Subarashiki Hibi Review
Mundane as it is necessary, let me start with a quick disclaimer: I read this VN without any prior knowledge of it, excluding "it gets philosophical, and it's highly rated". I'm telling you this, because when I read some reviews (anime, VN's, games, manga...) I often find myself wanting context: "Did you 100%"?; "How hyped you were for it"?; "How many hours before quitting"? "Do you like the genre"? That sort of thing.
So with that in mind, I made my best effort, to neither put this title on a pedestal, nor shoot it down, on account of some congenital need for self-affirmation (saying something popular "sucks"). It's still a subjective review, super non-sentient A.I's will end them in time, but hopefully the most important parameters of this VN are treated fairly.
Next up are the "philosophical bits", and I don't know what I was expecting here, but there is a limited amount of technical knowledge, and much of it can be denominated as presumption (and you will pardon me if you are a fan, but also healthy dose of pretentiousness). This is not an attack on what was delivered, I will explain more below, it's just a way of saying that I misunderstood what was meant by "it gets philosophical". What I am referring to as (entry-level) technical knowledge within the V.N medium, could be illustrated by something like "farther than the blue sky", which goes slightly beyond mere references to concepts.
Last on the "off subject list", is letting you know that in my opinion, just about every long V.N needs a review of equivalent condition. Quick reviews have their place, no doubt, personally they are irrelevant. In other words, reviewing "things" in one paragraph can be useful to the right audience, but I don't count myself among that number, and that goes double, when the entertainment medium is a VN (I won't get into the why, but if you ask me a V.N needs a more detailed review, than some other entertainment coming from the same source - Japan). That is to say I will write plenty.
Also, let me refer to the title as Subahibi, for convenience sake.
"The Actual Intro"
What we have here is an attempt at combining, theoretical concepts from various backgrounds, and assorted individual awareness (experience), to create a "grimoire" of sorts, that uses logic to give answer to some of the "big questions" of human existence. Subahibi is a collage of distinct elements, with the intention of creating something personal and valuable to the reader. To accomplish this, the writer uses references, quotes, inspiration, and imitation that includes literature, anime, music, world history, mythology, eroge tropes, religion...
Bringing all of this together is opinion (derivation after the original material), so you can regard this VN as the writer's answer to the unanswerable and (individual) perception's role in its desired decipherability. An attempt at breaking through preconception based senses, if you will. Speaking plainly, there's a lot of "name dropping" and without a doubt, this VN deserves a classification as ostentatious. I will admit that I was interested at times, for instance when I thought an explanation on the different types of infinities and their "scaling" was coming. Sadly the writer "chickened out".
"Explored Subject Matter"
Let's traverse into themes explored in Subahibi, and it's important to realize that (author) subjectivity is the word of the day. A lot of what's described below starts with one of the aforementioned external influences, and then proceeds into "custom territory". Once inside, the number of rare and valuable ideas is... restricted. A "high maintenance" statement, but you must remember that Subahibi is well rated within this very website, so I dare say that every potential reader is entitled (emphasis on this word) to meaningful expectations.
I will be unable to mention everything, so what I propose is to talk about one of the concepts that I found interesting in more detail, then group up others with some light expounding. If there is a profound insight in Subahibi, then it has to be tied to contemporary society, and its relationship with death (the fear of). I was astonished, when what I consider to be "one of the ingredients to a good life", was explained in articulate, synthetic thinking by one of the characters.
Basically, knowing you will die someday, and accepting your condition as mortal, are two VERY different things, and we live in a society where we act like death doesn't concern us, that is until it finally rears its ugly head (loved ones passing away, health issues). Then we can't handle it, or lock it away in some deep, dark place, while trying to function normally. I'd love to discuss this in detail, but the fact that this idea is mentioned in Subahibi, is nothing short of groundbreaking, when taking the medium into account.
(If the theme sparks some interest within you, read Sekien no Inganock)
Other themes, notions, concepts: Bullying. "Goodness Gracious" there's so much of it in Subahibi. It's safe to conclude that "fictional Japan high schools" are much scarier than "Hollywood's prison yards"; Internal and external worlds. The writer doesn't see a solid (or any) barrier between them, meaning something that is absorbed (outside to inside), becomes indistinguishable from what was previously there. There's no you without some sort of influence from someone else, is the point; Illusion vs reality and the hurdles between both being thin; The inner workings of the universe as the domain of the divine (unknowable); Limits of human knowledge or the "edge of my world". Belief and doubt as two sides of the same coin, and their power to influence events;
The Soul as vehicle between human and divine (my interpretation); Determinism. It stays in the subtext mostly, but it's there in the form of immutable rules and fate; The supernatural; Suicide; "Christian Imagery"; Denial of basic instinct; Some existential dread (primal chaos); Collective unconscious; Observer's effect (close to the end of the V.N); Discrimination, Mental illness; Effects of violence on a young mind; Child abuse; Eternity is hell for a mortal mind, and many others.
"Various Technicals"
Starting with setting, which is incredibly restricted. Subahibi is unconcerned with locations, different interactions, or any sort of diversity in this department. Your environments will be the city, home and high school, and talking about what actually happens (the premise), without spoilers would lead you to think this is something else entirely. There is mystery, there is supernatural, and some of the usual tropes, but it's safe to say, that Subahibi is unique when presenting its framework.
Regarding pacing and structure, the most important notion to convey, is that this was most likely written with multiple readings in mind. You could be having a wonderful, engaging time reading this, only for the next section or chapter to completely switch things up (imagine a large amount of exposition, or a few minutes of comedy seemingly out of nowhere. Let's call them tone shifts). Subahibi is a sort of puzzle where you can quickly discern the shape that is taking form, but it will be difficult to fit all the missing pieces. I will mention more once we get to "story", but pacing/structure is a weak point of the V.N (if you are planning to read only once, I would suggest checking a walkthrough for the last chapter and "true ending").
Let's move on, and talk about visuals. Subahibi came out in 2010, so any expectations need to take that in account. There is a good number of CG's, but the backgrounds are limited by the setting itself. Art style could be described as transitional (somewhere between "oldschool" and modern), but I find it agreeable for the most part. Some effects, and camera shots are present too, always a plus.
Sound will be a difficult point, in particular V.A. You do have some good performances, diversity, and actor track record, but the highpoints where vocal range, and emotion may dazzle you are few and far in between. Take the first protagonist, Yuki, for instance who is stuck at cool, witty and teasing for many hours, before she has a chance to show something else (well there's H-scenes). I'd argue against direction, not the actors themselves. This is not universal, and some characters like Kimika, can show range, change pacing and even clarity from one scene to the other, showcasing some ability. Overall good V.A. and the protagonists are fully voiced, which is always a strong positive, outside the odd exception ("Totono" would be a good example, the protagonist being silent there makes sense).
The OST is another headache, because you will find that that the tracks are appropriate to current mood, and play at the right time, but outside the odd exception (personal taste), there's nothing remarkable. "Function over form" I suppose. (Subahibi also features some "borrowed classicals", they are used for specific purposes).
Finally, we arrive at a "controversial region" named Humor/SoL, and let me tell you, I'm not trying to belittle anyone but... this is the writer's true talent. There are so many good moments in Subahibi in this department. Whether it's references to real life material, eroge satire, the usual "high school shenanigans", funny and/or heartwarming character interactions, and repeating tropes that actually work (Kimika was pretty funny). Every time the paralogisms, and bullying stop, Subahibi reaches it's "wonderful everyday™". I will say that much of it it's immature and simple, but in my book laughing equals good, the source is meaningless.
"H-Scenes"
I will not issue any warning regarding tags, I believe you should enjoy entertainment that you are comfortable with, and it's your job as a reader to stay away from things that are "deal breakers". I'm very tolerant to just about anything depicted in fiction, hence the following. Many H-scenes in Subahibi are excellent, whether we are talking about concept, "adult ends" impact on the story, originality, emotion, duration and more. The major flaw is placement in the story,(how they are divided) and timing. When I consider that this was released in 2010 it just becomes more impressive, and I'm surprised at my own enjoyment. I consider it a highpoint of the V.N.
"Story/Characters/Writing"
Subahibi is presented in fragments (chapters) containing incomplete information at first, with later chapters filling in the blanks, revealing bits of previously missing information. The entire thing is "compartmentalized" at first, so to speak. Those missing pieces tend to correspond to the P.O.V of one of the protagonists during the main route (chapters change protagonist/ perspective, in short) which encompasses important events that become tiered (in terms of information acquired) while purposefully left deficient, leaving you wondering, not what is going overall, but with specific questions.
Now it's important to know that putting everything together, and "making things fit" was definitely a lot work, and that makes the author's work praiseworthy, but you could also argue that this type of mystery is unfair, or withholds crucial information needed for some reader agency. Perhaps the most egregious aspect of this reality, are patchwork explanations that are used to solve to minor contradictions, or devices that can be overlooked (forgiven). At some points it seems like the writer is solely focused on wrapping up loose ends, and have a neat scenario structure, while completing disregarding reader engagement, and suspension of disbelief, resulting in silly and convoluted answers to questions, that are detracting from fun factor and immersion.
A more "fussy" reader may find some value there, but for me taking 10 minutes of my time to insert 2 new (absurd in the clinical context previously established) concepts, so that the participating characters can have a "training montage section", 30 hours down the line, is close to an insult to my intelligence. Another thing is that it's common, for the writer's "narration delivery pattern" to clash with the perceived way of speech of the characters, to a point where inner thoughts, and actual dialogue that follows feel more than just dissimilar, or coming from different origins (character's inner world lack coherence).
Let me put it in a different way, many characters feel like an extension of the writer's personality, and not their own fictional self. Just one more complaint, characters tend to have a singular important connection or main "wellspring of interactions". This means they just talk to one person, and they are reduced to one role, and diversity that is found in other VN's (a cast that goes to different places, talks about many things, has events that change dynamics...), seems to be permanently stifled, with the occasional eroge reference or philosophical tirade breaking the trend, every now an then. The sub-cast doing this is already "uneven terrain", but watching a protagonist having the exact same interaction, with the exact same person 5 times in a row, and now they are in love because she is a silly little girl... You know what? Maybe that is plausible. Erase this critique from your memory.
Many characters in Subahibi are supposed to represent a concept, a type, a philosophy, they are parts of a story that you don't understand completely (yet). It is possible to quantify traits, and qualify interactions, but if you exclude factors like mental illness, "gags", or supernatural (which induce a factor of difference inherently), what you get is bordering on barebones, or the usual extremes like "tsundere" with a lot of "tsun". The depth of the characters is there, but it's also a promise that takes to long to deliver, and the payout at that point should have been much higher. It's too much of the same thing, with barely any moments triggering the "range of emotions" detector. The changes characters undergo use "deceitful" plot devices, instead of character growth, and meaningful interactions tend to be enigmatic (over and over again) or tragic.
(The entire thing is akin to being told that there will be fireworks, but they forgot to mention that it's 6 months down the line, and by then I just want to see if the promise is fulfilled, the fireworks are of no consequence.)
The writer also has a policy of "oversharing the punchline" of each character meaning a scene will event summarize the core of each character. Whether this is good or bad depends on how much emphasis you put on being explained things, VS finding them yourself. In practical terms: X character gets a big personality summary, followed by a dramatic scene and the moral of the story is explicitly delivered. I'm not a fan of this approach.
Let's continue, and talk about writing, beginning with text quality and difficulty, it might come as surprising, but Subahibi is simple to read, fairly engaging, and personally, whimsical tends to be a good trait, even if I complained above. Information is delivered in short bursts (not always, as a rule of thumb), and relies heavily on dialogue, with some subtext yes, but where the cryptic, and the building up to mystery are kings.
Content that can be surmised relies heavily on devices such as allusion, and metaphor. Allegory tends to stay at easily identifiable level, which means basic conclusions, much closer to symbolism with people (particular individuals) being the key to its delivery, but also some abstract material like the "end sky" and the "crawling(?) darkness" (it was something darkness - primal fear). Overall Subahibi would rank high where such things are concerned, but some other titles are much better at giving you introspection material (Highly subjective, depends on your own experience).
The concise way in which some ideas are explained, could be called a talent unto itself. Another positive is the reversal of some "eroge tropes", which is done openly through satire (plain mocking with a target audience in mind, does count as such), or veiled methods, in particular characters escaping archetypes. The writer does employ excessive misdirection, or hides information for long periods of time. I'm not sure if inducing errors would be a correct (or proper) assessment, but I can say with certainty that the amount of "clutter"(material that serves no purpose) and endless descriptions (rants) or repetitive rationalizations (same concept, different words), can test one's memory, and train of thought (I had more notes but they were less than kind).
Pretension in writing supported with the actual knowledge, is bound to the reader's pride for a different denomination, and not a proper negative. What we have here will be determined as such (or not) by your own perception. Another worthwhile mention, is that "silly" for the sake of amusement is also prevalent in this VN, and understanding the references being made would most likely improve your experience. Unfortunately I'm not well versed in Japanese sub-cultures, so identifying some of the references through a quick "google search" was my course of action while reading this.
Just one more thing in this parameter, Subahibi has some NVL segments, they are mainly used for important moments, or when an "abrasive" style of writing is needed (repetition, gibberish, missing words, overload of text, dumb humor, that kind of thing). It's important to pay attention when this happens, cause some significance is usually coming your way.
"Corner of intense subjectivity"
I'm almost done here, but I decided to come up with an extra section that I aptly named the "corner of intense subjectivity" where I tell you the "real WHY" behind my score in impressionistic fashion, and with a non-sensical example to boot. In essence the writer is a "blasted cheater", who gives himself all the tools to build a convenient narrative. These include, the supernatural, perceived mental illness, extreme drugs, fragmentation of the story and subsequent hiding of way too much information from the reader. Worst of all are "wikipedia deep" references, or namedropping, passing as intellect or a difficult subject. All of these are being mentioned with a bad connotation attached to them, but truth to be told, they don't stop entertaining, or even meaningful fiction. If that was the case many 7/10 VN's would go "out of business".
However, we can combine the above with sophistry (loads of it). Imagine for instance, that the argument is: You shouldn't be afraid of death because it's not something that can be experienced, meaning only things that can happen to you (when there is a you) are something to be feared. This is paradoxical because death is not a state of being (1st assumption), and the fear mentioned, is not the moment of death, but the perceived unavoidable erasure of the self (non-existence). If we don't accept reincarnation as a real thing (2nd assumption), then everyone in this world would have "experienced" death (non-existence) before they were born, so the reason to not fear death, becomes the fact that we have experienced it, and is nothing new.
Did that make sense to you? Hopefully not, and Subahibi is quite literally, filled to the brim with fallacies of the same caliber, that require you to accept one or more examples of pure conjecture, to reach a logical conclusion. Sounds feasible at first, but falls apart quickly, under scrutiny. This translates to: "There's nothing here" (meaning the V.N). Obviously, human life is meaningless, in the grand scale of things. Evidently, that scale seems unfathomable, and leads to endless questions. Most likely, none of us chose to be here, or to be a part of this. Assuredly, the bad/ugly things in this life outnumber the good/pretty. You don't have to TELL me any of that. I'm here right now, and the obvious choice is to do the best I can, with the hand I was dealt (live as happily as I can).
Maybe if I was a teenager in 2010, this would have some impact on me, but both variables are "expired". We are alive, and the things that can't be known, fixed or chosen, are solved by default due to their intrinsic nature, and thankfully axiology was "invented", to help us determine the value of many things, and their features. What this writer needs to do, is DEMONSTRATE most of the above (process of reader inference/subtext/undertone/literary devices), and then reaffirm these "life lessons" that everyone picks up on, as they get older. What's done here has little to no subtlety, almost no value as learning material, some entertainment factor, and only marginal wisdom.
(In other words, I don't want you telling me the meaning of life. Go beyond that, and let me discern your meanings and experiences, through my own methods, and then I will adapt them to my own subjectivity, and reality. That would have merit, not this.)
I did not forgot the example, and for that we are going to bring up MURAMASA, and one of its heroines (the justice freak), which is a perfect representation of true self and false (artificial) self, accompanied by negative childhood influences, and ending in unhappiness to the individual, after the right (but not true to self) decision. You don't even have to know or agree with Winnicott, Jung or Stiegler (or accept the concepts, really) to understand this dichotomy, when reading that VN. That's what doesn't happen in Subahibi. The people would be named, the works would be mentioned (pretentiously), the characters would quote, go on rants, or spell things to you (sometimes wrongly) like you are a "5 year old", but you wouldn't assimilate it because is just another piece of information among dozens of trivia.
(Now who's the one being pretentious and pseudo-intellectual? It's how I really feel however, and that has value, if nothing else as a consumer of the product.)
One final note before the score, to let you know that I prefer to stay away from religious topics, and/or God, (quotes from the bible to fit needs are an actual distaste of mine in fiction, and elsewhere) so I purposefully avoid bringing it up in the this section. If I must entwine two concepts, then Japanese idiosyncrasies and "Western Christianity", seem to be permanently at odds when being portrayed in a V.N together. That's all I will say. In the end there is no absolute right or wrong. In between there is a wealth of applied understanding available (to regale those who seek) within the many sub-fields of theology and neuroscience.
"Score"
If you stuck with me till the end, congratulations. Subahibi is an 8/10, and a very good V.N, that survives the test of time. I have no doubt that reading this earlier in my V.N days, would increase the score, but my current points of reference cannot be changed. I highly recommend you check out Subahibi (if you haven't already), and I would add that this is one of those VN's that is best experienced earlier rather than later.
(This review is also on VNDB, same author 2 different usernames, due to naming limitations)
