Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo - Playthrough Thoughts

[Haika 12]

So, after a fairly long break from eroge, I picked up Sharin no Kuni and started to play it. Highly rated on the vndb it's one of the few in the top 30 I hadn't played so I figured I'd give it a shot.

 

So far it's very mentally provoking. The obligation system seems extreme in some areas and extremely lax in others. Murder someone and you just can't have kids. That seems like a great idea... but if that's the only punishment.. The main character obligations are the important ones, so I'm going to spoiler up, and talk about them some. Shouldn't be a massive spoiler, but I'm not looking to get spoilers any more than I am to give them, so be careful if you reply(I'm only about halfway through the common route, can't play like I used to).

 

 

 

Let's start with Natsumi. The 'No contact with the opposite gender' seems VERY extreme for the given(so far) heartbreaker lifestyle. I don't even know when cheating and sleeping around(if that's even the cause here) became a crime. That seems odd to me, even though I'm not done with the common route yet, I'm hoping more will be explained here. Being a visual novel, this one seems the most troublesome. The psychological effects are huge to think about, and yet at the same time, if someone were truely deserving of this badge it almost seems like they would have to be strong enough to live with it. Yet we are presented with a shy(ish) and broken girl. Great for a story and cliche, but bad on my logic braincells.

 

Sachi's '12 hours of stopped time' seems much more livable than the other two. Though it seems physically dangerous, and while the game tries to say it has the same trauma 'not being able to see the stars' seems kinda sad in comparison. As I've said, I'm not very far into the game, but I really hope she was a hacker or traded insider information or something related to her computer and money transations. A part of me worries greatly, that this obligation is put on her to try and make her 'enjoy her childhood' or 'get away from the computer'. If that's the case I'm going to be very upset. The whole obligation system seems to work on the fact that it's replacing the prison system the world currently has, with all it's flaws and the like. If they start giving out obligations for cultural abnormality it falls apart to me. (Plus I think Sachi is probably tops on the attractiveness at least to me, to put it simply her sprite is pretty hot.)

 

The final girl Onoe has the obligation of 'absolute parental obedience'. This one just confuses the hell out of me. I don't understand what would force such a rule(backed up by law and the threat of death). Sure, kids rebelling against their parents are bad, and like the obligation above I really hope there is something more serious behind this that might make up for it. As it is, it makes the child a pure slave of the parent, psychologically I can only see this driving a wedge between the family and turning the child into a slave until the obligation pushes the child over the breaking point into rebelling in more extreme ways. And then it seems like as a parent I would be scared to death to EVER order anything of my child because I could result in their death. The logic of a parent enslaving the child like the game presents is broken all over the place.

 

Finally let me talk a bit about the 'Special High Class Citizen' thing. The whole concept seems like it should have a much better name, or at least be shortened to SHCC or something. The first opening scene is extremely shocking. These enforcers and judges are quickly shown to be outside the law and obligation system like texas rangers to the extreme(sure am using that word frequently here). I can assume those entering to become a Cadet do so knowing the risks of failure, but the game never says anything about that, so you are left wondering if the result of that first scene is normal or just the old guy being again 'extreme'. Shooting the other candidate dead in the middle of the road seems a bit much for being a few minutes late. I know the point is to drive home the seriousness of the system and push how dangerous the old SHCC is, but it again seems a bit broken in the flow of things.

 

The main character seems quite awesome, though I'm having trouble figuring out what parts are real and what are a planned and calculated Maou-level intellect. At least that's the hope. I was cracking up at the recording of sizzling sounds and banging the frypan scene. I worry however that parts of his craziness are real and not just misdirection.

 

 

 

It seems like quite a few of the better VN's have this oppressive extreme situations in them. Like Yume Miru Kusuri, things get out of hand here quickly. While interesting, there's a level of stress and disbelief that I have trouble with on these more realistic(if extremely distorted) games than I do with the supernatural ones like the Type Moon games. It makes it hard to continue playing for long periods, so for now I'm going to take a break, and finish up my little ramble here. Hopefully I'll continue with this, and feel the urge to let you all know how it goes as I experience more of the game.

[iLoveTsundere 10]

I would like to remind the douchebaggery wise words of a douchefag insightful member of vndb : "Sharin no Kuni deserves a 1 because the main heroine is ANDROPHOBIC."

[desi 53]

Although giving your thoughts halfway through the game is fine, it seems you are assuming way too much so far. It seems you are trying to put too much logic into a VN that focuses on a pretty unique setting. This is sort of a copy+pasta from a post I had a few days ago when someone was talking about Sharin - "When I play VNs, I usually just throw all logic out the window and engross myself with the particular setting that is presented. Almost all VNs that I've played have some type of unrealistic setting, so I don't think it's feasible in my mind to comment on how realistic a VN is." Just be careful.. I know you said you aren't finished yet but there are a few spoilerish things that still haven't been revealed. Things really kick off in Chapter 4 + 5 but i'm afraid if you're using the "not very believable argument", I question how much you'll enjoy it.

[Haika 12]

To be honest, I've barely started, moreso than being halfway through. As to enjoying it, well.. it has me interested enough to post all this? So I'd say there's at least that. And it does have the feel of a grip on me, like some of the better VN's have as you read them. That urge of wanting to read more. So I suppose time will tell.

[OneManArmy 82]

stuff

Yep, you'll enjoy snk the most if you're accepting its world and system.

[phantasm 10]

Still remember that moment when I finished SnK .It was fulfilling(^_^).

[Lanselot 10]

Although giving your thoughts halfway through the game is fine, it seems you are assuming way too much so far. It seems you are trying to put too much logic into a VN that focuses on a pretty unique setting. This is sort of a copy+pasta from a post I had a few days ago when someone was talking about Sharin - "When I play VNs, I usually just throw all logic out the window and engross myself with the particular setting that is presented. Almost all VNs that I've played have some type of unrealistic setting, so I don't think it's feasible in my mind to comment on how realistic a VN is." Just be careful.. I know you said you aren't finished yet but there are a few spoilerish things that still haven't been revealed. Things really kick off in Chapter 4 + 5 but i'm afraid if you're using the "not very believable argument", I question how much you'll enjoy it.

 

That's so true, and it applies to many many more things than just Galges. People tends to speak about "realism" but, what is that exactly? To me, realism in a work (like a Galge, a book or a film) means how well together the author/s has put the pieces together. If you say that the sun is red, and somewhat later you describe a blue sun, the realism of the work falls appart. But saying that a book which has elves is not realistic is a lie, basically.

 

But, yeah, basically, you really need to grasp the realism of each Galge before playing it because, for "neutral realism", animated characters talking from our PCs does not look real at all, for starters.

 

 

 

Also, on another note... are things that "cold"? All the pictures and reviews I have read about tend to put SnK as an overall "happy" Galge, but I'm starting to wonder wether it's that or more dramatic than I though.

[iLoveTsundere 10]

TL;DR = Sharin will eventually make your brain collapse due to its awesomeness.

[Harlequin 17]

TL;DR = Sharin will eventually make your brain collapse due to its awesomeness.

 

Indubitably, my good sir. I do declare this to be true! *corrects the monocle*

[Le_Chimp 10]

You are way to early in the game all of these problems you see are pretty much explained later.

 

I'm going to talk about each girl's obligation why they have it and what I think it is meant to show.

 

This is massive spoilers I'd recommend finishing the game 1st as I'm really going to spoil here.

 

You said you don't want to be spoiled so don't click this!

 

I just want to discuss the themes a bit so comeback once you are done, or other people wanting to discuss this great game

 

 

The whole reason with the 4 girls' obligations is to show the corruption of the system, It begins to show the punishment system as some sort of superior system and some may argue that the punishments are more fitting and better then our system of just jail for everything, this is discussed in the game right at the start.

 

Then it shows the 3 girls with obligations and like you are now wondering why this superior system is punishing these girls, they must of done something wrong, no one would be punished for no good reason.

 

First we have Sachi, Because of loans in order to live having lost her parents, then having no way to pay back the loan she started gambling trying to make it back eventually she had to declare bankruptcy, now in this country there is no forgiving of the debts, the county pays back her loan and she gets straddled with the obligation of stopped time. This shows the corporate influence and corruption in the country, what happened was a bank lent money to a child let her rack up a massive debt they knew she couldn't pay back and then got the country to pay it out. this is one of the ways the obligation system is show to become perverted and being abused to make money off the innocent and young. Even the way she can remove the obligation not only by becoming rehabilitated but by simply paying money shows it's not about rehabilitation but only about money.

 

Next Touka with absolute obedience, in Touka's case she has the obligation simply because her parents applied for it, again this is further perversion of the system, what would of happen is this system was made for bad kids staying out late stealing vandalising this obligation was imposed to give their parents some control over their children a good idea, then the wealthy started applying for this oblation on their own kids for more and more trivial things eventually the rich simply applied for and got this obligation because they wanted control over their kids. this is meant to demonstrate the system being used to oppress the younger generation to the whims and needs of the older no longer trying to understand their children simply using force and threats to make the children comply with their views and values.

 

Next Natsumi with no contact, She simply has the obligation because she turned down a boy who then accused her. Because of the boys position and the corruption in the system she was interrogative until she broke and straddled with he obligation. this case is much more of a direct/simple corruption person didn't get what they wanted they abused the system to punish her.

 

as you can see none of the girls did anything to deserve the punishment and simply victims of the system

 

All in all the system of the country is meant to show that the punishment and intentions of any justice system will eventual become manipulated and abused for:

 

Profit (Sachi)

To force their views on others (Touka)

Personal Gain (Natsumi)

And to stop descent when someone points out the corruption (Ririko)

 

One of the main themes of the game is the corruption of the system. your still in the System is good and just stage of the game as you progress you will see the cracks and it will make more sense.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2012 by Le_Chimp

[iLoveTsundere 10]

I would say by around the time when

Houzuki shoots and kills Eri in cold-blood right at the beggining

, thats when you really start to feel that the System isnt as perfect as it seems.