Kira Kira

In Kira Kira, it is very possible that in routes other than the respective girls', the events just did not happen. There are several reasons for this. In Sarina, Chie and Kirari's routes, the important events were caused by Shika, could possibly be resolved off screen, and were caused by specific events, respectively.

In Sarina's route, the majority of the conflict is caused by Shika and Sarina's relationship. In other routes it would make sense for her to not move away. It's stated in all routes that her grandfather becomes very strict with her after the tour. It's just that her relationship with Shika makes him especially harsh, and brings emphasis and focus to the whole situation. The only thing that wouldn't happen in the other girls' routes is them finding Sarina's dad's will, which is more of a "bonus" than a really pivotal event. Its main importance is with Shika and Sarina's relationship.

Chie's route could easily be dealt with off-screen. A point is made of how she's hiding her emotions, especially about her family problems, after all. It would make sense for her not to mention anything about it. Plus, he's gone the whole time in Sarina's route, so he wouldn't hear about anything. Plus, Midori did have her own effect on everything in Chie's route, and she only appears in that route.

Kirari's route, at least the events within, are possibly cause by her relationship with Shikanosuke. Plus, there's the fact that the van crashed, causing them to go home early to take into account. They lost all their equipment and other stuff, which could be pretty harsh on Kirari. The fact that she ran into the house to go get her microphone, causing her to get burned might have ended up differently, or the whole event may not have happened at all. Simply put, much of the events in each route are cause by Shika and his influence on each respective girl.

So, in conclusion, it was Shika's influence, specific events, and easily hidden conflicts that caused the events in each girls route to not happen in those of others. A point of each route is to emphasize the various real life problems of each girl, which Kira Kira does well. Fate/Stay Night, on the other hand, is more of a problem.

Whew, that was an interesting impromptu essay to write.

Sarina didn't move away because of their relationship, but because she fainted when they arrived home. And the other routes were equally exahusting for her body.

For Kirari, I would buy that the fire was avoided by chance, but her family going bankrupt seems to be an unavoidable event, logically followed by her prostitution and her father's suicide/suicde attempt (by any means). And if these parts still happened, the rest of the characters would be either quite shitty friends for not noticing her problems, or the narrative would be broken for forgetting to mention it.

I'd say that Sarina's route had more of a toll on her than the others. For them she wasn't doing much, and I never said that she moved away because of their relationship. It was just an important factor in her staying there.

The events of Kirari's route wouldn't necessarily happen in other routes. In each route, it can be assumed that the proper events and choices to cause the conflict had occurred. Therefore, they wouldn't have to happen in other routes. Kirari's route assumes her family went bankrupt, assumes she quit her job and entered prostitution, assumes her father tried to commit suicide as a result. This didn't necessarily happen in the other routes. It could, but it didn't. It's not breaking the narrative, it's just that the events only happened in the routes of the respective girl. In the other routes, Kirari made different choices. In fact, she's implied to become a famous idol singer after in all routes except her own Normal End.

I've thought about it, and of all the visual novels I've played (a lot), Kira Kira is the best. It was a pretty hard decision, as I really like Fate Stay Night, Tsukihime and definitely Ever17. But I found Kira Kira better than those three, and I honestly don't think I'll ever play a VN quite as good as Kira Kira. Though I will have to see what Dear Drops is like when it's out.

^Ef takes the cake for me.

I'm not sure I'd say they're better, but my favorite would either be Cross Channel or Sharin no Kuni.

Finished first segment of Curtain Call. I think in the original, Kirari's normal ending is my favourite. Not because she dies but because of the character development that happens. That and the epic ending.

Holy shit, finished Curtain Call. God, now Kirari's good ending feels so much more satisfying. I wish they would've shown one song from each band but it was still great. Also, Kirari's hair is pink in one of the final CGs.

edited 12th Nov '10 1:54:22 PM by neobowman

I think Kira Kira, Edelweiss and Dear Drops are all in the same 'Verse. Here's my reasoning:

In Dear Drops, Kirari shows up. And in Edelweiss, there is a girl with blonde hair and red eyes named "Mei". Rather similar to Mai of Mai and Mizuki in Kira Kira.

What would the Overdrive universe be called, anyways?

edited 13th Nov '10 11:29:28 AM by Five_X

Overse. Driverse Overdriverse Overdrive universe. I dunno.

I imagine the timeline would be something like this:

Kira Kira—>Curtain Call==Dear Drops—->Edelweiss==Eiden Fantasia

It's fun how all these fit together like that. Kind of a weird order, but it makes sense. Curtain Call and likely Dear Drops take place about 5 years after Kira Kira, and Edelweiss takes place (probably) around 8-10 years after Kira Kira.

edited 13th Nov '10 7:59:32 PM by Five_X

Eiden Fantasia takes place after Edelweiss, doesn't it? It works on the premise that he didn't hook up with anyone during the story.

I've only played Kira Kira out of all of those so I'm not sure at all.

Man, I wish I could have the guitar tabs for some of the songs.

Eiden Fantasia takes place a short enough time after Edelweiss that it's close enough to being the same time.

Neobowman: Have fun. I have a tutorial on how to play the opening theme to Edelweiss on my computer, and I've transcribed some of the Kira Kira BGMs, but I haven't written them down.

Ah, you've gotta love some of the typos in Edelweiss. Rin and Sakura are described as "Good fiends", and several girls are called the "heroin". You could create a whole language out of the typos in Overdrive games.

edited 13th Nov '10 10:20:18 PM by Five_X

Calling Sakura a good fiend is oddly amusing.

I also hate it how mangagamer is usually so inflexible about forcefully translating fandom terms.

I don't say tha I hate them because they don't leave kawaii, baka, and keikaku in Japanese, like some anime subbers, but they are even insisting on "comic books" for manga, and stuff like that.

edited 14th Nov '10 8:57:14 AM by EternalSeptember

Much <3 for the tabs.

Are the other Overdrive V Ns translated?

Actually, Kira Kira and newer Overdrive VNs include more "otaku-relevant" terms, such as manga, honorifics, etc. And their translations are getting much better. You have to remember that Edelweiss was their very first project. And even then, it's definitely quite readable. The jumbly text of Cross Channel was much worse.

Yes, Dear Drops is still being translated. It should be out next year, and it should be awesome. However, I don't think it's going to have the real emotional and serious stuff that was found in Kira Kira. It's shorter, and I expect it to be kinda like Edelweiss in style.

And of course Edelweiss has been translated since 2008.

EDIT: Found the best unintentional pun ever!

"The book shelf in the deep corner of the room is literary crumbled."

Almost as good as the "pubic road" and "helping out with choirs". Makes me think that some of these might be intentional.

edited 14th Nov '10 9:55:19 AM by Five_X

Edelweiss was released that long ago? I'd have expected it to have an article then. Didn't even have the stub it has now until fairly recently.

When I reinstalled Cross Channel it didn't have the bizarre text. I wanted to reread it but couldn't stand the spacing crap a second time.

Yeah, Edelweiss is surprisingly old. But it's really, really awesome. Not as good as Kira Kira, but some parts are absolutely amazing. One route in particular is incredibly sad, mainly near the end.

Which one are you thinking of? I'm guessing Haruka or Mei. Natsume was my favorite, though.

GAH, SPOILERS!

By sad, do you mean Clannad level sad?

I haven't played all of Clannad yet (only a little bit), but I'll just say that I cried at least two times on one route.

Edit: Anyone know how/where I can get the soundtrack? I have Kira Kira's, but Edelweiss is quite a bit less popular.

edited 14th Nov '10 6:02:41 PM by Five_X

Going to make an actual Edelweiss thread, I guess.

I actually think there should be a single Overdrive thread, like the Type-Moon thread. It would make sense, really. I'm pretty sure they're all in the same 'Verse, and fans of one tend to be fans of the others. They're similar enough games to be put into one thread.