honestly, i'm a little mixed in the wake of having just finished the entirety of saya no uta after a two-hour binge session that's length only grew more apparent as i drew closer to the end. fear not, there's no spoilers here but i'll say this. if you want to read saya no uta, go for it.

i don't think this vn is long enough to outstay its welcome and for the most part, i think saya no uta is pretty gripping at its best with some excellent pacing and fun character writing, yet at its worse, saya no uta is misery porn that insists upon itself at times but honestly, that shouldn't be a shock for most familiar with urobuchi's work. i genuinely enjoyed the opening segments but the story just resolves itself suddenly with a lot of the endings not necessarily feeling unfinished but rather left with a lot of ambiguity and not in the sense that you're left with more questions than answers to fill in the blanks with but just that you never really got the full picture in the first place. to put it simply the endings lack a lot of the impact the earlier segments have comparatively. i also kinda hate the mc but that's sorta the point so bravo to urobuchi for putting me on the same page for once.

i'll definitely say though i think the perspective switching in saya no uta is pretty nice. overall, the narration swapping povs frequently, really helps to break up the tension and it doesn't really detract from the focus of the narrative in any way where it would end up being detrimental to the pacing. the usage of fuminori as an unreliable narrator also makes for some great tonal dissonance which amps up the emotional impact of some scenes in particular. also hikaru midorikawa is in this vn so if that isn't reason enough to read it then i'm not sure what is... unless it's the music which is probably the best thing about this visual novel! i won't name any tracks in particular but they all greatly enhance the experience.

so in the end, should you read saya no uta? while i'm personally mixed on how it all ended, i don't think it's my place to dissuade anyone from trying it solely because i found the opening and middle parts so captivating. all i'd say is to go into it with an open mind and you might be surprised by what you read! after all, this is pretty much a standard "beginner visual novel" so for that status alone it's probably worth warranting a look at it. "urobuchi watched kamen rider ryuki before making madoka"/10

p.s i also solved the "main mystery" of the visual novel within the opening minutes so if that doesn't say something about the amount of brainrot i have then i don't know what else does.