Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue

Aokana drew me deep into the wonderful world of visual novels. I played some hybrid VNs before like Ace Attorney or Famicom Detective Club but was never really into regular VNs, Aokana changed that but what does it differently? While some VNs take some time to get good Aokana was for me immediately exciting. You are greeted by a banger Opening, a good soundtrack and really nice visuals of high quality that are not as empty as other games, for example the classroom has actually students in the background. When you see the protagonist and Asuka for the first time flying in the air you just want to learn more about the world. As the story progresses you are introduced to the 3 main heroines Misaki, Mashiro and Rika. The focus of the story is of the sport Flying Circus where the different schools compete in intense air battles with a big tournament in the horizon and these battles are no joke, they are really exciting to watch and the character sprites are always moving and the screen is shaking which are a feast for the eyes. Outside of the flying circus there is of course a lot of comedy and also romance and let me say, if you never played a dating visual novel before, this is the perfect start. All 4 girls a very likable and each route is very different and has enough time to bloom. I liked it because it felt like I experienced the first love all over again. The spicy side is also very nice, the all ages version shows a lot until the screen fades to black which means it isn't hiding much what happened and includes the pillow talk afterwards but the patch from nekonyan expands the experience and I would recommend to download it from their website anyway. It's very vanilla and not too much to distract from the awesome story. The game is long and took me over 60 hours to beat but I was so hooked with the battles that I often forgot the time. When the credits rolled I felt very satisfied and understood how great visual novels could be. I feel in love with the game. 10/10

The story was surprisingly touching for a moege, and I thought the world building and FC in general was super cool. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a fun and touching story.

TLDR: Romance and sport stuff done right, really great VN. highly recommended. Aokana is a VN about a fictional sport called flying circus (FC), basically a flying sport using science fiction shoes. The common route establish the setting well despite being slow and whiling giving a sport anime. For the character route, It's a mix of sport anime and romance that really goes well together as you cheer for the heroine of your current route. There are 4 routes, 1 great, 1 mid and 2 peak. I highly recommend playing Asuka's route first because the ending of the common route kinda lead you to it and the writing is great overall. Plus, it also somewhat setup the other routes. For the other 3 routes, I will first stated that Rika's route is kinda meh, it's not a bad writing but it's not great either. In my opinion, this route feel like a side route. Misaki and Mashiro on the other hand REALLY surprised me, both route have a unique way of telling story that make Asuka's route feel like a vanilla flavor (hence, why I really recommend playing Asuka's route first). I won't spoil the story but I'll say that Mashiro's route have interesting perspective not in other routes while Misaki's route try to explore an interesting topic with some fun twist and turn. Is there a true ending? Yes, but it just a single scene you unlock after finishing all 4 routes. It's not much but it is there. Overall, really really really great VN. 3 out of 4 route is very good. If you like Misaki or Mashiro or both then also buy their EXTRA.