Narcissu

Name: Setsumi (CV: Rino Ayakawa). Blood type: O. White bracelet. That is really all the protagonist knows about the girl who he runs away with, after being admitted to the ward on the 7th floor. But nonetheless, the two of them runs away from the hospital in his father’s car, as neither he nor Setsumi want to die there or at their homes. Their journey takes them to a daffodil field on Awaji Island.

This is a freeware by the group Stage Nana, and you can find the game in Japanese, in English or both Narcissu and Narcissu: Side 2nd (in both English and Japanese, both voiced and unvoiced bundled) on Steam.

It’s a kinetic novel, so you could say you’re basically reading a book on your screen, and hence only has a single ending – Setsumi commits suicide by drowning. It’s in the category of “utsuge” or depressing game, but maybe I’m just such an optimist that I see it more positively. Yes, Setsumi committed suicide and the protagonist didn’t do anything to stop her at the end, but Setsumi did choose how and where to die, rather than having no choice whatsoever as she was terminally ill and probably didn’t have long left. In my mind, she was probably happy to die then and there. But that’s only how I interpret the story and its characters.

I really liked this visual novel and as it was short, I didn’t mind using my computer that much. Yeah, I don’t particularly like gaming or reading on my computer screen.

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