Update One Hundred and Eighty-One: 12 June 2018
Flowers -Le volume sur printemps-
116 hours, No achievements
6/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Sometimes great minds don’t think alike - BLAEO user and VN Queen Giselle really really liked Flowers, but it ended up leaving me cold.
It was so, so close to being exactly what I want. It’s mega gay. The art is beautiful. It’s very long and slice of lifey and sweet and exquisite… but I just didn’t care for any of the characters, particularly the main character. I also didn’t like the writing very much - there were a handful of parts that felt too much like a generic VN, except you were a timid girl protag instead of a timid male protag.
It’s not all bad! I appreciated the setting of Japanese girls in a Christian private boarding school, and seeing their reactions to things I find very familiar. The MC is an American movie buff, and often references films I recognize, too. At the end of some chapters, there’s a puzzle for the MC to solve which is pretty neat - she’s not the type to really be a detective, but by god she’ll try anyway!
And, happily enough, this VN even gave me a precious bolt from the blue that I needed, just when I needed it most. I struggle a lot with perfectionism and getting in my own way, and being too hard on myself (something that frustrates my roller derby teammates to no end). Then, all of the sudden, one of the characters had this to say:
“While other people can decide whether you’re good or bad at something, whether you can or can’t do it is up to you.”
I mean, holy shit. Tell ‘em, Mayuri! That line’s stuck with me and helped free me - from my worries about doing this new job well (I’ve done two days worth of training so far! I’m really enjoying myself!) to my frustrations at my progress in roller derby (I passed my 20 lap test on my third try, 3 months in!! 4:23, baby!). It might sound a little trite, but it’s really helped unsnarl the bullshit my brain tries to come up with. I either can do it, or I can’t. Everything beyond that is up for someone else to decide. That’s so liberating.
On the whole, though, I just didn’t seem to click with this VN - revelations like that are few and far between, and after getting one ending I figured that was enough. I have more things to get to!
Next up: I bought a bundle myself with this in it recently - I’m a sucker for angel stories, too!
See you soon!
:OOOO
I’m surprised you only got the first ending. While I don’t like the other one more, it definitely surprised me, but I can’t tell anything more about it.
There also were some inconsistencies/continuity errors in the “investigations” choices in this title.
Yeah, I just really wasn’t feelin’ this. I did like Mayuri better than Rikka, though, so I’m cool with not getting the other one.
I liked the concept of the investigations, but I really felt like ‘how tf am I supposed to genuinely follow this lol’ when it came to actually accurately answering.
Loved that. And I’m glad the “precious bolt from the blue” (you do have a way with words) helped you personally. <3
When you’re not dissin’ me, Trent, you do come up with the nicest compliments c;
To my knowledge, I’ve never dissed you. I believe you may have interpreted me calling you “everybody’s favorite bug in the system” as a diss, though.
True, sometimes I confuse loving dad jokes with disses.(INSERT JOKE ABOUT STRAINED FATHER RELATIONSHIP HERE) Absolutely no hard feelings though, it’s sometimes really hard for me to read and write the correct emotions through text your comments always make me smile
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