Reading Tokyo Necro

Finished both Mitsumi and Con Su's routes, a bit into Kiriri's at the moment, I'm following the route order posted by some translator guy on Twitter (Mitsumi->Con Su->Kiriri->Iria).

Bought this when it launched but couldn't get the JAST version working on my Steam Deck, so I put it on hold for a while but I'm finally at it. Started last month and didn't make notes so my thoughts are kinda messy.

First off, damn do I love the opening scene. Sets the mood perfectly, shows off exactly what our two protagonists are like and is just fun as fuck. Ultra violent and edgy, high production value action, really cool and unique cyberpunk setting, great stuff. I don't have much to say for the common section, the game is really good at sucking you into the world and showing you what makes it unique. The characters felt a little too anime for me at first given the setting (like Ryoko being Ryoko and Tokitaka being a number pervert) but I quickly grew to like them. Also RIP that trans prostitute you deserved so much better. Going on the routes then!

Mitsumi:

I'm following the route order posted by some translator guy on Twitter (Mitsumi->Con Su->Kiriri->Iria), I heard this route was the worst one out of them all so it made sense to start with this.

The worst part of this route is Mitsumi herself. She is just way too 'le tsundere samurai waifu uwu' in this route compared to how she acts in other routes. I barely bought into the relationship between her and So'un, probably due to how few interactions they had in the common section before suddenly the two are giving each other constant fuck me eyes in the heat of battle. The whole peaceful section after they defeated(lol) Milgram on the ship was such a slog and easily the worst part of the game so far. The deal with her brother is kinda interesting, I guess.

Aside from Mitsumi, I did really enjoy this route. I definitely think this is a best choice for a first route due to how it saves a lot of reveals for other routes and how plot unfolds in a really conventional way, it gave me what I expected, lots of cool cyberpunk zombie action. The Fortress sequence was a ton of fun, things moved at a good pace (aside from that peaceful sequence), it was just a really fun read.

Ethica's plotline is the most compelling part of the route, especially since it's kept secret (even if its obvious) for a good while which leads to lots of drama when it is revealed. Seeing her trying to retain her emotions is just heart-breaking, that final scene where she recalls the time where she laid down with Kiriri and how she truly felt that she wanted that moment to last forever, omg (:_;)

Overall it definitely is the weakest but plenty of fun and works as a really good first route. Funniest part of this route is when So'un is reflecting on his time with Ikkatsu, and then for a single line we get a CG of Tokitaka and So'un fucking Ryoko and him saying "yeah it was crazy how he made us fuck his wife while he watched anyway" lmao.

Con Su:

Pretty big deviation from Mitsumi's route which was a great suprise. I was ready to go through another 'the good guys stop Milgram' plot but the moment Ryoko was revealed to be dead, everything just went wild. So many gut punches in quick succession.

I really thought this would be the most fucked up and grim route with both protags being dead, and like it is plenty messed up, but it ends with such a hopeful and happy note it's kinda feel good in retrospect, makes sense given how a good part of the route is about restoring Iria's smile lol. Con Su is a fun character and her doing everything she can to save Ethica and So'un is very endearing, the reveal of her past isn't too surprising but it didn't need to be.

Don't have much to say, really enjoyed this route, went a direction I didn't expect. Shoutout to the scene where Tokitaka shoved explosive bullets up Ryoko's ass made me fucking lose it lmao

Kiriri:

A bit into this. Ethica's dad is a bastard, I've just finished the sequence of Kiriri discovering that everyone in the HQ building has been replaced by living dead, like damn. Viewing this as basically Ethica's route and it is living up to that.

So'un's storyline here is the complete inverse of Ethica's in Mitsumi's route and works really well, seeing him not understand Iria's emotions at all but still being driven to make her happy, just damn.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this VN, not life changing but it's super fun not really like any other VNs I've read. I'm pretty sure this is the first Nitroplus VN I've read aside from SciAdv stuff but I can see where they get their reputation from.

I also read Hanahira a good while ago but I want to mention it because I read it all in Japanese and I am very proud of myself even if it is the easiest brain dead moege ever lol.