The Aquarium does not dance Special Edition

Really breaks my heart to say I don't recommend this game... I just feel a bit disappointed after finishing it. While there are some really praiseworthy aspects there are others that left me dissatisfied or straight up annoyed. Starting off with the positives I think this game's visuals and soundtrack are GORGEOUS, For such a short game I really loved the wonderful artstyle and memorable tracks. Hearing about different fishes accompanied by a gorgeous piano gave a wonderfully cozy vibe. I especially enjoyed [spoiler] the train section and the koi pond with the fireworks [/spoiler]. As far as the horror goes I REALLY liked [spoiler] the anglerfish section. That was SO creative and cool [/spoiler]. A lot of other aspects saddened me though. I would've really appreciated portraits and voice acting for side characters, that would've made them more memorable to me. I also think this game shouldn't have been horror at all, the sections that weren't horror were super delightful but the parts that were feel way too short which leads to a world that flip flops between trying to be scary and forgetting that it's supposed to be scary. There were certain times where I'd go into a bloody stairwell or hallway and go "oh THIS is where its gonna get super scary!" only for it to not do that. I don't even understand where the horror comes into the plot, [spoiler] why are some creepies bloodthirsty monsters and others normal happy sea creatures? [/spoiler] which leads me to how the plot feels half baked and confusing. The premise is super bizarre and takes me out of the game a bit. [spoiler] Why did this normal shark save a person from drowning? How did this normal clione fall in love with a human? Why did Suze have the bijou? How did Kitty revive, I thought the bijou only granted one wish per person? Was that Suze's wish? How did Chrissy die to the anglerfish, I thought she had control over the aquarium world? [/spoiler] I think the puzzles need some work, most of them are boring and confusing to me. The first puzzle using japanese characters and allowing japanese for the answer feels especially misleading. I also REALLY don't like how the endings work and I had to play through the game three times to get the true ending. [spoiler] when youre given medicine to save retro and you see her bleeding on the ground i think its only natural to want to use it to save her and the only way to tell you shouldnt do that is through the item screen. what the heck? suze read out the label! why is there a second label?! so i replayed the game only to find out i was supposed to stop during the orca chase. how are you supposed to find that on your own? i wouldve never guessed to do that. [/spoiler] If you play this game save yourself some time and do NOT use the medicine you get right away and SAVE right as you enter the hospital. You will save hours of replaying. For all my complaints I will still check out the side stories. The positives this game offer are still great enough for me to keep going and I want to have faith I'll like it by the end. I will update this review if the side stories change my mind. If this somehow reaches the person who made the game please do not get disheartened reading this, you've created something wonderful that may just not have appealed to me in particular. I am still looking forward to your future works. Edit: they were a lot shorter than I expected lol but seeing as they were barely horror at all I want to double down and say I really don't think this author should pursuit horror because they clearly aren't very into it. I was kinda blown away at how pretty one of the rooms looked in the first new episode. It's weird... I feel very fondly towards this game even if I objectively didn't like a lot of it. If I had to sum up my thoughts on the game now that I'm fully done with it it'd be "something i wouldnt recommend but still enjoyed"? does that make any sense?