Comments on: Narcissu: a brief review of a brief visual novel

By: Key and the Art of Tragedy

Key and the Art of Tragedy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:24:56 +0000

[...] common complaints about tragic stories, being that you can see the end from the moment you begin. She Dies At The End, as some would call it: a story in which the tragedy is so prevalent that there isn’t even a [...]

By: Pepe

Pepe — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:12:26 +0000

Right now I’m planning a Visual Novel and your post helped me remember Narcissu…

I really liked it back then…

The slow pace and all made me think of a little more realistic story. Something that could happen to me.

It was dull just like that…

But… still it’s “something”.

By: ETERNAL

ETERNAL — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:04:15 +0000

Crying does not make a good story, indeed; tragedy alone isn’t nearly enough to make something genuinely “sad”. However, Narcissu definitely worked on me, probably as well as AIR; I think it was partially the inevitability of it all that I enjoyed. Either way, though, it was my first VN, so my opinion is more or less on the biased side ;P

By: lolikitsune

lolikitsune — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:09:27 +0000

Good job, CCY!

It’s easy to be cynical about Narcissu… but it’s easy to be cynical about SaiKano, or 5cm/s, or any number of serious/sad works. They shine when we take them seriously.

As for existentialism and a search for meaning, well, yeah. If we look for something in Narcissu, it’s fairly likely that we won’t find it: the characters certainly haven’t found anything except a conclusion to story that had no plot (“die @ 7f/home” is pretty much the sum of their lives IIRC). What drives them is a rejection of everything more than an acceptance of anything.

There’s one thing we’ll find if we look for it, though, and that’s emotion.

-Dr. lolikit

By: omo

omo — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:58:15 +0000

I always thought, because it’s translated and legit and all, that Narcissu is a great example of how the visual novel medium is suppose to work. It’s also short enough to at least be able to tempt casual but curious folks into playing.

So it’s great to see blog posts like this.

By: Setsukyie

Setsukyie — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:50:33 +0000

Have this game on my PC for years..
But didn’t have the time to finish it..
More over, I have Fate/Stay Night to suck up my time.
And it’s a looooong game..>_<

By: Owen S

Owen S — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:47:20 +0000

You’re not supposed to cry at Fate/stay night.

(deargodpleaseletthereversepsychologyworkpleasepleasepleaseplease)

By: IKnight

IKnight — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:46:37 +0000

I remember that I read Narcissu while watching Kanon and unfortunately it left me Ruined For Shiori. As you say it's easy to be cynical about it, and I was, but I also found some interest in the characters' growing desire to scrape some worth out of life. Most interesting was the experience of playing through two different translations, one voiced and one not, which was like a crash course in the VN as a medium. If it is a medium.

By: Nazarielle

Nazarielle — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:07:17 +0000

I was going to take a look at this, because I found some hella old download link to it (that was actually still working), but I decided not to bother after reading a bit about it. It sounded like a really dreary and depressing story, so I decided against it. Maybe I’ll take a second look after all.