'Pyrena' is a drama/thriller/slice-of-life type story with a lot of heavy topics and bold choices in plot and art direction. I think what really gets me about this visual novel is that it's got such a strong hook. Right off the bat, we're hit with lots of details and mysteries, presented in such a natural way that it entices the reader into wondering just what the events of the past that led up to this mundane moment are, and also wondering just what this is all going to be leading up to. Whether it sticks the landing on reaching a satisfying or unsatisfying ending I fear may be up to a reader's personal taste and their overall stance when it comes to nihilism and trying to find meaning in suffering.
The story follows Bird, a fox guy who's working at a convenient store with his friend Harper. It's fairly slice of life and a lot of internal monologuing about how suicidal Bird is, mostly because of some undisclosed detail about his past, and how he's currently got an ankle monitor on him. After a tense confrontation with a cop in the store, strange things start happening around Bird, as he contemplates his past and whether or not it's worth it to continue living this type of dreary lifestyle. There's lots of hints at something so messed up and bad that has put him in this state, that he can't even bring himself to talk about it with his best friends, family or confidants. Then said friends and confidants start to go missing, and it turns out that Bird's past has caught up with him. The big reveal is that when he moved away from his hometown, cause he's gay, he started hooking up/dating a guy he met at a club. They eventually broke up, very messily, and it's cause of something to do with boyfriend's asshole cop father who Bird has 'no idea what he's capable of', which I think leads to cop dad finding him, and framing him for some kind of crime, (I think the murder of his boyfriend/cop's son?) and that's why he's in this situation. Anyway, there's a big deer monster which is an eldritch entity of his former boyfriend, who I think is seeking petty revenge? I think the cop is too? Anyway, there's an action sequence, they find the missing guys, the boyfriend(?) monster bites off Bird's hand and runs away. Bird decides that life is worth living because Harper has been sticking by him this whole time. Okay, so, I can respect the intention of going for a more bleak vibe in a story, but while I think this visual novel gets a lot right in setting up the situation, I think it loses the plot when it comes to putting the pieces together in the second half. The cause of all the dreary-ness comes across as weirdly disproportional to the situation and vibe, and it makes it seem weird that Bird acts the way that he does. Like, while I can imagine that he feels somewhat responsible for his current situation, instead it seems to focus on the general helplessness that Bird is facing. Yet, the resolution doesn't seem to align with that character arc that Bird is going through. Like, is he still stuck on his old boyfriend as he felt he ended it on a bad note? Is this situation an act of self-flagellation? Surely, if Bird's crime were bad enough, some kind of information would be known by someone other than himself? While I can excuse unexplained phenomena when it serves the emotional core or themes of the story, I don't know what the monster attack had to do with the story. I think that the dad is doing some kind of ritual to bring his son back to life, and is using Bird's friends as the sacrifices? But like I said, it kind of loses the plot for me and I just end up confused by the end. Thus, the story kind of ends where it starts out, with this overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and pointlessness to all the suffering that Bird is going through.
That being said, for all I didn't know what was going on with the story, the presentation is amazing. Like, so many great visuals, strong iconography, the character designs are fun, and just the elements of animation just give it such a vibe. The way the little comic panels pop up to highlight important details, the way we get a first person view of bird has he looks at himself in the mirror or is cutting vegetables. Even the scenes where the dad is doing some shady stuff, just give so much while looking so simple. Changing the hue from blue to red, just comes with such an impact. The writing is also quite nice, especially in the beginning when all of these really strong statements start the story off. All the ruminating and spiraling is great, and the dialog is natural and engaging. I think it starts to veer off into melodrama, but that's just related to how I lost the plot related to my previous statements.
The folklore aspect I think is supposed to be this tradition about separating a peach pit, so two halves of a couple could always be connected. I thought it was a cute detail and I think was supposed to be a major plot device for the story, but it kind of... didn't? In fact, the folklore detail comes in pretty late in the story and then isn't actually all that important to the story, so it does end up feeling tacked on. I think though that this is really creative, at least in terms of tackling some really heavy stuff, and willing to swing big in plot choices. It feels like this story started out wanting to swing bigger, but ended up pulling it's punches in the second half. I kind of wanted Bird to be, ya know, actually guilty of something significant. Instead of a story about living with the pain of knowing you did something terrible, it's more of a story about how unfair and uncaring the world is and the helplessness to fight it. I feel like there's a lot of 'woe is me' level plots, and to see this one veer into it was a bit of a let down.
Overall, this one was a bit of a miss for me, unfortunately, because I really loved so much of the art and presentation of what was happening. I'm also a fan of the way Aderie does their art style and conveys really cool ideas through these animations. I think I'm starting to let some personal bias in here, because I do like the characters, they're really interesting and I really start to feel for them, but then when the ending comes around so abruptly, and nothing is really left explained and I think this story is supposed to make me feel depressed? Maybe feel like one can get through despite how bad life is? I'm not sure, but hey, I guess as long as someone feels something, it must be good? I dunno man, keep doing what you're doing? Maybe I'm just distracted by all the moving pictures.