Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
Last Night was published on Steam Ame no Marginal-Rain Marginal-by Sekai Project. Ame no Marginal-Rain Marginal-is a new Visual Novel by Tomo Kataoka, best known for Narcissu. Sekai Project kindly sent me a review key for the Visual Novel.
Title: Ame No Marginal-Rain Marginal-Developer: Tomo Kataoka Genre: Drama Length: ~ 2h Premiere: December 30, 2014 (Japan), July 7, 2015 (Steam, English) Story: There is nothing in this world.
Just endlessly falling rain.
The population here is exactly one.
Getting off the elevator one day, a mysterious world was waiting.
No one else was around, only endless rainy sky and weathered flagstones.
In this world, getting hungry and even death wasn't possible.
It was a world where time seems to have stopped.
Except one thing — the rain continued to fall.
"This world has a population of just one. So get out. "
A girl named "Rin" Told the protagonist.
She declared that she was the lone mistress of this rainy world.
For how many years, decades, even centuries ...
Has she lived all alone in this world?
Will the day come when the rain stops falling?
Plot: Ame no Marginal has only one Storyline where you can't make Decisions. The Story is linear, with the Action told in Alternation from the point of view of the two Protagonists. The Plot is not fundamentally bad now, but it is too superficially touched for my Taste. For the Fact that the Visual Novel is particularly Important for Drama, the Proportion is treated too superficially. Rin's Backstory, in Particular, is being dealt with far too quickly. You don't have enough Time to feel right into the Characters here at all. The Setting is quite interesting and offers enough Fabric for an extensive and good Action. Unfortunately, the Potential here is not used at all, but only ripped. The not even 2h Reading time you need for Ame no Marginal is just too much Time to really expand the Plot. Here, the Novel could have been made longer.
Illustrations: The Illustrations are ok. Some Backgrounds are really chic, while others are simply average. There is a certain Inconsistency here. What I found to be a bit disturbing were the whole black Bars. Ultimately, you didn't really see much of the CGs and Backgrounds, up and down were always those black Bars. No Idea if they should somehow support the Atmosphere, I felt it was more disruptive.
Characters: There are only two Main Characters and two Supporting Characters here. The Protagonist doesn't even have a Name in this Case, while the Protagonist is Called Rin. The main Character's Story is actually irrelevant and you get the most involved with Rin. The Protagonist is quite passive of his whole Kind, but quite acceptable. At least you can refrains from his Suicide Tests. Rin is supposed to have a moving Past, but due to the short one it doesn't really come across. Her Character Design, though, is quite cute. But that was it something that speaks for Rin. The Novel simply suffers too much from the Brevity and was not able to expand the Characters properly as a result. I really liked The Supporting character who was in the World before Rin.
Sound: Most of what you hear here are Rain Sounding Effects. This was a good fit for the warm Days and also with the Novelty itself. But it was a bit too dominant for my Taste. A little more creative, musical Accompaniment Would have been appropriate. Although There is also music, the Rain thing is too much in the Foreground for my Taste. However, the right Atmosphere in the Visual Novel is taken care of.
Conclusion: Overall, Ame no Marginal-Rain Marginal was simply significantly too short to play the Potential of setting Sensibly. Nevertheless, the Visual Novel was a useful, melancholy trip into a rainy World. The Characters were all a bit Flat and also the Ending was too simple and happy Solution for me, which didn't really fit the Rest. Even though I liked Ame no Marginal-Rain Marginal-in the Overall Package, I still see the Sale Price set too high. For just under 13 Euros you get too little Content here. The Narcissu (which is eh Free) and a Bonus Story for Narcissu does not make the Prize fairer. Even with the 20% Discount at Present, the Ame No Marginal-Rain Marginal-the Money is not Worth it. The Conversation was clearly too short for this and does not in any way approach other short Representatives of the Drama Genre, such as planetarian.
6/10