Reciprocation is lovely, people.

Lucky-ass history buffs. I wish I could argue about time periods like that

YESSSSS, Kawacy's Poptepepic art is always so amazing.

Amber is so cute but she’s so useless in game

@pogotun: Chilling? It's about to get hot like a furnace in that room!

Eh. Some times characters and people can just be simple. And maybe that's what Yuna wants. Ano also reads as someone who is meant to observe rather than participate. Her fascination with yuri as fiction being more interesting than real relationships speaks to that, as well as her ability to see ghosts yet never try to interact with them.

I would have liked for Hina to get slightly more character and less of the little sister vibes, but I wouldn't see Yuna and Ano being together as making sense. Yuna appears to be someone who would rather have less drama or emotional conflict in her own life, which someone whose own anxieties serve as a foil to her own would not immediately provide.

last edited at Nov 8, 2020 1:47AM

Best thing about this is Paimon and the panda sleeping together.

This ship is no longer my top Nanaka ship, but the art is gorgeous. Beautiful lining, color composition, and patterns/design. I think the artist even engraved Akira's name on her soul gem ring, like they all canonically have, which is even more attention to detail that I appreciate.

Nngh

Yaas

Noice

Hahaha preciosa indeed

Cute

love this ship, Is so soft.

Indeed

The power of gayness

Cute asf

UzuRin is always good

^ That's an interesting take, and one that I hadn't thought about before. But my arguments for YunaAno aren't based on the fact that they're inherently better than YunaHina, so much as the fact that they had the potential to be. Certainly, they've both got issues that would hinder a possible relationship, but so does every other character in the cast, and Kindred Spirits is a story about overcoming those anxieties and having to courage to hope for something better instead of settling for the status quo. Ano's penchant for observation and non-participation is an obstacle to relationships in the same way as Miki's savior complex, Aki's devotion to the rules, or Tsukuyo's position as a teacher is- without those obstacles, you wouldn't get the emotional payoff of characters growing, developing, and finding new happiness.

It'd be different if Ano was written as ace, or if the story explicitly engaged with her anxieties and views despite her not being in a relationship- Nena, for instance, despite staying single, has a clear arc where she learns to quit counting on other people to read the room and actively clarifies her feelings. Ano, at least as far as I could see, has no such moments whatsoever- it feels like the writers planned to make her important, gave her 'main trio' billing, and forgot about her halfway through the story. I'm not salty about what we have, so much as the wasted potential, hence my arguments for an Ano route as opposed to a pure, YunaAno-exclusive canon. If the writers went the other way, I'd make the same arguments about why Hina was underused and wasted as a character, because I just want the same standards of writing to hold true for everyone, and they almost do.

One of the greatest strengths of VNs as a medium, in my opinion, is to capture multiple perspectives and scenarios instead of adopting the absolute linearity of a paperback novel. Kindred Spirits actively uses this system, since we do get to inspect the same events from different perspectives in Calendar mode, so it's not like the writers were opposed to using the medium to lend the story depth. Ano's the only one who gets screwed out of this, and no matter how hard I strive to think that the writers intended for her to be a minor, detached character, it just doesn't fit with every other aspect of the novel. I'd get it if Kindred Spirits was a manga or a tv series, but definitely not if it was a VN.

To give you a less subjective and philosophical example, I'd use the Flowers series of yuri VNs. Like Kindred Spirits, the VNs have one canon romance, but also include a route for one or more non-canon characters that lets us see how the relationships pan out. One of my favourite examples is from the first instalment, wherein our protagonist has to choose between a somewhat distant, but supportive girl who she admires, and a more controlling, obsessive girl who's closer to her. The first is the more healthy relationship, and is represented by a flower on the interface blooming as our protagonist gets over her social anxiety and learns to be more expressive and confident, which factors into a long-term character arc. With the second route, the flowers wilts, representing how our protagonist's individuality is suppressed as she's suffocated by co-dependency and emotional manipulation. I love how the writers didn't just say, "The main relationship is better, just take our word for it,", but actually put in the effort to demonstrate why the non-canon relationship would be problematic and unfeasible. They used the medium to brilliantly express the message they were going for, and created a story that was truly unique and did justice to everyone involved. Obviously, Kindred Spirits had its own circumstances, and presumably a much smaller budget than Flowers ever did, but that's exactly why I'm a lot more inclined to think that they ran out of the time and resources required to write an Ano route instead of just planning for her to be a walking plot device all along.

Still, I'm grateful for the post you made, because it expanded my perspective and made me think my arguments through instead of taking certain assumptions for granted. Thanks.

@Kirin "One of the greatest strengths of VNs as a medium, in my opinion, is to capture multiple perspectives and scenarios instead of adopting the absolute linearity of a paperback novel. Kindred Spirits actively uses this system, since we do get to inspect the same events from different perspectives in Calendar mode, so it's not like the writers were opposed to using the medium to lend the story depth. "

Ok, I actually have to disagree with that. It's true that VN's biggest strength is being able to tell different stories and show different outcomes depending on your choices, as in, it's still a interactive experience compare to movies or books (as opposed to Kinetic Novels, where you pretty much just read and have no choices whatsoever), but Yurirei does not take advantage of it. I have few issues with the game on my own, but probably the biggest one is exactly that for all intents and purposes, Kindred Spirits is a Kinetic Visual novel. Your choices don't matter. All routes go the exact same way no matter what and you have no actual influence on the outcomes. There's 1 set path for all parings and that is the same for Yuna x Hina. Sure games sometimes ask you to make a choice, but you can't progress unless you read all other couples path and you can't read them unless you unlock them and you can't unlock them unless you pick the right choice, so game forces you to go back and find right choice before allowing you to move forward. So there not being Yuna x Ano route makes perfect sense, because Yuna x Hina is the only possible outcome in canon of the story and game never give you impression otherwise.

What creators did with Calendar mode is no different than dedicating different chapters to telling story from different points of view. It's nothing that books, comics or movies can't do right now. Having Yuna have to choose who she helps, because events take place during the same time or you need to spend time preparing to help one couple, so you can't stalk check on others, would actually make game much more interesting. Couples getting together or breaking up depending who you help. Now that would be taking advantage of the medium. I was really disappointed that wasn't the case, but I guess if not every couple ended up happy it could risk giving game a much darker and bittersweet mood instead of pure fluff we got.

BTW. I love Yuna x Hina and wouldn't see it otherwise.

last edited at Nov 8, 2020 3:41AM

tbh i imagine claire and rei looking more like these two

ps it doesn’t take a “history buff” to realize that their outfits aren’t medieval nor from ww2 ಠ_ಠ

last edited at Nov 8, 2020 3:39AM

two new tags in one image, how efficient.

@Nevri- I think we have the same point, though? Kindred Spirits only did the bare minimum to explore multiple perspectives, but in order to unlock some of the extra sections, you had to replay the game and pick different dialogue options. There's even a button on the interface that automatically fast-forwards you to the next/previous dialogue choice so you can pick a different option. You don't make the choice, you don't get the content- ergo, interactivity matters.

Is it anywhere near as complex as what others VNs do? Not by a long shot. But you also couldn't recreate the effect in a book or a movie unless you devoted fifteen pages or half-an-hour of runtime to psychological, hypothetical what-if sections that stem from one character saying something different and then leap into the mind of another character to explore the ripple effects, and do this four times for each week of a nine-month calendar without getting immensely confusing. It's not impossible, but it's the kind of thing that'd look ridiculously awkward in anything but a VN or videogame. Routes also aren't unique to VNs or games- there have been examples of books or movies being created based on what-if scenarios that follow from a previous instalment. VNs just polished the narrative device of a story route to a level unmatched in any other medium, but the existence of routes is still a VN tradition and not a feature.

I should say that I'm talking about the Final Chorus Edition of the game, so the whole replay the game and pick different dialogues for extra content might not have existed in older versions. Basically, I do think we agree on the fundamental point that Kindred Spirits could have done more with the choice system, but chose not to for various reasons, which led to various pros and cons. I guess I should've been more specific about the fact that KSOTR used the choice and branching system in principle, but not to an innovative degree.

But what about the homework!?

Noel top is extra good omg.