02/10/2018

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly: The romance that never was


Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a fantastic visual novel. It oozes style and beauty, boasts a mesmerizing atmosphere, stars a cast that has charisma in spades and is dressed to kill, and sports a life-saving flowchart system that guarantees that you won't ever miss an ending. Cherry on the cake, it also has a lush soundtrack and an unexpected yet delightful shooting mini-game. It's an awesome game that I just loved playing; and yet, it's also a bit of a rip-off.


Despite being part of Aksys' 'Summer of Mystery' campaign and being branded as an otome game, PBB is actually a regular visual novel masquerading as an otome game. Sure, a couple of its endings have romantic overtones; however, there is no actual romancing in that game. All the staples of otome games, from romantic routes to affection-raising dialogue choices to good&bad character endings, are nowhere to be found in PBB. Instead, the game boasts branching paths by the truckload, making it more akin to a gamebook than to a true-blue otome. All in all, playing PBB is not about romancing handsome beaus while distractedly following a story that is more often than not a vehicle for l'amour; it is about unraveling a mystery and uncovering all the narrative strings that, put together, create a gorgeous tapestry of a story.


Since I'm mentioning the story, here's my two cents' worth: it was well built and well told, with nary a plothole and many a plot twist, and I really loved it overall. However, I would have adored it, had the writers implemented the following suggestions (spoilers ahead!):

— Make Monshiro less of a vegetable and more of an actual teenage boy, with testosterone and the like. I know Monshiro is supposed to be the calm type; but there's a not-so-subtle difference between a quiet and shy character and a character who's completely lifeless and apathetic. Not to mention that after ten years spent in a monster-infested psychedelica, Monshiro should have grown into a grizzled, rugged lone ranger à la Aragorn rather than into the wimp he is.

— Don't make every single beau secretly in love with Ai since, forever. This is trite and lazy, and there's only so much suspension of disbelief a player can apply before discarding the story as maudlin crap. The 'childhood friend who's been secretly in love with the heroine for years' trope works better when it's scarcely used. 


— Concurrently, make the cast mixed. Since there is no romancing to speak of, it's perfectly possible to introduce more female characters and thus more interesting situations. How about a rivalry between Ai and a female childhood friend, which ultimately gets resolved in the manor? How about unrequited love, or even a whiff of love triangle? All this would be more thrilling than a bunch of boys enamoured with little Ai for seemingly no other reason than her being the only girl in the group.

— A bit more narrative gusto, please. I know that VNs are developed on a budget as a rule; but surely it should be possible to give the beaus a modicum of depth and subtlety and make them more than walking otome clichés all the more so as PBB is not an actual otome game. Apart from Hikage, who is by far the most complex and well-developed character, every single member of the cast is just a lose asemblage of speaking patterns, stylish poses and gimmicky behaviours including Ai/Beniyuri, who's little more than a placeholder for the player despite playing a central role in the story. PBB's premise is quite excellent, and it deserves solid characters that make it shine rather than dull it.


Since there are no character routes in PBB, there's no route report ahead, and thus come my final words about the game. If you want mystery in a stylish packaging, with little to no ending hassle, then give PBB a try; on the other hand, if you want to woo anime beaus until you swoon, you're definitely better off giving PBB a miss. I'll see you soon with the next 'Summer of Mystery' instalment, dear fellow gamers; until then, thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

2 comments:

  1. I personally loved this game; I have plenty of other otome games, so having one masquerade as one is fine as long as the plot is good. And boy did this one sink its hooks on me; despite working overtime, I finished this in two days. Let's just say sleep got a little bit ignored.

    I haven't worked up the energy to play the second game though. Mostly because I'm worried it won't be as good as this one. The plot synopsis is ehhhh....

    I kinda forgive Monshiro for acting like a vegetable, since well, that's what his body has been like for 10 years. Better than stupid blonde dude who had NO chemistry with AI; you can tell how much I disliked him from the fact I don't even remember his name despite loving the game. I remember everyone else's (both) names, but not his. And I finished his route last since that was the recommended route order >:/ Not a good way to end a great game.

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    1. Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk is a mixed bag. It actually had more potential than Black Butterfly, but squandered said potential through uninspired narrative choices and poor storytelling. But more on that soon. ^^

      Monshiro being creepily meek is only the beginning of my issues with that character. How come he never met Usagi despite spending ten years in the psychedelica? Why does he still act so much like his past self even after all that time? How come he didn't let go and depart for the afterlife long ago? How come he didn't mature at all despite spending ten years alone in a creepy parallel world? What Monshiro experienced in the psychedelica was real as far as he was concerned, and it should have molded him into a hard and ruthless loner ready to anything to save his skin. In fact, that's how he came across in the intro sequence: his bearing and body language in the scene where he shoots a monster to save Hikage and Beniyuri display some sharpness and toughness that completely evaporate later on. Talk about not living up to expectations.

      To be honest, I didn't feel like any of the guys had any chemistry with Ai. The story would have worked just as well with no romance involved, maybe even better.

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