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Beneath The Willows, a Touhou Fangame's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visuals | #1 | 4.780 | 4.780 |
| Use of LGBT Themes | #1 | 4.951 | 4.951 |
| Narrative / Writing | #1 | 4.829 | 4.829 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.362 | 4.362 |
| Concept | #5 | 4.366 | 4.366 |
| Music | #7 | 4.073 | 4.073 |
| Gameplay | #14 | 3.171 | 3.171 |
Ranked from 41 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
FionaKaenbyou and Waka
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Comments
That was gay as hell I love it
So huh, is it impossible to not smile while reading this VN?
I liked pretty much everything in here. The lovely art, the music going hand in hand with the current scenes, the occasional animations that drive the situations further, and this emotional roller-coaster of a story.
Everything in there is fantastic. This whole game felt vivid.
This one was amazing, so fun to read, full of hard to not laugh jokes, and a very good story telled right.
However, the ending fell short in comparison, the whole story is told into a well structured pace, but the final chat got quite lazy and breaks the rhythm of the previously set narrative, quites make you think on an educational game more than a visual novel.
Sure, it might seem possible to get there, but a few situations should have taken place, I mean, clearly kogasa should be resting at her place, since she says she need a couple of days for healing, but the scene cuts straight to the meeting, making me think the end was a little improvised.
I honestly have issues with the ending, but of course, the rest of the game compensates quite much of that, just getting there after laughing so hard and enjoying the situations, doesn't seem so bad after all.
This started off so lighthearted and innocent and then it went hard and I was not ready for it but damn it was great. Incredibly well handled writing-wise - I went into the story blind by seeing someone stream it first (and not thinking to check the game description beforehand), and it was great to notice things being hinted at and danced around early on, then have all of that foreshadowing actually become important later. And when things hit the fan in the middle, the way the tension builds really makes Sekibanki's fear feel palpable, and her internal struggle completely understandable. (Not that she wasn't relatable before, I'd want to bonk my friends too if they pulled the stunts Kage/Waka did.) Also Kogasa being heroic in the face of the closest thing Gensokyo has to a Terminator was as unexpected as it was cool - I guess she's good at surprising people after all.
In terms of technical/game stuff: animations and music choice and CGs/CG placement were all good and did an excellent job of enhancing the story further. Plus the optional Q&A at the end was nice.
Visual novels tend to suffer from it's slow pace of story telling and lack of movement. But this game feels alive. The story telling is interesting and in a reasonable pace, it has a lot of humor too, so much that this could be an anime episode. The art was top notch too. I think what really sets it apart is the use of animation and sounds make what it is expressing more impact. I highly recommend this game even if you are not a visual novel fan.
I feel the importance and value of this game scraping on the sky. Even if I couldn't run the game, I was really glad a friend helped me experience it through a stream. I can't put into words how important it felt
Instead of a game that lazily has a female character mentioning she has a girlfriend, this one really develops the whole of it, and impressively...
So much of it is relatable, meaningful, and directly addresses all the stupid intolerance, making it fit beautifully into the context.
I love the message this VN gives off. It's a short read, but such a memorable one! It's extremely emotional in a heart-touching way. Bravo!
Such a super fun read and then... OH MY GOD T-T. Thank you so much for making this I loved every second of it and yes it made me cry. You are super talented, the VN just flowed and the art is so pretty, specially in love with how you drew Kogasa. The music is just right too. I want to give this an 11 out of 10.
I have tried to download and play this game that really intrigued me, however for a reason I cannot comprehend, I receive an error regarding the executable file, and will not let me launch it...
Would you know by chance what could be the matter? If not, I would be content to watch someone else play through it and give a review~
That's unusual. Can you tell me what exactly the error says? And what OS are you using? Can't promise I'll have an answer but I can at least try.
Thanks for making this. <3
I've been trying not to give too much indication of what my favorite submissions of this jam are, but this is definitely up there. Beautifully written story, it definitely made me feel *and* laugh. A lot. It was very relatable as a trans woman myself (even if I am kinda at the same point as... well...), and is sure to hit familiar notes to other trans players as well. I really love how expressive the animations and text are, and Waka, your portraits are as beautiful as ever. Overall, one of the highlights of this jam and absolutely worth playing.
…I have to confess that I took my time before playing this game, but it ended up making me cry with how close it hit personal notes for me. Beyond the art being lovely, the characters’ personalities being interpreted in a way that makes them feel alive, or the expressive effects pulled off through both description and Ren’py’s ATL language; this game showed a side to people in a deep, meaningful manner. It didn’t brood too much over the tense points, nor did it go overboard in its funny parts. It was well-paced, well-timed…
I could go on, but the biggest thing for me: the twists and turns in learning Sekibanki’s personal backstory, echo my own life. I’m still scared too. Honestly, I was expecting to give this game a 5/5 in writing and art, but now I want to somehow give far more. I just want to show this game to all my friends and family and say: Look! This is how I feel!
Gosh. I just… don’t know how you all pulled it off so well. Thank you. By far out of all the games I’ve play so far, this pulls off the LGBT theme the best. It’s unbelievably touching to me, and damn right Sekibanki pulls off the makeup well.
An adorable and heartwarming story - it's amazing how this was written in 2 weeks.
Kudos!
"You can't let them scare you out of being yourself" is something all LGBT people can and should live by. Like, all of us. Just all of us.
Unfortunately some people are trapped in situations where staying closeted is healthier than what they'd have to endure if they lived themselves openly.
I was making a very broad and general statement, that is true, though. While I myself haven't lived in a situation where my livelyhood was endangered for just being gay, what with me living in a first world country and all... but I have met people who have. Friends of mine do live in situations like this and it is sad. It is sad that such a thing still exists in the world.
But that makes it all the more important to either fight for your right to be who you are, or escape to a place where you can.
I know, easier said then done, but something has to happen.
This was so lovely! And extremely impressive that a vn of this length was made in such a short timeframe with such detailed art as well. Well put together story and beautiful artwork. I also like how explicit the LGBT themes were
im dying its so cute
howd you guys even come up with something like that in 2 weeks im melting
We are both very, very tired.
An absolutely lovely game, stunning visuals and story with some good humor mixed in. Very much enjoyed
Me pareció excelente, conciso y muy entretenido, muy lindo todo.
excellent writing, visuals and characters, really good
nice game. i like kogasa/sekibaki its a good pairing. the writing was good and the gay stuff was handled tastefully. hope you and kagewaka collab again.
also kagerou do be kinda spitting fax tho :face_with_monocle: