Operation Backlog Completion 2026

9-nine-: An Epic Story in Four Parts

 Reviews, Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Sep 292021
 

I picked up the visual novel 9-nine- in a Steam sale after seeing a lot of praise for it online, especially from people who enjoyed other visual novels I love.

It’s split into four episodes, each of which follows a different route.

While that structure seems a bit odd at first, there’s actually a reason for it. You can’t skip episodes, and you have to play them in order. Each advances the overarching plot, which becomes a greater focus with each episode. Explaining in any more detail would require spoilers, so I won’t.

9-nine begins with a town festival, at which an earthquake causes the town’s sacred relic to shatter. After the earthquake, people begin awakening to special powers, and a boy named Kakeru gets caught up in an investigation when a girl is found turned to stone.

The first episode in particular feels somewhat like a murder mystery, as the main characters search for the user of the “Evil Eye,” the name they give to the petrification power.

However, it’s much more of a thriller at its core, especially as the episodes continue. There’s also a fair amount of romance, with each episode featuring a different heroine (although all are part of the main cast), and a number of humurous slice-of-life scenes as well. Some parts really made me laugh.

An interesting thing about 9-nine- is that it just gets progressively better. Episode 1 is slow-paced, mainly focused on romance and setting up the premise. Episode 2 is surprisingly emotional and raises the stakes even higher. Episode 3 might be the funniest of them all, and really kicks the plot into high gear. Finally, Episode 4 brings everything together for a truly epic and intense conclusion.

(A fifth episode was released in Japan with epilogue stories for each heroine.)

In short, if you try the first episode and aren’t especially hooked yet, it’s worth continuing if you at least find the premise intriguing.

9-nine- has some neat ideas that it executes well, and the story is a great mix of humorous, romantic, and exciting. If the premise sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend checking it out.

Celebrating All Things Romantic: Katawa Shoujo

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Feb 222021
 

Katawa Shoujo is a free visual novel that introduced a lot of players to the genre, and I finally played it this year.

It follows a high school student named Hisao, who learns he has a heart condition and transfers to a new school for students with disabilities.

While that premise might raise some eyebrows, I’m happy to say Katawa Shoujo treats the subject matter respectfully and doesn’t try to use it to drive the conflict.

For example, Hisao learns sign language on Shizune’s route so he can talk to her without an interpreter, but the core of the route focuses on her personality and conflict with a friend.

Depending on the choices you make, you’ll end up on the route for one of the five main heroines, and from there your choices determine whether you’ll get a good, neutral, or bad ending.

While the different routes are significantly different and I liked some more than others, they’re all detailed and well-written – and some have pretty emotional moments. The stories are a bit more slice-of-life than I normally prefer, but I enjoyed them and found myself thinking about them when I wasn’t playing.

Hisao’s own character development is also an important part of the story, as he starts out bitter but comes to terms with his condition as he gets to know the other characters.

Katawa Shoujo deserves its good reputation, and I understand why it brought so many people into the genre. It’s a great visual novel for beginners, one that really is a good example of the genre (much more than something like DDLC, which is great but not necessarily indicative of what visual novels are like).

It’s kind of staggering that Katawa Shoujo is free. We’ve looked at plenty of visual novels that are only a couple of hours long and have bland stories, and yet here’s one that gives you a sizable amount of well-written content for free! So if you haven’t tried Katawa Shoujo yet, I definitely recommend it, whether it’s your first visual novel or one you’re coming to later like me.

What do you think of Katawa Shoujo? Who is your favorite character? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Celebrating All Things Romantic: LoveKami -Useless Goddess-

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 102021
 

Last year, we took a look at LoveKami -Divinity Stage-, which I found to be not worth playing unless you’re in it for the fanservice.

This year I moved on to the second game in the series, LoveKami -Useless Goddess-, and I’m pleased to say it’s much better all around.

Set in the same universe where goddesses have come to Earth to learn more about humanity, this story puts you in the shoes of a young man who finds a collapsed goddess named Akane and learns that she’s an Aragami – a goddess who does whatever she wants and causes trouble for humanity as a result.

She’s also supposed to be the goddess of the apartment building where he lives with his childhood friend (who is now his landlady), so when another goddess shows up with the intent of rehabilitating her, he decides to pitch in and help.

Like in the first LoveKami, there is a single choice partway through that leads to a scene with one of the three potential love interests and determines which route you’ll be on after the common route ends. And once again, one route feels more important than the others; since Akane is at the center of the main story, her route feels the most conclusive.

However, the other two routes still have interesting points and funny/sweet moments, and they aren’t all rehashes of the same basic story like in Divinity Stage.

It has a hefty amount of fanservice like its predecessor, but LoveKami -Useless Goddess- is worthwhile for more than the fanservice alone. To me, the main story of trying to rehabilitate Akane is much more interesting than the idol contest in the first game, and each heroine has a decent romance story as well. It might not be groundbreaking, but it’s cute and entertaining enough to be worth the few hours you’ll spend with it.

I recently picked up the third LoveKami title in another visual novel bundle, so we’ll get around to that eventually. In the meantime, share your own thoughts on LoveKami -UselessGoddess- in the comments and don’t forget that the first two LoveKami games are among the prizes you can win in this year’s contest!

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