This review contains spoilers
I'm probably one of the rare persons who were really disappointed by KnS 2 and prefers the original VN even if it overall has better "writing", notably in the plotting.
The VN has a lot of qualities, the mystery is well-built, with a lot of characters who are useful to the mystery, it really feels like a big mystery to resolve, with a lot of layers.
The art is really beautiful and is a major step-up from the first KnS (a already really beautiful visual novel), it really feels like you are looking at paintings and it made the visual novel so smooth to look at.
But I think Kara no Shoujo 2 fails in a lot of areas compared to the first one.
First of all, the VN is never scary or even oppressing, almost everything compared to KnS 1feels way cleaner, the murders lack creativity or pure madness when you can feel the murders in the first episode were a way for the murderers to express how mad they are, some of the murders even felt surrealist at some point because of that. It's justified by the plot of KnS2 that the murders are more "political" but it makes the VN less interesting to me.
I also don't like the pacing, the VN is too slow and the flashbacks are often quite boring to read since they're way too long, and the game is filled with boring Slice of life and some questionnable fan-service H-scenes.
Another issue for me is the fact that the VN changes perspectives so much that none of the characters (even the protagonist) feels really fleshed out as characters, it feels a bit like they are mainly plot-devices.
The culprit is also disappointing while being cringe given how she's caricatural and lacks real depth.
When I finished the VN, the only new characters I was interested with were Masaki and Michiru because of that (and I enjoyed their relation, it was really endearing to read).
But I think my biggest issue with the game is how the fact that the main character is obsessed by Toko is never really showed in a direct way. I was expecting to really have his thoughts about how he felt about her disappearance, except that it was not the case except some moments (like when he's dreaming about her, his relation with Kyoko as a way of forgetting everything concerning Toko).
I wanted to feel his pain since the disappearance of Toko was heartbreaking to me, it's probably one of my favorite female characters ever in a visual novel, so it was frustrating to not feel how he really felt, it's like I felt disconnected with it. The progression of this part of the plot was also really weird since it's mostly with Toji that this part of the plot is progressing,.
At least the VN catch up at the end (probably one of my favorite parts of the series so far) with a really heartbreaking (and expected) scene with him "finding" Toko, even if it felt a bit lazy from the VN since Toko was barely the focus of the VN).
To conclude, I can say I enjoyed KnS 2 but nowhere near KnS 1, and I hope the series pick up with 3 (and I think it will since it looks like it's more tied to the plot of KnS 1).
The VN has a lot of qualities, the mystery is well-built, with a lot of characters who are useful to the mystery, it really feels like a big mystery to resolve, with a lot of layers.
The art is really beautiful and is a major step-up from the first KnS (a already really beautiful visual novel), it really feels like you are looking at paintings and it made the visual novel so smooth to look at.
But I think Kara no Shoujo 2 fails in a lot of areas compared to the first one.
First of all, the VN is never scary or even oppressing, almost everything compared to KnS 1feels way cleaner, the murders lack creativity or pure madness when you can feel the murders in the first episode were a way for the murderers to express how mad they are, some of the murders even felt surrealist at some point because of that. It's justified by the plot of KnS2 that the murders are more "political" but it makes the VN less interesting to me.
I also don't like the pacing, the VN is too slow and the flashbacks are often quite boring to read since they're way too long, and the game is filled with boring Slice of life and some questionnable fan-service H-scenes.
Another issue for me is the fact that the VN changes perspectives so much that none of the characters (even the protagonist) feels really fleshed out as characters, it feels a bit like they are mainly plot-devices.
The culprit is also disappointing while being cringe given how she's caricatural and lacks real depth.
When I finished the VN, the only new characters I was interested with were Masaki and Michiru because of that (and I enjoyed their relation, it was really endearing to read).
But I think my biggest issue with the game is how the fact that the main character is obsessed by Toko is never really showed in a direct way. I was expecting to really have his thoughts about how he felt about her disappearance, except that it was not the case except some moments (like when he's dreaming about her, his relation with Kyoko as a way of forgetting everything concerning Toko).
I wanted to feel his pain since the disappearance of Toko was heartbreaking to me, it's probably one of my favorite female characters ever in a visual novel, so it was frustrating to not feel how he really felt, it's like I felt disconnected with it. The progression of this part of the plot was also really weird since it's mostly with Toji that this part of the plot is progressing,.
At least the VN catch up at the end (probably one of my favorite parts of the series so far) with a really heartbreaking (and expected) scene with him "finding" Toko, even if it felt a bit lazy from the VN since Toko was barely the focus of the VN).
To conclude, I can say I enjoyed KnS 2 but nowhere near KnS 1, and I hope the series pick up with 3 (and I think it will since it looks like it's more tied to the plot of KnS 1).
Reviewed on Nov 29, 2021