This was an absolutely wild ride, and I feel like I need to take some deep breaths just to calm down after all that.
There will be spoilers, so if that doesn't bother you, take a look down below!
Mainly, I'm amazed by the level of humanization that this gives to each of its characters. Rue, far from being a self-insert, has a strong personality—full of prejudices, weaknesses, and trauma that he's carrying. Perry, despite being a typically unstable yandere, also has a real soul inside of her, and she wounds and is wounded by Perry during their interactions in a way you can really feel. Akuji is so likeable, and her romance with Rue so cute and believable, that I was heartbroken when I learned that she had died so tragically.
Not only do you feel their character, but the game also fits a remarkable amount of character growth into its short runtime. More than anything, I think ending Letting Go (A) exemplifies this; every character we know manages to give up what was once their driving motive, in a way that doesn't feel forced, and carries some serious bittersweet punch. I'd also say that Letting Go (A) is my favorite ending; it felt as "happy" as you can get in a story so unrelentingly grim. Having Perry force the player to choose again (and her reaction if you kill her a second time) also felt like a rightful slap across the face. (I was only trying to get all the endings, Perry, you don't understand!)
More than any other VN I've played, this story rewards multiple playthroughs—so much of the story I though I understood on the first go-through gets upended by the twist of Perry being imaginary, and then the reverse-twist of Akuji being imaginary. More than anything, though, I found that seeing Perry's POV completely changed my perspective on the story. Although it's hard to ever call a yandere sympathetic, you can feel that she truly does care about Rue, in her own twisted way. Perry's POV also cut through some of the masterfully-written tension that lingered in my playthroughs as Rue, where I was never truly sure of Perry's meaning or intentions.
In short, I hope that Rue managed to free himself of his demons—both Perry and Akuji. Most of all, I hope he finally wrote that novel; lord knows he's been through enough to fill a few books.
Thank you for this game. I have no doubt that it'll stick with me for a long time to come.