VN - Unity - Completed - Aokana -Four Rhythms Across the Blue- [v1.21 Perfect Edition] [sprite]

Aokana is the standard I use, to measure traditional VN's with romance, and heroine routes. This doesn't mean that Aokana is amazing, or enters best ever territory, but it does mean that most of what was achieved by the title, was well above average or good. Think of it as a great entry point to longer VN's.

Positive:
- Aokana features a fictional sport called "flying circus", that really captures the essence of competition, tournaments, rivalries, last second "turnabouts", and more. This is where Aokana shines brightest, and the reason to read it. If you have any interest in competitive sports, this should resonate with you.
- Lots of cute girls flying around at high speed, and fighting, turn to some great visual concepts.
- The OST has memorable tracks (one is pretty famous even). Voice acting is OK.
- Good mix of drama, action, slice of life, and comedy (some weak spots individually, but overall is not bad).
- Strong secondary cast adds diversity, and value to the title (people complain about some heroines not getting a route, that says it all).

Negative:
- Uneven heroine quality, and subsequent routes. It's very noticeable, and hardly a question of subjectivity. 1 heroine in particular is beating the others by a "landslide". Aokana is a good VN, but it's completely dependent on the "flying circus", I mentioned above. Whenever the setting changes to something else (high school, club activities, group of friends...) the difference in quality is significant.

Score: Aokana is an 8/10, and I highly recommend it, as your first long VN (30+ hours) or if some sport is an important part of your real life. On the other hand, more experienced readers may resent some of the excessive tropes, and exaggerated archetypes.

(The h-scenes in Aokana aren't bad, but they are also not enough reason to give this a go.)

Aokana is a really good game, with a pretty fun storyline and fantastic music too. I wish it had animated scenes during the H content, however the story is enough to make this a very good game. It is quite simple and not complicated, but very well made

The game is fantastic, the music, visuals, and especially the characters make me love this. For sure it's the best quality game on this website, and that's likely because it was made by a studio and not just one or two people, but regardless this is perfect. It's hard for games like this to make me laugh too, and this did it all the time!

Also, it is a very long game. So if you have a long time on your hands then for sure it is worth it. The plot itself is not really complex, but it doesn't get boring for the majority of it. And considering this is 30+ hours long, I think that's a big achievement. Each of the girls is different and unique too, which makes each route seem quite special.

Overall, there's only 3 games on this site that have been worth the time to play, seeing as most of them are just cheap copies of each other. And this is one of them.

I gotta say, this game was a treat. Yes, it did get slow at times and Rika + Mashiro's routes were far weaker than Asuka and Misaki's but I think the game does a great job of introducing the sport, Flying Circus and making you appreciate the story. It gets tense, there's poignant moments but there's also funny and sweet moments.

The MC isn't really all that bad. He gets his head stuck in the clouds (pun intended) a lot and has a lot of issues but it makes it feel more real. You can see MC grow in the relationships along with the people he's dating so it really makes it feel like you're part of the story rather than simply watching it from the sidelines.

There are a lot of supporting characters which you come to appreciate as well. They're funny and around for comedic relief, but at the same time offer great advice to the MC.

All in all, I'd say this game is really good and worth playing if you don't mind reading. It's long and as I said, some routes can even feel slow, so it's kind of an acquired taste but I'm so glad I stumbled upon this game..

A very meh visual novel for the 5 hours i've played, back when the anime aired i assumed it was shit because most visual novel to anime adaptation are, i waited for a few years for this to get translated and yeah it was like the anime.

Production value wise it's great, good music, art and voice acting.

Now to me it failed everywhere else, the girls where all so cliche and boring, i couldn't really get into any of them, they are cute but nothing more than that and it's not enough to play such a lengthy title, the made up sport is kinda cool as an idea, but the part of the story actually about that got boring really quickly for me.

I'd say if you really want to try it give it an hour or two and see if any of the girls managa to strike your fancy, but for me they didn't, i wouldn't recommend it !

It would have been a 5 but the MC is so annoying at times it gets a bit frustrating, at least for me, after a while.

Certain things just drag on far too long and it goes past the point of amusement into "just get the fuck on with it already".

During Mashiro's route he's dense as fuck and keeps getting her intentions wrong and it goes on for too ... damn ... long. I did end up skipping a lot of scenes out of frustration. Once you've seen them go through one misunderstanding you've seen them all and there are a LOT.

Also he's a shit coach. He gets told about a really good player then instantly dismisses it as not worth his time to look into. Sure it was for story reasons and the big reveal when said player appears but it made him look terrible at his job. That and constantly dismissing his own players.

It should have been a 5 because everything else is really good.

I notice a trend in these VN's in that a lot of them have really bad MC's.

I'm not looking for an alpha guy just someone that isn't dense as fuck would be great.

If the moronic annoyance of the MC isn't enough to wind you up then how about his constant whining and self pity?

Flying Circus is the 1v1 game that the novel is about and the MC was a rising star as a kid .... but he lost 1 match .... and whines about it at every opportunity. It took away everything he ever loved. Honestly when those lines first appeared I expect them to be followed by how his entire family and all his friends were brutally massacred but nope, it was about losing 1 game.

Let's just say it's a good job the rest of the cast are amazing cos the Mc is by far the worst part of this novel.

If you're looking for a SoL and light hearted VN then this one is for you.

There are 4 main routes and 1 bad end which isn't really a bad end. You can choose between Asuka, Misaki, Rika, and Mashiro. They each have their own distinct characteristics that make them stand out from each other. I found myself liking them over the course of the story. If you're not attached to any of the main heroines I would suggest stopping. While Aokana doesn't really bring anything new to the table compared to other VNs, it has this sort of charm that made me love it. It's not special in anyway and I like it because of that. It's a pure love story with conflicts that the main character and the girls face together. Nothing else, this is why I wouldn't recommend this to people who don't like SoL or for those who want an intricate storyline that leaves you scratching your head.

Soundtrack is quite good, the OST fits the VN perfectly. The opening the opening though, is really good. I listened to the song years ago when the VN came out and it was what got me interested in this VN. Really love the piano version of wings of courage.

The art which was drawn by Suzumori is top notch. The cgs are so beautiful and nice to look at. The confession ones are really adorable. There are also chibi-styled cgs which are fun to look at. There is a good of cg in this game by the way. Just looking at the gallery gives me almost 12 full pages of cg totaling to around 200 cg.

If you're looking for recommendations on which route to do first then I would recommend Rika or Mashiro first and second, then do Asuka and Misaki's routes. They're all great in their own way and have variety. It didn't feel like any of the routes were copies of each other. Asuka and Misaki are the "main" girls though so their routes are a bit longer and feel a more fulfilling.

TL;DR: 5/5 It's a fun VN that focuses more on the characters and their interactions with each other and the main character. Giving it a 5 is a bit too much, but I'm rating it based on how much I enjoyed it. Nothing special, but unique it in its own way. The H-scenes are nothing special and if you're playing the game for those, then stop. You'll be disappointed because they're not the focus of this VN.