"Open your eyes. You can see the beautiful sky, right?" As Itarou spends his monotonic days, he unknowingly gets lost in a poisonous flower garden. Let's make the colorful flowers bloom here now... "Menherafflesia Flowering Abyss" is an ADV game where you choose one of five types of flowers to capture the menhera heroines.
Reviews View More
I believe the original was my first VN. At most it was my third. There's nothing particularly special about Menherafflesia as a whole, it's a horror dating sim which ends with you or the girls dying in gruesome ways. The Menhera part of the game’s title refers to the various mental illnesses that the characters suffer from. They start out appearing as sane, healthy individuals. Their secrets are slowly shown within snippets before being fully revealed in an ending in which disaster occurs or the girl shows their true nature. Hence the analogy of a rafflesia seed slowly growing, then blooming into a both intimidatingly hideous and beautiful flower.
In terms of the type of tragedy, it varies. Sometimes they torture you, stalk you, burn your house down, surgically remove your body parts, so on and so forth. Standard horror stuff. But even still, I love the introspective sections in which each character's past and subconscious thoughts are laid out. These girls all have trauma, whether it be from loneliness and depression, physical abuse, or the loss of all of their loved ones. I find them to be well written sections with stories that really do make me feel for them.
It's also got a very Higurashi vibe to the way each ending and encounter with the protagonist is a different world or "shard". There's the implication that all of these characters can be saved. But unlike Higurashi, that good ending doesn't necessarily come in the form of their lives being spared. "Happy" endings mostly end with the death of the selected girl.
These aren't actually good endings. The girls just feel fulfilled and got what they wanted out of life. It's pretty tragic. Still, it's considered happy simply because Itarou gave them happiness in their final days and ferried them to a gentle death. Not much is done to directly change their ways of thinking or their situations, they are simply accepted.
The new content includes voice acting, which I found to be very well done. The cast included the legendary Mai Nakahara of Higurashi and Clannad fame, which I find to be a very fitting choice. In terms of the actual story additions, this remake does provide some insight into what was really desired by each of the girls, and sort of emphasizes how much of a helpful role the protagonist plays in their lives in the happy endings (with the exception of Ayume tbh, only her Sunny Day version really seems to like Itarou at all). It's both bittersweet and nice to learn that part of this new content introduces us to worlds where Itarou puts in a lot of more effort in order to try and save the girls, more specifically by acknowledging their unhappiness before it's too late. I'll use Matsuri Jasmine as an example of this. Itarou in the main route acts clueless towards Matsuri's hidden depression and self-hatred. But the new sunny day route introduces a scenario in which Itarou put more effort into understanding Matsuri, bonding with her on a more personal level rather than a superficial one.
As far as I know this is not the canon world though, so it's likely that all the deaths still occur as they do in the "happy" ending. Which brings me to the tea party, my favorite portion of the new additions. This takes place in the garden that all of the girls go to after their deaths and is the only time they meet each other (it's implied that they each existed in different universes). It was really nice to hear their content within the aftermath of the timeline, especially now that they know they aren’t alone.
I feel like the best way to describe the moral this game wants you to take away is to recite one from Higurashi. Talk to people if you need help. Allow them to embrace and never live in fear of the people around you. And for those that see others in need. Help them. Don't hesitate. When someone is able to feel understood on a deep and personal level is when they are able to become truly happy.
Anyways, for as much as I desperately want a more solid and happier conclusion, I was okay with the way this was done. It's nothing spectacular but as the first paragraph may have implied I hold this game and many of Charon's other works in a deep place within my heart, as they affected me on a personal level. Hopefully I was able to somewhat express what I so passionately see within this game.
In terms of the type of tragedy, it varies. Sometimes they torture you, stalk you, burn your house down, surgically remove your body parts, so on and so forth. Standard horror stuff. But even still, I love the introspective sections in which each character's past and subconscious thoughts are laid out. These girls all have trauma, whether it be from loneliness and depression, physical abuse, or the loss of all of their loved ones. I find them to be well written sections with stories that really do make me feel for them.
It's also got a very Higurashi vibe to the way each ending and encounter with the protagonist is a different world or "shard". There's the implication that all of these characters can be saved. But unlike Higurashi, that good ending doesn't necessarily come in the form of their lives being spared. "Happy" endings mostly end with the death of the selected girl.
These aren't actually good endings. The girls just feel fulfilled and got what they wanted out of life. It's pretty tragic. Still, it's considered happy simply because Itarou gave them happiness in their final days and ferried them to a gentle death. Not much is done to directly change their ways of thinking or their situations, they are simply accepted.
The new content includes voice acting, which I found to be very well done. The cast included the legendary Mai Nakahara of Higurashi and Clannad fame, which I find to be a very fitting choice. In terms of the actual story additions, this remake does provide some insight into what was really desired by each of the girls, and sort of emphasizes how much of a helpful role the protagonist plays in their lives in the happy endings (with the exception of Ayume tbh, only her Sunny Day version really seems to like Itarou at all). It's both bittersweet and nice to learn that part of this new content introduces us to worlds where Itarou puts in a lot of more effort in order to try and save the girls, more specifically by acknowledging their unhappiness before it's too late. I'll use Matsuri Jasmine as an example of this. Itarou in the main route acts clueless towards Matsuri's hidden depression and self-hatred. But the new sunny day route introduces a scenario in which Itarou put more effort into understanding Matsuri, bonding with her on a more personal level rather than a superficial one.
As far as I know this is not the canon world though, so it's likely that all the deaths still occur as they do in the "happy" ending. Which brings me to the tea party, my favorite portion of the new additions. This takes place in the garden that all of the girls go to after their deaths and is the only time they meet each other (it's implied that they each existed in different universes). It was really nice to hear their content within the aftermath of the timeline, especially now that they know they aren’t alone.
I feel like the best way to describe the moral this game wants you to take away is to recite one from Higurashi. Talk to people if you need help. Allow them to embrace and never live in fear of the people around you. And for those that see others in need. Help them. Don't hesitate. When someone is able to feel understood on a deep and personal level is when they are able to become truly happy.
Anyways, for as much as I desperately want a more solid and happier conclusion, I was okay with the way this was done. It's nothing spectacular but as the first paragraph may have implied I hold this game and many of Charon's other works in a deep place within my heart, as they affected me on a personal level. Hopefully I was able to somewhat express what I so passionately see within this game.