Narcissu: my little review after finishing the VN + my review for some other VNs

[MikeY91]

Hello everyone..

let me start by stating that i am fairly new to visual novels, 2 months ago i had no idea they even existed ! but now my life has changed !

i am a huge anime fan so obviously i was immediately hooked when i started playing visual novels.

 

My first visual novel was Katawa Shoujou (yeah i know many people start there too).

Katawa Shoujou still holds a special place in my heart, it could be that because it was my first VN, but i thought it was amazing, the route that really attracted me was Rin's route, maybe because she was very mysterious, i wanted to understand her, i can't say i was satisfied with the ending, but the i found the neutral ending to be very depressing.

anyway, after katawa i have played:

 

*G-senjou no Maou: i thought it was great, but i wasn't really drawn to the characters, so i didn't get emotional throughout the game, but it is a great VN nonetheless.

 

*Saya no Uta: i loved that game, i was immediately drawn to the characters, it was an interesting idea how the protagonist suddenly found himself in that world after the incident. Saya was very cute and mysterious. i liked all the endings.

 

Kara no Shoujo: i tried that VN but it did not appeal to me, i didn't find the protagonist to be interesting at all, for some reason i wasn't drawn to anything throughout the novel, so i did not finish it.

 

Cross Channel: i started playing it a few days ago, it is funny, i can't say i like the characters yet, i am still giving it a chance.

 

Little Busters!: before playing it i was giving the impression that it was one of the best, if not the best VN so i had very high expectations, i have finished 3 routes so far (right now i am playing Kuds route), i think the VN is good, it has the comedy aspect, some routes are very sad, however i can't saw i was really attracted to the heroines, i thought it was a little bit over average. i still plan to finish it though.

 

and finally..Narcissu..

 

First of all i would like to give an advice for those who have not played it yet, if you suffer from depression or any serious related condition DO NOT play this game, it may trigger some really terrible emotions. also if you haven't played it, i don't recommend you to read any further for spoiler purposes.

 

i have played this novel yesterday (i finished the whole thing in one setting), and let me say this, i still feel terrible...this novel is brilliant, from the beginning of the game the whole thing is so depressing, i mean can it really be any worse? the protagonist found out that he was terminally ill and that he is going to die soon, the whole atmosphere is so dark, you are left with no hope from the very start, even the protagonist's family do not seem to be supportive of him (or at least thats how i saw it).

 

and he was moved to the 7th floor to basically die there, of course what made everything worse is when he met Setsumi, another girl who is also terminally ill, in my honest opinion it is way more painful to watch someone you care about suffer than suffering yourself.

One thing to point out in this novel is that you don't get to know the illness of the protagonist or Setsumi, maybe there were hints but i think making that unclear made a huge impact in this novel, because that left the reader in a curious state, it honestly made me more drawn to the characters because i wanted to know more about them, especially Setsumi...i could feel her emptiness, her sorrow and her sadness. maybe because i suffer from depression myself, if you do then you know what i am talking about...

 

Setsumi was really painful to watch throughout the whole VN, i wanted her to have a future, to be happy, but i knew it was impossible, the VN makes that very clear, i could relate to everything Setsumi has said,i could feel her pain, it was painful..

it was also very interesting how both the protagonist and Setsumi did not fall in love, like almost all other VNs, that also indicated how both of them were very aware of their circumstances, it was sad, but they both knew it would be way worse if they were emotionally attracted to each other, that would make everything 100 times more tragic, they were both going to die soon anyway...

Also the fact that they were not in love made the reader care more about Setsumi, maybe to balance the lack of emotional attachment, if that makes any sense.

 

anyway, the ending was really amazing, very sad yet i can't deny it was a master piece in my opinion, although the ending was obvious; the way it was carried out was very spectacular, again the lack of emotions of the protagonist while watching Setsumi walking to her death was intentionally made that way to make an emotional impact on the reader...that line were the protagonist asked Setsumi "do you want me to stop you? or give you a push on the back?", it could not have been said better, her answer was very sad too, she never said no...she just said "thats a good question, i wonder about that", that line just made me want to save her, very sad.

 

to summarize, i think this vn is a masterpiece, however, i wish i hadn't read it, like i said, it triggered some deep scars for me that i won't really discuss, this is why i say if you cannot handle sad novels like that i do not advise you to read it.

anyway, sorry if i bored you to death, i know i am a terrible writer and English is not my first language so i bet it was tough for you guys to read through it.

i would love to hear you opinions on this VN or the other ones i mentioned.

[Deep Blue]

Nice review, one thing that is not very clear in the first novel is that the protagonist do care about setsumi and he likes her by some degree I don't know if it is love but it's something similar to that, the thing is that setsumi was like Eco and there was nothing for him to do about that. If you read the little extra chapter that was added for ame no marginal he says to her "I don't really care where I am or where I die as long as you are with me" but in a really low voice so she cant actually hear what he said.

 

lol yeah he use "omae" to call her all the time, the protagonist is actually a bit harsh with setsumi all the time but you cant appreciate this in the translation.

[MikeY91]

Nice review, one thing that is not very clear in the first novel is that the protagonist do care about setsumi and he likes her by some degree I don't know if it is love but it's something similar to that, the thing is that setsumi was like Eco and there was nothing for him to do about that. If you read the little extra chapter that was added for ame no marginal he says to her "I don't really care where I am or where I die as long as you are with me" but in a really low voice so she cant actually hear what he said.

 

lol yeah he use "omae" to call her all the time, the protagonist is actually a bit harsh with setsumi all the time but you cant appreciate this in the translation.

[Zalor]

I originally read Narcissu when I was in a depressed state of mind, and it actually really helped. Narcissu taught me to view things in a proper perspective. It showed me that there are far bigger concerns in life then the petty stuff I was getting depressed by. It got me to really think about the significance of life and death in ways I never really thought of before. In fact, I hope you don't mind if I self promote a bit. But I have an article digitally published in which I analyze and do a close reading of Narcissu. You can read it here.  

[MikeY91]

I originally read Narcissu when I was in a depressed state of mind, and it actually really helped. Narcissu taught me to view things in a proper perspective. It showed me that there are far bigger concerns in life then the petty stuff I was getting depressed by. It got me to really think about the significance of life and death in ways I never really thought of before. In fact, I hope you don't mind if I self promote a bit. But I have an article digitally published in which I analyze and do a close reading of Narcissu. You can read it here.  

I actually felt the same way while reading it, like you said it makes you feel a bit grateful that you are not in their position..but the ending just made me a bit sad XD

i'll check the article thanks

 

Edit: i have read the article and it is a great summery of the VN, thanks again