I’ve always love to see a disability awareness visual novel done right, and this one did a fantastic job! There is a lot of heartwarming, sincere moments within, prepared with pretty good art for a free visual novel and a fitting soundtrack that range from warm and cheery tone, good jazz numbers and some cozy guitar work to more of the appropriately sad and dramatic set of music. One of the major themes of acceptance was done wonderfully here, showcasing how everyone has their “problems”, but just like the “normal” people they also have their own dreams, people they love and create friendships with, goals to accomplish, ambitions to achieve and a ton of improvements they are able to accomplish. The lessons learned, combined with really great character development within the story, makes the ending(s) all the more satisfying to get through the sad moments and there’s just enough good humor to combat the drama within the overall story.

And the development shows as you take the role of the main male character in the series, who suffered from heart arrhythmia and was forced to go to the school of disabled students. He soon discovered every people in the school are just like the “normal” people and he learned a lot throughout his time in school, seeing people for who they are, improving himself for the better, kindling friendships, helping those who helped him, facing his fears and forging his own path for a bright future even he didn’t expect would happen! However, he is also pretty dense to the point where even mentioning the obvious doesn’t go to his head. Especially in the Emi and Shizune arc, there are times where you may scream at the computer screen something similar to “Will you PLEASE put two and two together and READ THE ROOM!?!?!? DX”.

Anyways, for a typical visual novel showcasing still shots of characters above a text box, there is a lot of movement, “animation” and other genius placements that make the presentation feels there’s more action going on. Meanwhile, the overall writing is within the territory where I call “Making Lovers lite”: The writing is longer than usual and it is pretty immersive, but there are times where it was about five to ten sentences too many. There were also occasions where the writing went on and on and on and on and on until the end of the chapter, where you are more likely to say “Good G-d almighty, I’m glad that’s over with!”. At those times, no matter the correct use of unique words, the length of writing can break the immersion because of that drawn out writing.

If there is one actual problem in this area that will be Kenji. As a male side character, it would have been much better if he was like Jun from Kanon [2006], where he would have a much better participation, even with the main and/or side characters, and you can sincerely feel bad for him when such situations call for it.

But that wouldn’t discourage me from playing through this game. A couple sentence trimming aside, for a free to play visual novel this is a great find in the dramatic genre. Another excellent free visual novel I recommend is Sounds of Her Love and especially its [upcoming!] sequel. There’s also Dorakone if you like a more light hearted route. Are you willing to spend the money for a phenomenal visual novel with better immersive writing? You’ll never go wrong with Making Lovers!!


And for those of you who are into the sex scenes, it’s a mixed collection of sorts. On one hand, you can have one of the most heartwarming set of sex scenes ever shown in a visual novel, even the infamously awkward “first times”. On the other, it can range from underwhelmingly okay to surprisingly spicy, sometimes at the same time. At least the longer-than-usual writing isn’t showcased in this area, compared to Making Lovers where the same longer pacing makes their sex scenes feel like there’s TOO MUCH of it!! >_<


Also, here is my close ranking of the “candidates,” as there isn’t much distance between each of them in the final count.

Emi
Lilly
Hanako
[Misha] (Seriously, she needs her own arc!!)
Rin, even with her mental problems considered.
Shizune, no matter her intentions…

I’ve always love to see a disability awareness visual novel done right, and this one did a fantastic job! There is a lot of heartwarming, sincere moments within, prepared with pretty good art for a free visual novel and a fitting soundtrack that range from warm and cheery tone, good jazz numbers and some cozy guitar work to more of the appropriately sad and dramatic set of music. One of the major themes of acceptance was done wonderfully here, showcasing how everyone has their “problems”, but just like the “normal” people they also have their own dreams, people they love and create friendships with, goals to accomplish, ambitions to achieve and a ton of improvements they are able to accomplish. The lessons learned, combined with really great character development within the story, makes the ending(s) all the more satisfying to get through the sad moments and there’s just enough good humor to combat the drama within the overall story. And the development shows as you take the role of the main male character in the series, who suffered from heart arrhythmia and was forced to go to the school of disabled students. He soon discovered every people in the school are just like the “normal” people and he learned a lot throughout his time in school, seeing people for who they are, improving himself for the better, kindling friendships, helping those who helped him, facing his fears and forging his own path for a bright future even he didn’t expect would happen! However, he is also pretty dense to the point where even mentioning the obvious doesn’t go to his head. Especially in the Emi and Shizune arc, there are times where you may scream at the computer screen something similar to “Will you PLEASE put two and two together and [b]READ THE ROOM!?!?!?[/b] DX”. Anyways, for a typical visual novel showcasing still shots of characters above a text box, there is a lot of movement, “animation” and other genius placements that make the presentation feels there’s more action going on. Meanwhile, the overall writing is within the territory where I call “Making Lovers lite”: The writing is longer than usual and it is pretty immersive, but there are times where it was about five to ten sentences too many. There were also occasions where the writing went on and on and on and on and on until the end of the chapter, where you are more likely to say “Good G-d almighty, I’m glad that’s over with!”. At those times, no matter the correct use of unique words, the length of writing can break the immersion because of that drawn out writing. If there is one actual problem in this area that will be Kenji. As a male side character, it would have been much better if he was like Jun from Kanon [2006], where he would have a much better participation, even with the main and/or side characters, and you can sincerely feel bad for him when such situations call for it. But that wouldn’t discourage me from playing through this game. A couple sentence trimming aside, for a free to play visual novel this is a great find in the dramatic genre. Another excellent free visual novel I recommend is Sounds of Her Love and especially its [upcoming!] sequel. There’s also Dorakone if you like a more light hearted route. Are you willing to spend the money for a phenomenal visual novel with better immersive writing? You’ll never go wrong with Making Lovers!! [spoiler]And for those of you who are into the sex scenes, it’s a mixed collection of sorts. On one hand, you can have one of the most heartwarming set of sex scenes ever shown in a visual novel, even the infamously awkward “first times”. On the other, it can range from underwhelmingly okay to surprisingly spicy, sometimes at the same time. At least the longer-than-usual writing isn’t showcased in this area, compared to Making Lovers where the same longer pacing makes their sex scenes feel like there’s [b]TOO MUCH[/b] of it!! >_< [/spoiler] Also, here is my close ranking of the “candidates,” as there isn’t much distance between each of them in the final count. Emi Lilly Hanako [Misha] (Seriously, she needs her own arc!!) Rin, even with her mental problems considered. Shizune, no matter her intentions…