one of the stronger installments in the memories off series, but still has its problems.
the setting is contained to keep things well paced, storylines develop naturally and stay on target, twists and other big reveals work for the most part, although some feel forced. overall, the characters are quite strong, except shuuji. he is a worthless waste of space loser who does nothing but ruin every route he has a part in. he is a forced drama device with 0 likeability, 0 purpose. you can tell from the second he is introduced exactly why he will be a problem, and it plays out exactly as you could imagine. garbage character. the other characters are genuinely all good, some even bridging over to great. kise is a welcome addition returning from memories off 4, and mahiro stands among my favourite characters in the entire series, her route being the best this game has to offer, by a long shot. its solid.
mahiro route is great for a few big reasons, but it does drag just a bit at times. her route is better if you have played all of the previous games in the series before this. they do a really good job utilising what they had build prior to this game in an unexpected way, very well done. the story could have used another pass as some aspects were disappointing or weak, kazuki and shuuji for example have next to nothing to do, they gave literally everything to kise (which im fine with because she is s tier). shuuji is a worthless character across the board and should have been cut. shin also says some things that make no sense, unless i missed something, there is one point in particular where he knows something he absolutely shouldn't know. the ending of mahiro's route is also on the weaker side, but if you think outside peak/end principle, mahiro route is pretty good. she is s tier, one of the best girls memories off girls, and they utilise the series to make her route uniquely interesting. it works. it just needed another pass to tidy up the scenario writing. perhaps 2 more passes. or 3.
asuka's route is great until the ticking time bomb that is shuuji ruins everything. everything is great, fun, asuka is very cute, then BOOM gay ♥♥♥♥♥♥ plot device character forces drama and boom boom boom 5 useless scenes in a row of the main character just talking to all the other characters to hear what they have to say, one after the other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BOOOOOOORING just waiting for it to all be over when the answer is PLAIN AS DAY OBVIOUS. 'visual novel mc lobotomises himself', nothing new under the sun. asuka's route slowly falls apart, for really no reason. it doesnt make sense, it doesnt work, its just disappointing. sad.
kazuki is super cute, very interesting character, but her route basically doesnt exist. there is no story, nothing happens, nothing going on. they are making the movie as normal, then one day kazuki says something equivalent to 'hey, how's it going?' and BOOM everyone quits on the spot and the story just ends. what? what just happened? what happened to shuuji and asuka? why does mahiro change her entire motivation on a dime and disappear forever over nothing? even kise becomes a different person and abandons everyone. they don't even wrap it up, it just stops. 'well at least we have each other~!' ♥♥♥♥ YOU. complete joke of a route. nothing happens. useless. her other endings are even worse. pointless waste of time. just skip through to unlock the cute kazuki CGs.
mizuho route is nice initially, haruto and mizuho have good chemistry and the burger wack stuff is sweetly endearing, BUT, once the story comes in everything falls apart. noticing a trend yet? for some reason asuka becomes an unbearable ♥♥♥♥♥, cussing out her coworkers and boss!? who is this new asuka? at least haruto stays the same, but that doesnt really help as his default is a useless lying ♥♥♥♥♥♥. shin is only there for weak and gay NTR bait and to recycle lines from mahiro route. everybody knows everybody 3 times over, its just too much. this route should have been softer and disconnected from everything else, not everything has to be connected. im not even going to mention the EGREGIOUSLY AWFUL ending. mizuho is a cool character, but her backstory ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks ass, not interesting at all, and it makes me wonder if the random mikki stuff that never seems to have any point whenever it is brought up elsewhere was shoehorned into the game purely for her route. also shoehorned is her one scene lizard. her route is genuinely great for the first 50%. it works until it dies.
miumi route is good, but dull. to be honest, i completely forgot she existed when i was writing this review. her route is the 2nd best in the game, but that is really only because her route doesnt have glaring issues like asuka/kazuki/mizuho. outside of mahiro route, miumi's does the best at actually utilising the movie theme (on that note, make sure you play miumi route before mizuho route because mizuho route needlessly spoils a cool reveal in miumi's route). there is some wee woo suspend your disbelief nonsense in miumi's route, but it's fine. miumi is cute, her tachie and poses fit her character perfectly and are the best in the game (and perhaps the series). it is paced well and the story is nice enough, but again, its just dull. it isnt memorable, feels bargain bin in terms of ideas. i've seen this same sort of story done better in 10 different places. BUT, all that being said, its fine, and that's good enough, isnt it?
