Strap yourselves in, kids. This is gonna be a long one. It’s gonna be in three parts, the other two in the comments.

Introduction

When I mention the developer August Soft, chances are two games pop into your head: Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai and Aiyoku no Eustia. Both are widely beloved, though the latter isn’t fully translated yet; its translation is on the cusp of completion, and many are counting down the weeks until they can play this (alleged; I haven’t played it yet) legend of a game. However, rarely are August’s other works given consideration. Today, I want to introduce you to one of their earlier franchises, Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na. This review will only contain minor spoilers. I might talk about the premise of a route for the sake of discussion, for instance, but not any twists or surprising plot points.

Yoakena is, in my opinion, an incredible game. In many respects, it hit close to home. To help understand why, I’d like to give a little background about myself. Last year, I was accepted to the JET Program as a Coordinator of International Relations. What this means is that I will be going to a certain town in Japan (I already have my placement) and working at its Board of Education for one to five years. My duties will involve, as the title suggests, fostering cultural exchange. I might organize events in the community, write articles for the town newsletter, interpret for foreign guests, and so on and so forth. You could call me a small-scale cultural ambassador. I’m still waiting to depart; according to current information, that’s looking like somewhere between September and December. Keep this information in the back of your head as you read this review; you’ll see why this game feels so personal to me.

Now, regarding the release history of Yoakena, there are actually three games I played. First, the original PC release. Eventually, this got ported to the PS2 with the subtitle “Brighter than dawning blue” (same VNDB page as the original), removing the adult content and adding two new heroine routes (which more than make up for it, but more on that later). This was eventually back-ported to the PC, which is the version I played. It’s also the only version with an English translation, though I can’t speak to its quality, as I played the whole series in Japanese. Finally, there’s the fan disc, Moonlight Cradle.

The premise of the story is that the Moon has hosted human civilization for centuries now, but horrible wars in the past have left Earth-Moon relations rocky. The story is set in motion when the princess of the Moon, Feena Fam Earthlight, comes to Earth to study abroad and do a homestay at the protagonist’s house. Other heroines include the protagonist’s younger sister, Asagiri Mai; his older cousin, Hozumi Sayaka; Feena’s maid, Mia Clementis; the protagonist’s childhood friend, Takamizawa Natsuki; a mysterious girl named Wreathlit Noel; Natsuki’s friend, Tooyama Midori; and a Lunarian priest, Estel Freesia. Midori and Estel were the ones added in the PS2 port.

The protagonist, Asagiri Tatsuya, is quite a good one. Some VNs try to make their protagonists funny and memorable by making them act like kind of an asshole (Clannad) or giving them some sort of special power (Da Capo), but Tatsuya stands out for his upstanding character. He’s an amicable young man; when the game says he gets along with someone, he really does. Nobody treats him like some kind of raging sex fiend for the crime of existing, as happens to so many other protagonists for a cheap laugh, and he’s understanding, but not to the point of being a doormat. He also has his own dreams and convictions, which influence his actions, and it’s interesting to watch him butt heads with characters who think differently from him. He’s proactive, he’s earnest, and he’s not without faults of his own. Overall, he’s a great character that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

I also cannot stress enough how much I love the game’s setting and atmosphere. It’s not a high school rom-com. Yes, the high school is a setting within the game, but it’s not the focus. The game largely takes place at home and around town, focusing heavily on the cultural exchange angle (especially in the common and Estel routes), as well as the meaning of family (in the case of the Mai, Sayaka, and Midori routes). It’s relaxing in a way that most moege can’t quite nail, and I think that’s due in large part to the game’s just slightly unique premise. This is the kind of approach I love in VNs: it takes a familiar concept (high school romance), adds a simple wrinkle (the Moon is colonized and on rocky terms with Earth), and then milks said wrinkle for all it’s worth, really exploring the ins and outs of it, making an entirely unique experience. (I played another game this month that did this to great success. Hint: it starts with Kotonoha and ends with Amrilato.) Too many games suffer because they fail to fully explore the possibilities unique to their settings (looking at you, Yuzusoft).

And just like how Air unilaterally explored the relationship between a mother and child, Yoakena has its own set of common themes that pervade the entire work. Chiefly:

1. How can a romantic relationship develop when one party will have to leave forever?

2. What does it mean to be a family? What form should families take, and how should they act?

3. What does it take to truly understand someone from a foreign land? What can you do to help them understand you?

Throughout this review, I’ll be reflecting on these questions a lot. Now, without further ado, I’d like to get into the routes in the order I played them.

Common Route

This was quite comfy. It focuses largely on helping Feena and Mia fit in to Earth life, and there are numerous scenes of them coming into contact with Earth culture (“It’s polite to slurp udon?”). The common route consists mostly of slice-of-life scenes, but I never got tired of them. It was refreshing to see how the various Earthlings make Feena and Mia feel at home, and it was also exciting to see the cultural exchange go both ways, like how Mia taught Mai how to cook Moon food. At the same time, it adequately sets up the Asagiri household’s unusual structure and familial bonds, hammering in their daily life, the ways they approach each other, and their relationship with the Takamizawas. In short, the common route was soothing. It didn’t rely on slapstick comedy or overly tropey developments, instead deciding to ease me in to the game’s unique world, making sure I’m well-acquainted with it before moving on to a heroine route. Despite what VNDB tells you, the common route is actually quite short: I got through it in a small handful of hours, and keep in mind that I read Japanese slower than I read English.

Feena Fam Earthlight

No matter what, the game will force you down Feena’s route for your first playthrough. It’s the most dramatic, and it paves the way for the themes of other routes. If you recall the first theme I outlined above, the Feena route provides one of the game’s many answers to that question. Feena’s case is further compounded by her status, which she obviously is not willing to give up, and when she and Tatsuya finally confess their love to each other, they resolve to fight for approval for their relationship. As Feena’s duties get in the way, the resulting drama is admittedly less than interesting, and the route does dwell a little too often on the old Prince and the Pauper trope of “You’re not good enough for royalty.” The resolution of the route’s final conflict is somewhat predictable, though it does feel earned. Tatsuya does go through some tasty development in this route, though much like Takeru in Muv-Luv Unlimited, this is far from the end for him. More on that later, though.

Ultimately, Feena’s route was one of my least favorites, though I could be biased. Feena’s one of my least favorite character archetypes, after all. Such strength of character disarms me; I can’t help but wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. She’s the kind of person who’s constantly moving forward, and it feels like only a fellow visionary can even hope to keep up with her. She’s more a force of nature than a person. Additionally, this route has an explicit antagonist, which I’m not too fond of in this kind of game. I much prefer it when the conflict is internal.

Hozumi Sayaka

Introducing the nee-san route. Sayaka’s route felt shorter than Feena’s, perhaps because it has fewer story beats, but it, again, helped establish some of the game’s themes. In this route, Tatsuya has a bit of an inferiority complex, constantly desperate to convince Sayaka of his maturity, since she often treats him like a child. The route eventually touches on the aforementioned theme of long-distance relationships, as well as shining a spotlight on the emotional bonds between the members of the Asagiri family. That said, it only examines a small portion of the issue, zeroing in on just Tatsuya and Sayaka. This route’s treatment of the game’s themes is ultimately wide and shallow, leaving deeper exploration to other routes. For this reason, I think this route is best played early on, as other routes build upon concepts that get only a cursory introduction in Sayaka’s.

As a heroine, Sayaka’s okay, I guess. I’m not much of one for nee-san types.

Continued in the comments.