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Review of Amatsutsumi

SubjectAmatsutsumi
Amatsutsumi - 18+ Edition
ByHelpfulness: 0
Vote: 7.5
nosferia on 2022-08-08
ReviewIt was all nice and good until you realize they unabashedly trash and stomp all over a pitiful yet beautiful character - and they do it twice! Baiting you into believing that they won't be doing it again after the first time is done, which by the way, is an (unskippable) horrendous experience , all happy go lucky like it were a nightmare.

Alt route: nothing actually remains of her in the alternative prologue, not an ounce of her personality - cg art or sprite. Speaking of which, her Original self is not even in the sprite viewer on the menu nor in Character volumes...

I am not mad nor angry, since I appreciate this story, BGM, art, cg, etc. But most of all, I love this throw away character they presented by the end, and neither ending sullies that appreciation.
Still, I may not be angry but I am profoundly disgusted by an unavoidable central conflict of this Visual Novel:

Valuing-- just grossly overvaluing several of these week-spanned copies over a Human Being in need of serious help. Subhuman cockroaches. Hence 1/10.

Lastly, just get rid of a mass murderer (life force transfer) and be donzo, but no, better be actually cruel... I see you Devs.
0 points
#1 by diabloryuzaki
2022-08-08 at 11:22
< report >??? so what are you trying to review from this vn?
#2 by Omikron
2022-08-08 at 11:48
< report >Uhm? Something happens twice? What do you mean?
Who do you mean, what are you talking about specifically?

You spout criticism but you never actually mention what you are criticising in name?
#3 by avsgepk88
2022-08-08 at 12:01
< report >I agree that the original was a more interesting character than her copies, but I'm not sure if the whole VN deserves a 1/10 just because of what they did to her.
#4 by nosferia
2022-08-08 at 23:25
< report >#1 & #2 - It's on purpose, this is a spoiler review, if you don't get it -you haven't finished it.

avsgepk88/ gets it! and I agree, it's at minimum 7.5/10 - Although it does feel short, but in the ''it needs additional content'' kind of way, rather than feeling unfinished or rushed.

A bit tangential; I wished there was an entire DLC ''route'' for the Original Hotaru, besides liking her specific character a lot, I personally don't see much of: a protagonist or waifu being Sick; tormented physically and mentally, where they get a chance to get (physically) healed up and given a second chance, another lease on life.

But I do loosely remember seeing (several times) a similar situation in which they are used as a fleshlight by the main Protagonist, where <He> the ''paragon'' of justice banishes all the ''easily'' solvable problems of our maimed/cursed character. Their interesting, unique and conflicted personality gets erased and replaced with a bland and meek one, just for them to be at the Master's shadow for the rest of the Show.

Amatsutsumi didn't do it like that, she simply gets given no other choice by the main cast but to die for their happiness, she remains herself until she disappears.

But it boggles the mind that the shrine maiden ghost-y girl not only exists for her ''lesson'' but gets a full route, a sort of irrelevant character IMO, meanwhile Original H, is used as a prop for her clone.
#5 by diabloryuzaki
2022-08-09 at 12:32
< report >#4 This review contains spoilers.

but you do it vaguely like alt route for example, amatsutsumi didn't have alternate route but hotaru have 2 route where none of them will be alternate route. even for people who already finished it long ago like me and see someone said one of hotaru route as alternate route, well they will confusing

mysterious term like Subhuman cockroaches or mass murderer will confuse people who read your review more. i don't know why this term suddenly appear and if this terms appear in translated ver, well great vn turned into junk again

bonus words from me, "I am profoundly disgusted by an unavoidable central conflict of this Visual Novel", trust me vn or normal story always have unavoidable central conflict story development unless they have multiple perspective. moreover if you feel that this vn is "unfinished" or "rushed" that is just your hallucinations because "the writer" already stated it officially in his twitter that amatsutsumi is created like that since start
#6 by dchsflii
2022-08-15 at 23:09
< report >Of course you don't have to like the way things are done, but I think Makoto stealing the life force of some criminal would have gone against the main themes. The story of Amatsusumi is that of Makoto's journey from god to human, and part of that is acknowledging the wills of others and accepting an imperfect world. Judging the lives of others, whether the copies or some criminal, as more or less worthy is the act of a god. This is why in the final Hotaru ending, Makoto is able to give her kindness and respect but not the salvation she desires. That's what a human can do, and his sacrifice of his kotodama is the final symbolic act of his becoming fully human.
#7 by iglunvend
2022-09-19 at 07:36
< report >I get where OP is coming from. I was also hoping to see original get more justice.

I loved Hotaru's route overall but I was honestly a little disappointed by Hotaru's final ending. We got so little time to know original and it feels betrayed to see no sign of the her personality in the end. We were finally beginning to see original opening up her heart, but the ending cuts off that development, and doesn't truly resolve her conflict.

Re #4 I honestly think a route where the original survives at the sacrifice her copy could have been a more beautiful and bittersweet ending. One where she learns to reconcile her hatred and resentment into love and empathy. One where she tries to love the world as much as her copy did, but ultimately comes short. That would have taken the story to another level, but it seems the writer took the easier way out.

Still, the ending was fine just somewhat unsatisfying because of how they handled original.

And I agree with #6 that is definitely not the solution.
#8 by clorust
2022-12-15 at 23:23
< report >Just finished reading this, and I'm inclined to agree. The MCs inner monologuing tries really hard to convince you "original Hotaru" is horrible and evil for most of her screentime, but she does little to display this besides saying cruel things. Even Mana does more questionable things than her, as she actively abuses her kotodama throughout the entire novel for her own benefit.

The original Hotaru is very interesting, I think. Her harsh surface portrayal contrasts well with her more sympathetic actions (like letting the firefly leave through the window), and there's a high level of introspection she has that you can see both from her interactions and sporadic first-person perspective dialogue. I do find it a bit of a shame that Hotaru's second ending still basically results in any trace of her personality (or even voice, attire or look) being erased. Like, it's not even as if the upbeat clone Hotaru and the original Hotaru really became one, because you're still only seeing the former in the epilogue. It's a bit of a shame considering the second "route" finally let you see the original Hotaru's side of things.

The most that can be said of the second ending is that Makoto lives, and the original Hotaru at least consents to dying this time; instead of being broken one more time and having her world collapse around her before Makoto pulls what is essentially a suicide bomb, like the first ending. It still feels like a cop-out though, and doesn't do a good enough job of nailing down the message of "acceptance" that the VN was repeating.Last modified on 2022-12-15 at 23:23