Review of final
This is a review but also a weird love letter to this dreamlike cult classic of a now distant age, that I just discovered. Yume Miru Kusuri (or A drug that makes you dream) is such a particular and unique visual novel. Its distinctiveness is in the artstyle, in the narrative and especially in the atmosphere. An atmosphere that oozes an illusory distant vibe, a vibe that cannot be replicated in the contemporary era if not with a veil of nostalgia. I would compare this visual novel to those similar cult anime of its time, like Paranoia Agent or Lain, in that lost feeling of unreal existence.
Since I never played it before, I don’t have any fond memory. Yet I can really understand why it’s considered a beloved artifact from the past.
Yume Miru Kusuri analyzes or tries to explore dark themes such as bullying, suicide, drug addiction and depression but all of these matters are slowly unveiled through the eyes of the protagonist Kouhei. A main character that appears bland at first and it is, although not as a criticism but as a fact.
He pretends to be a normal individual playing a set role in society albeit he senses to just be an alien to everyone else especially his adoptive family.
He fantasize other worldly possibilities, while possessed by his auditory hallucination (The sound of a moving train far away).
Kouhei is not attached to reality but merely trying to blend with people and not stand out. He will eventually encounter three girls that will change the course of his life.
Kouhei is not a perfect protagonist, both narratively and thematically.
His behavior can appear inconsistent and even sociopathic at times, where the cynicism wins over his will to act. And the writer can often neglect his main characteristics during parts of certain routes, but he definitely shines in the end. In Aeka’s route his internal turmoil and disgust from the world culminates in an emancipation of his persona into such satisfying conclusion for him… And speaking of Aeka.
Aeka is best girl and she has the best route.
Yeah, I said it.
This odd gal had such a rollercoaster of a plot; it’s masterfully tragic, poetic and tense all at once.
Each girl has an principal theme, and in this case it’s bullying.
Her persecution starts in such a lighthearted way that is almost fun to look at it in the beginning, then it gets slowly unraveled becoming more and more severe and depressing.
As Kouhei gets tangled in the drama it evolves in a nightmare at open eyes where there seems to be no escape.
The emotional impact is due also to Aeka’s personality which really sell the entire path.
She is bizarre and lonely a perfect victim to be an outsider therefore a target for bullying. And yet she is also pure with an internal innocence and beauty that paralyzes even the protagonist.
In fact Kouhei is at his best here, he starts just like everyone else by ignoring her. But then his necessity to break out of his stance, filled with the guilt that he carries is a powerful chemical reaction for the growth from his immaturity.
I just adore this path, it is YMK at its best;
Where all side characters play a role in the story. And to speak about the other actors, Nanjou or Antoinette is such a visceral villain in her unreasonable hatred against Aeka. How she plays the role of the fake nice girl is so much incentivized by her voice actress who nails it.
Small digression on the voice acting, it’s great, even amazing, Aeka, Nekoko and Aya have fantastic moments, full of raw emotions, perfectly impersonated in the character.
But back on the route, it manages to incapsulate that horror on how the world seemingly will ignore you, at your lowest. In a constant crescendo of turmoil till the end which explodes in an traumatic epilogue of bullying at its worst.
Those two last rooftop scenes will not leave you unscathed.
Thankfully there is such a cathartic endingto their love that just feels so fitting and satisfying after all of those trials.
Truly I could rant more about it, but I’ll stop since it’s already a long review
if the vn was focused only it would be an instant 10/10.
But after such galvanizing and tearjerking story, Mitsuki route feels a bit of a letdown.
Not that her route is bad, not at all, in fact it’s even good and has great memorable segments. But put against Aeka’s it really pales in comparison, and even when trying to avoid juxtaposition between the paths, it’s inevitable since they are in the same game.
This flaw is also kinda exacerbated by the fact that to get through Kirimiya’s and Nekoko’s paths you have to actively ignore every writing on the wall of Aeka’s situation. It’s a bit cruel to avoid her like that, and even Kouhei will reflect about his inaction, since her tragic fate will be present at the start of the two routes. This leaves overall a bitter aftertaste.
But enough about path branching, interpersonal relationship is the main thematic that gets examined in Kirimiya’s story.
Miyuki Kirimiya is the council president of the school, a wealthy daughter of a respected family, on the outside talented and gorgeous… on the inside a sadistic nihilist with an obsession for death. With Kouhei she sews an unconventional relationship based on sex and mutual help, which frankly can result infuriating or off putting at times.
Right from the starting encounters her rebellious spirit against social norm brings our poor protagonist to some unjust and wild situations that end up in sex or in a game of cops and thieves.
And only near the end there is sweet resolution.
Sadly it’s a bit tedious to read this toxic relationship, the most powerful events are scattered around padding and sex scenes… so many sex scenes. Hear me out, I know this is an eroge and sex is one of the main dishes the vn offers, but Kirimiya’s has the most sexual intercourses of them all.
(Not counting the safe kisses, Aeka has 7 sex CGs and Nekoko 6, Kirimiya has an astonishing 13 CGs, almost the double of both).
These erotic scenes don’t have a narrative weight, some are just fanservice sex one after the other. Also Kouhei is not at its best here, probably because Kirimiya’s relationship is already complicated to deal with. She can be unbearable, yet cute, cruel yet relatable, this kinship is not healthy at all. Albeit its toxicity, this isn’t analyzed much, it seems at some point that they are going to, but it is soon dropped.
I know it seems I am bashing this path, I overall expected more, but I still liked it!
It’s a solid route better certainly than many of things I read, but I won’t deny that I was a bit disappointed, safe to say, no matter the choices, the endings were well done.
Last but not least, it’s the picaresque and ultimately viscerally touching arc of Nekoko, the cat sithe fairy. It’s no surprise if this storyline is considered the best one alongside Aeka or even superior to it.
It’s a tale of whimsical episodic shenanigans with a featuring an hyperactive and colorful character who stands out in the grey norms of Japanese society. A literal fairy (or pest) seeking her home and to create as much chaos as possible.
But behind this mischievous façade there is a dramatic tale of escapism. It’s better if you go completely blind on Nekoko since I feel the twists and turns near the end are captivating but as the vn shoves it in front of you from the opening, her story is about drug addiction.
A subject that is tackled not as crudely as in other media (Such as “Requiem for a dream”) but that in the end shows efforts to talk about this floating malaise.
I wasn’t completely captured at first by her arc, it’s the most comical of the bunch and only near the last hour, it explodes in a poignant conclusion. (And to be fair, the last moments are fantastic, both the bad and good endings are great). But I feel it padded a bit around the elephant in the room with more levity than you would expected from, you know, drugs. (It was probably a decision to do so). Anyways I do really recommend her storyline.
All of the three love interests are diverse and vastly different in their respective route but share one characteristic: Transparency, that dissociation dear to Kouhei.
They all feel sick with reality and have their methods of blending in; Miyuki wears a mask of a respectful rich girl but avoids responsibilities and practices debauchery to escape, Nekoko drugs herself to flee her lack of identity.
Only Aeka doesn’t seek any escapism or masks in the beginning and for this she punished. (Trying to find in suicide freedom).
The result of this attempt may vary, but you cannot argue that these stories didn’t have something to say.
Now there is a part I have omitted so far because it requires to wrap my head around this. There is a fifth important character present in the game (Alongside the three girls and the protagonist).
One that her role is key to each of the three paths, but she doesn’t have one. I am talking about Aya, Kouhei’s adoptive sister.
In the online sphere there is a debate around Aya, she is practically the main heroine in first half of the game, having even CGs and naked sprites, after a path is chosen, she takes the back seat as a side character only to return near the end as fundamental glue to conclude the story. If she is so important where is her route? Was it scrapped? Was it just a massive illusion by other players?
In forums and comment sections, it is taken as granted that she was cut from the game, but as far as I searched there is no empirical evidence, only speculation.
Rúf never released any statements, the files seemingly don’t have more to tell, it’s just an hunch, an annoying hunch.
To put salt in the wound it is discovered that Aya has a crush on Kouhei but this isn’t developed.
If there was ever an Aya route it could be connected to Kouhei’s adoptive parents, who despite their minor role, they are incredibly important to the protagonist persona. In all plots their relationship is argued, but only briefly and lukewarmly. In Aeka’s route the subject is discussed not as satisfying as I hoped, but it receives a conclusion. In Nekoko is too rapid. In Kirimiya it’s actually the closest at devolving it, one of the best scene is the confrontation between Kouhei and is dad, but then it’s also left undercooked.
Therefore I really don’t know how to gather a result that isn’t an hypothesis. There have been and still are female characters who are not datable or romanceable in vns, so there isn’t much of a surprise. And yet this thought still lingers, and I personally couldn’t find a decisive result on the web.
Concerning side characters, there are few, and they aren’t really worth of an analysis. Everyone except Tsubaki, the best boy. He is a colleague of Kouhei in his part time job. In spite of his first appearance with sexual harassment played for laughs, he is genuinely a fun and reliable guy, who even has importance to the plot.
Tsubaki also talks bountifully about H games, in a way that I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a meta speech on the state of eroge or simply a wink at the readers.
Either way where is my Tsubaki route you cowards!
Regarding the soundtrack; it is distinctly original. There is persisting ethereal motif to it.
Tracks vary from serviceable for the background, to great, although some are magnificently composed. “To the World of Dreams”, “Heretics and dreams”, “Girls are made of Frosting cake” and “On the moonlit Rooftop” are some of my favorite.
They capture that feeling of dozing off from the real world. Wandering with your imagination to somewhere else. Even when an event is immersed in tragedy or tension, it keeps that surreal vibe.
“Shall we say goodbye?” Is such a perfect bittersweet ending theme, a bit corny and cutesy, but that conveys a satisfying conclusion of leaving bad times behind and going forward.
A last paragraph of conclusion for this (already) long review, it’s in relation to the plot inconsistencies of the visual novel.
Because even as much as I praise it, there are some narrative imperfections. Why there were no consequences for certain action, why all adults are evil or incompetent (Aside from Kouhei’s parents and a doctor), why certain story beats are incredibly realistic and some ludicrously aren’t? You can address this by blaming the typical anime shenanigans, or specific writing decisions to give weight to the plot or simply errors made by the team.
But I want to give an interpretation that seems to fit with the overall structure; the story imitates a dream. There is this perpetual lasting sense of liminal reality that blends with desires, torments and fantasies. The music, the pastel art, the text, even the title push this insistence.
Heck the game starts with a dream sequence and has moments of hallucinations (both mental and drug induced) that try to convey this loss from truth. And title “A drug that makes you dream” conveys all of my thoughts. The phrase could be read literally, but this drug I believe it’s none other than isolation or this sort of permanent dissociation from being present in the world.
A dissociation that makes you dream something else.
I adored Yume Miru Kusuri in spite of its short comings, it’s one of the most unique visual novels that I played. Is it a masterpiece? If by masterpiece it means excellently flawless, it isn’t. But it’s a classic that I can see worth playing or remembering. I give it an 8/10 or even 8.5/10, there isn’t much anything like it around and any vn that pushes me to want replay it after completion, deserves many praises.
Now if you excuse me I have a vn to replay again.
“Kachum…Kachum…Kachum…”
This is a review but also a weird love letter to this dreamlike cult classic of a now distant age, that I just discovered. Yume Miru Kusuri (or A drug that makes you dream) is such a particular and unique visual novel. Its distinctiveness is in the artstyle, in the narrative and especially in the atmosphere. An atmosphere that oozes an illusory distant vibe, a vibe that cannot be replicated in the contemporary era if not with a veil of nostalgia. I would compare this visual novel to those similar cult anime of its time, like Paranoia Agent or Lain, in that lost feeling of unreal existence.
Since I never played it before, I don’t have any fond memory. Yet I can really understand why it’s considered a beloved artifact from the past.
Yume Miru Kusuri analyzes or tries to explore dark themes such as bullying, suicide, drug addiction and depression but all of these matters are slowly unveiled through the eyes of the protagonist Kouhei. A main character that appears bland at first and it is, although not as a criticism but as a fact.
He pretends to be a normal individual playing a set role in society albeit he senses to just be an alien to everyone else especially his adoptive family.
He fantasize other worldly possibilities, while possessed by his auditory hallucination (The sound of a moving train far away).
Kouhei is not attached to reality but merely trying to blend with people and not stand out. He will eventually encounter three girls that will change the course of his life.
Kouhei is not a perfect protagonist, both narratively and thematically.
His behavior can appear inconsistent and even sociopathic at times, where the cynicism wins over his will to act. And the writer can often neglect his main characteristics during parts of certain routes, but he definitely shines in the end. In Aeka’s route his internal turmoil and disgust from the world culminates in an emancipation of his persona into such satisfying conclusion for him… And speaking of Aeka.
Aeka is best girl and she has the best route.
Yeah, I said it.
This odd gal had such a rollercoaster of a plot; it’s masterfully tragic, poetic and tense all at once.
Each girl has an principal theme, and in this case it’s bullying.
Her persecution starts in such a lighthearted way that is almost fun to look at it in the beginning, then it gets slowly unraveled becoming more and more severe and depressing.
As Kouhei gets tangled in the drama it evolves in a nightmare at open eyes where there seems to be no escape.
The emotional impact is due also to Aeka’s personality which really sell the entire path.
She is bizarre and lonely a perfect victim to be an outsider therefore a target for bullying. And yet she is also pure with an internal innocence and beauty that paralyzes even the protagonist.
In fact Kouhei is at his best here, he starts just like everyone else by ignoring her. But then his necessity to break out of his stance, filled with the guilt that he carries is a powerful chemical reaction for the growth from his immaturity.
I just adore this path, it is YMK at its best;
Where all side characters play a role in the story. And to speak about the other actors, Nanjou or Antoinette is such a visceral villain in her unreasonable hatred against Aeka. How she plays the role of the fake nice girl is so much incentivized by her voice actress who nails it.
Small digression on the voice acting, it’s great, even amazing, Aeka, Nekoko and Aya have fantastic moments, full of raw emotions, perfectly impersonated in the character.
But back on the route, it manages to incapsulate that horror on how the world seemingly will ignore you, at your lowest. In a constant crescendo of turmoil till the end which explodes in an traumatic epilogue of bullying at its worst.
Those two last rooftop scenes will not leave you unscathed.
Thankfully there is such a cathartic endingto their love that just feels so fitting and satisfying after all of those trials.
Truly I could rant more about it, but I’ll stop since it’s already a long review
if the vn was focused only it would be an instant 10/10.
But after such galvanizing and tearjerking story, Mitsuki route feels a bit of a letdown.
Not that her route is bad, not at all, in fact it’s even good and has great memorable segments. But put against Aeka’s it really pales in comparison, and even when trying to avoid juxtaposition between the paths, it’s inevitable since they are in the same game.
This flaw is also kinda exacerbated by the fact that to get through Kirimiya’s and Nekoko’s paths you have to actively ignore every writing on the wall of Aeka’s situation. It’s a bit cruel to avoid her like that, and even Kouhei will reflect about his inaction, since her tragic fate will be present at the start of the two routes. This leaves overall a bitter aftertaste.
But enough about path branching, interpersonal relationship is the main thematic that gets examined in Kirimiya’s story.
Miyuki Kirimiya is the council president of the school, a wealthy daughter of a respected family, on the outside talented and gorgeous… on the inside a sadistic nihilist with an obsession for death. With Kouhei she sews an unconventional relationship based on sex and mutual help, which frankly can result infuriating or off putting at times.
Right from the starting encounters her rebellious spirit against social norm brings our poor protagonist to some unjust and wild situations that end up in sex or in a game of cops and thieves.
And only near the end there is sweet resolution.
Sadly it’s a bit tedious to read this toxic relationship, the most powerful events are scattered around padding and sex scenes… so many sex scenes. Hear me out, I know this is an eroge and sex is one of the main dishes the vn offers, but Kirimiya’s has the most sexual intercourses of them all.
(Not counting the safe kisses, Aeka has 7 sex CGs and Nekoko 6, Kirimiya has an astonishing 13 CGs, almost the double of both).
These erotic scenes don’t have a narrative weight, some are just fanservice sex one after the other. Also Kouhei is not at its best here, probably because Kirimiya’s relationship is already complicated to deal with. She can be unbearable, yet cute, cruel yet relatable, this kinship is not healthy at all. Albeit its toxicity, this isn’t analyzed much, it seems at some point that they are going to, but it is soon dropped.
I know it seems I am bashing this path, I overall expected more, but I still liked it!
It’s a solid route better certainly than many of things I read, but I won’t deny that I was a bit disappointed, safe to say, no matter the choices, the endings were well done.
Last but not least, it’s the picaresque and ultimately viscerally touching arc of Nekoko, the cat sithe fairy. It’s no surprise if this storyline is considered the best one alongside Aeka or even superior to it.
It’s a tale of whimsical episodic shenanigans with a featuring an hyperactive and colorful character who stands out in the grey norms of Japanese society. A literal fairy (or pest) seeking her home and to create as much chaos as possible.
But behind this mischievous façade there is a dramatic tale of escapism. It’s better if you go completely blind on Nekoko since I feel the twists and turns near the end are captivating but as the vn shoves it in front of you from the opening, her story is about drug addiction.
A subject that is tackled not as crudely as in other media (Such as “Requiem for a dream”) but that in the end shows efforts to talk about this floating malaise.
I wasn’t completely captured at first by her arc, it’s the most comical of the bunch and only near the last hour, it explodes in a poignant conclusion. (And to be fair, the last moments are fantastic, both the bad and good endings are great). But I feel it padded a bit around the elephant in the room with more levity than you would expected from, you know, drugs. (It was probably a decision to do so). Anyways I do really recommend her storyline.
All of the three love interests are diverse and vastly different in their respective route but share one characteristic: Transparency, that dissociation dear to Kouhei.
They all feel sick with reality and have their methods of blending in; Miyuki wears a mask of a respectful rich girl but avoids responsibilities and practices debauchery to escape, Nekoko drugs herself to flee her lack of identity.
Only Aeka doesn’t seek any escapism or masks in the beginning and for this she punished. (Trying to find in suicide freedom).
The result of this attempt may vary, but you cannot argue that these stories didn’t have something to say.
Now there is a part I have omitted so far because it requires to wrap my head around this. There is a fifth important character present in the game (Alongside the three girls and the protagonist).
One that her role is key to each of the three paths, but she doesn’t have one. I am talking about Aya, Kouhei’s adoptive sister.
In the online sphere there is a debate around Aya, she is practically the main heroine in first half of the game, having even CGs and naked sprites, after a path is chosen, she takes the back seat as a side character only to return near the end as fundamental glue to conclude the story. If she is so important where is her route? Was it scrapped? Was it just a massive illusion by other players?
In forums and comment sections, it is taken as granted that she was cut from the game, but as far as I searched there is no empirical evidence, only speculation.
Rúf never released any statements, the files seemingly don’t have more to tell, it’s just an hunch, an annoying hunch.
To put salt in the wound it is discovered that Aya has a crush on Kouhei but this isn’t developed.
If there was ever an Aya route it could be connected to Kouhei’s adoptive parents, who despite their minor role, they are incredibly important to the protagonist persona. In all plots their relationship is argued, but only briefly and lukewarmly. In Aeka’s route the subject is discussed not as satisfying as I hoped, but it receives a conclusion. In Nekoko is too rapid. In Kirimiya it’s actually the closest at devolving it, one of the best scene is the confrontation between Kouhei and is dad, but then it’s also left undercooked.
Therefore I really don’t know how to gather a result that isn’t an hypothesis. There have been and still are female characters who are not datable or romanceable in vns, so there isn’t much of a surprise. And yet this thought still lingers, and I personally couldn’t find a decisive result on the web.
Concerning side characters, there are few, and they aren’t really worth of an analysis. Everyone except Tsubaki, the best boy. He is a colleague of Kouhei in his part time job. In spite of his first appearance with sexual harassment played for laughs, he is genuinely a fun and reliable guy, who even has importance to the plot.
Tsubaki also talks bountifully about H games, in a way that I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a meta speech on the state of eroge or simply a wink at the readers.
Either way where is my Tsubaki route you cowards!
Regarding the soundtrack; it is distinctly original. There is persisting ethereal motif to it.
Tracks vary from serviceable for the background, to great, although some are magnificently composed. “To the World of Dreams”, “Heretics and dreams”, “Girls are made of Frosting cake” and “On the moonlit Rooftop” are some of my favorite.
They capture that feeling of dozing off from the real world. Wandering with your imagination to somewhere else. Even when an event is immersed in tragedy or tension, it keeps that surreal vibe.
“Shall we say goodbye?” Is such a perfect bittersweet ending theme, a bit corny and cutesy, but that conveys a satisfying conclusion of leaving bad times behind and going forward.
A last paragraph of conclusion for this (already) long review, it’s in relation to the plot inconsistencies of the visual novel.
Because even as much as I praise it, there are some narrative imperfections. Why there were no consequences for certain action, why all adults are evil or incompetent (Aside from Kouhei’s parents and a doctor), why certain story beats are incredibly realistic and some ludicrously aren’t? You can address this by blaming the typical anime shenanigans, or specific writing decisions to give weight to the plot or simply errors made by the team.
But I want to give an interpretation that seems to fit with the overall structure; the story imitates a dream. There is this perpetual lasting sense of liminal reality that blends with desires, torments and fantasies. The music, the pastel art, the text, even the title push this insistence.
Heck the game starts with a dream sequence and has moments of hallucinations (both mental and drug induced) that try to convey this loss from truth. And title “A drug that makes you dream” conveys all of my thoughts. The phrase could be read literally, but this drug I believe it’s none other than isolation or this sort of permanent dissociation from being present in the world.
A dissociation that makes you dream something else.
I adored Yume Miru Kusuri in spite of its short comings, it’s one of the most unique visual novels that I played. Is it a masterpiece? If by masterpiece it means excellently flawless, it isn’t. But it’s a classic that I can see worth playing or remembering. I give it an 8/10 or even 8.5/10, there isn’t much anything like it around and any vn that pushes me to want replay it after completion, deserves many praises.
Now if you excuse me I have a vn to replay again.
“Kachum…Kachum…Kachum…”
