Shizuku is an adult visual novel by Leaf originally released for PC on January 26, 1996. It is the first game to be marketed as a visual novel.
Reviews View More
[A sizable delusion sequence where the main character imagines people being turned into meat dango, it’s all very gruesome.]
“Hello, did you order a double cheeseburger and a bacon egg burger?”
I wake with a start at the sound of the voice directed at me. It’s one of the staff holding a tray.
“What?”
“Oops, excuse me,” she says, and continues to a seat further inside.
My heart is racing, and I’m absolutely covered in sweat.
Double cheeseburger.
Bacon egg burger.
Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat.
“Ugh!”
I hold back the rising urge to vomit with both my hands, and run into the bathroom.
[The rest of the game, and me trying and failing to keep my laughter in with this scene in the back of my head]
Art and atmosphere: 🐱👍
Music: 👏🐱🤝😼👍
Script: 🐱❓
I'll forgive this game for having really thin characters; I get the impression they did not have the time nor the budget to make a long enough game to really explore any of them too deeply. However, the plot is still weak as hell. I suppose all the elements of social alienation, and losing oneself do come back throughout most of the routes, but I didn't really like the payoff in most cases. In particular, the way the protagonist's delusions come back was just so silly. Ultimately the strongest scenes tend to be prior to the "plot" kicking off, or after the story is over. Not good when every time the big narrative events start happening I want them to be over!
The writing quality is usually decent. My main issues were mainly just in how repetitive some of the metaphors and similes can get, but I imagine that's less an issue with the writing itself, and more an issue of how much this game reuses parts of the script in multiple routes. Although, I will say the screen filling repetition of words can be a bit comical, as shown earlier.
Anyway, it's still worth a shot since it's so short (and so you can see the silly bonus scenario.) For a similar 90's horror vibe, I would recommend Atlach=Nacha over this though. That has much more interesting characters, and a villain (who is also the protagonist) that actually makes you curious about her motivations for the entire runtime instead of just monologuing clichés at you like the villain of this game.
“Hello, did you order a double cheeseburger and a bacon egg burger?”
I wake with a start at the sound of the voice directed at me. It’s one of the staff holding a tray.
“What?”
“Oops, excuse me,” she says, and continues to a seat further inside.
My heart is racing, and I’m absolutely covered in sweat.
Double cheeseburger.
Bacon egg burger.
Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat.
“Ugh!”
I hold back the rising urge to vomit with both my hands, and run into the bathroom.
[The rest of the game, and me trying and failing to keep my laughter in with this scene in the back of my head]
Art and atmosphere: 🐱👍
Music: 👏🐱🤝😼👍
Script: 🐱❓
I'll forgive this game for having really thin characters; I get the impression they did not have the time nor the budget to make a long enough game to really explore any of them too deeply. However, the plot is still weak as hell. I suppose all the elements of social alienation, and losing oneself do come back throughout most of the routes, but I didn't really like the payoff in most cases. In particular, the way the protagonist's delusions come back was just so silly. Ultimately the strongest scenes tend to be prior to the "plot" kicking off, or after the story is over. Not good when every time the big narrative events start happening I want them to be over!
The writing quality is usually decent. My main issues were mainly just in how repetitive some of the metaphors and similes can get, but I imagine that's less an issue with the writing itself, and more an issue of how much this game reuses parts of the script in multiple routes. Although, I will say the screen filling repetition of words can be a bit comical, as shown earlier.
Anyway, it's still worth a shot since it's so short (and so you can see the silly bonus scenario.) For a similar 90's horror vibe, I would recommend Atlach=Nacha over this though. That has much more interesting characters, and a villain (who is also the protagonist) that actually makes you curious about her motivations for the entire runtime instead of just monologuing clichés at you like the villain of this game.
how the fuck is this not out in english yet it is literally the first game marketed as a visual novel. like wtf.
This is my favorite visual novel of all time. Yes.
I've dreamed about this game for years and years, wanting to play it but not being able to due to the language barrier. Visual Novel OCR, one of the most amazing apps created by mankind, made me experience this one of a kind, timeless classic. As flawed as it is, it still has the defining characteristics of the "90's weird Japanese game" vibe, the pinnacle of it's genre, which I love very much. This game transports you to another world, full of nuanced and abstract feelings, ideas. It makes you question your very existence, although making you more happy than ever to be alive.
If aesthetic had to be a game, to me, Shizuku would be it.
It's not a game for everybody, though. In fact, I think it's a game for nobody.
If you like this game and/or denpa games in general, though, please, let's chat about it.
Thanks. Thank you again, Japan.
I've dreamed about this game for years and years, wanting to play it but not being able to due to the language barrier. Visual Novel OCR, one of the most amazing apps created by mankind, made me experience this one of a kind, timeless classic. As flawed as it is, it still has the defining characteristics of the "90's weird Japanese game" vibe, the pinnacle of it's genre, which I love very much. This game transports you to another world, full of nuanced and abstract feelings, ideas. It makes you question your very existence, although making you more happy than ever to be alive.
If aesthetic had to be a game, to me, Shizuku would be it.
It's not a game for everybody, though. In fact, I think it's a game for nobody.
If you like this game and/or denpa games in general, though, please, let's chat about it.
Thanks. Thank you again, Japan.
(played with OCR & my rudimentary knowledge of japanese making up for some of its mistakes. only enough to get one ending so with all of that consider this more of a skimming than anything)
this thing absolutely wallows in its own darkness (affectionate-ish). with the dark, hazy blues, greens, oranges it overlays on its backgrounds, the grainy shading on the wonderful character art, it feels like stumbling across some decades-old small town story only told through whispers and tabloids. Maybe it was just the OCR, but nagase describes a character as having "lagoon eyes" and that always sticks in my head. The game has a bit of, tonal confusion? It wants to be a dark and foreboding mystery but the mystery isn't too involved and its mostly just h scenes if you look past that. Tsukishima is definitely the standout character. She is the true blueprint for "visual novel weird girl who hangs out on roofs". luv her
also helping is that the music (esp. her theme!) BANGS. I hear theres a version with voice acting but I didnt find that out until I was 2 hours in and honestly if it doesnt have the swamp-filter over the art or the music I dont want it
this thing absolutely wallows in its own darkness (affectionate-ish). with the dark, hazy blues, greens, oranges it overlays on its backgrounds, the grainy shading on the wonderful character art, it feels like stumbling across some decades-old small town story only told through whispers and tabloids. Maybe it was just the OCR, but nagase describes a character as having "lagoon eyes" and that always sticks in my head. The game has a bit of, tonal confusion? It wants to be a dark and foreboding mystery but the mystery isn't too involved and its mostly just h scenes if you look past that. Tsukishima is definitely the standout character. She is the true blueprint for "visual novel weird girl who hangs out on roofs". luv her
also helping is that the music (esp. her theme!) BANGS. I hear theres a version with voice acting but I didnt find that out until I was 2 hours in and honestly if it doesnt have the swamp-filter over the art or the music I dont want it