Gunjou impresssion

Gunjou no Sora o Koete is a VN like no other. It uses war as its central theme, but the story is never about the combat. It's about the characters and their ordinary life in a time of war, and how war are affecting their personal life. In fact, the portion for combat scenes are really small. And it's all being portrayed very realistically.

The plot of this VN revolve around the war, and how those war affect the life of the characters. It isn't epic or whatsoever, but it's absolutely engaging. Throughout the story, it'll always manage to hook you to read more. The plot has always successfully create an interesting drama for the characters. Which made a really good synergy with the character.

The setting are fascinating. It really deliver well a complex political situation. How the war started, what circumstances surrounding it, and how much it caused; everything are well-written. Hayakari also pay attention to the detail for things relating to aviation, international politics/geopolitics, and military. All of which are central to the story's theme. All of that, in order to create a realistic story, which Hayakari successfully did. As an International Relations Student, I highly approve the detail regarding political matters in this VN.

The route system are also interesting. I think this is a common pattern on every VN written by Hayakari Takeshi. It make us go to the normal routes first, which in this case the heroine routes, then after you done all of the normal route, it bring you to a grand route, which is essentially the true route. I think Hayakari want us to immerse ourself to the great extent with the story and characters first in the normal routes before making us do the grand route. And I think it's a clever idea.

On the writing, as what I've already experience from Koinaku, I can't help but say that his writing is impressive. His prose are done in an easy-to-understand style, but never lose the sharp detail it has. It never feel too much, but convey a lot. It feel plain, but unique and emotional. The pacing is also balanced. It's perfectly fit with the realistic framework of his story. However, the main strength of his writing has always lies in his play of character's mind. He always know how to present a character's mind, as to make it so interesting to read. It gave us great insight into the character. It's also what made the drama so engaging, while still keeping it realistic.

The characters are absolutely amazing. They are extremely well-written, fascinating, memorable, and realistically portrayed. Every characters feel like they are an actual human being. Each character are shaped by the circumstances they're in, which made each character have their own charm and interesting side. That especially really play well into the relationship, as to make the character's relationship and drama so engaging. I particularly, really love the relationship of Yashiro and Miki in her route. So yeah, I like all characters. I wish that Ichijou is a heroine though ;_;

For the art, well, this one is mixed. While I understand that this VN is released in 2005, I just can't bring myself to love the character design. Some characters looks weird in some CG, and there's some inconsistency of quality in the CG as well. The character design also feel too alike with little difference to each other. But eh, it's ok for me.

The music; this is mixed as well. My biggest issue with the music is that the music don't really play with the supposed situation. Making some scene becoming less emotional. Most of the music in this VN are just ok, with the exception of the OP and ED, which are really good.

Overall, an interesting VN that realistically portray war from unusual perspective, with an engaging story and characters that always hook you to read more. An amazing VN, I like it.