Review of Saiaku Naru Saiyaku Ningen ni Sasagu
| Subject | Saiaku Naru Saiyaku Ningen ni Sasagu Saiaku Naru Saiyaku Ningen ni Sasagu |
| By | Helpfulness: 8 Vote: 9.2denp4xlyr on 2020-11-24 |
| Review | Firstly, isn't this just a fantastic VN title? Anyway. It's rare to find fiction that executes its themes so precisely, and on such a grand scale as Sasasagu. On top of that, this is one of the most engaging stories I've read. At its core it is a story about personal growth and acceptance, but it reaches far beyond that in order to fully convey this message. If you enjoy a prominent main character who has flaws and experiences real growth, this VN is outstanding. Sasasagu is the most horrifying, depressing, and despair-ridden thing I have experienced. It isn't "about" despair like Danganronpa, but is utterly inundanted with despair. It isn't nauseating or horrific like SubaHibi is, but it too is existentially dreadful. It wasn't scary like Higurashi or Saya no Uta might be, but it arose my terror that usually only arises late at night when I think too deeply about the universe... or about other humans. Honestly, for various reasons, I felt pretty anxious about reading this towards the end. In a good way. Furthermore, the scale of this VN, despite having a very stringent focus, is grand; it's the kind of story I've been wishing for since I began reading VNs (SubaHibi was as well), so this is mostly rambling praise. But don't be put off. It's also a beautiful VN. Visually, I am astonished that R (the sole author and artist) is so talented in both areas. The art lacks refinement in some areas, but the colours and design of the CGs and sprites convey the appropriate emotions very well, as well as looking very pretty. That said, the art is only a supplement. This is a story about, essentially, a single heroine. Other than her and the main character Hyouma, side characters are very few (at least for the first half of the VN. No comment on beyond that, because potential spoilers). And this is a very long VN; despite that, not once did I feel tired of the heroine Kuro. You learn new things about her, you renew your view of her, you might be easily enamoured with her, you might dislike her at times, you will think she's adorable, you will hopefully grow alongside her. The degree to which the characters in this VN are developed and the depths to which their relationships are explored is beyond what I imagined, even though I had high expectations from the beginning, considering the length of the VN. I call it a beautiful VN because it is one that engages with ideals that you might hold very close to your heart, especially as a consumer of VNs. It is as though every sentence is written in order to develop the themes being explored. When I thought that Kuro is sweet, R took that and made me question why she is that way. When I thought that Kuro is cute, R took that and made me question why I feel that way. When I thought that I want to monopolize Kuro, R took that and made me question the consequences of feeling that way. To a greater or lesser extent, other readers might not feel so intimate with the way Hyouma feels and acts, but I felt so greatly attached to this MC that I couldn't relax for a moment. Sasasagu has you look at its world from all sides and directions, and in the end, resolves everything beautifully. It's hard to avoid that usual "feeling of loneliness" you get after finishing a VN, but R concluded things so satisfactorily that I feel a little at peace. Minor spoilers perhaps, but I'll talk about the premise of the VN itself, which doesn't go beyond what you can garner from the description and cover. Hyouma and Kuro are both kids dealt an unfair hand by the world. Avoiding specifics, Kuro is an invisible girl, while Hyouma can see and hear only her, nobody else. This and that happens, but ultimately, something, a great disaster, a saiyaku, occurs. The mystery of how exactly all this came to be and other mysteries which build upon this and don't build upon it, all left me frantic with theory crafting until the end. I also appreciate the fact that R managed to constantly create surprising developments without the use of twists for the sake of twists; every reveal made me think "Fuck, that makes perfect sense". Of course, "not using bad twists" isn't much of a compliment. To put it another way, despite how linear and logical the VN felt, it still maintained the excitement that I get from stories that are far more over-the-top. I loved the slice of life throughout the VN, all of which built up to and upon the main plot itself. Cute and fluffy scenes are numerous. Many throw-away thoughts I had during these scenes and during early plot-related scenes came back to me later, and I was often left disturbed at how relevant those thoughts turned out to be. I could easily write thousands of words about how I felt throughout this VN, but I cannot convey very well my exact thoughts. I realized this since, while reading, I wrote several very long and explosive rants about very specific scenes and sentences, but it was never enough. For each of the several dozen CGs in the game, I could write a lot about each moment. My feelings constantly changed, my emotions were constantly challenged. Unlike other VNs which feature multiple heroines, there were no points at which I could reset my feelings and begin a new challenge (heroine). Sasasagu stuffs five heroines' worth of development into one, but the effect is like that of multiplication rather than addition. Well, I might later consider this too extreme of a praise, but for now I feel that it is refreshing to experience a VN that has such a strong singular focus. Unfortunately with so much more to talk about, that'd require a lot of spoiler tags, and I'm too lazy to do that. Anyway, I'm not a fan of essentially re-telling a VN's experience. This is meant to be a review, so I'll mention the negative points. The soundtrack is great, but a couple of the more frequent BGM tracks were used a lot, and a couple times were used when a more emotional track would have been much more appropriate. Well, that is the peril of such long VNs; too much variation is also jarring and offends the use of motifs. The menu music in particular is a fantastic atmospheric track, that conveys well the sense of despair and struggle appropriate to the VN. The frantic/action-y tracks got my adrenaline going. The likes of Umineko or SubaHibi's soundtracks are a step above this one, but that is hardly surprising. On the topic of the writing: while I found it to be nearly constantly engaging, this VN does have a very linear progression, and with the amount of scenes devoted to character development and passage of time, it could get a little tiring. Some readers might find it to the point of tedium, but I reiterate that practically every scene holds importance to the VN as a whole. Ah, I almost forgot to mention voice acting. The voice actress for Kuro was wonderful. Throughout the VN she performed a wide range of voices, from childish to [older], from sweet to angry, from this personality to that personality. The actress is listed as 小鳥遊 ゆめ (Yume Takanashi) but... who is that? No idea. But I hope to see more from her. The range of styles that Sasasagu demanded makes for one hell of a resume. Reading Sasasagu was an incredible experience. The quality of writing impressed me. I highly recommend it to those who enjoyed the likes of Steins;Gate, Watashi wa Kyou Koko de Shinimasu, or The House in Fata Morgana. I don't know if I have the heart to ever read this again, but it's the kind of experience that can change your view of the world a little (at least an aspect or two) or even a lot if you're in a certain situation... so I will likely be thinking about this for a while. Ah, Kuro is kawaii... (Originally posted on a r/visualnovels WAYR thread.) |
| 8 points |