one of the first queer visual novels i played ever. also about the first sport i was actually into. humor hasn't aged well but in like an endearing way. will always be a part of me. i do not consider myself sapphic in any way but i am nebulously queer and a poc so this game was some kind of awakening for me (even if that awakening was just "holy shit?? i can be gay??")

i have a lot of thoughts and memories surrounding this game i fear could only be accurately summarized through a full length blog review or 3 hour long video essay but. i will always be in love with these girls and their stories

Saccharine and dream-like without deliberately ignoring the harshness of reality that spurs on those idle fantasies. Since it's a period piece of sorts (set around the time of Barack Obama's first electoral win) there's plenty of anachronisms you could nitpick, but what I think it gets best is the hypocrisy of the era -- that empty hope for something better that we all know never really came. There's lots of "unrealistic" aspects baked into the experience, and I feel a nitpick would probably be that all the characters feel distinctly queer, but I also magically ended up being friends with a bunch of closeted queer people circa 2008, ones I'm still friends with to this day! And like, depending on the era the story is taking place in, the characters might act a little older than you'd expect for people of that age (both in the elementary school flashbacks and the "modern" high school perspective), but it fits so well into the game's themes, premise, and ultimately the fantasy that Butterfly Soup is trying to deliver that it's not even a legitimate criticism in my eyes.

The humor definitely seems hit or miss for some people, but I thought it was cute!! The most accurate "child-like" aspect of the characters the writing lands is their sense of humor and it honestly rules for that; I definitely knew people like and was friends with people like Akarsha in middle and high school. Plus, there's just genuinely snappy humor goin' on here (in the end though it was the "Mile 'Tails' Edgeworth" that really got me, probably because that's exactly the type of joke me and my friends would've made back in like 2009).

Butterfly Soup is just a really lovely visual novel, I think more people should check it out if it interests them!!! Also, I am definitely not beating the Min allegations.

No, see, this is special to me.

After playing butterfly soup, I immediately sent it to all three of my younger siblings. Later that month when I came home from college, all three of them casually came out to me in the same night. Did this game turn us gay? Yes, and we're still looking for the cure.

I was in college, unhealthily offline, and had zero language around gender sexuality identity or whatever when I played this. Looking back, this was THE catalyzing piece of art to give me the license, but more importantly, the joy to come out. Same deal for my partner - this shit was spreading gay like peanut butter on toast.

It's a love story so effortlessly funny that it quietly earns its earnestness moment after moment. I still recommend it to any friend of mine needing a pick me up. It's a feel-good story! Pretty freakin rare quality in visual novels, and even games in general that are considered "impactful."

Idk man, it was also like the first visual novel I played and its music kinda sounds like the interlude music from Blonde? Brianna didn't have to go so hard but damn. Can't wait to play 2.