Hey there. I finally finished the first half of Nagi no Koi, a free VN that recently received an English translation. I've been playing it on and off again for about two weeks or so now. It's not a long story by any stretch. Its average playtime is considered around 7-8 hours for both halves. I'm just a slow reader at times. Welcome to my review.
all other images sourced directly from the game
The premise for this "chapter" (as it's called in the main menu) was as follows: you play as a man with no memory who washed up on the shore of a small fishing village. Your world, fate and life changed the moment you met Suirin, a young girl of the sea.
I won't be spoiling the ending and some of my thoughts here may apply to the Chapter of the Red Spider Lily, the second half of the story (when I get to reading and finishing that part). I'll start with the structure of the story as a whole, then I'll go into further detail about the presentation.
When you start the game, this is the screen that will greet you. This was one of two instances where the TyranoBuild engine's Live2D framework support was used (the other occurring towards the end of the story). I was hoping to see it more because of how well animated both main heroine's sprites were when I hovered over them. The title card for each chapter had its own unique visual feel and musical cue.
This first story was told through a 5-act structure (despite only numbering 3 of them): a prologue that took place between Act 3 and the Epilogue; a Beginning, Middle and End; and an Epilogue. I'm not sure if the other story will be structured the same way. It spanned across just over a year's time; each act felt somewhat self-contained while also adding to the greater narrative.
This was a kinetic visual novel with the only choice being which story to start with, meaning that the only gameplay was the progressing of the story. Now, was this a well written story with enough meat behind it? For me, a resounding yes. I love reading, and this one took me on a bit of ride, despite mostly being a casual affair. Again, I won't get into the specifics, but it was a very character driven piece of fiction.
Each of the 5 or so cast members had dialogue that filled most of the playtime; their unique dialects and general personalities were varied, allowing for the setting to feel lived in. Only Suirin, the main heroine, and her childhood best friend, Shuenhua, had sprites and voices. I had no issue with this design decision, but some readers might. The lower the scope of the character details provided, the more focus can be placed elsewhere and my own personal imagination can take over.
Both girls were highly detailed with sharp, clean sprites that animated and expressed well. They were from the same general region; their hair, complexion and eyes gave that detail away but they were wholly different individuals altogether with very opposing personalities, which is not always the case for these lower budget projects. Suirin was mostly played with youthful vigor and a tinge of naivety, not that different from a young child, but when there were moments of drama, her voice actress committed to the weight of the "true" her. She was a grown woman but still very young at heart. I felt she had ample time and care given to her backstory to make me "fall in love with her" the way Kai, the player character does.
Shenhua, her friend on the other hand, had me laughing with how much she "hated" him. Her first appearance was in Act 2, and her screen time was cut short. Nonetheless, every delivery from her voice actress would alternate between being friendly for appearances' sake and downright hostile behind closed doors. You could call her a Tsundere (hot/cold lover) but that would almost sell her character short. She was a royal doctor and her introduction was played for comedic effect; her purpose was not as an antagonist but as a bit of characterization for both Suirin and her father while also being the comic relief during some of the more serious moments. These were often related to the Withering Blotch plague (a very probable reference to the 735-737 Japanese smallpox epidemic; see here for information about that).
I found the music and general sound work to be mostly calming and pleasant, fitting the scenes they played in and the simplicity of just living in this community. I'm not going to dive too far into the music due to not finding much information about it online (this was a doujin after all). None of the tracks took me out of the work, most of which seemed to be Japanese traditional pieces. The sound effects, though; those were dripping with detail. There were volume level variations based on distance and location of the sound's source during a couple of the more impactful story beats, improving my immersion.
The static backdrops were where attention to detail truly shined. They weren't all as clean as the sprites, but that's not always the best approach, in my personal opinion. The rough edges and blemishes often add to that feeling of a location being lived in. In the Epilogue, a new location (alluded to but never shown prior) was finally used and had a different art style to it. It was "messily painted" but for story and setting purposes, that made it one of my favorites. A skilled artist knows when to create objectively "bad" art for a purpose; this one was a master.
In this final section, I'm briefly critiquing the English fan translation (see here for instructions on how to obtain and apply it). This wasn't the first translation I've played from them, but, so far, this was one of their cleaner, more natural sounding ones. I noticed one or two areas where genders were interchanged and some of the dialogue didn't flow as well as I'd like (due to some minor typos or strange word structuring and formatting) but those didn't hinder my experience. All of the important details (especially the character writing and world-building) were phenomenal. I fully understood the story and who these people were while also being actively engaged and enjoying my read through. I can't wait to see their next project and hope they continue to improve.
My Closing Thoughts
Should you play this chapter? I think so. Again, the story does lightly touch on some darker elements but was mostly just a relaxed slice of life. Once I finish the other chapter, I'll write a review of that part and then talk about them together as a whole. I don't know what to expect from the rest of this package.
If you enjoyed this review, feel free to reblog, vote and reply. Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful night.