Review of Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road
Subject | Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road |
By | Helpfulness: 4 Vote: 7htc89234 on 2022-02-26 |
Review | I've read my fair share of infuriating protagonists not just in VN but in media in general, and Hiroshi is definitely up there. If - like me - you've reached this VN because you played Majikoi, liked it, and wanted something similar, allow me to let you down gently - Tsujidou is no second Majikoi. Tsujidou has a very strong emphasis on the romance between the main character and the girl on whichever route you're in; there are no interesting or amusing group dynamics or friend groups, and it's definitely a story that plays off how two different people must adapt and grow into their relationship to better suit one another and to stand up for what they want of their lives. Or at least that's the premise. Let's start with the negatives, of which there are two main big ones: First, Tsujidou-san, despite being the titular character and having her romance shoved in your face for the vast majority of the common route, has by far the weakest route in the game. There is barely any drama, build up, or resolution; it's just SoL/Romance with no drama or coherent happenings; things just kinda trudge along. For what it's worth, Tsujidou is a great character in any route she's in, and the relationship argument scenes are really well-made; but her route just simply lacks substance. It's made worse however by the second problem, which is the main protagonist, Hase Hiroshi. Hase Hiroshi is a pacifist who wants to get along with everyone, which honestly isn't that bad of a character trait (boring as it may be and boring as he is). The issue is what Hiroshi defines as "getting along with everyone" goes far beyond what normal "getting along with everyone" means. Hiroshi is far too rigid with Tsujidou-san for her delinquent lifestyle - a narrative that makes no sense, given that it does not show up in the other two routes despite Tsujidou being the far, far more honorable delinquent of any other delinquent in this entire Visual Novel - and despite how much the story may make it seem like both of them are just 'different people', it's annoying to the reader to see Hiroshi show up in some absurd scenes that he should've never been involved in while in a relationship and play it off as just 'getting along'. It makes the route feel almost unfair to Tsujidou. In comparison, Maki's route and Renna's route feel much better. There is a buildup, there is tension, there is a peak, there is a resolution - all things that mostly lack in Tsujidou's route, and all done better in these regardless. Renna's route, in particular, is so good that I feel almost compelled to believe it to be the true route. There is so much more of the three heroines past revealed, and more of an involvement with the delinquents of Shounan which seemed to be the premise of the game before being all but forgotten about in Ai's route. Both the routes have great fight scenes, paired with great voice acting - particularly from Tsujidou, again - and just feel so much more in line with what the game seems to sell itself as than Tsujidou's route, despite not being the titular character route. It just makes the game feel backwards. For the other miscellaneous things, art is decent to good; soundtrack is forgettable minus two-three tracks that really stand out and are nice; H-Scenes are far too long and far too random with how they show up; bad ends are usually comedy, and the comedy in general is nice. Despite all of its shortcomings, the characters do mostly carry this Visual Novel, and the one character I did not like had the best route, so I can't particularly complain - but Tsujidou's route felt like a waste of time regardless of how cute it was, and it made the game a bit of a drag to play through; I'd recommend reading it anyway, but definitely keep your expectations low. |
4 points |