Hanachirasu review by pramit

[pramit 22]

 

Art - I liked it. That's all. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. With that said, i found this preferable than many of other visual novels(better than cross channel at least)

 

Music - Music in hanachirasu was very good. Its very fitting for its theme of pseudo feudal japan(not sure if i can describe it that), sword fights, etc. Music is mostly tailored to fight scenes. Since i can't read japanese, i can't name any of them(all the music titles are in japanese) or tell you which ones i liked.

 

 

Characters -

Akane Takeda - The main character and protagonist for most of the vn, he is the star attraction. He might have made a great antagonist if things were different. He is very much the "anti-hero" character.

Scant regard of morals, lacking in honor or code, disregard of human life, he even lets the person who loves him dearly, die. A man driven by a single ideal, someone who formed his personality based on just one desire for which he will do anything. One of the better protagonist in a visual novel

 

 

Yoshia Igarasu - The antagonist of our story. He is driven by revenge and will stop at nothing to claim it.

He is often shown as the opposite of akane. He cares about the people he kills, and he often expressed grief over his actions. He curses akane for his circumstances. Yet in the end, he does not hesitate to plunge himself in the depths of hell if it can help in his revenge. Interesting character, but i wish there was more on him(background, etc)

 

 

Yumi Takigawa - Since akane is the main focus, some characters like yumi are lacking, for a well written vn like this(then again, this is a short vn). She is shown as being deeply in love with akane, and will do her utmost for him even if he does not reciprocate it properly.

 

Yasaka Ruiki - Yumi's bodyguard. Fierce, old, loyal warrior who has overcome many battles and will protect his master at all costs.

 

Akane's sister -

She plays the role of bringing together the final confrontation. Akane cares deeply about her. Akane is shown sacrificing her life for his desire, but he views it as "giving her life meaning"

 

 

Itsurin - the blacksmith, a neutral character who mostly plays observer in this story.

later on, its revealed that she already knew the outcome when she gave them their swords, so she gives akane a choice of running away and living a normal life(on a whim, possibly). She has feelings for akane, and they had a relationship in the past

 

 

In case your wondering, yes i have omitted a character. Why? because i've uhh...forgotten his name . He's not worth mention anyway, his character is similar to Shinji in FSN.

 

 

 

Story - Every scene is detailed. Unexpected twists at every corner. If you can't bear to see your favorite side characters die, this might not be the vn for you. Each major scene had great impact.

 

Sex scene - the ecchi cg's are few and good. Not much description, its just a filler for the more serious scenes and should be treated as such.

Nope, even the ecchi has some significance in the story(scene between yumi and akane portrays the sort of relationship between them, you can't skip this)

 

 

Fight scenes - This vn has some epic(with lots of description) fight scenes. A lot of explanations too, some of which can become really boring if you don't understand it. I found the sword explanations the most redundant part of the vn.

 

Overall - I disagree with "ratings" or scores...all i have to say is that i highly recommend for you to read this visual novel. Its a short masterpiece

Edited October 28, 2012 by pramit