#beniyuri

Story: okay so. i feel like the general premise of the story is interesting. a group of childhood friends are suddenly reunited in a mysterious mansion that sits between life and death. without their memories, they’re forced to rebuild the friendship they once had in order to escape. or something like that. which is cool! i was super intrigued the first half of the game because i just had no idea what was going on, and was discovering alongside beniyuri the truth behind their mission to collect shards.

the problem for me is mainly the timing. the premise for the story is cool, but the actual implementation felt… insubstantial. it just wasn’t believable for me. maybe it’s because i don’t remember much of my childhood in extensive detail, or maybe it’s because i didn’t go through something horrifyingly traumatic with my closest friends at age seven. but for me, building an entire narrative around these six to nine-year olds was a stretch. there was no need to have made them so young at the time of the accident. they could have easily been longtime childhood friends, and then 11-13 when the actual accident occurred. i feel like that provides more than enough time for them to have built those childhood connections and then developed a romantic connection to beniyuri. then, with the 10 year timeskip, beniyuri is fresh out of college and starting a new life when she crosses paths once again with aki and then takuya. and the story picks up from there. it just makes more sense to me that way, and i feel like it would give more credence to aki’s claim that beniyuri is stuck in the past. 

art/music/voice acting: a couple of the character sprites kind of threw me off, but i thought the cgs were very nice! the ones with takuya were especially interesting, what with his whole half-monster transformation. the music was very atmospheric and i quite liked the rain ambiance in the evenings. some of the sound effects were kind of odd (the clicking of steps, also that weird boing sound during dialogue with karasuba and monshiro???) but on the whole not bad. voice acting was great for the most part! i’ve seen some people say they didn’t like beniyuri’s voice, but this was my first game with a voiced main character and i didn’t mind her voice at all! the only voice i didn’t like was the one for haruka, but she was hardly in the story, so it didn’t take away from anything

mechanics: … the flow chart was the death of me for like a solid four hours of my 20 hour play through. i didn’t really understand how it worked and i wasn’t sure how to get to another character’s route, so that took quite a bit of fumbling. and then even after that, i had so much trouble unlocking akira’s true ending that i almost skipped it completely. i’m glad i didn’t, but man was it a pain to get! but after getting a handle on it, i think the flowchart is a great way to navigate through the various endings. i’m normally not a completionist, but the gaps in the flow chart just kept making me more and more curious haha. the little minigame was fun! i like the point system combined with unlocking certain side stories.  the overall controls are fine, but i did find myself really annoyed at the precision needed to advance the next line of dialogue. like having to put the cursor right in the little area between the bottom of the screen and the sigil to get it to move forward was just a hassle. 

(in order of play) 

Natsuki 

could not remember this man’s name for the life of me for the longest time 

i was like… kazuha? kagaha? kagima??

eventually i learned, but he was def my favorite when he shows up 

hikage’s trying to act all suspicious of him at first but like… i literally also met you 20 minutes ago???? lay off, he looks nice enough 

i have two types usually. big brother types, and sad/sleepy boy types 

he fit into the first category, and i was instantly like :) okay how do we fall in love 

his route was super sweet! he’s just so kind and gentle with beniyuri 

their first little scene when she’s crying and he’s there with her in her room, and when he frees the butterfly from the light fixture… adorable 

the RINGS when they were KIDS…. *punches hole through wall* 

the common route was so tragic but like… it’s a good pain

his ending where they’re just living together as a couple but it’s all a dream. that one hurt 

but then finding out the lengths he’s willing to go is a bit scary. also kinda hurts that he was lying the whole time  

and like i get it. Mans couldn’t exactly tell me what was up

but when i learned he and hikage had known each other all along i couldn’t help but side eye natsuki like 

anyway childhood sweethearts is an adorable trope and somewhere in some universe i hope he and beniyuri and very happy together </3 

8/10 

Hikage 

this bitch 

on chapter 2:2 i originally chose to go with him 

bc i was like aw :) we started together and we can stay together! 

but then he said “i was hoping to be with someone more dependable” 

my ass instantly opened the flowchart to pick someone else 

like alright fuck you too buddy, come on kagiha, we’ve got places to be 

you’re done. you’re done 

hate the “you think i wouldn’t force myself on a woman?” trope. just fucking get rid of it please 

throw the whole man out 

and when he’s just yanking beniyuri around and suddenly getting all aggressive?? im about to fight his punk ass 

like bro im sorry you were abused and your sister died but seriously what the fuck is wrong with you

i was so sad at first because i thought sweet, soft spoken lil kazuya from the flashbacks really turned into this giant asshole manchild (thankfully that was not the case) 

ugly af when he goes villain mode and the little click-clack of his shoes in skip mode during the fight scenes made me think he had on stilettos which made me unable to take him seriously (what a power move though if true)

liked the whole usagi subplot though, it was nice getting to interact with her more 

and there were a couple of moments in his route that were sweet… like when you’re stuck in the room under the bookshelf and he’s trying to be gentle, or when you’re asking him questions and he indulges you for a bit 

on the whole though, fuck this guy

4/10 

Takuya

while he’s not my favorite character, he is my favorite route 

i feel like there was so much in the main storyline pointing to takuya as the main love interest 

and there was so much more room for emotional connection and development between the two compared to other routes 

the whole midnight rendezvous thing while he was a monster really gave him the upperhand lmao

but i really liked the development between the two, and the gradual softening on takuya’s part. it’s interesting to see his natural defenses go down once he realizes who beniyuri really is to him 

while this is my favorite storyline of the bunch, i do feel like some parts are a little forced. like blaming himself for the entire incident because he loosened the ribbon, or secretly wishing his brother would disappear because he was jealous. not that someone should or shouldn’t feel guilty in that situation, it just seems incongruent with the extent of the emotional turmoil he goes through over it that causes his monster transformation or whatever

and like. going to kazuya (fresh out of a ten-year coma, might i add) to admit all of this felt like a little much. i was like??? maybe give the man a second to breathe before saddling him with all this?? 

but then kazuya said he felt the same and i was like. Okay fair enough 

when….when kazuya asks you to visit him in the hospital 

and afterwards when takuya says you’ve always been sweet on him.,,,,,uo23efk;jffckdk 

liKE WHAT AM I GONNA SAY NO??? 

anyway i really liked the kinship they felt with one another at being stuck in the past 

i just think overall they complimented each other well and the whole resolution of being able to face the world so long as they’re together was very touching <3 

8/10

 Kazuya 

*cue immediate unhealthy attachment*

best boy 

and i mean that 

like……………….. he is So precious to me 

immediately usurped kagiha

that thing that’s like “i’ve had ___ for 24 hours, but if anything happened to him, i’d kill everyone in this room and then myself”

that’s me with kazuya 

shouted “monshirooooooooo” everytime he showed up bc like. that’s my boy what do you mean 

and i just want to protect him at all costs 

and i know i got on akira about being invasive of personal space, but it’s different with kazuya because 1) he has been without human interaction for literally almost a decade and 2) everything he does seems to come from pure intentions 

when aki slept in your bed? hell no. wanted that mf out asap 

when monshiro slipped into your bed and said “is this okay? if it’s bad i will go” 

*tears* sweetheart you can stay as long as you want– 

was ready to throw hands when everyone started ganging up on him

like okay yeah i can’t prove he’s good, but you bitches can’t prove he’s bad, so he’s staying!!! and that’s final. c’mon monshiro let’s ditch these chumps 

monshiro’s a real one 

his route itself wasn’t my favorite though 

it just felt so disconnected from everything else, the same way hikage’s did 

not going through the epilogue just took a lot away from his story for me

but the whole like “i’m a burden and no one wants me, time to plunge myself into darkness” hurt my feelings fr 

fuck hikage for that one bro 

and the ribbon……. the riBBON PLEASE 

all this ribbon does is cause problems smh 

but… when he gives it back to beniyuri and she uses it to save him…….. Yeah 

also felt weird putting any sort on romantic spin on his actions when i was uncertain if he actually knew better or not 

but in the same vein i think that’s what made him so endearing. everything seemed so pure of heart and he genuinely just appreciated beniyuri’s presence, so it was sweet overall 

rather than tinged with the ulterior motives i constantly felt in aki’s interactions 

also his design is so cool!! his fox mask and his cute lil hoodie. i also thought his eyes were very pretty, and his expressions were adorable! 

7/10 for his route, 9/10 for his character 

 Akira 

literally wanted to fistfight him most of the time 

no cap 

especially when he’s talking before the bus trip to the lake about takuya and beniyuri being weak 

like boy if you don’t–

grrr anyway 

also what the hell was wrong with him 

just in general 

like 

why is he so pushy. why is he so handsy 

WHY is he literally assaulting beniyuri before my eyes 

pray tell  

like his true ending did just enough to make me not entirely hate him 

but he’s still on thin fucking ice 

not only that, i also had to play through like seven different times to finally get his true ending

which is mainly my fault, but he’s a bitch so 

3/10 

okay so i know 2/5 of these are very negative, but the inherent violence i feel towards hikage and akira only adds to the love i feel for the other three lmao. the flow chart makes me almost certain that i’m going to come back and replay certain parts whenever i find myself missing them.