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Review of ISLAND

SubjectISLAND
ISLAND
ByHelpfulness: 0
Vote: 4
forever-here on 2020-09-18
ReviewI really cannot recommend this. without spoiling too much, a lot of plot details are left hanging or unanswered. one good example would be who exactly is that 4 year old looking Rinne. some comments also say that the (grand) ending was rushed. suddenly everyone dies without buildup for people to care. It definitely felt like the writers are rushing to meet a deadline. and that really isn't good. again, quite a few unanswered plot threads or just are simply left hanging. considering this is a time loop / time travel VN the one thing that you simply cannot forgive is plot inconsistency.
0 points
#1 by mondblut
2020-09-18 at 08:04
< report >To answer your question (who exactly is that 4 year old looking Rinne)

She's another Rinne, or rather her reincarnation. See, Setsuna has been put in the cryogenic sleep hundreds of times, he slept 20.000 years between the two time periods/ages (post apocalyptic winter -> summer -> post apocalyptic winter -> summer...) and history repeats itself exactly the same within that long timespan of 20.000 years.

I don't know what questions you have specifically, so I'll just post something I've written to explain it to someone a while ago. It's a detailed explanation of everything:

Human history is in a repetitive cycle of rise and decline every 20000 years and supposedly history repeats itself exactly in each of those 20000 year cycles/iterations. Basically mankind thrives, then comes the ice age and wipes out mankind and all their technology minus some few survivors (in the ISLAND shelter/dome). Society then starts from zero basically... Rinse repeat...

Every cycle plays out the same. Ice Age/loli Rinne (aka Kuon) wakes up in the summer era first (she went into cold sleep as well to "follow" Setsuna once she realized that her machine is no time machine), gives birth to daughter Rinne (she's the daughter of Setsuna, he impregnated her before he went to cold sleep in the Ice Age era). Years later, daughter Rinne (aka Summer Rinne) strands on that small Island, is put in cold sleep by that other Setsuna who isn't our Setsuna (he's actually the biological child of the Ohara family but has Sooth Blight Syndrome, so he was shunned by his family) and wakes up 5 years later. Two months after that our Setsuna wakes up from cold sleep, there the story begins... Eventually our Setsuna loses Rinne (his and Kuon's daughter) in the summer era during her route and is put to cold sleep and wakes up in the Ice Age where he meets the reincarnation of Kuon/Rinne (aka loli Rinne). He falls in love, impregnates Ice Age/loli Rinne and is put to cold sleep and Ice Age Rinne (aka Kuon follows). That repeats countless times in fact. Keep in mind: the only person who is the same throughout is Setsuna, every other character is a reincarnation born into each cycle. Also: Remember the legend about Setsuna and Rinne that has survived through the ages?

About the ending: Summer Rinne who sleeps for 5 years in the cold sleep chamber after stranding on that small island inscribes Rinne + Setsuna under an umbrella in the cold sleep chamber as a declaration of her undying love. In the true ending Setsuna decides to cold sleep once again after finding out about Kuon and his daughter, because Kuon finally found a way to build a time machine, but it would take generations. He wants to repeat the cycle one last time because he hopes that the blueprints for the real time machine would be passed down to Ice Age Rinne's (Kuon's) reincarnation, so that he can FINALLY travel back into the past and break the cycle of reincarnation and suffering. Right before the end credits he's in the cold sleep chamber and looks at its inner surface and find countless inscriptions of Rinne + Setsuna on the surface, each one inscribed by a different Rinne and he realizes that he has repeated this process countless times (because so many different Rinnes wrote the Rinne + Setsuna inscriptions on the machine), and always he fell in love with the reincarnation of his Rinne throughout perhaps 1 Million years of human history, they always found each other and fell in love no matter what.


I don't know what other questions you have, but I'll gladly answer. I've finished the VN few weeks ago and was quite obsessed about piecing everything together, so my memory is rather fresh.

considering this is a time loop / time travel VN the one thing that you simply cannot forgive is plot inconsistency.

This is no time travel story. Time travel didn't even happen once in the VN, it was all cold sleep. As I explained, after the true ending Setsuna hopes that "this cycle's Kuon" finally builds the time machine instead of a cold sleep chamber.

No offense, but I have the feeling that you didn't understand the story properly and therefore gave it such a bad review. This is definitely not the most casual and easy to comprehend story. I can see how some might find it frustrating, especially since the VN constantly throws red herrings at you just to completely change its course again and again. But I wouldn't be so harsh about it. It's complex and has quite a few plot holes, but most questions are answered within the VN.Last modified on 2020-09-18 at 09:43
#2 by forever-here
2020-09-25 at 04:34
< report >
No offense, but I have the feeling that you didn't understand the story properly and therefore gave it such a bad review.

because its a bad sign that the VN will be forgettable. and this review shows it. actually a lot of VNs have proved to be forgettable over time. unless we're talking of horror-based VNs where the goal is to give you as much enjoyment as you can and move on once its over. I could easily point to s;g and that is far more memorable than this.
#3 by animecac
2020-09-25 at 13:20
< report >All the ends were tied up and pretty well explained - are you sure you read the true ending? It is pretty hard to reach as you need to reach all the good and bad ends first, and then a specific sequence to reach it (you almost certainly need to read a guide to get it), but then it very clearly ties up the points you are speaking of. I felt similarly to the way you did until I reached the true ending. Island definitely has it's flaws, but I'm not sure what you have listed are fair criticisms. I'd say it's biggest flaws are the pacing and the way it handles sections of exposition which have significant issues. You have to really pay attention to catch all the info at times, I wish they had thought of a better way to do it to make the plot points more exciting (something a VN like s;g really did brilliantly).

The general plot, and in particularly the twist ending and the explanation at the very end of the true ending is actually very clever and ties everything together very nicely. I know some people didn't like the ending, but I do think you have to admit that if you followed the story carefully - it was very clever and does leave everything explained. I'd say the issue with Island is how we got to where we got at times, rather than the what itself.Last modified on 2020-09-25 at 13:24
#4 by cubky
2020-12-15 at 06:11
< report >>because its a bad sign that the VN will be forgettable

I played this 4 years ago and yet I still remember pretty much most of it. Cannot say the same about the majority of other works I have finished.
#5 by flvbycjctnheheh
2021-05-10 at 15:57
< report >@1 You can't "piece everything together" in this story. Many of the story's holes and inconsistencies already were reviewed here even before the game got translation. We never learn who the hell is protagonist and what the hell was this "joke ending" (you should know what I'm talking about). Also, the main route and the secondary routes don't really work together that well. In other routes he doesn't have a reason to put himself in sleep. Also, this "there's no time travel" thing contradicts to the scene when MC used the improvised time machine in Winter route. There a lot of more inconsistencies, but it's still better than Himawari which is a trainwreck of plotholes. SO the author progressed a bit, I guess.

@3 The last true ending is completely unnecessary and ruins something that could be a cute romance story. Even more ridiculously - the thing with "Sarah wearing Kuon costume" contradicts it completely, lol. If you think anything is "tied together nicely in this game", then I'm not sure if you paid any attention or "followed the story carefully".Last modified on 2021-05-10 at 16:03
#6 by animecac
2021-05-11 at 13:56
< report >@5 What I mean is that it addresses everything, and it was self consistent. This isn't my favourite VN by a long shot, and some of the red herrings are a bit of an eye roll - like the one you mentioned. But to your point, even the scenes you mentioned such as the winter route were actually explained. This was a case where the MC didn't understand the blueprint of the technology he was building sent him forwards to the next cycle of time, not backwards like he assumed. The final route is also crucial to making sense of this and the whole cycle idea otherwise the plot is just a random mess.

Again It's got plenty of flaws this VN, the worst of which is probably the pretty lame red herrings and the inconsistency of the character motivations. But one thing it does do well is integrate the twist ending into the rest of the plot - and if you follow it carefully there aren't many actual plot holes, so much as just head scratching character decisions (which some would call plot holes, but I would just say it's bad writing).
#7 by flvbycjctnheheh
2021-05-13 at 07:38
< report >@6 Yeah, I remember this explanation, but it doesn't make sense because if it sent him forward and it could only do that, then how the hell did he get back? Also another thing - how likely it is for not only the same people to be reborn but also for them to repeat the same actions like robots? Also, many points regarding the disease and Sara's route ended up being not properly explained. Also, you ignore the fact that Sarah was wearing the "Kuon outfit" and it was mentioned more than once that the real Kuon looks differently. In the end, though, she ended up looking exactly as we see her.. then how the hell Sarah pretended to be her while completely copying her appearance? If it was just a joke, then the author shouldn't have added it in the first place. And yeah, the original Rinne ending was sweet even if many things were left hanging. But trying to explain all the plot points within 30 minutes in the last ending is just an example of terrible writing, the fact that it still left some plotholes makes it even worse. Also, from the scientific point of view, their time travel explanation is a complete joke because it contradicts the actual data we have about our planet and history. It's way worse than a typical time travel using unknown science because it just uses a fictional concept but doesn't contradict real science.Last modified on 2021-05-13 at 07:40
#8 by forever-here
2021-05-13 at 11:11
< report >
and history repeats itself exactly the same within that long timespan of 20.000 years.

yeah, no. for this to be possible to observe, you need to have many dry run experiments. meaning a single 20,000 year isn't enough. you need to live at least 100,000 years in this earth to make that statement. again, bullshit explanation
#9 by animecac
2021-05-16 at 03:53
< report >@7 There were definitely too many plot conveniences in the story, like the ones you mentioned. I think the story has to be taken with a fair amount of mysticism to enjoy, because the science / logic of it doesn't make any sense. As a sci-fi plot it definitely fails there. If you take it as more of a fantasy / spiritual take on reality then it can be enjoyed in that way, though I understand that won't work for a lot of people depending on what it is about stories and their construction that you enjoy.

The whole repeating cycle of life idea is found in many ancient religions. I think this story comes at it from the perspective that the fabric of existence conspires in some way, or is pre-written to play out in a very similar manner. So the the story becomes about learning to break free - or move forward - from those pre determined trappings. That isn't a scientific truth, but is something more akin to fantasy that just needs to be believed to enjoy the story.

I think the biggest shortcomings of this VN were the red herrings, plot conveniences and lack of transparent believability. That and way too many long info dumps that were just messy and confusing.
Last modified on 2021-05-16 at 03:56
#10 by delircious404
2021-08-03 at 12:27
< report >@8
Who said that the events of the Island unfold in" our " 1999, and not after a couple of hundred thousand years?