Finished JOKER-æ»ç·šã®æžœã¦ã®é“化師-. Now, for the review.
First, this is an excellent, EXCELLENT mystery genre Visual Novel. While it is (probably) not as long as the infamous G-Senjou no Maou or Shari no Kuni, AkabeiSoft so far has not disappoint my expectations. Though Akatsuki Works (or some similar named company that I'm too scared to remember) is a total mess and should quit from business.
But complains aside. The protagonists train crashed while they were on a school trip. The result is of course as expected: Deaths everywhere. But that was but the beginning of everything. The majority of the students and teachers (the entire bloody school in fact - what kind of a school trip is this??) actually survived the train wreck, and they found themselves trapped in an identical but totally unfamiliar school. Why? Because the Joker has invited them into a game, and they have absolutely no right to refuse.
The story's starting point is not original, as many manga or light novel readers should notice. And yet it is a story so powerful and animalistic that any skepticism I had was blown away ten minutes into it.
Like all mystery-genre Visual Novels I've read, this one is no exception to that Golden Rule. I'll spoiler it in case there's someone who wants to experience the mystery at its fullest:
The mastermind is NEVER s spriteless character.
To put it shortly, I was fooled completely. It's not that suspicion never fell onto that certain 'person' before - in fact that person was my very first suspect - it's just that the events that happened afterwards was done so well, so NONCHALENTLY WRITTEN that I didn't suspect a thing until it was like, wow, shit, I got owned so badly. >_> When the true mastermind was revealed it caught me totally by surprise, and it also reminded me that I should brush up on my poker skills.
Oops, that might be a spoiler. No way in hell I'm going to apologize though muahahahahahah.
Nao, to the other main theme of the story, horror.
This is a story where a person's humanity and soul is taken apart slowly with precision and love. There will be characters that hot-blooded people will come to utterly hate. There might be acts that are too cruel for people to take (The 18+ warning is totally justified for this VN). The Joker's personal story was so exceptionally well done that I can literally feel a chill staring me down from behind. Pretty sure that one CG is going to give someone nightmares for the night. Be warned, the antagonist of this VN might come to change your view of life. Sometimes you cannot help but change, but always remember what you are and truly wish for. That is the one and only lesson this VN has for readers.
... Aaaand, back to my real life crisis. A test which I haven't studied for in two days, a presentation tomorrow which slides my friend commented 'too many words' and 'way too bland', a missed class to rush my stuff, unfinished script I must complete very, very soon, need artist need music composer...
Where's my alcohol...