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For those of you who didn’t already know, this VN is based in the same setting as Nanairo Reincarnation and by the same company. Nanairo Reincarnation was my VN of the Year 2014, and it is a VN that has remained strong in memory ever since. This VN has a much stronger ‘horror’ influence than Nanairo, which tended to be more of a nakige for much of its length. The protagonist, Yashiro, is a young guy who was born particularly vulnerable to spiritual influences while not having the ability to see ghosts or spirits… meaning he is basically a walking target for stuff like that. At the beginning of the story, he finds out he is cursed by the ‘Ghost of the Old School Building’, one of the ‘seven mysteries’ of his school. This curse is fairly simple… it tries to get him to kill himself by jumping off the roof of the school building. A lot of the common parts of this VN focus around dealing with the mysteries and trying to discover a way to put the ghosts to rest, and in that sense it is almost identical to Nanairo… except that the protagonist, while central to the story, is essentially a ‘normal guy’ who got caught up in the mess involving ghosts and spirits. The protagonist from Nanairo makes several appearances in the VN, as do his ‘family’ members, and it is based about two years after the original story. There is definitely enough influence from the original that I have to recommend you play Nanairo first. This VN… tends toward an aura of sorrow, for much of its length. The moments of fear are there, but they tend to be less common than ones of sorrow/grief. There are a total of six heroines in the VN (five if you count Riri and Ruka as a single heroine), with three major arcs… The first arc is the Velvet Arc, which has the twin kami (Riri and Ruka) path splitting off midway. Riri and Ruka’s ending… leaves a really strong impression, to say the least. Technically, they are sub-heroines, but their ending is in no way neglected, either for detail or emotional value. If there is a significant difference from the main part of the arc (Velvet’s path), it is that it is somewhat shorter and less dramatic. Still, I cried for a half hour after it was over. Those who liked the red-head from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa’s ending will like this one. Velvet’s ending… is closer to what I would call a ‘bittersweet romance’ path. Velvet has serious psychological problems, all wrapped up in her past (I won’t spoil it), and dealing with those issues is the main focus of her path. The second arc is the Older Women Arc, which contains Misato’s and Youko’s path. I’ll be straight… play Youko’s path first. If you play Misato’s path before Youko’s, it will destroy you utterly, whereas it is merely saddening when you play Youko’s first. Honestly, since I like that type of ending, I really did like how Youko’s path turned out, but it isn’t really a romance path (neither was Ruka’s and Riri’s). Misato and Youko’s paths branch off from one another dramatically very late on (from a story perspective), and Misato’s path follows a far less dramatic and painful road to the end, one that is closer to what romance fans would like. The third and last arc is the True Arc. This path contains Kana’s and the True ending. Kana’s path… is probably the most normal of all the paths, at least until the endgame. To be honest, Kana’s path is the reason why I won’t be calling this one a kamige, though it isn’t horrible. It is just… difficult to empathize with Kana (by the time I got to her path, I just considered her Idiot Friend #2, so I couldn’t see her as a romantic partner, even through the protagonist’s eyes). Nonetheless, as paths go in a general sense, it was still pretty high quality. However, where this arc shines is, of course, the True path. The True ending is… really heart-breaking. What you might or might not have figured out from the clues about the mysteries behind what is going on at the school are brought to light in full form, and the issues that were generally laid to rest outside of the protagonist’s control or in a way that didn’t reveal the whole mystery were brought to a head in the protagonist’s personal viewpoint. I cried for the True path. I seriously cried. If you don’t cry after you see what there is to see in this path, you probably should go to a psychologist. A few other comments before I go to my overall wrap-up. My favorite heroine in this VN was undeniably Velvet, both because of my tastes in heroines (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you know her secrets), and because I just really, really liked her ending. The protagonist’s degree of personal growth – and even his personality or outlook on life – will often be changed dramatically during the course of the paths, and this is one of the reasons I would love to give the kamige stamp to this one, despite the fact that it doesn’t quite reach Nanairo’s level. Overall, this is definitely one of those VNs I’ll still be recommending to people five years from now, along with Nanairo. It is a bit guro at times (at about the same level as Nanairo there), and the protagonist is a bit too typical of protagonists in the kind of situation he ends up in at times. However, as long as you can get past these issues (or actively enjoy them) this is a great VN to play. I will say that I really wished they would have done another adult protagonist, like Makoto from Nanairo. I don’t really see the need to go back to student protagonists, but I guess that is just an inevitability when companies are under the kind of pressure of tradition these are. I am seriously looking forward to more works from this company and this writer in the future, and this one is a solid (almost inevitable) VN of the Month candidate.

I remember the not-insane guy from the documentary about The Pirate Bay talking about why he rather used AFK in place of IRL when denoting anything he did which was not in front of his computer. Recalling the exact quote proves difficult but it doesn't matter as my point isn't necessarily what he meant but how I perceived it. I seem to recall his reasoning being something along the lines of online and digital presence also, technically, being part of real life. It makes sense to me that reality is not exclusive but in fact the opposite; inclusive. Anything that can be at all I would consider part of reality and thus also, if I am involved in it, a part of my own real life. Which leads me to virtual reality. Not VR but the idea of virtuality. As far as I know, European philosophers back in the day (and maybe even now?) sometimes divided reality into the material reality (is actual, has form) and virtuality. Keep in mind that I'm using the term very liberally. Something virtual can be a thing, such as a character in a visual novel, which is not material but according to some people very much real since it obviously exists. If the character did not exist, there would be no way to see or interact with it, even through the UI of the game. There may be moral values connected to the importance of something virtual vs. something material but that is another discussion. However, I don't really buy the fact that distinctions between forms of realities are necessary nor representative of the way it works. This is why I'm just going to say that everything is real, real to the extent that we don't even need the word real as nothing can not be real. Truth be told, I am making a conscious effort not to get trapped in a spiral of semantics, arguing the duality of language, thoughts and symbols such as the word 'reality'. So, in conclusion to this paragraph, let me say that since I consider reality inclusive and non-specific, I also consider reality all-encompassing and so it includes anything that follows henceforth. Since smooth segue is smooth and If I haven't already lost everyone at this point, what I wanted to get to was this: animu and vidya are for realz! In fact, it makes me very satisfied that I can fool myself into believing the equal reality of MMORPG worlds enjoy compared to the one my shrink wants me to be functional in. Ever since I was a wee lad I have enjoyed escapism a lot. Like many of my generation I was at a point completely absorbed in the World of Warcraft, Azeroth. Because, while I love the worlds of my favourite movies, anime, fighting games, visual novels and so on, they are a bit lacking in the world department. With world I mean a traversable landscape which preferably differs enough from Earth to make it interesting. So, for me, what an MMORPG needs to be is a system which makes an as large of a virtual landscape as interesting and exciting as possible, ideally to the point that you start to forget that it is not indeed virtual. My interest in these kinds of games has dwindled significantly for the past several years. I feel they have become more about being virtual landscapes supporting a gameplay system than the other way around. Specifically I'm talking about convenience features which make the gameplay systems quicker and easier to understand. I didn't get into them for that, though. There are plenty of games I enjoy primarily for their gameplay features, such as Street Fighter and Starcraft, but none of them are MMORPGs. Recently I have regained hope, though. On March 11th this year, Visionary Realms streamed over an hour of gameplay from the pre-alpha version of their game Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. I've been skeptical, thinking the game was most likely vapourware until I saw the stream but now, seeing how far along they've gotten, I think it will most likely see the light of day after all. Basically, the game is like any other game in the genre only stripped of what I consider bloat features. It will also be significantly slower paced and focus more on group efforts as opposed to solo play. There will be limited fast-travel, instancing and enemies which can be killed by a lone player. They are promising that there won't be exclamation marks over the heads of NPCs giving quests and combat as well as regeneration of health will take longer than in modern MMORPGs. The graphics aren't exactly state of the art but to me they look serviceable, although I'm fine with playing Dragon Quest (1986) on my Famicom so my standards aren't exactly sky high. Maybe this pitch sounds like a snorefest to you and I completely understand why someone might think so but I do hope that there are enough people interested in this kind of niche to let the game stay afloat. Perhaps you are like me and love to escape to a world of fantasy, be it in a visual novel or otherwise. Perhaps you are like me and happen to have 12-20 hours to kill in front of your computer before you sleep again. Just thought I'd put the word out there in my own construed and needy way. That's all, thanks.