Fujiwara Bittersweet

This game had the bones to be excellent but it felt like it fumbled a lot of its storylines - they clearly wanted to tackle tricky topics but I think they needed more refinement and maturity. I hope the developer comes back to visual novels with more life experience and gives it another go

Well to sum up every review of this game its an experience for sure. I've currently play through around 3 of the 6 characters routes and with the amount of time it took me just to do that so far its evident this game has a TON of content that's honestly extremely impressive for a dating game especially a free one. But that is kinda one of the few overly positive things I have to say about this game as it has a LOT of areas to improve. SPOILERS ON FROM THIS POINT! Ikki: Typical starter type of romance choice not a lot to say there. He's violent and closed off at first but then he becomes sweet and nice when you get to know him pretty basic stuff. His route was ok but just lacked substance and was a bit extreme or cringe at moments but I think that stands true for all of them. Good intro to the rest of the characters right? Toshio: WRONG! This dude is a total 180 from Ikki in his attitude and i can't tell if that is better or worse. Basically aggressive and traumatised nepo baby with daddy issues. He HATES the player character till like a good chunk into his route (which is considerably long just like the all the other routes) till the big shift incident. Which afterwards he follows the player around like a sick puppy. This character is for sure one that could have been handled better as his route trivialises serious issues like neglect, abuse and suicide. Its a bit weird and freaky for sure but you know who else is somehow even freakier... Yuta: Him. You've heard the term gooner but you don't understand it till you meet this guy let me tell you that much. He's pretty much the prince charming type of guy (think Tamaki from Ouran) but with the secret twist of him being the biggest freak alive. This is just honestly a really weird direction for his character to go after getting like half-way through his route and it could have been handled so much better or just not have been the twist at all. The other routes I've yet to have played but from what I've read they seem just as insane if not more. But there IS still a reason as to why I've given this game a positive review and that would be for 2 reasons: 1. The reboot project: The creator is currently working on a reboot project to hopefully address and fix some of the issues which people have with the original game. I have already played and reviewed the prologue of the game which the creator has released and I have high hopes for its eventual release. 2 The charm: It may sound stupid to say but I feel as if i already have nostalgia for this game i only just started playing summer 2024. This game has a LOT of misrepresentation of real life issues and certainly a lot to improve but its so jam-packed with this vibe that just makes me hope for the best. Overall the game isn't perfect by any means but its dumb fun at its core. I can just turn my brain off and enjoy the absurdity and honestly that is just fine for me. I wish the best to MagicBench moving forward with future projects and the reboot.

Toshio was my fav Rich Tsundere Bully 💵💵💵. The moment I laid eyes on him I knew he was the only one for me. ♥️ 😍 😘 😋 🥰 💗 🫀I will feed his candy addiction and will give him diabetes. 🍬 🍫🍭 🍬 It will get so bad that he will have to get ozempic. Semaglutide is an anti-diabetic medication used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and an anti-obesity medication used for long-term weight management. It is a peptide similar to the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, modified with a side chain. It can be administered by subcutaneous injection or taken orally. He is my world even if he wishes to end it. 🥰🥰He parents are such buzzkills but atleast they are hot. (I can see were he gets his killer looks from) Rawr meow 😻. 10/10 - Ozempic my goat

Визуальная новелла с романтическим и драматическим уклоном. Игрок погружается в историю о сложных чувствах, взрослении и непростых выборах. Сюжет строится вокруг отношений главного героя с несколькими персонажами; решения влияют на развитие событий и концовки. Плюсы: Глубокий эмоциональный сюжет — история затрагивает тонкие темы первой любви, потерь и самоопределения, вызывая сопереживание. Проработанные персонажи — у каждого героя есть своя предыстория и мотивы, что делает взаимодействия осмысленными и запоминающимися. Красивая визуальная стилистика — детализированные спрайты, атмосферные фоны и выдержанная цветовая палитра усиливают погружение в повествование. Минусы: Медленный темп развития сюжета — значительная часть игры состоит из диалогов и описаний, что может показаться затянутым любителям активного геймплея. Ограниченная интерактивность — геймплей сводится к чтению и выбору реплик, без дополнительных мини‑игр или активностей. Повторяющиеся сюжетные паттерны — в разных романтических ветках встречаются схожие ситуации и дилеммы, снижая ощущение уникальности отдельных линий. Итог: подойдёт поклонникам визуальных новелл и романтических драм, кто ценит эмоциональные истории и проработанных персонажей. Fujiwara Bittersweet увлечёт трогательным сюжетом и эстетикой, но может не подойти тем, кто ищет динамичный геймплей или более разнообразный игровой опыт.

Why is this free. This game is hilarious and reminds me of the daydreams I would have in school. I recommend playing this game simply because of the route choice. Kinda short but still enough

I highly recommend this VN. The art style is so soft and cute. The story goes pretty deep. Lots of replayability. There are multiple routes (friendship + sweet route per character) and all of the characters have a secret tragic backstory. It's really bittersweet in that sense. You as the MC slowly help them bring down their walls and help with the healing process. I ended up loving all the characters, even the jerk ones. The dialogue is very blunt and the characters sometimes act socially inappropriate, so it pretty much feels like high school all over again, which is fitting lol. It bothered me in the beginning but I got used to it, and started to enjoy the bluntness, especially from the protag who doesn't take nonsense from nobody. My only issue is that the skip button is broken where it will skip everything, even previously unseen text. This is a MAJOR problem for this VN more than others because new scenes unlock when you replay a route. For example, I will reload a previous save, and even if I choose the same choices, new scenes and dialogue have a high chance of showing up. You're better off playing each route from the beginning again.

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I love this game, however... I felt a little disturbed about the innuendos all over the place, if the game didn't have as main characters MINORS then I would've enjoyed it further. Everything said, I loved Ikki's route best, and if we forget about the sensitive content, even Toshi's.