Wow ! I had seen a bunch of people say this was specific and wow ! This is specific! In a way that really gets under your skin. I played it last night and recapped it to my girlfriend and we both just sort of sat there like… ow… (hurting in a good way) I’ve seen a lot of Sunnys, including a few close personal encounters, and seen a lot of Sunny & Anitas. And taking 2 seconds to glance at the comments tells me that’s not a rare experience!
First of all, I really appreciate this work as a way to viscerally concretize and exemplify this common and isolating behavior. I really do hope people play through this and feel less alone, and then see the loads of comments and feel somewhat cared for.
(Spoilers here on out)
But also, what exacting execution. Sunny’s characterization especially was so horrifyingly precise. I was obsessed with the detail of her not brushing her teeth because mint “gives [her] the ick”—it’s an absurd detail that made me laugh out loud because it was a PERFECTLY fitting bit of satire. The little punctuations of comedy were to perfect in how they broke up the horrifying procession of the plot but in a way that still informed the characterization etc.(I also screamed when Anita just says “It’s been seven years” at Sunny talking about Byleth’s outfit).
With this in mind, I agree with Alter that the vn could’ve used a little more breathing room and a little more of Anita’s POV—the latter especially, because you knocked Sunny’s characterization so out of the park that Anita’s wonderful characterization still felt like it fell a smidge short by comparison. But this almost feels ridiculous to bring up because 1) it’s a genuinely amazing work 2) it is so impressive you got this done in a 6 week jam timeline as a solo work and had time to send for beta testing… like HELLO… Mado the superstar.
But the best part of Anita’s characterization for me, and the part of the vn that will probably stick with me the longest, is how she still undercuts herself in the thread on her priv at the end. I am sort of tearing up even just writing about it lol. How she is still unable to fully see the power Sunny had over her and how Sunny exploited Anita’s vulnerabilities, and how paper thin so many of Anita’s supposed “privileges” over Sunny are/were. That was very real and made for such a powerful ending.
Thanks for making and sharing such a wonderful vn Mado!!