a twist of otome

Finally!

I've been wanting to play this visual novel for such a long time already.

I could never download it before. As in, never. Everytime I would try, there would be some server error or something. :( I even messaged the creator and he gave me another link, still, nothing! So I kinda just gave up on it. But a few weeks ago, I remembered this VN and decided to give it a try, and what do you know, it worked! I managed to download it. Weeeee. <3

As you know, a few months back I reviewed a kinetic novel entitled Toire no Hanako. And now I present to you Lil Red, created by the same maker of that VN.

And guess what? This visual novel is... awesome.


Li'l Red begins with a father telling his young son the story of the boy's sister.

He tells the tale of a young redheaded girl who was sent to the middle of the forest to give an offering to the Priestess of the Moon. On the way there, she meets a male wolf looking for his cub. The wolf helps the redheaded girl to find her way to the temple of the Priestess. Along the way, she encounters difficulties, but the wolf is always there to help her throughout this short journey. Together they discover the true nature of their faith in Mother Moon, and how their differences don't really mean anything at all.

First of all, I want to say that I really enjoyed this story. From the start, it already had that aura of mystery and suspense that's really perfect for its genre. It may not be like your usual visual novel with the backgrounds and sprites, but I oh-so-love it. I could get used to this kind of thing. Hahaha.

I love the music, and I love the effects. And the art, oh, the art. Haha. It's really wonderful. I can't imagine this in the traditional VN style too. Li'l Red would look so different with sprites and backgrounds, I presume. Donmai creates such wonderful art, they're awesome.

And as for the story, the maker of this VN is truly a master of amazing plot lines, that I know now. Hahaha. It's his second visual novel, but I do hope he'll continue making more! I'm so hungry for a third, fourth, fifth game from this creator. Hahaha.

According to him, "the story is loosely based on folk traditions created by Charles Perrault."


I believe there are only two possible endings for this game, but I like them both. I personally like the first one though, which I'm not telling you. Hahahaha. The other one is okay, I actually predicted it. :) And the other... oh, it's so unpredictable it's amazing.

But seriously, I loved that ending. I think I even gasped a little at the end. Hahaha. It was that... shocking. Hahaha. To be honest, I never really thought about it that way. :o I really, truly, never expected that ending.

Can't understand what I'm rambling about? Well then, just play and find out why I'm giving it 8/10 strawberries! You can download the game for free here. :)

Lin, the protagonist and narrator, is the little sister of Yu, their village's gatekeeper. She and her brother spend their days looking for ways to pass the time. It's implied that being members of the Fae folk, gatekeepers aren't needed anyway, since human eyes can't see their village. But since it's such an honor to the family, Yu accepted the job. And it's Lin's task to help her brother pass the time.

With Yu comes his very flirtatious and accordingly beautiful fiance, Xia. I suppose she is quite pretty, but her unsubtle seductiveness and flirty movements her not-so-pretty in my eyes. Hahaha.

One day, Lin is tasked to deliver something to Grandfather Shi, a "Dragon" in the mountains. On the way there, she meets Qiang, a warrior who needs advice from the Dragon.

Grandfather Shi is such a cutieee. <3 I wanna pinch his cheeks.

Dances. This is where things happen.

Okay, sorry for the cliffhanger, but you really have to play the game. Hahaha, it's quite predictable at times, and there were also some... "dull" parts, true, but it is quite hard to stop playing once you start. Besides, aside from the hard-to-read text and, personally, the... really frustrating ending, I quite liked this short visual novel. :) It took me around 25 minutes, and it was a fun quarter-hour too.

7/10 strawberries for this one!