Comyu Discussion

[Decay]

Eh, he's not in a committed relationship at any of the moments he sleeps around (actually I haven't read the Kagome route yet so maybe that changes). The flings he ends up in happen when he's mentally unstable or highly stressed. "I will save my chastity for my one true love and no one else" is a noble idea and all but it's hardly common in this day and age and I have no problems with a story based game portraying the more common side of human sexuality. This isn't a pure romance title, after all, so even if Akihito's behavior is less romantic, isn't necessarily to the detriment of the story.

 

Just my two cents.

[RuneKazuma]

Comyu - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku  came out fairly recently and kind of flew under my radar. I download it and completed it. I have mixed feelings about the game. The music was ok and the plot was nothing too spectacular, but it managed to hold my interest somewhat. I did find the art fairly good, but the characters had literally the slightest to no development at all. That being said i did enjoy the personality of most of the characters to an extent. The main heroine and the side character Mayuki are among my favorite being that they carry very peculiar vivid personalities. 

I sincerely dislike how you have to beat four other routes to get the main heroines route, and at the least beat the entirety of the first play through just to get the option to pursue the girl i wanted besides the main heroine. I suppose the main heroines end is the true end because it is darker and not as light-hearted as the other four.

 I only enjoyed two of the routes; one of them being the true route. I kind of felt that the other two not including the required first route were kind of disjointed and didn't really fit well with the story, but that's just my opinion. I'm really curious to see what other people thought of the novel. 

[Clephas]

Decay, don't restart the manwhore conversation.  We've had enough of that one...

[Okami]

I just finished it, I don't think that Kagome route was that special, it wasn't bad but it definitely wasn't the best route in VN, I liked Hisoka and Mayuki routes more. I am also not sure why do everyone call it a true route/ending as while it is a main route It's not nervelessly the true route as true routes implies that all big questions will be explained and it doesn't really do that, it only expends a story and adds some more events occurring around it but it doesn't really give answers to all the big questions like

How did avatars/connectors come to exist in a first place, what is that magic, where does it come from, what is organization after etc.

. Aside from a protagonist I don't have any big complains for her route but I don't have any big praises for it either. There was very little character development, It was pretty dragged in some places, It leaves a lot of things unexplained, and I didn't like Kagome that much I didn't dislike her either but neither did I like her, aside from that that I am not a fan of Mrs. perfect/ can do anything and slightly sadistic heroines I also felt like she is just distant, cold character more meant for a side character then a main heroine, well I did like she doesn't care for rules and morals and that she doesn't have problems with killing when it is needed. Ending was pretty good true.

 

So I liked routes in this order:

Mayuki>Hisoka>Kagome>Benio>>Ayaya

 

And for for characters:

Hisoka>Mayuki>Yoruko>>>Others

And from Male characters I liked Izawa and Gasai.

 

I still stand with what I said after I finished only Benio route, this VN has many great things but it also has many flaws the biggest one being a protagonist. Also it is a pretty good VN but it could be a lot better.

 

My final ratings for it are:

 

Common route - 8/10

Benio route - 6/10

Mayuki route - 8/10

Hisoka route - 7.5/10

Ayaya route - 4/10

Kagome route - 7/10

Overwall - 7/10

[Undying]

just a question here, only Comyu can see the avatars right?

[Yukiru]

just a question here, only Comyu can see the avatars right?

Anyone can.

[Undying]

Anyone can.

 

 

weird, in the begining when Yuriko was fighting the avatar it seemed that they were invisible to the others. 

[Yukiru]

weird, in the begining when Yuriko was fighting the avatar it seemed that they were invisible to the others. 

It was a special ability of that one avatar, and by that time Akihito wasn't in a comyu.

 

Special camouflage was it?

[Clephas]

Only people in a comyu can see the avatars. 

[V_Kitsune_V]

Wasn't there a news report saying something about eye witness reports seeing a monster on the bridge in Kagomes route, if I'm wrong oh well

[Kaguya]

Only people in a comyu can see the avatars. 

Weren't there blurry pictures of avatars uploaded to the internet, though? And Ayaya could see Babylon.

[Clephas]

Some of the people in the city

have already been 'infected' and are destined to become part of a comyu eventually. Others, like Ayaya, have sorcery in the blood (her 'uncle'). Generally speaking, most people can't see avatars, otherwise more people would have seen all of what was happening when Kagome unleashed her avatar at the end of the first war.

[Albedo]

Some of the people in the city

have already been 'infected' and are destined to become part of a comyu eventually. Others, like Ayaya, have sorcery in the blood (her 'uncle'). Generally speaking, most people can't see avatars, otherwise more people would have seen all of what was happening when Kagome unleashed her avatar at the end of the first war.

It was mentioned explicitely that regular people can see avatars, and that people reported seeing a black giant back then. Every time there's a rampage, the narration says that there's people seeing them. The reason the game gives for avatars gaining greater prominence is the widespread use of the net. Also, the part at the beginning was probably a result of poor (or no) editing. Finally, I though Ayaya's uncle wasn't a mage, but a scientist?

 

Also, damn is this game pretentious lol. You could make a drinking game out of the "red color", the castle of glass, and the other oh-so-deep thoughts of Akihito.

[Clephas]

Dude... it's chuuni.  By definition it's pretentious.

  Also, they only saw the giant because its gravity was so strong that it warped the light moving through it.

  Second... you can't trust an English translation for details.

[Nerathim]

Comyu overdoes it sometimes, I agree (even for chuuni). But the true appeal is somewhere else, one of the rare pessimistic fiction which I give credibility for being enough nuanced, though.

[Clephas]

Generally speaking, Light, Nitroplus (pre-Sumaga), and Akatsuki Works tend to produce VNs with a really cynical undertone.  They don't go for surrealistic emotionalism or unnecessarily 'convenient' outcomes, for the most part.  People are people in their VNs, in all their disgusting glory (though in Dies Irae and the similar Light games, there is a tendency toward over-exaggerating certain traits for the sake of the overall story).  Even Ruitomo has a seriously cynical and bitter undertone to it.

 

A lot of it is that chuuni is a genre that throws shame to the winds... so writers can get away with not pretending people are somehow good at heart (blech).  Of course, other chuuni companies, like Propeller, use chuuni to create inspiring stories or stories that show off the best in humans... but Akatsuki Works generally goes out of its way to show off the worst in people. 

 

Akihito's obsession with the 'gentle kingdom' echoes Tomo's obsession with curses and Sora's obsession with the concept of subjective evil and humanity as an earned status rather than a default one.  (Tomo is Ruitomo's protag and Sora is Devils Devel Concept's protag).  In a similar way, Boku ga Sadame also pursues a similar vein, with its obsessing over fate, predetermination, and the like. 

[Nerathim]

Very interesting, I learned a few things here. Comyu being my "first" chuuni VN (I don't view Type-Moon's works and MLA as chuuni) I was pleasantly surprised, the gloomy theme is well treated indeed. ( Benio's ambiguous relationships, Akihito might as well be the bad guy, peoples drunk with power etc.) . If Nitroplus produced stuff like that, I think I will go for Demonbane, I'm hoping for a cast of characters as good as Coµ!

[Clephas]

Jingai Makyou, Phantom, and Muramasa are my big recommendations for Nitroplus...

[Karakkan]

Having just finished this, I can't help but wonder if having a voiced protagonist would have helped add more to the story?  This is coming off of Ayakashibito, so I may be a bit biased, but by having Soushichi voiced really made me get into his story, in a VN where it was very much "these are the characters and not self-inserts, enjoy the tale we have weaved for you".  With all of Akihito's "gentle kingdom" this and "the color red" that, we clearly aren't supposed to be imagining ourselves in his shoes (especially the bits where he starts veering off the path into Really?ville).

 

Otherwise, I was pleased with it and enjoyed Comyu.  Love the songs in it and some great comedic timing (gods, Izawa being a big Yuuna fan just puts a dumb smile on my face when I think about it), which make up for the protagonist not being the most likeable person (seriously, you're going to have sex with the girl who literally just saw her only reason for living brutalized beyond recognition?  I'm fine with the manwhoring, it's not a perfect world and he's not a perfect character, but even then I had to raise an eyebrow at that).  Also shocked at how quickly Mayuki's route became my favorite, since I tend to avoid or force myself through Loli routes.

 

Overall, it's not the best VN I've ever read, but by no means is it the worst.  I'll probably read through through it again some time in the future after I do some selective ctrl-skipping to cut out the fat.

[Clephas]

Demonbane is pretty much dominated by Al, to be honest.  While it was the third Nitroplus game I played (of seven) it was only fourth in my rankings, below the three above... 

 

If you want something with characters like Comyu but without Akihito Hello, Lady (the most recent Akatsuki Works game) is a great choice.  The protagonist is an arrogant bastard, but he is also capable.  Eru's surface persona is pretty close to being identical to Mayuki's (and they have the same VA), for those who loved her, lol.

[Nerathim]

I restrict myself to translated VNs, sadly. (I'm not even fluent in english) But from what I see Phantom of Inferno is translated, I will go for it then, even if it looks a bit old, visually.

[Albedo]

Oh, god, Phantom is a pain in the ass to play. Enjoy passwords.

[Clephas]

Yeah, the English version is a pain... makes me wish that they'd translated one of the PC versions for the Japanese-incompetent.

[BookwormOtaku]

If you want something with characters like Comyu but without Akihito Hello, Lady (the most recent Akatsuki Works game) is a great choice.  The protagonist is an arrogant bastard, but he is also capable.  Eru's surface persona is pretty close to being identical to Mayuki's (and they have the same VA), for those who loved her, lol.

 

Is it as hard to read as Comyu and Ruitomo?

 

Also speaking of Mayuki, could be just me but her VA sounds similar to Patty's from Vesperia PS3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOz0WwurxJM

[Clephas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liL1WbFxKsg

 

This is enough reason to want to play it...

 

But yeah... it's about at the same level as Ruitomo for difficulty.