route can sink a game.

WTF?!: Alphabet Assassins, after centuries of failure you might want to find a new profession…

                  You play as Tomoru Hende, a young man who has begun working at a mansion owned by the wealthy Tenma family as a servant. While working there he makes friends with the two daughters of the family, Cecile and Yuria. One night he’s visited by a succubus who declares she’ll take his soul but will grant him any wish as a last request; a succubus who bears an unmistakable resemblance to Cecile.

                Having played all the Kyonyuu Fantasy games I have to say Majo is an odd entry to the series as it’s set in modern day Japan where magic is low key and monsters extremely rare.  It also moves along at a slower pace than its predecessors and rather than political intrigue the conflict that occurs in the plot revolves around the workings of the Tenma family and their connection to the succession of the last king of the monster race. This also means the events of the game take place in a pretty small area, the Tenma Mansion and the nearby school, rather than a larger one like the main series. So basically Majo gives off a different feel than its predecessors, which for a spinoff is a good thing, but aside from the inevitable problems that come with the differences, the game’s tie to KF ends up being a burden to the story. The reason for this being that Majo came out before Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden did and after playing it and KF2 before playing Majo it’s pretty obvious that the writer had a different vision for the universe that this series is set in when he wrote Majo than the direction the KF series has gone in presently.  This can be seen in how countries are referred to by their real world equivalent names as opposed to what they’re called in the later KF games plus the references to Ryuto as a historical figure in this game’s setting don’t really seem to match up with what was established in Gaiden let alone Gaiden 2. There is also a bit of an issue as to how unique Ryuto would be as a historical figure when you take Ruin into account, but Gaiden 2 kind of offers a reason why. This could indicate that Majo isn’t canon anymore, but a blog post from earlier this year does seem to indicate that Waffle hasn’t abandoned this storyline so who knows. I can say that the connection Majo shares with the main series isn’t wholly bad for it for a couple reasons though: first, Tomoru is a bit more distinct a character from Ryuto than Ruin turned out to be as the writing does portray him as a (somehow) more humble guy than Ryuto, and second there’s some amusing in joke connections such as the aforementioned Alphabet Assassins to a debatable double cameo through reincarnation.

                Something I should point out before we get to discussing further details of the game’s plot. The story of this game is a bit difficult for me so if this review feels a bit disjointed then I will apologize in advance. It’s actually been months since I beat KM and I still can’t get over how polarized a view I have of it. Why that is has to do with the game’s story structure as there are two main routes that split from the end of the common route (as labeled by the walkthroughs): Route A and B. Each route has three endings, two of them are brief individual endings for some of the heroines and the third being the (longer) true ending to that route.  This is important because with this structure we have a story that is about half good (Route A) and half bad (Route B).

                Starting with Route A, I can say right up front that this route by itself does make the game worth playing as it has all the elements that I like about this series. The core cast of characters are well presented, there are some good moments of character development for two characters in particular (and a decent one with another character), we see an early step by the writer in giving the unnamed minor characters actual roles and character moments in the story, and the story moves along at a good pace that leads to a pretty satisfying conclusion. About the only problems I have with the route is I do wish that Toyoe could have had a bigger role in the story, there’s a matter concerning two characters I’ll be getting to later, and the individual endings for Cecile and Yuria are pointless as they’re just a few lines of dialogue and a single ending CG nor are they required to unlock the harem ending which actually has an epilogue to tell.

                Before we get to talking about the next route, I should point out I will be discussing some slight spoilers for said route. If you do not want to be spoiled (and experience this route’s terrible-ness for yourself) then please observe the spoiler themed pair of images below this paragraph, scroll down to a similar themed image pair to mark the end of the spoilers and continue reading.

                Moving on to Route B...there’s no beating around the bush with this: Route B sucks. This route is so bad it burned me out on the series for a while that I couldn’t even bring myself to play Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2 during that time even though I knew a better game awaited me there. Everything that Route A did right, Route B did horribly wrong. Both the characters and the writing are handled badly in that barely anything is done with any of the major characters until nearly the end of the route and a character given a significant amount of character development in Route A that culminated in a powerful moment of redemption is instead downgraded into being a one dimensional villain without even a hint at any of those story elements from the previous route and who is just so boring you can’t even glean much satisfaction in his defeat, only relief at the ending of that awful story segment. The heroines fair little better being essentially reduced to damsels in distress at the route’s climax, but one heroine in particular gets it worst, Yuria. Basically the route completely forgets about her; even though early events in the game (not to mention the freaking game cover) indicate her importance, Yuria never shows up and is never so much as mentioned.  Not only that, but the route practically writes her out of continuity because late in the route the group goes to a location where there would be no avoiding running into her for some very well established story reasons…and she isn’t there and there is never any answer as to why.  As much of a jaw dropping case of the writer dropping the ball as that is, it isn’t the biggest writing related problem this route has for me.

                 My biggest problem with Route B though is not its handling of its characters, at least not directly, but rather the difference in theme when it comes to the route’s climax and aftermath when compared with Route A’s.  To better convey why I have a problem with it has to do with why I consider the Kyonyuu Fantasy series to be my favorite visual novel series; yes, I like it more than the Majikoi games (it's slightly more so please lower those torches and pitchforks), the classic Black Cyc shared universe, what I’ve played of the Infinity series, and even the Phoenix Wright series. Now I realize you all can find perfectly good reasons why those series or other VN series (and to anyone who brings up Grisaia I still need to play games 2 and 3) are better and I really wouldn’t argue with you there. The thing is for me…back when I’d finished playing the first Kyonyuu Fantasy I was very much surprised at how much I enjoyed the story for what appeared to be a run of the mill sex romp eroge and that got to try out the other games in the series and was delighted to find they were consistently good (though not perfect). Wondering at what made the series so good in my eyes was kind of a passing thought since I’d just go with the simple answer of “I like the characters”.

                What got me to stop and actually think about it was about a month and a half ago when I was watching the much anticipated 300th episode from Linkaraon the infamous Frank Miller comic “Holy Terror”. In that episode (which I highly recommend watching) there’s a small but effective speech he gives on why he holds the movie “Camelot” in such high regard that got me to think because what he described as the film’s theme that made such an impression on him match with the overall theme of this series that makes it so likable. The theme was, to quote Mr. Lovhaug, “Those who have power should use it to do good, that violence is not strength, compassion is not weakness, that revenge is utterly pointless…”. This theme is something that comes natural with the hero of each game and something many of the characters come to learn as they spend more time with him and those close to him. This is helped along by another recurring theme that plays a factor into a number of characters’ arcs in this series: redemption. Many characters in the KF series (and Majo) do or have done things wrong and the consequences do come back around to them.  What the series does show is that regardless of the severity of one’s actions it’s never too late to change and do what’s right here on and to face up to one’s misdeeds, regardless of their severity, and try to fix the damages done even if there doesn’t seem to be much hope of accomplishing that. It's this collection of themes that gives the Kyonyuu Fantasy series a heart that's backed up by good writing. I don't think I can go so far as to echo Linkara and says my life was changed by reading this series but I can say it has given me a good assortment of believable enough heroic figures to be even a little inspired by.

                Having explained all that the reason I dislike Route B so much is because those aforementioned themes are completely removed from it. In its place is a dull and cliché story with a dull and cliché villain made from a character so better written in the other route and a series of cases where what would or should have led to a meaningful character scene is instead replaced with a joke that falls flat. It’s essentially a hollow route that doesn’t even have the substance to be an antithesis of its counterpart and even if it’s meant to be a joke route it still fails because the jokes don’t have very much to stand on. One example would be how reveal near the end regarding two particular character is meant to lead into an ironic joke considering their role throughout the story, but because the reveal is so out of nowhere and given a brief “just because” kind of explanation the it fails.

                While I do wish I didn’t have to end talking about the story on a negative note there is one story flaw that both routes share: its two villains that we get in Toyoe’s younger brother Yuichi and his flunkey whose name I cannot remember (and none of the sites seem to have a profile for him). I almost want to take back my criticism of Higness and Alhif of KF2 while they were generic and lacked even a hint of dimension they at least weren’t as annoying as Majo’s pair. Part of what makes them annoying has to do with their personalities as two self-righteous twats who see it as the ultimate act of good to kill any personof non-human descent, all the while unaware or uncaring of their own unheroic traits that pretty much render all their justifications hypocrisy. The thing is I only say “part” because what I described could make for a fairly interesting and maybe even complex villain, but the game’s plot doesn’t really do anything to make it so except for very late in Route A with a reveal about Yuichi but because that’s introduced really late and really has no effect on the story I wouldn’t really count it. It also doesn’t help that the writing for these two can’t seem to find the balance between a comedic foil and enemy to take half seriously that we see in some villain characters in the later games. This makes pretty much every scene these two are in a chore, but I will say in Route A’s favor once Yuria enters the picture we get some compensation for those scenes in the two becoming her personal punching bags.

               In the area of presentation I can say that KM does as well as its brethren with good artwork, voice acting, and music. About the only nitpick I have is…Yuria’s school uniform is ridiculous and coming from me, someone who enjoys Dead or Alive and generally doesn't mind ridiculous fan servicey costumes (and anyone who says "that's the equivalent of a guy..." I say bring those guy outfits on too) that is saying a lot. See for yourselves…

                As for the ero scenes I’d say all but one of them are good and pretty much what you’d come to expect from this series. The one ero scene I’m referring to occurs late in Route B and my main problem with it is it feels forced in and maybe is a little dark for this particular game’s tone. Then again this is Route B we’re talking about so that’s to be expected.

Characters:

Cecile Tenma:

The second daughter of the Tenma household and first year at the local school. Takes a liking to Tomoru and as such he becomes her main servant of choice.

Yuria Tenma:

Cecile’s older sister and next in line to become head of the Tenma household.

               

Toyoe Asagiri:

A nun in charge of the local church that is part of the local school and Yuichi Asagiri’s older sister, Toyoe is also the homeroom teacher for the class Cecile is a part of. 

Shizume Kugano:

Head maid of the Tenma household.

In Conclusion:

                Kyonyuu Majo is a decent but flawed game with or without its odd place in the Kyonyuu Fantasy universe. I would recommend it for completionists and fans of the series as Route A does make it worth playing, though with Route B I recommend either skipping or playing that first so you won’t be as greatly disappointed as I was in light of finishing Route A. I know it seems like I had a lot of bad to say than good but ultimately I can forgive what this game does wrong since the writer seems to have learned from his mistakes and the main series has maintained its goodness since.

Final Score: 6/10 Above Average

Author Recommendation: For fans only

                As for the anime…what’s that? You haven’t seen or heard of any OVA bearing the name Kyonyuu Majo? Well it turns out an anime adaptation does exist…in unofficial form. There exists a low budget two part hentai OVA named Vampire that follows the bare bones plot of Route A (which says something about Route B’s suckiness if even the ripoff doesn’t want to touch it) with some light plot and character design changes. Observe some examples of the latter:

                Ignoring the changes as an adaptation this would probably be second rate due to its low budget animation. I’d only recommend checking it out if you’re curious. I am however a bit curious about how this anime’s existence though: is it a blatant ripoff or was whoever it was who made this OVA originally making an adaptation of KM but somewhere along the way lost the license? Also if it’s the former how did they avoid legal trouble? I know Japan’s copyright laws are (thankfully) different from the US but still…

                Of course since the site for it opened a week ago I feel I should mention Kyonyuu Fantasy 2 if again.

                From the looks of things it’s going to be a retelling of Kyonyuu Fantasy 2 and with the obvious focus on Shahal this is probably going to be the canon version considering who she is in connection with the other games.

                At first I thought this might be a continuation of Shahal’s route but some story details concerning Nadine that significantly change her role from the original game show that this is a complete retelling. While I am excited to play this and very curious about what else could be different the above picture can’t help but make me feel a tad disappointed that (as I said in forum about this game) the end bosses are Highness and Alhif...again, we have to put up with Zeminario being a kind of antagonist until his inevitable change of heart...again, we'll have to deal with Elicia's father and evil uncle...again, and we'll probably have to endure Devlin's annoying fat ass...again.

                Still even with that in mind the site has revealed there’s going to be two new heroines, though they won’t be revealed for a while. Could either of them be a new monster race or maybe a relative one of the cast from Ryuto’s storyline? We’ll have to wait and see…

Import Games for Adults: Tsujidou-san no Junai Road

Tsujidou-san no Junai Road Review

                Another eroge company I’ve followed for years is Minato Soft as they always produce enjoyable comedies with an equally enjoyable cast of characters. Strangely, for as much as I’ve enjoyed their products, I’ve never finished a single one of their games until now. The main reason being the games that are part of their well-known Maji de Watshi ni Koi Shinasai series are partially translated and I want to experience the remaining major routes (especially Miyako’s)  in English so I don’t miss a single thing in translation and Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore da has simply been on my backburner for years. This has kind of changed now that I’ve played and finished Tsujidou-san no Junai Road, released September 28, 2012 by Minato Soft’s subsidiary company Minato Carnival. This game didn’t disappoint by being an enjoyable read on par with the Majikoi series…along with being possibly the longest eroge I’ve ever played.

Pros: Excellent light hearted slice of life filled story with a good amount of plot diversity, great characters, good artwork, good music, great voice acting.

Cons: Monster length of the story may turn off some, plot branching point has and creates some minor issues, Maki’s route over does foreshadowing, Saeko’s route seems oddly placed, unwinnable heroines, a few hiccups in the art department with male character face drawings.

WTF?!: Allow me to introduce our main antagonist (of sorts) Ganaha. 

She (that’s not a typo) is voiced by good old Joji Nakata (I think I am going to need to start keeping score between him and Wakamoto).

                In TJR you play as Hiroshi Hase, an all-around normal student at Inamura Gakuen in Shonan. His life changes when he sees his delinquent classmate Ai Tsujidou help a stray kitten in the rain and from there ends up befriending and growing close to her. This ends up drawing the attention of Ai’s two rivals, Renna Katase, the leader of the largest delinquent gang in the area, and Maki Koshigoe, a lone delinquent just as strong a fighter as Ai. And so begins a summer filled with bizarre rivalries, friendships, and romance.

                When it comes to good character driven slice of life stories, TJR delivers the quality you’d expect of Minatosoft. The likability of the characters (click here for profiles) is perhaps the key to what makes this such an enjoyable read; each character has their own unique personality and hilarious quirks that get at least the right amount of exploration. This includes Ai’s amusing (and often cute) social awkwardness often masked (intentionally or unintentionally) by her delinquent gang leader persona to the bizarre but strangely believable friendship that forms between the muscle of Renna’s gang, Tiara Ichijou, and Hiroshi’s best friend and honor student, Tarou Bandou. This helps to keep the slice of life that makes up a majority of the plot fresh and has you interested in either learning more or seeing more of the characters.

                That’s not to say there isn’t an overall plot beyond the slice of life, it’s there in the conflict that forms as a result of the relationship Hiroshi forms with each of the three main heroines: Ai’s being the glaringly obvious difference between her lifestyle and Hiroshi’s and whether or not their relationship can last despite that, Renna’s being the trouble with managing such a large and growing gang, and Maki’s being how the troubles from her life start affecting Hiroshi (we’ll get to why I’m not talking about Saeko in this later). The slice of life exists to build up the relationship so not only so we can believe in it, but also so we’ll want to see resolution of the aforementioned conflicts. I should also point out another thing done well in the writing of each route’s plot is the drama is written in well; it occurs at just the right points in the story, never overstays its time in the story and as a result doesn’t create an awkward feeling of contrast with the predominantly lighthearted tone of the game.

                Before I get to discussing the routes, I feel I should address something: the inevitable comparison between this and Majikoi. Let me make this as clear as possible: If you liked Majikoi and want to give this a try… DO NOT GO INTO TSUJIDOU-SAN NO JUNAI ROAD EXPECTING MAJIKOI you will only be setting yourself up for disappointment. This game does not have the central group dynamic Majikoi has, the only thing Hiroshi and Yamato have in common is libido, and there’s  probably enough differences I can list to fill several pages but let’s just move this forward. While these two are very different games, there do exist a lot of things that will appeal to fans of Majikoi as there are some thematic similarities like the friendships portrayed or formed over the course of the story and that air of genuineness about them that come as a result of the character interactions and major story events. It also does take advantage of the fact that it takes place in the same universe as Majikoi, though sadly no one from that series makes an appearance. I’m sure many a fan will get a nice chuckle out of a certain scene in Renna’s route…and start wishing for a full on crossover game someday.

                Now let’s move on to the routes. Tsujidou-san no Junai Road has four routes…technically. Each of them are good in their own way and offer a unique story and three of them even have some plot diversity. As for what I meant by “technically”, I’ll get to that soon enough, but first the rankings.

1)      Ai

2)      Renna

3)      Maki

4)      Saeko

 

Ai’s route takes first place because out of all of them her route has the most writing effort put into it. Now don’t take that the wrong way, the other main routes are also well written and doubtless had a lot of effort put into their creation, it’s just that Ai’s route just has more in comparison. The choice to be on her route reads like the natural progression from the branching point of the common route, she has the best chemistry with Hiroshi, her route has some of the funniest scenes in the game, the story utilizes the prominent and side characters best, and her route has the best character development. Her arc of making friends aside from other delinquents starting with the class representative, Ayumi Houjou, is interesting and funny not only because of the quirks on Ai’s end but also because it makes the friendship believable and it also establishes Ayumi’s character and her prominence in the story. We also get some development on Hiroshi’s end in the later parts of the route that does a good job supporting the resolution of the problem he and Ai have to deal with. Finally, and perhaps most obviously, Ai’s route has the advantage of having more story content, the best example being unlike the other heroines she has two very distinct endings…and they depend on the color of her hair*.

Renna’s route comes in at a very close second as the story it tells is nearly as good as Ai’s. There’s a more conventional conflict of sorts as this is the only route in this game that really has a villain and it ties really well with the aforementioned problem of a large gang. I should also admit one other thing this plotline does well besides not overdoing the drama of this storyline is it manages to turn what looks like an apparent flaw in the storyline (mainly concerning the villain’s motives) into a plot point that makes sense in the grand scheme of things. The route’s story also gives good insight into Renna’s character from her dream of forming the largest gang ever to her bonds with her circle of friends (and I will say while not as good as with the Kazama family in Majikoi they do have a very good group dynamic themselves). The chemistry between her and Hiroshi is also really good, being very different from the one between him and Ai, and it not only manages to pull off a good tsundere type relationship but even point out and make fun of a few tropes of that type of romance. The only thing that keeps Renna’s route from tying with Ai’s is because of the branch point in the common route, which I’ll need to address now.

The reason Ai’s route feels like such a natural continuation from that point is because the common route exclusively builds up her relationship with Hiroshi so choosing to go on another route creates a few problems. First it gives the choosing point an artificial feel, this kind of creates a second problem in it kind of gives an awkward feel to scenes where Ai has to deal with Hiroshi going out with someone else where while these are effective scenes you can’t help but have a nagging feeling about the aforementioned choice point. Third it means from that choice point the story then has to slow down in order to start building up Hiroshi’s relationship with Renna or Maki into a romantic one. To the writer’s credit the buildup does succeed in creating a believable relationship that you want to read more about and I realize the plot slowing down is necessary to achieve that, but still…

Maki’s route has an interesting story approach as it’s in this route that we learn more about Hiroshi in the area of backstory. While the backstory in and of itself isn’t anything special it does provide some good character insight into Hiroshi and to some extent Saeko and Yoiko and it does end up tying in with the overall story of the route pretty well. Impressively the writer not only managed to have this work well with the plot of the route but also manage to present it in a way that it doesn’t really overshadow Maki so you never feel like she’s a side character in her own route. Of course the romance between her and Hiroshi is a good one and while there is a more comical approach to it than with the other two  (which makes sense considering Maki’s laid back personality) it’s still believable and when the time comes for the dramatic parts of the route near the end those scenes are both effective and don’t clash with the tone of the story. What keeps the route from tying with Renna’s is in addition to the aforementioned problem from the branch point there’s a flub in the approach to the dramatic parts of the story: too much foreshadowing. After a certain point in the story literally every other scene foreshadows the problem that’s going to arise from Hiroshi dating Maki and it’s a lot more than just a few scenes. Foreshadowing is supposed to create suspense in how while things are calm at the point in the story you’re viewing your thoughts keep straying back to that previous scene and you can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen that will inevitably upset this calm. Usually the foreshadowing scenes are few and happen infrequently with a lot of story in between so as to create that suspense, but in this case it happens so frequently you’re annoyed instead of in suspense and end up feeling impatient for the dramatic story event to just happen so you can get it over with.

Finally we get to Saeko’s route…which is basically a side route as it’s not even close to halfway as long as the main three. I’ll say that its main weakness doesn’t exactly lie in its shortness as it feels like it’s about the right length and the approach the route takes for how she and Hiroshi end up together works well enough…with the right context and that brings us to the route’s weak point. Here’s something you should know: don’t play Saeko’s route until after you finish Maki’s as there is some focus on her and Hiroshi’s relationship growing up that provides better credence to the relationship than the route itself. Strangely the route doesn’t branch off from Maki’s but at the main branch point. All in all, even though Saeko’s route is as the bottom of my route ranking it’s not a bad route, just a clumsily implemented route.

One more thing concerning routes, if you took a look at the character profiles you’ve probably noticed there’s a good number of female characters and a lot of them are unwinnable. I admit this is a minor flaw since there is a fandisk that have a route for Yoiko and Azusa, and most of the other unwinnable heroines aren’t delinquents and their having routes would clash with the game’s theme. That still leaves room for a route for Kumi…and Hana…

The last thing I should address concerning the plot is something that may be a flaw for some: the length of the game’s story. I said it before and I’ll say it again, this is in all likelihood the longest eroge I have ever played. Take a look:

The thing is that play time counter stops counting at 99:59, so expect to do A LOT of reading. You have been warned.

                In the area of presentation TJR does just about everything right. Everyone but Hiroshi is voiced and the VAs turn in amazing performances. The music is ranges from good as a background theme to excellent, especially the ones used late in the routes for major dramatic events. The art is really good for the most part, though there are some instances where the artist’s drawing of some of the male character’s heads seems a bit off. A good example is in a few CG where we see Hiroshi’s face there seems to be something off about the angle.

                As for the ero scenes, they’re all really good both in the area of artwork and voice acting. There’s also a good number of them so that’s one benefit of the game’s monster story length right there.

In Conclusion:

                Tsujidou-san no Junai Road is an excellent eroge that is well worthy of sharing the same universe as its older cousin series, Majikoi. The story may be long but it the slice of life and characters are written well enough that the length isn’t really much of an issue. I enjoyed it just as much as I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of the Majikoi series and I highly recommend it to anyone can play untranslated games. I should point out that the writing style is pretty easy to read if you have a basic understanding of Japanese, just be aware of the story’s length.

Final Score: 9/10 Must Own

Author Recommendation: Buy it now.

*Slight spoiler, but concerning the two endings Ai has, I recommend seeing the ending where she keeps her current hair color first and then do the other one as the latter end has a bit more to it than the former.

Import Games for Adults: Kyonyuu Fantasy 2 Tokuten Story

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Games for Adults Halloween: Saya no Uta

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.