Hello, everyone. My name is Alexfang452 and I created this post to inform all of you why I think Porcelana is underrated and needs more attention. I bought this VN in March when it was 75% off. Its synopsis on its Steam store page interested me. Also, its visuals are appealing to me. With those things in mind and the fact that this VN's price was currently $2.24 instead of $9, I decided to buy it.

The Story

The people behind this VN, Pandita Studio, said that they hope that this emotional story will touch your heart and be one that you remember. In my eyes, they succeeded. In Porcelana, the focus is Isabella, a girl that is anything but the perfect girl society thinks she is. Our protagonist wants to get close to her but he always misses his chance. Despite never having a conversation with her, he slowly learns that he is important to her. I knew this VN was going to be emotional, but I did not expect it to be so heart-wrenching. What looked like a VN that focuses on romance turned out to be something more.

Characters

The cast of characters is good. Before I talk about Isabella, let me first say some things about some of the other characters. Paul is fine. He just doesn't get that much screentime. At least he wasn't annoying in any of the scenes he was in. Dallen, her daughter Caroline, and Camil are fine characters as well. Both Dallen and Camil in particular help the protagonist and the reader learn more about Isabella. Lastly, Caroline is harmless. She is a child and doesn't have much of a role in the story. Aside from Isabella's boyfriend who I am supposed to hate, none of the other main characters in this VN are detestable.

Now, I would like to talk about the protagonist. The problem is that there is very little to say about him. He wants to get closer to Isabella and talk to her, but he always misses his chance. That is due to things like a lack of confidence and/or Isabella leaving before he could get her attention. I did root for him to get the confidence to talk about Isabella. Thankfully, he isn't a loser with no friends. Now, let me get to Isabella.

Isabella

Pandita Studio did a good job making this character mysterious and interesting. Whenever the protagonist notices Isabella, she has a calm expression on her face. She has that expression on her face most of the time. It makes you wonder if she is hiding something behind it, especially after scenes such as Isabella reaching for a book on a tall shelf and her at lunch with her boyfriend. Those two scenes told me that Isabella's life isn't as perfect as I thought. Scenes like those kept me asking myself questions about her. Did she used to smile a lot more or did she always have a calm look on her face? Why is she avoiding the protagonist so much? If she is so popular, why isn't she hanging out with her friends? As I continued to read further, I hoped that the next chapter would tell me more about Isabella.

Eventually, I finally learned about Isabella's past. After learning about that, another scene revealed more things about Isabella like why she was avoiding the protagonist and what is hiding behind her "mask". Behind that mask is someone that has been through so much. I will not spoil anything and will just tell you that Isabella's life is a living hell. As I was reading through those scenes, I started tearing up.

As you can tell from the paragraph above, the emotional moments focus on Isabella and reveal a lot about her. Even though the protagonist was never able to have a conversation with Isabella, these scenes still worked. Like I said before, there are moments throughout the story that gives the reader the idea that Isabella's life isn't as perfect as you think. These moments that reveal a lot of information about her just confirmed it. You learn that those moments from past chapters are just the most recent dreadful memories Isabella has. In the end, learning about Isabella's past and the scenes after gives the reader everything you needed to know about a character that the protagonist never had a conversation with. It is a reminder that you will never be able to tell what someone has gone through even if they look flawless and perfect.

Any Negatives?

Porcelana is a VN that I have a hard time finding anything bad about it. The visuals are good and the soundtrack is fine. Even though it has a lot of chapters, most of them are short. Because of that, no chapter felt like it went on too long. Honestly, there is nothing I can think of that could ruin how much I enjoyed reading through this VN. While the English translation has some errors, they do not make any scene incomprehensible. Additionally, even though I do wish characters like Camil, Dallen, and especially Paul had more screentime, their lack of it did not ruin the reading experience either. After all, Isabella is the focus of this VN.

Final Thoughts

For the first VN made by Pandita Studio, I was not expecting to like it as much as I do. Porcelana is a VN with mature themes that tells its story well. Also, its emotional moments hit hard. From start to end, this VN was a roller coaster of emotions for me. Like I said at the start, I think this VN is underrated and deserves more attention. From how much I enjoyed it, I was shocked to see how little attention it has online. If it interests you in the slightest, then I highly recommend this VN. However, if the price keeps you away from it, then try to buy it when it is on sale. I finished this VN in about 4 hours.

There are a few things about Porcelana's story that I wanted to talk about. However, I decided to leave them out since they contain spoilers. I could not think of any way I could talk about those things without potentially spoiling anyone that comes across this review.

Anyways, thanks for reading my review. Stay safe and have a good day.