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i enjoyed the very dissociative prose in this vn, the terseness does a lot to communicate the protagonist's headspace and their uncannily consumerist mindset. the use of second person was also really effective, especially for this story about a relationship that feels part parasocial, part something more unique... it occurred to me halfway through that the reader is basically this viewer's own voyeur, which is a bit of a vertiginous feeling. i'm one degree removed from the gruesome events of the narrative, but here i am sitting behind a screen, thinking in raw narrative terms about this story and what i take away from these characters - i have to relate to the protagonist on some level, don't i? good stuff

baseball seems to make people reflect and i am guilty of that too. i've never played, but i always dreamed of what it was like to be immersed in baseball more than i ever thought about hockey or football or tennis or any of the other sports i had actually tried. i think what i dreamed of was a sense of place, because in my nine year old brain there was a kind of ossified, canonized status to baseball that felt like it could moor me when everything felt unmoored, and if i didn't play it then i wouldn't know i couldn't be a part of it. it felt refined and it felt like history and it felt like the jazz of sports, and when something becomes a standard it becomes impossible not to idealize.

this story feels like the last gasp of an ideal. everything gets contextualized and complicated and reclassified as you grow. the most ordinary moments become larger than life. sometimes you get weary and cynical about it but sometimes that is just the only way to protect what you have left, because sometimes to look back is nostalgic and disorienting and it's hard to do that earnestly without falling apart. i have never played baseball but i am so fond of robin havier. what this story reminds me of is the feeling of losing your sense of place, of losing your mind at home, of having a ritual that cannot be sacred anymore. you break down a structure you loved earnestly, once, before you could fully process what it was asking of you, and then you continue to embody that structure anyway because you're still sitting there waiting at home even when you'd rather be swept up by the tide. and incredibly, you have managed to fit all of this on a baseball card.

thank you for playing! and i'm happy the music stuck out to you... initially i regretted not being able to compose my own stuff for this but honestly arabesque no. 1 is so beautiful and such a classic i can't complain LOL, good to know it all worked out

"building up your identity when it is weak" is a striking way to put it. i think we live in a time period where more than ever it feels like the average person's inundated with experiences, facing down all sorts of demanding priorities that are emotionally and existentially exhausting us, in all sorts of directions, and so it's my hope that as a society we can view this sort of experience with a little bit of empathy.

this was very fun to read, sable is a good friend to hear her new buddy lucifer out... thank you for letting us take a glimpse into the messy situationships of heaven and hell

your prose is absolutely stunning. you use the language of reverence to describe the saddest possible things and never flinch. at several points i was sitting there waiting to process my feelings just so i could come back, thinking about the sensory details, about the past, and about this poor, poor girl. i also really loved the use of fine art and how it contrasts so starkly with the character sprites. every part of this felt unreal to go through. thank you for this story about wanting to be good, of knowing you must be good, about wanting everyone else in your life to be good, too.

thanks again! i have a lot of fun writing about things people can't let go of and i'm very glad that came through enough to make an impression.

like walking into a blizzard and having your winter coat stolen off your back

i really grew to adore both these characters over the course of the vn and their dynamic is electric, the more you make the reader fall backward into their pasts the more gutwrenching it is when - well, it is the toxic yuri jam, after all... perfectly captures the alienation of being in a place where you never truly feel at home, and of not having a home to go back to. two women who hurt in ways they can understand and leave each other changed. the fantasy sequences were especially a standout. loved all of this.

short and twistedly sweet. i enjoyed how some of the dialogue options were presented like successive thoughts, makes me feel like the protagonist's already made her own choice and i'm just being pulled along for the ride

i felt like i was in a haze reading through this. really oppressive and yet incredibly beautiful tone throughout, it feels like the writing style really matches the art and vice versa, everything is dreamlike all through the viscera. was confused on where to go a few times but i think it's a testament to how good the game is that i never once thought about dropping it, it's gonna stay with me

really loved this, the art is stunning and i was gripped by the story - the contrast between the sterility of the setting versus the humanity straining (not) to break through. it never overstates itself and immerses you in the world. what does love look like, anyway? i hope we can all find the answer that suits us.

whoops, thanks for letting me know!