School Girls Stories Review

[starlessn1ght]

NOTES BEFORE I BEGIN THIS: Although I left the forums, I decided to keep writing reviews here, because I liked it at lot last time. Also, I’m currently learning Japanese, but I’m still in an early stage. But this VN was very easy to be understood using Chiitrans, with ATLAS and the jparser, so even if your Japanese knowledge is limited you can play it. And, last but not least, I didn’t play the H-scenes, so you won’t find any comment about them in this review.

 

WARNING: This review contains light common route spoilers. The other routes won’t be spoiled, since I assume most people here did not play this VN. The overall section will be left completely spoiler-free.

 

“Kunimi Koutarou belongs to the literature club of his school with the goal of someday becoming a novelist. But there’s a type of story that he has never been able to write, which is a “romance story”. And that’s all because had a bad experience with first love when he was still young. 

Now with the coming of spring his own school and 2 other schools in the region will turn unified, bearing birth to new encounters. For Koutarou it means that he now has the unfortunate luck of sitting next in class to his first love Sena, as well his former best friend Ayane.

Now his regular days suddenly turn into those like you would only see in romance novels…”

 

 

Story (7.50/10)

 

Spoiler

This game’s common route is not “contentless” like a lot of common routes I’ve played. Thus, it gave me hopes concerning the game’s story. 

The common routes features the protagonist in his new school life, in which other schools were integrated with his and his childhood friend returns. What is nice about the common route is that, not only it introduces the characters and leaves us curious about them, but also it features flashbacks about how the protagonist met two of the heroines (Sena and Ayane) and the quite ‘unresolved’ way things were before they got into his life again. Ayane was behaving strangely around Koutarou, and he assumed this was because he didn’t keep a promise to her. It was nice seeing they making up. Then, there is the ‘Literature Club’ that just has a single member, which is Koutarou. His club would get disbanded if he didn’t get more members. Then, Koutarou recruits Sena and Ayane, and they participate in a collaboration with the ‘Cinema Club’ to promote their club, that is making a movie whose scenario was written by the protagonist, starring Sena as the main actress.

Leaving the common route aside, which was a really nice start, the first route I played was Ayane’s route. Storywise, a complete disappointment. There is almost no way I can spoil that route, because simply nothing happens in it. It’s just ichaicha and raburabu. It began very nicely, though. The way the romance was developed was very praiseworthy. But, that’s a very small portion of the route. The rest is spent uselessly.

Next route I played was Yui’s route. The blonde loli. This is the only one that has a plot per se, but not the best one. Its common route branch is about a group that is trying to win the elections against the current student council president, Rinka. If they win, the flower bed that Yui takes care of every single day diligently will be demolished as well as the old schoolhouse. Yui’s route revolves around that conflict, but it’s not just that. There’s more to it than what it appears to be. The conflict is nicely developed, but too much time is spent with ichaicha and the romantic development is the weakest.

Then, Rinka’s route. The student council president. This was my favorite route. No, it did not have a plot, but it managed to be very good without one. First, the way the romance was enfolded was well done, not as well as in Ayane’s route, but still well done. The rest of the route is spent with mundane activities, but it was so well executed, it didn’t really feel like it. There were cool romantic moments, and even the ichaicha (which I’m usually not fond of) was nicely done. Despite not having a plot, this route has a lot of ‘character’. It’s mostly about the heroine’s development and it didn’t need conflicts nor drama to achieve that. In this sense, it was a very unique route; it proves that a route can be good even if it has no plot.

Lastly, Sena’s route. This one was written by Nijima Yuu, the one who wrote the famous VN Hatsuyuki Sakura. I thought this one would end up like Ayane’s route, but it did not. First, the romantic development was weak, like in Yui’s route. Second, the rest of the route was contentless and empty. That is, until certain point. This route was crazy. That is the most appropriate word I could find. Nothing happens, until a big plot twist near the end happens. It is very abrupt and the lack of proper build-up makes it even more unnatural. The plot twist explains some unanswered questions, but it turns the heroine into a dislikeable character. It’s just a really crazy route. 

And then, there’s the true route (Last Episode), that ‘tries’ to make up for the craziness of Sena’s route. And it was good, in my opinion. It gave more dimension to the protagonist, and it had a satisfying ending. It is a nice conclusion.

The VN does a great job when it delivers its most impactful scenes. Some romantic moments, sad moments, bittersweet moments are undoubtedly remarkable. Each route has its own moments, even the ones whose quality isn’t that high. Ayane’s had a very romantic scene, Rinka’s had many of those as well, Yui’s route had one very sad scene and Sena’s route had some very happy moments and that ‘crazy’ moment. The Last Episode is only remarkable, though, when it comes to the ending.

Koikake has a ‘restart’ and ‘hope’ theme. It’s about despite loss and failure; you can restart everything and try again, you should do it, and you shouldn’t lose hope. The two routes that deal with this more intensely are Yui’s and the Last Episode. I honestly thought it would walk the cynical path, but this is a moege after all… Rinka’s and Ayane’s routes didn’t present the theme as nicely though, specially Ayane’s. The VN went to extremes to defend its message, thus some characters did what most people would consider dumb or crazy (not that they wouldn’t do the same thing). Honestly, though, it would be a lot better if the VN was more cynical.

Pacing was good, most of the times. The slow paced story helped to create a more soothing mood and relaxing. However, it got too slow paced sometimes, especially in the middle of Yui’s route and in the Last Episode.

As for the setting, it’s just fine. Nothing original, since it’s the same high school thing. But in this case, the game used a little more from its setting, since the town was a source of memories and inspiration to a certain heroine, and it directly affected the story. However, not much of the town itself is explored; there is some history about the town’s name and some places are visited by the characters, but that’s it. It would have benefited more if it explored more that department.

Another very good thing about the game are the dialogues. They aren’t as “inutile” as in many VNs. Like, some VNs spend lots of time with its characters discussing the color of one’s hair or how certain movie was one. There are those conversations, but they are usually a lot shorter, which is way more pleasant.  Interactions and bonds between characters are nicely reflected through the dialogues, and it makes the whole experience more interesting, as there are a lot of impactful lines in different ways along the VN.

In the end, the story was certainly not that strong. But it was a lot better than what I was expecting after playing Ayane’s route. The routes had very different qualities because there were four different writers. This was better than giving everything to Ayane’s writer, for example, though. With that being said, it couldn’t achieve anything impressive, but it was satisfying.
 

 

Characters (6.57/10)

 

Spoiler

This is the weakest aspect of the game. It’s still decent, though.

The first failure of Koikake when it comes to characters was not leaving much space to the main cast in the Last Episode. Actually, it introduced a new character with a sprite who also didn’t have an important role. Only two characters are actually really important in the true route: the protagonist and one of the girls. At least, the other heroines were thematically relevant in their own routes, so it doesn’t get that bad. It’s easy to make this mistake, though. It’s the problem of a ‘main heroine’; writers assume the other girls just need romance and their own conflicts unrelated to the bigger picture and it’s fine, since they’re not the main heroine. Except it’s not.

Another failure is the lack of meaningful relationships among the girls or even side characters. Also an ‘easy’ mistake to make. Since it’s romance, writers will assume the only relationships needed are between each heroine and the protagonist. But it’s not. VNs in which the characters have bonds “among” them and also between the heroines succeed much more. Even in the common route, exploring the friendship between Ayane and Sena would’ve been a good idea, and it would create a friendlier atmosphere, like Rewrite (basically the only thing that Koikake’s common route is behind Rewrite’s). Koutarou plays a nice role in each heroine’s life, though; at least it succeeds in what it does.

And the worst thing about the characters is that they weren’t remarkable in any way. The most remarkable was the protagonist, and he is one of those so-called ‘nonentity’ protagonists… See what I’m talking about? This game lacks depth when it comes to characters; most of them do not have a ‘distinct’ backstory or something that stands out. Yui and Sena are the only ones who kinda have a backstory that is not about how they met the protagonist, but in Yui’s case it’s just too generic, and in Sena’s case it’s more to explain some stuff and not really to add it to her character. Besides, the characters’ personalities were not remarkable. There’s a tsundere, a kind osananajimi, a cute loli and a nice senpai. As generic as you can get. What stood out from the protagonist, though, was the fact that he was a writer and the way writing impacted his life and his self.

As for character development, the only character that had real development was Rinka. And it was nicely done. As I mentioned before, the route didn’t use plot and conflict to do it; it did it in a natural, mundane way, using dialogues mostly in its favor. I really like when character development is tied with the romance, and this was an example. The heroine evolved with the protagonist’s help and doing some things that could fulfill what she wanted. However, despite being nicely executed, in substance, it’s not much: her development isn’t that impactful or significant as it could have been.

Last but not least, when it comes to ‘liking’ the characters, it did a very good job. I did not dislike any of the heroines (except for…) and I came to like them more after their routes, specially Rinka. The best girl is Ayane, but Rinka is still very close. I didn’t really love any character, though, like bringing them to a special place in my heart or anything. The side characters were nice, and the protagonist was nice enough for a generic protagonist (at least he isn’t very perverted), the ‘writing’ thing makes him more interesting as well.
 

 

Art (8.10/10)

 

Spoiler

Before I begin discussing art, there’s a common misconception that I need to clear up. A lot of people seem to think that “pretty art = 10/10” when that is far from being true. Art is not just about being pretty. Art has an informative and emotional value and will shape the VN’s experience in many different ways. Of course, prettiness is still important, though.

First, the character design. Sena’s(the first from left to right) design’s strongest point is that it transcends cuteness when it comes to appeal. Her design calls attention and causes curiosity. It’s not the best one, though, when it comes to that. A pity, since she’s the main heroine. It also gives some good amount of information, but it could’ve done a lot more in this area. Her pink jacket adds to her a friendly, kind impression which matches with her personality. She has a blue thing ‘beneath’ her pink clothes, and this also works pretty well. Sena’s true colors will be revealed to the player later, and then she will be wearing full blue clothes. On her silhouette you can see some triangular forms, which is good, since it creates conflict, and she’s also full of circular shapes on the surface, that suggests her friendly nature. But beyond that, there isn’t much, the character designer (Kimishima Ao, I suppose) could have worked more on that ‘true colors’ thing. Sena’s easily recognizable both among other character from Koikake and among other VN girls, which is good, but her silhouette isn’t that remarkable, though. 

Ayane’s design (the one in the middle) has two interesting things. First, her hair. When she was a child, she was stricter, thus her hair had a squared shape. She changed(besides the tsundereness) and her hair also did. The squared shape was abandoned and it gave place to the circular and triangle shapes. The second interesting thing are her clothes. In contrast with Sena’s design, she has the blue cloth ‘covering’ the light yellow one. And this is pretty appropriate, considering that she is a tsundere. Beneath the serious blue there is a bright yellow side. The pink choice for her hair has little to no meaning; pink hair is used for any archetype, so… And another weak aspect of her design is that is completely bland. She’s pretty, but that’s it. It doesn’t really call much attention and it’s not recognizable among other VN girls. It also doesn’t offer anything unique.

And then there’s Yui’s design. This one is the best among the heroine’s designs. First, her hair is all composed of circular shapes, even its tips are curved. This fits her well, since she is a kind, cute loli. And then, there are the flowers theme, that actually have a meaningful purpose, given that she takes care of the flower bed and it has an emotional connection with her. Her green ribbon reminds us of nature, and also fits her well because of the flowers thing. And there’s the black stuff. Her skirt is black, and she has black flower buttons. Her casual outfit is also composed of a black thing near her neck. I found this awkward in the beginning and I thought it was a bad choice. But after you learn more about her through her route, you’ll see that it was actually a pretty good choice. Her design is also the cutest, probably one of the cutest I’ve ever seen for a loli. In this way, it stands out among a lot of other characters. My only complaint is that her silhouette lacks a little more to be more recognizable. Also, something praiseworthy are her poses. They add much more cuteness and fit her well in her shy moments, happy, or sad. 
 

Rinka’s design, however, is the blandest. First, the excessive amount of blue in her design makes the design monotonous and uninteresting. Second, there are plenty of girls that look similar to her, so her recognizability is close to zero. Also zero uniqueness and originality. And third, the misleading aspect of her design. When I first saw her, I was interested, not because her design stood out or anything, but because she looked like a kuudere, plus there was the student council president thing. But I was disappointed. The blue in her clothes and hair suggest a strict and cold person, which is the opposite of what she is. I imagined a very cold president, but she’s not. She’s one of those senpais that act like onee-chans. The squared shapes in her design, that also suggest seriousness and strictness, makes it even worse. Well, at least she’s pretty.

And the protagonist design is the worst. It’s pretty common to have this kind of design for VN protagonists, with no meaning, nothing outstanding. But it’s still a failure, as a nonentity protagonist also is. If you put a list of all VN protagonist’s images, I bet you’d never recognize him even if you keep looking to his image for one hour nonstop. Bland, weak, bad.

The side characters have all decent designs, the two best ones, being Shino’s and Natsuko’s. 

When it comes to consistency, this VN does a good job. However, there are two major exceptions: Koutarou and Sena. As if it wasn’t enough to have the protagonist with a bland look, they also give him a hundred different faces. For example:
 

He looks like two different people. “Oh, that’s just because they want different looking otakus to all self-insert themselves.” Oh, then they should just give him two proper East eyes and black hair, it would have been way easier. 

And then, there’s Sena. 
 

Ao stretched her face in the first picture, thus making it look very awkward. It destroyed the CG. A pity, since a lot of Sena’s CGs would’ve been just perfect if they were more consistent. There’s also this one:

In that image, since she isn’t looking up her nose shouldn’t be right under her eye. Although we see her from the side, her nose should be lower than it is, because she is looking straight, the angle might give a different impression, though.

Here there’s an image of her actually looking up. And the nose is exactly where it should be. See what I’m talking about?

Rinka’s artist also had some small issues with consistency, but they were, as I said, small. So, they aren’t worth pointing out. Overall, the consistency was good.

The choice of using CGs at certain points was very well done in most cases. This VN had a lot of remarkable moments and the CGs did what they should do, that is make those moments even more remarkable and outstanding. It’s impressive how this VN can turn a simple moment into something special through the use of CGs. However, certain moments lacked CGs. For example, too much of Yui’s CGs were wasted with ichaicha and some other more important moments were left with no CG. And, the end of Sena’s route has no CG. It was a very impactful moment and it definitely deserved one. But the good thing is that most of the best moments each one had their own CG. In Yui’s case, for example, the lack of CGs for some moments in her route is compensated by CGs in the climax of her route, that was much more impactful than those other moments.

The color palette is also praiseworthy. I liked the mixture of pink and green in Ayane’s route. The green is very fitting in this VN, since it delivers a very soothing feeling. Something I haven’t mentioned before, this VN is quite ‘iyashikei-ish’, like those things that relax your mind and give you piece, like Non Non Biyori.(However, not fully iyashikei, since there’s the ‘crazy’ factor and the drama). The green adds a lot to it. And the pink of Ayane’s hair gave a lot of vibrance to the CGs, creating a very distinct beauty. Pink is also used a lot in other routes, because of the sakura thing. I know it’s cliché, but still the VN knew where to use it. It wasn’t overboard, or like in the backgrounds, which would be excessive and make players sick of it. It was used in very special moments.

The blue is also used in mysterious, enchanting moments. It was pretty well done the way it brought a feeling of nostalgia, and at the same time, curiosity and uneasiness. It also made up some pretty good romantic moments. One complaint, though, is that the game’s sunset is not very pretty; it’s a kind of sick, graceless orange.

Koikake also did well when it comes to lighting. Most of the game had a natural lighting, since it emphasized common day-to-day moments. However, the dramatic moments offered very pretty stylized lighting that gave much more impact to those moments. The composition was also nice mostly, for example:
 

This CG uses symmetry(not really that symmetrical, but still…) to create an uneasy mood, that is what the protagonist and the two girls were experiencing when they met after quite some time. It’s a very clever use of that resource. However, some CGs kept characters in the middle of the thing, which is not a good thing considering the rule of thirds. And the VN knew exactly when to use more bright or less, different degrees of saturation and etc. So, it was a very impressive job there.

Backgrounds have a weak and a strong point. The strong point is that they are pretty. Damn pretty. The streets, the classroom, the bedrooms, are all really really pretty. They create easiness and a pleasant feeling. The weak point, however, is that they don’t offer much information. There’s the protagonist’s room, which has a bunch of books, but that’s it. Overall, they are just classrooms and streets, which don’t have anything special to them.

When it comes to originality, this VN also does a good job in its art. It’s nothing like Steins;Gate, but the artstyle is distinct enough to stand out from other moeges. 

And, finally, the artstyle is… BEAUTIFUL. Like, for real. This VN had the most gorgeous art I’ve ever seen in any VN. Simple moments become special and outstanding through the use of CGs. Like a certain kiss scene, which was the prettiest kiss CG I’ve ever seen. Actually, I decided to play this VN because of the art. Because it was so gorgeous I couldn’t help but play this. If you’re looking for something pleasant to the point you’d keep looking for the whole day, this VN is definitely the one. I have no words to express just how beautiful this VN is. Just… Gorgeous.
 

 

Acting (8.06/10)

 

Spoiler

Overall, the acting was really nice. Toonoo Soyogi, particularly, could create a pretty cute loli, and she did a splendid job doing it. Tomotaka was a nice choice for Koutarou in the Last Episode, thus actually making a difference in that route. Abe Saku was also pretty nice for Sena, creating a very kind girl, despite the difficulty to portray that character, because reasons.

However, the point in which acting stands out the most is uniqueness. First, congratulations to Soyogi; she is probably the best loli seiyuu I’ve ever seen. Yui’s character had much more appeal and depth with Soyogi’s performance. At her most vunerable, happy moments, Soyogi gave that girl the definition of a kawaii voice. Then, there’s Abe Saku, which has worked in a lot of famous VNs, including “Shuffle” and “ef”. What stood out in her performance was how different it was from the others. It wasn’t trying to be anything special or overracting an archetype or anything. In this sense, it felt really natural and made Sena stand out as a main heroine. As for the other seiyuus, although they weren’t as ‘unique’, they also did quite the good performances. Haruka Sora, for example(Ayane’s seiyuu) , while doing a good job, she just played a typical tsundere, nothing else.

Everything was beliavable, even when the story didn’t really help at times, it’s clear the seiyuus did everything in their power to make those characters feel real. I’m going to talk a little bit more about Abe Saku, who played Sena. This was her strongest point. Sena felt just like a real girl. While still maintaining the appeal and cuteness of the voice, her voice was so natural it didn’t feel like a VN or anime voice at times. In a good way. And this is great, because it feels like she’s directly talking to you in real life. Every line of her mouth feels way more believable and truthful. While the other seiyuus weren’t like this, none of them felt forced or artificial.

And when it comes to portraying emotion, Rinka’s seiyuu(Nissan Serena) was the best one, and another reason her route was so good. When I first started reading the VN, Serena’s performance felt bland and generic. Just your senpai who keeps teasing you sometimes, and nothing else. But then there was the common route branch that focus on the elections and the campaigns. And then there’s Rinka’s route. Suddenly, there was a bump in quality. Rinka wasn’t just a boring senpai president, she had much more inside her. And her voice played that out damn well. Her emotions felt real, the romance felt more romantic, the sad scenes felt sadder and the development overall of her character felt more vivid. Her route was greatly benefited from Serena’s performance. Now, this is where Saku’s acting fails. While she portrayed Sena’s personality nice and felt very believable, she didn’t do much more than that. She didn’t go out of her way to try to bring that character’s emotions to life. It just felt like she was using the same tone and volume all the time. Her voice was static. Koutarou’s seiyuu, Tomotaka, also commited this same mistake. His voice fit the character, it was nice overall, but he didn’t do anything impressive to portray his emotions in its fullest.

As for the prettiness of the voices, they are pretty. None of them are really that outstanding, except for Yui’s (as commented before), but they’re all nice and none of them is particularly annoying to listen to. (I got I little tired of Nako’s voice, but still…)

 

 

Soundtrack (8.64/10)

 

Spoiler

Soundtrack is Koikake’s strongest aspect. First, it’s amazing how well the soundtrack fits each scene. The iyashikei aspect of the VN goes to another level with the soundtrack. There are quite a number of pleasant songs that seem to make you float in the air. And the VN used well each one of those. Something also noteworthy is a very romantic song, very well chosen in romantic scenes, probably one of the most romantic songs I’ve listened to in any VN. My only complaint is that there weren’t enough ‘sad’ songs, and they used a kind of nostalgic one to the sad scenes sometimes, but then there aren’t many sad scenes, so it’s just a minor complaint.

Some songs are definitely unforgettable, though. Specially the two wonderful EDs: GLORIOUS DAYS and Azuma No Sora Kara Hajimaru Sekai. The transition of the ending to the ED songs is wonderful too, so that may count as a reason. And some of the BGM are also remarkable, because of their quite unique mood. There wasn’t anything like LB! soundtrack, though.

This is a graphic of my taste on the soundtrack. You can see it’s fairly solid. Most of it is either good or very good, with some awesome soundtracks as well. There wasn’t any annoying song or any I disliked and this was great, since almost every VN I play there are some of those, including Grisaia, which I reviewed last time.

 

OVERALL SCORE = 7.8/10

Honestly, it’s very hard to describe how this work felt, but it’ll try to use metaphors to sum it up. It felt like eating a nice strawberry cupcake, it felt like a gentle stroll in the park, it felt like the smile of your loved one, and it felt like a cup of bitter coffee. Everything together. And it’s very good. The soundtrack and the art make it worth. Even if some routes are weak storywise (like Ayane’s), if I said I disliked them I would be lying. Because the art and the soundtrack together give flavor to what was supposed to be a flavorless dish. And yes, this is a moege and it’s better than Grisaia. I recommend it.

 

[Tyrael]

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