#like. dating sim where you trick the characters into revealing they remember the past runs and explore different responses to it

[tmos-time]

guy who sees the inherent weight of humanity and people present in fictional characters: yeah im normal about bringing characters to life by experiencing them through a meta-narrative that directly interacts with the creator and/or the observer why do you ask

[tumblunni]

BUNNI PLAYS MORE OF HATOFUL BOYFRIEND HOLIDAY STAR! I’ve kinda been using this as my reward after tough days, so its been almost a year now and I’ve only just got to chapter 3! It was a good strategy tho, cos stretching it out kinda makes up for the fact i was spoiled on the ending. I dont really have the same big drive to finish it all in one day when there’s no enigma.

ANYWAY! Thoughts below! For chapter 3!

* AAAAAA?!?!?! Somehow ive seen so much spoiler discussion but nobody even told me we kinda got HAPPY NAGEKI TIMES???? Like, it seems this game just ambiguously exists in some weird universe where every ending is canon and none of them are. Its less of a direct sequel and more of a sidestory that could have taken place during the school year but just wasn’t shown. BUT I DID NOT KNOW That it was a swoodly woodly timey wimey reinterpretationy where protagonist could do nageki’s route WITHOUT his soul fading away, and then introduce him to all the other characters and THEY ALL BECOME FRIENDS???? I mean its not like a proper big good ending or anything but its a good ending compared to what he got! I want poor ghost boy to find some small happinesses before he fades away!! Also its nice to see interactions between him and everyone else that arent just manga omakes and developer interview stuff.

* MIRU AND KAKU I LOVE MY SWEET MUTANT CHILDREN they get just as excited by post christmas astronomy club party too ‘The moon went peek a boo’ I JUST FUCKIN THEYRE SO SWEET TINY DESTRUCTIVE MENACES OF CHRISTMAS PLEASE NOBODY EVER HARM THEM

* The whole intro to the whole actual Holiday Star kingdom plot is really well done! Its cool how they suddenly throw a more impactful and dark sort of sidestory at the end of a bunch of comedic ones, and it was a really good misdirect to have it just like.. interrupt mid-scene? Everybody watching the eclipse and then mid sentence its just ‘oh yeah we were totally on this magical train all along, nothing weird about this- WAIT A SECOND’. I think its actually more surprising than the protagonist’s death in the first game cos there’s absolutely NO sense of incoming dread or anything! It managed to be still surprising even though I was spoiled for all of this happening! I just didnt know HOW it happens, yknow?

* also this design for a sky clock thing is a cool design for a sky clock thing

* can nageki be canon boyfriend i’m just happy to have him having a secondary protagonist role in a sidestory, at least! but seriously he is my favourite and the only one i actually really shipped with protagonist aside from sakuya. Those two I like as pairings, the rest i just like as characters and i think their route would have been mostly the same even without the dating sim aspects. Okosan is my best friendo, nageki is my sweet dead husbando~!

* “We’re finally on a date in outer space, and I forgot my spacesuit!” okay first: HILARIOUS and second: CONFIRMED! nageki is the boyfriend for this particular sidestory at least, even if it doenst mean there’s any one official canon boyfriend or anything so this means we actually are seeing like a retconned version of his dating route where he dinnae fade away all sad like THANK YOOOOOOOUUUU now just DONT LET THIS DAMN SPACE TRAIN TAKE HIM king dude i have been spoilered that you are a sympathetic villain but nonetheless i will still punch u if u hurt nagekkooo

* Random, but I like the way they show all the citizens of the kingdom as starry silhouettes except for The King and the cool stationmaster crow dude.

* Also I really love the art style for The King and the cool stationmaster crow dude! Hatoful can have a very nice art style when they actually do draw stuff instead of just use bird photos. I’m not one of those people who wishes the game was all gijinkas, but it would be nice if there was a patch or something to replace the static photos with the cartoony bird designs they have in the manga! So its nice to see at least one bird who gets to show emotion faces, even if his deliberately different art style is supposed to be unnerving.

* Also I really like his third person constant past tense silly as heck speaking style, it was a nice way to translate the japanese! I’ve heard he had a very particular speaking style in japanese that was like a parody of royal speech or something? This works!

* NOOOOO I INSTANTLY LOVE HIM Even if I totally know he’s gonna end up being a scary villain at some point!! I can already instantly tell why he’s such a popular sympathetic one!! *sniff* *ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE SAD FACE* “The king does not mind. The king is not crying.” I WOULD GIVE MY HEART FOR YOU, THE KING is this how he does his villainy he’s just so sympathetic nobody ever wants to leave

* MIRU AND KAKU LEARNED A NEW WORD I AM SO PROUD OF THEM HAPPY NEW YEAR!

* OH NO DREAM WORLD SHUU RUNS A GODDAMN RESTAURANT WE’RE ALL DOOMED oh god protagonist is ‘tricked’ by a bunch of signs just telling her to pour salt and pepper on herself and walk into an oven *DOOM PIANO TONE* Nageki: *GASP* Protagonist: Well, that’s awfully polite of them! Nageki: *three paragraph explanation* Protagonist: oh ... Both: *bust the goddamn door down, screaming*

* Okay thats actually very annoying that the first and only choice in like twenty minutes of story can lead to a game over... I hadnt thought to save beforehand cos there werent any gameovers in the other sidestories! time to go replay from the start and le skippinate thru the stuffs~

* OH somehow we were supposed to know that protagonist’s left side kick would hit shuu in the right side and thus succeed??? dude, hitting a guy in the disabled arm is low, even when he’s trying to murder you! (okay, its KINDA forgiven when he’s trying to murder you! XD)

* Lol, Yuuya winds up in the game by literally blowing a hole in the visual novel background texture! I love all this dream logic!

* THE KING’S DELICATE MAIDENLY J-POP HEROINE HEART

* AWWWW!! most of the dream logic quests have just been funny, and I mean this one was too with the strawberry fishing sequence, but it was really sweet to have nageki accidentally recognise dream-hitori as his brother and give him back his real name. And then everyone parts happily even though nobody remembers each other... but hoooo boy hitori, i know that certain spoiler things are gonna happen involving you soon, yup yupppp...

* And then the DUN DUN DUN reveal of the classic cutesy ending to the sidestory being cut short, and everyone being trapped in this dream. Da DOOOOOM! Man, now I cant wait to play the final part, dammit!!! I AM READYING MY CRYING MUSCLES