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Hoshizora no Memoria Review



Company: FAVORITE
Release Date: 27/03/2009
Genre: Eroge, School, Romance, Drama



Hoshizora no Memoria is a game released by a company called FAVORITE and is a Visual Novel which ties in with school life and more unusually the stars. As the title suggests. The game is all about stories rotating round the main character and there are even trace elements on how we as a race fit into the universe. However I will touch upon that later.

Opening Theme

Eternal Recurrence
Artist: Aragaki Toshio



The OP is very vibrant and illustrates the characters giving away very little spoilers actually which is a very pleasant surprise. I've played many a visual novel to have the OP inadvertantly give away some pretty big plot points. Some people wont notice these but the particularily observant player can and it can ruin a plot point or two. The theme itself is very upbeat and actually matches the PV that goes along with it which once again is fairly unusual. All in all it qualifies as one of my favourites that I've heard so far.

Story:

I don't intend to really give too much away here but I will give a brief synopsis which should hopefully help you decide if this is worth trying or not.



You play the role of "Kogosaka You" who has just returned to the small mountain town of Hibaragasaki after his mother has died. Kogasaka (I intend to call him this from here out as "You" will be confusing I fear) and his sister Chinami move in with his late mother's sister Shino and attempt to start a brand new life from there. As is prevalent in these games, the two of them used to live in Hibaragasaki until 7 years ago where they moved away with their mother to the city (It isn't specified which). The prologue shows Kogasaka at a place known simply as "the lookout" which has a beautiful view of the night sky. He meets a young girl and plays with her every day before he has to move away. This only lasts a month but the memory stays with him the entire time he is away as she gives him his first kiss...albeit on the forehead.
So when Kogasaka returns, he makes it his mission to look for the girl from his memories. Upon his return, he goes to the lookout to find it fenced off. Finding a way in and returning to the observation platform from his memories, he doesn't meet the girl of his memories but instead meets a young grim reaper known to him only as "Mare". She appears to look almost exactly like the girl from his memories but looks the same age as when he last saw her. Mare tells Kogasaka that she must reap his nightmare as it's what she promised to do. Before he can object, she cuts him with her scythe which causes him to forget the name of the girl from his past. So the story begins where Kogasaka remembers the girl and the past but he cannot remember his name at all so he cannot find her. So his hunt begins...



The Common route for the game (which to the Visual Novel beginner means the route before you choose a character and has most choices) is much longer than alot of the others that I have played before it. It's quite uncommon for a game's timespan to be more than a month in this genre but for alot of the characters, the common route before you even get to their plot is two months. There arent too many days that get skipped either so as you can imagine replaying through the common route even holding the ctrl key down can take quite some time to get to the next characters route that you wish to play. My suggestion is certainly to make a save at each choice point so that you can come back to it later and at least cut some of the time off as it can be really painful going through it the 5 times necessary before the True route becomes available.

A couple of the plots are very short which I have a complaint with in some regards. Chinami's felt like it was miniscule in comparison to the others and a couple of the other character routes felt quite bland. I went into Komomo's route expecting greatness but I felt it was a bit of a letdown however it is necessary as it does address plot points vital to the story as a whole. Also all the characters are not attainable straight away. Kosame requires you to have completed Komomo's route whereas Chinami requires you to have cleared Isuzu's. The true end requires the 5 heroines to all be cleared and Mare's requires you to have finished all of the prior ones.

Recommended Play Order:

Asuho, Komomo, Kosame, Isuzu, Chinami, "True", Mare

My Rankings for the Routes:

True, Mare, Asuho, Kosame, Komomo, Chinami, Isuzu

Characters:

Kogasaka You:

The main character (Not a faceless one for a change) that you play as throughout the story. He is on a search for the girl of his past and has a love for the starry sky because of her. Not a total spineless coward as alot of protaganists are and tends to solve things himself without relying on others. When he was a child he was very withdrawn and anti-social before he meets the girl in his past which slowly changes him. After he returns to Hibarigasaki he is quite a normal outgoing teenager. His interactions with his sister Chinami are always good for some hilarity. He is the master temple grinder.



Minahoshi Asuho:

One of You's classmates and the class rep of his class. She has quite a bubbly and outgoing personality (But not to the point of it being annoying). She is a very wholesome character who is always out to help others; normally before herself. She is also the vice president of the "Tenkuru" which stands for the Astronomy Lovers Circle and has a very keen love for the stars and their associated legends. Asuho especially likes the legends which have romantic histories to them even though she is absolutely hopeless in matters of the heart herself. She is generally the mood maker of the whole cast and can normally steer a depressing situation back to somewhere more cheerful. All in all, she is quite a nice "normal" character.



Hisakaki Komomo:

With her immediate appearance you can already tell she is the main tsundere of the cast. Sporting Blonde twin tails, it's like a formula. She is however a very diligent person deep down and despite wanting to shut down the Tenkuru for her own reasons (Which become apparent if you do her route) she always seems to help out in dire situations. She is a member of the Student Council and throws her weight around in there a bit. She harbors a hatred for the stars and the lookout though she herself doesnt know why, she just does. As Tsunderes go and I'm a big fan of them, I was quite disappointed with her. I feel the best part about going down a route with a Tsundere is how they break down into a dere eventually but I never really felt that that truly happened throughout her route at all.



Hisakaki Kosame:

Kosame is Komomo's twin sister and also her polar opposite personality wise. She is very reserved and polite but I dont think I could consider her deredere, she certainly isnt that. She has a tendency to think everything is an innuendo which in turn adds to her charm. She is also a member of the Tenkuru and is probably one of the main reasons that it still functions as she has a unique element of control over her twin sister. With her personality it's quite likely that she is a bisexual character as she hints at yuri elements all throughout to both Komomo and Asuho which are rather amusing.



Aoi Isuzu

Isuzu is a first year student at Hibari-Kou and Kogasaka's neighbour. She is very reclusive to the point of being offensive to anyone trying to talk to her. This is especially true when she associates with Chinami as Chinami is very loud in comparison to Isuzu's withdrawn nature. Frequent utterances of "Go die!" and "Go jump off a bridge" are commonplace when trying to speak to her. On a personal note, I didnt really like her. She just seemed to be offensive for the sake of it and even by the end of her route, she hasnt really changed a significant amount in her attitudes.



Kogasaka Chinami

Chinami is the ultimate genki character. She is so bubbly she is described as an "unexploded nuclear warhead". She can't cook at all and anything she does cook becomes something else entirely; normally something black and inedible. She keeps observation diaries on her brother much to his dismay and loves aliens and UFO's. She joins the Occult Society on a mission to have an alien "take her for a ride on it's UFO". Despite her overbearing enthusiasm she has a heart of gold and is certainly one of the most fun characters I've seen for a while.



Mare S Ephemeral

Mare is a grim reaper that Kogasaka meets at the lookout. She quickly makes it apparent that she doesnt reap lives but nightmares. In the prologue she reaps Kogasaka's nightmare which is the girl from his past. However she regularily appears at the lookout on starry nights. She is quite defiant and a completely different type of Tsundere from Komomo. On a personal note I think she is one of the most adorable characters I've ever seen as the way she acts is so cute and her route is just icing on the cake. It's worth the effort to reach. Other than the fact that she is a grim reaper...nothing else is known about her.



Graphics:

The graphics on Hoshizora no Memoria are really good, vibrant colours adorn every character and background. There is a unique feature as well which I will admit I never used as well with the CG's in game. You can zoom on any part of it up to x2.0 which allows you to play looking at what you want to look at. Looking at a pantsu shot has never been so easy.

There are SD Pictures which unfortunately dont appear in the CG section as you get them which are really well done. I think looking at Kosame chop Kogasaka on the head is really really cute and there are plenty of others which I consider to be really funny. The temple grinding is one you will regularily see and always gets a chuckle.



After you finish the game you get a Bustshot option which isnt what it sounds like. It's simply where you can take the sprite of the character you like, slap on your favourite costume and expression from them...pop them in some location they never appeared in and bang...screenshot. It's a nice addition especially for fans who want to get some extra pictures the game doesnt give.

Sound:

There is a plethora of tracks to choose from and you will have nearly all of them after finishing your first route so if you are a sound junkie you will find this to be pretty good that way. That being said though, there werent too many memorable tracks. You generally notice them when playing the game but not when you look for them in the sound menu...at least thats how it has been for me anyway. The voices are really good though. Asuho sounds really sweet, Mare sounds sweeter...dare I say it even Chinami is good at what she does. Her overly genki side is funny to listen to with some of the silly lines she spouts.

H-Scenes:

I will always say this in a visual novel, they are not generally necessary. I don't view them as a paramount part of any story, more as a reward for sticking with a set character. My opinion of the game would not change if they werent there but it's fine that they are. As usual some of the scenes are really good, I particularily liked Kosame's and Mare's but some were fairly indifferent to me. Alot of them felt forced as in it was like a checklist that it had to be done by a set date in the plot whether it felt natural or not. Mare's is certainly a topic for discussion as the lolicon nature of them is that strong that the version I had of the game had the CG's removed. It is fixable though so if anyone wants to know how I can let them know.



Final Scoring:

Story/Plot: 8
Characters: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound: 7.5
H-Scenes: 7.5
Overall: 8

I really enjoyed the game generally and the final route was so worth achieving. There is generally a character here for everyone which is why I think that anyone with a taste for the genre can enjoy it. Even if Chinami puts you off which I have heard many people say is the case...stick with it. The final route is worth obtaining and is quite heart wrenching affair. I wish I could speak about the character of the true route as I adore her almost as much as Mare but I simply dont want to riddle this with spoilers.

Walkthrough posted below as I know how hard it is to get an English one at the moment.

==========================================================================

Walkthrough:
Finish Komomo‘s route to unlock Kosame‘s
Finish Isuzu‘s route to unlock Chinami‘s
Finish Asuho, Isuzu, Komomo, Kosame and Chinami‘s routes to unlock the Mysterious Girl‘s route.
You must complete all the routes to unlock Mare‘s route.

Choices in parantheses () might not shows up, if they don’t appear, then simply ignore them.

Minahoshi Asuho – ?????:

Stay out of it.
Tell her.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
Grab on.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Aoi Isuzu – ???:

Cover up for her.
Don’t tell.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Welcome her.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Hisakaki Komomo – ?????:

Stay out of it.
Don’t tell.
(Forget it.)
Thank her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Give it a shot.
(…………)
(Stay still.)

Hisakaki Kosame – ?????:

?You must do Komomo’s route to unlock Kosame’s

Cover up for her.
Tell her.
Try again.
Tease her.
(Take her feelings to heart.)
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
……A couple?
(Stay still.)

Kogasaka Chinami – ?????:

?You must do Isuzu’s route to unlock Chinami’s

Cover up for her.
Tell her.
(Forget it.)
Tease her.
Thank her.
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
(…………)
Embrace her.

Mysterious Girl – ?:

?You must do the 5 above routes to unlock this route

Stay out of it
Don’t tell
Forget it
Tease her
Take her feelings to heart.
Keep silent
I can’t
Drop the subject
…………
Stay still.
(……Don’t say that.)
(I can’t accept her.)

Mare – ??:

?You must do the Mysterious Girl’s route to unlock Mare’s

Stay out of it.
Don’t tell.
Forget it.
Tease her.
Take her feelings to heart.
Keep silent.
I can’t.
Drop the subject.
…………
Stay still.
…………
Respond to her feelings.