What a fantastic, delicate, lovely twining rope of a story! From the heart-rending start, where I could sense the pain of the two lovers being separated, to the tender and delicate ending, where they finally find a way to reconcile... this whole game gave me a sense of tender nostalgia, loss, and then longing. Van was such a lovely character and it was so wonderful seeing him speak of his art and how he used it to reconcile his feelings of loss. Amazing work!
By the way, I JUST DISCOVERED that after you play the "main route" by going to start... you can unlock a verrrry nice "secret" by going to the red string on the main menu. And for those of you who want to see a more detailed review...
SPOILERS UP AHEAD, DON'T READ IF YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE SECRET FOR YOURSELF FIRST!!!
(You can actually unlock a whole new scenario/life where MC and Van became colleagues because Van was never able to follow his dream to be a photographer... so they are colleagues who have a VERY tense (and tension-filled...) relationship with one another. It's absolutely fascinating to see how they interact with and still manage to (depending on your choices) love each other in this lifetime also... and I'm so happy they finally got to KISS. Yessss, get Van, MC! In this life, you get him GOOD!)
Anyway, loved the game, loved its secrets, loved it all. Such a lovely delight of a game!