In every fictional relationship, toxicity and realism are usually padded by drama to keep the story interesting and going. This is a story that dared to be different: through slow burn and slice of life, the novel will show you how emotional turmoil slowly forms in a much tastier form of narrative.
Speaking of, UsoNatsu received a manga adaptation on August 17th. Although the art is nice and it’s cool that the VN I love is getting an adaptation, I would still recommend the VN as the ideal way to experience this story!
Her Broken Youth With A Not So Broken Love
While it is somewhat childish of me to use the words “broken” and “love” for this heading, especially considering the characters’ age, UsoNatsu expressed these two motifs in quite an explosive fashion. The story portrayed both the sweetness behind Kaoru’s clinginess and the experience of giving love in style, reading as a non-melodramatic love story. That in itself says a lot about how Kaoru, the protagonist, acts as a mature teenager, even though she herself is still in her teens.
My personal opinion as an avid romance reader, if you’re not too familiar with the genre, is that UsoNatsu has something special to say—even compared to the endless sea of romantic tales and stories. A love story that doesn’t revolve around the protagonist gushing about their crush and their attraction (although it’s definitely part of it), and a romantic relationship that readers can feel even if they’re not telling each other I love yous. It excelled in wholesomely human scenarios: a classic tale of coincidence about two strangers who started with nothing and, so very slowly, their relationship escalated into something special.
The game begins with our protagonist receiving a confession from her classmate. While seemingly a generic start-off, the way Kaoru calmly questioned what being attracted truly meant completely changed my expectations for the narrative. It was at this point that my impression of another generic story turned into a romance that understood what it expressed.
She mercilessly shut him down. He deserved such treatment, I believe. Kaoru learned that it was just a mere dare between his friends last night after she questioned the guy’s pathetic excuse as a reason to deceive her. The narrative shoots a casual bullet against teenage boys’ manipulative nature for the word “love” and how evil it can be when used without any meaning behind it. That word is a big part of a teenager’s worries—especially girls—and must not be used so cheaply.
Kaoru is a very wise girl. Her keen observation—a product of her wisdom—led her to understand the difference between empathy and attraction. She was mature even as a young gal and that’s what makes her an interesting protagonist. She was my second favorite character, and Mirei my first. Mirei’s greatness is a spoiler for later parts of the story, so I apologize that I cannot disclose her character arc. Even then, I do think that both of them are very well-written characters that deserve the top spot in my character rankings for Usonatsu.
Art
I would describe UsoNatsu‘s art as simply beautiful. From breathtaking backgrounds to unique character designs and their gorgeous fashion sense, all the characters had these stunning outfits enough for me to mistake them for models. Even if most of them are high schoolers, story-wise, their hearts were inborn fashionistas. The attractive art by itself is undeniably one of the game’s selling points.
The sprite art was so wonderful that it feels like I’m reading a story about models and their casual lives instead. It was easy to feel that all of them were drawn with care because of how diverse their outfits were in each chapter—and all were lovely! I mean, even Kaoru’s pajamas were fashionable, even though they are but a simple spaghetti strap and bed off-shoulder jacket. I wonder if this girl will ever look any less pretty in any outfit she wears. I’m sure that the answer is a big no!
Criticism
Although beautiful, Usonatsu’s ambitiousness has its upsetting drawbacks. My main gripe was the lack of finesse in their direction for resources (sprites, animation, etc.). The overall flow of the VN has a despairing amount of issues, turning its amazing quality into a sluggish and rocky pacing. Some scenes are too short, too! There was so much wasted potential. The adaptation of the story as a visual novel was a wrong move, as it was clearly written like a book and not as a story that is supposed to even have cinematics!
When it comes to the technical side of it, the camera work can be stiff and dizzying too. Some scenarios were lazy enough that, evidently, the VN developers most likely didn’t bother playtesting them. It was just like at the cafe, where the camera focuses simultaneously on the characters every time the dialogue changes line by line, making it very difficult to read along.
I mentioned the unneeded animations, and they truly felt forced into the game for aesthetics’ sake, sacrificing the pacing—but just like the camera, it is a direction issue. The game didn’t crash at all specifically, but the problem lies in the flow of the textbox and the animations. It’s rather laggy and frustrating to read along when there is an animation waiting to finish and you want to read the next line. Whether the problem lies in direction or performance, I am not so sure.
Verdict
I want to beg the developers to patch their game. After that, I’d say that the game would be perfect. There’s no other glaring issue or criticism that I could think of other than some fast-paced scenes that needed to slow down. I’ll happily reread this work if these issues are fixed somewhere in the future.
If this grabbed your attention, you can buy UsoNatsu both on Steam and GOG1!
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