The Mermaid of Zennor

Ну и русалочка... Со временем репетативность мыслей героини начинает утомлять, но новелла заканчивается прежде, чем устаёшь от данного стиля повествования. История накручивает негативные эмоции всеми правдами и неправдами, пока не подходит к логическому завершению. Рекомендую к прочтению, если любите сочно описанную драму.

очень эмоциональная новелла . рекомендую

For the small price of the game, it is definetly worth checking out. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. There were just one or two things about it, I did not enjoy all that much: - The music was a bit hard to listen to. I have a hard time describing it, but sometimes it was a bit distracting. that might be on me, though. - The non main characters all seemed rather one dimensional. That being said there was more good over all, most important to me: - The main charcters writing, esp. our main Heroine, was quite outstanding. Very believabe and pretty heartbreaking . I felt the need to help her throughout the whole game and I think that was very much intended. One thing I want to point out I found particullary well done and made me like the game even more is a Spoiler, so stop reading if you have not played the game: I loved that her brother did not care for her all that much or at least not as much as the reader was led to believe. I think the way this was build up was quite well done, espacially for such a short game. First he does not call as often as promised, but I thought: "Ok, maybe he has a lot to do, or she is too clingy, whatever". Then he brings home a girl to his recently autistic diagnosed sister and expects her to jump in glee - which is a pretty unkind move. And during the talking of the family you realize, while he was the only one not actively bullying her, he pretty much condoned the parents way of treating her. From her description of her brother I expected a super hero, but turns out her fixation stems from the fact that he is the least worst to her and shows her kindness when she does what he wants. I was sure that she was an unreliable source for her brothers greatness, but looking at things as the reader there was barely any greatness to begin with. That to me was what made the game quite memorable and made it stand out.

*** NON-SPOILER REVIEW *** The premise of this game being more nuanced seemed really promising. Rather than having a more fanservice take on incest, The Mermaid of Zennor goes more towards how harmful and codependent this power dynamic can become which is refreshing to see coming from a visual novel. I wish there were more character portraits. The art of this game is visually pleasing, so I wish there was more of it! I know that Mrs. Khoury and the 4 bully girls are side characters, but they play a big part in the story since they directly impact Lilac's actions and how she behaves as a character in different situations. I wish we got to see them and what they looked like, since it could take away a lot of "she said/she asks" sentences in the writing. I also wish we got to see more of how Lilac's parents treat her. We hear explained from her that her parents are pretty abusive and neglectful, that they're absent in her life, but it would've been helpful to see a flashback from her perspective. Same applies with why she is so attached to her brother. I can see why Lilac is so obsessed with him since he seems to be a source of comfort for her in their dysfunctional household, but it's hard to understand or relate to where she's coming from when we can't see those important interactions she has with him or the other characters. I'm a slower reader, but the writing and pacing felt really slow and repetitive. I felt there was a lot of explaining the plot, but not really showing it if that makes any sense. You might enjoy this game if you can progress through the plot faster, since I didn't get far enough to even see the brother in-game. I got up to [spoiler]when her brother finally calls her over the phone[/spoiler] and I stopped there. I'm guessing the pacing of the plot speeds up as you keep reading, so I think this game is still worth trying at least! It just wasn't for me personally.

Aside from the obvious brother-obsession, this was a painfully realistic and relatable novel. I had to take breaks when reading this otherwise quite short Visual Novel. The thought process of Lilac's is so similar to my own at her age, it was disorienting. This is a depressing and lonely story, with perfect musical accompaniment. I'll mention this since many reviews have talked about the art quality. I find the model of the brother Jesse is scaled distractingly. His head is disproportionately smaller compared to the other character sprites, I'd say to emphasise his tallness or due to his sprite's height. But it makes him look a little odd when standing next to characters. If it was to give him a 'distanced' appearance, for me it totally didn't work and threw me off. I'm a fan of Ebi-Hime's so I was surely looking forward to the dark tale, and found it quite similar in tone to 'Lynne' and 'My Sweetest Monster', so if you are a fan of those works you likely enjoy this. Structurally its remarkably similar to Lynne, though the stories are unique and i found it particularly interesting to unravel the story from our protagonists' perspective here.

I've read many of ebi-hime's VN's and I really enjoyed this one. Worth it at the full price, which is modest. Short and intense. The main character and writing style reminded me a bit of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The visuals and music nicely complemented the story.

One of Ebi's strongest and most touching stories. It was written in a perfect way to capture the Maincharacter's perspective with all the nouances mentioned in the Steam-describtion. The narrative changes in the most welcome way and Ebi did not shy away from voicing the dark thoughts likely many teenagers had with regards to bullies and the things they deserve. Perfect length, artstyle is not too anime, absolutely great ending. The somewhat morbit story turned into something touching and unique without ever being cheesy or unnatural.

Very well-written story about a young, autistic girl struggling with feeling alone in the world. There's two endings, and I think both are very good. I especially appreciated the second ending, although the first felt complete enough on it's own. Visuals and stuff are great!

Reader, I cried.