It's really messed up that the game is this good when it doesn't even have any sexual content yet. Not sure I've ever given a game the benefit of the doubt for future content the way I am here. If ya know, 6 months go by and there's radio silence, maybe this rating goes down but in the meantime this is a killer opening chapter (it's 8-24-22 btw, can't remember if reviews have dates). But anyways the game is really well written, with funny and likeable characters, and great minor touches such as very intentional camera placement and reactive facial expressions.
The two main love interests are hot and expressive as hell. I really enjoy Jamie's emotions and facial animations, you don't see those done effectively very often. The side characters have a little wonkiness to them, like the silent girl you say hi to at the basketball court seems a bit too short and young in my opinion, and the others seem a touch plain for a VN where you hope to eventually have sex with some of the cast. But I suppose it's a refreshing change of pace compared to some of the boob/cheekbone/lips+hips slider-maxed characters we see here.
Three very minor cons:
1. Some of the dialogue and scenes can be a bit too realistic to be interesting. In movies we don't need to see the whole car trip when a character travels from A to B. We cut it to keep the moments onscreen interesting to the viewer. Similarly, we don't really need scenes where the Judge discusses courtroom availability scheduling with the MC. I understand this sets up the eventual "Vega" character, but it's too much and too boring to be kept in, imo.
2. On the opposite end, some dialogue, such as everyone being overly enamored with the MC's life at the bar, and also the incest conversation at the bar, skew towards being too unrealistic. Characters seem a little too stiff and robotic in their delivery, rather than casual, especially for friends and colleagues chatting at a bar. Little changes, like maybe just Sara asking too many pestering questions rather than everyone, or more of the table being vocally opposed to talking about incest rape cases while relaxing at the bar, would go a long way to fixing this.
3. I'm mildly annoyed that the intro cutscene seems to have no relation to other events so far. MC's mom is Magnolia and the woman is named Jimena, so it's not his mom. It's not the Amy Mall they investigate later. It's not the incest case Jamie and Sara are working on. It's not the gang revenge murder. This game has like 5 cases, and you open the game with one, and it's not related to any of them? If your updates are months apart, it's annoying to set up threads like this and not even hint at resolving or explaining them. At least in my opinion, maybe some people like that.
EDIT: fixed some ambiguously phrased sentences