Hira Hira Hihiru

Positive

• A visual novel using a zombie-like disease to draw attention to the way society treats people with mental health issues, disabilities, or otherwise 'strange' behaviour. ...If that sounds too broad, or the parallel grates against you, I would recommend trying the demo first. I can understand people for whom this setup would speak to, and others who might find the parallels drawn offensive. There were a lot of sympathetic characters in complicated situations, though the aerodema siblings were probably my favourite. I don't know the Taisho setting very well, but in addition to its main conceit, the story touched on inequality, feminism, urban vs rural living, globalisation, changing unjust systems and other themes I appreciated. I still think that it leaned a little more towards sympathy for the relatives of aerodema patients rather than the affected themselves. The latter half of the story helped address that somewhat, but I felt it could have been handled better. Similarly with female characters - I understand the point they were trying to make in terms of their limited choices, but I think the text could have found a way to give them at least more internal agency. I very much enjoyed the game aesthetically, the art style matches the grounded-but-fantastical premise well and the voice acting was enjoyable, with music being unobtrusive (though not standout), and all of these being in service to the text. Choices are sparse and mostly straight-forward, so the focus is more on the possible stories than working things out. With my previous caveats - if you do try the demo and enjoy it - I would recommend getting the full game.

Negative

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