A Maiden's Serenade

This is the first full length title from [b]feng[/b] that received an official English translation. A name I didn't even know existed, which made me curious. I'm also kind of a sucker for this artstyle I don't see much anymore. So after my 28 hours of playthrough, my first thought was this game reminding me yet again, that personally, all I'm looking in a visual novel is entertainment. It doesn't have to be great, it doesn't have to tell a deep, thought-provoking story. All I need is something I can enjoy about it. And it's definitely the heroines themselves. They do have some depth to them, but you shouldn't expect a lot. But what you can expect is a lot of funny scenes, enjoyable banters between characters and of course, insanely cute heroines. I also appreciate it that it doesn't have a lot of unnecessary drama as I was expecting. Some routes were better than others, better ones being Mizuki's and Kaede's, but none of the routes felt especially weak. They're also pretty short, less than 4 hours each, so they never overstayed their welcome. The music was also pretty good. I didn't really focus on the negatives a lot, but I should mention, the romance is pretty rushed and kinda …

A fine good romance with so many sugar that can cause diabetes. This VN is short, yet every route can fulfill what you need in any cliche romance. Tsundere, Miko, Chunnibyo, Childhood friend, transfer student, lovely smol kuudere, and ojousama heroine all in one VN. All of them are loveable! Can't say much if this VN can stand out because that cliche thing. But, if you search light material to read. Give it a try.

A Maiden's Serenade is a bit of a flawed visual novel. Through the common route it is great, it's funny, the character interactions are interesting and there's actually a group dynamic going on where it's not just everyone interacting only with the protagonist. Then the character routes happen. I really only enjoyed one of them, the rest were a mixed bag of either being just blah to dragging. It's also one of the few visual novels I'd recommend you get the mosaics back on it, the ecchi art was kind of off-putting. Special call out to the ecchi scenes though for having some amusing sections for Karin. Kaede felt like the only heroine in her route that actually got better, the rest of them stayed the same or got worse through reading their routes. In particular Matsuri I found interesting because my opinion of her improved by her side character status in other people's routes, but decreased in her own route. If you're up for a decent moege and you aren't expecting a ton out of character routes then pick this up, the common route and humor is pretty good in my opinion.

This game is definitely a product of it's time (2013). Quite had many cliché found in many anime and other visual novels but it wasn't necessary a bad thing, the characters' setup were written actually quite okay itself. My main problem is probably on the pacing in which sometimes went too fast. [spoiler]Matsuri's route was so underwhelming. The romance didn't get refined well at all and was rushed for the last quarter of the route... Really disappointing.,,,[/spoiler] The music in this game were good but more than than; The theme songs were an absolutely god sent. The opening theme "Marine Blue ni Sotte" and the ending theme "Kiss no Hitotsu de" both composed and written by Horie Shouta and performed by Sasaki Sayaka are such a great music that so much heart and soul in it that I would argue that these song are better or rather more memorable than the game itself. (lol) Overall, a heartwarming moege with pretty fun cast of characters and great music.

Matsuri. Very underwhelming main heroine route, considering the title of the game i expected there to be a special song during the climax but they genuinely just skipped over it. Just a pretty average galge overall and quite short. Feng's latest title Yume to iro de dekiteiru is miles better but we have to wait for that one to officially release who knows when.

waiter, waiter, more old school moege in the 4:3 ratio please