Wow. I guess they aren't lying when they put the adventure tag on the game, that was such a ride with so many events and little moments packed into this story. Granted, I am not a veteran at visual novels and I read at a breakneck speed of 3 words per second. Though, I can confidently say that this visual novel is very close to being a masterpiece.

Visuals, voice acting and the music are all pretty much impeccable. Ryusei wasn't exaggerating when he got down to his knees due to 'cuteness intake overload' from Ginka. And the osts fits the overall vibe of current situation well.

One of the best thing they've done is how they handled side characters. The events of the story revolves mostly around the misunderstanding between Ginka and Ryusei that somehow spiraled into a supernatural sword fight with the end goal of removing a defected god. But they still manage to properly flesh out the side characters by giving us a deep dive into their personality and even character development. I find Souji's dynamic between Ryusei the most interesting. The path of him going from being an absolute hater that would call Ryusei a misfortune god and blaming everything bad that happened onto him to acknowledging the fact that Ryusei is important in his life is peak bromance development that many BL fiction wishes to have, and solidifies his position as the goat of glasses wearing male side character archetype. Himawari is the outlier here as I find her to be sort of one dimensional. Still a nice side character regardless.

For the weakness (in my opinion), the plot convenience. The first priestess' wish that manifested into a butterfly somehow found its way to Ryusei for him to grant it and end the curse conveniently, which leads to god being free, reattaining its wish granting powers and with a snap of its fingers put Ryusei and Ginka into the most ideal chain of events, where there are no longer curses, misunderstandings, or chances of Ryusei dying in the surgery. Now, I am not some masochistic monster that thirsts for tragic endings, but all of this so abruptly and conveniently that I kinda find it hard to digest.

The ending of the 'Next' section is my personal favourite part of the entire game. After all the struggles the characters went through, the blood, sweat, and tears finally comes into fruition as the game brings the player back to the starting point where the tragedy that lead to the events of the story is supposed to happen. Except this time Ryusei get to fulfill his promise of letting Ginka have a taste of candied apple. All the tragedies, deaths and cries we've seen before in this supposed scene are nowhere to be found, as if it was all just a long, long dream. This is, what I can say without a doubt, masterful writing at play as it makes the player feel the same way as Ryusei. I started tearing up when Ryusei and Ginka confessed to each other, but what made me cried was Ryusei cherishing the fact that he is alive and the ed drop. To finally witness the happy conclusion of their love and Ryusei's change of attitude towards his life really feels rewarding, as if I am the one going through the adventure alongside them. Ed drop is literally the perfect sendoff to all of this, this majestic piece got me feeling as if i just finished a masterpiece in the cinemas.

How great it is to be alive.

9.5/10