What an incredible journey, and an all-around improvement to the already master-class SakuUta. (Bit of a disclaimer, my Japanese isn't the best and there were a number of cases where I didn't feel like I fully grasped the meaning, but I am confident that I was good enough to understand it for the most part)
If Uta was the set-up, then Toki is the best a sequel can get. Knocks it out of the park. It trims the fat of Uta and focuses solely on hard-hitting, thought-provoking ideas and themes, and it doesn't stop. It's a never-ending train of emotion and impact.
Unlike Uta, where Makoto's route was a (pretty unanimous) weak link, surely in part because it had a different writer, every route in Toki was good.
While I do think it was strange for Makoto to have another route in Toki, I kinda wanna believe SCA-ji wanted to redeem her and write one for her himself. Or he just likes her a lot. Or maybe she's more popular among the fans than I expect.
Anyway, this game made me love Makoto, and she's the most relatable character for me. Well, her and Kana.

Speaking of Kana! What Toki also does is takes one-dimensional characters from Uta (some more so than others, looking at you Thomas) and fleshes them out. I hated Kana in the first game, but now? Arguably my favorite character if it wasn't for Ai. She really feels like the only "normal" person in this game, among a cast full of monsters blessed with natural talent. Her theming of hard work, strenuous effort and finding your own place in the world resonated me hard.

And yeah, even Thomas got his moment to shine, something I did NOT expect but was greatly welcomed. He's still a ridiculous character and I don't like him, but his speech about the idolization of heroes made me see him in a new light.

Kei's chapter? I teared up. Chapter 4 (I think?) and the ending leading to the climax were my favorite parts. God damn amazing storytelling and execution. Amazing tale of loss and moving on from it. Very strong finish.
I'm just rambling at this point, wanted to get some things off my chest. I haven't even scratched the surface of my experiences with this game, but I'll leave it at that.
I'm not confident at all in recognizing themes and analyzing stories, but hopefully this was somewhat readable.

I'm grateful to SCA-ji for giving us these amazing VNs. I could probably rate this a 10/10 in good conscience but something is holding me back. At the very least I can completely understand why people view this as a masterpiece, and I wouldn't argue.