Drowning Song of the Stagnant Sea

A haunting tale of the pursuit of beauty, the monster that dwells beneath the skin, and two girls who are really good friends.

Though relatively short, this vn is an emotional journey with shades of grey in a visceral and tragic world. I don't want to spoil everything, but go in expecting ephemeral moonlit meetings rather than carefree romance and be aware that despite the chibi art the story explores some extremely dark themes.

very short, very emotional, very doomed, very liberating the main story only took about 2 hours for me to read through, and i tend to read at a pretty slow and intentional pace. not a whole ton of extra content - there doesn't need to be. the plot does a really good job using supernatural themes in support of relatable narratives. it is easy to read themes about objectification and political oppression (and emancipation) from the plot without it feeling like you're being bashed over the head. the emotional notes hit hard - while it borrows subject matter that i've seen done *very poorly* in the past it manages to pull it off without feeling cliché. some other reviewers found it depressing, which i guess i can understand. it's definitely *sad*. however, rather than feeling hopeless, i actually found the narrative pretty liberating and empowering - sometimes a relationship doesn't have to *last* for it to transform and motivate you. gisela did nothing wrong.