A first hand look at an "amateur's visual novel" – Hisashiburi's project SVN

I like lolis. Green haired preferably but purple haired lolis are fine too.

It is perhaps by sheer chance that I stumbled upon the blog named Hisashiburi. It is definitely a welcome change from most of the common anime blogs that I see all the time. When I mean all the time, it is the tried and tested episode summary blog like our blog (though we do expand with manga and random information). Hisashiburi, in recent times, described a little project in the early weeks of January to the present day. It is a little visual novel about how a male character, K, measures the themes of Hisa, lost memories and a forgotten town ten years ago.

Is there something you are regretting in your past? Do you have the courage to face that regret once again?

Pretty much so, if only there’s more fleshing of the story

Having only 2526 words and 149 screens, it is not the longest visual novel you will see compared to the commercial visual novel. With a short story, the fleshing out of the story will be somewhat weak as you do not have enough information to empathize with the characters. Even the author, Shinji, admits as much that the story is perhaps not the strongest. There are a few missing gaps for the story that I felt could have been addressed. I do not want to spoil the story by any chance, but you will feel somewhat confused by the ending of the visual novel. It feels like it is a revelation, but I definitely do not get it. I am perhaps not an impressionist by any chance.

I am perhaps slow to understand the significance of the ending, as I do not understand what is going on completely. The story seems somewhat jerky at times like the plot is trying to move way faster than how it should. However, since it’s only three weeks of work, and such a short piece, such detailing and fleshing out of the story is rather impossible. Do remember that this is perhaps what they call a “trial version”, and I am pretty sure that the story will be fleshed out when Shinji acts on it one day.

Which is a cute loli. How can you forget!

Nevertheless, the technical aspect of the visual novel is something impressive. I really like the music accompanying the reading of the text. Most of the music are well picked, fitting the scenario with a rather wistful, longing feeling. I am no musician but the music is pleasant to listen, allowing the reader to immerse into the short story.

One of the additions to the visual novel can be the expansion of visual and audio cues for ambiance. I am thinking that some of the ambiance scenes can be lengthened a little in order to include some nice ambiance sounds that will continue and fade in the background. That will bring a more atmospheric feel to the visual novel. Another can be a nicer font. Yes, I am being absolutely picky but a more dreamy font might help in a better feel.

All in all, it’s an excellent effort for an first effort. I am a keen player of fan-made visual novels, which is why I think that they should be given a bit more recognition. It’s only a short ten minutes of your time, so spend it on this little nice project. I have not gotten the permission from Shinji to post a download link here yet, but you can drop an email to get it. Have fun.