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| Since the switch ver is digital only here's the PS Vita box art instead. |
Developer/publisher: Matatabi.
Platform: PC/Vita/Switch.
Official Site: https://matatabi.tv/kannagi/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22311
Release date: 22-2-2024.
I saw they released a switch port of Kannagi no Mori and since I did play the other two
Matatabi games I decided why the hell not? there's not many otome games I am interested
in nowadays and besides for some reason it is only 3300 yen which honestly
is a steal for like two games, but after playing I think the price suits it just fine.
I ended up finishing 4 routes while playing FF7 rebirth because at times I just
wanted to peace out and Kannagi no Mori was perfectly suited for that.
KnM was originally a PC game split into parts... ah so matatabi tried that sort of thing.
Thank god they later made a ps vita and now a switch port so you can enjoy it in one place.
Pro's
- Decent enough plot, compelling characters.
- Has relaxing vibes despite it having a sad tone at times.
- Art is pretty good.
- BGM is relaxing... perhaps a bit to much.
Grey Area
- One route could seem really short but its long if you do all routes.
Con's
- Slow start, has some slight pacing issues.
- Switch port is bugged, if you want to save/load you have to use the touchpad
as the little text prompt thingy was unresponsive when you select yes for various things.
The OP movie was nice, I was instantly drawn to atleast two characters!
but this is not the type of movie i'd watch always every time I booted uup the game.
Sure its nice but after a few route I had just seen it... also it is a bit long.
One thing I really liked was the art style of this game, not every character may have
drawn me in the same way but I really like the colours,style and vibe it gives off.
The cg's had plenty of variation that were good at showing the characters expressions
and the overall count of them was mostly even across all characters.
The voice cast are all A++ veterans so it was nice to hear them again as well.
System was just standard stuff and it wouldn't be worth commenting about
but some menu's were broken like it would ask me to save so i'd press yes
but nothing happens! the only way I could save/load was with using the touchpad.
MATATABI is at it again amirite? why is it always something omg but honestly
it was only slightly annoying and can easily be fixed by touching the screen
whenever you had to make a choice or save/load the game.
Story is Mizuki always could see things other people couldn't and was told to keep
it a secret from the only family she had. Things begin to change when she
sees her dead mom on a rainy night which is when dead people appear.
A man then leads Mizuki to a village to meet her grandfather... who turned ill
and now Mizuki is forced to manage his work which deals with spirits and their problems.
KnM is a slower-paced game and the music was soothing, so soothing that I got sleepy.
The early game was so relaxing I can't decide if this is good or bad, i'll go with good
since the vibes were so nice that Nao and Souta quickly grew on me.
Idk if it was because this was the first part or i'm not really that interested in the two initial
love interest but at times I did get a little bored due to how slow Youko-kitan can be.
I was more interested in Asahi... which may be why I had a hard time!
The heroine wasn't too bad, I found her fairly normal, at first she doesn't really
have the confidence to continue her grandfathers work which is understandable.
I liked how Asahi helped her grasp how she could help people. Didn't seem easy.
Compared to the last otome I sat through this felt much more normal
and I didn't really find much that made me go wtf! sadly that also meant
it was a lot less entertaining and less excitement due to being mostly nonbiri.
Like the scenes weren't always that engaging and it was really situational if it was
which isn't bad perse but I am just glad there were no routes that were a dumpster fire.
NGL Shinonome brought most of the entertainment early on.
Story generally focuses on helping spirits overcome their trauma and save them
so they don't become evil spirits. Due to the setting, I probably would only recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you like school-themed otome games with otherwordly stuff
and like slower-paced games that grab your attention slowly. I say it can be slow but it
also didn't overstay its welcome since I found the routes itself to be fairly short.
Decent story yes but overall while it can seem light-hearted the tone of it all still
had a very sad feeling to it. The very last route of this game gave me nothing but sadnesss.
I did like the character interactions and there were some funny scenes!
wish there were more of that but it wasn't that type of game.
Comedy was mostly used to lighten the mood which was why its great.
The pacing can be a bit slow but overall it was enjoyable, whenever Shinonome
was on screen there was never a dull moment.π I didn't really like the first half of this gamebut there were moments it hit home so it wasn't all bad. It generally just was a comfy read!
a little melancholic yes but it fits in with the theme of the game for there to be underlying sadness.
7.7/10
It was just good, not bad but not great. Unlike Matatabi's other games
there weren't any minigames or landmines either which is a plus. I'd recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you don't mind short but slower-paced games, The scenario had impact
in many ways, some subtle & some that hit a lil harder. This otome game is also great
if you're tired of controversial stuff and just want to mostly have a good time while also
getting served a decent enough plot with a well written heroine.
I think I preferred the latter half of the game Ryuuji over the first half Youko
simply for the fact it touched upon the underlying plot more. Its like Youko was extremely
standard in terms of otome games and more like a prologue of sorts.
Ryuuji is like hold my beer! ups the stakes and just delivers the plot better.
As for playorder the game is split into two parts with the last route in each part being locked.
So my play order ended up being like this:
Youko Kitan / part 1: Nao > Souta >Ichimaru.
Ryuuji Kitan / part 2: Hinata > Asahi > Shinonome.
I can't really recommend anything other than Youko first and Ryuuji second.
The game does have a fail-safe that even if you were to do Ryuuji first you'll be okay
but if you get it on vita/switch and want to see all routes, best to start with Youko.
Maybe switch Nao/Souta or Hinata/Asahi around to suit preference
before the 3rd route of each part, there's not much else to it.
Spoilers are after the jump, there are some shoddy summaries as well as my favorite cg's.
