Visual Novels #3

Aozora Meikyuu (2016)
By: Yume Creations Genre: Visual Novel Players: 1 Difficulty: N/A
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Nothing

After the thorough disappointment of the last visual novel I tried, I didn't have a huge amount of hope that the next one I tried would be much cop either, but this is the one I went for. The protagonist is Aoi Takamatsu, a young man who has dropped out of school and become a shut-in, spending much of his time playing dating sims and VN's probably not too dissimilar to this one. The reason for this dramatic change was the devastating blow of rejection upon confessing his love to his high-school crush. Now he has sworn off love, and indeed personal relationships of any kind, preferring instead to isolate himself and live through his computer. Naturally, however, someone has just quite literally dropped into his life unannounced, giving him a chance to reevaluate his priorities.

The newcomer in question is, quite staggeringly, a young hot girl with pink hair. Who would've thought?! Her calls herself Sora and she falls into his lap from on high, and I mean literally - she falls from the sky and lands on top of him. And she's naked too, obviously. In a highly unusual twist for a visual novel, however, this brief flash of boobage is the only nudity in the game! There are a couple of panty-flashes and some suggestive dialogue/behaviour though. For example, after getting over the shock of Sora's sudden appearance, Aoi-san invites her to stay with him. Shockingly, there are no parents around (they work abroad or something like that), and the only female clothes he has to offer are... his mother's old school uniform. No, that's not weird at all.

She also flirts and teases him a lot and makes it clear she wouldn't object to more physical activities, but this is still the least pervy VN I've so far encountered! Like the last example I looked at, though, there are a number of problems with it. Firstly, there isn't much of a story beyond Sora just turning up without explanation. Aoi carries on as before while doing his best to ignore her anyway, but they inevitably become closer after a while. The reason this is inevitable? Because, aside from a couple of fleeting appearances from another girly called Misaki, they are the only two characters in the game! Also inevitably, this means there isn't exactly a wealth of routes through the game, and there aren't many dialogue choices either. The ones that are here are even timed.

Why Sora even gives him a shot is beyond me though - he's a dick and treats her like crap for most of the game. None of these things exactly draw you into proceedings as you might imagine, but if they did you'd find perhaps the shortest VN ever. I was pootling through it at a fairly leisurely pace and it was done within two hours! If you play it via Steam you will also probably be disappointed to find there is only one achievement - starting the game. Oh well, least it's easy to get 100%! I imagine this must be sounding like the worst VN ever; there must be some positives, surely? Well, the artwork isn't bad. It's far from the best-looking VN I've seen but... compared to the stuff already mentioned? It's pretty decent, and there are a number of CG's to 'enjoy' too, albeit mostly non-nude ones.

There are about ten locations (and therefore backgrounds) in total which isn't a huge number, but they look pretty good. The audio is more of a mixed bag. The music is actually very good - there are some catchy tunes here, but there is no voice-acting at all which was disappointing. The best thing about this VN, though, is Sora's character. Her cheerful manner is very pleasant and her lack of backstory, while annoying during play, makes sense by the end of the game - a highly unexpected twist ending, no less. It's rather abrupt but also memorable, and considering the short duration and comparatively low price point, probably makes Aozora Meikyuu worth one quick play-through. It could've been so much better with a more detailed story and more characters though.

RKS Score: 5/10