Iwakura Aria

Well, that was really traumatic lesbodrama. Very good story and it's very sad that horny kids are ruining it's rating just because it ends not how they wanted. So, yeah, if you expect some hardcore rampage of the "scissors" - nope, nothing like this here. But let me make a step back and start from afar. Visuals - stunning. Absolutely stunning. But this is something that you can see yourself. Music - great as well. Perfectly sets the mood and overal atmosphere. Characters and voiceacting. I put them together because they fit each other perfectly and It would be wrong to evaluate them separately. I would even say that voiceacting is greatly shaping their personality and reflects emotions, intentions and change of mood. Now let's talk about the story. And it's... complicated. Dark. Disturbing. Cruel. Violent. Unpleasant. Unfair. [b]Wrong[/b]. But it also tells us, that even among total darkness, there is still light. That struggle is not hopeless. That even if you think that everything is over - there is still something to care and fight for. That if you have enough resolve - you can still reach your goal. And eventually it ends how it ends. Call it cruel. But it totally fits the st…

If you are looking for a gothic lesbian romance in a mysterious mansion, you won't find it here. If you want media with similar vibes, go read "Fingersmith" or watch it's korean movie adaptation "The Handmaiden" What you will find here is a visual novel visually prettier than most. Hyakunen's illustrations are really doing the heavy lifting here. The story bored me to death most of the time with some moments of trepidation in between. I sussed out "The twist at the last minute" around halfway through, so that kinda flattened the whole experience as well.

I tried to give this game the benefit of the doubt, but half way through I knew it was not going to be a game I would be able to recommend. Both girls are pretty unlikable, to the point that I wonder who these characters were written for. Without spoiling too much all the endings are lacking in any meaningful payoff. Even at a deep discount I don't know if I'd recommend this. It has a nice art style, but there's a few backdrops and character poses that I don't think the price for this VN is worth it. You're just seeing the same background art with the same exact character poses that after a few hours you've practically seen it all.

I find the negative reviews of this game being directly tied to the twist at the very, very end to be needlessly harsh and kinda downright blind to what the game was going for in regards to it. While very uncomfortable and even more disheartening in nature, it feels really weird to see everyone chalking it up to shock factor as if the twist doesn't make the titular Iwakura Aria so much more interesting in her monstruous motivations when you have hindsight to what she was trying to hide from the players. But even without my own views about the twist to Iwakura Aria, I still really had a fantastic time with the game. It deals very heavily with incestuous abuse in very, very complex ways and everything about it felt incredibly raw and real. Ichiko is both a bystander to this and yet you can't say she's completely one as she's both forcibly and willingly thrown into the horrors of what goes on in the Iwakura residence, forced to deal with the plausible deniability that is Aria's relationship with her own father. The whole premise of the game feels incredibly Revolutionary Girl Utena as the themes of incestuous abuse and lesbianism collide in such a way where they're both tales that c…

I'm a faster reader so for me Iwakura Aria was roughly about a 10 hour read that got extended to about 13 hours because I forgot to do save points and had to backtrack for 100% completion. Overall it's a much smaller scale story when compared to Fata Morgana, but it's very quaint and intimate in exchange so it was easy to cozy myself up to Ichiko and Aria's story. If you're looking for a shorter Sapphic story to delve into, I think it's worth checking out! I bought mine at full price and was entertained enough to not feel robbed. Worst case just check out the demo at least to see if the characters interest you. A little curious they didn't spring for an English dub since the character cast is small and the price is much higher if you compare it to Fata Morgana (which costs half the price usually and has a ton more writing and side stories). It's a coming of age story, so if that's not your jam, then the protagonist might come off as annoying and childish (cause she is a child lol). Art is gorgeous as expected. Only thing I wish they did was delve more into some of the side characters a bit more via the short stories section. Overall it was interesting and will have you puttin…

beautiful artstyle