VN - Others - Completed - AIKAGI [Final] [AZARASHI SOFTWARE]

Aikagi is a VN that does things by "the numbers", and there isn't a single drop of novelty to be found here. This constituting a problem, is really dependant on your stance as target audience, and how much you value innovation (not being a part of said audience, would be an immediate pass). What can be said with certainty, is that pure love enthusiasts should be satisfied with this one, because couple dynamics are at an acceptable level, and the usual schedule of events (mandatory scenes) is followed religiously.

Positive:
- Couple banter, and daily life activities (SoL) are fine; Premise is fulfilled (many short VNs forget about it); It's the traditional pure love formula, with no deviations (it works, has value).

Neutral:
- Visuals have the H-scenes starring, but they needed diversity; Voice acting is unconvincing, and i'm being generous.

Negative
- Attempts at humour are laughable (not in the right way, sadly); Heroine POV is welcome but ineffective, with barely any characterization (one major exception, though); No innovation of any kind (depends how you feel about conventional tropes, and their value); It gets repetitive after the first couple of hours, but the H-scenes save the day.

Score: Aikagi is a 6/10, and a decent VN. Not a lot to be said here, if you like pure love romance, this should work nicely, just be aware that calling this nondescript, is putting it lightly. If Aikagi doesn't to appeal to your preferences, don't bother.

(H-scenes are exactly what you expect, and there's enough of them. Probably the highlight of the VN, assuming you are a "vanilla fan".)

One of the best vanilla games out there.

1. The love story is cute and simple. It focused on the MC and childhood friend, and does not try to be something it is not. It is romantic and sweet, and it does not overstay its welcome.
2. Graphics are great. Its a Japanese games so do not expect too many cgs, but the ones that are there are great.
3. The LI is good (and a virgin).
4. While game is on the shorter side, it does its job well.

Overall, if you want a sweet, short love story, this is it.

My thoughts an hour in:

It's nothing great so far, and I don't give it a strong recommendation, but after being dissapointed by so many japanese vns, the bar for me is really low. It's the rare japanese visual novel I've come across which is decently paced, and it just feels really cute, and the MC and the one romantic interest(it's a kinetic novel) I really like. I'm an hour or so into the game, and they're already a couple, and this game has an 8-9 hour runtime, so I really like how most of the game will likely be them making it work! I found out about the game because the sequel just came out.~~

90 minutes in:

Wow, your romantic interest SAs in your sleep, while romantic music plays.
Fuck this game!

My constructive criticism is recognize that people who are asleep cannot give consent, and to not portray SA as romantic.

Welp, it's my first time reading something short like this. But it's quite a satisfying read since there's only 1 heroine and it's all focused on that sole relationship.

TL;DR - 8.75 / 10 - Lengthy enough (about 9h read) considering there's only 1 heroine

Art - 8 / 10
It's good, really. Although the resolution were quite small for nowadays monitors (about 720p if I'm not mistaken).

Character - 9 / 10
Nothing much to say about this one since the only characters introduced were the heroine and our MC. I won't spoil the story here so go read it yourself.

Story - 9 / 10
One word: sweet. That's the only impression I got reading this one. Nothing else.

Scene - 9 / 10
There's just a perfect amount of H scenes in here. Not too much, not too many. And each placed well between stories (I mean it's not always about fucking so it's fitting the story well)