Disclaimer: this is a review for the 2004 remake (named Kana Okaeri) of the original 1999 visual novel, which comes with new graphics, full VA, and even animated H scenes!
I had heard many good things about this VN; fans were touting it as one of the best drama visual novels of the past. While I enjoy drama VNs I put off reading this for a long time due to the taboo nature of the story. I'm not into the whole wincest thing, but after watching some trash anime like "Domestic Girlfriend" and "My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex" (tho this one was surprisingly decently written) I said, hey, if I'm going to be a degenerate I might as well try something good for a change. And oh boy let me tell you that I am glad that I picked this one up because it has become one of my favorite VNs of all time!
You play the role as Taka who has a sister by the name of Kana who has been plagued by a kidney condition ever since she was born. The narrative takes place during the course of many years, from childhood all the way into young adulthood. I really like this structure since the passage of time shows the growth of the characters. At first Taka was jealous of Kana because he felt that their parents were giving her more attention to her than to him, but he soon realizes that the reason for this is due to her frailty, and he soon becomes her main guardian, even more so than her parents as you soon realize as you progress through the story.
Well as you might have guessed, slowly but surely, their feelings for one another start to progress to something that goes beyond the love between a brother and a sister, and it is here that is one of two main sources of drama within the story. However I must say that this subject was handled extremely well, especially during the true ending, but more on that later.
The other source of drama is, of course, Kana's illness which causes her to live most of her life inside a hospital. While I am not so sure about the medical side of things, the psychological issues that arise from such a fate I found to be very well executed. The novel truly manages to put things into perspective. Kana rarely gets to experience the small joys of life, so whenever she briefly gets to go out of the hospital to school, or to a festival, or to an amusement park, these things she enjoys to the fullest. It just goes to show you how many things in life we take for granted, and how easily we are to dismiss them not knowing how lucky we really are. "Kana", the VN, is a work of fiction that contains actual life lessons, something which, let's be honest, is extremely rare to find in a medium whose main audience consists of coomers.
Kana is a wonderful character. She is frail on the outside, but on the inside she is a very strong individual who will refuse to give up without a fight. The novel also has moments towards the end where she falls into despair, and these are some of the most heart wrenching moments I have ever witnessed in any story! Not only is Kana's psychological condition explored, but also that of her family. There are times when her parents will distance themselves from her because of the pain of seeing their daughter slowly wither away, and it is here where Taka comes to step up up the plate and be there for his sister up until the very end, no matter the final resolution.
Saying anything more would require spoilers, and I think that I've already said way too much, but I should talk a little bit about the other characters as well.
The most important character after the two main leads, is Yumi who is Taka's former class mate. She appears sporadically in the first half, and then in the second half when they are in college he and Taka get into a relationship, which you can pursue until the end, or not, it's all up to you. Apart from the True Ending, Yumi's ending was my favorite as it again shows the character's growth and development. To be honest Yumi is kinda wasted on Taka, but hey you know how these waifus are once they start obsessing about the MC, they just can't let go ;^)
A somewhat relevant person is Miki, Kana's nurse, who will be an omnipresent character throughout the novel. There is also their aunt, Sumako and her daughter Cana, which are also fairly important depending on which route you're on.
Another character which seems important at first is Kana's classmate, Yuta who has a crush on her. Sadly I felt that he was very underdeveloped since he was set up as a romantic interest for Kana, but the story just doesn't do anything all that interesting with him. The same goes for Taka's friends at school who all have even multiple sprites drawn for them but who don't really contribute much to the story at all.
Really there are only a few characters that are given attention: Kana, Taka, and perhaps Yumi. The others are mostly just there for the ride, apart for maybe Miki, Sumako, and Cana. Why this is I cannot say. Perhaps it has something to do with time and budget constraints, or perhaps it's because this was written in the early stages of the medium, where VNs were written with the structure of physical novels in mind. These are limited by space and so novel authors will sometimes use time skips or will "cut corners" when it comes to the side characters.
As I mentioned right at the beginning this is a review of the remade version called Kana Okaeri which comes with improved artwork. While I don't doubt that there are people who like the older art style, I think most people would find the newer one more appealing to look at, especially since they made Kana look more moe and adorable.
The VA is top notch as to be expected, as well as the music which has some well composed themes that always go well with what is going on on screen. My favorite is of course the main theme song called "White Season" which features a killer guitar riff at the beginning and at the end of the track and is one banger of a song. It's already on my playlist.
And now finally for the information you've all been waiting for. How are the H scenes? They're unimportant. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that they are there and they also serve a purpose in the plot, but let's be honest: it's best to save your Kleenex for wiping away your eyes and blowing your nose, because you will be doing that A LOT! Trust me. One thing to note however is that the remake comes with animated H scenes, which is so incredibly rare. The animations have few frames so most of the time they look kinda awkward and stiff but I appreciate the effort regardless. Another thing that goes to show you that the H scenes weren't a priority is that in the extras menu on the scene tab it's not the H scenes that you can rewatch, but the endings.
This VN actually only has one flaw and that is the interface. I know it's an old title, but come on! Text that was read in previous playthroughs is not highlighted which wouldn't be that big of a deal in itself but the main problem is that the "skip read text only" option does not even work! Maybe it's because I ran this under Wine, but skip function would also skip unread text which was very frustrating on subsequent playthroughs where I wanted to get to the other endings.
Speaking of which there are 6 endings in total, although you could say that there are only 3: 3 variations of a "normal" end, 2 variations of Yumi's end, and one True Ending. My advice to you is on your first playthrough to play it on your own and only consult a walkthrough afterwards so you can easily get the rest of the endings. There are many choices that you can make and even the most innocuous ones will decide the path that end up with. As such I highly suggest using a walkthrough. I recommend the one on the fuwanovel forum. Also you should do Ending 1 (True End) last. You will thank me later.
Despite some narrative and technical flaws, giving it less that five stars would be a mistake. Kana Okaeri is a glorious achievement in this medium, exploring a taboo subject with great care and decency. It will pull at your heart strings, but without using cheap drama as an excuse, and it even has valuable life lessons to share about the nature of life and death and our struggle with both of them. It is without a doubt a story that is going to remain with me for a long time and I will continue recommending it to others.
Verdict: a timeless masterpiece. An essential addition to anyone's collection. Read it now!
100% read time: 13 hours
I had heard many good things about this VN; fans were touting it as one of the best drama visual novels of the past. While I enjoy drama VNs I put off reading this for a long time due to the taboo nature of the story. I'm not into the whole wincest thing, but after watching some trash anime like "Domestic Girlfriend" and "My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex" (tho this one was surprisingly decently written) I said, hey, if I'm going to be a degenerate I might as well try something good for a change. And oh boy let me tell you that I am glad that I picked this one up because it has become one of my favorite VNs of all time!
You play the role as Taka who has a sister by the name of Kana who has been plagued by a kidney condition ever since she was born. The narrative takes place during the course of many years, from childhood all the way into young adulthood. I really like this structure since the passage of time shows the growth of the characters. At first Taka was jealous of Kana because he felt that their parents were giving her more attention to her than to him, but he soon realizes that the reason for this is due to her frailty, and he soon becomes her main guardian, even more so than her parents as you soon realize as you progress through the story.
Well as you might have guessed, slowly but surely, their feelings for one another start to progress to something that goes beyond the love between a brother and a sister, and it is here that is one of two main sources of drama within the story. However I must say that this subject was handled extremely well, especially during the true ending, but more on that later.
The other source of drama is, of course, Kana's illness which causes her to live most of her life inside a hospital. While I am not so sure about the medical side of things, the psychological issues that arise from such a fate I found to be very well executed. The novel truly manages to put things into perspective. Kana rarely gets to experience the small joys of life, so whenever she briefly gets to go out of the hospital to school, or to a festival, or to an amusement park, these things she enjoys to the fullest. It just goes to show you how many things in life we take for granted, and how easily we are to dismiss them not knowing how lucky we really are. "Kana", the VN, is a work of fiction that contains actual life lessons, something which, let's be honest, is extremely rare to find in a medium whose main audience consists of coomers.
Kana is a wonderful character. She is frail on the outside, but on the inside she is a very strong individual who will refuse to give up without a fight. The novel also has moments towards the end where she falls into despair, and these are some of the most heart wrenching moments I have ever witnessed in any story! Not only is Kana's psychological condition explored, but also that of her family. There are times when her parents will distance themselves from her because of the pain of seeing their daughter slowly wither away, and it is here where Taka comes to step up up the plate and be there for his sister up until the very end, no matter the final resolution.
Saying anything more would require spoilers, and I think that I've already said way too much, but I should talk a little bit about the other characters as well.
The most important character after the two main leads, is Yumi who is Taka's former class mate. She appears sporadically in the first half, and then in the second half when they are in college he and Taka get into a relationship, which you can pursue until the end, or not, it's all up to you. Apart from the True Ending, Yumi's ending was my favorite as it again shows the character's growth and development. To be honest Yumi is kinda wasted on Taka, but hey you know how these waifus are once they start obsessing about the MC, they just can't let go ;^)
A somewhat relevant person is Miki, Kana's nurse, who will be an omnipresent character throughout the novel. There is also their aunt, Sumako and her daughter Cana, which are also fairly important depending on which route you're on.
Another character which seems important at first is Kana's classmate, Yuta who has a crush on her. Sadly I felt that he was very underdeveloped since he was set up as a romantic interest for Kana, but the story just doesn't do anything all that interesting with him. The same goes for Taka's friends at school who all have even multiple sprites drawn for them but who don't really contribute much to the story at all.
Really there are only a few characters that are given attention: Kana, Taka, and perhaps Yumi. The others are mostly just there for the ride, apart for maybe Miki, Sumako, and Cana. Why this is I cannot say. Perhaps it has something to do with time and budget constraints, or perhaps it's because this was written in the early stages of the medium, where VNs were written with the structure of physical novels in mind. These are limited by space and so novel authors will sometimes use time skips or will "cut corners" when it comes to the side characters.
As I mentioned right at the beginning this is a review of the remade version called Kana Okaeri which comes with improved artwork. While I don't doubt that there are people who like the older art style, I think most people would find the newer one more appealing to look at, especially since they made Kana look more moe and adorable.
The VA is top notch as to be expected, as well as the music which has some well composed themes that always go well with what is going on on screen. My favorite is of course the main theme song called "White Season" which features a killer guitar riff at the beginning and at the end of the track and is one banger of a song. It's already on my playlist.
And now finally for the information you've all been waiting for. How are the H scenes? They're unimportant. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that they are there and they also serve a purpose in the plot, but let's be honest: it's best to save your Kleenex for wiping away your eyes and blowing your nose, because you will be doing that A LOT! Trust me. One thing to note however is that the remake comes with animated H scenes, which is so incredibly rare. The animations have few frames so most of the time they look kinda awkward and stiff but I appreciate the effort regardless. Another thing that goes to show you that the H scenes weren't a priority is that in the extras menu on the scene tab it's not the H scenes that you can rewatch, but the endings.
This VN actually only has one flaw and that is the interface. I know it's an old title, but come on! Text that was read in previous playthroughs is not highlighted which wouldn't be that big of a deal in itself but the main problem is that the "skip read text only" option does not even work! Maybe it's because I ran this under Wine, but skip function would also skip unread text which was very frustrating on subsequent playthroughs where I wanted to get to the other endings.
Speaking of which there are 6 endings in total, although you could say that there are only 3: 3 variations of a "normal" end, 2 variations of Yumi's end, and one True Ending. My advice to you is on your first playthrough to play it on your own and only consult a walkthrough afterwards so you can easily get the rest of the endings. There are many choices that you can make and even the most innocuous ones will decide the path that end up with. As such I highly suggest using a walkthrough. I recommend the one on the fuwanovel forum. Also you should do Ending 1 (True End) last. You will thank me later.
Despite some narrative and technical flaws, giving it less that five stars would be a mistake. Kana Okaeri is a glorious achievement in this medium, exploring a taboo subject with great care and decency. It will pull at your heart strings, but without using cheap drama as an excuse, and it even has valuable life lessons to share about the nature of life and death and our struggle with both of them. It is without a doubt a story that is going to remain with me for a long time and I will continue recommending it to others.
Verdict: a timeless masterpiece. An essential addition to anyone's collection. Read it now!
100% read time: 13 hours
