This is my first time seriously sitting down to write a VN review. Yes, I have written a few visual novel reviews before, but they were all drafts. This time, I want to properly write a complete one.
----- Very, very amazing.
It has been a while since I last played something this gripping and tightly paced. Before this, I played Aoitori and Mashiroiro Symphony, and both were a bit painful for me. Aoitori was still okay, but Mashiroiro Symphony really did not work for me… It was a bit too boring, personally. It has been a long time since I played something that pulled me in this much. I read for four hours in one sitting, then another five hours the next day.
The story does not drag. It flows smoothly from start to finish. Although some H scenes were a bit annoying, some of them did fit the story quite well, helping to build or strengthen the atmosphere.
I will not spoil the plot here. It is best to experience it yourself. This is a short work; I finished it in 9.5 hours. (All Endings)
Personally, I really like the voice actress for the heroine. I think she fits the character very well. She really matches the kind of character who looks fragile, but is actually extremely tough in clutch time , resilient, smart, reliable, and also has a clear Moe point / small flaw — she is not very good with computers. Wait, wait, wait, is this character basically Katagiri Nanase from 抜きゲーみたいな島に住んでる貧乳わたしはどうすりゃいいですか? Personally, I feel these two characters, Choumai Sui and Katagiri Nanase, have somewhat similar personalities. Maybe it is because they are voiced by the same voice actress?
Although I will not talk about the plot here, I want to share the ideas that this game contains / fully presents.
1. Enjoy the Journey of Exploration#
“Trigonometric functions are—”
“They are about using what you already know, deriving things step by step, and eventually finding the unknown parts.”
“I totally don’t get it.”
“Hehe, yeah.”
“But I think that is exactly what makes it interesting.”
“Because we know nothing, the process of exploring and learning becomes the most interesting part, doesn’t it?”
This conversation really gave me a familiar resonance, because I once wrote down a similar idea while thinking about something. Also, when you play this game, you will realize that this conversation is basically a miniature version of the whole story.
I think this part was translated very well in Chinese. Although it is not a 100% direct copy of the Japanese original, it expands on the meaning of the original. The wording is also polished nicely. Now, the quote you read is actually translated from Chinese. So, the messages were lost little.
Original Text
「三角関数は――」
「いま分かってない事柄を、分かっている事柄と照らし合わせて求めていくんだ」
「よく分かんねーなあ」
「ふふ、そうだね」
「でも面白いじゃない。分からないほうが」
「分からないからこそ、識ることが面白いじゃない」
2. Relax, Then Try Thinking a Little Harder#
Damn it, am I stupid?
My whole way of thinking was wrong from the very beginning.
All I did was say, “This is so hard, this is so hard,”
and then just stood there blankly watching everything happen.
I did not actually use my brain to think at all.
When I study or solve problems, my first reaction is to search on Google. Although sometimes I do think first, that is not usually the case. I occasionally force myself to think because I have read some articles suggesting that we should use our brains more instead of just searching for answers. And I have also experienced it myself: if you always look for answers without thinking about them, your brain really does become lazy, and your ability to think gets weaker. So I do not want my brain to become lazy. That is why I try to think.
Learning — in the sense of improving a skill, or learning with the goal of mastery or deep understanding, not random trivia — comes from thinking by yourself, not from someone simply telling you the answer. Mastery comes from practice, not from watching.
No pain, no gain. Real absorption is a process. If someone gives you 100 directly, you learn nothing. Even if you start from 0 and only manage to learn 50%, that 50% will be deeply engraved in your mind. But an answer obtained instantly just brushes past you and disappears in a flash. After you have thought through the first 50% by yourself, looking at the answer can raise that 50% to 60% or 70%. You need to keep thinking and practicing in order to reach 100%.
Many times, as long as you seriously think about it and give yourself some time, the problem can actually be solved. Using 100% of your brainpower is a little painful. But the sense of achievement from solving it yourself, and the feeling of your brain’s neurons constantly connecting, is extremely satisfying and beneficial.
Try Harder.
3. Amusing Ourselves to Death#
“It really is strange.
In the next thirteen years, smartphones will keep evolving.”
“Games, videos, everything will pour out endlessly.
And as long as you watch ads, all of it will be free.”
“Entertainment will keep expanding without limit.”
“But what is hard to understand is that people will feel bored even more often.”
Sigh, yes. There is too much entertainment in this generation. I feel like they are not entertainment at all, but biohazard crap that poison the brain. They cause information overload, endless desire, and intellectual decline. Yes, I am talking about short videos, video recommendation algorithms, and infinite information.
But we cannot blame them completely. Sometimes, it is because we give up control, abandon our original plans, choose to procrastinate, not to think, and allow ourselves to be poisoned by them.
4. Life#
Suppose something is missing from this world, and nobody notices it. Does that mean it has lost its meaning? A bit of philosophy I had picked up during my student days flashed through my mind. What meaning does my existence here and now actually have?
If someone suddenly disappeared among this vast sea of people - perhaps nobody would care. Then, does that mean it has no meaning?
Although those thirty years were ordinary, I lived happily.
Only now do I understand.
Those days of constantly complaining and working like a worker ant… were actually so happy.
These two passages appear near the ending. But can you guess which one appears first?...
The latter passage appears first.
They appear in different contexts and are not directly related to each other. But to me, they feel like fragments piecing together a message about existence and meaning.
Even an ordinary life, a life without great achievements, a plain and uneventful life, is still beautiful. <--- This is probably what the game is expressing.
↓↓ Personal Thoughts#
Even if you achieve something great, life will still eventually come to an end. Even if the legacy you leave behind is glorious, and your name is passed down from generation to generation, so what? Does it really matter whether people know you or not? Even if 99% of people know your name, so what?
Suppose you make an invention with an extremely far-reaching impact, bringing great convenience to the world. However, only about 0.5% of people on Earth know that you invented it. Maybe nobody will remember you anymore. But does that mean what you did has no meaning? “Meaning” and “value” are not the same thing, but they are often confused. Even “value” and “value given by others” are often mixed together.
When you zoom out and look down at everything from a higher perspective, everything seems so tiny, even if you have done something amazing. But that feeling of “I did it,” that enjoyment, belongs uniquely to you. The pain in those moments, the times when you were struggled; the perseverance driven by enthusiasm and curiosity; the final failure, or the final success — all of it belongs to that journey.
Even if you do not accomplish something earth-shattering, that is fine too. Life is about experiencing and enjoying. Some people choose to chase what they are curious about / what they love, and they manage to do it. Some people do not have that kind of passion and simply want to live well and experience life. Some people long to achieve something, but lack the ability to take action or the talent to do so.
As long as you exist, it influences others and is influenced by others.
4.1 Time Keeps Flowing and Cannot Be Turned Back#
Because I have grown up. I am already an adult.
The time that has passed will never return.
Even if I went back to the past, I would not be able to blend in with it anymore. I could no longer be a pure child. Even if time turned back, my life could not go backward.
Recently, I have had to return to my secondary school and interact with Form 1 students. I feel like I really cannot go back anymore. I have lost the wildness of playing like a child. Now that I have become more stable, it is very hard to trigger that state again. This line fits so well. It feels like it accidentally resonated with my unconscious inner voice.
I feel that I cherish life more now, because I have clearly realized, and personally witnessed, that life cannot go backward.