What are you playing?

[alpacaman]

So I've been doing some reading over the last couple of weeks.

I finished Musicus!. In my opinion it deserves most of the praise it's receiving. It feels to me like the kind of novel you'd read in literature class that everyone found extremely boring except for the literature geeks, so being this highly rated on vndb despite reaching a more mainstream audience thanks to the hype surrounding it is a pleasant surprise to me. I usually dislike it when people defend a boring story by saying it has ~themes~ (cough, Himawari, cough cough), but in the case of Musicus! I'd say it actually is themes-driven rather than plot- or character-driven. Characters often represent certain ideas or outlooks on life and once those are developed to a certain degree the game has no issue dropping those characters completely, and its approach to scene selection is somewhat similar, rushing through scenes that seem central to the plot and instead showing some slice-of-life surrounding them. Occasionaly there is an edgy philosophical monologue, but a lot of the time Musicus! communicates its ideas through small details, like most of the protagonist's classmates only getting sprites once you enter the school route or the bad route completely lacking BGM.

I also read Meeting in the Flesh, a free otome EVN about romancing monsters in a gory fantasy world. What seems like the premise for a (bad) parody game turns out to be one of the most powerful love stories I've encountered in a VN so far. It reminded me of Saya no Uta to a certain degree, but inverts its core theme of how your perception of the world shapes your outlook on things, instead showing how an open and loving mind lets you find even the most deeply hidden beauty. This game is also one of the rare cases where I'd really recommend reading the R-rated version, despite, you know, the vore and tentacles. The CGs aren't that explicit anyway.

[Mehnot]

On 5/16/2021 at 1:40 PM, LAsuka said:

Hot take, but I literally can't stand Dies Irae.

I'm halfway through Rea's route and I can't take any more pretentious dialogue (that portends to be 'grandiose' and 'insightful') and random Nazi bullshit.

Also, Rea and Ren has no chemistry.

 

Gekkou no Carneval is SOOO BORING.

 

Probably gonna wait until something more worth playing comes up. Until then, there's a huge backlog of games to start on.

My thoughts on Dies Irae exactly. I dropped it during Marie's route and never looked back. I was bored out of my mind.

DI made me realize chuuniges are just not for me.

[ChaosRaven]

So, I've just finished the new Kyonyuu Fantasy 3 if with all routes. Considering that it was just released about 3 weeks ago and it's a rather long VN, that's very fast for my standards. For obvious reasons that also means that I've enjoyed it quite a bit. I was looking forward to this VN in particular for several reasons. First, KF1 - Gaiden 2 had some impressive world building with its recreation of medieval europe and its major powers. Second, I'm a bit of a history and mythology nerd and KF3's setting of the Roman Empire and the greco-roman pantheon of deities is of particular interest to me. Third, it has some significant improvements in the art department compared to its predecessors, with some rather striking character designs for a change like the ones from Athena or Zoe. Fortunately, those weren't the only improvements. Overall, pretty much every aspect was improved ranging from writing, music, art and characters.

World-Building:

The world building in this VN is particular impressive, because it didn't just cover the mortal world of the Roman Empire, but also its pantheon of gods, including the underworld and the empyrean olympus. There was quite some care about historical accuracy with roman titles and customs and they also covered the beginning of Christianity with the followers of the new church of the Holy Rood making their first appearance. There were also real rules of how the gods could interact with the mortal world. They were not free to do so and usually just had a limited time to do so, otherwise they would be tracked down by Faron (aka Charon) and brought back by force. They could also manifest themselves in ethereal or material state. It was even mentioned that Astrae was the last goddess to descend to the mortal world in the greek golden age, which even I wasn't aware of. As it was common in mythology, the gods also had some specific powers over their divine domain, like a war god being good at fighting, Apollo being capable of prophecies or love gods like Venus or Julinas being good at... well you know. 

Protagonist:

The protagonist was actually one of my biggest worries in this VN since I never really got warm with Lute or Ruin from KF1 or KF2 even if they certainly had their moments. But despite being a somewhat similar boob-obsessed character, I found Julinas surprisingly likable. And there are several reasons for that. First, while Lute was technically just a big pervert, Julinas is an actual love god, so being somewhat more horny than usual is just part of his divine domain. Second, Julinas is rooted in normality, as crazy that may sound for an underworld god. But in his life in the underworld Faron and Medusa are close and important friends and Hades and Persephone have strong parental roles in Julinas life. Neither of those characters are involved in a sexual manner with Julinas and there was also little to nothing naughty going on in the underworld anyway. And since there are long episodes in the underworld you can  see a rather normal and caring side of Julinas. And oh yeah, he has his own personal pet hell hound. 

Furthermore, while Lute or Ruin solved a lot of problems just with dumb luck, ridiculous events or by help of others, Julinas actually does a lot of stuff himself. He might be just a lowly god of the underworld, but he still IS a deity with some powers and most of his actions were somewhat comprehensible for a world of mythical powers. And last but not least, Julinas had a good chemistry with most of the heroines. As a lively trickster god, most of the heroines found him likable or at least funny from the beginning. In the case of the human heroines, it was even understandable that they looked up to him. In KF1 or KF2 the heroines often went from pure digust to worship, which was simply not believable anymore.

Story:

The story had pretty much two main arcs. The first one covers Julinas first interaction with the mortal world after being stuck in the underworld for 500 years. As the lowest god of the underworld he therefore gets his chance to get his own followers and a temple dedicated to him by helping the people of Doronium to get rid of a terrible curse. He also helps out the roman legion fending off the attacks of a minotaur army, further widening his influence in the mortal world.

The second story arc covers the conflict between the gods of the underworld and the empyrean. There's a strong rivalry between them and it's one of Julinas greatest wishes to lift Medusa's curse which was put on her by Athena as punishment. This is probably the strongest arc since most of the gods got some rather strong character development. Their personalities did reflect their mythological counter parts pretty well, with Hermes being as fast trickster god, Athena being a strict but just maiden goddess, Venus rathere easy going, Apollo being quite the looker, Mars being not a nice guy at all (Ares in particular was considered a rather dark god of bloodshed and massacre), Jupiter being the patriachic leader and brother of Hades. It was quite fascinating to see the greek pantheon come to live in a surprisingly authentic manner. That arc also had some rather heavy and touching moments regarding Medusa's curse with Julinas showing some impressive mental strength.

Sound:

It was quite refreshing to not having to endure the same music of 5+ years of rehashed KF music again. To fit the vibes of the antique rome, they fortunately used some new soundtracks. Most of them at least decent and some of them even great like the olympian theme or the theme from Venus. I might even listen to those independently. Oh and did I mention that almost every major character and not just the heroines have their own theme music? It really gave the characters more personality and added more vocal diversity to the game.

I was also surprised that several of the male main characters got better voice actors. Like Jupiter having a voice actor from Silverio Vendetta and his patriarchic voice was pretty impressive. Some recurring ones also seem to have improved their performance like Hades and some particular bad ones were just left out. Minor characters might still sound a bit cheap but the main character case was definitely solid or better.

Graphics:

The good news is that most of the heroines and the major character were rather wel drawn. H-scenes in particular were a massive improvement compared to the older KF titles, even if Gaiden 1 & 2 already had some improvements for the newer heroines. And we're talking about like 150 H-CG's here. It's also impressive how much character sprites they have in this VN. With all the major characters and the support cast put together, we get over 50 sprites. That's just massive and blows most other titles out of the water.

However, the bad news is that some of the minor character sprites look almost worse than in the former titles. I've no idea why Japanese VN developers have a problem with the eyes of minor characters, but they somehow love to hide or leave them out completely. While that's a bit odd I can usually live with that. But the latest fashion seems to be to make them black,... which makes them look like they got infected with the T-virus and are about to turn into zombies and attack you. So that makes them stand out even more than if they'd just have drawn their eyes like normal. Fortunately it's just the minor characters.

Flaws:

Besides the aforementioned T-virus sprites, this is still a KF title. So even if the writing is improved, it's still simple and can occasionally get rather cheesy. And although they managed to embed this type of protagonist extremely well into the world, he's still a horndog on many occasions, which can be certainly annoying. And while the B-movie feeling isn't as strong as in previous titles, it's still there. The H-scenes also have a tendency to come in avalanches which can get a bit overwhelming. Hours of pure story are often followed by multiple H-scenes for several heroines, especially in the first human arc. I don't really understand why they can't just use an optional character event selection like Koihime Musou and other VN's are doing it rather successfully. 

The human heroines were also a bit left out in the rain after their arc and didn't get much more development. Medusa or Persephone which were technically just side heroines had way more screen time than most of the main heroines which felt a bit odd. Paia was also rather annoying, especially at the beginning. Nevertheless, this is still mostly nitpicking.

Conclusion:

Overall this was a quite impressive VN, especially considering that this tackles both story and ero rather sucessfully and also offers lots of content for both. Ironically, it's probably also one of the most sophisticated VN's I've read so far, since the writer did not only put a lot of effort into the research of the historic and mythologic backgrounds of the world and characters, but also managed to combine them into a very entertaining story.

Heroine ranking: Athena = Ajura > Venus > Zoe > Destra & Eskelda > Farnelia > Constancia >> Paia

I left out Medusa and Persephone from the ranking, even if they were some of the best characters. But they were more like family, so it felt weird to mix them into a dating ranking.

Overall rating: 8/10

Edited May 26, 2021 by ChaosRaven

[Eclipsed]

Ok. So, I started reading VNs in 2014. That's like what, 7 years? And my VNDB lists 76 finished, which makes 10-12 per year average. You could say I'm a seasoned veteran now (not really, still a flippin' casual tbh).

My first five VNs were If My Heart Had Wings, Little Busters!, Rewrite, Steins;Gate, Grisaia no Kajitsu. Y'know, all the common classic starter packs, so I rated all of them 9+/10

And what am I reading now? 

CLANNAD.

This monster has so many 9+/10 ratings I have to wonder if it was all because it was one of the starter packs that everyone starts their VN career reading and then they get nuked by the late game Key Magickz and hail it as one of the greatest of all time

I'll have the luxury of going into this with seasoned veteran status, so I am totally going to be critical and see what all the hype was about.

~~

Yes. Sometimes I wish I was back in my naive VN early days where I didn't realize how utterly butchered Moenovels' translation was for IMHHW and I still regarded it as a wonderful VN. Btw that's the obvious poster heroine above: (first) Nagisa Furukawa. 

The male protag Tomoya surprised me. Idk why, but I totally thought he would be another LB! bland nice guy Riki, but he's got some Rewrite's Kotarou delinquent sass to him so at least he'll keep me entertained I hope. The main heroine Nagisa also caught me off guard; when you're into idol rhythm games like Love Live / Bandori, and all the Honokas and Kasumis AKA orange/brown haired girls are the genki type, Nagisa totally throws a curve ball by being the innocent naive mellow type:

LOL FURUKAWA WTH!!!!

And then there's Sunohara:

F*** me, I forgot Key loves them some male bro side characters. I got spoiled by ISLAND having no bros to deal with. I personally feel these guys only serve to deduct heroine screentimes. Their banter is usually always whatevers. 

~~
Scariest thing so far:

7 heroines, jeebus! I felt overwhelmed with ISLAND having just THREE heroines and was glad they focused on ONE. I know, forgive me, I'm old. Idk if I gots the patience to go through 'em all, but I'll try. Right now I really like Tomoyo for being a former-delinquent-turned-model-student-badass (yay, so that leaves Tomoyo After something to look forward to). Nagisa is a bit too mellow. Ryou's aight, Kyou's where it's at though. Fuko just Fukos. And I don't even think I saw Kotomi or Yukine yet; damn these numerous blind choice mechanics.

 

^Best girl

~~
I'm so curious what will happen. So far this totally looks like just standard high school SoL, and then come lategame Key'll pull some uber QQ tragics that will me bawls like no tomorrow and 10/10 this VN. But wtf can they do...?

[adamstan]

Well, FWIW, I read Clannad as my 31st VN, and still gave it 9+ rating, and it remains my highest rated VN

[Mr Poltroon]

@Eclipsed In a rare turn of events, I'd actually argue the anime adaptation of Clannad is better, with the Visual Novel as an appendix if you want to spend more time in the world.
In either case, don't shy away from just doing the heroines you feel like (and then maybe watching the anime, because it does differ).

[Stormwolf]

I think the anime is close to perfection. Some of the other heroine stuff is probably a bit pointless, but the rest is pure gold

[fuyopon]

On 5/29/2021 at 8:44 PM, Eclipsed said:

Ok. So, I started reading VNs in 2014. That's like what, 7 years? And my VNDB lists 76 finished, which makes 10-12 per year average. You could say I'm a seasoned veteran now (not really, still a flippin' casual tbh).

My first five VNs were If My Heart Had Wings, Little Busters!, Rewrite, Steins;Gate, Grisaia no Kajitsu. Y'know, all the common classic starter packs, so I rated all of them 9+/10

And what am I reading now? 

CLANNAD.

This monster has so many 9+/10 ratings I have to wonder if it was all because it was one of the starter packs that everyone starts their VN career reading and then they get nuked by the late game Key Magickz and hail it as one of the greatest of all time

I'll have the luxury of going into this with seasoned veteran status, so I am totally going to be critical and see what all the hype was about.

~~

Yes. Sometimes I wish I was back in my naive VN early days where I didn't realize how utterly butchered Moenovels' translation was for IMHHW and I still regarded it as a wonderful VN. Btw that's the obvious poster heroine above: (first) Nagisa Furukawa. 

The male protag Tomoya surprised me. Idk why, but I totally thought he would be another LB! bland nice guy Riki, but he's got some Rewrite's Kotarou delinquent sass to him so at least he'll keep me entertained I hope. The main heroine Nagisa also caught me off guard; when you're into idol rhythm games like Love Live / Bandori, and all the Honokas and Kasumis AKA orange/brown haired girls are the genki type, Nagisa totally throws a curve ball by being the innocent naive mellow type:

LOL FURUKAWA WTH!!!!

And then there's Sunohara:

F*** me, I forgot Key loves them some male bro side characters. I got spoiled by ISLAND having no bros to deal with. I personally feel these guys only serve to deduct heroine screentimes. Their banter is usually always whatevers. 

~~
Scariest thing so far:

7 heroines, jeebus! I felt overwhelmed with ISLAND having just THREE heroines and was glad they focused on ONE. I know, forgive me, I'm old. Idk if I gots the patience to go through 'em all, but I'll try. Right now I really like Tomoyo for being a former-delinquent-turned-model-student-badass (yay, so that leaves Tomoyo After something to look forward to). Nagisa is a bit too mellow. Ryou's aight, Kyou's where it's at though. Fuko just Fukos. And I don't even think I saw Kotomi or Yukine yet; damn these numerous blind choice mechanics.

 

^Best girl

~~
I'm so curious what will happen. So far this totally looks like just standard high school SoL, and then come lategame Key'll pull some uber QQ tragics that will me bawls like no tomorrow and 10/10 this VN. But wtf can they do...?

Good luck! I played that last year and it was pretty late in my VN reading journey but it was enjoyable enough, I guess. It's definitely better for people who play this as one of their first VNs but, dependending on what you like, it can be just as good later on! Personally, I don't enjoy these pure love stories and Nagisa... oh gods, I loathe Nagisa, oof. She is just so bland, meh. Most routes are pretty good tho! I would say that my fave heroines are Kyou, Tomoyo, Yukine, Kotomi and Misae, but the best routes (imo) are Kotomi's and Yukine's. Oh, Fuko is pretty cute, also, but I don't see her as heroine material akjsjsbd and that's not all! You also have other routes to read, which I'm not gonna tell you in case you want to go blind haha

[fuyopon]

Finally, I'm able to post something decent lel I've been playing Maggot Baits for a while but I still don't have much I want to comment on, though I'm liking the story so far! The h-scenes could benefit from a cut but oh well! As far as story goes, I'm enjoying it! The bad ending was pure nukige material, but the plot towards the first ending is very much interesting. I'm looking forward to advancing the plot... 

Today, I started my rereading of Higurashi: When They Cry and UUUGHHH I MISSED IT SO MUCH! I finished the chapter 2 (within the Onikakushi chapter) and I'm so satisfied~!!  Aah, I love 'em girls hahaha

Well, that feels like a fucking lie-

Pfft Keiichi is too ahead of himself 

Now, for the spoilery stuff...

Spoiler

I love parallels made in stories so much, nngh... also, this makes me so fucking sad, ugh 

Another parallel I loved!

It's fun seeing stuff like this after reading the second chapter; iirc, Mion has a crush on Keiichi? Or was that whole thing because she wanted to be feminine and stuff? I don't even remember anymore, but I found this so freaking cute!!

And finally, this made me shiver, brr... The way the music stopped, the rushed answer, the smile but serious face, everything felt so tense and heavy.

I LOVE IT 

I should be finished with this first chapter this Sunday so until then, I won't probably post updates, who knows...

[Eclipsed]

On 5/30/2021 at 3:02 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

@Eclipsed In a rare turn of events, I'd actually argue the anime adaptation of Clannad is better, with the Visual Novel as an appendix if you want to spend more time in the world.
In either case, don't shy away from just doing the heroines you feel like (and then maybe watching the anime, because it does differ).

Very interesting. I'll definitely check out the anime after I finish the VN. Out of curiosity though, did you watch the anime or read the VN first?

 

~~
I'm slowly but surely making progress with Clannad. I went for a "see as many scenes as possible" playstyle for the common route, which btw can I just rant that I absolutely HATE the numerous blind choices? As a completionist that wants to see everything, this just makes things infinitely more tedious.

...Aaand I landed straight onto Fuko's route.

I'm assuming she's supposed to be the starter route heroine of sorts, because I totally went ham with pro-Nagisa choices in trying to help her set up her damn Drama Club. And Tomoya totally confesses to her, and the two officialize their relationship, but then all of a sudden this timid mousy girl appears, and it's let's drop everything  we're doing and help her?! Like, I even opted to NOT help Fuko and that just resulted me in getting the default common route abrupt "yo you didn't lock onto a heroine trololol back to title screen" end! 

YOU'RE A WIZARD, HAR- I MEAN RODENT, FUKO!

Fuko's cute enough, but sadly that's all she really has to offer, and probably why it took me almost a whole goddamn week to finish this sleeper route. She's this very shy first year who runs away from scary strangers and utters few words, though when she's around Tomoya she's comfortable enough to be snarky. For some reason though, she is always seen carving these wooden stars and trying to give them to people...

And so cue SPOILERS:

Spoiler

Like I said, it took me almost a week of paltry 30min-1hr readings until I finally decided yo let's just finish this today, TODAY, and finally blitzed through this (or rather, I finally got to the Key Magicks Bits so I was able to read without being bored to death)

Fuko's been carving these wooden starfishes and offering them to people because she wants to invite as many people to her beloved sister Kyouko's wedding. Meddlesome Tomoya and Nagisa are like, she's the cutest thing ever and so they help her. Pretty basic, snoozeworthy stuff. 

Oh by the way, Fuko had an accident two years ago so she's been comatose ever since, but somehow she physically Astro-Projectioned herself onto the school. They let you know this pretty early on in the route, but things don't start picking up until Tomo x Nagi decide, "Hey, if we can see Fuko, and everyone else can see her too, then Kyouko will definitely see her!" and try to set up a meeting between the two:

OOOOOOOOF!@# 

Yo I swear up until this point you could see the snooze bubbles on my face LOL. Then I finally woke up and could read the rest of Fuko's route no problemo

That's something Key does very well imo- Countdown Tragedies. Like, you KNOW your time's coming to an end, so you're kind of bracing for that moment to come, going through all the phases of denial and whatnot, and when the tragedy finally comes, all that bracing was for naught and the dam breaks releasing the river of tears. Not that I bawled like crazy or anything during Fuko's route, but I did get a good dose of feelsies and shed a tear or two.

 

They start off pretty subtle, first mentioning that students were no longer even acknowledging Fuko when she was trying to give them her starfish. Maybe everyone is just annoyed with her by now..? But then good ol' bro Sunohara forgets her- well, that can just be written off as he was never really invested in her anyways- Oh no...the ENTIRE Furukawa family including the great Nagisa who's been very supportive of Fuko 'til now forgets her?!

That leaves... just Tomoya...the sole survivor

And yet, even he falls victim to the Key Magic Tragics:

Attaboi Tomoya! Yes, you still have Nagisa. Now can we pick up where you two left off before not-a-rodent Fuko squandered all the screentime?!

It was a slow, heartbreaking countdown to Fuko's cease-to-existness that was pretty well done and almost makes up for me having to slog through her SoL bits.

I think I would've bawled HARD if they went for Fuko actually dying in the end, to be honest I would've liked this route a lot more if that ended up happening(I'm a total sap for tragedies) but yeah we gotta go for the happies!

I'm hoping there'll be at least one actual tragedy in this VN. If EVERYTHING gets a 'cop out' yo it all worked out  happy end, I'll legit be a bit disappointed.

~~

Random tidbit:

I utterly cannot believe that the devs actually wrote this route with a "(not) in a relationship with Nagisa" flag in mind LOL. Like seriously, depending on if Tomoya is going out with Nagisa or not they literally had to have Nagisa's VA voice out all her lines for this route TWICE, one for calling him "Okazaki-san" and another for "Tomoya-kun". Unbelievable. And whether the two are going out or not affects whether you can have Tomoya romance Fuko, in which you get the alternate ending CG dialogue instead:

Fascinating that the devs ended up doing this.

 

~~
Kyou seems like a fun heroine, based on her common route banter. I'm gonna try to do her route next.

Your sister's hot.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

@Eclipsed I did the anime first.

Clannad is, more than most other Key VNs, a "hunting" VN. That is, a VN in which you're supposed to explore and discover the endings yourself, with the bad endings generally giving you a clue as to what you missed. A product of another time when people afforded the game and would have no money for anything else for months so they'd spend all their time playing around with it.

[adamstan]

I think that when it comes to Clannad, the routes that hit me hardest in the feels in the first part of game (before After Story) were Fuko's and Kotomi's. And I also was initially completely uninterested in Fuko, yet I was shedding tears during her ending.

Edited June 3, 2021 by adamstan

[Dreamysyu]

14 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

..Aaand I landed straight onto Fuko's route.

I'm assuming she's supposed to be the starter route heroine of sorts, because I totally went ham with pro-Nagisa choices in trying to help her set up her damn Drama Club.

If I'm not mistaken, you enter her route if you aim for Nagisa but make a wrong choice at some point.

[fuyopon]

Pheeew...! I finished the first chapter of Higurashi! Even as a reread, this was still a ride. Sure, the last chapter wasn't as intense or impactful as it once was, but the ending still left me satisfied and hyped for the next chapter!! I am so looking forward to actually read the ones I haven't read for the first time! 

Can you even blame her? I saw what Keiichi looked like in the manga and wow, soooo kyute! 

Spoiler

Gods... chapter 8 was intense FOR SURE. I had forgotten how tense this vn can be sometimes. Especially Rena so close to the screen, brrr...

Anywaaaay, you know how I mentioned the parallels in the beginning?

This one, right?

I finally have the other two! 

I probably didn't even notice it when I read it for the first time and this time I thought it was Rena apologizing because those were the only "I'm sorry"s I remembered but it appears I was wrong, poggers

Oh yeah, since I already finished the vn, some of my comments might be pointless, but I wanted to share what I noticed and thought anyways since this is kinda the point of this thread?

... Even as a reread, I still can't handle the whole ripping your throat open with your own nails scene in Higurashi... I love gore, but descriptive gore is one I'm weak to, ugh,,, I mean, I'm not complaining too much- 

Huh, that's weird.
Ok, so: Satoshi was a member of the club (if having his name on one of the cards is proof enough) back then but Rena says she didn't get to know him because he went away before she came to Hinamizawa... however, if the club was created with her there, he should have been there, no? I know the little details because this is a reread, but it's fun seeing stuff I didn't remember

zoomed Rena is still something else... *shivers*

ain't that a mood
I don't need sleep I need answers!! Seriously tho, that left me so damn tense; oof, this isn't good for my poor heart... Hau...

Theories!!

#1 Human perpetrator

As this one implies, the perpetrator is human - likely the whole village or maybe just the Sunozaki family and their political strings (with some help from the villagers?). This does rely on my knowledge of the future chapters, as we learn more about the History of Hinamizawa

#2 Oyashiro-sama madness

Maybe everyone goes crazy in this village for a reason... and I'm not saying it's really a curse but a placebo effect. Maybe there's something else causing this madness and the curse just intensifies it because of the placebo effect! That doesn't explain Rena's past outside of Hinamizawa though... UNLESS, the madness is caused by some chemical naturally present in the village and she was affected by it before even leaving the village, hmmmmmm...

The next one might be a spoiler for the whole game since it's heavily influenced by some random spoilers with no context. Though I'm not even sure if it was for Higurashi, I'd advise you not to click on it if you want to go completely blind!

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

#3 It's all a show

This one is the one that got me the most confused... It's heavily influenced by a spoiler with no context that suggests Higurashi is just all a big show, like The Truman Show. It would explain the existence of a "Director", as Mion and Rena mentioned, laughing. Maybe they all knew about this and were toying with Keiichi, the audience's surrogate. This theory would also explain the "review session" bonus chapter.

 

Well, it's time to jump to the next chapter! I've had my fun with this one, but I can't wait to navigate this next one and read the third one - my favorite 
I give Higurashi: Onikakushi 8,5/10 stars!  Until next time!!

Edited June 9, 2021 by Fujoneko
image preview issues

[Eclipsed]

Ah, CLANNAD being a "hunting VN" Tiago mentioned makes sense, along with his recommendation to just watch the anime. There's a lot of fluff to the VN in general, and the gamey route trial and error yo-if-you-got-nothing-else-better-to-do,-especially-back-in-200X,-then-you-might-as-well-just-grind-this-VN doesn't really hold up by today's standards.

Ryou+Kyou's routes actually highlight the hunting-ness of this VN quite well.  I spent the longest time ever trying to get Kyou's end. Ryou's was easy enough, because Kyou literally spoonfeeds you everything and if turns out you gots the hots for Ryou you can climax so quick it feels anticlimactic. 

WAIT, REMOVE THE R, I WANT TO PAIR UP WITH YOU, NOT RYOU!!

 

...But should you listen to your heart and lust for Kyou during the Pairing You Up with Ryou Plan...

Spoiler

Ooo la la, I don't think I've read anything in all the VNs I've read that actually involved twin love triangles, as cliche as this type of situation sounds LOL

Pretty simple, Ryou has the hots for Tomoya, and everloving onee-chan Kyou decides she'll try her best to matchmake the two. 

No no no no- you're not the 3rd wheel. Replace the K with an R!! K! WITH! R!!!

The whole thing feels forced- and that's the point. Ryou is pretty disappointingly about as shy and helpless as Fuko without her oneechan to support her, and even bro Sunohara will question the authenticity of the relationship:

My man, for once you and I agree.

Writers I feel actually did some big brain here, because if you're like me and struggling to get to Kyou's end, it actually synergizes with the actual narrative of Tomoya's frustrations on why he's stuck with Ryou when his heart is clearly with Kyou.

How do I feel...? "Ryou, your sister's hot".

And btw, Kyou's end is so out of reach because in addition to having to choose easy pro-Kyou choices like Long Hair instead of Short Hair and Amethyst instead of Tanzanite, there's also the "gotcha!" choice where YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO CHOOSE TO KISS RYOU when the time comes, as unintuitive to getting Kyou's end as that completely sounds, otherwise you'll be locked into the default bad end where neither of the twins gets romanced. 

But once you finally trial and error the choices right, then the truth comes out:

.Ooof.............Well, it's okay Kyou, I still believe you're a really nice girl with the best chemistry with Tomoya of all the heroines

 

Other than that, not much else to say. Kyou is so far one of my favorite heroines. Just an overall pleasure to be around. Ryou on the otherhand is, sorry, a pretty bad heroine; I don't know if writers meant for her to be a legit one or a side one with Kyou being the actual heroine, but yeah. Her best moment in the VN for me unfortunately was when she made her final stand to stay with Tomoya. Actually made me feel a bit guilty.

Spoiler

 

 

~~

P.S. Who needs Long or Short hair?

MEDIUM IS WHERE IT'S AT YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

~~
Yukine Miyazawa. Who the heck is this nice girl, just chilling around the Reference Room like a side character but actually having a dedicated route if you harass her enough?? She totally is a symptom of VNs trying to bump up their route/heroine count back in the day!

Yes. The other day I tried to get together with this girl- Kyou, but it turns out she was trying to get me together with her twin sister, Ryou, and then there was this rodent whose problems completely overshadowed my relationship with Nagisa...

But she's nice enough. Apparently she's so nice, she has amassed a sort of following- a bunch of well-meaning delinquents who would come visit her in the Reference Room every now and then to just vent about their problems while she would just stand there and listen.

Tomoya also gets enthralled by her pleasant charms, and finds himself coming to visit her more and more...

Spoiler

Not much goes on in Yukine's route, it was actually surprisingly short and so I totally knew her route existed just to pad the heroine count. I wonder what other 'heroines' will get the same treatment..

A core theme for Yukine is to give to others. Give to others, and someone will give to you. It goes full circle. Yukine has amassed quite a following for her kindness:

...but ironically even though everyone views her quite fondly, they forgot one thing: to actually GIVE to her. Everyone was always afraid to break the status quo, to go the extra step...

 

..And so Tomoya gets dibs. 

YA SNOOZE YA LOOZE SUCKERS!! YUKINE IS MINEEEE

As side heroine-ey as Yukine was, I enjoyed her SoL portions the most so far. She was a very pleasant heroine to be around.

 

~~
Mei Sunohara. Huh? Sunohara?! 

-SHUTS THE DOOR- NOPE. I'M TURNING OFF THE VN NOW. ANYTHING SUNOHARA-RELATED BY DEFAULT MUST BE TOXIC- Huh? You're telling me you have the same VA as Rinne from Island? NICE TO MEET YOU!!

This is the writers' "Hey let us finally make you appreciate the bro side character" route where they bring out the big guns and throw in his kawaii little sister where you're like, there's no way these two are related!

The lengths Mei goes to to bring Youhei back to his glory days was touching. 

Spoiler

Screw the soccer team btw. Key did a pretty decent "can only watch in vain" scene via having them do their 'practice' session with Mei as their ball fetcher. I felt the hopelessness and despair lol.

^Happens after the climax of the Sunohara route. I don't know if it's awesome translation+editing, but in general sometimes the writing in VNs is such a pleasure to read. I like these extended self monologue narration+opinion segments

 

~~

Random tidbit: sometimes so weird how out-of-focus the rest of the characters are depending on whose route you're on. For Mei's route, Nagisa is basically a complete stranger and yet her mom Sanae ends up agreeing to become Youhei's fake girlfriend because "he's wearing the school uniform that Nagisa goes to -> he must be Nagisa's friend (he doesn't even know her this route) -> he's a good guy" LOL talk a bout a stretch.

Also realized that there hasn't been much Key Magic Tragicks, at all really, since Fuko's route. wth man!

 

~~
Idk all the available routes, but uhhh Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. Probably gonna try to do Kotomine->Tomoyo->Nagisa. Overall VN's looking really subpar-average, I still can't fathom just wtf can happen come lategame to 9+/10 tier this.

[Eclipsed]

Kotomi Ichinose

I'll be honest. Of all heroines in the history of heroines for me, I think Kotomi gave me the worst first impression ever. 
But she grew on me fast, and her route's GOOD!

Here we have this enigmatic girl who you'll only happen to meet if you decide to skip class and wander into the library. Btw, someone at Key must've had a foot fetish, because the writing absolutely had to point out all the damn time whenever Kotomi would take off her socks and go barefoot whenever she sets up camp in the library l0l.

For some reason this gal reads through books at lightning speed, occasionally taking out some scissors to snip out some pages. Just wtf is she doing...?

Spoiler

I think what made Kotomi's route pretty enjoyable is the fact that it actually feels more like a true common route than the common route itself- in that its SoL scenes actually banded together some of the heroines and set up a central hub for them to interact in via Furukawa's Drama Club (in which Key would later reintroduce this same formula into their later work- Rewrite- via having the Occult Club for all the cast to mingle in).

That's something that up until this point I felt CLANNAD was lacking in severely- interaction between the heroines. You literally only get Tomoya + Sunohara or Tomoya + Heroine, and to hell with everybody else. Thankfully for Kotomi's route a major plotpoint is Tomoya trying to introduce Kotomine to the other heroines in an attempt to get her to socialize more. As a bonus, bro Sunohara actually becomes out of focus during this semi-harem route, because God knows what would happen if he saw Tomoya hanging out with four girls.

Anyway, like I said, Kotomi gave me a pretty bad impression with just how shallow and awkward her first interaction was with Tomoya (which was the point, because of her solitary lifestyle up until now). 

But she grew on me- and Tomoya- fast. I have a hard-on for genius heroines, dunno why, but it typically overrides any of their faults for me and Kotomi is no exception. Sort of like, "it's k, am genius". For the record If Ryou or Fuko were genius types I'd overlook their shy introverted socially awkward traits in a heartbeat. Not that Kotomi's intellect was ever really highlighted or the primary focus of this route, other than:

NGL, would've loved Kotomi to have a bit more extended genius dialogues. Instead, Key used all that buildup for... a cranegame LOL BRILLIANT!

 

Furukawa, Fujibayashi sisters, Kotomi. A decent groupie.
Lowkey a bit sad that (so far?) there isn't a scenario where ALL the heroines could interact together; we're missing like Fuko, and ESPECIALLY Tomoyo here! Though, I guess it makes sense, since those two are underclassmen...

Banding together the squad was touching. Everything from Kotomi's first meeting with a heroine and fearing that they would be a bully...

Yes, the very gentle Nagisa and the timid and softspoken Ryou are totally bullies >.>. Kyou's totally a bully though. 100 perce- *WHACK*

 ...To them gradually warming up to her, caring for her and even putting up with her horrific violin prowess...

The cast become close enough that they even crash Tomoya x Kotomi's first date...

Yo dw Kyou, in another timeline I totally do this and that to you when we're alone too.

...and unite together to come up with a plan to help Kotomi during her hour of need:

LOL WHATTA DEAD GIVEAWAY NAGISA WTH!!! BUT YEAH, NARUHODO, I SEE, EXCELLENT IDEA!

The whole Tomoya x Kotomi being forgotten childhood friends with Tomoya being the sole culprit forgetter felt a bit far-fetch'd, but this was year 200X so I'll be lenient. A bit surprising that Kotomi is the heroine of choice for this, I totally would've thought that this type of 'plot twist' would be reserved for poster heroine Nagisa, guess I'll just have to see what her story will really be all about.

Shed some tears at the parent's final dying letter teddybear suitcase traveling the world birthday gift. Felt large scale, grand. And romantic af.

;-;

~~
~~
~~
~~
~~
...A FORESHADOW TO THE SECRET OF THIS WORLD??

 

 

~~

Tomoyo Sakagami

Aha, it's first impression best girl time. Former delinquent student turned model student Tomoyo meets former model student turned delinquent Tomoya. Confused? It's k, just swap your (A)pples with your (O)ranges and you're good. 

I don't know what Tomoyo or Tomoya mean in Japanese but I'm surprised noone really comments on their names being so close. Well, other than Bro Sunohara who calls the two the Tomo duo.

Tomoyo's a great heroine. You know how Tomoya with all these blind choices kinda gets to choose which heroine he gets to harass until he finally enters her route in which he'll then go out of his way to meddle with said heroine's affairs? With Tomoyo it's the opposite- once you enter her route, SHE'LL go out of her way to meddle with HIS affairs. Which involves Step1: Waking him up so he can go to school on time.

Spoiler

Unfortunately, the two enter a sort of forbidden romance: Tomoyo is aiming to become the student council president, and so going out with a delinquent with poor academic standing and no plans for the future like Tomoya would only serve to hold her back and hinder her. 

 

EVERYONE realizes this, including Tomoya, and he falters, ultimately going for the "I'll only drag you down, you need to leave me and go do the successful!!!" route, much to Tomoyo's dismay. She never gave a damn about all of the social standing and expectations, she simply loves Tomoya and wants to be with him; to hell with everything else. But Tomoya is too stubborn, and they break things off amicably:

 

~~
The romance between these two was mature and frisky. If this VN wasn't all ages I'm sure they would've had an H-scene every few scenes or something with how often they would kiss LOL (which always led to more drama and drama amongst society BOOO)

 

 

It's hilarious, because with some heroines like Fuko you'll legit end the route with the two finally confessing their feelings to each other, and here we have these two always getting it on nearly at the start of the route.

~~
When all's said and done, Tomoyo achieves her student council president goal of saving the sakura blossom trees or w.e. But at what cost...?

And Tomoya FINALLY gets it through his thick skull. They love each other, and to hell with everybody else! 

Tbh I would've liked it Tomoya had a character development growth arc instead, where he would strive to become a better person worthy of standing by the Tomoyo's side. But it's ok the power of love conquers all.

~~
...I have Tomoyo After. Should I just take a quick detour and read this before continuing CLANNAD? LOL
HI DEF MODERN-MOEIFIED TOMOYO  

 

Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. I'm lowkey running out of gas, but will keep chugging along.

[snowbell55]

Been an age since I last posted here :(. 

I've been reading Sabbat of the Witch. I finished the Tsumugi route yesterday (I've already done Touko and Meguru), and I'm now on the Nene route. I'm really enjoying the VN though. It is the kind of VN where it's really easy to read for a bit then wind up getting sucked in and reading more than anticipated. I'm a big fan of the soundtrack, and there are a lot of really good songs in there. I also like the way they have two versions of the heroine songs, and yet somehow both versions sound really good. As usual for a Yuzusoft title (as far as I can tell at least), the art is also very well done, and the characters look charming and inviting. I also am enjoying the story. The premise felt a little bit forced at first, but it has been handled nicely. It must also be said: Nene and Touko are hilarious :D. My only complaint is that the characters don't seem evenly done. Like, it seems like the focus goes towards one or two of the heroines in general (even outside of their given routes), and that leaves one particular heroine only really getting space to shine inside her route. Other than that though it is quite well done. 

So yeah I'm really enjoying the VN. I remember really enjoying Noble*Works, and I can see this being much the same. I can see why it got so highly rated. 

Bonus song

 

 

[Eclipsed]

Nagisa Furukawa

^Miss little CLANNAD poster heroine in her prime right here, making everybody proudz :')

I've been slogging through CLANNAD for several weeks now, and it's only during Nagisa's route that they finally officially dump the OP on you, so saving her route for last I was like l0l really??

 

Her route though was... surprisingly average; not much to say. Nothing special or out of this world happens. But at least Nagisa in general finally grew on me. I disliked her meek softspoken personality at first but she becomes less reserved and speaks her mind more often later on while maintaining that same slow, gentle demeanor. Very wholesome to be around.

...Which is why it is absolutely hilarious that Tomoya pervs out on her at the randomest moments. He's a pretty reserved protagonist overall in that aspect, so I just burst out laughing here:

Really, Tomoya?? You're with one of the more wholesome heroines and this is what you scheme?!  

Out of all heroines I'd rank the route quality Kotomi > Tomoyo > Nagisa >= Fuko >= Kyou/Ryou > Others

Speaking of the others, sorry I ran out of gas and had to speedrun Misae, and literally Ctrl-skipped skimmed through Kappei. Just gib me them lights!

 

 

~~
And so... I've finally reached Awesome Stuff. Wish me luck.

Spoiler

 

[adamstan]

4 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

had to speedrun Misae

I started with Misae (because that's what walkthroughs suggested ) and I found it nice introductory route.

5 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Wish me luck.

Good luck

[TexasDice]

Just dropping by to say that Kinkoi is absolutely based. Literally every single moege scenario that makes me go "why didn't they just do X / say Y" is actually subverted here.

Also, big applause to Nekonyan, for keeping the bad Sprite layering and other bugs from the original JP version.

Keeping honorifics to preserve the original experience? - I sleep

Keep the wrong face layer for the wrong sprite pose? - Yes please

[ChaosRaven]

3 hours ago, TexasDice said:

Also, big applause to Nekonyan, for keeping the bad Sprite layering and other bugs from the original JP version.

Nothing wrong with the sprite layering - she's just related to Lady Dimitrescu. 

[fuyopon]

[Higurashi: Watanagashi]

I'll be finishing this one by Sunday (...probably) but I thought I'd drop by to talk about the first two chapters 

I really like this chapter and I just know I'll be able to enjoy it more this time! Mion might be my favorite character (besides Keiichi), I swear to the Gods 

Chapter 1:

Spoiler

Heh, you haven't seen anything yet

I really like the club's fun times, but seeing everyone, especially Mion, so mad at Keiichi for having a hard time on a LUCK game was really uncomfy. Idk, I guess I'm just not that competitive.

 

Ok, this legit made me laugh--

This is making me feel bad... poor Mion 

 haha, *shivers*

Chapter 2:

Spoiler

Oh, right, right... a joke... haha... ha....

seriously tho, he already died once, no need to make the same mistakes again lol

"Higurashi is scary"

I just LOVE when they make little references to past chapters kasnkajsn

flustered Mion is absolutely adorable aaaaa

Anyways, I'm liking it so far! There's a lot I didn't remember! 

[Larxe1]

Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu!

Reading again after a long time of on and off reading VN's and dropping a ton of VN's. I really love romance novels, that's why I'm always trying to find a good one to read and in the past I might have enjoyed vanilla scenes of just plain dating or ichaicha, but now I just hate it when it happens. I only enjoy scenes like that for a heroine that I REALLY, REALLY like, if there's a dating event with a heroine I only moderately like, I'm going to be bored as hell. It's hard to write a good dating event in romance VN's, It's easy to make on but creating a hanging out event for the heroine that progresses the plot or develops character traits is hard and that's what I'm looking for. I guess after reading almost a hundred VN's, I just got sick of the normal icha-icha and I just want some good ol' drama/romance where every scene feels like it has a purpose rather than just showing off how cute she is. I probably grew to hate VN's where the soundtrack is extremely happy-go-lucky with heroines almost being perfect with their flaws played off for comedic effect where they randomly fall in love with the MC for an unbelievable reason such as "He was nice to me".  I just want a good drama VN with the same vibes as Natsu no Ame or White Album 2 where it feels melodramatic I love that atmosphere, rant aside here's my thoughts on what I'm reading right now.

Ojomasu is kinda weird given that the topic of the story is clearly not aligned with the moe-moe cute art of the game and how it generally looks like. It has its dark moments and the protagonist can be a villain depending on the perspective. MC is straight up manipulating all of them for his own gain and I actually like that since it's a fresh take on the Trap genre. I usually don't read trap games for the single reason that I don't like traps, but I can let it go in Ojomasu since Hajime is an interesting MC with him being a trap not being the central piece of his character, he's mainly a cunning and manipulative person who's willing to do anything for his goals, and he does it well. He is still a self-insert, though, just because he's different from a normal self-insert mc, doesn't mean he is one. A lot of readers want to self-insert as the smart and competent character and Hajime is perfect for it with an incredibly vague backstory. Not that I'm bashing on Hajime though, I really like him as a protagonist.

Haven't finished it, yet, probably I'll finish it in a week considering my glacial reading progress with me constantly being distracted with academics.

 

[Stormwolf]

9 hours ago, Larxe1 said:

Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu!

Reading again after a long time of on and off reading VN's and dropping a ton of VN's. I really love romance novels, that's why I'm always trying to find a good one to read and in the past I might have enjoyed vanilla scenes of just plain dating or ichaicha, but now I just hate it when it happens. I only enjoy scenes like that for a heroine that I REALLY, REALLY like, if there's a dating event with a heroine I only moderately like, I'm going to be bored as hell. It's hard to write a good dating event in romance VN's, It's easy to make on but creating a hanging out event for the heroine that progresses the plot or develops character traits is hard and that's what I'm looking for. I guess after reading almost a hundred VN's, I just got sick of the normal icha-icha and I just want some good ol' drama/romance where every scene feels like it has a purpose rather than just showing off how cute she is. I probably grew to hate VN's where the soundtrack is extremely happy-go-lucky with heroines almost being perfect with their flaws played off for comedic effect where they randomly fall in love with the MC for an unbelievable reason such as "He was nice to me".  I just want a good drama VN with the same vibes as Natsu no Ame or White Album 2 where it feels melodramatic I love that atmosphere, rant aside here's my thoughts on what I'm reading right now.

Ojomasu is kinda weird given that the topic of the story is clearly not aligned with the moe-moe cute art of the game and how it generally looks like. It has its dark moments and the protagonist can be a villain depending on the perspective. MC is straight up manipulating all of them for his own gain and I actually like that since it's a fresh take on the Trap genre. I usually don't read trap games for the single reason that I don't like traps, but I can let it go in Ojomasu since Hajime is an interesting MC with him being a trap not being the central piece of his character, he's mainly a cunning and manipulative person who's willing to do anything for his goals, and he does it well. He is still a self-insert, though, just because he's different from a normal self-insert mc, doesn't mean he is one. A lot of readers want to self-insert as the smart and competent character and Hajime is perfect for it with an incredibly vague backstory. Not that I'm bashing on Hajime though, I really like him as a protagonist.

Haven't finished it, yet, probably I'll finish it in a week considering my glacial reading progress with me constantly being distracted with academics.

 

I kinda get you, but what you want is quite unrealiatic. You want drama for the heroines you dont like too much and pure love for the ones tou do. The problem being that your most hated heroine will be the most adored one to someone else. The middle ground here is the best thing and most seem to follow it.

[Eclipsed]

I also tried my hardest... not to cry ;-;

~~
Missed opportunity btw not having Town, Flow of Time, People as the VN's title theme btw. I would've always looked forward to booting up CLANNAD if I had this boppin' theme to listen to:

 

First thing's first: my original statement of being a seasoned veteran and not knowing how CLANNAD garnered 9+/10s ultimately held true for me. I give it an 8. LOL PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME, DON'T WORRY, 8 ON VNDB = VERY GOOD! AND CLANNAD IS VERY GOOD!!! SoL is just not my thing anymore. Totally for the record though, if I read this say, 5 years ago, I definitely would've given it an instant 9.5+/10 and slap it in my hall of fame in a heartbeat. I'm just old nowadays.

CLANNAD is a story about a high school male protagonist, Tomoya, who was raised by a single failure of a father. He attends one of the most prestigious schools in the town, Hikarizaka, due to his exemplary basketball skills. Unfortunately, due to a scuffle with his father one day, Tomoya ends up injured and loses his ability to lift his right shoulder, forcing him to quit basketball. Losing his way in life, time stagnates for Tomoya as he goes about his days meandering without purpose, becoming labelled a delinquent by his peers in the process. Until one fateful day where he meets a girl underneath the sakura blossom trees...

*Checks VNDB* jeezus christmas my synopsis sucks LOL

But yeah, this VN is essentially 100% pure SoL about a high school delinquent boy going about his days, trying to find his way in life. If you come here expecting late game Little Busters Key Magic Tragics or Rewrite uber narrative shifts I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed; late game for CLANNAD is simply high school delinquent transitioning to post high school life and dealing with the trials that await. Coming of age slice of life is the name of the game here, and CLANNAD is probably one of the best in the business for this type of narrative. So make sure you're in the mood for this before you spend an extended amount of time on this like me (cough 1 month; my first save file is literally May 18 and today is June 17 ggez) 

That being said, finally time to talk about Absolute Spoilers:

Spoiler

Tomoya graduates, but Nagisa falls ill again and is held back a year. That SUCKED. She only made it through the current year because Tomoya was there with her, and now she'll have to go it alone for a whole 'nother year...? What a slap in the face, and then she even failed to get anyone to join next years Drama Club, and ultimately spent that school year in true solitude, having made 0 new friends...
It was kind of glossed over in the writing, but that was actually so fking sad in hindsight. Literally the only thing that kept her positive was knowing that at the end of the day would come home to Tomoya. Knowing Nagisa, that probably truly was enough to keep her going.

She even falls ill towards the end of the year AGAIN, god this girl can't catch a break. Thankfully she is able to barely graduate this time around, but she was bedridden during the actual ceremony.

So +1 Tomoya Point for gathering the highschool crew (and Youhei without his blonde dyed hair LOLOL) and hosting a small graduation ceremony for Nagisa. Wholesome as fuh. 

Liked the Tomoya getting a job and adjusting to the working life bits. I'm also in the early-mid young adult life stage so it was a nice read that I could relate to some. Though, idk about moving out and having a kid...

Wait, a kid..?

WAIT, WHEN DID YOU TWO NAUGHTY LOVE BIRDS SNEAK IN THE SEXY TIMES? 

LOL TOMOYA WTF!!! SLOW DOWN, YOUR LIFE IS MOVING WAAAY TOO FAST!!! 
I SPENT A MONTH READING YOUR HIGH SCHOOL MEANDERING ROMANCE BITS AND THEN IN JUST A DAY OR TWO OF READING NOW YOU'RE MOVING TO YOUR OWN PLACE AND MAKING BABIES?!!@#%!!!@#%!!

But alas, cue the Key Tragics... Nagisa's unknown condition flairs up so much at the peak of her pregnancy that the doctors outright fear for her life and recommend she abort. She's a strong independent woman though, so she convinces everyone to let her have the child. 

Yeah, you did good, Nagisa...
 

...Fk, I'm tearing up now as I type this ;-;;; Need some good crying music, stat! Give me... Roaring Tides 2. It's damn legendary:

~~
What I definitely would not do though is FKING ABANDON USHIO FOR 5 GODDAMN YEARS JESUS CHRIST WTF WAS THAT MORON THINKING??? HE ACTUALLY TURNED OUT WORSE THAN HIS OWN DAMN FATHER THAT HE SPENT THE ENTIRETY OF THE VN CHASTISING AND BEING OBNOXIOUSLY RESENTFUL TOWARDS!!!

-999999999 Tomoya Points!

Like I get it, losing Nagisa who was basically his sole reason for living at this point Blue Screen of Death'd Tomoya for the second time now (the first being when he injured his shoulder and hadquit basketball). But seriously, I thought he would've at least had some shred of parental duty or Nagisa's-dying-wish to be the best father he could be, but NOPE. Nada. Zilch. Had Sanae+Akio not been there for Ushio, just wtf would Tomoya have done? Completely forsake his own daughter? Leave her up for adoption? ..That actually sounds like a good idea for a sidestory- a story where Ushio grows up neglected and then tries to find her parents, only to find out the bitter truth. Time for CLANNAD Ushio: After After.

LOOK AT THIS CUTIE!!! HOW DARE YOU ABANDON HER FOR 5 FLIPPIN' YEARS YOU UNFORGIVABLE TWAT!!!! Ok, done ranting..

Kind of surprised Akio didn't punch Tomoya's face in during those 5 years. 5 Years is a LONG time- it's actually twice as long as Tomoya x Nagisa's entire relationship at this point. Hell, Nagisa's been dead longer than Tomoya's been with her alive.

Anyways, thanks to Sanae's meddling (btw, she is some insanely S tier wonderful parental-side support character, her positive influence on the narrative has been REDONKULOUS, seriously), Tomoya is able to rekindle his relationship with his daughter AND his father (the father bit actually felt anticlimactic, though I understood it from a Tomoya-was-just-stubbornly-immature-this-whole-time character development perspective). Did I say Sanae is wonderful? With how many stories out there that have completely absent parents it's remarkable how much the writers here let her impact the story.

^The stack of Dangos increasing every year is classic example of a minor unique detail that had SO MUCH meaning; I really came to enjoy and appreciate seeing those things sitting in the background.

Aaaand just when life seems to be going good, it just HAS to kick you down to the ground.

Ushio ended up inheriting the same unknown prolonged feverish condition Nagisa had,

 

And she...

Passes away in Tomoya's arms.

GOD.

Was this the moment that broke readers, the moment that made them decide CLANNAD was a masterpiece? Perhaps. But I don't think so. Sure, there were some good tears to be had here, but I think it was the entirety of the journey that Tomoya endured up to this point that makes CLANNAD wonderful.

He started off as a delinquent laughing without a care in the world throughout high school with his buddy Sunohara, to having several chance encounters with various female strangers, befriending them, falling in love with them, and experiences firsthand the joys and importance about coveted themes revolving around family, one's dreams, reason for living... Then he becomes an adult, starts fending for himself and his loved ones, trying his best to make an earnest and honest living... only to have it all come crashing down by nothing other than cruel reality.

^With the deaths of Nagisa and Ushio, all of the dreams above shattered in an instant, scattering to the empty void...

And with that, CLANNAD is officially the best tragedy VN I've read to date. Bravo.

 

...

 

...

 

...

Spoiler

JUST KIDDING LOLOLOL CUE THE KEY MAGICZ

YO WE'RE GONNA BE REALLY META AND SAY YOU LOOPTY LOOP BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE VN WHENEVER YOU COMPLETE A ROUTE. MULTIUNIVERSE PARALLEL UNIVERSE WHATEVER YOU WANNA CALL IT, JUST GATHER 14 LIGHTS BY GRANTING PEOPLE'S WISHES AND DESIRES AND EVENTUALLY YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GRANT YOUR ULTIMATE WISH!!!

Thematically from a gameplay perspective and if people didn't have easy access to walkthroughs/actually wanting to play this blind, I can totally see people not getting the true end so easily and having to grind for days trying to gather the 14 Triforce shards as some part of long "they EARNED their happy ending!" quest for Tomoya to finally achieve:

Ah, the feels ~~

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I'm totally gonna watch the anime next, and I'll update this post on my thoughts on whether newcomers who are thinking of getting into CLANNAD should read the VN or just watch the anime.

I did watch the first episode though, and as someone who spent a month reading CLANNAD, I can already tell it's gonna be INSANELY good. All of the character introductions are ON POINT, everything from Tomoya x Nagisa's fated encounter; Ryou's clumsy shuffling fortune cards; Kyou's uber powerful dictionary throwing prowess; Tomoyo's ass kicking badassery; Tomoya x Sunohara's ridiculous bromance; even Sanae's "my bread is only good for... x" QQ.. Everything is EXACTLY as I would've imagined it to be animated. The animated world bustling with people feels alive compared to the limited 200X VN sprites. They even use the VN BGMs, same VN title OP song for the anime OP, and Nagisa's theme from the VN gets lyrics and becomes a flippin' Dango song for the anime ED. The heart and soul of VN CLANNAD is there in the anime.

Spoiler

Colorless world...

 

...That fills with color upon hearing Tomoya's words to just find new things to look forward to

 

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Clumsy Ryou card shuffling. Totally loved how it was animated

 

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH watch out for Kyou's dictionaries of doom!

 

Sanae's bread. 'Nuff said

 

My personal favorite, Tomoyo stomping the delinquents complete with a 1 sec spectator view to show how that ass whoopin' was over in a flash

Can't wait to see Kotomi, and the roden- err, Fuko.

Oh, and Tomoya sounds hawt voiced. It totally makes sense why all the heroines fell for him now