Overview
This post contains spoilers, so play the game first. A friend introduced me to this game. Here’s the official website:
This friend is the same one I previously introduced Enjoy the Diner to, so they should know my tastes. I started the game with high expectations.
Here, I’ll summarize the game and share my thoughts.
Summary
- Five students form a streaming group with zero morals. During their activities, they murder Nomura-san.
- Kisaragi-san, who is falsely accused, obtains video evidence of the group’s crime and sends it to the police, but receives no response. Suffering from the backlash against his family, he takes his own life.
- One of the group members' fathers holds a high position in the police force, so the investigation is halted, and the case is classified as an “unsolved case” (a case that is deliberately shelved due to police circumstances).
- Kisaragi’s younger sister decides to take revenge on the streaming group and the public. She gains followers through events like the "Happy 77.7 Billion Incident," the launch of the SAMEJIMA website, and the "Urban Myth Dissolution Center" BooTube channel.
- Using her followers, Kisaragi’s sister steals an HDD containing evidence that the streaming group murdered her brother.
- She creates a pure-hearted persona named Fukurai Azami and operates as a staff member of the Urban Myth Dissolution Center. Through her innocence and the keen insight inherited from her true self, she gains the trust of those around her and eventually gains access to the police’s archive of unsolved cases, known as "The Closet."
- She broadcasts the evidence of the group’s crime nationwide and uploads the personal information of all SNS users to the internet, completing her revenge. Since she used the police servers as a stepping stone, even this incident itself had to be classified into "The Closet."
Thoughts
- Wow, I really enjoyed this!
- The catchy characters, the ending theme, the episodic mystery format that turns out to be all connected... It felt like watching a drama, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
- Pixel art is amazing! What is it about pixel art that makes it so charming?
- Azami is adorable! The story follows her as she confronts the scumbag streaming group, but no matter how much malice or hostility comes her way, she absorbs it all with her innocence. From the start, I loved her positivity, born from her airheaded nature. But of course, that personality was designed to be lovable by others...
- I absolutely love stories where the personality of a character I adore turns out to have been deliberately crafted for convenience. It makes me feel like my emotions were played with, and I get this satisfying “I’ve been had!” feeling.
- Rokka no Yuusha (Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers), which I love to death, had a similar theme. Yamagata-sensei, I’m begging you, please continue it!
- (2022-11-12) Yamagata Ishio's Tatakau Shisho… and Speculating on the Future of Rokka no Yuusha
- Also, and this is very important—whenever Azami activates her “power,” she becomes a glasses girl. (Midori-san loves glasses girls.)
- Jasmine-senpai is so cool! The ultimate big sister figure! Azami constantly wants to report everything to Jasmine-senpai, and honestly, if I had a senpai like that, I’d want to tell them everything too.
- Because the main characters were so compelling, I was able to get through even the most unpleasant parts of the story. When characters are captivating, no matter how the story unfolds—even if the middle part drags a bit—you can still enjoy wondering “How will these fascinating characters react to this situation?” It’s like the charm of a road movie.
- The difficulty of the puzzle-solving segments was very easy, but at the same time, just tricky enough that they were challenging when drinking. The balance was perfect. If a puzzle is too hard, I lose motivation to solve it, but if you follow the text properly, you can experience that “I did it!” moment along with Azami. It’s a great way to accumulate lighthearted success experiences.
- I suspected from the beginning that the Center Director’s "power"—clairvoyance—was dubious. But Azami’s power too…? This twist reminded me of Medium: Reibai Tantei (Medium: The Psychic Detective).
- Since I fell in love with the characters, I really wish this game had a post-clear setting art collection, like Enjoy the Diner. There isn’t even a way to review in-game illustrations since the game lacks a save feature, right?
