Black Lily's Tale

The art, writing, and world are all wonderfully created. This work additionally address many social issues in a bold way that few games do

游戲方面建議直接看攻略，當普通的視覺小説就好，我看著攻略玩都覺得選項很白癡 故事方面還ok，主要是很喜歡角色們和他們之間的互動 而且免費DLC還要手動加入這點也很白癡

This VN for me is a clear case of where we need a "neutral" option. It had both very positive and very negative points about it that I'd like to write about a bit more. Let's start with the pros. A) As someone who has experienced a similar situation to Hana/Natsu, I do think this scenario taps into the dilemma someone faces in a conservative society to be who they truly are if they are a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. This is something I think the writers really nailed when thinking about the tough situations they wrote for Hana/Itsuki and Natsu/Shu. That is to say, the fear of facing social suicide is a real threat even now for many. This really shined with the inclusion of that extra route for Rin where you can see how traumatic/scarring those opposing forces can be on someone's psyche/mental health. B) By showing this discrimination and the microaggressions for what they are, as a result, I think it provides an interesting story dynamic (in theory) that should keep the reader interested since there is a lot of power in this kind of narrative for its target audience (presumably members of the LGBTQIA+ community and, especially, lesbian readers). But, unfortunately, I think this is a case where the ideas on paper just sound a lot better than the actual execution. That is -- A) I just can't sense the chemistry between Itsuki and Hana besides them being good friends. I admit this is an entirely personal judgment on my part, but, for me, it lacks that obvious passionate connection (or tortured emotional connection) that you get in, say, the "Flowers" series where they face an identical problem but still choose to make a clear decision about their fates. Yuzuriha/Neri or even Chidori and Erika make for MUCH MORE INTERESTING reading. B) The writing is oh so repetitive and the mystery elements, if there were any, aren't really that much of a mystery. You see the narrative cogs coming from a mile away and, in my case, I found myself skimming a lot of this just to get to the point in the story when that real exciting narrative content actually happens. C) Unnecessary extra routes. It's a nice idea to give each character their own POV, but that shouldn't mean repeating 80-90% of the same exact storyline just with slightly different narration. It's also arguable that some of Hana's loops with the annotated comments could have been cut significantly since this was just pure repetition in many places. D) In general, the actual happy SoL stuff in this is just extremely boring to read. This may be connected to what I feel is the general lack of chemistry between the main leads. There was nothing wrong with it per se -- it was just "stuff students do." There's no reason WHY that should be 8-10 hours of the content. E) I think the writers approached this narrative in a sort of bipolar way and couldn't decide which element to prioritize. The dystopian elements were ridiculous and the concepts (BioPhones, special wireless internet -- WIFI) could be something from modern society now. In fact, I'd argue that there was no need to use a dystopian society or "SDP indoctrination" as a background when society itself already is doing a GREAT JOB of treating minority communities like s***. Throwing in happy SoL moments in the middle of a cartoonish dystopian setting felt really strange and I can't say it was very convincing to me as a reader. You might like this though - it's just my personal complaint. The soundtrack was okay, but it had a whiplashy tendency to shift into obvious mood tracks depending on the nature of the scene. If they had tightened up the script and perhaps found a way to make the characters a bit more of a romantic pair, in short, I would've enjoyed this a lot more since there are a fair number of interesting elements at work in the actual story. Recommended with a lot of reservations.