I’m not completely done with VNs yet — all the less so as I’m going through an uber-busy patch IRL, with little to no energy to pour into complicated RPGs. Things should settle soon enough; but in the meantime, I’m gonna polish off a couple of VNs, starting with Aokana.
Since I also have little to no time to write, I’m gonna cut to the chase: Aokana is an absolute gem of a VN, full to the brim with loveliness and wholesomeness. Not only is the in-game art a million times better than the cover art, but the artistic team managed to pull off the impossible: to tell a highly dynamic story about a high-velocity aerial sport through screenshots, and to do so in a very convincing and engrossing way. I won’t go into details about the clever tricks used to achieve that feat, from SFX to camera scrolling to movement lines; suffice it to say that they are a great many, and that they do the deed perfectly. To crown that festival of goodness, the OST is absolutely stellar, with a crap ton of tracks that all manage to fit the mood perfectly. I don’t think I’ve ever played a VN with that many musical themes, and they’re all so excellent that I’m seriously itching to import the OST.
Aokana’s production values are top-tier indeed; but a VN lives and dies by its story, and Aokana doesn’t have to worry about the latter. It offers one of the most impossibly wholesome stories I’ve ever had the joy of playing, a story that’s both adorable and riveting. It also stars one of the most loveable cast I’ve ever had the pleasure of rooting for, a cast you just cannot help but love to pieces. Now, it wasn’t long before I learnt that Aokana was originally an adult VN rife with steamy scenes — that is, before it was made safe for work upon reaching our shores. Dare I say that I have mixed feelings about that choice, and that I kinda regret not being made privy to the crew’s intimate activities? Yup, I’ll say it. I’m not especially a fan of adult VNs, especially adult VNs involving protagonists that are barely adults; but in the case of Aokana, I strongly feel that steamy scenes would only have crowned the game’s wholesomeness and made the story absolutely perfect. It would have been the cherry on the cake, a way to emphasize that one can have everything in life — the competition thrill, the friendship, the lovey-dovey cuteness and the red-hot lust.
Still, Aokana is awesome as it is, and I totally encourage all my fellow VN fans to play it. It rekindled the youngish enthusiasm I used to feel when reading shonens 20 years ago, and have not felt for nearly as long; if it had this effect on jaded old me, then I’m confident it can have this effect on everyone. I’ll see you soon with a run report, dear fellow gamers; in the meantime, keep playing and take care!
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