Fuwa VN Reading Club: April - Deardrops

[akaritan]

Eyyy, I'm back. Sorry I missed the start, I was away for a week. However, I just got back and binged on Pygmalion for four hours until I finished, so there is nothing stopping me from partaking in Deardrops. It's been on my list for a long time, and both the art and what I've heard from the music are genuinely appealing (as is important for a VN about a band), so I very much look forward to it.

[kyrt]

I have no idea how I will be able to read this trapped in the metaverse. Not gotten to the title OP yet will try and get a few hours of play time in later today

[Okarin]

Name's Goddamn.

[Fred the Barber]

I just finished that most crucial scene of any bishoujo game: the one where all the heroines are gathered and the tactless one asks the protagonist and his childhood friend, "Hey, are you guys dating?" One awkward denial, and the stage is set for romance.

I really am ready for some romance, honestly. The story is fine, and I'm enjoying watching the band grow up, but I could use a little change of pace from the gig-of-the-month formula.

[Turnip Sensei]

9 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

I just finished that most crucial scene of any bishoujo game: the one where all the heroines are gathered and the tactless one asks the protagonist and his childhood friend, "Hey, are you guys dating?" One awkward denial, and the stage is set for romance.

I really am ready for some romance, honestly. The story is fine, and I'm enjoying watching the band grow up, but I could use a little change of pace from the gig-of-the-month formula.

I've been thinking exactly the same. Gigs are definitely the stand-out part so far, but the meantime between them is not always that interesting. Bit more of youthly hijinks wouldn't be bad for a chance. 

[Barktooth]

I finished Yayoi and Rimu's routes today, so I suppose I should comment on my general impressions so far. The game started off being interesting and fresh, since the setting isn't high school for once and the protagonist was a bit on the older side. I enjoyed reading about Shoichi's past as well as the their new band and performances. However, it got a bit stale in the latter half of the common route due to things sort of settling into place and the "gig-of-the-month formula" as Fred the Barber put it. Shoichi regularly visiting Selene also irked me; what did he even do there? I guess he served purely as motivation for the girls, every one of which was of course crushing on him.

Both of the routes I read were quite short, so I didn't expect much of them. And they didn't really deliver. I didn't like the sheer coincidence that caused drama in the latter half of Yayoi's route (and the amount of those coincidences in the rest of the game bothered me too). Rimu's route was better, though I wasn't fond of the character herself. Overall, they were enjoyable, but nothing captivating.

I'm looking forward to Kanade and Riho's routes; they seem like the more important characters. I hope we get to find out more about Shoichi's past in them as well.

[akaritan]

On 4/10/2017 at 0:59 AM, Fred the Barber said:

I just finished that most crucial scene of any bishoujo game: the one where all the heroines are gathered and the tactless one asks the protagonist and his childhood friend, "Hey, are you guys dating?" One awkward denial, and the stage is set for romance.

I really am ready for some romance, honestly. The story is fine, and I'm enjoying watching the band grow up, but I could use a little change of pace from the gig-of-the-month formula.

I just finished that scene, and I sort of agree... I mean, I quite like the "gig of the month" formula, but all of the romance teases with no actual payoff thus far are a bit irritating to say the least. Especially in the case of Kanade, it's so lacking in any degree of subtlety... But apart from that, I absolutely adore this VN so far and I don't know how I've kept it installed on my computer for a year without touching it. The cast is charming, the lack of high school is always a plus, and both the music and concert scenes are absolutely wonderful. It's a little thing, but the art has a sort of "pop" to it- the lines are thick and especially in the case of the hair, gradients are used less. I think that the style is really nice and fitting for the VN. I also wish more VNs gave their main characters faces.

[Fred the Barber]

2 hours ago, akaritan said:

I also wish more VNs gave their main characters faces.

So much this. I like my main characters to have presence and personality, and while of course dialogue and narration are key to that, character sprites go a long way towards building a foundation for the character in my mind.

[akaritan]

19 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

So much this. I like my main characters to have presence and personality, and while of course dialogue and narration are key to that, character sprites go a long way towards building a foundation for the character in my mind.

Character sprites also show effort on the part of the creators towards doing so in my opinion. I really do wish that more creators put more time into developing their main characters. After all, they are arguably the most important cast members and character designs and faces help show a lack of apathy and effort to avoid making a plain self-insert. Which isn't even to mention how it's sort of jarring when the main character is the only one with no artwork/voicing.

[mitchhamilton]

i think vn creators have this idea to have readers sort of project themselves onto the main character.

[akaritan]

1 minute ago, mitchhamilton said:

i think vn creators have this idea to have readers sort of project themselves onto the main character.

I know, I just dislike it and am of the strong opinion that it leads to bland, boring characters and lessens the work greatly as a whole.

[mitchhamilton]

28 minutes ago, akaritan said:

I know, I just dislike it and am of the strong opinion that it leads to bland, boring characters and lessens the work greatly as a whole.

yeah, i agree. i certainly really enjoy vns when they give the mc personality and a face. i remember reading if my heart had wings for the first time and was shocked when right away they show the mc's face.

[Adorabear]

On April 1, 2017 at 8:41 PM, Fred the Barber said:

I'm playing it on a Windows 10 tablet (touchscreen and all); you'll be fine.

Bit belated, but thank you! I now have Deardrops and will start reading it soon with you guys!  I would have gotten it earlier but had to deal with some medical stuff in the past two weeks that was a bit expensive, so I had to hold off getting it for a bit. :/ 

Also, if anyone hasn't gotten the game yet, it is currently on sale on MangaGamer for half price!  

[littleshogun]

I still play Deardrops by the way, although it was delayed several times here though. Let's see if I could give my first comment here by April's end later.

[Adorabear]

Finally started reading Deardrops and just met all of the main characters. So far I think this is a really interesting VN and I am enjoying it a lot! I am finding all of the characters likeable although it took me a while to like some like Gonda; I didn't like him at all when he was introduced, but he has been starting to grow on me as I read more. Out of the girls, I am definitely liking Riho the most. I would try to get her route first, but since it sounds like it is best to do her last, I think I am going to go for Yayoi first.

[Barktooth]

I finally finished it. How should I describe it? I'd say it was a very solid, yet not especially impactful experience. The production values appear to be exceptionally high, as there is a plethora of event CGs and backgrounds (Most 50+ hour games don't even have this many, do they?) There are a number of songs with vocals and the OST overall is pretty good too.

Most of the characters feel multidimensional and have their part in the story; their motivations are usually understandable as well. Riho was a bit different from what I expected, but I liked her nonetheless. Kanade grew on me in her route. Rimu and Yayoi weren't fleshed out as well due to their routes being short, but had enough interactions in other routes to satisfy me. I liked Shoichi at first, but to be honest, grew tired of him by the end of the common route and couldn't sympathize with him in many situations.

I did not find the story particularly enjoyable. It seemed straightforward, predictable, and a bit dull; at times, it felt like some events happened just to annoy the reader. Drama often came out of nowhere, and made you think the world was against you... But the VN didn't focus on this aspect much, so every time that happened, it was more irritating than emotional. How the drama was resolved was good in some cases, bad in others.

As for the routes, I'd say I actually enjoyed Kanade's more than Riho's. It was, annoyingly, full of very awkward moments, making me feel second-hand embarrassment, but the latter part of it made up for that, I think.

Spoiler

Singing off pitch? Singing in a strip club? Betraying Leo, Ryoko, and the audience's expectations by not being able to sing due to varying reasons? Just let me sink through the floor right this moment, please.

Embarrassing moments aside, I did really like the scenes of Shoichi playing the violin in the street, Johann's revenge against him (although it was a bit hard to believe), and the performance Kanade and him put on while being wounded. I still consider that the best live of the game.

I'm glad I read Riho's route last nonetheless, as it was more appropriate to do it that way.

Spoiler

It was frustrating how little of it actually focused on Riho herself, though. Essentially every other route focused on resolving predicaments its heroine finds herself in, while this one was more of a Deardrops route/true route. Gonda's story was good, and I appreciated the recounting of the incident in Germany and details thereof, but the rest felt like more of the common route. The "follow your destiny" theme presented at the end was stifling to me more than anything, and I wanted to chant at my screen lines such as "Fate? Who needs such a thing?", "Defy your destiny!", "Fate can just go to hell!", etc. Maybe I'm too chuu2 for this VN.

To be fair, I would probably enjoy it more if they actually showed why you shouldn't go against fate, made the characters struggle, illustrated how things would turn out if you did try to defy it. Maybe this was more about how the band was lenient and didn't hold anyone back (or however they described it) in the first place, though, which is why they made Shoichi return to Germany... But why did Riho allow, even encourage, everyone to disband? What happened to her desire to become a professional and sing on a large stage? She used to be so fierce when it came to this, but near the end of the route, she mellowed out too much in my opinion. I suppose it's not necessarily a bad thing, but since the route didn't expound on her feelings much, this felt out of character.

It seems romance between members really is threatening to a band.

Be that as it may, while I wasn't too fond of the random drama, a few preposterous and unrealistic events, and certain awkward situations, this VN had agreeable characters and managed to tie most things together fairly well. Additionally, albeit usually lightly glossed-over, I enjoyed the small pieces of wisdom thrown in here and there. I'm not sure what to rate it yet, but it probably deserves around a 7 or an 8.

Anyway, it's nice to be participating in the VN reading club. I hope there's going to be some more discussion in here as people make progress in the game (you'll have to hurry if you want to finish by the end of the month, though, as this VN is unexpectedly long... It took 37 hours for me with pretty fast reading, even though it's listed as 10-30 hours on VNDB. Maybe that's for people who skip voices...)

[Mr Poltroon]

1 hour ago, Barktooth said:

As for the routes, I'd say I actually enjoyed Kanade's more than Riho's. It was, annoyingly, full of very awkward moments, making me feel second-hand embarrassment, but the latter part of it made up for that, I think.

  Reveal hidden contents

Singing off pitch? Singing in a strip club? Betraying Leo, Ryoko, and the audience's expectations by not being able to sing due to varying reasons? Just let me sink through the floor right this moment, please.

Embarrassing moments aside, I did really like the scenes of Shoichi playing the violin in the street, Johann's revenge against him (although it was a bit hard to believe), and the performance Kanade and him put on while being wounded. I still consider that the best live of the game.

 

Spoiler

Is that the only moment he plays violin in the game? I fear I'll probably end up not being able to read much of this VN as I had intended, but it's certainly my favourite moment of what I did read.

I second your thoughts on this route.

[Barktooth]

17 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

  Hide contents

Is that the only moment he plays violin in the game? I fear I'll probably end up not being able to read much of this VN as I had intended, but it's certainly my favourite moment of what I did read.

I second your thoughts on this route.

Spoiler

I suppose it's not much of a spoiler, but yes, he does get quite a few chances to play the violin again in Riho's route. None of them are with Kanade, of course, which is a bit of a shame since they are a good pair.

 

[Fred the Barber]

Sorry I've fallen off the radar for the past week, despite facilitating this month. All I can say is, it's been a busy past week for me.

I'm currently in the middle of Rimu's route (which presumably means I'm close to my first ending, since I understand Rimu and Yayoi have pretty short routes). I liked the common route, but the transition to Rimu's route felt pretty jarring, and I'm not really feeling the drama that's building up right now. Looking forward more to Yayoi's route, which I plan to do next.

The standout element for me in this game so far is the cast. I liked most of the main cast at first sight (all but Kanade), and they've all been growing on me ever since (especially Kanade). By the time I finish the game, I suspect I'm going to be looking back fondly on the lot of them and feeling very happy to have met them. But time will tell! I should have a lot of time over this weekend to read, so hopefully I'll be back to say more over the next few days as I start finishing routes.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Fred the Barber
formatting

[littleshogun]

Speaking of the routes, I decided to start with Yayoi first. As for my impression right now, it's been quite interesting so far. That's all that I could say for now.

[mitchhamilton]

kind of interesting everyone started with the shorter routes first while i did riho first and am planning on skipping kanades.

[Fred the Barber]

Between last night and tonight, I finished both Rimu's route (I only had like five minutes left in it, it turned out) and Yayoi's route. Rimu's ending was kinda sweet, I guess, but all in all a pretty disappointing route, with rather forced, trivial drama. Yayoi's, on the other hand, was actually good, if short, and it had one CG near the end (not in the H scene, you pervs, before that) that I thought was awesome. Deardrops was worth playing for that CG alone, but now it's time for me to move on to the more substantial routes! I'm pleased to say that I'm really looking forward to Kanade's. It took her a while to win me over, but I have a feeling she's going to kick all kinds of ass. I'm actually more excited for her than for Riho, at this point.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Fred the Barber

[littleshogun]

Right now I'd almost finish Yayoi's route, so I'll comment on that later. Oh, and for next route I'll go with Rimu here.

[littleshogun]

Finished with Yayoi route and in the middle of Rimu route. As for Yayoi's route, her problem was she just want to be stand out and confused with her future. Throughout the route, she was separated with her guitar so she did try to focus on the university enteance exam more and being depressed. To elaborate here, Yayoi's guitar was broken by her carelesness first (After Yayoi was being drunk) and then it was stolen. Of course, she was very happy when she get her guitar back, and after that she had ephipany that she fell for Shou (Also Shou himself was fell for Yayoi). By the way, for the last word here I knew that this route had some info dump in regard of fixing the guitar.

PS - As for Yayoi's seiyuu, it was Tamiyasu Tomoe who voiced Natsume Rin at Little Busters and Irisu Makina at Grisaia franchise.

Edited August 12, 2020 by littleshogun

[Adorabear]

I finished Yayoi and Rimu's routes a few days ago. While Yayoi's route was short, I thought it was pretty good! I agree about the one CG near the end being absolutely awesome 9the one with Yayoi in the park with the guitar); I think that is my favourite CG in the game so far! As for Rimu's route, I wasn't a fan of it and was hoping it was going to be better. I definitely think it was disappointing; the drama felt really forced and stupid, and a lot of the route was predicable. I am looking forward to seeing how Kanade's route turns out since I am reading her route next.