Name: Tasogare (87.14% in 7 votes)
Type: NVL
Platform: WINDOWS
Company: Leaf
Release date: 2001
Reviewed by: Orochi
For a first release in a new century,Leaf seems to have gone back to its root of releasing Suspensful Visual Novels after the some what disappointing Magical Antique a year before.
So does this release match up to the classic Sizuku and Kizuato ?
We'll find out here.
(Note,all the opinion expressed here are my own,yours may differ.)
Story :-
Being a "Active Dramatize Novel",the main selling point about it is the story.So how does old timer Leaf (since 1994) goes aganist the almighty KEY (since 1998) in story telling now ? I'll just give the main outline of the plot and leaves the reader to be the judge.
The setting here is in mid-summer.Our hero,Samimaru, had just been woken up from a long hibernation.As fate were have it,two young girls had ventured into his hibernation chamber where it is shared by another of Samimaru's kind and they were attacked by "it".Samiamru saved the 2 girls,and we find out later that Samimaru is a relic from World War II.A genetically-enginerred "Strengthen Solider Clone" that had been hibernating for the past 50 years or so,who cannot aged or be killed,have extra oridinary healing abilities,therefore is design to be a war machine.Being in a new timeline that is very different from his,he decide to stay put at one of the girl,Tsukuyo's place for the time being till he had learn enough of this new era and deciding on a new purpose in life.But he discovered that there are others of his kind that have awaken and is out of dispose of him....
What is the reason behind fellow "Strengthen Soliders" turning aganist Samimaru ? What is the secret behind his abilities ?
This is something the reader had to find out for themselves by getting this release
Ask you can see,the tone of the story here does not focus on romance,but rather about a guy seeking out the truth behind a string of events,some of the H-scenes here are not even done on love.So those fans of Leaf who have remain loyal only after To Heart,stay away from this release.The story here are much along the line of Sizuku and Kizuato.Like I said earlier,Leaf is returning to it's root with this release though Tasogare's plot may not be as horrific and dark as Sizuku or Kizuato (nobody get rape here,almost),but it still manage to intriuge.
Like many other visual novels,the story for each character is inter-related.You will not find out the whole truth behind the plot if you are done with just one story of a chara,that means you had to be done with
each individual chara before you have access to the final "Truth" end.
CGs :-
The CGs here is done by Kawata Hisashi,who was last seen doing the CGs for White Album 3 years before.His style had improved and the charas are looking their age now,unlike in White Album.Gone are also the brightly lit Background since To Heart,the backgound are darker tone now.
In my opinion,this is the best CGs Leaf had done in recent years.
Music :-
Leaf had never been disappointing in the area of music,so this release is no exception.The style of the music is very much the same as previous release,light,easy-going,pop tunes,some techno added in for the action sequences.But does not stand up to KEY's standard though.Leaf needs to work on this area if it ever want to beat KEY.
For those wondering about the OP song,not too bad,but it's forgettable.I still like Tori No Uta better.
Misc Stuffs :-
Why does Leaf call this release a "Active Dramatize Novel" ? It's simple,they had include some sprit animations for certain scenes.Good thing, for I can get into the plot better with this feature as to when does the characters run,walk,duck and have a certain respond towards an event.
But,I have a problem with the sprites,they are too darn cute ! It certainly does not fit into some action scenes,at least for me.If only those animation can be like the OP animation clip,fully animated....
Now for my biggest question about this release....
Why isn't there any voice actings ?
I'm sure Leaf can employ some seiyuus to do voices for the charas,especially during the sprit animations.Even some recent Visual Novels like Kao No Nai Tsuki can be 65% full voiced,I sure that if Leaf decide to compress voice data into MP3s,they will have no problem introducing voices into this release.(E!Go proves that by squeezing 5 gigs of voices onto 3 CDs using MP3 tech.)
Conclusion :-
Good Things : Excellent CGs,Intriguing Plot,Limited Animated Scenes.
Bad Things : No more romantic storyline,No Voice,Animation sprits are too darn cute.
Images copyrighted by Leaf/AQUAPLUS,2001.
(C)Leaf/AQUAPLUS
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