recently, i finished soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA. i can't describe how delighted i was reading through this wonderful gem. yuri and denpa? i must be dreaming...
it really made me think back on "classic" denpa, and why the genre has such a strong hold. despite how in Western VN spaces, a rare few have played the "Big Three". Jisatsu no Tame 101 no Houhou, Sayonara o Oshiete and Tsui no Sora. that's no fault of there own, apart from Tsui no Sora - they require a copy and a translater to play. for all the clout they've gotten in a small community, there hasn't been a huge to translate them.
(Tsui no Sora as rebooted/rewritten was Wonderful Everyday.)
a lot of the visual characterstics are picked up on; the school uniforms, the violence and gore. but that's seeing the wood for the trees, isn't it? What fascinates me... is the radio waves.
the everyday madness.
the fear of other people, the things they can do, how cruel they can become with the right circumstances. so what happens when you give them that push?
soundless captures the "old school" essence... it brings forward the wonderful madness of denpa! every scene as the story progress got me giddy. the panic, the tension, who i could trust, my trust being betrayed, the ending! it was a fantastic rollercoaster! our protagonist, mercy, goes through a lot. her allies leave her, she makes bad choices, her world falls apart... but she still has a iron will.
it's one i'm shocked hasn't become a staple for OELVNS. it's short and sweet, and everything that could happens - happens in the worst way. it's amazing.
play soundless here
xoxo gg8473