Hira Hira Hihiru

Really well written humanistic visual novel about marginalized people and their struggles and hopes by viewing this world through the eyes of two protagonists: the first is a doctor specialized in the zombie-like disease that is the core of this story and the other a student being thrust into caring for somebody close to him. Enjoyed this story immensely - also loved the art and music. Check this out if you are interested in human and intelligent fiction!

Very interesting story and characters that kept me engaged. There's only a few choices to be made but they make a big difference in the two stories being told. I made one wrong mistake so I got one good and one bad ending. Thanks to the convenient skip option I was able to get through the game again quickly and experience the missing good ending and the different story leading up to it. Good translation, only a few typos were found. Nice voice acting too, music was okay. Highly recommended to visual novel lovers, especially on a sale.

If there’s one visual novel writer whose every word I truly savor, it’s Setoguchi Ren'ya. I’m genuinely glad that another of his works has received an English translation. This one feels quite different from his previous titles, it reads more like a literary novel than a typical visual novel. That’s not a bad thing at all, sometimes it’s refreshing to step away from familiar anime tropes and one-dimensional characters. But I think it'd benefit much more if it were given a few more hours to flesh out other things. But in the end, I'm satisfied with what I got. I also have to praise the game’s art direction and atmosphere. Few visual novels have managed to immerse me this deeply while reading. I really hope Black Sheep Town gets an official English release someday. And if you like Setoguchi’s writing, definitely check out Musicus on Steam, it’s another great VN of his that deserves more love.

A visual novel using a zombie-like disease to draw attention to the way society treats people with mental health issues, disabilities, or otherwise 'strange' behaviour. ...If that sounds too broad, or the parallel grates against you, I would recommend trying the demo first. I can understand people for whom this setup would speak to, and others who might find the parallels drawn offensive. There were a lot of sympathetic characters in complicated situations, though the aerodema siblings were probably my favourite. I don't know the Taisho setting very well, but in addition to its main conceit, the story touched on inequality, feminism, urban vs rural living, globalisation, changing unjust systems and other themes I appreciated. I still think that it leaned a little more towards sympathy for the relatives of aerodema patients rather than the affected themselves. The latter half of the story helped address that somewhat, but I felt it could have been handled better. Similarly with female characters - I understand the point they were trying to make in terms of their limited choices, but I think the text could have found a way to give them at least more internal agency. I very much…

A beauftiful game which focuses on some heavy themes which are very close to our reality. The writing, atmosphere and music are mesmerising and will keep you invested. The entire game will tug on your heartstrings for sure. Setoguchi Ren'ya's works never disappoint.

A great story, bittersweet and emotional.