HatsuSaku is a visual novel (VN) first and foremost. it's not a game, its not *just* a wank material or a plotless nukige similar to an h-anime. the best equivalent to a VN is between a manga and an anime. its more of a manga, since its colored, with voices, soundtrack and that stuff. its less of an anime since there's practically no animation to speak of. like all manga/anime/LN/WN or in this case VN, its the story that counts more than anything.
....and I'm hooked. consider that a high praise, since I'm someone who really alt-tabs a lot. call it short attention span or something like that, but if the VN could pull me in its setting for long hours without alt-tab, that's honestly big praise. so what's with the VN that pulls me in so much that I forget to alt-tab?
pretty much everything really. let's talk about the MC. he's... very thuggish. swears a lot and may turn off the more sensitive and easily offended snowflakes with pronouns in their bio. however if you're someone like me who tends to study a character, its easily noticeable that he never *truly* swears at someone directly. on the other hand, if you have a genuine material to speak about, you definitely get his attention. so if you're boring, dull or otherwise an NPC then you're not in his radar at all. the other characters, while having their own quirks, is just mere NPC to the MC. there's two airheads, a few delinquents, delinquent-wannabes, a tryhard etc. I can imagine writing this kind of a character without pissing off your readers is not an easy task. let alone make it good enough to not make me alt-tab. so again, great praise right there.
next, the setting. come to think of it, there's not much winter-themed VNs out there, with revenge as the main plot. revenge from what? well that will remain a mystery for a long time. and then put the main plot aside to have SoL stuff sprinkled with comedy and roasting other characters despite MC's melancholy looming around it. its a nice read as it slowly unwraps everything for you. nothing overstays its welcome either, the plot is aware that it has to move on at some point.
highly recommended.
....and I'm hooked. consider that a high praise, since I'm someone who really alt-tabs a lot. call it short attention span or something like that, but if the VN could pull me in its setting for long hours without alt-tab, that's honestly big praise. so what's with the VN that pulls me in so much that I forget to alt-tab?
pretty much everything really. let's talk about the MC. he's... very thuggish. swears a lot and may turn off the more sensitive and easily offended snowflakes with pronouns in their bio. however if you're someone like me who tends to study a character, its easily noticeable that he never *truly* swears at someone directly. on the other hand, if you have a genuine material to speak about, you definitely get his attention. so if you're boring, dull or otherwise an NPC then you're not in his radar at all. the other characters, while having their own quirks, is just mere NPC to the MC. there's two airheads, a few delinquents, delinquent-wannabes, a tryhard etc. I can imagine writing this kind of a character without pissing off your readers is not an easy task. let alone make it good enough to not make me alt-tab. so again, great praise right there.
next, the setting. come to think of it, there's not much winter-themed VNs out there, with revenge as the main plot. revenge from what? well that will remain a mystery for a long time. and then put the main plot aside to have SoL stuff sprinkled with comedy and roasting other characters despite MC's melancholy looming around it. its a nice read as it slowly unwraps everything for you. nothing overstays its welcome either, the plot is aware that it has to move on at some point.
highly recommended.
