LOVE BAKUDAN

This one was a happy surprise. I was expecting some silly smut game only to end up reading it through several late nights due to how deeply complex those characters and stories were. I do have a big critique about it, which I’ll explain in detail further along, but overall, I really enjoyed this game and recommend it for every yuri VN fan out there, as it turned out to be one of my favorites. Here comes the spoiler-free wall of text! [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*][b]Love interests have a life outside of you.[/b] [/list] Do you know how, in this kind of game, after you pick your love interest, everyone else ceases to exist? Here, not only are most of them present in other routes with several interactions, but they also have a full life and might even end up forming relationships between them when not chosen by you. This is one of my favorite aspects of this game, because every character has a unique development according to the route you pick. This leads me to my next point… [list] [*][...

Only like 2 hours in, but am absolutely loving the experience! It's managed to put a dumb smile on my face a time or two already. I'll update my review if anything changes that opinion, but judging by the other reviews, I think I'll be good with leaving it at this. Highly recommend.

The writing was filled with too much exposition and too much telling and no showing. For instance, we keep being told Haruka is "handsome," but for the entire front part from traveling to Akiyama to opening the book store, we are never shown WHY Haruka is handsome. Simple things like, "Haruka noticed the wouldn't stop staring at her short bob hair," or "I noticed when I spoke the woman hung on my every word." SHOW me why Haruka is handsome, don't keep TELLING me. Another example of fluff writing is making a call to Yuki. It took the story 7 or 8 lines of meandering to finally call Yuki. That could've been accomplished by a few sentences such as, "I wasn't sure whether to call Yuki or not, I paced around for about an hour, staring at the wall, pondering what it would mean to give her call, but finally decided, 'screw it' and picked up the phone." The whole first scene with Sei is painful as well. All that dialogue and all we establish is that Haruka and Sei are friends, Sei ...

firstly, i really have to say that it's a damn shame that this game is as obscure as it is. if anyone is looking for some really well written characters, relationships, drama, and porn then ohhhhh my god this is the game to get. genuinely just a phenomenal piece of work i'm not done with all the routes quite yet, (got 4/6 of the romance-able routes!) but i can confidently say that this is one of my favorite vns; all the characters are wonderful and unique and all the routes hit just right. my one criticism is that i think they can run a bit long at times, but i don't think that's too big of a deal. either way, really great game!!! also sei and teru are my favorites lmao