The summer is nearing it’s end and what is my last summer break before I graduate university has got me reflecting about this charming little game. Hit the read more if you’re interested!
Before I begin, I want to point out that, in case it wasn’t clear, I love Morenatsu. It’s my favorite visual novel out there, in fact! However, when people ask me why I enjoy Morenatsu so much, I often tell them that the game in fact is not the best written thing in the world. In fact, a lot of the writing is bad. Between the amateur translation and the fact that the game was originally written by amateur developers a lot of the prose is poorly executed or the characterization didn’t quite connect at times, as was the case in Kounosuke’s route. Morenatsu also had its fair share of problematic content that I typically warn people in advance about when they’re first playing the game.
Despite all of this, however, Morenatsu had a lot going for it that won over a lot of folk, myself included. For starters, it had strong ideas. It knew what it wanted to be: Charming, nostalgic, cathartic, and empathetic. When it wanted to be those things it often hit the mark. The second thing it had going for it was that all of the drama was eye level. What this means is all of the problems of the characters are very well those we could realistically have experienced and in a lot of cases actually have experienced these things (such is the case for me with Kouya). The world wasn’t in any danger (sans Tatsuki’s joke endings) but the drama that unfolded in the game’s summer still came in loud and clear. The third thing was the fact that the entire cast was made up of emphatically written gay characters. None of the characters were one dimensional stereotypes of homosexuality we often see in mainstream media. This made getting to know the characters all the more fun because we knew were in for something deeper than what we’re usually represented by. Finally, the last thing Morenatsu really had going for it is the aesthetic. Ostensibly, liking something for the appearance might seem shallow, but in truth an inviting aesthetic has the power to immerse people even further. A lot of the themes in Morenatsu has been told countless times by other works of fiction but those messages often miss people who aren’t comfortable with the way they’re presented. By having an inviting aesthetic, people can lower their guard and take in a piece of media with much more engagement because it’s visually comforting.
Is Morenatsu perfect? No, in fact it’s far from it, but ultimately it’s still memorable experience. It sucks that it got cancelled so we won’t really ever see the last three characters get their stories told. Even with fan routes being made, it’s still sad to see it go. Frankly, I don’t have any faith in the fan routes seeing as the team behind it was cobbled together literally over night, but that’s beside the point. Ultimately, as I explore visual novels as a medium, I’ll always think fondly of Morenatsu for being the game that really made me want to make my own visual novels even with its abundant flaws.