I reaaaally like the thing. It's just very, very wholesome overall and so entertainingly contrived in its story, I am just here for it. There are a few story ideas that Uchikoshi definitely reused (especially from VLR), but the biggest plot point of the game actually felt... relatively new? And I liked it a lot! There are a few ideas in here I would really love to see explored further. The character designs slap so hard, too! And if a mandatory musical sequence is now the norm for the games Uchikoshi writes I could not be happier tbh.

The weakest part is the gameplay. For me, it's serviceable enough, there are a few quirks I quite like (especially in context with the story), and a lot of other weird decisions I don't like. It really comes down to personal preference (aka "How much jank and mediocre level design can you tolerate?").

I'm very happy that this didn't become an actual killing game, because that would have been so, so much worse. What we got instead is very entertaining, incredibly wholesome, sometimes extremely clever in its story and just an overall good time! I can also actually see a child/very young teen play this, it's kinda perfect for that demographic.