How have I not seen anybody pair Kutaka and Kyouko before?? This is a great dynamic

The polish on this one was crazy, there's so much I could say -- if I had to pick my favorite aspect, it was how many bits were animated. The usage of monochrome was a surprisingly pleasant aesthetic (especially contrasted by that one moment), and I quickly found myself rooting for Kyouko and everyone else involved with how much character there was in their interactions.

This visual novel had such pretty art direction! I was wowed by that special picture for the bit at the end. the UI was also really clean and cozy! The little movement animations, although simple, really added to the storytelling and the music added lots of atmosphere too. I really liked kutaka's goofy theme the best! This and room of a thousand petals are probably my favorite vns from the jam. 

good job echoing hearts team!

I cannot stress enough how much I loved this game. Every writing beat hit appealed to my tastes exactly. Extremely positive portrayals of characters, tie-ins to Touhou Canon without being reliant on them, a clear voice through the main character from the author, a lovely tone, and above all, heart. This is one of the best Touhou Stories I have ever read. Thank you all so much for creating this game.

A simply pleasant and stirring experience, this is a gorgeous debut in every sense of the word. 

The art is gorgeous and intimate, the music is appropriately emotional when need be, the story itself is just so grounded and filled with natural interactions, I would often find myself forgetting this was a Touhou story of all things. The choice of characters, as others have said, is inspired. I hate grouping characters into "smaller" and "larger", but we really don't get to see a lot of these three, so getting to know them so deeply here is a wonderful touch which lends the project even more uniqueness than it already has. 

I found myself sympathetic and understanding to Kutaka's internal and external plights, and to Kyokou's sense of apprehension and nerves for being out of her element; their concerns are just so innately real, it hurts to read at points. 

The art, as said before, is gorgeous. The hand-drawn style really sticks out to the eye and the small animations really do make a world of difference; Kutaka being able to fly away, Mystia leaning into tease Kyukou, Kyukou taking the first step... all of it is made real and lends that much more impact to what's happening. And that's not even getting into some of the other stuff. The UI is drop-dead, and the inserts add so much character to an already unbelievably rich tapestry.

The music was so nice too; it lent to an atmosphere of curiosity, anxiety, and earnestness which highlighted the action with wonderful accuracy.

The extra notes unlocked at the end were also wonderful; I wish we could get more of that sort of thing with these sorts of projects. It gives this project an even more heart-felt feel.

I am genuinely in awe, and would love to pick your brain on the more technical stuff behind this project in the hopes I can find some future inspiration.

Well done, team. I look eagerly to your next project together.

Others have already sung the praises that I would otherwise. A very creative pairing and such a cute and natural way to bring them closer to each other. I loved their characterization a lot. I loved how much the story was tied back to events from the canon works. Very well done. I could really tell this was a story with a lot of passion behind it.

This may be coming from a place of ignorance; my knowledge of fiction writing techniques is not great. However, one thing that stood out to me personally as kind of awkward was the ending, when they're looking at the sunrise. The characters explicitly explain what the sunrise symbolizes in the story. Now, I think you could make the argument that Kutaka is characterized in such a way that she might actually think and talk about things in this way, but to me it still came across as awkward. It felt like it got in the way of the ending. I think I would've rather had the chance to infer what the sunrise meant to the characters myself.

That's just one thing, though. I still thought it was great. You all did amazing work.

tuktuktuktuktuk

To point out one specific thing I liked about this one--being as vague as possible so as not to spoil things--the idea that a character's previous adventures actually had a lasting impact on them is interesting in this context. Often even official/canon Touhou stuff more or less starts and ends with a kind of sitcom status quo for the characters (i.e., Marisa and Reimu should be about 38 years old but exist in eternal comedy manga time). I'm fine with that, I like comedy manga etc., but I like seeing the alternative too.

Every piece of this VN is top quality, and its brought together into a coherent whole in a way that's rarely seen in a jam game.
It's pretty much perfect. It feels like it's a story you really wanted to tell, brought to life as the most professional looking VN I've ever seen. The scope is just right, too: it does everything it needs to establish a new ship and then it brings it all together into a satisfying climax of visuals and music.

Just incredible.

Nicely written story, Kutaka and Kyouko both work really well with eachother.

The art was pleasent to look at and the music was nice.

chicken/10

I haven't played many VNs, but I think I can say that this is the best one I've ever played! It's perfect, it isn't missing a single thing!

First of all, I have to commend your writing! It captivated me from start to finish, I couldn't take my eyes off the text! The narration feels very professional and well thought out. The recurring themes, character growth, and natural flow of the story make for a very pleasant visual novel.

I appreciated that you took the time to shortly introduce each of the main characters with a description of who they are and what they do! While I have played some Touhou games, I certainly can't say I know all the characters, so I was really glad I could read about their backgrounds before getting to the core of the story.

I could also see that either your team includes someone very passionate about chickens, or you took your time to research about them! Many of the things Kutaka explained, like the "pecking order" or how silkies are more docile, show how important of a project this has been for you. I didn't expect to learn so much about chickens!

The artstyle is really, really good! I liked the choice to keep the characters in black and white, it set the game apart from other VNs. I also appreciated the music! A couple of tracks felt repetitive after a bit, but overall the soundtrack was very pleasant!

I have yet to finish reading the extra notes, but I like the idea of knowing more about the characters' opinions and thoughts on different topics! It gives more context to those who are a bit behind on Touhou lore (me).

Considering all the care that was put into the game, the talent that worked on it, and the impressive length, I can only say kudos to the team!

Adorable. As a Kutaka fan, I approve of this game. The way you set up Kyouko’s relationship with Kutaka (a simple morning echo) and built from there was very well done. The writing is so full and expressive. Loved reading all the details about chickens.

The ending was very emotional. Not to speak of the part before that. So yeah, you had two climaxes. Wow.

Music, visuals, backgrounds and animations are pretty nice. I finished reading with a big smile.

Every character was very well-written and likeable, and you did a great job finding a strong way to connect two characters that most people wouldn't even consider putting together. I also enjoyed the unique art style quite a bit. All of the writing, art, and music blended together perfectly. I enjoyed it from start to finish, and I never would've guessed this was made in only two weeks.

Everything in there was great. 60 minutes of getting immersed and rooting for the main characters.

Kyouko and Kutaka have so much synergy as a couple in this game. The way their relationship slowly builds up, and how relatable the characters are. wow.
There's lots of well-introduced references to canon Touhou lore too, which helped anchor myself to the novel even more. it's really amazing.

Love the character art, as well as all the little animations that help sell what's going on. Also neat premise to plausibly connect two characters who are otherwise unlikely to even know of each others' existence. 

i had the biggest dumbest smile on my face playing through this :D!

This is adorable! Feels like a warm hug from a feathered friend. The character art is great, with the monotone character colors working really well for that cozy feeling and making the background art pop as well. Character voices are distinctive and so easy to fall in love with. The music fits the theme and characters well too. Oh, and I don't know the technical terms at all, but I really like the camera work(?) with blurring out foreground characters to focus on the background character, or zooming into specific characters, etc. Just overall really nice coupling of dialogue and scenes!

A cozy, cute visual novel. Takes about 30 minutes. I would heavily recommend if you want to read something both heartwarming and whimsical! 

The artwork is amazing, the music is great (this isn't biased at all), the usage of theming is spectacular. Overall a great game!