Arima Takuya is a young student whose father, a historian, devoted his life to various kinds of research and has recently disappeared from sight. He was presumed dead by many. During the summer break Takuya receives a mysterious package from his father with a letter attached – he learns about the existence of parallel timelines. At first the boy takes it as a silly joke, but soon after he realizes that he is in possession of a device that allows him to travel between dimensions of reality. The letter he receives also calls into question the supposed death of his father…
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – Audiovisual design
At the very beginning I would like to point out that this game has its years. It premiered in 1996. In addition, I’m writing here about the fan remaster of the game that is:
- Audio track recorded through the original PC-98 chips in 44kHz (the original PC release was unfortunately 22kHz), then made available in lossless format.
- Decensored original artwork from the PC-98 release (although there is still censorship on it, but not as awful looking), overlaid with the mosaic artwork in the PC release.
- Added (almost) full voice acting! (Only the official Sega Saturn release had it).
For more information on this topic and the English translation patch itself, please click here.
I am full of admiration how good YU-NO looks even in this day and age. Brilliant shading, attention to small details (including the folds on the clothes), coloring… something beautiful. Anyway, you’ll be able to see it in the many screenshots in this post.
The sound is another masterpiece. Amazing soundtrack by Umemoto Ryuu, creating wonderful atmosphere in literally every single scene (it will probably permanently stay in my playlists) and PHENOMENAL voice acting. Each character’s voice is masterfully chosen.
tl;dr – artistically, Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO is a masterpiece.
Just a little information – the official remaster of this game is supposed to come out this year, but the updated graphics look just… lousy. And the translation is just awful.
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – Gameplay
The game consists of three parts:
- Prologue – linear plot, the way of navigation – typical for visual novels – we read, click on options (like talk or go). Very important part of the game – the authors introduce us to the world, locations, characters and slowly to the gameplay mechanics;
- The actual game part – here the way of navigation changes dramatically, we get the cursor and the whole thing goes into point’n’click mode. We also have access to a device that allows us to change the timeline, but more on that later;
- Epilogue – again, we go through the navigation method already familiar to us from the prologue, and the plot becomes linear.
During gameplay we have access to a device that allows us to change timelines (as I mentioned above) called the Reflector. The player’s primary task is to collect 8 gems, which are put into this Reflector. You can use it (and even need to) before collecting all of them, of course. Here we move on to the next element, the so-called Jewel Save. That is, a save using the jewels you have. It’s not really a save game, rather a place where we can go back/forward from any other timeline and place (ok, almost any). Additionally, we also gain many items (available in the menu on the right). In the screenshot below, the time divergence map activated with the mentioned device.
All events included in the main game take place within a span of just two days of game time (including night time).
I recommend playing through the tutorial on the TLwiki site, both the text one and the timeline map (best used alternately). You don’t have to worry about spoilers – everything is written in a way that doesn’t spoil anything. Of course – you can do without, but believe me – it will take you unimaginable amount of time. For example – I played with the guide and read the whole thing in 41 hours (including special endings after finishing).
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – Characters and plot
Starting this section I would like to inform you that the plot of this VN is extremely engaging. I snatched a few nights and then was dead at work (so don’t say that I didn’t warn you). Additionally, this post will probably be updated after it’s published – there are so many things I want to write about that I’m sure I’ll forget something.
I would also like to warn people who are allergic to erotic content – if this aspect bothers you, you can skip reading it right now. Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO contains a lot (though a lot is still too light a term) of this kind of content, and the whole thing has quite an impact on the overall perception of the characters or even the game world.
It will be difficult for me to write anything about the characters – nothing is as it seems, the plot is full of various cliffhangers and in some cases we can really get shocked. Nevertheless, I’ll try to give some residual information. I won’t list everything here, because it would generate a lot of unnecessary spoilers. Below the description there is a picture.
- Arima Takuya – the main character – we play as him. At the beginning cynical, throughout the game highly demoralized, likes to tease, but also quite responsible when it comes to taking care of his friends. Despite such traits – the character is a big plus.
- Arima Ayumi – Takuya’s foster mother, only a few years older than him.
- Ichijou Mitsuki – a mature woman, with some episodes with the main character in the past.
- Shimazu Mio – Takuya’s classmate whom he loves to tease. A tsundere type character, but a classic tsundere – generally not annoying in most situations as befits a heroine of this type.
- Takeda Eriko – School Nurse. She is the only one who is great at dealing with the main character’s taunts, erotic lines, and has quite a few secrets.
- Hatano Kanna – A mysterious girl who has just transferred to Takuya’s school, secretive about herself. She seems to be very busy.
- Arima Koudai – the main character’s father.
- Arima Keiko – the main character’s mother.
- Masakatsu Yuuki – Takuya’s classmate.
- Toyotomi Hideo – one of the most annoying characters, a man who works for Geo Technics – responsible for the excavation of the beach.
- Ryuuzouji Kouzou – a friend of the main character’s father.
- Asakura Kaori – a reporter for a local television station.
At this point, I would like to recommend once again playing with the help of the previously mentioned guide. It is written in such a way as to present the story to us in the most natural way (I can personally confirm this, a better sequence of events cannot be arranged). It’s best to follow all the points, including those with (*).
The whole plot is based on searching for gems and solving impossible situations with them. Each path has at least three endings, of which (as you can guess) only one is true/good. It’s also worth mentioning the fact that such endings are usually achieved only after seeing the bad end (and acquiring certain items that allow us to intervene in key situations). Each heroine in the game also has her own erotic scene with a detailed… description. In the first phase of the game, despite achieving a good ending, we can’t see the real ending with the chosen one, why? You will find out during the gameplay.
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – Accessible Paths
Here again, I’ll discuss the tracks available in this VN rather briefly so as not to make spoilers. The images included in the spoiler tag contain NSFW screenshots and may be spoilers to some extent (although it’s clear that all the characters have their scenes anyway – I prefer to warn you though).
When I finished a particular route I was thinking – this was probably the best part of the game. Then I couldn’t get out of my mind that every next finished scenario made an even bigger impression on me.
- Prolog. No matter what we clicked – the plot is linear (as I mentioned earlier.
- Mitsuki / Eriko – we solve a really interesting case concerning a certain estate and learn the basics of how the world works and discovering the tip of the iceberg regarding the main plot.
- Ayumi – Here, the case is practically just about Ayumi herself and the efforts to prevent a mishap. Quite a few NTR elements.
- Mio – we get to know this heroine and the case she is dealing with. We get a lot of information about the main plot and everything starts to fit into one coherent whole. This raises even more questions.
- Kanna / Kaori – we mainly deal with Kanna’s mysteries and past, we get a lot of answers about the main plot in the process, and are pretty much set up for the ending. From the main part of the game, this path impressed me the most.
- Epilogue. You probably think – a short summary of the whole preceded by a cliffhanger … And that’s it, we already have 97% completed game according to the information in the main menu. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have to deal with the ultimate trolling by the authors of the game. While indeed – at this point we have already discovered almost all the paths on the divergence map… then the action, playing on emotions, feelings or developing the plot and expansion of the game world is just beginning! Then there’s the mind blowing realization of how the universe works, who’s who and what’s really going on. Only then do we realize what a work of art with a brilliant script we are dealing with. I can honestly admit that I got goose bumps several times. Thus, the epilogue became my favorite part of this VN. Unfortunately, although I’d love to show you some screenshots (and there’s plenty to show you!), I can’t, because everything there will be a spoiler and literally everything will totally surprise you.
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – summary
I won’t beat around the bush. I’m going to write it straight. Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO is the best Sci-Fi story I have ever read/watched. It comes with a heavy drama and romance, which further enriches the story. Playing this classic game, we can clearly see how future works have drawn on it. Take Clannad, for example, and the quest to obtain items for an almost identical purpose, or Steins;Gate and the tragedy caused by moving through timelines. Of course this doesn’t take anything away from those titles, I still think they’re brilliant. Still, Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO is something else entirely.
By the way – along with the remaster, an anime adaptation was announced (unfortunately with those new character designs…). If this project succeeds (and I believe that Feel studio, which is supposed to be responsible for the production, will not make a mess) and gets enough episodes, it has a chance to become the best anime of the decade and thus make a mess in my top 10 list of all time.
Edit: unfortunately, the anime was not a good adaptation, and the VN remake has a terrible translation.
But let’s not stray from the topic, after all, here I am describing a visual novel. The gameplay mechanics themselves also deserve praise, thanks to the point’n’click mechanism we can feel our influence on the course of events even more. Dialogues are written in such a way that we can identify with the main character despite his specific character traits. The humor used here in most situations is really funny and can be understood on several levels. The drama is not forced and (especially in the last part – the epilogue) so real that some situations make your heart beat faster. The diversity of the presented world is impressive and you can see that every team, be it the sound designers, graphic designers, directors and scriptwriters tried to do their best. And then there is the matter of science fiction – as I wrote earlier – full mind blow.
My score: 10/10 and I have to rethink my previous ratings I gave to other visual novels. I fully understand the opinions of those who claim that this is one of the best VNs ever made.
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO – which translation to use?
We don’t have much choice, there is only one translation available. At this point we have two translations – one official – I strongly advise against it (remake) and one fan translation (original), which I can wholeheartedly recommend. The team decided to be faithful to the original, for which I am very grateful to them. All the suffixes have been preserved. They tried to translate some wordplay and it worked out quite well. I don’t know what the situation is with the sex scenes, unfortunately there were no voices there, so I couldn’t compare with the original, but I don’t think the authors of the translation used any drastic changes in the script. I have an impression that the epilogue was translated by someone else, because there one of the key characters spoke about himself in the third person, which unfortunately was not transferred to the subtitles (and it’s a pity, especially for people who are not familiar with the Japanese language – it’s a significant change in the character), while at the beginning of the novel one of the characters also spoke about himself in the third person, and there it remained unchanged.
Other screenshots:
