Extremely solid writing, charming characters, gorgeous art, and a mystery that reveals itself at its own pace and has no intentions to deceive you of the true nature of this world. While it isn't breaking new ground, it certainly is perfecting it (small bug with the sun not properly disappearing beyond the horizon aside, which is the sort of thing you only comment on if basically nothing else is wrong with it).

Maybe I just have a soft spot for dealing with adversity and the quiet strength needed to go through day to day life, but when it works, it works.

I wanted to like it, but tropes on tropes and repetitive story-telling for what is ultimately no thematic payoff feels difficult to recommend. There are parallels that are set up in ways that feel like they should almost work, but they just... don't? The story is very light on actual theme, which only leaves plot, and while it's common for visual novels to not actually have any meaningful choices, that somehow feels more insulting when the choices lead to different endings that are all as equally meaningless, all in service of a disconnect to a real plot.

but also it's gay, god bless